《Cast Out》 Prologue Part 1 The year is 2028. It¡¯s Friday, January 21st. Right now it¡¯s 5:59am. It¡¯s also the happiest moment of my life. My name is Raes Bastion. Yes, I¡¯m a guy and I¡¯m crying. I¡¯m looking at the world¡¯s greatest miracle ever. Tears are slipping from my eyes, as I saw my daughter Talia open her eyes for the first time. I couldn¡¯t stop the relieved laughter that bubbled up from my chest. My daughter was just born!! -----2 years earlier My name is Raes Bastion. Yeah, you¡¯ve probably heard of me. Who hasn¡¯t, am I right? I¡¯m 17 years old and I own one of the top ten businesses in America. Yeah, I¡¯m THAT Raes Bastion. I could buy and sell small countries with a snap of my fingers, and I probably would if I wanted to. But that¡¯s too much trouble. After all, if I bought a country then I¡¯d have to actually manage it! WAY too much of a pain. I mean, I don¡¯t even manage the business I own! Why would I want to manage a whole country? Wind flooded the back of the limousine as I kept the windows all the way down. I gotta admit, it¡¯s my favorite time of the day. Just being able to sit back and let the wind flip my dark black hair all over the place. The limo I¡¯m in feels like it¡¯s just gliding through the streets. You can¡¯t hear anything as it moves, and if you ignored the wind then you could almost imagine that you weren¡¯t actually moving at all. I¡¯m on my way to the biggest party of the year, and it¡¯s going to be awesome! For one day a year, New York City turns the entire city into a huge festival. Anyone who¡¯s anyone shows up to the party at the Empire State Building, and all the people that live in this city the other days of the year are kicked out. It¡¯s harsh, but when you got money, you got the means. I¡¯m leaning back in the backseat of the limo there, with my eyes closed and my arms folded across my chest when all of sudden¡­. BAM!! The car shudders, and I can see us barely able to make it to the curb to park before the car jolts to a stop. ¡°Hey Roxy, what¡¯s going on?¡± I yell up to my driver. I hear a door open and slam shut. I can hear her propping up the hood of the car as she checks to see what¡¯s going on. ¡°Sorry sir it looks like the engine is busted.¡± She tells me. ¡®Damn it!! At this rate I¡¯ll never get to the party at the Empire State Building on time!¡¯ I silently start fuming and cursing my bad luck. ¡°Roxy, can you get it fixed fast? I¡¯m running late over here.¡± I yell out. ¡°Sorry sir,¡± the blonde calls out. ¡°It doesn¡¯t look like anything I can fix easy. I could call somebody else from the company to and get you the rest of the way, but with traffic looking like it is today, I don¡¯t think they¡¯ll be able to make it here for another few hours.¡± I can barely hear her over the sounds of the cars rushing past us, but what I do hear doesn¡¯t make me happy at all. ¡®God DAMMIT!¡¯ I¡¯d been waiting for this party for the whole year! You can only get an invite once you were of legal age, and since the lowering of the legal age in 2020, that means I finally just became an adult at 17. So there I was, a 17 year old CEO in the latest thoughtcloth suit, it¡¯s color changing to match my mood by becoming a dark red, with a black half-mask covering my the top half of my face. Fuming in the back of a broken down limo. ¡®Alright Raes, let¡¯s think this through.¡¯ I think to myself. ¡®I won¡¯t be able to make it to the party with the best limo in town, but I can at least still show up if I can find some other way there.¡¯ Then I heard something different from the background noise of all the cars flashing by. It sounded like the horn of a train. ¡®Train? The Sky Rail!!¡¯ Having been finished in the same year that the legal age dropped, the sky rail was the same as the old light rails that used to be around. The difference being that it crisscrossed all the major points of the city AND went from coast-to-coast, it zoomed through the sky faster than Japan¡¯s old bullet train outside city zones. It replaced all the old subway and train systems, and became the best known public transport in the world. ¡®Alright, it¡¯ll do. Not as good as arriving in a limo, but at least I¡¯ll be there on time.¡¯ I rationalized. I step out the door closest to the curb and beckon Roxy closer. The tall, 20-something year old woman in a dark suit walked over. Something flashed in her eyes, something that looked like annoyance at being called over by 17 year old, but that could¡¯ve been my imagination. After all, if she started getting all high and mighty with me, I would¡¯ve just fired her. I¡¯ve done it to others for less. ¡°Roxy, change of plans. I¡¯m heading up to the Sky Rail, and I¡¯ll use that to get to where I¡¯m going. You can either try to fix the engine yourself, or call a mechanic to fix it. Either way, head back to the house as soon as you can and do whatever Uncle needs doing.¡± She grimaced at the mention of my uncle. He¡¯s not the best of people, but he took me in after my father died when I was 15. He¡¯s not actually my uncle either. I call him that, but he¡¯s actually one of my father¡¯s old friends from way back when. She nodded, and I used the hologram feature on my clothes to make it look like I was wearing cheap, casual clothes. I made sure my mask was put in a pocket, and headed on my way. Even if it is a day for the festival of the rich, New York City is still New York City. Best not to look too rich out on the streets if you don¡¯t want to get mugged. As I left, I could¡¯ve sworn I heard someone behind me mutter, ¡°Asshole.¡± Must¡¯ve been my imagination though. I walked down the street to an elevator that took me up to the Sky Rail platform above us. Looking around, the platform was mostly empty. White tiles made up the floor of the platform itself, while the walls and ceiling looked like they were made out of a surprisingly good-looking mix of glass, plaster and metal. There was a giant digital clock that hung on one of the walls, which displayed the time, and the expected time of the next train. Currently- 4:55pm Next Train- 5:05pm I stood close to the tracks, looking in the distance for the train. My arms were crossed, my foot was tapping, and I think I must¡¯ve looked pretty impatient. The elevator dinged, and I turned around to see a girl my age step out onto the white tiled floor. She had dark, tan skin with black hair that was tied into a ponytail that looked like it went past her shoulders. Dressed casually in jeans and a shirt, from the moment I saw her, I knew I wouldn¡¯t make it to the party at the Empire State Building. And I couldn¡¯t have cared less. -----Present Day The nurse wrapped my baby girl in a blanket and carefully gave her to me. She was the most beautiful thing I¡¯d ever seen. She looked up at me and smiled the most innocent smile, and made happy noises. At that point I realized that I wasn¡¯t the most decent person out there. I wasn¡¯t a horrible person, but I knew then and there that I¡¯d been an arrogant prick for so many years. I brought her closer to me and I whispered in her ear, ¡°I swear that I will be a person that you will be proud of. I won¡¯t be the person I was before.¡± She laughed happily in that way that only babies can. ¡°Raes, bring over here. I want to see her. Let me see Talia.¡± At hearing the hoarse voice I looked over at the woman that had just given birth to our child. My wife. I loved her so much, and she loved me. Even with all my faults, she still thought she could change me for the better. We¡¯d been together ever since that fateful day we met at the Sky Rail. I walked over to her with Talia in hands, bouncing and rocking a little as I moved so that Talia could sleep. She was already yawning, the whole thing must have tired her out as much as her mother. I handed her over to my wife and we spent the whole day looking at our little miracle. We might have only been 19, but we were ready. Come heaven or hell, nothing would separate the 3 of us. That¡¯s what I believed¡­¡­.. -----The Next Day I was at the hospital¡¯s cafeteria getting some food for my wife and I. I stood in line waiting to buy something that my wife had been craving for the past hour. Cheeseburgers! All around me you could hear the sounds of people happily munching away at food, and the pleasant buzz of conversation. It was still early morning, but the place was jam packed with people. I don¡¯t know if it was just me, but everything seemed brighter somehow. Happier. I finally got to the front of the line. The guy at the register had already asked me what I wanted, and I was just about to tell him to that I wanted 2 cheeseburgers when -¡°Raes Bastion?¡± I felt someone put a hand on my shoulder. I cut down the thing I was immediately about to say. ¡®Already promised to be a different person, can¡¯t act like the same guy from a couple days ago.¡¯ ¡°Yes?¡± I turned around to see that the entire cafeteria had gone quiet. I knew why. There was a full team of police officers standing there behind me, and one of them had a hand on my shoulder. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.¡°You¡¯re under arrest for fraud and embezzlement. Put your hands behind your back.¡± The officer told me as he yanked my arms behind my back and cuffed them together. Stunned, I said nothing. He pushed me forward, and the team of cops took me outside of the cafeteria and out to the hospital parking lot where a squad of police cars waited. ¡°You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one,¡± and at this I saw their faces darken, ¡°one will be given to you. Do you understand these rights as you have received them?¡± Finally approaching the car, I manage to snap out of my stupor. ¡°Okay guys, jokes over. You can take off the cuffs now.¡± They didn¡¯t move. ¡°H-hey, this is a joke right? I didn¡¯t do anything! I just became a father for god¡¯s sake!!¡± They forced me into the squad car. I was realizing that I was in deep shit. What the hell just happened?! -----4 Days Later I was still sitting in jail. I¡¯d used my 1 phone call to get in contact with my uncle. I may have already been an adult, but he and I were still pretty close. He¡¯d taken care of me for a long time, and I¡¯d even left the management of the company to him. If there was anyone that could clear up the situation, it was him. He¡¯d told me that he would get everything cleared up, but I hadn¡¯t heard from him since. What the hell was happening?! ¡®They better not have touched my wife and daughter!¡¯ He sat there in the jail cell at the precinct, just staring at a wall. ¡®How am I going to explain this to her? I don¡¯t even know what¡¯s going on....¡¯ He thought to himself. ¡®I want to see her and let her know that I didn¡¯t do any of the things that they¡¯re saying, but I don¡¯t want her and Talia to see me like this either.¡¯ So I started thinking of all the things that he could say to her to make her understand everything. To let her know that he was innocent, and that everything would turn out alright. But everything he thought of sounded like crap. ¡®It¡¯s fine, she¡¯s my wife! We have a daughter together, there¡¯s nothing that can separate us. If I just tell her the truth, she¡¯ll believe me!¡¯ Thinking that, I started to get my energy back. ¡®Yeah, we¡¯ve been together for 2 years. We¡¯re married and have a daughter. There¡¯s no way she wouldn¡¯t believe me if I just told her the truth! When she comes to visit me, I¡¯ll tell her.¡¯ But she never came¡­¡­ ------2 hours after the trial I was sitting in a van headed to prison. The trial had gone badly. My lawyer was some half-assed person my ¡°uncle¡± had gotten fresh from law school. Apparently, that lawyer of mine had also been promised a few thousand dollars bonus if I had lost the trial. How did I know? Because my uncle had gotten us alone after the trial ended to brag in front of my face before I ended up in prison. His words still rang in my ears. ¡°You stupid, SHITTY kid! Why the hell would you think I would defend you?! The company is better off without you. You¡¯re just the kid of the founder, someone that keeps stealing all the credit off of mine and the directors¡¯ work!¡± He had whispered into my ear. ¡°I¡¯ve been working with the Board for a year now to get you kicked out of the business. Do you want to know the best part about all this?¡± He¡¯d paused to let everything sink in. ¡°No one will believe a thing that you say otherwise! You¡¯ll just be another person in a prison saying they¡¯re innocent. And if you get out¡­ you¡¯ll be less than nothing.¡± The guards dragged me straight to the van afterwards. I was still shocked at everything that had happened. Down inside, I¡¯d known that he was that kind of person to everyone else. But he¡¯d always treated me like a son after my father died. And I¡¯d believed in him¡­ ¡®DAMN IT!! Why the hell did I trust him!¡¯ That thought kept echoing in my mind all the way to the prison. *** It¡¯s been a month since I got here. Everyone in here knows who I am. Ex-millionaire, party-boy Raes Bastion. Trust me, that kind of fame is NOT good for your health in prison. But today I don¡¯t care about that. Because I found out that today my wife is visiting me! I¡¯ve been sitting in the special meeting room for a half-hour now. It¡¯s just a normal-sized room that only has 2 chair facing each other, and a table in between. I¡¯m surrounded by prison guards, but I don¡¯t care. A smile keeps inching its way up my face. I¡¯m so happy that I almost can¡¯t stand it! I haven¡¯t seen my wife since the day she gave birth to Talia. ¡®I hope she brought Talia here with her! I know I¡¯m not the best looking person in the world right now, but I don¡¯t care! All I want is to see my family again. We¡¯ll all make it out of this situation somehow.¡¯ The door on the side that I was facing opened, and my heart soared! I saw her walk in, and she was even more beautiful than the day I met her. She was a bit pale, and the way she walked made me realize that she was still a little weak from giving birth. I stood up to help her, and immediately all the guards in the room turned their guns in my direction. ¡°Prisoner! You will sit down NOW!! I sank back down into my chair. They didn¡¯t even trust me to help my wife walk to the chair! My hands shook with boiling rage, but I managed to keep it in. ¡®I can¡¯t be like that anymore. I¡¯m not that kind of person anymore! I promised my daughter that I¡¯d be different, and I will!¡¯ She finally got to her chair and sat down in it. Immediately I felt something off. She didn¡¯t look like she was happy to see me. She looked at me like I was some disgusting thing that the dog brought home in its mouth. Before I knew it, that happy feeling I had a few minutes earlier was long gone. ¡°W-what¡¯s the matter? Why are you looking at me like that?¡± I¡¯d managed to get out. She slid a folder across the table and got up. ¡°Sarah? Where you going? Sarah?!¡± I got up out of my seat to catch up to her as she walked out the door, and immediately 2 of the guards came and restrained me, while the rest escorted my wife out the door. The door slammed shut, and I sank back into my chair. Hands shaking, I opened the folder and took a look at the contents. My face paled, and my hands dropped lifelessly to my sides. ¡®Please God, let this only be a nightmare.¡¯ There were only 2 things in the folder. One was a note from Sarah. The other was an official government notice. ¡°Raes, I knew what kind of a person you were when I married you. I knew that you could sometimes be a horrible person, but sometimes I saw a side of you that made me doubt that. I thought I could change you for the better when I married you, but I guess I was wrong. You did such horrible things to people even while we were married, and I didn¡¯t want to believe it at first when I heard about it. But they were right, and that¡¯s why you¡¯re in prison now. You¡¯re not innocent. And the thought that I ever loved you sickens me, because now I know the real face behind the one you used to show me. I¡¯m leaving, and I¡¯m taking Talia with me. I¡¯m going to make sure she never finds out that her father is such an evil person. Goodbye.¡± NOTICE: YOUR SPOUSE HAS FILED FOR DIVORCE. UNDER THE VALENTINE ACT OF 2024, THE PETITION HAS BEEN ACCEPTED. THE JUDGE HAS GRANTED YOUR WIFE FULL CUSTODY OF HER DAUGHTER TALIA, AND HAS ACCEPTED THE ADDITIONAL PETITION UNDER THE CHILD PROTECTION ACT OF 2020. ALL RECORDS PERTAINING TO THE FATHER OF TALIA BASTION HAVE BEEN PURGED. ALL RECORDS PERTAINING TO THE MARRIAGE OF SARAH RAIN AND RAES BASTION HAVE BEEN PURGED. ALL RECORDS PERTAINING TO SARAH RAIN AND TALIA BASTION HAVE BEEN PURGED. THE ABOVE NAMED HAVE CHOSEN NEW IDENTITIES. UNDER THE CHILD PROTECTION ACT OF 2020, YOU MAY NOT APPROACH WITHIN 50 YARDS OF THE FORMERLY NAMED SARAH RAIN AND TALIA BASTION. ANY WILLFUL VIOLATION WILL RESULT IN AN IMMEDIATE TERMINATION OF CITIZENSHIP, AND YOU WILL BE IMMEDIATELY DEPORTED. UNDER THE INTERNATIONAL LAW OF THE WORLD TERRORISM ACT OF 2020, IF AFTER THE TERMINATION OF CITIZENSHIP DUE TO THE ENDANGERMENT OF OTHERS, YOU NO LONGER HAVE ANY CITIZENSHIP WITH ANY OTHER COUNTRY/NATION, ANY OTHER PUNISHMENT WILL BE SUBSTITUED IN FAVOR OF EXECUTION.
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Prologue Part 2 -----18 years later I¡¯m free. I don¡¯t feel any different though. I finally finished serving my sentence, and they let me out of the place that I¡¯d been in for half of my life. I¡¯m not sure what to do now. I¡¯ve checked with all of the banks I used to have accounts with, and all of my assets were frozen since before I was put in prison. Life in there was harsh. Everyone in there already knew who I was, and being famous in a prison as the ex-billionaire party-boy that embezzled all the money investors had entrusted to the company. There were a LOT of unhappy people in that prison that were former investors. I¡¯d had to train my body so that I could fend off some of the weaker ones, and had to come up with ways to make sure I didn¡¯t get ¡°accidentally¡± killed by some of the stronger ones. Shaking my head to clear my thoughts of that place, I turned my attention back to the house I was standing in front of. It was a normal house, 2 stories, with light-brown walls with a dark-green door. It only had a small driveway in front of it, but that didn¡¯t matter because the backyard was huge. I must¡¯ve looked weird, standing there in a tight grey t-shirt and black jeans just staring at a house. Just another random person with light-brown skin and brown eyes, with short black hair, staring at a house. Why was I staring at the house? Because it was mine. Or at least it would¡¯ve been, 18 years ago. After I¡¯d found out Sarah was pregnant, I¡¯d started looking for a house that the 3 of us could live in. Sarah had never really gotten used to all the money and wealth that I had, and was more comfortable living like normal people. I¡¯d wanted to surprise her when she and Talia finally left the hospital. I¡¯d have driven us not to where my uncle¡¯s mansion was (that¡¯s where we normally stayed), but to our new house. She would¡¯ve smiled and been really happy, and I could¡¯ve watch Talia grow up in it. The dark-green door opened, and a man and a woman came out of the house with their kids following behind. They headed to their car which was parked out on the driveway, and I turned and started walking away. ¡®At least that house was able to make another family happy.¡¯ It should¡¯ve been mine, though. That should¡¯ve been me walking out of the house with Sarah and Talia, heading to some normal place. But the house wasn¡¯t mine anymore. Everything I had, was repossessed by the government and then sold off again. I¡¯d known this ever since I last saw Sarah, but getting a glimpse of what I could¡¯ve had made me realize it again. I¡¯d lost everything. -----6 months later ¡°911 what¡¯s your emergency?¡± ¡°--Uh, hi, there¡¯s a homeless guy that I thought was sleeping under a bridge near my house. I tried waking him up to tell him to move, because I didn¡¯t want him to be anywhere near where my kids might go to play, but he wasn¡¯t moving. And I don¡¯t mean that he didn¡¯t want to move from his spot. I mean that he literally didn¡¯t move at all¡­. I think he might be dead.¡± ¡°Got it, we¡¯ll be sending an ambulance to your location right now sir.¡± ¡°Ok, thanks¡± ¡­¡­¡­. ¡®Where am I?¡¯ Was the first thought that came to mind when I woke up. I was in a white room, on a bed with an annoying monitor that kept making beeping sounds. Beep!...Beep!...Beep!...Beep! A door opened and a man in a white coat stepped through. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re awake. That¡¯s good, that¡¯s good. You¡¯re a very lucky person you know.¡± ¡®Me? Lucky?! This guy doesn¡¯t know me at all. If he did, he wouldn¡¯t have said something like that.¡¯ The guy looked at a clipboard for a moment, glancing back at me once in a while as well. ¡°Yeap¡­ You really are lucky. You had severe hypothermia, and if the ambulance had gotten you here to the hospital even a few minutes later, you wouldn¡¯t have survived.¡± ¡®Oh, so that¡¯s what he meant by lucky.¡¯ Looking around the room again made me wonder how I didn¡¯t realize that I was in a hospital. ¡°Sir? Sir?¡± A loud snap brought my attention back to the doctor. ¡°We¡¯ll need your name as well as your billing address so that we can get all of the proper paperwork and fees over with. ¡°¡­¡­¡­.. I don¡¯t have a billing address. I don¡¯t have any money to pay for anything. The only thing I can give you is gratitude for saving my life.¡± Just saying those words made me depressed. I couldn¡¯t even give anything back to the people that helped me out when I needed it. ¡°¡­I understand. We¡¯ll still need your name on file sir, in order to get the proper paperwork filled out.¡± The doctor paused, and looked me over. I must¡¯ve looked pathetic. In 6 months I¡¯d lost a lot of the muscle I¡¯d gained in prison, and my body was skinny again. Can¡¯t be helped, after all. If you don¡¯t eat enough food, eventually your body devours your own fat and muscles to survive. ¡°¡­As far as payment goes, we do have several payment options that I think would be good for someone in your situation. I will still need your name though.¡± ¡®This isn¡¯t going to end well. If he knows who I am, whatever it is that¡¯s making him act nice towards me will be gone...... Whatever. I don¡¯t think I care anymore¡­¡­..¡¯ ¡°Raes.¡± The doctor looked up, startled. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, what was that? I don¡¯t think I heard you correctly.¡± ¡°No, you heard me fine. My name is Raes Bastion.¡± ¡°¡­..¡± There was an awkward silence that filled the room, until suddenly¡­ ¡°RAES!!¡± The doctor exclaimed. He ran over and put his arms around my neck, laughing. ¡®What the hell is happening?!¡¯ Was the first thing that flashed through my mind. I was more than stunned, because when you¡¯re a 38 year old man, it¡¯s not normal to be hugged like this by another man in his late 30¡¯s. The guy with his arms around my neck must¡¯ve felt the stiff reaction I had, because he pulled away and asked, ¡°What, you don¡¯t recognize me man?¡± I shook my head as I tried to remember if I¡¯d seen this person before. ¡°It¡¯s me, Caesar. Your brother!¡± *** A lot of stuff happened after that weird, awkward, confusing moment which I won¡¯t even start to mention because reliving it all will give me a huge headache. I ended up getting released from the hospital soon afterwards, with an enormous hospital bill looming over me. Caesar learned that I didn¡¯t have anywhere to go after I was released, so he took me in and let me stay at his house. I almost forgot to mention, he also isn¡¯t my brother. Caesar and I were really close friends from childhood. I never knew my Mom, he never knew his Dad, and one day both our families met up in a park. We became friends pretty fast, and his Mom took care of me like I thought my Mom would have, and I¡¯d like to think that Caesar thought my Dad had done the same for him. We did everything together, and it was to the point where we promised each other that we¡¯d be brothers. Which made it even harder when the both of us found out that we were moving away. My Dad and his Mom had gotten jobs that required them to be in a different city. My Dad had become an inventor and started his own company, but it was in a city called Sacramento which was on the opposite side of the U.S.A. It¡¯d become too difficult to manage from the East Coast, so my Dad had to move over there to make it more successful. Caesar¡¯s Mom never did tell us what job she had gotten that made her move, but she did say that they were moving to Japan. What part I never found out though, and that made it harder to track Caesar down once I¡¯d become rich enough to do so. I have to admit though, he hadn¡¯t done badly at all. Even though he only had a 1-story house, it was more than big enough for a few families to have been living in it. Most people would have an extra bedroom for guests. Caesar had a whole wing devoted to them! Just walking up to the front door of the house, you¡¯d already know that this wasn¡¯t a house most people could afford. The front door itself was actually comprised of 2 automatic sliding doors made of a crystal exterior, and a wood frame carved with floral designs. Stepping in, you would be in a huge room with white walls and golden script painstakingly hand scribed onto them. Looking back to where you came from, you would only see a forest in full spring bloom behind you. Birds were perched on branches ready to fly, bees were busy getting pollen from plants, and trees spread their branches proudly. At first glance you wouldn¡¯t even see the door that you came from, but if you looked closely, you¡¯d see that there was a tree with a slight crack in the middle of it, letting a bit of the sunlight shine past, just hinting at another world beyond it. When I first saw that, I thought I¡¯d stepped into a meditation room, but then my eyes fell upon a small shoe rack next to one of the white walls, with a golden quote right above it. ¡°The strong person is not the one that can stop others, but one who can stop themselves when angry. So be a strong person and control yourself when I ask that you kindly remove your shoes after being in the wilds for so long.¡± Always good to see that Caesar kept his sense of humor. Walking through an archway straight from that room, you¡¯d find yourself in a living room. Of course since it was in Caesar¡¯s house, the living room was not normal. You might even say it was half the size of a football field! A third of the floor (the part closest to the archway) was carpeted and the third of the floor closest to the wall opposite it had white tiles. The part of it in the middle was made of black tempered glass and had a huge round table on it, one that doubled as the base platform for 3-D holograms that would¡¯ve been in an old sci-fi movie. Apparently one of the fans of those sci-fi movies had gotten rich and decided he wanted one to be invented. The part of the room that was white-tiled had a fully stocked kitchen and dining table, all with the latest and greatest inventions that made cooking easier in the mid-21st century. To the left and right of the holotable in the middle of the room were more archways which led to the rest of the house. The one to the left led to the guest wing, with more amenities than you could imagine. I think the only reason Caesar hadn¡¯t put in a tennis court and a pool were because of the extra hoops he¡¯d have to jump through with the government to get it all approved. They had strict regulations against things like that ever since idiot that taught himself how to build a house decided that he wanted extra comforts like that in his own house without hiring contractors or getting it inspected. Long story short, he died. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.Backing off of the subject of the crazy DIY guy, I realized after a while that Caesar¡¯s place was like a blocky lower-case m, with additional block at the top for the room where the shoe rack was. That being said, that meant that there were 2 wings on either side of the main hall. My friend the rich doctor had apparently built 1 wing for his guests and one for himself. I¡¯d never gone into the Master Wing myself out of respect for his privacy, but I imagine that it was at least as fancy as the guest wing is. Anyway, when Caesar invited me to stay at his house until I¡¯d gotten back on my feet, (after he¡¯d finished giving me the mind-boggling tour of his ¡°house¡±) we¡¯d spent the time sitting back on a couple of chairs on the fancy carpet in his living room just catching up. He¡¯d told me about how after he¡¯d moved to Japan, he¡¯d decided that he wanted to make a living by helping people. He went crazy studying all the time, going to a famous Japanese cram school, and graduated High School at the age of 14. He didn¡¯t stop there though. Somehow, he managed to finish University studies after 3 years instead of the usual 5-6 (for people studying to become a doctor) and then went on to finish med school by the age of 21. He became a full-fledged doctor at the age of 24, and from there he¡¯d moved back to the U.S. and worked at the same hospital for the past 24-25 years, which was good for me since it turned out to be the hospital I ended up at. After that, I told him about what happened to me. I told him about how my dad¡¯s company became a huge success, and how we became filthy rich almost overnight. I told him about how my dad died when I was 17, leaving me to become the youngest and richest CEO in America. And right after I said that, he of course asked what exactly happened. Because here I was telling him that I had been filthy rich at the age of 17, but right now I¡¯m not much more than a parasitic hobo leeching off his friend (my words, not his). So I told him about the rest of my story. How I fell in love at first sight with a girl named Sarah Rain. I told him about the happiest days of my life, when we got married and had Talia together. And then I told him how it all changed. How my ¡°uncle¡± who¡¯d taken care of me since my father died had actually been manipulating things so that I would be set up for fraud and embezzlement. How it led to one of the biggest market crashes in the U.S. And how it ended with Sarah leaving me and making sure that Talia would never know who I was. I tried to skim through almost 20 years of prison life, because I didn¡¯t want my friend to be as traumatized as I was. He noticed though, and still managed to drag a few details from me before I could realize it. I told him about how ironically I was better off in prison, since the past 6 months outside of it had left me jobless, penniless and almost dead. Not strange considering the fact that I¡¯d been charged for fraud and embezzlement. No one wanted to hire someone they couldn¡¯t trust, and fewer wanted to hire the infamous Raes Bastion as an employee. The bad publicity and public outrage would make them go bankrupt in days! I still remember Caesar¡¯s words to me that day. ¡°Raes, I swear to you that we will get back at those bastards and get you reunited with Talia!¡± His eyes were slightly red, but with that murderous look on his face it was more demonic than anything else. I told him sometime after that, that I wanted to be able to build a life for my own without depending entirely on him. He knew what I was really saying. If I ever wanted to have a life with the daughter I had, I¡¯d first have to be able to support myself, not leech off of my rich friend. It was tough, considering the fact that I couldn¡¯t actually do much. My skills and degrees were limited to grunt work and a high school diploma. I never got the chance to go for college, and now I couldn¡¯t even if I wanted to. I suppose I could¡¯ve asked Caesar to pay for my tuition, but this was something I wanted to do for myself. He was already doing more than most people would have by taking me in. Most of my so-called ¡°friends¡± from before my prison life had already turned their backs on me. After all my searching on the internet, all of my travels to different businesses asking for jobs and trying to apply, all of my research, did NOTHING! HAH! What was ironic was that the day I decided NOT to do anything at all, was the day that I found something that I might actually be able to do. I¡¯d just been watching a few shows on the HT (Holo-Table), and another ad interrupted the program. Long story short, it was about a VR MMO that had come out 5 years ago. Apparently it was celebrating their 5 year anniversary at being at the top of the gaming world, something which isn¡¯t easy to do even for half that time. They were setting up a contest to celebrate, and 20 people would win the VR capsule, the game itself, and 3 months of gaming without having to pay the monthly subscription. After doing a little research about it, I found out that what made the game unique was that you could exchange the highest in-game currency for actual cash. I talked to Raes about it, and he said it might actually work. So why didn¡¯t I just ask Caesar to spend a little cash on it and then pay him back afterwards? The thing is, the capsule itself is $15,000 and the game is an additional $250. Monthly subscriptions would add another $300 to my expense every 30 days. It also turns out that Caesar also wasn¡¯t as rich as I thought he was. ¡°Look at this house man! Do you really think I could afford any of this on a doctor¡¯s salary? Most of it was inheritance from when my mom died, and most of the money I make is just enough to pay taxes on all of it.¡± He sighed. ¡°Look, I might not be able to get it right now, but if you give me a few years I¡¯ll have saved up enough money to get the game and capsule, and cover the subscriptions for maybe a year.¡± ¡°I want to say that I can wait man, but I honestly can¡¯t. Not if there¡¯s another way that I can get it faster. How about this, we¡¯ll both enter the contest. That¡¯ll double our odds of winning, and if one of us wins I can use it to start making a living again.¡± ¡°Alright, but if we don¡¯t win, you have to promise me that you¡¯ll let me help you get that capsule. Even if it means waiting a few years. We got a deal?¡± He held out his hand and I grasped his forearm, just like they used to do way back when Rome was still an empire. ¡°You got a deal brother.¡± *** We won. I can¡¯t believe it. We BOTH WON! I¡¯m staring at the 2 gleaming, coffin-like capsules that were installed in the living room at Caesar¡¯s house. The cover was made of glass that could tint at will to provide privacy, or remain transparent. It¡¯s still unbelievable. 6 months ago when Caesar and I entered the contest, even though I¡¯d hoped that one of us would win so that I could start fixing my life again, I always thought that it wouldn¡¯t work. ¡®No one ever wins these contests.¡¯ It was the thought that was always in the back of my mind. Just in case we did win against all odds though, I hadn¡¯t been sitting around doing nothing. I¡¯d gotten my body back up to the shape it was when I got out of prison. I¡¯m not at the level of a body-builder, but I¡¯m lean with muscles at all the right place to be strong and flexible. In my spare time away from building my body back up to size, I did my research on the game as well. But now that we have 2 of these things here at the house, there was a question I just had to ask. I turned to Caesar who was looking at the other capsule with a strange look on his face. ¡°Caesar, you alright man?¡± He snapped out of whatever it was that he was thinking of, and turned to me with a smile on his face. ¡°Yeah man, I¡¯m fine. I¡¯m happy for you though, it looks like you¡¯ll be getting that jump-start on getting a new life after all.¡± ¡°Listen, there¡¯s something I have to ask you. I didn¡¯t think it was possible before since I thought we¡¯d only ever have 1 of these things, but now that we¡¯ve got 2¡­¡± He grimaced. ¡°I know what you want to ask, but I can¡¯t. I¡¯ve only ever wanted to help people, and the best way for me to do that right now is to keep doing what I do at the hospital.¡± My face fell. I knew what he was going to say even before I asked, but I¡¯d had to know for sure. ¡°Alright man, I understand. Wish me luck, I¡¯m going in.¡± ¡°Good luck.¡± I stepped closer to the capsule with my name engraved on the glass covering, and it slip open with a whoosh. I lay down on the bed inside, and the glass slid back over and turned opaque. A few seconds passed and a window appeared on the glass in front my eyes.
SCAN COMPLETE. UNREGISTERED USER DETECTED. CREATE NEW USER?
YESNO
¡°Yes, and start game Awakening.¡±
PREVIOUS CHAPTERBack to Main PageNEXT CHAPTER
Chapter 1
USER REGISTERED: RAES BASTION.
¡®How¡¯d it know my name?¡¯ I dismissed that thought after wondering for a moment. ¡®Doesn¡¯t matter anyway.¡¯
WELCOME TO AWAKENING
I saw the words appear in my vision, and then dissolve into mist. Everything turned black. ¡­. I feel something hard against my face and open my eyes. Dirt. I just see a lot of dirt, earth and grass near me. Everything is shrouded in mist. I try to see things around me, but the mist is too thick. I can¡¯t even see my hand in front of my face, even though I know that it¡¯s right there. ¡®This is it? I can¡¯t believe this is the top VR game out there. Not very scenic, but I have to admit that it feels pretty real.¡¯ The mist seeped into my clothes as I walked around, looking for something that was solid. The only thing I could actually feel was the ground under my feet, aside from the cold. 5 minutes later and I was still looking for a way out of this freaking mist! The clothes I had on were already soaked from the mist that it trapped inside its fibers, my body was shivering, my teeth were clattering, and I think that I might have gotten hypothermia (again) if I hadn¡¯t seen blurred shapes in the distance. I probably should have been more cautious, but after wandering around literally being lost in a cloud, I saw something that wasn¡¯t mist and I ran towards it. The ground flew past me as I sprinted towards the shapes in the distance. At first it was easy. I was back in top shape (or at least the best shape I¡¯d ever been in), and sprinting long distances was nothing to me. I took deep breaths in through my nose and slowly exhaled out of my mouth, controlling my breathing so that it would be easier to keep the pace I had. Time flew by, just like the ground I¡¯d covered. The things I¡¯d seen in the distance had gotten somewhat closer, but it wasn¡¯t enough to make anyone excited about it. They¡¯d gone from a blurry figure in the distance about the size of an ant, to something about the size of a cat. My chest was already starting to burn with all the effort that it took to keep going. With nothing else around me that I could see, I knew that I couldn¡¯t stop. What was the point in stopping after I¡¯d gotten this far? Sure, I didn¡¯t think that I had gotten a lot closer to whatever it was in the distance, but it¡¯s not like I had any other choice. It was either keep running towards that thing in the distance, or stop now and still have to run towards it later on. ¡®I can¡¯t waste time in this game. This is just the first step towards getting back everything I lost.¡¯ In the 6 months before the results of the contest had been announced, I¡¯d thought over what exactly it was that I wanted to do with my life. If you¡¯d have the Raes Bastion from when he was 17, he probably would¡¯ve just laughed at you for even considering something like that. To him, every moment was supposed to be spontaneous. Even though he had a wife, even though he had a daughter on the way, nothing could¡¯ve made him sit down and actually plan out the future. Not the long-term future anyway. If it was about what you wanted to do the following week, or the following month, he would¡¯ve told you a bunch of events that he¡¯d already planned to go, and many things to do. But asking him what he wanted to do with his life? Forget it. You were better off trying to asking a cat to explain to you what cold fusion was. And the cat probably would¡¯ve given you an answer faster too. That Raes Bastion was still a kid. A kid playing a game at being an adult. Even though he had a wife and a baby on the way, he hadn¡¯t had that moment of clarity that a person has when they first start to mature. And when he finally did get that moment of clarity at his daughter¡¯s birth, he wouldn¡¯t have long to dwell on it either. He¡¯d be shipped off to a trial and wrongfully imprisoned soon afterwards. I¡¯m not that person anymore though. That guy is long gone. It took me almost the entire 6 months before the results had come out, but after thinking for so long I finally knew what I wanted to do. I decided that I couldn¡¯t care less about being rich. I¡¯d had all that money once before, and it had never actually helped me out at all. In fact, you could almost say that money and power were the things that had gotten me in this situation in the first place. If I¡¯d just been an average person with a normal amount of money, when I met Sarah I could¡¯ve swept her off her feet sooner. I could¡¯ve started a family sooner. I could¡¯ve been a better person. Instead, I¡¯d been an arrogant asshole that had to do a complete 180 and go through all the romantic gestures known to man before I even got the girl of my dreams to look at me. I¡¯d lost everything I had because people hated and envied me because of how rich, famous and powerful I was. No, I didn¡¯t care about money or power any more. What I finally found out was something incredibly simple. I just wanted my family back. I couldn¡¯t do that as just another random hobo on the street though. I had to have enough money to at least support all of us once we became a family again. I couldn¡¯t even get near them though if I was still a criminal. I don¡¯t know how I¡¯m going to do it, but I have to find a way to get revenge on the people who did this to me and prove I¡¯m innocent. As far as the order goes on that, I¡¯ll make up my mind when I get there. But to do that, I needed money. It all came back to money. I don¡¯t want to involve Caesar in this, since even I don¡¯t know the things that I might do when I finally get the chance to decide between revenge and justice. So in the end, what I wanted out of life added up to become a 3-step program. Make money. Get vengeance and/or prove my innocence. Make my family whole again. Shaking my head to clear it of old memories, I tried to concentrate on the task at hand. The sound of my foot striking the ground echoed everywhere. Each step that I took became slower and slower, not because I¡¯d stopped trying to sprint as hard as I could, but because the mist got thicker and thicker. As the shapes in the distance got closer and became more defined, the mist became thicker and thicker, to the point that it was like trying to run through jelly. If anyone had seen me through right then, I probably would¡¯ve died from embarrassment. I¡¯d slowed down to the point where I wasn¡¯t even close to walking speed, even though I was still pushing my body to its limits. It was almost like I was posing for the front of a sports magazine, pretending to run. Sweat ran down my face in streams, mixing in with the mist that my clothes had trapped. I knew I wouldn¡¯t last much longer. The mist had become so thick that when I tried breathing, it swirled into my throat choking me. So I stopped breathing. The edges of my vision were already turning black, but I somehow knew that I was close. Alert after alert flashed in front of me, but I ignored them all and pushed them to the side. There was something else that was more important. ¡®It¡¯s right there! I can see it!!¡¯ The blurred shapes looked like they¡¯d literally moved up in the world, or more accurately it had probably always been there. It just looked like it was close to the ground since I was far away, but now that I was closer I could see that it was on top of some kind of mound. ¡®Is that¡­ a tree?!¡¯ With a POOF I burst out from that mist, a half-crazed look on my face with sweat flying everywhere, screaming out in pain. The first thing I saw was a massive tree with leaves of every color of the rainbow on top of a grassy knoll. What I saw right after that were the patches of dirt between each blade of grass, because I¡¯d collapsed then and there. Every muscle fiber in my arms and legs felt like they¡¯d been torn, blood was pouring out from the places where my skin had ripped open, and parts of my body had turned blue from the intense freezing that the mist had subjected it to. My loud screaming drew something to me, and I heard the word [HEAL] shouted out. A comforting warmness washed over me, and I sighed with relief. Miraculously all the dried blood that had been on my clothes and skin were gone, my skin was back to its normal shade. My clothes were still slightly wet but they weren¡¯t cold anymore. Steam was coming out from them, and they were getting drier by the second. ¡®And everything magically worked out fine.¡¯ I grinned at the thought. I slowly stood up, almost groaning with joy at the absence of pain, when I realized that a girl had been standing in front of me with a worried look the entire time. ¡®Is she the one who healed me?¡¯ The girl couldn¡¯t have been more than 9, with black hair and dark skin. She didn¡¯t even reach my chest, but there was something about her that warned me that I shouldn¡¯t take her lightly. She was in a white dress with floral designs, and her green eyes still had a worried look in them, so I struck a pose to show her that I was alright. She giggled and her eyes lit up as she shouted, ¡°Mister, you¡¯re okay!¡± Smiling at how fast she changed, I thought ¡®Always did want to try ¡°that¡± out on Talia. Might as well try it out now and see if it works.¡¯ Still in my pose (fists on my hips just like the old ¡°man of steel¡± movies), I said ¡°Of course I¡¯m ok. I¡¯m Batman!¡± (*Because even Superman wants to be Batman*) Her eyes widened in awe and she asked, ¡°Wow, is your name really Batman?¡±
Confirm. Create Player with the name ¡°Batman¡±?
YesNo
¡®Oh shit! No, no, no, no, no!¡¯ I coughed to cover my embarrassment. ¡®Is this the part where I create my character? Have to be careful with what I say then.¡¯ I relaxed and dropped the ridiculous pose. ¡°No, I¡¯m just joking. My name isn¡¯t actually Batman.¡± I let out a sigh of relief as the window asking me to confirm my character¡¯s name as Batman disappeared. The girl¡¯s face fell. ¡°Aww. So what is your name then mister?¡± I was thunderstruck! ¡®Crud, did I really forget to think up a name for myself?¡¯ Thoughts racing, I quickly thought of something that would be perfect. The Arabic name for a monster, the thing that they¡¯d all turned me into. ¡°My name is Wahshi.¡± She scrunched up her face. ¡°Huh? Is your name really Washy?¡±
Confirm. Create Player with the name ¡°Washy¡±?
YesNo
¡°No, my name is Wahshi.¡± ¡°Washy?¡± ¡°No, Wahshi!¡± I groaned inwardly. Somehow, I knew this wouldn¡¯t be the last time I would have to deal with this kind of thing. ¡°It¡¯s Wahshi. W-A-H-S-H-I.¡± It was like a lightbulb turned on in her mind. ¡°Oh! I get it, I get it!¡± She said excited and proud.
Confirm. Create Player with the name ¡°Wahshi¡±?
YesNo
¡®Whew! Thank god she actually got it right. I DEFINITELY don¡¯t want to be walking around as Washy.¡¯ I whispered ¡°yes¡± under my breath, and the window confirmed that he had chosen the name ¡°Wahshi¡± as his character. ¡°Mister¡­mister!!¡± Wahshi looked back at the little girl bouncing up and down trying to get his attention. ¡°What were you looking at Mr. Wahshi?¡± She asked with a quizzical look on her face. ¡°Oh, uh, nothing.¡± ¡®Man, even though I know they¡¯re NPC¡¯s, I can¡¯t stop thinking that they¡¯re almost like real people. I probably shouldn¡¯t mention anything game-like to them, like status screens and system confirmations.¡¯ ¡°Oh, I almost forgot. What¡¯s your name little girl?¡± Her cheeks puffed out, and she made a cute ¡°Hmph!¡± sound. ¡°I¡¯m not little!¡± She stomped the ground with her little foot. I held my hands up in what I hoped was a sign of peace. ¡°Whoa! Ok, I get it. You¡¯re not a little girl. I can¡¯t just keep calling you ¡®girl¡¯ right? I just wanted to know what I can call you.¡± Faster than you could snap your fingers, she had already forgiven me and was smiling again. ¡°My name is Gaia, nice to meet you!¡± Gaia held out her hand for him to shake. Taking her hand in his, Wahshi said ¡°Nice to meet you too.¡± Dropping her hand and looking around he realized that there was no one else around except for Gaia and himself. ¡°Hey Gaia, do you live here alone by any chance?¡± ¡°Mmhm!¡± She nodded. ¡°I¡¯ve always been here. I don¡¯t know why, but it feels like I¡¯ve been waiting for someone.¡± Turning from side to side like little girls do when they¡¯re nervous, she hesitatingly asked, ¡°Umm, Mr. Wahshi, if you don¡¯t mind me asking¡­. What are you?¡± As she asked that, an image of himself appeared in his mind. Three words were stacked one on top of the other next to the image of himself in the clothes that he wore when he lay down in the capsule. A man with average height, a wiry build, and flexible muscles in his late 30¡¯s stared at him with brown eyes. His dark black hair had been close-cropped, and it showed on this new character. Human. Elf. Werebeast. These were the words that were stacked on top of each other next to him. ¡®Ah, so this must be the part where I actually pick out my race and appearance.¡¯ Since I had planned for this part in advance, I already knew what I wanted. I mentally selected Human from the list and made a few changes to the image of himself in his mind. ¡®Let¡¯s see¡­ make the face look a few years older, like a person in his early 40¡¯s.¡¯ The man in his mind slowly aged, and he had a far-off look on his face. ¡®The eyes should change to match my emotions, and make the skin a few shades lighter.¡¯ The game acquiesced, and a lightly tanned man in his early forties stared straight at him (or at least where he thought he was in his own mind). The eyes flickered every few seconds to become different colors, which I¡¯m guessing would reflect the different emotions that the character was going through. ¡®It¡¯s too bad I can only change my appearance and not my height. I always wanted to be a little taller.¡¯ The company that made Awakening had realized early on that there were too many problems that came with letting players change certain aspects of themselves. It¡¯s why they were never allowed the option of changing their size and gender when creating their characters. If people became even a little unaccustomed to their bodies in real life, it could cause major physical and mental problems that would ultimately rack up lawsuits against the company. ¡®I guess these changes will have to do. It¡¯d be a disaster if somebody saw that the infamous Raes Bastion was playing Awakening.¡¯ Wahshi mentally confirmed his race choice and his new appearance, and immediately felt the changes occur. Realizing that Gaia had been biting her lip and waiting for him to say something for a while now, he let her know of his race choice. ¡°Hmm, I¡¯m not sure, but I think I¡¯m a human.¡± He didn¡¯t know it, but his eyes had changed to become a lively green, reflecting his joking mood. The little girl¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Cool! Your eyes just turned green!¡± I grinned. ¡®She¡¯s just too cute! Almost like how I¡¯d imagine Tal-¡® Knowing that my thoughts were headed someplace I didn¡¯t want it to, I shook my head to shake off the depressing feelings that had almost bubbled up to the surface. ¡°Hey Mr. Wahshi, I almost forgot to tell you something.¡± She tugged on the hem of my shirt and motioned for me to get closer to her. Humoring her, I sunk down to her level. She put her mouth close to my ear and whispered, ¡°Congratulations. You¡¯re the first person to make it out of the Mist of Souls!¡± If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
FEAT ACCOMPLISHED: I WAS BORN RUNNING REQUIREMENTS: DISCOVER A WAY OUT OF THE MIST OF SOULS, DISCOVER THE TREE OF LIFE AT THE HEART OF THE MIST, ACCOMPLISH THE ABOVE BEFORE CREATING YOUR CHARACTER IN THE GAME REWARD: SPECIAL SKILL ¡°SOUL ORIGIN¡± TITLE ¡°MISTBORN¡± FAME +50
FEAT ACCOMPLISHED: GAIA¡¯S FIRST FRIEND REQUIREMENTS: BE THE FIRST TO ACCOMPLISH THE FEAT ¡°I WAS BORN RUNNING¡±, BEFRIEND GAIA REWARD: TITLE ¡°MISTBORN¡± -> UNIQUE TITLE ¡°FIRST-BORN OF THE MIST¡± FAME +50
Gaia ran off giggling happily, leaving me completely confused. ¡®What just happened? The game has been out for years¡­. Is this not what normally happens when you try to create a character?¡¯ Deciding that it would be easier to ask Gaia these questions instead of trying to figure them out on my own, I ran towards the tree to catch up with her. I managed to catch up to her, but before I could ask any questions she took me by the hand and dragged me over to a pool of water near the tree. ¡°Sorry Mr. Wahshi. I wish you could stay longer, but I have this feeling that you need to go somewhere else now. Jump into that pool and you¡¯ll be able to get to where it is you need to go.¡± I turned back to look at her. I opened my mouth to object, but when I thought it about it, she was just an npc. No matter what I said or did, if this was what she was programmed to do, then asking too many questions would probably get me nowhere. Still¡­ ¡°Alright, but I don¡¯t feel good leaving you here by yourself though. Why don¡¯t you come with me?¡± She shook her head. ¡°I can¡¯t, I¡¯m still waiting for someone. But you should definitely come visit! And when I do find meet the person I¡¯m waiting for, we¡¯ll go and visit you too!¡± She must have seen that I was still hesitating to leave her alone out here, because the next thing I knew I was falling backwards towards the pool. Gaia was waving goodbye, but my eyes were drawn to the tree behind her. I could¡¯ve sworn that I¡¯d seen it before too. A massive tree that spread its branches proudly. It might¡¯ve been my imagination, but it almost seemed like there was light coming from a crack in the middle of the tree. I felt water splash against my back, and everything went dark. ***** ¡°Oof!¡± I¡¯m not sure how, but I landed on my front, and it knocked all the wind out of me. Getting up, I saw that I was in a typical ¡°grassy plains¡± type area with a forest behind me and a city in front. There were people everywhere, fighting off all kinds of weird creatures. The strange thing though was that they didn¡¯t look like new players. Most of them had on fancy armors and had strong looking weapons. Looking down at myself, I saw that I had on what looked like a drab-brown tunic with matching leggings. Thinking that it would probably be better to get to somewhere safe first before doing anything else, I headed in the direction of the city walls. I made sure not to get in the aggro zone for any of the monsters, and I was paid extra attention to the players, making sure I didn¡¯t get in their way. ¡®Alright, this should be far enough away.¡¯ I was far enough away from the monsters that I wouldn¡¯t be attacked, but there were still a lot of other people around. I didn¡¯t exactly know which ones were players and which were npc¡¯s since there¡¯s nothing to show that aside from their behavior, but I could take a guess. Lucky for me everyone was far enough away that they wouldn¡¯t be able to hear me check my stats. For now it was probably better if I kept everyone wondering if I was an NPC. I¡¯d gotten more than a few weird looks on the way here. Whenever I passed by, people would start talking to each other while they were in battle. I¡¯d say that it¡¯s possible they were talking about something other than me, but when it happens after you pass anyone, you realize that they actually are talking about you. ¡°Status Window!¡±
STATUS WINDOW
NAMEWAHSHILEVEL1
RACEHUMANGENDERMALE
CLASSNONEMONEY0G 1S 0C
TITLEFIRST-BORN OF THE MIST
HEALTH110MANA110
STRENGTH28INTELLIGENCE20
DEXTERITY20WILLPOWER12
VITALITY20CHARISMA10
AGILITY20LUCK17
FAME100
PASSIVE SKILLS
PERSEVERE: YOU HAVE GONE THROUGH INCREDIBLE PAINS TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOAL WHEN HEALTH IS LESS THAN 50%, PAIN DECREASES 1% PER ADDITIONAL PERCENT OF HEALTH LOST
ELDEST: YOU ARE THE OLDEST CHILD OF YOUR CLAN, AND THEREFORE THE STRONGEST. +1 TO ALL STATS FOR EVERY MISTBORN IN THE WORLD, EXCLUDING YOURSELF (CURRENT NUMBER OF MISTBORN: 1 [YOURSELF])
ACTIVE SKILLS
SOUL ORIGIN: YOU HAVE ACCOMPLISHED A FEAT FEW WOULD KNOW ABOUT, AND DISCOVERED THE BIRTHPLACE OF YOUR SOUL. TRAVEL TO THE MIST OF SOULS IS NOW POSSIBLE UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS, IF THE COST IS PAID. ACTIVATION REQUIREMENTS: ??? ACTIVATION COSTS: ???
