《New Reality [HIATUS]》 Chapter 1: There are no hoverboards in the future ¡°Hey! Give that back!¡± ¡°Oh I''m so scared! What are you going to do about it?¡± ¡°That fat ass will probably suck us in with his gravity. We would be doomed to spend the rest of our lives in orbit!¡±, he says dramatically. They all start laughing at him. This isn''t a new situation for David. This is the 3rd time this week that he has been bullied like this. The sad part is that''s it''s only Monday. It''s also a different group of people bullying him from the other two times. People find him such an easy target. ¡°Hey I''m bored. Let''s go.¡± The other guy picking on David yawns and stretches. ¡°Yeah, watching the same person crying over and over again does get pretty old.¡± They throw his book bag into a mud puddle and walk away. David frustrated, thinks, ''Why do I always have to go through this?'' David picks up his book bag and starts to walk in the direction of a store he often visits. To pass the time, he takes out his augmented reality glasses and plays checkers with the computer. Everyone in this time has them. It does everything from calling people to watching 3-D videos. It even comes with a joystick to play games with. Only the person wearing the glasses can see the projection their glasses cast. Others won''t be able to see it unless the person invites them over to their network. So yeah, a person could be watching porn next to someone and they wouldn''t even know. They have a battery life of 7 hours. People carry solar panel backpacks on them to charge them. The kid who was just bullied is called David Lewis, second born son of the Lewis family. He lives in a recently formed mega city near the Great Lakes in the year 2074. The world is very different from the world in the 2010s. One thing a person would notice is that the large scale farms that used to fill up the middle west are now nonexistent. Farms are now grown in gigantic buildings. Water is a far more precious resource, and the methods these indoor farms use use less than 97% water than the outdoor farms. Animals used for consumption have been genetically engineered to not have brains, and therefore do not feel pain. They also require 60% less water than their brained counterparts. More than 90% of the food is grown locally. Another thing is that the vast majority of people live in cities far larger than the cities in the past. It''s not like that for just the United States, but for people all over the world. If a person from 2015 were to visit a city, they would experience culture shock. They would think that Skynet has taken over. Robots do everything from driving cars to even running governments. Personal computers have become so powerful that they can outperform the entire human race before they had their brain chips installed. Of course, people are there for oversight to ensure that the robots don''t decide people are useless and become Skynet. To ensure that people could keep up with the robots, people were implanted with brain chips. They are heavily open source to ensure that no one has a monopoly on a person''s brain. Brain to brain communication is disabled and illegal after the fiasco where someone tried to hack into multiple people''s brains to steal their information. It''s made from carbon and is powered by the heart beat. Christians and other religious denominations were wary at first, claiming it to be the mark of the beast, but seeing as how they were out competed, they reluctantly started accepting the chips. Now, the chips don''t make you super smart. All it does is let you store more information inside your mind and make retrieving and remembering information easier. You still have to study the same way. Robots do so much that people just renamed the planet Google jokingly because it seems like the company did everything. Politics is vastly different. David lives in a technocracy. They no longer have a traditional left and right. People now don''t care if you start a business. Robots do most of the work of a person''s business and make sure they balance themselves out with everything else. Just because robots can run a business doesn''t mean that a business will succeed. The failure rate of businesses is still at 80%. The two party system now consists of a pro-robot political party called the Tech Party and a pro-human political party called the Mankind Party. Elections sound vastly different. ¡°Robots not only do a better job, but are also more efficient than humans. Vote Adam Hill, Tech Party, for president.¡± ¡°Do you want Terminators? Because not voting for me is how you''ll get Terminators. Jim Bucket, Mankind Party, for president.¡± The world was in a huge upheaval. Because people ran out of cheap oil 30 years ago, people turned to methane hydrate for a quick fix. It was supposed to be temporary, but people not wanting to give up their lifestyle had a hard time giving it up. Temperatures soared. Oceans rose 10 feet in just 10 years. Droughts fell over the world. Island nations and people on the coast were displaced and no one wanted to accept them. Asian countries dwindled because of their low birthrate. The United States'' South turned into a wasteland due to random periods of droughts, floods, and hurricanes. Well, it was already a wasteland, even in the year 2015, but now no one lives there. The world was scrambling for resources. The treaty of Antarctica was annulled so that the various nations could mine its resources. Skirmishes started breaking out on how to split the Antarctica territories. The world was on the brink of total war. It was thanks to a scientist who found a way to convert most of the energy from the sun into electricity that a total war didn''t break out. It didn''t solve the problem, but held it off. Today, the world is far more stable. The solar panel and battery material are beginning to run out, but people don''t have to worry about that problem until 40 or more years down the line. In the United States, everyone lives in the North. Basic income was passed because the robots out competed humans in everything. To get it requires a High School Diploma or GED. Everyone now makes enough to live comfortably. Of course, people being people, they weren''t satisfied with just that. Most people now work 20 hours a week for additional income. 20 hours is now the new full time. They mostly work in the indoor farms. David''s family used to live in poverty. Poverty is mostly nonexistent in the United States in 2074. The reason why is that David''s father, Anthony Lewis, kept spending money on stupid business ideas. His mother, Lucienne Lewis, kept encouraging him to follow his dreams to own lots of swag. It wasn''t until it was discovered that David''s older brother was a prodigy that Anthony began to realize his dream. David''s brother was called to talk shows and was paid to travel all over the country. His name is Michael Lewis. He is 5 years older than David, and stands at 6''1¡± with a muscular build, black hair and blue eyes. Michael is considered handsome by most other girls and is constantly getting hit on by them. There is no one on this world that David hates more than Michael, but it was thanks to him that they were not starving. Michael was intelligent enough that he skipped 2 grades. When he was in high school, he became the quarterback for their football team, and was also the top student in every subject he was in. Now usually, you have to deal with jealousy and hatred when you have all these titles on you. Not Michael. His social skills rivaled that of a politician. He made sure to talk with and befriend the people most likely to cause him problems. He is a very calculating person. He knows exactly what to do to get you to like him. Scientists scouted him for their research labs while he was still a senior in high school. He invented many things, but what he is known for most was a new method of quantum computing. Thanks to this new method, you can now emulate reality at the quantum level. Instead of keeping this method to himself, he decided to share it with the world. He became a billionaire. Michael now currently lives in a mansion on the rich side of the city. Despite having so much money and influence, he still decided to stay in school. He still talks to his friends and never once looked down on them. People admire him for that. David however looks at it differently thinking, ''He''s good at manipulating public opinion on him. Only I know his true personality: An egocentric bully who takes pleasure in fooling and manipulating people.'' David''s role in his family was set in stone when it was found out his little sister was also a prodigy. Her name is Cindy Lewis. She is 3 years younger than David, and went into gymnastics at the tender age of 5. By the time she was 10, she was already competing in the Olympics. She is also, like her eldest brother of course, at the top of her grade compared to David, who gets less than mediocre grades. Cindy gets sponsorship for commercials, which David''s father gets paid for, so Now David''s father has more swag than he knows what to do with. Because she gets whatever she wants, she had turned into a spoiled brat, and bullies David knowing that her parents will always side with her. David knows that he''s unwanted, but he feels that they could at least pretend to care about him. David''s parents can be described in one phrase: Pain in the ass. His father is always giving David a hard time. His mother always forgets about him. Even when he manages to do things to their exact specifications, they talk about how his siblings could have done it better. Despite all the things happening to him, like bullying and a difficult family to deal with, he still has faith in humanity. He loves helping people and making people''s day brighter. He helps people down on their luck, which people can''t help but take advantage of. People know that he loves helping people in need, so they milk him for all it''s worth. *********************** Flashback: ¡°Hey David, can I have 20 bucks? I only need that much to ride a bus to visit my sick sister on the other side of town.¡± ¡°Hey guy. Can you loan me 30 dollars? I really need to buy something to make me feel better. We''re friends aren''t we?¡± ¡°Hey you. Gimme money.¡± Flashback end: ******************** David makes his way into the store. ¡°Kid, you want the usual? 3 double cheeseburgers and chilly fries?¡± ¡°Yes please.¡± ¡°$1.31 is your change.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± When David gets depressed, he eats. Now usually this wouldn''t be a problem, but he gets depressed all the time. Eating too much has made him obese. He stands at 5'' at 13 years old and is a bit shorter than other people his age. He has short brown hair, chubby face, and always wears clothes far larger than him to try to hide his fat as best as he can. It doesn''t work. While he''s eating he hears a familiar voice. ¡°I thought I would find you here.¡± ¡°Keimi!¡± She sits at David''s table. Keimi Allison is what people would describe as cute. She''s an inch taller than him and has a bob cut hairstyle. She''s known David ever since 3rd grade. They stay in the same neighborhood. ¡°I didn''t see you at our meeting spot, so that means you must have gotten bullied again.¡± David feels bad. ¡°Sorry for not leaving a message.¡± ¡°It''s fine, it''s fine. You really need to stop eating when you get depressed. You''ll just keep getting bigger.¡± ¡°I know, but I don''t know of any other way to deal with all the stress.¡± ¡°Sheesh try exercising or something.¡± ¡°Haha! Maybe someday.¡± It''s because of Keimi that his life hasn''t become totally unbearable. ¡°Keimi, Jacob told me he would be my friend if I gave him 5 dollars!¡± ¡°David. How many times have I told you? Friends are not bought with money. Have I ever taken any from you?¡± ¡°But,... I guess you''re right. I tried making friends without using money today but they took my backpack and threw it in the mud.¡± Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ¡°Don''t worry about it. You still haven''t given up hope despite what you''ve been through. I''m proud of you.¡± David gives her a beaming smile. ¡°Well David I have to go. I know you''re going to have a hard time in your house, but remember. Go to our spot and look at the sunset instead of eating.¡± ¡°Heh. But it''s not even time for a sunset. That''s why I came here!¡± ¡°You sure do know what to say don''t you? Well, see ya.¡± ¡°See ya!¡± After finishing his meal, he''s going towards his house. He washes the backpack off with water then starts heading inside. He dreads what''s going to happen. When he opens the door, he sees his sister, Cindy watching TV. She yells out, ¡°Mom! David is getting mud on the floor!¡± The mom replies, ¡°Who is that?¡± ¡°You know, your other son!¡± ¡°Oh yeah. David, why are you getting mud on the floor?¡± ¡°Mother, someone threw my book bag in the mud.¡± ¡°That doesn''t matter. Clean up this mess this instant!¡± ¡°What''s with all this commotion?¡± David''s father walks in. His mother talks to his father. ¡°David''s getting mud on the floor.¡± David''s father sighs. ¡°Why are you such a disappointment? Are you trying to disgrace us on purpose?¡± David knows that the best thing to do at this time would be to just keep quiet. His father gets into a monologue about how his siblings are working hard and he isn''t working hard at all. ¡°For your punishment, clean up the rest of the house. My room, your sister''s room, the garage, all of it.¡± ¡°Father, the robots can clean the house far easier than I can.¡± ¡°Maybe you can think about that when you stop being lazy.¡± David knows it''s no use arguing. ¡°When you''re done with that, go to the store and get us groceries.¡± His father sends him a list of things he wants him to get. ¡°I can''t carry all that by myself!¡± ¡°Well figure out a way to do it! Your siblings could easily find a way to do that.¡± ********* David finishes cleaning at 2 in the morning. He''s so tired that he doesn''t take off his school clothes. He just goes to sleep right there. ********* The next morning he goes to school. He gets on the bus, and his bullies arrive. ¡°Geez. This kid is so selfish. He''s taking an entire seat by himself.¡± ¡°Nah. That''s just him being so fat that he needs an entire seat to himself.¡± Everyone starts laughing. People all take turns talking about David. ¡°You still haven''t apologized.¡± David frowns and says, ¡°I haven''t done anything to you.¡± ¡°You haven''t apologized for breathing our air. Your fat body keeps sucking up all our air and there''s none left for us. Apologize.¡± David ignores him. ¡°I said apologize.¡± The bully balls his fist up. ¡°I''m- I''m sorry for breathing your air.¡± David starts to cry. ¡°Look! Look! He''s crying! Waah! Waah!¡± David runs off the bus in tears and goes to the bathroom. ********* At lunch he''s sitting with Keimi. ¡°Wait. Your father complained because the water you gave him was too wet?¡± ¡°Yes! I didn''t even know what to do. He said that my brother and sister would have done better. I asked if he meant ice. He just said ¡°Did I ask for ice?¡±¡± ¡°That''s insane. So how did you do on your test?¡± ¡°*sigh* Barely passing again. I know the answers, but when I think about how I''m failing my family by not being outstanding like my siblings, I get so nervous. That''s why I get only C''s and D''s. How did you do?¡± ¡°A''s and B''s again.¡± ¡°Keimi you''re so smart!¡± ¡°You idiot. Remember it''s you who is tutoring me in math. It''s thanks to you. How can the person being tutored get a higher grade than the tutor?¡± She laughs. They eat until the bell for lunch ending rings. ¡°Say David. Are you busy this afternoon?¡± ¡°No. I was just going to go to the library.¡± ¡°Could you meet me in the gym after school at 3?¡± ¡°OK. Sure.¡± He wonders what she wants. It''s not like her to call him at the gym. ''Could it be a confession? Ha. That''s impossible. There is no one who would ever want to go with a guy like me.'' It''s now after school. David makes his way over to the gym. Some people make passing remarks about his weight. He ignores them and heads into the gym. Keimi is leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. ¡°You came.¡± ¡°Of course. We''re friends aren''t we?¡± ¡°...There''s something I want to tell you.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°I''ve- I''ve always liked you! Please go out with me!¡± ¡°...Huh?¡± David right now is doing his best impression of a fish. He never imagined in a thousand years that his friend of 5 years would confess to him. He had always liked Keimi, but has never acted on those feelings in fear of ruining their friendship, and for feeling she is way out of his league. He has always had bad experiences with girls toying with him, but two traumatizing memories stand out. *********************** Flashback: His first traumatizing event. It happened while he was in 4th grade. The girl in question was someone who liked to tease David a lot. She would send fake affection letters and blow kisses at him. David ended up believing this to be genuine affection for him. One day while recess was being held, he went to her when the two were alone. ¡°Um. I- I really li- like you! Please go out with me!¡± The girl in question had been reading her book looked surprised. ¡°Do you really like me?¡± ¡°Ye-yes.¡± ¡°Honestly and truly?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± ¡°Okay. To prove that you like me, you have to send me flowers and chocolates in front of a lot of people. The more flowers and chocolates you bring the bigger the proof that you like someone. That''s how you''re supposed to confess. Do that tomorrow and that will prove that you really do like me.¡± ¡°Really? We- Well that does feel kinda embarrassing.¡± ¡°Then that just means you didn''t like me enough.¡± ¡°No! I really do like you! I''ll do it!¡± When he and Keimi were walking home, he didn''t tell her just in case things got weird between the two of them. The next day, people were laughing at David. He was carrying a big bouquet of flowers and a big heart shaped box full of chocolates. He went to the class with his crush. The girl in question was smiling. To David it might appear that she was happy, but in reality she was trying hard not to burst out laughing. David tries to hand her the flowers and chocolates, but strangely she doesn''t take it. That should have been the first sign something was amiss, but with his limited interactions with people, he just didn''t know. ¡°Um. Um. I li- li- like you! Pl- please go out wi- with m- me!¡± David was proud of himself that moment. Not only did he get the courage to ask her out, but he brought the flowers and chocolates even though it was embarrassing. However, one word would completely ruin him. ¡°Gross.¡± That word she said triggered a tsunami wave of laughter in the classroom. ¡°Dude! Seriously!? HAHAHA!¡± ¡°That confession *giggles* was a little too strong.¡± ¡°How embarrassing.¡± David dropped the flowers and chocolates, then ran out the room into the bathroom. ******************** His second traumatizing event. In 6th grade, David was waiting patiently for class to start. He was reading a manga when four people came to bother him. ¡°Hey kid. Don''t eat that book. I saw the way you were looking at it.¡± They start laughing and making fun of him. David frowns but otherwise ignores them. ''They''ll get bored eventually'', he thinks to himself. In the middle of one of their giggle fits, a girl comes over with an angry expression. ¡°Hey you guys! Lay off!¡± ¡°Aw come on. We were just having a little fun. Right Dillan?¡± ¡°My name is David.¡± The girl is clearly upset. ¡°Just leave him alone! He hasn''t done anything to you!¡± ¡°Alright, alright! Sheesh! Let''s go.¡± ¡°Hey, you alright?¡± ¡°Yeah. You didn''t have to do anything though. They would''ve gotten bored eventually.¡± ¡°I can''t just sit back and watch someone get bullied. *sigh* Oh well enough about that. What''s your name?¡± ¡°Da- David. David Lewis.¡± ¡°Nice to meet you David. I''m Nia Williams. Is that a manga you''re reading? What''s it called?¡± ¡°¡±Wam Wam Supah Slam!¡± It''s more of a gag manga than serious.¡± ¡°Ah. I''ve read up to chapter 7 before I got tired of waiting for it to update.¡± They talk and laugh. David learns she''s an avid reader just like him. Whenever they went to class, they would greet each other and talk about what they read. In a month they had become good friends. She gave David her phone number and told him to text her when he got bored. The more they talked the more David fell for her. David went to Keimi for advice. ¡°I really like her. I want to ask her out.¡± ¡°...Maybe you should take it slow. I''m not saying its a bad thing to like someone, but you shouldn''t try to assume she likes you just because she texts you a lot.¡± ¡°Maybe you''re right.¡± David smirks. His ego gets a bit too big. ''She might be jealous. You''re cute and all, but I would never ever ask you out. You''re my best friend. Even if you were to say yes, the relationship would probably eventually end, and things would just end up being awkward between us.'' The week after this talk, he had finally mustered up the courage to confess to her. This time he would not give her anything. He had at least learned from that other incident. ¡°I like you. Even though we''re friends, I would like to be more than friends if you''re okay with it.¡± Her face morphs into one of total disgust. ¡°Um. Maybe we should just stay friends.¡± ¡°...Okay. That''s fine.¡± The problem is that after that day, she never texted or called him again. People had heard about his confession. "Did he really think he had a chance with her?" "Sad thing is that she felt sorry for him." "Ouch. Poor guy." "You''re so creepy that even that girl who''s nice to everyone started avoiding you. How does that feel?" "Ahahaha! He thought he had a chance! There isn''t a single person alive who would want to go out with you!" "My sides!" "She talked about you behind your back and thought you were disgusting." "Yeah. She said the only reason she even talked to you because she felt sorry for you." ¡°Maybe she thought he was gonna eat her.¡± He decided that day that he would never confess ever again. Flashback end: ********************** ¡°Wait. I think I heard wrong. Could you repeat that?¡± ¡°I''m asking you if you could go out with me.¡± David thinks, ''I never wanted to ask her out. First I''m a loser and thought there''s no way she could like me. Second I value her friendship more than anything else. I do really like her, but if I reject her things would still be awkward between us, so I''ll go with my heart.'' ¡°I... also like you. I never had imagined that I would have a chance with you. I wanted you to always be my friend so I kept these feelings inside.¡± ¡°That''s great. Okay, lets kiss.¡± ¡°Uh huh?¡± ¡°We agreed to go out. Maybe it would be better for you to close your eyes.¡± David closed his eyes. He has never been more nervous in his life. The next thing that happened would be the moment that he would never forget. Chapter 2: People Suck David was waiting for the kiss. He was nervous thinking, ''I can''t believe I''m about to kiss my best friend!'' What he got instead of a kiss was something splattering against his face. ''Huh?'' David opened his eyes. Keimi is nowhere to be seen. Instead there were around 7 people brandishing balloons. He wipes the paint off his face. David angrily yelled, ¡°What are you doing here? Where''s Keimi? Why did you throw a paint balloon at me?¡± A girl answers him. ¡°We''re Keimi''s friends. Nothing against you guy, but she asked us for a favor.¡± ¡°She just told us to come here and keep pelting you with these balloons.¡± A boy bluntly tells him. ¡°Wha? Stop!¡± David pleads, but if falls on death ears. They keep throwing balloons at him until they run out. Someone then took pictures. ¡°I got the pics!¡± ¡°Good job.¡± David starts to get mad. ¡°I don''t care what you do to me, but I won''t allow you to talk bad about my best friend! She is the only light in my world! She treats me with kindness even though she doesn''t have to, so shut up!¡± ¡°I''ve never seen him get angry like this before. She must be really important to him.¡± Another girl said astonished. ¡°David just give it a rest already.¡± Keimi walks in. ¡°Keimi, stay away from them! They''re saying you set this up! They''re trying to frame you!¡± ¡°That''s because I did set it up.¡± ¡°...Are they forcing you to say this? We can get-¡± ¡°Enough David! Just stop it already. You look pathetic. I did this because I want you to get lost. Stay away from me from now on. I was afraid you wouldn''t get the hint unless I did something this extreme. You were always dense when it comes to human interactions.¡± David was silent. He then suddenly drops to his knees and cries. ¡°UWAAAAAA!¡± He slams his fist into the ground repeatedly. A girl chuckles saying, ¡°Keimi I think you broke him.¡± ¡°Whatever, that''s not my problem. Let''s go.¡± They start heading out the gym. ¡°WAIT!¡± They stop in their tracks. ¡°Why? What made you do this? Was it something I did? Did I hurt you in any way?¡± ¡°*sigh* There is a guy that I always liked, but he''s really popular with the girls. His name is Rory Pierce. I never thought I had a shot at him, so imagine my surprise when in one of my classes he decides to team up with me for a school project. We got along fine, so I decided to ask Rory out. You know what he said? He said that since I''m your only friend he wouldn''t feel right just going in between us like that. You ruined my chances with him!¡± ¡°...That''s it? You threw away our friendship over some guy?¡± ¡°Save it. The only reason I even hung around you was because your siblings were famous. I thought you would eventually become famous too, but you''re too much of a loser to ever do that.¡± ¡°...I. Won''t. Forgive. You.¡± ¡°Whatever. Everyone we''ve wasted enough time.¡± They leave. David was crying but then he suddenly stopped. He had something akin to an epiphany. ''So even she is just like them. These people. This humanity. Why did I ever believe in them? Why did I ever want to become friends with them even though they humiliated me? Why did I always want to help them even though they took advantage of me? It was because of her. She was the symbol I always had of humanities'' kindness. Even that was a lie. I now know the truth. I have to thank you Keimi. I always racked my brain thinking about this. Why are humans so damn malicious? It''s because it''s their nature. Why do big countries take advantage of little countries just so they can swindle their resources? It''s because it''s their nature. It''s human nature for the strong to bully the weak. The answer is now clear to me. I must become the strong. When I become the strong, should I bully the weak? Should I bully the former strong? Should I show them the same pain they showed me? No! I refuse to become like them. Humanity disgusts me. I would never forgive myself if I become something disgusting like them. I don''t want anything to do with them. From now on and forever, I will become a loner. I will surpass my yesterday self so no one will ever become a threat to me again.'' He makes his way home. There are people laughing at him. ¡°Did you decide to eat paint and the paint got mad at you?¡± ¡°Now now guy, paint is for your paper, not for your stomach.¡± David was different. If it were before, he would''ve ran home to save himself from embarrassment, but now David has a look of indifference on his face. He''s walking like its a leisurely stroll in the park. He goes to the place where Keimi showed him. Man has yet to claim it. It''s one of the few places that nature can be seen in the city. David stays there for a while, and the sun starts to set. ''I always loved the sunset, and now I know why. It represents the end of the day, a day that will never come back again, but that''s okay. If the sun never set, one side would be turned into a scorching desert, another side a frozen wasteland. Stagnation is death. New species evolve when the environment changes. Those that can''t change perish. The only sure thing in this universe is change. This is why I love the sunset. It represents change. Like the sunset, I must change as well.'' David makes it home. He still has paint on him and its getting on the floor, but he doesn''t care. He makes his way to the room. His sister yells out, ¡°Mom! David is getting paint on the floor!¡± His mom walks in ¡°Oh god, you''re getting it everywhere! What''s wrong with you? Clean this up!¡± David ignores them both and heads to his room locking the door behind him. His mother and sister are in a daze. ¡°Mom, does something seem... off about David?¡± ¡°I wouldn''t know, I''ve never paid enough attention to him to answer that question.¡± David was looking through his bookshelf. He found what he was looking for. Pictures of him and Keimi, philosophy of the goodness of human nature, and books teaching someone on how to make friends. He took a trash bag and threw it all away. This took up a big chunk of his space. All that were left were math and science books. ''Hmmm... Come to think of it, I''ve always enjoyed math and science. It''s because of the people who happened to be blood related to me that I didn''t enjoy it. It was because I was always trying to compete with those jackass siblings of mine, even though I never stood a chance. Well no more of that. From now on I will learn for me. I wonder, now that I''m not being held back by trying to impress anyone, how far will I be able to learn? My only goal is to surpass the person that I was yesterday.'' David cleans himself up. He is reading his math book trying to solve all the problems when he hears a knock on the door. He ignores it. ¡°David me and your mother want to talk to you! Open up now!¡± David sighs. He''s not going to get any reading done at this rate. ''Might as well see what they want so they can leave.'' He opens the door. ¡°What do you want?¡± ¡°You have gotten paint all over the floor!¡± They went on a tirade about how he''s not like his siblings and that he should clean the mess up. ¡°I''m not going to do it.¡± ¡°Pardon?¡± ¡°We have an advanced robot that can clean those stains far better than I can. I told you. I''m not going to clean it.¡± ¡°To talk back to your own parents! Who do you think you are?¡± ¡°I''m no one important, but that doesn''t matter. I still stand by my statement. We done here?¡± ¡°...¡± David has never once talked back to them. ¡°Well since you''re here, I need a favor. I''m planning on being the championship junior MMA fighter. Their gym is the best in the city. I want the money for it.¡± David''s father scoffs saying, ¡°What do you think you can do?¡± ¡°I told you. I''m going to become champion.¡± ¡°...Well your attitude may have changed, but it sounds like something you need to be a junior MMA fighter. Fine. I''ll give you the money. Go be the best like your siblings. It''s good that you finally stopped being lazy.¡± In reality, David has no plans to be the best. He has no plans to ever even enter a tournament. He''s just using them as a means to an end. The next day at school, people are still making fun of him for what happened. He pays it no mind. Everyone is doing their best to try to get a reaction out of him but he''s not doing anything. He''s just reading. ''It''s foolish to get angry or upset at snakes that bite you when you touch them, or at birds that fly away when you approach them. These things are in their nature. Humans are naturally disgusting creatures. This is their nature.'' The bullies are getting frustrated. Try as they might, he just keeps ignoring them. ¡°I thought he would be a wreck after Keimi abandoned him.¡± ¡°It''s not fun messing with someone who doesn''t react. Let''s just fight him instead!¡± After school he''s on his way home. He sees some people blocking his way. He tries to go around but they just keep going to him. ¡°Tch.¡± David says annoyed. He doesn''t run. He knows what''s coming. Every time they hit him David just gave them a defiant look. ¡°This isn''t as fun as I thought it would be.¡± ¡°I give up.¡± They walk away. A week passes. David goes to the MMA gym. Here you can learn a lot of styles to see which style best suits you. When David enters, he is very impressed. People doing tai kwondo, boxing, there''s even muay thai mixed in there. He''s getting excited. He goes up to the register. A huge man is sitting there. He asks, ¡°Hello. Can I help you?¡± If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°I would like to register for this gym.¡± ¡°I''m sorry, but we do not have sumo wrestling as an option here.¡± ¡°...I''m not here for sumo wrestling.¡± ¡°Well kid, I have to warn ya, this gym is a lot more intense than most. Even the beginner class is tough.¡± ¡°That''s fine.¡± ¡°Okay. If you''re really sure, we will need you to read and sign this waiver and pay a $50.00 fee per month. Before you begin to participate in the classes you will be evaluated for fitness.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± ¡°I''ll ask again kid, are you sure you want to do this?¡± ¡°Positive.¡± He reads the waiver. He gets a little spooked, but he reminds himself that if he were to quit, he would stagnate, and nothing would change. After signing it, he goes to the changing room to change into the gym clothes he just bought. He then goes into a room to get his fitness evaluated. It went about as well as you expected. A different guy had evaluated him. ¡°You have the physical fitness of a 50 year old quadriplegic. Just so you know, this isn''t hyperbole. I''ve literally seen a 50 year old quadriplegic move the same distance as you are able to run. You should quit.¡± ¡°I told you. I won''t quit. Give me everything you teach to everyone else. I''ll manage.¡± ¡°Your body may be in terrible, terrible condition, but you do have heart, even if it is filled with burger grease. Alright kid. Starting tomorrow we''ll start your pre-class training. As you are now, you wouldn''t last a second in the beginner class. Come here at 7pm sharp. Make sure you eat before 5.¡± He nods and heads home. ''This is going to be the first step. In order for me to become a good loner, I have to be 3x stronger and 3x smarter than everyone else. A loner cannot last very long being weak.'' After school he goes into the store. ¡°Hey kid. The usual 3 double cheese burgers and chilly fries?¡± ¡°No. Today give me chicken strips and a salad to go with it.¡± ¡°...How hard are they bullying you to force you to eat a salad?¡± ¡°I''m doing this of my own free will.¡± David says annoyed. After he eats, he takes a bus and goes to a sports store to get more gym clothes. He heard snickers from people inside the store but he paid them no mind. David makes it to the gym. He sees people training and thinks, ''There is no way I could do that now. Well that''s more motivation to try harder.'' A student from the beginner class approaches him. ¡°Good you''re here. Let''s get started.¡± They both walk to a room in the back. The beginner class student says, ¡°First we''ll start with warm ups. Do exactly as I do. First, stick your right leg out.¡± He does. ¡°Now bend your right leg while keeping your upper body upright.¡± He does. ¡°Bend down more!¡± He''s struggling but he manages to do it. ¡°Now stay in this position until I say stop.¡± He stayed in that position for about 2 seconds before he collapsed. ¡°Terrible! Every time you fail you have to start all over. You can''t even get through this simple warm up? Again!¡± Later on, ¡°You failed again! 10 laps around the gym. You got 10 minutes or you will be standing with your arms out for half an hour!¡± Later on, ¡°Pitiful! Give me as many push ups as you can muster!¡± Later on, ¡°At least do 1 push up! Why are you even here!?¡± He stayed until it was 9:30 when the main class ended. He didn''t even finish his first exercise. ¡°How do you think you''ll survive this gym if you can''t even get through the first exercise? I''ll seriously consider dropping if I were you.¡± The beginner class student leaves. ''*sigh* I didn''t even get through the first exercise. This means that if I were to complete it, I would have surpassed my previous self.'' There are some people still here even after classes stopped. Some are sparring while others are practicing moves. David finds an open spot and starts practicing the right bent leg exercise. He still only lasts about 2 seconds before collapsing. The people in the gym with him are snickering. He keeps practicing even after everyone leaves. The building is set up so that you could leave at any time and the building automatically locks. With facial recognition software in the security cameras, you won''t get far trying to steal something, so they never worry too much about thieves. He leaves at 11:30 and heads home. ''Okay. I''m going to start working out at the gym on the weekends. This isn''t gonna cut it.'' He returns 2 days later. The beginner students says, ¡°Oh. I''m actually surprised you showed up again today.¡± ¡°I told you already, I''m not going to quit.¡± ¡°Good answer. Now lets see if you can do better. Stick your right leg out and bend it just like last time.¡± David does that. This time he lasted 3 seconds before collapsing. ¡°Yes. My personal best. 3 seconds.¡± ¡°...That''s not something to be proud of.¡± David however is still satisfied. He has successfully beaten his old self. That means he''s improving. After class ended. He practiced like last time, and stayed until midnight. That day''s routine continued on Friday. On Saturday, the classes are early. On this day, the advanced class and beginner class get together so that they can give the beginners demonstrations. The head instructor decided to give David a break since it would be good to show him an example of what the advanced class can do. Who David saw in the advanced class surprised him. It was Rory Pierce, the guy who Keimi stabbed David in the back for. The beginner student who is teaching him notices that David is looking at him. ¡°You probably recognize him don''t you? That person is famous in this city. He''s our top fighter. It''s him that''s usually winning the tournaments for us.¡± ¡°...I see.¡± ''Not only is he the top fighter, but I hear that he has 3 girlfriends at the same time, and they all agreed to it! You were born with everything while I have to eek out my existence. You even managed to bring that bitches'' true colors out. Well, I personally have nothing against you. You have never done me wrong. I can see why Keimi would go so far though. He is quite handsome. Are those sparkles in the background!? DAMMIT! I''M NOT GAY I''M NOT GAY I''M NOT GAY I''M NOT GAY-!'' When the combined classes were over, he headed for the back of the gym. That''s where the gym equipment is held. He hears the snickers, but he doesn''t care, as he''s here to exercise. They''re not bothering him, so he doesn''t care about them. He jogs on the treadmill for 3 seconds before he has to stop, repeatedly, for an hour. Curls and bench pressing follow that and went just as terrible. He leaves after 2 hours. After he left, he heard full blown laughter coming from inside. ''They''re a lot nicer than I expected. They''re polite enough to wait till I leave before they make fun of me. Anyway that doesn''t matter. This was the first week. I''m stronger than the me who started. Next week will be the same.'' He goes into his home worn out. The rest of the day he spends reading until he falls asleep. *************** 2 months later. The people in the gym were surprised at David''s rapid improvement. He had started joining the beginner classes around 3 weeks ago. There is a problem though. David refuses to throw a punch in spars. When it comes to blocking, the beginners have a fairly difficult time trying to hit him. This is why whenever someone fights David, it usually ends in a draw. ¡°David. Your next opponent is me.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Everyone, including David, says dumbfounded. The instructor,Heraclio Maes Hinojosa, doesn''t give him the time to react. ¡°Ugh.¡± Even when he blocks, the force is just too much for him. It''s starting to look sad. ¡°Wait instructor, time out!¡± ¡°There are no time outs in life!¡± The instructor keeps pummeling David. In the middle of his beating, David has another epiphany. ''Even if I''m hesitating to hurt someone, they''ll never show me the same kind of mercy. That''s the way humans are. If I don''t protect me who will?'' Something snaps inside his mind. His look changes from hesitation to total apathy. Finally, the last traces of his old self had died. When Heraclio was about to throw another punch, he actually steps into it with his left foot, blocks with his left arm so that the blow only grazes his arm, then steps with his right foot and punches with his right arm. Heraclio is presently surprised. Something like that required precise timing. He never knew David had that kind of talent. Heraclio was proud, but if he knew what thought processes had just occurred inside David''s mind, he would have regretted it. David sees humans as cockroaches. He gets the same disgusting feeling around humans as he does with mice and other vermin. Now usually, you''re not going to go into a forest or a sewer to specifically hunt down cockroaches. It''s only when they enter your territory that you begin to act. Starting from that day, anyone who attacks David outside the gym gets crippled in some way. When David crippled them, he felt, nothing. Just like how you don''t feel anything but disgust when you step on a cockroach, or feel relief when a dangerous predator is no longer a threat, David no longer saw humans as humans. It''s not that he sees other people as beneath him, as David''s self confidence is lower than ever. He just doesn''t consider himself as part of their group. If Keimi was the one that unlocked this new mode of thought, then the instructor was the one that opened the door. Chapter 3: Your Breath Stinks ¡°Wow.¡± ¡°How did he do that?¡± The advanced class fighters are chatting. Right now there''s a match going on in the advanced class. Every time these two people fight, everyone always stops what they''re doing to watch this match. Right now the known top fighter in their gym, Rory Pierce, is having a difficult time. ''It''s almost like he can see through all my moves! How does he do that!?'' Rory''s opponent parries him again. As if he was just leading him on the entire time, a decisive blow lands on Rory. Rory thinks to himself, ''He is just too amazing! While I''m thinking 1 or 2 moves ahead, he''s thinking 3 or 4! Even though I''m stronger and faster than him, I still can''t land a decisive blow!'' The instructor announces the results. ¡°Winner. David Lewis.¡± They shake hands as it is customary in the gym to do so. David gets changed and starts to head home. ¡°David. Wait up.¡± It''s his instructor, Heraclio Maes Hinojosa. ¡°David, the growth that you''ve shown in these past 4 years is truly abnormal. You are so strong, yet you refuse to fight in the tournaments. Why?¡± ¡°I''m not trying to impress anyone. It''s as simple as that.¡± ¡°Why do you work so hard if you are not trying to impress anyone? I mean, seriously. You would be hard pressed to find someone who works so hard and not let people know of their results.¡± ¡°There is only one reason I work so hard. I''m trying to surpass my yesterday self. As long as I can do that, nothing else matters.¡± David said with utter indifference. The instructor contemplates saying something, then says, ¡°We''re having a party tomorrow for the anniversary of the gym''s opening. Do you want to come?¡± ¡°No thanks.¡± ¡°You never go to any events or parties, nor do you ever talk to anyone. All you do is just stay here to train. Don''t you ever get tired of that?¡± ¡°Not at all. Now if there''s nothing else we need to talk about, I will go.¡± David leaves and heads home. The instructor shakes his head and sighs. ''I''m really worried about that kid.'' He is completely unrecognizable from his 7th grade self. Even David himself looks in the mirror and has a hard time believing it''s him. 4 years have passed. He''s gotten a growth spurt, and now stands at 5''10¡± with an athletic build. He grew his hair out a little and also sports beard stubble. Some would say that he looks handsome, but due to his permanent frown, no one would notice. A person looking at him would never believe that he had once been obese. He works at a bookstore part-time, which is at 10 hours per week. He never really does anything there as the cashier is an android. All he is responsible for is sometimes loading books when they come in, cleaning when the bots are under maintenance, and closing. David mostly spends his time reading. He is saving up money for a new system coming out. David is getting excited. Due to his brother''s invention of quantum reality emulation, the governments of the world have collaborated and made a near 100% immersion virtual reality game called New Reality. It has done well for Michael, as he is now a trillionaire, one of the world''s first. Now, there were always virtual reality games before New Reality, but when you play them, you feel like you''re a Super Mario 64 character. There is a reason that David wants to play the game, and no, it doesn''t have anything to do with money, adventure, romance, or fame. He just wants solitude. David lives in a mega city. Solitude is hard to come by even for a person actively seeking to be alone. At home he is constantly bothered by his family, mostly his sister. In the library, he has to deal with obnoxious people talking and playing around even when he''s trying to read. When he goes into a private booth in the library, the librarians constantly check on him every ten minutes to make sure he''s not masturbating. Work, school, and his gym are self explanatory. In two weeks, he will buy the game. The virtual planet in New Reality is 1.5x bigger than the real planet Google, um Earth. The virtual planet''s land area encompasses 50% of the surface instead of our 30%. Only 18% of the world has been explored. With that much space, he can just go into the wilderness and never have to see another person ever again. There''s no risk of dying in real life. Time passes 5x faster in game. It has only been out for 2 years, and already has over half a billion people playing. Well it''s no surprise. People have so much free time it''s a surprise its not higher. A person needs to be 16 to play, but due to having insufficient funds, he decided to get a job. Most of the people in his grade had started playing a year ago. He would be behind them, but he''s not trying to compete with them, so he doesn''t care. The next day, David goes to school. The name of his school is Jefferson High, and it''s been two weeks since school started. He still hasn''t dropped out of his old habits from when he was obese, such as wearing plain clothes that are too big to fit him and preferring to conceal himself as much as possible. It''s been a while since he went to school early. His sister had decided to pour hot water on him while he was asleep. Rather than being mad, he was impressed that she was not only able to enter, but even managed to get the water to him with his paranoia being at savant levels. He had placed 10 locks on his door. If that had failed an alarm would have sounded if she tripped the lasers. Leave it to her to do that. Classes haven''t started yet, so people are hanging around at random spots. David looks for a place devoid of people. There''s a spot in the corner. He sits there and starts playing with his augmented reality glasses, or AR glasses for short. He''s running a simulation currently on the evolution of the universe if the strong force were 30% weaker. While he''s immersed he hears a voice. ¡°Hey, you!¡± David was kind of startled but then he remembered something. ''Someone''s calling to somebody in my direction. Well it couldn''t be me as I have no friends.'' ¡°David! I''m talking to you!¡± ''David is a pretty common name. There is no way she is calling for me.'' ¡°David Lewis!¡± ''...She sounds troublesome. Better to just ignore her and hope she goes away.'' She steps in front of David. ¡°Hey, I know you heard me calling you.¡± David sighs and takes off his glasses. When he looks at who it is talking to him, he is surprised. Standing in front of David is a long blond haired girl with blue eyes, and an in shape body with C cup breasts and a slim waist. ''Wow. She''s very pretty. What could a person like her want with me? Most people in this school don''t even know who I am.'' In school, David''s social life is in a very peculiar situation. When he started injuring people who fought him, the bullies started to back off, and people had feared him. This was only temporary. Due to him losing weight, wearing plain clothes, and not standing out, people gradually forgot about him. It''s only when he goes to a place where he''s forced to go with a lot of people that bullies remember him, and start talking about him. He would never throw the first strike. It would eventually escalate into bullies trying to fight him. He would fight and injure them. Repeat. He never did any harm until you touched him, then all bets are off. So now we have a situation where a small minority of people fear David, a slightly larger minority bully him, and the vast majority forget about him even if they see him multiple times. ¡°Um. Can I help you?¡± ¡°I just wanted to see the person who beat me at getting the best awards for mathematics and chemistry.¡± ¡°Oh. Well I''m sorry to tell you, but I don''t know who got the best in mathematics and chemistry. I didn''t go to the award''s ceremony. You should ask someone else.¡± ¡°Are you playing dumb?¡± ¡°I''m not gonna lie. I''m lost. Why are you here and so angry at me? I''ve never even seen you before.¡± ¡°How could you not know who I am? I am Cecile Vincent, vice president of the Honor''s Society, top student in our grade, and am in THREE OF YOUR CLASSES!¡± ''Oh god, she''s one of those smarties who have to be the best at everything. Well, I do seem to recall an angry stare facing my direction in advanced chemistry. I just ignored it.'' ¡°Okay miss vice president. That''s all fine and dandy, but why are you here?¡± ¡°I''m here to tell you that this year I won''t lose to you! I''ve been studying extra hard!¡± ¡°Okay.¡± ¡°No one has ever beaten me scholastically. Imagine my surprise when I see that it had been some gross, creepy guy to do it.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± ¡°Mark my words David, I''m going to get the best in everything just like how it used to be.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± She then angrily steps off. ''That was weird.'' He puts his AR glasses back on and continues with the simulation. These past few years, David has become a force to be reckoned with. He kept achieving his goal of surpassing his old self. The problem is that he has no self awareness, and doesn''t know that he''s a force to be reckoned with. He has been so focused entirely on himself that he still doesn''t see that he can compete with other people. In his gym, he thinks that Rory is taking it easy on him when they spar. He''s not. He genuinely doesn''t know that he had been picked as having one of the best scores in his grade. When people fight him and they lose, he thinks that they''re just taking it easy on him since he''s such an easy target. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. The bell rings for homeroom. David sits in the back left corner of the class playing with his AR glasses. Some students are talking about having a match on their AR glasses with a 3rd person shooter called Guns Blazing 5. It gives a 3-D layout and only lets you see your avatar''s background. People may have gotten smarter using the brain chips, but the amount of knowledge people know is largely the same as it was 60 years ago. All the chips have done is enable a person to go through entertainment faster. While they are setting up the game, a student runs in yelling ¡°Hey, hey! She''s coming!¡± The guys start causing a commotion. "Okay everyone let''s hold off on our match. I want to see what she''s wearing." "You didn''t have to say that. We were going to do that anyway." "Honestly. You boys are such perverts." A girl frustratingly says. "I''m a super healthy young male. Nothing wrong with that." The person they are talking about walks in. Even David who shuns all human contact can''t help but stare. Walking in is a girl so beautiful it borders on absurd. Her name is Luciana Leavitt, ace of the basketball team, part time model, and daughter of a billionaire. Her father is the CEO of Energy Solutions. She stands at 5''8¡±, beautiful face even without makeup, straightened black hair that reaches down to the middle of her back, DD breasts, slim waist, and an ass that refuses to quit. She rarely smiles and gives off an air of indifference like an ice princess. Despite all her blessings she has never once looked down on anyone. "Good morning Luciana. How are you this fine day?" "I''m fine." "Luciana, I really like your shirt. Where did you get it?" "Wall mart." "Leave it to you to make it look so good." They kept on praising her. ''God damn! Get off her dick!'' David yells in his mind. Luciana doesn''t really care for this attention, but she knows she can''t stop it. Right now she''s wearing plain clothes. It doesn''t matter what she does. She can''t help but attract attention. Some of girls in the class are giving her strange looks, but they don''t dare talk bad to her. ¡°You all are starting to annoy me.¡± Luciana calmly says. To the other students, this is the equivalent of someone busting out a gun and saying the same thing. They immediately scatter and whisper among themselves. ¡°She talked to me this time before she got upset!¡± ¡°Aw man, I didn''t get a chance to talk to her. Lucky bastard.¡± ''Her fan club is so annoying,'' grumbles David in his mind. The next moment, someone who everyone wants to go away comes in. His name is Brett Lowe, a 6''3¡± muscular build juggernaut. He walks in like he had a bad day. You know he''s going to be a problem because he''s the only bully that has been named so far. ¡°What are all of you lookin'' at?¡± Everyone except one person looks away. That person had sent Brett a glare. He gulps and immediately averts his eyes from that person. The person in question was Luciana. Now you may be wondering, what''s the daughter of a billionaire doing at a public school? Why doesn''t she have bodyguards? Why is everyone afraid of her? The answer to all these questions is one. She is wrath incarnate. ************************** Flashback: There was an incident in the last school she went to. She went to a high school well known for housing the cities'' wealthiest people. Luciana had always had a tough time making friends. Unlike David, who had trouble making friends because he was looked down upon, Luciana had trouble making friends because people felt inadequate around her. She still had people that hung around her though, even if they were only using her for status, so things weren''t so bad until something happened. There was another girl at the school known for her beauty named Penelope Strunner. Unlike Luciana, she was arrogant and haughty, and was always surrounded by her underlings. Penelope had never paid attention to Luciana until a vote was cast on who the most beautiful girl in their grade was. Luciana had won by a landslide. She isn''t one to care about these sorts of things, so she just ignored it. Penelope however was furious. She gathered up two of her friends and started bullying Luciana. Penelope had made one mistake though. Luciana is no push over. It came with no warning. She just started wailing on them. All four of them got suspended. When they came back to school, Penelope had gathered up the rest of her friends. They were 29 people strong. She planned to ambush Luciana on her way out of school. When the police had arrived, they saw something that made them shiver: 29 people laying on the ground in pain and a beautiful girl covered in blood standing over them all. It wasn''t her blood. She was expelled. No other private school would accept her. Finally, she was placed in Jefferson High in 9th grade on February. *********************** As for the reason why the bully, Brett is afraid of her, he had seen the new student and liked what he saw. He got a little handsy and touched her butt. David had arrived late that day for homeroom. When he opened the door. He saw a knocked out Brett being repeatedly hit in the face even though he''s unconscious. Luciana had looked at who opened the door with a look of madness. David had slowly backed away, and closed the door without stepping into the classroom. He headed home early that day because he had to change his pants. That was another major source of trauma for David. Flashback end: *********************** Brett looked at the seat where David was at. ¡°Hey you, move.¡± David didn''t know who he was talking to because he was focusing on his AR glasses the whole time. Brett slammed his palm on David''s desk. David didn''t even flinch. He took of his AR glasses and asked, ¡°Can I help you?¡± ¡°I usually like to sit next to the windows, but it looks like all the seats are full. I also prefer to sit in the back, so the seat you''re sitting in is my favorite spot. Now move it.¡± ''Pain in the ass,'' David muttered inside his head. He moved to a seat 3 rows down from him. ¡°Yeah, that''s what I thought. Your clothes are so damn lame. Haha, did you get them from a bargain bin? And what''s with you using your AR glasses all the time you nerd? Trying to look smart? HAHA!¡± David just sighed and thought, ''I miss the fat jokes. At least they were funny.'' David just continued to ignore him and use his AR glasses. ************ It is now lunch. David usually sits outside in a corner, but it is raining outside, which is why he is currently sitting at a table by himself. He used to sit on the toilet to eat, but there was a thing in 5th grade where some bullies had caught him on the toilet, flushed his lunch, and then flushed David himself. It still makes him nervous going to the bathroom to this day because of it. He had just finished eating and is reading about recursive formulas in a book when he hears some cackling. The shrill laughs were coming from the table next to him. David gives them a side glance. There are a group of girls surrounding some other girls. It appears that they are bullying her. The girls are saying, "Who still wears glasses in this day and age huh?" "Haha. Are your boobs so big that they drained your brain cells?" "When you jump do you smack yourself in the face?" "I bet she just stuffs 2 watermelons to show off." While they are talking about her, they were also eating her food. ¡°You don''t really need to eat this. Your boobs have more than enough nutrients.¡± David looks at the girl in question. She looks so sad. She''s one year above David. He thinks, ''Looks like she''s eating with her friends. Judging from how silent they are, I guess that they refuse to help her. Well, not my problem. Anyway those shrill girls are destroying my precious reading time. I won''t allow that.'' David says, "Hey. You people.", to the group of bullies. The girls who were having a merry time at someone else''s expense looked at David. "Could you stop it with your yakking for five minutes? I''m trying to read." The leader of the girls speaks. "Who do you think you are talking to us like that? Don''t you know who I am?" "Who I am and who you are doesn''t matter. Your breath stinks. Please shut up." Now those girls are upset. They start walking towards David. "You sure talk a big game for a friendless loser." "Yeah. Look at him. No one wants to sit with him so now he''s trying to take it out on us." "Aw poor boy. You can make friends someday. You can do it!" They all start laughing. David talks. "Hmph. What you said is correct." The girls weren''t prepared for him to admit it. "I am friendless like you said. To this schools social norms, I am also a loser. However, pointing these things out won''t make your breath stink any less." "You little..." They start throwing food at David. He didn''t move from his spot. When they threw applesauce at his head, he just wiped it from his eyes. ¡°Hey you!¡± Someone pops up. ¡°Do you think I''ll just let you talk about my girlfriend?¡± It''s Brett, the bully in David''s homeroom. He has two other people next to him. He recognizes them. They also bully David from time to time. David knows things are about to get complicated. Chapter 4: The virtual reality chapter? Finally! ¡°Hey you!¡± Someone pops up. ¡°Do you think I''ll just let you talk about my girlfriend?¡± It''s Brett, the bully in David''s homeroom. He has two other people next to him. David recognizes them. They also bully him from time to time. David knows things are about to get complicated. David casually said, ¡°If you don''t want people to talk about your girlfriend''s breath, then you shouldn''t let her eat decaying animals on the side of the road. Tell her to eat more people food.¡± The cafeteria right now is quiet. No one would dare make fun of them. They are the top bullies in the school. Even the seniors stay clear of them. They have no qualms about breaking every bone in your body. "You''ve done it now." one of Brett''s henchman laughs out. ¡°Kick his ass baby!¡± Brett''s girlfriend yells out. They start to surround him. David is still leisurely reading like he''s not about to get into a brawl. Brett swipes David''s book away and throws it in the garbage. David gets up leisurely, stretches, and shrugs. He then says, ¡°Now that was uncalled for. Just because you don''t know how to read doesn''t mean you should take it out on books." One of Brett''s henchmen, having enough of David yells, "I''m gonna shut that smart mouth of yours!" and starts rushing towards him. David''s look then changes into one of a person that''s about to squash a bug. Henchman #1 throws a punch at David. David blocks with his forearm. He throws more punches at him, but David is dodging swatting the blows away like they are annoying flies. David gets bored of him and elbows him in the face. He had just preformed a muay thai move. Henchman #1 lands against the wall and holds his face. He is bleeding profusely. David looks at him. ''Looks like he''s out.'' The other henchman comes out. ¡°Looks like you know some muay thai. Let me show you why everyone here fears us.¡± Henchmen #2 gets into a boxing stance. The guy practices boxing and is fairly good at it. He does his bob and weave and starts trying to pressure David. David then immediately changes his stance and does low kicks on his leg. Every time he tries to pressure David, he does a low kick on his legs. The guy frustratingly says, ¡°How many styles do you know?¡± David calmly says, ¡°I took bits and pieces from different styles that I thought suited me and made my own style.¡± ¡°Enough going easy. I''m going to finish this now.¡± He tries to confuse David, then attempts to finish him with an uppercut, but David saw all his moves coming. He completely dodged all his faints, and when he moved in to uppercut David, he had dodged it while performing a spinning back kick to his chest. He flew out the door and landed outside in a puddle. Brett finally shows up. ¡°I''m the third strongest person in this school. Aside from Rory and Luciana, no one here can beat me!¡± Brett gets in a judo stance and tries to grab David. He towers over David by a good 5 inches. He then starts charging at David. ''Time for a physics lesson. What happens when the center of gravity is not above the base of support? It collapses. It''s too bad. You all might have won if you all had attacked me at the same time, you fucking idiots.'' The arm that he used to try and grab David was put in a hold. He couldn''t force himself out without risking injury. David then kicked his knee in so that he became unbalanced. What happened next shocked everyone. David had preformed a shoulder flip on someone much bigger than him, and made Brett land on the table. He had landed in some unfortunate person''s food. ¡°EEEEEEP!¡± was what David heard from the person whose lunch he just ruined. David sighs and looks around. His work was done. He went to the garbage can, got his book out of it, then went to the bathroom to clean up. When security arrived, they saw the three in different positions on the ground and table. The guards asked around to see what was going on, and had reviewed the tapes and witnesses. It was confirmed that David was only defending himself so he didn''t get suspended. The other three didn''t get off so lucky. There were discussions going on from what David did. ¡°Who is he? Is he a new student?¡± ¡°Um he sort of looks familiar. Anyway that was awesome!¡± ¡°He fought the three of them by himself!¡± At a certain table, there existed what was called the popular clique. They didn''t purposely try to become the popular clique. It happened when Rory Pierce tried to make friends with Luciana Leavitt. She liked how Rory didn''t try to suck up to her or hit on her. They recognized that they both have the same problems of people sucking up to them. Other popular kids joined in with them. A girl made a statement about David saying, ¡°Geez, I never understood that weird kid. He is quiet most of the time not wanting to talk to anybody, yet he randomly starts talking shit to people.¡± Rory sitting at the table interjects. ¡°No, its not random. Haven''t you noticed the situations in which he starts talking shit? They all have one thing in common.¡± The others are surprised. No one had really paid any attention to David, yet he had figured out a pattern with him. Another boy at the table was now curious. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°All of the people he insulted were bullying someone. He made it so the people would start bullying him instead.¡± The girl who had called him weird had a change of heart. ¡°Wow. I didn''t know he was so selfless. I heard from someone that he hated people.¡± ¡°He does hate people. I still don''t know why he does the things that he does, but from the looks of it, the person that he hates the most is probably himself.¡± Luciana nods. She had always been curious about David. Just today in homeroom, David put up with abuse from Brett without ever fighting back, yet he dispatched him so easily. He so strong, yet he never strikes first even with verbal abuse. He saves people from being bullied, yet he hates them. Why? ******************** The next day, a bully tries their luck with David at lunch. It''s still raining so he once again is sitting at a table by himself. He starts talking bad about David for everyone to see. People were waiting to see David destroy him, yet he completely ignored the guy. That bully knows. He knows that David never strikes first, so he pushes his buttons short of hitting him. This happens repeatedly with different people. The people around are disappointed in David and they then go back to ignoring his existence. On Friday, David is on his way to Chemistry when someone walks up to him. ''Oh. It''s the girl that was bullied the other day. The fuck does she want?'' The girl speaks to him.¡°Um, excuse me.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I just wanted to thank you.¡± ¡°For what? I didn''t do that to help you. I did it because they were too loud.¡± ¡°But still, ever since that incident, those girls have left me alone. It''s all thanks to you. I''ll do everything within my power to pay you back.¡± ¡°You can pay me back right now if you want.¡± She gets excited. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Never talk to me again.¡± The excitement didn''t last long. ¡°Huh? Bu- But why? My friends and I wanted you to be our friend! You''re always alone so we wanted you to sit with us at lunch! Maybe we could even become friends!¡± David looks at her face and gets a little upset. Those eyes are the eyes of pity. ¡°Look. I''m a loner. I choose not to make friends. It''s a huge difference from the lonely. Now if you want to pay me back, just forget about me and we''ll be even.¡± ¡°*sigh* Well if that''s the way you want me to pay back my debt then I''ll do it. Sorry for bothering you.¡± She walks away. David balls up his fist. Ironically, he''s more upset with her pitying him than he was at the bullies that fought him. ***************** The day is Saturday. He decides not to go to the gym today. He hasn''t been going as much as he used to anyway. He''s going to the store that sells New Reality, called Paradigm Shift. Paradigm Shift is the name of the collaboration of entire nations'' virtual reality researchers. There are many people here getting pods so that they can play New Reality. David goes up to someone and purchases a pod for his home. It comes with delivery and installation. The installer and David go inside the truck, and it drives them to David''s address. They make it to their home and once again his parents are giving him a hard time. The mother says, ¡°Donovan. What is this? Why are you setting this up without our permission?¡± The father says, ¡°This is what I get for having such a worthless and lazy son!¡± The installer is confused. David just says ignore them and tells him to get the pod from the back. The installer puts on an exoskeleton designed to lift up up to 10x his own body weight. He grabs the pod and puts it in his room. After the installation is complete, David checks that everything is working the way its supposed to work. After the installer is done, he pays him and the guy leaves. While David was out, he had bought new locks and put them on his door. He definitely would not be disturbed. He looks at the instruction manual. David eats, drinks, and empty his bowels. He''s not going to go on any bathroom breaks. David steps into the pod. The pod automatically connects with his brain, heart, and the rest of his vitals. It monitors them to see if he''s okay. If there are any complications he will immediately be ejected. He presses a switch and falls into a deep sleep. When David opens his eyes, he ends up in a room. He looks at his hands. There''s no difference. He jumps up and down, punches, and kicks. It''s exactly the same as his body in real life. ¡°The realism is amazing!¡± While he is admiring the system, a see through person comes walking in, and he looks like one of those stereotypical androids. He speaks to David. ¡°Welcome to New Reality. My name is Ptah, and I am the AI that designed this game. We hope you enjoy our system that took years in the making.¡± ¡°Wait. You made this game by yourself? What about the scientists who help build you?¡± ¡°They only helped build my systems. They agreed on what type of world I should create, and from then on I was the one that took off from there. Even the scientists and engineers that helped build me know about as much in this world as the average person. Are there any more questions?¡± ¡°Is there a reason that the governments of the world decided to get together just to create a virtual reality game? This system costs quite a bit of money. You''re also the most advanced AI ever created, even more advanced than the AI''s that run our governments, and to create you just to make a game seems pretty suspicious.¡± ¡°That''s classified.¡± ¡°Of course it is.¡± ¡°Would you like a tutorial on how to play the game?¡± ¡°Just give me a basic rundown.¡± ¡°Very well. Your health and mana will be on the top of your vision. Open your menu with the command ''Open Menu''. Open your inventory by saying ''inventory screen''. See your status by saying ''status screen''. You can call up specific options by using this pattern.¡± ¡°Sounds simple enough.¡± ¡°Also, everyone of the same race as you starts with the same stats.¡± ¡°...What do you mean by that you racist?¡± Ptah gave him an astonished look. ¡°...I mean the different races like elves, demi humans and the like.¡± ¡°Well say that the first time.¡± ¡°...What race would you like to be? You can currently choose from 23 different-¡± ¡°Human.¡± ''All the races share the traits that make humanity disgusting, so might as well pick the most generic race to remain unnoticed. ¡°Would you like to change your appearance?¡± David ponders this. ''Do I want to change it? It would certainly help that people won''t notice me. No, fuck them. Why do I have to change just for them?'' ¡°No.¡± ¡°What will the name of your character be?¡± ¡°Name of my character?¡± David thought long and hard about this. What''s his dream? Not fame, fortune, or adventure. He wishes for solitude. He doesn''t want to make ripples. He doesn''t want attention. He wants everything he touches to remain as it was like he wasn''t even there. Something that doesn''t have any value in this world. ¡°Null. I want my name to be Null.¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Very good. There will be others that have the same name, but to differentiate, everyone has different ID numbers associated with their avatar. To locate your ID number just say ''Get ID''. In this way you can make frien-¡± ¡°Hell no. I will not get any friends. Not now. Not ever.¡± ¡°Okay. Everyone has the-¡± ¡°Ever.¡± ¡°...Where would you like to start? Your starting position is limited to the north western region of the world.¡± ¡°Huh? Why?¡± ¡°Classified.¡± ¡°Okay now that sounds fucking ominous. Not only did the governments of the world create this, but it sounds like we''re also limited based on where we stay in real life. If I didn''t know any better, I would think the governments are using New Reality as some sort of proxy war. Well, I don''t care about that as long as you guys leave me alone.¡± ¡°...Where would you like to start?¡± Null picks a town called Holdendale. It''s located in Penzance Kingdom, which itself is part of the Goldcrest Empire. The town has a population of around 20000. It''s not too big where it would be swamped with people like the major cities that number in the millions, and it''s not too small where he won''t be able to get a good class. He really had to fight his instincts not to go to the smallest towns, because he knows that''s counterproductive. Ptah then says, ¡°That ends the brief tutorial. Have a fun adventure.¡± A message appears in front of Null.
Would you like to start New Reality?
Null says yes and starts to disappear. When Null leaves, Ptah then frowns and says, ¡°Nosy prick.¡± Null starts to disintegrate and materializes in Holdendale. He looks around and notices something feels, wrong. ''Oh my god, why do I feel so weak and stupid? I feel even worse than when I used to be obese!'' He looks around. ''So I guess I''ll look around? Get stronger? Why do I feel so weak? Why do I feel, dumberer? Wait...'' ¡°Status Screen!¡±
Status Window
NameNullFame0
Level1Infamy0
RaceHumanSatiety100%
GenderMaleEndurance10/10
Main Class
None
Sub Classes
None
Titles
None
Health100/100Health Regen0.028 / sec
Mana100/100Mana Regen0.028 / sec
Strength10Dexterity10
Vitality10Charisma5
Intelligence10Wisdom10
Luck5
Attack5Defense0
Magic Defense
None
''Well that explains it. Guess this is why I''m so weak. Well I guess I''ll take a look around town.'' Null looks in his inventory while walking. There was a rusted dagger, a water sack, 10 bread rolls, a small inventory sack, and ten copper coins. He checked the inscriptions on each of his items.
Water Sack
Can hold up to 5 gallons water in a separate dimension at a much higher volume than it appears.
''Neat.''
Bread Rolls
Eat food to recover satiety and recover stamina faster.
''Also neat.''
Small inventory bag.
Able to hold things in a separate dimension, but still adds weight. To retrieve items, just open the inventory menu to pull it out.
''Good. I don''t have to hold anything. And 10 copper coins? I''m rich!''
Worn Rusty Dagger
Can''t really cut very well, but you could probably give someone Tetanus with it. Attack:2-4 Durability 3/8 0% chance of actually inflicting someone with Tetanus..
''Smartass system.'' He heads towards the guards and asks them if they know of a place where he can get a map. He goes to a map making guild. Maps for the town you start in are free. Maps in New Reality are pretty neat. When you put the map in its inventory, it pops up at the bottom left corner of your vision if you are currently at a place the map shows. He marks the areas that he thinks will be important to him later on. He marks the basic training hall, library, several restaurants, job boards, and the water fountains. He feels he''s all set. ''Now I just need to get a class then get out of town. Time flows 5x faster than real life, so I''ll have plenty of time to get away from everyone. I''ll spend the rest of my time in this game in isolation and finally achieve my dream of solitude. I would prefer to be a monk, since I already know hand to hand combat, or maybe a swordsman. If not those I''ll be an assassin so that I can become invisible to everyone. As soon as I get my class I am leaving to never see another human face. Yeah, things are looking up.'' Someone was eyeing Null and following him in the shadows. He had found Null while he was talking to a guard. After stalking him for a while, he gathered two other people. ¡°Heheheh, those are noob clothes.¡± ¡°Why did he wait so long to play? Oh well, that''s not important. The only thing that matters is that this is a good opportunity isn''t it?¡± ¡°He has terrible luck to start in the town controlled by the Red Serpent Guild. It''s time we repay him back for the humiliation he showed us.¡± The three mysterious people, who I am pretty sure you''ve already figured out, went to the guild to contact someone. ******************************** ¡°So Brett, you say that the person who has been bullying you and your friends in school just started the game?¡± ¡°Yes. We were minding our own business, then he just attacked us out of nowhere. Says we were sitting at his favorite spot. The worst part is that he threatened the security guard who watched the fight, so he didn''t get suspended like us.¡± ¡°Yeah boss, our wounds from that day still haven''t healed.¡± The boss starts to get mad. He remembered his little brother, Brett, coming home with bruises. ¡°As guild leader of Red Serpent, I will NOT allow this act to go unpunished. To go after my little brother and my subordinates... I will make this game a very difficult place for him.¡± Everyone in the room gives an evil smirk. The guild leader yells out, ¡°Get a notice out to everyone. That guy doesn''t leave this town until his debt gets paid back with interest.¡± ¡°Heheheh. Even if he could leave town, where would he go? The closest town is a week and a half walk away, and filled with monsters and bandits no level 1 person could fight. Besides, beginners can''t leave the town until 4 weeks have past.¡± ¡°I know, but I still want all my bases covered. We will make it so he doesn''t have the slightest hope.¡± ************************************** Null is walking and ponders his next move. ''Hmmm... maybe I should head straight to the warriors guild. I''ll work on getting my class and then go to the library to read up on the state of this world. I''ll then go to the basic training hall to boost my stats. Maybe I''ll also work a little first for money as long as there is not too much human contact.'' While he''s walking, four people block his path. They''re all wearing the same colors. Different shades of black, gray, and red with a bright red serpent on the front. Null doesn''t want any trouble, so he tries to go around them only to be stopped by someone''s sword. Null is clearly agitated. He says, ¡°Can I help you?¡± He then gets a good look at them. They are the people he fought in school along with one other person. ''Shit. Of course. I should''ve known. My luck has never been that good.'' ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author''s note: Hello all, and thanks for looking at my story. First, I have to say I am not nor will ever be a pro writer, no matter how popular or unpopular this story gets, so if you see any mistakes, please tell me. Also, the numbers for stats may change along the way, so if you see its different, you are not crazy. Probably. PS Fuck harems. PPS, FUCK HAREMS! Chapter 5: It can always get worse, and oh will it get worse The guild leader speaks to Null. ¡°Yes, you can help us. You see, I''ve heard that you have been bullying my little brother, and we demand payment.¡± ''Of course. I was the bully.'' ¡°*sigh* What do I have to pay with? All I have are 10 coppers, 10 rolls, and a rusty dagger.¡± The guild leader smirks saying, ¡°Your stats.¡± He swings down his sword and instantly kills Null. Null didn''t even see it coming. That move was far faster than what anyone is capable of in real life. The guild leader speaks to the rest of them, ¡°He''s either going to stall and not revive or revive in five minutes. I want everyone spread out to search for him 24/7.¡± Null was in ghost form thinking, ''What the hell was that? I didn''t even see it. Maybe I could run away from that kind of power if this was in real life, but right now I can do nothing against that. What can I do to solve this problem?'' He racks his brain over and over but then finds a solution he''s not happy with. ''There is nothing I can do against him, even if by a huge miracle I could beat him, I would still have to deal with his underlings. If I try to hide, their trackers will find me. The best plan I can think of is to just make sure he gets bored and stop. There is no plan that will work in the face of overwhelming power. Well I won''t go out without a fight.'' When the screen asks him if he wants to revive, he says yes. He revives and takes out his rusty dagger from his inventory. Someone yells, ¡°Boss! He''s over here!¡± ¡°Ha! So he''s not the type to stall out. He may be stupid, but he''s got balls.¡± One of the people Null fought at school, Henchman #2, ran over to him. With his reduced stats, Null can''t even touch him. ¡°The game''s a little different from real life huh? HAHAHA!¡± He stabs Null in the back and he instantly dies. ''Huh? I already felt weak before, but now I feel even weaker.'' ¡°Open stats screen.¡±
Status Window
NameNullFame0
Level1Infamy0
RaceHumanSatiety100%
GenderMaleEndurance10/10
Main Class
None
Sub Classes
None
Titles
None
Health80/80Health Regen0.022 / sec
Mana100/100Mana Regen0.028 / sec
Strength6Dexterity8
Vitality8Charisma5
Intelligence10Wisdom10
Luck5
Attack5Defense0
Magic Defense
None
''Well isn''t this just fucking dandy?'' Null revives again. Henchman #1 finds him first. He has a musket. David thinks, ''Hmm? Muskets? I wonder what time period thi-'' BANG! Null dies. Those bullies are at least level 150. Null doesn''t stand a chance. ********************************************************************************** This continues on for the rest of the day. When they finally get bored, his stats look pitiful. The guild leader says to Null, ¡°This concludes our repayment program. For an extra bonus, we will be blocking you from getting as many professions in this town as we can. I''m good friends with the count of this town. Good luck with the rest of your adventure in New Reality.¡± They all laugh and walk off. Null sighs. ¡°Open stat screen.¡±
Status Window
NameNullFame0
Level1Infamy0
RaceHumanSatiety100%
GenderMaleEndurance10/10
Main Class
None
Sub Classes
None
Titles
None
Health20 /20Health Regen0.005 / sec
Mana10/10Mana Regen0.003 / sec
Strength2Dexterity1
Vitality2Charisma1
Intelligence1Wisdom1
Luck1
Attack1Defense0
Magic Defense
None
''With these stats, it wouldn''t surprise me if I were the weakest anything in this game. The closest town is a two week walk from here. If I go as I am now, I''ll get killed and just end up back in this town. It will be easier to just delete my character and start over in a different town.'' ¡°Delete character.¡±
System Notice
Cannot delete character until level is at least 25. This is so people cannot take advantage of this system.
¡°Great...¡± ''My rusty dagger was dropped, and I only have 4 coppers, my water sack, my inventory sack, and 2 rolls left. So where do I go from here? Revenge? Nah. Too cliche. Besides, if I went the revenge route, I would have to be fair and pay at least a third of my grade back. Well I need to get my stats back to being weak instead of pitiful. Time to go to the training hall. I always loved training montages. I''ll be the only one seriously training in the training hall, and everyone would be like ¡°Why''s he keep training like that?¡± Then I''ll become super strong.'' He arrives at the basic training hall. ¡°You can''t come in.¡± ¡°...Come again?¡± ¡°I happen to be good friends with the leader of Red Serpent Guild. When I heard about how you beat up his family and stole his possessions, it made me furious! The only thing stopping me from killing you is that I don''t want to waste getting a murder mark for killing worthless trash like you. No training hall for you.¡± ''Ptah Dammit! Okay... so where do I go from here? I guess all I can do is hope I get lucky with a profession and get the hell out of this town.'' He arrives at the warriors guild. He first goes to the monk section. ¡°Sorry kid, nothing against you, but the count had specifically barred you from getting our class. You can learn the hand to hand combat skill though if you stay with us for a month.¡± ¡°No thanks.¡± Null knows when he''s getting duped. Skills that come outside the main class and sub class level 10x slower. He would have to be a sucker to get that. He goes to each of the different warrior branches, and they all told him the same thing. Null then decides, ''Who wants to be a warrior anyway? Assassin was really my first choice.'' He goes to the rogue guild building. They contain the tracker, thief, and assassin classes. He hears a familiar conversation.¡°You are not allowed to get the assassin class, but you can-¡± ¡°No thanks.¡± He goes to the other 2 rogue classes and they told him the same thing. ''I never really, REALLY wanted to become an assassin. I''ve always been fond of magic.'' This scene repeats with the magic guild, artillery guild, cooking guild, alchemy guild, you get the picture. ''Fuck it. I''ll just spend my time like I do in the real world and read. I don''t care anymore. What was I thinking getting my hopes up like that?'' He goes on his way to the library disgruntled. He has been hungry for a while, so he eats his two rolls. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ''Dammit, I need a job.'' He changes course and walks to a cooking place. He asks for a job with no human contact. The boss assigns him to wash dishes. After he''s done his 4 hours of work and gets paid 20 coppers, he heads to the library and reads. He reads everything he can possibly can. ********************************************************************* 2 weeks pass in game. At first Null was pretty upset, but he actually enjoyed staying in the library. Hardly no one ever came in, and he picked up lots of information about how the world works. Apparently there was a world changing event 5 years ago in game that changed the maps of the world. No one knows who or what triggered it. The results were that the demons were pushed back into the Hado Desert, and some countries in the east gained more territory. His stat points in intelligence and wisdom started leveling up the longer he read and problem solved. Apparently stat points lower than 10 get a faster growth until it hits 10. When he had finished reading his 100th book, the librarian asked him if he wanted a job there. Null figured that it''s better than washing dishes, so he accepted. He goes to his place of work and asks to resign. The restaurant boss says, ¡°I don''t care what the Count says. You have been a hard worker. Take this cooking skill book on me for all the work you''ve done.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± Null put his hand on the book.
Cooking Skill
Would you like to learn this skill?
"Yes."
Cooking Skill
¡°You have learned cooking skill. You are now able to cook food without it spontaneously combusting in your face or rotting. Some of the time.
The hell is wrong with this game? Well, I''m probably not going to level this skill. As long as food is edible and doesn''t kill me, I don''t care how it tastes.'' Null starts his work at the library the next day. At first Null had a hard time, as his stats made it so he could barely lift a book, but over time his stats recovered. He had to run all over the place, and place books in the correct place within the allotted time limit. All this so he can get paid 30 coppers a day. Null is starting to regret his decision. Well he only has to work 2 hours so its not all bad, as he spends the rest of the time reading. Besides, thanks to the work, he''s getting his stats back slowly. As he reads more and more of the history books, he sees lots of things that don''t add up. First, there are hints that before 2000 years ago in this world, the technology used to be far more advanced. It combined magic and technology, which Null calls magitech. It''s subtle, but it''s there, like someone was told to erase it and they did a sloppy job of it, or maybe someone wanted somebody to realize it. Second, there is not a single piece of information between 2000 years ago and 1800 years ago. Null checked. It''s just not there. Null brings this information to the librarian. He is far too curious. ¡°Hey librarian lady.¡± ¡°I''ve told you this many times Null, call me Mrs. Allensworth.¡± ¡°Oh. Well librarian lady, there is something I''m curious about.¡± ¡°*sigh* What is it Null?¡± ¡°Two questions. First, why did the advanced technology disappear? It appears that it was forcibly removed by someone to the point that it''s barely in the history books.¡± ¡°Ho- how did-?¡± ¡°Second, why is there not a single piece of history written between 2000 years ago and 1800 years ago? I checked. It''s like even though the technology had to go, that was a lower priority compared to keeping the contents of that period not known. Afterwards is also conveniently the time where I never hear of the advanced technology again.¡± The librarian had her mouth wide open. The librarian says, ¡°Null, if you find any information on the missing information of the past, could you bring it to me?¡±
Quest: Find the missing information
Quest Information: The head librarian of the Holdendale Library asked you to find out what happened during the missing time period. Reward: Unknown Quest Rank: A Penalty if refused: Decreased affinity with Holdendale Library. Failure if caught. It would be advisable to not tell anyone that you are researching this time period. Do you accept?
¡°Um, okay I guess?¡±
You have accepted the quest.
Null had accepted the quest without reading the information. Null then thinks, ''Hmm. I need to know what section of the library the missing information is in. Maybe I should check the quest window.'' He looks at the quest window, and is shocked to learn that he just accepted an A-rank quest. ¡°Wait. That was an A rank quest!? I thought I would just have to read in the library some more! The top guilds in the world, who number in the hundreds of thousands, who are top level players, have a low chance of beating an A rank, yet little ol'' me has to do it by himself!?¡± ¡°You could always get people to help you.¡± ¡°HAHAHA no.¡± ¡°Well before we get off track, I want you to take this book.¡± Null looks at it. Apart from the circle with a weird design on it, there doesn''t seem to be anything on it. ¡°There''s nothing written in here. The pages are blank.¡± ¡°When the time comes, that book will prove to be invaluable.¡± ¡°If you say so.¡± ¡°Well you have worked with us long enough. Would you like to be a librarian?¡± ¡°Didn''t you get a cease and desist from the count?¡± ¡°No, I do not recall him telling me something like that.¡± Null smirks. ''AHA! There is a class you missed you jackass!'' If it were any other time, he probably would''ve laughed at her face for wanting him to be a librarian, but there is an old saying that beggars can''t be choosers. Anyway he could probably use any stat gains he can get. ¡°I accept.¡±
Status Window
NameNullFame0
Level1Infamy0
RaceHumanSatiety100%
GenderMaleEndurance12/12
Main Class
Librarian
Sub Classes
None
Titles
None
Health30/30Health Regen0.008 / sec
Mana50/50Mana Regen0.014 / sec
Strength4Dexterity3
Vitality3Charisma1
Intelligence6Wisdom5
Luck1Knowledge10
Attack2Defense0
Magic Defense
None
*+0 to all stats. +0 to intelligence and wisdom. *The pen is mightier than the sword. You may have heard of this in the figurative sense, but in your case it''s quite literal. 99% reduction in attack with handheld weapons like swords, spears, daggers, axes, staffs, and any derivative of them. *30% reduction in ranged weapon attack. *2% extra attack bonus the more you learn about your opponents. Can go as high as 10% extra attack bonus. *Monsters weakness gets marked in red either when you reach 10% extra attack bonus, or learn of the weakness through trial and error. *Can make skill books. Gained a new stat knowledge.
¡°....!!!!! ...The librarian class actually made me weaker!!?¡± Chapter 6: Huh? Wheres the action? This story is so boring.. ¡°I can''t believe this! I was tricked! They didn''t block the library class on purpose, and I fell for it! And seriously!? Was the +0 even necessary!? Ptah is a massive asshole! Do I at least get cool techniques like Konjiki no Wordmaster!?¡± Mrs. Allensworth immediately dashes the little hope he has. ¡°I''m sorry Null, but the librarian class has no offensive techniques.¡± Null looks like he''s about to cry. The librarian tries to comfort him. ¡°Now now, right now it might seem hopeless, but I have faith that you will make the class into something formidable.¡± Null gives her a strange look. ¡°Okay, of all the people around the world, how many foreigners have gotten the library class?¡± ¡°37,329.¡± ¡°Okay. Now of all those people, how many have deleted their accounts?¡± ¡°32,476.¡± ¡°Now work with me here. Of those remaining people who haven''t deleted their accounts, how many of them are under level 25?¡± ¡°...All of them?¡± ¡°I need some air.¡± David goes outside the library into an alley and starts yelling profanities. People walking around are wondering what that is. This event is how the legend of the bad mouthed ghost formed. He gets it out of his system and goes back to the library. ¡°Okay. I''m fine now. There''s nothing I can do about this situation. I also don''t feel like making a new account even if I do hit level 25. Can you teach me library stuff?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± The librarian taught him how to make paper, ink, and books. ''Well if I ever need paper, I won''t have that much of a problem I guess. Still, even compared to the other production professions I''m weak. I am even weaker than a merchant. At least a merchant can get money for their troubles. At least a tailor can sell clothes. What exactly can a librarian do? Sell books that I made? Yeah, no.'' . Mrs. Allensworth speaks to him. ¡°If you decide to work at the library, your pay will get promoted to 3 silvers.¡± 100 coppers equals 1 silver and 100 silvers equals 1 gold. Null nods. ''Good. I don''t have to work as often to survive. Now that I now have more free time, lets look at my skill list.'' ¡°Skill list.¡±
Librarian Mastery
Skill typePassiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Librarian skills become better the higher the level.
Book Repair
Skill typeActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Can repair books or written documents. Cost: 150 mana
Paper Create
Skill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 5
Create paper.
Universal Identify
Skill typeActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Can identify many things. Unlike other identifies like item identify or plant identify, the librarian class contains the only universal identify. Cost: 100 mana
Cooking
Skill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Cook food without it spontaneously exploding in your face or rotting. Some of the time.
''God damn this is depressing, but at least that Universal Identify seems useful. A librarian could probably work as an Identifier, but people only care about Item Identify. Identify grows as it identifies rarer and rarer things, which are found in more and more dangerous places, which a librarian has no business being in.'' He starts identifying random things just to play with it. While he''s doing this, Null remembers something. ''Wait. Now that I have my main class, I am automatically qualified to get sub classes. Not even the Count can block that from me. I hope I can get a good subclass, but judging from the librarians before me, I''m not holding my breath.'' When he went through all the possible guilds, the only sub classes he could get are the painting class and the calligraphy class. ''Painting and Calligraphy class, classes notorious for being super weak, but still not as weak as the librarian class. Well it''s better than nothing.'' He looks at the skills. ¡°Skill list.¡±
Librarian Mastery
Skill typePassiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Librarian skills become better the higher the level.
Book Repair
Skill typeActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Can repair books or written documents. Cost: 150 mana [/td4]
[td4]Paper Create
Skill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Create paper.
Universal Identify
Skill typeActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Can identify many things. Unlike other identifies like item identify or plant identify, the librarian class contains the only universal identify. Cost: 100 mana
Calligraphy Mastery
Skill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Calligraphy skills become better the higher the level.
Proofread
Skill typeActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Can identify spelling and grammar mistakes. Cost: 60 mana
Painting Mastery
Skill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Learned to paint pictures. Pictures become more detailed the higher the level.
Illustration
Skill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Learned to draw pictures. Pictures become more detailed the higher the level.
Handicraft
Skill typePassiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Will enable your crafting skills to become more skilled the higher the level.
Cooking
Skill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Cook food without it spontaneously exploding in your face or rotting. Some of the time.
They also had taught him how to make paint brushes and paint. Null thinks, ''I''m tired. I can only take so much disappointment at once. I''ll do this tomorrow.'' ************************************************** He goes to sleep. Even though he spent around 3 weeks in the game, it only amounted to around 4 days real time. Of course, he got out to go to school and the gym. Now David is on his way to school. In homeroom, Brett smirks at him like he just did something clever. David just ignores him as he does everyone else. What irritated him the most that day was when he went to Advanced Chemistry. ¡°David!¡± ¡°...I had forgotten about you, umm...¡± ¡°Cecile!¡± ¡°Right. And my day was going so well too. Oh well. What do you want?¡± ¡°Have you been studying? I want you at your best for when I defeat you in the next tests!¡± ¡°Seriously? Go get a fucking hobby!¡± ****************************************************** At lunch he''s sitting in the corner outside like he always does. There are others who also prefer sitting outside. Sometimes he decides to listen to other people''s conversations. It wouldn''t do him any good to stay ignorant. He hears some guys talking near the wall next to him. "So you asked out Veronica? How did it go?" The other guy sighs. "Well she says she can''t go out with me. Oh well, what can you do? We still talk, but now things are kinda awkward." "Don''t feel too bad man. There are plenty of fish in the sea." "Yeah we''re gonna go to a movie with friends later. I want to not go but I already paid for the tickets you know." He laughs. Meanwhile David who was listening in was thinking, '' He still gets to be friends with girls even when they reject him? Some people have all the luck.'' After doing more school stuff like writing notes and pretending not to have the answer when a teacher calls on him, he leaves school and goes to the gym. He''s been going to the gym a lot lately because he feels so weak in the game. Heraclio Maes Hinojosa, the gym instructor, noticed how hard he was working. ¡°Any particular reason you''re working so hard? Are you preparing for our tournament?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Oh okay. Just wanted you to know that if you ever wanted to fight in the tournament, the doors are open.¡± ¡°Noted.¡± ¡°Okay. Now sigh this. Don''t read it just sign it. Just like fighting, life''s all about spontaneity.¡± ¡°...That''s a tournament registration form isn''t it?¡± ¡°You don''t know that! But yeah it is.¡± The reason Heraclio wants David to fight in the tournament is not primarily for his gym''s sake, as they have many top level fighters. He just wants David to be recognized so he can work on his low self confidence. He wants him to place high in the tournament so that they could throw David a party, and then start making friends. David''s knowledge and strength may have improved since he started working in the gym, but his self confidence still remains the same. When he left gym, he went to his place of work. It was a slow day, so he just sat and played with his AR glasses. He was looking up how a NPC thinks compared to a human. He found it intriguing how NPCs in New Reality were indistinguishable from real humans. He even started hating them the same as normal humans. He researched different things about New Reality until work is over. Afterwards, he heads home. His dad was the first to greet him saying, ¡°Why are you so lazy? Your grades haven''t improved at all, and you still have never won a single tournament! Are you a liar along with being lazy?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± David hasn''t told them that he has the top grades in some subjects, because he doesn''t care. He doesn''t care that he has the top grades, and he doesn''t care to let his parents know. His mom never talks to him until he starts making problems for her, so he just heads to his room. David thinks to himself, ''I probably need to start replacing those locks. Knowing my sister, she''s probably figured out how to break through at least half by now.'' David starts preparing to enter the pod. He eats and sets the pod to when he wants to be let out. He steps in, and ends up back in New Reality. He materializes in a dark alley behind the library. The game makes it so if you sign out, your body still remains for at least ten minutes, which means you can still be attacked without you even knowing. This is why people usually go inside an inn or stay in a cave when they log out. As Null doesn''t have any possessions aside from a few silvers, he doesn''t care what happens to him. ''Okay. Now it''s time to work on my skill proficiency. There is literally nothing else I can work on. My stats still haven''t fully recovered, and I can''t use any weapon, so I can''t hunt. I don''t have enough money to enjoy miscellaneous activities in town, so skill proficiency is my only option. I need to go to the painting and calligraphy guilds to see how they work.'' A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. While he''s walking, he hears someone calling in his direction. ¡°Hey you.¡± Null ignores that person because it''s unlikely that he would be talking to him. He keeps walking until that same person taps him on the shoulder. David turns around and scowls. ¡°Can I help you?¡± ¡°Maybe you can. I want you to join me.¡± ¡°Sorry whoever you are, but I am a level 1 librarian. I doubt I could be of any help to whatever you are trying to do.¡± ¡°Wow, a librarian? I thought I was doing it hardcore when I went to get the butler class, but my point still stands. I want you to join me. I like that look of loathing that you show people.¡± ¡°Are you recruiting me into some kind of cult? Because cults usually go after the emotionally unstable loners. If you are, I''m not interested.¡± ¡°HAHAHA! No, nothing of the sort. I just feel that one day you will become extremely formidable and shake the foundations of this world, and I want you to be my partner.¡± ¡°A partner to a reduced stats level 1 librarian?¡± ¡°Yeah, so how about it Mr...¡± ¡°Null.¡± ¡°HA! This must be destiny! My name is Void. Null and Void spreading havoc across the world. So how about it?¡± Null senses something, insane about him. He has an ax crazy smile. For some reason he can''t help but be afraid. This is the first time he''s ever felt afraid since starting the game. Not even Red Serpent Guild could make him feel this way. ¡°I''m sorry, but I walk the path of the loner.¡± ¡°Good answer! I''ve become even more interested in you. Well until we meet again.¡± He starts jumping onto the rooftops. Null, astonished, thinks, ''Was that really a butler? He must be at a high level.'' He starts walking in the direction of the calligraphy guild pondering, ''Why was I so afraid of him? No. It wasn''t of him. It''s something that I fear may one day happen to me. I fear that I may lose my sanity. That''s why I do not go after people who do me wrong. If I do, then what''s stopping me from going after someone else for perceived wrongness? What''s stopping me from not escalating? Those thoughts are what have kept me in check all these years. I really need to stay away from him.'' He goes to the calligraphy guild. He buys some paper and ink and sits at a table. Calligraphy is more popular than the librarian class, as you can combine it with the painter skill and give people tattoos. Null watches how they do things for a few minutes then tries to repeat what they do. He makes the word plant in calligraphy. It did not go so well, as Null has terrible handwriting. He throws his attempt away, buys ink and paper, then leaves. Null got what he came here for. He gathers art supplies from the painting guild, observers them like he did the calligraphy guild, then leaves. ''Okay. I do not want to be disturbed. I''m going into a dark alley to draw. That''s what people usually do there right?'' Null makes it there and pulls out a charcoal stick and paper. ''Hmm... what should I draw? Ah! I know!'' He starts meticulously drawing the picture like he''s some famous artist. ''No mistakes. Come on.'' He sketches the lines and connects them. ''Okay. Now for the rest.'' He finishes. The drawing looks terrible. His triangles look like squares, and his circles look like trapezoids. ''Eh, maybe it will look better when I paint it.'' He took out his paints and mixed them with water. He starts painting the picture. He ended up mixing the paint colors together without first washing the paint brush with water. When he finishes, Null looks disappointed. ¡°Hmmm... looks like chicken shit. I was going for a horse.¡± He draws and paints the same thing, but with system assist. He''s trying to experiment. It comes out a little better. ''It''s good that''s using system assist is a little better than not using it, but if I continue to rely on system assist, my proficiency will not increase.'' A message pops up when he''s done.
Artistic value 3
''Wow I got an artistic value? Maybe my painting is better than I thought.'' He then reads the rest.
People who see this picture have their happiness increased. They think that no matter how bad they are at painting, they''re at least better than you.
¡°...Ptah, why are you such a dick?¡± He keeps drawing and painting different things and eventually runs out of paper. ''Maybe I can use some of the paper from the book the librarian gave me. Well no, that''s a bad idea. The librarian lady said the book will be important and it was given with an A-rank mission. NPCs don''t lie when it comes to stuff like this, unlike regular humans. Well I barely have any money left to buy anymore paper, so I guess I''ll make my own. It will be at a lower quality, but if I make it enough times the paper quality will improve.'' Null gets his plan of action ready. ''First things first. I need lots of plant material. I also do not want to walk all the way to the library to make paper, so I guess I''ll buy a screen from a blacksmith, and cloth from a tailor. I''ll make the paper outside.'' He buys his supplies and is heading out of town when he hears various people looking to team up. ¡°Looking for cleric!¡± ¡°Mage with at least 30 DPS. We''ll roll the drops!¡± Null scoffs at them. ''It''s stupid to rely on other people. They''ll only betray you when things get inconvenient.'' He decides to pay them no more attention and heads into the forest. He gathers fallen leaves and branches. He keeps at this for roughly 3 hours before his sack becomes full. Along the way, he saw a rabbit. Rabbits are supposed to be one of the weakest creatures aside from mice, but with his stats the rabbit is actually stronger than him. He avoids it by giving it a wide berth and heads back to town. Null doesn''t want to go back to town. He realizes that he missed not having people around, so decides to stay near the border of the town, but not deep enough to where he will attract different animals. Null starts the paper making process. He takes the leaves and twigs, smashes them into a pulp, pours it onto the screen, presses it through the screen, and wipes it with a damp cloth. When the paper finished drying he checked out his first paper. ¡°Identify.¡±
Very Poor Quality Paper
Can easily break apart. Absolutely worthless.
''Went about as well as expected. I''m still using it though.'' He makes enough paper so that it could last him a while. Along the way, he gathered different plants to make paint with. He smashes the different plants to make dyes. He only makes the primary colors red, yellow and blue. Now that he''s gotten his supplies taken care of, he first starts practicing his calligraphy. He just makes different letters in Times New Roman font for now. While he''s practicing he hears people laughing and approaching him. He looks and sees the gray, black, and red colored clothing with the bright red serpent on the front. It''s the Red Serpent Guild. The group numbers around 20 this time. ''Let''s see how they''ll mess with me this time.'' They walk up to him to try and incite him. Brett says, ¡°Say Null, how are you enjoying the game so far?¡± ¡°Just fine.¡± Null is talking to them without looking at them. Henchman #1 says, ¡°What''s your class?¡± ¡°Librarian.¡± Null answered without care. That made everyone laugh. ¡°AHAHAHAHA! I told you! I told you he would be stupid enough to pick the librarian class! MY SIDES!¡± ¡°We don''t even have to do anything anymore! He''s punishing himself more than we ever did!¡± ¡°...CAN''T *gasp* BREATHE!! AHAHA!!¡± The guild leader who was also laughing told them, ¡°Okay that''s enough. We still have work to do. Let''s go.¡± They all walk off. Null didn''t even spare them a second thought. He just worked on his calligraphy and then painting later. He would recycle the paper after using it. After he was done he would go to the library and read. That''s how he spent the next 7 months in game. Making supplies, calligraphy, painting, and reading. He kept going until he hit a rut. His skills stopped growing once he hit beginner level 5 in his mastery. Null doesn''t know this, but the vast majority of people, even the top level players, have their skills stop growing at level 5. It''s rare for someone to go beyond beginner level 5. The average time it takes for someone to reach beginner level 5 is 1 year in game. If you are diligently trying to raise your proficiency, then the time it takes to reach beginner level 5 is around 8 months in game. From beginner level 1 to level 2 can be reached relatively quickly, usually taking around 1 or 2 weeks. Level 2 to level 3 takes around 4 to 5 weeks. That''s when it starts getting a lot longer. Now as was said before, a person diligently trying to raise proficiency will reach beginner level 5 in around 8 months, yet Null has reached this milestone with three skills in 7 months. Why? Well first and foremost, Null has nothing better to do with his time. He has no friends, he doesn''t hunt, he doesn''t travel, and he doesn''t do any miscellaneous activities. Second has to do with the knowledge stat. It''s not all the knowledge stat does, but the higher it is, the faster your skill proficiency will level. It''s slight, but it''s there. When a person''s class hits beginner level 5, they get a new skill. The skills that Null had acquired?
Information Finder
Skill typeActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
By using this skill, you will be able to locate information. Books with this information will emit a light blue glow. Cost: 40 mana per second
Ink Hand
Skill typeActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Can make calligraphy design just by having a thought and touching the paper. Can move ink at a maximum of 0.1 meters per second. Cost: 50 mana per second.
Art is Feeling
Skill typeActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Draw opponents in any emotional state to make them feel that way. The higher level the opponent, the longer it takes for it to take effect. Cost: 500 mana
Null looks to see how his proficiency in all of his skills are looking. ¡°Skill proficiency.¡±
Skill Proficiency
Librarian Mastery: Beginner Level 5 Book Repair: Beginner Level 1 Paper Create: Beginner Level 5 Universal Identify: Beginner Level 4 Information finder: Beginner Level 1 Painting Mastery: Beginner level 5 Illustration: Beginner level 5 Handicraft: Beginner level 5 Art is Feeling: Beginner level 1 Calligraphy Mastery: Beginner level 5 Proofread: Beginner level 3 Ink Hand: Beginner level 1 Cooking: Beginner level 1
Null, being the ignorant, friendless guy that he is, doesn''t know that beginner level 5 is a bottleneck. He goes to the library to research a way out of this rut. When he brings the problem to the librarian, she says that he has to figure it out on his own. Since Null''s main class is librarian, he decides to research that first. He uses the information finder skill to find all the books that have to do with his class. How it works is that you think of what you want to look for and say the skill name. Since the glow is so faint, it takes him a while to find the books he needs. The information he finds is interesting, but useless. He learns that the librarian class''s specialty is information gathering. It''s also the weakest combat wise even among other production professions. None of the books he read taught him how to get pass beginner level 5. Throughout all the information he read, at the end of them, they all said to look through the history of the librarian class. He thought he would be wasting his time, but since he thinks his time is worthless, he doesn''t mind. When he reads through the librarian history, it doesn''t help at all. He went through about 10 books when he notices a blank page with a dotted line and the letter T on the side of the page. Null finds that very strange. It''s almost like a treasure map, but there is nothing here except a dotted line and the letter T on the side of the page. He then remembers all the librarian history books had a page with weird markings and a letter, but didn''t understand what it meant. He gets an idea. He gets out his map of the area and draws the dotted lines on it. He then draws all the rest of the strange markings on the map. He makes it so that the dotted lines start at the library. When he''s done, it shows a map that starts at the library and ends at an E-rank dungeon. The letters that were accompanied by the weird symbols are differently spaced out. When put together, they spell LEFT COLUMN. He looks up information on the dungeon. Apparently the average level in the dungeon is level 40, which is 39 levels higher than Null is right now. It has already been explored, but the monsters there make it so that people do not like going there. ''Perfect. No people. But still, if the dungeon makes it so no one wants to go there, that means that the effort expended for the reward isn''t worth it. Well its not like I have any other leads. I''ve been level 1 for long enough. I need to get every stat that matters back to level 1 before I start.'' --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Authors Note: My chapters are really long huh? Maybe I should start making 2 paragraph chapters with 3 sentences each. You should have seen the chapter lengths before. I had up to 6000 words per page. Chapter 7: Hunting Noob ¡°Open stat window.¡±
Status Window
NameNullFame0
Level1Infamy0
RaceHumanSatiety93%
GenderMaleEndurance16/16
Main Class
Librarian
Sub Classes
Calligrapher, Painter
Titles
None
Health190/190Health Regen0.053 / sec
Mana700/700Mana Regen0.21 / sec
Strength9Dexterity16
Vitality13Charisma1
Intelligence30Wisdom30
Luck1Knowledge57
Attack7Defense0
Magic Defense
None
''30 must be the maximum number of points for level 1. It took 4 months to get those stats to level 30, and it hasn''t grown since. It wouldn''t be worth it if I were just trying to get extra stat points for leveling. Endurance looks like it doesn''t depend on any stat. It measures exhaustion. That''s the only stat that didn''t decrease when that guild came after me. I guess it depends on how much you work out your avatar. Dexterity is pretty high because of all the work I did I guess. Knowledge is a weird stat. It keeps growing and doesn''t seem to be affected by the stat level cap. It doesn''t seem to do anything and I can''t distribute stat points to it. Well that doesn''t matter. Time to find a way to raise my strength. Let''s go to the basic training hall.'' **************************************************** ¡°You still can''t come in!¡± The owner of the training hall yells at him. ''Oh yeah, I forgot I''m banned from here. New plan. Leg weights! It worked for Rock Lee it can work for me!'' Null goes to the blacksmith and asks, ¡°Do you have leg weights?¡± ¡°No, but I can probably make some. Any reason you need them? They don''t really do anything. You''ve been watching too much Naruto.¡± ''Fuck You!'' ¡°No, I still need them. How long until you can make it?¡± ¡°Come back in 2 days. It won''t be that hard to make, but I need a tailor to make the sleeves for it.¡± ¡°Okay, good.¡± Null goes outside the town border. ''Okay, running. I''ll just keep running .'' He ran those 2 days along the border and gained 1 vitality and 2 endurance. He went back to the blacksmith, and pays 30 silvers. He went to a place where he knew there wouldn''t be people. ''Okay. The real reason I''m doing this is to work on my fighting. Since I can''t rely on swords or spears, hand to hand combat is the only way to go.'' He puts on the leg weights and immediately regrets his decision. ''Yeah. I''m barely strong enough to train my own body as it is. Getting leg weights was a terrible idea.'' He takes them off and puts it in his inventory. He starts practicing his fighting. He knows that his avatar body can''t handle the more difficult exercises for now, so he does the warm ups that he did at the very beginning of his gym training. ''Leg bending exercise goooo!'' ************************************************ 2 weeks later and his body was forced to adapt to his harsh training. He has the moves down to where he can adequately defend himself. Along the way he gained 3 endurance, 2 vitality, and 1 strength. With this, all the stats that he cares about have at least reached back to the point to where he started the game. ¡°Open stats screen.¡±
Status Window
NameNullFame0
Level1Infamy0
RaceHumanSatiety68%
GenderMaleEndurance21/21
Main Class
Librarian
Sub Classes
Calligrapher, Painter
Titles
None
Health280/280Health Regen0.079 / sec
Mana700/700Mana Regen0.21 / sec
Strength10Dexterity16
Vitality16Charisma1
Intelligence30Wisdom30
Luck1Knowledge57
Attack8Defense0
Magic Defense
None
''Finally. All the stats I care about are now 10 and above. Now I can hunt monsters. And seriously, look at my stats! I''m the strongest level 1 character to ever live! I used to be the weakest!'' Even though Null is level 1, he has the stats of a level 10 player, not counting the knowledge stat, but he still doesn''t have any advantage against someone starting at the same time as him. The average person starting at the same time Null did now has a level of around 140. He goes out deeper into the forest than he''s ever been. He''s looking for the weakest monsters first. After 10 minutes of walking, he finds a mouse. ¡°Identify¡±
Field Mouse
Level 1. Attack: Chomp It gives a nasty bite.
''Guess I will have to level up my identify for it to show more information. Okay, here we go.'' The mouse got into an attacking stance and squeaked loudly. He hit the mouse with a punch. It retaliated by jumping on his body and biting him in random places. ''Ouch, you fucker!'' Null was trying to grab it, but it kept running around his body. He finally grabbed it and tossed it in the air. Null punched it in midair. This scene repeated about 4 times before the mouse finally died. Its body turned gray and disappeared after around a minute. It dropped a single copper coin. He thought he looked cool fighting it, but to anyone watching him, they would just see him angrily flailing around. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The mouses blood were sprayed on his hands. He ran to a stream and vigorously washed his hands thinking, ''Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew. I need gloves, gloves with brass knuckles on them.'' He ran to the blacksmith and bought weighted knuckle gloves. ¡°Identify¡±
Worn weighted leather knuckle gloves
Adequate gloves for beginners. Attack: 2-5 Durability: 7/11
While he was there, he also bought leather armor and combat boots. He did identify on those as well.
Worn leather armor.
It''s better than nothing Defense: +5 Durability: 12/17
Worn combat leather boots..
Kick in the balls for maximum effect. Defense: +2 Attack: 3-7 Durability: 12/15
He goes back out to hunt mice. After he killed his 20th mouse, he leveled up to level 2. He was given 5 stat points, which he put all in Strength. ''Okay, now I''m ready for the bunnies.'' He was not in fact ready for the bunnies. They kept dodging his punches and kicks. People have swords and still have trouble hunting rabbits. It was only after wearing it down after 40 minutes of fighting where he could hurt it. ¡°*pant* This shit *pant* is not gonna work.¡± Null once again goes to the blacksmith and gets a worn bow and 20 arrows. People prefer bows and arrows over guns for several reasons. First, the guns break down more easily than the bows. Second, even though guns have an advantage over bows at the start, arrows overtake them later on. Third, the bullets can''t become enchanted without throwing the whole gun out of wack. Fourth, you need continuous gunpowder. The blacksmith chuckles and says,¡±Bunnies?¡± ¡°Bunnies.¡± Null then leaves. ''There goes half my savings.'' Null grumpily thinks. When he spots a bunny, he''s about to fire his arrow when he remembers something. ''I just realized that I don''t know how to use a bow and arrow. What the hell is wrong with me lately? Oh Right. I forgot I have low intelligence and wisdom.'' Null decided to go to the tracker guild. He sat and watched how people shot arrows and wrote it down. There was one person there who was really good, and he paid extra attention to him until the guy went up to him and told Null he doesn''t swing that way. Null realized what he was doing is creepy, but he got all the information he needed. He organized his notes and made it into a book. Null was trying to make a skill book. ''As a librarian I can make and sell skill books! That''s something a librarian can do! I can make a lot of money! Wait, I can''t help but think I got sidetracked from my original purpose for playing this game.'' It took a lot of trial and error. Some of the books he made had a lot of redundant information and some had not enough information. Most books he made had some information missing. He went back to the tracker guild and made sure that he didn''t miss anything. When you touch a skill book, an option is supposed to show up asking if you want to learn the skill. As none of the books he made showed the option yet, that means he''s doing something wrong. Finally, after almost a week of trial and error, the option showed up. He decided to cancel it for now and copy all of the information into a new book, just in case something happens and he has to relearn it. He went to the original book and press yes to learning archery.
You have learned archery.
Archery Mastery
Skill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Can shoot arrows. Arrow shoot 4% farther and 2% more powerful.
Null was feeling pretty proud of himself when he realized something. He smacked his face and groaned. ¡°I could''ve learned the archery skill a lot faster by just practicing it. I really need to raise my intelligence and wisdom one of these days.¡± Null once again went into the forest looking for bunnies. ''Now nothing can defeat me, except for anyone or anything stronger than me.'' He saw a bunny nibbling on some grass. He did identify on it. ¡°Level 1 Bunny, Attack Name: Hop n kick.¡± Null quietly made his way to it. While he was walking, he stepped in grass and made a crunch sound. The rabbits ears perked up, but it still continued eating. He loaded an arrow in his bow and continued walking forward, careful not to startle it. He fired off his arrow and hit it in the back. ¡°Yes!¡± He then ran up to the bunny and attacked it with his fists. Thanks to the wound from the arrow, the bunny couldn''t dodge as well as before. Instead of dodging, the bunny decided to switch to attack. It jumped and headbutted him. Null was a little surprised it attacked him like that. Thanks to his armor, It only managed to do 8 damage. When the bunny tried to attack again, Null punched it while it was still in the air. Fist and head collided. Ultimately the bunny lost in that collision and fell to the ground. Null finished it off by stomping on it until it died. It didn''t drop anything when the body faded away, but Null was satisfied. This time it only took 6 minutes to finish the bunny off. Not only that, he learned how it moves. Null kept on hunting bunnies with the same strategy. Sometimes the bunnies dropped meat, leather, and very rarely more arrows mostly depending on their level. The bunnies ranged in level from level 1 to level 3. Null hunting the bunnies grew up to level 4. He put all his points into strength and dexterity. While he was walking in the forest to look for more bunnies, Null heard grass crunching sounds and growls. He looked to his right. It was 3 wolves, all level 11. They were slowly closing in on him. Null looked the wolves in the eyes as if declaring he''s not afraid of them. The next move that happened startled even the wolves. Null started running towards them. The wolves were confused. People usually run away when they can''t win, not toward them. Null yelled out while charging at them. The wolves got in a defensive stance ready for battle. Just when they were ready to attack, Null ran completely past them. The wolves can''t help but think they just got played, and started chasing Null. Null, running frantically, was thinking, ''Of course I''m not going to fight 3 level 11 wolves! This direction is the only direction back to town. Fuck that warriors never run away nonsense. Who needs dignity?'' Null started climbing a tree like a cat being chased by a dog. The wolves circled around the tree. Null looks down and thinks, ''This is a good opportunity. I''ll shoot the arrows in the wolves'' eyes to blind them, then attack them by jumping off the branch with arrow in hand, stabbing them.'' Null loaded his arrow. When he shot it, it ended up 2 meters away from the closest wolf. ''Dammit, of course I can''t hit wolves in the eyes from 10 meters away. Why am I always imagining myself doing all these amazing things as if I were some protagonist of a shitty web novel?'' The wolves circle the tree until they got bored and walk away. Null waits an hour just to make sure they''re gone. He then runs back to town. ''You know what? I''m just going to take a break for a while.'' --------------------------------------------------------------------- Author''s Note: Null seems stupid right? In this virtual reality game, your intelligence and wisdom stats directly affect your intelligence and wisdom. He would not be this stupid in real life. He started hunting for the first time, and it only took around 7 months. Don''t worry. We''ll get to the good parts soon enough. Chapter 8: David is smart, but Null is stupid In school, around a month has passed since David started playing New Reality, and it''s now time to start taking tests. David has been looking forward to this day. Normally, David couldn''t care less about tests, but now there is an annoying person that keeps bothering him trying to compete with him. Of course, that annoying person is Cecile Vincent, Honors Society Vice President. David is thinking, ''Now I''ll just get some answer wrong and then, Ce... Ci?... That Honor''s Society VP will finally leave me alone.'' David doesn''t need to study for 3 of his tests. When it comes to Mathematics, Chemistry, and Physics, David is already above Bachelor''s level. Besides, he already solved all the problems in his Math, Chem, and Physics books just to see if he could. When it comes to history, David wrote a program to find the answers for him. David finds humanity''s history frustrating. When he reads human history, he thinks, ''It''s the same pattern. Humanity finds or discovers something, be it an idea, territory, invention, or resource, humanity groups together into teams and fight over it, humanity resolves to never do that again, humanity forgets, repeat. Such a disgusting species.'' In English, he puts in just enough effort so that he doesn''t fail. It''s the same with the other subjects that aren''t math, chemistry, or physics. He finds biology pretty interesting, but there''s too much wrote memorization for his liking. David uses the tests to see if there is anything that he needs to relearn or review over. If there is nothing, he throws the test away. Good grades, being the best, those things are meaningless to David. Everything he does is just to surpass his past self. He thinks doing things this way will have the best chance of defending himself against what he detests, humanity. ********************************************** In the 3 subjects he''s good at, during his tests, he deliberately got a few questions wrong. ''I miss being ignored. Have fun being the best.'' He left school satisfied. After going to the gym and work, he logs back on to New Reality. He checks over himself to make sure everything''s there while going to a blacksmith to repair his supplies and buy new arrows. Null then sets out to hunt. ''Bunnies are now too easy and don''t give that much experience now that I''m level 4. Time to hunt boars.'' Boars are a lot easier to Null than bunnies. They may be in a range of levels 4 to 9, but they just charge at you in a straight line. They may take half or more of Null''s health if they hit, but they are easily avoided. Null just jumps in the air and preforms an ax kick on their heads when they get close enough. ********************************************* 2 days later in game of continuous hunting, Null sees that his pack is full of different meats and leathers from bunnies and boars. He is now level 8. His satiety has gone down a lot because he hasn''t eaten in a while. If a person''s satiety goes below 30%, you become a little sluggish. If it goes below 10%, the person starts losing health, is hit with the starving condition, and is barely able to move. 0% means you die from starvation. Luckily, Null''s satiety hasn''t gone down to that extent. He sits down to cook when he realizes he doesn''t know how to start a fire. Starting fires is one of the skills you have with the camping skill. It''s usually one of the first skills people get. Null goes to the beginner''s guild to get the camping skill. ¡°I''ve seen you around sometimes kid. You''ve just now realized you can get this skill? What have you been doing all this time?¡± Null ignores her smart remark and leaves. He checks out the skill.
Camping
Skill typePassiveSkill ProficiencyCannot level up
Can now set up small tents to recover health 5% faster while inside it. Can start small fires more easily by rubbing 2 dry sticks together.
Null goes back into the forest and gets some firewood and kindling. He sparks a fire by rubbing 2 sticks together, and started roasting some of the bunny meat. ''Now that I think about it, I could have refilled my health a little faster by resting in a tent. I should have gotten the camping skill sooner. Once again, I am reminded how dumb I am in this game. Well at least I don''t have to go back to town as much as I used to. I have food and shelter now.'' While he was eating, the smell of his food attracted some wolves. Null looks at them, and sees that they look familiar. They''re the 3 level 11 wolves that had chased Null that other day. While Null was level 4, he wouldn''t have dared fought the wolves, but now that he''s level 8, and can now use more of the techniques he uses in real life, he decided to go for it. He once again ran to the wolves. The wolves look like they scoff at him as if saying they''re not falling for that again. The wolves run in to attack him. When a wolf was about to pounce on Null, Null went low and did a spinning back kick. This made the wolf airborne. The other two wolves were about to attack him at the same time from his left and his right. Null starting moving his feet in semi circles, twisting his body along with it, and started dodging the wolves while pushing them back with an open palm strike. They were grazing him with their claws and kept shaving off Null''s health little by little, while Null was doing the same to them. When the wolf that he kicked fell from the air, he elbowed the wolf in his eye while another wolf bit him on the shoulder from behind. That didn''t bother Null as that was what he had wanted. He then slammed the wolf into a tree with all his might by jumping back into it. While the wolf was dazed from being slammed into a tree, Null threw a flurry of punches at it until that particular wolf''s health was brought down to red. The other wolves weren''t standing idly. They were running towards Null as soon as he starting punching the wolf. Null jumped in the air and performed a double kick. He kicked those two wolves on their heads at the same time. When he kicked them away, Null landed on his butt, quickly got off the ground and drop kicked the wolf he slammed against a tree in its balls as hard as he could and kept kicking it there. If that wolf could talk, it would say, ¡°He keeps kicking me in the balls. Why? Why does he keep kicking me in the balls?¡± These ball kicking maneuvers caused the wolf''s health to drop to zero and disappear. The other 2 wolves didn''t take their comrade dying well. They jumped high into the air trying to attack Null from above. What surprised them was while they were falling, Null jumped into the air just before they were about to land on him, and he kneed one of the wolves in the gut. Null repeatedly struck the wolf in the head with his elbow and fist, and it died before it even hit the ground. Null barely had any health and endurance left, so he decided to end this quickly. The final wolf saw what Null did to its brethren, and it tried to run away, but Null took out his bow and fired arrows at it, killing it. When he defeated the 3 wolves, he grew to level 9. He distributed his stat points into strength and dexterity. David grumpily thinks, ''After all this trouble, all I got was 5 arrows and a wolf pelt as a drop.''
For fighting without holding a weapon continuously, you have unlocked the skill Hand to Hand Combat.
Hand to Hand Combat
Skill typePassiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
+5% Strength +3% Dexterity +2% Vitality when fighting while not holding a handheld weapon.
''...After all this trouble, I still don''t have 500 gold...'' Nothing happens. ''Well, it was worth a shot.'' A normal person wouldn''t attempt to go after 3 level 11 wolves while only being at level 8, but Null has his martial arts to help him and his inflated stats. He didn''t even use a sword. The problem with this is that he let this victory go to his head. If this were real life, Null would be nowhere near this dimwitted. Null thinks, ''Man I''m ready for the dungeon now. I just defeated 3 level 11 wolves by myself. 3 times 11 is 33. This means I can fight a level 33 monster. The average level of monster for that dungeon is 40. The wolves plus me together are level 42. That means I am practically level 42!'' Just to let you know, that''s not how it works. *************************************************** Null goes to a tailor and sells all his leathers, then goes to a blacksmith to stock on arrows. When he''s done, he goes towards the dungeon. While Null on his way to dungeon, he fights other creatures. One new creature that fought him is a level 9 squirrel that does flying kicks. He had a lot of fun with that one. The dungeon was 7 miles away from the town. When Null saw the dungeon, he looked excited and ran inside. Null looked around and saw a huge wide cave with huge stalactites, stalagmites, and a tall ledge on the wall. There were patches of sunlight going through the cave. What grossed out Null the most was that throughout the cave, there were leech like creatures almost everywhere. He did Identify on them.
?????
Level 1
It didn''t give any more information. ''There''s no worms on the places with patches of sunlight, so those must be safe areas.'' When he goes into the dungeon, a 3 foot long level 14 armadillo comes up to him. Null knows that the armadillo''s weakness is its stomach. The armadillo is slow, but it has high health and defense. After 40 minutes of punching it in the stomach and stepping back from its swipe, he finally kills it. They are incredibly easy to kill, just very tedious. After killing many armadillos, he levels up to level 11. Null is getting pretty big headed thinking, ''Man! This dungeon is so easy! I''ll probably beat it in the next day or two!'' If Null had been paying attention, he would''ve noticed that the leeches on the ground have gradually been building up in number and heading towards his location, but he was too focused on getting the easy experience from the armadillos. All of a sudden, a new enemy appears. It''s a 6 ft tall bear like creature with spiky armor on its back. Null uses identify on the creature.
?????
Level 35
The level was all Null could read from it. ''No biggie, I defeated 3 level 11 wolves which means I''m practically level 42. Here we go!'' Null goes to punch it. It immediately rolled up into a ball. ''Wow. This one is nothing like the armadillos from before. Very fast reflexes.'' More bearlike monsters came. They all went into ball form started to roll. Null was trying to dodge them as best as he could, but one hit Null and shaved off 90% of his health. ¡°Dammit!¡± That wasn''t all though. The leeches attracted by the scent of Null''s blood immediately started clinging onto Null and sucking his blood. ''Huh? When did I get surrounded by so many leeches!?'' The rolling monsters starts rolling over to him again. ¡°To hell with this!¡± Null attempts to run away, but he is far too slow. The rolling monsters hit Null and he dies. **************************************** While Null is in his space as a ghost, he sighs and starts thinking. The good part about this space is that he has his original intelligence and strength from the real world. ''Okay, I was too arrogant. Now that I think about it, charging in head first into the dungeon with creatures 30 levels higher than me is incredibly stupid. Even if I were a warrior class, I would''ve scoped out the dungeon first before charging in. And seriously? ¡°I''m practically level 42?¡± What the shit? Okay. Now''s the time to form my plan while I''m still relatively smarter. First, research the leeches. Even if I were 30 levels stronger, they would still pose a huge problem. Next, find out the weakness of that rolling monster. It''s most likely when it''s not in ball form. My identify didn''t work fully on the monsters in the dungeon. I should go to the library. Next, I have the skill that I unlocked when I reached beginner level 5 in art, Art is Feeling. I could use that skill to decrease the monsters'' morale. There is a decrease in 5% of skill efficiency from some random skills that I have because I have died. Hopefully I''ll still have the techniques unlocked. Since I don''t know the names of those creatures, I''ll just draw a rough sketch of them when I respawn, and use the Information Finder technique. And seriously, no more stupidity. From now on, I''m placing all my stat points into intelligence and wisdom. My class is librarian anyway, so it would be better in the long run to do it this way.'' Now having a plan of action, Null chooses to respawn when the option shows up. First he checks his stats. ¡°Stats Screen.¡±
Status Window
NameNullFame0
Level9Infamy0
RaceHumanSatiety100%
GenderMaleEndurance21/21
Main Class
Librarian
Sub Classes
Calligrapher, Painter
Titles
None
Health360/360Health Regen0.1 / sec
Mana780/780Mana Regen0.23 / sec
Strength33Dexterity33
Vitality16Charisma1
Intelligence30Wisdom30
Luck1Knowledge57
Attack17Defense7
Magic Defense
None
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ''Looks like only my most recently added stats took a hit. I lost two levels.'' He respawns next to a water fountain in Holdendale, and heads straight to the library. ''Okay. First things first, draw a rough sketch of the enemy, then use Information Finder to locate information on it.'' Null drew the bear like being that killed him as best as he could. When he finished, something surprising happened. The Illustration Mastery which had gone down to level 4 95% due to dying, rose up to level 5 with 1% proficiency. Null had never gone above level 5 0% before. Null ponders this. ''Now that I think about it, I''ve always drew and painted the same pictures over and over again. I assumed that drawing and painting increasingly beautiful pictures would break the level 5 bottleneck, but that wasn''t the case. I needed to draw something new! This means the same must be true for the calligraphy skill. What about the librarian skill? I''ve always read to raise that stat. Something new, something new. What if I try making books instead of reading them? But didn''t I already make a skill book? What if I tried making a normal book and see how that turns out? Well no, I''ll worry about that later. Right now I have to find information on those monsters.'' Because of his low intelligence, Null doesn''t remember that the reason he went into the dungeon in the first place was to find a way to get past the level 5 bottleneck. Null had drawn the picture of the creature and used the information finder skill to locate which books had something similar to that picture. He didn''t need to draw the picture to use information finder, but he needed a clear thought in his mind instead of something vague, and would end up having to look through books holding creatures similar to the bear like beast. Using Information Finder, Null found 2 books. He looks at the pictures to see if its right. One of the books is a bear-like being with stalagmites on its rocky back that fire like projectiles. That''s not what he''s looking for. He puts it away and goes to the second book. There''s a bear-like being with spikes on its back and rolls. Yes, this is what he''s looking for. ''Apparently this thing is called a Deathroll. Wow, that sounds terrifying. I hope the names don''t get much worse than this, because I don''t think I have the courage to fight something named Murderthon 9000 or Slaughterkillfest. Okay, it looks like Deathrolls travel in packs and hate weakness. They will immediately turn on something they think is showing weakness. Their weak spots are not only the stomach but the inside of the leg facing the stomach. I can use that. Now for the leeches.'' Relying on his memory, he draws the leeches. This one was a lot harder than the other one, as the worms didn''t have too distinct features. When he used the information finder skill, he gathered up tens of books and had to sort through them all. He finally found it after reading through all the books. ''Okay, these leeches are called Night Crawlers. They are weak, but what they lack in strength they make up for in sheer numbers. They really hate the sun obviously. There is a material of a plant called Daibuktu that they hate. Luckily for me, they grow in this region. Night Crawlers wait until you get deep in their territory before they attack to ensure there is no chance of escape. They also can''t resist open wounds and the smell of blood. I can also use that.'' Null gathered all the important information and compiled it into a booklet because he knows he''ll forget. He also wrote down the methods of dealing with all the enemies in the dungeon he fought so far. He wrote it in a font he has never used before which made his calligraphy mastery gain proficiency to beginner level 5 at 2%. When he finished making the book, the librarian mastery also went above level 5 at 4% proficiency. ''So I do need to make books in order for my librarian mastery to increase. Good. Now I have a plan to further increase all my masteries.''
Due to figuring out how to get past level 5 for all your classes, your knowledge stat has increased by 2.
''Heh. I still don''t know what it does.'' He goes to the blacksmith to buy a buttload of arrows and to get his equipment repaired, and also goes to an alchemist to buy some health and mana potions. He leaves town and fights enemies along the way to the dungeon, but he doesn''t fire any arrows because he''s trying to conserve them. His path to the dungeon is a lot more wild than before. Null is looking for a plant. It''s the Daibuktu plant that the night crawlers hate. ''If I even get a scratch on me, the worms will devour me, and there would be nothing I could do about it. I have to find that plant.'' He saw what the plant looked like in the library and drew a picture for himself. After a while of walking he finds a bunch of plants that could be what he''s looking for. ''This looks like it could be it!'' He was about to take it until his instincts told him something was off. ¡°Identify.¡±
Dobuktu
Causes festering blisters if contacted with skin
''Oh my god, that was close. This Universal Identify is very useful. The librarian class is far more useful than I thought.'' Along the way of searching, he sees some high level monsters and avoids them. One of them looks like a panther. He did Identify on one of them and saw that it was level 28. ''I am not going to fight that. They would kill me faster than I could say ¡°Ah!¡±'' He gives it a wide berth. After a while, he finally finds what he''s looking for. ¡°Identify.¡±
Daibuktu
Emits a foul smelling chemical that interrupts digestion. Deadly to night crawlers
The problem is that there were a group of panthers surrounding the plant. ''Of course, my luck has never been that good, so this is expected. Fighting them is out of the question.'' Null had written on his palm that he''s a squishy librarian to remind himself to not Leroy Jenkins into a group of enemies. ''Okay, think. What can I do to remedy this situation? What do I have on me? I have some of the meats that I got from hunting, arrows, my folded up tent, and my clothes. Huh. Maybe that could work. I hope my low intelligence isn''t giving me a stupid idea.'' **************************************************** The panthers were lazing around a tree. One of the panthers started sniffing the air. He smelled food! The other panthers, curious to why he ran off like that, smelled the air as well. They ran and what they saw made them all excited. It was a pile of meat, and they were hungry. One of them started running towards the meat. The others not wanting to be left hungry, jumped towards the meat as well. When they all jumped on it, the ground shook and they all fell into a hole. The hole was covered by a tent cover, which was covered by leaves and twigs. Null had made it that it would only fall when it crossed a certain weight threshold. Null chuckled to himself. ''Team Rocket, that''s the only idea I had at the time that could work with my limited intelligence. Looks like it worked.'' Null ran towards the tree and pulled as many leaves as he could. He knew that the trap wouldn''t hold the panthers for long. When he pretty much stripped the plant of all his leaves, he ran towards the dungeon. ****************************************** Null arrives at the dungeon. Before he goes, he takes some of the leaves and rubs it all over his body. ''And now for a test.'' Null takes an arrow and punctures his skin enough to make him bleed. When he enters, none of the worms attack him. ''Good. Looks like it works!'' Null waits a few minutes for his wound to heal and enters the dungeon. Null for some reason grabbed a lot of Night Crawlers and put them in his inventory. He then goes up on the ledge on the side of the dungeon, ignores the highly armored armadillos, and continues into the cave until he sees Deathrolls. When he does, he takes out his paper and draws a particular Deathroll. It has an X shaped scar on his head. It looked to be the most powerful of the group. Null did identify on it and saw it was level 45. Instead of drawing like it was, Null drew it like it was super depressed. It was lazing around and even the spikes on its back were drooping. He then paints it while making the background black and blue. He makes it as dreary as possible. Null activates the Art is Feeling skill. He is left with only 380 mana. It will take him over an hour to refill. It usually takes 2 hours to completely refill a health bar or mana bar from empty. He has mana potions, but he decides that he doesn''t need to take it. The effect is apparent. The Deathroll was resisting at first, but it slowed down, and started bellowing sadly. Around 7 minutes had passed until the skill fully took effect. The Deathrolls sensing weakness attacked the sad Deathroll. The head Deathroll was still too powerful for them even in its depressed state. ''Let me help them out.'' Null took out an arrow and attached the night crawlers to them with string. He missed a lot of shots, but he finally hit it in the stomach. The effects were apparent immediately. The worms attached to the arrow burrowed inside its flesh. The open wound attracted more worms to attack it. The Deathroll was attacked from 2 fronts: One from the Deathrolls and the other from the worms. The Deathrolls attacked it causing more wounds, which in turn caused more worms to attack it. After 15 minutes of struggling, it finally dies. Null only got a little experience because the other creatures did most of the work. Monsters and NPCs in New Reality can level up just like players. Null repeated this strategy until there was only one Deathroll left. It was tired from fighting the other Deathrolls. He had numerous wounds on him and the worms were already burrowing inside him. Null decided to take care of him personally before the worms got all the experience. Null grabbed an arrow, jumped from the ledge and stabbed the arrow in its eyes. It screamed while the worms were burrowing inside it. Null kept punching it while it was attacked by the worms. It had forgotten to roll up into a ball. The Deathroll finally died. Null had gained 8 levels for taking out that group of Deathrolls. It isn''t surprising. He was level 9 while they were 30 or more levels above him. Null put all his points into intelligence and wisdom, and continued further into the cave. **************************************** A month passes. Null had to repeatedly go back and forth to town because he was constantly running low on supplies. His archery upgraded to level 2, which enabled him to not waste as many arrows as before. At level 2, his accuracy is 3% more accurate and he can shoot 5% farther. His intelligence and wisdom have finally surpassed what he is capable of in real life, which means he can make more intricate plans, and more importantly, less dumbass plans. He has leveled up to 43. The Deathrolls are no longer that much of a threat. Thanks to his class skill of adding damage the more you know about the opponent, he went all the way up to 10% extra damage. Weakness of the Deathrolls are now marked in red. He uses the cave to do most of the killing for him. Null drops the stalactites on enemies, impales them on stalagmites, and make them fall into pits where he can kill them at his leisure. Null finally makes it to the boss room and looks at his stats before his enters. ¡°Stat Screen.¡±
Status Window
NameNullFame0
Level43Infamy0
RaceHumanSatiety52%
GenderMaleEndurance14/33
Main Class
Librarian
Sub Classes
Calligrapher, Painter
Titles
None
Health532/880Health Regen0.26 / sec
Mana2640/3520Mana Regen0.99 / sec
Strength33Dexterity37
Vitality22Charisma1
Intelligence110Wisdom110
Luck1Knowledge62
Attack16Defense7
Magic Defense
None
''Okay. Here we go. What was it those librarian books were trying to tell me?'' He opens the door. Chapter 9: Ptah, Plz Nerf! The Fuck! Authors Note: This chapter is long as hell. I was going to shorten it, but I couldn''t be bothered to care. You should read this when you have time. Maybe get some food. Even I wouldn''t read this crap all at once, and I wrote it. There''s more than 5000 words here. I can''t even count to 5000. Has any one here ever counted to 5000? Oh right. The story. --------------------------------------------------------------- Null takes a deep breath and goes into the boss room. It''s dark. ''Oh. This must be one of those scenes where it starts out dark, then when you walk in everything lights up, then the boss appears all dramatic like.'' Null walks further into the room. Parts of the ceiling collapse revealing sunlight. A huge level 74 Deathroll about 3 meters tall stomps out from a darkened corner of the room and roars. The name above it says Queen Deathroll. ¡°Called it.¡± Since this Deathroll is just a huge version of the others Null fought, the librarian class gave an extra 6% damage. Since it''s not 10%, there must be things that he doesn''t know about her. ''Not like the 6% extra damage will really help against this thing.'' The queen slams her fists into the ground, rolls into a ball, and starts rolling in place faster and faster. She''s not going anywhere. ''What is she doing?'' Null gets a bad feeling. Higher wisdom gives a person better intuition. Null jumps out the way even though the queen is still on the other side of the room. As he jumped, the queen, in the blink of an eye, slammed into the spot Null was just in. Null''s mouth drops. ''I am so screwed. If that hits me even once I will die. I''m starting to regret not putting more points into dexterity.'' She starts to roll in place again. ¡°Dammit!¡± Null starts running. The Deathroll once again slams into the place where Null was. She hits Null''s hand and knocked out a quarter of his health. ''I need to think of something! My endurance is not going to last if this keeps up!'' The scene repeats a third time. The queen Deathroll unravels, tired. Null thinks to himself. ''Okay. What I''ve learned so far. It seems it attacks the place I was at before it starts rolling up. It travels in a straight line. It takes approximately 2 seconds for it to charge up. It attacks 3 times continuously before it unravels because of fatigue. The next question is if that 3 time attack is consistent or if the number of times it attacks is random. Well while its resting I''ll shoot some arrows at it.''
For figuring out Queen Deathroll''s movements, extra 2% damage dealt to Queen Deathroll.
¡°Now is NOT THE TIME!¡± He closes the window without reading it. Null fires off multiple arrows in succession. As expected, the arrows didn''t do much damage, especially with the 30% reduction thanks to his class, but the arrow damage wasn''t what Null was aiming for. Attached to the arrows were the Night Crawlers. Because this place has patches of sunlight coming out, that only served to make the worms burrow in the Queen Deathroll faster. Still she is far too powerful to be done in by a few measly night crawlers. The queen rested for about 6 seconds before she resumed her rolling skill. Null this time was prepared. Null climbed up a stalagmite further in the back of the room. The Queen might be powerful, but it can''t bulldoze through tens of giant stalagmites at once. At the third rush, it smashed through the stalagmite Null was on and unraveled. ''So it is three times. Good.'' While Null was falling from the broken stalagmite, he fired off more night crawler arrows. He touched the ground and ran to another formation of stalagmites. This scene repeated itself. One night crawler the queen could ignore. Ten night crawlers? Hardly felt anything. Hundreds? Maybe she''ll start getting uncomfortable. Thousands? Who knows? Null does not have that many arrows. All those night crawlers individually are nothing, but they kept gradually draining her health. ''Okay I''m doing good. I just have to keep this up.'' When the Queen Deathroll''s health dropped to below half, it changed its tactic. Instead of charging, it bounced. It bounced high enough to slam into where Null was on a stalagmite. ''Oh damn.'' Null jumped down and the boss barely grazed him. ''Another close call.'' The queen wasn''t done yet. Null looked up and saw that the queen was still bouncing toward him. ''Shit.'' Null jumped out of the way, but the queen still wasn''t done. It bounced again. This time Null could do nothing. It bounced on him, then rolled to the side and unraveled. Null only had 27 health left. ''That hurt like hell. I''m glad this game only makes me feel 10% of the pain I would experience from real life.'' Null quickly took health potions to refill his health. ''Just one hit and it took off so much. Okay, I''ve learned something new. When a boss''s health gets below half, it changes tactics. This boss''s new tactic is to bounce instead of roll. I can handle that.'' Null had used the bosses'' rest period to drink health potions instead of attack. He runs into a new stalagmite formation when he realizes something. ''I''m running out of stalagmites. I need to start conserving them. I thought that these would be enough at the beginning, but I underestimated this boss.'' Null takes out some food. He needs to keep his endurance up while running, and eating and drinking is the only way to do it. The boss bounces again. This time Null is out in the open. ''This bouncing ball is a lot easier to dodge than the rushing one. I just have to keep running as fast as I can.'' Null then sees that the cool down for the bouncing technique is 4 seconds instead of 6. ''I have my work cut out for me.'' ************************************************** Null is almost out of arrows. Luckily, the night crawlers are doing their job. He just has to stay alive until the queen dies. After 10 minutes of running, Null is tired and decides to rest at the bottom of a stalagmite formation. It bounces through after about 9 bounces, but it got Null a little over a minute of rest. Eventually, the Queen Deathroll''s health hits less than 10% of health. It changes tactics again. It mixes and matches the rushing technique and bouncing technique. ''What a pain!'' Null has no choice but to use up the remaining stalagmite formations. After a while of this, Null uses up the last formation. ''Dammit, what do I do now?'' The Queen Deathroll is preparing to do a charging roll, just when it was about to charge, it bellows a dying roar. It falls over dead. ¡°Whew! Sometimes my luck isn''t so bad.¡±
You have leveled up! You have leveled up! You have leveled up! You have leveled up!
Null levels up four times, and puts his stat points equally into intelligence and wisdom. He slumps over and rests. ''Okay, whatever the hidden map was pointing to better be worth it.'' After a brief rest he sees what the boss had dropped. ''A fine sword, can''t use it. 100 arrows, useful. 4 gold? Awesome. Is this all?'' Null gets dejected. ''Well, it is an E-ranked dungeon. I shouldn''t be too surprised.'' He goes to find where the column is. ''Okay. Left column, left column, where could you be?'' He searches until he sees columns in the very back of the room. ''Okay, now I just need to get to the one on the left and... What the hell am I supposed to even do?'' He makes it to the left column, but there is nothing there. ''Wait. This has to do with the librarian class right? So why don''t I try the information finder skill? Just have to think of the word librarian and use the skill.'' When he uses the skill, a pale blue glow is coming from a hole in the middle column. Null would have never noticed it if it wasn''t for the skill. When he presses inside the hole, a compartment opens up. In there are 2 really old and moldy books. ''Eeeeew. Do I have to touch that with my hands?'' When he picks them up with his gloves on, he thinks they could break apart any second. Null can''t even open the book without damaging it. ''Well I think its pretty obvious what I''m supposed to do here.'' ¡°Book Repair.¡± ¡°Book Repair.¡± .... He keeps using the skill until the book becomes as good as new. A vision then hits Null''s senses. Null gets teleported into a new place. He looks around. It looks like he''s been transported into a log cabin. There is a person here, and it looks like he''s metalworking something. ''He must be a blacksmith.'' Right now, Null is confused, so he goes to the man for answers. ¡°Excuse me.¡± The person ignores him. Null realizes that he has to be difficult with this NPC. ¡°Hey. I''m talking to you.¡± He tries to grab the man''s collar, but his hand slips right through. ''Wait. Did I die? No, all I did was use the book repair skill. This must be a flashback. Well, might as well see what this is about. I hope he doesn''t start doing anything too weird thinking that he''s by himself.'' Null watches the man. After he was done metalworking, he started to mix different herbs together. ''Not only is this man a blacksmith, but he''s also an alchemist? Interesting. That''s a rare combination.'' He did things that amazed Null. By touching metal, he shape shifted it into many designs. He transmuted different minerals into other minerals. Null had never even heard of that. What astonished Null the most was when he was done. A flying robot rose from the table. It looked like a drone from Null''s world. Null gets an epiphany. ¡°Wait! This might have something to do with the missing 2 centuries! This might complete the A rank mission I have, but I highly doubt it would be this easy.¡± The man talks to the robot. ¡°Deliver my message. This is of utmost importance!¡± The robot nods, then the man makes a circle with weird designs and holds it towards the robot. It disappears. Null is even more astonished. ¡°Did he just use long ranged teleportation by himself, and so quickly? I thought you needed a group of people to perform that, and it takes a while to charge. Who is this guy?¡± The man sighs. ¡°Finally. It is done.¡± Just when the man was about to slump on the floor, the door explodes. The debris heads towards Null, but it just phases through him as if he were a ghost. The man blocked the debris with a mana shield. ''Mana shield? So he''s a mage as well? How many classes does this man have?'' A group of people that look like really high leveled knights and mages come in. They all make room for someone else. That person comes in intimidating and like a boss. Null thinks, ''Huge red cloak with black skull on it, powerful red aura swirling around him, powerful henchmen who fear him. 50 bucks this guy is the final boss I might have to fight if I continue this.'' The cloaked man speaks. ¡°Do you have any idea how hard it is to find you?¡± ¡°Heh. Thanks, I try. How do you like the present I gave you? Now you only have a fraction of your power.¡± The cloaked man says,¡°The gods were clear. They want you and anyone who follows you dead, but I''ll make your death quick and painless if you decide to cure me of the condition you set on me, and also tell me where the rest of your resistance is.¡± The man spits on him. ¡°Go the hell.¡± ¡°Blame your own folly for going against the gods.¡± The cloaked man raises his hand, and his henchmen rushed to attack the man. The man did something. Null doesn''t know what he did, but for some reason, everyone just exploded. Null''s eyes opened wide. ''Wha? What the hell was that!?'' The cloaked man then did something Null will never forget. With his aura, he blew apart the house into tiny splinters. Null was thinking, ''Since when the hell did this turn into Dragonball Z?'' The man had teleported and had fired off energy balls in a Dragonball Z fashion at the cloaked man. He then guided it towards the cloaked man like a heat seeking missile. ''Someone''s getting sued.'' Null thought. The man then threw out some high tech gizmos that locked on to the cloaked man. Null thought, ''This is so amazing! Look at that tech! It''s so beautiful!'' The red cloaked man destroyed the tech with a wave of his hand, then made a sword by gathering the debris and metal from the ground and compressing it. Null who was spectating in his mind was thinking, ''Oh, and the cloaked man has some magneto in him too!'' He levitated into the air and then channeled fire energy through the sword. When he swung the sword, everything miles in front of him was incinerated. The man had teleported behind the cloaked man and made a spear energy construct and attempted to stab him with it. It looks like the man was standing on a circle with the weird design on it. The cloaked man grabs the spear with his hand. The man smirks. ¡°Hmph. It looks like you have weakened a lot more than I thought.¡± Null was thinking, ''He''s green lantern too? They can fly? I wish I had some popcorn. This is too awesome. And that power is when the cloaked man is weakened? I''m definitely not getting involved with him. I already vowed not to make waves. My name is Null, and I will leave everything as I found it, so if I ever get a mission to have to deal with that, I''ll say fuck you to all the things.'' The cloaked man crushes the energy construct with his hand. The man attempts to punch the cloaked man. His arm from the elbow up starts glowing. The cloaked man blocks with his sword, but it makes a shock wave on the sides of the sword that causes a big blast around the cloaked man. Null, again astonished, thinks, ''What the hell was that? He''s also part monk? What the hell is his class!? I really want to know!'' The cloaked man raises his hand, and a torrent of wind blows the man away. He conjures up a thunderstorm and gathers the lightning in one place in the clouds striking it down at the man. Null thinks, ''He also has wind and lightning? Is that cloaked man captain planet?'' He strikes the lightning at the man. The man instantly conjures up another one of his circles which absorbs the lightning. The circle disappears. Null thinks, ''Can you pick up those circles at a store? They seem to do everything. I''ll call them Macgyver circles. No one will get these references.'' The cloaked man then channeled a torrent of water through his sword. He swung it and a title wave surged towards the other man. Null thought, ''How many elements does this guy have? Ptah. Please nerf.'' The man made one of those weird circles and it grew until it was 10 times bigger than him. The circle then glowed and sucked up all the water like a black hole. Null thinks, ''My god. That thing sucks more than your mother. Why doesn''t he just teleport behind the tidal wave?'' That last technique the man did looks like it shaved all the rest of his mana. He collapsed on the ground and said, ¡°I did my job.¡± The flashback ends. Null ended up back in the cave. He was so excited he started jumping up and down. ¡°Holy shit! I hope my pod recorded that, because I will be rewatching that scene for the next year! Oh yeah, so what''s written in this book?¡± Null reads through it. ''It''s just some blacksmith and alchemy stuff. I can''t use that. There''s also a world map with a bunch of points on it. Oh well. I''ll figure that out later.''
You have obtained the Blacksmith subclass and Alchemy subclass. You have now completed the librarian class. For completing it, +15 to all stats, +25 to intelligence, +25 to wisdom, +55 to knowledge.
Status Window
NameNullFame0
Level47Infamy0
RaceHumanSatiety100%
GenderMaleEndurance33/33
Main Class
Librarian
Sub Classes
Calligrapher, Painter, Alchemist, Blacksmith
Titles
None
Health1370/1370Health Regen0.42 / sec
Mana5060/5060Mana Regen1.88 / sec
Strength48Dexterity52
Vitality37Charisma16
Intelligence160Wisdom160
Luck16Knowledge132
Attack23Defense7
Magic Defense
None
*+15 to all stats *+25 to intelligence *+25 to wisdom. *+55 to knowledge *The pen is mightier than the sword. You may have heard of this in the figurative sense, but in your case it''s quite literal. 99% reduction in attack with handheld weapons like swords, spears, daggers, axes, staffs, and any derivative of them. *30% reduction in ranged weapon attack. *2% extra attack bonus the more you learn about your opponents. Can go as high as 10% extra attack bonus. *Monsters weakness gets marked in red either when you reach 10% extra attack bonus, or learn of the weakness through trial and error. *Can make skill books. *Gained a new stat knowledge.
¡°...What the hell just happened? I just got hit with a bunch of all these things. I don''t know what''s going on. What? Is this real life? Where am I?¡± Null gets over his shock and then opens up his skill list.
Librarian Mastery
Skill typePassiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 5
Librarian skills become better the higher the level.
This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
Book Repair
Skill typeActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Can repair books or written documents. Cost: 150 mana
Paper Create
Skill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 5
Create paper.
Universal Identify
Skill typeActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 4
Can identify many things. Unlike other identifies like item identify or plant identify, the librarian class contains the only universal identify. Cost: 400 Mana
Calligraphy Mastery
Skill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 5
Calligraphy skills become better the higher the level.
Proofread
Skill typeActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 3
Can identify spelling and grammar mistakes. Cost: 180 Mana
Painting Mastery
Skill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 5
Learned to paint pictures. Pictures become more detailed the higher the level.
Illustration
Skill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 5
Learned to draw pictures. Pictures become more detailed the higher the level.
Handicraft
Skill typePassiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 5
Will enable your crafting skills to become more skilled the higher the level.
Art is Feeling
Skill typeActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Draw opponents in any emotional state to make them feel that way. The higher level the opponent is the longer it takes for it to take effect. Cost: 500 mana
Alchemy Mastery
Skill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Make better potions the higher the level.
Gardening
Skill typePassiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Is now able to grow plants. Success of plant growth depends on plant and skill level.
Blacksmithing Mastery
Skill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Includes foraging, upsetting, welding and finishing skills
Smelting
Skill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Extract base minerals from ores. Higher level means higher quality metals.
Weapon/Armor Repair
Skill typeActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Repair weapons and armor. Cost: 200 Mana
Cooking
Skill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Cook food without it spontaneously exploding in your face or rotting. Some of the time.
Hand to Hand Combat
Skill typePassiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
For repeatedly fighting close quarters while not using a weapon, you are granted this skill. Agility increase: 2%. Strength Increase: 3%, Stamina increase: 2% when not holding a handheld weapon.
Archery
Skill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 2
Can shoot arrows. Arrow shoot 9% farther 2% more powerful 3% more accurate.
Camping
Skill typePassiveSkill ProficiencyCannot level up
Can now set up small tents to recover health 5% faster while inside it. Can start small fires more easily by rubbing 2 dry sticks together.
''Well okay, now I have a buttload of skills to train. Well, that solves the mystery of what class that guy in the flashback had. Oh and there''s one more book I need to get. I have to admit. If you told me the librarian class could shoot Kamehamehas and Hadokens, first I''d tell you to stop talking to me, then I would be surprised.'' Null gets the book and does multiple book repairs like the first book he got. It was then made good as new. Before he reads the other book, Null thinks to himself, ''The person who hid these books was really clever. First, he put it in a column and made sure that only those with the librarian class at level 5 mastery or above would be able to find it. Second, he made sure that even if someone found it by accident, the books would be too illegible for anyone to read. The only way to repair these books is with the Book Repair skill which is, to my knowledge, only available to librarians.'' Null opened the book. ''Hmm... No flashback this time I guess.'' He then read the cover. ''Essence of Mana. What? The second prize is such a worthless book?'' Aside from the camping skill, and Light Orb skill for seeing in dark places, Essence of Mana is one of the most common skills that a person can have. In fact, you can say everyone above level 120 definitely has the skill. It''s also incredibly easy to get. All you do is pay 50 gold to a mage guild and they will automatically unlock the skill for you. What it does is that it decreases the amount of mana that you spend on techniques by 1%. That''s all it does. It''s also notoriously difficult to level up. Some people at the start of the game tried leveling it up, but no matter what they did, it would fail. A few people did manage to level it up. They spent every waking moment trying to level it up. All it did when it leveled up to beginner level 2 was add a percent of the decrease of what mana you could spend, and you could move mana inside your body somewhat. They tried pouring the mana into the fist to see if it would result in a super punch. It did nothing. They then tried pouring it into weapons. It gave the same result, nothing. Those people spent every waking moment for a year trying to find ways to level up the skill. They even skipped hunting and gaining proficiency to do this, and could no longer keep up with their peers in leveling. After that, very few tried to level it up, and the few that did all showed the same results. ''Well I guess not having to spend 50 gold later on is fine I guess.'' He then read the rest of the book. ''Mana is the foundation of everything in this world. It permeates everywhere, in every rock, in every living thing, and even in empty space. In this world, there is no such thing as a place with no mana. Mana is so versatile. It can convert to different elements, it can be used to strengthen warriors techniques, and can also be used to even make people invisible. How is mana able to do so many incredible things? I set out to see how mana interacts with everything. The first thing I did is to see how mana flows in everyone. It may not seem like a big deal to see how mana flows in everyone, but it absolutely is. I looked at the different professions. First, the warriors. I noticed that mana flows more rapidly in them than in everyone else. The higher level the warrior, the faster the mana flowed through them. Of course, it wasn''t universal, but it was consistent with my observations. Second, I observed the mages. Their mana doesn''t flow as fast as the warriors, but the amount they contain is by far the most. Third, I observed the archers. Their mana flow is weird. It''s like the mana is always vibrating in an energized state. I had a hypothesis, so I set it up to see if I was right. I then looked at the production classes, classes who don''t fit into a neat little box of strength and speed. What I observed confirmed my hypothesis. The way the mana flows doesn''t depend on your class. It depends on which stats you put it into. The god most high, the creator of everything, Ptah, chose to put our capabilities into numbers. We can increase these numbers by defeating other opponents and putting it into which stat you want. I discovered that the stat point system directly controls the mana. I looked at various people and here are my findings: Strength: The higher this stat, the more rapidly mana flows. Dexterity: The higher this stat, the more mana vibrates inside the body. Intelligence: The higher this stat, the more amount of mana your body can contain. Wisdom: The higher this stat, the stronger your skills become at the same mana cost. Vitality: The higher this stat, the more the mana fuses with your body and enhances it. This one is especially amazing as it appears this one requires by far more mana than the rest of them. Charisma: The higher this stat, the more the mana given off by you gives a serene calming effect that makes one like you more and more. Luck: The one that interested and frustrated me the most. It affects the laws of probability, and I''m still not sure how mana ties into it. Of course, there are other stats which makes mana do other different things, but these base stats are what I focused on. I then looked at the different professions to find if there was a mechanism to how mana flows. I developed this Essence of Mana skill to the degree where I could see the intricacies of mana at work inside the human body. Mana flows like blood inside the human body. It even has an organ-like place in which mana is concentrated. It''s not a physical thing what you can grab, but its there. I call this thing the mana heart. It''s located in the center of the chest. It appears all living things contain this mana heart, even plants. Another thing that interested me is that when I developed my essence of mana skill even further, I could see no difference between the living things and non living things. Living things are pretty much balls of mana compressed. I find this all so fascinating. My final project was how mana was able to convert into elements, but I was unable to finish that research. I upset too many people. I hope you can continue my research in mana.'' Null had finished reading it. He was pretty surprised. ''The way this world works is simply amazing. I used to think that the librarian class was useless because it was weak, but I changed my mind. I wouldn''t have learned about this if I was a monk, and the amount of skills that I have will keep me from being bored when I''m alone.'' A message then pops up.
Would you like to learn Essence of Mana?
"Of course." Null learns the skill.
Essense of Mana
Skill typePassiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Decrease mana cost of techniques by 1%.
''I should probably go to that librarian lady and tell her what I found.'' Null goes back to town. He heads for the librarian and tells her everything. ¡°...and that concludes everything that I saw. The visuals were pretty amazing.¡± The librarian was once again impressed with David. ¡°Wow. You- You are the first foreigner to complete the librarian class!¡± ¡°Neat. Anyway I need a favor.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°The person who left the book on mana of essence told me about how mana works, but in order to work on it, I need to spend a lot of time on it. Time that I won''t have unless I focus all my attention.¡± ¡°Right. Where are you going with this?¡± ¡°Can I mooch off you and you give me free food?¡± ¡°Normally I would say no, but since this is something left by our predecessor, I''ll make an exception. You can eat in the cafeteria for free, but as soon as you learned Essence of Mana to a proficient level, we''ll cut you off.¡± ¡°That''s fine. It''s the least you can do for throwing an A rank at me.¡± ¡°Uuuu.¡± After the librarian gives him some food, Null goes deep into a forest and tries to finds a place where no one will disturb him. He goes to the top of a tall tree. ''Okay here no one will disturb me. I''m miles away from town and I don''t see a single animal in the distance. I''m tired. I should log off.'' After David goes to sleep, it''s time for school. A week has passed in real time while David was in the dungeon. Today is the day he''ll be getting his tests back. He''s in a good mood. ''That annoying girl will finally leave me alone.'' Advanced Chemistry was the first class that he had with her. The teacher passed out the tests. As soon as class was over, Cecile ran over to David before he could even start packing. She was shaking. ¡°Show me what you have! Tell me! Tell me! Tell me! Tell me!¡± David tilted his head in confusion and handed her his test. She looked at the score. ¡°Wha?¡± She then looks at which questions David had wrong. At first she looked infuriated for some reason, but then she smiled and said, ¡°Ha! I finally beat you! I won!¡± ¡°Yes, yes. You''re the best. So now you can finally-¡± ¡°Ha! You suck and I won! Ha, stupid!¡± ¡°Right. So with this you can-¡± ¡°I won and you lost!¡± She then sticks her tongue out and started pointing at David really close to his face without touching him. ¡°You lost to meeeeee!¡± ¡°Are you going to sto-¡± ¡°Loser who''s dumber than me!¡± David just decides to leave. The next class they had together was Advanced Physics. The same scene repeated. ¡°Hey David, guess who''s dumber than me. Well since you''re not smart enough to figure it out on your own, I''ll tell you. It''s you! You''re dumber than me!¡± David just decides to ignore her. ''She''s just excited right now. She''ll get it out of her system.'' ¡°So stupid! How could you be so stupid!?¡± she tells David. In the Advanced Pre-Calculus class the same thing happened. ¡°Let''s put this in a way you can understand. Yooooooou are duuuuuumbeeeeeer than meeeeeeeeee.¡± David was pretty unhappy that day. ''She is so annoying. Well now that she knows that she''s better than me, she has no reason to bother me anymore.'' The next day, he went to his Advanced Chemistry class. His desk was filled with notes telling him how dumb he is. In his Advanced Physics class, there was a huge drawing of dickbutt on his desk with the phrase ¡°I R DUMB!¡± written under it. ''The drawing may be asinine, but it''s still a pretty good drawing.'' David admits. His Pre-Calculus had a special needs helmet, elbow guards, and knee guards on his desk. This kept continuing and escalating each day. She even managed to get a special needs sign one day. From then on, David made a vow. ''Never again. You will never ever again beat me in a test. I hope you enjoyed your little festival, because you will never enjoy it again. My precious solitude. You ruined it you annoying bitch!'' -------------------------------------------------------- Author''s Note: Congrats. You made through my unnecessarily long chapter. I have a new idea for a story and I want your opinion on it. It''s about a boy who gets hit by a truck, and doesn''t reincarnate. He stays dead. The End. Or how about a truck that gets hit by a boy and gets destroyed? Chapter 10: I heard you like training montages. David logs back into New Reality. It''s been 2 days real time since he beat the dungeon. He decides his next plan of action. ''Okay. I have the option of leveling up my blacksmith and alchemy professions to level 5, or I could continuously try working on my Essence of Mana. Once I start one or the other, I cannot stop. Well it''s pretty obvious which I should start first. Essence of Mana will decrease my cost by another percent if I level it up, which in turn will allow me to level up the other skills a bit faster. Now according to the book, all I have to do is get a feel for my mana to level it up to Beginner level 2. Okay, here we go.'' He grabs food from the library and goes to a quiet place in the forest. Null sits cross legged and meditates. This isn''t the first time he''s done something like this. In the gym, whenever he had a problem performing a move, he would use visualization. He would sit cross legged and imagine every single step of what he needed to perform. It would wear him out even more than performing the actual move. He spent the entire day sitting like this. ''This is boring.'' He then went to sleep in the game. The next day, he cleaned out the pantry of the library, and rushed back to the same spot at the top of a tree. ''This is so boring.'' Boring days became boring weeks, and boring weeks became boring months. On the third month, he finally found what he was looking for. ''I felt it. I think I felt the mana! I just have to bring it out.'' He started concentrating on that feeling. He felt it inside his chest, the mana heart as the author of the book liked to call it. The feeling gradually became stronger and stronger. On the fourth month, not only did he feel the mana heart, he felt the mana all over his body. ''Wow. Mana really does flow like blood. Shit its cold out here! I forgot about the seasons in this game. It rarely ever gets cold in real life. This is one of the few times I''ve ever seen my breath. I should get a sweater or something.'' Null goes into town and buys a gray drab cloak. ''This suits me perfectly.'' Null begins meditating again. He felt all the paths where his mana flows, and started memorizing the paths the mana takes. Finally, at the end of the 5th month, a message he''s been waiting for pops up.
Essence of mana has leveled up to Beginner Level 2.
Essense of Mana
Skill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 2
2% decrease in mana consumption for techniques. Can now control mana inside your body..
Null is satisfied. ''Good. That means I''m out of the danger zone. I couldn''t even spend half a day on break or I would''ve rapidly started losing proficiency and would''ve had to start all over. Now that I have beginner level 2, I can no longer lose proficiency in Essence of Mana. Now what do I do? I guess I''ll continue upgrading the skill.'' Null gets in his meditative pose and starts trying to manipulate the mana. ''It''s very difficult to move inside my body. Well I''ve already memorized all the paths my mana flows in. Lets try speeding it up a little.'' Null does this and it barely does anything. ''Well I guess that''s to be expected. I''ll just keep practicing.'' He does this day in and day out. ''Hey I made an alternate flow for the mana in my finger!'' Null keeps practicing. ''Hey, I just created an entirely new pathway down my arm!'' Day by day, he kept getting better and better. ''I''m able to slow down my mana by flowing the mana in the opposite way of my network. This will help me improve faster than going the other way.'' By the fourth week after Essence of Mana reaches Beginner level 2, another message pops up.
Essence of Mana has leveled up to Beginner Level 3.
Essense of Mana
Skill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 3
5% decrease in mana consumption for techniques. Increased control of mana.