What¡¯s going on? Looking at my status solved the question of what my [SOUL ORIGIN] skill did, but it left me with even more questions than it answered. I couldn¡¯t even activate the only skill I had, since I didn¡¯t know what conditions I had to be in, and what the cost was! Even more puzzling was the fact that I had just made my character but I was already stronger than anyone else my level! ¡®Why are my stats this high when I¡¯ve just started?¡¯ I noticed a flashing icon at the bottom right corner of my vision. Mentally choosing to view it, it expanded and I saw that it was a list of the system alerts I¡¯d decided to ignore back when I was trying to get out of the mist.
STRENGTH+1: ERROR. CHARACTER NOT CREATED. CHANGES WILL BE APPLIED AFTER CHARACTER CREATION.
STRENGTH+1: ERROR. CHARACTER NOT CREATED. CHANGES WILL BE APPLIED AFTER CHARACTER CREATION.
STRENGTH+1: ERROR. CHARACTER NOT CREATED. CHANGES WILL BE APPLIED AFTER CHARACTER CREATION.
STRENGTH+1: ERROR. CHARACTER NOT CREATED. CHANGES WILL BE APPLIED AFTER CHARACTER CREATION.
FOR PUSHING THROUGH AGAINST INCREASING DIFFICULTIES, THE WILLPOWER STAT HAS BEEN CREATED. ERROR. CHARACTER NOT CREATED. CHANGES WILL BE APPLIED AFTER CHARACTER CREATION.
STRENGTH+1: ERROR. CHARACTER NOT CREATED. CHANGES WILL BE APPLIED AFTER CHARACTER CREATION.
STRENGTH+1: ERROR. CHARACTER NOT CREATED. CHANGES WILL BE APPLIED AFTER CHARACTER CREATION.
WILLPOWER+1: ERROR. CHARACTER NOT CREATED. CHANGES WILL BE APPLIED AFTER CHARACTER CREATION.
STRENGTH+1: ERROR. CHARACTER NOT CREATED. CHANGES WILL BE APPLIED AFTER CHARACTER CREATION.
STRENGTH+1: ERROR. CHARACTER NOT CREATED. CHANGES WILL BE APPLIED AFTER CHARACTER CREATION.
WILLPOWER+1: ERROR. CHARACTER NOT CREATED. CHANGES WILL BE APPLIED AFTER CHARACTER CREATION.
YOU HAVE GONE THROUGH INCREDIBLE PAINS TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOAL. PERSEVERE (PASSIVE) SKILL ACQUIRED. ERROR. CHARACTER NOT CREATED. CHANGES WILL BE APPLIED AFTER CHARACTER CREATION.
YOU HAVE BET YOUR LIFE THAT YOU WOULD REACH YOUR GOAL BEFORE DYING AND WON THE GAMBLE. LUCK+5: ERROR. CHARACTER NOT CREATED. CHANGES WILL BE APPLIED AFTER CHARACTER CREATION.
YOU HAVE BEEN HEALED OF FATAL INJURIES BY A RANDOM PERSON, LUCKY YOU! LUCK+2: ERROR. CHARACTER NOT CREATED. CHANGES WILL BE APPLIED AFTER CHARACTER CREATION.
So my strength increased by 8, my willpower by 2 and my luck by 7. That doesn¡¯t add up at all! From what I knew about the game, it seems like the base number was 10 for each stat. ¡®Does willpower do what the forums say it does?¡¯ ¡°Help: Willpower Stat¡±
WILLPOWER: DETERMINES WHETHER OR NOT A STATUS EFFECT WILL TAKE HOLD. DEBUFFING AN ENEMY REQUIRES HIGHER WPR THAN THEM, AND VICE VERSA FIGHTING OFF A POSSIBLE STATUS DEBUFF REQUIRES A HIGHER WPR THAN THE CASTER. ALSO CREATES A SKILL WHEN WILLPOWER IS GREATER THAN OR EQUAL TO 100.
Well, looks like it does everything I thought it would. Once it reaches 100, the stat should create the passive skill [MAGICAL RESISTANCE], which would help out a lot. Until then, I¡¯m on my own though. ¡®Alright, saved the best for last. Time to find out what my title gets me.¡¯ ¡°Help: Current Title¡±
FIRST-BORN OF THE MIST A UNIQUE TITLE GIVEN ONLY TO THE FIRST PERSON TO ACCOMPLISH THE FEAT ¡°I WAS BORN RUNNING¡±, AND EVEN THEN ONLY IF THEY MANAGE TO BEFRIEND GAIA. GRANTS: +10 TO ALL STATS, ACCESS TO MISTBORN ABILITIES WHEN DISCOVERED, ACCESS TO UNIQUE ABILITIES GIVEN ONLY TO THE HOLDER OF THIS TITLE (IF DISCOVERED), PASSIVE SKILL ¡°ELDEST¡±
¡®Well that explains it.¡¯ Looks like most of my stat bonuses were from the title I got right after I created my character. Closing the windows, I looked around and realized that there was a group of people headed towards me. One of them was obviously a warrior-type. He had a muscular build and was over 6 feet tall, with steel armor and shield. His sword was a rather plain-looking iron sword, which was the only thing that didn¡¯t match with what he was wearing. Another looked like she was the rogue-type, dressed in leather armor while the other was definitely a mage. She only had cloth armor equipped and was walking around with a staff. All 3 of them gave off the vibe that they knew what they were doing. Even though they didn¡¯t seem like experts in their fields, I knew that they were definitely more experienced than someone like me who had just started. The warrior led the group, and the women followed behind him side-by-side. I got the feeling that the man was sizing me up, but when I looked him in the eyes, it seemed like he had already come to a conclusion. ¡°Greetings good sir. You do not seem to be of these parts, and are obviously distressed. My party and I are experienced Travelers, and are always more than happy to help people in need. Please tell us, what is it that ails you?¡± Surprise colored my face, but I made sure that it was gone as soon as it showed. ¡®What¡¯s wrong with this guy? Does everyone here speak like this?¡¯ I sighed inwardly. ¡®I¡¯ve got questions that need answering, but is it really worth sounding like this idiot? Ah crud. Well, when in Rome¡­¡¯ ¡°I am not sure where to begin, stranger. Before I tell you anything though, I must ask, what is a Traveler?¡±
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Chapter 2 Author''s Note:Sorry for the long wait. It''s been a crazy few weeks, full of projects, exams, and a bunch of other stuff that happened. I also turned 20 last week! So, this time I made it so that the story is generally written in 3rd person, unless it specifically says that it''s from someone''s POV. Let me know what you guys think of it. Also, please leave a few comments and let me know if there are any ways I can improve the story, or if there''s anything that doesn''t make sense. I''d appreciate it if you could rate the chapter too, so I know how you guys feel about the quality of my writing so far. I''ll also leave another Author''s Note at the end of this chapter to tell you when the next chapter will be out. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In a forest outside of a city, 3 people stood around the decomposing body of an ogre. They were all bent over with fatigue, the fight had almost killed them. What was infuriating though was the fact that they¡¯d finally made it to the center of the forest, but this last battle had took everything they had. All their potions had been used, their best skills were now on their long cooldowns, and all of their mana and stamina had been depleted. They all knew what this meant. They had to turn back. One of the people finally caught his breath, and straightened. ¡°Alright, that¡¯s it! We¡¯re switching to plan B.¡± Turning around, he started walking in the direction of the city. The 2 people that were with him gave each other a look, and followed him back. The woman in leather armor scouted ahead to make sure that they wouldn¡¯t run into any more monsters, since she was able to [sneak] along and not get caught. Every now and then she would run into a monster, and she would have to double back to her party which followed her path, and they would make sure to give the creature a wide berth. It wasn¡¯t something that was easy to do, but it was something that got easier as they came closer to the edge of the forest. The farther away you were from the center of the forest, the weaker the monsters were. When they finally emerged from the forest onto the grassy fields, the man in armor strode past them and led the way back towards the city from there. With a hesitant look on her face, the woman in leather called out to the man in armor over their [party chat]. ¡°Hey Zhang, are we really going to do this?¡± Zhang stopped and turned his head to look at her. His cold steel glinted in the sun, and his helmet covered his cold, intimidating gaze. ¡°Of course we¡¯re going to do this! Why the hell wouldn¡¯t we, Alexa?¡± The rogue shivered on the inside. This might have been a game, but that didn¡¯t mean much when everything was so real. Even though pain was limited to only 40% of what you¡¯d feel in real life, it was still there. Death was always terrifying too, and telling yourself that it was all a game didn¡¯t always help. Zhang could easily kill her if he set his mind to it. ¡°It just feels wrong. Why don¡¯t we just go through the forest ourselves? We¡¯re stronger than almost everything there anyway, and Misa can do crowd control for us. If we do it right, we don¡¯t need anyone else.¡± Alexa saw Misa walk past her and stand next to Zhang, which prompted Alexa to stare at the blonde mage. ¡°Hey, don¡¯t look at me. I¡¯m with Zhang on this one. What if we go in there and another freakishly strong monster comes out? Those local events always pop out at the most random times when you¡¯re out there, and then we¡¯d have to either fight or run. If we have to run, I¡¯d want something between me and the thing chasing us!¡± Zhang let out a smile that was too cold for words, and clasped his hands together. ¡°Great! It¡¯s settled. We find someone to be our meat-shield, and ditch them if we have to.¡± Turning back towards the city, Zhang strode across the grassy field, Misa quickly following behind him. Not wanting to be left behind, Alexa ran to catch up to them and ended up walking side-by-side with the person she¡¯d hoped would¡¯ve backed her up against Zhang. *** After resupplying at the town, they headed back out onto the grassy plains outside. Monsters of all kinds were everywhere, and all sorts of people from different classes were teaming up to take them down. Some of them were strong enough to fight solo, but those people were few and rare out on the field. The whole scene reminded Alexa of her days back at the starter city Guardian. People would always be out scouring the area right outside the city for foxes and rabbits, the creatures that beginners would always be hunting. It wasn¡¯t only players that were out hunting them though. NPC¡¯s, or ¡°Ralian¡¯s¡± as they called themselves, could also be found fighting alongside the new players. These were typically Ralians that were just starting out as adventurers, and were almost indistinguishable from players. The only way you could tell if they were players, or ¡°Travelers¡± as the Ralians called them, was in the way they talked. Ralians had no knowledge of Earth, and they spoke in a stereotypical ¡°middle-ages¡± way. Players could even pretend to be Ralians, if they tried hard enough. Most got caught though, as eventually they would say or do something that obviously any Ralian would not. The difference between someone pretending to be a Ralian, and someone who was speaking like one in order to gain their favor though, was completely different. The ones speaking like Ralians to get their favor wouldn''t hesitate to mention anything from Earth, since Ralians knew they came from a different world. Pretenders however, would act completely like Ralians and feign confusion at anything from Earth. The scene outside the city that Alexa and her party were at was not normal. These were monsters and creatures in the upper 40¡¯s and mid-level 50¡¯s. Furthermore, this was a city bordering Werebeast territories in the Principality of Yonasia. Only those who had reached a certain level and skill would be able to make it here from the starter cities, due to the increasing levels and strengths of the monsters as you got closer to any border. Monsters of that level didn¡¯t normally get close to a city. But even so, the grassy plains were still full of them, and the Ralians and Travelers that fought them. That was because of the yearly event ¡°Spring Mating Season¡± for monsters. As the name suggests, it was a time when the monsters would get together. The only problem for the sentient races though, was the fact that any male monster that wanted to be with a female would have to prove to her that they were strong. To do that, they had to go out and kill a high number of people. There were no restrictions on race when it came to copulation, the male monster only had to kill many. If the Travelers and Ralians failed to defeat the waves of monsters that attacked cities and towns with large populations, then the population of the sentient races would decrease, and all of the creatures would become more numerous and strong. New races of creatures would even appear, which was why some players would decide not to join in on the hunt. New creatures were always welcome, since they led to new quests and new items. But the scene that Alexa witnessed in front of her right now proved that not everyone was ok with what might happen if they fail. Spells flew by, swords and claws clashed, and a seemingly endless amount of chants and words were spoken. No one knew what would happen if all of the sentient races died, and that was more than enough for the majority of players to join in on the yearly quest. Zhang, Misa and Alexa leapt into the fray, their teamwork proving to be too much for the majority of monsters, leaving a trail of decomposing bodies empty of loot for anyone to find. Zhang attracted the monsters as the tank, and held them off while Misa cast spell after spell on the creatures they faced. Some made them freeze in place, others left them burning in agony, and other spells left debilitating effects on the creatures. As Zhang fended off the monsters and Misa weakened them from afar, Alexa darted in and out between them. Sometimes appearing near Zhang and attacking the enemy¡¯s weak points, other times distracting and seriously wounding any monsters that tried to attack their spell caster. Like this, they wandered around the plains as Zhang coldly evaluated each person they came across. While doing so, they met people who all spoke of the same thing. A person dressed like a normal villager that suddenly appeared out of thin air near the forest, and had nimbly crossed the plains while managing to avoid all of the monsters and people. ¡°What do you think it could be, Zhang? Is it a new player?¡± Alexa asked. New players in Awakening started out in simple villager garb, appearing out of thin air just like the rumors about this new person said, after all. ¡°Don¡¯t be an idiot Alexa. We¡¯re at a city bordering the Werebeast territories, there¡¯s no way someone like that could have made it from the starter cities by themselves. They¡¯d have had to cross paths with monsters that would have shredded them to pieces before they¡¯d made it halfway!¡± Zhang paused. ¡°What I¡¯m thinking is that it¡¯s either a new quest NPC, or a seriously high-level player that has a reason for making themselves look weak.¡± Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.Misa perked up. ¡°Want to go find out? Didn¡¯t that last person say that he looked like he was heading to a spot near the city gates?¡± ¡°Sounds good to me. Who knows, he might just turn out to be the perfect meat-shield for us. If he¡¯s an npc and we end up not needing to use him as a distraction, he might end up giving us a quest. If we do need him to die for us, since he¡¯s an npc he won¡¯t come back to life anyway.¡± When she heard this, Alexa knew she had to speak up. She had a bad feeling about all of this, and even though it was a game, it still seemed wrong to use other people that way. She knew though, that they wouldn¡¯t listen to her if she just said that, so she tried to appeal to them through logic. ¡°What if he¡¯s actually a high-level player like you thought, Zhang? Wouldn¡¯t he just wipe us out if we tried anything?¡± Zhang couldn¡¯t help but sneer at what she¡¯d mentioned. ¡°Even if he does turn out to be a high-level player, we¡¯re the highest leveled players in Yonasia. We can handle him if it comes to that.¡± Her logic cruelly rejected, she couldn¡¯t do anything but accept whatever happened. Without any further discussion, they all headed back towards the city gates. They dominated all of the creatures in their path, to the point where everyone else around them made sure to give them a wide berth. *** Approaching the city walls, they saw that the rumors were true. There was someone standing around outside the city in simple villager clothes. It was painfully obvious that he didn¡¯t belong in the crowd that was there. With his clothes, he stood out among the other hunters like a sore thumb. Zhang sent out a [whisper] using the [party chat]. ¡°Follow my lead. I¡¯ll see if he¡¯s good enough to be our meat-shield, then we¡¯ll find out if he¡¯s really a player or not.¡± Not waiting for a response, he strode towards the man as Alexa and Misa walked side-by-side behind him. When he got close to the man, Zhang discreetly used the skill [observe] to gauge him.
Name: Wahshi Level: 1
Mentally affirming that the man was perfect for what they needed, he thought that there was still something off about him. ¡®He¡¯s a guy in his 40¡¯s, at level 1 who looks pretty confused. He has to be an npc, there¡¯s no way someone could¡¯ve gotten all the way here without at least leveling up once. Still, there¡¯s something not right about him. I better check and make sure.¡¯ ¡°Greetings good sir. You do not seem to be of these parts, and are obviously distressed. My party and I are experienced Travelers, and are always more than happy to help people in need. Please tell us, what is it that ails you?¡± Mentally congratulating himself on the great test he¡¯d devised, Zhang missed the momentary surprise that flickered on the other man¡¯s face. If he had seen it, he might¡¯ve figured out that the man obviously wasn¡¯t one of the Ralians. But even if he had seen it, his pride and arrogance might have made it so that he couldn¡¯t even think that someone like that could have made it to where he was. In the end, it was all a moot point. Zhang had already decided that this man wasn¡¯t a player, and was just going through the motions of actually testing him. He was already thinking about the different ways he could use a person like him as a shield if the need arose. ¡®Alright, what¡¯ll you do now old man?¡¯ Zhang had just recently turned 25, but his childish attitudes towards people older than him had never stopped. One might actually say that they grew, instead. ¡®If he¡¯s a player, which is impossible at that level, then he¡¯ll talk like someone from Earth. If he is a Ralian, then he shouldn¡¯t be a problem for us to handle.¡¯ The thought that a player this weak might pretend to be an npc never crossed his mind. The man opened his mouth to speak, and words came out that Zhang didn¡¯t expect to hear at all. ¡°I am not sure where to begin, stranger. Before I tell you anything though, I must ask, what is a Traveler?¡± Flabbergasted, it took Zhang a moment to compose himself. ¡®How can this guy not know what Travelers are? The time conversion between Earth and Ralia is set to 1:5, which means that even though the game has only been out for 5 years, players have been in Ralia for more than 2 decades!¡¯ ¡°Surely you jest my good man. How can you not have heard of Travelers? We are people who have come from another world, summoned here to help the various beings in this world with their problems.¡± ¡°I apologize if I have offended you stranger. In truth, I do not know of a great many things. I fell out of this hole in the sky, and somehow ended up here in this strange place.¡± The man explained. Mentally high-fiving himself, what the man said had only confirmed what Zhang had already decided was the truth. The man was clearly an npc! Even better, it looked like he might even give them a unique quest, if they gained his trust. There was no way an npc that had just randomly appeared out of thin air would not give a quest with amazing rewards! ¡°Allow me to give a suggestion.¡± Zhang propositioned. ¡°Come and travel with us, this way we can help you find your way back to where you came from. We will be able to keep you safe, and once you are in a familiar place, you would be welcome to leave us at any time.¡± ******* Wahshi POV ¡°Come and travel with us¡­¡± ¡®So¡­ Travelers meant the actual players, huh. Should¡¯ve seen that one coming, it was pretty obvious.¡¯ If they¡¯re players, then they wouldn¡¯t be doing this for no reason. No one stops by and just offers to help out. Plus, weren¡¯t they misunderstanding something? There wasn¡¯t any way back to the Mist of Souls aside from that skill, as far as Wahshi knew. Even then, he didn¡¯t even know how to use it. ¡®If it wasn¡¯t for Gaia being there, I¡¯d make it a point to never go back at all¡¯. Why were they acting so formal and helpful? ¡®It¡¯s almost like they think I¡¯m an¡­..¡¯ The mage elbowed the rogue. It was subtle enough that Wahshi didn¡¯t notice it. ¡°Uh, yeah! You should definitely come with us. Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll make sure you get to where you need to be.¡± She gave a thumbs up as a sign of confidence. Seeing her act confident and strong made Wahshi smile. She reminded him of another person. Someone he¡¯d first met on a train platform so many years ago. He looked to the man in armor and gave a nod. ¡°Alright. I leave myself in your hands.¡± Zhang grinned, and nodded in return. ¡°Thank you for your trust. Please, allow us to introduce ourselves. I am Zhang, the warrior in our party.¡± He gestured to the 2 people behind him. ¡°The beautiful lady in robes and armed with the staff is our team¡¯s mage.¡± She waved. ¡°Hi! My name is Misa, it¡¯s good to meet you!¡± ¡°And the pretty one with black hair and brown eyes next to her is our team¡¯s rogue.¡± The woman in dark leather gave him a smile and a nod. ¡°My name is Alexa. Thank you for coming with us.¡± Wahshi nodded in return. ¡°I am Wahshi. It is a pleasure to meet all of you.¡± Zhang clasped his hands together in front of him. ¡°Great! Now that we all know each other, shall we get going?¡± Wahshi looked at him in surprise. ¡°Already? As in, this exact moment?¡± ¡°Well of course! Unless you had something that you needed to do first, we should get a head start on our journey before dark.¡± ¡°I see¡­ Then let us be on our way. I do not have anything that I need to do before we go.¡± Wahshi furrowed his eyebrows. ¡°Speaking of that¡­ Where exactly might we be heading towards?¡± Misa answered him. ¡°We¡¯re heading to the Werebeast territories past the Boundary Forest.¡± ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author''s Note: So how was it? What did you guys of the way I wrote the story this time? Was there anything that didn''t make sense? Please rate and comment so I know how you guys feel about the story and my writing so far! Next chapter will be up on this site 7 days from now (5/20/15 PDT), unless I can get a rating or a comment that tells me how you guys are feeling about my writing so far. In that case, I''ll have it done by (5/17/15 PDT). I''m doing this to improve my writing, so help me out guys and leave a few suggestions if you can!
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Next Chapter Delayed by 1 day Sorry, chapter 3 will be delayed until tomorrow afternoon. I know I said it would be done by today, but I feel like it is not long enough yet, and that there is still a lot more that I could do with it. So with that, I am letting everyone know that no matter what, the next chapter will be out by tomorrow afternoon (that''s 5/18/15 PDT) at 6pm at the latest. I also wanted to know, what do you guys think about the title of the story? I''m thinking that I might change it, so let me know how you guys feel in the poll above. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
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Chapter 3: Part 1 Author''s Note: I wasn''t able to get this chapter to a satisfying length in time, so I decided to split it into parts. Tell me what you think about it in the comments. If anything about the game mechanics or the skills themselves doesn''t make sense, let me know. (* *) means author''s note by the way. Also, since the polls showed that the majority wanted to keep the title of the story to Cast Out, I''ll keep the title. Next chapter release will be told at the end of this chapter. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ In The Boundary Forest Zhang POV ¡°Zhang, look out!¡± Something pierced through the air, going so fast that it barely left me any time to raise my shield. Lucky for me, it was headed there already. A loud THUD rang out as the thing crashed into my shield. ¡°DAMMIT!! I hate these annoying monkeys!¡± We were already in the first outer layer of the forest, which also happened to be the part I hated the most. Monkeys were up in the branches of the trees, surrounding us and making sure we couldn¡¯t go anywhere. I¡¯d left my [Observe] skill on as soon as we entered the forest. There were only a few of the monkeys visible, the rest were too high up. What I saw would¡¯ve been more than enough to scare normal people back in the real world. These obviously weren¡¯t normal monkeys. How could they be? They might¡¯ve only been the first guardians you would¡¯ve had to get past if you wanted to travel between the territories, but they were still Boundary Forest Guardians. Their arms were long and slender, and the hair on their bodies were the color of camouflage which made it easier for them to sneak around in the trees or on the ground. They stood to be 6ft tall, with strong, flexible tails were half their height. I didn¡¯t hate them because they were sneaky though. If it was just that, then things would have gone a lot smoother. Any monkey that came and fought with brute strength, I could¡¯ve kept at bay. Any of them that tried to sneak up on us would have had to deal with Alexa, who would¡¯ve been able to block most of their attacks and give me enough time to take them on, but they didn¡¯t do either of those things. They did something much worse. ¡°Incoming!¡± Alexa warned. The monkeys on our left had targeted Misa! I quickly shifted her behind me, and I tried to angle my shield so that the attacks would slide off instead of taking it head on. I deflected the first attack away from us, with a SCREEEECH! as it grinded against my shield before flying off. I wasn¡¯t as lucky with the 2nd. With a THUD!! it caught my shield dead-on, leaving a dent. ¡®Ah crud, it better not be what I think it is!¡¯ It exploded with a BOOOOM!!! Leaving the rest of the fragments to land on the ground with a Plop, plop, plop. A foul stench wafted up to my nose after the last attack. I swept my eyes over my shield and what I saw didn¡¯t just make me angry. It made me FURIOUS! Blasted into my shield were the remains of the monkeys¡¯ attacks. Brown, smelly pieces. ¡°AAA, AAA, AAA!¡± The monkeys jumped up and down on the branches, laughing and pointing at what they¡¯d done as if it were the funniest thing in the world. Above their heads were blue boxes that only people that [Observe]¡¯d could see.
IRON-SH*T MONKEY: 1ST GUARDIAN OF THE BOUNDARIES
LVL:50
KNOWN ATTACKS: ARROW SH*T (PIERCING DMG), ROCK SH*T (BLUNT DMG), BLAST SH*T (BLUNT DMG, EXPLOSIVE DMG)
KNOWN WEAKNESSES: FIRE, FIRE MAGIC
KNOWN LORE: Unlike Iron-Staff Monkeys and Iron-Fist Monkeys, Iron-Sh*t Monkeys chose to forgo training their bodies or their skills with weapons. Instead, they took to eating the armor and weapons of fallen adventurers. Their sh*t gained properties of whatever they ate, and thus a new branch of Martial Art Monkeys was born. After generations of experimenting and training, their arms elongated to be able to throw better, and their tails hard and dexterous. This gives them an additional appendage with which to throw their favorite form of attacks. Generations ago they suffered an immense defeat at the hands of fire-wielding mage, and their hatred has been carried down even to this day.
And that¡¯s the reason why I hated this part of the forest. ¡®Damn sh*t-throwing monkeys!¡¯ Seeing that brown filth that was now baked into my shield from the explosion, my blood started boiling. ¡°Alexa! Grab the NPC and make sure they can¡¯t find you. Misa, start up the chant! I¡¯ll keep them off you in the meantime. Let¡¯s incinerate these bast**ds!¡± ¡°¡±Got it!¡±¡± Alexa spun in a circle, small silvery glints could be seen flashing from her hands as they flew towards the monkeys. Thinking that they couldn¡¯t act in time to stop them from leaving, she grabbed Wahshi¡¯s hand and dragged him off into the forest. The monkeys simply blocked with their tails, the small needles falling to the ground after being unable to penetrate it. Seeing that their prey was about to escape, they quickly handfuls of their weapons (*I hope I don¡¯t have to tell you where those came from*) and threw them¡ª -- ¡°Everything in this world has sparks, and any spark can beget a flame¡ª¡° Misa stood with arms outstretched, almost as if she was daring them to try and hit her. I knew the monkeys had heard her start to chant, because it had shocked them just enough to throw their aim off by a tiny margin. It was more than enough to spare the lives of Alexa and Wahshi though, who were able to disappear into the forest since all of the monkeys were now focused on Misa. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. I smirked. I could guess what was going through their heads already. A mage! And one that was casting fire magic as well! The last time Alexa, Misa and I had gone through here it had been night time. We¡¯d decided that we wanted the extra challenge, so we came at a time when we knew all of the creatures would be stronger. It had almost killed us too. Flashback They¡¯d surrounded us just like they did now, and I wasn¡¯t able to see their attacks well enough to stop them from almost killing all of us. Luckily, Alexa had dropped her torch after the explosion of one of their blast attacks had knocked her unconscious. It had dropped onto a monkey that had swung itself down onto the ground early, thinking that it could get its meal in before any of the other ones got down. As soon as the torch hit the monkey, its whole body lit up in flames! Screeching like mad and dashing around in pain, the only thing it managed to do was crash into a few trees before it died. After seeing that, Misa and I shared a predatory grin. She immediately started chanting while running between the trees, trying to make it harder for the monkeys to hit her while I tried to attract their attention and make sure that she didn¡¯t die before she finished casting the spell. It was a close call. At the end there was less than 10% of her health left, which we knew because she had already started seeing dark spots multiply in her vision. The game didn¡¯t show the health bar while you were fighting, so you could only guess how long it was until you died by the obvious signs. Needless to say, we sent most of them running with their a** on fire. Some of them stayed behind to protect the rest who were running away, but it turns out that it wasn¡¯t a good idea for them to have tried. Their sh*t was explosive! That, plus fire, equaled the end of the sh*tty monkeys from back then. Present Day 3rd person POV Now, Misa stood out in the open with her arms outstretched and her eyes closed, daring them to try and stop her. The area around us got hotter, and a red ring circled the staff that she held in her right hand. Each chant made it grow bigger and brighter. The monkeys at this point had all started throwing crap as fast as they could! Piercing whistles, crashes and explosions filled the air. None of the Iron-Sh*t Monkeys held anything back as they pelted her with sh*t, crap and turds. MAGES ARE THE ENEMY! Their faces betrayed that thought. Each one had a scowl, with their faces scrunched angrily as they screeched. ¡°OO, OO, AA, AA, AA!¡± Slender arms went to their backs, whipping them back out just as fast, the contents of their hands already flying towards their target. But none of them reached her! She stood in the middle of a literal sh*t-storm, perfectly unscathed. That¡¯s because right before she started chanting, Zhang had touched a small sigil that was barely noticeable in the middle of his chest plate, and his entire body lit up with a purple light. All of his armor exploded forth, spinning in the air to make a dome shape which protected them from the projectiles. Pieces of his armor flew around blocking the monkeys¡¯ attacks, all while a furious (and getting angrier) Zhang stood next to Misa in the center in a silver shirt with black leggings. Purple light blazed out from a now clearly visible lightning sigil on his chest, while electricity crackled out on his body. His black hair stood up straight, as if someone had jolted him (except that he was actually jolting himself with that ability). Each time his armor blocked something, electricity flew from the dome, striking Zhang. Each strike dealt 95% as much damage to Zhang as the attack that it blocked would have done. For someone defending himself from an attack coming from one direction, it was worthless. But for defending against attacks from multiple directions, it was better. Its true potential only showed to those that defended others, however. While Zhang would take damage for every hit, no one else in the dome would. At least, not until Zhang himself died, or the skill¡¯s time limit was reached. ¡°¡ªthe wind unfurls its secrets unto me. I entice you to rush through a new form, to run wild in this new territory¡ª¡° A white ring appeared on Misa¡¯s staff, which grew larger and larger with each chant, until it was the same size as the red ring which encircled them. Zhang¡¯s face grew angrier and more strained. ¡°Misa, hurry the hell up! This isn¡¯t the time to speak slowly.¡± He yelled. Using an ability like his didn¡¯t come without any costs after all. But the one that Zhang hated the most, was the fact that his armor was getting sh*t baked into it from the explosions! Misa opened her eyes and let out a terrifying grin. The white ring which encircled them, now hovered above the monkeys, with the red ring not far behind. ¡°¡ªand join your brother flame in madness and wild laughter!¡± The white ring glowed bright, and the red burned darkly¡­. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author''s Note: So what did you guys think? Was there any mistakes in grammar or spelling anywhere? I don''t proofread these things, so what you''re getting is the unedited result. Any questions about game mechanics or skills? Put it down in the comments and I might just give an answer in the next chapter! (Or I could just reply, whichever strikes my fancy at the time).
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Volume 1: Epitaph of Wahshi Sorry, this isn''t an actual story update. I''ve been getting good questions and comments from people who messaged me or commented on my Wattpad, RoyalRoad, and Japtem accounts and I wanted to share them (and my answers) with everybody. I also realized that I never told anyone the name of the 1st volume of this story, which you''ve been reading so far. Like the link says, the name of this 1st volume is "Epitaph of Wahshi". Just like an actual epitaph, it is supposed to be short. The things that happen in it are relevant to the main story immensely, but it''s mostly a way to get the MC to where I need him to be, before I can actually start the main part of the story. (So basically its like an intro). ON TO THE QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS!! 1: If his Vitality Stat is 20, his HP should be higher (I put that his HP was 110, btw). Response: The formula for calculating HP in this game is HP=[10,000*(level/100)]+[vitality/2]. This means that you''ll get a permanent +100 boost to your health every time you level up. It also means that the Vitality Stat seems like it''s a waste of time, considering you get +1 to your health for every 2 stat points invested. So level differences in the early stage of the game makes a HUGE difference. Killing someone at level 1 (they''ll have 105 health to start) means you''ll need to hit them 11 times with a weapon that will deal 10 dmg each time. And that''s if all your attacks and dmg get through their armor and evasions. Now imagine they leveled up. Now you have to try and hit them 21 times to kill them with the same weapon. In short: PK''ing is very hard at low levels. That +100 won''t mean much at high levels, but for people starting out, it makes all the difference. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. 2: In every VR novel it seems like the MC always chooses Human or Dark Elf. Why couldn''t he be a werebeast? That''s because I needed him to start off in the Human Kingdom so he could meet Zhang, Misa and Alexa. WARNING. SPOILER ALERT. DON''T READ THE NEXT SENTENCE IF YOU WANT TO AVOID SPOILERS. Although I don''t want to give out too much information, I can tell you right now that the MC won''t be Human for very long. You''ll see what I mean in the 2nd volume. There might also be people that are confused with some of the things that I do in the story, as well as some of the measurements I use (U.S. Customary units such as miles, feet, inches, etc.) so I''ll post an easy guide here. EASY GUIDE TO THE STORY (* *) means author''s note (which I generally use to make comments as inside the story chapters). [ ] refers to a skill that is used. Right now there are no different markers for passive and active skills GUIDE TO THE DIFFERENT MEASUREMENTS 10 feet is around 3 meters 1 mile is a little more than 1.5 kilometers I''ll keep posting any interesting questions and comments that I receive, and my answers to them, here. Thanks for being patient everyone! Chapter 3: Part 2 For a split second, everything was still. Time itself seemed to stop. In the first outer layer of the Boundary Forest, there were two people which faced off against more than 30 monkeys. These creatures made up the entire 3rd branch of the Martial Art Monkeys, and were the rarest. No Adventurer sought them out, because they were the Iron Sh*t Monkeys. With long arms and a hard, flexible tail, these monkeys ate the armor and weapons of any fallen traveler, wanderer, adventurer and passerby that they could find. True to their name, their attacks were only limited by the amount of food that they had eaten beforehand, and all of their weaponry was stored in a special organ that contained spatial magic. This made it so that they could store their attacks almost indefinitely, and this was the reason why none fought them. After all, who want to go into a fight with which you had a large chance of dying, only to come out with all of your possessions devalued with sh*t? Even if you happened to be a Traveler and had an almost unending number of lives, most people would still not seek them out and would just pay no attention to them at all. But these two people had done the unthinkable and decided to fight against the monkeys! At first it had only been a few of them that had turned up. The monkeys were hard to spot because of their natural camouflage, true, but this was nothing against a party with a rogue with a high enough level. After increasing their DEXTERITY to 50, rogues automatically got a skill called [sense presence]. This let them feel the presences of certain beings around them, after becoming familiar with them. The range on this ability varied based on the rogue¡¯s skill level, but generally most rogues would have trained this skill enough to be able to know if there were monsters around themselves and their party. Martial Art Monkeys had a high survival instinct. They wouldn¡¯t attack strong people for no reason. But they also had a high sense of pride in themselves and their school! Alexa had let them know by [whisper] that there were three of the Iron Sh*t Monkeys nearby. She should¡¯ve known better though! After almost being defeated by them once, Zhang and Misa were both up for getting payback for all the trouble from before. The fact that they sent most of them running the last time wasn¡¯t enough as far as they were concerned. Alexa tried to be the voice of reason, but it was a lost cause. Whenever those two agreed on anything, she could never muster up enough will to go against them. But after Zhang, Misa and Alexa had killed these three monkeys, the entire school came! Right before the last monkey had died, it had let out a shriek, letting all the other members of the school know that it was in trouble. All of the monkeys had a close bond with each other. After all, where else would they go? They were looked down upon by the other two schools, and this had helped to bring them all together. Which is why when the first three monkeys were killed, the rest of the school came to avenge them. Plus, it was SPRING MATING SEASON!! If they didn¡¯t do something about these people that tried to trample on them, how could they even think about showing their faces to the women they admired? Even if they normally would leave one or two of their brothers behind to ensure their school¡¯s survival, even if they were normally smart enough to value their own lives highly, this time they didn¡¯t and went all out. All of this led to the current situation. Zhang stood next to Misa, his mouth slightly open as he tried to suppress a scream of pain from a bolt of lightning coming from one of the pieces of armor which flew around them, as it struck the symbol of lightning on his chest. He was charred in several places, with dark smoke wafting up from his body. Misa herself was oblivious to this, as she stood behind him facing the complete opposite direction, her arms outstretched with her staff in her right hand. Her eyes glinted with passion, a sadistic smile stretched across her lips. More than thirty monkeys clung by their feet to the branches of the trees surrounding the duo, and their dome of flying armor pieces. Some were frozen with a hand at their backsides, others with a tail in mid-swing, the limb still fully armed with their choice of weapon. All while a large white ring hung above them in the sky, with a scarlet ring behind it. ----------------- Unknown to the monkeys, Alexa and Wahshi were watching the whole thing from a good distance away. They too were perched in a tree, on separate branches. ¡°Alexa, get the f*ck away from here. These freakin apes have pissed us off for the last time! Zhang and I are going all-out for this one.¡± Misa [whisper]¡¯ed. Alexa¡¯s face paled. Leaping off the branch and landing on the ground, she hurriedly called out to Wahshi. ¡°Get off the branch, we¡¯ve gotta run NOW!¡± Confused, Wahshi slowly dropped down from the tree. As soon as he did, she grabbed his hand and started running as fast as she could away from where Zhang and Misa were. Tree after tree passed them by, as they zipped and dashed jaggedly through the forest. ¡°Alexa. Alexa!¡± Wahshi called out. There was no response. Alexa just kept dragging him along with her. Unable to take it anymore, he pulled his hand from hers. She spun around. ¡°What are you doing?! We have to keep running. Do you want to die?!¡± ¡°Alexa, calm down. Tell me what¡¯s going on! Why are we still running away from where Zhang and Misa are? Are they ok?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t have time! Look, I¡¯ll explain later but you have to trust me right now. If we don¡¯t run then we might both die!¡± Wahshi shook his head. ¡°Look, I¡¯m not going anywhere with you until you tell me what¡¯s going on!¡± ¡°Ugh!¡± Throwing her hands up in frustration, Alexa caved in seeing that he really wouldn¡¯t go with her without her telling him what was about to happen. ¡®It might just be faster to tell him. But if we aren¡¯t far enough away in time¡­. Fine I¡¯ll risk it.¡¯ She opened her mouth to tell him what Zhang and Misa were about to do when suddenly¡­. ¡°Alexa, hope you got the hell away from here in time. It¡¯s your own fault if you die though, because I gave you more than enough time to do it.¡± Misa [whisper]¡¯ed. Hearing this, Alexa knew it was already too late. ¡°Hit the deck!¡± ------------------------- As if somebody had hit Play, the whole scene with Zhang, Misa and the monkeys unfroze. ¡°¡ªand join your brother flame in madness and wild laughter!¡± The white ring glowed so brightly that it hurt to look at it directly. It seemed to pulse briefly, then exploded outwards, sending the trees, monkeys and all the other creatures that were under it straight to the ground as if gravity had quadrupled. The monkeys couldn¡¯t even scream, the weight that was on them wouldn¡¯t let them do anything but wallow in their own pain as their bones broke and their organs collapsed under their own weight. There was a pause¡­. And then the all of the wind in the area rushed towards the spot where the white ring had been. It¡¯s SHRIEKING was like a thousand people scraping metal against metal, the high pitched sound making all the creatures that hadn¡¯t been flattened to the ground by the blast start bleeding from their ears. Right before they were dragged up towards the sky by the raging tempest winds that were HOWLING their way into the void that the explosion had caused. Trees were uprooted, monkey corpses were dragged upwards, and various other creatures and monsters were torn bloodily towards the wind¡¯s destination as they tried futilely to cling to the ground. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Suddenly, there was a moment of silence. The air stopped moving, and all of the things that the wind had dragged with it hung in the sky. Right next to the red ring, which started to bulge outwards. Then the silence was broken by two words, which came from the center of all of the destruction and mayhem. From a face full of sadistic glee. A person that had her arms outstretched, almost like she was embracing all of the madness, staff in hand. ¡°[Helios Flare]¡± She whispered¡­. The last ring shattered with the sound of broken glass into a thousand sparks. And a 100 foot wall of flame ROARED out from the place where the sparks were! The flames were so intense that everything it touched turned to ash in an instant. Trees evaporated, creatures and monsters alike turned to soot, and even the ground that the flames touched was affected. The wall of flame formed a giant red ring of death where the two former rings had been. The burst of flame couldn¡¯t have lasted more than a second. But all traces of life that used to be there were gone. Ash and soot were the only things left, and even the ground had turned to molten slag. In the midst of it all were the remains of what was once gleaming, steel armor which lay in a circle large enough to fit two people. It had been sh*t on, dried to a crisp, and then forced to endure heat that was more than enough to melt it. Inside that circle was a body charred to a crisp. If you brushed off a part near the chest, you would¡¯ve seen a faint purple lightning symbol, which would¡¯ve flaked off the moment you touched it. Sparks still occasionally flew out from it, landing near the second thing that was in the circle. A woman in her 20¡¯s that faced the sky. Her chest still shook with silent laughter and glee, and the expression on her face would¡¯ve terrified anyone that saw it. It was a look of pure sadistic ecstasy, as the moment of utter destruction still flashed in her eyes. -------------------- Two people sat against opposite trees facing each other. Both were panting loudly, their skins were split open in so many places that blood flowed from them in small rivers. Both of their clothes were ripped to the point that they were hanging on them by a few stitches. One of them, a woman, cracked open an eye and looked at the other person, a man. She tried to speak, but found that her lips and throat were too dry. Swallowing some of the blood that flowed off her, she found that she was somewhat able to make sounds again. ¡°Do I have to say ¡®I told you so¡¯?¡± The man looked over at her and shook his head slightly, wincing as he did. Laughter bubbled up out of them in relief. They were both still alive! ¡°We¡¯re lucky that we got that far away before you stopped me.¡± She said. They both knew it was the truth. T hey also knew that if either of them moved right now, their injuries would get even worse. They might even die. ¡°Haha. Yeah, next time I¡¯ll just trust that you know what you¡¯re doing.¡± ¡®Now what though? Neither of us can move. I guess the only thing left to do is hope that Zhang and Misa can get here with a health potion fast enough. I don¡¯t know what the hell that was, but at least we won¡¯t have to worry about getting attacked anymore. That crazy thing should¡¯ve wiped out all the monsters near that thing. Which makes me wonder if it¡¯s a good thing or a bad thing that the wind dragged us all the way back here.¡¯ ----------- At that moment, a window appeared in front of the three party members. SHIIIING Misa looked it over and could only smile. Glancing over to the burnt-out shell that used to Zhang, she stood up and walked over to him. Bending down, she opened her inventory and pulled something from it. It was nothing more than a glass flask with a cork at the top, and a red liquid that swished around inside it. Popping the cork, she slowly tipped the contents of it into his mouth. Zhang¡¯s body slowly grew back its muscle, veins and skin. All of his wounds disappeared, and the blackness that came from him being charred from lightning slowly faded away until he lay there perfectly healthy. His silver shirt and black leggings had grown back as he healed, the system making sure that he was never actually noticeably naked. His eyes popped open. Seeing Misa standing over him, he smirked. ¡°Hey Misa, did you get the same notice that I did?¡± She smirked back at him. ¡°Yeah, I think I did.¡±
DUE TO YOUR ACTIONS DURING THE SPRING MATING SEASON, THE IRON SH*T MONKEYS HAVE BEEN WIPED OFF THE FACE OF THE WORLD. THEY NO LONGER EXIST IN RALIA. A NEW FEAT HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED: GENOCIDE
GENOCIDE FEAT ACCOMPLISHED. AS A REWARD, YOU HAVE ACQUIRED A TRAIT: INTERSPACIAL ORGAN OF THE IRON SH*T MONKEY.
YOU HAVE OBLITERATED THE 1ST GUARDIANS OF THE BOUNDARY. ACCESS TO THE 2ND LAYER OF THE FOREST IS NOW AVAILABLE.
SYSTEM-WIDE ALERT: THE RACE FORMERLY KNOWN AS THE 1ST GUARDIANS OF THE BOUNDARY HAVE CEASED TO EXIST. AS A RESULT, ALL MONSTERS IN THE FIRST LAYER OF THE BOUNDARY FOREST WILL ENGAGE IN A COMPETITION TO DECIDE THE NEW 1ST GUARDIAN. UNTIL THEN, ALL MONSTERS AND CREATURES IN THE 1ST LAYER WILL NOT TAKE NOTICE TOWARDS ANY NON-MONSTER/CREATURE UNLESS PROVOKED.
--------------------------------------------------------------- Author''s Note: Well, that was pretty tough. Creating action scenes is pretty hard for me. Let me know how it was, and if there was anything I can do to improve on it. I write these stories to help me get better in writing, so please help me out everyone! Also, yes I know it was a late posting. In my defense, I was sick over the weekend and couldn''t finish writing this. Sorry. I''ve decided to post news about the story (including about when the next chapter update will be) under the Latest News On Cast Out link. Click it to find out more about the story. Usual stuff applies. If somebody comments or rates, I''ll work harder to make sure it comes out a little earlier than my original post date.