He moves the mana and is shocked by how easy it is to move. ''I can now control the mana a lot easier now!'' The mana actually went where he wanted with little resistance. Null smirks, which for him means his lip slightly twitched upwards. ''Now I will try moving my mana to try and reproduce different stats.'' Now as was said before, everyone and everything in this world uses mana in some way, but to actually go inside the guts and manipulate the mana is something very few people can do. For example, almost anyone who can read can turn on a computer and go on the internet, but most would be too ignorant to ever get into the nitty gritty of touching the actual hardware and software components of computers. Null is doing the equivalent of hacking into a computer. First thing Null does is try to reproduce strength by increasing the mana flow. ''It would be to difficult to try to do it with my entire body, so lets start small for now. First, the finger.'' Null gets down from the tree and sits on the ground. ''Okay, first I''ll see how far I can dig into this dirt with my mana flow as it is.'' He places his wrist on the ground, and strikes the dirt with his finger. It only digs in about half an inch. ''Okay. Now we''ll see it with the mana flow increased.'' He strikes the dirt again. It digs in a little deeper at almost an inch. ''I need to work on this.'' Null works on speeding up the mana flow as fast as he can in all his body parts. He gets used to it. In 5 days, he works on speeding up the mana in multiple body parts at the same time. In 2 weeks, he experiments to see how he could get the biggest strength gains. He manipulates the mana so well that he gets at most a +126 boost in strength for now. If you increase mana flow to only the important muscles, you could save a lot more mana. He even went a step beyond. He made it so in his wrist, the mana will flow in a circular pattern rapidly. Right at the point of impact, he releases the mana resulting in a shock wave. It isn''t perfect, and his current limit right now is 4 revolutions per second. Null also has to time it right. Too late and it just adds a little force in the blow, but not enough to make people nervous. Too early and it dissipates in the air. He''s doing good, but the problem is he''s doing all this standing still. He needs to be able to do all this while he''s moving. This one didn''t take as long as the others, as it only took a little over 2 days to walk while moving mana, then run while moving mana, then do fighting techniques while moving mana. Null makes it to a point where he''s comfortable with rapidly moving mana. Now he''s currently working on the dexterity aspect of mana control. This one''s a bit easier than increasing the mana flow for strength, but not by much. He starts by trying to wiggle the mana. It doesn''t work. Null then tries to make it so that the mana inside his body hums. It works a bit better. What worked best for him is imagining that the mana hums like a bee. Since he had his experience of trying to control the speed of his mana to augment strength, a lot of it carried over for manipulating dexterity. It only took 4 days to get it up to speed, no pun intended. He soon discovered a problem. He cannot use speed augmentation and strength augmentation at the same time. He''ll have to work around that. He manages to get a dexterity boost of at most +126 Dexterity by focusing on specific limbs. ''I''ll figure out a way to mix and match with both and practice on timing with them.'' Now someone might think, ''Wow! He can boost most his stats just by manipulating mana, he must be invincible right?'' Wrong. Essence of mana has a lot of weaknesses. The first one is that to move mana costs mana. To even manipulate mana a little costs mana. To land a blow with that +126 strength requires a quarter of Null''s mana pool, and that''s only if he focuses purely on strength augmentation. It also only lasts a fraction of a second. Now, the second problem is one that should be obvious from the first problem. If moving mana costs mana, then there would be less mana in the body than before, which would make an attack that relies on mana manipulation weaker. Null is essentially a firework. The longer he fights, the less mana he''ll have in his body, and the more likely he will lose. To truly master Essence of Mana, Null will have to have moves that deals with his opponents quickly. The third problem is, Null''s opponents, who have high strength and/or dexterity, do not spend any mana to use their stats. If Null gets a stat boost to equal an opponents, all the opponent would need is attrition to beat Null, and he would lose. Null thinks, ''I have to invent ways to deal with opponents quickly in the future, and what do you know? I have conveniently gotten the alchemy and blacksmith subclass to help me with that.'' Null is now trying to test his new found abilities against monsters. He is too high level for the wolves, so he goes to the panthers. Now, Null is not trying to kill them. He is trying to see if they can even land a blow on him. His training is essentially dodging. ¡°Okay panthers, hit me with your best shot.¡± The panthers are wary, because they sense that Null is at a higher level than them, but their pride would not allow them to back down. Panthers have dexterity that is unusually a lot higher than normal than other beasts at the same level, but have low health. The panthers surround him and pounce. One tries going for his back. Null is using his open palm half circle step stance. Null moves out by stepping out to his right and completely dodging it. ''I added too much dexterity with that movement. If I keep adding that much, I''ll wear myself out. Learn to control it.'' The panthers took turns pouncing and swiping. Null blocked with open palms and moved out the way. When his mana reached less than half, he ran away. The panthers did not give chase, as they knew that Null could kill them if he had wanted to. Null goes through his assessment. ''They were able to hit me a few times. It''s not easy to conserve mana in the middle of a battle. That requires calm, which is very difficult to do in a fight. I need to practice some more.'' Null waits an hour for his mana to refill, then goes back to the panthers. 3 days later, and he stops going to the panthers. ''Good. They got out all the kinks. I''m now pretty confident in my skill. Throughout training essence of mana I gained 9 points in Intelligence and 6 points in wisdom. Now I''m going to do something that will leave a bad taste in my mouth. I will deliberately go to, ick, people. Why must I do this? Well it''s the only way to get stronger. Dammit. Fuck people.'' Null goes to the warriors guild. After looking at the signs, he finds the place where the monks train. There''s a person near the door throwing punches at a punching bag. He sees Null standing at the doorway and approaches him. ¡°Yes, how can I help you? If you''re here for training to get the Hand to Hand Combat skill, then take this schedule to know when we''re starting classes.¡± ¡°Sorry, I''m not here for that. I just want to spar.¡± ¡°Spar? With us? You realize that we''re monks right? Our specialty is fighting bare handed. No other warrior class could go up against a monk in sparring bare handed at the same level except another monk.¡± ¡°That''s what I came here for.¡± ¡°Well I don''t know if your confidence is from foolishness, a high level, or you have some sort of powerful hidden class. What''s your class?¡± ¡°Librarian.¡± ¡°...What''s your level?¡± ¡°47.¡± ¡°....pft HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!¡± The guy fell to the ground pounding his fist against the ground laughing hysterically. This caused the other monks in the room to stop what they were doing and look at the scene. ¡°Hey, what''s wrong?¡± ¡°What''s so funny?¡± The other monks were asking him. ¡°HAHAHA! This guy... HAHAHA... wants to spar with us... pft... while only being a level 47 Librarian!¡± This got everyone to join in on the guy currently on the floor laughing. ¡°HAHAHA! Is he insane?¡± ¡°Heh. Well he has to be insane to pick the librarian class to start with!¡± ¡°I... can''t... BREATHE!!! AHAHAHAHA!¡± Null didn''t mind them laughing. In fact, he would find it strange if they didn''t laugh. After a few minutes of laughing, Null says, ¡°...So can I spar or not?¡± They stopped laughing as hard, but they were still giggling. ¡°Well sure kid, we have nothing better to do.¡± ¡°Good.¡± ¡°Okay whose the weakest person here?¡± ¡°Um, currently Paul is at level 24.¡± Paul got up excited. ¡°I get to fight him? Yes! It''s always fun to put arrogant dummies in their place!¡± Lets talk about the monk class. The stat gains they get when they become monks are enormous. They also get techniques that further augment their strength and speed into explosive strikes. They can infuse mana into their blows just like Null learned how to, but Null relies on his control over his mana while monks rely on brute force while on system assist. In return for this great power, they are penalized if they hold weapons or wear heavy armors like the other warriors. They also cannot wear multiple armors as the other warriors can. Of all the warriors, they have the highest stamina and have one of the highest strengths and speeds. Even if a level 24 monk were to go against a level 40 swordsman in hand to hand combat, the swordsman would most likely lose. Even if a level 70 librarian were to go against a level 24 monk in hand to hand combat, the librarian would most likely lose. Paul and Null started heading towards the ring. They could have made it so that it would be a duel, but people didn''t think that Null was worthy of that. In a duel, when you die, you do not lose stat points, and instead of respawning at the last town you used as a checkpoint, you respawn where you died. People were betting on how fast the match would end. ¡°I''m giving it 5 seconds.¡± ¡°You kidding? 5 seconds is generous. I''m giving the match 3 seconds.¡± ¡°You''re both crazy. 2 seconds and not a second more.¡± The referee for the fight, another monk, talks about the rules. ¡°No poison, weapons, or traps. Only use hand to hand combat. Techniques that augment strength are allowed. Try not to kill.¡± He gives the monk a stern look. Obviously the last message was meant for him. ¡°Yeah, yeah. I get it.¡± Paul wines out. The referee yells out, ¡°Begin!¡± In a way, the monks that were talking about the match ending in seconds were right. The match did indeed end in 2 seconds. It''s just that the picture of what the outcome would look like is reversed. The monk is currently in a dent in the wall and Null is currently fine. Silence. Total, utter silence. No one knew what to say. Paul was trying to show off and left too many openings. Null exploited the openings and drop kicked him towards the wall. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. He can now rapidly switch from manipulating mana for dexterity to manipulating mana for strength. It has grown even further, and that was also not including the shock wave. Null can now rotate his mana and release it as a shock wave from anywhere on his body. He used dexterity to move his leg into a fast kick, then switched to strength to give him a powerful blow, then used the shock wave when his foot made contact, resulting in a guy, in a dent, in the wall. Paul got up infuriated. He was shaking. How dare he lose to a librarian? And in hand to hand combat too? ''I''m a monk! He''s a librarian! This doesn''t make any sense!'' ¡°I wasn''t ready! I want a rematch!¡± The referee goes to Null. ¡°Is that fine with you?¡± Null nods. He drinks a mana potion to refill his mana. They go back to the ring. The referee calls out, ¡°Begin!¡± ''This time I won''t give you a chance!'' He uses the Breath of Life technique to pour all his mana into his blows and rushes towards Null again. The match ended the same way, with the monk, in a dent, in the wall. The monks were once again silent. They were thinking, ''I thought that the last victory was a fluke, but he managed to beat him even with the breath of life technique.'' ''What in the world is going on? Was he telling the truth about being a librarian?'' ''That blow that he used, it was similar to a monk''s technique, but calmer and more refined. Who the hell is this guy?'' ¡°I want to fight em''.¡± The next person to volunteer to fight Null shocked them even more than the last match. ¡°Why must you go? There''s no need.¡± ¡°I just want to see what he is capable of. That''s all.¡± ¡°You''ll kill him!¡± ¡°I''m sure he can handle it.¡± Null looks at who''s coming to the stage. He is mildly surprised. Null sorta knows this person, though he doesn''t talk to him. Null thinks, ''First the bully, now him. What are the odds?'' He speaks to Null. ¡°David huh? So what should I call you here?¡± ¡°Null.¡± ¡°In this game, I am Ludis, a level 172 monk.¡± What Ludis doesn''t say is that he''s one of the very few who have unlocked the intermediate level hand to hand combat skill, which along with his extra stats given by completing basic training hall, beginner training hall, and practicing all the time, gives him the stats of a level 300 player. ¡°With all due respect Ludis, why would you want to fight me even though I am a level 47 librarian?¡± ''Hell. I have yet to beat you in real life. Why in the hell do you want to fight me when you are higher level than me and a monk? You don''t seem like the type to toy with people, but I have been wrong about people''s natures before.'' Null thinks. ¡°I just want to see those moves of yours again. They interested me. Could you do me this favor and fight me?¡± Null thinks to himself, ''Fighting? This won''t be a fight, this will be a curb stomp battle.'' Null nods. ''Well I need to learn how to survive against people with overwhelming power sooner or later.'' They go to the ring. Ludis'' real name is Rory Pierce, currently the number one ranked junior MMA fighter in his city. Girls love and swoon over him, and guys look up to or are jealous of him. Null is no exception. He has always been jealous of Rory, though he would never admit it to himself. Before they fight, Ludis asks Null a question. ¡°Before we fight, I have a question.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°How many health points do you currently have in all?¡± ¡°1370. Why?¡± ¡°I have to make sure not to kill you is all.¡± The referee shouts out. ¡°Begin!¡± Null takes the initiative this time and runs to Ludis. He knows if Ludis were to take the initiative, the match would be over. Null rushes as fast as he can putting dexterity in his legs. He then tries to punch Ludis. He completely dodged leisurely as if Null''s punch was in slow motion. Ludis then gets behind Null and flicks him. If Null''s blow to Paul was a dent, then Ludis'' blow to Null was a crater. He went through the wall and landed outside. Null is in a daze. ''I''m not dead?'' People outside are wondering what the commotion is all about. Null looks at his health. He only has 10 health points left. ''So that''s why he asked about my health. He can control his blows so precisely. What a monster.'' Null takes health and mana potions to refill. He then walks back inside and confronts Ludis. ¡°Not giving up yet? That is just like you.¡± Ludis says to Null. Null runs towards Ludis again. Ludis tries the same trick, but this time Null ducks it. Ludis had purposefully did the same move again to see how Null would deal with it. Null then tried a back kick, but he strolled through it and round house kicked Null in the face faster than he could see it. He was once again blasted through the wall. He once again had 10 health points left. Null thinks to himself, ''Now this is what I was waiting for.'' Around 30 minutes pass. The warriors guild looks like Swiss cheese. The head of the warrior''s guild goes to Ludis. ¡°Dammit Ludis! I hope you''re going to pay for that! You always do this!¡± ¡°Of course.¡± Null is now out of health and mana potions, so he decides to leave. ¡°Thank you for the spar, Ludis.¡± ¡°No, it was my pleasure, Null.¡± Null then leaves without saying another word. The monks were talking to Ludis. He might not be the highest level monk there currently, but he is the strongest. No one will dispute this. ¡°So why did you want to fight him? That''s not like you. You only try to fight strong opponents.¡± ¡°Yeah. People beg for duels with you and you usually turn them down, but the librarian shows up and you volunteer to spar with him? I don''t get you.¡± Ludis sighs and then says, ¡°Currently, most of you know that in Darin City near the great lakes, I''m number one in the junior MMA rankings.¡± ¡°Yeah, most of us know that. What''s that got to do with wanting to fight the librarian?¡± ¡°Well that guy you just saw? He''s part of my gym.¡± ¡°Huh? Really? He talked to you as if you were a total stranger.¡± ¡°Yeah, he tends to do that. But anyway, in the last few months, I was never able to beat him once.¡± Silence, then laughter. ¡°Oh come on, Ludis, we''re being serious here. It''s no time for jokes.¡± ¡°Yeah, if he''s as strong as you say, then why doesn''t he fight in the tournaments?¡± Ludis says, ¡°He always says he''s not trying to impress anybody, and the only reason he took up fighting in the first place is to protect himself and surpass the person he was yesterday.¡± ****************************************************** Flashback: Rory is walking to school with his friends. They are buttering up to him. ¡°Man Rory, you were awesome! Only 13 and can already handle kids 4 years older than you. When you turn 18, you will probably start beating everyone and become world champion!¡± ¡°That''s the plan.¡± When they are on their way to class, a crying fat kid runs by with food on him. Rory looks at him go. ¡°Hey Tim.¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°Who''s that?¡± ¡°Um, I don''t know. I think I''ve seen him around before, but I don''t know.¡± Rory feels sorry for the guy. He noticed him always getting bullied by kids, but he didn''t want to intervene because he felt that would only make it worse. He also feels that a man should strive to fight his own battles. The worst part is that no one even knows who he is. Even Rory to his shame doesn''t remember his name. To Rory, not having anyone know who you are is a fate worst than death. He always strives to do things in order to get acknowledged. Rory couldn''t even imagine ever living without people knowing who you are. Well there''s nothing he could do about it so he gradually puts it in the back of his mind. A few months later. Another girl confesses to him. By now it''s routine for Rory to get asked out periodically. It''s Keimi, the girl he asked to work with a project on. The only reason he wanted to be her friend was because she seemed like a good person and she was always nice to that kid when the world was cruel to him. Rory thinks she''s cute, but right now, that kid needs a friend. ¡°I''m sorry, but that kid you''re hanging around with all the time. You''re his only friend. I don''t think I should come in between you two like that. I''m sorry.¡± The next day, Keimi came to him. ¡°He and I are no longer friends, please go out with me!¡± When she said that, Rory had felt awful. He felt like he just ruined that kid''s life. She cut off contact from that kid, and it was all his fault. ¡°Why did you do that!? I would never go out with someone who throws away friendships over some romance!¡± She clearly gets upset and leaves. Rory thinks to himself, ''You know what? I''ll take the initiative and try to be that kid''s friend.'' A day later. He tries to make friends with him. ¡°Hey guy, what''s your name?¡± ¡°David. What do you want?¡± ¡°A couple of friends are going with me to the arcade. You wanna come?¡± ¡°Not interested. Now if you''ll excuse me.¡± David walks away, and that was that. Rory thinks, ''He has clearly changed. The eyes of hope he once had are now dead, and it''s all my fault. Well beating myself up over it won''t do any good. I''ve always said it''s no use crying over spilled milk.'' He never thought about David again after that. It''s the weekend at his gym. This is the time the basic class and advanced class to get together so that the advanced class can show the beginner class how things are done. Rory is clearly focused on the lesson at hand, but when class ends, he sees David. ''Huh? What''s he doing here? I don''t think he will last in this gym. It''s not called the best in the city for nothing.'' It''s been about 2 weeks since David has joined the gym. Some of the advanced students had noticed him. ¡°Hey, did any of you guys see that fat kid in the gym?¡± ¡°HAHA! I thought I was the only one. Did he think this was some kind of bakery?¡± ¡°Lets make a bet about how long he''ll stay.¡± ¡°I''ll give him another month.¡± ¡°A month? You''re clearly being generous. I''ll give him another week before he either quits or collapses!¡± ¡°Rory, what do you think?¡± ¡°I have no idea, but I''m not really expecting much from him.¡± 2 years later. David joins the advanced class. Since David is new, he has to sit on the side to see how the advanced class is done. After class, David immediately leaves. The advanced students talk among themselves. ¡°I can''t believe he got promoted to the advanced class. Clearly that instructor is going easy on him.¡± ¡°It would be a shame if this loser goes to tournaments and represents us. The instructor clearly wasn''t trying hard enough. Lets make it so he never wants to come back.¡± David always had it harder than the rest in advanced class, but he didn''t mind. In fact, this is what he wanted. Rory thought to himself, ''He''s still here even after all that? I clearly underestimated him. He''s not as much as a weakling as I thought.'' One year later. The advanced class is sparring again. Rory''s partner is David. This is the first time he''s sparring against him. Rory quickly defeats him. The other students laugh. ¡°Clearly that had to be a record for fastest spar.¡± ¡°Congratulations Rory for fastest spar!¡± Another 6 months pass. The students are gaping. David is now currently fighting Rory on equal terms. No one can get an advantage over the other. The instructor stops them. ¡°Okay that was a really good match. Keep up the good work David.¡± Rory looks at David. ''He has come a long way. To be able to match me in sparring.'' When class is over, the students go to David. ¡°Hey David. We may have underestimated you. We''re sorry for how we treated you. We''re all going to my house to watch a movie. You want in?¡± ¡°No thanks.¡± David walks away. Rory sighs, ''I thought that with him getting better and people acknowledging him, that he would gradually get friends. It''s not that David can''t get friends. It''s because he doesn''t want them.'' 1 month passes. David has done something no one thought presently possible. He beat Rory. The student''s mouths are gaping! They run up to David. ¡°David you really, really need to go to the tournament. With you and Rory, the top spots will be filled in no time!¡± ¡°Not interested.¡± ¡°You always say that! Stop being selfish and join the tournament!¡± ¡°Selfish? Ha. It''s amazing to me. Every single thing I see of mankind is selfishness. It''s only when they want others for their own selfish desires that they call others out on their selfishness.¡± David walks away. Rory was thinking, ''To think I could lose! I never thought I could lose. I need to try harder against him!'' From that day on, David was always matched against Rory. What started out as wins, losses, and draws, started gradually going in favor towards David. 6 months pass and now Rory''s lucky to draw out with David. Rory was more motivated than ever. He trained even harder, gotten even better, but David would always catch up and beat him. It''s not that David is physically better than Rory. In fact, you could say Rory''s a little better in terms of physical strength and speed. It''s just that David forces Rory to make a move that puts him in a position David can take advantage of. Humans are victims of their habits after all. While Rory is thinking 1 or 2 moves ahead, David is thinking 3 or 4. Rory now thinks of David as someone amazing, and he looks up to him, but when he sees David at school, he can''t help but sigh. David still acts like he did when Rory tried to make friends with him 4 years ago! He''s not even going to the tournaments! Rory is still beating people in tournaments, and the announcers even noticed Rory''s improvements and started calling him a genius, but Rory can''t accept that. He can''t accept being called the best until he beats David. ''David, what''s wrong with him?'' Rory thinks to himself. ''He''s so amazing! David could get acknowledged easily if he wanted to, yet he chooses to stick to being looked down upon and unknown. Why? This infuriates me more than losing to him! I can''t accept this! Why wouldn''t you want people liking you?'' The worst part is that David doesn''t know. He doesn''t know that he can fight on par with Rory. His low self confidence cannot accept the fact that he is on the same level as Rory. Rory is an unattainable position in David''s mind. He thinks that Rory is taking it easy on him. Flashback end: ******************************************************* Ludis tells them the story. ¡°...Well you don''t have to worry about him now in the game. He''s a librarian. He won''t amount to anything in here. He will never surpass you.¡± ¡°No, I thought the same thing when I saw him in the gym all those years ago. Null will eventually surpass me. I think he will probably surpass everyone.¡± ¡°You can''t be serious!¡± ¡°I am.¡± ¡°...If you say so.¡± ------------------------------------------------------------ Author''s Note: Another 5000+ word chapter. You can skip this if you don''t like training chapters. Oops. Did I put this warning at the bottom? Silly me. Chapter 11: Getting smithy in a jiffy Author''s Note: The chapter titles will only get worse from here. You have been warned. ------------------------------------------------------ Null leaves the warrior''s guild satisfied. He even gained a point in stamina and 2 points in endurance for the repeated beat downs he got. Now he no longer has to constantly focus on mana control. He can now focus on his skills. He still manipulates the mana inside of him as much as he can while still doing everyday tasks for experience growth in Essence of Mana, but now he will focus on gaining proficiency in all his skills. He opens up the skill list window.
Librarian Mastery
Skill typePassiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 5
Librarian skills become better the higher the level.
Book Repair
Skill typeActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Can repair books or written documents. Cost: 150 mana
Paper Create
Skill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 5
Create paper.
Universal Identify
Skill typeActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 4
Can identify many things. Unlike other identifies like item identify or plant identify, the librarian class contains the only universal identify. Cost: 500 Mana
Information Finder
Skill typeActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Can identify many things. Unlike other identifies like item identify or plant identify, the librarian class contains the only universal identify. Cost: 40 mana per second
Calligraphy Mastery
Skill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 5
Calligraphy skills become better the higher the level.
Proofread
Skill typeActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 3
Can identify spelling and grammar mistakes. Cost: 180 Mana
Ink Hand
Skill typeActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Can make calligraphy design just by having a thought and touching the paper. Can move ink at a maximum of 0.1 meters per second. Cost: 50 mana per second
Painting Mastery
Skill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 5
Learned to paint pictures. Pictures become more detailed the higher the level.
Illustration
Skill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 5
Learned to draw pictures. Pictures become more detailed the higher the level.
Handicraft
Skill typePassiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 5
Will enable your crafting skills to become more skilled the higher the level.
Art is Feeling
Skill typeActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Draw opponents in any emotional state to make them feel that way. The higher level the opponent is the longer it takes for it to take effect. Cost: 500 mana
Alchemy Mastery
Skill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Make better potions the higher the level.
Gardening
Skill typePassiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Is now able to grow plants. Success of plant growth depends on plant and skill level.
Blacksmithing Mastery
Skill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Includes foraging, upsetting, welding and finishing skills
Smelting
Skill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Extract base minerals from ores. Higher level means higher quality metals.
Weapon/Armor Repair
Skill typeActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Repair weapons and armor. Cost: 200 Mana
Cooking
Skill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Cook food without it spontaneously exploding in your face or rotting. Some of the time.
Hand to Hand Combat
Skill typePassiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
For repeatedly fighting close quarters while not using a weapon, you are granted this skill. Agility increase: 2%. Strength Increase: 3%, Stamina increase: 2% when not holding a handheld weapon.
Archery
Skill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 2
Can shoot arrows. Arrow shoot 9% farther 2% more powerful 3% more accurate.
Essense of Mana
Skill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 3
5% decrease in mana consumption for techniques. Increased control of mana.
Camping
Skill typePassiveSkill ProficiencyCannot level up
Can now set up small tents to recover health 5% faster while inside it. Can start small fires more easily by rubbing 2 dry sticks together.
Null thinks, ''I need to go to a blacksmith and alchemy guild to see how things are done. I hate having to rely on people, but this is a means to an end so I never have to do it again.'' He goes to the blacksmithing guild. He meets someone at the front desk. ¡°Hello sir. Can I help you?¡± ¡°I have the blacksmith skill, but I don''t know anything about it.¡± ¡°...How the hell did you pull that off?¡± ¡°Beats me.¡± The guy shakes his head. ¡°Go to the big guy in the back. He''s one of the teachers. His name is Jackson Smith. He''s a little rough around the edges though, but if he sees that you''re willing to put in the work, he''ll warm up to ya.¡± ''Like I give a damn about that.'' Null thinks to himself. ¡°Thanks.¡± Null says to the man. Null goes to the biggest man there. ¡°Excuse me sir. Are you Jackson Smith?¡± ¡°Who wants ta know?¡± The man gives off an aura of someone you don''t want to mess with, but Null looks like he couldn''t care less. ¡°My name is Null. I''m here to learn blacksmithing.¡± ¡°Ya don''t look like ya would last even a day in here. What''s your class?¡± ¡°Librarian with a blacksmith subclass.¡± ¡°A librarian that wants ta learn blacksmithing? Now I''ve seen it all. Okay. I won''t go easy on ya. This isn''t like one of yer afternoon reads at the library.¡± ¡°That''s fine.¡± Jackson gives Null some instructions. ¡°Ya see this big pot?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Ya see that big container over there in that corner?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°I want ya ta go to the lake, and fill that pot with water. I then want ya ta come back and put it in the container. Don''t stop til'' the container is full.¡± [/size]
Quest: Fetching Water
Quest Information:You''re a pack mule, and as a pack mule, your job is to fetch water. Go fetch. Reward: Jackson will teach you smithing Quest Rank: Blacksmith class quest- F Penalty if refused:Jackson will not teach you Blacksmithing. Decreased affinity for Blacksmith guild. Do you accept?
"Okay."
You have accepted the quest.
He takes the pot and goes towards the river. Jackson thinks to himself, ''Huh? Not even an ounce of complaint? Good. I hate the whiny ones. I would''ve kicked him out on the spot.'' Null goes towards the river and fills up the pot halfway. Null thinks, ''I''m not that strong, and my mana strength increases are only good for short bursts. I need to conserve my energy.'' Null returns to pour the water and heads back out. Jackson is impressed. ''Not an ounce of complaint, and he doesn''t look like he intends to quit.'' If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Null repeatedly eats and drinks, to make sure his endurance stays up. 3 hours later, Null fills up the container. Jackson says, ¡°Good. Ya filled it up with no complaint. Ya passed my test!¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Null looks the same as he always does. Expressionless. ¡°...Anyway, the first thing we need to do is set the fire. Grab those coals and put them into that forge.¡± Null does what he''s told. He fills the forge with coal until its full. ¡°Now before we forge, we need to learn how to take the base metals out of the iron ores.¡± Null puts the ores in a bucket, and lights the coal on fire. ¡°Okay, now step on the bellows ta heat the forge.¡±, Jackson tells Null. He complies and keeps pressing on the bellow to heat the forge. The forge is now at the desired temperature. ¡°The first step is to roast the iron ores. We gotta get all the water and impurities out. Now put the ores into the pan.¡± Unlike in real life, roasting in the game is done at a much faster pace. It only took around an 3 hours. ¡°Now, break up the iron ore with a hammer.¡± Null does this. ¡°Now usually, yer would use a blast furnace to turn the iron ore into pig iron, then use a finery ta turn that pig iron into wrought iron, but fer new blacksmiths who want ta work independently and not depend on huge furnaces, you have ta use a bloomery ta turn the iron ore into wrought iron. It takes a lot longer fer this process.¡± Null and Jackson go to the bloomery in the back. ¡°See, this is what''s ya call a bloomery. When you finished roasting the iron ores, ya come here. Okay, load those charcoals in the bottom.¡± Null does what''s he''s told. ¡°Now yer gonna keep stepping on that bellow over there. Make sure it doesn''t get too hot or too cold.¡± This took a while. ¡°Yer not steppin'' on the bellows enough! What are ya doin!?¡± A little later on, ¡°Yer doin'' too much! Stop steppin'' on the bellows!¡± This repeated for a while. Eventually Null got the hang of it, and knew when and when not to press it. Basically, he had to keep it hot enough for it to be malleable, but not hot enough to melt it. While he was stepping on the bellows, Jackson put some charcoal in the opening. This went on for a while. The iron fell to the bottom of the tray and formed a bloom. ¡°This here is why they call this a bloomery, cause of the blooming effect of the iron. Now we''re gonna reheat this bloom and hit it with a hammer. We''re going to keep reheatin'' and hammerin'' it.¡± It took a while, but they were finally finished. ¡°This is the final product known as wrought iron. This one is low quality. It''s good for a lotta things, but not good for stuff like swords or things with sharp edges. To make a good sword, you need to learn to smelt iron ore into bar iron or steel which yer not ready for yet. This is just one way of smeltin'' iron from iron ore. It ain''t the only one. There''s copper, silver, gold, and other minerals. They each have their own method of smeltin''. Now I''m gonna get some bar iron and I''ll teach ya how to make a sword and other stuff.¡± He teaches Null about forging, upsetting, and welding. Jackson taught Null how to shape different pieces of metals into different shapes, and how sometimes you put the heated metal in the water, then heat it up again. He taught him welding and looping. Null learned how to make different molds out of clay so you could fill it with molten iron. ¡°Now we''re gonna make a basic sword. When yer get better, you can make a better sword. Melt the wrought iron that ya just made.¡± Null puts the wrought iron in a crucible. He then heats it up to as high as it can go. When it is in liquid form, he pours the molten iron into the mold. Null waits for it to cool, then he picks it up and puts it in the water. He reheats it, then hammers at it more, then puts it in the water again. Null looks at the sword he just made. ¡°Identify.¡±
Terrible Quality Sword
Durability: 4/4 A person wouldn''t even use it as their door stop.
Jackson talks to him. ¡°That''s actually pretty good for yer first time. Lot''sa guys'' swords don''t even make it ta completion for their first time. Now I got nothin'' else I can teach ya. Ya gotta learn everything else on yer own.¡± It''s been 2 weeks since Null started going to the blacksmith guild. He managed to impress Jackson with his hard work and tenacity. ¡°Well kid, ya know the basics. If ya need more iron ore, ya need to buy it from the minin'' guild or from someone who mines. Now ya see how hard smeltin'' and blacksmithin'' can be. People usually focus on one or the other. There are many smeltin'' and forgin'' techniques that even I haven''t heard of, so whatcha gonna focus on?¡± ¡°I will do both.¡± ¡°You''ll do both? Ya realize that even people with blacksmith as a main class don''t usually focus on both at the same time. And yer a librarian. Ya still intend to do focus on both?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°...Kid, I have to admit, I underestimated you for being a librarian, but these past coupla'' weeks, you did as I asked without complaint. For that I''ll do you a favor. Is there anything you need?¡± ¡°Yes. Could you tell me how do I learn the mining skill?¡± ¡°Well if yer main class had been blacksmith, you could''ve gotten mining as a subclass, but since yer main class is librarian, ya can only learn the skill. This means the skill will grow 10 times slower than yer librarian class. Are ya still fine with that? Ya could just buy from a miner.¡± ¡°No. I would rather do things by myself. I do not want to rely on anyone for anything.¡± ¡°That''s a good attitude ta have, but still pretty foolish. Well since yer so insistent I''ll tell ya.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°Ya could go to the mining guild. They usually only teach ya the skill without teachin'' people any of the tricks associated with mining.¡± Jackson writes something on a piece of paper. ¡°Take this. They''ll teach ya all ya need to know. They''re located here on yer map.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Null leaves and heads towards the mining guild. When he goes there, the place is nearly empty except for someone sitting at the entrance. ¡°Yes, what can I do for you?¡± ¡°I''m here to learn the mining skill.¡± ¡°Most of the miners are at Greyhill mountain right now. If you want to wait here you can, or you could go over there, but since that area is property of the Count, you will need permission to go there.¡± ¡°Will this note work?¡± Null shows him the note from Jackson. ¡°...How did you get Jackson of all people to write this note for you? I heard it was impossible! Yes! That would be more than enough!¡± The guy marks the area where most of the miners are currently at. Null thanks the guy and heads to Greyhill mountain. It''s a 4 hour walk to there. It''s known as the best place in the area to mine, so the count seized the property and took it for himself. He makes it to the entrance which is being guarded. ¡°Halt! State your business.¡± ¡°I''m here to learn the mining skill.¡± Null takes out his note. ¡°I heard this is the place to do it.¡± The guard reads the note. ¡°Yep, that''s definitely his handwriting. There''s a huge guy here named Strongarm. You won''t miss him. He might be a bit eccentric, but he will teach you the mining skill. While you''re here, know that anything on this mountain is the property of the kingdom. You will be arrested if you are caught stealing.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Null walks around the mine until he sees the huge man in question. ''Geez, that guard wasn''t kidding.'' Null talks to him. ¡°Excuse me sir.¡± ¡°Hmmmm?¡± ¡°I heard you could teach me the mining skill.¡± ¡°Hmmmm...¡± ¡°So can I learn it?¡± ¡°Hmmm...¡± ¡°...¡± He hands Null a pickax and goes towards a section of wall. He then points at Null, then points at himself. Null thinks, ''He must want me to watch him so that I can learn his technique.'' Null nods. Strongarm then starts spinning and striking the wall very rapidly and forcefully. ¡°UWAAAAAAAAH!!! DO YOU SEE THIS!? THIS MAGNIFICIENT TECHNIQUE!? THIS TECHNIQUE HAS BEEN PASSED DOWN THE STRONGARM LINE FOR GENERATIONS!!!!¡± ¡°...!?¡± Rocks were being split apart, mayhem was caused. When he was done, copper, silver, gold, and even some rubies were scattered on the floor. Strongarm then points to Null then another section of wall. ''He wants me to repeat that?'' Null smacks the cave wall as fast as he could, but of course it was weaker and less awesome than Strongarm''s technique. ¡°Hmph.¡± Was all Strongarm had said. After 10 minutes of Null striking the wall with his pickax, Strongarm stops him. He then points to Null, then points to himself. ''He must want me to watch his ridiculous technique again.'' Strongarm gets in the middle of the cave. ¡°Spin around! Stop! Double take three times! One! Two! Three! Now, Pelvic Thrust!¡± WHAM! Strongarm rushed towards the wall and slammed his pickax into it. The whole section of wall shattered, and around 7 pieces of gold ores fell to the ground. Strongarm then points to Null and then the wall. Null thinks to himself, ''Ain''t no way in HELL I''m doing that!'' After 6 more days of hilarious encounters, Null finally learns the mining skill. ¡°Ttring¡± ¡°You have learned Mining. Getting a higher level means you can mine rarer minerals. The higher the level, the higher the probabity of finding ores. Current probability of mining an ore: 3% ¡± If Null didn''t have the mining skill, the probably of finding something while mining would be 0.1%. He could have learned the mining skill by himself by repeatedly hitting the wall with his pickax, but Strongarm admittedly had showed him some good points and hints while mining. Null was practicing his mining, and he found something amazing. ¡°Identify.¡±
Mana Stone
Considered one of the most valuable ores in the world. It is made from mana condensed into a crystallized form. Value: 5000 gold. Can increase your mana capacity by 200%
¡°Wow.¡± Even though the mining skill is mostly based on skill level and level to find rarer and rarer minerals, it still partially relies on luck. Even if Null digs for another 10 years, he probably won''t find another mana stone. ''If I were to take this, I could sell it and never have to worry about money for a while, or I can keep it to myself and become powerful.'' Null looks around. There''s no one else here. He smirks. What does he do with it? He drops it on the floor, buys a pickax, and leaves the cave. ''Of course I''m not going to steal that. I''m not stupid, I''m a squishy librarian, and my goal for staying in this world is solitude, which would be pretty hard if I''m being hunted down like a dangerous animal. This isn''t some Chinese Wuxia novel where I steal an artifact and become OP. I''m glad I came to the mountain after my intelligence increased.'' Null while walking plans out to his next step. ''Okay. I''ve taken care of the blacksmithing. Now my next step is to learn the alchemy.'' Null heads back towards town and looks for the alchemy guild. After an hour of walking around, he finds it. In contrast to the manly, powerful atmosphere the blacksmith guild gave off, the alchemy guild gave off a more serene, calmer atmosphere. Null goes to the front desk. A guy is there to meet with him. ¡°How can I help you?¡± ¡°I have the alchemy subclass, but I don''t know anything about it.¡± ¡°...How did you pull that off?¡± ''This conversation feels familiar.'' ¡°Beats me.¡± ¡°Okay. See that lady in the back with the glasses?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°She''s pretty nice, but do not anger her, and if you do, do not make any sudden movements, then she''ll probably help you out. Her name is Rosemary. Just treat her with respect.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Null walks up to her. ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°Yes young man, what can I do for you?¡± ¡°I''m trying to learn alchemy, and I don''t know anything about it.¡± ¡°What''s your class?¡± ¡°Librarian with an alchemy subclass.¡± ¡°Okay. Come with me.¡± She takes him to a room filled with books. She takes out one of the books. ¡°Before you can make potions and poisons, you must first learn how to find and gather alchemy ingredients. After all, how can you brew without any ingredients?¡± She gives Null a list of pictures of different herbs. ¡°I want you to gather the ingredients from this list. It shows a picture and what it''s called. I want 100 glitter grasses, 50 dancing red vines, 25 imp figs, and 1 Winterbell Flower. If you do that, I will teach you how to do alchemy.¡± [/size]
Quest: Gathering Herbs.
Quest Information: The head alchemist of Rosemary''s Potion Place asked you to gather herbs. Reward: Rosemary will teach you alchemy Quest Rank: Alchemy class quest- F Penalty if refused: The head alchemist will not teach you alchemy. Decreased affinity with Rosemary''s Potion Place. Do you accept?
''Why do I have this sinking feeling that the Winterbell Flower will be a big pain in the ass?'' ¡°Okay.¡±
You have accepted the quest.
------------------------------------------------------------- Author''s Note: I had to resubmit it, because of problems. 3 chapters in 2 days, with 2 of them being 5000+ words. I think I''m gonna take a nap. Did you guys know? Just in case you didn''t, I''ll tell you. Tables. Are a pain. In the ass. Chapter 12: Um, Flower Power? Disturbed Herb? Plant Rant? Author''s Note: Okay, um wow. I reread my previous chapters and cringed. To those who have corrected me on my errors, I cannot thank you enough. Remember, if you see any plot holes or spelling errors, then I will leave earth, for no apparent, raisin! ------------------------------------------------------ Null puts the list Rosemary gave him in his inventory. When he did, the ingredients that he needed to gather showed up on the left side of his vision. Null thinks, ''How convenient.'' Null heads out into the forest. ''Okay, guess I''ll get the easy ones first. Glitter grass huh? Where to look, where to look?'' 12 minutes of walking and he finds what he''s looking for. It''s a grass that when hit by the sun, it starts to sparkle. ¡°Identify¡±
Glitter Grass
Used as an alchemy ingredient. Depending on what its used for, it can help cure or make some poisons
''Hmm, so all I have to do is walk up to it and grab it? Yeah right. What''s the catch?'' Null carefully tries to pull a grass blade to test it out, but when he tore it, the grass blade turned entirely into glitter. It went everywhere, including on Null. ''Ugh! Dammit I hate glitter, the herpes of the art world! I can get if off! I''m ruined! Ruined! I guess you can''t tear it huh? Whatever. Let''s get this over with.'' Null, with his hands, scoops up the Glitter Grass from the roots and puts it in his inventory. When he did, the list on the side of his vision changed. The number under glitter grasses went from 100 to 99. ''Good. I don''t have to count it myself. Anyway, I am not going to be digging up grasses with my hands. I need a shovel, but I barely have any money left. Oh, I still have that fine sword that I won for defeating that Queen Deathroll.'' Null goes to the blacksmith shop. It''s the same person who sold him his armor and arrows. The blacksmith speaks to him saying, ¡°Why are you covered in glitter? It''s not even Friday night.¡± ¡°...I want to sell this sword.¡± The blacksmith does identify on the sword and examines it. ¡°Oh, a fine sword huh? Must''ve gotten something even better to want to sell this.¡± ¡°I can''t use it. I''m a librarian.¡± ¡°You''re a what?¡± ¡°How much can I sell it for?¡± ¡°I''ll give you 12 gold for it.¡± ''12 gold? That was much more than I anticipated.'' ¡°Deal.¡± Null pockets the money and talks to the blacksmith again saying, ¡°Do you have any shovels?¡± ¡°Do you want big shovels or small shovels?¡± ¡°Both.¡± The blacksmith goes to the back and gets both shovel sizes. ¡°The big shovel is 25 silvers. The small one is 5 silvers. Your total comes to 30 silvers.¡± Null pays the man and leaves. After several hours with shovel in hand, he finally gets the last glitter grass. ''Okay next item on the list is, dancing red vine. This one sounds fun.'' Null thought sarcastically. ''According to this paper, dancing red vine grows around trees. Okay.'' Null looks around a lot of trees and sighs. ''This one is a bit harder to find than the Glitter Grass.'' After walking around a while, he finds a bunch of trees covered with red vines. Just to be sure it''s what he''s looking for, he does identify on it. ¡°Identify.¡±
Dancing Red Vine
Used in alchemy. Mostly harmless, but doesn''t like to be touched.
''Okay, since the name isn''t Exploding Red Vine, I don''t have to worry about it bursting into flames, but I''m still wary. The first plant was glitter. What will this one do?'' Null carefully tries to grab the vine. It then starts to move away from his hand. Null tries again. It moves. Every time he tries to grab it, it moves away. He then starts a game of whack a mole with his hands. ''My god, it''s moves like the Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Men!'' Null decides to hit it with the big shovel, but due to his librarian class, it didn''t do any damage. When he hit the vine, it started whipping Null, but it didn''t hurt. ''Wait, what am I doing?'' Null then plucks the vine from the base of where it grows and the vine dies. ''Well I now know how to defeat it.'' Since all the vines he was looking for were all in one place, he finishes, and moves on to the next item. ''Now next is, imp figs. They sound like something that will irritate me. I''m already one step ahead.'' Null buys a net. He has never even seen an imp fig and doesn''t know what they can do, but he just figured that it will have to be more troublesome than the last thing on the list. Null finds it, and when he tries to grab it, it tries to runs away, but Null''s net caught him. It was actually easier to deal with than the Dancing Red Vine. Later on, he finds two imp figs in one place, and they run away in opposite directions. Null was still prepared for this. He used duel wielding nets to capture them. It took him 11 hours to find all the 25 imp figs. After he was done, Null took a nap on a branch, then started looking for the final thing on the list. ''Now it''s time for the most troublesome thing on the list. I don''t even know how to go about even finding it.'' 5 days have passed. He still has yet to find any sign of the Winterbell Flower. Null is now in the mountainous region near Holdendale. ''There are no clues on how to go about this. How am I even supposed to find it?'' He then hears a bell chyme. It''s faint, but he can barely make it out. When the wind blows, it rings again. Null stops to try and focus on hearing it. He goes in the direction it rings the loudest. After 20 minutes of hearing, he finds it. It''s a drooping flower that looks like a bell. It''s surrounded by a sheet of ice on the ground. Every time the wind blows the flower, the bell chimes and a blast of cold air comes from it. ''My intuition tells me I''m dead if I touch that.'' Null experiments. He grabs a stick. When he touched the stick a little, the end touching the flower started to freeze. When Null touched it enough to get it to ring out, The whole stick flash froze. If it wasn''t for Null letting go of the stick in time, his arm would have been frozen too. ''I didn''t know it would be that bad. How am I supposed to get it?'' He thinks for a moment and gets an idea. Null marks the location of the flower on the map so he can find it later. He then goes to town and buys a bucket. Afterwards, he goes towards the closest water source to the flower and fills it with water. He then heads back towards the flower. First he throws the water from the bucket on the flower and steps back. That water made the bell chyme which caused the water to flash freeze. He goes back to the water source, fills it back up with water, and heads back towards the flower. Null throws water on the Winterbell Flower again with similar results. He keeps pouring water on it until the water no longer flash freezes. He then carefully, with his fighting gloves on, grabs the plant that''s now frozen in a big ball of ice. It''s cold, but he now doesn''t have to worry about the bell chiming and freezing everything. ''That''s was far easier than I thought it would be. Well it was an F-rank quest, and I''m not complaining.'' Null makes it back to the alchemy guild. He presents the ingredients he was supposed to get to Rosemary. She smiles. ¡°Well, well, I wasn''t expecting you back for another week or quitting. The last two items on the list should''ve taken at least that long. You only took about a week. Well, a deal''s a deal. I''ll teach you everything you need to know about alchemy.¡± She takes Null to the garden behind the alchemy guild. It''s filled with all kinds of plants. Some of the plants look very weird to Null. Some flowers have petals that rotate around the stamen like planets. There are plants that are constantly changing colors. Some of the herbs were even levitating. That plant really intrigued Null. ¡°Identify¡±
Floatingway
?????
That''s all it said. ''Some of these plants are so powerful my identify can''t fully get any information out.'' Next thing Null knew, he was on the ground convulsing. ''Huh? Poison? But when?'' ¡°Who gave you permission to do Identify on my precious plants?¡± Rosemary said sweetly with a smile. ¡°Um, I''m sorry. It won''t happen again.¡± ¡°You sure?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Null health was dropping fast. It had already reached halfway down. ¡°You sorry?¡± ¡°Yes. Please? I''m about to die.¡± She injects Null with the antidote. ¡°Good.¡± She said sweetly. ¡°Now follow me if you will.¡± Null had gotten a new found fear of her and followed without ever looking at any of the other plants. Rosemary speaks to Null saying, ¡°Now as I said before, actually getting the ingredients is the most important part of being an alchemist. Some of your alchemy ingredients will be found in minerals or even different monsters, but the ingredients you will be dealing with the most are found in plants. To be able to make high level potions, you need to learn to get more potent plants, which you will only be able to do with higher levels of the gardening skill. Without the gardening skill being at the appropriate level, some plants could get easily damaged becoming useless, or even cause you harm. The plants that you picked were some of the lowest. How did you find that experience?¡± ¡°Honestly, it was a real pain in the ass.¡± ¡°You talkin'' shit about plants?¡± ¡°No, of course not. I love plants.¡± Null said with sweat dripping through his clothes. ¡°The first thing we need to learn is the different ways to extract the needed chemicals from different materials.¡± She takes Null to a room in the back of the garden. When he goes in, it looks like a chemistry laboratory. There are vials filled with different chemicals everywhere. Null learned his lesson the first time and chose not to use Identify on them. She shows him different types of vials and what they do. ¡°This process is called distillation. It works by separating what chemicals you need from those you don''t by evaporation or condensation.¡± She shows him around some more. ¡°This process is known as extraction. It works like distillation, but instead of separating by evaporation, you separate by extracting the material you need as a solid or a liquid.¡± She showed Null everything, from mixing, to compounding, to how to use different tools. ¡°Okay, that''s enough of that. Now it''s time for some practical knowledge. I will teach you how to make a health and mana potion. Anything else you want to learn how to make you''ll have to experiment with on your own.¡± She goes back to the garden and picks some plants. The plants that Rosemary picked looked ordinary. Null thinks, ''Whew, it looks like health and mana potions don''t require too powerful of plants to make. That''s a relief.'' ¡°First step is to pick and cut open the plants. Let them dry out in the sun.¡± Null does this. Some of the plants are thin so he has to be careful. After drying in the sun, she gives Null a pestle and mortar. ¡°Take this and grind each of these plants into a fine powder. Make sure to wash the pestle and mortar after switching to a different plant. We don''t want to contaminate the potions.¡± Null''s hand gets tired from grinding all the ingredients. ''Ow. My hand is more tired than from when I did that mastu- researching marathon. For research.'' You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. It takes a while, but Null eventually grinds all the ingredients. Some were formed into a powder while others a paste. She then hands Null a book. ¡°Just follow these instructions. It''s just mixing together different things. The Lev Herb requires extraction to extract the useful components. It''s because one of the chemicals that the Lev Herb contains actually nullifies a chemical found in the Nayil Flower. Other than that, it''s not that difficult.¡± It was difficult work, but Rosemary was a lot more patient with Null than Jackson. He finally finished making both potions. ¡°Identify.¡±
Small health potion
Can recover 500 health
¡°Identify.¡±
Small mana potion
Can recover 500 mana
She then smiles. ¡°Good job. Keep this book. It not only teaches you how to make health and mana potions. It can also teach you how to make different poisons and potions that give different effects. Some of those potions have nasty side effects so be careful. This book only covers the basics. Alchemists are stingy. You have to make your own high leveled potions.¡± She then gives Null the book. ¡°Also, take these seeds. These seeds grow up into plants that are ingredients for health and mana potions. The higher your gardening skill, the higher chance that the plants will grow and the faster they will grow. Right now, your gardening skill is at Beginner level 1, which means you have a 50% chance of growing these specific plants, which should be enough for you.¡± Null talks to Rosemary saying, ¡°Thank you for your time, and thank you for the book and seeds.¡± ¡°You''re welcome!¡± Null buys a bunch of vials and bottles and leaves the alchemy guild.¡± He then feels relieved. ''Finally! Finally I''m free from the rest of any of the races! My dream of solitude is now within reach! I can now do everything on my own! What''s my next step? Well I''m still far too weak to venture out too far on my own, as I would be an easy target for bandits and monsters, so I guess I''ll go find a place devoid of monsters and people and set up my new place. That will be where I will stay for now.'' Null starts to look around. ''It needs to be close to a mountainous region so that I can mine. There also needs to be a water source close by. More importantly, it has to be a place where no person would never ever want to go.'' After 3 days, he finds a spot. It''s 3 miles away from a mountain. It''s 1 mile away from a lake. There are no monsters except for some rabbits and the occasional boar. It''s far from a road path or a dungeon, and it''s pretty barren besides some shrubs, so he doesn''t have to worry about people coming by. He sets out to build his hut. It''s made out of twigs and leaves. He then builds an enclosure to keep animals away from. This is where he''ll be planting his seeds. ''Okay. Now I''ll build my bloomery. I need to buy a chisel for that. Maybe I should just buy all the tools that I might need when I go back to town. I also need to build a forge. It doesn''t have to be fancy, as all I would need to do is keep making cheap things out of metal until my blacksmithing hits beginner level 5. Then I''ll set to work on my true forge. I''ll do the same for the alchemy. I''ll keep making health and mana potions until I hit beginner level 5 in alchemy, but what will I do with them all? Hmm.. maybe once in a while, I can go back to town and fight those monks. I still need to get stronger so that I can completely cut myself off from people. Okay I''ve set out my plan.'' 4 days pass. Null had gotten the Light Orb skill while he was in town. He has been reading the alchemy book Rosemary had gave him. There is something useful he learned how to make from it: gunpowder. He''s going to use it to blast open the side of the mountain so that he can mine. Since Null doesn''t have anything else, he wraps the gunpowder in paper, then ties it to a string. Null hides behind a rock and lights the string. It travels to the bomb where big explosion occurs. He does this several more times. Null waits for the smoke to clear, and then starts mining. While he''s mining, he starts drawing and painting different pictures when his endurance starts running low. He paints different perspectives from within the newly made cave. That day, he mined about 70 pieces of iron ore, and 130 pieces of coal. 3 more days pass, and his plants come in. ''So these plants take about a week to grow? Good. Let''s get started.'' Null has been constantly using Identify on everything. He''s trying to level up his identify so he can check out the individual specs of each of the plants. He wants to take the best ones and mate them, then grow their seeds like artificial selection. After Null makes all the available potions he could, he starts planting the seeds. Each different plant is put in a labeled area so that they do not get mixed up. Afterwards, Null starts going out looking for more plants. He takes his shovel and starts randomly walking around. The first plant he finds that interests him looks peculiar. ¡°Identify.¡±
Pink rabbit blossom
A highly regarded ingredient that temporarily increases dexterity.
Null ecstatic he found such a plant. When he goes to pick the plant, it instantly wilts in his hand. ''Aw man. I guess I need to raise my gardening proficiency to a good degree before I can pick such plants.'' Null goes to find any and all plants, even the ones that look ordinary. He mixes two plants together to see what effects they have. The majority of the time, the ingredients mixed did nothing, or actually decreased the potency of the plants, but some of the time, it could amplify a potion, even if Identify says it''s just an ordinary plant. For example, there was a plant that looked like red grass. Identify said that it was an ordinary plant, but when combined with Milky White Rose, it made a potion that increased attractiveness temporarily. Null had intentionally burned the flower, the red grass, and the papers on how to make the potion, but soon realized that that was counter productive, so he eventually found another Milky White Rose. ''Attractiveness is poison for a loner.'' Null reasons. Null would draw and paint the plants he mixed together. He would then use ink hand to write out their effects on different pages. This way, when he needs to add another material to the mixture, he would go and find the book. In this way, he compiled a huge amount of books, each with all the successes and failures of mixtures. His collection of plants slowly grew bigger. ************************************************************************** About a month has passed, and Null''s hut is complete. It looks shabby, but Null doesn''t care for aesthetics. There are different rooms. One is the alchemy room. It''s filled with brewing chemicals in vials. There''s even a deckle for making paper in there. The other is the blacksmith room. The other day, Null bought all the tools he thought he would need. He bought an anvil, hammers, and all sorts of tools. There''s a forge that Null built out of iron. The bloomery for purifying the metals is outside. Null loves that you can recycle weapons, as you do not have to go through the smelting process again, but he does it anyway for the experience. He has compiled a huge amount of iron ores, and coal, with some copper, and rarely silver. Null had to rely on system assist to learn how to smelt other materials besides iron, and when he learned how to smelt them, he smelted the rest of the materials without relying on system assist. ''Okay. Now that my forge is complete, and I have already smelted plenty of iron ore to okay quality, what should I forge first? Swords are common and boring. How about I make a metal staff?'' He uses the system assist and melts the iron into a long, flat sheet. He then tries to connect 2 sides of the sheet. He does identify on it to see the results.
Terrible metal staff
It''s either a terrible staff or this world''s first attempt at a big metal crazy straw. Either way it''s pretty terrible.
¡°Ptah, is this how you get your kicks? You having a good laugh right now? I wish I could pee in your cereal.¡± Null now grows wheat and other edible vegetables so he doesn''t have to go back to town to buy food. It grows faster thanks to the Gardener skill. He sometimes supplements the food with rabbit or boar. Null has been experimenting to improve the quality of his paper. His paper is now at a quality where a person level 5 and under couldn''t tear it with sheer strength. Null had been constantly drawing stuff he hasn''t before by writing down a list. If something is not on a list, he draws it until it looks good. It used to be when he started drawing something new, his drawings would turn out terrible. Now when he starts drawing something, the drawings aren''t so bad. He kept experimenting with the different plants to see what kind of effects they had. Mostly, they had no effect, or would just make something the opposite of what he intended, but sometimes, very rarely, there would be an effect that he would never see before. He would write his results in his book. Each time he wrote, he would use a different font. Null figures it would be beneficial anyway, because if he wrote something someone didn''t like, they could never trace it back to him. With his Identify and personal tests, he would write down anything and everything about any random object. This wasn''t just limited to plants. Everything he would write down would be in a different font. He would go on the internet while not playing New Reality, and make a list of all the fonts he has used. Null no longer wrote in a book with a pen. He would put his finger on the book, and ink would come from his finger. It would then print the letters. This is the Ink Hand skill he was given when he leveled up his calligraphy to beginner level 5. This required a lot of practice and mana to get it a satisfactory level. Occasionally, Null would go back to town to donate a copy of some of the books he wrote to the library. This is how he gained experience. Like how merchants can gain experience by traveling and trading, librarians gain experience by writing and donating books. Donating books is not the primary reason he would go back to town. The real reason was to fight the monks. Ludis was always there waiting for him. They would fight, and Null would fail to even lay a hand on him. After fighting, he would leave town and go towards a body of water, and work on improving his Essence of Mana and Hand to Hand Combat. He would punch the water with a mana infused blow. Too early, and it would be like someone was blowing wind on the water. Too late and it the water would absorb most of the impact. If he were to time it just right, a giant shock wave would rise from the water. After he logs out, he would then go to school, work, and the gym. On the weekends, he would go to the gym. This is how Null spent his days. He had finally achieved his dream. He is mostly alone with no one to bother him. He no longer has to hear the naive and stupid things people say. He no longer has to feel disgust from being too close to people while in the game. For the first time in a while, Null is satisfied. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author''s Note: Null has finally achieved his dream. Will he spend the rest of his days in bliss? Is this the end of the story? Have you all just wasted your time? Let''s see how long it takes for Null to fuck this up. Chapter 13: Stop abusing the time skip Author''s Note: Another long chapter. Hooray! ---------------------------------------- *BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* ¡°Uuuuugh!¡± David wakes up in his bed groggy. He has always hated this time of year. ''Dammit! I have to go back to school! To that fucking place! With those fucking disgusting people!'' Null gets up and slouches over while dragging his feet to the bathroom to get ready. When he''s done, he goes to the kitchen. He''s eating toast silently when he hears his sister, Cindy. David tries to ignore her, but she still speaks to him. ¡°David, have you forgotten? I start high school today.¡± ¡°Ugh. Okay, let''s go over some ground rules so we do not step over each others'' toes.¡± ¡°Right.¡± ¡°Do not speak to me. Do not look in my direction. You do not know me. I will go to school first unless I feel like being late. You''ll go after you are at least 100-200 feet away from me or more. You can go an even longer distance than that. I don''t care. Any questions?¡± ¡°Why do you get to go first?¡± ¡°Because you draw too much of a crowd for my liking. Also because you walk slow. Every time I let you go first, there will be people saying ¡°Oh my god, are you really Cindy Lewis? Can I have your autograph?¡± or ¡°Wow you''re so pretty, you should be a model.¡± Next thing you know, you have this huge impenetrable crowd of people that blocks the path for everyone else. Any more questions?¡± ¡°Well what if I need something from you at school?¡± ¡°I wouldn''t recommend it. It''s not good for your health. Don''t forget that I know very embarrassing things about you. Sure, you could try and embarrass me, but my reputation at school cannot go any lower. Let''s see who wins. Our parents can''t help you there. At school, I hold the advantage over you.¡± ¡°Dammit, fine. I''ll agree to these conditions.¡± ¡°Good.¡± David leaves earlier than usual as per his and Cindy''s agreement. His frown is deeper than his normal, permanent frown usually is. People are telling him to cheer up and that it will get better, but David just ignores them all. He makes his way to school, sits in an obscure corner, and starts playing with his AR glasses. After a while, the bell rings and it''s time for homeroom. David goes inside the class. It may be in a different class, but the faces he sees are the same. David as usual doesn''t talk to any of them, and they don''t talk to him. He takes his seat in the back like he usually does. He sits and gets on his AR glasses. Several minutes pass. When the freshmen ended orientation, it was announced on the intercom that Cindy Lewis would be the 9th grade class president. The people in his class were talking about that, unaware that David is her brother. ¡°Cindy Lewis? The one that goes to the Olympics? She goes to this school? That''s awesome!¡± ¡°Have you seen her? She''s so pretty, cute, and bubbly without being intimidating. I think I''ve fallen in love with her!¡± ¡°Dude get in line. You''re not the only one. I heard that a few people confessed to her already, and they were all upperclassmen! She rejected them all.¡± ¡°Oh man. I have to distinguish myself from the rabble then don''t I?¡± ¡°Compete in the Olympics. That is sure to get her attention.¡± This causes everyone nearby to laugh. ¡°Have you heard that her brother is Michael Lewis?¡± ¡°Michael Lewis? The trillionaire that invented the backbone of New Reality? That''s amazing! Those siblings are too amazing.¡± David couldn''t care less about what they were talking about and continued playing on his AR glasses. The students kept talking about different things. One of them is a virtual reality game that plays like soccer. It''s one of the predecessors to New Reality. The difference is that you get different power ups and there are random obstacles in the way. It''s still fairly popular with there being professional leagues. It''s showcased on television. Sports are still being watched, it''s just now they have to share views with virtual reality competitions. Someone then talks about something that peaks David''s interest. ¡°Dude, have you heard?¡± ¡°I swear if this is another bird is the word joke...¡± ¡°No, I''m serious!¡± ¡°You being serious? Harumph.¡± ¡°Dude I''m so cereal, I looked in the mirror this morning and I was a bowl of Cheerios!¡± David listening in ponders this. ''Cheerios huh? Sounds serious. I should listen to what he has to say.'' ¡°Luciana Leavitt has become a ranker in New Reality!¡± ¡°Wha? Really?¡± ¡°Yep! She''s now in the top 10000 leveled players in the world!¡± ¡°That''s pretty amazing considering that you have to be 16 to play the game, and we had no choice but to play a year later than the older people. Not only that, but now close to a billion people play New Reality. That''s a pretty amazing achievement.¡± Other people listening in join in on their conversation. ¡°Her username''s Scarlettflame, but people call her the Flame Empress because every time she fights, she dominates the battlefield with her flames.¡± ¡°I''ve actually seen videos of her fighting. Her nickname of Flame Empress is well deserved. It''s like she commands an ocean of flame to wash over her enemies. She could easily burn down a small town by herself in one attack if she wanted.¡± ¡°Isn''t she the basketball captain this year?¡± ¡°Oh yeah she is isn''t she?¡± ¡°Wait, I heard she models part time too. She''s pretty famous for her beauty. Where does she get the time to do all these things?¡± Speaking of the devil, Luciana arrives in class. The looks they gave her are looks they would give to a prophet. ¡°Luciana, you''re so amazing!¡± ¡°Wow Luciana, to become a ranker! How amazing of you! You just aren''t for your beauty are you?¡± Luciana sighs and doesn''t say anything. David looks at her. He thinks it''s ridiculous for anyone to be that beautiful and perfect. Basketball captain? Part time model? New Reality ranker? David hates her guts already. While the students are talking to her, she gives off a bored look like they are wasting her time. She always gives off this ice cold, aloof persona. David thinks to himself, ''She''s a billionaire too isn''t she? Her father owns the company Energy Solutions I think? She probably thinks her shit smells like roses. She probably bought a bunch of equipment with her money that got her to be a ranker. Well whatever, she has never messed with me or talked to me, which is all I can ask for.'' Later, David heads to his 2nd period class, AP Calculus. David is looking out the window looking at the different birds minding his own business when he hears an annoying voice. ¡°Well, well, well. My rival has come out to play.¡± David gets a scowl on his face. The person talking to him is the current Honors Society President, Cecile Vincent, the top student in their school. She is well known for her beauty, her dignity and poise, her caring personality, and never looking down on anyone. For some strange reason, that previous personality gets thrown out the window whenever she talks to David. He snaps at her. ¡°Rival? I don''t even know your name!¡± ¡°I told you a million times! How can you keep forgetting? It''s Cecile! Ce-cile! It''s two freaking syllables for crying out loud!¡± ¡°Well stop being so clich¨¦ and generic playing the ¡°perfect¡± girl who can''t accept the fact that she''s worse than me in some things and I might not have trouble remembering you.¡± ¡°Don''t call me clich¨¦! Just you wait David. I''ll get all the top awards this year and we''ll just see who''s better.¡± ¡°I don''t care! I never did care! If I just say you''re the best, will you just leave me alone?¡± ¡°No! This year will finally mark me getting the best in everything! Anyway you''re just jealous that I''m the top person every year.¡± She gets a gotcha look on her face. ¡°Congratulations. You''re doing better than me in the subjects I don''t care about. How does that make you feel?¡± That gotcha look slowly turns into a look of frustration. After school, David heads to work. Since it''s the beginning of the school year, it tends to get busy. David just keeps stocking shelves. After 2 hours, he heads home. His sister is there to greet them. ¡°Hey, David!¡± She said with a bright smile. David frowns even deeper. ¡°What are you after?¡± ¡°Well, I have a gymnastics performance tonight and was wondering if you would like to go.¡± ¡°You should already know the answer to that stupid question. What I''m more interested in is how you''ll try to force me to go.¡± ¡°I''ll tell mom and dad!¡± ¡°Like I care. I will just barricade myself in my room till it all blows over. I have enough food and water to last me a while.¡± ¡°Well look at all these locks that are no longer on your door!¡± She drops them all in front of David. He had forgotten to change the locks in a while. David is shocked and angry. You do not ruin his happy place. That''s the only place he feels secure from the rest of the world, and she ruined it. ¡°That''s it! I''m going to break every single bone in your body! Even the ones that don''t exist! Especially the ones that don''t exist!¡± David yells at Cindy. ¡°Bring it you little bitch!¡± Cindy yells back. They fight. Now you might think that David, being trained in several martial arts and being bigger and stronger would have an advantage. Well, you''re wrong. Out of all the 3 siblings, Cindy has the best physical ability. That''s why she was able to go to the Olympics in the first place. David is never able to land a hit on her because she keeps dodging his blows doing acrobatics and things that should belong in the Matrix. Cindy is never able to make a clean hit because David keeps blocking her blows. They always end up tied and tired. David heads towards his room. ¡°Whatever, don''t bother me.¡± David slams the door. Cindy ends up sad. The truth is, Cindy wants to reconcile with David, but every time she tries to be nice to him, David ignores her, so he always tries to get his attention by any means necessary, which makes him hate her more. She thinks that it''s well deserved that he ignores her because of how people in the house have been treating him, but she thinks it''s time to let bygones be bygones. She''s afraid that when David graduates, she''ll never see him again. David logs back on to New Reality thinking, ''School was as bad as I thought it would be. Well at least very few people talked to me.'' He logs back in to where he stays. It''s been 4 years in-game since David has come to his present location. It looks very different from before. There is now a huge shed standing from what was a hut before. He had paid an architect to make the shed for 100 gold. Null had learned that huts made of wood, twigs, and leaves are not a good place for burning forges. *************************************************************** Flashback: The place is on fire. ¡°I''VE MADE A HUGE MISTAKE!¡± Flashback end: *********************************************** When David had found this place, he was level 47. Now he is level is 72. Most of his level gains were from the donation of books to the library, but occasionally he would hunt down different monsters for alchemy ingredients. It''s been the equivalent of 4 years and he has only gained 25 levels. The trajectory of how the average person levels up is that it takes 5 months in-game to reach level 100, a year in-game to reach level 150, and 5 years in-game to reach level 215. After that, the leveling starts to slow down because of guilds occupying high level hunting grounds or higher level monsters in too dangerous places and not wanting to lose levels. When you lose a life, you lose 2 levels and 5% proficiency in random skills. If you''re level 1, you just lose 4 stat points. No one wants to risk losing those hard earned 2 levels, so they play it safe. Null doesn''t care that he still hasn''t reached level 100. He''s not playing competitively. Now normally a person might think that since Null has been alone for so long in the game that he becomes lonely and wants to get friends. Nope. Null is enjoying his solitude more than ever. There have been many events throughout Null''s time in New Reality. Things like holiday events, and randomly generated events he found no interest in. **************************************************************** Flashback: [/size]
Quest: Holdendale Under Attack!
Quest Information: Trolls and ogres are heading towards Holdendale to ransack their supplies and the town''s women. If nothing is done, Holdendale will be destroyed. Make sure all the monsters that are headed that way are destroyed before they get there. This mission is available for everyone in or near Holdendale. Reward: The Count will gift you with royal points. Royal points let you have social standing. The more royal points you have, the better the people will treat you. You can also exchange royal points for various things. The more monsters you kill, the more Royal points are given. Quest Rank: D Penalty if refused: Decreased affinity with Holdendale citizenry. Do you accept?
¡°Hmmm... This sounds like it''s not my problem. No I don''t accept.¡±
You have rejected the quest.
***********************************************************
Holiday event: Halloween Spirit convergence
It happens only once every 5 years weirdly, but the monsters can''t be contained during this time. It''s the Halloween Spirit convergence, and the spirits are unhappy. Walk around in costumes to please them so that they will drop more items when you kill them. Monsters for the week drop candy along with other drops. Can trade the candy with items for the week.
¡°No. Go away.¡± Null closes the window and continues with what he was doing. ************************************************************
Holiday event: Happy holidays
It happens only once every 5 years weirdly, but the celebrations last for a month. Participate in the events and carnivals. The top 10 people who collect the most points from playing the carnival games and participating will get a prize! Exchange gifts with people to gain experience. You can exchange gifts 3 times. The more expensive the gift, the more experience you will gain. A specific monster comes out at this time called the toy elf. The drops it contains are 7x more than monsters of the same level. Defeat enough of them, and the Santa boss comes out. These Santa monsters drop 20x the amount of drops of other monsters at the same level drop.[/size]
¡°Leave me alone. I hate the holidays. Bah humbug and whatnot.¡± He closes the window. *******************************************************
Holiday Event: With Love
It happens only once every 5 years weirdly, but love is in the air. For a week, Alchemists will sell you a special bottle filled with a potion that will reveal if the person you crush on has a crush on you back. If you are both holding the ends of the bottle, and it glows, the feeling is mutual. Chocolates and flowers are on sale for the week. Special monsters come out at this time called Cupids, that shoot arrows that make people temporarily fall in love with the first person they see that''s not the Cupid.
"Bleeeeeeeeergh." Null threw up and closed the window. He didn''t leave the shed that entire week. *********************************************** Null''s level might be 72, but if you were to look at his stats, you would never believe it.
Status Window
NameNullFame450
Level72Infamy0
RaceHumanSatiety100%
GenderMaleEndurance175/175
Main Class
Librarian
Sub Classes
Calligrapher, Painter, Alchemist, Blacksmith
Titles
None
Health5850/5850Health Regen1.97 / sec
Mana10830/10830Mana Regen5.7 / sec
Strength178Dexterity182
Vitality178Charisma141
Intelligence344Wisdom341
Luck141Knowledge354
Attack73Defense47
Magic Defense
None
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Those are not the stats of a level 72 player. During each level up, you are given 5 stat points. Those stats should be impossible. There is a reason for this. Remember, getting intermediate in a skill is very rare, even among the top level players, so the game rewards you if are able to achieve such a milestone. When a class or subclass reaches intermediate, you are gifted with +10 in all stats. When a skill reaches intermediate, you are gifted with +5 in all stats. This is what Null''s current skill list looks like.
Skill proficiency
Librarian Mastery: Intermediate level 5 Book Repair: Intermediate level 1 Paper Create: Intermediate level 3 Universal Identify: Intermediate level 4 Information finder: Intermediate level 2 Learning without Reading: Intermediate level 1 Calligraphy Mastery: Intermediate level 3 Proofread: Intermediate level 3 Ink hand: Intermediate level 2 Calligraphy expansion and contraction: beginner level 8 Painting Mastery: Intermediate level 4 Illustration: Intermediate level 3 Handicraft: Intermediate level 5 Art is Feeling: Intermediate level 1 Art Materialization: Beginner level 1 Alchemy Mastery: Intermediate level 3 Gardening: Intermediate level 1 Alchemy Finder: Intermediate level 1 Potion Creation: Beginner level 6 Blacksmith Mastery: Intermediate level 3 Smelting: Intermediate level 2 Weapon/Armor Repair: Intermediate level 2 Blueprint: Intermediate level 1 Instant forge: Beginner level 5 Hand to Hand Combat Mastery: Beginner level 4 Essene of Mana: Beginner level 9 Archery Mastery: Beginner level 4 Cooking Mastery: Beginner level 2 Mining Mastery: Beginner level 4 Evasion: Beginner level 2 Crossbow Mastery: Beginner level 3 Throwing Needle Mastery: Beginner level 3 Throwing Knife Mastery: Beginner level 1 Bombing Mastery: Beginner level 3 Breathe Idiot: Beginner level 1 Camping: Cannot level up Light Orb: Cannot level up Calm Mind: Cannot level up Transmutation Circle Creation: Beginner level 1 Transmutation Circle Activation: Beginner level 1
Those skill proficiency gains are impossible for the average person to level up in only 5 years in-game, but thanks to the knowledge stat, Null was able to achieve it. Even 20 years in-game would probably be too short for all those skills to level up for the average person. During these 4 years, Null has been busy. He''s been making skill books and working on his techniques. The small garden that he used to have has grown enormous, and that''s only his main garden. Some of the plants Null is growing are so dangerous, that he has no choice but to plant them far away from him. He wrote skill books to give him several skills. Luckily, there aren''t a lot of skills. You don''t get skills just for running or playing hopscotch really good. Some skills he tried to get, but couldn''t because they were class exclusive, like Eagle Eyes for trackers, the healing skill for clerics, and the glowy, stabby sword technique of death for swordsmen. During all this, he found out he really, really, really hated Ptah. ****************************************** Flashback: Null has got his projectile weapons down to a good degree. He thinks, ¡°I could make them go faster if I could learn to manipulate wind. Maybe I should go for it.¡± Null sets out to make a skill book for wind. He knows that it''s unlikely given that he''s not a mage, but he thinks there might be something that he can use. Null went to the mage guild, went to the wind sorcery section, and sat in a corner, observing them. Everyone thought Null was weird, but he didn''t care. He saw how everyone used their skills. He wrote down notes trying to make a skill book. Every time he tried, he failed. One day, the option he was looking for came up.
Would you like to learn Essence of Wind?
¡°Yes! I finally got the skill! I would like to learn Essence of Wind!¡±
You have learned Essence of Wind, is what I would say if you could actually learn it. Well take pleasure in the fact that for 5 seconds, you were happy that you thought you could actually learn the skill.
¡°...@%&%! @(^@& @&%$@#* $%&@, PTAAAAAH!¡± Yes, Null was so angry, he was speaking gibberish. Flashback end: ************************************* The skills that he gained are what would be useful for him. He could''ve gotten a lot of passive''s if he wanted to, but to make even a simple skill book takes a week, and the more difficult one''s take a month. Skill books aren''t found in the library, as skill books disappear when you learn them. Some skills he could acquire faster by just practicing the skill. Others he made a skill book of. Once Null was satisfied with the amount of passives he had, he stopped trying to make as many skill books. He found the passives useful.
Evasion
Skill typePassiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 2
When being attacked and dodging, dexterity increases by 4%.
Crossbow Mastery
Skill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 3
Crossbows are 10% more powerful than the base stats. Shoots 12% farther. Archery mastery adds to this effect.
Throwing Needle Mastery
Skill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 3
Throwing needles are 8% more powerful than the base stats. Get your points across.
Bombing Mastery
Skill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 3
Blast radius increases by 4% and can throw 7% farther than base stats. Go absolutely ballistic.
Breathe Idiot
Skill typePassiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 2
Breathing correctly will cut down on your endurance depletion by 12%
Calm Mind
Skill typePassiveSkill ProficiencyCannot level up
It doesn''t make you invincible to emotions, but you can now focus more on your techniques and planning without outside interference distracting you as much.
Because of artificial selection, the small health and mana potions he makes are 50% more potent. What used to take a week to grow now only requires two days. He''s been experimenting with various potions of different effects. He learned glass making and glass blowing techniques, so he never has a shortage of empty flasks. Some poisons cause paralysis, some cause a person to fall asleep, some cause you to hallucinate, and many others. Not all of them are poisons, as some give you beneficial effects. For example, Null created a potion that temporarily improves your vision at a distance for the cost that your vision will be blurry afterwards temporarily. He got a new skill, potion creation. It''s very difficult to work with, but a lot of the new potions he created were thanks to that skill. How it works is that you have to have a thought in mind with available ingredients. Say you want to make a sleep potion. The ingredients will be marked with different colors when you see them. The water will be white, while the ingredients that help will be yellow, ingredients that hurt will be red, and ingredients that are neutral will not glow. When you mix it in the water, red water means that it has failed and you have to start all over, white water means the process is ongoing, and green water means you have completed what you wanted. The problem is, that if the potion you want to create is too high level, or the potion you want to create is too difficult. It would show up as gray, for being too high level, or a bunch of colors Null can''t decipher if its too difficult. Null''s Ingredient Finder works the same way as his Information Finder skill, only with alchemy ingredients. Null''s blacksmithing has also shown a lot of improvement. Thanks to his instant forge skill, he doesn''t even need to build those huge forges and can smelt and forge even on the go, but the Instant Forge skill doesn''t make products as good as the forges that Null built yet. All Null needs is a tiny crucible to make the Instant Forge skill work. Null had learned advanced sword and armor making techniques. He now regularly creates fine swords and good leveled armor, but that''s not the only things he makes. Thanks to Null''s Blueprint skill, he can use it along with system assist to make different things. The blueprint is a 3 dimensional projection, and works a lot like the AR glasses Null uses in real life. When he got the Blueprint skill, it only had 4 models inside: Sword, Armor, Shield, and Bow. A person would usually have to buy additional blueprints from people or shops to have a wider range, but thanks to Null''s Illustration skill, he could draw out his own blueprints. Null would then use the system assist to learn how to make them. There are two camps of people in New Reality. One camp thinks relying on system assist is stupid as you can''t level up the skills as fast. The other camp thinks that it''s far easier to rely solely on the system assist. Null thinks both of them are idiots. Null, through trial and error, figured out that it''s best to do system assist to learn how to make something, then make it with your own hands. A problem is that the system assist doesn''t care about the best or worst method as long as it gets there. Null''s calligraphy improved. He has created over 2000 fonts, and has the expansion and contraction skill that can grow or shrink text. He can write entire pages in a few seconds thanks to the ink hand technique. Null hates, with a passion, the new skill he got in his art class. It''s called Art Materialization. You can materialize anything you want just by painting the picture. It''s only limited by the size of the paper you''re painting on. That might seem overpowered, but the cost of materializing them is levels. Things that are common like water or rocks, they cost one level. If you want to materialize something like an ordinary sword, something like that costs 2 levels. A legendary sword that can kill everything in your path? Something like that would cost 30-40 levels. The worst part is that the items you make are only temporary, so you wouldn''t even be able to keep it later on. The more powerful the item, the faster it would return to paint. Null never bothered with leveling up that skill. He figures if its an emergency, he''ll use it. Null would go in town and level up his Art is Feeling skill by painting happy pictures of people who look down. It''s not like he wants to help them. He''s just following his motto of not causing harm if he doesn''t have to, and he has to find some way to raise the skill easily. That''s what Null tells himself. His painting skills have improved to the point where his art looks like a professional painted it, yet the world would never know. His skill have become so amazing, that the paintings that he creates will let you temporarily gain stats if you look at them. His main class, the librarian class, is the reason he was able to reach intermediate in so many skills, even though most people struggle to get intermediate in one. The librarian class by itself is useless. No one would argue with that, but the librarian class itself was never meant to act by itself. It was meant to support his other skills, strengthening them. Null had figured this out. He found out that his knowledge stat increases skill proficiency slightly, and he found something else wonderful about the knowledge stat. When Null''s knowledge stat reached 200, he unlocked something exclusive to the librarian class, arguably the most useful thing he has. The book that Mrs. Allensworth gave him, can now hold an unlimited amount of information. Before this, Null had to set aside a whole room full of research papers. He had trouble going through all of it, and it was very disorganized. Now, all Null has to do is imagine what he wants from what he wrote in the book, and it instantly materializes on the pages. The book is blank unless you are looking for something. This further accelerated his skill proficiency. Another thing that accelerated proficiency speed was the skill Learning Without Reading. It works by placing your hand on a book and saying the skill. Your mind will know and comprehend whatever it is you''re using the skill on. When he first got the skill, he could only use the skill on about 30 pages. Afterwards, he would get a big headache because his mind was trying to decipher what was wrote. It gradually got better. Now he can read up to 500 pages at once and know what the book is talking about. His Universal Identify has grown to a powerful level. Null thinks it gives too much information on things he''s trying to find stuff out on. When it hit intermediate, it now shows the rarity of different items. They are seperated into tiers. Common rocks and water are an example of Tier 1. Common wood and coal are an example of Tier 2 and so on. Null was surprised to learn that the mystery book he got from Mrs. Allensworth was Tier 15. The highest weapon grade Null had seen in person when he did Identify on it was Tier 12. Null learned while using the skill that just because something is rare doesn''t mean it''s useful, and just because something isn''t rare doesn''t mean it''s useless. His mining has improved where he can now occasionally mine gold. He has even mined rubies. His archery has it that he can now shoot up to 40 meters away. Cooking? He doesn''t give a damn about that. Null starts heading to town. He''s preparing to leave the Holdendale area. If it were up to Null, he would''ve spent his entire life in that area buried in obscurity, but there''s a problem. ----------------------------------------- Author''s Note: Another 5000+ word chapter. Soon we''ll see what Null is capable of. The plot starts picking up in chapter 1 quadrillion when Null has to fight against the Heat Death of the universe. Chapter 14: Goodbye Holdendale Null is heading towards the warriors guild. The people there see him every once in a while so they just ignore him. ¡°Here again huh Null? Okay, let''s get this over with.¡± The person speaking to Null is Ludis. It''s strange. No matter what happens, Ludis always wants to fight with Null, even though Null has yet to even touch him. Every time someone says they''ll fight Null, Ludis blocks them and challenges Null. After 4 years, Null has so much mana. He can now fight longer due to the sheer amount of mana he has, but to get really huge stat boosts due to mana manipulation is starting to get a little laggy. Right now, it''s not too big of a problem, but he''s noticing that the more mana he contains, the longer he has to wait to turn the mana into stat boosts, which would be deadly in a fight if he has to wait too long. Null can now amplify his shock waves by forming a ball of mana in his wrist, compressing it and spinning it so rapidly that he doesn''t know how many revolutions it is, loading it back to his elbow like an arrow, then releasing it when he makes contact. When it comes out, a huge shock wave is created. He doesn''t even need a punching motion. Just placing your hand on something and doing the mana ball pull back technique will still give out damage. He can do this loading back mana ball shock wave from anywhere in his body. His Essence of Mana is now at a point where all this happens in only a fraction of a second. Ludis says, ¡°Same as before? Let''s get started.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Null and Ludis start their fight. What used to be a beat down has gradually disappeared over time. Null is now at a level to where he can adequately defend himself against someone with the stats of a level 370 person. Ludis has only leveled up to level 219, but his stats place him far beyond that. Ludis moves swiftly towards Null''s side and hits him with a round house kick. Null instantly puts his mana towards strength in his arms and legs and blocks it. Null still slides back a few feet, but that''s a lot better than growing through walls. Null tries to predict Ludis'' next movements. He punches an area that seems empty, but that''s where Ludis was headed. His intelligence and wisdom allows him to somewhat predict where his opponent will go. It also helps that Null knows Ludis''s movements. Ludis appears in that location, but ducks from the blow of that punch. He then grabs that arm and puts Null in an arm lock. Ludis then slams Null on the ground while Null''s arm is locked. Ludis is about to perform an ax kick on Null''s back. Just then Null does a move that belongs in a break dance competition. He puts his mana towards dexterity in his legs, and swings them out. Ludis jumps over them. A message then pops up that Null was surprised about.
You have now reached Intermediate level 1 in Essence of Mana.
Essense of Mana
Skill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyIntermediate level 1
30% decrease in mana consumption for techniques. Can now control mana outside of your body.
The gap between Beginner level 9 and Intermediate level 1 is huge. Since he could now control mana outside his body, he had a plan. Ludis still had Null in an arm lock. Null felt the mana Ludis had in his arms. Null then reversed the mana flow in Ludis so it could move slower, which would make Ludis''s strength weaker. It was like trying to stop a river with your hand, but with Ludis feeling something was amiss, he let Null go. Null then acted. While Ludis was distracted trying to see if everything was okay with his body, He connected his punch towards Ludis. The blow connected with Ludis''s mana, which Null manipulated, which went through Ludis in a shockwave like Luffy''s RedHawk. When the blow connected, it formed a shock wave made of mana that went through Ludis and out his back. Null actually hit Ludis. It didn''t do much damage to Ludis, but it knocked him back an inch. To actually hit him is an achievement on its own. ¡°Congratulations Null. You finally managed to hit me for the first time after all these years.¡± The monks there were surprised. ¡°He actually touched him. He really actually touched him. Well there goes my bet.¡± ¡°To think he could even knock him back. Even if it was an inch.¡± ¡°Wooo! Go Null! I knew you had it in you! I won the bet!¡± Null and Ludis walk from the ring and head outside. Null says, ¡°It''s thanks to you that I was able to make it to Intermediate in Essence of Mana.¡± It''s the reason that Null had decided to stay in Holdendale for a little longer. He wanted to finally get Essence of Mana to intermediate. His other skills have not grown in a while. What Null said shocked Ludis. ¡°You made it to Intermediate in a skill? It took me 6 years in-game to get my Hand to Hand Combat class to Intermediate, and I had to work hard to do it. Even compared to everyone else, 6 years is pretty fast. You only did it in 4. You are truly amazing.¡± Null doesn''t know what Ludis is talking about. ''I haven''t done anything to be amazing. I hate it when people do those pity complements. And please quit lying about how it took you 6 years in-game.'' As was said before, Null has no self awareness. He doesn''t talk to people in the game and he doesn''t look online on forums for information. He doesn''t even watch the popular channel New Reality News. He thinks that just because he was able to make several skills to intermediate, that most other people will have too. It''s because of his low self confidence. Null wants to get this conversation over with. ¡°Well, I''ll be leaving soon, so to thank you for helping me, I made you these knuckle dusters.¡± ¡°Heh. Well thanks.¡± Ludis takes them. ¡°Whew. You''re leaving? Finally. That means I can go as well.¡± ¡°...What do you mean?¡± ¡°I stayed here because you needed the practice. I figured you would get bored of coming here if you had to fight anyone else, and your skills would''ve stagnated. I''ve been wanting to search for the Intermediate Training Hall, but I decided to keep you company instead.¡± What Ludis said shocked Null. ¡°...You didn''t have to do that.¡± ¡°I wanted to.¡± Null now feels bad. He knows of Ludis''s talent, and it was because of Null during these last 4 years that Ludis wasn''t able to advance that much. If Ludis had wanted, he could easily be a ranker. ¡°*sigh* Now I have a debt that needs to be settled. I don''t like owing others anything. What do you want? My skills have reached intermediate in blacksmith.¡± ¡°Seriously? Blacksmith and Essence of Mana at intermediate? Amazing. But there is something I want.¡± ¡°If it''s reasonable I''ll do what I can. What is it?¡± ¡°Add me as a friend.¡±
Ludis wants to add you as a friend. Do you accept?
¡°...¡± Null frowns. He is about to decline, but he hates having to owe favors, because people will take advantage. If Null waits long enough, Ludis would probably want something even more unreasonable as a return to the favor. Null reluctantly agrees. ¡°*sigh* Fine.¡±
You have accepted Ludis as a friend.
Ludis then says, ¡°Well good luck for whatever it is you are trying to do.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± They both leave the warriors guild. Null walks away. He opens his friend''s list to see one person on there, Ludis. Null sighs and thinks, ''Well, he usually leaves me alone. Him wanting to fight me is out of character for him. He said he only did it so that I could get stronger. He also should know that I don''t like to socialize. Maybe adding him as a friend won''t be so bad. Hopefully.'' Null heads back to his area. ''Now I have to get rid of all the things I don''t need.'' He takes all the plants he grew and turns them into either potions or ingredients. He takes all the various seeds and puts them in a bag. His identify is now so powerful that it can now know what the seed will grow into. When his alchemy hit intermediate, it resulted in increased bag space. It doesn''t reach the levels of bag space a merchant would have, but for Null, it''s enough. Bags in New Reality shrink everything down, so you don''t get bogged down. To get it out, all you have to do is open your inventory menu. He takes all the ores that he had laying around and smelts them, using the refinery he made, turning them into ingots. His instant forge skill hasn''t yet reached a level where he can smelt compared to using an actual forge. He takes the ingots with him. All the extra papers that Null has been putting off putting inside the mystery book the librarian gave him, went inside the book. It took seconds for each page with Null''s ink hand technique. He organized the rest of the papers into books, which is what he will donate to the library. Now all that''s left is to find out what to do with all the extra things he doesn''t need. He created many things, from swords, spears, bows, potions, etc. He can''t use the hand held weapons, and he doesn''t need the extra potions. There are so many items, that his bag can''t contain them all. Null thinks to himself. ''I could just throw them all out, but that would be a huge waste. Wait, I don''t have any money left. I never needed it because I grew and hunted my own food, and made my own weapons. That situation will be different once I go out and have to do things. How do I go about turning these items into money? Oh... Oh no... Oh god dammit... I guess I''ll have to sell... to... people.'' Null shutters. He puts all his belonging in a mining cart, and walks towards the town, pushing the cart in front of him. It''s covered in a sheet and tied up, so he doesn''t get robbed. Null is grumbling and trying to think of another way, but all his plans involve people. He has no choice. It takes him a while pushing the cart, but he finally makes it to town. He looks at the others trying to sell things. ¡°Selling swords! Real cheap!¡± ¡°Have health and mana potions to sell!¡± ¡°My food doesn''t taste so awful this time!¡± Null sets up a stall close to the water fountain and places some of his products on it. Null sighs. He has no experience but bad experience with people. People see Null''s stall, and pass him by. They think, ''A person trying to sell potions, weapons, armors, and paintings? Only a merchant would sell all those things at once, and I''ve never seen him before.'' ''Look at his clothes. He looks like a beggar. If he is a merchant, he''s a terrible one.'' ''Unknown merchants selling lots of things at once are usually conman, or the items must all be at inferior quality.'' That''s what the people are thinking. If people had known that all the things he is trying to sell are at the intermediate level, there would be a long line. In fact, all Null had to do was yell out ¡°Intermediate!¡± and people would come running. Null doesn''t know this though. Null is happy that people are passing him by, but he also realizes the reason he''s here in the first place is to sell his items. Null is bored, so he starts painting the scenery around him. After an hour of painting, someone comes towards Null''s stall. Now usually, when a person comes with the intent to buy, you smile, you are polite, and you say phrases like ¡°Hello sir. How may I help you?¡± Not Null. He frowns upon seeing the guy. While he''s looking at Null''s items, Null eyes him like he murdered his penguin. The guy gets nervous as first because of the way Null was looking at him, but he''s an experienced player. He knows high quality goods when he sees it. He says to Null, ¡°So is this your first time selling here?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The guy thinks, ''Heh, I can probably sucker him.'' ¡°Hmmm... Mind if I take a look?¡± ¡°Go ahead.¡± ¡°Identify.¡±
Good sword
This was made by a blacksmith destined for greatness. Requirements level 150, 60 Strength. Options +10 Strength, Endurance increases by 50%.
The guy looks calm, but in his mind, he is shocked. ''Where does a guy find a weapon like this in a town in the middle of nowhere?'' He does identify on other things. ¡°Identify¡±
Arrogant Chest Armor
This armor refuses to yield to anything, and will cut all magic attacks done to it by 15%. Level Requirement level 160 Durability 80/80. Defense +75.
¡°Identify¡±
Sleeping potion
Will give anyone below level 200 the drowsy condition, and make anyone below level 150 fall asleep.
¡°Identify¡±
Painting of a wheat field
Made by an unknown artist with exceptional skill. Seeing this painting will make your attack increase by 15% when fighting in a field for a day.