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Chapter 3: Part 3 Author''s Note: I was debating whether or not I should post this chapter up early since I had finished it ahead of schedule (last night, YEAH!). I wasn''t going to post it until the date I had said that I would release it early, but I figured since people gave their time to comment, I''d give you all a little something as well. Also.... does anyone have any ideas for monsters that would appear in a forest? I''m fresh out of ideas, so if I could get some help, that would be great! Next chapter might be delayed if I haven''t been able to think of any monsters that would attack people when they''re in a virtual forest. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Misa straightened up and brushed off some of the soot that the wind had blown onto her. "Oy! Where the hell do you think you''re sending that stuff to? Keep it up and you might find yourself enjoying a nice 10 hours watching yourself re-form from mist." Zhang threatened. She wasn''t worried. She knew that he was actually pretty happy right now, considering that they''d just destroyed the monkeys that had humiliated them in the past and sh*t on his armor. Still, she did move back a few steps so that the soot and ash she brushed off wouldn''t land on him anymore. With Zhang, you''d never know what could set off his ridiculous determination to do something. As she moved back, Zhang stood up and stretched out his arms towards the sky, his bones cracking in an oddly refreshing way. Looking around and seeing the destruction that was outside their small circle, he whistled appreciatively. "Damn! We really did it this time, right Misa?" Looking over to her, he whistled sharply to get her attention. "Hey, what do you think the odds are that those two are still alive?" She furrowed her eyebrows in a cute way as she gave it some thought. "I don''t know. I want to say that she and the NPC died already, but I swear sometimes she''s better at surviving than a cockroach. I''d say it''s a toss-up, it could''ve gone either way." Her face lit up as if she had just thought of a great idea. "Let''s bet on it. What do you say? The odds are 50-50 that they died. How about it? 50 gold says that we find their bodies off somewhere in the direction that they ran off." Zhang scoffed. "50 gold? What, are we betting on the little league''s baseball tournament at a community park?" He paused. "Make it 200 gold and I''m in." "Wooow! 200 gold?!" She said in a slow, sarcastic way. "You must be real confident if you''re betting you''re pizza money!" She teased. "Alright, let''s put it this way. 500 gold says that she and the NPC''s bodies are so badly burnt that we''ll barely be able to recognize them when we find them. Deal?" She stuck her hand out. After a moment''s thought, Zhang shook it. "Deal. But if they are alive, you better not "accidentally" burn them up before I see them! I don''t want you ruining my chances of getting whatever the hell quest that NPC will give us." Misa gave him a weird look. "If you were worried about him that much, why''d you want me to go and let out a [Helios Flare] when they''re close by? You know once I use it, I''ll have to go meditate under full sunlight or some other BS like that for a full day before I can use it again." Their hands dropped back to their sides as Misa asked the question. Zhang shook his head while wagging his finger in front of her face in an all-knowing manner. "Misa, misa, misa. I can''t believe you haven''t realized it yet. That spell of yours might be good against small-fry like Bambi and all his little woodland creature friends," He sneered, "but how is it going to stand up against a Gorgon? Or a Griffin? Or hell, even a Treant?! Those freaking stick-figure-like trees are a hell of a lot bigger than the ones your spell uprooted. All it''ll have to do is have one of its big-a** acorns fall on us before you finish your spell and we''d be dead. It''s best to use it now, where at least it had some effect before we go deeper in." He walked off in the direction that Alexa had dragged Wahshi towards. "Besides," he called out over his shoulder, "I might want that quest that the NPC might give us, but I''m not THAT interested in it. All we''re doing now is letting him tag along with us. We needed a meat-shield anyway right? If he becomes too much of a deadweight, we''ll just let him die off in some dark corner somewhere." "Hmph!" She puffed her cheeks angrily as she strode to catch up with Zhang. Misa couldn''t care less about what happened to Wahshi, or as she thought of him, ''that good-for-nothing NPC'', but she didn''t like the way that Zhang had just said her most powerful spell was basically useless against stronger enemies. Catching up to him, she said to "herself" out loud, "At least I''m not a class-less loser like SOME people are!" His ears reddened as he caught that comment. "Who are you calling a class-less loser you pathetic excuse for a Sun Mage!" Not missing a beat, he continued on. "Isn''t your class supposed to be promoting peace through love and tranquility?" He sneered. "What is it that your instructor said to you a lot when you were still training with him? ''We share one sun with everyone, why then can we not share the world?'' Didn''t he disown you as his student half-way through training when he found out what a sadistic little hell-raiser he''d been teaching his powers to?" Hearing this, her long brown hair almost went frizzy as her hair stood on end, crackling with power! She was FURIOUS. There was no going back! She had to hit him where it hurt the most. "Shut up My Little Pony lover-boy! Why don''t you go screw a horse next time we''re in the city?! Oh, wait. I forgot that you''re a pedophile that likes only the small ones!" She paused and said in a mock comforting tone, "Don''t worry, I''m pretty sure there''s a small young mare out there for you somewhere! You just have to go out and find her, that''s all!" Zhang was so angry that he couldn''t speak straight! "You... You!!" His face was so red with anger that you could almost see the steam rising off of it! He stuck out his index finger with the back of his hand facing towards her. "ONE TIME!! You watch an episode ONE TIME and people NEVER let you live it down! What about you, Miss¡ª" .....And they continued arguing and bickering as they walked through the forest, the complete destruction and desolation that they were walking through were ignored as they both focused on trying to one-up the other in insults, striding towards the place where Alexa and Wahshi lay sitting up against a couple of trees. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Wahshi blinked away some of the blood that still flowed from an open wound into his eyes. The rest of the blood had dried up and crusted over some of his other wounds, which helped to stop more blood from coming out. It had also crusted over what remained of his clothes though, so there was that as well. Black spots dotted his vision. Every time he moved his eyes, it was like his vision swam, making him almost nauseous. Trying to suppress the feeling as he looked over at Alexa, he still couldn''t believe how lucky he''d been. She''d made sure to take the brunt of the damage as they were dragged along the ground by the ferocious wind, by hugging him close and making sure she was the one on the bottom being torn apart by the ground more often than he was. He couldn''t help the heartwarming feeling that rose up in his chest when thought about how painful it must''ve been for her to do that. They might not have been able to feel everything like they would have in real life, but 40% of that pain was still more than most people could handle. It had been a big issue when the game first came out, according to his research. Since then though, most people had found skills that lessened it, and those that didn''t only did so because they loved the thrill that having more pain gave them. The feeling in his chest lessened though when he thought of the reason why she had probably saved him. ''They think I''m just some NPC that''ll give them a big quest. I guess it''s not that surprising that she decided to take the blow for me. She thinks that if I die, I''ll be gone forever, and so will that quest that they think is hanging over their heads, just out of reach.'' There were many things that you could say about Raes Bastion, all of which you could probably say about his alter ego Wahshi as well. But one of the things you wouldn''t hear people say about him, was that he was stupid. How could he be? He''d survived for twenty years in a prison full of people that wanted him dead! Even before they''d entered the forest, he''d figured out that they thought of him as just another NPC. However, seeing no way out of this situation, he''d gone along with it seeing as how traveling with these people would be better than wandering around aimlessly. Now however, he was rethinking his decision to go with these people. Even though they''d saved him from dying, they''d also taken him to this place full of creatures and monsters that would be able to kill him easily! ''I should think of a way to get away from these people as soon as possible!'' But then again.... He couldn''t help being conflicted every time he saw Alexa. She reminded him a lot of a certain person he''d known once, before everything had gone to hell. Always trying to be strong, making sure that everyone came out of a situation happy, and tough as nails when push came to shove. His ears perked up. "Alexa, do you hear something?" He called out with a hoarse voice. She was in better shape than he was by now. Her health regen was a lot higher than his, which was obvious considering that she was a lot higher than he was level-wise. Even though she still wasn''t able to move her body due to all the broken bones she had that were still healing, most of the scrapes and superficial wounds on her had disappeared. Even moving her head now was no problem! Unfortunately though, that was about the extent of her ability right then. Hearing the noises coming from the distance, she let out a relieved smile. "Yeah, I hear it. Looks like we''ll be fine after all. There''s only two people I know that could make THAT much noise and not care about who heard it at all." Somehow managing to arch an eyebrow, Wahshi said, "You don''t mean...?" "Uh huh. Looks like Zhang and Misa are finally on their way here." ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª "¡ªand I bet that you don''t even have a man''s most important...." Misa paused. "Wait, do you what I''m seeing over there?" Zhang put his hand just above his eyes as if he were trying to block sunlight from entering them in order to see well. "I think I do. Those two things lying up against a couple of trees over there?" "Yeah, that''s it. I think it''s them!" They hurried over to Alexa and Wahshi''s position, each secretly hoping for the best outcome for themselves. Neither one of them wanted to lose the bet after all! ''Alexa you better not have gotten yourself and that NPC killed just yet!'' Zhang thought as he completely ignored the fact that he was partially to blame if they had gotten killed. Finally arriving before their injured party member and the meat-shiel¡ª ehem, fellow traveler, they both saw that it was indeed Alexa and Wahshi! Alexa was sitting there leaning against the tree in her blood-stained, ripped-to-shreds, dark leather armor otherwise looking completely fine. Her hair was matted with blood, but it was almost unnoticeable considering how dark her hair color was. Wahshi on the other hand, looked as if he''d gone three rounds with a country''s top Black-Ops Investigator (torturer) and had managed to hang on by the skin of his teeth. It literally looked like another scratch might''ve killed him as he sat there. His normally jovial brown eyes had turned grey as ash, and they looked over Zhang and Misa in such a manner that one might''ve thought that he was fluttering his eyes in his sleep! Neither of them noticed this however, because they were too focused at staring at his injuries! Broken bones protruded from parts of his legs, and while blood was no longer flowing down his body in small streams, there were clear signs that he had lost a lot of it. His clothes and entire body were caked with it after all! Deep cuts slashed across his torso, easily visible as most of his shirt had been shredded open as if he had been mauled by a bear. Seeing this, they immediately turned to Misa. "Misa, if he was this badly injured you should''ve taken him to see us sooner! The least you could''ve done was run back and gotten us, you don''t even look like you''re that injured!" Zhang accused. Misa glared at her in silent agreement with him. Under the force of these two working together to accuse her, Alexa visibly shrank. Seeing the person that had worked hard and endured so much pain to save him be verbally attacked by her teammates, he couldn''t help but jump in and try to protect her in return. If only to help pay her back in some small way. "Please, do not worry about my own health. Miss Alexa saved my life by taking most of the damage during that catastrophic event. Even now, although her superficial wounds have healed, most of her bones still remain broken. The only stroke of good fortune she had is that none of them have penetrated her skin like mine have." Now that the immediate danger had passed, Wahshi had gone back to his incredibly formal tone! Since Zhang and Misa had not been there when they were in danger though, they of course were not able to hear Wahshi speak as though he were an average person. However, there had been a person that was there with him when he had slipped up and spoke as he normally did outside of the game. That person was Alexa! ''!! Did his way of speaking change just now compared to before those two came back? Did I just imagine it?'' Alexa wondered. Even though she had noticed, she still put it to the back of her mind. After all, it was something that was practically impossible. In her mind, he was an NPC after all! No matter what station, what class, or what kind of person they were, all NPC''s had spoken in the same formal way for the past 5 years throughout the game! Embarrassed looks now replaced the glares that were previously on Zhang and Misa''s faces! "I apologize, I did not know that her injuries were so severe that she would not be able to move. Misa, give her a potion." After a moment''s hesitation, she pulled up her [inventory] screen and took a glass flask with a cork from seemingly thin air! In actuality, there was nothing that could be seen when someone pulled up personal screens such as the [inventory], [status], or [main menu]. Of course, there were always exceptions to the rule. One could always share the screen with another person, and under the right circumstances or using a skill such as [Observe] with a high enough level, someone could easily take a peak and ignore the privacy of another person''s screens. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.However, the only person who had done such a thing was Zhang! Having leveled his [Observe] skill to a high degree, and having left it on since they entered the forest, he was easily able to see everything that Misa was able to access in her inventory. So he was able to verify for himself that the thing she had actually taken out was something that would be beneficial to Alexa. After all, he knew best what kind of a person Misa was! Misa popped the cork and bent over Alexa, slowly tipping over the swirling green contents of the flask into her mouth. As she did so, she sent out a [whisper] over the [party chat]. ''If it''s really as bad as he said, why didn''t you just send us a [whisper] over the [party chat]? We would''ve rushed over here faster if you had, instead of just walking around wondering if you were still alive!'' Zhang arced an eyebrow. Since it was something said over the [party chat], all members of the party were able to hear the telepathic conversation between Misa and Alexa. That included Zhang, but of course didn''t include Wahshi. He was just an NPC after all! And if he was completely honest, he was also curious about why Alexa hadn''t let them know that she was still alive. Alexa laughed dryly over the [party chat]. ''Oh really now? But knowing you two, you probably made a bet to see if we were still alive or not, didn''t you?!'' Zhang and Misa shared a guilty look. They hadn''t said anything, but this was more than enough proof for Alexa. ''I knew it! You guys ALWAYS do this kind of thing!'' She said, more than a little irritated. ''Why should I ruin your fun and games for you guys? I still remember the last time someone ruined something between you two, and you didn''t let him forget it, did you?'' Even though there was no visible reaction from either of them, Alexa knew she had struck a sore spot. Ever since a former friend of theirs had ruined the deep feelings between the two, anytime someone got close to going against what those two had agreed upon, their fate was sealed! This was one of the few things left between the two that had formerly almost shown mutual feelings for each other, and the fact that there was anything left was a sign of how strong those feelings might once have been. In all this time, Wahshi knew that they were most likely deep in discussion of something which they didn''t want him to know, using one of the various party skills. Having no way of listening in on their conversation, he could only hope and pray for the best. It wasn''t the first time they had unnaturally paused like this, and undoubtedly it wouldn''t be the last. Mira was the first to speak up so that Wahshi would be included in the conversation. "Well, I suppose it can''t be helped after all. Sorry about that Alexa, we shouldn''t have doubted you." Everyone but Wahshi knew that she had purposely steered the conversation in another direction, and had even included Wahshi so that they couldn''t keep talking about what they were before. In her opinion, some things were better left in the past. The entire silent exchange between the three couldn''t have taken more than a few seconds, but in that time, various noises could be heard coming from Alexa, as the bones in her body shifted back into place. In the time that it took for someone to say Abracadabra, she was able to stand up on her feet fully healed, just like magic. Except for the fact that even though they were in a world with magic, they''d actually just used the equivalent of this world''s science to heal her. Taking another swipe at seemingly thin air, Misa brought out another potion. This time for Wahshi. The color of the liquid inside was one that was slightly different than the one that was used for Alexa, which was a swirling dark green, whereas his was a light green. She walked over to him and brought it up to his mouth, but he stared at her suspiciously. Unable to verify the contents of the potion himself, and unable to bring himself to fully trust Misa, he glanced over at Alexa for confirmation. She smiled and nodded. Putting his trust in her, he let Misa pour the contents of the flask into his mouth, and down his throat it went. Wincing at the salty flavor, he immediately felt the effects of the drink take place. He could feel his cuts and wounds disappearing, and could actually see the bones in his legs going back in place before the wounds on his legs closed as well. In no time at all, he was fully recovered just like Alexa had been moments before. Surprisingly there was no pain to be felt as the recovery had taken place. Wahshi stood up, marveling at how an action that would have nearly killed him not even 10 seconds ago now had no pain at all. "I must ask, what was that thing that you gave to me? All of my injuries disappeared in less than a few seconds, with no pain at all!" He asked. "Eh? Could it be that you do not know about potions, Wahshi?" Misa asked. "Potions?" He returned with a quizzical expression. After all, what would he know about such things? Wahshi was a lot of things, but he was not an avid gamer before all of this. Ex-millionaire, arrogant, intelligent, and a party-lover were all things that one could have described him as. "Gamer" however, was not something that could have been attributed to him though, even when he had a lot of free time as a single, millionaire party-boy. "Liquids that are made through the use of various plants and/or other materials which are crushed and then refined using magical means. The results vary depending on what items you use, and the strength of the effect is different depending on how you refine it, but that''s typically what a potion is. What I gave you just now was a level 1 healing potion." Misa explained. "Do you not have potions where you come from, Wahshi?" Zhang was more curious than ever! An NPC that was from a place that didn''t use potions? Something like that was unheard of! ''Maybe I''ll even find new items that didn''t exist before!'' Similar thoughts were flashing through Misa''s mind, but Alexa felt a seed of doubt start to grow. ''What NPC doesn''t know about potions? Is he really a Ralian?'' She felt a pang of guilt at the thought, but it stuck with her nonetheless. Zhang and Misa had a habit of being the ones to jump into things without fully thinking them through even though no one would doubt that they were intelligent people. In certain situations, their previous dispositions and confidence in their strength made them blind to danger. Alexa had long ago gotten used to being the one who held on to rationality when their curiosity and (although she wouldn''t admit that her friends had it) when their greed took over. Trying not to act suspiciously, Wahshi replied, "Ah, no actually where I come from potions don''t exist. We have other methods of treating people." Unwilling to tell the truth to people he didn''t completely trust, and unwilling to lie to people that had so far given him no reason to doubt, he settled for a compromise. Saying something that was completely true, but that could be taken in any number of ways. Zhang''s curiosity piqued, he couldn''t help but say, "You know, I wouldn''t mind hearing about some of those methods that you were talking about sometime." "As far as that goes, I am sorry but I would not feel comfortable in sharing such things at the moment." Wahshi replied. After all, what could he say? The only thing left was to deny them now and hope that they wouldn''t bring it up again in the future. Zhang cursed inwardly. ''Is our intimacy level with him still not high enough?! This is so FRUSTRATING!'' Having no other option, he forced himself to calm down. ''Whatever, it''s fine. He''ll tell us eventually if we just keep at it. This secret of his has to be big if it needs us to have such a high intimacy with him!'' Consoling himself by thinking of the possible future rewards, he was able to convince himself to be more patient. "Of course, you are entitled to keep anything you want to yourself. I apologize if I seemed overly curious." Wahshi of course wanted the matter to be buried, and gave an affirming nod of thanks and a vague response in reply. With the matter now settled, they turned back towards their goal. This was the 2nd layer of the forest. The deeper in you went into the Boundary Forest, the bigger and older the trees were. Not only that, but the creatures started disappearing, and were replaced with monsters that were of higher levels. While creatures were normal animals that one would see back in real life, monsters were the things of legends, myths and nightmares. Even the lowest of them started at level 20, having a natural disposition to being stronger than the typical creatures of the wilds. As they went deeper into the forest, none of the creatures or monsters gave them any trouble. They all seemed to be busy fighting among themselves, and didn''t bother themselves with the humans that were passing through their various territories. Seeing something out of the corner of her eye, Alexa turned to see it and realized that she''d been ignoring something that was in her face the entire time! "Misa, Zhang, did you guys know that you both have titles now?" Floating next to them were windows that only fellow party members could see if those people had given them that option. This was what was in the air next to Zhang''s head.
ZHANG "THE SPARK OF GENOCIDE"
SHORT BIO: HAVING BEEN ANGERED, HUMILIATED, AND HAVING HAD HIS EQUIPMENT DEVALUED BY THE NOW EXTINCT IRON SH*T MONKEYS, HIS VENGEANCE LED TO THE GENOCIDE OF THEIR ENTIRE RACE.
TITLE EFFECTS: ABILITY TO ACQUIRE A TRAIT FROM EACH SPECIES YOU EXTERMINATE, EXPERIENCE GAINED FROM DEFEATING LOWER-LEVELED ENEMIES IS CUT BY 2/3, FAME WILL DECREASE IF YOU DEFEAT ANY CREATURES OR MONSTERS THAT ARE MORE THAN 5 LEVELS BELOW YOU, INFAMY GAIN WILL REPLACE LOSS OF FAME SHOULD FAME REACH 0. ENGENDERS HATRED FROM ALL MEMBERS THAT HAVE A RELATION TO THE EXTERMINATED SPECIES. CURRENTLY HATED BY: MARTIAL ART MONKEYS
Misa and Zhang looked at each other before turning to Alexa. "Oh yeah, there was something about that in the alerts and notices we got, right Misa?"
MISA "REVELER OF GENOCIDE"
SHORT BIO: THERE WAS ONCE A CERTAIN BRANCH OF A RACE THAT CAUSED PROBLEMS FOR HERSELF AND ONE THAT SHE CONSIDERED A FRIEND. WITH A CRUEL AND SADISTIC SMILE, SHE ANNIHILATED THE ENTIRE BRANCH OF MARTIAL ART MONKEYS. NOW, THE IRON SH*T MONKEYS LIVE ONLY IN FADING MEMORY.
TITLE EFFECTS: ABILITY TO ACQUIRE A TRAIT FROM EACH SPECIES YOU EXTERMINATE, EXPERIENCE DOUBLED FOR FIGHTS IN WHICH YOU REVEL IN YOUR SADISTIC TENDENCIES, PROLONGED BATTLES WITH LOWER-LEVELED MONSTERS AND CREATURES WILL CAUSE ALL OF THE MEMBERS OF THE RACE IN THE AREA TO ATTACK YOU IN FEAR THAT THEIR RACE WILL BE WIPED OUT IF YOU DO NOT DIE. ENGENDERS HATRED FROM ALL MEMBERS THAT HAVE A RELATION TO THE EXTERMINATED SPECIES. CURRENTLY HATED BY: MARTIAL ART MONKEYS
"I think so. I didn''t really read them all, I just skimmed through a few." She looked over at Alexa. "Did you know you got one too?" "Huh?" She checked her [general status].
ALEXA "WITNESS TO THE SLAUGHTER"
SHORT BIO: EVEN THOUGH HER HEART TOLD HER THAT SHE SHOULD HAVE DONE OTHERWISE, HER INACTION ALLOWED FOR THE EXTERMINATION OF AN ENTIRE BRANCH OF SPECIES THAT HAD BEEN PLAGUING THOSE SHE CONSIDERED FRIENDS. EVEN NOW SHE WONDERS IF HAVING DONE NOTHING WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO. HOWEVER, EVEN IF HER FEELINGS CHANGE, EVEN IF SHE FEELS REGRET, NOTHING WILL CHANGE THE FACT THAT THE IRON SH*T MONKEYS NO LONGER EXIST.
TITLE EFFECTS: THOSE WHO KNOW OF THIS DEED WILL BE LESS LIKELY TO TRUST YOU, CHANCES OF GETTING RARE ITEMS FROM LOWER-LEVELED MONSTERS AND CREATURES IS DOUBLED, ENGENDERS HATRED FROM ALL MEMBERS THAT HAVE A RELATION TO THE EXTERMINATED SPECIES. CURRENTLY HATED BY:MARTIAL ART MONKEYS
What she had seen left her reeling. There was nothing that she could refute though, everything that had been in her [general status] was completely true. Zhang laughed as he saw what Alexa had gotten. "Good thing most people won''t be able to see our [general status] without our permission, huh Alexa?" She lowered her head in shame, but there was nothing that she could do. They kept going deeper into the forest towards the 2nd layer, with Wahshi wondering what exactly it was that everyone was talking about. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª SO AGAIN...... Please leave a few ideas for me on what monsters would attack people in a forest. The next chapter release date depends on YOU!
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LATEST NEWS ON CAST OUT
NEXT CHAPTER UPDATE I just had a major breakthrough in the story! I won''t let you know exactly what it is, but thanks to all of you that helped out in giving me the things needed to do it. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. As usual, it will take me 10 days from now to have it finished (now is JUNE 4, FINISH DATE: JUNE 14) Thanks for being patient! Inspirations (NOT A CHAPTER) Sorry, not a chapter. Just wanted to post this so people know what stories some aspects of the story I rip off use are from. Also includes things which inspired other aspects of my story, and were not a rip off. Anything in question marks means that I''ve decided to use something from that story, but it hasn''t come up in Cast Out yet. Eyes that change color depending on the mood: Flight of Icarus (by DarkSun on royalroadl.com) ???: Clockwork (by VRDraco on royalroadl.com) ???: Coiling Dragon (on wuxiaworld.com/cdindex-html/) ???: Youko Advent (on https://youkoadvent.wordpress.com/table-of-contents/) There are, of course, other inspirations which have helped my story (or will in future chapters/books), but I won''t say what they are or what stories they come from until we get to that point in the actual story. This is because it would be a HUGE spoiler for you guys if you saw it. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. I want to take the time to thank the above for having written/translated the works that they''ve done. LOVE YOU GUYS!! (Completely platonic though, sorry) Anyway, if you don''t already know, Chapter 4: Part 1 will be out by June 14 at the latest. (Although it''ll be out first on Wattpad, then here on royalroad, then lastly on Japtem. Simply going in order of the easiest site to post on, to the hardest.) All the sites have good points though. Wattpad is the easiest to post chapters with, RoyalRoad is easier to post tables on, and Japtem has the best looking tables in my opinion Chapter 4: Part 1 Author''s Note: So, I know I said I''d post this up yesterday afternoon, but in all honesty I was too wiped out after work to do anything. Sorry about that. Anyway, let me know what you think of the chapter. If you see any mistakes, let me know. Recently I noticed a mistake in the mana stat shown in chapter 1 (I think it was chapter 1 anyway). The willpower was 12, so the mana should''ve been higher than the 110 that I put down. I fixed it in the copy that I have in my computer, but I haven''t fixed it yet on any of the websites where I''ve published my works. I''ve also decided to put a glossary (I think that''s what it''s called) of the meanings of some the words and phrases I''ve used down after the story. Look through it if you don''t understand what something is. ________________________________________________________________________ Zhang, Misa and Alexa were all travelling together in a triangle formation, with Zhang leading the way and Wahshi being protected in the middle. They had just entered the 2nd layer of the Boundary Forest, and were now completely focused on their surroundings as they forged through the foliage. Earlier as they were making their way to the 2nd layer, Wahshi had been able to get many of his questions answered by Zhang and Misa. It was obvious to him that the two were trying to get on better terms with him, and were cooperating with him so far. He¡¯d already found out that Misa was a Sun Mage, and that although Zhang had originally introduced himself as the warrior and tank for the group, in actuality he was class-less and very versatile in his ways of fighting. He¡¯d long ago equipped new armor from his inventory, his silver and black clothing going underneath it all. In the brief time that Wahshi had seen Zhang without armor, he¡¯d discovered that Zhang actually had a typical Chinese look to him, even down to the mustache and goatee. However, now that he¡¯d donned armor, Zhang had another helm equipped which once again covered his facial features from everyone that looked at him. It seemed to be the way that he did things when he was fulfilling his position as the tank. He had also found out from Zhang that being class-less (in a job-system sense), although it didn¡¯t have any big benefits like Misa¡¯s Sun Mage class had in terms of a large mana pool and various other things, it did have the benefit of helping him level up his skills 10% faster. The only real down-side to not having a class was not having the perks that other classes got, something which Zhang was completely fine with. Of course, all of these things he had found out were after Wahshi had mentally translated the medieval polite way of speaking that he and Zhang always seemed to engage in, and had realized the concepts behind most of Zhang¡¯s explanations. After all, Zhang had never mentioned game-like mechanics such as ¡°level-up¡± to Wahshi, he had specifically said that one with no class could improve all of his skills at 9/10ths of the speed that it took others that had classes, to improve skills which were outside of their profession. This was something that Zhang had taken great joy in, as he found that he was able to duplicate the effects of many powers that being in a class gave, which only served to further his pride in not having chosen a class. As he¡¯d explained to Wahshi ¡°Many of the things that the other classes use, such as a fireball for example, can easily be replicated if you understand the principles behind it. The point of a fireball is to have an easy, portable way of making the enemy catch on fire, have them take damage from the impact, and maybe have the fire splash onto the enemies around the target as well. Since that¡¯s the goal, we can easily do the same things if we combined a weak mana crystal from almost any fire-element monster, a specific type of dirt from near a volcano, and oil. Put it together in a small bag, put a small divider between the dirt and the oil, and you have a portable fireball! Once the pouch hits something, the mana crystal will break and sparks will come flying out. When that hits the dirt, you¡¯ll get a big explosion, which will ignite the oil as it flies out, spreading the fire to everyone close by.¡± Wahshi had to admit that it was a brilliant idea. If you could recreate the effects of almost any powers of the classes, have none of the drawbacks, and gain 10% experience when leveling your skills, why wouldn¡¯t you? Of course, he knew that there had to be drawbacks. After all, he very much doubted that not choosing a class was a popular choice. After some subtle probing, Wahshi found out that not having chosen a class was like being a self-taught jack-of-all-trades. You could do practically anything, but you had to learn it yourself. The higher skills in practically all of the classes required something special that would only be given to those that had joined the profession and had proven themselves. In this case, that meant that Zhang wouldn¡¯t be able to duplicate the spell that Misa had used. Wahshi had shuddered inwardly when he found out that it was Misa that had done the spell from earlier. The difference in between the 1st Layer of the forest and the 2nd Layer hadn¡¯t been all that noticeable in the beginning. Where the boundaries touched, at most you could say that some of the trees were taller, and that there were a few more plants here and there. After a half hour of walking though, the difference was now clearer. Vines hung down from the branches of the trees, dense foliage blocked their path, and each step that brought them closer to the next boundary had to be earned with lots of sweat. This coated every inch of their bodies, drenching their clothes and armor. Wahshi wanted to feel bad for that fact, because the clothes that he was wearing weren¡¯t his. Zhang had lent them to him after that fiasco in the 1st layer. But he knew that there wasn¡¯t anything he could do to change it, so he tried to squash down those feelings and ignore them. The group had been travelling in silence for a while now. There was only so much that you could say to other people when you were travelling, and no one felt the need to say something completely and utterly random to fill up the silence. Plus, they were already half-way through the 2nd Layer and hadn¡¯t fought any creatures so far. That fact alone had kept the Zhang, Misa and Alexa from making any unnecessary noise. Wahshi felt the tension in the air, and knew that he should keep his mouth shut. It was more than a little embarrassing for someone with so much pride in himself to be relying on people more than a decade younger than him to protect him from danger, but he¡¯d seen what Misa had done. That alone was more than enough for him to swallow his pride and let himself be led by these people. He¡¯d already regretted agreeing to go with them in the first place. Even though he¡¯d learned a lot more about the game from them than he could have by himself, they¡¯d also dragged him into a forest with things that were more than a hundred times stronger than him! ¡®As soon as we¡¯re out of this forest, I have to find a way to separate from them. These people are crazy!¡¯ Even as he thought this though, he was still conflicted. Being around Alexa was more than just refreshing, it was nostalgic. He contemplated staying with them longer once they were out of the forest, trying to find a way to reveal the ¡°misunderstandings¡± between them peacefully. No matter how he pictured it though, it all came back to the same thing. They only wanted him because they thought he was an NPC that might lead them to something great. He couldn¡¯t see Misa or Zhang taking the fact that he was actually a new player well. ¡®Maybe if I told them about that place in the Mist of Souls it would work out?¡¯ Playing it out in his head, he realized that even though it would pique their interest, he couldn¡¯t see them reaching a peaceful agreement with each other. That was because Wahshi didn¡¯t know a way back there! ¡®Agh! Why am I even worrying about trying to make things up with people that I¡¯m going to split up from anyway?!¡¯ Frustrated and unable to come to a conclusion, he decided to put it off for later. After all, there was still quite some time before they could make it out of the forest, right? -------------------------- While Wahshi had been busy trying to make up his mind, he hadn¡¯t noticed that the other three had been having a silent conversation with each other. If he¡¯d been paying attention, he would¡¯ve noticed that Misa, Zhang and Alexa kept turning their heads towards one of them. Almost as if they were looking at someone that they were talking with. Of course, that was exactly what they were doing! Using the [party chat] ability, they were able to talk to one another telepathically. This way, they could speak freely without anyone else (meaning Wahshi) hearing what they were saying! Initially, Misa had started the conversation soon after they had entered the 2nd Layer of the forest. Stepping up her pace so that she could walk side-by-side with Zhang, she then gave him a look. ¡®Zhang, I¡¯m thinking that we should add the NPC to our party. If he dies too soon, then we¡¯ll have traveled all this way with him for nothing. At least if he¡¯s in our party, he can get to a high enough level that we won¡¯t have to worry about him dying from having run into a tree or something.¡¯ Alexa had originally been scanning the area, paying full attention to their surroundings and was always on the lookout for danger. Hearing Misa suggest this though, her head snapped towards the front where Zhang and Misa strode through the foliage side-by-side. ¡®I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a good idea.¡¯ She butted in. Zhang was intrigued! It would¡¯ve been completely normal if it was Misa that had been arguing that they shouldn¡¯t be letting somebody that was practically useless onto the party, but this was Alexa! If Zhang and Misa were the brains and the brawn of the team, Alexa was definitely the heart of it. She was the one that was the most compassionate, the one that people were comfortable to be around, and the one that trusted people the most. For her, saying that someone shouldn¡¯t be a part of their party was more than a little strange. ¡®Oh yeah? Why shouldn¡¯t we?¡¯ Zhang asked back telepathically. Alexa paused. She knew that they wouldn¡¯t listen to her if she just told them that she just had a feeling that they shouldn¡¯t. How could she, when she could barely convince herself?! Wracking her brain for something, anything, that would give credit to her opinion, something sparked inside her mind. ¡®Our statuses!¡¯ Hearing this, Zhang immediately understood what she meant. Misa however, just looked at Zhang quizzically. ¡®What¡¯s she talking about now?¡¯ Which prompted Zhang to give her one of his famous, know-it-all, smug looks. It made her want to punch him. ¡®Seriously Misa? You haven¡¯t figured it out yet? Sometimes I wonder what goes on in that cute, twisted head of yours.¡¯ He teased. She blushed when she heard him say that she was cute, but she was also furious! Before she could retort though, he continued on. ¡®Remember the new titles we got after the last battle?¡¯ She nodded. ¡®Even though we might¡¯ve gotten great bonuses, it still came with big drawbacks.¡¯ As if a lightbulb had gone off in her head, Misa was suddenly able to connect the dots together. Her sides shook as she tried to contain her laughter as she realized the implications of the title that Alexa had gotten. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.She didn¡¯t stay quiet with her telepathy though. ¡®HAHAHAHA! Oh my God, I¡¯m dying. I¡¯m dying! HAHAHA!¡¯ Zhang smirked while Alexa could only look away and pretend that she didn¡¯t hear anything that Misa was saying. Anyone that was looking would¡¯ve known that she heard everything that was going on, plain as day though. Her ears were turning red after all. ¡®Little Miss Saint over here doesn¡¯t want to show the NPC her status because he¡¯ll lose trust in her!¡¯ Misa just kept on laughing through the [party chat]. It was funny to both Zhang and Misa, because Alexa was the one that had always gotten people¡¯s trust easily. For good reason though, as she always proved that their trust in her was never wrong. Now however, if anyone saw her title they¡¯d be less likely to trust her! The irony was just too much for Misa. A twig snapped. Everyone¡¯s heads snapped towards the sound, staring at a spot that where the plants were shaking. Zhang immediately took the front and Misa fell back with Alexa. Wahshi stood in the middle, unsure what exactly he was able to do. There was a whoosh as Zhang took out an iron blade from out of his [inventory] and readied it in front of him. Misa held her staff in her right hand as three balls of fire floated in the air above her. Alexa stood loosely, her eyes betraying her confusion as she tried to see past the plants and spot the danger that was about to come. ¡®Why didn¡¯t I sense anything?¡¯ That was the question at the forefront of her mind as she got ready to show her potential enemies all the skill of the rogue. Poised to fight, they were inching slowly towards the shaking plants when suddenly¡­. A small bear cub poked his head out of the bushes, which was quickly followed by the rest of its body as it walked out. With its small nose high in the air, it walked towards us proudly and without a care in the world. Seeing this, they all visibly relaxed. ¡°Hah, I can¡¯t believe we got all worked up about a bear cub.¡± Alexa wanted to agree with Misa on that, but a sudden thought struck her. ¡°Wait¡­ What would a bear cub be doing all by itself in the woods? Wherever kids go, they¡¯re mom¡¯s usually fol¡ª¡° THUD. THUD. THUD. THUD. ¡°¡ªlow.¡± The plants that the bear cub had pushed out of its way had been flattened to the ground. How? By the mom that had been behind her cub, that¡¯s how. It glared at us as it hovered protectively over her child. ¡°You just had to jinx it for us, didn¡¯t you Alexa. Why don¡¯t you just say that a meteor is likely to fall on us in a few seconds huh?!¡± Misa snapped. The comment clearly wasn¡¯t meant to be whispered, and Wahshi heard every word of it. Misa had clearly already forgotten he was there, or perhaps she just didn¡¯t care enough to change the way she spoke around an NPC they were trying to impress. Either way, Wahshi¡¯s opinion of her had fallen faster than stocks of his own company had fallen after his imprisonment over fraud and embezzlement. From what he saw, they barely treated her as a teammate. As a friend, they almost seemed to treat her like trash. Oddly enough, seeing them treat her like this was what had finally cleared the indecision clouding his mind. It wasn¡¯t the first time that he¡¯d noticed them treating her this way, and it wasn¡¯t something that he would tolerate. He would stay and protect her as much as he could, just as he¡¯d promised her on that day far in the past. ¡®I don¡¯t know why she puts up with this, but I¡¯ll do what I can to support her.¡¯ Of course, he knew that at the moment he was worse than useless. He had to depend on the goodwill of these people to protect him, and that fact stung his pride more than anything else. What fully-grown adult would like being completely helpless and dependent on people younger than they were? Caring nothing for Wahshi¡¯s newfound determination, the small bear cub kept walking in a straight path. It didn¡¯t look like it cared for the fact that there were people standing in his way. Why would it? To him, the epitome of strength was walking right behind him, protecting him like she had his entire life. The mother bear took a step to keep up with its cub as it continued to glare at Zhang and his party. Zhang saw the look in her eyes and decided that it was best for them to step out of the way of the bears. The risk that it was stronger than it looked just wasn¡¯t worth it to him, because he already knew of the bigger dangers that lurked deeper in the forest. Fighting these creatures here would just slow them down and could waste their precious resources if it really was stronger than a normal bear was. The chances of that were pretty high as well, considering it lived in the 2nd layer of the Boundary Forest after all.
MOTHER BEAR OF THE 2ND LAYER
BEAR CUB OF THE 2ND LAYER
That was all he saw hovering above them. Normally his skill would give him more information, but this time it had just shown him what they were. Putting actions towards his earlier decision to back-off, he motioned for Alexa and Misa to step down as he moved out of the way of the cub. The others followed suit, and let the young cub do as all kids do and wander around innocently with a dangerous mother ready to jump to its aid at a moment¡¯s notice. The mother bear almost seemed to acknowledge their actions, as her cub walked past where the rest of the party had just been standing. At the same time¡­. Gyuuu¡­. Everyone¡¯s stomachs started rumbling. Wahshi obviously knew what that would have meant in real life. But since this was a game, to him it didn¡¯t make sense that you would actually have to eat food in here as well! In fact, if he hadn¡¯t have heard Zhang curse under his breath saying ¡°Sh*t, I could¡¯ve sworn we all had our satiety bars still full,¡± he probably wouldn¡¯t have gotten to the conclusion that they were all in need of food. ¡°Alexa,¡± Zhang called out. ¡°Hurry up and pass out the food. We don¡¯t want to die of hunger after coming all this way.¡± Wordlessly, Alexa opened up her [inventory] to take out the food. Her face paled in shock, and she quickly shared her [inventory] with her other party members. The other two party members shared a different look when they saw what she had. Or rather, what she didn¡¯t have. ¡®Alexa, what the HELL is this? We gave you all our food to carry, so where the heck is it?!¡¯ Zhang sent over via [party chat]. ¡®I-I-I don¡¯t know, it was in there a few minutes ago!¡¯ Misa was panicking as the weight of the two mentally pressed down on her. Gyuu¡­¡­. Hearing that sound again, Zhang and Misa¡¯s faces paled. That was the second rumble! There was only one more before they would die from hunger, and that was something that was unacceptable after coming all this way. ¡®We¡¯ll talk about this later! Right now it¡¯s eat or die, and I swear that if it ends up being the latter, we¡¯ll blame you for this Alexa!¡¯ Zhang thundered over the [party chat]. Desperately looking around, the only thing he could see was the back of the Mother Bear as it walked away with its kid. An idea popped into his head, and he turned towards Misa. ¡°I¡¯ve just found our food source.¡± He grinned and gestured over to the nearby Bears that were peacefully going about their way. Misa caught on right away. She quickly chanted under her breath and cast [Glory of the Light] over Zhang¡¯s iron sword.
GLORY OF THE LIGHT: ? ATTACK IS MOMENTARILY BUFFED BY 65%. 20 SECOND DURATION ? DURABILITY INCREASED BY 300. 5 MINUTE DURATION
Only taking a quick second to swap out his heavy armor for light armor and boots, Zhang showed no further hesitation. Clapping his hands together, a green light appeared on the back of his left palm in the shape of a paw print. Zhang got into a pose with his left foot forward and his right foot back. His left hand made an L shape which moved as if he was targeting his pray with it, while his right arm held his sword parallel with his shoulders across from his body. With a CRACK, Zhang blurred forward towards the Mother Bear. The Mother Bear had started to turn around after hearing the sharp sound, but never got the chance to see what had killed her. By that time, it was already too late. She had been neatly split in two, with Zhang standing just past her in the exact same pose as he was before he had moved. The Bear Cub stood right behind him, shaking as he had just turned around to see his mother literally fall to pieces in front of his eyes. Zhang only smiled in satisfaction at the completion of his goal, and didn¡¯t even notice what he¡¯d done to the poor Cub¡¯s mind. Putting his sword back in his [inventory], he bent over to pick up the two halves of the bear that he had cut through. As his hand reached the meat though, it vanished without a trace, leaving his hand grasping at thin air. He turned around and saw that the Bear Cub had disappeared as well. ¡°Zhang.¡± Alexa weakly called out. ¡°Check your satiety level.¡± Glancing up at the bar underneath his health, his face scrunched together in surprise and confusion. What he saw was a full red bar with a smaller, green bar right below it. And they were both full. ¡®What the hell is going on?!¡¯ Was the question in everyone¡¯s thoughts. Distracted by all of the things that had just happened, none of them noticed. Not a single one of them. The trees had grown closer to them¡­¡­. ---------------------------------- Glossary: Gyuuu: A word which represents the sound a stomach makes when a person is hungry. Taken from Japanese culture. -------------------------------------- Author''s Note: And that''s it! So, what''d you think? Hope everything met your expectations! Comment or leave a review, and I''ll do my best to get the next chapter up sooner than stated. NEXT CHAPTER UPDATE: JULY 3RD (I''ll do my best to make it July 1st if someone rates, comments, or reviews though) Chapter 4: Part 2 Author''s Note: Sorry about the time it took to post it up here. I''ve been busy with college, and haven''t been able to even sleep much. Anyway, just a few things that you should know. 1: I haven''t figured out all of the game mechanics yet, bear with me please on that. Let me know if some of the things seem off though in regards to some of the game mechanics I do mention though. ---------------------------------------------------------------------[/b] Wahshi POV ¡°YOU HAVE FAILED!!¡± The words rang out like a gong, echoing in our ears and reverberating throughout the forest. We all looked around, searching for the owner of the voice that had said that. Scanning the area, I didn¡¯t see anyone that could¡¯ve have said anything. The only things around us were a lot of plants, vines and trees. A LOT of trees now that I think about it. ¡®There¡¯s something not right here.¡¯ I mused. ¡®Were there always this many trees around us?¡¯ Yes, it was a forest. I knew that, and it was completely obvious. But looking around, I realized that the number of trees around us was ridiculous! Huge trees surrounded us on all sides, without even an inch of space between them! Vines hung down from their branches in thick ropes and the grass had grown 3 feet tall where it neared the trees! The thing that tipped me off that something was wrong was the most glaring fact. We were suddenly in another clearing! ¡®Sh*t!¡¯ I cursed in my head. The other things might have been coincidences, but the fact that we were in a clearing sealed the deal for me. Why? BECAUSE WE WEREN¡¯T IN ONE A FEW MOMENTS AGO! It was completely obvious. Whatever or whoever had done all this had us completely surrounded. We were in a clearing with nothing to use for cover, with no rough terrain, rocks or trees in the clearing that we could make use of. All of our paths to escape were gone. Huge trees surround us on all sides, with no space in between them. ¡®If I hadn¡¯t been convinced before that there¡¯s trouble, I am now. There¡¯s no way that¡¯s natural.¡¯ We wouldn¡¯t even have the chance to worry about that though, if we couldn¡¯t even get past the grass that was half our height. The expression ¡°blades of grass¡± didn¡¯t seem like just an expression with this particular species of grass. Even though they swayed just like normal grass would, parts of them were rigid looked sharper than Zhang¡¯s sword. That, and the fact that there was no wind to make the grass sway clued me in to the fact that going into the midst of that was not a good idea. Even if it did turn out to be normal grass that had grown tall, it was big enough that thinking monsters might appear there might not just be my paranoia. Mysterious, dangerous surroundings? Check. All paths of escape? Check. Mysterious, loud booming voice? Check. All of this info flooded my brain in only a few seconds, and it didn¡¯t look like it was going to be an easy fight for those three. Especially since I¡¯m here, and they¡¯ll at the very least try to make sure I don¡¯t die. None of this was looking like something I can even remotely handle. But if something¡¯s trying to take me down, I¡¯m taking one of whatever it is, with me. My eyes darted around, and it looked like no one was paying attention to me. Good. I wasn¡¯t sure what it would look like to them if I accessed any player abilities, but I didn¡¯t want to risk it. On the off-chance that doing something like that could be recognized by other people, it was better to do everything as discreet as possible. Calling up the [inventory] with my mind, I quickly took stock of what I had. There really wasn¡¯t much. 1 iron dagger. 10 copper pieces. 5 pieces of stale bread. ¡®It¡¯ll be obvious that I¡¯m not an NPC if I just pull a weapon from thin air.¡¯ Closing the window with less than a thought, I noticed that Alexa was looking my way. Bending down, I pretended to grab a weapon from my boot. What actually happened was that I was mentally equipping the iron dagger from my inventory, sheath and all. ¡®That should be enough to keep up appearances. I guess I should be thankful that my original boots somehow escaped being torn apart when I was thrown around by Misa¡¯s spell earlier in the first layer. It¡¯d be hard to explain how I¡¯d gotten a dagger into my boots if it was something that Zhang had loaned me.¡¯ Unsheathing the knife, I made sure to get ready. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that Alexa wasn¡¯t looking my way any longer. The others still hadn¡¯t even given me a second glace. Good. It was better this way. Just in case I slipped up, having no one look my way to see it would definitely be a good thing. The echoes from the words that had rang out like a gong earlier had finally died off. There was only an eerie silence which added to the tension that we were all facing. The air was humid, no sunshine came from above. No breeze came through the trees to brush off the sweat that accumulating on our faces, since there were no gaps in between the trees. Whatever light had made it through the branches of the trees and into the clearing, was more than enough for us to see though. It made it easy for us to see our enemies when they grew from the trees, separating themselves from the trunks with a CRACK like the sound of a thick branch breaking in half. Numerous beings came out from the trees, and although we could clearly see that they were there, we only saw their features after they walked through the blades of grass half as tall as a full grown man. Two types of enemies appeared. One of them seemed to be men, dressed in dark brown cloaks with hoods that covered their faces. They were tall and skinny, easily managing to be 7 feet tall, but they didn¡¯t seem to have a lot of muscle on them. They didn¡¯t walk closer towards us. They glided gracefully instead. Although the hems of their cloaks reached the ground, their graceful movements made it seem like their feet weren¡¯t even touching the ground. Walking out of the grass and appearing next to them were what I could only describe as living trees in human form. Wood made up their entire body, and they had curves at the hips and the chest. Their hair was actually a dense matting of leaves, and their eyes glowed a soft, angry green. If trees had a gender, I¡¯d definitely say that they looked like women. They didn¡¯t step gracefully like their counterparts. No, they strode towards us with pride. Each step that they took made a small tremor, and when they all took a step forward it shook the ground that we were standing on. They definitely looked strong. We were surrounded on all sides by them. They stood side-by-side while we backed up and formed a circle together. A quick glance to either side told me that Misa and Zhang didn¡¯t think this would be easy either. They had serious expressions on their faces, and they had tight grips on their weapons. Since we were in somewhat of a circle, with Zhang and Misa being on my left and right, it meant that Alexa literally had my back. I felt a sense of ease at that. I felt like I could trust her, at least more than the other two. This definitely wasn¡¯t going to be easy though. Misa POV ¡®Sh*t!¡¯ It was the first thing that came to mind when I saw all those things coming out from the trees. ¡®What the h*ll is wrong with this stupid game?!¡¯ They just kept coming out from the trees, more and more of them as time passed. Normally I¡¯d be happy that there were so many, especially ones like that since they looked like they were my specialty. But COME ON! This much was too freaking ridiculous! I reached out to Zhang mentally. ¡®Zhang. Stats. NOW!¡¯ I couldn¡¯t be sure that we¡¯d have a chance of winning if what he said agreed with what I thought he¡¯d say. ¡®Druid of the Wilds, Guardian of the 2nd Layer, Average Level 290. Dryad of the Boundary, Guardian of the 2nd Layer, Average Level 280.¡¯ I could feel the blood drain from my face when I heard that. Sweat gathered on my forehead, and there was a creak from my staff. My hand had turned white from holding my staff so tightly. THESE THINGS WERE MORE THAN 60 LEVELS ABOVE US!!! No way. There was no way. I couldn¡¯t accept it. I WON¡¯T DIE!! I haven¡¯t died once since I started this game, and there was no way that I was going to do that now! ¡®You better have a way out of this Zhang, or I swear to god that I¡¯m going to KILL you for this.¡¯ I told him over the [party chat]. For once, he didn¡¯t actually have anything to say back to me. ¡®Zhang? Zhang?! DAMN IT, IF YOU WON¡¯T DO ANYTHING, I WILL!!¡¯ I looked over at the Druids and Dryads that had appeared in the clearing with us, trying to count how many there already were. There weren¡¯t any more popping out of those damn trees, and whatever else they were, I was a Sun Mage and they were things that popped out of plants. There was no way that they¡¯d be able to take us down easy with me here. Looking around us though, I could feel something sink inside me as the number of monsters that I had counted grew higher and higher. ¡¯10¡­20¡­.40¡­.70¡­.SH*T, I¡¯m not even going to count any higher than that!¡¯ Bitterly, I glanced over at Zhang. This was all his fault! The last time we went through this forest, we managed to get halfway through with the route we used. But this time, he wanted more a challenge! Said something about ¡°more risk, more reward¡± in that annoying, know-it-all voice of his. We could¡¯ve just stuck to the route we used last time, but nooo. Zhang wanted to be the big macho idiot and prove that he could get us through the forest this time by taking the trail that led directly through the center of the forest! Looking back out over the enemies, I suddenly had a thought. ¡®Why the h*ll haven¡¯t they done anything yet?!¡¯ As if they¡¯d heard what I thought, 2 separate, loud voices rang out one after the other. ¡°VIOLENT ONES! YOU HAVE BEEN JUDGED AND FOUND UNWORTHY!!¡± ¡°SURRENDER AND DIE!!!¡± One of the living, mini trees had spoken first, and one of the floating men in robes had spoken right afterwards. I heard Alexa make her confusion known. ¡°Wait, shouldn¡¯t it be surrender or die?!¡± ¡°NO!!¡± They bellowed in unison. As if that were some kind of signal, all of the Dryads started charging towards us, their steps shaking the ground badly enough that I could see the NPC fall to the ground, unable to keep his balance. I probably would¡¯ve fallen down too, if my Strength hadn¡¯t been high enough for me to force my body to stay upright. At the same time, all of the Druids that were floating beside where the Dryads had been, had started chanting. The sound of all of those voices made the air vibrate, as their partners, the Dryads, came rushing at us. I knew that whatever they were doing wouldn¡¯t be good. I also knew that we wouldn¡¯t have time to worry about it if we didn¡¯t survive the wave of living trees that were trying to kill us. Luckily, we were together in a small circle, so only 10-12 of them could attack us at one time. ¡°Alexa! Acid Ash!¡± ¡°Got it. Everybody get down!¡± Zhang and I immediately dropped to the ground, as Alexa spun in a circle. Small glints of silver flew through the air and hit the legs of all the enemies that were closest to us in an entire circle. At the same time, I¡¯d already started chanting the words to a spell. The small silvery needles that Alexa threw at the legs of the monsters that were coming for us were covered in an acid that we found in the ¡°stomach¡± of an Alpha Slime. They were slimes that had evolved into human-like creatures. They lost almost everything that made them slimes, but the acid they used to dissolve their victims grew to terrifying levels. That, and the fact that they could then level up a lot easier and learn skills like other NPC¡¯s made them scarier than most monsters. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Because of the usefulness of their acid though, they were one of those monsters that you knew were worth the risk of dying though. The acid wouldn¡¯t dissolve anything non-living, so it could easily coat practically any weapon. Anything organic that touched it though, would straight-away just evaporate. The monsters that had been hit by the needles had already begun stumbling and falling down to the ground. This was still a game, even if everything about it was pretty realistic. Since they were many levels higher than we were, the acid was less effective and took longer to work. Lucky for us, Alpha Slime Acid was a Grade S type of acid, so as long as the thing you were using it on wasn¡¯t 100+ levels above you, it would still have some effect. ¡°AAAAAAAH!!¡± The Dryads that were hit by it let out an inhuman shriek. Parts of their legs were already turning into mist as they fell towards the ground, the affected areas smoking with a green vapor. Their friends behind them couldn¡¯t react fast enough, and they either ran them over or tripped and fell on top of them, making a small wall that kept growing as the unlucky ones that were behind them weren¡¯t able to stop themselves from stampeding into their comrades. Since their friends became the barrier that was protecting us from more of them rushing in, I was able to stand up without worrying that something was going to crash into me. My lips formed the last words of the only other Sun Mage spell I¡¯d learned before I¡¯d been disowned as a student. ¡°¡ªand let there be light. [SOLAR FLARE]!!¡± Flames spread out from under my feet in a giant circle, rushing past the four of us and going as far as the Druids were floating. Where it touched, everything turned into a whole new landscape, but something that was never meant to be seen in the entire world. The ground transformed into something that looked like the surface of the sun! It started to shake, and everyone fell over this time. Only the Druids that kept on floating in the air were unaffected, as they continued their mysterious chanting. Everyone else and the Dryads had already fallen flat to the ground. The rumbling became more centralized, and the earth around the center of the shaking bent upwards, like something was going to come bursting out of the ground. I already knew what was going to come next. ¡°EVERYBODY CLOSE YOUR EYES!!¡± I yelled as I shut my eyes hard, my head as close to the ground as I could make it, with my arms covering it. ¡®Zhang, if you didn¡¯t listen to me this time, it¡¯s your own fault!¡¯ That was the only thought left in my head when the ground between us and the wall of Dryads erupted. The other Dryads and Druids screamed as the light from the flare of a sun was seared into their eyes. The ones that were stacked into a wall near it had no chance at all. There was only a hideously loud shrieking, before everything fell silent as the light faded and the ground turned back to normal. The Dryads that had collapsed and made a protective shield against their own kind had been too close to the eruption. Their eyes had been completely burned out, leaving nothing but empty, black, smoking sockets. That was mine and Alexa¡¯s strongest combo. Acid Ash. She used acid coated needles to make the enemies drop, unable to move. I used [Solar Flare]¡¯s immense light to bake them alive through their eyes once they couldn¡¯t do anything but stare. There was a reason why I could count on one hand the number of times we¡¯d used that combo though. And it wasn¡¯t just because the acid that Alexa used for it was practically impossible to find.