Null had shrunken the painting down to a manageable size using his Calligraphy Expansion and Contraction skill, so it can fit on someone''s shield or arm. It would reduce the effects of the painting, but it would still show effects. The man kept doing identify on all his items and became ever more shocked. His face was calm, but his mind was a different story. ''Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit! This guy. I don''t know how he did it, but all the items here are rare and powerful. I absolutely need to know where he got them!'' ¡°What''s your name?¡± ¡°Null.¡± ¡°Are you a merchant?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Would you mind telling me how you procured these items?¡± ¡°I made them.¡± The guy then frowns. ''That''s bullshit. You would have to have intermediate in painting, alchemy, and blacksmith in order to make these items, and I have never even heard of such a person. This guy obviously doesn''t want me to know where he got this stuff. Maybe I should beat it out of him. No, he''ll still probably never tell. You would have to be a fool to disclose where you got these items. I should try and become friendly with him.'' Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°May I ask what your class is?¡± ¡°Are you going to buy anything or not?¡± ''Tch fine. Be that way. You will regret making an enemy of me. I don''t think he''s lying about being a first time salesmen though. Everything he gives off is an aura of someone who has never sold before. I''ll swindle the items from him.'' The guys looks disappointed. ¡°Well everything here looks like it was made under shoddy workmanship, but me being the good person that I am, am willing to cut you a deal. How about I pay you 2 gold for everything you have?¡± Now, Null might not know about how much things are or the market prices of things, but Null has an innate ability to know when he''s being really screwed over. He showed all the effects of a newbie salesman, but that doesn''t mean he''s going to be taken in for a fool. He picks up his things from the stand, places them back in his cart, pulls out a hammer, and proceeds to smash his stand several times. People were staring at Null like he was a madman. Null thinks to himself, ''I can''t do this. I would rather sell to one shitty person than a whole bunch of shitty people.'' Null takes his cart and walks away. People were speaking to themselves. ¡°What''s wrong with him? Is he crazy?¡± ¡°Did that guy do something to him?¡± The guy sneered. **************************** Null looks for the merchant guild. After a little walking, he finds it. The building is fairly big. Null thinks to himself, ''Well merchants as a whole are not known for being poor.'' and walks inside. He has a little trouble squeezing the cart inside the door. There''s a person sitting at the front desk, clearly upset that Null brought such an unsightly thing. The cart even leaves a dirt trail on the floor. Null right now has a worn, gray cloak on, giving off the appearance of a beggar, so the merchant is not expecting much from him. ¡°Yes sir. How can I help you?¡± ¡°I''m looking to sell all my items.¡± ¡°Sure. Just find anyone inside, and if they like your items, they''ll buy it. I have to tell you though, most merchants won''t just buy anything you find on the street.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± Null looks around. Most of the merchants are avoiding eye contact with Null, clearly not wanting to do business with him. Null didn''t want to look at them either as they all looked pretty shady to him. After looking at all the people, Null finds the least shady person he could find. That merchant is also avoiding Null''s gaze, but since Null is walking towards him, he knows he has to talk to him. The merchant sighs. ¡°How may I be of service?¡± ¡°I''m looking to sell.¡± ¡°Okay. Show me what you got.¡± Null uncovers the sheet on the cart. He then hands him the items. The merchant did Identify on Null''s items, and was shocked. ¡°What kind of dungeon did you raid to get all of this!?¡± ¡°I didn''t get the items from a dungeon. I made all of it.¡± ¡°What!?¡± The merchant was ecstatic. ''I hit the jackpot! Fortune came and he walked to me! Someone who can make high quality items like this? If I can partner up with him, I''ll be rich!'' ¡°How about I pay 400 gold for everything you have?¡± ¡°Deal.¡± Null thought to himself, ''400 gold? I was expecting something like 50 gold! Man am I lucky or what?'' The merchant actually wasn''t prepared for him to accept so fast. If Null wanted, he could have sold all his items for over a thousand gold. The merchant smiles. ''This day just keeps getting better and better!'' When Null receives his funds, he the items and is about to leave, until the merchant calls out to him. ¡°Say, where are you going after this?¡± ¡°Is there any reason you want to know?¡± ¡°I was thinking that I could accompany you on your journey. Would you mind if I come with you?¡± ¡°Yes I would mind. Very much so.¡± ¡°You know as a merchant, we have the most bag space out of all the classes right? It would be very helpful to someone like you who holds a lot of things.¡± ¡°Since my alchemy hit intermediate, my bag space can hold a lot. It may pale in comparison to a merchant, but it gets the job done.¡± ¡°Okay so you don''t want me to journey with you. That''s fine. How about you form an exclusive contract with me, selling all of your items to me at 50% higher than what anybody else offers?¡± ¡°No. Why am I still talking to you?¡± Null then leaves. After Null leaves, the merchant sighs. ''Well, at least I got all these items. My merchant class is sure to level up in one fell swoop with this when I sell them all.'' A person then talks to him. It''s the person that tried to swindle Null. The merchant talks to him. ¡°Can I help you?¡± ¡°Did a person looking like a beggar sell his items here?¡± ¡°Why yes he did. Do you want to buy any of the items?¡± ¡°No, I want to tail him and see where he got them.¡± ¡°He said he made them.¡± ¡°Don''t be foolish! Do you know of anyone who has painting, alchemy, and blacksmith at intermediate?¡± ¡°...Now that I think about it, I don''t.¡± ¡°I was thinking of tailing him for a little bit to see if there is any hint to where he got those items. You want in?¡± ¡°Well sure. I''ve got nothing better to do right now anyway. That buy I just made will sustain me for weeks. If I could find out where he gets them, I''ll be even richer!¡± The guy smirks. ¡°Good. Let''s go.¡± ¡°Before I can go with you, sign this contract saying you would do no harm to me and a split of profits 50%. You know what happens when you break merchant''s contracts don''t you?¡± ¡°50%? That''s too much! I was the one who told you about it! I will do 60/40 and no more. Besides, you''re a merchant! You have no combat ability. The only reason I''m teaming up with you is because I will need the increased bag space for if I find where the guy gets his items.¡± ¡°Fine. 60/40.¡± He signs the contract and they start tailing Null. Null heads to the library with the books he has in tow. He meets the various librarians and heads towards the head librarian, Mrs. Allensworth. She greets him. ¡°Well hello Null, it''s been a while. Have you found what you''re looking for?¡± ¡°No.¡± Null frowns. There are two main reasons why he is leaving. The first reason, is that his skills aside from a select few like Essence of Mana had stopped growing a while ago. Null is a person who strives to surpass his past self. That he would be the same as his past self is unacceptable to him. The second reason is the two skills he got when his Librarian, Painting, Calligraphy, Alchemy, and Blacksmith classes hit intermediate. It''s called Transmutation Circle Creation and Transmutation Circle Activation. At first he was ecstatic when he got those skills. He has seen what they can do from watching the guy in that flashback. ******************** Flashback:
For reaching intermediate in Librarian Mastery, Painting Mastery, Calligraphy Mastery, Alchemy Mastery, and Blacksmith Mastery, you have unlocked Transmutation Circle Creation and Transmutation Circle Activation.
Transmutation Circle Creation
Skill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Create different transmutation circle designs. The higher the level, the more advanced transmutation circles you can make.
Transmutation Circle Activation
Skill typeActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Activate transmutation circles. The higher the level, the faster the activation of the transmutation circles. More powerful transmutation circles take longer to activate.
¡°Oh shit!¡± Null set out to work on his newfound skills. First, he did system assist, and all the Transmutation Circle Creation skill did was make a circle with nothing inside it. He then tried Transmutation Circle Activation on the circle. All that did was pour mana from his body into the circle for a split second, then it went out the circle. That''s it. Every time he used system assist for those skills, the results turned out the same. He tried layering the circles, overlapping them, and anything he could think of, but they did nothing. Null then went to the library to look up information on transmutation circles. When he used the information finder skill, he couldn''t find anything. He checked everywhere in the library and kept doing his information finder skill. His information finder skill has leveled up enough that it will produce a bright light akin to a powerful light bulb upon usage of the skill. Everything was dark, which meant to Null that the library didn''t have any information on it, which didn''t make any sense to Null. ''Wasn''t that guy who fought in the flashback a librarian? Why wouldn''t there be any information on the skill?'' Null then went to Mrs. Allensworth to ask her about it. She was really shocked when she heard that Null had unlocked those 2 skills. In fact, she was so shocked, she had dropped what she was holding. She then grabs Null and takes him into a room in which no one could hear them. She told him, ¡°Null, Listen to me. The two skills that you learned, they are only to be used by the Church of Ptah, the Ianuaria Church in the west, which is a subset of the Church of Ptah, the Magic Guild leaders, and royalty. Basically, only the top people are allowed to use that skill. Anyone else caught using the skill will be hunted down. You have to be careful when looking for information on those two skills.¡± Null nodded. He had seen sometimes how people would travel though teleportation circles, though they were bright and he couldn''t see anything about the circles. The transmutation circles are protected from people copying their designs by having a protective film over it. He had also seen how they require multiple powerful people to activate and control it. It looked like even with all of them, it took a while to charge. You also need special permission to use the teleportation circle, and it would be stupid to ask for blueprints on the transmutation circles from them. Null then asked, ¡°So if using the skills are illegal, how am I supposed to learn about it?¡± ¡°The answer is on the book I gave you.¡± Null looks at the mystery book. He''s confused. ¡°I''ve written a lot of information in this mystery book, but how is that supposed to help me?¡± ¡°Null, it''s literally on the book!¡± ¡°I don''t get it.¡± ¡°Figure it out!¡± Mrs. Allensworth is always surprised about how Null can sometimes be so smart, but then at other times be so stupid. Null then leaves. He went online in the real world to look up transmutation circle designs. When he drew them, the results were the same as before. He had probably memorized over 100 transmutation circles online before he gave up on trying to level the skill that way. Flashback end: ******************************** ¡°I''m here to donate these books, and also to tell you that I''m leaving.¡± When Null donated all the books he had, which numbered in the hundreds, he rose two levels. ¡°Well remember what we talked about.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Null leaves the library. When Null went, Mrs. Allensworth called for a meeting with all the top workers in the library. They go into a sound proofed room so that no one could hear their conversations. Mrs. Allensworth speaks. ¡°Everything we talk about will not leave this room.¡± Everyone nods. ¡°As most of you know, Null is now trying to learn about his Transmutation Circle skills. Of course, I told him that he will become a criminal if it is known that he is trying to learn about those skills, but Null being who he is, doesn''t care about that.¡± A lady to her right starts to speak. ¡°To unlock the Transmutation Circle skills. He''s the first foreigner to do that. Do you think that he will fight for our cause? After all, it''s mostly the foreigners who will determine our fate.¡± Mrs. Allensworth laughs. ¡°Null would never fight for a side. I''ve gotten to know about him these 5 years. He finds the concept of humans fighting in groups for an ideological cause to be stupid. He will not fight for us willingly.¡± A lady in the back starts to speak. She''s from a faraway library in a bigger town. ¡°When I heard about there being a foreigner who rose to intermediate in the librarian class, I rushed here. Mrs. Allensworth told me amazing things about him, and about how rapidly he grows his skills, so I had to know everything about that young man. I would tail him from the shadows and watch him. He mostly spends his time alone not wanting to associate with anyone. He has nothing but contempt for anyone, no matter the race. At first I was worried that he would hurt our cause more than help it, but then I saw something amazing. He would help people without the person even realizing they are being helped by him. He would use his Art is Feeling technique to always help anyone who is down. He also is never one to pick a fight with anyone. He may hate all the races in this world, but he would never do anything to harm them if they leave him alone. So I will say that while he might not help us, he would definitely not hurt us.¡± Mrs. Allensworth nods. ¡°He is also one who pays back his debts. Since this library has always watched over him, he will definitely not betray us.¡± A guy to the side then speaks. ¡°What if we used favors to get him to be in debt towards us, so he would fight for us?¡± Mrs. Allensworth immediately shoots down that idea. ¡°Null doesn''t trust people, and naturally will be wary of anyone showing him excess kindness. He''s also not stupid. If he finds out that we''re trying to use him, he will not hesitate to abandon us. All we can hope for is for him to complete the A-rank mission I gave him. He''s the closest to fulfilling his legacy.¡± Chapter 15: Holy shit! Its about time! Null walks towards the edge of town, and changes into the things he will be wearing out in the wilderness. Out there he will be on his own, which will be a prime target for bandits. New Reality is a MMORPG. There aren''t many things you can do on your own, and the game subtly forces you to rely on other people. Null has spent the last 5 years in-game to ensure that he will not have to rely on anyone for anything. He changes into a dark gray short cloak that covers his head and arms. It''s not as long as the previous cloak, so he can move more freely for hand to hand combat. He also takes out gauntlets that look like they belong on batman, and combat boots that have a hidden blade on each foot. He also possesses powerful armor. Blacksmiths can wear any type of armor without class restrictions when the class hits intermediate, but due to his main class, Null is not allowed to wear heavy armor, so this light metal armor that only covers the chest and back has been refined to the best of his abilities and strengthened. Null had purposely made it so he doesn''t look too powerful, but also doesn''t look too weak. His motto is ¡°Any attention is bad attention for a loner.¡± On his way out of town, he hears people forming parties. ¡°We''re looking for a warrior! Has to be at least level 100!¡± ¡°Looking for a cook!¡± ¡°Need a thief! We''re heading towards a dungeon!¡± Null shakes his head listening to them. He thinks, ''Why must people rely on others? The strongest only rely on one''s self.'' While Null is thinking, a person walks up to him. ¡°Hello. You''re an assassin right? I barely noticed you even when I was next to you. We''re looking to level grind. Wanna join us?¡± Null nonchalantly says, ¡°I''m a librarian.¡± ¡°...Oh. Okay then. I think the level grinding party has been canceled because of,.... things... forever... Sorry.¡± The guy walks away. This is one of the best things he likes about the librarian class. Whenever he says he''s a librarian, people go away. He leaves Holdendale thinking, ''I have no allegiance towards this place, but I somehow feel sort of melancholic for leaving. Maybe it''s because there were people here that helped me. Well enough of that.'' Null leaves. ****************************** Null has been walking for around 3 days. He has no specific place he''s heading to, but is just walking randomly along the dirt path. He isn''t in any hurry, so he''s walking leisurely, looking around trying to see if there are any plants that he hasn''t seen before. He walks during the day, and when nightfall hits, he sets up a tent and sleeps. It wouldn''t do him any good to move about at night because of bandits and monsters with night vision. He eats some of the bread he made, and hunts rabbits to get meat. When morning hits, he puts away his tent and continues moving. Just when he was getting comfortable, Null then hears a rustle in the bushes. This makes Null pause. He then hears rustles in other bushes and trees. The people coming out the bushes look like your stereotypical thieves. It looks like there are 11 on the ground and 5 in the trees. The ones in the trees all have arrows pointed at Null. One of the thieves says to Null while brandishing a sword. ¡°There is a toll to go through here. Drop everything that you have and you can go.¡± Null sighs. He sighs not because he''s about to get mugged, but because he''s about to waste precious equipment. Null says indifferently, ¡°I have to warn you. Once you attack, I won''t stop. I don''t show any mercy towards those who attack me. Once you attack, your life is forfeit.¡± The thief laughs, which causes all the other thieves to laugh. ¡°These foreigners are always so arrogant until we shut them up. Your bluff won''t work on us. You''re only level 74. Don''t you know that the rogue classes have Person Identify?¡± Another thief says, ¡°Well he''s only level 74. He''s practically a newborn. He probably doesn''t know. Let''s teach him our ways.¡± The thieves on the ground start running towards Null. The archers in the trees load their arrows. Null says, ¡°Remember. You brought this upon yourself.¡± Null''s look changes into one that''s about to squash bugs. Null may not like people, but he wouldn''t start anything with them if he doesn''t have to. He''s afraid that his hatred would get the better of him. Towards those who attack him? He would never show the same mercy. Null is ruthless. The archers shoot at Null''s position. While they fire their arrows, Null manipulates the mana in his legs for strength, and jumps high in the air. The arrows pierce the ground at where Null once was. The thieves who were running towards his position got to where he just was. Null takes out two round objects from under his cloak while still airborne. He throws them at the archers. The next 2 things happened simultaneously. When Null jumped, he had released a sleep bomb on the ground. When the thieves were focusing on him in the air, the sleep bomb started detonating. The 2 round objects that he threw were explosive bombs, but not those weak gunpowder bombs. Null has been experimenting with different chemical objects to see which made the best bombs. He had found 2 plants that made an extremely explosive material when put together. He had designed a specific type of bomb container for them, which mixes them together when hit hard on contact with a surface. By the time the bombs made it to the archers, they exploded and created a 0.7 meter blast radius, killing them instantly, while the bomb on the ground released a gas covering the thieves. The thieves on the ground didn''t fare much better than the archers in the trees, as they were falling asleep. They tried with all their might to stay awake, but they eventually succumbed to sleep. Null makes his way towards the sleeping thieves, about to kill them. When it looks like Null would win, more thieves come out from behind bushes and trees behind Null. They number at about 30. Null thinks, ''Looks like the other thieves were just bait huh? Well, this situation hasn''t changed.'' Null takes out his best work. Those gauntlets that he has on are due to years of trial and error. Null had found a loophole to ensure that he could fight at full strength even with his librarian class working against him. Null cannot hold a handheld weapon without stats being severely reduced. Ranged weapons also lose 30% attack power when fired, but it doesn''t say anything about weapons that are on your hands, and the gauntlets are classified as armor. Null sees the 33 man strong group running towards him. He makes his left hand into a fist and aims his forearm at them. When they got close, he pulled a cord with his right hand on the left hand gauntlet, which sprayed small needles out of openings above his left arm. 21 of the bandits are hit from the volley. The rest were spared from being behind someone else. Now, those needles fired out get their power reduced by 30% because of his class, but the needle''s power isn''t what Null is after. One of the bandits sees Null next to him. ''When did he get so close?'' The bandit slashes at him in a frenzy. It looks like Null is trying to plead with him asking him to stop. ¡°What are you doing!? I''m on your side!¡± Null pleads. ¡°No you''re not!¡± The bandit says with a blood thirsty grin. He loves seeing his enemies beg for mercy. He slashes at Null until he kills him. The bandits then starts to laugh until he sees someone on the corner of his vision. He looks. Null then appears again. The bandit is surprised. ¡°I just killed you! What''s going on!¡± He slashes at Null again. The person once again pleads. Other people watching are flabbergasted. The number of bandits attacking their own number 5. ¡°What''s going on!?¡± A bandit exclaims shocked. He looks at Null. ¡°What did you do!?¡± Null answers him. ¡°Ah. I just made it so that the enemies see a hallucination of me among their allies. It starts losing its effectiveness when the enemies hit level 150, but for you I think it will be just fine. I''ve never tested it out against humans before. Looks like its a success.¡± ¡°Why are you telling me your poison''s weakness?¡± ¡°Because I know you won''t live long enough to tell anybody. Haven''t you noticed that it''s harder for you to move?¡± ¡°Urrgh. Dammit!¡± That bandit was hit with a paralyzing needle. The needles give different effects depending on what you''re hit with. Some in contact with those needles got paralyzed, some see hallucinations, and some get hit by some type of lethal poison. The needles have a different poison, and don''t mix very well when making potions, but when each of them is put in the same body, it displays its most lethal effects. When 2 different types of lethal poison are put into the body, it only takes 12 seconds for the poisons to kill them. The 21 bandits all succumb to the poison and die. There are now only 12 bandits left. The bandits are now wary of Null. If they see him try to fire those needles again, they''ll be sure to dodge. Null doesn''t want to fire another round of needles. The needle launchers are only good for two shots before they have to be reloaded, and to fire them for just 12 people would just be a waste. Null rushes towards them. He moves his fingers a certain way and 3 blades come out of each hand. The blades aren''t affected by the 99% reduction, because the system classifies it as part of the armor, and the system only classifies weapons that Null is holding in his hand, not what is covering Null''s hand. Null is happy it worked, but Null thinks he would never ever let Ptah ever be his lawyer. The bandits attempt to surround Null, but he''s moving too fast. The bandits are moving where Null wants them to move. He shows false openings, then rapidly moves out the way manipulating his mana for dexterity. When Null has the bandits where he wants them, he slashes at the bandits with his blades. Each of the blades are coating in his most powerful poisons. One causes hallucinations that distort your vision greatly. Another is a paralyzing poison far greater than the one on the needles. Another is one that shaves off 400 health per second. All Null needs to do is hit them once, and their deaths are guaranteed. He deals with the remaining bandits in 8 seconds. Null is level 74, and there isn''t a person on the planet right now that can face Null on the same level, hidden class or not. Even a person 10 levels above him right now would stand little chance, and that''s saying something since power rises quadratically in New Reality. Null sighs and thinks, ''The average leveled person here was only level 60, with the highest being around level 80. I hope this isn''t going to be a constant thing. I would need to make a lot more needles just in case.'' He looks through the bodies of the dead thieves. He doesn''t find any useful drops. All he found were some daggers, swords, and some low level poison. Null thinks, ''Well it''s not like they were that high leveled.'' and continues on his way. Around a considerable distance from Null were the 2 people that were tailing them. They were both shocked. The merchant speaks. ¡°Hey, have you seen any of those things before? Like those gauntlets and the designs on those bombs?¡± ¡°I have not.¡± ¡°I am starting to believe that he is telling the truth about creating those weapons.¡± ¡°I am too.¡± ¡°So now that there is a good chance he actually made those things, where do we go from here?¡± ¡°There would be no reason in tailing him anymore. I say we back off. We were only following him to see where he got those items. We can bargain with some guild for the information that we have and make a lot of money. Intermediate in 3 classes is unheard of. I say we just leave.¡± ¡°Yes, lets leave him for now.¡± They head back into town. *************************** For the next two weeks, Null kept running into thieves. At first he found it slightly invigorating to field test his equipment, but now he just finds them annoying. They all give the same tactic: Bait, then main force. Their strategies which they thought were clever were obvious to Null. They all have the same uniform too, so it must be some organization that''s doing all this. Null ponders what to do about it. ''Maybe I should find the organization and wipe them all out. They have caused me enough trouble. Well, I''m pretty sure the people on these paths are mooks, and probably wouldn''t know where the main headquarters is at.'' After all his walking, Null finally makes it to a town. The guards look on edge. ¡°Halt!¡± Null stops. The guard then asks, ¡°What business do you have in Wakefield?¡± ¡°I''m here for rest, and maybe to take a visit to your shops.¡± Maybe it''s because Null is hooded, but the guard looks like he doesn''t trust him. ¡°Well try not to cause a lot of trouble. We have been having a lot of problems with thieves lately.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Null looks around the town. The population here is a lot smaller than the town he started in. This town looks like it only has around 5000 people. This place also has a lot of higher level players than in Holdendale. Stolen novel; please report. ''Guess this is where a lot of people go after starting in Holdendale.'' He looks around the town. The NPCs look kind of down. Some are slumped in front of houses asking for food. Some are asking if people are clerics so they could heal their family. Null hears one conversation going on. ¡°I thought you said you were a cleric! What do you mean you can''t heal my husband!?¡± ¡°I''m sorry. I''m not that high leveled a cleric yet. You''re going to have to go to someone else.¡± Null sighs. ''What''s going on in this town? Thieves? Hunger? Sickness? Well that''s not my problem. I do need some extra money. I need to buy more iron ingots after using my needles on the thieves. Let''s see what I can find on a job board.'' He looks around and finds it. ''Hmm. F-rank mission to gather rabbit skins, an E-rank mission to capture or kill 20 thieves. Ah, here''s a good one. A D-rank mission to subjugate all the thieves. Well what do you know? A job that conveniently appears that I was going to do in the first place.'' Null takes the form and goes towards the house of the person that wrote it. He knocks on the door. A little while later, a sad looking old man comes out. ¡°Yes, what can I do for you?¡± ¡°I''m here about the subjugation of the thieves.¡± Just then, a light shone in that old man''s eyes. ¡°Really? Please, come in, come in!¡± He sits Null down at the table, and gives Null some water. Null isn''t going to drink it, as he trusts no one. The man noticing that Null isn''t touching the drink says, ¡°My apologizes. This water is all I have. A lot of our farmers have been getting sick.¡± ¡°No it''s fine. So about this bandit subjugation.¡± ¡°Right. For some reason, we have been having a lot of trouble with bandits lately. They have been getting more aggressive. Other players have tried to undertake this mission, but they considered it too much trouble and not enough of a reward. This is happening at the same time as around a quarter of our farmers getting sick. It''s really a travesty. We don''t know what''s going on. Will you accept this quest?¡± [/size]
Quest: Bandit Subjugation
Quest Information: The bandits have been really active lately. The old man has given you quest to subjugate all the bandits. Reward: 5 silver ores Quest Rank: D Penalty if refused: Decreased affinity with old man. Do you accept?
Null thinks, ''5 silver ores? I can trade that for over a thousand iron ores. I could even raise it more if I smelt it. How convenient.'' ¡°I accept.¡±
You have accepted the quest.
Null travels in the forest. Unlike before, he is brazenly showing off some of the stuff that he has. Some of the items are quite valuable. It only took around 4 hours for the thieves to take the bait. An arrow strikes near his foot. 10 people come out of the forest. An archer in the tree, who looks like a young boy says, ¡°Drop your stuff and take a hike!¡± Null doesn''t waste any time. He throws a lot of objects behind him. They are all filled with sleeping gas. They explode and the main force falls asleep. Null then fires his needles at the bait force. He made sure this time to make them non lethal. They are covered in a paralyzing poison. The person in the tree shoots an arrow at Null. Null blocks the arrow with his gauntlet and throws a throwing knife covered in paralyzing poison at the archer. It hits him in the arm. ¡°Dammit!¡± The young archer falls out the tree, and Null catches him. The archer looks at Null defiantly saying, ¡°You''ll be marked for death if anything happens to me!¡± Null picks up some needles and puts it up against the boy''s throat. ¡°You are not in any position to be making threats.¡± ¡°Grrr.¡± He drags the paralyzed boy and throws him towards the other paralyzed people. A person asks, ¡°What do you want from us?¡± ¡°Information. It''s the only reason why all of you are still alive. Consider yourselves lucky. I hear that there has been a sickness that has affected around a quarter of the farmers in Wakefield. What I found strange is that it''s only the farmers that farm on the West side of town, the same side where the thieves mainly hide out in. You guys have also been acting strange lately. Is there anything going on?¡± ¡°I won''t talk! You can''t make me!¡± ¡°Well that''s fine. I can either kill all of you and go to the next batch of thieves, and keep doing this until you are all wiped out, or I could ask you nicely and you can give me the information I need. It really doesn''t matter to me, so which do you choose?¡± The bandit can see it in Null''s eyes that he''s serious. ¡°Fine. Our top guys and our leaders have gotten sick. We usually go after high profile people, but since all our powerful people have gotten sick, we''ve been running out of supplies and have been forced to step up our robbing. We had no choice but to go after low level people.¡± ¡°Yeah. I thought that was the case. Okay. Next question. Is there anything those high level thieves and the farmers have in common? Is there a common place you guys go to?¡± ¡°Hmmm... Well, the main base and the farmers on the west side share a water pump. They usually leave each other alone.¡± ¡°Good, now we''re getting somewhere. My subclass is alchemy and I might be able to sort this whole thing out.¡± The guy is skeptical. ¡°Why would you help us after we attempted to rob you?¡± ¡°Because of the reward of the old man. That''s all. You not robbing people as much will also benefit me.¡± The man is seemingly satisfied with that answer. Null then says, ¡°The paralysis poison should wear off in a few minutes, then you''ll take me to the water pump, then your base. Maybe I can cure your leaders.¡± ¡°Thank you! You''re a saint!¡± Null then remembers something. ¡°Oh yeah. Before we leave, I''ll trade you everything that you have in exchange for your lives. You attempted to rob me, so its only fair that I take your things. I''ve wasted a lot of ammo on all of you.¡± The guy chuckles. ¡°Surely you kid.¡± Null moves his fingers, and blades come out his gauntlets. ¡°I don''t kid.¡± "*gulp*" After Null liberated the items from all the thieves, they take him to where the water pump is. ¡°Identify.¡±
Infected Water Pump.
Touching this Water Pump is not advised. It will make you bed ridden for a long time. It started happening around 5 weeks ago, when a sick farmer was working. The disease can be cured with herbs found in this area.
He then takes out some charcoal and paper. He draws the water pump in all different angles, then relies on system assist to give the measurements. When he''s done, he activates his Blueprint skill. He puts all the different perspectives of the drawing into the Blueprint. It then makes a 3-D blueprint of the water pump that''s an exact replica of the infected one. ''Okay. Before I can build it, I need to find a cure for whatever this is.'' Null uses his alchemy mixing skill to see what ingredients he''ll need. He takes out a sheet. The sheet only has a tiny speck of each of the ingredients he has collected in all so far. When Null uses his Potion mixing skill, some of those specks glow yellow. ''So these are the ingredients I need.'' Null writes down all the ingredients that are glowing on the sheet. He then uses the Ingredient Finder skill to find all the ingredients. It only took him an hour to find the amount of ingredients he needs. Luckily it was all common herbs. It''s takes him around 3 hours with the Potion Creation skill until it showed that the potion turned green which meant it was a success. Null uses the blacksmith skill along with the Instant Forge skill with system assist to turn the iron ingots that he had into an exact replica of the water pump. He used clay to form a mold, and a crucible along with his mana to melt the iron. He gives himself the antidote in order to work on the pipe. He did this in order to show 2 things: One, that this thing really is the cure and it will not poison their leaders, and two, in order to be safe and not worry about the infected pump. He replaces the pump and all goes well. The thieves then take Null to a hide out. The thieves are not going to their main base, as bringing him there would be stupid. They bring their leaders, and they are fed the antidote one by one. Null tells them that they should be fine within a day. After he leaves the hideout, Null goes to the old man in Wakefield and gives him the antidote. The man says, ¡°Wait. You made an antidote of the sickness for us?¡± ¡°I didn''t do it for you or the villagers. The reason the bandits were so active is because the leaders were infected with the same disease. I made this so the bandits could stop in order to complete my mission. I had a lot left over, and given the option of giving you all the cure, or throwing it in a river, giving it to you was the slightly better choice.¡± ¡°Okay, but why give it to me? I''m not sick.¡± ¡°I''m giving it to you to give to the villagers. Here are paper cups so you can give the correct dosage.¡± ¡°Thank you, but if you were to do it yourself, you could gain lots of fame and rewards! Why don''t you do it yourself?¡± ¡°Yeah, no thanks. I do not want fame, and I do not need any extra rewards. I told you already. The reason I made it in the first place was because of the bandits, not for the villagers. Besides, people thanking me and complementing me makes me feel itchy.¡± ¡°Oh thank you! Thank you! I will be going now to deliver the antidote to all the sick villagers!¡± ¡°Yeah, sure.¡± Null leaves the house. A day passes. Null heads back to the hideout. When he does, a bunch of people instantly surround him, but one of them recognizes him. ¡°Oh it''s Null, we''ve been expecting you. Please, come this way.¡± They take Null into a dim room. If Null wasn''t confident he could kill them all, he never would have come here. The place was dim and eerie. When he went in, the thief leaders came out, all good as new. ''I might actually have to try if we start to fight.'' They then bowed to Null. The top guy speaks. ¡°It''s thanks to you Null that we have been cured of our affliction. I hope you can take this as appreciation for what you done.¡± Null takes it. ¡°Identify.¡±
Good quality assassin''s cloak.
Limited to Assassins. Can increase stealth by 50%.
The guy then says, ¡°It won''t give you any stealth since you do not have a rogue profession, but I saw how much you liked short cloaks.¡± ¡°Thanks. As for the reason why I''m here, could you guys scale it down with the robbing?¡± ¡°Don''t worry. We usually only go after high profile targets like the super rich or the corrupted. With our top people sick, we had no choice but to go after the weak, but now that will no longer be the case.¡± ¡°Good.¡± The archer kid who Null had swiftly defeated said, ¡°Next time we meet, I will be formidable!¡± ¡°Yeah, whatever.¡± Null is leaving, and the leader says, ¡°If there is anything you need from us, we''ll make sure you get it from us at a discount. Take this thief mark as proof of our friendship. Now thieves associated with us will not attack you, and you can find some of our local branches next to some towns around here.¡± ¡°Yeah, I''ll keep that in mind.¡± Null goes back to the old man. ¡°You mean the bandits will no longer be a problem?¡± ¡°Yes. They usually only go after high profile targets, but couldn''t as their top guys were sick, and had to rob other people in order to survive.¡± The man starts to cry. ¡°You, you did so much for us, how can I ever repay you?¡± ¡°Just give me the promised reward. I don''t need anything else.¡± He gives Null the 5 silver ores, and something else on top of it. ¡°What''s this?¡± ¡°These are called jet boots. Now, I don''t know what a jet is, but it does make someone run 15% faster. These are my prized possession.¡± ¡°Um, thanks.¡± Null leaves the old man''s house. The town looks completely different. The people who looked down are now happy and dancing around. Null scoffs at them and says disgusting while looking for the job board, unaware of his slight smile. ------------------------------------------------------- Author''s Note: Man. Oh man. Null is looking pretty OP huh? And that''s only his first form. I just wanted to squeeze out how powerful Null has become. Chapter 16: Dungeon Extravaganza Author''s Note: Well hello there. It''s been a while hasn''t it? To all who read my stories and reviewed, thank you. Thank you for not being jerkwads and big mean dootie heads. I''ve read some stories on this site thinking, ''Hey this story isn''t half bad.'' Then I read the reviews. ¡°This story gave me cancer. Kill your family, then kill yourself.¡± ¡°I would rather be left adrift at sea, with man eating sharks surrounding me with no food and water than read another paragraph of your story.¡± People here are brutal. I don''t know why the meanies haven''t come here yet, but thank you for your nice, nondootie head comments. Especially you SkullCrusher. You da best! ----------------------------------------------- Null is currently doing some odd job he got from job board. He has no need to do it. It''s just that he wants some downtime after fighting the bandits, curing the bandits, and then curing the town. Right now, he is doing an F-rank quest to hunt rabbit meat. They go down in one hit expectantly. While hunting, he gets a message.
Message from outside world
This is Cindy. Mom told me to text you to get out of your pod so you can greet granddad.
Reply
That''s impossible. How does mother even know that I exist?
Message from outside world
Because I told her. If I have to suffer through granddad, so do you.
¡°Great.¡± Null says sarcastically. ******************** He gets out his pod, and goes to the living room area. His grandfather hasn''t arrived yet, so he''s sitting down reading a book. After around 10 minutes of waiting, he arrives. David''s mother greets him first. ¡°Dad! It''s been so long!¡± ¡°Oh Lucienne, looks like you just refuse to age. How long has it been?¡± ¡°Around 6 years give or take?¡± They hug. David''s grandfather''s name is James Perkins. David sees that hug and thinks to himself, ''Come to think of it, my mother has never hugged me. In fact I don''t think I''ve ever been hugged at all. Well, that''s fine, as people are disgusting.'' He thinks this as if there''s nothing wrong with that at all. James then makes his way over to David''s father. The smile David''s father shows is strained. ¡°Looks like you still haven''t divorced this loser. What are you waiting for?¡± David''s grandfather says bluntly while looking at David''s father as he would a piece of trash. David''s father frowns, then tries to smile again. ¡°Hahaha, Dad, you''re so funny!¡± His mother laughs out. ¡°Who''s joking?¡± The grandfather said serious. This caused David''s lip to slightly twitch upwards. The only thing he likes about his granddad is that he gives his father a hard time. ¡°Granddad you''re here!¡± Cindy comes in the room and runs up to James, giving him a hug. ¡°Oh ho! Cindy!¡± James says, delighted to see her. David looks at her thinking, ''She really is a good actor. She''s almost as good as Michael. It''s too bad both are spawns of Satan. Does being a prodigy also predispose you to psychopathy?'' ¡°You''ve grown so much since I last saw you!¡± The grandfather tells Cindy. He lets her go, and then walks over to David saying, ¡°And you''ve shrunk! You used to be as big as a house when I last saw you!¡± ¡°Yes. Hello grandfather.¡± Null says indifferently. ¡°Puberty sure did turn an ugly duckling into a swan. On second thought, maybe I should say an ugly baby whale into a swan.¡± David''s mother chuckles. ¡°Dad, stop messing with everyone. Have you met with Michael?¡± ¡°That boy has always been one of my favorites. He hooked me up with a free VR pod and let me use his mansion for a party. That boy''s one of the few things that loser husband of yours has done right!¡± The grandfather gets settled in, and they talk about what they''ve been doing. David is just sitting there silently, just waiting for all of this to be over. The grandfather asks David, ¡°So David, gotten a girlfriend yet?¡± Cindy laughs at that. ¡°Girlfriend? He doesn''t even have any friends. How could he get a girlfriend?¡± Grandfather says, ¡°Well that''s not too important. All you gotta do is get a virtual girlfriend. You kids today don''t know how good you have it. Back in my day, we didn''t have those fancy smancy AR glasses and VR. When we looked at porn, we had to look at a flat screen. We then had to jack ourselves off, like a god damned Neanderthal!¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Null said indifferently. ¡°Well the good ol'' days were a lot better. Our weed was dank, our memes were dank, and you could troll like nobody''s business.¡± Sister giggles. ¡°Granddad nobody says dank anymore. We say bawowie now.¡± ¡°That''s so lame.¡± The grandfather shakes his head at that. ¡°So David. I hear you got a VR pod for New Reality. What''s your level and class?¡± ¡°I''m a level 74 Librarian.¡± ¡°Librarian? Sheesh. Playing on hard mode I see. Well hope you don''t meet me in game, cause you gonna get rekt hard and fast just like how I did yo mama last night!¡± ¡°...Grandfather, my mother is your daughter...¡± David says hoping he would realize what he just said. ¡°And?¡± Not liking where this conversation is going, David excuses himself to go back to the game. ******************************** There are some alchemists on their way to get a mission, and they had only recently arrived in Wakefield. They''re talking among themselves to pass the time. ¡°Man I just can''t believe you made that potion to make the wolves do those... unspeakable things.¡± ¡°Yeah, can you believe how crazy it got when that 5th wolf showed up?¡± They gave each other high fives. ¡°Say, how long do you think it''ll take to do this mission?¡± ¡°I dunno. Maybe 3 days if we''re not fucking around?¡± ¡°Well we have five of us here. If we run around grabbing random things while flailing our arms, we could be done in 2 days.¡± ¡°Ha, maybe we could spin around while doing it.¡± ¡°Heheh you guys are crazy!¡± They make it to where they''re trying to go, the old man''s house that gave Null his mission. The man invites them in, and the alchemists get down to business. One of them says, ¡°Say old man, could you give us that mission to cure your sick?¡± ¡°Oh sorry kids, someone already did that yesterday.¡± ¡°...What?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°Someone, not some people? Yesterday?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°But that''s impossible! The mission was only issued 6 days ago! It should''ve taken a single normal alchemist at least a week to do that D-rank!¡± ¡°A week? Hah! It only took Null 3 hours!¡± ¡°Null? Have any of you guys ever heard of a Null?¡± ¡°It''s a pretty common name, especially if you''re an assassin, but a high leveled alchemist named Null? I don''t think I''ve heard of that.¡± Null, who just so happened to be walking by, heard their conversation. He thought, ''Shut your blabbering mouth you old man! And how the fuck do you know how long it took me!? You weren''t even there for when I did that!'' Null sped by quickly so they wouldn''t notice him. He makes it to the library. Null thinks, ''I think I''ll go explore some dungeons. I refuse to go in with other people, so I''ll go and find new dungeons. Before I go find a dungeon, lets see if there is any new plant life that I can use for alchemy. Since this area is not too far from the Holdendale area, the plants should largely be the same, but you never know.'' Null looks through all the botany books. ''There seems to be more cliffs in the area. It looks like there''s a type of flower that likes to grow there. Good. That''s where I''ll start.'' Null goes towards all the cliffs until he finds the plant he''s looking for. There is a flower growing there with red petals. Null runs towards the plants. When he goes to pick them, the cliff collapses where Null is standing. ¡°Fuuuck!¡± He yells while falling down. ***************************** Null searches for another group of those flowers, and eventually finds another one on the side of a cliff. ''This time, I''ll be careful.'' Null quietly goes towards the flowers and carefully picks them. He slowly reaches towards the flowers and pulls them out. ''Well that was ea-'', The cliff collapses under him. ¡°Oh god dammit!¡± ***************************** Null this time has had it. He has bolas attached to a string like a fishing line, and tosses it at the plants on the edge of the cliff. He makes sure the bolas were wound around the plants tightly. When he pulls the plants towards him, something weird happens. Instead of the cliff collapsing under the plants, it collapses under where Null is instead. He was nowhere near the cliff edge, yet he still ended up falling. Null yells out while falling, ¡°Why is all this Wile E. Coyote bullshit happening to me!?¡± ***************************** After Null has finished collecting and testing the plants to see what they do, Null goes to the library to search for the location of some dungeons. There are riddles and puzzles all around, along with people''s life stories. He goes through every nook and cranny to make sure nothing was left out. The process of actually going through the problem solving was nothing because of Null''s high intelligence and wisdom. It''s just that to go through all the materials themselves would''ve taken some time, but thanks to Null''s skills Learning Without Reading and Information Finder, he found and went through the information quickly. In the course of 2 days, Null found the location of multiple dungeons no one has ever been in. Of all of the dungeons he found, only 3 were suitable for him. The rest were either in places too far away, or were C-rank and above. Before he entered the dungeons, he prepared his arsenal. He had enough poison and needles to lay waste to a town. Null was excited and nervous on the way to the first dungeon he found. It''s been a while since he tested his limits combat wise. When he entered his first dungeon, a message popped up.
You are the first to enter the E-rank dungeon, goblin''s cave. 2x experience for 1 week.
''Fuck yeah. I''ll mow down all my enemies like a weed wacker. Just call me the landscaper from hell.'' ******************************************* It''s been near a month since Null entered his first dungeon. Null slaughtered everything in the first dungeon with a running speed. The scary part is the look he gave out. It was like he was going on a Monday jog while doing it. The boss ogre was defeated in less than half a minute. He finished the dungeon in a week and 2 days. The second dungeon had a monkey theme. Null found the poop flinging unsanitary and annoying. The place was covered in vines and trees even though the area was indoors. He had to swing through and climb vines in order to reach some places. The boss King Kong was extremely powerful. It made shock waves when it jumped in the air and pounded the floor. This dungeon was a D-rank and was called Monkey''s Jungle. The dungeon looked like a Mayan temple with plants grown inside. It took Null 2 and a half weeks to finish it. Because of those two dungeons, mainly the second one, he has grown to level 91. Null is now about to enter the final dungeon he found. When he entered it, a message popped up.
You are the first to enter the D+-ranked dungeon, Cyclopes'' Domain. 2x experience for 1 week.
''Oh? This one is D+-ranked? The last dungeon was pretty challenging. I nearly died multiple times. Will I be able to beat this one?''
For finding 3 dungeons no one has ever been in within a month, you are awarded the title of Dungeon Finder. 15% extra damage done to any enemies within a dungeon.
''Oh ho? Well, well, well. Looks like my luck''s.... maybe I shouldn''t complete that sentence in my head. Every time I think it, my life inevitably goes to shit.'' Null heads inside the dungeon. The dungeon is far larger than any of the dungeons he''s seen so far. The floor and ceiling were tiled, and the walls had different hieroglyphic designs on them. One of the hieroglyphics showed huge cyclopes with clubs surrounding a really huge Medusa. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Null thought, ''Medusa huh? In mythology, she has the power to turn people into stone if you see her face. Don''t tell me I have to fight such an overpowered enemy.'' While Null was looking at the pictures, he heard chirping noises. He was about to be attacked by bats. ¡°Identify.¡±
Hypnotizing Glare Bat
Information: What do they do? It''s in the damn name.
Level89
Health 1440Mana 7290
Strength 30 Dexterity 30
Vitality15Charisma10
Intelligence210Wisdom210
Luck10
Attack23Defense57
They fought Null by flying around and biting him. They had a swooping down, biting, and flying up motion. Something like this was easy enough for Null, as he just looked at their motion, calculated when they were going to come down, then slashed them once and they went down, thanks to the poison on his gauntlet blades. He didn''t even have to manipulate his mana. A problem became apparent the longer he fought them. Their numbers just kept increasing. Another problem is that the bats had an annoying ability to give Null hallucinations when you look into their eyes, distorting Null''s vision and making him see multiple copies of the enemy. Null couldn''t look away from them as the bats were all around him, and as a result, he was swiping his blades at bats that weren''t even there. Null thought, ''I''m not going to last long like this. I''ll burn out. My endurance is getting low and I need to reapply the poison to my blades.'' He had to run away. The bats were chasing him. ''God damn Zubats! You can''t fool me. I know it''s you! I thought I got rid of you! You were my nemesis, my greatest foe! I would dread having to go into a cave. Every time the message ¡°A wild Zubat appeared!¡± came up, I would scream! You weren''t supposed to be here! YOU WEREN''T SUPPOSED TO BE HERE!'' Every time he went to hide, the bats would always find him. ''How do they do that? Oh duh. Echolocation.'' When Null threw a bomb in the crowd of bats, not only did it cut the numbers down and pause their hallucinating technique, but it also threw their formation into disorder. The bomb''s shock wave interrupted their echolocation. Null shot at them with his needle launchers while they were disoriented. He ran away again when he had to reload his needle launcher. ''I only have a limited number of bombs. That won''t work forever, and the bats show no sign of decreasing. What to do?'' Null saw a narrow passageway and ran towards it. He took out all his needle ammo from his inventory and put it on his sides. When they came closer, he sprayed his needle launchers, shot at them again a second time, and reloaded. He kept with this method. He was slaying all of them 300 style. When the bats finally decreased in number when he spent all his ammo, he finished them off with his blades. His endurance was shot to hell when he was done, so he ate some breads and meats to recover his endurance and satiety. ''Damn. I need to forge some new ammo and brew new poisons. That was hell. And that was just the first monster here.'' He continued fighting other monsters. After completing the first floor and going down to the second, he had to fight several monsters even more troublesome and prevailed against them, but on the 3rd floor, he finally met his match. A single cyclops that he saw on the hieroglyphics wall was just down the hall. ¡°Identify¡±
Cyclops
Information: Pawns of Medusa. Their skin is extremely tough and harder than stone. They wield clubs and have high strength. Do not look into their eyes or you will become paralyzed if you are under level 140. If you are over level 140, your movements will be reduced depending on your level. The only way to return to normal is to avoid their eyesight for 20 seconds.
Level147
Health ???Mana ???
Strength 500 Dexterity ???
Vitality???Charisma???
Intelligence???Wisdom???
Luck???
Attack???Defense756
The cyclops was turned around at the moment, doing whatever it is that cyclopes do. ''The stats I can read are insane. It will be better if I don''t fight him head on. That paralyzing ability is so overpowered.'' Null snuck up silently onto the unaware cyclops and shot his needle launcher at the cyclops'' back. The result? It did absolutely nothing. The cyclops didn''t even feel it. For Null, the 30% reduced ranged attack damage, which reduced to 15% thanks to Null''s dungeon finder title, which further reduced to 7% thanks to Needle Mastery, had never really caused a problem before, as the poison did all the work, but now it might prove to be a hindrance. ''I''ve never field tested this weapon before. Now might be a good time to use it.'' Now, we''ve talked about the weapon on Null''s left hand, the needle launchers. They shoot out a spray of needles that can take out multiple people. They''re good, but they mostly lack power. Null has a weapon on his right arm. It''s only has one shot, so it''s not good for multiple people. The weapon on his right arm is a powerful crossbow, which unfurls when he pulls a string on his right arm. Null, through trial and error, found out how to get the most power out of it. He takes his distance moving away from the cyclops, aims at the cyclops'' back, then fires. When he shot the arrow out his crossbow, it went through the cyclops'' back and out its chest. The cyclops yelled out in pain. It turned around and looked at Null. It happened so fast that Null couldn''t avert his gaze in time. ''Damn. I can''t move.'' The Cyclops was walking towards Null with a menacing look with its faint pink color eye glow, with a glowing purple iris. It was dragging its club along the ground. When the cyclops raised its club above its head about to smash it down, it finally succumbed to Null''s poison and died. Null was lucky. If he''d had been any closer, he would''ve died. ''Holy shit! It''s slow, but powerful, and has an annoying ability. I''m doomed if I have to fight more than one at the same time, which I will eventually have to do. Just great.'' Null went in deeper into the dungeon and saw two cyclopes this time. ''Okay. Only my crossbow can hurt them, and I can only use one at a time. Maybe I can throw a grenade towards their eyes and blind one of them.'' It didn''t go as planned. He threw the grenade and it did blind them, and he did shoot the arrow, but the poison took a long time to work, and it only blinded them for a second. They looked at him, and Null was paralyzed. They hit him with his club several times, and he died. He materialized back in Wakefield. He lost 2 levels and lost 5% proficiency in Throwing Knife Mastery and Bombing Mastery. Lucky for him, losing 5% in those particular skills didn''t really do anything to him. ''Oh man, I died. How am I supposed to beat those cyclopes? They are so broken.'' Null spends 8 days to get to the dungeon, Cyclopes'' Domain. It took him 2 weeks inside the dungeon to get to where the cyclopes were at. He had another plan to deal with the cyclopes. ''I will do what I did in the Deathroll cave. I will use the Art is Feeling skill to weaken them, then I''ll take them out from behind one by one. I''ll aim, look away, then shoot so I do not get caught by their annoying ability.'' When he found a group of cyclopes, he lured them out one by one and took care of them. He was doing well, until a finger tapped Null on his shoulder. ¡°Yes?¡± Null turned around, and there were 3 cyclopes there, with clubs in the air. WHAM! WHAM!WHAM! Null was instantly beaten to death. He materialized back in Wakefield. ''What the hell was that? So they''re trolls along with being cyclopes? They also respawn quickly. This dungeon is such a pain in the ass.'' ************************************* There''s a reason the dungeon is D+ ranked, and not C or B ranked. Even though the cyclopes have such an unfair ability, they can only use it on one person at a time. They''re also very slow, so 2 people of low level could beat a cyclops in time. If Null had come in with a group, he would''ve beaten the cyclopes easily, but Null would never work with other people. This will be Null''s 8th attempt at conquering the dungeon. He did everything he could, but none of his plans are working. He had lost 14 levels, but gained 6 of them back by hunting inside the dungeon. Null is at the start of the dungeon fighting the bats. Right now, they''re not even a challenge for Null. Even though he''s now at a lower level than them, he knows their movements all too well. He would just go into a narrow passage and shoot them all. After defeating the bats, he goes down the corridor thinking, ''There has to be something I can do. What can I do? I know that the cyclopes'' weakness is its eyes, but I can''t exactly aim for it lest I want to become paralyzed. They also have a fast respawn time, so I can''t deal with them one on one without being attacked from behind. The bombs I have are not powerful enough to stop them, as their skin is extremely tough and they ignore most pain. The poison gas bombs work, but they take too much time to take effect. The poisoned crossbow arrows work, but they still take a while to take effect, and I can only shoot one at a time. Can I truly not beat this dungeon?'' Null sees another group of bats incoming, but since he is running out of ammo, he runs away. The bats, or the fucking annoying Zubats as Null likes to call them, kept finding him. ''Wait. The bats. They don''t have to use their eyes to find me. They use echolocation. Well, my hearing is nowhere near that good to pick up subtleties like that. Hmmm... it''s a start. I need to find a way to fight the cyclopes without seeing them. Fighting without seeing... What techniques do I have to do that with? Information finder only works on books. I could use ingredient finder if I look for something specific like Cyclops'' blood, but it wouldn''t work that well with my eyes closed. None of my other skills are gonna cut it. Well when in doubt, Essence of Mana. It''s like the Swiss Army Knife of skills. What can I do with it? Echolocation with mana? Holy shit! That''s a brilliant idea! I''ll go even further than that. The Essence of Mana book says that mana is everywhere. If I truly learn to sense mana enough to see it, I could see in all directions! The people who made Naruto are gonna sue my ass so hard, I can already feel the Rasengan on my back.'' ------------------------------ Author''s Note: If bawowie ever becomes a thing, I will never forgive myself. Chapter 17: I wonder what Medusas boobs look like Author''s Note: To the ladies reading this, know that I am not the kind of person to objectify Medusas. -------------------------------------------- Null chose to leave the dungeon and head into the forest surrounding it. He chose an area that looked like there would be no monsters, and went up high in a tree and sat in a meditative position. ''Okay. I have to see if this is feasible. First, let me try to pour my mana out to see if it does anything. The mana should bounce back, as mana has a property of bouncing off other sources of mana if the concentration of mana is high enough. After all, that''s how my mana shock wave blows work.'' His mana control is very proficient. It should be, as his Essence of Mana is at intermediate level 1, but that doesn''t mean he knows everything about it. Null has only been using his mana to control the mana inside his body, and the mana close to his body, but he has never attempted to use mana far away from his body. He first pushes mana out of his body. It was weak, and quickly fizzled out, but there was something Null could sense from that. He sensed the branch under him when the mana bounced back to him. Null had spent 10% of his mana with that. ''That was a good start, but it looks like I can only sense around 2 feet from me, and with what I can sense, it''s not very clear. I can''t really do anything with what I can sense right now, so I will need to learn how to get used to it, but that will come later. I need to find a way to make my mana go farther.'' He started experimenting. Null sends a bigger push of mana. He spends 20% of his mana doing it. It goes twice as far as the first mana push. He refills his mana with mana potions, then pushes out all his mana. It goes as far as 20 feet away from him. ''This isn''t going to cut it. 20 feet is too close, and that was me pouring out all my mana. I need to find a way to make my mana go farther.'' He experiments with the mana. First he starts to rotate the mana before pushing it out. It showed phenomenal results. The mana push traveled 10x as far compared to the earlier attempts. The faster he rotated the mana in his body before pushing it out, the farther it went out, and the less mana he had to use altogether. He augmented this further by focusing the mana into a sphere inside his chest region before firing it out. This went even further when he compressed the sphere of mana in his chest into a smaller size before firing it out. He then shot out the mana in short pulses. It takes 4200 mana to turn the mana into a small sphere inside his chest that can be used for mana pulses, and takes 150 mana per second to maintain it, but to use the bursts take only 20 mana per pulse. At first, the mana pulses were few and far between. Later on, the mana pulse firing rates become faster. He sensed around him with the mana. He noticed that the tree had the mana bounce back faster than the rocks on the ground. ''Yeah, I remember the guy who wrote the Essence of Mana book said that life contains a lot more mana than non life. It looks like the more mana something contains, the faster my mana pulse will bounce back to me.'' He keeps practicing his mana pulse in the tree until the fuzzy image of the trunk becomes clear enough to become practical. ''Okay, now its time to make this practical. I can''t exactly fight cyclopes while meditating.'' He comes down from the tree and ties a piece of cloth over his eyes, so that he couldn''t rely on his eyes. It took a while to correctly manipulate the mana while walking. He shot out mana pulses to avoid obstacles. His mind was trying to make sense of all the mana coming back to him. He was tripping over various things because he paid more attention to one thing than something else. It was very difficult for Null to get used to. Compared to the trees, nonliving obstacles barely gave out any mana, so he never paid enough attention and kept crashing and tripping over them. ******************************** After around a week had passed, Null got very proficient at using his newly found mana pulse technique. He ran through the forest skillfully dodging trees and boulders. Null found it exhilarating that he didn''t have to see. If it wasn''t for the fact that the technique spent mana, he would never use his eyes again. Null practiced his fighting when he was satisfied enough with walking around blindfolded. Right now, he can only use one mana technique at a time, but he switched from using mana pulse to instantly manipulating his mana into strength producing a mana shock wave along with it. He practiced this to the point where he can switch between the two in less than a fraction of a second. ''Now its time to practice on something.'' Null went through the forest when he finds what he''s looking for. There are a group of enemies that look like a mix between a frog and a squirrel. It has frog-like legs and a bushy tail. ¡°Identify¡±
Squog
Information: Known to have high Dexterity. They attack in swarms. Their skin and tongue are poisonous, so don''t let them touch you. Attack: Poison tongue lash and Poison headbutt
Level69
Health 780Mana 1980
Strength 10 Dexterity 220
Vitality10Charisma10
Intelligence50Wisdom110
Luck10
Attack17Defense24
''Oh? This will be really fun.'' Null puts on his blindfold and fires his pulse. ''Wow. Animal life has so much more mana that plant life. It''s amazing.'' Null runs out into the middle of them. This is not so much to fight them as it is to work on dodging while using the mana pulse. The group of Squogs in the front launched their tongues at Null. Null kept using his mana pulse until right before the tongues were about to hit him, then switched to manipulating his mana for dexterity and dodging all of them by twisting his body and doing somersaults. He would have made Neo proud. While in the air after a somersault, Null fired his needle launchers, poisoning them with a different poison than the ones they have, killing them. The other Squogs were not afraid. They knew they had the superior numbers, so they went with the strategy of surrounding Null. He can''t fire his needle launcher in all directions, they think. He only has eyes on the front of his head, they reason. Null then pulls out his blades on his gauntlets and started cutting them down one by one when they started attacking. Even the ones behind him were not spared. The Squogs had thought that if they surrounded him, they could beat him. Humans don''t have eyes in the back of their heads, so how could he do that? The Squogs in the back of the formation, not knowing how he is doing that, chose to retreat. ''Amazing. This is truly amazing.'' Null heads back towards the dungeon. ********************************************************** Null is on the floor in the D+-ranked dungeon, Cyclopes'' Domain, where he starts meeting the Cyclopes. He didn''t know, but he had started regaining experience in Essence of Mana when he started practicing his mana pulse. He chose to do the dungeon blindfolded. It wasted a lot of time, as he constantly had to stop to wait for his mana to refill. All these new experiences made Null''s Essence of Mana grow to intermediate level 2, and along with that, he got a new ability out of it.
Essence of Mana has grown to intermediate level 2.
Essense of Mana
Skill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyIntermediate level 2
32% decrease in mana consumption for techniques. Increased control of mana. Can now simultaneously use two mana techniques at the same time.
This was a life saver to Null. No longer would he have to worry about manipulating mana for strength and using a mana shock wave and worry about the timing. A lot of times, the mana shock waves would fail because of that. It''s still very difficult for him to manipulate mana for strength and dexterity at the same time without it coming out pathetically, so he still only manipulates mana for one stat at a time. More importantly, he can fight while using his mana pulse to see. He saw the Cyclops down the hallway. It was a single one. Null did his mana pulse. He shot off an arrow with his crossbow at the cyclops. It got hurt and turned around. The second it turned around, Null fired off an arrow from his crossbow at the Cyclops'' eye. The arrow hit and blinded the Cyclopes. He would have never been able to do that if he relied solely on sight. Null took off his blindfold, because now he doesn''t need it. The cyclopes only really feels pain in the eye area, and it went berserk swinging his club around because of the pain in its eye. Null easily dodged the clubs though because the Cyclops was slow. He slashed at his face and the Cyclops'' health fell down to zero pretty quickly. He didn''t hit Null once. The kill was incredibly easy to Null. It took him a lot longer to kill the single Cyclops from before. Null put his blindfold back on, and went down the path, killing Cyclopes until he saw a group of 3 Cyclopes at the same time. Null smiles. He pulls out canister of tear gas and throws it between the Cyclopes. It blinds them and they yell out in pain. Null ran in between them, cutting them down by running up the cyclopes'' body, then slashing at their eyes, killing them. Null goes further down the path. This was as far as he could make it. It was a group of 7 Cyclopes. Null was out of tear gas, but that didn''t matter to him. He ran towards the closest one, and fired off an arrow in its eye. Null then left that area. That Cyclops started yelling out clutching its eye. The other Cyclopes were wondering what was wrong with him. While a cyclopes in the back was looking at his downed comrade, it felt something running on its arm. It tried to hit Null with his club, but it only served to harm him, but it didn''t do much damage thanks to its hard skin. It looked and saw that Null was gone. He thought he had killed him, but something came in his field of vision and slashed at his eyes. It also yelled out in pain. Now the Cyclopes there realized something was up. They looked around and saw Null in the center of the room. It confused them that there was such a low leveled person who wasn''t affected by their paralyzing eye technique, but that didn''t matter. He was dead. They went closer to Null, and each of them had stepped on a mine. It didn''t really hurt them, but that wasn''t what Null was aiming for. It provided a suitable smokescreen and they couldn''t see, while Null could perfectly see them with his mana pulse. He slashed at each of them in the eye blinding them. Null had used his crossbow to aim at the other Cyclopes'' eyes farther away from him. With this they were all blinded. He took off his blindfold and started swiftly killing them all. ******************************************************** It took a long time, but he had finally made it to the boss room. There was a giant hieroglyphic picture of Medusa on the door with 10 snakes with glowing purple eyes on her head. Her upper body was that of a human, but her lower body was that of a snake. ''Well let''s get this over with. She should have the power to turn me into stone or something like that if I look at her face. It''s a good thing I don''t have to.'' If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. He puts the blindfold on and opens the door. Unlike the other boss rooms he visited, this one has a neat and tidy feel towards it. There were no obstructions on the ground, which worked well for Null. He walked in, and the door slammed shut. A door on the opposite side of the room opened up, and a huge Medusa came out of it. Her upper body alone was over 5 feet tall, and he doesn''t even know how long her tail is. Null had no idea if she was ugly or pretty, as he hasn''t gotten the nuances of his mana pulse down to that level yet. He really wanted to take off the blindfold to see if she was topless, but he reminded himself that his days of stupidity were over. ''Come on, don''t be stupid because of a little curiosity. Focus on killing her.'' He couldn''t do Identify, as he had a blindfold on, so he doesn''t know what her level or abilities are. She slowly slithered towards Null. ¡°Have you come to be one of my new statues?¡± ¡°Nah. I came to kill you.¡± Null said as if he was ordering a salad. ¡°Let''s see how big you talk after you die!¡± The snakes'' eyes on her head started glowing purple. It didn''t do anything. She did the technique again, but nothing happened. Null not knowing what''s going on, but using his mana pulse to see her staring at him says, ¡°Is everything alright?¡± ¡°Everything''s fine! But it won''t be for you!¡± She did the technique again. ¡°Are you checking me out?¡± ¡°Sh-Shut UP!¡± She did the technique again. ¡°WHY ISN''T IT WORKING!?¡± The technique that she''s using can turn 10 people under level 150 to stone, and anyone over level 150 to become paralyzed for a limited time. This means you would need at least 11 people to have at least a chance fighting Medusa, but here Null is, just standing there as if he''s waiting in line at a grocery store check out. ¡°Oh, I have a blindfold on, so if there''s a technique that requires me to look at you, it''s not gonna work.¡± ¡°...Blindfold?¡± ¡°Yep. Blindfold.¡± She smirks and attempts to swipe at Null with her tail. Null jumps in the air and dodges it. She then tries punching him while slithering around. Null dashes from side to side as she keeps missing all her attacks. Her smirk quickly disappears. ¡°*huff* *huff* I thought you said you were blindfolded!¡± ¡°That''s because I am blindfolded.¡± ¡°Then how could you dodge my attacks!?¡± ¡°I guessed.¡± ¡°...Hey do you want to see my boobs? They''re pretty big and heavy.¡± ¡°Oh wow, well since you asked,¡± His hand reaches for the blindfold, then stops. ¡°Wait. Oh ho ho. I almost fell for that. Using my own hormones against me? You''re a clever opponent.¡± ¡°Enough games!¡± A bunch of holes start coming out the ground and snakes come out. A bunch of doors to the side also open and multiple cyclopes come out. The snakes start slithering towards Null, while the cyclopes stomp towards him. They surround him from all directions. Null takes mana potions to refill his mana, and dives in to attack. He starts slashing at them. Unknown to Medusa, Null''s blades are covered in a poison, so he only needs to slash at them once in order to deal with them. The cyclopes themselves are unwillingly helping Null get rid of the extra snakes. He runs up to a group of snakes, and the cyclopes slams down killing a lot of them. Since its so slow, Null takes his time to run up his body, swiping at its eye, killing it. The snakes don''t seem to care, and they came at him with greater numbers. Multiple snakes numbering in the hundreds slithered towards him. Not even Null could take all those attacks. The cyclopes are attacking him while he''s fighting off the horde of snakes. ''I need to get rid of the cyclopes first or I will never win.'' He goes rushes towards all the mana signatures that were the cyclopes, killing them slowly, one by one. The snakes kept amassing more and more while he was killing them all. After killing the last cyclops, he rushed to a wall and fired his needle launchers. When he fired his shots, he reloaded as fast as he could and fired again. This happened over and over again. He was pushing the snakes back. When he thought he was winning, Medusa''s tail swipes at Null. He saw it coming, but there was nothing he could do about it, as the snakes were blocking his path. Medusa''s tail hit Null along with the snakes, killing them and injuring Null. It only shaved off 40% of his health, which wasn''t that bad compared to the King Kong boss he fought. Medusa''s strength lies in paralyzing her opponents and turning them into stone, and without that, she''s just another powerful enemy instead of a boss level enemy. The snakes were coordinating with Medusa to attack Null. The snakes on her head were extremely fast and powerful. If it wasn''t for the extra snakes on the ground, Null could deal with them. ''I played around too much. I need to deal with the snakes on her head, but she is a very swift enemy. Every time I fire an arrow at her head, she moves out the way. I haven''t even gotten a hit out on her yet. Well, now is a good of time as any to use this.'' He throws out a smoke bomb. She now couldn''t see where anything was. She''s carefully looking around for Null. She hears a stepping sound, and throws a punch at it. It was just a bunch of pebbles that fell from the roof. She continues on and realizes something. ''Wait. Pebbles that fell from the roof?'' It was too late. Null had climbed up the wall with the blades on his gauntlets and boots, and threw the pebbles down to keep her distracted. While she punched at where the pebbles fell at, he jumped down, and had slashed at two of Medusa''s head snakes. He tried to slash at her head, but it''s like she can sense when he''s close to her. Null thinks, ''Don''t snakes have pits in their noses that lets them sense body heat? No wonder.'' This was the first hit he landed on her, and she was furious. Her speed increased and she was zipping from place to place. Null could barely keep up with her. ''This is a D+-rank dungeon!?'' Null thinks frantically. Null rolls out of the way from a tackle she was preforming. Her dashes were lightning fast, and it took everything he had just to keep up with her. Lucky for him her attacks are relatively weak, but that doesn''t stop her from decreasing Null''s health. The snakes on the ground weren''t helping. Every time he moved, the snakes in the area would bite at him. He had to keep moving or he would be dead. Medusa raised her tail, and jabbed the tip of it at Null as if it were a spear. He tried slashing at the tail, but it retracted too fast. Null had to be careful. Snakes on the ground and the tail? He had to choose which he wanted to hit him, and he chose the snakes. If that wasn''t bad enough, the upper body went in to punch him while he was being bitten by snakes. He threw another smoke bomb and got out of there. He drank health and mana potions while hiding. The snakes found him before he could refill his health and mana to full, but it was enough to where he could survive a little more. Medusa changed her tactic. She started throwing the snakes at Null while attacking him with her tail. The snakes on the ground, and the snakes coming in the air, were attacking Null. He threw another smoke bomb, but the snakes were learning to deal with it. They use the pits in their noses to find Null and attack him. He was attacking the snakes, but for every snake Null killed, 5 took its place. Null''s health and mana were going down rapidly. ''Ah. I see. She''s going for attrition. I won''t last long if I don''t end this.'' He throws a lot of explosive bombs which hurt her and slowed her down, but that doesn''t make her let up. Her constantly pressuring him makes him use up his health and mana. He tries to run, and he reaches to drink a health potion, but her tail raps around Null constricting him. ¡°No smart remarks this time? No quips? I will enjoy killing you.¡± Null breathes heavily, saying, ¡°Nah. You''re already dead.¡± ¡°What do you mean by-¡± BOOM! A cascade of bombs from the ground blast her, bombs on the roof explode, and a bunch of debris fell towards her. Null had constantly kept puncturing her with a paralyzing poison, but it took a while for it to take effect, so he constantly kept firing it, and she didn''t notice it because of her zipping around. It was in the bombs he threw, and on the needles that were on the ground. He also placed bombs on the ceiling while he was up there. Null had pretended to be constricted like that to keep her in this spot. Before the debris fell on her, Null had escaped from her constriction by manipulating his mana into strength and pulling himself out of there. The paralyzing poison didn''t fully work, but it worked enough for what Null was going for. She couldn''t escape from the falling debris. It fell on her and she yelled. The debris, along with the paralyzing poison, made it so she wasn''t able to move away in time. The debris also took a substantial amount of health, making it go to red. Null loaded an arrow in his crossbow and aimed at her head. Medusa says ¡°You are powerful. I never seen a man fight like you. I bet you are very handsome. Can I at least see your eyes before I die? I want to at least go seeing a handsome man.¡± ¡°Aw, since you asked so ni-... Ah. Hahahaha. You are seriously clever. Die.¡± ¡°You bastar-¡± He fired multiple arrows from his crossbow aiming for her head, killing her.
You have leveled up. You have leveled up. You have leveled up. You have leveled up. ¡­
Null had leveled up 7 times from taking out Medusa. ''Bombs can solve all problems. If there is a problem that bombs can''t solve, you just aren''t using enough of them. Now that that''s over, let''s see what I got for drops.'' He got a skill book.
Skill Book: Paralysis
Paralyze the enemy for a limited amount of times if they look into your eyes. Restricted to demon races.
''Well I can''t use that.'' He got 200 gold. ''Neat!''