SOLAR FLARE (RANK C)
A spell modified from the original Sun Mage spell [Sun Spot]. The area turns into a surface akin to the sun, and an eruption of light equivalent to the light of an explosion on the sun is released.
REQUIRES: SUN MAGE CLASS, USES: 80% OF ALL MANA, WITH A MINIMUM OF 4,500 MANA NEEDED
? Any who look at the light will be Blinded for 15 seconds ? Within 10 feet, those who stare at the light will be burned from through their eyes, receiving 20,000 damage every 2 seconds, for 10 seconds ? Usage of this spell will anger the Patron Spirit of the Sun Mages, resulting in the CURSE OF THE SUN SPIRIT, and anything else he deems a necessary punishment
I glanced over at my mana gauge. It had been completely full just seconds ago, and then had dropped down to 20% in less time than it took to snap your fingers. I wish that was the only thing that was bad about it. My eyes flickered back to the system notices that had popped up in front of me.
MANDATE OF HEAVEN:
You have abused the powers given to you which were meant for enlightenment. The Patron Spirit of the Sun Mages views you in disfavor. ? All Sun Mage abilities have been sealed for 7 days ? Maximum Mana has been permanently decreased by 5% ? Your Mana Gauge has been depleted by 80%
This is not your 1st violation of your oaths. In light of this, the Patron Spirit of the Sun Mages has cursed you and issues a final warning. Continued abuse of Sun Mage abilities will result in the WRATH OF THE SUN SPIRIT.
CURSE OF THE SUN SPIRIT
The Sun Spirit has been wrongfully represented! As such, he views this battle with disfavor. NONE MAY PROFIT FROM THIS BATTLE!! ? No Experience or Items will be gained from this fight ? Any who die from this fight will permanently lose 1 random skill
My class was originally only supposed to provide support to other people. That¡¯s what I swore to the Patron Spirit of the Sun Mages when I first became a Sun Mage. Of course, I was completely lying through my teeth. Sun Mages were the most powerful type of fire mages in my eyes. Why the hell should we only support other people? We should be out there doing what we want, and fighting whoever we want! But the Spirit that gave the first Sun Mage his powers only did it with that condition. When I first used [Solar Flare] to kill, I was practically laughing my a** off at the power it had! I¡¯d changed the original spell, [Sun Spot], which was originally only meant to turn the surroundings into something similar to the Sun, so that we gain ¡°enlightenment¡±, into something that could kill almost anything that was close to the center. You can¡¯t imagine how great I felt then. Until the system notice popped up. MANDATE OF HEAVEN. A special type of system notice that only pops up whenever the governing powers of the world, the Spirits, decide to get up off their a**es and do something. But even with all that power, when I looked around I could only feel hopeless. That¡¯s because at most, only around 15 of them had died! The rest were still clutching their eyes in agony from the light. I knew that because of the huge differences in our levels, I wouldn¡¯t kill them all. The only ones that would die would probably be the ones closest to us when I used the skill. But COME ON!! I didn¡¯t even manage to kill a quarter of them!! It felt like it had been a few minutes, maybe even 10 since they¡¯d started charging at us. But actually, it¡¯d only been a few seconds! The ground shook for the 2nd time in a row, and I could feel the blood drain from my face when I realized that the Druids had stopped chanting half-way through their spell since they were blinded by the flare of light. ¡®Oh SH*T!¡¯ When somebody that uses a spell is interrupted halfway through, the spell backfires and creates a magical backlash that ends up doing completely random things! It might not sound that dangerous, but tell that to one of the guys who trained with me under my teacher. He¡¯d meant to start a campfire, but got distracted and cut the spell short. The magical backlash that happened caused fire to start inside his organs! From the sound of the rumbling, it didn¡¯t seem like the Druids would be the only ones on the receiving end of the backlash either. The ground EXPLODED and dirt went flying everywhere! Huge tree roots flew up from the ground, each one as thick as a person. They went on a rampage, slamming themselves down everywhere, leaving only flattened material behind. A shadow went over me and I looked up to see one heading my way. I smiled wryly. ¡®So in the end, this is as far as I could get, huh? GODDAMMIT, why couldn¡¯t I have found that b*stard and killed him before I died in this game?!¡¯ I closed my eyes in reluctant acceptance of the end, and an image of that smirking, cocky b*stard that ruined my life ended up in my head. I could feel dark flames burn in my heart at the thought of him, and my sadistic side kicked in as I tried to imagine him in the worst possible torture scenes. It wasn¡¯t to be though. Not if I died here. I¡¯d already promised myself that if I died once here, I¡¯d give up on making him pay. ¡®I guess in the end I wasn¡¯t strong enough.¡¯ I thought bitterly to myself. There was a loud YELL and a CRACK, followed by the sound of something cutting through, and a big CRASH. Opening my eyes, I saw the world¡¯s biggest idiot standing in front of me with a smile. ¡°Yo, Misa. Somebody call for a knight-in-shining-armor to rescue his lovely princess?¡± He teased with a shit-eating grin. The part of the tree root that had been about to hit me had been cut off, flying just a little bit past me after Zhang had cut it off. He stood there with a giant 2-handed broadsword, a paw mark on the back of his hand fading. I could feel the blood rush to my cheeks and I turned my head away so he couldn¡¯t see me blush. ¡°Who the f*ck needed your help you big idiot?¡± I muttered. His grin only got wider when he heard that, but otherwise he said nothing. Seeing him back to normal got my competitive spirit back up. ¡®There is no way that I¡¯m going to lose to this guy!¡¯ ¡®We can still win this.¡¯ That was what rang through my mind as I stood back up. ---------------------------------------- Author''s Note: So how was it? Originally this chapter was going to be longer, but it was already WAY past the date that I''d said that I would post this, so I decided to just put the scenes I haven''t written yet into the next chapter. Also, next chapter is Wahshi''s big fight scene! (YES! HE FINALLY DOES SOMETHING!! I''M SO EXCITED!!!) Rate and Review if you can, please! If you like the story but don''t like the quality, or feel that something could be better, please comment! Remember, it''s not going to get better if you don''t let me know of a way to improve! Chapter 4: Part 3.1 Author''s Note: Ok, so I''ve finished my college finals for the semester, which means that I''m free for another 10 days. In those 10 days, I can get probably the next 2 parts out. Also, you''ve probably noticed from the chapter title that I''ve split up Part 3 into smaller sections. you''ll see why at the end of this chapter. Sorry, but it''s not as long as my usual chapters. I want to take this time to mention a few people. Thanks Xephon for all the comments! I notice that you take the time to comment on practically every chapter, and I appreciate it! Also, thaks for the comment Einhander! Like I keep saying, I''m doing this to improve my writing, and I can''t get better without people letting me know what''s on their mind when they read my story. I suppose I have been focusing on Zhang and his party a little too much. In any case, this chapter does show why the heck Zhang didn''t do anything after he saw the monsters. After that, it''s on to Wahshi''s POV. SPOILER ALERT: I''ll make sure to include more of Wahshi''s POV''s if he''s still alive after this chapter. I also didn''t have time to make tables yet, so I''ll do that later. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Zhang POV ¡®What the HELL?!¡¯ The things in front of me were just too unreal. No, they can¡¯t be real. These things weren¡¯t even here the last time we went through! This was the first time that I¡¯d ever regretted leaving my [Observe] skill on, because if what I was seeing was true, then there was no way we could win. Appearing above the floating, cloaked men were things that made me think that there was something wrong with my eyes, because it wasn¡¯t possible.
Druid of the Wilds: Guardian of the 2nd Layer LEVEL: 290 ???? ????
That alone was bad enough. But it wasn¡¯t just them that we had to worry about. Above the living trees were other boxes of information. The most average of them had this above their heads.
Dryad of the Boundary: Guardian of the 2nd Layer LEVEL: 280 ???? ????
¡®These things are more than 60 LEVELS ABOVE US!¡¯ Just looking at it made my brain freeze. I could hear Misa screaming in my head for their stats as more and more of them appeared. Somehow, I managed to get past the shock long enough to tell her what I saw. There was nothing else I could do afterwards. My vision turned black. The only thing I saw were the red notification boxes which popped up in front of my eyes.
STATUS AILMENT SELF-AFFLICTED!!
TOTAL MENTAL BREAKDOWN:
Much like how a deer may freeze at the sight of a carnivorous predator, your avatar¡¯s mind has completely shut down at the sight of an enemy whose terrifying strength you have refused to accept as part of reality.
? Loss of all 5 senses (Touch, Taste, Hearing, Smell and Sight) ? Total loss of body (Unable to control or predict what your body may do on its own) ? Status ailment will stay active until something shocks you out of it
I don¡¯t know how long I stayed like that. It was just me in that black space. I could have logged out at any time, which was obvious. Nothing stopped me from being able to actually think, even though I had a status ailment that would make you think I wouldn¡¯t be able to do something as basic as that. I could look through all of the player abilities like the MENU all I wanted, after all. Logging out wasn¡¯t a problem for me, but what about Misa? No matter what, I couldn¡¯t just leave her to face that many enemies by herself. So I waited. It wasn¡¯t possible to be like this forever, after all. We were in battle, which meant that eventually something would snap me out of this. I don¡¯t know how long I was like that, but what I do know was that the darkness that was around me started shaking, almost like it was metal that had been struck against something. After that it completely disappeared, and everything that was around me before, suddenly snapped back into place. I drank in the scene before me in less than a second, which was barely enough time to realize 2 things. 1: The shock from the giant tree roots slamming down onto the ground was what had knocked me back out of that sh*tty status ailment. And 2: There was a GIANT tree root about to slam into Misa! ¡®She can¡¯t die, SHE CAN¡¯T DIE! I WON¡¯T LET HER DIE!!!¡¯ A hundred different scenarios exploded in my mind in a split second, one right after the other as I tried to find the best way for her to survive. Each one made use of different abilities and weapons that I had and could use, but in the end it looked like there was only 1 way that I could save her. Mentally opening the INVENTORY, I equipped a giant greatsword. The sword I¡¯d been using faded out, and the 2-handed giant greatsword shifted into the palm of my hand. I hoisted it over my shoulder, both of my hands gripping the handle as tight as I could. Staring at the giant root, time seemed to slow down even faster than it had already been going. I only had 1 shot at this, and I had to time it right. If I cut it at just the right moment, the 2 parts of the root would separate right above Misa. Sweat dripped down the side of my face. If I had any other choice, and if it was anyone else besides Misa that was about to be smashed into bits, I wouldn¡¯t have even thought twice about leaving them to die, especially since I¡¯d have to use this sword to save them. But it IS Misa, and I DON¡¯T have any other choice.
TENKI: THE LAST BLADE (Rank S)
A mysterious sword with strange symbols engraved onto the blade. Origin unknown, crafting method unknown, materials used to make it are unknown. Legends only tell of a mysterious woman who was the sword¡¯s last known wielder, who died only imparting the blade¡¯s name, and a warning. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡®The sword can sever anything under the Heavens, but only once. There will come a great evil in the future. Make sure that the sword survives to cut through it, or we are all doomed.¡±
ATTACK: ??? DURABILITY: 1/1 ABILITY: *&^%#---- (Can sever anything)
The blade had a durability of 1! It really couldn¡¯t be used more than once, and I knew that there had to be a quest attached to it. Why would the legend speak about using it against a great evil otherwise? Without the weapon, who knows what would happen to the event that the game designers made. I saw the root keep falling, and I felt like it was the right moment. I just hope I can make it in time. Bending my knees with one leg in front of the other and a giant greatsword hoisted over my shoulder, I dashed forward with a CRACK and sliced through the root. The 2 halves crashed down on either side of us, and I turned to see Misa opening her eyes. Seeing her safe and sound, I couldn¡¯t help myself. I just had to say it. ¡°Yo, Misa. Somebody call for a knight-in-shining-armor to rescue his lovely princess?¡± She turned her head away. Was she blushing? ¡°Who the f*ck needed your help you big idiot?¡± She said. ¡®Yep, she¡¯s definitely alright.¡¯ Was what I thought as the sword I¡¯d carried for a long time fractured and broke into dozens of pieces. It was worth it. Wahshi POV Out of the corner of my eye I saw Zhang rescue Misa, and the giant sword that he used fracture, and then break into dozens of pieces. I felt the corners of my mouth curl into a wry smile at their pinkish atmosphere. In the middle of a huge battle with a hundred powerful enemies and giant tree roots smashing down and flattening anything close by, they¡¯d managed to fit in a little romance. I slipped away from the group and ran in the opposite direction that everyone else was in. It was best if they stayed under the impression that I was a weak, ¡°old¡± man near his fifties. If they saw what I was about to do, they would definitely be more cautious around me. That¡¯s something that I can¡¯t have them doing. I could feel something change in my eyes, every step I took as I ran pounded the ground like a kick, and I could feel my stamina draining with every single thing I did. Oh crap, I was mad. And it wasn¡¯t just because of that pinkish little world that those 2 lovebirds had made either. It was because I was seeing a notice that had popped up in the upper right corner of my vision, which I¡¯d ignored until now.
CURSE OF THE SUN SPIRIT[
The Sun Spirit has been wrongfully represented! As such, he views this battle with disfavor. NONE MAY PROFIT FROM THIS BATTLE!!
? No Experience or Items will be gained from this fight ? Any who die from this fight will permanently lose 1 random skill
¡®What the hell is with these people?! The experience I don¡¯t mind losing, but I can¡¯t even get any items?!! That¡¯s the whole reason I¡¯m in this game! So I can get things and sell it for actual money!!¡¯ My vision started to blur. Everything I saw started to have a tinge of red. ¡®Sh*t, gotta calm down. Gotta calm down!¡¯ Breathing deeply, I remembered my past experiences in that hell of a prison that I¡¯d been trapped in for twenty years. If someone else had just been going over some of the less painful and horrifying memories I had, they would¡¯ve had to deal with months of terrifying nightmares and consecutive visits to a therapist. Even I had trouble dealing with even the minor things that had happened there. Normally I blocked all of it out, but this time I made sure to go over some of the less horrifying ones, just to remind myself of one of the many important rules I¡¯d learned in prison. If you want to survive in a place where everyone else is much stronger and wants to kill you, DON¡¯T GET ANGRY OVER LOSING SOMETHING THAT YOU NEVER HAD IN THE FIRST PLACE! Fighting angry in a situation like this would only get me killed, and that was something I couldn¡¯t afford. Especially since on top of whatever would normally happen if I died, I¡¯d also permanently lose a skill! The hairs on the back of my neck started to stand up, and I looked up to see a giant root about to flatten me! This thing was as wide as 3 people standing on top of each other, and was close enough that I felt like I could make out the small grains of wood that it was made of. ¡®God, I hope this works.¡¯ I¡¯d had an idea in the back of my head ever since I¡¯d been dragged and torn apart by Misa¡¯s spell back in the 1st Boundary. I was weak. I¡¯d known it ever since I started playing this game, but being bloodied by someone that says they¡¯re there to help you made it really sink in. That¡¯s when I knew that I needed something that¡¯d help me survive against all of these monsters. And I didn¡¯t just mean the ones that were traveling with me either. All of that made me remember a piece of information that¡¯d been sent to the back of my mind by more important matters not long ago. And now I¡¯m betting everything on that small piece of info that I¡¯d remembered. ¡®This has to work. No, this WILL work!¡¯ A split second later and the root was already a hair away from the top of my head. BOOOOM! Debris filled the air as yet another root slammed into the ground¡­.. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author''s Note: HAHA! Couldn''t resist leaving the cliffhanger. So, what do you guys think? Was Wahshi just an interesting way to introduce the real MC, which could be Zhang, Misa and Alexa? Or did I just change my mind about Wahshi being the MC, and decide to give that role to somebody else? Keep in mind that the story description will say whatever I want it to, and that if he does die, I''ll change it after this. Comment and let me know what you think! Rate the story so that I and everyone else can know what you think it''s worth! Review the story and let me know how I''m doing! Remember: What you say could change the entire course of the story!! Also, does anyone know how to do that spoiler tab option? I''d be grateful if you can tell me how that works. Chapter 4: Part 3.2 Author''s Note: To thank everybody for their patience, I decided to do a same-day post on Wattpad and Royal Road (normally I''d post on Wattpad, then after a few days I''d do Royal Road). But since it''s a same-day post, I wasn''t able to do tables yet. So what do you guys think? Should I keep posting like this and just add tables later? Or should I go back to my old style and just post whenever I''ve decided where the tables should go? EDIT: Just finished adding tables. Vote up on the Poll to let me know! ALSO: I want to give thanks to Balthazar! You let me know about an obvious plot hole early in the story that I somehow missed, so this is my way of saying thanks. I''ll fix it up later. IT''S FINALLY TIME TO FIND OUT WHO THE REAL MC IS!!! ------------------------------------------------------------- Previously¡­¡­ ¡®This has to work. No, this WILL work!¡¯ A split second later and the root was already a hair away from the top of my head. BOOOOM! Debris filled the air as yet another root slammed into the ground¡­.. NOW: The giant root lay still on the ground. A hazy mist still hung in the air from when the root had slammed down onto the ground. No one paid any attention to it. Why should they? After all, the root was just another of the many that were still slamming themselves down onto the ground, trying to squash the Boundary Guardians and Zhang¡¯s party. Suddenly, a part of the mist rushed back to the ground. It gathered together and condensed, re-forming a certain adventurer that had almost been flattened into a paste by the root that was now behind him. Immediately he took off at a sprint, only giving a moment¡¯s glance towards himself to check that everything was still in place. Wahshi felt a surge of confidence, but quickly buried the feeling. He was still about to go up against monsters that were so far out of his league that it wasn¡¯t even funny. If he felt anything other than calm, he knew he¡¯d die. Still, the new notifications that had appeared in the corner of his vision had made his whole body feel lighter from excitement, which he¡¯d decided not to bury all the way, since a small amount would help him push his body closer to the limit of what it could do.
THROUGH PROFOUND REALIZATIONS ABOUT YOUR ORIGINS, YOU HAVE UNLOCKED A NEW BRANCH OF ABILITIES.
BORN OF THE MIST: A special branch of abilities which can be accessed only by those that have been birthed by the Mist of Souls, and have understood and accepted their origins.
NEW (BORN OF THE MIST) ABILITY DISCOVERED
MIST FORM LVL 1:
FIRM CONVICTION IN WHAT YOU THOUGHT WAS TRUE ABOUT YOUR ORIGINS HAS ENABLED YOU TO TURN BACK INTO THE MIST THAT SPAWNED YOU AT 1ST LEVEL, TURNS YOUR ENTIRE BODY INTO MIST. HIGHER LEVELS WILL ALLOW YOU TO CONTROL WHAT PART OF YOUR BODY YOU WISH TO TURN. AT 1ST LEVEL, MIST FORM CAN STAY ACTIVE FOR A MAXIMUM OF 2 SECONDS. ABILITY MAY BE CANCELLED AT ANY TIME. ACTIVATION REQUIREMENTS: NONE ACTIVATION COST: 2% of Max Health
Ever since I¡¯d ended up on the receiving end of Misa¡¯s spell, I knew that I had to find a way to better protect myself. There was no way that I was going to end up like that a 2nd time. I knew I wasn¡¯t like the typical new player though. There were too many things that made that obvious. If I was a normal new player, I wouldn¡¯t have been the first to make it out of the Mist of Souls. If I was normal, I probably never would¡¯ve met Gaia and become her first friend. But the thing that gave me the idea in the first place, was the fact that if I were normal, I wouldn¡¯t be ¡°First-Born of the Mist¡±.
FIRST-BORN OF THE MIST
A UNIQUE TITLE GIVEN ONLY TO THE FIRST PERSON TO ACCOMPLISH THE FEAT ¡°I WAS BORN RUNNING¡±, AND EVEN THEN ONLY IF THEY MANAGE TO BEFRIEND GAIA. GRANTS: +10 TO ALL STATS, ACCESS TO MISTBORN ABILITIES WHEN DISCOVERED, ACCESS TO UNIQUE ABILITIES GIVEN ONLY TO THE HOLDER OF THIS TITLE (IF DISCOVERED), PASSIVE SKILL ¡°ELDEST¡±
In a forest clearing completely surrounded by trees, where tall blades of grass grew at the base of the trees¡­. Complete and utter pandemonium reigned. Huge tree roots as wide as a person and as thick as 3 people smashed down, flattening anything that happened to be unfortunate enough to be in its path. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Clouds of dirt went flying into the air, leaving dents in the ground where formerly living things had become flat as pancakes as the roots rose back up again to slam down on another target. I couldn¡¯t be sure, but of the original 100 enemies (50 Druids, 50 Dryads) which had surrounded us, I would¡¯ve guessed that there were maybe around 30 left. Since many had been stopped in their tracks with Alexa¡¯s poison needles, and they¡¯d all been blinded by Misa¡¯s spell, they weren¡¯t able to dodge the falling tree roots very successfully. If the roots had been aiming for them on purpose, they all would have died without a doubt. But since the tree roots had come alive only because of the backlash of the Druid¡¯s failed spell, the roots had smashed down randomly on whatever was closest to them. Zhang, Misa, Alexa and I were immensely better off in comparison. At least we could dodge the roots if we saw them coming at us in time. The Druids were still writhing on the ground, their proud cloaks dirtied by the dust and debris. Magical backlash was not something anyone would want to experience. The one who failed at casting would be writhing in sharp pain, like someone had taken a nail and hammered it into their brains. That was before the other side effects happened, such as the tree roots. The Dryads were doing better than their male counterparts. Some of them had already recovered and were using their physical prowess to dodge any incoming danger from above, while heading towards us. They might have been living trees, but they no one would say that they were slow. I had a feeling that the tree roots wouldn¡¯t keep smashing down forever, and if we hadn¡¯t killed them off by then, we would be the ones that died. BOOM!! Another tree root smashed down to my right. I somehow managed to stay up and keep running, even though the ground was shaking. It was a good thing too, because I was already face-to-face with a Dryad. If this had been the real world, she might have been a supermodel. She was gorgeous! If you ignored the fact that where there were supposed to be eyes, there was only an intense glow coming from the eye sockets! Her dark skin was flawless, and it was only if you looked closely that you could see that her dark skin was actually made of bark. AND HER FIST WAS HEADING TO MY FACE!! Even though I wasn¡¯t sure what level they were at, since I was level 1 anything could¡¯ve killed me. I couldn¡¯t play around here. Lucky for me, I had 20 years of experience dealing with people that could¡¯ve killed me at any moment. I had more than a few tricks up my sleeve. I recalled what it felt like to be in the Mist. The sharp, biting cold, how it was sometimes dense and other times it wasn¡¯t. What I remembered most though, was the feeling of crushing hopelessness, which slammed down on you as soon as your guard was down. With a painful jolt, I¡¯d activated [Mist Form]. It was a weird sensation. I was there, but I was spread out. I didn¡¯t have eyes, but I could sense where everything was. Her fist went straight through where my head had been, and I could feel how powerful that punch was. If I¡¯d been hit by it, knocking my head clean off would¡¯ve been the least of what could¡¯ve happened. Not missing a beat, I quickly flowed past her and reformed facing her back. Noticing a shadow growing larger, I moved my left foot in front of her right and shoved her forward. She¡¯d thrown all her weight into that first punch, so most of her body weight had still been heading forward. She flew forward a few feet, landing right in the path of a giant root crashing down. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. SPLAAAT She didn¡¯t even have time to scream. I didn¡¯t hear anything, but I could feel the corners of my lips curl up in a small smile as I imagined what it would¡¯ve sounded like. Hey, if you try to kill me, I¡¯m fine with you dying. I learned my lesson about showing kindness to those kinds of people a long time ago. Under my breath, I said words that no one else could hear. ¡°Prison Rule Number 73: LEAVE NO ENEMY BEHIND.¡± ----------------------------------------------------------- Author''s Note: SO.... it turns out Wahshi didn''t die after all, so he is the actual MC for the story. Sorry for anybody hoping that it was actually somebody from Zhang''s party. ALSO: Does anyone know how to change the color of table rows and/or tables? Not the color of the words, but the actual table itself. Instead of the usual blue, maybe change it to red. RATE IT: So I know what you think it''s worth REVIEW IT: So other people know what you think it''s worth COMMENT: So I know if you see any mistakes, if you want to let me know how the story could be better, or just for being 1st ONE LAST THING!! You''ll find the MC''s stats and abilities tables down below. Let me know if you like the new way I organized them. You know....Spoiler : I might put in some chapters later on about how Misa and Zhang became the sick, twisted people that they are. For now though, even I feel that I''ve taken up too much time with them (even though it''s been less than 3 chapters [the first Zhang party POV was in chapter 2]). I''ll head back to their POV only briefly from now on, just to so you can see what they''re thinking during Wahshi''s stay with them. Otherwise, it''s all about the MC now that I''ve got his personality better planned out! For anyone that wants to see the MC''s current full status: (I did some re-organizing) Spoiler :
STATUS WINDOW
NAME:WAHSHI
LEVEL:1
RACE:HUMANGENDER:MALE
CLASS:NONE
MONEY:0G 1S 0C, $0
TITLES:FIRST-BORN OF THE MIST
FAME:100INFAMY:0
HEALTH:105 (+5)
MANA:120 (+100)
STRENGTH:18 (+10)INTELLIGENCE:10 (+10)
DEXTERITY:10 (+10)WILLPOWER:2 (+10)
VITALITY:10 (+10)CHARISMA:0 (+10)
AGILITY:10 (+10)LUCK:7 (+10)
*Mana= 100+ (Willpower*10), Health=(LVL*100)+(Vitality/2) And for anyone that wants to know the MC''s skills and abilities: Spoiler :
SKILL LIST
PASSIVE
FIRST-BORN OF THE MIST:
  • ELDEST: YOU ARE THE OLDEST CHILD OF YOUR CLAN, AND THEREFORE THE STRONGEST. +1 TO ALL STATS FOR EVERY MISTBORN IN THE WORLD, EXCLUDING YOURSELF (CURRENT NUMBER OF MISTBORN: 1 [YOURSELF])
PLAYER:
  • PERSEVERE: YOU HAVE GONE THROUGH INCREDIBLE PAINS TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOAL. WHEN HEALTH IS LESS THAN 50%, PAIN DECREASES 1% PER ADDITIONAL PERCENT OF HEALTH LOST
ACTIVE
BORN OF THE MIST:
  • SOUL ORIGIN (BEGINNER RANK): YOU HAVE ACCOMPLISHED A FEAT FEW WOULD KNOW ABOUT, AND DISCOVERED THE BIRTHPLACE OF YOUR SOUL. TRAVEL TO THE MIST OF SOULS IS NOW POSSIBLE UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS, IF THE COST IS PAID. ACTIVATION REQUIREMENTS: ??? ACTIVATION COSTS: ???
[tr]
ABILITY LISTPLAYER:
  • MENU: Access to a game-like interface
  • RESURRECTION: May be re-born 10 hours after death (game-time)
  • INVENTORY: Access to a small, pocket-dimension which can hold belongings up to a certain limit
  • LOG OUT: Return to your original world
BORN OF THE MIST:
  • MIST FORM (LVL 1): FIRM CONVICTION IN WHAT YOU THOUGHT WAS TRUE ABOUT YOUR ORIGINS HAS ENABLED YOU TO TURN BACK INTO THE MIST THAT SPAWNED YOU AT 1ST LEVEL, TURNS YOUR ENTIRE BODY INTO MIST. HIGHER LEVELS WILL ALLOW YOU TO CONTROL WHAT PART OF YOUR BODY YOU WISH TO TURN. AT 1ST LEVEL, MIST FORM CAN STAY ACTIVE FOR A MAXIMUM OF 2 SECONDS. ABILITY MAY BE CANCELLED AT ANY TIME. ACTIVATION REQUIREMENTS: NONE ACTIVATION COST: 2% of Max Health
TITLE EFFECTS
  • FIRST-BORN OF THE MIST: +10 TO ALL STATS, ACCESS TO MISTBORN ABILITIES WHEN DISCOVERED, ACCESS TO UNIQUE ABILITIES GIVEN ONLY TO THE HOLDER OF THIS TITLE (IF DISCOVERED), PASSIVE SKILL ¡°ELDEST¡±
Chapter 4: Part 3.3 Author''s Note: Sorry it took so long. The new college semester started, and still working out how to fit some time to write in between all the classes and homework. I promised you 4-5,000 words to make up for the wait, and here it is. NEWS: So I''ve gotten some good feedback from people, and I''ve decided to make a few changes to the previous chapters. 1: The SOLAR FLARE spell that Misa used is now a Rank C spell (It used to be Rank A), and in addition to costing 80% of all mana and permanently losing some of that, it also now costs 90% of health and a loss of 30 levels (it used to just need the mana). This change has not been made yet. 2: I mentioned in an earlier chapter that Wahshi didn''t know what a potion was. Someone commented and pointed out that it was ridiculous for him to have been preparing for 6 months and not know what it was. I don''t know what I was thinking when I put that down, so I''ll be fixing that, and I''ll also be telling people what EXACTLY he found out in his research. This change hasn''t been done yet though. CONGRATS: To Robbini, your idea made it into the story! See if you can find it! Also a big thanks to: Rosidbeken2: For all the comments and suggestions! I''ve taken them into consideration, and replied to a lot of them. Thanks again for helping me make the story better. If there''s anything else that doesn''t make sense, let me know! (It won''t be a better story unless I get feedback!) SileNeshoba: For the great idea which is helping me post chapters w/ tables faster! AntKiller: For always commenting! It always feels good to be appreciated, so thanks again! And Everybody Else: THANKS AS ALWAYS FOR COMMENTING!! I know didn''t get everybody, but if this author''s note was longer I think people would just start cursing me out, and telling me to hurry up and get to the chapter already. ONE LAST THING!!: I''ve noticed that the number of views keep dropping a lot for each subsequent chapter I post. (Ex: Chapter 4: Part 1 was probably 500-600 views, chapter 4: Part 3.2 was around 300). Is there anything I''m doing wrong, or can do better? ----------------------------------------------------------- The air brushed against my naked arms as I ran. While the robe I was wearing didn¡¯t fit me perfectly (since it was originally Zhang¡¯s), it also wasn¡¯t too loose either. It looked like something you¡¯d see an ancient Chinese person wear, a long robe with huge sleeves that kept flapping as I ran. It was something you would definitely have seen someone wearing in an ancient Chinese city, but it definitely wasn¡¯t cut out for battle. Considering the fact that it was designed for the Chinese of somewhat high status, it made sense that they didn¡¯t think of how it would function in a fight. Those guys generally stayed in the city, and were probably well-known scholars or businessmen. So I¡¯d modified it a bit. Either way, it was definitely better than what my old clothes did for me (which was practically nothing but hide my skin). The robe technically counted as light armor, so it had some benefits as well. This is what it would¡¯ve given me before I¡¯d modified it.
UNKNOWN SCHOLAR¡¯S ROBE
[NO LEVEL REQUIREMENT]
A ROBE THAT GIVES OFF THE NOBLE AIR OF A SCHOLAR. IT¡¯S STYLE AND DESIGN ARE OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN, AS WAS THE SCHOLAR IT ONCE BELONGED TO.
DEXTERITY -10, INTELLIGENCE +5, WILLPOWER +5, DEFENSE +1
He probably had armor or something else that would have given me better protection, but judging from the fact that this robe specifically said that it had ¡°no level requirement¡±, I knew that most armor probably would have one. Considering the fact that he was probably pretty high-leveled, most likely he didn¡¯t have anything else that he could give me, since I was level 1. Thinking about it, it was probably logical that once people got to a certain level, they didn¡¯t carry around things that were far too weak and useless for them. It probably took up too much space in their [inventory]. This did confirm something for me though. Zhang had something, some kind of ability or skill that let him see how strong people, and maybe monsters, were. I wasn¡¯t sure before this, but now I was. Thinking about what kind of person he was, I knew that if he didn¡¯t know how strong I was, he probably would¡¯ve offered me a variety of equipment that had varying level requirements, just to see how strong I was. He didn¡¯t do anything like that, ergo, he already knew what level I was. It was good for me. The more he underestimated me, the better the chances I had if it ever came down to a fight. Regardless though, I¡¯m guessing that it was a great piece of light armor for beginners. It buffed 3 stats after all, which made it incredibly useful for anyone that was low-leveled enough to need it (even if it did lower dexterity). http://i00.i.aliimg.com/wsphoto/v0/1713637694/New-2014-autumn-clothing-Han-Chinese-clothing-font-b-costume-b-font-clothes-nunnery-great-ancient.jpg (PICTURE OF ROBE) It had originally gone down almost to my ankles. As soon as Zhang had pulled it out and gave it to me to replace my medieval peasant garb that had been practically destroyed earlier, I knew that I wouldn¡¯t be able to run in it. It was a huge robe that went down to my ankles after all! So I¡¯d changed it a little. With my knife I¡¯d cut part of the bottom off, so that it ended up only halfway down my shin. It wasn¡¯t that much of a difference in design, but just cutting off that part of the robe had made it so that it wouldn¡¯t trip me up if I run. I also made sure to cut slits on the four sides of the robe (front, back, left and right sides) where it now ended. Now my legs wouldn¡¯t be confined, which made it easier to do certain moves in, especially any evasive moves I might¡¯ve had to do. Afterwards though, the properties of the robe had changed. This is what the modified robe now gave me.
UNKNOWN SCHOLAR¡¯S ROBE (MODIFIED)
[NO LEVEL REQUIREMENT]
A ROBE OF UNKNOWN STYLE AND DESIGN. ONCE, IT GAVE OFF AN AIR OF SCHOLARLY NOBILITY. CHANGED TO MAKE IT BETTER FOR BATTLE, IT IS NOW PROOF THAT EVEN THE LOFTIEST OF SCHOLARS WILL FIGHT IF NEED BE.
DEXTERITY -2, INTELLIGENCE +3, WILLPOWER +7, DEFENSE +1
I didn¡¯t like the fact that it was white since it made me stand out, but that was easily solved by rubbing some dirt on it. With just a few small changes, I¡¯d also made it so that the robe didn¡¯t have as much of a drawback as it once did. The sleeves were completely cut off as well. I¡¯d known people who had talked about secret organizations full of assassins that had been able to hide weapons everywhere on their bodies, each one deadlier than the last. I had no doubt that if they were the ones that had this robe, they would¡¯ve put to good use every single inch of cloth that it had, especially the sleeves. But I wasn¡¯t anywhere near as skilled as they were, so I just cut them off. THUD THUD THUD THUD!!! The sounds of another of the living trees chasing after me kept thundering rapidly after me, one right after the other. She might have looked like a woman, but her legs still ended in stumps with what looked like roots for toes. I had the feeling that the people that made this game were poking fun at the saying ¡°¡­make like a tree and leave¡±. SHE WAS FREAKING FAST!! Every 6 or 7 steps, she was already close enough to strike me, and she always did. Well, she tried anyway. Every time she got close, I¡¯d use [Mist Form], and with a small jolt my body would turn into mist and fly as far away as I could in the 2 seconds that I had. It was never far enough to get away from her though, because the space between us always started shrinking as soon as I turned back. [Mist Form] was my only advantage, because I was faster flying through the air as mist, than running on the ground as me. I couldn¡¯t keep it up forever though. Every time I turned human again, I had less life! I¡¯d already used it 8 times! Once with the giant root, another before I ¡°threw¡± that other living tree underneath a giant root, and SIX times dodging the thing chasing me! I¡¯d already done the simple math. That window had told me that I¡¯d lose 2% of my total health. Since I used it 8 times, that means I¡¯d lost 16% of my health already! ¡®Can¡¯t keep wasting it like this! Gotta make every use count!¡¯ Before the giant roots started crashing down on us all, the entire clearing had been surrounded by a hundred of these monsters. Now that there were less than thirty of them, they were more spread out. That meant that I hadn¡¯t run into any more of them yet while I was being chased, but it also meant that it was easier for Zhang and his crew to see me. The longer I kept this up, the higher the chance that I could get exposed. Lucky for me right now, Zhang was busy keeping the treefolk off of Misa. Both of their backs were to me, as he fended off 3 of those things while Misa backed him up with fire spells. The only thing that worried me was the fact that I couldn¡¯t see Alexa. An inhumane growl from behind me reminded me that I didn¡¯t have time to look around for her. I didn¡¯t have many options right now. There weren¡¯t any roots falling down close to me or the oddly beautiful living tree that wanted to kill me, so that option was gone. THUD THUD THUD THUD!! GRAAAH!!! She roared. ¡®Oh SH*T!¡¯ While I was busy trying to figure a way out of this mess, the she-tree had caught up with me! She brought her hands together up in the air. They melded together and turned into a giant wooden ball with spikes coming out of it. A giant mace. I didn¡¯t even wait for her to start swinging that down at me. As soon as I saw it, I didn¡¯t hesitate to turn back into mist. This time though, I flew up and away instead of just trying to get farther away from her. Forget about the little jolt and the headache that kept building up with it. I might as well have been shot in the head with a bullet if it even touched me. From all the crazy stuff I¡¯d seen so far, nothing in this forest was in my league, and I wasn¡¯t taking any chances. This might¡¯ve only been a game, but when a morning star is staring at you in the eyes, it doesn¡¯t take much to trick you into believing that it¡¯s real life. Even though it wasn¡¯t on my mind then, I also knew that I didn¡¯t want to lose anything because of the Curse of the Sun Spirit either. So I flew up and out. With only 2 seconds of being able to fly, it wasn¡¯t something I¡¯d normally do, but I had to take a risk. I couldn¡¯t go too high either, otherwise when I turned back, I¡¯d end up either having to use [Mist Form] again or end up skydiving without a parachute. Neither of that sounded good, since I didn¡¯t want to waste any more of the number of times that I could use it, and I didn¡¯t want to die either. Being a literal cloud of mist was¡­ different. I couldn¡¯t see per se, but I knew and felt everything in and around me at the same time. The only way I could describe it was like a blind man feeling things up. I wouldn¡¯t be able to tell you what color something was, but I knew it was there at least. And that gave me a great idea. I dropped out of the sky as fast I could and hit the ground. I might not have been able to see it, but I could still feel gravity pulling me. Knowing which way was down was a no-brainer. When I hit the ground, I could feel myself splattering and spreading across the entire clearing. I made sure to at least try to stay as close to the ground as possible though, just to make sure certain people didn¡¯t notice. In the half-second that it took, I suddenly knew where everything was. Which was good, because in the next half-second everything that was ¡°me¡± rushed back to the place where I¡¯d first hit the ground, and stood back up fully human again. I looked over to the she-tree that¡¯d been chasing me this entire time. She was still looking around for me. Somehow, I¡¯d finally managed to make her lose sight of me when I flew up and out away from her. If I ran away now, I doubt that she¡¯d be able to find me with all the chaos in the battle. Too bad. Now I needed her to chase me. I cupped my hands around my mouth and yelled. ¡°HEY SHE-TREE!!!¡± She spun around real quick. Surprise colored her face, probably because I wasn¡¯t running anymore. I¡¯d bet the fact that I actually called out to her only added to the shock. ¡°I think I saw your sister the other day! SHE¡¯S PROBABLY PART OF THAT TOILET PAPER THAT I USED TO WIPE MY A** OFF IN THE BATHROOM!!¡± If it was possible for the she-tree¡¯s face to get any darker, it probably would have. I don¡¯t know if she understood everything I said, but she clearly understood the part about her sister and my a**. She [b]ROARED!![/b] It was different this time around. This time, that inhumane sound that went out of her mouth actually shook the ground I was standing on. I could feel the blood drain from my face. ¡®SH*T!¡¯ The reason that I¡¯d been fine with yelling at her before was because I knew that with all the noise from the fighting and the giant tree roots slamming down, the only person that¡¯d hear me was the she-tree I¡¯d been yelling at. I wasn¡¯t so sure that nobody else would hear her scream just now though. As if she was only playing around with me earlier, her speed now had almost doubled. She ran with her upper body almost parallel to the ground, her hands had already separated from that morning star. Her arms now acted like a pair of front legs, and she ran like a cheetah on all fours. Her face didn¡¯t even look remotely human now. It had cracked in half down the center of her nose, and bark flew off it as her eye sockets enlarged. It now took up half her face, leaving no room for her forehead. They were just big, dark gaping holes side-by-side her nose. Her mouth wasn¡¯t there anymore either. Where it was just a few moments ago, there was just a split between what used to be her upper lip and her bottom lip. That just left a huge black space in between. If before she could¡¯ve been a supermodel, now she would¡¯ve been perfect to cast in a horror movie as some kind of thing that devoured your soul. It sent shivers down my spine. All of a sudden I wasn¡¯t so sure about my plan anymore. ¡®Ah screw it. I¡¯ve already got one foot in, might as well go all the way. It¡¯s too bad about her though. She was prettier before.¡¯ I took off at a run in the opposite direction. BOOM!! I felt my lips curl up again. That sound should¡¯ve been the root that I¡¯d ¡°felt¡± falling when I was in [Mist Form]. With that in place I didn¡¯t need to worry about those 3 ¡°friends¡± I¡¯d made seeing anything. If anyone or any thing had heard the she-tree roar, I¡¯d just have to deal with it later. It was hard to run, because the ground shook now more than ever. From the sound of it, that thing that used to be a ¡°she¡± had already almost caught up to me and was about to do a lot more than nip at my heels. No hesitation. I immediately turned back into the [Mist] and raced ahead. This time though, I made sure not to go too far away. I also made sure that I was ¡°human-shaped¡±, and dense enough as a mist that ¡°she¡± couldn¡¯t see through me. If this plan worked, it didn¡¯t matter how many times I used [Mist Form], as long as I was still alive at the end of it. ¡®There he is!!¡¯ I saw one of the guys in robes that had been floating earlier now lying on the ground, still clutching his eyes in pain. It didn¡¯t seem as bad as before though, because even now he was already looking like he was about to try to stand up. I couldn¡¯t have that though. Time was up, and I¡¯d become solid again. I immediately turned back into the [Mist]. There didn¡¯t seem to be a time limit in between my uses of this thing, and I made sure to take advantage of it too. As soon as I got close to the guy, I slowed down enough for the she-tree that had been chasing me to catch up. It took less than a second, and as soon as it got close, I ZOOMED away as fast as I could. She was already beyond enraged. And beyond reason too, which is what I made sure of. When I zoomed away she immediately sped up and tried to catch up to me. She probably didn¡¯t even notice when each of her four limbs SMASHED down into the druid-looking guy. I didn¡¯t hear any more moaning or small grunts of pain from him anymore, so he¡¯d probably died without even knowing that one of his partners had killed him. I couldn¡¯t hold it back anymore. The smile just etched itself on my face as I thought of the irony. Just like in real life, people who spend their days inside exercising their minds tended to leave their bodies alone and weak. In the months before I¡¯d gotten the game, I¡¯d found out from my research that that was exactly what most magic using types in the game were like. Strong with their magic and mind, but their bodies were just too thin and flimsy. I fell out of [Mist Form] again, but that was fine with me. I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d need to use it much after this next part. When I¡¯d hit the ground and covered the entire clearing as Mist earlier, I¡¯d made sure to take note of where everyone and every thing was. It was a lot to take in a half-second, but I¡¯d had plenty of practice with quick thinking in my 20 years doing time. When I took off, I¡¯d also made sure that we were headed to where there¡¯d been a huge cluster of the bathrobe guys (although I suppose I shouldn¡¯t be talking since I was wearing one too), and more of the she-trees. All of them were already getting up at that point, and I knew they¡¯d be up and ready by the time I got there. I wouldn¡¯t have gone there if I hadn¡¯t seen that there was another of those druid-looking guys one the way, though. And I was just about to show why. I turned my head over my left shoulder and called out to the tree-beast that was halfway between me and the dead guy. ¡°You give up yet?! You must not have cared much about your sister then. OR WAS IT YOUR MOMMA THAT I USED ALL OVER MY A**?!!¡± Just like I thought, she couldn¡¯t help but pause and ROAR again at my insult. This time though, the cluster of Druids and she-trees heard it too and looked over in our direction. What they saw was one of the weaker human trespassers, and a big tree-beast standing near a corpse of another Druid that had obviously been stampeded into the ground. I could see the Druids¡¯ faces turn red. They started shaking from anger. Then suddenly, one of them started chanting! Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The other 2 quickly joined in, while the 2 living trees that had been nearby them turned and slowly looked at them in no small amount of shock. Which quickly turned to anger! ¡°¡­We beseech you, Great Ralia, to no longer support our enemies. HELP US GRIND THEIR BONES TO DUST!!¡± The tree-folk near them had already started charging towards them, but it was too late to stop their chanting. The deed had already been done. Right underneath the tree-beast that had been chasing me, the ground crumbled away. It left only a giant hole where the thing fell straight through. It didn¡¯t go down without a fight though. It spread out all 4 of its legs and hit the walls of the ground that now surrounded it. Too bad it didn¡¯t matter. With a BOOM that was oddly like thunder, the 2 sides of the hole snapped shut and grinded the thing into paste. The she-trees that had been charging towards the Druids to stop them from chanting let out the loudest ROAR that I¡¯d ever heard! One of them was able to shake the ground with their roars, but 3 of them? I could feel the vibrations inside me! Pain wracked my insides. It felt like I was going to burst open at the seams! My ears had already started bleeding, and it felt like my eyeballs were literally about to pop from being so close to the sound. I didn¡¯t want to do it in this kind of state since I wasn¡¯t sure how much health I had left, but I had no choice! I used [Mist Form] and flew away from them as fast as I could. Most of the giant roots had already stopped falling, and by the time the roar was over, none of them were in the air any longer. It didn¡¯t look like they were about to rise up again either. It was great timing too, since everyone heard the last of the roar. The she-trees near the Druids that had killed the tree-beast had already turned into almost exact copies of her. Smashing their front legs down, they stampeded towards Druids. Everyone else had already turned to look at the source of the roar. Druids, She-trees, Zhang and his crew. They all spun their heads to see what the heck was going on. None of them knew the situation, and they only saw angry tree-beasts stampede toward the Druids. Seeing this, all of the other Druids started chanting, some of them used short incantations with smaller spells repeatedly, and others used longer chants with a stronger burst. Regardless though, one thing was abundantly clear. The Druids were now attacking the tree-beasts that were about to stomp the other Druids to death. The rest of the she-trees did not take that well and immediately began counterattacking, striking down Druids wherever they saw them. It turned into a huge mess that Zhang and his party were only happy to stay out of. They already knew that they wouldn¡¯t get anything from fighting them anyway, so it was better to let them all kill each other off. I was already back near Zhang and his gang near the center of the clearing as all hell broke loose and former allies turned on each other. I¡¯d made sure to cut myself a few times with the knife that oddly had never fallen out of my hands this entire time. Don¡¯t get me wrong, I don¡¯t love pain and I¡¯m definitely not a masochist. But coming out of this entire fight without a scratch? That definitely would¡¯ve been suspicious. ------------------------- Not even 10 minutes later we were all lying flat on the ground, just enjoying the feeling of being alive. All of the monsters were long gone. The Curse of the Sun Spirit was over now, since the battle was done as well. The entire clearing was empty except for us. Even the tall grass that had looked like it was sharp as blades were gone. Misa had already explained probably part of one of the Druids¡¯ spells, meant to make sure that we stayed in the clearing. The trees were all spaced out normally now as well, so the fact that they didn¡¯t have gaps in between them before the fight had started, was probably also another spell they¡¯d done. And as for the bears, the hunger and the missing food? It turned out that it was due to some flowers which were growing at the base of every tree around us.
LOVER¡¯S DREAM ROSE
KNOWN FOR THEIR FRAGRANT SMELLS, THEY CAN ALSO BE USED TO CREATE ILLUSIONS IF ONE¡¯S MANA IS COAXED INTO IT. POLLEN WILL BURST OUT, AND THOSE THAT INHALE IT WILL BE ENRAPTURED INTO THE ILLUSION. WHAT THEY SEE IS UP TO THE ONE WHO¡¯S MANA WAS COAXED INTO THE FLOWER.
GENERALLY USED TO SPICE UP THE S*X LIFE OF COUPLES, BUT HAS ALSO BEEN KNOWN TO BE USED IN ASSASSINATIONS.
Through the space in the trees, sunlight was able to get through and shine down into the clearing. Lying down in one a spot that had sunlight was amazing. It felt almost like soaking in a hot tub of water at the end of a long day. I closed my eyes and actually started to relax for the first time since I¡¯d entered the game. I honestly thought that it would¡¯ve been harder to turn the 2 types of enemies against each other, but I knew that it wouldn¡¯t have been that difficult. The signs were plain and simple, clear for anyone to see if they could understand what they meant. The Druids and the Dryads (I¡¯d finally found out what they were from Zhang) were just too stiff when they were close to each other. Like they were always on guard. That, coupled with the fact that it was almost as if they were doing their best to ignore each other, made it pretty obvious that their cooperation wasn¡¯t because they loved each other. Their teamwork was honestly, pretty amazing though. The Druids had sealed us off from the rest of the forest and gotten us trapped into an illusion, and then the Dryads had sprang up to attack us. The Druids probably would¡¯ve provided them major magical support if it hadn¡¯t been for Misa¡¯s spell. Speaking of which, even though it was incredibly powerful, I found that it was too ridiculous for me to ever even consider using if I had it in my arsenal. It was simple. The spell would only hurt you if you looked at it. Even if you just closed your eyes for a split second, you could¡¯ve avoided all the damage it would¡¯ve done. I rolled my head over to the left and opened my eyes to look at Misa. She was lying down on the ground in one of the spots not covered by shade too. Judging from the notice I got about the Curse and the fact that Misa was still pretty pale, I¡¯m guessing that it had some pretty serious drawbacks too, for a spell which you could avoid pretty easily. Closing my eyes again, I looked up at the top right corner of my vision at a small mini-menu which enlarged as soon as I willed it to. The clock feature on this was pretty useful, but it left me feeling pretty surprised. The entire time I¡¯d been in the game, from my time in the Mist of Souls to right now, only added up to 4 hours game-time. Which meant that I¡¯d actually been in the game for less than an hour in real life! I let out a smile at how ridiculous the time disparity was, but I wasn¡¯t going to complain. I felt the corners of my lips dropped right afterwards though. In my head I was already going through the entire battle one more time. Every part of the battle kept flashing through my eyes, my mind going over it again and again. Each time it scrutinized every single detail, looking for ways that I could have done it better. The scenes kept re-playing, torturing me each time I saw it. I thought my life would be different once I got out. I knew I couldn¡¯t go back to being the person I was, but there was always that small hope somewhere in my chest that it might happen. Well that hope got stomped flat just now. Here I was, finally outside of prison, and yet I was still following the Prison Rules that I¡¯d made up to survive in that hell-hole of a place. Prison Rule #27: YOU DON¡¯T NEED TO BE STRONGER THAN YOUR ENEMIES TO BEAT THEM. YOU JUST NEED THEM TO BE STRONG ENOUGH TO KILL EACH OTHER. ¡®GODDAMMIT WHY AM I STILL ACTING LIKE THE SAME PERSON THAT WAS STUCK IN PRISON?!!¡¯ My eyes SNAPPED open. My dream was simple. Get back my wife. Get back my child. And GET BACK AT THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS!!! In my dream though, people were nice. They were friendly, and happy. Nothing like the place that I¡¯d spent more than half my life in, where it was easier for somebody to cut off your arm than to get them to pass the ketchup. Where I was one of those people. One of the few things that kept me going was the fact that I knew that outside that prison, life wasn¡¯t like that. PEOPLE, weren¡¯t like that. ¡®It¡¯s going to take a LOT more than this to make me give up now!¡¯ CLAP! ¡°Alright everybody, let¡¯s get going.¡± Zhang said. Misa and Alexa erupted. Nobody wanted to keep going through the forest after what just happened. It was natural after all. We¡¯d already almost died here, but he still wanted us to keep going?! There was definitely stronger creatures further inside! I might not have said anything, but I wholeheartedly agreed with the 2 of them. ¡°Shut up and look around!!¡± Zhang yelled. Stunned, we all did as he said. ¡°Do you two even remember the way back? Huh?!¡± He glared at them, challenging someone to say that they did. Not that anyone would. I couldn¡¯t even say that I knew. No one knew, since we were first trapped in that illusion, and then had a huge battle while dodging giant roots falling from above. ¡°That¡¯s what I thought. I¡¯m going to pick a direction. We¡¯re going to walk that way. Whether or not it leads us out of here will be up to luck.¡± Of course, Zhang didn¡¯t mention that he still hoped the direction he picked would lead them further into the forest. His insatiable desire to do something had already mixed with his intrigue into why the path they¡¯d been following had such a high difficulty. He might¡¯ve cared about Misa and not wanted her to die, but he figured that at the most if things got rough, they¡¯d just turn around and head the opposite direction. Which was why he made sure to pick up a few of the Lover¡¯s Dream Roses on the way. He¡¯d just give them to Misa if the going got tough, and they¡¯d all be able to get out of there as fast they could. And that¡¯s how we all ended up following Zhang (yet again) into the forest. ------------------------------------ Rate/Review/Comment! And Vote/Recommend if you really like the story! Author''s Note: SO, how was it? I''m still not that great at writing action scenes, so a little feedback on how I did in that area would be great. I hope it lived up to everyone''s expectations! Was there anything I could improve on? Anything that didn''t make sense? Also, were my (Wahshi''s) insults to the tree-beast a little too crass? I almost didn''t write that part down, but I couldn''t think of anything else which would get it mad enough to want to kill him even more. REMEMBER: I WRITE MAINLY TO IMPROVE MY WRITING! That''s something I can''t do if people stay quiet, so just let me know how I''m doing so far. Even just saying that it was good helps! (Let me know if it was bad too; if you stay quiet, I''ll never know and the story will never get better) NEXT CHAPTER: 10-12 DAYS FROM NOW. (Of course, that''s the time that it''ll be on Wattpad. I''ll have posted it on this site 3-4 days later, depending on how long it takes for me to do all of the coding and tables for the chapter) Wahshi''s Status: Spoiler :
STATUS WINDOW
NAME:WAHSHI
LEVEL:1
RACE:HUMANGENDER:MALE
CLASS:NONE
MONEY:0G 1S 0C, $0
TITLES:FIRST-BORN OF THE MIST
FAME:100INFAMY:0
HEALTH:105 (+5)
MANA:120 (+100)
STRENGTH:18 (+10)INTELLIGENCE:10 (+10)(+3)
DEXTERITY:10 (+10)(-2)WILLPOWER:2 (+10)(+7)
VITALITY:10 (+10)CHARISMA:0 (+10)
AGILITY:10 (+10)DEFENSE:10 (+10)(+1)
LUCK:7 (+10)
Wahshi''s Equipment:Spoiler :
UNKNOWN SCHOLAR¡¯S ROBE (MODIFIED)
[NO LEVEL REQUIREMENT]
A ROBE OF UNKNOWN STYLE AND DESIGN. ONCE, IT GAVE OFF AN AIR OF SCHOLARLY NOBILITY. CHANGED TO MAKE IT BETTER FOR BATTLE, IT IS NOW PROOF THAT EVEN THE LOFTIEST OF SCHOLARS WILL FIGHT IF NEED BE.
DEXTERITY -2, INTELLIGENCE +3, WILLPOWER +7, DEFENSE +1
TRUSTY IRON KNIFE
NO REQUIREMENTS
A GIFT FROM THE SPIRITS OF THIS WORLD, TO ALL WHO HAVE COME TO IT
STRENGTH +1
BOOTS
NO REQUIREMENTS
A GIFT FROM THE SPIRITS. ALTHOUGH LOW QUALITY, IT MIGHT LAST IF YOU TAKE GOOD CARE OF IT. IT WON''T DO MUCH BUT SLIGHTLY PROTECT YOUR FEET THOUGH.
Wahshi''s Skills and Abilities: Spoiler :
SKILL LIST
PASSIVE
FIRST-BORN OF THE MIST:
  • ELDEST: YOU ARE THE OLDEST CHILD OF YOUR CLAN, AND THEREFORE THE STRONGEST. +1 TO ALL STATS FOR EVERY MISTBORN IN THE WORLD, EXCLUDING YOURSELF (CURRENT NUMBER OF MISTBORN: 1 [YOURSELF])
PLAYER:
  • PERSEVERE: YOU HAVE GONE THROUGH INCREDIBLE PAINS TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOAL. WHEN HEALTH IS LESS THAN 50%, PAIN DECREASES 1% PER ADDITIONAL PERCENT OF HEALTH LOST
ACTIVE
BORN OF THE MIST:
  • SOUL ORIGIN (BEGINNER RANK): YOU HAVE ACCOMPLISHED A FEAT FEW WOULD KNOW ABOUT, AND DISCOVERED THE BIRTHPLACE OF YOUR SOUL. TRAVEL TO THE MIST OF SOULS IS NOW POSSIBLE UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS, IF THE COST IS PAID. ACTIVATION REQUIREMENTS: ??? ACTIVATION COSTS: ???
[tr]
ABILITY LISTPLAYER:
  • MENU: Access to a game-like interface
  • RESURRECTION: May be re-born 10 hours after death (game-time)
  • INVENTORY: Access to a small, pocket-dimension which can hold belongings up to a certain limit
  • LOG OUT: Return to your original world
BORN OF THE MIST:
  • MIST FORM (LVL 1): FIRM CONVICTION IN WHAT YOU THOUGHT WAS TRUE ABOUT YOUR ORIGINS HAS ENABLED YOU TO TURN BACK INTO THE MIST THAT SPAWNED YOU AT 1ST LEVEL, TURNS YOUR ENTIRE BODY INTO MIST. HIGHER LEVELS WILL ALLOW YOU TO CONTROL WHAT PART OF YOUR BODY YOU WISH TO TURN. AT 1ST LEVEL, MIST FORM CAN STAY ACTIVE FOR A MAXIMUM OF 2 SECONDS. ABILITY MAY BE CANCELLED AT ANY TIME. ACTIVATION REQUIREMENTS: NONE ACTIVATION COST: 2% of Max Health
TITLE EFFECTS
  • FIRST-BORN OF THE MIST: +10 TO ALL STATS, ACCESS TO MISTBORN ABILITIES WHEN DISCOVERED, ACCESS TO UNIQUE ABILITIES GIVEN ONLY TO THE HOLDER OF THIS TITLE (IF DISCOVERED), PASSIVE SKILL ¡°ELDEST¡±
Chapter 5 Author''s Note: I''ve gotten feedback from people, so I''ve decided to respond to them with some improvements that I''ve added to the Author''s Notes. Also, have you seen the new cover for the book? All thanks go to MeepFlare and his friend (both from wattpad) for making it! An easy guide to the story (tells you what it means if I put things in bolded brackets, and stuff like that). Spoiler : EASY GUIDE TO THE STORY (* *) means author''s note (which I generally use to make comments as inside the story chapters). [ ] refers to a skill or ability that is used. Right now there are no different markers for passive and active skills ''things in italics'' Things in italics with the little apostrophe marks are someone''s character''s actual thoughts ***** If the asterisks form a small line and the next sentences start a line or 2 below it, it means either: A) A change of viewpoint OR B) A time-skip (which basically means stuff happened in-between 2 events, but I''m skipping over it to get to whatever is happening in the present) ------------------------ Dashed lines in bold refer to where the chapter starts and/or stops I''ll add more if I do more things. An easy guide to the different measurements (for people that are familiar with the metric system, and vice versa) Spoiler : GUIDE TO THE DIFFERENT MEASUREMENTS 10 feet is around 3 meters 1 mile is a little more than 1.5 kilometers I''ll add more if I find out more A short description of each character that appears in this chapter (unless this is their debut chapter, or that it''s a surprise for them to be in it). This is because people have been telling me it''s hard to remember who each character is. Spoiler : Characters: Zhang: Arrogant, greedy, manipulative and smart, with a surprisingly protective side when it comes to Misa. Likes to play the warrior/tank role, but is actually an unspecified (no class), which means he is a jack-of-all trades. Thinks that Wahshi (although he calls him "Washy") is an NPC which will lead him to a great quest. Still, he won''t hesitate to use him for his original intended purpose (to be a meat-shield) if things get too rough. Currently suspected of being over level 200 Misa: Bloodthirsty, sadistic and uncaring, except for when it comes to the people she likes (which currently includes only Zhang). Has the overpowered hidden class Sun Mage which is supposed to focus on peace and pursuit of knowledge. She uses it to do whatever she wants, which usually ends up getting her in trouble with the Sun Spirit, whom all Sun Mages are contracted with. A mysterious event involving at least herself and one other person seems to have shaped who she has become. Currently suspected of being over level 200 Alexa: Cautious but with a good heart. A mysterious event seems to have caused Zhang and Misa to hate her deeply, but she still sees them as her 2 best friends who have been there for her for a long time. She struggles to try and make up for whatever happened in the past, causing her to more than once overlook Zhang and Misa''s hatred and wrongdoings, even if it hurts herself in the process. Rogue-type player (actual class not mentioned yet). Currently suspected of being over level 200. Wahshi: The Main Character. Real name Raes Bastion, framed for a crime he didn''t commit and separated from his daughter while he was sent to prison for 20 years. What he wants to do now is earn enough money through the Virtual Reality game so that he can start searching for the daughter he lost, and maybe a little revenge on the way there against the people that framed him. Recently survived a trip through the Mist of Souls, which gave him abilities no other player has. He suspects that its not normal for a player to have started out that way. Currently an unspecified (no class). Currently level 1. And a short recap of what''s happened so far. Spoiler : CURRENT LOCATION: Walking through the 2nd layer of the Boundary Forest where they managed to survive a battle with opponents that were over 60 levels above Zhang and his crew. They are now lost, and have no idea whether they are heading deeper into the forest or out of it. Everyone but Zhang hopes they''re headed out. ON TO THE STORY!! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A chilly breeze blew past, making me wish that I had on more than just the robe I¡¯d borrowed from Zhang. Goosebumps covered the skin of my naked arms as we walked on. It had started to get colder as the trees grew closer and closer together, and as less and less of the sunlight was able to get through the tree canopy. The plants and vegetation we were seeing now, all looked older. Bigger. Stronger. I wasn¡¯t an expert on the wilderness or anything, but it was starting to look pretty obvious that we¡¯d gone the wrong way. We were clearly headed deeper into the forest. When we were walking through the 1st layer of the forest and into the 2nd, the vegetation had also gotten more crowded, all the trees looked bigger and taller, and there were more exotic plants to be found as well. Clearly the same thing was going on right now. But if someone like me, who¡¯d lived the city life his entire life could tell that we were headed the wrong way, these guys who¡¯d been playing the game and been travelling all over this medieval fantasy world obviously should¡¯ve noticed as well by now. Say what you want about them, but none of them were idiots. ¡®So why the hell is no one saying anything about it?¡¯ ******* ¡°Alexa, scout around us while we keep moving. I don¡¯t want us to end up in an even worse situation than before.¡± Misa ordered. Of course, I didn¡¯t refuse. Grass crunched silently under my feet as I activated [stealth], and as we kept walking. While everyone else was walking in a straight line, I was walking in a big circle around the group. It was already getting darker overhead. There were animal calls and the sounds of birds, grasshoppers, and everything else that you¡¯d normally hear if you went walking around in an old forest with no modern roads. I have to admit, it was pretty nice. I have to admit, the company that made all of this knew what they were doing. ¡®It¡¯d be perfect if only this leather armor I was wearing didn¡¯t chafe so much!¡¯ They¡¯d made the game too realistic in some ways! ¡®I¡¯m a level 200+ person with high quality troll-hide leather armor. You¡¯d think that someone somewhere would¡¯ve been able to make it comfortable to wear. Even if they could only make it a little more comfortable around the chest, I¡¯d be willing to pay a lot more for it. This thing is killing my breasts!!¡¯ I tried to keep it out of my mind by focusing on something else. Zhang was at the front again, but this time Washy was following right behind him. ¡®I feel bad for him. Parents in this age just can¡¯t be more creative, I guess. Like the smith from back when I¡¯d first started the game. It turns out that his only name was Smith. It¡¯s what his father was, and what he wanted his son to be. Talk about having your future planned out for you.¡¯ I could only imagine what his parents had actually wanted him to do for a living. Maybe he was a retired dishwasher at some inn or tavern? Zhang was sure that we¡¯d stumbled onto some kind of quest, but I wasn¡¯t fully convinced. It was hard to be sure though. Quests in Awakening weren¡¯t like quests in other games. You¡¯d never know you were on one until you finished it! Unlike other games, a Quest Notification window wouldn¡¯t pop up, letting us know about any possible rewards if we finished it (or any punishments if we failed it). You wouldn¡¯t know if you were on a C-Ranked quest to save a town or an E-Ranked quest to sweep the floor at a store unless you paid attention and put all the pieces together yourself. You couldn¡¯t just hit a YES or NO button to accept or decline it either. In short? Use your wits to figure everything out on your own. At least the game developers hadn¡¯t completely tried to make everything like reality. If you finished a quest, you¡¯d at least get a Notification window telling you that you¡¯d finished. It¡¯d even have a short summary of all the actions you¡¯d done that affected the quest, what the rewards were, and what Quest Rank it was. I looked over at Washy. ¡®Poor guy.¡¯ He looked like he¡¯d been through a lot. His black hair had more than a few streaks of white in it, and his lightly tanned skin already had a few wrinkles. I didn¡¯t even want to look in his eyes sometimes. For whatever reason, I could tell that there was a lot of pain buried under there. It didn¡¯t look like it was something he¡¯d share, so I didn¡¯t mention it. Other than that though, he looked pretty healthy for a guy in his fifties. Those weren¡¯t the only reasons why I felt sorry for him though. I knew what Zhang and Misa were going to do to him in case we ran into too much trouble. THAT¡¯S why I felt sorry for him. But what could I do? They were already dead set on it, and there was nothing left to talk about. I hadn¡¯t had much of a vote in things ever since that night, and I was still trying to make it up to them somehow. I didn¡¯t want to lose 2 of the best friends I¡¯d ever had. The only thing I could do was hope that nothing big would happen, otherwise¡­ Putting that thought out of my head, I started thinking about the last battle that we had. Looking back, it was obvious what we were supposed to do. The druids had obviously made the illusion and forced to think that we were all going to die of hunger. Then a mama bear and her cub suddenly walks past us? It was too much of a coincidence. Like they say though, hindsight is in 20/20. Obviously, we were supposed to have let them go. The bear had a kid that still needed her after all. But we didn¡¯t let her go. Zhang killed her in one strike, in front of her cub. True, it all turned out to be an illusion and a test (one that they said we failed), but I wondered if that made us bad people? Even if you ignored that part, the way the battle ended was really weird though. Why¡¯d they all start attacking each other? Thinking back, even if it looked like they didn¡¯t like each other, everything was almost perfectly coordinated. (Except for the part with the giant roots smashing down on everybody, but that was because of Misa¡¯s spell stopping the Druids halfway through their long chant). They were more than 60 levels above us, they outnumbered us 25-1, AND they were better at fighting and magic. There was NO WAY we should¡¯ve been able to win that fight. But we did¡­. Somehow. ¡®It was supposed to be impossible. Misa was almost down for the count. Her [Solar Flare] spell¡¯s rebound should¡¯ve been so bad that she¡¯d have died from one hit, and with almost no mana to do anything about it. Zhang¡¯s already told us about why he didn¡¯t jump in to do anything before Misa used her spell. I didn¡¯t even know you could get status debuffs that way¡­ And I was running around them in circles, throwing out needles covered in Alpha Slime Acid at any of the monsters that came close. Just a short time after all of that, the monsters started to kill each other, and we all just stood on guard and watched.¡¯ Wait a second¡­ ¡®Where was Washy during all of this? I saw him slipping a knife out of his boot at the start, but he disappeared during the battle.¡¯ She scrunched up her eyebrows in thought. ¡®He wasn¡¯t in league with the monsters¡­. Was he?¡¯ As soon as the thought popped into her head, she just as quickly dismissed it. For an old village man like him to be in league with monsters? It was like suspecting a morbidly obese sumo wrestler with dozens of ripples and layers of belly fat to actually be a skinny man in a fat suit. It was so ridiculous that you wouldn¡¯t even be able to hold it in your mind for less than a second. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Still, as she kept circling her friends (and Washy), she couldn¡¯t quite get the suspicion out of her mind. ¡®If he wasn¡¯t in league with the monsters, then what was he doing while we were all fighting for our lives?¡¯ It wasn¡¯t an easy question to answer for her. There were only a few things she could think of, and none of them sounded realistic to her at all. ¡®We were in the middle of a clearing surrounded by a hundred monsters, and being stampeded towards by almost half of them. He either slipped past the wave and survived somewhere in the middle of that crowd that wanted to kill him, caused some kind of misunderstanding somehow between the 2 types of monsters that were there, or Zhang is right and he¡¯s more than what he looks like and has some sort of special skill.¡¯ She shook her head slightly. ¡®Get a grip Alexa,¡¯ she admonished herself. ¡®You¡¯re reading WAY too much into this. He¡¯s just an old man that we¡¯re helping to find his way back home. Odds are, you were just too distracted by all the monsters to notice him.¡¯ Still, it couldn¡¯t hurt to check with someone else, right? Even if it was as ridiculous as it sounded, she was the group¡¯s voice of reason and caution. It wasn¡¯t like Misa or Zhang could do it after all, and no matter what they thought of her now, she still thought of them as her 2 best friends that had been there for her through thick and thin. With that in mind, she did one more lap around the group, this time a little farther out, until she was once again near Misa. Had to make sure that we weren¡¯t going to fall into an ambush or a trap. Or more likely a giant Venus Fly Trap that ate people. Hey, this was a game world full of magic. Anything could happen. And in case there was something going on, Misa would definitely have to know about it. Cancelling her [stealth] skill, it looked like she appeared out of thin air next to her friend. Anyone else would¡¯ve been surprised, but Misa didn¡¯t even raise an eyebrow. ***** ¡°Misa,¡± Like a ninja, Alexa suddenly appeared right next to me. I¡¯d always felt like jumping whenever she did that, but I made sure that it never showed. ¡°What?¡± My tone was brisk and a little harsh as I answered. I didn¡¯t care either. Alexa didn¡¯t look surprised, so she was probably already used to it by now. There was a lot she was probably already used to getting from us by now. She deserved it too, the little sh*t. Still, if she had stopped walking around to make sure that we were safe, then it must¡¯ve been important. It probably wasn¡¯t something she wanted Washy to hear, or she would¡¯ve just told all of us at once. Since I didn¡¯t even hear it over the [Party Chat], it was safe to assume that she didn¡¯t even want Zhang to know about it. My mage robes fluttered in the small breeze that kept passing through. It was getting darker overhead too. Whether it was because the gaps in the canopy above us were getting smaller and couldn¡¯t let as much light in, or the fact that we¡¯d been in this forest for hours and the sun was going down, I really didn¡¯t know for sure. It was probably both. It didn¡¯t really matter to me either way. My robes were enchanted with Solar Energy, so I¡¯d be warm as long as it didn¡¯t get too ridiculously cold. I could even be my own flashlight if I needed to. The darkening shadows and the cold air all helped to make a strange atmosphere around us, as it helped to give Alexa give a serious look about her. "In the last battle, do you remember seeing Washy at all?¡± The question caught me off-guard. I arched an eyebrow and stared at her. ¡°What¡¯s with all the sudden interest in Zhang¡¯s latest pet project?¡± ¡°It might be nothing, but I can¡¯t remember seeing him at all after the battle started. The whole thing was pretty fishy already, and the way that it ended was even weirder. I can¡¯t help but think that there¡¯s something about the old man¡­.¡± I caught on. It wasn¡¯t difficult to follow. We were suddenly ambushed, in a battle that even I knew it shouldn¡¯t have been possible for us to win¡­ and then suddenly we did. All the monsters started killing each other off, and we just had to stand there and be on guard for any strays that might¡¯ve come near us. I felt a chill on the back of my neck. It wasn¡¯t because of the breeze either. It was because I really hadn¡¯t seen where that NPC had gone. I was too busy being drained and somewhat helping Zhang keep our enemies off us with small fireballs. I knew there was no way that Zhang could¡¯ve known where Washy had been either, since he¡¯d been protecting me the entire time. So then where the hell was Washy during all of this? I looked over at said ¡®NPC¡¯. The muddied back of the old robe that Zhang had given him was all I saw, but suddenly I wasn¡¯t so sure that I wanted to let him be so close to somebody I cared about. Alexa caught my gaze. She looked back at me and understood exactly what was going through my mind. I didn¡¯t like how quickly she picked up my train of thought, but that wasn¡¯t something I could change. Unfortunately, we¡¯d already known each other for too long. There was just too much that didn¡¯t add up. I had a feeling that this ¡®NPC¡¯ might not be all that he said he was. Alexa tilted her head slightly, and I nodded in confirmation. We were definitely going to have to watch this ¡®Washy¡¯ more closely. If there was even a hint that he was dangerous, we were going to take him out before he could do any damage at all. It was just too bad that we couldn¡¯t let Zhang in on anything. Knowing him, he wouldn¡¯t believe anything we said at this point. He¡¯d already convinced himself that he was on the trail of a great quest, and that Washy was his ticket there. Trying to change his mind now was like trying to stop a train by punching it with your bare hands. We already knew we¡¯d lose. ------------------------------------------------------- Don''t forget to RATE/REVIEW/COMMENT!! Author''s Note: So what did you think of the chapter? Anything that''s missing, or could be better? Let me know! Also, what did you guys think about the other stuff i put in the beginning Author''s Note? Was it useful? If it was annoying, then I don''t have to put it down each chapter. NEXT CHAPTER: Should be up by end of this weekend or by end of Monday Wahshi''s Status: Spoiler :
STATUS WINDOW
NAME:WAHSHI
LEVEL:1
RACE:HUMANGENDER:MALE
CLASS:NONE
MONEY:0G 1S 0C, $0
TITLES:FIRST-BORN OF THE MIST
FAME:100INFAMY:0
HEALTH:105 (+5)
MANA:120 (+100)
STRENGTH:18 (+10)INTELLIGENCE:10 (+10)(+3)
DEXTERITY:10 (+10)(-2)WILLPOWER:2 (+10)(+7)
VITALITY:10 (+10)CHARISMA:0 (+10)
AGILITY:10 (+10)DEFENSE:10 (+10)(+1)
LUCK:7 (+10)
Wahshi''s Skills and Abilities: Spoiler :
SKILL LIST
PASSIVE
FIRST-BORN OF THE MIST:
  • ELDEST: YOU ARE THE OLDEST CHILD OF YOUR CLAN, AND THEREFORE THE STRONGEST. +1 TO ALL STATS FOR EVERY MISTBORN IN THE WORLD, EXCLUDING YOURSELF (CURRENT NUMBER OF MISTBORN: 1 [YOURSELF])
PLAYER:
  • PERSEVERE: YOU HAVE GONE THROUGH INCREDIBLE PAINS TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOAL. WHEN HEALTH IS LESS THAN 50%, PAIN DECREASES 1% PER ADDITIONAL PERCENT OF HEALTH LOST
ACTIVE
BORN OF THE MIST:
  • SOUL ORIGIN (BEGINNER RANK): YOU HAVE ACCOMPLISHED A FEAT FEW WOULD KNOW ABOUT, AND DISCOVERED THE BIRTHPLACE OF YOUR SOUL. TRAVEL TO THE MIST OF SOULS IS NOW POSSIBLE UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS, IF THE COST IS PAID. ACTIVATION REQUIREMENTS: ??? ACTIVATION COSTS: ???
[tr]
ABILITY LISTPLAYER:
  • MENU: Access to a game-like interface
  • RESURRECTION: May be re-born 10 hours after death (game-time)
  • INVENTORY: Access to a small, pocket-dimension which can hold belongings up to a certain limit
  • LOG OUT: Return to your original world
BORN OF THE MIST:
  • MIST FORM (LVL 1): FIRM CONVICTION IN WHAT YOU THOUGHT WAS TRUE ABOUT YOUR ORIGINS HAS ENABLED YOU TO TURN BACK INTO THE MIST THAT SPAWNED YOU AT 1ST LEVEL, TURNS YOUR ENTIRE BODY INTO MIST. HIGHER LEVELS WILL ALLOW YOU TO CONTROL WHAT PART OF YOUR BODY YOU WISH TO TURN. AT 1ST LEVEL, MIST FORM CAN STAY ACTIVE FOR A MAXIMUM OF 2 SECONDS. ABILITY MAY BE CANCELLED AT ANY TIME. ACTIVATION REQUIREMENTS: NONE ACTIVATION COST: 2% of Max Health
TITLE EFFECTS
  • FIRST-BORN OF THE MIST: +10 TO ALL STATS, ACCESS TO MISTBORN ABILITIES WHEN DISCOVERED, ACCESS TO UNIQUE ABILITIES GIVEN ONLY TO THE HOLDER OF THIS TITLE (IF DISCOVERED), PASSIVE SKILL ¡°ELDEST¡±
Wahshi''s Equipment: Spoiler :
UNKNOWN SCHOLAR¡¯S ROBE (MODIFIED)
[NO LEVEL REQUIREMENT]
A ROBE OF UNKNOWN STYLE AND DESIGN. ONCE, IT GAVE OFF AN AIR OF SCHOLARLY NOBILITY. CHANGED TO MAKE IT BETTER FOR BATTLE, IT IS NOW PROOF THAT EVEN THE LOFTIEST OF SCHOLARS WILL FIGHT IF NEED BE.
DEXTERITY -2, INTELLIGENCE +3, WILLPOWER +7, DEFENSE +1
TRUSTY IRON KNIFE
NO REQUIREMENTS
A GIFT FROM THE SPIRITS OF THIS WORLD, TO ALL WHO HAVE COME TO IT
STRENGTH +1
BOOTS
NO REQUIREMENTS
A GIFT FROM THE SPIRITS. ALTHOUGH LOW QUALITY, IT MIGHT LAST IF YOU TAKE GOOD CARE OF IT. IT WON''T DO MUCH BUT SLIGHTLY PROTECT YOUR FEET THOUGH.
Chapter 6 Author''s Note: SO.... I''ve decided to make a few changes to some KEY facts about the story. #1: The game has been out for 3 years (EARTH TIME). Previously, it was 5 years. With the time difference, that means Players have been around in the game world for 15 years #2: The properties of the Willpower stat. Before, I said that it was used to determine how much Magic Damage you would receive if someone attacked you with Magic. The new description for the Willpower stat is now: "A reflection of the amount of Will that you have, which can be used to affect yourself and the world around you" Sorry again (I feel like I''m always making excuses for being late) but I was almost mugged last week coming back from college late at night. I''ve had a lot of bad luck this month, but keep me in your prayers everyone! Hopefully something good happen soon... BUT IT TURNS OUT YOU GUYS HAVE GOOD LUCK!! Because I finished TWO chapters of the story this week, and a 3rd might come out soon. I''m just doing the coding on them (making sure the appropriate parts are in bold, others are italicized, etc). But then again, if you''re able to read this, that means that I''m already done with one of the 2. So WOOHOOO!! An easy guide to the story (tells you what it means if I put things in bolded brackets, and stuff like that). Spoiler : EASY GUIDE TO THE STORY (* *) means author''s note (which I generally use to make comments as inside the story chapters). [ ] refers to a skill or ability that is used. Right now there are no different markers for passive and active skills ''things in italics'' Things in italics with the little apostrophe marks are someone''s actual thoughts ***** If the asterisks form a small line and the next sentences start a line or 2 below it, it means either: A) A change of viewpoint OR B) A time-skip (which basically means stuff happened in-between 2 events, but I''m skipping over it to get to whatever is happening in the present) ------------------------ Dashed lines in bold refer to where the chapter starts and/or stops I''ll add more if I do more things. An easy guide to the different measurements (for people that are familiar with the metric system, and vice versa) Spoiler : GUIDE TO THE DIFFERENT MEASUREMENTS 10 feet is around 3 meters 1 mile is a little more than 1.5 kilometers I''ll add more if I find out more Characters: Spoiler : Zhang: Arrogant, greedy, manipulative and smart, with a surprisingly protective side when it comes to Misa. Likes to play the warrior/tank role, but is actually an unspecified (no class), which means he is a jack-of-all trades. Thinks that Wahshi (although he calls him "Washy") is an NPC which will lead him to a great quest. Still, he won''t hesitate to use him for his original intended purpose (to be a meat-shield) if things get too rough. Currently suspected of being over level 200 Misa: Bloodthirsty, sadistic and uncaring, except for when it comes to the people she likes (which currently includes only Zhang). Has the overpowered hidden class Sun Mage which is supposed to focus on peace and pursuit of knowledge. She uses it to do whatever she wants, which usually ends up getting her in trouble with the Sun Spirit, whom all Sun Mages are contracted with. A mysterious event involving at least herself and one other person seems to have shaped who she has become. Her Sun Mage powers are currently sealed, due to her misuse of them during the fight with the living trees. Currently suspected of being over level 200 Alexa: Cautious but with a good heart. A mysterious event seems to have caused Zhang and Misa to hate her deeply, but she still sees them as her 2 best friends who have been there for her for a long time. She struggles to try and make up for whatever happened in the past, causing her to more than once overlook Zhang and Misa''s hatred and wrongdoings, even if it hurts herself in the process. Rogue-type player (actual class not mentioned yet). Currently suspected of being over level 200. Wahshi: The Main Character. Real name Raes Bastion, framed for a crime he didn''t commit and separated from his daughter while he was sent to prison for 20 years. What he wants to do now is earn enough money through the Virtual Reality game so that he can start searching for the daughter he lost, and maybe a little revenge on the way there against the people that framed him. Recently survived a trip through the Mist of Souls, which gave him abilities no other player has. He suspects that its not normal for a player to have started out that way. Currently an unspecified (no class). Currently level 1. CURRENTLY: Spoiler : Walking through the Boundary Forest after realizing they were lost and picking a random direction to go. Zhang hopes they''re headed deeper, but everyone else is hoping they''re headed out of the forest. Misa and Alexa suspect the MC of being more than he says, while Zhang remains oblivious. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ In a large mansion, there was a room where two capsules could be seen. One of the capsules was empty, and the other was occupied. Clanking noises could be heard from the capsule that was unoccupied, as it parts of it were removed and thoroughly examined. The man who had been taking apart his capsule slowly stood up. ¡°Cr*p! I can¡¯t believe it¡­ They actually decided to go forward with it¡­¡± He looked over at the person that was in the capsule next to the one that he partially dismantled. The man inside it wasn¡¯t even a few feet away from him, but he knew that at that moment, both he and the man might as well have been standing on different planets. A complicated look was in his eyes as he stared down at the almost 40 year old man lying down in the capsule. ¡°Stay safe Raes. I hope to God that I¡¯m wrong, and it¡¯s all just in my head.¡± With that, Caesar went to task putting his capsule back together before the man he considered his brother decided to come back to Earth. ************************** A weird feeling washed over him. Wahshi had the strangest sensation that somebody had just been staring at him. Looking back, he only saw Misa and Alexa walking together. Both Misa and Alexa immediately averted their eyes. Most people wouldn¡¯t have caught it, but Wahshi was not the average person. ¡®Something¡¯s off here¡­¡¯ Their surroundings were far from quiet. The sounds of birds, insects and different animals were always with them. Even though he¡¯d never had to trek through a forest before, even he knew that the most dangerous time would be when everything went silent. Being around so much wildlife, it was normal for it to be noisy. You knew there was something wrong if everything suddenly went quiet. But it didn¡¯t feel like that at that moment. ¡®It¡¯s still noisy in our surroundings which means that none of the insects, birds or small animals have run away from a dangerous predator yet. Which should mean that there¡¯s no danger around us. Why does something still feel off then?¡¯ As the last rays of the sun disappeared, he suddenly realized what exactly might¡¯ve been happening. Zhang was clearly leading them all deeper into the forest, since the last bits of direct sunlight was now covered by the tree canopy. The forest vegetation had gotten so thick that he was almost up to his knees wading through it. Despite the obvious signs that they were headed the wrong way, no one said anything at all. That, coupled with Misa and Alexa¡¯s strange behavior meant only one thing. ¡®Sh*t, they know I¡¯m a Player!¡¯ It was clear that they were luring him deeper into the forest to kill him, where no one would know about it. Wahshi¡¯s eyebrows scrunched up in thought. ¡®Wait, that doesn¡¯t make sense. If they¡¯d wanted to kill me where no one would know, then I¡¯d already be dead. There¡¯s no one else around here. They¡¯re definitely strong enough to kill me without a second thought.¡¯ Almost like a lightbulb had just lit up, he suddenly had an epiphany. ¡®Unless they don¡¯t know that I¡¯m weaker than they are. Or they think I¡¯m just faking being weak. If that¡¯s the case, then they¡¯re probably bringing me all the way out here so that I¡¯ll just die from one of the monsters that attack us!¡¯ Everything made perfect sense. It was one of his own Prison Rules after all. If you weren¡¯t sure that you were strong enough to kill your opponent, just make it so that he goes up against someone who is strong enough. The only thing that he didn¡¯t understand was why they wanted to kill him. ¡®Alright, so I might have led them to think that I was an NPC that could lead them on some great quest, but that shouldn¡¯t be a reason to kill somebody! This isn¡¯t back in the prison, after all. People don¡¯t just kill other people out here without a big reason to.¡¯ What he¡¯d forgotten though, was the fact that the normal rules of ¡°society¡± didn¡¯t apply here. This was a game after all, where many Players would kill for a lot less of a reason than for tricking you into thinking you were a quest-giving NPC. Regardless of why they wanted to kill him though, he wouldn¡¯t make it easy for them. A wry smile flashed onto his face, and disappeared as quickly as it came. It wouldn¡¯t be the first time he¡¯d had to fight against someone stronger, and it was doubtful that it would be the last either. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. He casually tossed a glance over his shoulder at Alexa. Still, seeing someone that reminded him so much of *#&---¡­. ¡®No. I won¡¯t even think about that woman. I¡¯m only hesitating because they haven¡¯t really given me a reason to doubt them yet, and I don¡¯t want to have to end up doubting someone the first time I play this game!¡¯ Hoping that it was all in his head, he called out to Zhang. ¡°Are you certain that this is the correct route out of the forest? It seems as if we are only going further in. The vegetation grows only denser, and it seems as if we are so deep into the forest that almost all of the sunlight can no longer penetrate the trees.¡± There had to be another reason for all of the warning signs. ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Zhang said over his shoulder. ¡°Some parts of the forest are naturally denser than the others. It doesn¡¯t necessarily mean that we¡¯re heading deeper into it.¡± Seeing how neither Misa nor Alexa contradicted Zhang, he felt slightly less suspicious. Still, he knew that since he didn¡¯t have any first-hand knowledge about trekking through a forest, his guard was still mostly up. He¡¯d read books and survival techniques on many of the different landscapes in the game, but it was completely different from actually being there himself. Many important details couldn¡¯t be written down, and thus couldn¡¯t be read. They could only be learned from experience. But because of all of these weaknesses that Wahshi knew he had, he¡¯d also put in time to find a solution. He had to create a skill! Creating a skill in Awakening wasn¡¯t exactly easy. There were only a few known methods of creating a skill that were known to the public. One was to spend a long time trying to perform the action while consciously making the decision to try to make a skill. You could always tell if the process was working, since your mana gauge would be consumed as time went on. The other known way was to find out more information about yourself and your current abilities. This was the way that Wahshi had created his [Mist Form] ability. It was a lot like a kid who discovers that he can make his eyes go cross-eyed. He always had the ability to do it, but he just didn¡¯t realize that he could. After learning a little more or just by trying out different things, the kid is just suddenly able to do it! Although this wasn¡¯t the extent of Wahshi¡¯s knowledge of the game, it wasn¡¯t far from it. Of the 4 months that he¡¯d spent preparing for the game, 3 of those months had been spent building his body back up and training his skills in the different martial arts that he¡¯d learned while he was in prison. That meant only 1 month had been spent learning about the game! It might sound like a lot, but the creators of Awakening had outdone themselves when they created the game. The only currently known continent after 3 years (Earth Time) of playing was still the first one they¡¯d started out on. This was because the size of the continent was slightly larger than Pangaea! Since it was bigger than the giant landmass that all of the continents on Earth could combine into, of course it would take more than 15 years (in-game) to find out all of the secrets! People were still trying to find out if there were other continents in the world, but if anyone had found out anything, they were keeping it quiet. Up ahead of Wahshi and Zhang, the trees had started to thin out, and sunlight was once again pouring through the trees. ¡°I did say that we were headed in the right direction, didn¡¯t I?¡± Zhang called out over his shoulder to Wahshi. ¡°Indeed, you were correct. I apologize for doubting you, Zhang.¡± Even though Wahshi had said that, he didn¡¯t really mean it; this was because he was sure that he¡¯d heard a slight disappointment in Zhang¡¯s voice when he¡¯d confirmed that they were apparently heading in the right direction (meaning out of the forest). Wahshi¡¯s gaze flickered over to the top right corner of his vision where his health and mana gauges were. The green one representing his health and the blue which represented his mana. His mana gauge displayed the number 23/220 after the bar, while his health was still completely full at 110/110. Even since before the battle with the living trees, he¡¯d already decided what kind of a skill he¡¯d needed to help him survive. Especially with all of the secrets and suspicion which surrounded the group he was with. Which was why for the past few hours, he¡¯d studied everything he came across, trying to identify what it was, what it was made of, etc. Any question he could think of about the different rocks, trees or insects they passed, he would try to find an answer by carefully observing the subject. He¡¯d even tried to figure what exactly Zhang was; at least he did, before Zhang had just come right out and told him that he was class-less. The first hour had been torturous. Nothing happened at all! He¡¯d spent the time doing everything he could, but his mana gauge hadn¡¯t dropped at all! Saying that he felt like an idiot would¡¯ve been an understatement. But he hadn¡¯t given up, and once the 1-hour mark passed on the local time display above his Health gauge, his Mana bar had immediately started going down! Now, it felt like it had been days since he first started the game. Even though it¡¯d only been 5 hours (in-game) at the most. He wasn¡¯t physically tired, his 3 months of training made sure of that (*and since his character¡¯s body is taken mainly from his real life body, the results of his training showed in-game too*), but he was mentally tired. Being on guard all the time, while constantly scanning his environment to try and make his new skill would¡¯ve drained anybody at this point. Still, he kept trudging forward through the dense forest vegetation, which was becoming more and more sparse with each step he took. Up ahead, he could see that the trees had stopped growing past a certain line, and Zhang had stopped walking right after he¡¯d crossed that invisible (and imaginary) line. ¡®I¡¯ve got a bad feeling about this¡­¡¯ As soon as his foot stepped outside of the trees, he heard a sound. SHIIING!