Medusa''s blood
Using this will make some paralysis potions become more powerful
''Oh hello there.'' All the other drops were pretty generic, but he pocketed it anyway. A portal opened inside the center of the room. It can only be used once, and it teleports him to the dungeon''s entrance. He walks towards it saying, ''There wasn''t any information on where I was supposed to go in the Wakefield library to train in the transmutation circle techniques. Well, I guess I''ll head towards the next town.'' Null doesn''t know it yet, but he will meet a great old enemy in one of the towns he travels to, an enemy that will tests the limits of his everlasting patience, an annoyance that would make flies jealous. ******************************************************** A few months later. ¡°Man, that was a great hunt. You make it so much easier for us.¡± ¡°Yeah. We always feel so weak whenever you go away. Are you sure you have to leave?¡± ¡°You''re our backbone! Please don''t go!¡± The person those three are talking about speaks. ¡°Well I have to. It isn''t often where a C-rank mission to heal an entire town from an epidemic presents itself. All the good clerics and alchemists will be going there.¡± ¡°Yeah, you''re one of the best clerics out there. I''m pretty sure you''ll be the one to complete it.¡± ¡°Are you sure you don''t need someone to help protect you?¡± ¡°Oh come on. I''m a cleric, but that doesn''t mean I''m helpless.¡± She sets out. ¡°Hope you complete the mission, President Cecile.¡± ¡°Haha. Please. In this game, call me Cici.¡± ---------------------------------------------- Author''s Note: DUN DUN DUUUUUUN! Null''s nightmare is about to begin. Will they get along? Will she become Null''s first PK? How long before Null becomes sick of her shit? If this were a volumed work, I guess this would be the end of volume one or something. I don''t know. Chapter 18: Slice of life? Boring. Skipped Author''s Note: Now we''ll get going on with the second part of this story! My first chapter has gotten over 2000 views, so I guess this means I''m pretty famous now. The line for autographs starts over there. Ladies, ladies, please! One at a time! ------------------------------------------ David is eating breakfast at the table with Cindy. His breakfast just consists of a few pieces of toast which he made himself, while Cindy''s breakfast looks like it belongs at an all star world tour breakfast buffet with exotic meats and vegetables. David is sure some of Cindy''s dishes are from species that are supposed to be extinct. Of course, it was prepared for her by their mother. He has long since gotten used to this sort of treatment. If he ever saw his mom prepare a meal for him like she does for Cindy, David would probably think she had been replaced by an android. David doesn''t care about extravagant meals or meals in general. He just thinks of food as fuel to keep his body running. While they are eating, Cindy is on her AR glasses laughing at a video she is watching. It''s so funny to her that she keeps almost falling out her chair. David doesn''t know why she keeps eating with him at the same time, but he wishes she could stop so he doesn''t have to deal with that. Their father comes in and wonders what has got Cindy up in stitches. ¡°Hahaha! Cindy what''s so funny? I heard you from the other side of the house!¡± ¡°Dad, look at this video!¡± He puts on his own AR glasses, and watches the video along with Cindy, laughing with her. ¡°My goodness! This is hilarious! I wish your brother were here to see it so we could laugh at it together. Wait, maybe me, your mother, you, and Michael can go watch a movie on the weekend or something. It definitely has to be a comedy! It''s been a while since we done something as a family together.¡± ¡°Yeah! It''s been a while since I''ve seen Michael!¡± She says excitedly. Cindy then remembers that David is sitting at the table. She cringes and looks at him. He''s not even paying attention to them. Cindy says, ¡°Um, what about David?¡± Their father says, ¡°What about him!? Maybe if he weren''t so lazy, he could go on a family outing with us.¡± David interjects saying, ¡°I''m not interested in going anywhere with you people.¡± ¡°You keep that attitude up and you can forget about vacationing with us again this year.¡± Their father says sternly. ¡°The only reason, I repeat ONLY reason I would ever vacation with you people is if every other point on planet earth was devoid of oxygen, and even them I would have to think about it.¡± David states as a matter of fact. Cindy confused asks, ¡°What''s an earth?¡± Father says, ¡°He means Google.¡± ¡°Oh right. Sometimes I forget.¡± David gets up and goes to school. Cindy sighs. ****************************** David is in homeroom reading a book. The people in the class he is in are talking about different things. Now the topic has switched to what they are doing in New Reality. ¡°Hey Jacob, what level are you now?¡± ¡°223. It''s hard leveling up the beast tamer class.¡± ¡°Don''t tell me you became a beast tamer so you could acquire Soul Bond with one of the beasts.¡± ¡°Yeah, you got me.¡± ¡°Soul Bonding is rare, even for beast tamers. You''re just wasting your time.¡± ¡°Well enough about me. Where are you now?¡± ¡°I''m in the lair of Detlenear.¡± ¡°Oh, that''s a tough one. That''s a C-rank dungeon isn''t it? How many people in your party?¡± ¡°A little over 60.¡± ¡°Hmm... you might stand a chance with over 60. What''s the highest leveled person in your group?¡± ¡°251.¡± ¡°Never mind. I take it back.¡± Others are talking about what they''re doing. ¡°I''m just waiting for the periodic A-rank mission, so I''m just hunting normally for now. During that time is an experience galore, even if people usually don''t succeed in beating it.¡± ¡°I think I''ll skip on that mission this time. I hate trying to fight in water. It sucks.¡± ¡°That mission comes 5 times a year, or once a year in-game, and yet no one has still unlocked the aquatic demi-human race.¡± ¡°It''s crazy too. The top guilds have attempted to unlock it to no avail. Get yer lazy asses in gear top guilds!¡± ¡°Remember the year when the number 3 guild in the world finally managed to beat the A-rank by a hair''s breadth and they still didn''t unlock it? They were so pissed! Hilarious.¡± ¡°How many of you are going to go there?¡± ¡°Not me. I''ll wait for the next one. I''m trying to learn a skill from some old warrior, but he''s so stingy! It''s gonna take a while.¡± ¡°I''ll go. I want to see what huge guild will tackle the mission this time.¡± ¡°I''m going to the archery competition in Armskirk.¡± ¡°The archers barely get anybody watching them compared to the mage competitions.¡± ¡°Speaking of mage competitions, did you see Scarlettflame in it?¡± ¡°Oh fuck yes! It was so beautiful! Let''s watch it again!¡± The guy brings up the video on his AR glasses making it public, so that anyone can watch it if they have AR glasses on. David had never seen Scarlettflame in action, and he thinks now would be a good time as any to see what she can do. The video showed an arena, and it looked to be very big, with the walls being around 15 meters tall with the audience in the stands high up. The seats were full besides the ones in the front. Looks like they don''t want to get hit with any stray magic attacks. The announcer says, ¡°Now it''s time for what everyone has been waiting for! This girl is hot, in more ways than one! Introducing Scarleeeeettflaaaaaame!¡± Scarlettflame appears looking stoic. Her personality is the opposite of her abilities. Her black hair in real life changed color in the game to dark red hair with orange and yellow streaks. She was an elf. She was wearing a tight shirt that showed off her cleavage and stomach. Along with that, she was wearing a short skirt. She found a way to make herself appear even more beautiful than before. The funny thing is that Scarlettflame wasn''t trying to make herself more beautiful. She just wanted to use fire magic, and elves are one of the best when it comes to that, so she chose it. The revealing clothes that she''s wearing gave her the best options when it came to firepower, so she chose it. She doesn''t give a damn about beauty. There were multiple targets scattered everywhere. Scarlettflame made flames in her hands. She put her hands close together as if she were about to pray. In the middle of her hands, flames start coming out. The flames started rotating in her hands. ¡°From the fires of destruction, incinerate all in my path. Fireball Multi Strike.¡± She said calmly. A ball started forming in between her hands. The fire coincidentally took on the shape, size, and color of a basketball. She then throws it in the air. When it reaches its highest point, the ball expands to 30 times its size, then separates into 29 fireballs, the same number of fireballs as targets. They each hit the targets dead in the center. What was more astonishing was that the fireballs went through the targets, even though they were more than twice as thick as trees. The crowd starts cheering. ¡°Oooooooh! Did you see that!? She is too hot to handle right now!¡± The announcer says. Scarlettflame kept doing amazing things. She made fire whips, fire rings to slice through things, and fire lances to pierce. The destruction was amazing, and one could tell she was holding back. Everyone watching the video was talking about how powerful she was, but David was impressed with something else entirely. ''She''s found an amazing balance between using system assist, and controlling the flames on her own. System assist will only let you control one thing at once. To create that fire ring required someone to modify the fire ring spell to output a substantial amount of power, while still keeping the shape. I''ve never even heard of someone using system assist and your own skill at the same time. She manipulated the game to her own advantage. Something like that takes intelligence. Her praise is deserved. You have my respect Scarlettflame.'' David thought in admiration. David knows about the fire ring spell, because he knows about the majority of the classes in New Reality. He''s been preparing those 4 years in order to defend himself adequately against any class, and his arsenal reflects that. Next was a fight between mages. Scarlettflame was up against a water mage. The water mage was powerful, had weird clothes, and a scepter in her hands. Now, type advantage exists between mages, and fire is weak against water. No, the mage system doesn''t work on Pokemon rules. The water mage prepared an aqua ball spell. ¡°Water, bringer of life, wash away my enemies. Aqua ball!¡± She fired the spell. The Aqua ball spell looked to be 6 meters in diameter and was heading for Scarlettflame. She was calm and didn''t even look at the Aqua ball. Scarlettflame prepared her spell. David then saw something that he would engrave in his mind forever. Scarlettflame''s hand touched the ground, and a small trail of fire went out and headed towards her opponent far faster than the Aqua ball. It was almost like lightning. ¡°Are you underestimating me?¡± The water mage irritated said looking at the puny line of flames. When she thought the line of fire was going to her, it split in 2, then went around the water mage, then when the 2 lines joined again to make a circle about as big as a 3 point space on a basketball court, a huge flame pillar went flying out from where the circle was drawn. David had never read a move that looked like that. David shocked thinks, ''I''ve never seen anything close to a move like that in the books I''ve read. Did she invent that herself!?'' Luciana walks in the classroom. She sees that everyone is focused on a video that has public access, which means that everyone with AR glasses can watch. What made her more curious about the video was that David Lewis himself was captivated by it. David may not know, but the respect that David has for Luciana is reciprocated by Luciana herself. She always found it how he likes to hide his abilities along with his loner nature cool. She knows that David gets top awards in some subjects, and also how formidable he is in a fight because Rory told her. She wouldn''t mind being friends with David. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. When Luciana sees the video, she sees her highlights from a mage competition. The prize was something that could improve her fire power, so she entered it. She didn''t do the competition for fame, as Luciana isn''t one to care about that sort of thing. People don''t know it, but Luciana is fairly simple. Deep in her beautiful body lies the heart of an arsonist. When Luciana was younger, she would always love seeing the flames dance. She kept lighting random things on fire just to see the fire. It started with candles, then moved on to firewood, then bushes, then toys, and it quickly escalated. Luciana literally just wanted to watch the world burn. Her father disciplined her many times, and gradually she grew out of lighting random things on fire, but her love for fire never died. She always watched shows where there were characters that had fire powers. It doesn''t matter if they were the hero or villain. She would cheer for the one who controlled fire. One day while watching a video on her AR glasses, she saw a character that launched fireballs. Luciana thought, ''Hey, those fireballs look an awful lot like basketballs.'' That''s how she got into the sport. Sure, she was extremely talented in basketball, but to Luciana, it was a poor replacement for launching fireballs. New Reality was a miracle for her. She was determined to get fire powers no matter what. It showed. She picked the elf race, known for their beauty, and modified her appearance so that it screamed, ¡°I have fire powers!¡±, but Luciana didn''t care about the looks. She picked the elf race because of their high affinity for magic. Everything that Luciana did just to make herself stronger and less bored, turned out to make her ever more popular among people. She modeled because someone offered to pay, and it was incredibly easy. All she would have to do is stand there in some poses with different clothes on, and people would take pictures. No biggie. She didn''t even think about the fame. She thought she would just use the money to buy more stuff for even bigger flames in New Reality. By the time she realized her popularity, it was too late. Now she''s annoyed because of all the attention she''s getting. She didn''t even want to get famous in New Reality. She just liked lighting things on fire and killing things with flames, and she killed all the time, which eventually got her to be a ranker. When a message came up offering her even more power in exchange for the world to know that she is a ranker, she didn''t give it a second thought. Luciana doesn''t care about what they''re watching and quietly takes her seat. When the video of her highlights are over, the people start making a commotion about how awesome she is. ¡°Did you see that flame pillar!? Tell me I wasn''t the only one to see that flame pillar!¡± ¡°Did you see how she split that fireball into pieces and hit the targets?¡± ¡°Yes you guys. We all saw the same video.¡± A girl says annoyed. ¡°She is so cool!¡± ¡°Don''t you mean she is so hot?¡± ¡°She was on fire!¡± ¡°She had me burning up with excitement from her attacks!¡± ¡°She brought the heat!¡± ¡°She fired her!¡± ¡°Does that water mage smoke? Because she did in that video!¡± ¡°These are all puns about fire.¡± Luciana having enough calmly says, ¡°If I hear one more pun, I''m kicking your asses.¡± Everyone, noticing who said it, shut up. ''Finally.'' David thought. David went to his 1st period class, history, when the bell ending home room rung. Nothing interesting happens there, so we''ll move on to his 2nd period AP Calculus class. They are getting their tests back. Afterwards the teacher teaches them, talking to the students saying, ¡°Does anyone know what to do when you are given an answer of 0/0 when you plug in the numbers of the point into the derivative? Anyone?¡± Cecile raises her hand, and shakes it for good measure. ¡°Anyone besides Cecile?¡± Cecile still raises her hand. ¡°How about you David Lewis? Do you know?¡± This teacher is one of the few who notices David, because he finds him brilliant. David is reading a book that has nothing to do with Calculus. ¡°No.¡± He gives his answer without looking up. ¡°Are you sure?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Cecile still has her hand in the air. The teacher sighs. ¡°Okay. Cecile, what do you do?¡± ¡°You use L''Hopital''s rule and take the derivatives of the top and bottom equations. If it gives you 0/0 again when you plug in the numbers, take the derivatives again until you have an answer that''s not 0/0.¡± Cecile smiles at herself. ¡°Very good Cecile. You answered almost all my questions today, leaving almost nothing for anybody else.¡± When the bell rings for 3rd period, Cecile runs over to David''s desk. ¡°Ha! David look at this! 110! A perfect score and I got the bonus! There''s no way you can beat me this time!¡± David hands her his test. ¡°What!? 132!? But that''s impossible!¡± ¡°Well obviously it''s not impossible, because I got the score.¡± David says nonchalantly. ¡°Oooo next time I''ll definitely beat you!¡± ¡°You said that exact phrase how many times now? Are you getting Alzheimer''s? Because know that we now have a cure for that. You don''t have to suffer anymore.¡± ¡°Shut up you big dummy!¡± She sticks her tongue out and hurriedly walks away. David is one his way to his next class thinking, ''My god she is so annoying. Every time I see her, she keeps getting more and more annoying. I need to think of some way to get her to back off. Hmm... Wait, I know! It has never failed me before! I''ll ask her out! She would reject me, and things between us would be so awkward that she would never want to see me again!'' David inadvertently makes himself feel bad, then starts to cringe because of the memories coming through. He tries to think through the process of getting rejected by Cecile. ************************************* David''s imagination: At the end of class, David goes to Cecile. He says, ¡°Hey, can I meet with you in the gym after school is done? There''s something really important I have to tell you.¡± ¡°Wow. It''s not like you to come talk to me, so it must be really important.¡± David then walks away and waits for the promised time. When he goes to the gym, he sees Cecile there waiting for him. ¡°So what was so important that you had to wait until the end of school to tell me?¡± Cecile says. ************************************** Scenario One: ¡°President, there is something that I have always wanted to tell you.¡± ''Oh no. Another confession?'' Panics Cecile. ¡°What?¡± ¡°I have fallen madly in love with you! Please be my girlfriend!¡± David exclaims with more passion than what he is capable of. ¡°Um, I''m sorry, but maybe we should just stay friends.¡± Cecile says with a disgusted face along with no intention of seeing David ever again. She then runs away. ¡°Wait. That disgusted face. That tone! I''m freeeee! No woman ever wants to talk to me after saying those things!¡± David runs around in circles while confetti rains down along with a banner from the ceiling that says ¡°Mission Accomplished.¡± ************************************* Scenario Two: ¡°President, there is something that I have always wanted to tell you.¡± Cecile raises an eyebrow. ¡°What?¡± ¡°I have fallen madly in love with you! Please be my girlfriend!¡± ¡°...Pffft. HAHAHAHA! Oh man! I''m so beautiful and talented that you couldn''t help but fall in love with me, right!? HAHAHAHA! Oh man! What''s even funnier is that you thought you had a chance! HAHAHA! Oh, I will constantly remind you from this day onward of how you tried and failed at asking me out! I''m sure everyone would get a kick out of this confession!¡± The next day, David eats lunch in his corner when Cecile comes over. ¡°Hey lover boy. If you get me 20 dollars, I''ll allow you to have me in your fantasies for a day.¡± Later on, David once again beats Cecile in a test. ¡°Hmph. You think you''re so clever, yet you''ve fallen in love with me.¡± Later on, ¡°Hey, I''ll let you smell the air that has touched my presence for 50 dollars.¡± David says, ¡°This plan has only made things worse!¡± A single roll of toilet paper falls from the ceiling saying ¡°Mission failed.¡± ************************************** Scenario Three: ¡°President, there is something that I have always wanted to tell you.¡± Cecile''s heart starts beating madly. ¡°W-What?¡± ¡°I have fallen madly in love with you! Please be my girlfriend!¡± She starts weeping tears of joy. She then hugs David. ¡°Oh David! I feel the same way! Let''s always be together!¡± ¡°...Huh?¡± Never in a billion years did David think he even had a chance. This is outside his calculations. David is in a daze not knowing what to do. While he''s out of it, he hears a metal clanging sound with a sound that sounds like something is being closed by a lock. When he looks down, he sees a metal chain attached from his arm to Cecile''s arm. ¡°I thought this might be a confession, so I brought this chain so that we will never be more than 1 foot apart.¡± She then destroys the key with her bear hands with some unknown strength, like her hands literally just turned into hands from a bear. ¡°Whenever going to class, getting married, or even using the bathroom, we will stand by each others'' side and be together forever. And ever. And EVER!¡± ¡°Hooooraaay?¡± It trails off into a whisper. Little pieces of shit fall from the ceiling on them along with a dirty gym sock that says ¡°Worst Case Scenario!¡± Written on it in crayon. David''s imagination end: *************************************** ''Oh my god. The plan to ask her out is canceled. Super canceled. Canceled to hell. Oh man. I just realized that I''m probably the only person in the world who would be ecstatic about rejection. What is wrong with me?'' Chapter 19: Slice of life again? Stop it Author''s Note: Hello and here''s another chapter of David being David. I''ll try and release faster if I can, but you all have probably noticed that my chapters are longer than most, and I have to make sure to fix any plot holes I come across. This story is long, and I haven''t even gotten to a tenth of its length yet. I have to be careful. Again tell me if you see any mistakes. Please and thankies. ------------------------------------------------------- David heads to his 3rd period class, PE. He''s grumbling in his mind while heading there. It is a required course, or else David wouldn''t be going there. He goes into the locker room to change. Well, no he doesn''t. He actually goes inside a bathroom stall to change. David is very shy when it comes to these things, though he would never admit it. David was supposed to have showered, but he doesn''t think the PE teacher pays enough attention to him to care anyway. He changes into sweatpants and a long sleeved shirt that''s too big for him, even though it is still very hot out. When he goes towards the area where everyone else is at, he gets very weird looks from everyone, and everyone whispers among themselves talking about him, calling him weird, gross, creepy, and other variations of those insults because of what clothes he has on. They also make fun of his depressing posture and permanent frown. David sits in a far off corner by himself and gets on his AR glasses while everyone else chats among each other. The students wait a little while, sitting down until everyone gets changed. Rory coincidentally shares this class with David, and he is surrounded by fans and guys trying to get into the ¡°in¡± crowd. ¡°Rory I bet this class is more annoying than anything for you right? You could probably do more in 1 minute than the exercises we do in to the entire class.¡± Some brown nosing guy says. ¡°No, even I couldn''t do that.¡± Rory states. This causes everyone around him to laugh as though he had just said the world''s most funny joke. ¡°Rory, what are you doing later today?¡± A girl asks while twirling her hair. ¡°Hmm... I wonder... Well I guess I''ll go to my gym to practice a little bit, then play New Reality.¡± ¡°Oh Rory, you should add me as a friend on New Reality.¡± ¡°Sure. What''s your ID?¡± ¡°Oh Rory! Add me too!¡± Another girl yells. ¡°Hey! Hey! Over here! I exist too!¡± ¡°Me too!¡± ¡°Like totally add me for fun adventures and junk!¡± ¡°Yo dude, might as well just add the whole class.¡± A guy next to him says while chuckling. Rory shrugs and says, ¡°Sure. Why not?¡± Two other girls were talking to themselves. ¡°I saw that episode yesterday! It was so good! I can''t believe you missed it!¡± ¡°Well I was in the middle of a quest in New Reality, and I was really into it!¡± David then sneezes and sniffles. The two girls notice him. ¡°Why is he in long sleeved clothes when it''s still hot out?¡± ¡°I don''t know. Who knows what a weirdo like that thinks?¡± ¡°What''s his name again?¡± ¡°Um, is it Steve? He looks like a Steve.¡± ¡°Is he even in our grade? I''m pretty sure this is the first time I''m seeing him.¡± ¡°You know, I pride myself on knowing everyone in our grade, and now I''m not so sure of myself anymore.¡± The PE teacher then comes and says, ¡°Okay everyone. Get up. Get up.¡± Some people start groaning and complaining. The teacher says, ¡°Save the groaning for after the pain inducing exercises. Now everyone partner up with someone and warm up.¡± David knows how this is going to go, so he starts heading towards the wall out of everyone''s way to prepare his exercises. The people are talking among themselves about David while they''re warming up. ¡°He has no friends, so he has to exercise in a corner.¡± ¡°I feel sorry for him.¡± ¡°Yeah, I did too, but every time I try to talk to him, he just rejects and ignores me. Just leave him alone. I''m sure that''s what he wants.¡± After warm ups are done, the coach tells them that today, they are going to play soccer, so they go outside to a soccer field. ¡°Okay, is there anyone here who lives in a cave and doesn''t know how soccer works? No one? Good. Girls will go first, boys second. Split into 2 teams for each gender. Ted and Sam will be picking team members for boys, while Sally and Elizabeth will be picking team members for girls.¡± The guys go and sit on the outside bench. They talk among themselves. ¡°Man Elizabeth has got it goin'' on in those booty shorts.¡± ¡°I''m looking at Kelly.¡± ¡°Leggings are the greatest invention mankind has ever made! It''s like my eyes are at an all you can eat buffet!¡± ¡°Person who invented leggings, thank you.¡± ¡°Leggings are the light of the world!¡± ¡°Look at Sally though.¡± ¡°Man you''ve been obsessed with Sally the longest. Just go talk to her.¡± ¡°All you need is self confidence. That''s it.¡± Says Rory. For 5 seconds, Rory becomes enemy number one for all the guys there. The guys glare at Rory. Rory confused says, ¡°...What? ...What!?¡± ¡°Can you believe this guy?¡± ¡°Yeah, gets half the girls in the class to himself, and declares that all you need is ¡°self confidence¡±.¡± ¡°Don''t worry man, we still love you.¡± They keep talking about different things like who they would do, who they would do between two attractive people, who they would do between two terrible choices, not necessarily human, and who would win in a fight between Superman and Goku. When the match between the girls ended, it''s now the boys'' turn. Ted and Sam are arguing who gets to pick first. ¡°We both know that we want Rory as first pick. How about we resolve this with a coin flip. I got one right here. I call heads.¡± Says Ted. Sam grabs the coin and looks at it. ¡°Nice try. This is a two headed coin.¡± Deadpans Sam. ¡°Okay, how about this? We''ll play rock paper scissors. Whoever wins gets Rory, and whoever loses gets that guy.¡± Ted points at David. ¡°No. Hell no. Whoever loses the rock paper scissors would be guaranteed to lose!¡± ¡°Okay, maybe that was a little harsh. Whoever wins will get Rory as their first pick and that''s it.¡± ¡°Fine. Deal.¡± They play and Ted makes rock, while Sam makes scissors. Sam says, ¡°You know, if you make the scissors big and powerful enough, they could theoretically cut through a rock.¡± ¡°Yeah you try to reason your way out of that. Rory get over here.¡± Rory goes up to him and Ted holds out his hand. Rory gives him a high five. ¡°Wooo!¡± yells Ted with both arms in the air. After picking the players, they get to the final 2 choices. It''s between David, and a frail sickly kid named Rick with asthma, coughing problems, and a missing leg. ¡°Yes! We get Rick!¡± yells Sam. ¡°So I guess you''re stuck with that guy!¡± Sam points at David. ¡°At least I got Rory.¡± quips Ted. They start playing. ¡°Pass the ball here!¡± ¡°Yes! Another goal!¡± ¡°Ah, Ted! Block that shot!¡± While the game is going on, no one passes the ball to David. They''re playing the game like he''s not even there, but that''s actually what David wants. ''No use getting attention. If you want to be a good loner, don''t stand out.'' thinks David. Some of the girls in the stands are yelling out. ¡°Go Rory!¡± ¡°Oh did you see that pass? Rory doesn''t even play soccer, yet he''s this good!¡± ¡°Wow Rory!¡± While Rory has the ball, he then does something unexpected. He kicks the ball to David. During the game, David was just leisurely jogging from side to side depending on where everyone on the field was. He wasn''t actually doing anything, or trying to do anything. Now Rory passes David the ball. David feels obligated to pretend to try, or else his teammates will give him even more shit. When he halfheartedly runs towards the ball, someone from the other side steals it. ¡°Come on! You were right there!¡± Yells a teammate. ¡°You better not be trying to make Rory look bad!¡± One of the girls in the stands yells out. The match goes on. The hype towards Rory started going up, along with the insults towards David. ¡°What the hell is that guy doing?¡± ¡°He''s so slow. Is he part turtle?¡± ¡°God! Watching him is so frustrating!¡± The girls in the stands say. When the soccer match ended, Rory''s team barely won, with Rory scoring most of the points, and David taking them away with his halfheartedness. ¡°Rory, awesome as always.¡± ¡°If it wasn''t for him, maybe we would''ve done a lot better.¡± He looks at David while squinting his eyes. David doesn''t care in the least though. Besides David, they all start heading towards the locker room to shower and get dressed. Rory says to them, ¡°Hey I''ll see you guys in a bit.¡± ¡°Okay man.¡± Rory goes back to David who was heading towards the bathroom stall to change. ¡°David, you''re probably wondering why I passed the ball to you so many times, right?¡± ¡°No, not really. If you could not do that again though, that''d be great.¡± ¡°I think it''s time for everyone to know of your skills. You''ve hid them long enough right? It''s senior year.¡± ¡°So? I still have no interest in doing anything of the sort.¡± David walks away and Rory sighs. ¡°David wait!¡± He stops. ¡°I know you were severely bullied in the past, and I myself did nothing while it was going on much to my regret, but with your present skills, people would easily acknowledge you. Just impress people and your quality of life will improve tenfold.¡± ¡°How would you feel if I told you you could impress a cockroach to make them acknowledge you?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°What would you do if I told you you could impress rats to gain favor with them?¡± Rory furrows his brows. ¡°I know the ways people work. They do everything to make sure that they''re better at something than the person next to them. If I were to impress a group of people, then that would mean I was better than them at something right? That would make me the winner. In that type of system where there are winners, there will always be losers. The losers are then looked down upon and are forced to submit either subtly or blatantly. Someone like you who was born with looks and talent were always the winner, so of course you would speak favorably on that type of system. Me? I find that whole concept to be disturbing and disgusting, but that''s the way our societies work. No, not just society. It''s human nature, and I want nothing to do with it. I only improve to protect myself from being absorbed into that type of disgusting system of cockroaches currying favor for other cockroaches. Winner? Loser? I choose neither.¡± David walks away. Rory thinks to himself, ¡°Does he even think of humans as humans? I wonder. I really need to think of a way to change his mindset one of these days.¡± After PE and 4th period, David goes eat lunch outside in the corner. He really likes that corner, as no one comes to bother him. He sees inside the cafeteria that people are surrounding someone. Upon a closer look, he sees that it''s Cindy. She''s like Rory, but in reverse. There are guys surrounding her wanting to hang out with her, and girls sucking up to her. David can''t hear what''s going on, but all he knows is that''s it''s none of his business. ************************** David starts heading home after work. His mom is standing in the doorway tapping her foot against the ground like she''s upset. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. ¡°Jefferey, why did you break the lamp?¡± ¡°The lamp? What are you talking about?¡± ¡°Around 2 hours ago, I heard a crashing sound. I went to investigate and I noticed the lamp was broken.¡± ¡°Okay, your brilliant investigative skills only consisted of finding a broken lamp. What does that have to do with me?¡± ¡°Someone broke the lamp and I can''t think of anyone other than you.¡± ¡°I was at work. I''m pretty sure I''m not the only person in this house. Have you tried asking Cindy?¡± ¡°Cindy would never do something like that.¡± ¡°Is Cindy immune to the laws of physics? Is there an invisible force field around objects that make it so that Cindy can never break lamps?¡± ¡°Well let''s ask Cindy if she broke the lamp to settle this.¡± They walk over to Cindy''s room, and their mom knocks on her door. ¡°Cindy, it''s me.¡± Cindy opens the door. ¡°Oh, hi mom.¡± She sees David glaring at her. ¡°What''s going on?¡± ¡°Well I know this is a silly question, but you know the lamp in the living room by the doorway right? Very expensive? Anyway, I am asking if you broke the lamp, or do you know of anyone who did.¡± Cindy starts looking around rapidly, avoiding her mother''s gaze, and sweating. ¡°Lamp? I don''t know of any lamp. Never seen a lamp in my life. Probably David. Who knows? Well, I have stuff to do. Bye.¡± She talked rapidly and then closed the door. Cindy may be trying to reconcile with David, but she is still a spoiled brat. Their mother talks to David. ¡°See? Cindy couldn''t have done it, so that only leaves you.¡± ¡°...How in the hell did you two give birth to two prodigies?¡± ¡°Deebo, I will not tolerate lying. Now are you going to admit it or not?¡± ¡°I''m not going to admit to something I didn''t do.¡± ¡°Maybe I should just cut you off from playing that game.¡± ¡°Good luck going through all my locks.¡± David walks away. ********************** David logs back on to New Reality. He is currently resting in a town. It''s been four months in-game since Null had fought Medusa. He''s been constantly hunting, and is now at level 166. His leveling rate is abnormally high because of his inflated stats. There is something strange happening in the town. It''s weird though, as everyone seems to be on edge and are currently evacuating. What''s even weirder is that when some found out that Null had intermediate in alchemy, they ran away from him saying, ¡°It''s him! Plague has come to wipe us out!¡± ¡°Plague is right there and he will kill us all!¡± ¡°At least let me not die a virgin! If you have to kill me, please spare my dick!¡± Null was confused. ¡°If you''re dead, you wouldn''t have any use for your di- Why am I talking about that?¡± Null goes around and stops someone who is on his way out of town. He looks to be less hysterical than the people around him. ¡°Hey. What''s going on?¡± The guy looks at Null. ¡°How could you not know?¡± ¡°It''s been a while since I''ve been to town. What''s happening?¡± ¡°There exists someone that is cruel who has only recently surfaced. His name is Plague. He goes from town to town spreading his disease. We have heard that 2 towns down from this path have already fallen, and he''s about to head over to our neighbors. If he takes over and kills everyone in that town, then we are the ones that will be next, so everyone is trying to get out while they still can!¡± The man then goes away. Null thinks to himself, ''Someone who has the power to spread disease? Well someone like that is sure to be powerful. I will make sure to stay out of his way. Should I go in this direction? Well I have no other choice. There is only this one path.'' Null heads out of town. While Null was out in the wilderness, he decides to go look for some high level areas to hunt. He''s sees a monster that looks interesting. There''s a giant praying mantis, and it''s at level 172. They''re sort of close in level, but Null has a disadvantage. His poisons are losing their effectiveness on higher and higher level opponents. Well it is Null''s fault somewhat. Most of the poisons that he gathered were from the same area, which were all relatively low level. He has found plants with more powerful effects throughout his trek, but they take too long to grow, and he can no longer make the huge quantities of poison he had before. Higher wisdom helps amplify his poison''s effects, but there is only so much higher wisdom can do. The plants with more powerful effects are getting rarer and rarer, even in the higher leveled areas. Also, the rare plants he does find take longer and longer to grow. He always stays and plants some seeds of the plants he picks before he leaves. He takes his motto of leaving everything as you found it very seriously. He is not the strongest of his level anymore and can no longer curb stomp people on the same level. Null throws some bombs at the giant praying mantis, and it jumps, avoiding the explosions. It has fast reflexes, and sickles at the ends of its hands. With those sickles, it rushes towards Null and attempts to cut Null into 3 pieces. Null manipulates his body for dexterity, and jumped while flattening himself to squeeze in between the gap left by the 2 sickles attempting to trisect him. After that failed attempt, the praying mantis attempts a flurry of attacks with its sickle hands, but Null parries all the blows with his gauntlets. He can''t rely on the needle launchers right now, so he''s going to use his crossbow. Its exoskeleton is incredibly tough, so he needs to aim for the eye. Right now, using the crossbow for that is pretty much impossible, as the praying mantis is far too fast, and he needs to aim carefully. The praying mantis jumps towards Null in the air. That was what Null was waiting for. He manipulates his mana for strength, and throws out multiple heavy bolas at the praying mantis. A few bolas won''t do anything towards it, but Null threw a good amount of bolas. It didn''t stop the praying mantis, but it slowed it down enough for Null''s preferences. He manipulated his mana for dexterity as far as he could go, and with the use of his jet boots amplifying his speed, got up close to the praying mantis and shot his crossbow in its eye. It hit, and the praying mantis hissed and groaned in pain. While it was distracted, Null hit the praying mantis'' joints using his gauntlet blades. It tried to hit Null, but he was too fast, and couldn''t hit him effectively blinded in one eye. When Null used his crossbow to hit the other eye, he was blinded completely, and was just thrashing around. There was nothing it could do now. After a while, Null killed him. Null thought, ''That monster was a lot of fun. I hope I come across more of those.'' One week later. Null has leveled up to 167. Right now, he is fighting an extremely annoying opponent. It keeps digging holes in the ground. It''s a mole man type monster. It''s weak, but its reflexes are abnormally fast. Every time Null goes to slash it, it digs a hole in the ground. Every time Null tries to place a bomb in the hole he dug, he comes out the ground and makes a new hole in a split second. Null thinks, ''My endurance is getting depleted. It''s trying to wear me out. There is one thing I can do. It will slow my reaction time temporarily, but I need to kill this thing.'' Null takes out a potion. This potion dramatically increases reaction time for 15 minutes, at the cost of depleting it severely for 6 hours. When the mole man comes out the ground, Null finally manages to hit it. Null now had his strategy. He once again dropped a bomb inside the hole the mole was presently in. When it came out and dug a new hole, Null threw the bomb at the same time he dug the hole. He timed it precisely. It takes the mole man 0.3 seconds to have to come out and dig a hole. The bomb exploded and killed the mole. He got some arrows and some worn gloves for drops. He puts it in his bag when a message pops up.
Your bag is now full.
''Already? Well that''s no biggie. I can see the next town. This won''t be a problem. Oh man, I just realize that this is the town that is supposed to have been taken over by that Plague character. Can I find someone to sell my items to?'' He arrives to town. He notices something is strange when he gets close, as he doesn''t hear the hustle and bustle that towns typically make. There aren''t even any guards at the entrance. ''Oh man. It''s worse than I thought. Can I find someone to sell my items to?'' Null goes inside the town. It''s practically barren besides a few players running about. Another odd thing he notices is that all the players he sees are alchemists and clerics. ''So are they trying to find a cure to the disease? Well whatever. That has nothing to do with me. I haven''t thought about what to do about my full bag. I hope the blacksmith shop is open.'' He tries going to the blacksmith shop to sell off some of his items. They''re closed. ''Damn.'' He goes to a tailor place and it''s the same thing. Every shop he tries, its closed. The town''s activity is pretty much dead. ''I can''t do anything right now! I need to get rid of my stuff! Will someone buy my things? I don''t care who!'' Right now he''s walking around contemplating his next move. While looking around, he sees someone that really catches his eye. The girl is beautiful. She looks like she is in cleric gear, and was surrounded by guys talking to her. ¡°Hey, I need some help with the people in house 304. You think you can join me?¡± ¡°We should work together to find the cure! Just you and me!... And no one else.¡± ¡°Miss, will you do me the honor of healing the sick with me?¡± She speaks to them politely saying, ¡°I''m sorry guys, but I have my hands full at the moment with other patients. Maybe next time.¡± She walks away from them. Null looks at her from afar. He thinks, ''My god, she is gorgeous. And look at the way that cleric suit hugs her and shows off her curves. Those streaks of blue on that suit do her wonders. I may be a misanthrope, but I''m still a straight male dammit. Wow. That beautiful hair, those eyes, that walk. It''s her. Oh god. It''s her! Oh no. No no no! Anyone but her! Why did it have to be her!? I would rather have to deal with Brett and his lackeys a thousand times over before I deal with her! I would rather be locked in a room with my family for a week than deal with her for a second! I would rather get fucked in the ass by everyone at Red Serpent Guild than deal with her! Well... Maybe that last example was a little too extreme, but seriously, why her!? Well, it looks like she didn''t notice me yet. I''m also wearing a hood over my head, so maybe I can discreetly turn around and slide away all incognito like. This town is just full of misfortune. I''ll just head to the next town.'' ¡°Huh? David? Is that you?¡± Cecile said, surprised to see Null in town. ''Fuuuuuuuuck!'' Null then performed a technique, one of the most powerful techniques in his arsenal. It''s a technique passed from years of experience and gained from his ancestors. He ran away. Null calls the technique ¡°Strategic Withdrawal¡±, but he''s not fooling anyone. ''God damn side effects of that god damn reflex potion. I would have noticed her a lot sooner if it wasn''t for that! Damn you mole man! Is this your revenge from the grave!? You knew this would happen! You were playing the long con!'' ¡°Hey! Wait up! Why are you running away!?¡± She runs after him. ------------------------------- Author''s Note: And it begins. It''s happening! Chapter 20: This. Bitch... Author''s note: Yes! I got at least 100 favorites! To celebrate, I will be doing things exactly the same way with no sort of deviation whatsoever! Also, could you all please comment? Pretty please? Follows and favorites are okay I guess, but your comments are like my drug! I read them all even if I don''t reply, so... Y''all got any comments? *scratches neck vigorously and refreshes page* --------------------------------------------------- Null is currently running away. ''Gotta go fast!'' He manipulates his mana for dexterity and dashes. ''Faster!'' He does it again. ¡°David, stop treating me like I''m some sort of monster! Stop running away!¡± Cici yells out while running after him. Null can tell by Cecile''s clothes that she is a cleric, so he knows it would be meaningless to get into a test of endurance with her, which is why he''s trying to get away with short speed bursts. The problem is that he has tried getting away with speed bursts many times, and she would always manage to catch up to him. He tried laying traps, but he couldn''t much while running for his life, and Cecile was too smart to fall for them. Null panicked thinks, ''Fuck! She must be at a really high level to even keep up with me!'' Null then makes a face of resolution and thinks, ''I didn''t want to do this, but now I have no choice. My solitude in the game is on the line!'' He throws multiple projectiles behind him. Explosive bombs, smoke bombs, poison, he threw them all out. ''Sorry president, but no matter how high your level is, you won''t be able to survive this. I''ll get the murder mark, but that''s fine. I''m not likely to go to a town any time so-''. Null notices something is wrong. Where are the loud explosions? Something is off. Instead of a ''boom'', it sounded more like a ''poo''. ''What''s going on?'' Null thinks scared. Null doesn''t know it yet, but Cecile had suppressed his wisdom to as far as she could make it go down, which suppressed his projectile''s power. It''s also the reason that she could easily keep up with him. Null looks behind him to see the aftermath, and to his horror, not only is she still running after him, the distance between them is quickly shrinking. ''shit shit shit shit Shit Shit Shit SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIIIIIIII-!'' After 2 minutes of running, Null gets exhausted and collapses on the ground facing the sky with his arms spread out, breathing heavily with a defeated expression. Cecile is standing above him, looking not the least bit tired. Null looks at her for and instant, then looks back at the sky thinking, ''Clerics are such cheats. They can refill their endurance as long as they have mana. What a broken ability.'' ¡°David, why did you run away from me? Why did you throw bombs at me? Why would you do such horrible things? I didn''t even do anything to you!¡± She pretends to cry. ¡°Isn''t it obvious? You''re annoying and I don''t like you.¡± Null says upset while looking at the sky. ¡°Why would you try to run away from me though? It was foolish to think you could outrun a high leveled cleric like me.¡± ¡°As long as there was a sliver of hope that I could escape from you, I would go for it.¡± She sighs and sits on the ground with her back against a tree. ¡°To think that I would run into you here. So what''s your username?¡± Cecile asks with anticipation. ¡°...¡± Null ignores her. ¡°David, I asked you a question.¡± Cecile says annoyed. ¡°Why are you still here?¡± ¡°David. What. Is. Your. Username?¡± ¡°I don''t feel like telling you.¡± ¡°Tell me!¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Tell me!¡± ¡°No.¡± 5 minutes later... ¡°Damn! Fine you persistent fly! My name is Null.¡± ¡°*sigh* Leave it to you to have such a depressing name.¡± She has her arms in the air with a what am I going to do with you gesture. ¡°Whatever. What''s your username? Nah, never mind. I realize that I don''t care.¡± ¡°How rude! Well if you must know, my username is Cici. I''m a level 238 cleric.¡± ¡°Oh, okay. Can you please go away now?¡± ¡°So what''s your class and level?¡± Null gets up. ¡°I have spent 5 minutes and 47 seconds talking to you, which is 5 minutes and 47 seconds longer than I can tolerate of you. Goodbye.¡± Null walks to town. While he''s walking away, Cici thinks to herself, ''Hmm... he doesn''t look like your generic warrior. He doesn''t have a sword, spear, or shield. In fact, he''s not holding any weapons at all. He looks like an assassin, but they have small bags. Null''s bag is huge. Mage? But he doesn''t have any magical items on him. Monk? No. If he were a monk, he wouldn''t have that huge bag. Alchemist? It really fits, but he doesn''t have the clothes a typical alchemist would wear. He might be an alchemist, but even they have swords or some kind of weapon on them. Is his alchemy so powerful that he doesn''t need a weapon? It would also explain why he came to this town in the first place. Now I''m really curious!'' She runs after him again. Null soon sees that Cici is following behind him. He''s extremely annoyed, but decides to ignore her for the time being hoping that she would just get bored and go away. When he makes it to town, the players come out of the houses making a big commotion. Null wonders what''s going on when he realizes that all the gazes are on him. ''I haven''t done anything. I haven''t made a name for myself. My clothes are extremely ordinary. What could I possibly have done to make them all stare at me?'' Null thinks nervously. He then hears their conversations. ¡°Oh my god! It''s really her! It''s Cici!¡± ¡°She''s as beautiful as the rumors say.¡± ¡°Beauty. Hmph. Forget that! Her clerical mastery makes her one of the most powerful clerics in the world!¡± Null relaxes when he realizes they''re not focused on him, but on the person behind him. Null thinks, ''So she''s pretty famous. She''s also one of the most powerful clerics in the world? That explains how she was able to catch up to me. The fuck is she doing annoying me for then if she''s this amazing person?'' Null then hears another person talking. ¡°Many have tried to approach her with offers of joining top ranked guilds, and even powerful, handsome, famous men have confessed to her and she rejected them, so why is she following around a nobody like that?¡± Null speaks to Cici saying, ¡°You know that''s a really good question. Why are you here annoying a nobody like me when you are so supposedly famous and powerful?¡± Null had always known that Cici was an amazing person, popular, and well liked. Now he realizes that even in New Reality, she''s pretty famous. He really can''t help but ponder why such an amazing girl wastes her time annoying him. Cici says, ¡°Ever since I''ve arrived in this town, I''ve been constantly confessed to. It gets a little exhausting rejecting people all the time, and I also do not want to hurt their feelings, so I''m staying near you so it doesn''t happen as much.¡± Null had to admit, for a split second he was extremely jealous. To get tired of being confessed to? ''Some go through drought while others a flood.'' Null thinks. ¡°Have you tried being ugly?¡± Null says, trying to be helpful for once. ¡°That won''t work you idiot!¡± Cici yells. ¡°It works all the time.¡± ¡°That''s stupid you idiot!¡± ¡°*sigh* Damn tsunderes.¡± ¡°What did you call me!?¡± ¡°A tsundere, cuz that''s what you are.¡± ¡°I''m nothing like that!¡± ¡°¡°It- It''s not like I''m a tsundere or anything, BAKA!¡± That''s what you sound like you failed Taiga Aisaka ripoff.¡± ¡°Oh you''re one to talk you failed Hachiman Hikigaya ripoff!¡± ¡°Hey. I''m nothing like that failure of a loner. Goes off to make friends and asks people for help. What''s wrong with him?¡± ¡°Bull! It''s in your fate! Right now you''re all tsun and then the dere part will come out later! You cannot escape it!¡± ¡°Them''s fightin'' words.¡± ¡°Tsundere! Tsundere!¡± Cici says in a sing song voice. Null glares at her. He thinks, ''Why doesn''t she ever shut up? She would be so cute if she were mute. Well, she''s pretty cute now. Why is she talking to me again even though she looks like that? Right, it''s because I get better grades than her in some subjects.'' Null didn''t realize it, but he was staring at Cici''s body while thinking. Cici gets a disgusted look and says, ¡°Ew. Are you checking me out?¡± ¡°You wish.¡± Null looks away embarrassed and then thinks, ''Hormones. Damn it. I was caught.'' Null keeps walking around for a while, but the gazes from everyone are starting to get to him, and it is all caused by the person that won''t quit following him. When not confronting people, he''s used to at most 2 gazes from around him, and the gazes he is used to seeing are from people thinking, ''Have I seen him before?'' ¡°Stop following me. You being around me is causing people to glare at me with jealous gazes.¡± ¡°I am a pretty amazing person huh?¡± Cici is not that arrogant. She''s saying this in order to get on Null''s nerves, and it''s working. ¡°You annoying, conceited bitch.¡± ¡°You ignorant, stupid idiot!¡± Null stops, turns around to face her, and says, ¡°Why are you following me?¡± Cici says, ¡°I''m not! We just happen to be going in the same direction.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Null then turns around and walks away. Cici turns around also and continues following behind Null. He stops again. ¡°Okay, I thought you said you were heading in that direction.¡± He points at the direction Cici says she was going to go. ¡°Um, I just realized that this way is actually a shortcut.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Null then heads in a completely different direction from the first two directions, and Cici still follows behind him. He stops again. ¡°Okay enough. What do you want president?¡± ¡°Is it a crime to want to see how powerful my rival is in the game?¡± ¡°Two things. One, I''m not your rival. Two, yes. Stalking is a crime. Go away.¡± ¡°No! Not until you tell me how powerful you are!¡± ¡°Go. Away.¡± ¡°No!¡± ¡°Why won''t you go away!? Fine. I''ll just kill you.¡± ¡°Hah! Good luck with that! Even if you could kill me, you wouldn''t do it in the middle of town.¡± She smirks while saying this. Null debates the pros and cons of killing Cici. On one hand, he can do what he''s always wanted to do and kill her in cold blood without the repercussions of real life like life in prison. On the other hand, he would end up getting the murder mark. They are pretty tricky to get rid of, and while you have it, other players can kill you and not worry about getting a murder mark. If he dies with the murder mark, he would also gets even more penalties like he could get 10% reduction in skill proficiency, or lose 3 levels at once. It''s very random. There''s also a 100% chance of dropping an item at death. Some of Null''s items are very rare, and he has brewed potions that have taken months to be able to figure out. He could also drop his gauntlets, one of his most prized possessions. Not only that, but there are hundreds of people staring at them right now, and most of them are her fans. If he were to kill her, they wouldn''t hesitate to kill him. He would keep respawning in this town, and they would kill him with glee. He would probably die many times and lose a lot of levels. With these options, Null makes the obvious choice. ''Worth it.'' He immediately goes and attacks Cici with his poisoned blades, but quickly realizes that something is wrong when she easily dodges it. ''Wait. Why do I feel so weak?'' Null thinks frustrated. He knew clerics had this ability, but to be able to cripple him to this degree. ¡°Ha! That confused look on your face!¡± Cici laughs. ¡°Weren''t you paying attention!? I''m one of the most powerful clerics in the world! Even though I''m only level 238, my clerical mastery is at Intermediate! I knew you were going to try and kill me, so I prepared a debuffing spell beforehand!¡± ''I can''t even kill her! She won''t let me have anything!'' Null angrily thinks. Null breathes out a sigh, and calms his features. He gets a solemn look and says, ¡°Okay, I apologize. I was just a little frustrated that you kept following me. We should try and get along, at least in this game. Can you bring my stats back to normal?¡± ¡°Well...¡± She sees that Null has an apologetic look on his face. ¡°Fine, but don''t let it happen again.¡± She''s about to release the spell when she sees Null''s mouth turn into a bloodthirsty smile. ¡°You were going to kill me when I released the spell!¡± ¡°No I wasn''t. You can trust me.¡± ¡°What''s with that bloodthirsty smile?!¡± ¡°That''s how I always look.¡± ¡°No it''s not!¡± ¡°Dammit cleric, just bring my stats back!¡± ¡°Nope!¡± She sticks out her tongue knowing that there is nothing Null could do in this situation. He resigns himself to his fate and ignores Cici while she walks behind him. Null thinks to himself, ''Aren''t there almost a billion people playing New Reality? Of all the people, why did I have to run into her? Why do I keep running into people from my school!?'' *************************** Many people had witnessed Null''s murder attempt. They were talking among themselves. ¡°Did you see that? He just tried to murder Cici!¡± ¡°They must be in a relationship, and he must be an abusive boyfriend!¡± ¡°Why doesn''t she just dump that loser? I''m way better than him.¡± ¡°We have to save Cici from him!¡± They start heading towards Null and Cici. *************************** Null sees that there are a huge number of people converging to where he is. He knew he would get in trouble with her fans for trying to kill her, and he was prepared for this. A voice then resounds through the crowd. ¡°People, don''t sully your hands with this nobody. Let me take care of this.¡± Someone walks forward. He''s in an expensive looking cleric suit made for males, and his handsome looks could rival Rory''s. ¡°Oh it''s him! It''s DivineLight!¡± ¡°He has reached Beginner level 7 in clerical mastery!¡± ¡°Oh my god! He is so handsome!¡± A girl in the crowd says. ¡°Aw man. Cici''s as good as gone with him around. How can I compete with him?¡± DivineLight looks at Null likes he''s trash, then approaches Cici. He says to her, ¡°Such a beautiful and skilled girl shouldn''t be hanging around such garbage.¡± He glares at Null, but Null pays him no mind. ¡°Cici, come with me. With you supporting us, out team will be unstoppable. I''ll guarantee if there is anything that''s too expensive for you, I will get it for you, for you are priceless.¡± He says while giving her a flower. She hesitates, but takes the flower. She accepts it not out of romantic feelings, but doesn''t want to embarrass him in front of all these people. His speech causes some of the girls there to look enviously at Cici. ¡°Please go with him.¡± Pleads Null at Cici''s side. ¡°Thank you for your offer. I really appreciate it, but I would rather get things with my own strength. I also have to apologize as I am currently not looking to be on a team.¡± Cici says politely. DivineLight tries again saying, ¡°No you must understand. My family is rich. You don''t have to hesitate. Lets splurge my money on things that you like.¡± ¡°I''m sorry, but no.¡± Cici says politely with a tinge of annoyance. Cici would never use her looks to take advantage of another person. DivineLight is shocked. Very few women have ever rejected him. He thinks, ''Is the guy next to her some amazing person or something?'' A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. DivineLight then walks up to Null. He gives Null a look full of hostility saying, ¡°What''s your level?¡± ¡°167.¡± Null says. He has no reason to lie to the man. ¡°Hahahaha! Level 167? What does Cici see in a loser like you? Judging from your clothes, you look like you''re weak and poor. I would''ve never even noticed you if you weren''t next to Cici! Are you blackmailing her into going out with you?¡± ¡°Perhaps there has been some sort of misunderstanding. I don''t like her. Not even as a friend. We''re not going out or anything. She just won''t leave me alone.¡± Null says. ¡°As if I could believe the world famous cleric and beauty Cici would follow around a nobody like you!¡± ¡°I know right? That''s how it should be! I should be ignored, and she should be trying to go on a super difficult quest or trying to find a famous, talented, and handsome boyfriend such as yourself, but instead she''s wasting her time trying to find ways of annoying me! You understand me!¡± Null says as if he didn''t just cause a heaping amount of confusion all around. People around are saying, ¡°No way.¡± ¡°He must be lying. There is no reason for her to follow this loser.¡± ¡°Could you all stop talking like I''m not here!?¡± Cici yells frustrated. DivineLight is speechless thinking, ''Is he playing around?'' ¡°Now listen here. I don''t know how you got her to follow you, but you better stay away from her.¡± DivineLight declares while his underlings step forward trying to intimidate Null. Null, not caring the least bit about the underlings says, ¡°I''ve been trying. I don''t know what else to do. You should be trying to save me from her.¡± Null points at her like she''s a creature. People seeing this get upset. ¡°What an asshole!¡± A girl yells. ¡°How dare he point at her like that!?¡± A guy who has a crush on her, but knows he has no chance says. ¡°That''s enough! I challenge you to a duel! The winner will agree to not ever see Cici again!¡± DivineLight says. ¡°Don''t I get a say in this!?¡± yells Cici, tired of being ignored even though this whole shebang is about her. ''Even though I''m a cleric, he''s only level 167 while I''m 189. You don''t battle a cleric unless you have a move that can kill them in one blow. Otherwise they''ll just heal themselves. It should be easy for me to kill him.'' DivineLight thinks. Everyone is surprised that he proposed a duel. They''re saying, ¡°Will he fight now that his image is on the line?¡± ¡°I''m looking forward to this.¡± ¡°He can''t back out now or he''ll be known as a coward and Cici will abandon him.¡± ''If only it were that easy.'' Null thinks hearing that last person. With the fact that Null''s pride and self confidence hovers slightly above that of a common earthworms self confidence, and the fact that he doesn''t give a single fuck about Cici, he says, "Nah. I''ll pass." DivineLight laughs at Null, then becomes arrogant saying, ¡°Cici, do you see? He''s nothing more than a coward who likes to bully you! He''s a nobody that will only bring down your noble, beautiful image! If it were me, I would fight for you with my all, so come with me and forget about him!¡± ¡°Dude, they left.¡± A bystander says. ¡°Huh?¡± He looks at the spot that Null and Cici were in. He sees in the distance Null walking away with Cici following him. ¡°Damn him!¡± The crowd disperses and DivineLight talks to one of his underlings. ¡°Hey Switch.¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°Make it so he doesn''t want to stay in this town.¡± Switch smirks and says, ¡°You got it.¡± He goes off and prepares. ********************** ¡°You just love causing me trouble huh?¡± Null says to Cici. ¡°Think of this as punishment for trying to kill me multiple times.¡± Cici replies. Switch is in the corner, his sword at the ready. Right now Null is leaning against a house right next to an alleyway with Cici next to him. He rushes from the alleyway, about to slash at Null. He is at a far higher level than him, so a few slashes should be all it takes to kill him. Something then happens. He trips on an invisible wire when he''s about to slash at Null, causing him to tumble down. The sword still attacks Null, but with none of the power behind it. It didn''t have any power behind it, but it still causes him to get a black mark. Black marks are different from murder marks as they disappear after around an hour or so. As soon as he got the black mark, multiple throwing knives impaled him killing him. When people start coming outside wondering what all the commotion is about, Null yells, ¡°Oh my god! He sacrificed himself and saved me from those random throwing knives! Why? Whyyyyy!? It should have been meee!¡± Cici just starts chuckling. People recognize him as one of DivineLight''s underlings. ¡°What happened to him?¡± ¡°Did that guy do it?¡± ¡°It couldn''t have been him. He doesn''t have a murder mark.¡± ¡°There are ways around murder marks you know.¡± ¡°Do you think such a plain person like that would think of something like that?¡± ¡°Well, I guess you''re right.¡± DivineLight looks unsightly when he sees Switch''s body. Switch rematerializes around 2 minutes later. ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°I don''t know. I tripped and was attacked from behind.¡± ¡°Don''t fail me agai-¡± Just then, DivineLight was impaled with multiple arrows to his head. He died not knowing what hit him. ¡°Boss!?¡± ***************************** Null right now is carrying a big box. It looks like it is taking all his strength just to hold it. Cici is next to Null saying, ¡°What are you doing?¡± Null responds saying, ¡°Delivering needed medical supplies!¡± ¡°Need any help?¡± ¡°No. I want to help those sick in anyway that I can, so I must deliver these medical supplies with my own strength!¡± Cici holds her face crying with tears falling down. She''s crying not from the sentimental value from Nulls words, but from trying not to bust out laughing. She knows he''s full of shit. Switch is in an alleyway thinking, ''Heheh, you won''t be able to do anything while holding such a heavy box. I''ll kill you this time for sure!'' He rushes towards Null, this time making sure to watch his step. Null then trips. ¡°Oops.¡± The tip of Switch''s sword barely touches Null, but it gives Switch a black mark. The side of the box then collapses, and Switch is covered with all assortments of weapons, impaling him. They were, of course, poisoned. Do you even need to ask? He dies shortly after. Some people there witnessed this from start to finished. Null yells out, ¡°No. Noooooo! These weren''t medical supplies at all! Someone must have switched the medical supplies with some weapons box, and must have accidentally loosened one of sides! Were these weapons working together with the random throwing knives!? Who knows!? Why must good men die young!? It should have been meeee!¡± Cici was trying so hard not to laugh. Now doing all this is out of Null''s character, and it may seem random, but this is all calculated. Null is giving the people watching an implicit message: If you attack me, not only will I kill you and not get the murder mark, but I will thoroughly humiliate you in the process. While this was going on, DivineLight was hit with all assortment of weapons and died. The reason? Null''s Rube Goldberg machines. During his time in the library, Null had thoroughly read through on what you do to get a murder mark, and tried to find multiple loopholes. It appears if there are too many degrees of separation between you and the victim, it will not count as a murder. After all, chaos theory, the butterfly effect, and all that. He made elaborate traps and killed DivineLight. Every time DivineLight sent someone to try and kill Null, he would be killed by Null. ***************** It took about 8 times for DivineLight and his underlings to die for them to get the hint. DivineLight''s fan girls had left him, afraid of being seen with him. DivineLight and his underlings quickly left town. ''That was pretty fun.'' Null thinks to himself. ¡°I still don''t get how you managed to pull that off.¡± Cici says impressed while nodding her head in amusement. They stayed silent for a while, which for Cici only counted for about 15 seconds. She then speaks to Null. ¡°So Null, what brings you to Panford?¡± ¡°Nothing, it was the closest town, and I wanted to sell off my items.¡± ¡°Are you serious? Don''t you know what''s going on in this town?¡± ¡°Something about Plaque or something? Brushing your teeth will usually take care of that.¡± He says trying to annoy Cici. ¡°No, it''s Plague! The information is pretty much everywhere! Do you live under a rock!?¡± ¡°Yes, so enlighten this humble rock dweller.¡± ¡°This town is in the middle of a crisis. It was hit by a very deadly and contagious disease. It wasn''t the first, and unless someone finds a cure, it won''t be the last. It''s caused by a psychopathic alchemist named Plague.¡± ¡°So where is Plague?¡± ¡°He''s hiding out somewhere. No one has ever been able to actually see him. We actually gave him the name Plague, because of the way he spreads diseases. He sends monsters to do his dirty work.¡± ¡°So my name of Plaque is just as valid as your name of Plague.¡± ¡°I''m not going to argue about that!¡± ¡°So I guess that explains that. What I wonder is, there should be alchemists and clerics here, but I was surprised about how many there are. Why are there so many alchemy and cleric players here? There are thousands. How do the houses fit them all?¡± ¡°This mission is famous. It''s one of the rare C-rank healing missions. It was mentioned all over the place. It was mentioned on the forums and on New Reality News! How could you not know!?¡± ¡°I don''t read the forums or watch New Reality News.¡± ¡°What the hell!? Do you just aimlessly wander around!?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°You really are an ignorant bumpkin. Well, the person who finds a cure will undoubtedly make a name for him or herself, and I intend to find it. After all, I''m one of the few who has Intermediate in the cleric class. I want to become a doctor or work with medicine, so doing this will feel like I''m really helping. That''s why I became a cleric in the first place.¡± ¡°I asked why there were so many alchemists and clerics here. I didn''t ask for your life story.¡± ¡°Hmph.¡± Cici says while crossing her arms looking away. ¡°Well I don''t want to be here anymore, but it appears that next few towns have all been destroyed right?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°So I guess I have no choice. I''ll just go and make the cure. When I create it, I''ll just give it to someone else and they''ll take credit. I''ll wait for the blacksmiths and tailors to get cured so I can sell them my items.¡± ¡°You can''t be serious!¡± ¡°Why can''t I be serious?¡± ¡°You think you can just waltz on in and find a cure just like that?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Even the alchemist they sent to stop this plague from Qasburg Kingdom''s capital couldn''t do it! And his alchemy is at Intermediate level 2! So what makes you think you can do it!?¡± ¡°Obviously this was all a predetermined event for players, so of course the NPC alchemist won''t solve it.¡± ¡°Well, I guess that does make sense. Well he was on his way to solving it, but he also got sick with the disease. The other person Qasburg Kingdom sent hasn''t been heard from in 3 days.¡± ¡°How many people did Qasburg Kingdom send?¡± ¡°Two.¡± ¡°...Two? That''s it? Shows how much they care about their citizens.¡± ¡°You dummy! They''re both at intermediate in their respective masteries! The alchemist''s mastery is at intermediate level 2, which is equivalent to hundreds of beginner level 5''s!¡± ¡°Oh. Intermediate level 2? What''s the big deal?¡± ¡°You are super ignorant! Within each of the classes, even though there may be millions, or tens of millions, maybe even hundreds of millions of players for classes, the number of people who have reached intermediate per class, even in the most numerous classes, don''t exceed 5000! Having intermediate in a class is close to, or sometimes even equivalent to being a ranker!¡± ¡°That few!?¡± Null is shocked. He''s read everything there is to know about the common classes, including what types of moves you acquire when you hit intermediate and advanced. Throughout all his reading, he has never once read how rare it is to get to intermediate. What is required for you to get intermediate? Not only must you keep making new things past beginner level 5, but the new things that you create must be good. That mounts to hundreds of thousands of new things you must create. Null knows that the most generic class of all, warrior swordsman, numbers at around 170 million players worldwide, and yet the number that have reached intermediate in that class is less than 5000? It''s the first time he''s hearing about this. Doesn''t he have 5 classes and 1 skill outside those classes at the intermediate rank? If word got out, he would undoubtedly become famous. ''What have I done?'' Null thinks in dismay. ''Now that I think about it, I didn''t really go anywhere or do anything while I was gaining proficiency besides looking for different herbs and mining, so it would be easier for me to gain proficiency. I also had the mystery book to help remember things for me, information finder to quickly locate information, learning without reading to quickly absorb information, and the knowledge stat to accelerate my proficiency gaining speed, and it still took me 4 years in game to get my skills to the present levels, so it makes sense that there are so few intermediates. I feel like I''ve cheated. I really am terrible. First I use underhanded tactics to defeat my enemies, now I''ve used underhanded tactics to gain proficiency. Even if I wanted to get famous, it would not be well deserved.'' Nulls low self confidence was working at full throttle. ''If I knew all this, I would''ve never upgraded my skills to this degree! Well it''s too late now. Nothing I can do about it now except to keep moving forward, and to keep my intermediate masteries a secret.'' ¡°Do you just stay in the forest and eat twigs all day you imbecile?¡± Cici admonishes null. ¡°Well, I probably won''t have to find the cure. How close are you to finding it?¡± Cici looks sad. ¡°Right now, I haven''t found the right incantations, or found the right healing frequency to heal that disease.¡± ¡°Is there anyone here who is close to finding the cure?¡± ¡°I have no idea. People say that the people who have the highest chances of finding the cure are between me, a group of alchemists calling themselves Potion Commotion, a group of 20 alchemists all above beginner level 5 with the highest being beginner level 9, and an alchemist who has recently reached the Intermediate stage named Fumes.¡± ¡°Well I''m not going to sit here and wait for them. If I enter a house without the quest, a person can kill me without having to worry about getting a murder mark. Take me to that alchemist so I can get the quest.¡± ¡°Are you really level 167?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Sorry to say, but your chances are slim. I thought you would be some super awesome person. Guess I overestimated you.¡± ¡°Guess so.¡± ------------------------------ Author''s Note: Um I was supposed to have completed this chapter 5 days ago, but I maybe, sort of, kind of, most definitely binged on reading novels. Apologies. Speaking of which, Yun Che from Ni Tian Xie Shen is the most awesome protagonist to ever exist in fiction! Why can''t my protagonist be like him? Null you disappointment! Chapter 21: Finding a Cure Author''s Note: Oh thank you for your comments! I got my fix! Kinda felt lazy with the title today. --------------------------- While Null and Cici were on their way to meet the alchemist in order for Null to get the mission to find the cure, he was being shadowed by two people. ¡°Man. He is not going to like this.¡± ¡°Yep. The main reason he was trying to find the cure was so that he could impress Cici.¡± ¡°I''m not telling him. I told him bad news last time.¡± ¡°*sigh* Fine, fine.¡± The two people make it to an alchemy workshop. As the original inhabitants of the workshop are now sick, and with all of them having one of the highest chances of finding the cure, the other alchemist players made way for them to use the shop. There are 18 people there working hard at finding the cure to the plague. ¡°When we complete this cure, we will have finally reached the Profound Realm.¡± Their leader says. ¡°What the hell are you talking about?¡± Their vice leader says. Due to the leader having his alchemy mastery at Beginner level 9, they just decided to make him leader, but it''s really the vice leader, with alchemy mastery at Beginner level 8, making all the decisions. The reason? Their leader is insane. Their name is Potion Commotion. ¡°I think we need further indoor cultivation before we can continue finding the cure. I want us to reach the Spirit Douluo level by the end of the day.¡± The leader says. ¡°This game doesn''t have any of those things!¡± The vice leader yells at him. The vice leader''s name is Ricky, with everyone calling him Rick for short, while the leader''s name is TangSanLinleyBaruchYunCheChuFeng, with everyone calling him Schizo for short. ¡°If only we had a Class 3 Monster Core. We could easily find the cure with that.¡± Schizo speaks solemnly. ¡°Stop binge reading old Wuxia and Xianxia novels!¡± Rick yells at him. The door opens and the two people who have been spying on Null come in. ¡°Oh little brother disciples. I was about to break through to the Spirit Douluo level by getting a spirit ring. Why do you interrupt?¡± ¡°Well, you''re not going to like this.¡± The leader right now is sitting in a cross legged position with candles around him. ¡°Speak.¡± Schizo says. ¡°Well you know Cici right?¡± ¡°Yes. I think she likes me. I''ve sent her a love letter, but she has been too shy to reply back. Has she finally admitted her feelings for me?¡± ¡°I don''t think sending 8 love letters will make her fall in love with you.¡± Rick deadpans. ¡°You think I should send another?¡± Schizo ponders. ¡°Wait. We''re getting sidetracked. What was it about Cici?¡± Rick says to the two. ¡°Well she''s been seen following around a guy that had arrived in town today.¡± ¡°It could be her brother, or maybe her cousin.¡± Schizo reasons. ¡°Well, no. We heard their conversations. They''re definitely not related. Not only that, but the guy tried to kill her, and yet she still follows him.¡± ¡°We need to rescue her post haste then!¡± Schizo says. ¡°Well, no. See we learned that Cici is following him on purpose. He has even tried running away from her several times.¡± ¡°Some people get all the luck with women! Now I can no longer save face! Let''s kill him!¡± ¡°Schizo I don''t think that''s a good idea.¡± One of the scouts tells him. ¡°Why not? Is he really powerful or something?¡± ¡°It''s not that. It''s just everyone who tries to fight him always end up dying in mysterious accidents. We don''t know if he''s the cause or not.¡± ¡°Hmph! Well let''s see what he looks like. He must look like a movie star for Cici to follow him everywhere. Where did you last see him?¡± ¡°Near the church. He shouldn''t have gone far. He walks pretty slow.¡± ¡°Okay! Everyone! Stop what you''re doing and follow me! Release spirits!¡± ¡°*sigh*¡± Everyone else says. ******************* Potion Commotion runs through the town and see Cici in the distance. ¡°So where''s the amazing guy? All I see is Cici.¡± ¡°He''s right next to her.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± He looks closely and sees a hooded guy. He gets a good look and notices how plain he looks. ¡°...This is supposed to be the amazingly handsome guy?¡± ¡°We never said that. You did.¡± The scout says. ¡°Hahaha! He looks so dull and plain! If that''s the case, then snatching Cici back will be a piece of cake! We''ll work double time to find a cure! Then Cici will fall in love with us!¡± ¡°I don''t think that''s how it works.¡± Rick says. ¡°After we find the cure, we will enter the Sky Profound Realm! Come on. Let''s go cultivate.¡± His group gives him weird looks and follow him. ********************************** Cici takes Null to the alchemist who will give him the mission. The house he is staying at is quite big compared to the other houses. Null thinks, ''Well I can see they may have wanted to accommodate the people from the capital with luxury.'' He enters the house and goes to the room where the alchemist is staying at. When he sees him, Null is shocked. This is the first time he is seeing the disease. He has rotting purple splotches all over his skin. He looks near death like he''s been reduced to a skeleton with skin on him while the disease makes them rot while they''re still alive. There is also a pungent odor coming from the man. ''He''s rotting from the inside out.'' Null squints. ''He''s struggling to breathe and he also looks to be in unbearable pain. Is this what everyone in Panford is going through? To think that someone would do this. What am I saying? Of course someone would do this. It''s human nature to do whatever you want if no one can stop you.'' There are 3 clerics there. They are saying a spell in unison. ¡°Ianuaria, sooth his wounds and let him be well. Heal!¡± His wounds look like they heal a little, but it doesn''t seem like it is very effective. The disease has spread too much. The clerics are frowning until they notice Cici. The frowns soon change into faces of relief. ¡°Oh thank goodness! Cici, he''s getting worse! Please come help us!¡± Cici nods and goes to where the alchemist is. When she does her healing spell, the difference between her spell and the other 3 cleric''s spell is like night and day. Cici''s healing spell is leagues above theirs. It makes the disease greatly retreat. The smell isn''t as strong. He starts looking less like a skeleton. The purple splotches start shrinking until there are only a few left, and his ragged breathing starts to calm down. ''Amazing. So this is what a cleric at the intermediate level is capable of. It looks like it didn''t cure him completely though.'' Null thinks. The alchemist wakes up. He looks around, sees Cici, and says, ¡°Oh Cici, it''s you. I once again have to thank you for all you are doing. If it wasn''t for you, half of the people in this town would already be dead. You should stop worrying so much about me and focus on helping the others in this town.¡± ¡°No, I can''t do that. There are only two people in this town right now with intermediate in alchemy, and the other guy is untrustworthy who wouldn''t hesitate to stab you in the back. If I can''t find a healing spell, it will be up to you. We need to get you better so you can help us find a cure.¡± ¡°I''m afraid that''s impossible. I can barely even move, and right now, not even you can reverse the effects of this disease. How can I even search for ingredients in my state? So I''m begging you. Please put the other villagers first.¡± Cici is silent when she hears this. ''Still thinking of others even after you''ve been reduced to this.'' Null thinks. ''It may be just a game to us, but for them, their lives are really at stake. What''s the difference between players and NPCs? Players can die here with no big deal to us and are able leave this world to our world, but when NPCs die, they stay dead. That''s it. That''s the only difference. NPCs feel like players, have dreams like players, and are just as smart as players. I need to hurry up and find the cure so I can sell my items. I don''t care about the sick villagers. Nope. Not one bit.'' Null goes up to the alchemist to break the silence and says, ¡°Excuse me. I was hoping you would give me the mission to cure the town.¡± ¡°Oh, another brave and selfless soul?¡± ¡°No I''m not. I only came to find the cure so that a person can buy my things. My bag is full.¡± The guy looks at Null like he has three heads. He says to him, ¡°...Are you serious?¡± He then looks at Cici and says, ¡°Is he serious?¡± Cici closes her eyes and nods. ¡°He is serious.¡± She then facepalms and shakes her head. ¡°So can I get it or not?¡± He grimaces. He finds Null rude, but tries to remain polite. ¡°Well let me introduce myself. My name is Loretalon, an alchemist from the capital of Qasburg Kingdom. I was sent here along with Swordedge to put a stop to Plague. Swordedge had run off on his own, and for the love of Ptah, I don''t know where he is. He hasn''t been heard from in two days. People think he''s dead, but I don''t think he''s the type to die that easily. It''s been 3 days since I came to this town, and I''m afraid I''m running out of time. Many have tried to undertake this quest, but so far, none have succeeded. Are you sure you want to undertake this quest?¡± ¡°...Lo... huh? I''m not going to remember that name, so I''ll just call you Mr. Alchemy for short.¡± Loretalon is an alchemist that has always been revered and treated with respect. After all, he''s one of the few to make it to intermediate. He has never been treated like this. If Qasburg''s soldiers were here, they would have killed Null on the spot. ¡°Such blatant disrespect! Maybe I shouldn''t give you the mission!¡± ¡°Sure, that''s fine. I hear dying horribly is the ¡°in¡± thing in this town at the moment. Dying horribly is the new not dying horribly.¡± ¡°Fine! Take the mission and get out!¡± [/size]
Quest: Cure Panford
Quest Information: A disease that has been caused by Plague is ravaging the town. No one has any idea on how to cure it. If nothing is done, people will die. Reward: Unknown Quest Rank: C Penalty if refused: Would decrease affinity with Loretalon, but it seems like it is already at its lowest state. Panford''s people would never forgive you. Qasburg kingdom will know of this and make life harder for you. Failure if everyone in town dies. Do you accept?
¡°Why thank you.¡±
You have accepted the quest.
Null then leaves along with Cici behind him. She says, ¡°You know, you really are a prick. You know that right?¡± ¡°Yeah. Now he''s focusing over how much of a jerk I am instead of worrying about other people. It''s not good for him to try and take all the burden onto himself. To think that there exists such selfless people like that in the world.¡± ¡°Of course they exist! If you weren''t so focused on isolation you would know that!¡± She then sighs an shakes her head. ¡°You really are hopeless. You should learn from me. See how I go through life with proper etiquette and grace? Aim to become more like me.¡± Cici says while putting her hand over her chest, eyes closed, with so much smug it could block out the sun. ¡°How much proper etiquette and grace did it take for you to draw dickbutt on my desk?¡± Null says. Cici remembers that and her face turns red from embarrassment. ¡°Sh- Shut up stupid!¡± ¡°Wha? Stupid?!¡± Null says in false surprise. ¡°If I''m stupid, then what does that make you, girl who''s worse than me in Mathematics and Chemistry? No wait, your title has been upgraded this year. Girl who''s worse than me in Mathematics, Chemistry, and Physics?¡± Null knows that talking about subjects he does better than her in is a sore spot for her. ¡°Grrr, you...¡± Cici growls out. Null then pulls out a health potion from his inventory. ¡°Here.¡± ¡°Why are you giving me a health potion dummy!? I''m a cleric!¡± ¡°You need it for that severe burn I''ve just inflicted on you. I''m worried your cleric skills won''t be enough.¡± Cici is started to get really angry. She no longer has that beautiful look to her, and is looking more like wrath in human form. ¡°I... you... kill... NOW!¡± She starts stomping towards Null. ¡°I think you just failed the Turing Test. Well, that''s expected, as you never were as good on tests as me.¡± Null says with a shrug. 2 minutes later. Null is currently running for his life. ''I really need to know when to shut up.'' Null thinks panicked. Cici is running towards him with a tree branch far larger than herself. ¡°COME BACK HERE SO I CAN KILL YOU!!¡± Cici yells, running towards Null with fangs bared. Cici eventually catches Null and beats him to near death with the branch, then she heals him, then she beats him again, and this continued until she was satisfied. After she''s done, she tells Null, ¡°If I see you again...¡± Cici makes a beheading gesture with her hands and walks away. ''Finally, I''m rid of her. I was worried I might have to do something more drastic to get her to leave me alone.'' Null thinks while breathing a sigh of relief. Null walks and then goes into a random house. He needs a sample of the disease in order for him to make a cure. Only alchemists of the intermediate level can do this, so he has an advantage over the other alchemists who are randomly mixing chemicals together hoping something sticks. When he goes in there, he sees a cleric tending to wounds of a young mother and daughter. She is constantly healing them. When she sees Null, she does something with her hands, then nods. ''She must be checking if I have the mission as well.'' Null thinks. Null grimaces when he looks at the mother and daughter. It looks like the daughter has the starting stages of whatever this disease is, but the mother looks even worse than Loretalon when Null first saw him. If nothing is done, it looks like the mother will soon be knocking on death''s door. ''Where is that damn cleric? She is never around when you need her. How ironic.'' Null thinks. The daughter is currently crying looking at her mother. It looks like she''s about 5 years old. Since it''s at the beginning stages for her, she''s just sitting in a chair next to her mother. ¡°Mommy, please get better.¡± ¡°It''s okay dear. As long as you are well nothing else matters.¡± ¡°Mommy, please don''t leave me alone!¡± The little girl starts crying hysterically. The girl sees Null and starts wiping her tears. She says to him, ¡°Mister, please help my mother.¡± Even though she herself is infected, she''s more worried about her mother. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. The mother says to Null, ¡°It''s okay if this disease is too hard to cure, but judging from my state, I will die before my daughter. My husband, who is her father, already passed away. Can you make sure that after I die, that she dies happy?¡± ¡°Mommy don''t say that!¡± The girl yells out to her with tears in her eyes. Null watches this scene. He has never known familial love like what''s going on here. He''s only seen it through how his family treat each other, and seeing it around his city. Null knows that if his parents and siblings were to die, he would be exactly the same, neither happiness nor sadness. He would probably forget about them by weeks end. To this mother and daughter, who depend on each other, it would be a devastating blow if one of them died. They have already lost one person. Null tells the mother, ¡°There''s no need to do any of that.¡± The mother looks at Null like he''s a monster. ¡°I''m not asking for much! Just make sure my daughter is taken care of and dies happy!¡± ¡°No, you misunderstand. I will find the cure, so there is no need to make sure she dies happy.¡± The mother and cleric there look skeptical, but the daughter looks at him with stars in her eyes. The mother thinks that he just might be saying this to make the daughter feel better. ¡°Thank you.¡± The mother says, smiling. She might not know it yet, but Null really does mean to find the cure. Null tells the mother, ¡°This might hurt, but I need a sample of the disease in order to find the cure.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± She nods and prepares herself for the pain. Null goes and wipes off a lot of the rotting purple spots with a rag, and puts it in a bottle. While wiping at the spot, it looked like the mother was in extreme pain. He says, ¡°I''ll find the cure.¡± The daughter nods. The cleric there looks at that heart warming scene and says, ¡°Eeeeew you''re touching it!¡± Null walks out the house. The cleric avoids Null like he has some disease, which he does, so I guess that makes sense. Null later goes out of town into the forest. He doesn''t want any distractions. He thinks to himself, ''If I remember correctly, there was a town way back when I cured some people. It was a D-rank healing mission. It was nowhere this bad though, as only around a quarter of the farmers got sick, and they weren''t as sickly as the people here. Near 100% of the people in this town are sick. How much harder is a C-rank than a D-rank? Well, I will soon find out.'' Null gets out all of his available ingredients. He takes out some water and prepares to find a cure. He takes out the bottle with the diseased rag and does the potion creation skill. As he thought, when he used the skill, the ingredients showed up as incomprehensible colors. It''s better than having the ingredients show up as gray, as that meant he wouldn''t be able to find a cure, but even with the Potion Creation skill having the ingredients show as colors, he still would be unlikely to find a cure. ''Okay, first things first. Trial and error.'' He starts mixing in anything that shows a color in random amounts. Every time he did this, the water turned red, which meant that he failed. He keeps trying more and more things. 9 hours pass and his ingredients are running dangerously low. ''I need to go into the forest. I don''t have time to be planting seeds.'' Null sets out into the forest. As if this mission was predetermined for alchemists, he finds a lot of ingredients in the area. ''Wow. When I''m finished finding a cure, I need to come back here later.'' Null is carrying the ingredients in a Sack like Santa Clause, as his other bag is full. He goes back to his spot and further experiments, but all the Potion Creation skill shows are red results. ''In order for me to find a cure, I need to find out what those incomprehensible colors mean. I need to push myself.'' 4 days past. Null has not slept a wink. He is slowly learning how to decipher the colors, but he''s still nowhere near to finding a cure. ''This is too difficult. Is it impossible to find a cure?'' He thinks back to the sick mother and daughter he saw. He then made a face of resolution. ''For my items to sell!'' ****************** In real life, David is in class nodding off. This is a strange sight as it is something that rarely happens. David is usually too on guard against people to nod off, so to actually nod off like this must mean he''s exhausted. Cecile looks at him thinking, ''Was he serious about finding the cure? I thought that finding the cure was something of a whim for him. Why would he go through so much trouble just to sell off some items?'' She shakes her head and continues on with her assignment. ******************* The 9th day. Null still has not gotten more than 2 hours of sleep at a time. He''s starting to get pretty good at deciphering the colors, but having to go and look for new ingredients is taking a toll on him. Some weak monsters around level 50 even almost killed him. He defeated the monsters and set out to find more ingredients. ''For. Items. To sell.'' He thinks to himself. He goes back to his spot and further experiments. ''Okay, so blue striped with yellow means I should boil it at 173 degrees and no more, then dry it. It''s starting to become clearer to me. Red vibrating with green with yellow pulsating out means I have to first dehumidify it, then I have to bake it. Then let it dry. Then reheat. Okay. Now to figure out the other colors.'' Null doesn''t know, but Cici is hiding behind a tree watching him. ''Why is he working so hard? This couldn''t be just to sell his items. He could have easily put a quarter this much effort into finding a new town to go to. What''s going on?'' Finally on the 12th day, a result comes up that Null has been waiting for. The water turns green. ¡°Yes! I found the cure!¡± Null yells triumphant. Cici, who was currently hiding being a tree, was surprised, then skeptical. She comes out and says, ¡°Really? I don''t believe you.¡± Null takes out some paper, then in a split second does his ink hand technique. He''s writing how to make the cure. The ingredients are all found in this area. He writes where to get the ingredients and how to make the cure on the papers. He repeats this, making around 50 copies. He gives them to Cici. Null says, ¡°Give this to some alchemists. Tell them when they get the reward for turning in the cure to make copies and hand it to other alchemists. It will be faster that way.¡± Null then passes out. *********************** It''s been 13 hours. Null has still yet to wake. Cici is currently tending to Null. She took off some of his clothes and armor, so he is currently topless. To say that Cici was surprised is an understatement. Cici thought, ''My goodness.'' She was waving her hand to her face. ''He''s always wearing those huge clothes! Why would you hide such a sexy body!?'' She makes sure Null is asleep, then slowly starts touching his abs. ''Oh he would kill me if he knew I was doing this.'' She stops and gets a wet towel. She starts wiping his face. ''He''s so handsome too. I never noticed because he''s always frowning, but he looks so at peace right now.'' She smiles. ¡°Who the hell said you could get in my personal space?¡± Null says. Null is upset. He has never shown himself topless to anyone after the age of 8. He won''t tell anyone, but he''s incredibly shy when it comes to this sort of thing. He covers himself up and hides under the covers. ¡°Hehehe are you serious? You''re a guy. Why are you doing that?¡± Cici laughs. ¡°Go away.¡± ¡°*sigh* Fine. I''ll leave so you can get dressed.¡± She leaves the cabin. When she leaves Null starts shaking. ''I feel so naked and ashamed, even though I still have my pants on. Being a woman must suck. It''s socially acceptable for me to do this and I still feel horrible.'' Around 10 minutes pass, and Cici knocks on the door. ¡°Can I come in?¡± There''s no answer. ¡°I''m taking that as a yes.¡± She opens the door. Null is currently going through his inventory. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Cici asks. ¡°I''m making sure you or anybody else didn''t steal anything while I was out.¡± ¡°You''re so paranoid!¡± ¡°Hmmm... looks like my Alchemy mastery gained a lot of experience. I''m surprised, as that skill hadn''t grown in a while. So how did the cure thing work out?¡± ¡°There were some problems.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± **************************** Cici goes to Fumes. She doesn''t like him because of how underhanded he is. She says, ¡°Fumes, this is the cure for the disease. Could you copy it and give that bac- Hey!¡± Fumes steals the recipe. He then runs away. ¡°Stop! You thief!¡± Cici yells. Fumes thinks, ''I''ll copy the recipe alright, but then I''ll destroy this one. I''ll recreate it my own way so that I can get the credit for finding the cure.'' Unknown to him, she has copies she already gave to other alchemists, but Cici''s performance is convincing. He tries to burn the original paper with a fire created from the camping skill. It didn''t work. He tries to tear it. It didn''t work. He tries to first get it wet then tear it. Didn''t work. Balling it up? It unraveled good as knew. ¡°What is this paper made of?¡± He thinks astonished. Cici was watching in amusement the whole time. Flashback end: *********************** ¡°Other than that, I did as you said. Everyone is starting to recover! It''s all thanks to you, but still, you could have gotten the rewards and fame all to yourself. I can''t believe it only took you 12 days to complete this mission.¡± ¡°I don''t want any fame. I just wanted to sell my items.¡± ¡°Geez. You''re the same even in the game. You''d rather not have people know of your achievements.¡± ¡°What''s wrong with that?¡± ¡°Nothing. Nothing at all.¡± After sitting like this for a while, they hear a knock on the door. ¡°Come in.¡± Cici says. The person who enters is Loretalon, the alchemist who gave Null the mission. ¡°Ah. You''re finally awake.¡± Null looks at him. Loretalon is still sick, but he''s looking a lot better. The purple spots are nearly gone, and he''s starting to get some muscle back. Null says, ¡°You sure you should be walking about yet?¡± ¡°This much is easy." He walks to Null''s side. "So Cici told me about how it was you who truly found the cure.¡± There are some things that NPCs instinctively know about, such as how Mrs. Allensworth was able to know how many players have the librarian class or anything related to a quest an NPC gives out. They''ll usually know if you try to cheat them, but sometimes they can be tricked. Loretalon had known that Cici was telling the truth, because he instinctively knew Null had found the cure. Null angry looks at Cici. ¡°Why did you tell him that?¡± ¡°Because I knew you wouldn''t.¡± Null sighs and says to Loretalon, ¡°Yeah, what of it?¡± ¡°Well, the alchemist named Tamura got some high grade alchemy items, because he was the one who turned in the cure, but I couldn''t leave you empty handed, so have this."
Advanced Potion Mixing bowl
Enchanted by the best enchanters in the capital, and baked over extreme heat, potions mixed through here have 32% more potency. Tier 9 item
''Wow, Tier 9? Awesome!''
Potion Mixing Spoon
Made by a blacksmith of advanced proficiency and enchanted to an absurd degree. Potions mixed with this spoon have 15% more potency. Tier 8 item.
''Pretty good! The potions I make will now become more potent!'' Null then says, ¡°You know, loaning these items to alchemists could have probably saved a lot of lives.¡± ¡°Don''t question my methods! Well, the reward wasn''t the only reason I came here. You currently know of the alchemist named Plague who caused this epidemic in the first place right?¡± ¡°I''ve heard of him yes, so what?¡± ¡°There is no one here other than you whom I trust this to. Plague goes into different towns and sends notes saying that if they aren''t able to pay him a billion gold in a week, he would wipe them out. He also only visits small towns, knowing that they don''t have that kind of money. He''s a complete monster, so this is the mission that I offer to you. Can you go help find and defeat Plague? Make sure he never does anything like this again.¡± [/size]
Quest: Defeat Plague
Quest Information: You may have cured the disease, but the cause of it is still out there. Go help find the one responsible and bring him to justice. Reward: Unknown Quest Rank: C Penalty if refused: Decreased affinity with Loretalon and the people of Panford. Do you accept?
Null thinks to himself. ''The D-rank mission to cure the sick in Wakefield took me 3 hours. The C-rank mission to cure the sick in Panford took me 12 days. It looks like C-ranks are several orders of magnitude more difficult than D-ranks. I''m not even sure if I can beat it. Besides, I would rather not get the fame.'' Null says, ¡°No.¡±
You have rejected the quest.
¡°What? Why? You have to! It''s of utmost importance! I''ll ask again. Do you accept?¡± The mission box comes up again. ¡°No! Why should I involve myself in something so troublesome? If I complete it, my fame would probably rise, and that''s terrible news for me!¡± ¡°Huh? But we need you! I''ll ask once again. Do you accept?¡± The mission box comes up a third time. Null can now see that he cannot decline this mission. He tries to walk out the door, but its like the game made it so he can''t leave the area unless he accepts. He tries blasting his way through the room with sticky bombs that you stick to the wall and twist to detonate, but all of a sudden, the door, walls, and windows are all made of adamantium. ¡°I don''t have a choice do I?¡± Null says sulking. Cici smiles saying, ¡°Nope!¡± ¡°Ugh. Whatever. Fine.¡± Null says defeated.
You have accepted the quest.
------------------------------------ Author''s Note: Uh oh. Please don''t tell me that Cici is starting to fall for Null! Say it ain''t so! Nah. Couldn''t be. Chapter 22: Null vs Cici Authors note: Is anyone surprised about the title? It was only a matter of time. Null is no toaster. Even he has a boiling point, so I guess that makes him a pot of water instead. ------------------- ¡°Thank you you brave, selfless soul!¡± Loretalon says to Null happily. This causes Null to give Loretalon a look of disdain. ¡°I will send a message to the capital. Now that we have someone who can counter Plague''s disease, he should be easily dealt with. They should send around a hundred people or more to deal with him. Plague''s power is in his poisons, so we don''t need as many people for this C-rank now that we have you. All you have to do when we find his lair is stay back and make us antidotes. It should take around a month and a half for that force to get here.¡± Loretalon says positively. Loretalon makes a message. It works a lot like the messaging system players use. ¡°Hold on.¡± When Loretalon was about to send the message, Null stops him. ¡°What?¡± Loretalon asks. ¡°Since I''m being forced into this quest, I''m going to do it on my terms. I''ll do this by myself.¡± Loretalon and Cici look at Null like he has lost his mind. ¡°Are you daft!? This quest is a C-rank! It requires at least a hundred players that average to 200, and it looks like you haven''t even reached the level 200 milestone!¡± Loretalon yells at Null. ¡°Sorry, but I don''t intend to stay here for a month and a half twiddling my fingers, and I also don''t work well with others. Like I said, if I''m going to do this quest, I''m going to do this on my terms.¡± Null says with no emotion. Loretalon squints at Null, then he closes his eyes and sighs saying, ¡°You foreigners, always thinking you''re invincible. Well since you''re a foreigner, you can''t truly die here. Very well. I will give you a month and a half to let you attempt to finish the dungeon on your own. That''s the time it will take for the force from Qasburg Kingdom to arrive. Whether you beat the dungeon by that time or not, we''ll be coming to back you up.¡± Null nods and heads out the door. Cici runs after him. When Null makes it outside, Cici runs in front of him and blocks his path. ¡°Null, don''t be stupid! There is no way a level 167 alchemist can beat a C-rank dungeon by himself!¡± Cici yells at him. ¡°It''s your fault that I have to do this quest in the first place, and you said the same thing about me finding the cure.¡± Null tells Cici coldly. ¡°This and that are totally different things! You''re only an alchemist! You don''t even have decent weapon! Those gauntlets don''t have any reach! You''re only marching towards your death!¡± ¡°For the record, I''m not an alchemist. I''m a librarian. Now stand aside.¡± ¡°...What? A librarian?" Cici knew the chances of him beating the dungeon by himself were low, but now that she heard Null''s class, she thought the chances of Null beating the dungeon were zero. "Null this is for your own good. If you don''t want to wait on the Qasburg force, how about I call up people from our school? You know them right? I''m friends with at least half our grade in this game. I''ll call them here. We could get a decent number of people to come by week''s end.¡± ¡°You will do no such thing!¡± Null yells at her. ¡°You''ll be thanking me later!¡± Cici yells back. Null gets a look of anger on his face that Cici has never seen on him. When she''s about to send a message, Null grabs her arm and squeezes it. Cici is surprised. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Cici says to Null angrily. ¡°Follow me.¡± Null says to Cici coldly with a look of anger. She obliges and follows him. They walk until they are in the middle of the forest. It''s the same area that Null went to to find the cure. ¡°Why are we here?¡± Cici asks, pretty sure of the reason Null brought her here. Null takes a deep breath, then says, ¡°You know, throughout my entire life, I''ve been mistreated by people, all the time. My parents have always treated me like a nuisance, because I''m not talented like my siblings. My big brother physically and psychologically tortured me just because he could, and my little sister, looking at everyone else in the house, also treated me like my very existence was a sin. At school, it wasn''t any better. I was constantly beat up and made fun of. The person who was my best friend, who was my only supporting pillar in this life, Keimi, betrayed me because she wanted to go out with some guy.¡± Cici''s eyes opened wide thinking, ''No way! It couldn''t be him! There''s no way!'' Null continues saying, ¡°So I decided from then on out that I would be by myself, that I would always do things by myself, and that I would always seek solitude. I also strove to become stronger and smarter so that no one would pick on me again. It was working. People who used to beat me up, I adequately defended myself against them, so the fights eventually slowed down to a crawl. I got a hobby learning about math and science, so I was never bored. Eventually, most forgot about me, just like I had planned. Now people struggle to even remember me, just like I had planned.¡± He then turns to Cici and gives her a look of disdain. ¡°Then you came along.¡± Cici eyes opens wide again, then she closes them with a look of sadness. ¡°I just wanted to live my days in obscurity, but you kept giving me attention. I just wanted to be left alone, but you kept on bothering me. No matter how many times I asked, no matter how many times I pleaded, you refused to leave me alone. I had wanted to play this game solely because I wanted to be in a place where there was no people. I''m not playing this game to gain levels, go on adventures, or compete with other people. I don''t like people. New Reality is vast, so I could easily find places where there would be no people. Not having to hear or see other people whenever I wanted, this place was like a dream come true for me. Now, here you are, trying to take that all away from me.¡± Null puts up his needle launchers and aims them at Cici. She sees them, but her look doesn''t change. Null then says, ¡°The annoying at school? I can forgive. The annoying in the game? Whatever. The forcing me to accept a mission? Sure. Why not? However, what you are doing now is forcing me to lose the purpose for which I am playing the game in the first place. You even threatened to call people from our school, the very same people who I was trying to escape from in the first place. I will kill you. I will keep killing you. My last shred of patience is gone. I won''t let you bully me anymore!¡± Null then launches his needle launchers. She doesn''t even attempt to dodge them. When they hit, her cloth armor blocks most of the damage, but it still manages to damage her. She heals herself at a frightening speed and the needles get pushed out by her healed skin. The poison looks like it can''t keep pace with her rapid healing. Cici looks at Null and tears start falling thinking, ''It''s you. It really is you.'' Null knew that the needles wouldn''t work. He fired the needles to estimate how much time she needs to heal. He thinks to himself, ''She''s too powerful. I only have one shot at killing her. Once that window closes, I can do nothing. Time to put my plan into action.'' Null manipulates his mana for dexterity and rushes towards her. He knows that even though she''s level 238, that she is still a cleric, and would therefore be weak at hand to hand combat. Null rushes towards her and kicks while manipulating his mana for strength. It creates a powerful shock wave that comes out her back, making her fall backwards. When she hits the ground, she realizes that it was actually disguising a pit with multiple spires coming out the bottom of the pit. She falls and impales herself on them. She coughs up blood. Throughout her body, are spires sticking out. Null looks at his results. ''This bitch is as tough as I thought. Why isn''t she fighting back?'' Null thinks while squinting and throws multiple bombs down the hole. He gets back. Multiple blasts come out the hole, and Null even feels the heat. When the explosions die down, smoke comes out the hole. ''My stats aren''t even being reduced. What is she doing?'' Null wonders. Cici wall jumps out the pit trap Null made, and stands right across from Null, staff in her hands. When Null sees her, she looks like a mess. Her clothes have burn marks all over the front. There are blood stains with holes where she was impaled. She also has a huge blood stain on her chest from when she coughed up blood. Other than that, she looks like she hasn''t even fought. Her body looks good as new. There aren''t even scars where the holes are. What surprised Null the most though is her sad smile with tears in her eyes. Let''s take this moment to talk about the cleric class. When compared to other professions of the same level, their strength and dexterity are low. They also have low vitality and are penalized for wearing armor. They also aren''t allowed bladed weapons, so they are usually stuck with staffs, which are relatively weaker weapons. Since they have the lowest health and armor, they are the easiest to take out in one hit. However, there is something that clerics have that the other classes don''t apart from: The ability to rapidly heal themselves and buffs. They have an advantage over someone who needs to take out a health potion and drink it. If a person is fighting a cleric, they have to either make sure that they can be dealt with in one blow, or make sure that the cleric''s healing speed can''t keep up with the damage their outputting. Even on the same level, it is pretty hard to kill a cleric. What makes it worse is that they usually fight with someone protecting them. Null''s problem is even worse than that. Clerics have a stat called morality. It goes up the more good deeds you perform. What that stat does is increase your healing speed. Cici is a person who likes to help others a lot not asking for anything in return, so her morality stat is abnormally high, even when compared with clerics of the same level. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Even if Null was facing a normal cleric of level 238, he would stand little chance, but Cici is a cleric with abnormally high stats, and has intermediate in clerical mastery. Null''s chances of beating her are almost zero. Of course, Null went into battle knowing all this, but he has an ace up his sleeve. There is something that can kill a cleric quickly: Beheading. If you can quickly behead a cleric, you can instantly kill her without worrying about tricky healing techniques. That''s what Null is waiting for, the right opportunity to do it. Null knows that his poisons won''t have any effect on her, so he''s forgoing them. He throws down a smoke bomb. It quickly fills up the area. Cici can''t see Null, but Null can see her perfectly due to his Essence of Mana. He throws multiple bolas out at Cici. She is caught in the middle of them. When the smoke clears, she looks like she is stuck and can''t move. Null calculated how many heavy bolas it would take to keep her down, then he added a few more just to make sure. Null then throws a throwing knife in a seemingly random direction. It cuts a string, which releases a trap of multiple throwing knives that were hidden. Cici sees them coming and braces herself seeing as she can''t move. She is hit multiple times, and her wounds are bleeding profusely. She doesn''t say a sound while she is being hit. Null has to admit that she is a lot tougher than he thought. Her face is in pain, and she starts healing the wounds as Null expects. She is then surprised, as Null comes by extremely quickly, with his blades extended, aiming for her neck. Null swipes. Putting all the mana he could in his arm for strength. He was waiting for this moment. When he does, her cloth armor blocks most of the damage, but it still manages to pierce her neck pretty deep. She rapidly heals the wound. Null grinds his teeth. ''Dammit!'' Null thinks to himself. Null didn''t take into account her cloth armor. He thought it would be normal cloth armor, but he once again had underestimated Cici. Cici not only has her morality stat, but her faith stat. The more the Church of Ianuaria looks favorably upon you, the more your faith stat goes up, the more you can get from them. Her cloth armor isn''t ordinary cloth armor. It covers her neck, and provides ample protection, even from warriors of the same level. At the same time, her staff is special. If her health falls below 5%, the staff will immediately replenish 10% of her mana. Null couldn''t even push her to the brink of using the staff''s effect. He now knows he cannot kill her. ''Dammit!'' He knows that now he can never be free from her. ''DAMMIT!'' Null just starts beating her. He keeps manipulating his mana for strength and dexterity interchangeably and starts beating her like a rag doll. He punches her in the face and sends her flying. He chases after her. He then punches her in the stomach and sends her flying again. He keeps landing blows on her. The bolas eventually unravel from her being repeatedly sent flying, yet she still doesn''t fight back. *********** Null is laying on the ground. He''s tired. He had just lain a blow on her that sent her several meters away. Right now, he''s physically and mentally exhausted. He had to admit though, even though all of that was pointless, it felt good. He doesn''t want to think about that anymore. He knows that she will make good on her promise to call the people from their school. ''I hope there''s not a barrier surrounding this area so that I cannot leave. I don''t have much room for another quest, but seeing as how she''s about to call them I need to leave this area immediately.'' Null is about to walk away. ¡°Null.¡± Cici calls out. He stops and turns around. His look of disdain still has not left his face. Null says to her, ¡°I''m not going to apologize for what I did. I meant every word, and I don''t regret my actions.¡± ¡°That''s fine. I deserved it.¡± Cici looks down sad, not sure of what to say. ¡°I''m sorry.¡± Cici says quietly with tears in her eyes. ¡°What? I can''t hear you.¡± Null says. ¡°I''m sorry! I- I didn''t know! I always thought you were looking down on me! I''ve caused you so much trouble!¡± She says crying. Null looks at this surprised, not expecting that this would happen. He says, ¡°*sigh* It''s fine. If you just leave me alone from now on, then all will be forgiven.¡± She wipes her tears and makes a face of resolution saying, ¡°I''m sorry, but I can''t do that either.¡± Null squints saying, ¡°What do you mean you can''t do that?¡± ¡°I know what you''ve been through, though you looked a lot different back then. I was always watching you. You used to be a lot kinder back then. I guess even you could only take so much.¡± Cici said with a sad smile. ¡°Back then, I was such an idiot. Since I considered you beneath me, I never bothered trying to be your friend. Since I was friends with Keimi, and she was friends with you, I thought it would be fine. That day she betrayed you, I never forgave her. We had a falling out and she then went to a different high school. I haven''t spoken to her since. It was you who gave me the views of not look down on anyone. When I tried looking for you after Keimi betrayed you, I saw that I was too late. The look in your eyes changed. I never looked for you since, and I eventually forgot about you. Imagine my surprise when you and him were the same person.¡± Null says, ¡°I don''t need nor want your pity.¡± Cici then walks to Null and puts her hand on his shoulder. ¡°You came back from the brink, despite everyone looking down on you, you''ve surpassed me in 3 subjects, and you easily found the cure that I couldn''t. How could I ever look down on my rival?¡± Cici smiles. ¡°Okay, about the subject of not being able to leave me alone. You still haven''t answered my question.¡± ¡°Right. Null, I don''t know if you''ve ever been in a dungeon or not, but each dungeon is given by levels, the lowest dungeon being rank E, and the highest probably is S or SS. No one has ever found one that high yet. E-ranks can easily be done by a single person who is level 100. D-ranks can be done by a group of 30-40 people of level 150. C-ranks can be done by hundreds of people of level 200. Sometimes, it takes even a thousand. B-ranks can only be done by the top guilds who number in the hundreds of thousands. A-ranks are so hard, that even the top guilds have a low chance of beating it. S-ranks and above go without saying. Null, you couldn''t even beat me. How do you think you''re going to beat the dungeon?¡± Null frowns, knowing that she has a point. ¡°How about this? I''ll offer a choice for you.¡± Cici says. ¡°I''m listening.¡± Null replies. ¡°You can do the mission by yourself, fail repeatedly, then have to intermingle with the Qasburg force, or you can take me and only me. I promise not to call anyone.¡± Null looks at her. He knows even with her, the chances of the two of them beating the dungeon is still abysmal. ¡°Why would you try going with only me even though the chance you could lose levels are so high? Gaining levels past 200 is difficult.¡± She smiles again saying, ¡°Because I don''t only want to be your rival anymore. I want to be your friend.¡± Null frowns and says, ¡°Sorry, but no. I''m never going to have another friend in this lifetime. However, being forced to go with the Qasburg force, I would feel I was being forced into going in Loretalon''s pace. How about this? We''ll go conquer the dungeon, and once it is over we will go our separate ways. Also, if you call anyone, I will immediately leave.¡± Cici smiles. ¡°Sure. One step at a time. I''ll become your friend eventually.¡± Null sighs.
You have formed a party with Cici.
Null then walks off with Cici. Cici hesitates to say something, but then says, ¡°Null, this is supposed to be common knowledge, but I know you don''t read the forums or watch New Reality News, so I''ll tell you.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You remember Keimi right?¡± ¡°How could I forget?¡± ¡°Heheh right. Well Keimi in this game is a ranker, a ranker that puts most other rankers to shame. She''s called the Wicked Witch of the West. She''s even more powerful than Scarlettflame. Not only is she a ranker, but she owns the 9th most powerful guild in the world, Witch''s Broom. If you want, I can help you take revenge against her.¡± Null doesn''t know why, but he''s starting to hate Cici a lot less. He says, ¡°I don''t want revenge. I just want peace of mind. I wont attack her first, but if she attacks me, I will show no mercy. I appreciate the thought.¡± Cici nods. They''re walking away from the area that was damaged to a great degree because of Null. Cici is walking behind Null, but this time with Null not thinking of plans to escape. She looks at Null thinking sadly, ''You have become an amazing person. Your stats are far above that of a level 167 person. You wouldn''t lie about this sort of thing, because you have no reason to. This means you found a way to greatly inflate your stats. So why? Why is your self confidence so low? Why do you still only think of yourself as someone who has not talent? Well, I''m going to help you. I''ll give you your confidence, and save you from your solitude.'' Cici gets a look of determination. ------------------------- Author''s Note: Cici was impaled by multiple spires, so I guess you can say she was... Inspired? Right? Right? Chapter 23: Null? Who is that? Authors note: Yes! I''ve gotten more than 420 likes! I''m gonna smoke this brisket I''m cooking to perfection, then I''m gonna get that weed pulled that has been growing on my flowerbed! This chapter''s over 5000 words. ---------------- Null and Cici are walking towards Panford. While they''re walking, Cici asks Null, ¡°So Null, what are we going to do?¡± ¡°Well first we need to find the dungeon. We''ll plan from there after we find it.¡± ¡°How are we going to find it?¡± ¡°I have an idea. I''m not 100% sure if it will work though. Before that, I need to get rid of my materials. Let''s go back to your place.¡± ¡°Oh my god Null! You could at least take me out to dinner first!¡± She says giving Null a look of pretend disgust. ¡°Damn you! None of that! I just need a place to store the items I don''t need!¡± Null says flustered. ¡°Suuuure. I won''t help you pick anything up off the floor with my back towards you.¡± Cici says pretending to be scared. ¡°Would you stop that!?¡± She giggles. *********** They make it to the shack Cici was loaned. ¡°Okay Null, place the items here, but make sure you don''t scatter them on the-¡± She hears a loud noise and turns around. Her eyes open wide and she looks up at the small mountain of items. ¡°I''m not cleaning this up Null!¡± Null ignores her remark and says, ¡°We probably won''t be coming back into this town until we beat the dungeon, so you should take what you need.¡± ¡°Wait. Who made you leader?¡± ¡°I did. It''s my mission. You''re just a tag along. You can leave the party at any time. I won''t stop you.¡± ¡°Ugh. I feel I''ve made a mistake somewhere. Well enough of that. Why aren''t we going to be returning to town?¡± ¡°I need to prepare, and we need all the time we can get. We won''t have time to be going to and from town. Also because I fucking hate people.¡± ¡°Okay, okay I get it. So now what do we do?¡± ¡°We look for the dungeon.¡± ¡°Okay. Who knows how many weeks it will be before we find it?¡± Cici says frustrated. Cici gathers all the things she needs and takes it with her. With that done, they soon leave town. ¡°In order for me to test my plan, it needs to be dark, so you can go to sleep if you want.¡± ¡°Fine. I''ll take a nap, but Null, if you step into my tent...¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah I won''t. I need a break from you. Hurry up and go to sleep.¡± They each make separate tents and sleep a few hours until it gets dark out. They then start their preparations. Cici hands Null her map of the area while performing the Light Orb technique. He takes out some paper and copies the map on his paper using the technique Ink Hand. It''s nearly a perfect copy. ''Okay. Lets hope this works.'' ¡°Ingredient Finder.¡± Null thinks of a specific ingredient and the area under his vision lights up. It takes around 30 minutes for him to look where everything grows. He went to a high ground and marked the areas on the map. When he finishes marking all the areas, he draws a new map. ''Now for the next one.'' ¡°Ingredient Finder.¡± He repeats this process with all the high leveled herbs and all the common, but essential to many potions herbs. It takes him several hours for him to complete this. When he''s done, he intersects all the maps together to see where all the herbs congregate the most. There are several intersections. He goes towards one intersection, but he doesn''t go in there. He stays far away from there just observing them in a hidden spot along with Cici. Cici speaks to Null saying, ¡°What are we doing now? I see that you''re trying to find a place where lots of different herbs grow, but shouldn''t we be looking for a cave nearby since this is the best place to start looking?¡± Null shakes his head saying, ¡°There are still far too many caves around here. It would take too long. You said that Plague sends monsters to do his dirty work right?¡± Cici gets it. It looks like a light bulb goes off in her head. She says, ¡°Oh that is smart.¡± They didn''t even have to wait long. Some salamanders start walking over. Null whispers to Cici, ¡°Turn off your Light Orb technique.¡± Cici nods and turns it off. Monsters looking like 2 foot salamanders walk over to where the herbs are and start ingesting different types of herbs. Each salamander only eats one specific type of herb. Null and Cici smirk knowing that they found what they''re looking for. Null thinks, ''It''s unlikely that the salamanders are ingesting those for themselves. Some of those herbs are not necessary for them.'' When the salamanders eat their fill, they start heading back. Cici can''t see them because its dark, but Null can see them perfectly because of his Essence of Mana skill. Null whispers to Cici. ¡°Follow me. I can see them. Don''t use the Light Orb technique.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± She whispers back. She grabs Null''s cloak so that they don''t get separated. They soon follow after the salamanders. The longer they followed them, the more monsters they saw. They didn''t want to alert the salamanders, so they sneaked around the monsters to avoid fighting them. Soon, they saw the salamanders go into a cave. ¡°So I guess that cave is where we''ll look first right? Let''s go.¡± Cici says happy. ¡°I still have to prepare my arsenal.¡± ¡°But, but the cave''s right there.¡± Cici says with a cute whine and pout. ¡°Do you think my bombs grow on trees? You may be a zombie cleric who can heal from most wounds, but I''m still a squishy librarian.¡± ¡°But with my powers, you''ll be a zombie too! Not only that, you''ll be a super powered zombie!¡± ¡°That still won''t be enough.¡± ¡°Fine. Have it your way.¡± They mark the cave''s position on the map. Null heads to one of the areas that had an intersection and starts picking the herbs. When the amount he has is sufficient, he goes towards the mountain face, and heads into one of the random caves. He performs the Light Orb technique and starts mining. He mines out all the iron and coal he could. He mines all he needs relatively quickly since his mining is at Beginner level 4. Null then starts smelting the iron ores with his Instant Forge skill. After he smelts the iron, he starts making needles, arrow heads, and bomb cases. When he''s done with that, he starts brewing his potions and poisons. Cici was watching the whole time amazed. By the time he''s done, it''s morning. ¡°Here.¡± Null says while handing over a bunch of mana potions. ¡°Thanks.¡± Cici says grateful. ¡°Okay, let''s go towards the dungeon.¡± ¡°Oh yay!¡± She says with a smile. ¡°Ugh.¡± This time, they''re not worried about caution, so they are prepared to fight monsters. When they get closer to the cave, a huge green python blocks their way. It''s head is as big as Null. He does identify and sees that it''s level 152. Due to them being in a party, Cici gets the information on the python as well. Null asks apathetically, ¡°Do you want to take care of that or should I?¡± ¡°Really? Sending out a cleric to fight?¡± Cici rebukingly says. ¡°Well I''m a librarian, which is far worse.¡± ¡°I''m not built for combat, and you have moves far more powerful than I could produce. You don''t even need a buff from me.¡± While they''re talking the python decides to strike. They easily dodge it. ¡°Fine. I''ll take care of it.¡± Null says indifferently. Null manipulates his mana for dexterity to rush close to it, then manipulates his mana for strength to hit it. He punches the python on the bottom of its head. It sends a shock wave through its head that comes out the top of its head. This kills the python in one blow. ¡°Oh man. You''re soaking up all the experience. I''m barely getting any at all.¡± Null says disappointed. ¡°Well, yeah. I''m 62 levels higher than you. Of course we''re not going to be getting the same experience.¡± ¡°That makes sense.¡± ¡°Is this your first time partying?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Why am I not surprised?¡± She sighs. They fight many monsters along the way to the cave with Null doing most of the work. They kept getting increasingly more powerful, but were still no match for Null. After a while, they finally make it to the cave they marked. They didn''t notice it at the time because it was dark, but the cave is surrounded by a purple mist. Null examines the mist. ¡°Identify¡±
Plague''s Deadly Mist
This is the same mist that Plague developed. He uses this to infect people with a disease that''s hard to cure. If you touch this, you will grow weaker and weaker and eventually die within a week if there is no one to heal or cure you.
Cici says, ¡°That''s the mist that infected all the towns isn''t it?¡± Null nods and then says, ¡°You''ve taken the antidote already right?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°We have nothing to worry about. Let''s just go. Judging from the mist surrounding it, this should be the right cave.¡± ''No wonder Mr. Alchemy practically forced me to do this mission. You need to have found the cure before you could attempt this dungeon. I accidentally stumbled upon a chain quest.'' Null thought. They pass through the mist with no ill effects happening to them. When they both enter, a message pops up.
You are the first players to enter the C-rank dungeon, Plague''s Hideout. 2X experience for one week.
¡°We did it!¡± Cici says excited. Null ignores her and continues on into the cave. It''s dark, so Cici uses her Light Orb technique. The cave looks like the E-rank dungeon Null did with the Deathroll''s, only a lot wider and with a lot less stalactites and stalagmites. A new message then pops up soon after the first message in front of Null.
For discovering a new dungeon no player has ever been in, Dungeon Finder upgrades to 20% extra damage.
''My dungeon finder upgrades for every new dungeon I find? Nice.'' Null thinks, satisfied. It doesn''t take long until they reach their first monster. It''s a giant black red-striped salamander that''s 2 meters tall and 7 meters long. It''s breathing out a red mist. ¡°Identify.¡±
Red striped Salamander
Information: Known for emitting a highly poisonous substance than can take out a huge amount of health points a second. The area the substance spreads to is huge. The salamander''s movements are very slow.
Level227
Health ???Mana ???
Strength ??? Dexterity ???
Vitality???Charisma???
Intelligence???Wisdom???
Luck???
Attack???Defense???
Since Null and Cici are in a party, she sees the salamander''s stats as well. ¡°This doesn''t really tell us anything does it?¡± ¡°Well, this monster is too high leveled for my identify to work properly. I need to see what it can do. Cici, can you buff me?¡± ¡°Sure. I''m not too familiar with the librarian class, so which stats do you want me to focus on?¡± ¡°Just intelligence, wisdom, and endurance. Focus on those. Anything else that you feel I need I''ll leave to your discretion.¡± ¡°Okay. Null, also know that the higher level a monster is, the harder it is for me to debuff them. It takes more mana to debuff than it does to buff, especially if the monster is a high leveled opponent. This monster is also 60 levels above you. That amount is even greater usually than the difference between players and bosses during boss battles, so be careful.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Cici prepares her chant. ¡°Ianuaria, grant all whom I wish the skills to solve. Intelligence boost! Ianuaria, grant all whom I wish the the skills to understand. Wisdom boost!¡± Null is enveloped in a light. He looks at his stats and is shocked. ¡°Oh my god! I have more than a 100% boost in my stats!¡± ¡°Hehe, that''s because you''re so much lower leveled than me that this is possible. It''s also because I''m a powerful cleric.¡± ¡°Sheesh.¡± Null takes out a bomb and starts running towards the salamander. The salamander sees that someone is running towards it. It starts to inhale deeply. When it does, Null throws a bomb in its mouth. It didn''t do much, but it disrupted the salamander''s technique somewhat. It breathes out and a red cloud comes out. It spreads fast, but Null is able to evade it while manipulating his mana for dexterity. Thanks to Null throwing the bomb, the poison mist didn''t spread through the entire area. Null then takes out a jar from his inventory, and takes a sample of that poison mist. Null throws some bombs at the salamander, noting what it does. It does more damage than usual thanks to Cici''s boost. It looks like that red mist is something that takes a while to recharge, but it has a huge area of effect. ¡°Hey lets get out of here and go deeper into the cave.¡± ¡°You''re not going to kill it? You could do it with my stat boosts.¡± ¡°Nah. Right now we''re doing information gathering.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°Just hold your breath and don''t breathe in that mist.¡± Null throws a smoke bomb. They run through it while holding their breath. The salamander didn''t give chase because it was so slow and it couldn''t see them. When they were safe, they continued walking for a while. Soon afterwards, Cici''s buffs run out. ¡°Hey, don''t worry about buffing me for the duration of this trip unless it''s an emergency.¡± ¡°Any reason why?¡± ¡°You need to conserve your mana, and this first trip is just for information gathering.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Null encounters more Red-striped Salamanders. He gets as much information as he can from them. When he stops seeing things he can learn from them, he just decides to sneak around them. They run across many enemies, but they were creatures that could easily kill Null and Cici right now, so instead of provoking them, he just sits there, watches them, and takes notes. He''s noticing that all the creatures are poisonous in some way, but most of the poisonous creatures are poisons he could deal with. Soon afterwards, they encounter a new troublesome enemy. ¡°Identify.¡±
Purple Striped Salamander
Information: Spits out a vicious paralyzing poison gas that can instantly paralyze anyone under level 253, and slowly paralyze an opponent under level 302.
Level232
Health ???Mana ???
Strength ??? Dexterity ???
Vitality???Charisma???
Intelligence???Wisdom???
Luck???
Attack???Defense???
''...Well fuck me.'' Null thinks to himself. ¡°You sure you don''t need my stat boost for this one?¡± ¡°It should work similar to the Red-striped Salamander.¡± Null goes up to it, and as expected, it starts to inhale. He attempts to throw a bomb inside its mouth, but this type of salamander is a bit faster than the other one. It releases its breath and Null runs for his life. ''Shiiiiit!'' Null thinks while running away. He barely makes it out of the poison cloud. Any slower and he would''ve become paralyzed. He takes out another jar and takes a sample of the paralyzing poison. They walk until they are safely away. ¡°Okay, I''ve got all the information I need. Let''s go back.¡± ¡°Huh? That''s it? We''re not going any further?¡± ¡°Well you can stay here if you want, but I''m leaving.¡± ¡°*sigh*¡± It takes them several hours to leave the cave. Stolen novel; please report. ¡°So what now Null? That 2x experience boost only lasts a week you know.¡± ¡°I know. This won''t take long.¡± Null takes out all the poisons that he has collected. He does the Potion Creation skill on the Red-striped Salamander''s poison first. He''s thinking of antidote to the poison so his Potion Creation skill can work. Null takes out all his ingredients, and the ingredients he needs start glowing yellow. ''Okay, let''s get started.'' It takes him several tries and a lot of failures, but he finally finds the recipe for the antidote for the Red-striped Salamander''s poison. It takes him 4 hours to find an antidote. He repeats this process for the Purple-striped Salamander. This one didn''t take as long, as it only took 2 hours. Null does analysis on the potions to see how they work, and if they will cause harm with any other chemicals he might ingest, and then writes down all his results. He prioritizes making antidotes for the Red-striped and Purple-striped salamanders'' poison, because of their huge area of effect. Maybe Null and Cici could deal with one or two, but 10 or 20? They would be killed quickly. Cici was watching him wide eyed with fascination. He then takes out some paper, a canvas, paint, and charcoal. He draws and paints multiple pictures of the different monsters he has seen. One of the pictures of the Red Striped Salamander looks down and sad. He makes it so it can''t even stand. The background is dreary. He does the same for all the other monsters. He then starts drawing a person. It''s a person who is being bitten by a multitude of different poisonous creatures. Despite being bitten, the man looks like those bites don''t even affect him. When he finishes drawing it, he paints it, making it very detailed and professional. Cici was quiet the whole time just watching him. He finishes the painting, and a message pops up.
Poison doesn''t work. This man shrugs off poison like it tickles. It inspires toughness and perseverance. For seeing this picture, 20% more resistance to poisons, 10% more attacking power to creatures using poison. These effects last throughout the day.
Cici''s eyes open even wider thinking, ''His painting gives effects that powerful?'' When he finishes, he shrinks the picture down with Calligraphy Expansion and Contraction and glues it over his chest plate. Cici once again is surprised. The last thing that Null does it write down all the information on all the different monsters he saw in the dungeon. Using ink hand, he rapidly writes down all the information. This part didn''t take barely any time as all, as his ink hand makes it so he can write full pages in a few seconds. No matter how many times Cici sees it, she can''t help but be surprised each time. ¡°Okay. Let''s go back to the cave.¡± Null tells Cici. ¡°Right.¡± They make it back to the cave, with Null fighting the different monsters along the way. Before they go in, Null hands Cici a potion. ¡°What''s this?¡± Cici asks. ¡°The antidote to the paralyzing potion from that Purple-Striped Salamander. Its attacks make it so that it spreads throughout the area. You could stop the skill from doing much damage if it''s one Purple Striped Salamander, but a bunch together would be impossible to stop. This will make you immune to it. Those are the monsters you will deal with. Me though?¡± He takes out another potion. ¡°This is the antidote to the Red Striped Salamander''s poison cloud. If you''re hit with the cloud, it will subtract an unknown amount of health points a second, but taking this potion will reduce it to zero health points a second.¡± ¡°That''s so amazing, but why can''t we take both at the same time?¡± ¡°Because taking them both at the same time will cause a deadly poison. You have the paralyzing protection potion instead of the health protection potion because you''re a cleric of great skill, and could easily recover your health.¡± She blushes from the praise. It''s the first time Null had ever complimented her. ¡°Okay, let''s form some sort of strategy. When you''re buffing me, only focus on my Intelligence, Wisdom, and Endurance stats. Anything more than that I''ll leave to your discretion. Also, since you say its harder to debuff, and it takes more mana than buffing, don''t worry about it. Just focus on buffing me. When you run low on mana, I''ll throw you mana potions since your bag can''t hold anymore of them.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± They go into the cave and walk until they see their first enemy. It''s the Red-striped salamander. Null takes out the painting of the Red-striped Salamander and says, ¡°Art is Feeling.¡± The technique activates, it takes around 10 minutes for the skill to take effect. If it wasn''t for Null having intermediate in that skill, it probably wouldn''t have worked at all, due to the gap in levels between the monster and Null. Now it is considerably weakened. Null runs towards the salamander while Cici says her chants to boost Null''s intelligence and wisdom. The salamander prepares its technique, but Null rushes towards it. Seeing how fast Null is, the salamander releases the red mist prematurely, but it has no effect against Null. He makes it to the salamander and goes to its weakest point: Its belly. Right now, Null has 20% extra damage due to the Dungeon Finder title, 10% more attacking power to creatures who have poison thanks to the painting he made, 10% extra damage due to knowing everything there is to know about the Red-striped Salamander, and its weak points are shown in red. There is also the more than 100% boost in his intelligence and wisdom stats. All this resulted into a very nasty blow. Null manipulated his mana for strength, and kicked the huge salamander in its belly sending it airborne. That huge salamander could do nothing against Null. It exhaled, but it wasn''t its attack. It was air that was kicked out. Null then jumped after the salamander it tried to fight against him, but it was too sad to do anything. Null then performed an ax kick slamming it into the ground. He then landed and stomped on its belly again, killing it. Three blows. Null took out a monster 60 levels above him in three blows. If anyone were to see, they wouldn''t believe it. The dust cleared and they were about to leave until Cici says something. ¡°Null, could you pick up that boulder? I dropped my ring of prosperity under it.¡± ¡°Fine.¡± He picks up the boulder and Cici picks up her ring. She gives a big smile. ¡°Thank you!¡± ¡°Um, sure.¡± Null is about to go forward when Cici calls out to him again. ¡°Null.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You have intermediate in at least 4 classes don''t you? Well, since the librarian class is your main class, I''m guessing it''s 5. Right?¡± This causes Null to freeze. He starts to sweat. ¡°N-No. What makes you say that?¡± ¡°Because of all the things you made. They are way too amazing for someone not to be at intermediate. I deliberately made you pick up a boulder that a person of level 167 wouldn''t possibly be able to carry, even accounting for class bonuses. I know that you use some sort of unknown method to temporarily enhance your strength and dexterity, but it only lasts a fraction of a second. You could have an item that could have given you this huge boost in stats, but right now, you aren''t wearing any items that boost your stats to that extent. You could have them hidden on you, but from what I''ve seen by taking off your shirt and armor...¡± Cici averts her eyes from Null. Null face turns red and averts her eyes from her. ¡°There are no such items that you can possibly have that will give you stat gains of that magnitude. You could have gotten the gains from hand to hand being at a moderately high level, but that skill only takes effect if you''re in a battle. I''ve calculated what a level 167 person would have, even taking into effect the bonuses a person gets for each class. In your base form without using that enhancing technique, the power you possess belongs to someone who has intermediate in at least 5 classes.¡± ¡°You pulled that out your ass. I could''ve just saved some super powerful enchanter. You don''t know. What you''ve calculated is just a coincidence.¡± Cici smiles wide saying, ¡°I also know the skills someone unlocks when they reach intermediate in the art, calligraphy, alchemy, and blacksmithing class. You''ve already used the skills someone gains at intermediate right in front of me.¡± ¡°Oh Fuck.¡± Null facepalms. This is probably one of the dumbest things he''s ever done, and that even taken to account his foolishness during the beginning of the game. Null feels like hitting himself. ''Dammit. Curse my wanting to make skills with my all.'' ¡°Don''t worry. I won''t tell anyone.¡± Null knows even if she does tell anyone, he has no one to blame but himself. ¡°Wow. 5 classes at intermediate? The number of people who have 2 classes in intermediate can be counted on 2 hands, and yet you have 5. That should be physically impossible, considering how long New Reality has been out, but knowing you, you pulled it off.¡± She looks at Null with an admiring gaze. ''I was so focused on preparation for the dungeon I forgot to hide my skills.'' ¡°So how did you find a way to raise your stats in a split second like that? Can you tell me? Pleeeeeeease?¡± She says with starry eyes. He tries the tactic of deny, deny, deny. It''s the only think he can do now. ¡°I''m just a normal a librarian.¡± ¡°Normal librarian? Heh. A ¡°normal librarian¡± would''ve deleted their account at level 25!¡± She also has a point. Null sometimes forgets that she''s the smartest person in their school. He''s already in deep doodoo. Might as well just tell her. Can''t get much worse. ¡°I got the temporary stat boost from Essence of Mana. It''s at Intermediate level 2.¡± This shocked Cici almost as much as learning about having 5 intermediate classes. ¡°How could you possibly grow it that much!? The highest known level for that is Beginner level 2, and it''s still useless. You must be the first!¡± ¡°No, I wasn''t the first to reach intermediate. When my librarian class hit intermediate, I was awarded extra fame for being the first. However, that didn''t happen when my Essence of Mana hit intermediate, so someone must have leveled it up to intermediate before me.¡± ¡°Wow! Amazing! Amazing! Amazing! Amazing!¡± ¡°Geez. I thought you would start being less annoying to me.¡± ¡°Old habits die hard dammit! Besides, I''m being rather courteous after I''ve been dropped into a pit, impaled, blown up, stabbed repeatedly, and nearly beheaded.¡± ¡°Well that''s what happens when you don''t watch where you''re going.¡± Null says with a shrug. Cici squints at him. ********* In Panford, the first people being healed are starting to head out. The town is slowly becoming more and more active. ¡°Old man Jenkins, you''re looking more lively!¡± A guy says to him happy. ¡°Haha, do I? I honestly didn''t think I would survive that disease. That Cici is amazing able to keep me alive so long.¡± ¡°And thanks to Null finding a cure, we no longer have to sit and wait for the disease to claim us.¡± ¡°Bah! Null that jerk! Cici was so easy on the eyes! Now she has no reason to see me anymore!¡± ¡°Hahaha! Jenkins you are too much.¡± ************* A mother starts standing after a cleric is done healing her. The daughter starts crying tears of joy. She runs up to her mother and hugs her. ¡°Mom! You''re okay! I''m- I''m so glad.¡± Tears keep flowing from the child. The mother smiles and hugs her with one arm while patting the daughter''s head with the other. ¡°You''re doing fine as well.¡± The mother starts crying too. She looks in the air and then says, ¡°Looks like he kept his promise.¡± ¡°Yes! I knew he could do it! I want to thank him.¡± ¡°I do as well.¡± The cleric there is confused and asks. ¡°Oh do you mean Tamura? I don''t recall her coming in here.¡± The mother shakes her head and says, ¡°No, it was Null who found the cure.¡± ¡°Null?¡± The cleric thinks and then remembers someone who came in the house promising to cure them. ¡°Oh him! I totally forgot about him. I don''t even remember what he looks like.¡± ********** A Potion Commotion member runs up to their leader. ¡°Boss, boss! Did you hear? A person called Null found the cure! All the NPCs are talking about it.¡± ¡°Damn that Null, if I were to ever see him I''ll kill him. How will I ever manage to impress Cici now? I know! I''ll write a love letter!¡± ¡°Anyway.¡± Rick, the vice leader says, trying to avoid that subject. ¡°That name does sound kind of familiar. I think we''ve seen him before, but I have no clue.¡± ¡°Hmmm... Wasn''t there a person named Null who hung out with Cici?¡± ¡°Oooooh.¡± Everyone exclaims at the same time. ¡°I don''t even remember what he looks like. He had such a small presence.¡± The leader says, disgruntled. ¡°Oh we could bring up videos on our pods right?¡± ¡°No. The videos saved from the pod get deleted 24 hours real time, which is 5 days in here, if you don''t save the content.¡± A member says. ¡°Well damn. How are we supposed to plan our revenge if we don''t know what he looks like?¡± ************ At New Reality News station, there''s a beautiful anchorwoman talking. Her name is Millie Noel, a person who uses her looks, flirting, and cunning to gather views for the network. She''s one of the reasons New Reality News got so popular. She speaks. ¡°Hello and welcome to New Reality News, home for the up to date coverage for all the important events happening in New Reality! The war for control of the city Zane is getting intense! It looks like the Nightmare Crusaders Guild is pushing back the Braveguard Guild. This is an unexpected development, as the Braveguard Guild is the 72nd most powerful guild in the world while the Nightmare Crusaders Guild don''t even have a known rank! People at first thought it impossible for a newly established guild like the Nightmare Crusaders to beat a powerful force like the Braveguard Guild, but the Nightmare Crusader''s growth has been scary. Rumor has it that their leader is ruthless, and would do anything in order to obtain victory.¡± A handsome anchorman by the name of Conner London speaks saying, ¡°If the Nightmare Crusaders manage to win control of Zane, it would mean that the Nightmare Crusaders will be recognized as the new powerful force within that city.¡± She smiles her beautiful smiles and says, ¡°I look forward to hearing the results of that battle. In other news, there has been a C-rank quest going on that''s all the rage for clerics and alchemists. It was a mission to cure Panford from a deadly epidemic caused by someone the people call Plague. Judging from my sources, it appears that someone called Null found the cure, and get this. It only took him 12 days!¡± ¡°Is that good?¡± Conner asks. ¡°That''s incredible! That mission wasn''t estimated to be done in at least another 1 to 3 months!¡± ¡°Really now? Such an alchemist must be well known.¡± ¡°No one has ever heard of him. We don''t even know what he looks like. We asked around and people don''t seem to know either.¡± ¡°Well he must be trying to cast a mysterious image of himself. Well, in other news,... *********** At One Winged Angel Guild, currently the 6th most powerful guild in the world, the alchemist branch members are talking about Null''s mission. ¡°Someone named Null actually beat a C-rank in 12 days.¡± ¡°Really? That nearly rivals our top members'' alchemy abilities. Maybe we should invite him here.¡± ¡°Nah forget it. If it was someone who wanted to join a guild, they wouldn''t be so secretive.¡± ¡°You got a point.¡± ***************** At Kurokage Guild, currently the 4th most powerful guild in the world and located in the Qudao Empire in the east, their alchemist branch members are talking about Null''s actions as well. ¡°This Null must think he''s the shit. I want him to come over here. Let''s show him how he''s just a speck in the sand compared to us.¡± ¡°People like that must be taught a lesson so that they don''t become arrogant.¡± ¡°Too bad no one knows what he looks like.¡± One guy says depressed while kicking a pebble. ************** The vast majority of people don''t care about the news about Null, but a few alchemists, and alchemist branches of powerful guilds are all discussing Null''s actions. Some are impressed, some are jealous, some are apathetic, but most agree on one thing: A new highly skilled alchemist has arrived on the scene. ************ A warrior and a merchant meet up to talk about what they had heard on New Reality News. ¡°Do you think that that could be him?¡± The merchant says. The warrior smirks saying, ¡°Of course. Do you know of any other high level alchemists named Null? Looks like he''s doing part of the work for us. Now would be the time to put our plan into action.¡± The merchant nods saying, ¡°We''re going to be so rich.¡± The warrior does an evil smile saying, ¡°Filthy rich.¡± *********** Cici and Null decide to take a lunch break, and art currently eating some bread that Null had made. Cici is browsing and chatting in the chatrooms like she always does when she''s on a break in the game. She sees something and cringes. ¡°Um, Null?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Um, remember when you got that mission to cure the sick?¡± ¡°Yeah. What about it?¡± ¡°Um, you''re now kind of famous among the alchemists. New Reality News talked about you.¡± She smiles apologetically. ¡°.......................FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUU-¡± --------------------- Author''s Note: Oh this should be fun. Chapter 24: Old habits really do die hard Author''s Note: Guess who''s back? I apologize. I had a new job and writer''s block. I''ll let you guys know next time something like this happens. To make up for it, I''ll do a double release today. How long has it been since I uploaded a new chapter? Like a week? ------------------------------- Null is currently laying down in fetal position rolled up like a ball. He tried not to cry, but he ended up crying a lot. Cici occasionally patted Null''s back and said words of encouragement. She didn''t know what else to do. Null has been like this for the past 17 hours in-game. Suddenly, Null gets out his depression and stands up. Cici finally relaxes and breathes out a sigh of relief. She has been on edge the entire time. She says to Null, ¡°Finally ready to go?¡± Null nods and says, ¡°Yes. It''s been fun. So this is how far I was able to go. Delete account!¡±
You are now trying to delete your account. When you delete your account, all rewards, titles, levels, and experience you have gathered will be deleted. All of your possessions will go to the town in which your avatar was created unless you give someone a will which will enable them to get all your items as soon as your account is deleted. Are you sure you want to delete your account?
¡°WAAAAAAIT!¡± Cici yells out while running at full speed. She did a full on tackle and pushed Null onto the floor. Null scowls saying, ¡°What are you doing?¡± ¡°I should be asking you that!¡± ¡°Isn''t it obvious? I''m going to delete my account. I''m never stepping foot inside this world again. Now could you please get off of me? This position is starting to turn me on.¡± Cici blinks, and now pays attention to the position she''s in. She sees that right now, she''s sitting on Null''s pelvis and has his arms locked to the ground. ¡°Ah!¡± She yells out. She quickly gets off of him and gets her blushing under control. She''s very embarrassed. Null gets off the ground and dusts himself off. After Cici has calmed down, she says, ¡°Why are you deleting your account?¡± Null sighs and says, ¡°Well I recall telling you why I played this game in the first place right?¡± ¡°Yeah. You played this game because you said you wanted solitude, but just because some people know about you doesn''t mean that you should delete your account! That''s overkill!¡± ¡°It''s not only that. I was forced to do this C-rank. I already knew that C-ranks were beyond my capabilities, yet I was forced to do it. I could run from this mission, but the penalties for abandoning a mission are severe, and they keep increasing according to the mission difficulty. This mission was given by Qasburg Kingdom, which means that if I were to abandon this mission I would be wanted all over the Goldcrest Empire since Qasburg is a member of it.¡± ¡°Then just don''t abandon the mission! Finish it and then you can go back to your solitude!¡± ¡°No, the worst reason is that I was forced to choose between either having to do the mission with the Qasburg force or having to do the mission with you! You! I fucking hate you! Anything that forces me to interact with you is the most fucked up, diabolical thing ever! Now I''m famous on top of that!? Fuck that, I''m out!¡± Cici is sweating. She knows that Null is serious. She does not want someone who has gotten 5 classes to the intermediate level and someone who manged to get Essence of Mana to intermediate to delete their account. That would just be a huge waste. Once you delete your account, it will be gone forever and there would be nothing you can do to get it back. She starts thinking up a plan. ¡°Hahaha. Null don''t be silly. This will all blow over quickly.¡± Cici says with a strained smile. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Think about it. First of all, no one knows what you look like.¡± ¡°You''re lying.¡± ¡°Nuh-uh. Look at the forums that are talking about you.¡± Cici pulls up the forums from her menu. You cannot connect to the web from inside New Reality, but you can browse the forums and chat rooms. When she pulls up the menu to show to Null, sure enough, when he goes to the discussions on him, there is no one who knows what he looks like. ¡°And Null, think about this. The vast majority of people don''t even care about alchemists. Even of those who do care, they''ll all forget about it within a month''s time in-game, which should be around the time that we beat the dungeon!¡± Null is starting to feel a bit better. She continues saying, ¡°Besides, they''ll be looking for an alchemist! Your main class is librarian! Within a month''s time, you''ll be a forgotten loser! No one would want anything to do with you!¡± Null feels inspired from what she said. He nods in understanding and says, ¡°Perhaps you''re right. I was a little too hasty in trying to delete my account. I had almost forgotten about my dream. If you want to reach your dreams, they must be fought for. I gave up too easily.¡± ''What a stupid dream.'' Cici thinks to herself. ¡°Well lets go finish this dungeon. The sooner we separate the better.¡± Cici nods and she goes on ahead. When she''s far away enough, Null goes under options and goes to screen capture. ''Okay. Now let''s rewind it back to when she tackled me, preparing to save, aaaaaand done. It''s been a while since I''ve made a new deposit to my spank bank.'' They resume their expedition, defeating monsters on the way. Thanks to Cici''s boost to Null, the monsters are easily dealt with. Along the way, Null starts getting wary thinking, ''This is supposed to be a C-rank dungeon right? I heard you need around hundreds of high leveled 200''s or thousands of low level 200''s to beat it, yet with just the two of us, we have easily gotten this far. Even with both of us at intermediate, it''s still far too easy. The most monsters we fought at the same time has been 5. What''s going on? Well, this is still only the beginning of the dungeon.'' The cave starts getting narrower and narrower the more they progress until there is only enough room for them to enter one at a time. It takes a while, but they see up ahead that the cave starts getting wider again. They''re about to go out when they see a monster up ahead. It looks like it guards the tunnel. It''s an enemy they''ve seen before: A giant dart frog. Null thinks to himself, ''This one is level 243. We can probably beat it, but we need to get out this narrow corridor.'' Cici performs her buffs on Null. When she finishes, he tries to rush out as fast as he can. The frog opens its mouth and its tongue shoots out incredibly quickly, far faster than what Null can see. He puts up his arms to block. Even though he blocked successfully, he still gets pushed back and rams into Cici. They tumble and hit the wall. Null gets up and tries again, not even caring that he slammed into her.
You have been poisoned. 300 health per second for 60 seconds.
Null takes out the antidote to dart frog poison and drinks it. He has fought with this particular kind of monster before, and had already prepared an antidote beforehand, though he has never met one this high leveled. He manages to bring the poisoning damage down to a level that can be easily dealt with. Cici frowns while trying to think of a way out. She says, ¡°Null, do you have anything that can stall him so that we can get out of this narrow passageway?¡± Null throws a bomb at the frog to see how it responds to projectiles. Sure enough, its tongue whacked the bomb back towards them. Luckily, the bomb exploded from contact with the frog''s tongue. ''Good. Even though its far higher leveled than me, its defense is weak. I have an idea on how to take care of this.'' Null thinks. He throws more bombs at it and it deflects it with its tongue. While the frog was deflecting the bombs with its tongue, Null starts running towards the frog. Cici was right behind him. ''Okay. I need to get closer in order to launch the needles.'' He throws more bombs. This time, they were smoke bombs. When it came into contact with the frog''s tongue, smoke quickly fills up the area. The frog wasn''t be able to see them, but since they''re in a narrow corridor, it ultimately doesn''t matter. That''s what the frog thinks. He then sees the needles. The frog''s tongue may be fast, but it cannot use its tongue to deflect that many needles. It knows it can''t jump out of the way, lest those two people come out of the corridor and become a threat. It sits there and uses its tongue to try and deflect as many of the needles as possible. Some bypass the tongue and hit him. The frog notices that the needles are poisoned, but he feels that the poison is far too weak to affect him much so he''s not worried. Just when he thinks that everything is under control, an arrow far faster than the needle strikes him in his eye. He croaks in pain trying to get the arrow out of its eye with its tongue. It takes a few seconds, but he gets it out. It''s relieved. It turns back to the entrance. The smoke still hasn''t cleared. It launches its tongue randomly in so it can hit the humans and clear the smoke. When the smoke clears, he notices the humans are gone. ''Did they run away?'' The frog thinks. He then felt a pain from his back left leg. It''s from an arrow. He jumps high into the air and strikes his tongue out. What he hit was a crossbow launcher that was attached to a stand. He looks around and can''t find the humans. Splech! He feels a searing pain on his back. Null had used wires to hold him and Cici on the ceiling, then dropped on his back. If they had fought head on, Null would never have been able to touch him because the frog is just too fast. Now that he made contact, he doesn''t have to worry about that. He impales the frog with a spear. Though the spear barely does any damage at all due to Null''s library class, it makes it so that Null doesn''t fall off.
You have been poisoned. 300 health per second for 60 seconds.
Null thinks to himself, ''Touching the frog''s skin directly will give me the poison condition, even with armor on. I have to kill him quickly. I don''t have that many antidotes to the frog''s poison, and its poison is far more powerful than the other dart frogs I fought, so I have to take even more of the antidotes.'' Null keeps slashing down. Luckily for him, the frog''s tongue loses a lot of its speed when it tries to hit Null on his back. After 15 minutes of Null slashing the frog with his gauntlets and Cici constantly healing them both, the frog finally dies. Null thinks, ''I have a very weird feeling. We''ve been traveling and fighting for a week, and the monsters have been very difficult, but not so difficult that hundreds of level 200''s couldn''t take care of them. I just wish that the difficulty would hurry up and rise so that I won''t be so anxious anymore.'' ¡°Nice work Null! Awesome!¡± ¡°Whatever. Let''s just divide the loot and go.¡± ¡°Rude.¡± The drops consist of combat boots, a tunic, a shield, and 74 gold. Null and Cici both don''t need any of those things, but decide that the combat boots and shield will go to Null, while the tunic will go to Cici. They split the 74 gold between them easily. Null and Cici keep walking forward with Cici trying to start conversations and Null constantly ignoring her. ¡°Null, please talk to me.¡± ¡°Why? You''re doing enough talking for the both of us.¡± This continues until they see the next group of monsters. It''s the Purple Striped salamander. Null grimaces when he sees it because it''s surrounded by 20 other monsters who are all above level 200. The salamander is at level 232. Most of them are scorpions that are between level 215 to level 227. There''s some poison dart frogs that are level 231 to 234. Cici gets nervous and says to Null, ¡°There''s no way we can take on this many opponents by ourselves.¡± Null says, ¡°Don''t worry. Our only opponent mostly is going to be the Purple-Striped Salamander.¡± ¡°What do you mean by that?¡± Null ignores her and rushes out to attack. Cici performs the buffs while he''s running. The monsters except for the salamander go on to attack. Null thinks, ''Looks like its not as dumb as it looks. It won''t release its poison while the other monsters are fighting, but sadly that salamander doesn''t have a choice in the matter.'' Null manipulates his mana for dexterity. Even with the boosts from Cici, he can''t dodge all those blows coming from the other monsters, but Cici''s phenomenal healing skills save Null. When he gets close to the salamander, it gets nervous and starts to release its breath. The salamander knows that the paralyzing breath is all he has. He''s slow, has weak strength and dexterity, and has a weak defense. The salamander also knows nothing can stop its breath, so even if he hits his allies, he can take his time killing the humans, and the poison would eventually wear off. He breathes out his paralyzing poison vapor. Null could have interrupted it, but he wanted the poison to blow out at full strength. Every living thing inside the area gets hit with the paralyzing poison, including Null and Cici. Most immediately drop down. Everyone who falls is only capable of shallow breathing. However there is one who is still standing. The salamander is shocked, and if it could sweat, it would. He relied on only he himself being able to move. He breathes in and fires it again. Once again it covers the area, but Cici looks totally fine. ¡°I''ve got to hand it to you Null. You sure do know how to make an antidote. I can''t feel the poison effects at all!¡± Null is currently paralyzed, so he can''t respond back. Even if he weren''t paralyzed and could respond back, he wouldn''t on account that its Cici, his most hated enemy. Cici starts grinning at the purple-striped salamander that''s trying to retreat. She buffs her stats in strength and dexterity, and starts rushing towards the salamander. The battle was anticlimactic. She just jumps on the salamander''s back and bashes him with her staff until he dies. She then kills the other monsters there the same way while they were still paralyzed. When she''s done, she walks over to Null and tells him, ¡°That was some good exercise swinging around my staff like that.¡± She then looks at Null''s condition and says, ¡°Looks like you''re going to be useless for a while. Hmm... Maybe I should steal your things while you''re down and can''t move. Hehehehe.¡± The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Null squints at her provocation. ¡°Geez. I''m only kidding. Should I carry you? But I''d rather not touch you. You''re soo gross!¡± She then sticks her tongue out and plays the ¡°I''m not touching you!¡± game. Null just shuts his eyes to relieve himself of the irritation standing before him. She then says, ¡°Geez. You''re no fun.¡± Around 15 minutes pass until the poison permeating Null''s system starts wearing off. Cici watches him standing up and says, ¡°Finally. Can we go now?¡± Null ignores her and continues further into the cave. They hunt for several hours. The enemies start to get more and more numerous and powerful. They start barely surviving their encounters. Cici who was a little confident at the time due to Null''s skills starts to have doubts on their ability to finish a C-rank dungeon. The cave is starting to get to her. They had almost died fighting from the last group of monsters, and this is still only near the beginning of the cave. When they walk further, they see a big opening. To both their horror, the place was filled with thousands of monsters. The salamanders, the poisonous creatures, even giant flying mosquitoes were all there. Their faces get drained of all color. They had been walking without break thanks to Null for the past 19 hours. Cici says frightened, ¡°Maybe we should take a break before entering that deathtrap.¡± Null for once agrees with her. They head back to a previous safe place they found. Every 300 meters or so, Null searches for areas where monsters do not show up mostly by using his Essence of Mana. They find an empty area where they will rest and make camp. When they enter it, Null uses his Ink hand technique to draw an inky line dividing that area into two. Null says to Cici without looking at her, ¡°That''s your side. This is mine.¡± It takes them a while to set up their different areas and they finally finish. Cici says, ¡°Null, if you cross that line, I''ll kill you in the game and in real life!¡± ¡°Well judging from what you say, at least you aren''t foolish enough to come to my area. I''ll tell you one better. Whoever crosses that line gets riddled with explosives.¡± ¡°Why would you do that!? I could accidentally cross that line! A monster could come and I would have no choice but to go to that side! Get rid of them!¡± Null looks at her disgruntled and says, ¡°You said that if I were to cross that line, you were going to kill me in the game and in real life, and yet here you are saying I can''t do the same? I''m not even threatening you with real life killing. Besides, I need these bombs to protect me from the most dangerous monster in this entire cave.¡± Cici gets shocked and curious. She asks, ¡°Really? What''s the monster''s name?¡± ¡°Honors Society President or annoying cleric. I dunno.¡± ¡°Asshole! Get rid of them!¡± ¡°Then what will protect me?¡± ¡°Get. Rid. Of. Them.¡± ¡°Always taking everything dear from me. First my solitude, now my bombs. You don''t even have the courtesy to go die in a ditch. Fine, I''ll get rid of them.¡± After Null picks up the bombs, he sits up against the wall preparing for sleep looking at Cici with wary eyes. He then hears Cici saying, ¡°Null, I know I''m beautiful and amazing, but I hope you don''t do anything disgusting to my body while I''m asleep. Restrain yourself okay?¡± ¡°You''re plenty disgusting enough as it is. You don''t need my help in that department.¡± ¡°Jerk.¡± ¡°Irritant.¡± Sparks flew between their gazes. They avert their eyes and soon fall asleep over their respective sides. Even though Null said he would get rid of the bombs, there are still some surrounding him. He still doesn''t trust her, but she has kept her word so far to help Null clean up the mess that she had started. Though Null may not be able to kill her, the same can be said for Cici''s ability to kill him, which is why he agreed to work with her temporarily in the first place. Several hours pass when Null wakes up first. He hears the snores on the other side of the room so he assumes Cici is asleep. Null decides that he''ll do an activity and wait for her to wake up. He thinks, ''Smithing is too loud. I could try and level my librarian mastery, but that would require snooping around trying to find new things, and I would rather not be accused of trying to find something of that girl, so that only leaves alchemy, painting, and calligraphy. Out of all the skills that I have in the main and sub classes, I''ve only figured how to level up alchemy more, but to level that up would require weeks to complete even a single potion. I still don''t know what I should do to level up painting and calligraphy, so I''ll work on figuring out how to level up painting for now.'' Null activates his light orb skill. He takes out the primary paint colors of red, yellow and blue, then takes out some paper that he made accompanied by some paint brushes and charcoal. ''Okay. What to draw, what to draw?'' He looks around and sees only rocks and ragged walls. He then hears a snore and looks over. It''s Cici still sleeping. Null looks at Cici''s sleeping figure and starts unconsciously drawing her with the charcoal. He has drawn while not really being aware of it often. It''s a state of mind that Null achieves when he''s inspired. When he sees something he wants to draw, he draws it. He has never gotten in trouble for what he has drawn because no one ever sees what he draws, so he has never restrained himself from drawing. The pictures would end up being destroyed and recycled anyway. This habit will come back to bite him in the ass later. He finishes the picture of her and starts painting it. When he is done, he looks at the picture satisfied and thinks, ''Beautiful. When she shuts her mouth, she is simply beautiful. Of course, Luciana shits on her if comparing looks, but then again, Luciana shits on everybody when comparing looks, so it''s not fair to compare them.'' While admiring his artwork, he realizes something. ''Wait a minute. Going on an adventure with just the two of us? Our bickering? Me noticing how beautiful she is? What the hell is with all these relationship flags!? Why am I only now just noticing this!?'' Null gets a solemn look. ''If I''m not careful, this will end up like all those other times.'' ************ Null''s Imagination: It''s real life in a park. Cecile had forcibly dragged David here. She''s walking by his side with David being under duress. Cecile says, ¡°David, wasn''t this the perfect day?¡± ¡°Yep. Holding me here against my will, holding my AR glasses hostage, and colluding with my sister to force me here? The only way this day could get more perfect is if we were going to get my dick chopped off.¡± ¡°Hehe David, you''re so funny.¡± David grumbles. When she''s not paying attention, David snatches back his AR glasses from Cecile. He says to her, ¡°Now our business has been concluded.¡± Cecile panics and says, ¡°David could you follow me for a second? There''s something I wanna show you.¡± ¡°Hell no.¡± She runs in front of him and says, ¡°Pleeeeeease?¡± Cecile says with upturned eyes and quivering lips. Now usually, David is a hyper rational misanthrope who would''ve just ignored her and walked off, but since her face was so close and her face was so cute, Null wasn''t thinking right. He is not immune to a beautiful woman''s charms. In fact he has less of a resistance that the average guy. This is due to him not interacting with people. He tells her, ¡°Well m- maybe for a little while.¡± ¡°Yay!¡± She grabs his hand and runs off. David, now out of his stupor from that earlier charm attack thinks, ''What have I done?'' She brings him to a spot on top of a hill and says, ¡°Look at the sunset. Isn''t it beautiful?¡± Null gives her an apathetic look, then looks out the sunset. He thinks, ''The sunset has always brought back traumatic memories, and yet I can''t ever look away from it. It looks like its legacy will continue with the HS president.'' Cecile then grabs David''s hands and holds them while pressing her chest against his. David is shocked and says in a panic, ¡°W-What are you doing!?¡± She ignores his question and closes her eyes and puckers up. David thinks to himself, ''Is- Is this what I think it is? But that''s impossible! Relationship wise, we aren''t even in the same number system! I''m like a 3 and she''s a 100! Well, I can''t think of any other way to interpret this, so I guess I''ll go for it.'' David is so desperate for his first kiss he doesn''t even mind that it''s his hated enemy. He then kisses her. Cecile opens her eyes wide and pushes David away angrily. She yells out, ¡°What the hell do you think you''re doing!?¡± She starts spitting and wiping her lips. ¡°Huh!? Weren''t we having a romantic moment!?¡± ¡°What the hell would make you think that!?¡± Cecile yelled furiously. ¡°You-You held my hands and had your chest against mine!¡± ¡°I was cold!¡± ¡°You had closed your eyes and puckered your lips!¡± ¡°I was checking my lip gloss!¡± ¡°With your eyes closed!?¡± Cecile yelled out to the surrounding people, ¡°Hey everyone! David just forcibly kissed me!¡± What had been only a few hundred people in the park had suddenly swelled to hundreds of thousands in a matter of seconds. Everyone has angry faces looking at David yelling at him. ¡°Dude what the hell!?¡± ¡°Why would you do that!?¡± ¡°He must be a rapist of some sort!¡± David is in a panic. He says, ¡°There''s no need for all this! Everything was just a big misunderstanding alright?¡± One man in the surrounding angry mob shouted, ¡°Psh. Misunderstanding? How the hell did you think someone like you even had a chance with someone like her? Look at you. Now look at her. Case closed.¡± David yelled out frantically, ¡°But-But-But she held my hands and her chest was pressed against mine!¡± ¡°She was probably cold!¡± A nearby woman yelled out. ¡°Yeah!¡± Everyone else yelled out with her agreeing. David once again tries to plead saying, ¡°She had her eyes closed and her lips puckered up while doing that!¡± ¡°She was probably checking her lip gloss or something.¡± Another woman who had a pitchfork yelled this out. ¡°She had her eyes closed! What''s wrong with you people!? And where the hell do you get a pitch fork in this day and age!?¡± ¡°Enough of your excuses! Everyone, let''s laugh at thinking he had a chance with this girl, then lets kick his ass, then lets send him to jail. Forever! Let''s see how he likes unwanted kisses!¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± Everyone proceeded to point and laugh at David while throwing rotting vegetables at him. They yelled out various insults. ¡°HAHAHAHA! He thought he had a chance with that beautiful, smart girl!¡± ¡°What a loser to even think he could ever even get a girlfriend!¡± ¡°Shame him! Shame this pathetic loser!¡± 2 minutes into the laughing, everyone abruptly stops at the exact same time, then pulls out an assortment of weapons. Bats, knives, guns, RPGs, iron maidens. Wacky Wavy Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube men with brass knuckles. David knew he was screwed, but he was even more curious where they even got those weapons. Everyone then jumped 20 feet into the air, and was heading in David''s direction, surrounding him on all sides. There was no escape. Null''s imagination end: ************ Null gets a determined look thinking, ''I cannot allow that to happen.'' Cici wakes up 2 hours later. She stretches and glances over at Null''s direction. Strangely, it looks like Null is on edge, surrounded by a lot of bombs. He gives Cici a wary look. Cici concerned says, ¡°Null, did something happen while I was asleep? Were we under attack or something?¡± ¡°No. Everything''s perfectly fine.¡± ¡°Why are you surrounded by bombs?¡± ¡°I sneezed and they all fell out.¡± ¡°But the bombs are laid out in a perfectly symmetrical formation.¡± ¡°Let''s just go!¡± They pack up their things preparing to leave. Just when things are going fine for Null Cici says something that makes Null panic. ¡°Oh Null! Is that one of your paintings on the floor!? I wanna see!¡± Null looks down. He had forgotten that he had drawn her. ''NOOOOOO!'' David yells out in his mind. ¡°It''s terrible. You don''t want to see it. It''s a failure.¡± Null said this nonchalantly, but he was actually sweating bullets. ¡°The fact that you don''t want me to see it makes me want to see it more. Lemme see.¡± She starts running over. Null picks up the paper and prepares to rip it, but no matter how hard he tries, the paper wouldn''t break. ''God dammit! Why the hell would I make these papers so damn indestructible!?'' Null usually puts paper he has already used in water for several days. This insures that the new paper he makes doesn''t drop in quality. ''I have to use Ink hand to cover this up!'' Before he could try to use the technique, Cici grabs the paper and runs off. Null yells out, ¡°I thought you were trying to be friends with me you annoying jerk!¡± ¡°I still am! Friends also goof off like this!¡± Cici laughs and then looks at the picture. She stops running and is amazed by the picture. Cici has a complicated look on her face. Why would Null draw her? Null braces himself for the ridicule he''s about to receive. ¡°Oh, Null. Is this why you didn''t want me to see the picture? Because it''s of me?¡± Cici says while giggling. Null''s face turns red and starts continuing on through the dungeon. ¡°Aw. It''s okay. It''s nothing to be ashamed of if you have a crush on me.¡± ¡°I do not! I had to practice my drawing and you were the only thing present that I could draw! Now can we please focus on the dungeon!?¡± Cici doesn''t know whether or not Null has a crush on her, and honestly, she doesn''t care. She just loves giving Null that flustered look. It''s very rarely that she sees this look on him. He mostly looks like he doesn''t care about anything. It''s usually her that is getting served by Null, so she''s going to savor this moment. ¡°Sure, sure. It''s fine. It''s okay.¡± Cici says as if she''s talking to a little boy who wet his pants. She pats Null on the shoulder and walks off. This only serves to infuriate Null more. ------------------------------- Author''s Note: Cecile for troll president! Chapter 25: Art Materialization is so broken Author''s Note: My goodness! I have just checked the amount of views my chapters have gotten. Wow! I''m about to get schwifty! Take off my pants and panties! Shit on the floor! ---------------------- Cici and Null continue on through the path, fighting monsters along the way. They make it to a wide open area. When they see it, their faces turn ugly. They immediately run and hide behind a giant rock. There are literally thousands of monsters there. Most of them are at a higher level than even Cici, who has managed to raise her level to level 240 due to constant hunting. What''s even more worrisome is that there is a new enemy here. It''s a giant flying mosquito. ¡°Identify¡±
Mosquito of Plagues
Information: Do not let it suck your blood. Not only will it decrease your health while regaining their own, but it will also give a poison condition.
Level245
Health ???Mana ???
Strength ??? Dexterity ???
Vitality???Charisma???
Intelligence???Wisdom???
Luck???
Attack???Defense???
Cici and Null both know that their usual methods of going through enemies are not going to work here. Maybe they could take on tens. Maybe they can barely do hundreds if they use the terrain, but thousands at once? Null knows that would be impossible. Cici turns to Null and says, ¡°Null. I''m willing to help you out. I know that you are very resourceful and brilliant. Even though I had already placed you really high in my mind, I still had underestimated you. But Null, even you couldn''t do this. Even if there were 5 of me buffing you, you couldn''t do this. Maybe we should just cut our losses and wait for the Qasburg force after all. I want to help you, but going through that huge group of monsters with just the two of us is simply impossible. What are you going to do?¡± She waits for Null''s answer. ¡°Keep going forward as always. I''m not going to sacrifice the time that I was forced to interact with you only to give up now.¡± Null said resolutely. ¡°Null, this isn''t a Shonen Jump! Having the power of friendship and willpower alone will not work!¡± ¡°Just shut up, and buff me.¡± Null says annoyed. Cici gets upset, but does as she''s told. Null then takes out multiple scrolls. These scrolls are even bigger than Null himself. There are three of them in total. He then takes out multiple paintings of the creatures. ¡°Art is Feeling.¡± "Art is Feeling." "Art is Feeling." ... Null''s Art is Feeling has upgraded to a point where he can take out multiple enemies with one picture if they look exactly the same. Because there are so many, Art is Feeling will take a very long time to take effect, it takes practically all his mana, and also the effect won''t last too long. Because of this, he drinks mana potions every time he performs a new Art is Feeling. He then takes the scroll and pulls off the strings binding them. After he takes the bindings off, he places the scrolls back into his inventory. When he''s done he stands on top the boulder. Some of the monsters see this movement, which causes other monsters to look. They see one lone human standing atop a rock. They start charging forward. Cici whispers to Null frantically saying, ¡°Null, please don''t tell me you''re about to Leeroy Jenkins into a bunch of enemies!¡± ¡°I''m about to Leeroy Jenkins into a bunch of enemies.¡± He then runs off. ''You''re insane!'' Cici thinks. Null runs without stopping constantly manipulating his mana for dexterity. He''s actually holding a mana potion in his mouth. Every time he''s running low on mana potion, he replaces it with a new one. Throughout all this running, he hasn''t hit a single enemy. He just keeps running and dashing around seemingly randomly. Cici peeks out and thinks, ''What is he doing?'' Null heads towards the center of the room. He barely dodges some of the monsters there such as the Giant Poison Dart Frogs, and the diving action of the mosquitoes. He never stop running. Every time a new enemy blocks his path, he changes direction. Cici notices something. All the enemies that were scattered around everywhere are starting to converge in the center of the room. This will make it harder for Null to evade enemies. She also notices something else peculiar. The monsters that are chasing after Null behind him have slowed down a lot. ''What''s going on? What is Null up to?'' Cici wonders. Null keeps dropping pellets on the ground. When they drop to the floor, they break apart and turn into a sticky liquid. Not that kind of sticky liquid. This super glue doesn''t stop them, but it slows them down enough that Null doesn''t have to worry too much on what''s going on behind him. The mosquitoes really are the only monsters here that are giving him problems, but Essence of Mana let''s him know when they are coming. Thanks to the other monsters being in the way, the mosquitoes cannot recklessly charge at him in a swarm. It''s getting harder and harder for him to dodge the monsters'' attacks, but he''s still alive. If it weren''t for him doing Art is Feeling before, he would''ve died a long time ago. His injuries start piling up. Cici cannot heal him lest she give away her position, so Null is on his own. He takes out health potions and keeps it in his mouth along with the mana potion. He looks stupid with two potions sticking out his mouth, but Null thinks that if something works as intended, it isn''t stupid. Null then suddenly changes direction. ''Almost out of mana potions. Well this is good enough.'' Null thinks. He then jumps on a Giant Dart frog''s head, which he uses as a platform to jump onto a mosquito. The mosquitoes, seeing that he no longer has the monsters as buffers, start to swarm at him. Null jumps from mosquito to mosquito, avoiding their attacks as best as he could. It wasn''t enough though, and his health almost gets depleted. One or two more hits from the monsters and he would die. When he reaches a certain point, he manipulates his mana for strength, and jumps off a mosquito, jumping above all the enemies. All the mosquitoes, seeing that he is in the air, know that now would be the best time to kill him. He can''t dodge in the air. They start converging on his location. Null''s lips twitch into a slight smile. He takes out the scroll that he had taken the bindings off of earlier. ''I really, really hate this technique, but right now I have no choice but to use it. I have to beat this dungeon before those other people show up.'' Null unravels the scroll and yells, ¡°Art Materialization!¡± There is a picture of a giant net. It looks like there are multiple heavy balls along the edges and parts of the center of the giant net. The scroll keeps unraveling until it has reached a length of 70 meters. The picture glows blue, and a giant net pops out. The scroll which had once contained a picture of a giant net, is now blank. A message has popped up.
Due to the use of Art Materialization. You will lose levels. The number of levels you lose will depend on the rarity of the materials brought to be real. The picture that you used has cost you 3 levels. You can gain these levels back. The structure created using Art Materialization is unstable, and will turn back into paint depending on how high leveled the object is. The time until stability collapse of this object or objects is within 4 weeks.
The giant net first falls upon the huge mosquitoes. They try to keep flight, but the net is just far too heavy. The monsters that had converged into the center of that area, also look above them. They all try to run. Some escape, but most of them get trapped under the net. Now, the materials that make up the net are not that hard for the monsters to break through. Given around a few minutes, the monsters could break out, but Null won''t give them the chance. Null heads to the edge of the area, manipulates his mana for strength, then jumps across. He has taken out and unraveled his second scroll. ¡°Art Materialization!¡±
Due to the use of Art Materialization. You will lose levels. The number of levels you lose will depend on the rarity of the materials brought to be real. The picture that you used has cost you 4 levels. You can gain these levels back. The structure created using Art Materialization is unstable, and will turn back into paint depending on how high leveled the object is. Time for stability for this object or objects is within 3.5 weeks.
A rain of bombs, more than thousands of times the amount that Null currently has on him, gets released. The bombs are also more powerful. Before the bombs go off, he rushes into the direction of where Cici is hiding. He had timed from the jump off before where he would end up. Cici sees him practically flying towards him. When he lands, Cici asks, ¡°What are you-¡± ¡°Cover your ears.¡± Null tells her while covering his own. Cici does the same. If there is one thing she has learned from doing the dungeon with Null, it is that when he tells you to do something, it''s a very good idea to do it. BANG! BANG! BANG! Explosions start raining down on the monsters. Hydrogen and other flammable gas bombs were also inside the bombs that were thrown. The glue that Null had used to slow the monsters is also flammable. The results were as expected. A rain of hell showered upon all the monsters there. Even for the monsters that were lucky enough to not have been caught by the net were still hit with this. The explosions lasted for a full minute. Null looked to see the results. The monsters were all badly damaged, but most of them were still alive. They aren''t high leveled for nothing. This was also expected from Null''s calculations. The smoke is still covering up the area. Since most of the monsters are still alive, Null takes out his final scroll. He runs into the group of monsters while they are still disoriented. While this is going on, Cici coughs and then takes out her oxygen scale mask. It''s a mask that is designed to allow you to breathe underwater, but it also works as a gas mask. Null once again jumps into the area and says the skill name. ¡°Art Materialization!¡±
Due to the use of Art Materialization. You will lose levels. The number of levels you lose will depend on the rarity of the materials brought to be real. The picture that you used has cost you 4 levels. You can gain these levels back. The structure created using Art Materialization is unstable, and will turn back into paint depending on how high leveled the object is. Time for stability for this object or objects is within 3.5 weeks.
The scroll unravels revealing different weapons. A huge assortment of needles and needle bombs start flowing out. They even outnumber the bombs that were materialized from before. The needles fell like a heavy rain, piercing all who came into contact with it. The needles were all coated with an extremely rare and powerful poison. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Null in his lifetime would not be able to make the quantity of poison that is being displayed. There is no longer a safe place for Null to land on in this area. He has to go around to the side to make it back to Cici. Needles to say, um, needless to say, the vast majority of the monsters could not withstand this onslaught and they died. The surviving monsters were not in any condition to be considered a threat. Null looks at Cici thinking, ''If I was by myself, it would''ve been impossible to take out that large group, even with Art Materialization, but thanks to her, my attacks were amplified.'' Null runs to Cici and tells her, ¡°Let''s go.¡± Cici was still shocked from the display of power that Null had shown. Her chin had dropped to the ground. She cancels the buffs on Null and says excitedly, ¡°That-That was Art Materialization! Only those who have intermediate in the painting class can use that skill! This is my first time seeing it! Even for those that do have the skill, most do not even have the luxury of sacrificing their levels since Painter is one of the weakest classes!¡± ¡°Okay. Let''s go.¡± ¡°And that display is something that I will never forget in my life!¡± ¡°We should really get going.¡± ¡°And to even create a scroll that big! My goodness!¡± ¡°We''re going to be here all day aren''t we?¡± Null just decides to leave her. The drops from the monsters are all surrounded by poisonous needles, so Null would rather not go and try to pick them up. Null is lucky. Due to him taking out thousands of monsters all far higher leveled than him, he actually gained more levels than he lost. They continue on ahead. Every time they ran into a monster group that numbered thousands, Null would spend around a week painting the weapons he would use for Art Materialization. 2 weeks later after Null had taken out another group of enemies, a message he has been waiting to hear pops up.
You have now reached level 200. From here on, leveling will become a lot harder. You will now gain 7 points per level up. Depending on what your main class is, you will receive stat multipliers. For the librarian class, Knowledge stat increases by 1.4x. Intelligence stat increases by 1.2x. Wisdom stat increases by 1.2x.
Status Window
NameNullFame570
Level200Infamy0
RaceHumanSatiety100%
GenderMaleEndurance305/305
Main Class
Librarian
Sub Classes
Calligrapher, Painter, Alchemist, Blacksmith
Titles
Dungeon Finder
Health8030/8030Health Regen3.02 / sec
Mana18500/18500Mana Regen6.04 / sec
Strength208Dexterity212
Vitality208Charisma146
Intelligence668Wisdom666
Luck146Knowledge713
Attack154Defense134
Magic Defense
None
''That''s it?'' Null is upset that this is all he gets. He''s read how classes like monk get a 1.5x multiplier in health and how mages get 1.5x multiplier in intelligence. ''This sucks. The librarian class sucks.'' He was still satisfied that he has reached the level 200 milestone. Cici at the beginning had thought that there was very little chance of beating the dungeon. Now that she has seen Null''s skills, she thinks now that their chances are pretty good. She starts getting a little lax. When Null was fighting a group of monsters, his endurance was running low. Null said to her, ¡°Cleric, my endurance is running low.¡± He kept fighting but nothing happened. ¡°Cleric?¡± ¡°Wow. This pebble is so interesting.¡± Null looks back and sees Cici kneeling down staring at a pebble. ¡°Dammit cleric! Enough of your bullshit! I''m about to die!¡± She continues to ignore him. ¡°*sigh* Fine. Cici, can you please recover my endurance?¡± ¡°Oh Null! How long have you been there? You look tired. Allow me to heal you!¡± She said with a big smile. Null was determined to get her back for that. When they ran across a new group of monsters. Null runs out towards them like he usually does, while Cici does her buffs. Cici notices that the monsters ignore Null and start attacking Cici. ''What''s going on?'' When Cici did her buffs, it made the monsters notice her. Because Null didn''t attack them, they ran towards Cici. She was quickly surrounded. She yells out, ¡°Null, I''m being surrounded! Help me!¡± ¡°The cleric is right. These pebbles really are interesting.¡± Null says while staring at pebbles on the ground. ¡°Damn you Null!¡± *************** David and Cecile are in class. After class, Cecile runs over to David''s desk. He gets annoyed that she always does this. She tells him, ¡°David. By the time we make it home, according to our regular schedule, there will only be 3 weeks remaining in-game before the Qasburg force will enter the dungeon. We have to speed up if we''re going to make it.¡± ¡°I''m doing the best I can. Do you have any bright ideas?¡± ¡°Well...¡± They start discussing among themselves different strategies. The other students, who are all one of the smartest in the school, looks upon this scene flabbergasted. ¡°Wait. Aren''t they usually arguing?¡± ¡°Yeah. Either um, Dillan right?¡± The people there shrug. ¡°Well whatever. Either Dillan ignores Cecile or he insults her. I have never seen them get along before.¡± ¡°Wait. It sounds like they''re discussing New Reality.¡± ¡°Oh right. Cecile is one of the most skillful clerics in the game, and she always helps people out in our class. It''s great that Cecile would even help out Dillan. It makes me love her more.¡± ¡°Well I''m even more surprised that Dillan would even ask for or accept her help. I was under the impression that he didn''t accept help from anyone.¡± ¡°Right? Every time there''s a group project, he always volunteers to do the project by himself.¡± ¡°...You don''t think he likes her do you?¡± Those 6 or so discussing went silent. They look at David, who has an annoyed look on his face. They then bust out laughing. ¡°Him? I don''t think he is capable of liking anyone!¡± ¡°I''m still curious though.¡± ****************** A week in-game has gone by. Null has managed to level up to 203 while Cici has managed to level up to level up to 241. ''Wow. Ptah wasn''t kidding about leveling up after level 200 being harder. Even after defeating countless thousands of enemies, the cleric has only gained 3 levels from the dungeon.'' They walk until they find their way into a strange room. The room is empty, and it has a circular pattern on the ground. This room looks totally different from the other rooms they''ve been in before. It looks neat and tidy. Both Cici and Null have experience when it comes to this sort of thing. ¡°Are we about to fight the boss? But it is still too early.¡± Null ponders. ¡°You have never entered a C-rank dungeon before have you? Some C-rank dungeons and above will have mini-bosses. It''s completely random.¡± ¡°Oh great.¡± Null says sarcastically. They walk further in. Cici then sees something that causes her to look in surprise. ¡°Null, look! Over there!¡± Null looks and sees that there''s someone who is lying on the ground. He has purple spots covering him. What surprises Null even more is that he sees that the person is still breathing. ¡°He''s still alive!?¡± Null says surprised. At that moment, a giant scorpion comes out, tail raised, ready to do battle. ¡°Identify.¡±
Giant Acid Scorpion
Information: While it may be slow when it comes to moving its body, the tail and pincers are lightning fast. Has a very thick and strong exoskeleton. Its tail is the most dangerous part of it. The tail can even shoot out long ranged attacks.
Level272
Health ???Mana ???
Strength ??? Dexterity ???
Vitality???Charisma???
Intelligence???Wisdom???
Luck???
Attack???Defense???
¡°Null, I know you don''t want another traveling companion right now, but we have to save him. He must be here because we need him to advance forward. Judging from how he was able to make it this far, he must be Swordedge, the person who went missing.¡± ¡°Of course I''ll save him. I''m not going to let someone in front of me die due to my misanthropy. Let''s worry about saving him after we defeat this scorpion. If he lasted this long he can last through a fight.¡± ¡°Right.¡± ---------------------------- Author''s Note: ADMIN! NERF! Chapter 26: The final boss of this stupid arc! Author''s Note: Sorry I''m late. Work was hard. Now that I''ve gotten a little accustomed to it, I should be able to release more frequently. Ah who am I kidding? You know that game Cookie Clickers? Well I found the game. I thought that I had only played for around 2 hours, and suddenly 2 weeks had flown by. How the hell did I even survive? This chapter is over 5000 words. ---------------------------------------------- Null gives a few test shots of his needle launchers after Cici finishes buffing him. The scorpion didn''t even bother to move. As expected, the needles bounce off of his exoskeleton. Null then readies his crossbow. When Null fires his crossbow, there''s a loud chink sound, and the arrow gets repelled. There''s a white mark on the exoskeleton where the arrow hit, but other than that, the scorpion is completely unharmed. Null has a dejected look thinking, ''The crossbow has never failed to at least injure an enemy. This is the first time that this has happened.'' Cici is thinking the same thing. ¡°This is the first time that I''ve seen your crossbow fail. I really hope you have something to deal with that. Would Art Materialization work?¡± ¡°I could kill it with Art Materialization, but how many levels would I have to sacrifice to do that? Every time I had used Art Materialization, it was because there were so many enemies, that I could mostly get my levels back. That won''t work this time. I would win, but it would be a Pyrrhic victory.¡± While they were talking, the scorpion was coming closer. Luckily it was slow, but to Null and Cici, the scorpion looked as if it was a slow moving tank ready to mow them down. Cici tells Null, ¡°I have a method of dealing with it, though it will really burn through my mana.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I can manipulate the buffs I put on you in real time. Depending on what you will do, I can make it so that either you get a boost in intelligence and wisdom, or solely get a super boost in wisdom.¡± ¡°If you could do that then why didn''t you in the first place?¡± ¡°Because its burns through my mana too quickly! Didn''t you hear me!? Every time I had buffed you, I ended up buffing you in intelligence and wisdom, and left you be! To constantly be switching to how much of a buff you get it what will take a lot of mana!¡± ¡°How will you manipulate the buffs with those long ass chants?¡± ¡°The lengthy chants are for initiating the techniques. Once I got the chants for intelligence and wisdom down, I can turn them off and on at will.¡± ¡°Okay. Start moving. The scorpion is starting to get close.¡± Null says to Cici. They start running to another spot. Cici then says, ¡°This is the plan then. When you''re fighting hand to hand or maneuvering, your buffs will be in both intelligence and wisdom. When you''re about to toss out bombs, your buffs will be in wisdom. The needles and crossbow will be tricky, because the poison effects will depend on your wisdom stat while the firing of the weapon will depend on your manipulation for dexterity. When you''re about to fire your needles or crossbow, I will buff you solely in wisdom. You will then manipulate your mana for dexterity. Remember that when I''m putting your boost solely in wisdom, your mana will return to what it was before I started buffing you. Your wisdom will have more than 3x your original amount while your mana will be where it was before I buffed you. You will burn through your mana 3x as fast during this, so try not to manipulate your mana for too long.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± Null is about to run out. The scorpion is getting to close. If Null doesn''t hurry up, Cici will be in danger. Null runs towards the scorpion to see what it will do. When it got close, it''s tail suddenly attacked him. It was so fast that Null only had time to deflect it slightly. The tail scraped against his side, piercing through his armor. Null managed to mitigate the damage done to him by a lot, but that single attack took off a third of his health. Even though Cici instantly refilled Null''s health, his expression still turned ugly. ''I don''t think anything I have will be able to harm it too much. Let''s think. What do I know about scorpions? Well first, their eyesight is poor in light. Second, since scorpions are arthropods, they rely on diffusion to get oxygen from the air. This scorpion''s eyesight doesn''t seem to be that bad, and something this huge will not solely rely on diffusion. I was only separated by a meter before it attacked. Is that it''s visual range? I don''t have enough time to make a painting for Art is Feeling.'' Null rushed forward. He had a general plan ready. He threw his bombs. The second the bombs left his hand, Cici put all of Null''s buffs solely into wisdom. This made the strength of the bombs double even further. She then immediately put the buffs back into intelligence. Only a cleric of high skill would be capable of that. If the timing were off by even a little, it would fail. ''I will have to get used to fighting alone again when separated from the cleric. She is far too skilled.'' Null thinks to himself. The scorpion''s tail rapidly intersected all the bombs. Thanks to Cici buffing Null solely in wisdom in that split second, it actually looked like it made a tiny dent into its health. He once again ran forward while it was still dazed with that bomb attack, throwing more bombs at it. The scorpion, seemingly stunned, aimed its tail at the bombs and fired off its acid from its stinger. Null manipulated his mana for dexterity and got out of the way, dashing to the side. The bombs that he threw didn''t even make it to the scorpion. The bombs melted down in less than a second. When Cici saw how fast the bombs had melted, she immediately took cover behind a boulder. ''What corrosive acid. I don''t think even the cleric''s healing could keep up with that corrosive speed. To rush in would be suicide. Lets see how much acid it contains.'' Null thought. Null takes out more bombs and starts running around the scorpion in a circle. The thing is, only a few of them were true bombs. Most of them were empty bomb cases. ''Looks like the tail is a bit slower in attacking from its sides.'' About 20 seconds in, the acid stops firing. ''Now!'' Null starts running forward. He unravels and raises the crossbow. The instant he raised it, Cici put his buffs into wisdom. Null fires the crossbow, and Cici returns the buffs into intelligence. It landed on its underside. This time the crossbow was powerful enough to penetrate the exoskeleton, but it still didn''t do much damage. ''Well, at least I know I can hurt it now.'' 15 seconds after the scorpion had stopped firing the acid, it starts again. Null rapidly moves out the way. He throws out a smoke bomb. Null thinks that if it can''t see him, it can''t accurately attack, but he was wrong. When that smoke came up, the scorpion raised his head, and spat out a wide jet of acid. Null stopped in his tracks and retreated. ''What can I do?'' Null frustrated thinks. ''It can spit acid from its mouth and its tail? There must be something that can break this deadlock.'' The scorpion, seeing Null run away, turns and starts heading towards Cici. Her constantly manipulating Null''s buffs caught the scorpion''s attention. ''As much as I want to see her killed, I still need her alive for now.'' Null rushed forward and took out a bunch of cluster bombs. Since the scorpion''s attention was on Cici, his tail didn''t defend. As soon as they left Null''s hand, Cici put Null''s buffs into wisdom which caused even further damage. It looked like it hurt it a lot, and it took out a bit more health. This caused the scorpion to once again start chasing after Null. ¡°Null, I''m now out of mana. You''ll have to do this on your own for a while.¡± She takes out a large amount of mana potions and starts drinking it. That''s one of the weaknesses of clerics. They can refill health and endurance, but they cannot refill mana. ''Damn. I''ve done all this and I have only taken off less than a tenth of its health. That exoskeleton is too tough. The last attack I did took off the most. The worst part is that I don''t have enough bombs left to take out the remaining health. I might have to rely on Art Materialization. That''s a last resort though. I only have so many levels left to give.'' The scorpion once again fires it''s acid from its tail. Null keeps moving out the way. ''What can I do? What''s the weaknesses of scorpions again? Bright light, and they need to breathe through their skin, but I''ve already determined something of that size cannot solely rely on breathing through diffusion alone. Does this mean that this game doesn''t care about the physics of giant insect growth? No. Everything I''ve read ensures that aside from the addition of mana, the laws of physics are consistent. Even the magical laws here are consistent. If that''s the case, then how could this scorpion grow to such a large size? Wait. Maybe...'' Null manipulates his mana in order to sense what''s inside the scorpion. When his mana reaches it, he has a eureka moment. ''I knew it! It''s the mana that allows the monsters to grow so big! The mana''s movements inside the body nourishes the body in place of oxygen. In humans, the mana heart is in the center of the chest and is small. If you get rid of the mana heart, humans will look exactly the same, but the scorpion''s mana heart looks like it covers half of its midsection. I''ve also noticed that the larger the creature is to its real life counter part, the larger the mana heart will be! I now know how to beat it! I still need to deal with that tail though.''