NEW SKILL CREATED: PART THE MISTS
PART THE MISTS: CONSTANT, UNCEASING EFFORTS TO DIVINE THE TRUTH BEHIND THE WORLD AND EVERYTHING AROUND YOU, HAS RESULTED IN A STRANGE ABILITY TO DO SO.
GATHERS ALL INFORMATION FROM YOUR CONSCIOUS AND SUBCONSCIOUS, BOTH KNOWN AND FORGOTTEN CAN BE SWITCHED BETWEEN PASSIVE/ACTIVE
PASSIVE: DISPLAYS ALL RELEVANT KNOWN AND FORGOTTEN INFORMATION AND DISPLAYS IT IN YOUR VISION. REQUIRES: PERMANENT USAGE OF 10% OF TOTAL MANA
ACTIVE: IN ADDITION TO DISPLAYING ALL RELEVANT KNOWN AND FORGOTTEN INFORMATION, IT REMOVES ANY AND ALL FALSEHOODS REQUIRES: CONSUMES 20% OF TOTAL MANA (MANA CONSUMED CANNOT BE RECOVERED OR USED UNTIL ABILITY IS SWITCHED TO PASSIVE) 5% OF TOTAL HEALTH/SECOND (CANNOT BE RECOVERED UNTIL ABILITY IS SWITCHED TO PASSIVE)
*************** As soon as my foot stepped past the line of trees, my vision was immediately cluttered with notifications. I read through them as fast as I could, trying to make use of the little time I had before Misa and Alexa caught up to us. I still wasn¡¯t sure if by looking through all of these game-like notifications, I would somehow be recognized by these people as a player. Just in case they hadn¡¯t already figured it out, anyway. Lucky for me, Zhang was still a little bit in front, with his back turned towards me. Reading through all of these notifications, I had mixed feelings. There was a light, happy feeling in my chest of accomplishment. I¡¯d finally finished creating that skill! But then again, the skill couldn¡¯t be turned off! I could only switch back and forth between the Passive and Active effects. That means that no matter what, at least 10% of my mana was gone forever! There was also one other thing¡­ The skill was obviously related to my status as First-Born of the Mist! ¡®Does this mean that any skill I create from now on will be considered as a ¡®Mistborn¡¯ ability?¡¯ The thought worried me. I only had 2 examples of ¡®Mistborn¡¯ abilities so far, and both of them needed my health for me to use them! True, [Part the Mists] didn¡¯t need it as long as it was kept Passive, but the best effects, the part which only showed which parts were true and correct, needed my health! I was fine with using Mana, since I had plenty. (Although I wasn¡¯t happy with a constant 10% drain on it), but my Health was half of what I had for Mana! I wasn¡¯t sure what would happen if I ran out of Mana, but I already knew what would happen if I ran out of Health. I¡¯d DIE. Plain and simple. I didn¡¯t even want to think about what would happen after that. A successful person doesn¡¯t focus too much on his own death after all. All of it took a while to describe, but in reality less than a few seconds had passed. As I dismissed the notifications, I saw the first thing that my new ability had used its passive effect on. I also heard Misa and Alexa come out of the forest vegetation next to me, and one of them gasped. We were all thinking the exact same thing. ¡®Oh Shit!¡¯ This is what I saw in the floating box that marked the first thing that had been affected by my [Part the Mists] ability.
IT¡¯S EITHER A DRAGON, OR A REALLY, REALLY BIG LIZARD WITH WINGS.
------------------------------------------------------------ Author''s Note: Don''t forget to RATE/REVIEW/COMMENT!! I always love hearing what people have to say, and it''s what keeps me going! Chapter 7 Author''s Note: Here''s that 2nd chapter I promised! A 3rd chapter may or may not come out in a few days! An easy guide to the story (tells you what it means if I put things in bolded brackets, and stuff like that). Spoiler : EASY GUIDE TO THE STORY (* *) means author''s note (which I generally use to make comments as inside the story chapters). [ ] refers to a skill or ability that is used. Right now there are no different markers for passive and active skills ''things in italics'' Things in italics with the little apostrophe marks are someone''s actual thoughts ***** If the asterisks form a small line and the next sentences start a line or 2 below it, it means either: A) A change of viewpoint OR B) A time-skip (which basically means stuff happened in-between 2 events, but I''m skipping over it to get to whatever is happening in the present) ------------------------ Dashed lines in bold refer to where the chapter starts and/or stops I''ll add more if I do more things. An easy guide to the different measurements (for people that are familiar with the metric system, and vice versa) Spoiler : GUIDE TO THE DIFFERENT MEASUREMENTS 10 feet is around 3 meters 1 mile is a little more than 1.5 kilometers I''ll add more if I find out more Characters: Spoiler : Zhang: Arrogant, greedy, manipulative and smart, with a surprisingly protective side when it comes to Misa. Likes to play the warrior/tank role, but is actually an unspecified (no class), which means he is a jack-of-all trades. Thinks that Wahshi (although he calls him "Washy") is an NPC which will lead him to a great quest. Still, he won''t hesitate to use him for his original intended purpose (to be a meat-shield) if things get too rough. Currently suspected of being over level 200 Misa: Bloodthirsty, sadistic and uncaring, except for when it comes to the people she likes (which currently includes only Zhang). Has the overpowered hidden class Sun Mage which is supposed to focus on peace and pursuit of knowledge. She uses it to do whatever she wants, which usually ends up getting her in trouble with the Sun Spirit, whom all Sun Mages are contracted with. A mysterious event involving at least herself and one other person seems to have shaped who she has become. Her Sun Mage powers are currently sealed, due to her misuse of them during the fight with the living trees. Currently suspected of being over level 200 Alexa: Cautious but with a good heart. A mysterious event seems to have caused Zhang and Misa to hate her deeply, but she still sees them as her 2 best friends who have been there for her for a long time. She struggles to try and make up for whatever happened in the past, causing her to more than once overlook Zhang and Misa''s hatred and wrongdoings, even if it hurts herself in the process. Rogue-type player (actual class not mentioned yet). Currently suspected of being over level 200. Wahshi: The Main Character. Real name Raes Bastion, framed for a crime he didn''t commit and separated from his daughter while he was sent to prison for 20 years. What he wants to do now is earn enough money through the Virtual Reality game so that he can start searching for the daughter he lost, and maybe a little revenge on the way there against the people that framed him. Recently survived a trip through the Mist of Souls, which gave him abilities no other player has. He suspects that its not normal for a player to have started out that way. Currently an unspecified (no class). Currently level 1. CURRENTLY: Spoiler : Managed to survive a battle with opponents that were over 60 levels above Zhang and his crew in the 2nd layer of the Boundary Forest. They have now somehow ended up in front of a Dragon the size of a mountain, which the MC''s ability confirms, "It is either a Dragon, or a REALLY, REALLY big lizard with wings." --------------------------------------------------------------- No matter what my ability said, it was OBVIOUSLY a dragon. This is what I get, I suppose, when I don¡¯t switch my ability to Active. Unsurprisingly, we were in another clearing. I was starting to get the idea that this forest wanted all of our major encounters to be in a clearing. The only difference between the ones we were in before and the ones that we were in now, was the size. The dragon itself was beyond huge. If you could see it from far away, you might mistake it for a mountain. THAT¡¯S how big it is. Its scales were a pattern of light and dark green; you wouldn¡¯t be able to tell the difference between the tree canopy and its body if you saw it from above. Most likely you wouldn¡¯t ever get a chance to see it from above though, since I doubt that there were people that could fly higher than a Dragon. Obviously since the dragon was as big as a mountain, the clearing had to be bigger to surround it. It looked like miles and miles of an open environment, with nothing but grass and the sky. There was nowhere to run, and nowhere to hide. I didn¡¯t need my ability to tell me that there was no way we could fight THAT and walk out alive. Which was when I heard Zhang say, ¡°Alright, everybody back up as slowly and as quietly as you can.¡± ********************* My armor suddenly seemed to weigh down on me ten times more as I looked up at the mountain that was a dragon. I¡¯d already made up my mind about what to do. This time, I didn¡¯t even need my [Observe] skill to tell me that there we would all get absolutely destroyed if we even tried to fight it. Right now, the dragon¡¯s head was near the ground, and its colossal eyes were closed. ¡®God I hope that thing stays asleep.¡¯ As if to warn me to stay away from the huge monstrosity, a blue box was floating right beside it. NAME: &@$&*#---- Not even mentioning the fact that the name was hidden, the thing had freaking SKULLS for levels! I am ZHANG!! It shouldn¡¯t have to be like this! My face burned with shame as I felt my lips form the next words that were going to come from my mouth. ¡°Alright, everybody back up as slowly and as quietly as you can.¡± Almost immediately after, the head which had been lying down on its forelegs facing us, suddenly let out a snort¡­ In a split second with a ROAR like thunder, emerald flames came out of its nose and flew just above our heads. I slowly turned my head to look behind us¡­. And there was nothing. We must have covered 4-5 miles walking in the forest between the last clearing, and this one now. With a single snort, the Dragon had burned down a path through the forest behind us that looked like half the distance we¡¯d covered, in less than a second. I turned my head to look back at the colossal head, and immediately regretted it. There was a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach as I looked at the Dragon. And that was because it was looking back at me. THE DRAGON WAS AWAKE. *********** Sweat ran down the inside of my muddied robe as I stared at the Dragon. Anyone would¡¯ve had the same reaction. I didn¡¯t even have to turn around to know that everything behind us was probably burned so badly that not even ash was left. If I had any chance of making out of this alive, I¡¯d need to find out everything I could about this Dragon. With that in mind, I mentally switched [Part the Mists] from Passive to Active. Strangely enough, my Health and Mana gauge hadn¡¯t disappeared yet like it was supposed to when someone enters a battle. So with a growing headache, I was able to see my Mana gauge drop from being 90% full (because 10% was needed for Passive) to 80% (because 20% was needed for Active). When my health gauge dropped 5% for the rest of the requirements to use the Active effects of [Part the Mists], for some reason I felt like someone had just slapped me in the face. I guess you do feel the effects if your Health or Mana drops. I must not have felt it during the last battle because of all the adrenaline rushing through me at the time. With all of that done, I finally took a good look at the Dragon, and more importantly, the floating notification window next to it. Now that I¡¯d switched my ability to Active, there was no way that it would be able to hide any ¡°falsehoods¡± from me, as my ability claimed. Unknowingly, I held my breath as I took a look at the notification window.
IT¡¯S DEFINITELY A DRAGON. NOT A BIG LIZARD WITH WINGS. JUST A REALLY, REALLY BIG-ASS DRAGON THAT JUST SNEEZED OUT GREEN FIRE THAT PROBABLY DESTROYED EVERYTHING BEHIND YOU.
DO NOT PISS IT OFF!!
I spat out the breath that I¡¯d been holding. ¡®Sh*t!! What the hell is wrong with this freaking ability?!¡¯ I couldn¡¯t accept it. The ability that I¡¯d put so much effort into creating was useless?! NO!! I wouldn¡¯t accept it!! This time I switched my gaze over to Zhang.
ZHANGLEVEL: SOMEWHERE BETWEEN 200-250
CLASS: NONE, BUT HAS DIFFERENT INVENTIONS AND ARMORS THAT LET HIM PLAY DIFFERENT ROLES.
CURRENTLY KNOWN ROLES: SPEEDSTER (CAN DASH FORWARD AT EXTREME SPEEDS WITH A LARGE WEAPON), TOWER (A DEFENDER THAT CAN SOMEHOW USE ELECTRICITY TO MAKE HIS ARMOR SPLIT UP AND FLY IN A DOME-SHAPE TO PROTECT THOSE WITHIN)
PERSONALITY: ARROGANT, GREEDY, INTELLIGENT, MANIPULATIVE AND PROTECTIVE OF MISA, ALSO HATES ALEXA
CURRENTLY: BELIEVES THAT THEY SHOULD DEFINITELY RUN FROM THE DRAGON AND IS THINKING OF A WAY TO DO SO. ALSO BELIEVES THAT WAHSHI IS AN NPC THAT WILL LEAD HIM TO A QUEST WITH GREAT REWARDS
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡®Holy cr*p!!¡¯ Alright, obviously there wasn¡¯t anything wrong with my ability. (Other than the fact that it might just be too over-powered!) The problem was obviously with me, not with the ability. It was like giving a cave-man a rifle. He¡¯d only see it as a stick to bash things with. After all, the description even said that it would gather information that I¡¯d already known and remove any ¡°falsehoods¡± from that. Clearly it would be useless if I didn¡¯t already know something about what I was observing. It took less than 4 seconds after the Dragon had shot his flames over our heads for me to have gone through all of this in my head. I blame it on all the quick thinking I had to do in prison. There were a lot of things that I¡¯d found out just from looking at the screen about Zhang. If my ability was to be believed, then all of the information that made it onto the screen was 100% true. ¡®If Zhang still thinks I¡¯m an NPC, then that¡¯s good. I can still trust them.¡¯ It was right then that the Dragon chose to speak. ¡°IF YOU MOVE ONE STEP, I WILL BURN YOU SLOWLY WITH MY FLAMES. IF YOU CHOOSE TO FIGHT, I WILL THOROUGHLY CRUSH EACH BONE IN YOUR BODY UNTIL ONLY DUST REMAINS.¡± The voice was like thunder crashing down on all of us. Needless to say, none of moved. None of us said anything either. Except for Zhang, of course. ¡°Elder Dragon,¡± he called out. Immediately the dragon¡¯s attention was focused onto him. He staggered under the weight of that stare. It was normal, because it was almost literally as if a mountain had come alive and focused on you. I saw him clasp his right handed fist with his left hand and shook it, in what seemed to be some kind of greeting which conveyed respect. Well, he looked Chinese, so it might have been for all I know. Funny enough, I knew more about an entirely different world than I did about a country on Earth. He bowed from the waist up. ¡°We meant you no disrespect Elder Dragon. We apologize for any misconduct on our part. We were clearly in the wrong. However, I humbly ask for Elder Dragon¡¯s forgiveness towards us, as we were merely lost on our way out of this forest.¡± I didn¡¯t even have to look at him to tell that being this respectful and humble was not easy for him. He was naturally an arrogant person after all, something which my ability had picked up on. Clearly he knew how to be respectful if he had to though. The Dragon let out a snort. This time, only a small wisp of smoke came out of it though. Was his fire-breathing ability on a cooldown or something? Suspicions should count as knowledge known or forgotten right? In that case, my ability should show whether or not his on the floating screen next to the Dragon.
MOUNTAIN-LIKE, GREEN-SCALED DRAGON. ONE WRONG MOVE, AND IT WILL KILL YOU. CURRENTLY KNOWN: HAS THE ABILITY TO BREATHE EMERALD FIRE.
ITS ATTENTION ISN¡¯T ON YOU. IF YOU JUST ¡°HAPPEN¡± TO TURN INTO THIN AIR AND DISAPPEAR, IT WON¡¯T CARE ENOUGH TO HUNT YOU DOWN, AS LONG AS THERE ARE OTHER ¡°THINGS¡± (ZHANG AND HIS PARTY) TO DISTRACT IT.
¡®Hahaha! I can¡¯t believe even my ability is saying that I should run and leave these people to be roasted alive like marshmallows for the Dragon. Since it says that the Dragon can still breathe fire, I¡¯ll believe it too; but I won¡¯t leave these people behind. I was wrong about them dragging me out here to kill me, since they still don¡¯t know I¡¯m a Player. Even though I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on with their group to have them have what looks like some kind of internal strife, and they definitely have more than one personality problem, I think they¡¯re good people.¡¯ ¡®They wouldn¡¯t just leave me here to die from a Dragon, so I won¡¯t do it to them.¡¯ My mind was made up. I wouldn¡¯t leave them. If I had to die, it wouldn¡¯t be so bad to die together with friends like these. (At least while I can revive anyway). The Dragon¡¯s voice thundered out again. ¡°BRAT!! YOU AMUSE ME WITH YOUR PATHETIC ATTEMPT TO HONOR ME WITH YOUR WORDS. AM I SUPPOSED TO BELIEVE THAT YOU WERE TRYING TO LEAVE THE FOREST, BUT SOMEHOW ENDED UP GOING CLOSER TO THE CENTER?¡± There was a crashing sound like a rock slide that kept repeating itself. Then I realized what it was. THAT WAS THE SOUND OF THE DRAGON ¡°SILENTLY¡± LAUGHING! That was a good sign, right? ¡°VERY WELL. YOUR PATHETIC ATTEMPT AT BEGGING FOR YOUR LIVES HAS SUCCEEDED. YOU MAY LEAVE.¡± Zhang was still bent from the waist in a bow to the Dragon, and at this he straightened up and started bowing again. ¡°Many thanks Elder Dragon! A thousand blessings on you and your family from the spirits above! We will take our leave now.¡± Zhang turned around to face all of us. He gestured slightly with his head to start walking back the way we came from. I got the feeling that what he was silently trying to tell us all was, ¡°Turn around and let¡¯s get the hell out of here before that da*n thing changes its mind!!¡± We all turned around slowly. At the sight of what was behind us, or rather what was no longer there, my mind was sent reeling. THERE WAS A CLEAR-CUT PATH BURNED THROUGH THE FOREST DIRECTLY BEHIND US WHICH WAS MILES LONG!! It was more than obvious that it was the dragon¡¯s flaming emerald snort that did this. Everything was quiet, and the only sounds came from us walking to the forest which was next to the black, molten path pointing out of the forest. Why didn¡¯t we just walk down that clear-cut path? Aside from the fact that the dragon would¡¯ve seen us and could easily change his mind on letting us go, there was also the fact that the ground was still so hot that parts of it were still red and bubbling. When the ground starts bubbling because of the heat, it¡¯s a good idea not to step on it. We didn¡¯t even manage to set foot in the forest next to the path when suddenly¡­ ¡°WAIT.¡± The command exploded out like a bomb. We all froze, not even willing to turn around again just in case he considered that as going against his will. ¡°I WAS NOT FINISHED SPEAKING BEFORE. IF YOU WISH TO LEAVE, THEN ONE OF YOU MUST STAY BEHIND AS A TRIBUTE FOR YOUR MISCONDUCT IN DISTURBING MY REST.¡± I could feel the gazes of everyone else burning into me. ¡®No¡­ they wouldn¡¯t¡­ would they?¡¯ Suddenly, I was grabbed from behind by Zhang. He spun me around to face the dragon and kicked me in the back and sent me sprawling towards the emerald-scaled mountain with jaws that looked like it could swallow a small village. ¡°Elder Dragon! Please allow us to offer this man up as tribute! He was a person that claims to have fallen from the sky, from a strange and unique land! I am sure that he will not disappoint you in whatever way that you wish to use him. This, I, Zhang, can guarantee!!¡± With that, the rest of the people I¡¯d thought of as ¡°friends that wouldn¡¯t betray me¡± only a few moments ago, ran for the forest as fast as they could. None of them had even thought twice about sacrificing me to save their lives. Worse still, none of them had even bothered to give a glance back¡­ There was a smile on my face. But inside, I was cold, calm, and DARK. Because not even Alexa, the person that reminded me so much of my wife¡­ No, EX- wife, had bothered to look back. There was a burning sensation in my eyes, but I wasn¡¯t crying. There were no tears, and no sign of sadness at all. There was only one thought left in my head. ¡®Sarah. You betrayed me AGAIN!!¡¯ At that thought, one of them turned around to look at me. Funny enough, it wasn¡¯t Zhang or Alexa. It was Misa, who even now my ability was telling me was a bloodthirsty, sadistic woman that had a frozen heart that only Zhang could shake. Well, it might be because I¡¯d switched [Part the Mists] back to Passive, but it looks like even my ability could be wrong. Zhang wasn¡¯t the only one that could shake that icy heart of hers. How do I know? Because when she looked back at me, I saw her shiver and shake. So I know that I had shaken her heart. WITH FEAR!!! The last thing I saw was her fear-stricken face, before darkness swallowed me whole. I didn¡¯t even bother with [Mist Form]. I wanted to make sure that she got a good look at the person that died and would haunt their every step from this moment on! ************** My mage robes were thin, but since they were enchanted with Solar Energy, I knew I couldn¡¯t have been shivering from the cold. It¡¯s because I¡¯d been looking back at the man we¡¯d just sent to his doom. It wasn¡¯t because I saw him die as the man was crushed by a single talon from the dragon¡¯s foreleg. IT¡¯S BECAUSE HIS EYES HAD BEEN TURNING BLACK WHILE THEY WERE BURNING HIS GAZE INTO US! I had a bad feeling about all of this¡­ Zhang yelled through the [Party Chat]. ¡°Misa, stop staring at where the f**king sheep died and run!!¡± I tore my eyes away and followed Zhang back into the woods. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author''s Note: Well, we''re finally done with the MC following Zhang and his party around like a 3rd wheel. THAT''S RIGHT!! NOW HE GETS TO HUNT THEM DOWN!!!! RATE/REVIEW/COMMENT, and let me know if you see any mistakes anywhere!! Also, if you want to see what the Dragon''s level looks like, here it is. It''s 3 giant red skulls. Dragon''s Level: Chapter 8: Part 1 Author''s Note: SO... originally I was going to wait until I finished the entire chapter, but it was taking too long. So I split it up into parts, so that it''d be faster for you guys. ALSO: I need ideas for a name for an elvish man, but it has to start with "K". Any ideas? An easy guide to the story (tells you what it means if I put things in bolded brackets, and stuff like that). Spoiler : EASY GUIDE TO THE STORY (* *) means author''s note (which I generally use to make comments as inside the story chapters). [ ] refers to a skill or ability that is used. Right now there are no different markers for passive and active skills ''things in italics'' Things in italics with the little apostrophe marks are someone''s actual thoughts ***** If the asterisks form a small line and the next sentences start a line or 2 below it, it means either: A) A change of viewpoint OR B) A time-skip (which basically means stuff happened in-between 2 events, but I''m skipping over it to get to whatever is happening in the present) ------------------------ Dashed lines in bold refer to where the chapter starts and/or stops I''ll add more if I do more things. An easy guide to the different measurements (for people that are familiar with the metric system, and vice versa) Spoiler : GUIDE TO THE DIFFERENT MEASUREMENTS 10 feet is around 3 meters 1 mile is a little more than 1.5 kilometers I''ll add more if I find out more Characters: Spoiler : Wahshi: The Main Character. Real name Raes Bastion, framed for a crime he didn''t commit and separated from his daughter while he was sent to prison for 20 years. What he wants to do now is earn enough money through the Virtual Reality game so that he can start searching for the daughter he lost, and maybe a little revenge on the way there against the people that framed him. Currently an unspecified (no class). Currently level 1. PREVIOUSLY: Spoiler : Was betrayed by Zhang and his party. They left him behind as a tribute to the "Elder Dragon", in order to escape with their lives. The Dragon squashed Wahshi with a single talon. ----------------------------------- My name is Raes Bastion. I am currently in a game called Awakening, on a world called Ralia, where I am known as Wahshi. And I have just died for the 1st time. One month before I started the game, I¡¯d made sure to do research on the game. Some things, like what would happen when you first started the game, as well as what people would normally do in the beginning of the game, I¡¯d never even paid attention to any of it. After all, if you know what to expect in a game where every choice you make actually matters, then you can only do what the people that came before you have done. But if you know nothing, then you have a chance. A chance at doing something which has never been done before. I didn¡¯t actually care much about becoming the trailblazer, being the one to forge a new path. All I wanted was a chance to go back to that day that¡¯d been taken from me. But to do that, I knew I couldn¡¯t just limit myself to blindly following what others had done. So I deliberately blindfolded myself when it came to the things that would happen in the game. The mechanics of the game were different though. I¡¯d made sure to go find and go through every bit of info on every single thing I could think of. From recovery items to poisonous items, from the publicly known skills to death and what happens afterwards. I¡¯d made sure to study it all. But it still didn¡¯t prepare me for the familiar sight that greeted my eyes when I snapped them open. I was fully corporeal in a roiling sea of Mist. I was back in the Mist of Souls. ¡°OH HELL, NO!!!¡± ******** After a few minutes of shouting and pounding the ground beneath me, I stood up. After hours of travelling and almost dying a few times, I¡¯d just been betrayed, and started all over again. Anyone would¡¯ve been as mad as I¡¯d been just now. I was already calm again though. I¡¯d already let out enough of the pressure that¡¯d been building up in me since I first entered the capsule. I closed my eyes, breathed in, and let out a deep breath. I was sure that my breath had probably already crystallized and joined the rest of the Mist that was swirling around me. With my eyes closed though, I didn¡¯t see anything. Images of all the things that I¡¯d researched raced past me as I sorted through all of it. I might not have researched about the things that had already happened in the game, but as far as the natural laws and game mechanics in Awakening went, I already knew more than what the average person did when they first logged in. Which was why none of what was happening now, made any sense whatsoever. The images racing past in my mind stopped, and a video suddenly appeared out of the thousands of other images. It was one of the first videos I¡¯d watched, a tutorial video on YouTube by a user named I-HEART-BATMAN. In it, a man in his early 30¡¯s stood in full knight armor, talking about the different things about the world. He¡¯d just about finished speaking about all of the things that someone first entering the game would need to know, when he suddenly stopped and walked to a nearby cliff. The view suddenly shifted from 3rd person to 1st person, and we saw the vast ocean below as he looked out over the cliff. The air was filled with the sounds of birds; the air was filled with the sounds of waves crashing onto the rocky cliff that the man stood on. The man started talking again, but this time we only saw through his eyes, and didn¡¯t actually see him speaking. ¡°You know, there¡¯s actually one last thing that you should all know.¡± A blue [Inventory] window opened up in front of the man, with a human outline next to it. The outline looked like an exact copy of the man that had just been speaking, armor included. One by one, the man took off each individual piece of armor from the human outline and put it back in the [Inventory]. The human figure on the screen now just showed the man in plain, medieval garb. A hand waved, and the screen disappeared. ¡°Before you start the game, the number one question on everyone¡¯s mind is, oddly enough, the same question we ask in real life too. What happens when we die?¡± With that, the view suddenly changed from looking out over the ocean, to looking towards sharp, jagged rocks that were rushing up towards us! The screen went dark. The next moment, it was back up. The view was once again in the 3rd person, and we saw what looked like a ghost of the player standing on top of the ocean next to a pile of bloody, jagged rocks. ¡°And this is what happens folks!¡± He smiled and gave a bow, as if he was an actor that had just finished putting on a play for us all to watch. ¡°I doubt that anyone can answer the same question in real life, but when we die in the game, we turn into ghosts! The usual other game mechanics apply, armor that you wear can lose durability, items that you have in your inventory or on your person might drop, and you¡¯ll lose experience, levels, etc.¡± The man paused before continuing. ¡°Nobody¡¯s been able to figure out why exactly we turn into ghosts, or why the things that aren¡¯t from this world, like monsters and players, just disappear soon after we die. There¡¯s a great mystery behind it, and maybe you¡¯ll be the one to figure it out. Until then, we¡¯ll all just have to accept it as a rule of the game, especially since the creators of Awakening won¡¯t release any info on it.¡± The view switched back to 1st person, and we were suddenly staring at a blue notification window that had appeared in front of us.
TELEPORT TO LAST MEMORY? YES/ NO
¡°This is the other thing that happens,¡± the man¡¯s voice booms out. ¡°You¡¯ll be given a choice to ¡°teleport to last memory¡± which is basically the last safe area that you¡¯d been in before you died. Generally, they¡¯re cities but they can be campsites as well. Regardless of whether or not you say yes or no, you¡¯ll be stuck as a ghost for 10 hours in-game. That¡¯s 2 hours in real-time, where you won¡¯t be able to interact with the world at all. Most people choose to just log out and wait the 2 hours in real life, but some people choose to spend the 10 hours exploring the world as a ghost. DO NOT DO IT!¡± The man took a deep breath before continuing, ¡°Most people won¡¯t be able to see you. In fact, the only reason you can see me now is because of the game¡¯s [Record] function, where you can only see me, and anything that happens to me. To everyone else, you¡¯ll be invisible. But monsters, and people with special skills can see you. They can even hurt you while you¡¯re like this. If you die as a ghost, your character will die a PERMANENT DEATH. So just teleport to a safe place and wait out the 2 hours in real life, instead of risking it all. It¡¯s your choice, but I¡¯m just giving you fair warning.¡± The video stopped there, and the memory went scuttled back to the other thousands of images that floated past me. After seeing that, I¡¯d felt a little intrigued by that user and had done a little more research on him. The user I-HEART-BATMAN had become insanely popular in the game thanks to his tutorial video. Obviously the part that everyone remembered the most was where he jumped off the cliff. Anything that he lost when he died was easily outweighed by what he gained in popularity. I breathed in deeply one more time, and all of the images disappeared. I opened my eyes to see the Mist spiraling around me, hugging tight to my body almost like a mother embracing her child. ¡®This doesn¡¯t make any sense at all¡­ I should¡¯ve turned into a ghost somewhere near where I died. Why am I back here?¡¯ A flickering icon near the bottom right corner of my vision got my attention.
NEW NOTICES AVAILABLE. VIEW? YES/NO
After I hit YES, a flood of notices popped up in my vision, one after the other.
YOU HAVE DIED!!
[SOUL ORIGIN] SKILL ACTIVATED
RESURRECTION AT THE MIST OF SOULS IN PROGRESS¡­..
RESURRECTION COMPLETE
I could feel my eyebrows furrow as I read the notifications. ¡®One of my skills activated? [Soul Origin]? What the hell?!!¡¯ After seeing the notices, I immediately opened my skills and abilities window. With a SHIIING the shimmering blue window appeared in front of me. It lay there in mid-air, almost begging me to look through and find its secrets. I scrolled down to the Active Skills part of the list, until I found what I was looking for. What I read made my eyes widen in shock.
SOUL ORIGIN (BEGINNER RANK):YOU HAVE ACCOMPLISHED A FEAT FEW WOULD KNOW ABOUT, AND DISCOVERED THE BIRTHPLACE OF YOUR SOUL. TRAVEL TO THE MIST OF SOULS IS NOW POSSIBLE UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS, IF THE COST IS PAID.
ACTIVATION METHOD 1:
REQUIREMENTS:DEATH
ACTIVATION COSTS:ANY AND ALL PENALTIES FOR THOSE THAT KILLED YOU WILL BE NULLIFIED; YOUR KILLERS WILL RECEIVE TRIPLE THE AMOUNT OF EXPERIENCE THEY WOULD NORMALLY RECEIVE
*AUTOMATICALLY TRIGGERED UPON DEATH, REGARDLESS OF WILL OR INTENT
ACTIVATION METHOD 2:
REQUIREMENTS:???
ACTIVATION COSTS:???
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. I couldn¡¯t believe what I was seeing! Out of paranoia I quickly looked around to make sure that there was no one else around me. There was only a seemingly endless fog which swirled around, which let me breathe out a sigh of relief. ¡®No one can ever know about this. It¡¯ll be open season if word of this ever gets out.¡¯ Lucky for me though, the thing that had killed me was a Dragon the size of a mountain. With the level that IT was probably at, I doubted that it would get any experience from killing me. So that means my secret is safe so far. After all, 0x3 is still 0. I waved the blue window away. I didn¡¯t want to come back here so soon after I left, but the fact that I was already here wasn¡¯t something I could change. Right now, I didn¡¯t know if the fact that I would ALWAYS be ¡°resurrected¡± here was a good thing, but I had to at least try to keep a positive outlook on things. After all, if the costs were this bad, then the skill resurrecting me here had to be a good thing, right? Making up my mind, I cleared my head of all thoughts about my new reality. ¡®Since I¡¯m here, I should check up on Gaia and see how she¡¯s doing.¡¯ The only way out of here that I knew of was at the bottom of that tree that Gaia lived at anyway. I¡¯d meet her there regardless of what I actually wanted, but I realized that I didn¡¯t mind. The kid had grown a little on me in the short time that I¡¯d actually known her. I slowly turned in a complete circle, trying to figure out which way I should go. ¡®Last time I¡¯d just picked a random direction and ran, and somehow got lucky enough to stumble across the way out of the Mist. I can¡¯t always rely on luck though¡­ There has to be some way that I can tell which way leads out of here.¡¯ I looked in all directions, but at least as far as my eyes could see, there wasn¡¯t anything out there in the distance no matter which way I turned. Twin streams of air could be easily seen as I tried to keep breathing normally. The thought of never being able to find my way out of this Mist wasn¡¯t one that went away easily. I didn¡¯t like the idea of being trapped either, it was too much like prison, regardless of the fact that I could always log out. Suddenly, inspiration struck! It was like a flash of lightning on a dark night, illuminating everything. It also made me feel like an idiot for not realizing it sooner. ¡®The last time I tried to get out, the Mist got thicker and harder to get through the more I got closer to the exit. Why can¡¯t I just use that to figure out if I¡¯m going the right way?¡¯ I didn¡¯t have any other good ideas, so off I went. I headed towards whatever was to my right side, the Mist flowing around me as I went. After 5 minutes of this, I realized that whatever ¡°force¡± or pressure that the Mist had on me was actually lessening! Clearly I was already going the wrong way, so I turned around and headed in the opposite direction. 10 minutes later I could tell that I was already heading the right way. As I ran the Mist only grew thicker and thicker. If before the pressure felt like someone embracing me, now it felt like that person was trying to hold me back so hard that the more I ran, the bloodier I got as my skin was ripped open. Blood flowed down in small rivers. What felt like hours later, but was actually only 20 minutes afterwards, it had gotten so bad that my skin wasn¡¯t ripping open anymore. Chunks of bloody flesh ripped off my body as I kept running. There were no more tears of pain left to shed as the pressure only got worse. At one point it felt like I was running through steel walls, feeling every second of pain the impacts could give. My mind went white¡­.. I woke up some time afterwards. A fresh, earthy aroma filled the air. An enormous tree in full bloom stood atop a small hill, with a pond near the base of it. I couldn¡¯t help myself. Laughter bubbled up out of me in relief. I¡¯D FINALLY MADE IT!! --------------------------------------------------------------- Author''s Note: Don''t forget, if you have any ideas for a male, elvish name that starts with "K", let me know!! DON''T FORGET TO RATE/REVIEW/COMMENT!!! Wahshi''s Status: Spoiler :
STATUS WINDOW
NAME:WAHSHI
LEVEL:1
RACE:HUMANGENDER:MALE
CLASS:NONE
MONEY:0G 1S 0C, $0
TITLES:FIRST-BORN OF THE MIST
FAME:100INFAMY:0
HEALTH:105 (+5)
MANA:120 (+100)
STRENGTH:18 (+10)INTELLIGENCE:10 (+10)(+3)
DEXTERITY:10 (+10)(-2)WILLPOWER:2 (+10)(+7)
VITALITY:10 (+10)CHARISMA:0 (+10)
AGILITY:10 (+10)DEFENSE:10 (+10)(+1)
LUCK:7 (+10)
*Mana= 100+ (Willpower*10), Health=(LVL*100)+(Vitality/2) Wahshi''s Skill/Abilities Spoiler :
SKILL LIST
PASSIVE
FIRST-BORN OF THE MIST:
  • ELDEST: YOU ARE THE OLDEST CHILD OF YOUR CLAN, AND THEREFORE THE STRONGEST. +1 TO ALL STATS FOR EVERY MISTBORN IN THE WORLD, EXCLUDING YOURSELF (CURRENT NUMBER OF MISTBORN: 1 [YOURSELF])
PLAYER:
  • PERSEVERE: YOU HAVE GONE THROUGH INCREDIBLE PAINS TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOAL. WHEN HEALTH IS LESS THAN 50%, PAIN DECREASES 1% PER ADDITIONAL PERCENT OF HEALTH LOST
ACTIVE
BORN OF THE MIST:
  • SOUL ORIGIN (BEGINNER RANK): YOU HAVE ACCOMPLISHED A FEAT FEW WOULD KNOW ABOUT, AND DISCOVERED THE BIRTHPLACE OF YOUR SOUL. TRAVEL TO THE MIST OF SOULS IS NOW POSSIBLE UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS, IF THE COST IS PAID. ACTIVATION METHOD 1: REQUIREMENTS: DEATH ACTIVATION COSTS: ANY AND ALL PENALTIES FOR THOSE THAT KILLED YOU WILL BE NULLIFIED; YOUR KILLERS WILL RECEIVE TRIPLE THE AMOUNT OF EXPERIENCE THEY WOULD NORMALLY RECEIVE *AUTOMATICALLY ACTIVATES UPON DEATH, REGARDLESS OF WILL OR INTENT ACTIVATION METHOD 2: REQUIREMENTS:??? ACTIVATION COST: ???
[tr]
ABILITY LISTPLAYER:
  • MENU: Access to a game-like interface
  • RESURRECTION: May be re-born 10 hours after death (game-time)
  • INVENTORY: Access to a small, pocket-dimension which can hold belongings up to a certain limit
  • LOG OUT: Return to your original world
BORN OF THE MIST:
  • MIST FORM (LVL 1): FIRM CONVICTION IN WHAT YOU THOUGHT WAS TRUE ABOUT YOUR ORIGINS HAS ENABLED YOU TO TURN BACK INTO THE MIST THAT SPAWNED YOU AT 1ST LEVEL, TURNS YOUR ENTIRE BODY INTO MIST. HIGHER LEVELS WILL ALLOW YOU TO CONTROL WHAT PART OF YOUR BODY YOU WISH TO TURN. AT 1ST LEVEL, MIST FORM CAN STAY ACTIVE FOR A MAXIMUM OF 2 SECONDS. ABILITY MAY BE CANCELLED AT ANY TIME. ACTIVATION REQUIREMENTS: NONE ACTIVATION COST: 2% of Max Health
TITLE EFFECTS
  • FIRST-BORN OF THE MIST: +10 TO ALL STATS, ACCESS TO MISTBORN ABILITIES WHEN DISCOVERED, ACCESS TO UNIQUE ABILITIES GIVEN ONLY TO THE HOLDER OF THIS TITLE (IF DISCOVERED), PASSIVE SKILL ¡°ELDEST¡±
Wahshi''s Equipment Spoiler :
UNKNOWN SCHOLAR¡¯S ROBE (MODIFIED)
[NO LEVEL REQUIREMENT]
A ROBE OF UNKNOWN STYLE AND DESIGN. ONCE, IT GAVE OFF AN AIR OF SCHOLARLY NOBILITY. CHANGED TO MAKE IT BETTER FOR BATTLE, IT IS NOW PROOF THAT EVEN THE LOFTIEST OF SCHOLARS WILL FIGHT IF NEED BE.
DEXTERITY -2, INTELLIGENCE +3, WILLPOWER +7, DEFENSE +1
TRUSTY IRON KNIFE
NO REQUIREMENTS
A GIFT FROM THE SPIRITS OF THIS WORLD, TO ALL WHO HAVE COME TO IT
STRENGTH +1
BOOTS
NO REQUIREMENTS
A GIFT FROM THE SPIRITS. ALTHOUGH LOW QUALITY, IT MIGHT LAST IF YOU TAKE GOOD CARE OF IT. IT WON''T DO MUCH BUT SLIGHTLY PROTECT YOUR FEET THOUGH.