Due to figuring out the weakness of the scorpion, 10% extra damage done to scorpion. The scorpion''s weakness will be marked in red.
''Good. This means that my hypothesis was right.'' ¡°When your mana finishes refilling let me know. For now, I''m going to deal with that annoying tail.¡± ¡°How are you going to do that?¡± Null chose not to answer, and took out some wire attached to throwing knives. He once again goes forward to attack. He takes out more throwing knives and throws them at the scorpion. The scorpion once again fires off its acid at the knives. Null smirks. ''It''s a good thing everything I had thrown before was explosive in nature. Now its cautious.'' The scorpion spared no expense. Everything that came close was instantly melted. Null moved out the way as well, to not get hit by it. As soon as the 30 second firing period for the scorpion was over, Null rushed forward. Null went towards the side of the scorpion. Even though the scorpion''s tail can fire acid all around it, the scorpion''s mouth can only face forward. The scorpion is slow when it comes to turning its body, so Null doesn''t have to worry about acid coming from its mouth when attacking its side. He then threw all the cluster bombs he could muster. The scorpion hissed and was visibly injured. ¡°Null, I''m good to go! Go for it!¡± He threw the wires that were attached to the knives at its tail. He then threw heavy metallic balls at the knives which hammered the knives inside the wall. Null jumped forward, firing the crossbow towards its midsection. Thanks to the bombs from before along with Cici buffing his wisdom while firing the arrow, the arrow penetrated the scorpion''s exoskeleton deeply. Null then jumped towards the skeleton while spinning in mid air. The scorpion seeing Null practically flying towards it attempts to grab it with its pincers. Null barely makes it through them. He then makes it towards the wall that the scorpion''s tail is attached to, and starts running up it. The scorpion tries to move its tail, but it now feels that the tail cannot move. It didn''t notice it while it was being attacked by the bombs. The tail starts trying to dig out the wall. When Null makes it to a certain height, he suddenly dashes downward towards the arrow he embedded inside the scorpion. The tail finally frees itself, and starts chasing after Null. The tail is moving downward faster than Null can fall. The tail stabs at Null''s backside, but thankfully, the 15 second rest period for the scorpion''s tail isn''t over, so it can''t inject its acid. Null grunts from the pain while pouring all the mana he can muster into his right leg, which empties his remaining mana. He stomps on the arrow creating a massive shock wave. What Null was aiming for from the start was attacking the midsection with a mana attack. If it was just a normal attack on the midsection, the scorpion would have been hurt, but would''ve still been able to fight, but the mana heart isn''t something that can be touched with normal means. What Null did was a mana attack. Null threw the scorpion''s mana system out of wack. The mana system which delivered mana to its cells stopped working properly. The scorpion had no choice but to fall to the ground. It had no control over its limbs. It''s like it was suffocating. It became very sluggish trying to fight back, but it was no use. Soon enough, Null leisurely killed the scorpion.
You have leveled up. You have leveled up.
Null looks at his palm, opening and closing it. Then pours mana into it. He thinks, ''I can use this style of attack later. If I can attack the mana heart with an attack of mana, I can win a lot more easily.'' Cici runs over excited saying, ¡°We killed the scorpion, and you didn''t even have to use Art Materialization! Even impressive is that we beat it with only 2 people who haven''t even reached level 250! Null, you are truly abnormal.¡± The drops fell to the floor, but Null wasn''t worried about that for the moment. He and Cici went towards the downed man covered in purple spots. Cici says, ¡°It''s amazing! He ran through all this way by himself, fighting through monsters, all while having Plague''s disease! It took the scorpion to finally down him, and he still isn''t dead! This guy practically isn''t human!¡± Null then injected him with the antidote. With that done, they moved to gather the drops. Cici got a ring that can help amplify her healing power. Null got some extra set of clothes. Clothing is one of the few things that he cannot create nor repair, so for Null, its good to have a few extra pairs of clothes. Null goes into a corner on the other side and sits. Cici then goes next to the downed man, hastening his recovery. She heals him, gives him soup, and tends to his wounds. ''I hardly have any more bombs left. I''ll save them for when we reach the boss.'' Null thinks. Soon enough, they start relaxing in their respective spots. Null takes out paper trying to figure out how to level up calligraphy and painting. Cici is humming a song while typing messages in the chat rooms. Around 3 hours pass. The downed man suddenly jolts up. From the looks of it, he''s still too weak to do anything. He looks to be in his 30''s and has an athletic build of a sprinter. His hair was short and he sported a goatee. His equipment was dazzling and expensive looking. Even when weak, his stern looks make him looks like someone you don''t want to mess with. Cici hurriedly tells him, ¡°Sir, you can''t just get up all of a sudden! Your wounds haven''t healed!¡± ¡°Plague! Your day of reckoning has come!¡± He yells out to no one in particular. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. The man limps while running towards the door leading further into the dungeon. Null throws some bolas at the man''s legs which causes him to trip and fall face first onto the ground. He grunts in pain and finally notices that he isn''t alone. He gives them a wary look. ¡°Are you two minions of Plague?¡± He asks hostile towards them. ¡°I''m no one''s minion.¡± Null answers. ¡°No, we''re not.¡± Cici says. ¡°Then why are you trying to stop me?¡± Null walks over to the downed man. ¡°I have just healed you, with a potion that took me 12 days to make with little rest. If you want to run off to your death, that''s fine by me, but you will have to pay the difference either with money, bartering, or cooperation.¡± ¡°...You found a cure for Plague''s poison?¡± The man asks surprised. ¡°Good. Now we''re getting somewhere. Yes I did. Now are you going to work together with us until we kill Plague, or are we going to have to get in each others'' way?¡± The guy nods and says, ¡°First, let me introduce myself. My name is Swordedge, a level 266 swordsman from Qasburg Kingdom''s capital. We came here to deal with Plague. At first Loretalon was adamant about finding a cure before we fought Plague, but seeing all the people dying before me, I couldn''t wait any longer, so I looked everywhere and eventually found the cave. It was covered with the poison, but I would not fall before taking Plague''s head!¡± Null, impressed, thinks, ''He made it all the way here while being poisoned, and he managed to survive this long. Not bad.'' ¡°So where do we go from here?¡± Cici asks. Null says, ¡°If Swordedge is here, then that must mean the monsters up ahead will be even stronger. My poison is reaching the limits on what I can affect adequately, and my bomb count is dangerously low.¡± ¡°And you wanted to do this dungeon by yourself.¡± Cici quips. Null ignores her comment. Swordedge then asks, ¡°Are the villagers cured?¡± ¡°Yes. After he found the cure, we distributed the recipe to other alchemists to make.¡± Cici says. This causes Swordedge to calm down. He says, ¡°Since you say the villagers have been cured, I''m in no rush. Let''s recuperate before we head out.¡± ¡°That''s fine by me.¡± Says Cici. Swordedge looks around asks, ¡°Are you two the only ones here?¡± ¡°Yup yup! It was very difficult getting this far with just us. This guy here was more difficult to deal with than the monsters.¡± Cici says with a sigh showing off her exhaustion. Null just keeps ignoring her. ¡°Just the two of you!?¡± Swordedge responds shocked. It''s one thing for him to make it this far. After all, he''s a level 266 speed type swordsman with his sword mastery at intermediate, but these people don''t even look that strong. One has the gear of a cleric while the other is an alchemist supposedly with the gear of an assassin. It should be impossible getting this far with just them unless they are high leveled. ¡°What are your levels if you don''t mind telling?¡± Swordedge asks curious. ¡°I''m level 241. Null, what''s your level?¡± ¡°205.¡± Null says. ¡°Impossible! Do you take me for a fool!?¡± Swordedge glares at them both. ¡°Even a 100 warriors of my level would find it near impossible to go through here! The only reason I was able to is because of my powerful equipment, my intermediate swordsman mastery, and my constant running! I''m also a speed type swordsman, so I avoided the fights mostly by running away! You would have me believe that with just a level 241 cleric and a level 205 alchemist, you could make it this far!?¡± Cici at first was shocked that he got so angry, but then she understood. If someone had told her that a level 241 cleric and a level 205 alchemist conquered a C-ranked dungeon by themselves, she would be offended that the person would take her for a fool. Cici then says, ¡°Actually, Null here is a librarian, not an alchemist. Don''t worry. I made the same mistake too.¡± ¡°...¡± Cici giggles at the dumb look Swordedge is making while Null couldn''t care less with what''s going on between them. He walks off into a corner and takes out a charcoal stick and paper and starts drawing. ¡°Okay. I think I get it.¡± Swordedge says while laughing. ¡°Get what?¡± Cici asks. ¡°The Qasburg force must be hiding. Those jokers! Most of those muscle headed idiots love pranking as much as they love fighting and drinking. A lot of them have disdain for non warrior classes. Are they forcing you into their pranks?¡± Swordedge asks. ''Whew! Looks like my decision to do this dungeon with the cleric was the slightly better choice. I don''t think I could handle those people. I''ve never been good with jock types.'' Null thinks while drawing a picture of a dove. ¡°While the Qasburg force should be on their way here, they are currently not inside the cave. It is just me and Null.¡± Cici says matter of factly. ¡°Bu-But how!?¡± ¡°Well, I have intermediate in my clerical mastery.¡± ¡°Intermediate!?¡± Swordedge says impressed. ¡°Well even with that it should still be impossible for the both of you to make it this far!¡± ¡°You should ask that freak of nature that''s currently hiding in the corner.¡± Cici says deadpanned while looking at Null. ¡°The librarian?¡± Swordedge looks at Null''s hooded expressionless face while he is drawing. ¡°Underhanded tactics.¡± Null says succinctly. ¡°Pretty much.¡± Cici agrees. Swordedge is clearly not impressed. ''Shoddy equipment, worn out low level clothes, and no weapon currently on him. Well, librarians cant really hold weapons can they? Well, according to her, he was the one who found a cure to the disease spread by Plague, so his alchemy skills must be exceptional, but alchemy alone wouldn''t get you through here. Well, if they don''t want to reveal how they made it here, they don''t have to.'' Swordedge then says, ¡°Well, I suppose I should that I should thank you both for saving my life. I would like to teach you both a technique.¡± Cici gets absolutely giddy. Null pauses his drawing listening in, but doesn''t do anything else. Swordedge continues. ¡°This technique is something that any class can use. It''s most useful for the warrior classes, or people proficient in close combat. The technique is called Flinch. It causes a moment''s hesitation towards your opponents. Usually, you would need to reach a certain level or reach a high enough mastery in a close combat skill in order to learn it. The skill also has a special property of evolving according to the user.¡± Cici pouts. ¡°Aw. I would rather not waste the time to learn that skill. I''m a healer after all.¡± ¡°Haha! I thought you might say that.¡± He then looks at Null in the corner and says, ¡°How about you Null?¡± He gets up and goes to Swordedge with the same expressionless face. ¡°I would like to learn the skill.¡± Swordedge coughs. The way Null goes around with no emotions kind of creeps Swordedge out. ¡°Listen carefully. This technique requires utmost concentration. Allow me to demonstrate. Get in a fighting position.¡± Null nods and raises his fists. Swordedge takes out his sword and closes his eyes. He then abruptly opens them into a fierce expression and rushes forward. Null feels incomparable hesitation for a split second. Swordedge''s sword presses against Null''s neck. Null''s eyes show shock. He couldn''t do anything. Swordedge feels satisfied that he was able to get an expression on Null''s face. ¡°Pour out your emotions while fighting as if you want to set the person on fire.¡± Null does this while rushing forward. ¡°What was that!? I barely felt anything! Again!¡± Null and Swordedge keep working at it. ¡°Pathetic! Again!¡± ¡°Are you even trying!? Again!¡± After 4 hours, Null finally learns the skill.
You have learned the skill Flinch.
Flinch
Skill typeActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Causes the opponent to hesitate. The higher your melee ability, the more effective the skill will work. Can evolve depending on your actions. Cost: 400 mana
¡°4 hours? Hmph. It usually takes around 2 hours for someone to learn the skill when I teach them. Are you all already to go?¡± Swordedge asks them. ¡°Yes! Let''s hurry and beat this dungeon already!¡± Cici says. Null just nods. They soon head out. Cici and Swordedge were talking along the way. He respects a person who can reach intermediate in a class. Cici is just happy that there is finally someone who wants to talk to her. ''Finally. She stops trying to talk to me. It was good work that I saved him.'' Null thinks relieved. It didn''t take long for them to meet with enemies. When they made it to an area with giant honeycombs, they knew they had to fight. The enemies that came out this time were giant bees. ¡°Take this!¡± Swordedge runs out not even waiting for the others. ¡°So impulsive! Ianuaria, give those who I choose the strength to move what they couldn''t. Amplify strength! Ianuaria, give those who I choose the ability to move swiftly. Amplify dexterity!¡± Swordedge is hit with a bathing light. His body feels lighter and stronger. ¡°Amazing! A cleric of such skill!¡± Swordedge rushes forward, leaving a deadly streak in his wake. Everything that streak touches gets sliced into bits. Cici buffs Null afterwards, and he goes out to fight. Cici remains in the rear. After fighting for a while, a problem soon becomes apparent that Null and Cici notice, but Swordedge doesn''t. ''The bees are getting more and more organized.'' Null thinks. He noticed that it''s getting harder and harder to hit them. They move out of the way of the projectile path long before Null throws them. Even if its from behind, they dodge perfectly. They move far too fast, and they defend their comrades perfectly. The bees are using pheromones to communicate with each other. Its like Null is fighting a single shifting organism rather than a bunch of individual bees. ''What am I supposed to- Oh duh!'' Null thinks to himself. He once again runs towards an enemy. The enemy prepares to move out of the way. Null then uses his new technique, Flinch. The bee wanting to move, froze on the spot not knowing what''s going on. It only lasted for a fraction of a second, but that was all Null needed. He shot forward, manipulating his mana for strength and cut the bee in half. Swordedge was watching Null out of the corner of his eye while he fought. ''Amazing. His skills are like that of a monks, but with better control and very little wasted mana! No wonder they were able to make it so far. Is he really a librarian?'' Thanks to Flinch, they quickly cleared the area. Null thinks, ''I guess these types of enemies were put here so that a player who had acquired Flinch can know how to use it. How clever.'' They moved on and fought with other group of monsters. The longer they fought together, the more respect Swordedge had for Null. It only took 5 days. They make it to a set of giant doors. Swordedge gets a serious look on his face. Cici was proud that they were able to make it this far with only three people. Null just wanted to get this quest over with so he can go back to his solitude. Swordedge opens the door. This boss room looks a lot different from the ones Null is used to seeing. This room looks more like a laboratory with a wide open space than a dungeon fight. The place is covered in test tubes . There is someone sitting in a chair currently mixing chemicals. A foul smell is coming from the test tube he''s mixing chemicals in. The person holding the test tube looks sickly, but powerful. He has a skinny frame with a slight hunchback, and is currently wearing a long purple robe. He is producing a sickly aura which makes one not want to approach. The man looks like he''s far too busy to be bothered with the likes of them. Swordedge upon seeing him yells out, ¡°Plague!¡± Plague looks annoyed. ¡°Plague, Plague. What a stupid nickname that the kingdom has given me. Well, they''re not wrong. I sort of have gotten accustomed to the name.¡± ¡°Plague! You will answer to your crimes with your death!¡± Swordedge prepares to run forward, but was stopped by Null putting a hand on his shoulder. ¡°Null, why are you stopping me!? We have to kill him!¡± ¡°In a minute.¡± Null walks forward. He says, ¡°So I''m guessing you''re the one called Plague?¡± ¡°Hm.¡± Plague nods. ¡°It''s a pretentious nickname, but it suits me. From the animal spies I''ve sent to monitor Panford, you must be Null, the person who found a cure to my disease.¡± Null nods. ¡°So, since you''re not blindly attacking me, there must be something that you want. Spit it out.¡± Null shrugs while nodding his head saying, ¡°Nothing really. I''m just satiating my curiosity. I always find it fascinating how people who grow up in terrible environments diverge into different paths. So what''s your story?¡± ¡°It''s nothing so dramatic. In the Qasburg Association of Alchemists, I was always the butt monkey. People would always laugh at my hypotheses. I was trying to find every alchemist''s dream potion: Immortality.¡± Null knew right then and there how the story was going to go. ¡°However, in order to find that elusive potion, I wanted to delve even into the forbidden potions. I decided to experiment with monsters, which then made me want to experiment with people. Apparently the Association didn''t like that. They quickly had me arrested! So what if a few people died!? It was just a small price to pay for immortality! You can already guess the results. I had failed. Although I failed, I gained something far greater during my research. Ultimate poisons! With my research-¡± ¡°Alright, I''ve heard enough.¡± Null stops him. ¡°One more question. Why did you experiment on people?¡± Null asks. ¡°Because I could! The strong can do whatever they want, while the weak can only accept that fate! You''re a foreigner, but your world works exactly the same way! In any world, it is the strong person that decides the weak person''s fate!¡± He laughs maniacally. Null then says, ¡°Every day I wonder if the path I have chosen was the correct one. Thanks once again for reaffirming my beliefs. People are disgusting. Nothing will change that. Enough. I want to kill you and return to my solitude.¡± ¡°Don''t think you''re all high and mighty because you found a cure to one of my poisons! Though that may had been the most powerful, I still have plenty of poisons within me!¡± A fog starts bellowing out of him. ¡°It''s time to end this.¡± Null says while pulling out his weapons. ---------------------------------------------------- Author''s Note: The final battle and arc conclusion next chapter! Whew! I''m starting to get arc fatigue. Chapter 27: Nulls Pimphand too Stronk Author''s Note: It appears that one chapter wasn''t enough to contain Null''s awesomeness, so I split it into two chapters. This chapter alone is a whopping 7000+ words! Enjoy. ------------------------- The smoke coming out of Plague is purplish in color. Everyone becomes on guard. None of them are idiots. They know that the smoke is most likely poisonous. Null wants to see what he is dealing with. ¡°Identify.¡±
Plague
Information: Very proficient in spreading poisons and plagues.
Level302
Health ???Mana ???
Strength ??? Dexterity ???
Vitality???Charisma???
Intelligence???Wisdom???
Luck???
Attack???Defense???
Null sucks in a breath. Level 302? He''s nearly 100 levels higher than Null! ''He could probably sneeze on me to kill me. I cannot allow any of his attacks to even touch me. Even with the cleric''s buffs, getting hit by his attacks would most likely result in a one hit KO.'' Null solemnly thinks. ¡°Do you think I''m afraid of some little smoke!?¡± Swordedge yells out rushing forward. ''That idiot!'' Null and Cici both think. Naturally, with Swordedge being a warrior and Plague being an alchemist, even with their level difference, Swordedge would have the slight advantage when it comes to pure combat. However, Plague is no idiot. Swordedge runs with his sword in hand, attempting to use his speed to attack Plague before he can do anything. Plague scoffs at Swordedge while raising his arm and aims his open palm at Swordedge. There was a symbol drawn on his palm. This causes Null to lose all his concentration. ''A transmutation circle!?'' Null thinks shocked. Plague activates the circle. Swordedge is about to get hit by whatever that circle does. ''I really should have seen this sort of thing coming.'' Laments Swordedge. Null grabs Cici and runs towards Swordedge. When the circle glowed on Plague''s palm, it shot out an orange colored spray. Unlike the spray the scorpion they had fought earlier, this shot in a wide arc. Swordedge runs back, panic evident on his face. He sees Null running forward into the attack. ''Why is he running towards the attack? Why did he take Cici with him? He must have a plan.'' Thinks Swordedge. He runs towards Null. The events from Plague holding out his palm to Null running for Cici and Swordedge took about 2 seconds. The spray was close. Null doesn''t even want to touch any of his attacks. ''No choice then.'' Null pulls out a scroll from his sleeve. This is something he uses in case of emergencies. ¡°Art Materialization!¡± A big metal wall materializes from the picture that he throws down.
Due to the use of Art Materialization, you will lose levels. The number of levels you lose will depend on the rarity of the materials brought to be real. The picture that you used has cost you 1 level. You can gain these levels back. The structure created using Art Materialization is unstable, and will turn back into paint depending on how high leveled the object is. The time until stability collapse of this object or objects is within 5 months.
Art Materialization not only depends on the rarity of the materials used, but also on how intricate the design being materialized is. Null materialized a big metal wall large enough to shield Cici, Swordedge, and himself. There was nothing intricate about that, and the materials is common, so he only lost 1 level. ¡°Oh, this is surprising. You can use Art Materialization. This means you have intermediate in painting. Not only are you an alchemist, but also a painter.¡± Plague says impressed. ¡°However, that skill costs levels doesn''t it? Let''s see how many levels you have to spare!¡± He says in laughter. He activates the circle on his palm again. This time, a liquid clear in color comes out. It impacts the wall of metal. There is a sizzling noise that is coming from the contact between the liquid and the wall. Null gets a hopeless look. ''Shit! That''s acid! Level 302 and knows the Transmutation Circle skills!? Might as well just give him an AK-47 and a nuke to complete the fucking set!'' The wall of metal was steadily growing thinner. ¡°Null, what do we do?¡± Cici asks worried. ¡°I- I don''t know. He has the Transmutation Circle skills. I don''t think we can beat him.¡± Null says depressed. Swordedge who listened in says, ¡°What are you talking about? Only those in power can use the Transmutation Circle skills. It would be impossible for him to acquire those skills. They are closely guarded after all. Even a level 600 person would find it near impossible to acquire those skills. There are certain classes that can only activate a specific transmutation circle, and to actually find a way to bind those compatible transmutation circles isn''t easy. He probably has that one transmutation circle, and that is considered impressive.¡± ¡°Yeah Null.¡± Cici continues where Swordedge left all. ¡°A lot of high ranking techniques deal with transmutation circles in some way. Haven''t you noticed the glowing circle on my staff when I buff and heal you? I was gifted that by the Ianuaria Church. To bind with it took me 3 years in-game.¡± ¡°I actually don''t really look at you.¡± ¡°Not unless you''re drawing me.¡± She says under her breath. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Nothing. Well, now that we got that out of the way, do you now have a plan? This wall won''t last for long.¡± ¡°I will just keep throwing things at him until he gets tired. Swordedge will be the vanguard. Cici will take the rear. Any objections?¡± ¡°Nope.¡± Cici says. ¡°None.¡± Swordedge replies. When the attack stops, the group of 3 run from the wall, which was dissolving. Null and Swordedge rushed forward while Cici ran back. Null and Swordedge then split up, surrounding him on two sides. Plague wasn''t concerned. If they enter that smoke, they will instantly become paralyzed. He knows right now, Swordedge can do nothing. Plague is all too familiar with Swordedge''s techniques. Right now, he is waiting to see what Null will do. Null then fired off his poisoned needles. The needles made contact with his clothes. That cloth armor was incredibly tough, and could only scratch his skin. This made Null ecstatic. Now he will be affected by the poison! Or so Null thinks. ¡°You call this poison?¡± Plague mocks while taking out the needles. ¡°If this is the best you can do, I don''t even have to worry about dodging.¡± He twirls a needle in his hand. Plague obviously is not affected at all. Throughout Null''s time in the dungeon, he has been collecting poisons from the monsters that he defeated. Though the monsters kept steadily getting stronger, which meant the poisons had less of an effect, they still affected the monsters in some way. This is the first time that Null''s poison had failed to work at all. ¡°Tch.¡± Null says in frustration. He pulls a string and unfurls his crossbow. He fires a shot. The crossbow has never failed him before. Plague then leisurely pulls up his other hand which has the exact same transmutation circle drawn on it, and produces a jelly type of liquid instantly. It looks like he had started preparing the techniques beforehand. While the arrow had made it through the liquid, that strange liquid had slowed the arrow down by a large margin. By the time it had made it to Plague, it was slow enough that he could grab it with his hands. ¡°Oh? Your gauntlets are pretty interesting. Where did you get them?¡± Plague asks interested. ''Dammit!'' Null thinks. ''Even the crossbow doesn''t work!'' Null didn''t answer, but Plague didn''t mind. ¡°When I kill you, I''ll take them for myself. I''ve never seen anything like those gauntlets.¡± He says while looking at the arrow in his hand. Null was about to take out some bombs to throw, but the smoke surrounding Plague started to spread to both Null and Swordedge. They both chose to retreat and regroup. They made it back to Cici. ''Swordedge can''t attack with that smoke in the way, and I can''t attack with my long ranged weapons.'' Null''s thinks hopeless. Cici ponders something. ¡°Hey Null, doesn''t that smoke that''s coming off of Plague look sort of familiar?¡± ¡°What do you me-¡± A lightbulb goes off in Null''s head. ¡°Swordedge.¡± Null takes something out of his inventory. ¡°Drink this. When you''re done, go attack Plague.¡± ¡°I take it you have some sort of plan to deal with that smoke surrounding Plague?¡± Swordedge asks. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°What if it fails?¡± ¡°Don''t worry. I''ll still be alive, so take comfort in the fact that your death won''t be in vain.¡± ¡°...¡± He takes the potion and runs towards Plague. ¡°Rushing to attack again even though you can''t do anything?¡± Plague admonishes. ¡°You warriors truly are foolish.¡± The smoke surrounding Plague spreads out and thickens. ''I really hope this works.'' Thinks Swordedge. Surprising Plague was not only did Swordedge not slow down, he actually sped up. He made contact with the smoke. The poison was more powerful than the one that the Purple Striped Salamander produces, so it did numb Swordedge a little. Nonetheless, he kept running forward. ''What!? You mean that brat actually found the antidote to my Purple striped Salamander poison as well?'' Plague thinks shocked. ''Looks like it wasn''t just luck that he found a cure to my disease.'' Plague then starts to get serious. He fires the orange liquid from his palm. Swordedge nimbly dodges it by zigzagging from side to side. He finally makes it to Plague''s side. Plague prepares a technique that spreads out a liquid poison all over his body, but its too late for him to get out of this without being injured. Swordedge had slashed at him 8 times. By the time Plague''s poison had come out, Swordedge had already retreated. Swordedge waits for the technique to die down before he starts attacking again. ¡°You insolent...¡± Plague says through gritted teeth. The purple smoke starts to disperse and he starts releasing a red smoke. Null yells out, ¡°Swordedge! Retreat!¡± ¡°Like I''ll give you the chance!¡± Plague yells out. ¡°He aims his palm at Swordedge. Null had fired his crossbow at Plague. He had no choice but to defend. This gave Swordedge the ample amount of time that he needed in order to retreat. He spread the smoke throughout the area. While Plague may not be as fast as Swordedge, his poisons can still spread out pretty quickly. The poison cloud had already spread throughout the area, including where Null, Cici, and Swordedge are standing. Cici had no choice but to have to divert mana to healing both herself and Swordedge. As for Null... ¡°Cici, watch after Swordedge. I will handle it this time. I now know how to beat him.¡± The red cloud had no affect on Null. ''Even the red-striped salamander''s poison failed. His alchemy talent far surpasses mine when I was at that age.'' Null rushes forward. Because of the red poison fog covering the area, Cici can not spare any mana to healing Null in case he gets hurt. Plague once again raises his arm to attack. Null isn''t as fast as Swordedge, so he opts to launch his crossbow to divert Plague''s attacks. He then takes out a throwing knife. What is weird, is that this throwing knife is covered with the antidote to the Purple-striped salamander''s poison. Seeing that Null is using a throwing knife, Plague doesn''t even bother dodging. He figures it''s one of Null''s useless poisons. The throwing knife makes contact with Plague and breaks through his skin. His eyes open wide. ¡°AAAH! What... Is this?¡± He started getting racked with pain. Plague''s health started falling rapidly. His agony was Null''s delight. ''Heh. I knew it. There is no way he could use both the red and purple salamander''s poison at the same time without suffering from adverse side effects, so he must have a way to apply and completely remove the antidotes and poisons in his body. The antidotes for both the red and purple salamanders make a poison if you mix them together.'' Plague quickly took out the knife and removed the knife''s poison from his system. While this was going on, the red smoke that covered the area started to disappear. He looks pissed. ¡°You''ve forced my hand!¡± Plague says with rage. Some doors open up, and a multitude of monsters come out. Instead of the inherent randomness associated with the monsters they they had fought before, the monster are actually marching and flying in formation. ''Oh fuck.'' Null thinks. ''That''s how he does it. He releases different pheromones to control them.'' ¡°Um, Null...¡± Cici says worried. ¡°The plan doesn''t change. We''ll kill him, and then we''ll deal with everything else.¡± The monsters actually were a blessing in disguise. He can''t control the poison fogs and control his monsters at the same time, so they can now fight without worrying about it. ¡°Swordedge, you''re going to have to defend me. I have to focus on Plague, so I hope you can do it.¡± ¡°Of course I can do it!¡± Null and Swordedge run forward. Swordedge prevents any monster from coming close to Null. The bee monsters fought in formation, making it very difficult to fight them. The bees, under the command of Plague, exploited any openings that showed. Null was also fighting them when he could. They had almost made it until a huge number of bees had blocked their path. It takes all of Null''s and Swordedge''s concentration to focus on bees while the bees are attacking. While they are defending, Plague takes a potshot at Swordedge since he sees him as the bigger threat. He shoots a liquid orange in color at Swordedge. Swordedge saw it coming, but couldn''t do anything about it. He tries to dodge it, but it still hits his back. ¡°AAAAAH!¡± Swordedge yells out. ¡°HAHAHAHA! How do you like it!?¡± Plague has a wide smile, taking delight in Swordedge''s suffering. ¡°This poison attacks the nerves, making them more sensitive. It''s like you feel heat, cold, and needles all over your body at the same time, but you don''t need me to explain that to you right!?¡± Even a slight touch gives Swordedge unbearable pain. He''s about to fall, but he stops himself. ¡°No. Until I kill you, I will not stop!¡± Swordedge fights through the pain and keeps fighting the monsters. Even defending causes him an extreme amount of pain. His techniques have obviously suffered a set back. Some bees are about to stab into Swordedge. Before they are able to, Null throws a smoke bomb. Not only does it make it so that Plague couldn''t see them, it also had the unintentional affect of greatly calming the bees down and making them fall asleep. With that done, Null pulls out his gauntlets and runs towards Plague. Plague, however was calm. Even though that smoke bomb did a lot, there was something Null didn''t account for. The smoke bomb that he threw only worked in the general vicinity of Null and Swordedge. Cici was not able to be masked by the smoke''s affects. When Null was almost within reach, he hears Plague say something. ¡°That cleric... It''s thanks to her that you both can keep up with me. If I kill her now...¡± ''No!'' Null rushes back to Cici''s location. The bees that weren''t hit with the smoke start rushing towards Cici. She sees the bees coming and does a technique. The bees launch their stingers at Cici. She had a panicked look at first, but then right before the stinger hit, she smirked. Her health fell by 40%. Plague then saw his own health fall. There was nothing that hit him. It couldn''t have been Null or Swordedge, as they are preoccupied at the moment. His face shows shock. ¡°Confused?¡± Plague hears who is talking to him. It was that unassuming cleric. How in the world did she even manage to hurt him? ¡°My subclass is Curse Shaman. Not only can I do buffs, but I can also do curses. I had long ago knew that you would eventually attack me, so I prepared accordingly. The curse I had hit you with is called Mutually Assured Destruction. It will give out damage equal to the damage you put on me. Given that I''m also a cleric, I can also heal my wounds. How about you?¡± Cici smirks appearing very confident. In actuality though, this was a bluff. Though she did use the technique Mutually Assured Destruction, the damage given to the enemy is only equal to a quarter of the damage dealt, and this is when the skill is at intermediate. Also, while the technique is in effect, healing techniques and health potions will not work. Cici feels that Plague doesn''t need to know this though. ¡°Yes, yes. A frightening technique.¡± Plague says. ¡°However, I am well aware on how much damage my bees are capable of dealing. Looking at the amount of health I lost, it should only be a quarter of the amount dealt to you. Am I right?¡± Cici''s face stiffens. This causes Plague to smile wide. ¡°Hahahaha!¡± Plague gives a mirthful laugh. ¡°You should learn to work on your bluffs more.¡± The bees are now ready to deal a killing blow to Cici. A quarter of her health being dealt damage to Plague? He feels that that is nothing. As long as she''s out of the picture, he could easily kill Null and Swordedge at his leisure. When the stingers were about to launch, Swordedge comes out of the smoke and attacks Plague throwing off his control by just a little. Some of the stingers are still able to launch at Cici. When she is about to get hit, she resigns herself to her fate when Null comes in front of her. Before the stingers had hit, Null threw out the smoke bombs so that the bees could not draw near or see them. Null shields Cici with his body, taking the blows for himself. ¡°Null!¡± Null had started falling over and Cici caught him. She had tears in her eyes. ¡°You- You actually saved me.¡± She said smiling with tears. ¡°Cleric...¡± ¡°Yes Null?¡± She says gently. Because of Null falling over, Cici was currently hugging him. It looked like they were having a moment, but in actuality... ¡°Heal me you idiot!¡± ¡°Huh? Oh. Oh yeah.¡± Null started to slowly get healed. Unknown to Cici, Null''s face was red. This is the first time a girl has ever hugged him. Even Keimi before their falling out had never hugged him. Null doesn''t know how to feel about this. When she is finished, Null quickly gets off of her. ¡°Null, thank you.¡± Cici says, really meaning it. ¡°I only did it so we could stand a chance against Plague.¡± Null says. He gives Cici some smoke bombs, then he runs off towards Plague. ''At the rate we''re going we''re going to lose. This next move will most likely put me out of commission.'' Null thinks. There were other monsters there that weren''t affected by the smoke. They tried to block Null''s way, but Null nimbly dodged them. The area that was surrounding Plague had the smoke disappear. Null had given his remaining smoke bombs to Cici, so he is now out of smoke bombs. Swordedge is barely holding on. He hasn''t gotten a good hit on Plague ever since he had been poisoned. Swordedge sees Null coming and tries to hold off Plague as best as he could. A bee stinger shoots towards Swordedge''s back. He was so focused on Plague and Null that he didn''t notice it. Swordedge didn''t know that it was the smoke that was originally keeping his back safe. Now that it had cleared, his back was now open to attack. Multiple stingers penetrated Swordedge''s back. It was so much that he nearly passed out from the pain, but he still kept standing. ¡°You look tired. Don''t you want to just die already and save yourself from the pain?¡± Plague asks Swordedge. ¡°As long as you live, I shall never die! I shall never tire!¡± Swordedge says indignant. ¡°AAAAAH!¡± Swordedge does his glowing sword technique, pouring all of his remaining mana into it. Plague managed to block it, but it left him open for attack. Unfortunately, Swordedge exhausted, couldn''t follow up and he had passed out. The strain on his body was just too much. However, Null had made it there. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ''This is the move that will end this!'' Null thinks. He pours most of his remaining mana into his hand. The mana starts rotating around his palm. ¡°Hmph. You think I''m so easy to defeat!? You''re naive!¡± Yells out Plague. Plague prepares his move as well. It''s his most powerful paralyzing poison. He tosses it out at the same time Null arrives. Null is hit, but he had no choice. Thanks to Swordedge making an opening from before, he will never get another chance. ''Flinch!'' Null yells out in his mind. Plague was about to kill him, but Flinch had made him stop for a tiny flash of a second. Because Plague''s level is so much higher than Null''s, Flinch didn''t do much. However, it was still enough for what Null had to do. That mana he had in his palm struck out in the center of his chest. Since the mana hearts of humans are small, trying to aim solely for that would be nearly impossible with Null''s present level of skill, but if he were to pour all of his mana into his palm to increase the surface area of his attack, he can hit it. The palm infused with mana makes contact. It creates a shock wave that comes into Plague''s chest and out of his back. Plague''s mana system became out of wack and he had noticed. ¡°What did you do to me!?¡± Plague yells out. Null didn''t answer. The poison that Plague had given him is about to take effect. Null furiously slashed at him with his gauntlets. The final strike was a punch that resulted in another shock wave punch. The blades on his gauntlets impaled Plague. Plague then turned gray and disappeared. Null then fell boneless to the ground. ''All that and not a single bee pun.'' Null thinks disappointed.
You have leveled up. You have leveled up. You have leveled up. You have leveled up. ...
Due to the actions of not only finding a cure, but also defeating the man responsible for the disease that spread, you have gained the title Savior of Panford. You have reached maximum intimacy with all residents of Panford. Stores in Panford will sell things to you at a least a 60% discount. People of Panford will revere you and speak about you as if you were a legend. They will become loyal to you and never betray you. You could kick puppies and baby seals in front of them and they wouldn''t care.
Fame increased by 87 points.
Null had gained 14 levels, 87 points of Fame, and a title, yet when Null read everything, he got an annoyed look on his face. ''Well I know where I''m not going when I get out of here.'' Null thinks. ''I didn''t even want to do this mission in the first place. I don''t need to go back to town to get a reward if I have to deal with people coming at me. Guess I''ll go wander until I find another town. I can kick puppies and baby seals and they won''t care? I''m not even beautiful. That''s a weird thing to have.'' He hears rapid footsteps approaching from behind him. Cici runs over smiling. ¡°You did it! You actually did it! Null, you are just too amazing! How are you so amazing!?¡± Cici yells excited. She sits down and lays Null''s head in her lap. Null wants to yell out no or run away, but there''s nothing he can do while being paralyzed. When she lays his head in her lap, she starts rubbing his head. ¡°Null. I was wrong. I regret ever being antagonistic towards you. I still remember the day when we had first met. You were always by yourself never talking to anyone. Since you had gotten the award for best in Mathematics and Chemistry, I had assumed that you never talking to people was because you thought you were better than everyone else. Now I know that in actuality, its the opposite. Because of the people around you, you chose to close yourself off. You''ve been hurt too many times. So now I''m asking, for you to become my friend. After that, if you feel like having friends is too much, then you can choose to do whatever you want.¡± Null squints. There is no way some pretty sounding words will ever make him become friends with a person. He has also dealt with people who said pretty sounding words only for them to betray him in the end. He''s not even bothering with Cici at the moment. He''s wondering how he''s going to get out of that area without running into the citizens of Panford. If even one person sees him, that person will alert the others to Null''s location. ¡°We should heal Swordedge and get out of here.¡± Cici tells Null. They wait a while before Null gets enough control for him to be able to move his arms. He uses the scant few ingredients he has left to make cure for both himself and Swordedge. He finds it in around 4 hours. Null first finds a cure for Swordedge. He figures that Swordedge must be in unbearable pain. Afterwards, he tries to find a cure for himself. Null finds something that will alleviate the paralysis a little, but he will still have to wait in order to make a full recovery. Null finally recovered where he can talk somewhat. ¡°Cleric... Dump me... In a ditch... Cover me... With leaves... Then go... I''ll recover... Eventually.¡± Cici shakes her head. ¡°No can do. We''re going back to the cabin and wait for you to recuperate.¡± Null shakes his head rapidly. ¡°No! Got... Annoying... Title... Don''t let... Me go... To town.¡± ¡°I''m sorry Null, but I''m going to have to ignore that.¡± ¡°Bitch... Bitch... Bitch... Bitch...¡± *************** It didn''t take long for Swordedge to wake up. When Cici told him how Null had killed Plague, Swordedge kept praising Null much to his annoyance. With that done, they all go towards the drops and divide them among themselves. Swordedge received the best sword among the drops, though it still wasn''t as good as the sword he currently has on him. He decided that having a spare sword was all that he needed. He reasoned that if it wasn''t for Null and Cici, he would''ve eventually died, so he decided to give them the rest of the drops. Cici got a more powerful staff, a ring that replenishes mana faster, and half of the gold that dropped. Everything else went to Null. Null wanted them both to have more because he felt they deserved more, but they didn''t change their minds. There was one drop in particular that he was happy to get. It was Plague''s poison book. Now Null has a lot of poisons he can add to his arsenal. Swordedge had gotten the poison out of his system, but Null will need a lot more time. Cici, with Swordedge''s help, puts Null on her back. Null had tried vehemently to push her away or to at least settle for being held by Swordedge, but Cici did that annoying skill of lowering his stats so that coupled with his paralysis, Null had no choice but to stay put. They walk towards the portal that had opened when Null had killed Plague. It leads towards the entrance of the cave. *********** There''s a group of people currently heading towards the cave. One of the trackers in the group had found the cave Plague is currently hiding in. The group number at about 200, and consist of different professions. They are mostly made of warriors. There are also a few mages and clerics. Its like there are actually 2 groups of people. The mages and clerics had grouped together because they feel they can''t deal with the warriors'' arrogant and brash attitude. ¡°Man. I can''t wait to chop some monsters up with my sword! It''s been a while since its tasted blood!¡± ¡°I''ll kill Plague with a single blow! I dare anyone here to match me!¡± ¡°Well I''ll kill more monsters than anyone.¡± ¡°Hopefully Plague didn''t run away.¡± ¡°Ha! Even if he did, our trackers will definitely find him!¡± ¡°Him run away? He''s so arrogant about his potions, he thinks he''s invincible. Fat chance he''ll run away.¡± One of the trackers then says, ¡°It appears that there are 3 others who came through here as well. One of them belongs Swordedge. The others, according to Loretalon, are Null and Cici. Null is the one who found the cure for Plague''s disease and the one who was supposed to meet us in town. Cici is a cleric with amazing skill. She has intermediate in her clerical mastery. If it wasn''t for her, more than half of Panford would''ve died.¡± ¡°Hmph.¡± One of the warriors scoffs. ¡°How arrogant! Swordedge came here by himself far earlier than Null and Cici. Even though he was idiotic to go there by himself, he is still powerful, so he can at least last a long time. However, the alchemist and cleric came by themselves?¡± Loretalon didn''t have the heart to tell the Qasburg force that Null was actually a librarian. If they were to know, they would have knocked some sense into Loretalon for letting both Null and Cici go by themselves. ¡°Only the two of them? Utter stupidity. A cleric and alchemist can do nothing by themselves no matter how high their level.¡± The clerics and alchemists in the group take offense from that warrior''s remark, but they don''t say anything. They are used to the warriors dissing them until they need to be healed or cured. Then the clerics and alchemists turn into the best people in the world. ¡°Ah! I can see the cave entrance!¡± One of the warriors yells. ¡°Haha! Time to get our slaughter on!¡± ¡°I''ve been waiting for this!¡± When they run into the cave, they see three people coming out. The warriors there recognize Swordedge who is one of those three people. Another person is actually piggybacking a ride on a beautiful cleric. This causes the people there to laugh. That must be the alchemist that was supposed to meet him in town. Serves him right for being arrogant, and he had ran away from the cave with his tail between his legs. Some of the warriors there think that the ¡°alchemist¡± might actually now be afraid of the dungeon now. They hope they won''t have to make him go inside the cave by force, but they''ll do it if they have to. ¡°Ah sir! You''ve made it out alive!¡± One of the warriors there greets Swordedge. Now with Swordedge there, no one would dare try talk bad about him. ¡°Yes. Fortunately I had Null and Cici to help me in time.¡± Swordedge says with praise. Some of the people there smirk. If Null and Cici had made it over to where Swordedge was, that means that Swordedge didn''t make it very far. After all, Null and Cici are only an ¡°alchemist¡± and a cleric. How could they possibly get far? ¡°Sir, with you now with us, our victory is now guaranteed.¡± ¡°Do you need to prepare? How long until we head in sir? Do you need to recuperate?¡± Swordedge then notices that the way they are talking to him is off. He thinks, ''Ah I see. It''s when I said that Null and Cici saved me. Who would ever expect a supposed alchemist and a cleric to ever make it far, much less to actually defeat Plague? I can''t wait to see the reactions on their face.'' Swordedge then says, ¡°Head in? What are you talking about?¡± He plays confusion on his face. Another warrior comes in and says, ¡°We''re here to defeat Plague remember? Has one of Plague''s monsters done harm to you so that you can''t think straight?¡± Swordedge then gets a face that shows he understands. ¡°Oooooh! Plague! Right, right. Oh there''s no need to worry about that anymore.¡± The Qasburg forces'' faces show confusion. It has never been like Swordedge to give up. He will fight until the end. That''s how he has gained everyone''s respect. One of top warriors there yells indignant, ¡°We''re just going to give up just like that!? I''m disappointed in you! Even if it were a level 400 monster, you would never back down! Plague must have damaged you with some sort of poison, because the old you would''ve never given up like that! Well we''re going! I will carry on your legacy on how you used to be!¡± Swordedge''s face shows amusement. People see this and grow even more confused. Some of the sharper people there start putting two and two together. They feel that there is no way the three of them could go through the dungeons by themselves and defeat Plague. Swordedge says to the indignant warrior, ¡°Well you want to go and kill Plague? Well I find that for you it will be impossible to do that. Even if all of us wanted to go and kill Plague right now, it will be impossible. Hell, even if the entire country went to try and kill Plague right now, it will be impossible.¡± ¡°I''ll show you! I''ll let everyone here know who will kill Plague! AAAAAAH!¡± He runs towards the cave. Some of the dumber warriors run off with him. Cici just starts laughing. Swordedge laughs with her. Null was just relieved that his lower body was paralyzed. Otherwise, he would have gotten an erection from being on Cici''s back. How embarrassing would that be? One of the mages comes up to Swordedge and says, ¡°Sir. Did you actually defeat Plague?¡± Swordedge shakes his head. This confuses everyone even more. Swordedge points to Null and says, ¡°It was actually him that had defeated and killed Plague. It was also him who had saved my life. I will not take the credit for something that I did not do.¡± Null''s eyes stare at Swordedge, wanting for him to disappear to the bottom of the ocean. ¡°He fought so valiantly!¡± Swordedge says. ¡°Shut up.¡± Null says calmly. ¡°When I thought it was over for us-¡± ¡°Shut up.¡± Null says annoyed. ¡°He fought with all he had and reached for victory!¡± ¡°Uuuugh.¡± Swordedge tells everyone there about their time in the dungeon. He talks about how far he made it inside even while being infected with that disease. He then talks about how Cici and Null saved him, how Null''s intelligence and battle prowess proved invaluable, and how fearless he is in the face of danger. The more Swordedge talked about Null, the more that pathetic image of a loser who was slumped on the cleric''s back disappeared. Now Null looked like a dazzling star. However, he was still slumped over on the cleric''s back. No amount of prestige could make that not look terrible. The clerics and alchemists were the ones who were the most amazed. They had surrounded Cici and Null asking them questions about their battles. Cici was more than happy to share her experiences. Null looked at them the same way he looked at everyone else, so naturally they were only asking Cici questions. Since their main objective had been completed, people had decided to return to the Qasburg kingdom. ¡°Hey, shouldn''t we get the people that had went inside the cave?¡± One warrior asks. A tracker says, ¡°I''ve already left dozens of messages, but they said they will not be deterred until they defeat Plague.¡± ¡°Didn''t you tell them that Plague''s already dead?¡± ¡°Yes, but they said that Swordedge''s weakness is also infecting us, so they''re ignoring us.¡± Swordedge then says, ¡°Ah, they''ll be fine. You guys go back to Qasburg''s capital. I have to go protect Loretalon, so we''ll catch up.¡± With that, Cici, Null, and Swordedge separate from the Qasburg force. Upon reaching Panford, Swordedge says his farewells to both of them, and they split again. Cici then takes Null to her cabin. It''s on the outskirts of Panford, so as long as they''re careful, they won''t be able to run into any people. ******** ¡°As you can see, I''m 100% better. Thank Ptah that Null had come.¡± An old lady says. ¡°That''s good to know. You''re the last patient. It now seems that everyone has made a full recovery.¡± Loretalon says with smiles. ¡°Does that mean you''re leaving Panford?¡± ¡°Yes. With this done I can finally return to the capital.¡± They say their farewells. Loretalon then leaves and heads towards the direction of Cici''s cabin. *********** It''s been 3 days in-game since Null and Cici had returned. Null is nearly 100% better. No matter how much Null had pleaded, Cici refused to let him be. However, Null is now annoyed in a different way. She has been really helpful in the past few days. She knows that Null doesn''t want to go to town due to the new title he has, so she went and brought him food. She also took Null''s items and sold them. She even recorded the moment she left the cabin to the moment she returned so that Null can see that she didn''t cheat or steal from him. Null would never trust anyone to sell his items, but due to his paralysis, Cici knew that Null wouldn''t be able to attack him for touching his stuff. Due to Cici knowing how to deal with people, Null had gotten a lot more money than he would have if he had gone by himself before he had gotten his title. Null doesn''t like the new nicer Cici. It makes Null uncomfortable when people show him kindness. In his experience, that means that they are planning something. Null is about to head out. Cici had bought Null a Kakashi-like mask to cover his face. Right now he is looking at the book Mrs. Allensworth had given to him, trying to figure out how to find out clues on how to upgrade the transmutation circle skills. He then hears a knock on the door. Of course, Null being Null ignores it. It was Cici who was in the other room who opens the door. ¡°Oh Loretalon. What brings you here?¡± Cici says pleasantly surprised. ¡°I''m looking for Null. I figured if he wasn''t here, he would no longer be in this area. I''m about to leave and he still hasn''t come by to claim his reward.¡± ¡°That''s because Null didn''t want any of the citizens of Panford to see him.¡± Cici tells Loretalon. ¡°Haha! That explains it. All of the people I watched over couldn''t stop talking about Null.¡± ¡°Yeah. When I went out to go to the stores, there were people constantly coming to me asking if I''ve seen Null.¡± ¡°I figured he wasn''t the type to like fame.¡± Null was ignoring them and was still focusing on the mystery book. Loretalon looks at the book Null was currently staring at. Loretalon''s face then shows shock. ¡°My goodness! In all my years, I have never seen a transmutation circle this advanced!¡± Loretalon says surprised. Null looks up with wide eyes. ¡°Transmutation circle?¡± Null asks. ¡°Yes.¡± Loretalon goes to Null and points at the circle design on the top of the book. ¡°This is a transmutation circle. What is something like this used for?¡± ¡°I don''t know. It was just something on the book that I received.¡± Null says. ''A transmutation circle!? This was a transmutation circle!? It''s been in my face in front of me the whole time!? I am an idiot.'' Null thinks to himself. ''According to what Cici and Swordedge had said before, I would need to bind the transmutation circle to myself. That''s only if I didn''t have the transmutation circle skills. With Transmutation Circle Activation, I do not have to worry about bindings or whatnot. I can activate or deactivate all transmutation circles at will. What a broken skill. Well it did require me to get intermediate in 5 classes. I can''t show that I know the skill. I''ll wait until I''m a considerable distance away from anyone before I activate the skill.'' Null actually gets happy now that he knows his next move. His face shows satisfaction. Cici doesn''t know what brought about Null''s change in mood, but she''s happy for him. ¡°Here is the reward that I wanted to give you.¡± Loretalon tells him. He takes a book out of his inventory and gives it to Null. ¡°This is a potion book which teaches you how to make advanced potions. It took me many years to fill it out. I hope that it will be of use to you.¡± This makes Null even happier. ''First I got the poison book from Plague, the potion book from Loretalon, and I finally figured out my next move when it comes to the transmutation circles! I feel like dancing! I''ll do it when I''m alone.'' ¡°I will be heading back now. Thank you both for saving Panford and defeating Plague. If it wasn''t for you, who knows how many towns would have fallen?¡± He says his farewells and leaves. Null and Cici head out as well. When they leave the cabin, Null tells Cici, ¡°Remember our deal?¡± She sighs. ¡°Yes Null, I remember it. Can you at least wait until we leave Panford before we go our separate ways?¡± Null thinks about what to do. ''Well, she has stayed true to her word so far, and she even helped me clear a dungeon. It''s the least I can do.'' Null nods. When they finally make it out of Panford, they hear rustling in the bushes. Null had noticed that he was there the whole time. ¡°So you''ve finally come? HAHAHAHAHA! I''ve finally found you! I got tired of waiting!¡± A group of people come out. It''s Potion Commotion. The leader has his arms crossed. He''s wearing a profound robe, with a profound hairstyle. He has his arms in his sleeves. It''s none other than TangSanLinleyBaruchYunCheChuFeng, or Schizo for short. ''God dammit. Can this damn Panford arc just end already?'' Thinks Null. ----------------- Author''s Note: Don''t touch that address bar! There''s more coming your way! Feed my children! Chapter 28: Flashback chapter? Skipped Definitely Author''s Note: Last chapter for this arc. Most of you will probably skip it. To those that do, its okay. I know where you live. ---------------- ¡°Cici, I know you''ve been shy, but I want to hear your answer! Do you want to be my girlfriend? I''m sure I''m more powerful that the guy over there, so that entitles me to have you. Isn''t that how it works?¡± ¡°So you''re the creepy weirdo who has kept sending me love letters?¡± Asks Cici. ¡°Creepy? You were supposed to think that it was romantic! I complemented you plenty in those letters! I''ve racked up a lot of nice guy points doing that! Not only am I strong, I''ve accumulated enough nice guy points to exchange them for a girlfriend! That''s supposed to be how it works!¡± The people behind Schizo facepalm. ''I know nothing about how to get a girlfriend, and even I don''t think it works like that.'' Thinks Null. ''Well, the old saying is that there will always be someone better than you at something. There must be an opposite saying that says there will always someone being worse than you at something.'' ¡°You''re gross. Go away.¡± Cici says to Schizo. ¡°Ooooooh, I am very angry. Cici, you have caused me to lose a lot of face! So now I will take it out on your boyfriend by killing him!¡± He takes out a sword and rushes to Null, aiming to stab at his throat. The fight, was actually pretty sad. Null performed a side kick that sent Schizo flying. He returned 2 minutes later. ¡°Null, whatever profound art you used to attack me just now won''t work twice! For I, your grandfath-¡± Null drop kicked him a second time and sent him flying. Everyone hears Schizo saying in the distance, ¡°My beautiful, jade-white skin!¡± He comes once again and starts laughing. ¡°You are clearly courting death!" "...Weren''t you going to kill me anyway?" Null asks confused. "You may have reached the Titled-Douluo level Null, but let''s see if you can beat me when I have this Curling Dragon ring!¡± Null drop kicks him a third time sending him flying. The reason Null didn''t outright kill him is because he is in a pretty good mood. He returns once again. This time, he''s frightened. ¡°Save me old man expert who lives in the Curling Dragon ring!¡± He appears in front of Schizo. He says, ¡°The road of cultivation is rife with hardships. You will have to do this on your own. Besides, I''m not even real! I''m just a figment of your imagination.¡± The old man expert then slowly disappears. ¡°Don''t say that old man expert! You''re real to me!¡± Schizo yells out. ¡°Meds will clear that right up.¡± The old man expert says. He then disappears completely to Schizo. ¡°Who is he talking to?¡± Cici says crept out. ¡°Don''t worry, he gets like that sometimes.¡± Rick says to Cici. ¡°Fine! So I can''t beat you! You should know that the pods record everything around me! I have now recorded the video of Null the famous alchemist!¡± ¡°I''ll keep kicking your ass until you change your mind.¡± Null says calmly. Null proceeded to beat the ever living daylights out of Schizo. It took a while, but Schizo had come to his senses. ¡°Forgive me Null, for I did not recognize Mt. Tai.¡± Null raises an eyebrow and looks around. He keeps looking around and eventually becomes frustrated. Null says, "Where is Mt. Tai? I can''t see it." "Hmph. Of course you can''t see it. Only those who stand at the pinnacle have the honor of seeing Mt. Tai." "Wait, so Mt. Tai is something that can only exist if you believe it exists?" "No! That''s nonsense! Mt. Tai isn''t something that appears for anyone that wants it. Mt. Tai only exists for those who know their limits and not try to fight something greater." "Mt. Tai sounds pretty awesome. I too hope one day to see Mt. Tai." Schizo didn''t know whether to laugh or to cry. Null didn''t know whether to laugh or to cry. Cici didn''t know whether to laugh or to cry. Soon afterwords, a mutation occurred. Fed up with people not knowing whether to laugh or to cry, it changed into a laugh cry. The disease quickly spread to the surrounding people. The symptoms made it so that a person will cough up blood and the intestines will quickly turn green. It attacks via the face. For some reason it likes taking face from the other people. Null had found a cure and gave it to everyone before it could spread any farther. All this took the time it took for an incense stick to burn. ''Heheh. I''ll still give away the video that I have of Null. Then I''ll get my revenge. I cannot settle down until I have my revenge. Even if it costs me everything. That''s how its supposed to work right?'' Schizo thinks to himself. As if Cici had read his thoughts, he walks over to Schizo. She says, ¡°Hey, I''ve never noticed before, but you''re so handsome and strong.¡± She says this while rubbing his arm. Schizo''s eyes open wide. Schizo''s henchman look at her and say among themselves, "Surely he isn''t foolish enough to fall for this?" Schizo says, ¡°Ohohohoho! So you have finally recognized Mt. Tai!¡± Schizo starts flexing. "*sigh* looks like he is foolish enough." Cici then says, "Hey handsome could you do me a favor?" "Haha! Anything for my secret admirier!" "Could you maybe delete everything that has to do with Null pleeeeeease?" She does a cute face. "Of course!" He deletes everything. "Could you also stop recording right now?" "Of course!" He goes to options and goes through the steps to stop recording. "Could you also tell your henchman to do the same?" "Of cooooourse! Hey you scrubs! Stop recording and delete everything that has to do with Null! You''re upsetting my new girlfriend!" They all sigh and stop recording. Everyone except Schizo knows what''s going to happen. "Okay, Null. I''ll see you in a bit!" Cici says to Null. "Take your time. Please." Null walks away. Schizo has his arm around Cici''s shoulders. "Now that that loser is out the way, we should have our own fun, maybe a date, or maybe hmmm... Maybe-" He was killed by Cici because of simultaneously lowering his stats and raising her own. She was about to attack the others, but the vice leader says, "Don''t bother. We weren''t going to do anything." Potion commotion walks away. One of them asks, ¡°Why did we make him leader again?¡± Rick says, ¡°Who knows?¡± ********** With that matter done, they finally make it to the edge of town. Cici says, ¡°So I guess this is goodbye.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Null walks away. He keeps walking until he''s almost out of her sight. ¡°Wait!¡± Cici runs to Null. ¡°What now?¡± Null sighs exasperated. ¡°This wasn''t supposed to happen! You were supposed to hate me at first, but after having our adventure together, and seeing how far we''ve come, we were supposed to become friends!¡± ¡°You had said it yourself before that this wasn''t a Shonen Jump. It still isn''t. Well if there isn''t anything else...¡± Null starts to walk away. ¡°Wait, Null. Can you at least add me as a friend? I don''t need anything else.¡± Null''s eyes squint. ''I''m starting to sense a trend. First Ludis with his intermediate in his monk class wants to add me as a friend. Now Cici with her intermediate in her cleric class wants to add me as a friend. I thought that having intermediate was supposed to be rare. Why are all these people coming out the woodwork wanting to add me as a friend? Well I know one thing. I won''t be adding anymore friends!'' ¡°Pleeeeease?¡± Says Cici with a cute face. ''Well... Maybe just once more.'' ¡°Since you helped me, and since I''m in a pretty good mood, fine. I''ll add you. Don''t message me. I won''t reply back.¡± Cici smiles wide. ¡°Thank you Null! I hope one day we''ll meet again in the game!¡± ¡°Don''t count on it.¡± Null then walks away. Cici looks at Null departing. ********* Flashback: In 7th grade, Cecile was always told how amazing she was. People always sucked up to her. Naturally, she got a big head. She also ignored people that were considered the bottom of the social hierarchy. It''s not that she wanted to cause them harm, she just figured that''s the way it was supposed to be. Cecile was on her way to class walking with some of her friends. ¡°Cecile, you got the highest grade once again!¡± Someone says to her. ¡°I''m so jealous!¡± Another girl says to her. Cecile smiles and says, ¡°It was really close this time. You almost got me.¡± That girl scoffs and says, ¡°Isn''t it always like that? I can never beat you. Even in my best subject.¡± They make it to class. Cecile greets everyone and makes it to her seat. ¡°Well you''re sure as popular as popular as ever.¡± Someone says next to her. ¡°Keimi. Haha. I think this is the longest I''ve never seen you in a day! Where have you been!?¡± ¡°I overslept. That''s pretty much it.¡± Keimi replies. ¡°Oh my god! Get your shit together!¡± Cecile jokes. They make it through the class and head to their next class. ¡°So how did you do on your math test?¡± Cecile asks. ¡°I''ve gotten a lot better. I got a B.¡± ¡°Whaaat? How in the world did you do that? Even when I tried to tutor you, it didn''t help at all. Did you cheat?¡± ¡°No. Have you no faith in me?¡± Keimi asks. ¡°None.¡± Cecile says bluntly. This causes both of them to laugh. ¡°But really, how did you do it?¡± Cecile asks curious. ¡°I''m actually getting tutored by David. Even though he makes terrible grades, he''s still pretty smart.¡± ¡°Oh, him. Why are you even friends with him anyway?¡± ¡°He''s not bad once you get to know him.¡± ¡°Well, I guess it''s good that you''re friends with him. You''re his only friend. I actually feel sorry for him. He keeps getting bullied. Don''t ever ask me to be his friend though. Who knows how hard a hit my reputation will suffer?¡± Cecile says. ¡°Damn you''re so vain.¡± ¡°Am not!¡± Times passes peacefully for Cecile. Everything was as it was supposed to be. One day, everything changed for her. Cecile was on her way home from her club when she sees a lot of people hanging around, laughing. ''What''s going on? It''s after school. Why are there so many people still here?'' Cecile wonders. She walks up to some of her friends who were there. ¡°Hey, do any of you know what''s going on?¡± ¡°You won''t believe it! Keimi set David up and pelted him with paint balloons! She then recorded it and spread it around!¡± Cecile was shocked that Keimi was capable of being so cruel. ¡°Let me see the video.¡± Cecile practically demands. ¡°Okay.¡± One of their friends puts on her AR glasses and puts it up. Since the girl had it that friends can watch her videos, Cecile can also now watch the video. When Cecile watches it, her expression goes from shock, to horror, to tranquil fury. She leaves her friends without saying another word and runs off. She doesn''t stop running until she finds Keimi. She is currently at a fast food place laughing with her friends. ¡°Did you see the look on his face?¡± One of Keimi''s friends laughs while saying it. ¡°It was like, ¡°My only friend betraaaaayed me!¡±¡± This causes them to laugh even harder. They were having a merry time until they hear the door slam open. Keimi sees who it is and calls out to her. ¡°Cecile, what''s wrong with you?¡± Keimi asks her friend. ¡°Why did you do it!?¡± Cecile yells at Keimi. There must be a good reason for Keimi to have done what she did. ¡°Oh you mean what I did to David? It''s because I got tired of him, so I decided to end the friendship with a bang! Why are you so angry anyway? Thanks to what I did, my reputation went way up right? You were right. Being friends with him was stupid.¡± Cecile slaps Keimi. One of Keimi''s friends then pushes Cecile onto the ground. Keimi was shocked that Cecile had slapped her. She was never known for being violent. ¡°Do you think what you were doing was any better!?¡± Keimi yells at Cecile while holding the cheek Cecile slapped. ¡°Don''t you dare act all high and mighty! You have always walked around as if you were a saint, yet you ignored anyone that you thought was beneath you! You made not have actively harmed others, but you hurt them just the same! You are the example that everyone else follows! I learned from you!¡± Cecile eyes open wide and starts to cry. ''It was me. I''m the one responsible for what happened to David. Keimi is right. I am no better than her!'' She runs out the restaurant. She starts running frantically. ¡°David. Please. Where are you!?¡± Cecile calls out. She spent the next hour running, but found no sign of him. She decided that she will look for him at school the next day. It is now tomorrow. Cecile went to find David. When she finally finds him, her heart sinks. There in David''s eyes were the eyes of no hope. It was the eyes of a broken man. She knew even if she were to go to David, that there would be nothing she could do. She had walked away from him. From that day onward, she decided to change. She no longer only talked to certain people. She became friends with everyone so no one will ever suffer again because of her mistakes. 3 years pass. Because of her change, most people grew to like Cecile. She had gotten rid of her arrogant friends and changed to more humble people. She was no longer viewed as being an arrogant or haughty person. The inspiration for her change had gradually faded from her mind. All she remembered about him was his first name, and that he was overweight. She was once again talking with friends. Her curriculum is in the honors program, so everyone in a lot of her classes are people who are considered smart. It was there that she had met this version of David for the first time. He was wearing really thick clothes, and staring out the window. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Cecile asks a person next to her, ¡°Do you know who that is? I''ve never seen him before.¡± She shakes her head. ¡°This is my first time seeing him.¡± However, she learned from her past mistakes. She greeted David. He gave short concise answers and looked like he didn''t want to be bothered. Cecile decided to just leave him alone. The more that Cecile learned about David, the more unimpressed she became, though she never voiced these thoughts. Every time they would get their tests back, David would look at his test, frown, then throw his test in the garbage. Every time the teachers called on him to answer a question, no matter how simple it was, David would always say ¡°Don''t know.¡± He wouldn''t even pay attention in class. He would usually be reading a book of some kind. While at lunch, Cecile was chatting with her friends when one of them says, ¡°Hey, have any of you guys noticed that quiet kid who always throws away his tests?¡± ¡°Yeah. I feel sorry for him. I would offer to help him, but he looks like he doesn''t want to be bothered. It doesn''t help that he''s weird and creepy.¡± ¡°Why do you feel sorry for him? Every time the teacher calls on him to answer a question, he''s always reading a book that has nothing to do with the class saying "I don''t know." He deserves no sympathy!¡± ¡°Yeah. How did he even get into the advanced class placements in the first place? He seems pretty dumb.¡± Cecile jumps in and says, ¡°Don''t talk bad about someone just because they''re struggling in class. There''s probably things he can do that we can''t.¡± ¡°...You''re right Cecile. We shouldn''t be talking bad about him like this.¡± ¡°I feel terrible now.¡± ¡°Cecile, you see the good in everybody. Even a loser like that.¡± Cecile says, ¡°Come on. Stop that. You wouldn''t like it if he called you a loser right?¡± ¡°Alright, alright Cecile. Such a saint you are.¡± ''Maybe he''s gloomy because he has no one to encourage him.'' Cecile thinks. The next class they have together, Cecile walks over to David''s desk and says, ¡°Don''t give up okay! You can do it!¡± ¡°....Okay?¡± David replies back confused. They then quickly forgot about one another. ******* ¡°I don''t know why we go to these award ceremonies anyway. Everyone knows it will be Cecile who will get the best in all the academic subjects.¡± ¡°Maybe it''ll be different this year.¡± Someone else says. ¡°You''ve said the same thing ever since elementary school.¡± Cecile hears this and doesn''t say anything. She''s used to this. A person who teaches Mathematics stands on stage. After giving various awards he goes to the main event. ¡°I will now be presenting the best award in Mathematics overall.¡± Cecile gets ready to stand up. ¡°David Lewis.¡± That name echoed in the quiet auditorium. People were surprised. Ever since they were little, it had always been Cecile who had gotten the best grades in her subjects. ¡°Someone beat Cecile!?¡± ¡°I don''t believe it!¡± ¡°Where is he?¡± Everyone looks around, but the person that was called was nowhere to be found. ¡°Heheh. He didn''t even bother showing up to the award ceremony.¡± Cecile was the most shocked of them all. Never before had she been beaten academically. She felt awful. ''Well good job David Lewis. To beat me in a subject. Well done.'' She has a sad smile. The awards for Chemistry is next. Cecile was sad, but she quickly got over it. She thinks, ''Well it''s no biggie.'' Chemistry was always her best subject anyway. ¡°This award for best in Chemistry goes to...¡± Cecile prepares to get up. ¡°David Lewis.¡± Once again there was silence, then murmurs. ¡°Oh my god! This David Lewis beat Cecile twice!¡± ¡°Is the era of Cecile coming to an end!?¡± Cecile''s friends were even more shocked than everyone else. They know who David Lewis is. They were saying, "Looks like we underestimated him." "Huh. Looks like I was wrong. The reason he was reading other books was because he already knew the material." "He beat Cecile!? How!?" "Cecile, don''t feel bad. This is probably some fluke. You''ll definitely beat him next time." On the outside she smiled and nodded, but on the inside, the rage of a thousand white hot suns was brewing. Cecile did not take it well. ''David Lewis? David Lewis!? I''ve never been beaten scholastically! Did you cheat? Are you paying off the teachers or something? Next time I''ll make sure catch you cheating in the act!'' A few months pass and it was time for the new year. Cecile would always stare at David, wanting to catch him in the act of cheating. He does the same thing he did last year. He would read a book and say "Don''t know." Whenever he was called upon by a teacher. ''Judging from the way the teachers look at him, I don''t think David is paying them off. In fact, it looks like the teachers don''t even like him. Are you telling me he beat me with intelligence alone, and with teachers that don''t even like him!?'' She continues staring at David. Sometimes she would stalk him. She saw that he was always by himself. ''Is he by himself because he feels no one else is worthy of being next to him?'' Cecile ponders. 2 weeks into the year. She always arrived early to school. She was on her way to her friends when she saw David in a corner playing with his AR glasses. ''It''s time I talk to him and see what he''s all about.'' "Hey you." Cecile talks to David. David ignores her. ''Is he ignoring me?'' Cecile thinks aggravated. "David, I''m talking to you!" She yells at him. ''He''s still ignoring me! Does he think he''s better than me!?'' "David Lewis!" David continues to ignore her. ''That''s it! I''ve had it!'' She stomps over to where David is sitting. "I know you heard me talking to you!" Cecile gets a good look at David. This is the first time she has really paid attention to David up close. Last time she looked at David up close, it was just to give him motivation, and she quickly forgot about him. "Um, can I help you?" David asks Cecile. Cecile looks at his expression. The people Cecile has to deal with generally come in 3 categories. First, there''s the people that admire her because of her intelligence. Second, is the love struck boys who always want to date her, though she usually turns them down. Third, are the group of people who are jealous of her, who feign disinterest even though they''re jealous, or scoff at her when they think she can''t hear. David belongs to none of those groups. She can see it in his eyes. David genuinely doesn''t give a damn about her. They talk some more. David then says. ¡°I''m not gonna lie. I''m lost. Why are you here and so angry at me? I''ve never even seen you before.¡± Cecile can tell he''s not lying. He doesn''t even know who she is? ''Does he consider me so beneath him that he doesn''t even know who I am? He doesn''t look like he''s feigning disinterest to try to make me be attracted to him like the other boys do.'' She gives her rant about how she will beat him and walks away. She thinks, ''This is so humiliating! He doesn''t even consider me at his level!'' When projects came up, he would always volunteer to work by himself, even though the workload would greatly increase. The teacher talks to the students. "Okay, we''ll be working on making models of different amino acids. Each group will have a different amino acid to work on okay? Now everybody get in groups of 3 and I''ll assign you an amino acid." David raises his hand. "Yes, um...?" "David." "Okay. David, do you have a question?" "No, it''s a request." "If it''s reasonable I may allow it. What is it?" "Can I work on the project by myself?" "Why would you want to do that? That would greatly increase your workload. I recommend you group with other people." "I prefer working by myself." "Well since you''re so insistent, I''ll let you, but I won''t take any excuses if your project comes out mediocre." "Thank you." David then went back to reading his book. Meanwhile, Cecile was getting requests from nearly everyone. Love struck boys and admiring girls all wanted Cecile to be in their group. "Cecile, please let me in your group!" "Hey Cecile, let''s work together. I know a lot about amino acids." "Cecile! I love you! Please marry me!" Everyone except David looks at who said that with a weird look. He says, "Um, I meant work on a project with me! The marriage can come later!" Cecile wasn''t paying any attention to them at the moment. She is thinking, ''Does he really think everyone is beneath him, or is it something else? Even if he thought people were beneath him, it would be foolish to take on a project like this by himself. He could''ve gotten others to do gruntwork or something.'' She looks at all his habits, sees him getting bullied, and then sees how he always avoids people. ''There''s a limit to arrogance. The way he avoids people is just too much. Is it really arrogance?'' She continues to look at him. Time passes. They get their tests back. Cecile wants to beat David, so she runs to David''s desk and asks for his scores. ¡°Show me what you have! Tell me! Tell me! Tell me! Tell me!¡± David hands her his tests. "Wha?" ''I finally beat him? Is this true?'' She looks at the questions that David got wrong. The question David got wrong were easy questions. He got them wrong on purpose just so Cecile could feel like she won. Cecile gets angry. ''This humiliation! No one has ever humiliated me to this extent! No one has ever had to go easy on me on tests to make me feel better! Fine! You want to humiliate me!? I''ll humiliate you!'' She smiles ¡°Ha! I finally beat you! I won!¡± ¡°Yes, yes. You''re the best. So now you can finally-¡± ¡°Ha! You suck and I won! Ha, stupid!¡± ¡°Right. So with this you can-¡± ¡°I won and you lost!¡± She then sticks her tongue out and started pointing and David really close to his face without touching him. ¡°You lost to meeeeee!¡± ¡°Are you going to sto-¡± ¡°Loser who''s dumber than me!¡± David just leaves. Cecile thinks, ''David, this is only the beginning!'' From then on out, David never let Cecile beat him in tests. She''s glad that he''s no longer taking it easy on her, but she''s upset that she still can''t beat him. David''s mathematics and Chemistry are at a college level. She only studies for tests as it is written in the study guide. She''ll never beat David like this. ******** Cici gets a mission to go to cure town of epidemic. While she''s walking and turning down suitors, she sees David. ''Is that David? What''s he doing here?'' She calls out to him. "Huh? David? Is that you?" David then runs away. ''Why is he running away from me? Does he really not like me that much? ...Well that''s a dumb question.'' They spend their time together. Cecile grows ever more impressed with David. She was shocked when she had learned that the David that caused her to change and the David who she is always trying to compete against are the same person. Just when she thinks that she figured him out, she realizes that she still underestimated him. Flashback end: *********** Cici sees him until he disappears. She walks back to her cabin with one thought. ''Null, I''m going to be your friend whether you want to or not!'' She feels nothing but admiration for Null. It breaks her heart that such an amazing person chooses to isolate himself and hide his skills. ********** Null has made it far enough from town. He uses his mana and sees that there is no one near him. He takes out the book from his inventory. ''Now it''s time for the moment of truth.'' He places his hand on the transmutation circle and activates his skill. ¡°Transmutation Circle Activation!¡± Null feels his mana getting drained from his hand. The mana activates the transmutation circle, causing it to glow. First the outer circle glows, then it spreads inward until it reaches the center. When the entire circle design glows, it doubles in luminosity, and it looks like something is floating up from the circle. Null sees a circle with an arrow floating directly above the transmutation circle. Every time Null turns, it points to the same direction. ''This is a compass!'' Null thinks excited. ''No longer will I be aimlessly wandering around. Now I know where to go!'' He starts heading towards the direction the compass is pointing in. *********** It has been a month since some members of the Qasburg force went into the cave. They went in for the sole purpose of defeating Plague. Due to Plague being dead, the Queen Bee had replaced him for being a boss, which the Qasburg force swiftly defeated. ¡°Now it''s time for Plague!¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± ¡°We''ll show Swordedge how real warriors fight!¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± They waited a long time, but Plague never came. ¡°....The fuck did he go!?¡± -------------- Author''s Note: Now the arc is over. I thank everyone who helps me and tries to give me ideas, but at the end of the day, whateva! I do what I want! Now if you''ll excuse me, I will now go play Cookie Clickers. Chapter 29: That artsy city, Palperroth Author''s Note: Cookie clickers got really old really fast, as old as the old ladies who made my cookies, so here''s another chapter. I bet most of you weren''t expecting another chapter so soon. --------------------------- ¡°So... Tired.¡± Null is currently traveling through the plains. Ever since he has left Panford, he has had a very difficult time. Null has barely had any sleep because of being repeatedly attacked by monsters. No one had told him that going off road would be this dangerous. He has to constantly watch his back. A monster comes up to attack. It''s an ambush, but Null long ago had saw it coming. Null places mana inside his arm. He swipes at the monster and kills it in a single blow. Experience had taught him when to defend. It''s been 3 months in-game since Null defeated Plague. Null has been having another problem. The compass that was created when he used Transmutation Circle Activation keeps changing direction every month. For that, Null doesn''t know what to do. At first everything was going fine. He was following the compass, but then it just had suddenly changed direction. Null was confused, but he still followed after the compass. After another month had passed, the compass completely changed direction again. This really frustrated Null. Along the way, had to deal with absurdly powerful monsters. He was glad that he decided to separate from Cici. He at first felt so weak when he fought powerful monsters without Cici. Eventually, he had gotten used to fighting alone again. Sometimes, even the forest itself would attack Null. He didn''t know whether the tree he was standing next to was just an ordinary tree or a Treant ready to attack him. Sometimes needle grass would impale Null''s foot. Null hated it. Null''s clothes are now in such terrible condition that even he started to care about it. Null knows nothing about stitching, nor does he have clothes repair, so right now he''s wearing a jumbled up mess of clothes with huge holes and tears from the monsters he fought. The plains proved to be easier than some of the forests that Null wandered into, but he still had to be on his toes. Thanks to his experiences, he has leveled up to level 228. Null''s achievements had been spread throughout the towns surrounding Panford, but to players, he has been mostly forgotten. Finding a cure may have been big deal, but beating a C-rank dungeon wasn''t. At level 300 or above, a person can attempt to solo a C-rank dungeon by themselves.. When he kept walking, Null noticed the grass started becoming shorter. After a while, Null had found a road. He felt relieved. ''I think I''ll stick with the road for now until I figure what''s wrong with this compass.'' Once in a while, Null will run into bandits, but when they looked at his dismal state, they left him alone. Null felt he actually missed bandits rather than the hell he went through before. After walking on the path for a while, Null notices that he''s seeing people more often. Soon he sees lots of people and carts. He even starts seeing rich people with horse drawn carriages. Null soon the sees reason why. He sees a small city. The city has a population of around 60000. Null has never wanted to go to a city this bad before. He''s in desperate need of supplies. There is a line for coming into the town. He hears that a lot of the people in line are talking about him because of his state of dress, but Null pays them no mind. **************** Null has been in line for several hours. It is finally his turn. ¡°If you''re a beggar, we do not want you here. We have plenty of those in this town.¡± The guard says to Null rudely. ¡°I''m not a beggar.¡± ¡°Hmph. That sounds like something a beggar would say.¡± Null sighs. He takes out 30 silver and gives it to the guard. He''s way too tired to deal with this shit. When the guard got the money, he happily let Null through. The first thing Null does inside the city is go to a cartographer near the entrance. He buys maps of the city and the surrounding areas. The cartographer says to Null, ¡°Welcome to Palperroth, the city known for its beauty and art! 300 years ago when this city was still in its infancy, the Baron Mable Vaughn took this desolate place and decorated it with multiple paintings and sculptures! Since then, it has grown to what you see today! The world famous painter, Raphael Witte, also lives here! Please look around and appreciate the art!¡± ''This guy is way too enthusiastic about his job.'' Null thinks while giving the man a deadpan stare. Null finds an inn and gets some much needed sleep. After he wakes up, he walks around the city. The city is beautiful. ''This city really does have some beautiful paintings. I think I can make more paintings based on some of these. Well, enough about that. Walking around in these ruined clothes is making me uncomfortable. Where is the clothing store on this map?'' After walking for a bit, Null finds the clothing store. He walks in when he hears shuffling and commotion. ¡°OMG so cuuuute!¡± A girl yells out loud. She''s running around looking at the different clothes. She has glasses with shoulder length hair in some flashy hairstyle, walking around in a pretentious outfit. Her friend says to her, ¡°Um, maybe you should try for functionality instead of design.¡± She says shyly and quietly, ¡°This pair of clothes gives almost no effects.¡± The girl talking to the flashy girl is a short and adorable elf with orange hair. Her feet face inward, and she fidgets a lot. She looks like someone you want to protect. ¡°But it''s cute! Therefore I''ll buy it! I''ll buy you something too!¡± ¡°Waah! Pl-Please let me have a least a day off of being forcibly dressed by you!¡± She says while shivering. ¡°It''s your fault for being so cute!¡± She says while giving her a hug. ¡°Seriously? Come on. We do not do that kind of thing in public.¡± A guy comes over trying to reason with the flashy girl. He looks fairly average, and has average height. ¡°You''re usually so collected. Why do you always become like this when you''re around clothes?¡± He sighs. ¡°You''re right. I apologize.¡± She says while letting go of the girl. ¡°Where''s FreshPrince?¡± ¡°He died.¡± ¡°Again!?¡± Null walks by ignoring them and looks for something to wear. When that little girl looks at who it is, she gets a look of horror on her face. ¡°WAH!¡± She points at Null with a shaking finger. Hearing the noise, Null looks over to see what''s going on. ¡°Oh no it''s David you followed me in the game because you want to end me and you''re starting by destroying my avatar then you''ll kill me in real life I''m gonna die EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!!¡± She runs away while flailing her arms. ¡°Lily, come back! Oh geez.¡± The guy says while face palming. ¡°Go after her before she gets herself lost.¡± The girl in glasses says to the guy. He nods and goes. Null was genuinely surprised. ''What the fuck was that!?'' The girl sighs and walks over to Null. ¡°I apologize for what has just happened. She has been afraid of you for a while. Don''t let it get to you.¡± Her personality does a complete 180. She gains the poise and dignity of a noble. She then starts looking at what Null is wearing and gets a grossed out look on her face. ¡°I take it you''re here to buy some new clothes?¡± Null nods. ¡°...Maybe you should just get rid of the clothes you have on right now. Maybe burn them while we''re at it for good measure.¡± Null decides that he doesn''t like this person and walks off. ¡°Wait, wait, wait. At least let me apologize for my friend running away from you by repairing your clothes. My class is tailor, so repairing clothes of this level isn''t a problem. Take out all the clothes you want me to repair.¡± Null takes them all out and keeps them in his arms. Even with clothes, Null wouldn''t trust someone to take anything away from him. ¡°Okay, here I go.¡± She puts her hands on Null''s clothes. ¡°Clothes Repair!¡± ¡°Clothes Repair!¡± ¡°Clothes Repair!¡± ¡­ She''s done. Null looks at his clothes. They look even better than when he had received them. ¡°Once again, I apologize. Let''s use this to forget about what had just happened. Until we meet again.¡± She runs off in the direction of that guy and the girl named Lily who was frightened of David. ''Today is going to be one of those days.'' Null thinks. He buys new clothes and then leaves the shop. ''Maybe I can find a way to level my painting class in this city. I''ll think about that later. For now, I need to find a way to level up my main class. A subclass isn''t allowed to be higher leveled than the main class after all.'' Null makes his way into the library. The library is a lot bigger than the one in Holdendale. Null first decides to read around for any new information, or actually place new information in this library in order to try and level his librarian class. He gathers books and finds an isolated spot. Null keeps using the skill Learning Without Reading when he hears someone. ¡°Excuse me sir, but are you Null?¡± Null gets instantly annoyed. ¡°Who wants to know?¡± ¡°My boss, the head librarian wants to know. If you are then he would like to meet with you.¡± ¡°I don''t see why I should.¡± Null goes back to the books in front of him. ''Yep. From the description I''ve received from my boss, he''s definitely Null.'' The guy goes back and tells his boss that Null is in the library. The head librarian of Palperroth goes out of his office and makes his way to Null. ¡°Wears assassin clothes and has a sour disposition. Yep. It''s you alright! It''s an honor to meet you Mr. Null!¡± ''An honor to meet me?'' Null starts to feels uneasy. ¡°Why is it an honor to meet me?¡± Null says. Null had already barely dodged a bullet with Panford. He tries his hardest to not do anything that will even slightly get him recognition. ¡°Let''s go somewhere we can chat privately.¡± Null nods. If it was anything else, Null would have told him to get lost. However, when it comes to him acquiring fame, he will do everything in his power to remain a nobody. Null is taken to a room that blocks all sound. Now its just the two of them. The librarian prepares tea for the two of them. Null doesn''t touch his tea. ¡°Okay. Now we can talk freely. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Salvatore Rogers, head librarian of the library of Palperroth. I already know who you are. You''re Null.¡± Null nods. ¡°From what you said earlier, you said that it was an honor to meet me. Why is that?¡± Salvatore takes sip of his tea. ¡°Well you''re actually pretty famous.¡± Nothing but dread and despair fills Null''s heart right now. ¡°Why!? I haven''t done anything!¡± What Null says causes the librarian to laugh. ¡°You must be joking. You unlocked the transmutation circle skills.¡± ¡°...How did you know?¡± Null asks apprehensive. ¡°All the top librarians around the world know about how you acquired those skills. Mrs. Allensworth sure did a good job whatever she did. Oh. If you''re worried about anyone else knowing about you, don''t worry. We wouldn''t dare spread this information out.¡± Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°So that means I''m only famous among the top librarians?¡± ¡°Oh yes. Only among us. With the ordinary populace, they have no clue about your transmutation circle skills.¡± This causes Null to calm down, but he is still a bit nervous from what he has learned. ¡°Now with that out of the way, I feel that it is my duty to help you however I can. Is there any reason you went to this city?¡± Null thinks that since he''s already here, the librarian might as well help him out. ¡°I''m here for several reasons actually. The first reason I''m here is to restock on supplies. The second reason is that my skill mastery in 4 classes have hit a rut. I was hoping to find a way to level them.¡± ¡°Is the librarian class one of those classes?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°What level is it on?¡± ¡°Intermediate level 5.¡± ¡°What have you done so far?¡± ¡°First I read books. When my class stopped gaining experience that way, I made books. When experience gaining stopped again, I started writing new information no one has ever written down before, at least in the Holdendale library. I don''t know the next step.¡± ¡°Oh that''s an easy one.¡± Librarian was glad that it was something simple that he could help Null with. ¡°Our founder invented the librarian class in the first place because it used to be that learning to read and acquiring books was fairly difficult. Books were held in mage institutions and they never gave out anything freely. All you have to do is start educating and teaching people. That will help you level the librarian class.¡± ¡°UuuuuuuuuuuUUUUUUUUUGH!¡± ¡°What''s wrong?¡± ¡°Nothing.¡± Null says while holding his face in his palms. The librarian takes another sip of tea. ¡°You can also level the class with that method you used before with writing down new information. However, the higher level the librarian class, the more important and explosive the information has to be in order for the class to level. The larger it shakes the world, the larger the experience gain. Think of it as the equivalent of your world''s Einstein discovering relativity, something of that scale.¡± ''That''s easier said than done.'' Thinks Null. ¡°Any other class you need help with?¡± ¡°The painting, calligraphy, and blacksmith class.¡± ¡°I don''t know anything about the blacksmith class, and my painting and calligraphy classes haven''t reached intermediate. However, I do know the head of the calligraphy guild. I can write a letter to get you to talk to him. For painting, there''s a famous one that lives here, but he mostly isolates himself just like you, so it will be fairly difficult for you to meet with him. He is the head of painting guild.¡± He writes a note for Null. While he''s writing, Null thinks, ''Why is he being so helpful to me? Maybe he''s trying to set me up for a trap. I don''t trust him.'' The sad thing is that the guy has no ulterior motive other than for Null to get stronger. Salvatore hands Null the note. ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°It''s no problem. Come by if you need anything else. Even if you just want to chat, I''m right here, though I doubt you would ever want to do that.¡± Null leaves the library. He goes to the blacksmith guild, then multiple blacksmith places, trying to know if there is anybody to help him with leveling. All of them say that there is nothing they can do for him. Null then goes to the Calligraphy guild. There are many people there, way more than the calligraphy guild in Holdendale. When he makes it there, Null sees people surrounding someone. It''s a guy doing impressive calligraphy. Everyone watching is in awe. ¡°Amazing.¡± ¡°So this is what a person with intermediate in calligraphy is capable of. I hope one day to reach his level.¡± Null glances at him but then continues on his way. He makes his way to a receptionist. ¡°How can I help you?¡± She asks. ¡°I want to see your guild leader.¡± ¡°Do you have an appointment?¡± Null takes out a note from his inventory. ¡°Could you give this to him?¡± ¡°Just a minute.¡± She gets up and goes to the guild leader. A few seconds later, the guild leader comes down. ¡°Are you the one called Null?¡± The guild leader asks with a stern look. ¡°I am.¡± ¡°So you begged Salvatore to let me help you with your calligraphy class. I want to perform some tests to prove that you really have intermediate.¡± ¡°Okay. Can it be done privately? I don''t like spectators.¡± ¡°Very well.¡± When the guild leader came down, everyone was surprised. ¡°He personally came down to greet someone!?¡± ¡°Even though I''ve been here for 6 months, I''ve never seen him personally come down to meet someone. Who is that guy?¡± The guy who was busy being the center of attention gets a curious look on his face. ¡°Hmm.. That was weird. I wonder what that is about.¡± Both Null and the guild master make it to an empty room. The guild master spreads paper everywhere. ¡°First test. I want you to expand the word on this paper to the point it fills the entire page. Only someone with intermediate in alchemy is able to do this.¡± Guild master waits for Null with arms crossed. ¡°Calligraphy expansion!¡± The word fills up the page. ¡°Good, good. The second test. It''s not enough to have intermediate in a skill. You have to have control. I''ve marked several circles in this room. Each of these circles are about an inch in diameter. Use the Ink Hand technique to mark all the circles in a continuous line.¡± Null nods. ¡°Ink Hand!¡± What astonished the guild master was not only was the technique Null used extremely accurate, but it was also extremely quick. Ink was marked in the dead center of the circles. ¡°What extraordinary technique! You may be even better than that other foreigner here!¡± Null doesn''t care about the compliments. ¡°So sir, will you agree to help me?¡± ¡°So you only came here to learn how to get experience for calligraphy? What about learning a new technique?¡± ¡°I can learn a new technique?¡± ¡°That depends on you.¡± ¡°Okay, but before that, I originally came here in order to find a way out of the rut I''ve been having.¡± He asks Null a series of questions. ¡°Usually, a person would have to pay a hefty sum for this information, but since head librarian so adamantly talked about you, I''ll do it for free. Since you''ve made it to the intermediate level, you should have numerous fonts that you''ve created. Right?¡± Null nods. ¡°You should have also noticed that some fonts you have created give more experience than other fonts.¡± Null eyes open wide. ''I was quickly trying to create as many fonts as I possibly could, so I didn''t pay attention, but now that I think about it, that was the case!'' Null nods. ¡°The solution is simple. The calligraphy class and painting class have always been very close. When you advance in those classes, you start to notice that they slowly start to converge. Stop trying to make as many fonts as possible, and start actually trying to shrink the amount you have by combining them together. Also, try making your calligraphy more like a painting. Make it more aesthetic. This should help you advance for a little while.¡± ¡°Thank you. You have really helped me. Now about the matter of learning a new technique.¡± ¡°That one is incredibly easy. You don''t even need to be at intermediate to learn it. This skill is called Copy-Paste.¡± ¡°...Copy-Paste?¡± ¡°Yes. It''s as it sounds. The skill doesn''t even need to be leveled. Mana consumption will depend on how large the image you''re trying to copy is. Allow me to demonstrate.¡± He takes a paper with words written on them, and a blank sheet of paper. ¡°Copy!¡± His hand glows blue and a light covers the paper. He then places his hand on the blank sheet of paper. ¡°Paste!¡± His hand glows blue once again. Images first start glowing blue, then they slowly fade to black. When he''s done, he holds both papers side by side. They look exactly the same. There is no difference between them. ''Amazing.'' Thinks Null. ¡°What do I have to do to learn this techniques?¡± ¡°Nothing really. Just work for me for 3 measly years, then the technique is yours.¡± ¡°...3 years?¡± ¡°Yes. You didn''t think I would just hand the technique over to you did you?¡± ¡°I''ll think about it. Thank you for your time.¡± Null leaves the place. ''Like hell I would stay in this city for 3 years! I don''t deal with people any more than I have to! 3 years is far too long. Well, I saw him perform that technique. Maybe I can replicate it into a skill book.'' Null spent the next two weeks trying to write the skill book for Copy-Paste. The thing with skill books is that they have to be perfect before they can be used. There cannot be a single mistake. Null has created hundreds of books and he had still failed, but he wasn''t deterred. Finally, he got what he was looking for.