Chapter 8: Part 2 Author''s Note: I''M BACK!!! Sorry for the delay everyone! You won''t believe how many things came up IRL, but it''s all good now. Anyway, this chapter''s been up on Wattpad for a while now, but I finally managed to edit it for royalroad. I''m working on the next chapter (I''ve only got about 1,000 words done right now, and the norm for one of my chapters is around 3,000). An easy guide to the story (tells you what it means if I put things in bolded brackets, and stuff like that). Spoiler : EASY GUIDE TO THE STORY (* *) means author''s note (which I generally use to make comments as inside the story chapters). [ ] refers to a skill or ability that is used. Right now there are no different markers for passive and active skills ''things in italics'' Things in italics with the little apostrophe marks are someone''s actual thoughts ***** If the asterisks form a small line and the next sentences start a line or 2 below it, it means either: A) A change of viewpoint OR B) A time-skip (which basically means stuff happened in-between 2 events, but I''m skipping over it to get to whatever is happening in the present) ------------------------ Dashed lines in bold refer to where the chapter starts and/or stops I''ll add more if I do more things. An easy guide to the different measurements (for people that are familiar with the metric system, and vice versa) Spoiler : GUIDE TO THE DIFFERENT MEASUREMENTS 10 feet is around 3 meters 1 mile is a little more than 1.5 kilometers I''ll add more if I find out more Characters: Spoiler : Wahshi: The Main Character. Real name Raes Bastion, framed for a crime he didn''t commit and separated from his daughter while he was sent to prison for 20 years. What he wants to do now is earn enough money through the Virtual Reality game so that he can start searching for the daughter he lost, and maybe a little revenge on the way there against the people that framed him. Was recently betrayed by his former fellow travelers and killed by a dragon. He somehow managed to survive ANOTHER trip through the Mist of Souls. Currently an unspecified (no class). Currently level 1. PREVIOUSLY: Spoiler : PREVIOUSLY: Wahshi was betrayed by Zhang and his party, and died at the hands of the "Elder Dragon". He revived at the Mist of Souls, where he then proceeded to rush out of there, at the cost of immense amounts of pain. And several pounds of flesh. --------------------------------------------------------------------- I was flat on my back with my eyes closed, just enjoying the sensation of being able to exist without pain. My lips twitched in a small, upwards direction. It was almost like a smile. A shadow loomed over me, and I opened my eyes. A familiar face with worried green eyes hung over me, trying to figure out if I was alright. I slowly stood up, and Gaia backed away to give me some room. A smile grew on my face as I looked at the dark-skinned girl that could¡¯ve passed for a nine-year old. ¡°GAIA!!¡± I said in a happy, shout-like voice. She giggled like it was the funniest thing in the world. ¡°MR. WASHY!!¡± I mentally face-palmed. ¡®It hasn¡¯t even been a day, but she already forgot that my name isn¡¯t Washy.¡¯ ¡°Grrr! It hasn¡¯t even been a day, but you already forgot how to say this here monster¡¯s name?!¡± I growled in pretend anger. ¡°Don¡¯t you know what kind of monster I am?¡± She looked at me, her light green eyes wide open with curiosity. She leaned forward a little, like she couldn¡¯t wait to hear what I was about to say. ¡°I¡¯M THE HUGGING MONSTER!!! I HUG ALL THE LITTLE GIRLS WHO FORGET MY NAME, AND I NEVER, EVER LET THEM GO!! ROAR!¡± (*Yes, Wahshi really did say ¡°roar¡±*). She turned around and screamed in pretend fear as I playfully chased her around and around the area. We ran up the hill, around the tree (many times before she ran somewhere else), back down the hill, up the hill again, around and around we went. As we played around, the burning in my eyes that had started when Zhang, Misa and Alexa had left me to die by the Dragon, had finally died down. Gaia went to ¡°hide¡± behind the trunk of the giant tree again. As soon as she was out of sight, tears started to flow down my face. ¡®Talia, is this what it would¡¯ve been like if I was around to watch you grow up?¡¯ Images of Talia came unbidden to the front of my mind. The old memory played back, crystal clear even after all these years. I had her only for a day, but it had been the best day of my life. When I saw her little baby face, everything I knew about the world had changed. Before, it had all been about me living my life. Even after I¡¯d married Sarah, I knew my life had changed, but I¡¯d never felt as big of a shift until that day when I held my baby girl for the first time in my life. My world had shifted, and my life wasn¡¯t just about me anymore. It wasn¡¯t even about my wife and I. It was about us, as a family. I knew Sarah felt the same way as I did, from the way I saw her look at Talia for the first time after giving birth to her. After I had handed her to my wife, we had looked down at our newborn daughter. She¡¯d inherited my wife¡¯s dark, tan skin and black hair. She¡¯d gotten my eyes though. My jovial, brown eyes. She¡¯d looked up at the world in wonder, while my wife and I had looked down at her in glowing joy. Before I knew it, there was nothing left in me. Whatever anger, hatred or happiness I¡¯d had before that moment was gone. The only thing left was an overwhelming sense of loss and sadness. I¡¯d been stripped down to what I really was on the inside. A broken, middle-aged man that pined for the daughter he¡¯d only known for a day. ¡°¡­Mr. Washy?¡± A voice cautiously asked. It snapped me out of my dark path in memory lane. Gaia had somehow ended up right in front of me without me even noticing. It just goes to show how out of it I had really been. Her eyes peered up at me in worry, her white dress with floral designs unnaturally still despite the small breeze that I felt on my skin. I shook my head to clear it of all my thoughts, and I gave a small smile to the 9 year old girl that was concerned for (from her perspective) an old man like me. ¡°I¡¯m fine Gaia. It¡¯s nothing. Really.¡± Doubt filled her eyes. ¡°Reeeeeally?¡± I crouched down to look at her eye-to-eye. ¡°Really.¡± She squinted at me. ¡°Reeeeeally, really?¡± A small laugh escaped from my lips. ¡°Now you¡¯re just being silly.¡± I made a slow, exaggerated swipe at her face, and then clenched my hand in a fist, but with my thumb between my middle and index finger, like I¡¯d just taken something from her. ¡°I got your nose!!¡± She giggled. ¡°No you don¡¯t, silly. It¡¯s right here!¡± She pointed at her nose. ¡°Aw, looks like I can¡¯t fool you!¡± I said. She just laughed. Seeing her like that was as if the world had gotten just a little bit brighter than before. When she¡¯d finally stopped laughing, she looked at me like she was thinking about something. Whatever it was, after a couple seconds she must¡¯ve decided on something, because she grabbed my hand and started pulling me after her. I slowly stood up and let her take me to wherever it was that she wanted to take me. ¡°Come on Mr. Wahshi! I wanna show you something!¡± Her hand clutching mine, she dragged behind her as she walked excitedly to a very familiar looking place. I was almost too busy mentally high-fiving myself when I¡¯d heard her actually say my name right, to notice where we were at. A big pond full of sparkling, blue water underneath the shade of the giant tree. Luckily, I¡¯d stopped before getting anywhere near the pond this time. Gaia let go of my hand and ran closer to the water. She turned her body sideways so that her right side was towards me, and her left side was towards the pond. With her right hand, she waved me over, obviously trying to get me to go closer to the pool of water. I squinted and gave her a playful, suspicious look. ¡°You¡¯re not going to push me in again, are you?¡± She fidgeted in place under my playfully suspicious stare. ¡°Umm¡­. No?¡± I arched an eyebrow. ¡°You know, that doesn¡¯t sound very convincing to me.¡± Gaia gave me a confused look. I thought at first that she wasn¡¯t sure why I wouldn¡¯t trust her, but the next sentence that I heard her say made me almost fall over in a comical fashion. ¡°Umm¡­ What does ¡®convincing¡¯ mean?¡± ¡®Forget it! Let¡¯s just get this over with. I¡¯m too tired to try and explain what something means to a kid right now.¡¯ A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.¡°Forget it. It¡¯s not important right now.¡± I told her as I walked over to the pond. As soon as I got there, she gestured out to the open water. Suddenly, the water began glowing. An icy sheen spread out from the middle of the pond, until the entire pool of water had a thin layer of ice on top of its calm waters. On that smooth, icy surface scenes began playing out. It was almost exactly like live TV! The frozen pond was showing what was happening in the rest of the game! Shocked, I slowly turned my head towards Gaia. ¡°Were you¡­ using this to see what I was doing the entire time I wasn¡¯t here in this place?¡± Gaia nodded her head excitedly. ¡°Mmhm! I saw most of it anyway. I wanted to ask you something¡­¡± ¡®If she¡¯s seen almost everything I¡¯ve done, then what possible question could she have?¡¯ That¡¯s what ran through my head as soon as I heard her words. She looked like she was about to burst if she didn¡¯t answer the question! I nodded my head. ¡°Sure, go ahead and ask.¡± She had a momentary look of relief before the question finally burst out. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you do anything almost the whole time you were with those mean people?!! It was like you had your thumb up your butt or something!¡± If there was a limit to the number of times I could be shocked in one gaming session, I clearly hadn¡¯t reached it yet. Once again, I was shocked. I was also completely speechless. Of course, I already knew the answer to that, but how was I supposed to say it out loud to a little girl that was looking at me like I was Superman?! If it had been anyone else, I definitely would have said it. ¡®How the H*LL was I supposed to DO ANYTHING!! I was in a forest with things that could¡¯ve killed me by SNEEZING! That, coupled with the fact that I was with people that would¡¯ve KILLED me easily if they thought that I was a Player, AND I was only LEVEL 1 FOR GOD¡¯S SAKE!! I¡¯D LIKE TO SEE ANYONE ELSE DO BETTER!!!¡¯ Of course, since it was Gaia that asked, and since she was looking at me as if I was Superman and had just decided to stop saving the world to take a lunch break, then obviously I couldn¡¯t say anything. How could I? Just admit that I was too weak to actually do anything at the time? Just admit that there were times when I¡¯d been scared sh*tless? NEVER!! My pride would never let me do that! Let alone myself, I don¡¯t think any man would admit that to a little girl that saw him as her hero! ¡°Who taught you that phrase young lady?! Saying that somebody had a thumb up their butt is a very rude thing to say!¡± That¡¯s what I ended up saying. When you can¡¯t answer something to a kid, redirect the conversation back to them and hope they forget what their original question was! Especially when it has to be a split-second answer like what happened just now! Gaia looked down and fidgeted, with her hands behind her back. ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­.¡± ¡°Gaia¡­¡± I said in an authoritative voice. ¡°Well¡­ my new friend told me about it¡­. He said he learned it at his home.¡± ¡®Wait, WHAT?! Another Player was here? When was this? I¡¯ve got to find out as much as I can.¡¯ Not missing a beat, I asked her, ¡°SO¡­ who¡¯s your new friend Gaia? How old is he?¡± Her cheeks turned a slight tinge of red at my questions. ¡®Oh my god, is she blushing? Does she actually like him?! You can¡¯t even play this game until you¡¯re a legal adult!! I¡¯M GONNA BEAT THIS FREAKING PEDOPHILE INTO THE GROUND!!!¡¯ She paused for a moment, but then started telling me about her new ¡°friend¡±. ¡°His name is Ouranos and he¡¯s REALLY fun to play with!! He¡¯s my age too!! And when I told him about how bored I was up here all the time, he showed me how to watch the cool stuff on the pond! And then¡­. And then¡­..¡± It was like the floodgates had burst open. Once she started talking about this new friend of hers, it was like she couldn¡¯t stop! I was too busy piece together as much info as I could about this new ¡°friend¡± of hers that seems to have appeared almost as soon as I was gone. But there was one thing I had to check first¡­ ¡°Gaia, do you know how old I am?¡± She paused in the middle of her flood of praises for her new friend and looked at me. ¡°Mister Wahshi, you don¡¯t even know how old you are? That¡¯s weird!! You¡¯re 39 years, 2 months and 28 days old!¡± ¡®Ok, so there¡¯s no possibility that she could be wrong when she said that the person was the same age as her. If she can figure all that out about me from a single look, then she can definitely tell how old people are.¡¯ But a person as old as Gaia was? How was that even possible? The game wouldn¡¯t let anyone under legal age¡­. wait¡­ how old was Gaia?! Shaking my head, I realized that the last question was probably something I shouldn¡¯t ask. If she was an AI, then chances are that to her, she¡¯d been here for longer than I¡¯d been alive! Well, the facts were simple. A) He¡¯s as old as Gaia. B) His name is Ouranos. Yep, that settles it. The person is clearly an NPC like Gaia. Actually, since they¡¯re both names from Greek Myth, wouldn¡¯t that mean that they were destined to be together? Well, one thing¡¯s for sure. It is definitely another kid that Gaia has a crush on. And not a perverted adult that preys on little kids. Since it¡¯s just a case of childish romance, then everything should be fine. After all, since their names are both from the same Myth, then it¡¯s probably a scripted event that the game company made, right? At that point, I decided to wash my hands of the matter. I would definitely kill a pedophilic adult that tried to get into Gaia¡¯s good graces, but another kid the same age was fine. ¡®Although if I see him, I should probably scare him a little so that I can make sure that he treats Gaia right.¡¯ An image that was playing on the icy pond caught my eye. I turned to look at it, and immediately felt a burning sensation in my eyes. Although my hatred wasn¡¯t so bad that it felt like it was eating me alive like it was before, I had more than enough to want to kill the people that showed up in the scene that I was watching. But first, I calmed myself down. After all, there was a kid watching me. I felt a cool reprieve from the burning in my eyes as soon as I managed to get my emotions under control. Turning back to Gaia, I held out my pinky finger. ¡°Gaia, you have to promise me that from now on, you won¡¯t use this to spy on me alright? Pinky promise?¡± She puffed her cheeks and turned her head away. ¡°No!¡± ¡°Gaia, I¡¯m your friend right?¡± She turned her head back to me and slowly nodded. ¡°Then will you please do this for me as a friend?¡± I looked her in the eyes as I said it, and tried to show her how important this was to me. This was immensely important. The things I was going to do next¡­ I didn¡¯t want her to have to see that side of me. Some people might call it selfish, but I wanted her to keep that image of me as a superhero. I¡¯d try to preserve that as long as I could. She furrowed her eyebrows in an angrily cute manner while she tried to think about what she should do. Finally, she stuck her pinky finger out and wrapped around mine reluctantly. ¡°Fine!!¡± There was more than a little bit of anger and reluctance in that tone, but I¡¯d accept it. It was a pretty big thing that I¡¯d asked of her after all. We shook our pinkies and sealed the promise. After that, she looked at me. ¡°I¡¯m going to go to bed. Don¡¯t even try to wake me up!!¡± With that, she ran towards the giant tree and dived head-first into it. Before I could do anything to save her from what looked like a huge head injury, she disappeared by melding with the tree. I think it¡¯s finally happened. I¡¯ve done it. I¡¯ve hit the limit for the number of times a person can be surprised in a day. When she disappeared into her ¡°bed¡±, I just blinked. There were times when the game felt more like another world. And then there were times like this, where crazy things happened that reminded me that this was all just a game. Like girls that could disappear after diving head-first into a tree could actually exist in real life. Shaking my head at the ridiculousness of it all, I turned my attention back to scenes playing out on the ice. Before anything else, I had to do more research on these people. Especially if I was going to be able to have their limbs ripped off one by one. ******** Ice shattered and the world spun. Suddenly, I was diving head-first towards the ground, an expansive forest as far as the eye could see was what was awaiting me at the bottom of my fall. If I survived. As I got closer and closer to the tree cover, the individual details of each tree became clearer. ¡®I have to time this right. It has to be EXACT.¡¯ Right at the point where I felt like I could make out the individual patterns of the leaves, I snapped. My body broke through the tree cover and fell fast all the way to the ground and slammed into it. Parts of me lay scattered everywhere. As Mist. I snapped back together, and out of the mist came a man that was fully corporeal. Someone that looked like he was in his early 50¡¯s. A man in a white, sleeveless, short scholar¡¯s robe. A man with irises blacker than his pupils. ME. In front of me were a flood of new notices from the system. I let out a dark, devilish grin at one in particular though. [table]PROVIDENCE OF THE HIGHER SPIRITSAll new travelers to this world are protected by the higher spirits upon their death. This lasts until they finally become a power in their own right (LEVEL 10 AND HIGHER). ? No loss of possessions upon death ? No loss of experience upon death[table] ¡®With this, and my ability which lets me skip the ¡®Ghost¡¯ period after death, I AM INVINCIBLE!!¡¯ Chapter 8: Part 3 Author''s Note: I''m back!! FINALLY!! Thanks to all of my fans for being patient and always asking about the story, I truly do appreciate it. Those of you that many know me in real life will definitely know about all I''ve been through. The projects, the essays, the presentations, and the finals! Even after that it was hard writing, since all of the above took a month away from my book. When I came back, everything I wrote sounded terrible. SO... I''m not sure about the quality of this chapter, but let me know anyways!! An easy guide to the story (tells you what it means if I put things in bolded brackets, and stuff like that). Spoiler : EASY GUIDE TO THE STORY ....... Multiple periods in a row with nothing else anywhere near it usually refer to silence, or the fact that nothing is happening. (* *) means author''s note (which I generally use to make comments as inside the story chapters). [ ] refers to a skill or ability that is used. Right now there are no different markers for passive and active skills ''things in italics'' Things in italics with the little apostrophe marks are someone''s actual thoughts ***** If the asterisks form a small line and the next sentences start a line or 2 below it, it means either: A) A change of viewpoint OR B) A time-skip (which basically means stuff happened in-between 2 events, but I''m skipping over it to get to whatever is happening in the present) ------------------------ Dashed lines in bold refer to where the chapter starts and/or stops I''ll add more if I do more things. An easy guide to the different measurements (for people that are familiar with the metric system, and vice versa) Spoiler : GUIDE TO THE DIFFERENT MEASUREMENTS 10 feet is around 3 meters 1 mile is a little more than 1.5 kilometers I''ll add more if I find out more Characters: Spoiler : Zhang: Arrogant, greedy, manipulative and smart, with a surprisingly protective side when it comes to Misa. Likes to play the warrior/tank role, but is actually an unspecified (no class), which means he is a jack-of-all trades. Thinks that Wahshi (although he calls him "Washy") is an NPC which will lead him to a great quest. But he still offered him up as a tribute to the "Elder Dragon" in exchange for everyone else''s lives. Currently suspected of being over level 200 Misa: Bloodthirsty, sadistic and uncaring, except for when it comes to the people she likes (which currently includes only Zhang). Has the overpowered hidden class Sun Mage which is supposed to focus on peace and pursuit of knowledge. She uses it to do whatever she wants, which usually ends up getting her in trouble with the Sun Spirit, whom all Sun Mages are contracted with. A mysterious event involving at least herself and one other person seems to have shaped who she has become. Her Sun Mage powers are currently sealed, due to her misuse of them during the fight with the living trees. Currently suspected of being over level 200 Alexa: Cautious but with a good heart. A mysterious event seems to have caused Zhang and Misa to hate her deeply, but she still sees them as her 2 best friends who have been there for her for a long time. She struggles to try and make up for whatever happened in the past, causing her to more than once overlook Zhang and Misa''s hatred and wrongdoings, even if it hurts herself in the process. Rogue-type player (actual class not mentioned yet). Currently suspected of being over level 200. Wahshi: The Main Character. Real name Raes Bastion, framed for a crime he didn''t commit and separated from his daughter while he was sent to prison for 20 years. What he wants to do now is earn enough money through the Virtual Reality game so that he can start searching for the daughter he lost, and maybe a little revenge on the way there against the people that framed him. Was recently betrayed by his former fellow travelers and killed by a dragon. He somehow managed to survive ANOTHER trip through the Mist of Souls. Currently an unspecified (no class). Currently level 1. PREVIOUSLY: Spoiler : Wahshi was betrayed by Zhang and his party, and died at the hands of the "Elder Dragon". He revived at the Mist of Souls, where he then proceeded to rush out of there, at the cost of immense amounts of pain. And several pounds of flesh. After jumping through the pool near Gaia''s tree, he plummeted through the canopy and managed to survive. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Noon light streamed in through the windows of a certain not-so-humble abode. Sizzling sounds could be heard from one part, as the smell of sausage and eggs spread throughout the whole household. From the central block, it spread to both wings of the house and towards a certain part of the central block which housed two gleaming capsules that were spaced a few feet apart from each other. One was currently in use, and a solid green light fought the noon sunshine as it struggled to make itself known to the world. It was almost as if it was fighting to right some secret injustice that the noon sun had dealt it. The other capsule stood gleaming, proclaiming its factory freshness to all who could see it. You¡¯d never even know that it¡¯d been recently taken apart and put back together. A little ways away, but still nearby, the sizzling sounds had slowly died off. Footsteps could be heard as the person walked with a steaming-hot plate just right for brunch. The wall nearby flickered, and images of 3 people sitting around a table who appeared to be having a debate. Sitting down on a comfy chair, he helped himself to a nice, well-planned meal, thinking almost nothing of what was being so heatedly debated about on live television. ************************* ¡°- is one of the top ten events that changed the world!¡± As the pale faced, slightly balding man finished his sentence, he reached out and took a sip from a bottle of water that lay conveniently near him on the table. Sounds of raucous denial roared around the table as the two others vented out their disagreement with his statement. For the next few seconds, none of the words could be made out as everyone tried to talk over one another in their attempts to tell everyone else around the table as well as all of their viewers, why exactly they thought everyone else¡¯s idea, was a stupid idea. Sadly, this kind of idiotic bickering was pretty common nowadays, regardless of whether or not it was live on national television. What was even worse was the fact that no one was excluded from this, regardless of gender, race and social upbringing. The proof was being displayed right now after all. The pale-faced, balding man that sat on the leftmost side of the table was well-known, mainly because of his rags-to-riches background. The other two were well-known women, but well-known for other reasons. The one sitting at the rightmost side of the table was an Asian woman in her late 40¡¯s that had come from a middle-class family. Almost everything about her was average, her background, her skills, etc. The only thing that she had which was extraordinary was her looks. Even in her 40¡¯s she was still considered to be a top-notch beauty, and was famous for her previous career as one of the top 10 models in America. The one sitting in between the both of them was a woman of African descent in her mid-20¡¯s. She was very different from the other people there, in almost all aspects. It was almost as if she had been favored since before she was born. There was nothing she didn¡¯t have. She was more than just beautiful, and could have become Miss Universe if she had ever tried to become a model. Born into a rich family, and with an almost unheard of genius-level IQ, she was able to use the resources she¡¯d had since birth to gain PhD¡¯s in Biochemistry, English and Modern History. And yet, regardless of their race, gender or social upbringing, they¡¯d all ended up bickering like little kids for everyone to see on national television. It was a shame that it couldn¡¯t be said that this was rare or uncommon nowadays. After a full 2 minutes of non-stop arguing in which the viewers were unable to make out anything at all, the African-American woman which was sitting in the middle finally slammed both hands down on the table yelling, ¡°ENOUGH!!¡± And the other two paused in mid-sentence, looking at the woman in between them that had the gall to try and shut them up on live television. She sighed, her black hair rippling down her shoulders as she did. ¡°Look, this is getting us nowhere. Paul,¡± she looked over to her right at the pale-faced, balding man, ¡°you make a good point with the tsunami. Yes, it did affect the world significantly, but how about for the remaining time we have left, we just focus on the top 10 people that have changed the world, for good or bad?¡± Paul grunted to show his reluctant agreement. ¡°As long as Shaniqua agrees to do the same.¡± The former model on the right side of the table nodded. ¡°That¡¯s fine with me. So, how far back can we go in history to recommend someone?¡± She looked over at the other two. ¡°Anyone have any ideas?¡± She gazed pointedly at the African-American woman in the middle. ¡°You¡¯re the one that brought it up Ashika, so what¡¯re your conditions?¡± Ashika paused for a second, as if she was trying to find a way to make it so that the debate wouldn¡¯t degrade into another pointless, child-like argument between the three respectable adults. ¡°Let¡¯s do it like this. Refer anyone you want, from any time period at all, that either positively or negatively influenced the world, as long as you can explain your thoughts. Any objections?¡± She looked over at first Shaniqua, then Paul. ¡°No.¡± ¡°None at all.¡± Ashika¡¯s mouth curled into a relieved grin. ¡°Alright, then I¡¯ll start. Hitler.¡± And the table debate descended into chaos once more. ****************************** The man that was leisurely eating his brunch barely paid any attention at all to the squabbling that passed for a good news program on television nowadays. In fact, he spent almost the entire time he was eating, lost in thought. That is, until he heard a name that he was familiar with, being said on the news show that was playing. ******************************* ¡°-has got to be Raes Bastion! If we¡¯re including people that have changed the world for worse, then he definitely has to be somewhere on the list!¡± The Asian woman named Shaniqua paused before she continued. ¡°Let¡¯s look at the facts. The guy was a greedy little SOB, stole from his own company, which led to a major crash in the American economy! The fact that the company is still around today, and the fact that it¡¯s thriving now is only because of their Board of Directors, which had found out about his corruption in the first place!¡± ¡°I disagree!¡± The pale-faced man named Paul interrupted. ¡°If we were looking at the top 20 people that had changed the world, for better or worse, then I would side with you without a doubt that Raes Bastion definitely had to be somewhere on the list! But the fact is, there are just too many that have made bigger ripples.¡± Sounds of disagreement from the other 2 members of the debate echoed each other. Paul let out a breath of frustration. ¡°You don¡¯t believe me? Then what about Melissa Gonzalez, hmm?¡± He paused and let the other 2 members of the debate try to remember who it was that he was talking about. He honestly needn¡¯t have bothered though. Everyone knew who she was, everyone knew what had happened. Like Raes Bastion, she was an heir to company that made billions. Like Raes Bastion, she had also inherited everything overnight when her parents died. The difference between the 2 of them was the fact that she wasn¡¯t a party-boy like Raes was. Melissa Gonzalez was both the brains and the brawn behind her company, having the smarts maneuver around the politics of the business world with the mind of an inventor, and had managed to accumulate the power to throw her weight around when necessary. All at the age of 23. Until 2 years ago. 2 years ago, Melissa Gonzalez had been one of the victims of a heinous crime, one that had left her fianc¨¦e in a coma, and herself a recluse. The details of the crime had never been published, but the whole world knew that something had happened to the rising star that had been Melissa Gonzalez. Her achievements were numerous, but what made her eligible for the top 10 people that had changed the modern world (for better or worse) was her downfall. She hadn¡¯t shown her face to the public in the two years since, and her sister had jointly merged their company with Raes Bastion¡¯s former company. The new company that had formed, Bastion and Gonzalez, or B&G, was now one of the most powerful businesses in the world. Because they had somehow managed to acquire Awakening Industries, the company behind the game Awakening. There were over 10 billion people playing, from all walks of life. Celebrities, scientists, government officials, rulers, dictators, the average citizens of the world, etc. More than 3/4ths of the world played the game, and B&G was able to influence them all. It¡¯s not like there weren¡¯t other games to be played. In fact, there were numerous other ones that were moderately successful, especially ones that were meant to be short, repetitive and amusing (like smartphone games), but none could compete with Awakening. This was because none of the other games could match the graphics, AI¡¯s, or time-difference that Awakening employed. Other games¡¯ AI¡¯s were completely scripted, and couldn¡¯t do anything unusual. Much like the NPC¡¯s you¡¯d have found in a video game half a century earlier. Their graphics were also terrible when compared to Awakening, and the best of them were only able to make a 1:2 time disparity (meaning 1 minute IRL=2 minutes in game). No one could figure out how the company, Awakening, had done it, but it was likely that the company wouldn¡¯t publish their findings any time soon. And the company that had managed to acquire everything was B&G. None of it would¡¯ve been possible without Melissa Gonzalez having become a recluse. Because she had been completely against the merger between her own company and the company formerly owned by Raes Bastion. It stunk of foul play, but no one would go up against the behemoth that controlled more than 3/4ths of the world¡¯s population. ***************************************** The man that had been eating brunch paused, a forkful of eggs halfway to his mouth. With a complicated look, he gazed over at the two capsules that lay not so far away. In one of them was a man he¡¯d thought of as his own brother all his life, the man that had become like the Devil that everyone in America cursed. The man known as Raes Bastion. Caesar tore his eyes away from the capsules, a heavy feeling in his own chest. ¡®There¡¯s not much that I can do for you, and I have a feeling it¡¯s going to get a LOT worse before it gets better.¡¯ He tried not to think about the fact that there was no guarantee that it was going to get any better at all. But he knew for a fact that it was going to get a whole lot worse from here on out. That was an undisputable fact. ********************************************** SHIIIING!! As I stepped out of the mist, notice after notice began popping up one after the other. The mist condensed and turned into my body as I read through them. I¡¯d originally been worried about how I¡¯d be able to find Zhang and his party again once I¡¯d come back from wherever the Mist of Souls was, but one of the first notices I saw solved that problem.
RECKONING FROM THE AFTERLIFE (Level 1):
Life is hard. Betrayal is worse. The RECKONING that comes after, will haunt you more than you can imagine. BEWARE!! When one is cursed, 2 graves will follow! While there is always an escape for one who is cursed, the one who curses will be damned regardless!
COST:50% of Health
EFFECT 1:Curse a person you have met. If you have enough hatred, you will know where to go to find them! Lasts until Sunup or Sundown, depending on when it is activated.
EFFECT 2: -10% Health/Hour. If Sunup/Sundown is reached, -100% Health. If the RECKONING is fulfilled, -100% Health
RESTRICTIONS:Can only be used on targets with enough Hatred attached. Can only be used by those with Spiritual Energy, Spiritual Connections, or the Equivalent thereof. Can only be used on targets that you have previously encountered.
If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. The warning was right. I¡¯d be damned regardless of whether or not I managed to kill them! There was only one thought in mind when I remembered what they¡¯d done, though. ¡®It¡¯s worth it!¡¯ My eyes burned painfully as I read through the notices as quickly as I could. I¡¯d already read through Providence of the Higher Spirits, and now the only thing left to go through were my stat gains. After all, I¡¯d gained stats the first time I¡¯d gone through the Mist. It¡¯d be strange if it didn¡¯t happen again. Looking through the notices only confirmed what I thought I would see.
FIRST CAME PAIN, THEN CAME SUFFERING!
To willingly put yourself back through a torturous moment is something that many would do. Good for you, you masochist! WILLPOWER +4
THE STRONG MAN IS NOT ONE THAT SUBDUES OTHERS, BUT ONE THAT CAN SUBDUE HIMSELF WHEN NEEDED!
You have taken this saying and taken it to the extreme, by willingly having your flesh ripped from your body! While it is most definitely not the true meaning of the saying, your body has been strengthened because of it. STRENGTH +4
BAD JUDGEMENT, OR JUST PLAIN UNLUCKY?!
Trust is a precious thing, and unfortunately for you, it was given to someone that used it against you! LUCK -9
That last one stung more than a little. But I¡¯d already accepted the fact that I¡¯d been an idiot to trust people so easily. There was nothing that could be done about that, and the only thing left was to make the people pay for it. My chest expanded as I took a deep breath in. Breathing out, I looked up at the canopy above and wondered what time it was now. If I¡¯d broken through the canopy like a normal person would have, I probably could¡¯ve seen the sky and known if it was day or night. But as soon as I hit the tree cover, I¡¯d immediately used [Mist Form], which meant that I¡¯d passed through it like a breeze. After all, gravity and momentum still played a huge role in what happened. I¡¯d been heavy enough to get a huge momentum moments before I hit the canopy, so even after I turned to mist, I¡¯d still breezed through. Unless I wanted to climb back up there, I wouldn¡¯t know when Sunup or Sundown would be. It might be a bad decision, but I¡¯d just have to test my luck on this one. Despite the -9 to LUCK that I¡¯d just gotten. I looked around at the green foliage as I mustered up all the hate I had for those three, thinking specifically of Zhang. ¡°[RECKONING FROM THE AFTERLIFE]!!¡± I shouted. ¡­.. There was nothing. ¡®What the H*LL is going on?!!¡¯ I cleared my throat. ¡°[Reckoning from the Afterlife]!¡± ¡­.. Nothing happened. Again. ¡®DAMMIT!!¡¯ A blue screen appeared as I opened up my skills and abilities list in my [Status] window. Scrolling down my list of abilities, I managed to find it all the way at the bottom. As I looked through it, there was one phrase that stood out to me. ¡°RESTRICTIONS: Can only be used on targets with enough Hatred attached¡­.¡± ¡®Are you KIDDING ME?! I DON¡¯T HATE HIM ENOUGH??!¡¯ It was unbelievable¡­ I looked at the green HEALTH bar at the top-right corner of my vision, and I knew that it could only be true. After all, it hadn¡¯t even activated. If it had, I¡¯d only be left with 50% of my health. Time was ticking though, and although I¡¯d felt like I had plenty enough earlier, now that I couldn¡¯t activate my skill, it was almost like I could feel each second passing by. Because every second that went by, was another second that they used to get farther away from me. Keeping as much Hate that I could manage in my chest, I thought up of another image from their team. Alexa. The person I thought I could trust the most out of the three of them. The person who was so much like the wife I once had. The person that didn¡¯t even look back as I got squashed by a giant talon from the dragon. ¡°[Reckoning from the Afterlife]!¡± ¡­.. I didn¡¯t even bother checking the gauges at the corner of my vision. I already knew that it failed. ¡®THIS DOESN¡¯T MAKE SENSE!!!¡¯ It didn¡¯t mean that I didn¡¯t hate these people after all! I could feel it burning through my chest like acid, the dark emotions almost burning my body alive. ¡®How much HATE do I need to have against someone for this to work?!¡¯ There was only one person left on their team that I could try this out on. She was also the one person on the team that had practically never said or done anything to me (except for the fact that a side effect of one of her attacks had badly injured me, but I¡¯d never held that against her). I figured that it wouldn¡¯t work, but I thought I might as well try it out. Picturing Misa, staff in hand, with her mage robes fluttering in the wind, I tried to mentally activate the ability. ¡®[Reckoning of the Afterlife]¡¯ I immediately felt a loss of energy, and I looked up to see my HEALTH gauge drop down to the halfway mark. Somehow, I also knew in which direction to head towards to find Misa. It felt like I was being drawn in that direction. I spun around and dashed away from the spot I was, rushing to where vengeance was waiting. It didn¡¯t make sense why I hated Misa enough to activate the skill, when I apparently didn¡¯t hate the others nearly as much. But it didn¡¯t have to make sense for me, it just had to show me the way. As I sprinted through the forest, I heard a sound that only I could hear. SHIIIING!!!
IDIOT SAVANT!!!
You happened to be in a deep, dark forest full of things that would love to rip out your bones and eat you alive. You knew this, but still shouted at the top of your lungs like an absolute idiot, somehow not realizing that it could get you killed. AND YOU STILL MANAGED NOT TO ATTRACT A MONSTER!! TRULY AN IDIOT SAVANT!!!! LUCK +3
-------------------------------------------------------------- Author''s Note: So what''d you think? Don''t forget to vote and comment! A BIG thanks again for everyone being patient with me. I know it wasn''t easy waiting for that new chapter! Spoiler :
UNKNOWN SCHOLAR¡¯S ROBE (MODIFIED)
[NO LEVEL REQUIREMENT]
A ROBE OF UNKNOWN STYLE AND DESIGN. ONCE, IT GAVE OFF AN AIR OF SCHOLARLY NOBILITY. CHANGED TO MAKE IT BETTER FOR BATTLE, IT IS NOW PROOF THAT EVEN THE LOFTIEST OF SCHOLARS WILL FIGHT IF NEED BE.
DEXTERITY -2, INTELLIGENCE +3, WILLPOWER +7, DEFENSE +1
TRUSTY IRON KNIFE
NO REQUIREMENTS
A GIFT FROM THE SPIRITS OF THIS WORLD, TO ALL WHO HAVE COME TO IT
STRENGTH +1
BOOTS
NO REQUIREMENTS
A GIFT FROM THE SPIRITS. ALTHOUGH LOW QUALITY, IT MIGHT LAST IF YOU TAKE GOOD CARE OF IT. IT WON''T DO MUCH BUT SLIGHTLY PROTECT YOUR FEET THOUGH.
Wahshi''s Skill/Abilities Spoiler :
SKILL LIST
PASSIVE
FIRST-BORN OF THE MIST:
  • ELDEST: YOU ARE THE OLDEST CHILD OF YOUR CLAN, AND THEREFORE THE STRONGEST. +1 TO ALL STATS FOR EVERY MISTBORN IN THE WORLD, EXCLUDING YOURSELF (CURRENT NUMBER OF MISTBORN: 1 [YOURSELF])
PLAYER:
  • PERSEVERE: YOU HAVE GONE THROUGH INCREDIBLE PAINS TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOAL. WHEN HEALTH IS LESS THAN 50%, PAIN DECREASES 1% PER ADDITIONAL PERCENT OF HEALTH LOST
ACTIVE
BORN OF THE MIST:
  • SOUL ORIGIN (BEGINNER RANK): YOU HAVE ACCOMPLISHED A FEAT FEW WOULD KNOW ABOUT, AND DISCOVERED THE BIRTHPLACE OF YOUR SOUL. TRAVEL TO THE MIST OF SOULS IS NOW POSSIBLE UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS, IF THE COST IS PAID. ACTIVATION METHOD 1: REQUIREMENTS: DEATH ACTIVATION COSTS: ANY AND ALL PENALTIES FOR THOSE THAT KILLED YOU WILL BE NULLIFIED; YOUR KILLERS WILL RECEIVE TRIPLE THE AMOUNT OF EXPERIENCE THEY WOULD NORMALLY RECEIVE *AUTOMATICALLY ACTIVATES UPON DEATH, REGARDLESS OF WILL OR INTENT ACTIVATION METHOD 2: REQUIREMENTS:??? ACTIVATION COST: ???
  • PART THE MISTS: CONSTANT, UNCEASING EFFORTS TO DIVINE THE TRUTH BEHIND THE WORLD AND EVERYTHING AROUND YOU, HAS RESULTED IN A STRANGE ABILITY TO DO SO. GATHERS ALL INFORMATION FROM YOUR CONSCOUS AND SUBCONSCIOUS, BOTH KNOWN AND FORGOTTEN. CAN BE SWITCHED BETWEEN PASSIVE AND ACTIVE PASSIVE: DISPLAYS ALL RELEVANT KNOWN AND FORGOTTEN INFORMATION INTO YOUR VISION COST: PERMANENT USAGE OF 10% OF TOTAL MANA ACTIVE: [i]IN ADDITION TO DISPLAYING ALL RELEVANT KNOWN AND FORGOTTEN INFORMATION, IT REMOVES ANY AND ALL FALSEHOODS COST: CONSUMES 20% OF TOTAL MANA (WHICH CANNOT BE RECOVERED OR USED UNTIL ABILITY IS SWITCHED TO PASSIVE), 5% of TOTAL HEALTH/SECOND (CANNOT BE RECOVERED UNTIL ABILITY IS SWITCHED TO PASSIVE)
    • [tr]
    ABILITY LISTPLAYER:
    • MENU: Access to a game-like interface
    • RESURRECTION: May be re-born 10 hours after death (game-time)
    • INVENTORY: Access to a small, pocket-dimension which can hold belongings up to a certain limit
    • LOG OUT: Return to your original world
    BORN OF THE MIST:
    • MIST FORM (LVL 1): FIRM CONVICTION IN WHAT YOU THOUGHT WAS TRUE ABOUT YOUR ORIGINS HAS ENABLED YOU TO TURN BACK INTO THE MIST THAT SPAWNED YOU AT 1ST LEVEL, TURNS YOUR ENTIRE BODY INTO MIST. HIGHER LEVELS WILL ALLOW YOU TO CONTROL WHAT PART OF YOUR BODY YOU WISH TO TURN. AT 1ST LEVEL, MIST FORM CAN STAY ACTIVE FOR A MAXIMUM OF 2 SECONDS. ABILITY MAY BE CANCELLED AT ANY TIME. ACTIVATION REQUIREMENTS: NONE ACTIVATION COST: 2% of Max Health
  • RECKONING FROM THE AFTERLIFE (LVL 1): Life is hard. Betrayal is worse. The RECKONING that comes after, will haunt you more than you can imagine. BEWARE!! When one is cursed, 2 graves will follow! While there is always an escape for one who is cursed, the one who curses will be damned regardless! COST: 50% of Health EFFECT 1: Curse a person you have met. If you have enough hatred, you will know where to go to find them! Lasts until Sunup or Sundown, depending on when it is activated. EFFECT 2: -10% Health/Hour. If Sunup/Sundown is reached, -100% Health. If the RECKONING is fulfilled, -100% Health RESTRICTIONS: Can only be used on targets with enough Hatred attached. Can only be used by those with Spiritual Energy, Spiritual Connections, or the Equivalent thereof.
    • TITLE EFFECTS
    • FIRST-BORN OF THE MIST: +10 TO ALL STATS, ACCESS TO MISTBORN ABILITIES WHEN DISCOVERED, ACCESS TO UNIQUE ABILITIES GIVEN ONLY TO THE HOLDER OF THIS TITLE (IF DISCOVERED), PASSIVE SKILL ¡°ELDEST¡±
    Spoiler :
    STATUS WINDOW
    NAME:WAHSHI
    LEVEL:1
    RACE:HUMANGENDER:MALE
    CLASS:NONE
    MONEY:0G 1S 0C, $0
    TITLES:FIRST-BORN OF THE MIST
    FAME:100INFAMY:0
    HEALTH:105 (+5)
    MANA:160 (+170)
    STRENGTH:22 (+10)INTELLIGENCE:10 (+10)(+3)
    DEXTERITY:10 (+10)(-2)WILLPOWER:6 (+10)(+7)
    VITALITY:10 (+10)CHARISMA:0 (+10)
    AGILITY:10 (+10)DEFENSE:10 (+10)(+1)
    LUCK:1 (+10)
    *Mana= 100+ (Willpower*10), Health=(LVL*100)+(Vitality/2) Chapter 8: Part 4.1 Author''s Note: So who else feels like the updates are getting slower and slower on Royal Road? Or is it just me? An easy guide to the story (tells you what it means if I put things in bolded brackets, and stuff like that). Spoiler : EASY GUIDE TO THE STORY ....... Multiple periods in a row with nothing else anywhere near it usually refer to silence, or the fact that nothing is happening. (* *) means author''s note (which I generally use to make comments as inside the story chapters). [ ] refers to a skill or ability that is used. Right now there are no different markers for passive and active skills ''things in italics'' Things in italics with the little apostrophe marks are someone''s actual thoughts ***** If the asterisks form a small line and the next sentences start a line or 2 below it, it means either: A) A change of viewpoint OR B) A time-skip (which basically means stuff happened in-between 2 events, but I''m skipping over it to get to whatever is happening in the present) ------------------------ Dashed lines in bold refer to where the chapter starts and/or stops I''ll add more if I do more things. An easy guide to the different measurements (for people that are familiar with the metric system, and vice versa) Spoiler : GUIDE TO THE DIFFERENT MEASUREMENTS 10 feet is around 3 meters 1 mile is a little more than 1.5 kilometers I''ll add more if I find out more Characters: Spoiler : Zhang: Arrogant, greedy, manipulative and smart, with a surprisingly protective side when it comes to Misa. Likes to play the warrior/tank role, but is actually an unspecified (no class), which means he is a jack-of-all trades. Thinks that Wahshi (although he calls him "Washy") is an NPC which will lead him to a great quest. But he still offered him up as a tribute to the "Elder Dragon" in exchange for everyone else''s lives. Currently suspected of being over level 200 Misa: Bloodthirsty, sadistic and uncaring, except for when it comes to the people she likes (which currently includes only Zhang). Has the overpowered hidden class Sun Mage which is supposed to focus on peace and pursuit of knowledge. She uses it to do whatever she wants, which usually ends up getting her in trouble with the Sun Spirit, whom all Sun Mages are contracted with. A mysterious event involving at least herself and one other person seems to have shaped who she has become. Her Sun Mage powers are currently sealed, due to her misuse of them during the fight with the living trees. Currently suspected of being over level 200 Alexa: Cautious but with a good heart. A mysterious event seems to have caused Zhang and Misa to hate her deeply, but she still sees them as her 2 best friends who have been there for her for a long time. She struggles to try and make up for whatever happened in the past, causing her to more than once overlook Zhang and Misa''s hatred and wrongdoings, even if it hurts herself in the process. Rogue-type player (actual class not mentioned yet). Currently suspected of being over level 200. Wahshi: The Main Character. Real name Raes Bastion, framed for a crime he didn''t commit and separated from his daughter while he was sent to prison for 20 years. What he wants to do now is earn enough money through the Virtual Reality game so that he can start searching for the daughter he lost, and maybe a little revenge on the way there against the people that framed him. Was recently betrayed by his former fellow travelers and killed by a dragon. He somehow managed to survive ANOTHER trip through the Mist of Souls. Currently an unspecified (no class). Currently level 1. PREVIOUSLY: Spoiler : Wahshi was betrayed by Zhang and his party, and died at the hands of the "Elder Dragon". He revived at the Mist of Souls, where he then proceeded to rush out of there, at the cost of immense amounts of pain. And several pounds of flesh. After jumping through the pool near Gaia''s tree, he plummeted through the canopy and managed to survive. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡°Hey Misa, do you think we did the right thing back there?¡± I stared at her. It had probably only been an hour, or maybe an hour and a half since we ran from the ¡°Elder Dragon¡±, as Zhang called him. We were walking down a path that Zhang was sure led out of the forest. This time around, the forest vegetation was actually getting farther apart. That and the fact that everything seemed to be getting smaller only proved his point. This time around, I¡¯m going to make sure that we¡¯re headed the right way, regardless of what Zhang said. Zhang was walking in front like usual, trying to act like a macho man. He¡¯d switched to his Knight set of equipment, no doubt because his Tower set was already ruined by those monkeys from earlier on. It was too bad, because that had been one of his favorite sets that he had, armor that he¡¯d been able to enchant to make a flying, protective dome. Of course, it didn¡¯t mean that the armor he had on wasn¡¯t impressive. It looked a lot like a certain possessed armor from some old cartoon that Zhang used to love watching. Some kind of Alchemist anime? If this was in real life, he¡¯d probably be drowning in sweat somewhere in there. The heat probably would¡¯ve choked him alive by now too. The whole continent had a tropical climate after all. That meant hot, humid and sweaty. Even though this was a game, people still died from being stupid about things like that. Luckily though, you could get your armor enchanted with a handy Rank F cooling spell. It made it a lot easier to wear heavy armor around. Aside from that, the gleaming steel armor was made so that almost anything that hit it glanced off. Just like armor in real life too. There was an enchanting circle on the palm of each gauntlet. Zhang was always so proud of those, because they did something special to any weapons that he equipped. He was always boasting about how it was the best feature from the Knight set that he¡¯d made. Though he boasted about that Tower set even more. In my opinion, that Rank F cooling spell probably hadn¡¯t been strong enough to stop the hot air from making his head swell up like a balloon. Honestly, sometimes it got a little annoying to see him act like this. It pissed me off more than just a little too. But I couldn¡¯t really blame him. After all, we¡¯d both changed a lot since that night. Even thinking about that night lit a fire in my chest. And it wasn¡¯t the kind that ended up in a bedroom with my fianc¨¦e. It was the type that ended up with somebody in a ditch. Alexa took one look at me and shuddered. She turned away, almost as if she couldn¡¯t bare to look at me anymore. ¡®Wonder if it was something in my eyes?¡¯ Wouldn¡¯t be the first time somebody thought my eyes had a ¡°sadistic¡± glint to them. She probably thought that I was mad because of her question. I wasn¡¯t sure how I felt about us having left him back there, but it didn¡¯t feel good either. Especially when I remembered those black eyes that just stared at me right before they got squashed by a giant equivalent of a toenail. I was glad Alexa had turned away. I didn¡¯t want her to see me shudder when I remembered those eyes. ¡®It¡¯s fine, right?¡¯ I told myself that as Alexa and I followed Zhang on a path that was hopefully going to end up outside the forest. After everything that just happened, resting up at an inn somewhere in The Walled City was more than a little bit appealing. I¡¯d long ago found out that mage staffs were also great to use as walking sticks in almost any kind of terrain. You¡¯d think they were only for old people that couldn¡¯t stand up straight anymore, but they were surprisingly great for anyone that travelled a lot. As we climbed over root after giant root, and avoided pitfall after pitfall, that staff helped me stay upright during the times where I would¡¯ve just fallen flat on my face. Alexa was a rogue-type, so with her high DEXTERITY she moved about the forest easier than me or Zhang. Although the guy in the suit of armor had his own ways of walking around without tripping over anything. There were plenty of times that I could¡¯ve sworn I saw some kind of enchanting circle light up briefly on the bottom of his boots every time he was about to fall. After walking awhile, I knew we already somewhere back in the 2nd layer of the forest. That meant it was only a matter of time before we were out of here! Looking up at the display in the top-right corner of my vision, I saw that it was already a little past midnight. We were really making good time compared to when we first came in with that NPC! That was a given of course, since we¡¯d had to slow down our walking speed when we first came here with him. IT TOOK 5 HOURS TO GET DEEP INTO THE FOREST!! When compared to the almost hour and a half it took us to get back to the second layer (and no doubt 1st layer in another hour perhaps), we were probably like somebody that had just taken off weights from their legs and discovered that they were much faster than before. ¡®Alright, maybe I was a little hard on the old guy,¡¯ I thought to myself after using my mage staff to stop myself from falling face-first after tripping on another tree root. ¡®Zhang did say he was level 1, and he didn¡¯t exactly have anything to help him move around in the forest like we did.¡¯ In all honesty, I couldn¡¯t say that I felt good about how we¡¯d just left him to die like that. But it was a necessary sacrifice. After all, one of us had to die, and even though I hated Alexa, I wasn¡¯t ready to let her die just yet. She still had a lot more coming to her after all. So that old guy Wahshi had to take the hit. He¡¯d just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was a necessary sacrifice. Zhang and I had to get stronger. To make the man that did this to us suffer, there were a lot of things we had to do that we might not have been comfortable with in the beginning. ¡®It¡¯s fine, right? He¡¯s just an NPC¡­ And this is just a game, so it¡¯s fine¡­right?¡¯ The more I thought about it, the worse I felt. It wasn¡¯t the first time Zhang and I had been forced to do something terrible in the 10 years in-game that we¡¯d been getting stronger. It was the first time we¡¯d done something to an innocent person that trusted us so much, though. ¡®It¡¯s all for the greater good¡­right?¡¯ Unknown to her or the others, a symbol had just appeared on the back of Misa¡¯s neck. Something which looked very much like a faded infinity symbol that had just been cut in half¡­ It was at that moment that Wahshi had successfully used his skill on Misa. [Reckoning from the Afterlife]¡­ ********************************** ''Dammit! They''re getting farther away!'' Through whatever mysterious force that his ability, [Reckoning from the Afterlife] had given him, he could feel that the distance between himself and Misa had been increasing over the past few minutes. To anybody else, this would''ve made perfect sense. After all, she and the others in Zhang''s party were probably higher than level 200, and Wahshi was just level 1. But of course, he always forgot about that part since he still wasn''t used to gaming. Even though he''d studied a lot about the game in the 1 month that he actually prepared for it, studying theory and doing a practical were two completely different things. Otherwise, anyone that read up on medical theory could easily become a surgeon! A crystal-clear example of his inexperience with games was the fact that it was only a minute ago that he''d remembered that the display in the top-right corner of his vision showed local time, in addition to his Health and Mana! It was something that had completely slipped his mind earlier when he''d activated his ability which was helping him track down Misa and her friends, and thought that there was no way to tell when sunup or sundown was! Now at least, he knew that it was past midnight. The entire continent had tropical weather, so obviously it was in a tropical part of the world. The thing about tropical areas though, was the fact that they had no winter! In fact, the entire year could generally only be split up into two seasons, rainy and dry. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. This meant that for the most part, sunrise and sunset were always around the same time the entire year! And that was generally around 5-6am in the tropical parts of the world. Anybody that had taken a class in Geography 101 would know this. It was even taught in public high schools after all! For Wahshi¡¯s real life identity Raes Bastion though, he¡¯d learned it while in prison. Even though they taught it in High Schools, it didn¡¯t mean that people paid any attention to it though. That, and the Prison Library was notorious for having lots of protection, and few people inside it at all times. Why was this information important to him though? BECAUSE THAT MEANT THAT THERE WAS ONLY 5-6 HOURS UNTIL HE AUTOMATICALLY DIED FROM HIS [RECKONING FROM THE AFTERLIFE] ABILITY!!! Granted, it cost him half of his Health to activate it, and it took 10% of Health for every hour until sunup/sundown, so he wouldn¡¯t last more than 5 hours anyway. The 50% of health that he had left wouldn¡¯t last past the 5th hour. He moved through the forest as fast as he could, miraculously not encountering any monster or animal that would¡¯ve forced him into battle or go into hiding. The only thing that slowed him down was the terrain itself. Huge leaves slapped him in the face as he rushed past them, his feet maneuvering in some strange dance-like fashion between the spaces of roots and vegetation that seemed to try to trip him up, and more than once he had to suddenly jump over holes in the ground probably left behind by monsters which were mind bogglingly heavy. All the while, even though he was going at his fastest pace, he could still feel that Misa and the rest of her party was getting farther and farther away from him. ¡®This is useless! At this rate I¡¯ll die before even getting close to them!¡¯ He stopped running. Looking down at the ground with his eyes closed, he paused and took a deep breath. Sounds of life echoed throughout the forest, mingling with the dying cries of various beasts and monsters as they preyed on one another. A breeze floated by, ruffling the leaves of the plants near him, and his robe as well. Tilting his head up, closed eyes facing the tree canopy above, and the sky beyond, he let out that deep breath. You could barely hear it as it joined the breeze mingling its way through the forest. Suddenly, his eyes flashed open as he gazed up at the tree canopy, and thought of the sky above. ¡®That¡¯s it!¡¯ His lips curled upwards into a grin. -------------------------------------------------------------- Author''s Note: DON''T FORGET TO RATE/REVIEW/COMMENT!! Sorry about the delays up until now. I''ll try to make the updates faster. Spoiler :
    STATUS WINDOW
    NAME:WAHSHI
    LEVEL:1
    RACE:HUMANGENDER:MALE
    CLASS:NONE
    MONEY:0G 1S 0C, $0
    TITLES:FIRST-BORN OF THE MIST
    FAME:100INFAMY:0
    HEALTH:105 (+5)
    MANA:160 (+170)
    STRENGTH:22 (+10)INTELLIGENCE:10 (+10)(+3)
    DEXTERITY:10 (+10)(-2)WILLPOWER:6 (+10)(+7)
    VITALITY:10 (+10)CHARISMA:0 (+10)
    AGILITY:10 (+10)DEFENSE:10 (+10)(+1)
    LUCK:1 (+10)
    *Mana= 100+ (Willpower*10), Health=(LVL*100)+(Vitality/2) Wahshi''s Skill/Abilities Spoiler :
    SKILL LIST
    PASSIVE
    FIRST-BORN OF THE MIST:
    • ELDEST: YOU ARE THE OLDEST CHILD OF YOUR CLAN, AND THEREFORE THE STRONGEST. +1 TO ALL STATS FOR EVERY MISTBORN IN THE WORLD, EXCLUDING YOURSELF (CURRENT NUMBER OF MISTBORN: 1 [YOURSELF])
    PLAYER:
    • PERSEVERE: YOU HAVE GONE THROUGH INCREDIBLE PAINS TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOAL. WHEN HEALTH IS LESS THAN 50%, PAIN DECREASES 1% PER ADDITIONAL PERCENT OF HEALTH LOST
    ACTIVE
    BORN OF THE MIST:
    • SOUL ORIGIN (BEGINNER RANK): YOU HAVE ACCOMPLISHED A FEAT FEW WOULD KNOW ABOUT, AND DISCOVERED THE BIRTHPLACE OF YOUR SOUL. TRAVEL TO THE MIST OF SOULS IS NOW POSSIBLE UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS, IF THE COST IS PAID. ACTIVATION METHOD 1: REQUIREMENTS: DEATH ACTIVATION COSTS: ANY AND ALL PENALTIES FOR THOSE THAT KILLED YOU WILL BE NULLIFIED; YOUR KILLERS WILL RECEIVE TRIPLE THE AMOUNT OF EXPERIENCE THEY WOULD NORMALLY RECEIVE *AUTOMATICALLY ACTIVATES UPON DEATH, REGARDLESS OF WILL OR INTENT ACTIVATION METHOD 2: REQUIREMENTS:??? ACTIVATION COST: ???
  • PART THE MISTS: CONSTANT, UNCEASING EFFORTS TO DIVINE THE TRUTH BEHIND THE WORLD AND EVERYTHING AROUND YOU, HAS RESULTED IN A STRANGE ABILITY TO DO SO. GATHERS ALL INFORMATION FROM YOUR CONSCOUS AND SUBCONSCIOUS, BOTH KNOWN AND FORGOTTEN. CAN BE SWITCHED BETWEEN PASSIVE AND ACTIVE PASSIVE: DISPLAYS ALL RELEVANT KNOWN AND FORGOTTEN INFORMATION INTO YOUR VISION COST: PERMANENT USAGE OF 10% OF TOTAL MANA ACTIVE: [i]IN ADDITION TO DISPLAYING ALL RELEVANT KNOWN AND FORGOTTEN INFORMATION, IT REMOVES ANY AND ALL FALSEHOODS COST: CONSUMES 20% OF TOTAL MANA (WHICH CANNOT BE RECOVERED OR USED UNTIL ABILITY IS SWITCHED TO PASSIVE), 5% of TOTAL HEALTH/SECOND (CANNOT BE RECOVERED UNTIL ABILITY IS SWITCHED TO PASSIVE)
    • [tr]
    ABILITY LISTPLAYER:
    • MENU: Access to a game-like interface
    • RESURRECTION: May be re-born 10 hours after death (game-time)
    • INVENTORY: Access to a small, pocket-dimension which can hold belongings up to a certain limit
    • LOG OUT: Return to your original world
    BORN OF THE MIST:
    • MIST FORM (LVL 1): FIRM CONVICTION IN WHAT YOU THOUGHT WAS TRUE ABOUT YOUR ORIGINS HAS ENABLED YOU TO TURN BACK INTO THE MIST THAT SPAWNED YOU AT 1ST LEVEL, TURNS YOUR ENTIRE BODY INTO MIST. HIGHER LEVELS WILL ALLOW YOU TO CONTROL WHAT PART OF YOUR BODY YOU WISH TO TURN. AT 1ST LEVEL, MIST FORM CAN STAY ACTIVE FOR A MAXIMUM OF 2 SECONDS. ABILITY MAY BE CANCELLED AT ANY TIME. ACTIVATION REQUIREMENTS: NONE ACTIVATION COST: 2% of Max Health
  • RECKONING FROM THE AFTERLIFE (LVL 1): Life is hard. Betrayal is worse. The RECKONING that comes after, will haunt you more than you can imagine. BEWARE!! When one is cursed, 2 graves will follow! While there is always an escape for one who is cursed, the one who curses will be damned regardless! COST: 50% of Health EFFECT 1: Curse a person you have met. If you have enough hatred, you will know where to go to find them! Lasts until Sunup or Sundown, depending on when it is activated. EFFECT 2: -10% Health/Hour. If Sunup/Sundown is reached, -100% Health. If the RECKONING is fulfilled, -100% Health RESTRICTIONS: Can only be used on targets with enough Hatred attached. Can only be used by those with Spiritual Energy, Spiritual Connections, or the Equivalent thereof.
    • TITLE EFFECTS
    • FIRST-BORN OF THE MIST: +10 TO ALL STATS, ACCESS TO MISTBORN ABILITIES WHEN DISCOVERED, ACCESS TO UNIQUE ABILITIES GIVEN ONLY TO THE HOLDER OF THIS TITLE (IF DISCOVERED), PASSIVE SKILL ¡°ELDEST¡±
    PAST PRESENT Spoiler :
    UNKNOWN SCHOLAR¡¯S ROBE (MODIFIED)
    [NO LEVEL REQUIREMENT]
    A ROBE OF UNKNOWN STYLE AND DESIGN. ONCE, IT GAVE OFF AN AIR OF SCHOLARLY NOBILITY. CHANGED TO MAKE IT BETTER FOR BATTLE, IT IS NOW PROOF THAT EVEN THE LOFTIEST OF SCHOLARS WILL FIGHT IF NEED BE.
    DEXTERITY -2, INTELLIGENCE +3, WILLPOWER +7, DEFENSE +1
    TRUSTY IRON KNIFE
    NO REQUIREMENTS
    A GIFT FROM THE SPIRITS OF THIS WORLD, TO ALL WHO HAVE COME TO IT
    STRENGTH +1
    BOOTS
    NO REQUIREMENTS
    A GIFT FROM THE SPIRITS. ALTHOUGH LOW QUALITY, IT MIGHT LAST IF YOU TAKE GOOD CARE OF IT. IT WON''T DO MUCH BUT SLIGHTLY PROTECT YOUR FEET THOUGH.
    Chapter 8: Part 4.2 An easy guide to the story (tells you what it means if I put things in bolded brackets, and stuff like that). Spoiler : EASY GUIDE TO THE STORY ....... Multiple periods in a row with nothing else anywhere near it usually refer to silence, or the fact that nothing is happening. (* *) means author''s note (which I generally use to make comments as inside the story chapters). [ ] refers to a skill or ability that is used. Right now there are no different markers for passive and active skills ''things in italics'' Things in italics with the little apostrophe marks are someone''s actual thoughts ***** If the asterisks form a small line and the next sentences start a line or 2 below it, it means either: A) A change of viewpoint OR B) A time-skip (which basically means stuff happened in-between 2 events, but I''m skipping over it to get to whatever is happening in the present) ------------------------ Dashed lines in bold refer to where the chapter starts and/or stops I''ll add more if I do more things. An easy guide to the different measurements (for people that are familiar with the metric system, and vice versa) Spoiler : GUIDE TO THE DIFFERENT MEASUREMENTS 10 feet is around 3 meters 1 mile is a little more than 1.5 kilometers I''ll add more if I find out more Characters: Spoiler : Zhang: Arrogant, greedy, manipulative and smart, with a surprisingly protective side when it comes to Misa. Likes to play the warrior/tank role, but is actually an unspecified (no class), which means he is a jack-of-all trades. Thinks that Wahshi (although he calls him "Washy") is an NPC which will lead him to a great quest. But he still offered him up as a tribute to the "Elder Dragon" in exchange for everyone else''s lives. Currently suspected of being over level 200 Misa: Bloodthirsty, sadistic and uncaring, except for when it comes to the people she likes (which currently includes only Zhang). Has the overpowered hidden class Sun Mage which is supposed to focus on peace and pursuit of knowledge. She uses it to do whatever she wants, which usually ends up getting her in trouble with the Sun Spirit, whom all Sun Mages are contracted with. A mysterious event involving at least herself and one other person seems to have shaped who she has become. Her Sun Mage powers are currently sealed, due to her misuse of them during the fight with the living trees. Currently suspected of being over level 200 Alexa: Cautious but with a good heart. A mysterious event seems to have caused Zhang and Misa to hate her deeply, but she still sees them as her 2 best friends who have been there for her for a long time. She struggles to try and make up for whatever happened in the past, causing her to more than once overlook Zhang and Misa''s hatred and wrongdoings, even if it hurts herself in the process. Rogue-type player (actual class not mentioned yet). Currently suspected of being over level 200. Wahshi: The Main Character. Real name Raes Bastion, framed for a crime he didn''t commit and separated from his daughter while he was sent to prison for 20 years. What he wants to do now is earn enough money through the Virtual Reality game so that he can start searching for the daughter he lost, and maybe a little revenge on the way there against the people that framed him. Was recently betrayed by his former fellow travelers and killed by a dragon. He somehow managed to survive ANOTHER trip through the Mist of Souls. Currently an unspecified (no class). Currently level 1. PREVIOUSLY: Spoiler : Wahshi was betrayed by Zhang and his party, and died at the hands of the "Elder Dragon". He revived at the Mist of Souls, where he then proceeded to rush out of there, at the cost of immense amounts of pain. And several pounds of flesh. After jumping through the pool near Gaia''s tree, he plummeted through the canopy and managed to survive. He gained a new power which lets him track Zhang and his party. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡°Misa, watch out!¡± Zhang yelled out as he pushed me aside. An arm shot out of one of the trees and just barely missed my throat. It was chaos all around us. Zhang and I were weaving through the trees as we dodged attacks from the Dryads that were chasing us. Some were still in their human-like form chasing us down on 2 legs, some were down on all four limbs and their beast form, while others were literally hiding inside their trees, waiting to ambush us. Alexa was sneaking around somewhere like the assassin she was, her high DEXTERITY letting her [sneak] through and sabotage the enemies that were following us. It had started near the end of the 2nd layer, right when we were about to cross the boundary between the 1st and the 2nd layers, Dryads had suddenly ambushed us. Splitting off from the giant trees the way a branch might snap off, we¡¯d found ourselves boxed in from the front and sides. Thinking fast, Zhang grabbed at what looked like thin air and scattered something from his [inventory]. All 3 of us had been working together in the game for a little less than 2 Earth years now, so most of the time we didn¡¯t even need to say anything. As soon as Zhang made a swipe at what looked like thin air, I already knew what he was going to pull out. Clapping my hands together in front of me, I sent out a mental message to my Patron. ¡®Sun Spirit, your disciple asks for your support!¡¯ Immediately I felt Solar Mana flow into me from the Sun Spirit like a warm breeze in winter. It pulsed out of me twice and hit the scattered items swaying in the breeze, making them swell to twice their size. The three of us headed straight for them, with Zhang and Alexa leading the charge. The living trees that boxed us in on the sides rushed in as they saw us running straight for them. The glow from their eye sockets flickered as surprise appeared on their faces. I can probably imagine that to them it looked like we¡¯d just decided to serve ourselves up on a shiny platter. After all, they were more than 60 levels above us, and we were only able to win last time because of the fact that I¡¯d used one of my forbidden spells, and the fact that the Druids and Dryads had suddenly started fighting each other. This time though, there weren¡¯t any Druids for them to fight against. Alexa branched off from us and used [sneak] to disappear from sight. Zhang and I weren¡¯t worried about the fact that she might just leave us, it just wasn¡¯t like her to leave her 2 ¡°best friends¡± to die. Especially since she knew what my contract with the Sun Spirit entailed. This wasn¡¯t just ¡°some game¡± to any of the three of us. For Zhang and I, it was the chance to find the man that we¡¯d become monsters for; the only chance we had at ever getting revenge. To Alexa, it was the opportunity to get redemption and her 2 childhood friends back. This was all her fault anyway. While they were still on 2 feet and in their human-like form, the Dryads were slower than the average player because of the fact that they were heavy and built like tanks. As long as they didn¡¯t become the beast-like abominations that they had in the last battle, we could easily stay ahead of them. My mage robes rustled in the wind as I ran, only managing to keep up with Zhang since he wasn¡¯t running at full speed. It was lucky for me that the bottom part of the robe had been torn up a little from the trek through the forest until now, otherwise I probably wouldn¡¯t have even been able to walk fast, let alone run. Up ahead we could see the surprise on the faces of the Dryads we were charging to wear off, and determination fill their faces. Even if the reason why they¡¯d lost the last battle was because they¡¯d ended up fighting against the Druids, we¡¯d still managed to hold them off long enough to wipe themselves out. It looked like this time they¡¯d learned something and had decided to ¡°use the full strength of a lion even though they were hunting a rabbit¡± like Zhang would say. The glow they had for eyes blazed brightly like a fire ready to consume anything coming its way as we finally reached the line that they¡¯d made which was blocking our way back to the 1st layer of the forest. Zhang already had his sword and shield up and ready. Light gushed out from his palms as the runes that he¡¯d inscribed onto his armor activated. ¡°EXTEND!!¡± He roared out as he swung his sword in a horizontal arc at the necks of the three Dryads that were in front of us. They immediately sprang back when they heard Zhang yell out his attack, easily dodging the sword when it suddenly grew longer, cutting the space where their necks had been a moment before. I felt a shiver go down my spine, and I turned around to see the other Dryads that were part of the line blocking us from the next layer were already rushing toward us, with the Dryads that had been part of the sides not far behind them. Seeing the onslaught of enemies rushing towards us, I could feel my determination falter a little, before it was re-forged into something even stronger than what it was before. I knew what I had to do. Twirling my staff with both hands, I spun around slowly in a full circle. Everywhere I faced, fire sprang up from the ground like a hungry beast that finally found prey. The Dryads rushing towards us from the back and the sides instinctually recoiled. Not even mentioning the fact that their bodies were made from trees and plants, even ferocious animals like tigers and lions would flinch when faced with fire that erupted in front of them. The glow from the fire reflected on their faces, and from the way their expressions contorted, they could probably feel the scorching heat that it gave off as well. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. In the split second that they were stunned by the roaring flames, Alexa made her move. She flashed from Dryad to Dryad, disappearing and reappearing faster than they could keep their attention on her, striking their heads from behind like a powerful boxer and smashing their heads into the ground. The ones that managed to get up immediately lashed out, some of them managing to get in a hit the woman that would disappear like a ghost right in front of them. ¡°Misa, what the h*ll are you doing?!¡± Zhang¡¯s yell made me realize that he was still hadn¡¯t beaten the first three Dryads whose heads he¡¯d tried to slash off before. Well, it made sense since they were stronger and outnumbered him after all. My lips curled up into a smile. ¡°I thought you wanted to play the big, strong knight that was able to protect me, right Zhang? In fact, I think I¡¯ll just stand here and watch, maybe I¡¯ll even do a little cheerleader routine for you!¡± Even though I said that, my staff was already ready and glowing with magic as I spun it in a practiced motion with one hand before pointing it at the man fighting off 3 monsters for my sake. A stream of light flowed out from my staff and into Zhang, visibly recovering his injuries. I could see him straighten up and fight with renewed vigor. No matter how much time passed, Zhang never fell. With Alexa managing to distract the enemies past the wall of flames, their reinforcements weren¡¯t able to overrun us. Of course, it couldn¡¯t last forever and we all knew that. After all, there were just too many Dryads rushing up at us. Eventually, there¡¯d be too many for Alexa to fight off, or a fire-resistant variant Dryad would cross the wall of flames and overwhelm us, or I¡¯d run out of solar mana and Zhang would fall. At least, that¡¯s what would happen if any of the battle were actually real. They were all stuck in a hallucination made by the Lover¡¯s Dream Roses that Zhang had scattered in the air from his [inventory], the same ones that had us trapped in that short hallucination before the start of the previous battle we¡¯d had with these guys. Solar mana was one of the best types of mana to nurture plants with, and when I used it to activate the flowers¡¯ effects, it was more than twice as strong and lasted 3 times longer than it had when we were caught up in it. As soon as I used solar mana to activate its effects, Zhang, Alexa and I ran back towards the 2nd layer of the forest. There were bound to be more of those Dryads waiting to ambush us if we¡¯d tried to keep going forward, and we didn¡¯t have any more of the flowers to keep them occupied. The sides of their box-like formation closed in on imaginary figures of the three of us, and soon enough the rest of them started fighting each other, every one of them seeing images of Zhang, Alexa or me and doing their best to crush ¡°us¡±. You don¡¯t need to be stronger than your enemies after all, you just need them to be strong enough to kill each other. Nothing lasts forever though. Eventually the effects wore off, leaving half of them either dead or heavily wounded. We were already back somewhere in the middle of the 2nd layer forest, stuck between a rock and a hard place. We weren¡¯t able to go back to the 3rd layer, the Elder Dragon probably wouldn¡¯t let us off so easily a second time. We couldn¡¯t go back to the 1st layer the way we came either. We circled around the 2nd layer until we finally had a plan. The Boundary Forest was actually in the shape of an oval. No one knew what was at the very center, because it was almost impossible to tell where the center was the further in you went. That, and the fact that every layer you passed meant stronger enemies than the one before. Before, we were trying to exit the forest near the ends of the oval, but now we were at the sides. There was no way of telling which side of the oval we were on, but it was bound to be a shorter distance out of the forest this way. The only problem was that the Dryads were everywhere. How do you hide from living trees in a forest?! They found us, and by the time they did some of them were already mad enough to have changed into their beast form, with large, gaping holes instead of eyes that took up half their face and just a dark split where their mouths were supposed to be. Those beasts were twice as fast as their more human counterparts, and were easily shrinking the gap between us. ¡°Dammit! Misa, you¡¯re too freaking slow!!¡± Without any other kind of warning he picked me up and carried me off in a princess carry. Even with me in his arms he was still able to sprint faster than he would¡¯ve been able to if he¡¯d had to slow down to match my running speed. I felt my cheeks heat up as he carried me off through the jungle like some kind of Tarzan with his Jane. ¡°Who the h*ll said you could pick me up a**hole!¡± I glared at him as hard as I could, (almost) wishing that he¡¯d just catch on fire for putting me in such an embarrassing situation. He glanced down at me quickly and just laughed, a sound so pure and familiar that I was sure I¡¯d never hear it again from that day onwards. ¡°What? I¡¯d have done the same thing at our wedding and you know you¡¯d have loved it. Stop being so embarrassed, we¡¯ve got bigger things to worry about right now.¡± Seeing him laugh like the person he used to be just made me stare at him in a daze. Well, I couldn¡¯t refute his words either, so I said the only thing I could. ¡°Shut up and go faster.¡± Zhang chuckled. ¡°Yes Ma¡¯am!¡± With that said, he put on an extra burst of speed. Looking over his shoulder, I could see that the speed he was going at right now was just barely able to keep the small amount of distance we had between us and the tree-beasts. A flash of light from below caught my attention. Looking down, I saw some kind of light flashing up from the soles of Zhang¡¯s boots each time he took a step. ¡°I knew it! You did enchant your boots, you freaking liar! Why didn¡¯t you tell me?!¡± ¡®If you¡¯d told me then I would¡¯ve had you do the same for me, a**hole!¡¯ This time it was Zhang¡¯s turn to blush as he kept sprinting, his ability to go faster while still being able to weave through the trees was probably somehow related to the enchantments that he¡¯d made to his boots. Even though it was obvious that he¡¯d heard me, Zhang just kept silent like he was pretending I¡¯d never noticed. I squinted and gave him a real hard stare. ¡°I bet you just wanted to show off and look cool in front of me, didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°W-w-what?!¡± He sputtered. ¡°Don¡¯t be ridiculous! Why on Earth would I go to all that extra trouble just to try to look good in front of you¡ª Actually, is this even the time for this kind of conversation?!!¡± I just gave him a look, silently promising him that this wasn¡¯t over. It was surprisingly pretty comfortable and nice being carried around by someone though. I peered over his shoulder again, and saw that we were still somehow able to keep the same distance between us and the tree-beasts. Somewhere along the way though, we¡¯d managed to lose the human Dryads. It was a good thing that they didn¡¯t seem to be able to their transformation, otherwise we¡¯d have a whole lot more tree-beasts on our tail. Alexa was nowhere to be seen, but that didn¡¯t worry me at all. With her DEXTERITY and speed, she could easily keep up with us in this kind of terrain. I was even less worried about her running off and leaving us here. She wasn¡¯t that kind of person after all. Now that the human Dryads were off our tail, she was probably running around somewhere near us with her [sneak] still active. The crashing, thunderous sounds from the footfalls of the immensely heavy tree-beasts were the only things I heard as I looked behind us. ¡°Misa, what¡¯s that on the back of your neck?¡± My hand immediately went to the back of my neck in surprise. I could feel that something was definitely there. It almost felt like some kind of old scar, except for the fact that I shouldn¡¯t have any scars back there. As soon as my fingers finished tracing the shape, I could feel some of the blood drain away from my face as a red system notification popped up to add to all of the things that we had to deal with. To make it worse, I wasn¡¯t the only one that saw it. Zhang saw it too, and in the split second that the notification blocked his sight he stumbled over a drop in the terrain and fell, sending me flying. Before I had a chance to worry about the fall, Zhang¡¯s shield scooped me up and caught me. Because of that, I was able to ride out the fall like I was sledding, with my butt planted on the inside of Zhang¡¯s shield. He¡¯d probably summoned the shield from his [inventory] and used the glyphs he¡¯d enchanted his glove with to make it grow large enough to reach me, and then shrink to a size that was better suited for a small sled. Even so, the ¡°sled¡± was only able to stop me from crashing. It didn¡¯t stop me from tumbling once I hit the ground. I tumbled and rolled until my back slammed against a tree, my head snapping up and hitting the trunk not a split-second after. Pain shot up like a spike lancing through my brain, my vision blurry with black dots swimming in most of it. A couple seconds later I could feel the Sun Spirit sending me his mana, the warmth from it cleared my vision and I could see the red notification that had just doomed us all.
    CURSED! You have enraged someone with ties to the spirits and evoked hatred so deep it permeates through every fiber of their being! Face their wrath and survive until sundown, and the grudge will be resolved!
    At that moment, something that looked like a cloud fell from above and smashed down into the ground, scattering, only to gather again a split-second later into a familiar sight that had been haunting the back of my mind this entire time. A man in a sleeveless white robe that had been modified for battle. A man whose eyes were completely black, and showed no pupils whatsoever. As I stared into those hauntingly deep, dark eyes full of hatred I remembered something from a class I had taken a long time ago. There was a story we learned in it about a man who was named Monster, son of War. But in the native language, he was called WAHSHI. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Author''s Note: So, what did you guys think of the chapter? Just to let you know, the chapter was originally about a battle with snakes, then I scrapped it when I realized that it sounded stupid. Aren''t you glad I posted this chapter instead of the original one? Also, what do you guys think about the relationship between Zhang and Misa? Chapter 9 PREVIOUSLY: Spoiler : Zhang and his party were trying to escape from the she-trees and the tree-beasts. They used illusions to delay the monsters for awhile. Zhang ended up having to carry Misa, but tripped due to the appearance of a system notice that blocked his view. The stampede of tree-beasts is close by, and Wahshi comes crashing in from above in a cloud of mist that reforms into his body. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ¡°Alexa, get Misa out of here!¡± I yelled out, and immediately she flashed in and grabbed Misa. She struggled a little bit against the Libra, but it didn¡¯t look like she was able to do much. She must¡¯ve still been hurt from the fall. ¡®It¡¯s my fault! If I¡¯d just been able to keep my balance, everything would¡¯ve been fine!¡¯ The guilt raged in my chest. Misa must¡¯ve seen something in my eyes, because she wouldn¡¯t stop struggling against Alexa, who was trying to get her out of there. Her eyes reddened as she Alexa finally managed to stop her from rushing out to help me. ¡°Zhang! Don¡¯t you dare! Don¡¯t you dare do something stupid and get yourself killed!!¡± That¡¯s what I thought she said anyway. The thundering from the stomping of the footsteps of the tree-beasts as they stampeded this way was already too loud for me to hear anything. My lip-reading skills weren¡¯t all that good, so it could¡¯ve just been what I wanted to hear her say. There was a kind of warmth that overcame my guilt as I looked at her, the person that worried about me even when she was the one in more danger than I was. ¡®Don¡¯t you know that it¡¯s every man¡¯s romance to do something cool in front of their loved ones?¡¯ There wasn¡¯t anything else I could do for her now but send her off with a smile, which stretched across my face for as long as it could. I turned away as Alexa used her Libra class ability to flash Misa and herself out. It might¡¯ve been my imagination, but I could¡¯ve sworn there was something glistening around her eyes when she was being dragged away. My vision blurred for a second when I turned back around to face the man that had just stood there waiting for us. Must¡¯ve just been some kind of sweat that got in my eye. I looked at him, the man with the robes I¡¯d originally gave, who wasn¡¯t even looking at me now. He was staring off somewhere else, occasionally shifting his gaze as if he was tracking something. Then something ridiculous popped into my head. Something so impossible, that it was almost funny even thinking about it. But the way he kept moving his head, it was almost like he really was tracking something! ¡®That¡¯s impossible, right? He¡¯s just a level 1 old man, right?¡¯ Reality then gave me a slap in the face. ¡®HOW THE H*LL IS HE STILL ALIVE?! THE DRAGON FREAKING KILLED HIM!!¡¯ Just thinking about it made me recall the red notification that¡¯d blocked my vision and caused this mess right here. It was only for a split-second, but I remembered everything that I saw on it. It definitely wasn¡¯t meant for me, but since Misa and I were also using the Partner Charm bracelet, almost everything was shared between us.
    CURSED! You have enraged someone with ties to the spirits and evoked hatred so deep it permeates through every fiber of their being! Face their wrath and survive until sundown, and the grudge will be resolved!
    Which means he¡¯s here for¡­ ¡®LIKE HELL I¡¯LL LET THAT HAPPEN!¡¯ All of a sudden everything fell into place. Any guilt I had at deceiving this old man, any guilt I had for not being able to get Misa out of here safely, even the oncoming stampede that would be here in less than 20 seconds, it all faded away. Funny enough, what came up in my mind that moment was the name of an old manga/anime, and it fit perfectly with what was about to happen. ¡®ALL YOU NEED IS KILL!!!¡¯ The rest of the world melted away, and there was only me and him standing across from each other. In the blink of an eye the distance between the two of us shrank to less than arm¡¯s length away as I dashed towards him. Before I¡¯d even taken a step I¡¯d already changed to my SPEEDSTER set, but this time around I had 2 daggers equipped in both hands, along with the normal leather gear. Having changed from heavy armor to light so quickly let me move faster than most people expected. The wind made my hair fly back as I appeared in front of the old man, with my center of gravity low to the ground. Quick as a flash, my blades spun out as I targeted his legs. When fighting against other people, there¡¯s a general rule that separates people with fighting experience from those that don¡¯t. Most people are head-hunters. Newbies will always target the head in-game just like newbies to fighting in real-life would do. Even though it¡¯ll do a lot of damage though, people will always have a reaction against something that their eyes can pick up. Which is why as soon as I ¡°disappeared¡± from his vision, I automatically went for his legs. This is what separates the pros in CQC (Close Quarters Combat) from the noobs. Pros target the whole body, while noobs focus on the head. My blades glinted in the small amount of light that streamed down through the tree-tops as it rushed to cut through his legs. *********************************************************** As soon as Zhang disappeared, I could hear myself thinking, ¡®SH*T!¡¯. The danger sense I¡¯d built up in my 20 years in prison was already giving me a sense of doom. Before I knew it, I reflexively activated [Mist Form]. In less than a second I felt something pass through the misty silhouette of where my legs were. Just as I looked down and saw Zhang there swiping his blades through my legs, the wind from his fast arrival finally arrived and scattered my body, pushing it even further back towards the oncoming stampede of tree-beasts. ¡®CR*P!¡¯ I thought to myself. The dark feeling in my chest surged alongside the humiliation that I felt just then. ¡®I can¡¯t believe I was that freaking stupid! I tried to take on a level 200+ player at level 1! This would¡¯ve been like trying to challenge one of the prison gang¡¯s boss on the first day in prison!!¡¯ I didn¡¯t have any more time for second thoughts though. Before I knew it, Zhang had already swapped out his daggers for a lance and thrust it straight through my chest! Seeing it hadn¡¯t had any effect on me whatsoever, he spiked the lance down straight through the place where my foot was, and brought a flying round-house kick straight to my face, and passing straight through it. The wind from his attacks kept blowing me everywhere, making me pass straight through trees and over the roots strewn all over the ground. In all honesty, the only thing that saved me was the fact that his attacks were too fast! If I hadn¡¯t reflexively activated [Mist Form], then in less than 2 seconds his attacks would¡¯ve cut through my legs, speared through my chest, nailed my foot down to the ground and had my neck snapped by a kick to the face! But what a CQC was measured in was milliseconds, and lucky enough for me my ability lasted 2 seconds. That was the only thing that had guaranteed my survival so far though. Even if he hadn¡¯t attacked me, I was already in bad shape. [Reckoning from the Afterlife] had already taken half of my health to activate, and it¡¯d keep taking an additional 10% of my total health every hour till I died. To catch up to Misa and the gang I¡¯d had to use [Mist Form] repeatedly to basically slingshot through the sky, since traveling that way let me cover more ground than if I¡¯d tried to do the same by going through the forest. The only problem was the fact that I¡¯d had to use it 12 times in a row, causing me to lose 24% more of my total health. In short, I was already down to 26% health as soon as I got here, and I was down to 24% now. I don¡¯t know how lucky I could get in this kind of situation, but every scrap counts. It was a good thing that even though I was in [Mist Form], Zhang couldn¡¯t tell the difference between before and after I¡¯d used the ability. Apparently, if I kept the mist that was me all bunched up together, I¡¯d look completely normal. I hadn¡¯t even known about that effect until now, when he didn¡¯t give me time to disperse. ¡®It probably looks like he¡¯s trying to hit a ghost from Zhang¡¯s point of view.¡¯ Just thinking about all of this made me want to smirk at the frustration he was probably feeling right now. With that being said, he finally realized that it was useless to keep attacking me, right when my ability¡¯s effect wore off and I became fully corporeal again. They say good things come in spades, but since I¡¯d already had my share of good luck I had a feeling that I was about to get a whole downpour of misfortune. I watched as Zhang¡¯s face contorted with rage. ¡°I REFUSE TO BELIEVE THAT I CAN¡¯T KILL YOU!!¡± He yelled. I used [Mist Form] again. It wasn¡¯t a great solution, since it brought me closer and closer to death, but it bought some time as Zhang threw what looked like a javelin straight through my chest, with it landing a little bit behind me. Even though it felt like my veins were boiling with anger, my head had already cleared up. I had to admit, he was using the perks of being an Unspecialized character pretty well. Normally people wouldn¡¯t be able to use their [Inventory] in battle, but I¡¯d already found out that it wasn¡¯t something that people who hadn¡¯t chosen their classes yet had to worry about. Zhang was making good use of it too, since it seemed like he had an endless supply of weapons stored in there. What happened next though, made me realize that I was more than just under-equipped and unprepared to fight this guy head-on. Zhang didn¡¯t even blink when he saw that his javelin passed right through me. Immediately, he threw out another 2 javelins. This time though, he threw out one to his left and the other to his right. There was still the spear stuck in the ground behind Zhang when he¡¯d tried to nail my foot to the ground, this combined with the 3 javelins that he¡¯d just thrown out gave me a bad feeling. The air around Zhang shimmered, and suddenly he wasn¡¯t wearing the leather armor from his SPEEDSTER set. Now, he was wearing a set of robes that looked somewhat like Misa¡¯s had, but it was clearly not in the same grade as hers. While hers seemed to always ripple with power, Zhang¡¯s robe had a fiery design that looked otherwise very ordinary. Still, that did absolutely nothing to stop the chill going down my spine. Zhang smirked. ¡°ARENA OF FIRE!¡± Instantly, the 3 javelins and the spear started glowing. Fire spread out from each of them, forming a deadly, blazing red circle that trapped us inside. Zhang must¡¯ve been pretty desperate. I could swear that there was probably around 10 seconds left until the stampede arrived, and he¡¯d trapped himself in here with me. My face twitched. To test things out, I¡¯d secretly sent a part of the mist that myself out to touch the fiery wall. It took just a split second for it to burn up and cause my health to drastically drop down to 8%. Zhang didn¡¯t miss the facial twitch and grinned. ¡°So, this is your weakness huh? Ghost or not, Spirit or not, looks like all I needed was a little magic to make you really sweat!¡± ¡®Cr*p, he isn¡¯t wrong.¡¯ I thought to myself. ¡®I¡¯m really in the hot seat now!¡¯ Less than 10% of my health was left, a blazing inferno surrounded us and made sure that I couldn¡¯t escape, and a stampede less than 10 seconds on its way. I felt myself become whole again as my ability timed out. The 2 seconds time limit on this thing was really annoying me. There was no other way. I had to rely on my last resort. I¡¯d probably die, but at the very least I¡¯d take Zhang down with me. With a wordless yell, I rushed out towards Zhang like a crazy man. ¡®Does what I¡¯m about to do make me kind of like a suicide bomber?¡¯ That last thought stayed with me as my [Mist Form] ability activated for the last time. There¡¯d be no going back after this, it was do or die. As I ran, the mist that made up my body split apart. Every single fiber of my being rushed towards Zhang, the yell from earlier still somehow echoing out. With a cocky grin, Zhang stood there and did nothing as I appeared in front of him. I think he just wanted to see what I could possibly due to him at this point. I immediately surrounded his head from all sides and started going in through all of his orifices. His eyes, ears, mouth, nostrils, I took advantage of every single opening into his head and rushed in. One second had already passed, and there was only 1 more left until the end of my ability. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. This was the moment of truth. I¡¯d turn corporeal inside his head, making it pop like a balloon!! I knew for a fact that I would definitely die from this, but there was no other way I could possibly win at this point. I was all set and ready kill this b*stard once and for all, when I realized that he was saying something. ¡°I wonder¡­ what kind of a spirit or ghost are you, that you don¡¯t even know about the dimensional energy that we absorb into ourselves to level up? After all, if you knew about it, then you¡¯d realize that the inside of my head is the last place you¡¯d want to be right now.¡± As soon as he said it, I realized that I was completely surrounded in his head by some kind of glowing energy. At that moment, the timer on my ability hit zero and I turned corporeal. In the split-second before Zhang¡¯s head would¡¯ve popped, that mysterious glowing energy attacked and I was snuffed out like a candle. Everything went dark. ************************************************ When I opened my eyes, I saw a familiar sight. I stood there. Swirling, cold mist had surrounded me once again, and I knew I was back at the Mist of Souls. This time around, I didn¡¯t do anything immediately. I just sat down on the ground and thought about everything that happened. I sighed, and rubbed my eyes tiredly. The months I¡¯d spent outside of prison had obviously thrown me off-balance. I would never have let my emotions get the better of me when I¡¯d still been in there, stuck with all kinds of dangerous gangs, lunatics and murderers. Somehow though, I¡¯d forgotten all about controlling my emotions and ended up making a mess of everything in a forest full of deadly monsters that could kill the dangerous people I¡¯d been locked up with in a heartbeat if they¡¯d been real. An icy calmness spread throughout my body as I reviewed the events that had just transpired. I¡¯d gotten a new ability that let me track people down in exchange for half of my life, and lived on essentially borrowed time to kill the person I was tracking. I¡¯d found out new uses for another one of my abilities, but found out that it couldn¡¯t do as much as I thought it could. I also realized that no matter how good I was back on Earth, I couldn¡¯t do nearly as much here in the game. No matter how I looked at it, killing level 200¡¯s when I was only level 1 was seriously impossible. Good thing I¡¯d taken a 20 year crash course in learning how to take down people stronger than I was. My knees creaked a little as I stood up, and a fire was burning in my eyes. This time around, I wasn¡¯t going to go down like an idiot charging at a tank. I had no doubts that Zhang and his crew had managed to survive being chased by those tree-beasts. They might¡¯ve been heartless, but they were definitely survivors. Cold air rushed in and out of my body as I breathed the mist that had ¡°spawned¡± me. The icy feeling only complimented the icy calmness already in my body, and I knew I was ready for the final round. It was time to use a borrowed knife to kill them all! -------------------------------------------------------------- Author''s Note: Well, long story short the reason why I''d stopped posting for awhile was because I got a little depressed. A bunch of people were sending me messages and posting bad reviews over here about how bad my story was, so I took a little break to decide where I wanted to go with the story from that point on (because some of the things they brought up made sense). After that, I just had trouble writing the next chapter because everything I did sounded bad. I''m not 100% satisfied with this chapter, but I''m going to move on anyway. Hope you liked it, and don''t forget to vote and comment! P.S. From now on I''m only going to post the "Previously" part before the chapter. Wahshi''s Skill/Abilities Spoiler :
    SKILL LIST
    PASSIVE
    FIRST-BORN OF THE MIST:
    • ELDEST: YOU ARE THE OLDEST CHILD OF YOUR CLAN, AND THEREFORE THE STRONGEST. +1 TO ALL STATS FOR EVERY MISTBORN IN THE WORLD, EXCLUDING YOURSELF (CURRENT NUMBER OF MISTBORN: 1 [YOURSELF])
    PLAYER:
    • PERSEVERE: YOU HAVE GONE THROUGH INCREDIBLE PAINS TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOAL. WHEN HEALTH IS LESS THAN 50%, PAIN DECREASES 1% PER ADDITIONAL PERCENT OF HEALTH LOST
    ACTIVE
    BORN OF THE MIST:
    • SOUL ORIGIN (BEGINNER RANK): YOU HAVE ACCOMPLISHED A FEAT FEW WOULD KNOW ABOUT, AND DISCOVERED THE BIRTHPLACE OF YOUR SOUL. TRAVEL TO THE MIST OF SOULS IS NOW POSSIBLE UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS, IF THE COST IS PAID. ACTIVATION METHOD 1: REQUIREMENTS: DEATH ACTIVATION COSTS: ANY AND ALL PENALTIES FOR THOSE THAT KILLED YOU WILL BE NULLIFIED; YOUR KILLERS WILL RECEIVE TRIPLE THE AMOUNT OF EXPERIENCE THEY WOULD NORMALLY RECEIVE *AUTOMATICALLY ACTIVATES UPON DEATH, REGARDLESS OF WILL OR INTENT ACTIVATION METHOD 2: REQUIREMENTS:??? ACTIVATION COST: ???
  • PART THE MISTS: CONSTANT, UNCEASING EFFORTS TO DIVINE THE TRUTH BEHIND THE WORLD AND EVERYTHING AROUND YOU, HAS RESULTED IN A STRANGE ABILITY TO DO SO. GATHERS ALL INFORMATION FROM YOUR CONSCOUS AND SUBCONSCIOUS, BOTH KNOWN AND FORGOTTEN. CAN BE SWITCHED BETWEEN PASSIVE AND ACTIVE PASSIVE: DISPLAYS ALL RELEVANT KNOWN AND FORGOTTEN INFORMATION INTO YOUR VISION COST: PERMANENT USAGE OF 10% OF TOTAL MANA ACTIVE: [i]IN ADDITION TO DISPLAYING ALL RELEVANT KNOWN AND FORGOTTEN INFORMATION, IT REMOVES ANY AND ALL FALSEHOODS COST: CONSUMES 20% OF TOTAL MANA (WHICH CANNOT BE RECOVERED OR USED UNTIL ABILITY IS SWITCHED TO PASSIVE), 5% of TOTAL HEALTH/SECOND (CANNOT BE RECOVERED UNTIL ABILITY IS SWITCHED TO PASSIVE)
    • [tr]
    ABILITY LISTPLAYER:
    • MENU: Access to a game-like interface
    • RESURRECTION: May be re-born 10 hours after death (game-time)
    • INVENTORY: Access to a small, pocket-dimension which can hold belongings up to a certain limit
    • LOG OUT: Return to your original world
    BORN OF THE MIST:
    • MIST FORM (LVL 1): FIRM CONVICTION IN WHAT YOU THOUGHT WAS TRUE ABOUT YOUR ORIGINS HAS ENABLED YOU TO TURN BACK INTO THE MIST THAT SPAWNED YOU AT 1ST LEVEL, TURNS YOUR ENTIRE BODY INTO MIST. HIGHER LEVELS WILL ALLOW YOU TO CONTROL WHAT PART OF YOUR BODY YOU WISH TO TURN. AT 1ST LEVEL, MIST FORM CAN STAY ACTIVE FOR A MAXIMUM OF 2 SECONDS. ABILITY MAY BE CANCELLED AT ANY TIME. ACTIVATION REQUIREMENTS: NONE ACTIVATION COST: 2% of Max Health
  • RECKONING FROM THE AFTERLIFE (LVL 1): Life is hard. Betrayal is worse. The RECKONING that comes after, will haunt you more than you can imagine. BEWARE!! When one is cursed, 2 graves will follow! While there is always an escape for one who is cursed, the one who curses will be damned regardless! COST: 50% of Health EFFECT 1: Curse a person you have met. If you have enough hatred, you will know where to go to find them! Lasts until Sunup or Sundown, depending on when it is activated. EFFECT 2: -10% Health/Hour. If Sunup/Sundown is reached, -100% Health. If the RECKONING is fulfilled, -100% Health RESTRICTIONS: Can only be used on targets with enough Hatred attached. Can only be used by those with Spiritual Energy, Spiritual Connections, or the Equivalent thereof.
    • TITLE EFFECTS
    • FIRST-BORN OF THE MIST: +10 TO ALL STATS, ACCESS TO MISTBORN ABILITIES WHEN DISCOVERED, ACCESS TO UNIQUE ABILITIES GIVEN ONLY TO THE HOLDER OF THIS TITLE (IF DISCOVERED), PASSIVE SKILL ¡°ELDEST¡±
    Spoiler :
    STATUS WINDOW
    NAME:WAHSHI
    LEVEL:1
    RACE:HUMANGENDER:MALE
    CLASS:NONE
    MONEY:0G 1S 0C, $0
    TITLES:FIRST-BORN OF THE MIST
    FAME:100INFAMY:0
    HEALTH:105 (+5)
    MANA:160 (+170)
    STRENGTH:22 (+10)INTELLIGENCE:10 (+10)(+3)
    DEXTERITY:10 (+10)(-2)WILLPOWER:6 (+10)(+7)
    VITALITY:10 (+10)CHARISMA:0 (+10)
    AGILITY:10 (+10)DEFENSE:10 (+10)(+1)
    LUCK:1 (+10)
    *Mana= 100+ (Willpower*10), Health=(LVL*100)+(Vitality/2) *First number in parentheses is title boost, second is equipment boost (or demerit) Side Story 1: Hunting for a Secret Class While the events at the Boundary Forest were things that would eventually lead the entire world down strange paths, many more things were happening in the enormous world of Ralia. Some would lead one through amazing adventures, others would challenge one''s abilities against ridiculously over-powered monstrosities, and others would be absolutely pointless and serve no purpose but to amuse anyone that happened to be watching. Marilyn hoped that she was onto something amazing. Things in her life outside of the game had been stressful lately, and the fun times that she would have in the world of Ralia seemed to be decreasing day-by-day. As a 28 year old office worker, things could get more than a little stressful and dreary. There just wasn''t much that she could do with her current class. Somehow, every time that she would come across something amazing and game-changing for her, it would turn all turn out completely wrong. When she first started, she''d appeared at one of the biggest cities in the Human Kingdom of Glaceria. She''d chosen that particular Kingdom because it was bordering the Werebeast Nations, specifically the States of Flyte. Kingdoms that bordered the other major races'' nations had a higher chance for the users to be involved in something big. Back on Earth, the United Nations, which was the biggest place to be involved in international affairs, was also one of the best places to be if you wanted to help decide the direction the world would take (or at least get a front-row seat to the action). That was when it was only between different nations. When it came down to inter-species/inter-racial affairs, you could bet that it could only get even bigger and more complex than it ever could in the U.N. Although she couldn''t do much back on Earth to be involved in something like the United Nations, at least here on Ralia she could be part of something bigger. Something life-changing that would mean something. Or so she thought. After 4 months of playing, she still hadn''t managed to set out on an adventure outside of the city she''d originally started out in as a beginner. In fact, the farthest she''d ever gone were the hunting grounds nearby the city. Before she died and had been resurrected at the "Last Memory" (the inn where she stayed inside the city) 10 hours later RT (Ralia-Time). She''d never tried to go outside the city gates again after that. Every single thing after she''d revived that could have gone wrong, did go wrong. Immediately after she resurrected, she''d tried to go to the public training hall to learn how to swing a sword better. Everything was for her big dream of doing something that would change the world, and at that time she could just picture herself slaying monsters left and right, saving city after city, conquering dungeon after dungeon, with only a sword in hand. She would be a powerful swordswoman that stood between the monsters and the rest of the world, in gleaming armor with her long brown hair flowing in the wind. The Instructor kicked her out of the training hall after 30 minutes. How was she supposed to know that she was using the wrong end of the wooden sword to try to hit the wooden dummy? Wasn''t the fact that she couldn''t hit the target with the sword for the entire half-hour, more reason that they needed to train her? Everyone else said that the dummy had been standing still, rooted to the ground. She knew though, she knew that the dummy had been dodging every single one of her hits. What other explanation was there for the fact that she hadn''t been able to hit it even once during the whole time that she was there? After she''d been kicked out of the public training hall, she''d tried her hand at magic. That was always a fun way to go in games, she''d reasoned. Envisioning herself as the Grand Magister, she would decimate armies, conjure up enormous storms that would alter the very fate of a war with just a wave of her hand, and summon magnificent and exotic beasts that would travel with her to every corner of the world. With a single word, she would be able to usher in peace between all of the races, and protect them all from the onslaught of the monsters from other dimensions with her trusty staff at her side, her robe flowing in the wind, and a cowl obscuring her face so that she could be even more mysterious. With all of that in mind, she''d gone to the Little Magi''s Public School for Magic in high spirits. After all, she was a player so it was practically guaranteed that she''d be able to do any kind of magic that she put her mind to. It took them even less time to kick her out than the training hall Instructor had. In all of the 10 minutes that she''d been in there, she had already started a legend. Somehow, Marilyn had messed up on one of the most basic spells there was, Sparks. The only thing it did was create a few sparks which could be used to light a fire for something like cooking. When she used it however, the sparks had actually gone in every single direction except for where she''d wanted it to go, setting fire to the Magi''s clothes in an embarrassing way. The Magi had to douse herself with water magic, and then go back home so she could change out of her robes, which were now partially see-through. All the guys in her class loved it though, because the Magi had been an incredibly attractive woman. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Long story short, for some reason every single spell that she tried to do somehow went wrong. It was obvious even to her that magic was clearly not her thing. After a series of unfortunate events, she''d eventually ended up working as a Librarian for the past 4 months in one of the city''s 7 main libraries, specifically it was Half-Roc Library which was located not too far from the city gates. She figured that being at a place that had so many adventurers and players coming and going, she''d eventually be able to find a class that would suit her the best. And after 4 months, she''d found it! It all started out with noticing a few clues in some obscure books she''d found while organizing the different bookshelves in the library. They''d all referenced some sort of secret, some mysterious profession that was able to do amazing things. As she researched more and more about it, hunting through books so esoteric, foreign and massive that it would give people a heart attack by just looking at it, she became even more convinced that it was the perfect class for her. She would be able to easily demolish any enemy''s fortress, while also being able to communicate with the spirits of the world! She would be wanted by the rulers of every nation! She would have the mind of a brilliant mage! She would have twice the strength of a swordsman of her level! After gathering up all of the clues that she''d found over the course of the entire 4 months that she''d been playing the game (Earth-time), she quit her job at the Half-Roc Library and snuck her way around the city to a deserted alleyway. Or at least, she did her best anyway. Marilyn knew that she wasn''t the best at sneaking around. She''d failed to become a rogue after all, but that was a story for another day. It was a complete dead-end, with only a brick wall to show for all of her efforts. She didn''t give up, however. Rifling through the various papers that she''d brought with her that contained all of the research she''d done over the past 4 months (Earth-time), she finally found one that had a drawing which seemed exactly like the brick wall she was facing right now. The only difference was that the drawing had numbers scattered on random bricks throughout the wall. Marching up to it, she rapped her knuckle twice on each of the bricks shown in the drawing, in the order that the numbers went. As soon as she''d done that, a scraping sound could be heard, followed by the bricks rearranging themselves to form a doorway. She hesitated a little at first, but then decided that she''d come too far to back out now. As soon as she walked through the doorway, the bricks rearranged themselves back into the inconspicuous, rundown wall behind her. What lay in front of her was something she didn''t expect to see. A perfectly normal dining table, with a woman in her mid-30''s sitting in a chair, sipping from a small porcelain cup. If you had to describe her, it was almost as if someone had taken Hollywood''s most stereotypical high-class English woman, and placed her right there drinking what might have been tea. "You''ve come a long way. Please, sit." The woman instructed. Feeling compelled to obey, Marilyn took a seat from the chair directly in front of the woman. "Are you sure that this is the path you wish to take?" Putting down her cup, she looked pointedly at Marilyn. "I''m sure. There''s nothing more that I could possibly want to do." Since she was feeling nervous, she was only able to give the standard reply that anyone would say in front of an NPC that was going to give them a Secret Class. "You''re about to embark on a path that was brought forth by one of the many great people of the world," The woman began. "Once, he was known by children throughout all of the lands," She continued. ''Wait, did she just say children?'' Marilyn wondered. "In the span of half an hour or less, he was able to tear down anything in his path or build whatever his heart desired." Marilyn''s eyebrows furrowed. ''That doesn''t sound right. I''m getting a bad feeling about this.'' The woman took a breath. "The only flaw that one could say he had, was that he loved to talk to his tools, and pretend that they were able to talk with him as well. Many a time he had long conversations with them." ''Please don''t be what I think this is!'' Marilyn begged in her mind. "That''s right! Young hero, the person whose path you now follow is none other than Architect Robert! Better known as Bob the Builder!!" The woman finished with an expectant smile. In contrast, Marilyn felt her mind crumbling at the thought of all the work she''d done to get this far. ''DAMMIT, WHY?!!'' Was the anguished scream that echoed through her head.