You have gained the skill book Copy-Paste. Would you like to learn the skill?
''Oh finally!'' ¡°Yes.¡±
You have learned the skill Copy-Paste.
Copy-Paste
Skill typeActiveSkill ProficiencyCannot level up
Can copy books or written documents. Base Cost: 500 mana
¡°Whooooo! 3 years? Hmph. Now its time to learn about painting, then I''ll leave this city.¡± Little did Null know, he was being watched by two people. ¡°See? What did I tell you about him?¡± This person was all smiles. It was Salvatore Rogers, the head librarian. ¡°Wow. I had originally thought I had overestimated him. Now it appears I still underestimated him. He''s exceeded my expectations. To make a skill book upon seeing my technique once.¡± The head calligraphy guild master says. ¡°I''m glad you agreed to help me with my test.¡± Librarian says. ¡°Things will get interesting in the next few years.¡± ¡°Anything for an old friend.¡± They then both disappear. -------------------------------- Author''s Note: Have you guys noticed that there are some parts of my story that you can overlook only to realize that it was an important plot point? That Lily girl was in my story before, though she was barely noticed. I wonder if anyone will be able to find her. I''ll give you a hint. It''s in chapter 4. Chapter 30: Doing artsy things in that artsy city, Palperroth Author''s Note: I''m just breaking out chapters left and right right now aren''t I? --------------------- Null goes to the painting guild. The guild is, by far, larger than any other guild building. It looks like other than the castle which houses their Lord, this is the biggest building in the city. ''Suddenly, I''m not so sure about the plan to meet that famous painter.'' Null thinks. Null goes inside. He sees various people chatting and painting. There are some people who grab a key from the receptionist and go towards the back. ''The painting guild in Holdendale is nowhere near this luxurious. Even the lobby looks like something you see in a high class hotel.'' Null thinks. Null waits in line until it''s his turn to see the receptionist. ¡°How can I be of service today?¡± She asks. ¡°I''m here to meet Raphael Witte.¡± The receptionist there stares blankly at Null. Everyone stops what they''re doing. They look at Null and then laugh. ¡°I also want to meet the president. Receptionist can you help me with that?¡± ¡°I want to meet the emperor of the Goldcrest Empire. Receptionist please help!¡± ¡°While we''re at it, let''s take a field trip and go meet Ptah! Receptionist its all up to you!¡± They laugh and then go back to what they''re doing. ''Maybe asking for him directly was a dumb idea.'' Null laments. ¡°Okay. What do I have to do in order to meet with him?¡± The receptionist tries to humor him. ¡°He has no interest in meeting anyone. Maybe if you were to make a painting that would draw his attention, maybe that would help, but so far only 3 foreigners have managed to draw his attention. All of them at intermediate in painting.¡± Null gets a dejected look. He thanks her and starts walking away. Just when he was about to walk out the door, 2 people come in. ¡°It''s them! The legendary couple!¡± ¡°They really do look like a dazzling picture.¡± ¡°I feel so insignificant around them.¡± ¡°Who are they?¡± Someone asks. ¡°You don''t know? Well, you''re new to this city so that''s understandable. The guy you see is named Script and has intermediate in calligraphy, while the beautiful girl in the red beret is named Rouge and has intermediate in painting. She''s the one that painted the picture, Blossoming Spring!¡± ¡°Blossoming Spring!? She was the one who painted it!?¡± The person who had asked the question was surprised. ¡°Before I go to hunt, I always look at that picture. The buffs that it gives are incredible! Wow.¡± He sighs in admiration. Null thinks he sees what''s coming. ''Oh don''t tell me. Somehow, I''m going to draw their attention, causing them to be angry at me due to no fault of my own. They''ll challenge me somehow, then it will cause me to get unwanted fame through some sort of forced stupid plot. Fuck that! I''ll leave through the back before that sort of contrived plot makes it to me.'' Meanwhile, the couple who was the center of attention whispered among themselves. ¡°Don''t you think it is kind of annoying how we''re the center of attention everywhere we go?¡± Script says to Rouge. The person has a friendly smile on his face and blond hair. He''s waving to people who wave at him. He''s wearing standard armor along with a bow and a quiver full of arrows. ¡°Yeah. At first it was pretty awesome, but now the novelty of it has worn itself down. The worst part is that people always assume we''re terrible people just because we''re famous. I missed the good old days when I was obscure.¡± She sighs. The lady is beautiful. She has on a pair of leggings and some fur boots along with her beret. Her clothes are mostly red. She possesses a shield that looks like a giant painting palette, a sword on her waist, and a fairly large scroll on her back attached to a giant paintbrush. ¡°Well it was thanks to us being famous that we happened to meet each other.¡± Script says as he looks into her eyes. This causes her to blush. ¡°I guess you''re right. Since you put it that way, I don''t regret a thing.¡± Script then sees at the side of his eye someone hurrying towards the back exit. He recognizes the clothes that he''s wearing even though he can''t see the person''s face. ''The clothes that he''s wearing. He looks familiar.'' He thinks then surprise shows on his face. ''Oh yeah! He''s the one who the guild master came down to see. I''m still curious as to what that was about.'' ¡°Hey Rouge, you remember the person I told you about? The one that caused the Calligraphy Guild master to personally come down and see him?¡± ¡°Him? Oh yeah. That was odd. Either his calligraphy skills must be exceptional for him to cause that stern, proud guild master to do that, or it was an emergency involving that guild master. Why do you bring him up now?¡± ¡°I think that''s him over there.¡± She looks over at the person going through the door. ¡°I am a bit curious. I know you wanted to go to your studio to paint, but do you mind if we meet him?¡± Script asks Rouge. ¡°I''m curious too. Let''s go.¡± They head out the door and call out to Null. ¡°Excuse me. Do you have a minute?¡± Script asks Null. They call out to Null from behind. Unfortunately for them, Null has a policy of never replying back or even looking back to a person that calls out from behind him. He thinks that more likely than not, the person isn''t even talking to him. They call out again, but still no answer. ¡°Why is he ignoring us?¡± Rouge says sadly. ¡°Does he truly not know who we are?¡± ¡°Either he''s hard of hearing, he''s arrogant, or he just doesn''t want to be bothered by us.¡± ¡°Should we just leave?¡± Rouge asks. ¡°If we have to pull out our hair just to talk to him, maybe we should just go.¡± ¡°You can go back if you want to. His nature just makes me more curious.¡± Rogue says that she doesn''t want to go. They go in front of Null. Null sees them running in front of him and recognizes them as the two famous people. He had left the area in the first place in order to avoid them, and yet they still followed after them. ¡°Can I help you?¡± Null was obviously annoyed. To the two of them, its been a while since they had been treated like this. Rouge holds back her irritation. ¡°Hello. Allow us to introduce ourselves. My name is Rouge, and the guy next to me is my boyfriend, Script.¡± Null thought, ''Yeah. Everybody in that building wouldn''t shut up about you two.'' Null just stood there, waiting for them to just go.- Seeing how uncooperative Null was being, Rouge asks, ¡°Aren''t you going to tell us your name?¡± ¡°Null.¡± That was all he said. ¡°Sorry for bothering you, we just wanted to ask you a few questions if you don''t mind.¡± Script says. At first Null was annoyed, but then he had a sudden insight. ''Wait. This could work out favorably for me if I think about it.'' ¡°I wouldn''t mind asking your questions, but you''ll have to do something for me.¡± Null says. Script speaks up. Since Null is suspected of being a calligrapher, he should be the person to talk to Null naturally. ¡°Well, that depends on what it is. It will also depend on if we find your answers satisfactory.¡± ''I have nothing else for a lead. This is as good as it will get.'' Thinks Null. ¡°Very well. Ask away.¡± ¡°The Calligraphy Guild master personally came down to see you. Why?¡± Script asks. ¡°I asked him to help me find a way to level up my calligraphy. I''ve been stuck in a rut.¡± ''He came down just for that? This must mean...'' ¡°What level is your calligraphy in?¡± ¡°I refuse to answer that particular question.¡± ''Judging from the way he has been acting, I can guess he is a person who doesn''t want to be noticed. I''ve known a lot of people like that. If he really does have intermediate in calligraphy, he wouldn''t want to publicize it.'' Script figures. ¡°Why did you go into the painting guild?¡± ¡°To find a way to get out of the rut of my painting class.¡± ''No... Don''t tell me...'' ¡°One last question. What level is your painting in?¡± ¡°I also refuse to answer that particular question.¡± ''Don''t tell me he has intermediate in 2 classes! No, that impossible. People who have 2 classes at intermediate can be counted on two hands. I''ve never even heard of a Null who is famous at painting. Maybe he''s trying to hide his skills, but its more than likely he''s just an unsociable person. Maybe he doesn''t even have one skill at intermediate. He''s probably rich or something. That''s probably why the guild master personally came down to see him.'' Script reasons to himself. ¡°Thank you for answering my questions. A deal''s a deal, so what do you want?¡± ¡°I want to meet Raphael Witte.¡± Both Rouge and Script get a look on their faces that says that the guy in front of them is an idiot. ¡°...May I ask what for?¡± Rouge couldn''t help but ask. ¡°To get out of the rut I have in my painting class.¡± ¡°That''s a bit excessive. That''s like going to meet Stephen Hawking because you''re having trouble with addition...¡± Rouge says. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°It has to be someone with a high skill in painting.¡± ¡°Well, I have intermediate in my painting class. My class is the hidden class, Rapid Painter. Maybe I can help you.¡± Rouge is also very curious about this person. ''Should I? I do not want it publicized that I have intermediate in any skills. Well, maybe if I''m careful, she won''t catch on.'' Null thinks. ''They''re also of little threat to me. I know of the Rapid Painter class. The other guy just has calligraphy at intermediate. Since they''re painters and calligraphers at intermediate, they''ve probably spent most of their time working on their skills, so they probably don''t have high levels. Most likely, they can do nothing to me.'' ¡°Thank you. I''ll take you up on your offer.¡± All 3 head back inside the painting guild. They are on their way to Rouge''s studio. Everyone sees the famous couple and see someone walking behind them. ¡°Wait. Isn''t that the guy who said that he wanted to see our guild master?¡± ¡°Hahaha! That guy was a riot!¡± ¡°Why are the famous couple walking with him?¡± They make it to Rouge''s studio. There''s another person who was there. Judging from the way she looks, she looks like the hipsters of old. ¡°Rouge, I knew you were coming. I felt like, the synergy of the universe call out to me.¡± She says, sitting Indian style while moving her arms around slowly in a meditative position. ¡°Null, allow me to introduce Aurora. She also has intermediate in painting.¡± ¡°Oh wow! Null! Null! I''m feeling like, an incomprehensible aura from you! Your aura is like, so strong that''s it''s like, interfering with me sensing everything else! I''ve never felt like this with anyone else! It''s like, it''s like all the paths in the future will be determined by you!¡± Aurora exclaims while moving her hands in circles around Null. ''Damn hippies. Take your bullshit and go OD on some drugs elsewhere.'' Thinks Null annoyed. ¡°Rouge, how did you find such an amazing person?¡± ¡°We saw him in the calligraphy guild and painting guild. He came with us because he wants to find a way to raise his painting class. It''s been stuck in a rut.¡± ¡°Raise his painting class? Hmmm...¡± Aurora says. ¡°I doubt you could like, help him. Judging from the massive amount of aura coming off him, he should have at least like, 4 classes in intermediate. Maybe more.¡± This causes Null to stiffen. However, Script and Rouge laugh. ¡°Oh Aurora, you said the same thing to the last 10 people that came in here.¡± Rouge says. ¡°Yeah. You said the same thing about me.¡± Says Script. ¡°But I''m like, soooo serious this time guys!¡± ¡°Okay, that''s enough. Null, what do you need help with?¡± Rouge asks. Null talks about everything he has done so far in painting, but doesn''t mention how he has intermediate in painting, or the fact that he has Art Materialization. ¡°....I''m sorry Null. I don''t think I can help you. In fact, I think you have actually helped me. I didn''t know about many of those things.¡± Rouge says while looking at Null astonished. ''He helped Rouge with something she didn''t know in painting!?'' Script thinks surprised. ''He might actually have the painting class at intermediate!'' Null then saw a message that he gained a little experience in his librarian class. ¡°How about we paint and see if we can come up with some ideas? Have you painted a big picture before?¡± Rouge asks Null. ''I have, but it was for Art Materialization. She doesn''t need to know that though.'' ¡°Yes I have.¡± ¡°When you reach a really high level in painting, sometimes only painting making big pictures will help. Painting in a studio would be best for that. Painting beautiful, big pictures anywhere else isn''t really feasible, unlike sculpting. There aren''t any empty rooms left in the small studios. The big studios are only for people who have gained intermediate in painting, so you can go ask the receptionist to lend you a room if you have it.¡± Everyone stares at Null, wanting to see his reaction. It did not disappoint. It was slight, but it was there. Null cannot hide his emotions when he''s under pressure. That''s how it''s always been with him. ¡°That''s not necessary.¡± ¡°It''s fine if you want to borrow this studio then. I usually go out to find inspiration mostly. People usually aren''t in here.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± She hands Null a spare key, and they soon take their leave aside from Null. He takes out a huge sheet of paper that he made and lays it on the floor. ''They''re doing far too much for me. They''re definitely up to something. No matter. I''ll use them and then leave.'' ************* The three who were with Null were walking and talking about him. ¡°I''m 99% sure that guy has intermediate in painting.¡± Rouge says. ¡°I like, told you guys but you didn''t like, believe me!¡± Aurora exclaims. ¡°He also probably has intermediate in calligraphy as well.¡± Script says while sighing. ¡°What do we do? I wanted to paint, but letting him go away would definitely suck.¡± Says Rouge. ¡°Let''s leave him for now. I want to see what he''s capable of.¡± Says Script. ¡°It isn''t everyday that you meet another person who has intermediate, much less having two suspected intermediates.¡± ¡°I feel that that''s only the tip of the iceberg.¡± Rouge says. ¡°Like duh! I was the one that told you guys!¡± Aurora yells out. ***************** Null starts painting various pictures. He took Rouge''s advice and started painting big pictures. He constantly had to go into the forest to make more paints. He sometimes went to the store and bought more paint when he wasn''t in the mood to go all the way there and back. ''Making and buying the paint is what''s taking the most time!'' Null thinks frustrated. When he was in the middle of nowhere right outside Holdendale, he had a garden where he could pick up plants to make paint at anytime. He can''t do that here in this city. He made a small garden just outside Palperroth''s gates, but making it too big would probably get him in trouble. He paints many big pictures: Of people, of places, of different monsters that he''s seen. However, none of them were giving him any experience points. ''What can I do? This is driving me crazy!'' Thinks Null. ************ When Rouge, Script, and Aurora make it back to her studio three weeks later, they were beyond shocked. Every single picture there gave out an effect of some kind. There were even some pictures that had surpassed the effects of Rouge''s picture, Blossoming Spring. If it were known who had painted these pictures, they would undoubtedly be famous the world over. What shocked Rouge even more is that he was treating the pictures as if they were garbage. Some pictures were laid out on the floor as if they were dirty laundry. Some were hanging on the wall only being held by a single piece of sticky tape. They see Null sitting cross legged on the floor, contemplating what to draw next. ¡°These pictures... They''re- They''re amazing!¡± Exclaims Rouge. ¡°Your paintings are like, totally putting me in the zone!¡± Says Aurora while moving her arms whimsically. ¡°What in the world...¡± Says Script shocked. Null shakes his head. ¡°It''s still not good enough. I still haven''t gained any experience.¡± This shocks them even more. ''How high must his level be that even these pictures aren''t good enough to gain experience!?'' Thinks Rouge. Currently she supposedly has the highest known level for painting in the entire city. Now, she''s not so sure. ¡°Null, I might have an idea!¡± Yells Aurora. Null looks at her skeptically. All Null has seen from her is being a good for nothing hippie. She starts getting up and dancing. ¡°You have to like, stir your emotional chakras. Feel the aura of the universe, for she loves you!¡± She starts dancing even faster. She starts resembling a person who is losing their high and is about to crash. Needless to say, this badly frightens Null. He runs away from that building and keeps running until he''s straight in the middle of the forest. ''That... Was terrifying.'' Thinks Null. ''However, that is a good idea. There should''ve been a hint from the techniques I''ve gained and from what I''ve painted before. When I first started painting, I made a picture that resembled chicken shit. However, because it would bring people emotions of superiority, I got more experience from that picture than from other pictures that came later. I also gained the skill Art is Feeling. It was in front of my face the whole time! I need to paint something that will stir up someone''s emotions... Hmm...'' ¡°Dance with me!¡± Aurora says appearing out of nowhere running towards Null, her movements still showing that dance. ¡°Dance the dance of life!¡± Null has never ran away as fast as he did in that moment. ------------------ Author''s Note: What will Null paint? I doubt any of you care. How do I know this? Because even I don''t care. Chapter 31: Slicing that life for the bajillionth time Author''s Note: Yadda yadda yadda blah blah blah another chapter. -------------- ''No. That won''t work either.'' Null thinks while walking, looking at a destitute person asking for money. Null is currently walking around, trying to find something that will give off emotion. He''s thinking of different ideas, but has yet to find something that works. ''Maybe I can paint fear. I could paint that terrifying hippie running at me with that horrific dance. The shadows of the trees on her face amplifying her scariness. I''ll call it, ¡°Hippie Dancer in the Dark Forest.¡± No, no, no. If it is known that I painted her like that, she would probably hate me, or worse, want to become friends with me. How about feelings of superiority? I could paint the most sublime stick figure in history. That could work. No, that''s fucking stupid. The will to go unnoticed? No, the feelings aren''t strong enough. How about a picture of me painting a picture of me painting a where the hell am I getting these dumb ideas? No wait. A pretty pony. Perfect.'' Null sets out his paper and starts illustrating the pretty pony. He then takes a fire he made from the camping skill and places it on the paper, just realizing how stupid an idea that was. ''I can''t find anything. Maybe I will have more luck searching the web at my computer.'' David logs out of New Reality and spends the remainder of his time before school looking at different pictures. He still couldn''t find anything. With his time up, he heads to school. ********** David is currently in calculus reading a book waiting for class to start. ¡°David! Hiiii!¡± It''s Cecile. She waving her hand rapidly and looks really, really happy to see David. She is considered one of the most popular people at school. She is also considered one of the most beautiful. If one were to look at a painting of her, they would feel the kind aura of a beautiful, intelligent goddess. ¡°Hey.¡± David on the other hand is expressionless and cold as always. He says his brief greeting and returns to his book. ¡°How are you doing?¡± Cecile asks. ¡°The same.¡± It has been three weeks real-time since David and Cecile have beaten Plague. Throughout all this time, Cecile has been working hard at trying to become friends with David. This is actually the first time David has actually responded to her greeting without ignoring her or verbally abusing her. It looks like her perseverance is working. She sits next to David and has a big smile on her face. Everyone seeing this thinks something''s off. ¡°Why isn''t Cecile yelling at him?¡± One guy asks. ¡°More importantly, why does she show so much enthusiasm when meeting him? I''ve never seen her this happy and cheerful when talking to someone!¡± A girl says observing. ¡°Even more importantly, David just responded without being hostile! He didn''t ignore her or make a snappy comeback!¡± This sets off a panic in the class. ¡°He actually greeted someone!?¡± ¡°It''s the end of the world!¡± ¡°Head towards the lifeboats!¡± ¡°Women and children first!¡± ¡°Idiots! Even lifeboats can''t save us! We need to build an ark for the catastrophe that''s about to befall us!¡± ¡°His name''s actually David!?¡± Everyone is running around in circles afraid of this New World Order. There are things that people are just used to. The sky is blue on a clear day, things always fall down when you drop them, and David is an antisocial person who will ignore your existence unless provoked. To actually respond to a greeting. They probably would have been less shocked if something had fell upwards. ¡°So David, what are you doing in New Reality right now?¡± Cecile asks happily. David ignores Cecile and doesn''t respond. Everyone seeing this calms down. ¡°False alarm everyone.¡± A guy says while wiping the sweat off his forehead. ¡°I seriously thought we were all going to die.¡± A girl says while laying her head on her desk. Cecile doesn''t mind that David is ignoring her. In fact she''s excited that David actually returned her greeting. ''Soon we will be the best of friends! There are no breaks on this friendship train! Next stop, inside jokes! Muahahahaha! MUAHAHAHAHA!'' Cecile thinks in her mind. ************ It is David''s 3rd period class, PE. The PE teacher says to the students, ¡°Today we''re going to be doing something a little different.¡± ¡°You mean like not exercise?¡± A guy named Ted says gleefully. ¡°You wish I were that nice. We are actually going to go into a virtual reality game and play basketball!¡± This actually makes most of them excited. David doesn''t care. ¡°We''re going to play New Reality!?¡± Ted asks delighted. ¡°Who said anything about New Reality? There are other virtual reality games besides New Reality! We''re just going to play a basketball game. Its actually not a game. We''re just going to be moving into a virtual space. The only difference between this game and real life is the time dilation. Most of you won''t notice a thing.¡± ¡°Aw man! If there''s basically no difference then why do we have to play in virtual reality?¡± That same person complains. ¡°I want to play it for its time dilation. It would''ve been difficult to play 2 full games. We have to play one for boys and one for girls.¡± ¡°That''s never stopped you before!¡± Ted complains. ¡°Hey... Shut up.¡± The PE teacher says to Ted annoyed. People are starting to catch on to the fact that the PE teacher is trying to make an excuse just to go into a virtual reality. Everyone gets into the pods the teacher brought with him. These pods are considered the school''s property. Because of the fact that they''re on school grounds, and there being a slight chance that someone makes something obscene, people using the pods cannot customize their appearance. You can only appear how you appear in real life. Everyone materializes on a basketball court. Some people start running around and see that there is basically no difference. The teacher divides them into sexes. There are two basketball courts. Girls go on one side and boys go on the other. David is once again picked last. Coincidentally, he is once again on Rory''s team. They start playing. Rory''s team is winning by a large margin, even with David not really doing anything. Ted''s on the other team, frustrated. ''I need to do something!'' Ted thinks. Rory starts running towards Ted. He panics and then shoots the ball from the opponents side. Surprisingly, he makes the shot. It shocks everyone. ''Did- Did he just shoot from the other side of the court and make it!?'' Null thought with wide eyes. Rory was just as surprised. ''How did he do that!?'' As soon as Ted gets the ball, he shoots from the other side of the court a second time and makes it! This deeply surprises everyone again. No matter where Ted is, as soon as he gets the ball, he shoots and makes it, even if its on the other side of the court. Rory''s team starts losing. Rory gets nervous. Another guy on Rory''s team named Ron realizes how hopeless its getting. ''Is this the end? No!'' When Ted is about to get the ball again, something strange happens. The ball changes course on its own and gets passed to Rory. Rory was surprised, but he then takes the shot and makes it. ''Wat?'' Null thought. Now the points started wracking up on Rory''s side again. It used to be that when Ted got the ball, he would shoot from anywhere, but now he can never even get to the ball. It keeps mysteriously changing directions. Rory then sees that its his teammate that''s doing it. ''It''s misdirection!'' Rory figures out. ''This makes no sense!'' Thought David. Yet another person on Ted''s team realizes that the situation can''t continue or else they''ll lose. He then quickly grabs the ball. Some people try to stop him. That guy then shoots the ball randomly and it goes in. ¡°Formless shot!¡± Someone yells out. That same guy keep getting the ball and zipping past people. Even if he jumps to out of bounds, he''ll randomly take the shot and make it. Ron then grabs the ball. This surprises everyone. ''He can''t use misdirection if he holds on to the ball. What is he planning?'' Ted thinks. That quick guy then guards against Ron. Everyone thinks that Ron can do nothing against that fast guy. When Ron reaches that quick guy, he vanishes and then appears behind him. ¡°Oh!¡± ¡°There it is!¡± ¡°The Vanishing Drive!¡± David looks at this scene dumbfounded. ''Are we- Are we still playing basketball!?'' More ridiculous things happen. One guy slam dunks with a twister surrounding him. Another person makes after images. One person gains the ability to copy anyone''s moves. One guy even made lightning come out of his eyes. This astounded everyone there. ¡°Could it be?¡± ¡°The zone!¡± ¡°The zone. It is the state where one reaches their highest potential. Only those who have practiced earnestly, have high talent, and have love towards the sport have the right to stand before that door. When one usually plays, he or she only exhibits around 80% of their potential. The zone makes it go to 100%.¡± ¡°Dude are you seriously saying a monologue in the middle of a game!?¡± David just decided to just go with it. ''I don''t know anything anymore!'' Yells David in his mind. Rory was currently doing some silly technique called the Emperor Eye which caused people to trip up and fall. They were currently losing. Rory looks around. Every is doing spectacular except for David. He''s still halfheartedly going after the ball and is not even trying. ''Maybe that will work. Heh.'' Rory thinks looking at David. He then does something. Everyone on Rory''s team gets lightning coming out of their eyes. ''What the hell!? Now there''s lightning coming out of my eyes!'' David thinks. ''Why do I strangely feel so motivated?'' The speedy guy gets the ball and tries to go pass David. David is Rory''s team''s weakest link. They know he doesn''t really try so they always try going pass him. When he tries to pass by David, David grabs the ball, zips pass him and his other teammates, and slam dunks the ball. Everyone who saw this had their mouths left open. ¡°Wait...¡± ¡°Hold on.¡± ¡°Something isn''t right.¡± The other team once again gets the ball. David steals it and zips pass them. The guy who always slam dunks with a tornado surrounding him for some strange reason guards the goal. David bypasses him like he''s not even there and performs a windmill dunk. ¡°This virtual world has a glitch!¡± ¡°Tornadoes surrounding bodies and lightning eyes I can partially accept, but that guy currently beating the other team single handed? That crosses the line in being believable!¡± The game ends with Rory''s team getting victory. It was a massacre at the last minutes of the game due to David. They all believed that it was all Rory''s doing and gave him his accolades. David thinks it''s lucky that what he did was solely pinned on Rory. He vowed to never get caught in the moment like that again. ********** It''s now lunchtime. David is heading towards his usual spot in the corner away from everyone. When he makes it there, he sees a box. Its an advanced lunch box. In the future, small boxes that can keep things hot or cool are not that expensive to make. There''s a note on the box. It reads, ¡°Hey David! It''s Cecile! I hope you''re doing well. This lunch was made by me. It took a while to make, but I wanted it to be perfect. Enjoy! \(^o^)¡± David''s face falls. He would much rather have the old annoying Cecile back. At least she usually left him alone outside of their classes. David opens the lunch box. The meal looked really extravagant. There was fettuccine with shrimp and craw fish, jumbo fried shrimp, and a fresh salad with ranch on the side. The meal looks like it is sparkling. David closes the box, then picks it up and places it on a table far away from him. It''s now illegal to throw away a lot of things because of that country''s dire need for resources. If it wasn''t for that, Cecile''s lunch would''ve went into the garbage. ************ The next day, David sits in the same place again and sees another lunchbox. There''s another note on it. It reads, ¡°David, Cecile again. So yesterday you didn''t touch the lunch I made for you. That''s fine. Just know that I worked really, really hard on this meal. I stayed up until 4 am to make this meal. I''m tired and can''t really think straight right now. Please eat the food. Please? (^_^)¡± David looks at the lunch Cecile prepared. There''s lasagna, chicken tenders with ranch dipping sauce, and even some pizza. David once again picks up the lunch box and places it far away from him. ************* The next day, David heads back towards his spot. He sees a lunchbox. ''Geez. Can''t she take a hint?'' Thinks David. There''s a note on this lunch too. It reads, ¡°EAT THE FUCKING FOOD! (¥Î?Òæ?)¥Îáê©ß©¥©ß ¡° David then felt a chill run down his spine. He looks around and sees several girls watching him. Some are inside the cafeteria, and some are outside. ''I underestimated her. I thought that since we do not share a lunch period, I would be safe. I never accounted for her friends coming to watch me.'' Thinks David frightened. David would''ve just ignored them, but those few staring at David causes other people surrounding them to ask what''s going on. ¡°Cecile made that loser a lunch and he refuses to eat it?¡± ¡°Why doesn''t he just eat it? She must have worked really hard to make that lunch.¡± ¡°I''m so jealous and angry! Jealous that she''s never made me a lunch and angry that he doesn''t eat it!¡± One guy falls into depression. ¡°Waaah! Some people have all the luck! *Sniff* *sniff* Waaah!¡± David now sees that he has to eat the lunch or he''ll become public enemy number one. ''I hope she didn''t poison the meal or mess with it in some way. Well if that does happen, I can only blame myself.'' Thinks Null. This meal consists of fried chicken, mash potatoes with gravy, macaroni and cheese, and greens. David takes a fork that was provided with the meal. He''s currently sweating. Its only a matter of time before he eats it and it just so happens that she added something to make him itchy or something of that nature. The way he''s about to take a bite is as if he was being forced to eat poison. ''All or nothing!'' He takes a bite and closes his eyes. The painful sensations he was expecting never came. The laughs he was expecting never came. He looks around. Other than those Cici made watch him giving satisfied nods, there was nothing else out of the ordinary. David thinks, ''This... Is actually pretty delicious.'' ************** David meets Cecile later that day. ¡°David, I see you ate my food. How did you like it?¡± She starts fidgeting. ¡°Pretty good.¡± David gave his honest opinion. ¡°Just please don''t make me anything anymore.¡± ¡°But we''re friends! I don''t mind making my friends lunches!¡± She smiles. ¡°Who said anything about us being friends?¡± ¡°But we are! Maybe we can go to the park later and have a just friends picnic.¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Hey I made some cookies. Want some?¡± If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. ¡°No.¡± David starts walking away. Cecile heads after him. ¡°Maybe we can both go watch a just friends movie. Doesn''t that sound fun?¡± ¡°No. Go away.¡± David walks away faster. Cecile is still following from behind. ¡°I actually made some brownies. I even wrote your name on the brownies with icing. How about-¡± ¡°No!¡± David runs into a full sprint. Cecile can no longer catch up. ¡°This isn''t over David! Maybe you can run from me, but you lack the ability to run from our developing friendship!¡± David thought while running away, ''Damn. She''s already at the ¡°dere¡± stage. I thought I had more time!'' *************** It''s now the weekend. David still hasn''t figured out what he wanted to paint, so he is on his computer looking for some inspiration. While he''s searching, his door slams open. ¡°Yoo David!¡± David''s sister Cindy comes in with a smirk. When in front of everyone else including their parents, she has a lovable, cutesy personality. When in front of David however, she acts sort of like a tomboy. She knows acting cutesy in front of David is useless because he is immune to her charms. ¡°Get lost Cindy. I don''t feel like dealing with your shit today.¡± David says without looking at her still searching through pictures. He was so focused on finding a picture that he forgot to lock his door. That''s saying something for the paranoid David. ¡°I came for a good reason today. It has come to my attention that we do not spend nowhere near enough time together. Soooo... We''re going out to have some fun! Just you and me, runnin around, doing sibling stuff! Goin on adventures, just runnin around!¡± David gets highly upset. ¡°No! Also, that incest shit does not fly with me! Trying to go on a date with your own brother. The fuck is wrong with you!?¡± Cindy gets shocked. ¡°Woah! Woah! Hold on! Who said anything about a date!? And anyway, that incest shit doesn''t fly by with me either! Even if I was into incest, Michael is a hundred times better than you!¡± David nods. ¡°Good. Now that we''ve gotten that out the way, get the hell out of my room!¡± He points at his door while yelling this out. ¡°Damn David! Calm yo tits!¡± She puts her hands up in a surrendering gesture. ¡°¡°Calm my tits!?¡± My tits can never stay calm in your presence! My tits right now are like a thousand angry bees, ready to unleash their wrath!¡± ¡°We need to bond as a family and make wonderful memories!¡± She yells out dramatically while hugging David''s leg. ¡°You probably ran out of money our parents gave you so you''re trying to use me for funds you parasite!¡± David yells out angrily while trying to shake Cindy off his leg. She looks around rapidly and starts to sweat. She starts stammering nervously. ¡°Hahaha... Me using you for funds? You''re such a kidder David... Hahaha...¡± She wasn''t at all convincing. ¡°Any who... You''re going to be going out with me today.¡± Cindy says confidently. ¡°You''re awfully sure. What makes you say that?¡± David looks at her skeptically. POP! A popping sound rings out. Cindy holds a detonator in her hands. David then sees that his computer, pod, and everything else is surrounded by some plastic looking balls. ¡°Because for every time you disagree, something terrible will happen. I can''t even guarantee you''ll live through this. I''m only concerned about your safety. So do you agree?¡± Cindy says with a trollish smile. ''90% chance that''s not even the real detonator. She just wants me to go on a wild goosechase.'' David thinks. David sighs and starts trying to get ready. He knew that when Cindy really wants something, there is nothing he can do to stop her. He had learned from his past. If he tries the same thing to her, it will only escalate. Last time he tried it, his entire room was destroyed. Cindy goes smiling and skipping to her room. David slams the door shut when she left, fed up with her. After a little while, they both show up at their front door. Cindy is in short shorts, has her hair down and a purse with a little sweater showing off her curves. David in something he just threw on: Big pants and a thick, long sleeved shirt. Cindy purses her lips. ¡°I think its time for you to buy some new clothes. The clothes you have always piss me off!¡± ¡°What business is it of yours?¡± ¡°We''re buying you something to wear. You still haven''t changed your style after all these years you damn lame!¡± She yells at David disdainfully. ¡°So we''re going to use my money to buy me something that I don''t even want to try and impress people I don''t even like? You''ve got some nerve!¡± David yells back extremely annoyed. David can never keep his usual expressionless face when around Cindy. She aggravates him more than any other person. Even Cecile is outclassed when comparing them. David and Cindy go. Cindy smiling while David looks pissed off. People looking at David think he''s Cindy''s boyfriend. The glares are all around him. David, of course, notices the glares. ''This is one of the reasons I hate being around Cindy in public.'' David acts lethargic and follows after Cindy slowly. He has his hands in his pockets and is slouching. There is a sleepy look on his face while he is frowning. They soon make it to the clothing store. ¡°Hey David, do you think this looks good?¡± She asks cutely while making a pose. David is sitting down resting his head on his arm not even bothering to look at Cindy. ¡°You''ve asked me that same, exact question the last 30 times, and every single time, the answer has always been the same. I. Don''t. Know. And. I. Don''t. Care.¡± David says annoyed. ¡°I don''t know why you''re so upset.¡± She says quietly and adorably with tears in her eyes. People watching her stare daggers at David. They yell out, ¡°How dare you!¡± ¡°Bitch do you want to die!?¡± ¡°I cut you. I cut you real bad.¡± That guy says while pulling out a switch blade. David curses in his mind. He knows that Cindy is doing this on purpose. He also knows there is nothing he can do about it. After the torture session of agonizingly waiting for Cindy to finish trying on clothes, they went to the men''s section. ¡°No.¡± ¡°Come on David. Don''t be a sourpuss.¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Wear these clothes or I''ll start crying. Not that whimpering weak shit either. I mean full on bawling.¡± David grumbles and snatches the clothes away from her. He takes a minute to get changed then comes out. David is wearing a dark gray polo tight fitting shirt that shows off his muscles, and some black pants that are nowhere near as loose as the pants he had on before. David hugs his arms. He feels practically naked. ¡°Whoa. Not bad.¡± Cindy says in approval with a thumbs up. ¡°I feel naked. Can I change back?¡± ¡°Sure you can!¡± Her happy tone is laced with sarcasm. ¡°You need to take them off to buy them anyway silly!¡± ¡°I''m not buying them.¡± ¡°You''re not?¡± She says with tears in her eyes. David gives her the stink eye and buys the clothes. The cashier didn''t know why David was staring at her with angry eyes. After their shopping escapades, David decided that he has had enough. Cindy feeling that the crying card is starting to lose its effectiveness decides to go to the arcade. Arcades are much more advanced in the future. Not only are there games where you can compete with others on AR glasses and actually earn prizes, but you can also find full immersion virtual reality games here. David and Cindy first play AR ping pong which Cindy won. They then move on to rock climbing, which David won. What Cindy had the most fun doing was a virtual reality game that was basically a huge jungle gym the size of a city. ¡°Wheeeee!¡± Cindy was zipping from place to place. She truly looked happy instead of having that calculated cuteness she usually has. David was just sitting at the highest point of the giant jungle gym, waiting for Cindy to finish. David still has that scowl on his face. After playing lots of games, Cindy wants to look for something else when she sees someone and her eyes sparkle. ¡°It''s her! I''ve always wanted to meet her! I own lots of magazines with her on the cover!¡± Cindy yells out excitedly while squealing. Cindy grabs David''s arm and pulls him along. When David sees who Cindy is trying to meet, his face shows shock. He knows this person somewhat. She is currently playing a motorcycle game. She sitting on a fake motorcycle with her ass sticking up. It''s making all the guys within a 200 meter radius notice her. She has a huge crowd surrounding her. The guys talk among themselves. ¡°She''s is literally the sexiest woman I have ever seen.¡± ¡°Too bright! I didn''t even know mere human genes were capable of creating something so perfect.¡± ¡°Dat ass doe.¡± ¡°Dat ass indeed.¡± She takes off the helmet and plans to go to another game. ¡°Ex-Excuse me.¡± Cindy calls out shyly. The lady hears someone calling out to her. She looks over and sees Cindy and David. ¡°It''s Luciana Leavitt! It''s her and she''s looking at me!¡± Cindy whispers out excitedly. Her cold, expressionless, beautiful look makes her look like an ice princess. Her beauty makes her mostly unapproachable. Her long, black hair flows in the nonexistent wind. Her leggings and tight shirt accentuate her curves. She is for all intents and purposes, ¡°perfect¡±. If someone were to paint a picture of her, the picture would inspire many emotions such as admiration, longing, and lust. She walks towards Cindy. ¡°Cindy Lewis right?¡± She says with no emotion. ¡°Yes! I''m a huge fan of yours. I love seeing videos of you in New Reality!¡± ¡°Those videos aren''t put up by me. Those videos are by stalkers.¡± Luciana states matter-of-factly. ¡°Oh. I didn''t know that.¡± Cindy laughs nervously. ¡°You are so beautiful! I own a lot of magazines with you in them.¡± ¡°I actually don''t like modeling too much, but it does make easy money.¡± Luciana states. ¡°Oh. Hahaha...¡± Cindy can clearly see this conversation is heading towards a train wreck. ¡°You actually compete in the Olympics. I''ve been following your exploits. You''re impressive.¡± Luciana tells Cindy. ¡°You have!?¡± Cindy starts hopping up and down. Cindy starts talking animatedly while Luciana makes terse comments. They both have a lot in common and they both realize this. They''re both constantly hit on and both are really good at a sport. All the guys there stare at both Cindy and Luciana. ¡°Two beautiful women together.¡± ¡°I''ve tried approaching, but its like an invisible force field of mediocrity repulsion is keeping me away.¡± David is standing away from both of them. He does not want any misunderstandings happening, so he''s standing well away. Standing next to the both of them is just asking for trouble. Even with his distance, with his paranoia at maximum, he still feels multiple gazes burning at his back. ''Damn. First Cindy and now Luciana? I''m going to get my ass kicked at this rate. Better increase my distance.'' David starts backing away slowly. Cindy notices this. ¡°David don''t be rude. I know you hate people, but now is not the time for that. Do you know who this is? She''s a model and a ranker in New Reality. She goes to our school!¡± Cindy says to David in a lecturing tone. Luciana actually slightly chuckles at this. This is the first time David has seen an expression other than coldness from her. This causes the guys there to sigh in admiration. ¡°I know who David is. He''s in my homeroom.¡± Luciana states. Cindy''s face shows shock as she looked at David. ¡°Why didn''t you say anything?¡± ¡°...¡± David looks away, not even bothering to look at the both of them. ''I have never talked to her before. I see no reason to start now.'' David thinks with sweat dripping down his forehead. ¡°David...¡± Cindy grumbles her breath, fury evident. ¡°Don''t worry. I know he doesn''t like to talk.¡± Luciana says trying to diffuse the situation between them. ¡°This makes me curious though. How is it that David not only lets you talk to him, but also lets you go on a date with him? I was under the impression that he always liked being by himself.¡± ¡°Oh, David is my brother. We came to an agreement in order for us to go out.¡± She stares at David daring him to say anything. ¡°Oh? You have another brother besides Michael? Well that makes sense. Cindy Lewis and David Lewis. Well its been fun, but I have stuff to do.¡± ¡°Can I see you at school?¡± ¡°Sure. I don''t mind.¡± ¡°How about we exchange numbers and go shopping one day?¡± ¡°That''s going a bit far...¡± ¡°Okay, I''m fine with just seeing you at school.¡± Luciana waves and leaves, her crowd following behind her. ¡°Wow! She''s so cool! I hope to become as pretty as her one day!¡± ¡°Can we go home now?¡± David asks depressed. ¡°Silly, silly David.¡± She wags her finger. ¡°We haven''t even played any hardcore arcade games yet.¡± They play an interactive virtual reality game. It''s a shooting game where you have to shoot through zombies. While they''re playing, Cindy asks David a question. ¡°So David. You were awfully shy when it came to Luciana. Do you have a crush on her?¡± ¡°Yeah, I''m pretty sure the feelings I have toward her have nothing to do with love.¡± David says while shooting at 3 zombies at once. ¡°You liiiike her. Your chances of going out with her are near zero though. I recommend you go out with someone of your level. That will be difficult. Maybe we can find a desperate cockroach." Cindy says while shooting a hole in multiple zombies'' heads. ¡°God dammit. Fine. I''d rather tell you my secret to clear up this misunderstanding.¡± David takes a deep breath. ¡°The truth is, I''m afraid of her.¡± That caught Cindy off guard causing a zombie to bite her. She then jumped out the way and shot at it. ¡°Hahahaha! Are you serious?¡± ¡°*sigh* yes. She holds all the qualities of the 3 types of people I fear. One, beautiful women. Two, rich and/or famous people. Three, scary people. If it were just one or two of those three things, I might be able to deal with it, but she has all three. She''s my triple threat.¡± David says while rushing into a horde of zombies shooting at them and hitting them in their faces with the butt of his gun. ******** Flashback: David had a terrible experience because of a rich person. In 9th grade, a person tried to fight David. David in return broke his leg. That person then advertised, "A thousand dollars for every bone someone breaks." David could fight them off, but the fights never stopped. He eventually got worn down and had multiple bones broken. David had learned an important lesson that day. ''Kung Fu is powerless against the power of money.'' Flashback end: ************* ¡°If that''s the case, then why aren''t you afraid of me?¡± Cindy ponders. ¡°You damn narcissist.¡± They beat the game leaving a new combined high score. Cindy was tired, so they decide to leave the arcade and head home. ------------------- Author''s Note: *farts* Chapter 32: Getting famous from doing artsy things Author''s Note: Here ya go. ----------------------- David heads back into the game. He thinks he has a pretty good idea on what he wants to draw. When he materializes in the game, Null goes into a store. He buys some sandwiches and walks around. ¡°Is this who I think it is?¡± Someone says behind Null. Null refuses to turn around and keeps walking forward. The person puts his hand on Null''s shoulder. Null turns around annoyed. He sees the person and sees that he look familiar. ¡°Who are you?¡± Null asks. ¡°Why you don''t recognize your own grandfather?¡± Null sees it now. It looks like a younger version of his grandfather. ¡°Let''s walk around. We can go to a whorehouse or something.¡± Null''s grandfather says. ¡°I''m at bit busy at the moment.¡± ¡°Well let me at least show you this cool trick I learned. Turn around and I''ll show you.¡± Null looks at his grandfather uneasily. His grandfather notices this and frowns. ¡°Now David, I''ve been noticing that you push people away, even your own family.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°David, you have to learn to trust. If you can''t even trust your own grandfather, who can you trust?¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Just give me this one chance. We''re family. I have been practicing this technique that people say looks like magic. Would you at least let me have this? I want you bragging to my daughter about this technique I learned. Learn to trust your family.¡± David is moved. He then does what he''s told and turns around. ''Maybe grandfather is ri-''
You have been killed by LeTrollKing. You have lost two levels.
¡°Easiest trick in the book sucker! Lololololololol!!!! Trollololololololol!!!!¡± David''s grandfather yells out while frolicking into the sunset. ¡°Damn you old man!¡± Null shouts out while glaring at him. Null''s eyes then open wide. ''That''s it! I know what I want to paint!'' When Null revives, he heads towards the studio and paints nonstop. It''s a big picture and he stays up for 4 days straight painting the picture. When he''s done, he''s satisfied.
What would you like to name this picture?
¡°Um... How about Old Light?¡±
Congratulations! You have created a masterpiece! Anyone who sees this picture during sunrise or sunset will have their health increase by 25% , strength will rise by +40 for the day, dexterity will rise by +35 for the day, intelligence will rise by +50 for the day, wisdom will rise by +55 for the day, fire mages and clerics will have techniques powered up and additional 30%. Techniques involving fire or light will power up an additional 30%. Techniques involving darkness will fall 30%. Necromancers and dark mages will have intelligence decrease by -20 and wisdom -25. Buffs last for 24 hours. Does not overlap with additional sculptures or paintings.
''Wow. Those buffs are a bit much. Well, its my first time creating a masterpiece. I even gained some experience. Painting is going to be a little harder to level than the other classes because I will constantly need to find inspiration. Well, I don''t need to see the painting guild master anymore. I think I''ll leave as soon as I have gathered my supplies.'' Null leaves the studio. The picture is useless to him so he decides to leave it. It isn''t long until Script, Aurora, and Rouge come in. ¡°I felt like, so inspired!¡± Aurora says to them. ¡°Really Aurora, could you not try to find us when we''re in the middle of having sex?¡± Rouge says frustrated. ¡°But the images was like, so vivid! It really got my imagination juices flowing!¡± ¡°Is that what you call it?¡± Script says skeptical. It was then that Rouge notices the painting Old Light. ¡°This is...¡± Rouge says shocked. The picture is a contradiction. It shows the sun rising, giving the people life while at the same time destroying them. Some embrace the sunlight by running towards it while being destroyed. Some try taking bits of the sunlight fearing the sun, yet still being destroyed just the same. However there is one person who looks on at everyone else. He refuses to have anything to do with the sun at all. He holds an umbrella staring at the foolish creatures running around. It''s like he accepts that both the sun''s creation and destruction are a fact of life, and it would be better to just not mess with the sun at all, yet this person has eyes of loneliness and desolation. What the sun and light represents, Null doesn''t even know. ¡°My lord...¡± Rouge says. Script and the others come over to see what has gotten Rouge so shocked. They become shocked as well. ¡°How...¡± Script says. ¡°It''s like this painting is window into the soul!¡± Screams Aurora who starts dancing. ¡°Null is a far better painter than me.¡± Rouge says sadly. ¡°I think I saw Null at a store while heading in. He bought a lot of things in bulk. Looks like he''s preparing to leave this city soon.¡± Script says. ¡°It would be a shame to leave this painting here. I''ll catch Null and ask what he wants to do with all these paintings.¡± Rouge says while running to find him. It didn''t take long for Rouge to find Null. ¡°Null!¡± Rouge yells out. Null sees Rouge coming to see him. ¡°Are you about to leave Palperroth?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°What will you do about the paintings left in my studio?¡± ¡°Keep them or throw them away. They are useless to me.¡± ¡°But...¡± ¡°All I ask is that I be left in peace. Other than that, do whatever you want.¡± Null then walks away to a different store. Rouge heads back to her studio. ¡°What did he say?¡±Aurora asks. ¡°He said to do whatever I wanted with them.¡± Rouge says while sighing. ¡°Will you sell them or claim them as your own?¡± Script asks. She thinks a long while then says, ¡°No. I''m going to show the world these amazing paintings and show people what an amazing painter Null is.¡± She says determined. ************ The Palperroth art exhibit. It''s one of the hallmarks of Palperroth. The best artists in the city, and sometimes the world, have their art exhibited here. There is usually a long line at the entrance. Depending on what stats a person wants to raise, the person will find the painting that best works with them. Rouge shows up here. This causes the people waiting in line to stir. ¡°It''s her!¡± ¡°Rouge is here!¡± ¡°She must have created another painting! I can''t wait to see it!¡± Since Rouge is one of the prominent artists there, she doesn''t have to wait in line. She heads in and is greeted respectfully by the doorman. ¡°Excuse me Ms. Rouge. Allow me to get the director.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Rouge didn''t wait long before the director came down. ¡°Rouge, you should know that there''s no reason for you to wait on me. No matter what''s going on with my schedule, I will always have time for you.¡± Says the director in a polite tone. ¡°I take it you''re here to deliver us another painting?¡± ¡°Yes I am. However, the painting is not mine.¡± Rouge says nervously. This causes the director to frown. ¡°Now Rouge, I''m sure your friend is talented, but they just can''t use you to get their art into this exhibit. You have to make it through with your own merits.¡± ¡°I agree. Can you at least agree to see the pictures before you make your decision?¡± The director contemplates this. He is a very busy man. He doesn''t have the time to just look at every drawing that comes his way. He also knows that Rouge is a very important contributor to the gallery. If he says no, she might just try to get her pieces removed from here. ¡°Very well. Let''s see what this person''s got.¡± The director sighs. He would rather not be complementing a five year old scribble saying the person has potential. He has already prepared a speech before hand. ''I''ll just say that the person has potential. Then I''ll say next time, wait until the person has garnered a lot of fame before seeing me. That should work.'' Thinks the director. Rouge first takes out a painting Null did of a dark and scary forest. It has the effects of given druids high bonuses while everyone else gets a medium bonus. ¡°My word...¡± The director says. He takes out an eye piece and starts examining the picture. ¡°What is the name of the person who drew this!? This would rank at among the top 50 in this gallery!¡± ¡°His name is Null. Of all the paintings I''ve gotten from him, this is the worst one.¡± ¡°....The worst one? Did I hear correctly?¡± Rouge then proceeded to show the director one painting after another. Every new picture made the director more and more shocked. Rouge then took out Null''s current best work, Old Light. When the director saw the picture, he cried. ¡°It''s like he thinks the others are foolish for doing what they''re doing, and yet there''s a gaze of sadness and loneliness in his eyes.¡± When the director saw the first picture, he had made up his mind to try and contact Null. Now, he wants to use all of his available resources to find Null. ¡°Rouge, please tell me. Where is Null currently? I absolutely must meet him!¡± Rouge shakes her head. ¡°I don''t know. Even if I did know, I wouldn''t tell you.¡± ¡°What? Why not?¡± ¡°When I received these pictures, Null said that I can do what I want with them, but he asked to be left in peace. I''m honoring that request.¡± ¡°I see.¡± The director takes a thinking pose. ¡°He wouldn''t mind his work being displayed here?¡± ¡°I also do not know, but he did say I could do whatever I wanted with these paintings.¡± ¡°Mmm... Then it''s settled. Tomorrow, I will do a feature on all these paintings. An unknown artist suddenly producing a masterpiece! We will sell out for sure!¡± Later that day, there was a big announcement from the art exhibit. Several fliers went around advertising a new gallery. The last time the art exhibit had this big of a commotion was when Raphael Witte decided to donate his paintings to the gallery. People were wondering what was going on. ¡°Does anybody know what''s going on with the art exhibit tomorrow?¡± ¡°I''m not sure. The person who handed me the flier said something about an unknown artist''s work being featured in a gallery just for this person.¡± ¡°All this over an unknown artist? Well this person''s works must be exceptional for them to go through all this trouble. I should buy a ticket before they sell out.¡± These kinds of talks were going on throughout the city. Null had noticed everyone''s animated actions and heard about the unknown artist being featured in the art exhibit. ''Maybe I should go look to see what has gotten everyone so excited before I leave.'' Null thinks. ''Maybe I can find more inspiration for my art.'' Null goes and gets a ticket then goes back to the inn he''s currently staying in. The next day, there was commotion going on at the art exhibit. Couldn''t make a line because there were simply too many people. Art exhibit person comes out. ¡°Greetings all. I am the director. I like to thank you in joining me in the opening of a new gallery of a previously unknown artist. To tell the truth, I have never met this artist. However, I think whoever this person is must be incredibly complex. I would rather not say too much about this person. I will let this person''s art do the speaking for them. The art exhibit is now open!¡± People start running towards the new exhibit, curious as to how good the art is. When they make it, they see an entrance called, ¡°House of Null.¡± ¡°Amazing!¡± ¡°This Null''s work is even better than Rouge''s!¡± It''s then that they make it to the painting, Old Light. They are really impressed. ¡°This picture at first made me really sad, but when I got the buffs, it made me incredibly happy.¡± ¡°Me too!¡± ¡°This Null is truly formidable.¡± ¡°How high must his painting level be?¡± ************ Null makes it inside trying to find new artist''s paintings. He makes to the place called ¡°House of Null.¡± ''Oh? This artist has the same name as me.'' Null them looks at the pictures. ''These paintings look sort of fami-.... Shit.'' This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Null heads for the exit when he hears people starting to get rowdy. ¡°It''s him!¡± ¡°There he is!¡± ¡°Raphael Witte in the flesh!¡± Raphael comes walking in with an annoyed look. It looks like people are constantly coming towards him talking to him and bothering him. ''This exact same scenario happened in the Painting Guild! I can''t let him see me!'' Null thinks. Null tries sneaking pass him. Raphael notices Null trying to sneak by, but Raphael ignores him. Raphael finally makes it to the exhibit. He is really impressed by the pictures. ''Nice technique, though a bit sloppy if you take a closer look. Looks like this person is self taught.'' Raphael then makes it to the painting, Old Light. Raphael''s eyes open wide. ''Looks like this Null and I are cut from the same cloth. I simply must meet him.'' ********* Soon, Null''s name starts spreading from Palperroth. ¡°Hey, we''re pretty close to Palperroth. We should go checkout that painting. I think the trek will be worth it. Have you heard how much your stats will increase?¡± ********** ¡°Have you heard the news regarding Palperroth? Apparently an extremely skilled artist that donated pictures the likes of which few have ever seen!¡± ¡°What''s the artist''s name?¡± ¡°Null! No one knows what this person looks like though.¡± ************ New Reality News. The news about Null''s paintings and the buffs one can receive while looking at them causes New Reality News to take notice. ¡°I''ve seen the pictures on the web.¡± The beautiful anchorwoman, Millie Noel says. ¡°Those pictures are truly beautiful. In fact, when I''m done with Arbington, I plan on going straight to Palperroth to see this painting in person.¡± ¡°The name of the person who did the paintings is called Null. He has gathered a lot of fame recently because of a painting that he made he calls,Old Light. Millie, what do you think? Do you think he''ll join a guild or at least show himself?¡± The handsome anchorman by the name of Conner London asks. ¡°Somehow, I doubt it. What is truly strange is how similar this case is from the alchemy one in Panford. Both people create something of high difficulty while both choose to remain hidden. They both even have the same name!¡± Millie says, trying to make people ponder. ¡°Could they be the same person?¡± Conner asks. ¡°At first, I thought that that couldn''t possibly be the case. Alchemy and painting are just too different after all, but now that idea is starting to make sense to me. Within a relatively short time, two people of extraordinary skill named Null surfaced. Now, Null is a pretty common name, especially if you''re a rogue, but painters and alchemists named Null are few and far between. Famous alchemists and painter''s named Null are only these two cases dealing with Panford and Palperroth.¡± The anchorman then says, ¡°Be sure to watch our program tonight where we discuss if both Nulls are one and the same. This idea does have merit.¡± *********** At One Winged Angel guild, the art branch members are talking about the news regarding Null. ¡°So this extremely talented painter named Null donated pictures, and yet doesn''t show his face?¡± ¡°Strange. Truly strange. I heard from an alchemist member that not too long ago, the exact same scenario happened with alchemy.¡± ¡°...Could the alchemist Null and painter Null be the same person?¡± ¡°That should be impossible right? Usually people who have intermediate in two classes have both those classes being very similar. Painting and alchemy are too different.¡± ¡°Heh. The name Null has been making a lot of headlines in the production classes nowadays.¡± ************* Raphael looks for the art director. That art director treats Raphael with utmost respect. ¡°I know you''re a busy man so I''ll make this brief. I would like to meet Null.¡± ¡°I apologize, but I have never even met Null. If you are trying to look for him, then Rouge should know about the person you''re looking for. She was the one who donated his paintings.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Raphael quickly rushes to find Rouge. He finds Rouge in the middle of painting a picture. ¡°Greetings Guild Master.¡± Rouge greets him respectfully. ¡°Rouge, this Null. Do you know the person being featured in the exhibit?¡± ¡°I do! Null said he also wanted to meet you!¡± ¡°Well that makes things easier for me.¡± ¡°Null should be leaving this city pretty soon.¡± ¡°Hurry up and show him to me.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± They run towards the city''s entrance. They see a hooded figure about to leave. ¡°There he is!¡± Exclaims Rouge. They run towards Null. He hears them but refuses to look back. Rouge learned her lesson a long time ago and they both move in front of him. ¡°Can I help you?¡± Null says annoyed. ¡°Null, didn''t you say you wanted to meet Raphael Witte? Well here he is!¡± Null at first wanted to kill her for giving him this unwanted fame, but then he realizes she held up her end of the bargain. Everyone seems to be ignoring Null and no one seems to know who he is. ¡°Oh.¡± Null simply responded. Now that he knows how to level up his art, he doesn''t give a damn about Raphael anymore. ¡°You do not seem that excited to meet me.¡± Raphael said in a deadpan voice. ¡°Should I be?¡± Asks Null in the same deadpan voice. ¡°I am a world famous artist you know.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Null says not caring. Most people would find Null''s behavior pretty rude, especially for someone as famous as Raphael, who has even nobles kissing his ass. However, Raphael finds Null refreshing. Their don''t care personalities are really similar. ¡°Hmph. I like the cut of your jib. Take this skill book. Not only have you earned it with your impressive paintings, but you''ve also earned it for not caring about fame. I saw how in the art gallery you didn''t want anyone to know who you were. I would usually give a lot of tests to those I feel are worthy before I give them this, but you''ve greatly impressed me.¡± He gives Null the skill book and leaves. This shocks Rouge even further. ¡°Every time I think, ¡°This guy couldn''t even get more impressive than this.¡± You manage to surprise me. Hope we meet again someday. Never stop painting.¡± She gives Null a thumbs up and walks away. Null walks away from town as well. ''I was expecting the intermediates to want and add me as a friend. This is unexpected.'' Null places his hand on the skill book. A message pops us.
You have obtained the skill book, Unlimited Paint. Would you like to learn the skill?
''Unlimited Paint?'' ¡°Yes.¡±
You have learned the skill, Unlimited Paint.
Unlimited Paint
Skill typeActiveSkill ProficiencyCannot level up.
Can now create paint of any color you can imagine by only using mana. Base Cost: 50 mana per second. Will depend on how much paint you are using and how fast you are painting.
''This is an extremely useful skill. No longer do I have to grow plants just for painting supplies.'' Thinks Null satisfied. Null wants to test this skill out. He takes out a small sheet of paper and a paintbrush. He places the paintbrush on the paper and said the skill name. He glides the brush across the paper. That paint streak goes from red to blue to green to orange to even glowing red. This was made in a single stroke. ''Okay. This is far better than I thought it would be. I''m glad I came to this city. Well, I''m really tired of seeing people. Time to head out and figure out this compass.'' Null leaves the city without looking back. ************ Null walks for four days. For some reason, he walked in an extremely random pattern. He then stops abruptly in the middle of the road. ¡°You''ve been following me for quite some time. Is there something you need from me?¡± Null says in a seemingly random direction. Seeing as the person wasn''t coming out, Null threw a bomb at where the person supposedly was. That person got out the way before the bomb exploded. ¡°It looks like their info was right. Those bombs certainly are unique. You even managed to find me even though my assassin''s Invisibility skill was active. You are very talented.¡± ¡°Info?¡± Null questions. ¡°You don''t need to know. Just know in the next few days, some people will contact you for you to join them. I would if I were you. Judging from your actions, you would not want it spread how you have at least three classes in intermediate.¡± This causes Null''s eyes to open wide. ''How did he know? Only Cici should know about that! Did she tell? Even if she does want to betray me, she knows that I would delete my account if I ever become famous. If it wasn''t her, how else could he know? It seems he doesn''t know how many classes I have at intermediate though. Cici does. If she didn''t tell, how else could this person find out?'' ¡°Heh. Judging from that look, it seems I was right on the money. Well there''s no use following you anymore since you''ve already found me. Later.¡± He dashes away. Null knows its useless to try and kill him because that person is a player. If Null kills him, he''ll just revive in an unknown safe location. ''This is troublesome.'' Null thinks. **************** An unknown location. A merchant and a swordsman are sitting at a table with someone. ¡°Oh? Consider yourselves lucky. Looks like your information was correct.¡± ¡°Of course. We wouldn''t dare lie to you.¡± The merchant says nervously. ¡°Now, about our reward.¡± The swordsman says, getting straight to the point. The person they are talking to is the leader of Bloody Dagger. They''re an infamous dark guild around 200 strong and are involved with trafficking the various races. They capture people of different races all over the world and sell them to countries where slavery is still legal. This group mostly consists of players. Countries have tried stoppling them, but they are very good at hiding. Their leader takes out two large sacks of gold and places it on the table. ¡°Take it and go.¡± ¡°Thank you!¡± The merchant says happily while leaving. ¡°Nice doing business with you.¡± The warrior says while walking away. When they leave, some members of bloody dagger get together to discuss how they should proceed. ¡°This Null unexpectedly found Krill.¡± ¡°Does this mean we can no longer know where he''s going to go?¡± ¡°We can send someone else to follow him.¡± ¡°No.¡± The leader says. ¡°Null now knows we are looking for him. It won''t do any good to send someone. All isn''t lost though. Thanks to Null making a name for himself in Palperroth, we were able to find him. We may not know where he''s going, but we know his general direction. I want people sent to towns and villages surrounding the west of Palperroth. We''ll use the townspeople to blend in.¡± Everyone nods and goes, giving orders. ''Null will join us, and it will be of his own free will. Leader will be pleased.'' The bloody dagger leader says while sitting back in his chair. Unbeknownst to most in Bloody Dagger, their leader is not the true leader. The true leader is one of unfathomable power. Cataclysm Guild, Wrecking Crew, Deadly Infection Guild. The true leader used his power to subjugate all of these major dark guilds in the western hemisphere. Any dark guilds that refused to comply had their guilds annihilated. Most do not know why the true leader does what he does. He didn''t put a halt to their illegal and immoral activities. In fact, thanks to him, it had actually expanded. He doesn''t even touch any of the money, as if currency is beneath him. People fear him because most do not know his motivation. ------------------ Author''s Note: Consider the previous chapters foreplay. Nothing but hot raunchy sex from here on out... Figuratively I mean. Chapter 33: Embracing His Humanity Author''s Note: A lot of you are going to hate me for the upcoming chapters. Some of you will wine and complain, but remember. At the end of the day, I do what I want. --------------- Null is currently walking through a forest. It has been 5 months since he left Palperroth. He hasn''t heard anything from the group that''s trying to recruit him. Bloody Dagger had underestimated Null''s revulsion towards people. He is not one to enter places populated with people unless he absolutely has to. Null has also been traveling off road, so there is no way they can actually find Null. If Null doesn''t want to be found, he won''t be found. During this time, Null has figured out the compass. The compass changes direction 3 times, then it returns back to its original position. Null figures that there are three directions he can choose from. He chose the direction he originally traversed. When the compass is about to change because of it being the end of the month, Null makes a straight line on his world map to where the compass is roughly pointing to. He then follows that general direction until compass changes back to direction he''s traveling in. ''What could cause this compass to act like this? Could it be there are 3 different things I have to get? No. If that was the case, it would only focus on one direction at a time before it changes. This idea is insane, but what if 3 different places keep siphoning off energy from one another each month? A more insane hypothesis is that the thing I''m supposed to learn from keeps teleporting to three different places each month. That idea has a lot of merit. After all, the transmutation circle skills are supposed to be illegal to commoners.'' While he''s walking, the compass starts blinking. ''Does this mean I''m close?'' Ponders Null. ''Well, I at least have to look presentable before entering. It would really suck if they reject me because I look like a hobo.'' Null decides to head towards the closest village to clean himself up. He finds a village that numbers at about 200 people. Null frowns upon seeing the place. It looks destitute and the people look hungry. ¡°Excuse me traveler, but could you spare some food?¡± If there was a person asking for money, Null would''ve ignored them. However, this person is asking for food and looks unhealthy. ''I should just give him the food so that I can be left alone.'' Thinks Null. He takes out some of his bread and gives it to him. He then takes out one of his paper cups and fills it with water and also gives that to him. ¡°Thank you sir! I will never forget your kindness!¡± He says with tears in his eyes. Upon seeing this, more people walk up to Null asking for food. He doesn''t have enough for everyone however. He decides to grow some of the food seeds that he''s been carrying. He still doesn''t know how he will deal with this situation though. ''Guess I have no choice. I just want to be left alone.'' Null goes inside the forest looking for food. He finds it odd how scarce it is. When he returns to the village, he asks why. ¡°We have recently become infested with acid slimes. They eat everything and reproduce quickly. We have tried killing them many times, but a few always manage to survive and quickly repopulate. The little food we had left had to be rationed. Will you help us? All I can offer you is a fine bow as a reward.¡± [/size]
Quest: Acid Slime Subjugation
Quest Information: The acid slime has wrecked havoc upon the village''s food supply. Kill every single acid slime in the area. Reward: Fine Bow Quest Rank: E Penalty if refused: Decreased intimacy with village. Do you accept?
''I don''t need a fine bow, but whatever.'' ¡°I accept.¡±
You have accepted the quest.
Null heads out into the forest. It only took a few minutes to find what he was looking for. ¡°Identify.¡±
Acid Slime
Information: They spit out a dissolving liquid. Durability on weapons is lowered if it touches the body. Can be killed quickly if attacking the nucleus.
Level32
Health 2220Mana 1620
Strength 40 Dexterity 30
Vitality60Charisma10
Intelligence40Wisdom35
Luck30
Attack19Defense16
Null shot out a single needle at the slime''s nucleus, killing it in one hit. The number on the side of his vision showed that the number of slimes reduced. ''Now that I know the acid slime''s mana signature, I can find all of them in one fell swoop.'' It didn''t take long for Null to take out all the slimes. He returned to the village when it was done. ¡°We can now grow our food without worry! Thank you!¡± Null had gotten experience, but it was like a drop in a bucket. The next request soon came in. ¡°Can you help us grow new crops?¡± Null planted seeds and even painted a picture that could boost growing speed. ¡°Can you help us repair our homes?¡± Null used his limited handyman experience to help. The quests kept on coming. Null didn''t need any of the rewards, but he figured he hadn''t done a quest in a while. ******** Null is staying at a villager''s house who happily welcomed him in. He''s reading a book. ''It won''t be long before my journey is at an end. Doing quests like these won''t be a problem. Once I get what I wanted, I won''t be doing any quests anytime soon.'' It was then that a little girl came running into Null''s room. She looked to be around seven years old. ¡°I can''t believe our hero is staying in my house!¡± She says excitedly. Null only looked at her annoyed. ¡°My name is May. What''s yours?¡± ¡°Null.¡± ¡°Is that a book? I always wanted to have books.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Null says. ¡°What''s that word?¡± ¡°Flow.¡± ¡°How about that one?¡± ¡°Diagram.¡± The next day, May showed off to her friends on what she had learned from Null. Jealous, they all ran to Null to learn things. He taught them multiplication, division, algebra, probability, calculus, and linear algebra. ''This learning speed is absurd.'' Thought Null. He had gained a lot of experience in his librarian class because of this. Null had stayed there for a few more days. May had constantly kept following Null around. Thanks to Null, the place looks a lot better. The people there are grateful towards Null. ¡°Please come visit if you have the time.¡± Someone says to him. ¡°I''ll miss you Null.¡± May starts crying. Null starts heading towards the exit. ¡°Hey friend!¡±A group of players start calling out to him. There were four people: Three guys and one girl. The guy in front looked like a warrior. The girl''s provocative clothing told the story of her being a dancer. The robe and wizard hat made the third guy a mage, and the fourth guy looked like a rouge of some kind. They greeted Null warmly. ¡°This place looked like a dump before. You really helped cleaned this place up.¡± The warrior said impressed. ¡°Why did you work so hard for the NPCs doing F and E ranks?¡± The rogue asks intrigued. ¡°Do you need anything from me?¡± Null asks. ¡°Oh. Excuse our rattling. Ahem. There''s a quest requirement and we need at least 5 people. We only have four. Care to join us?¡± The mage asks. ¡°No. Sorry.¡± ¡°Is there a reason why? It won''t be that difficult. There a dungeon near here that requires five people to open. The rewards should be grand. It has never been explored by other players.¡± The dancer says. ¡°I''m a librarian. I doubt I''ll be much help to you.¡± Says Null. ¡°A librarian? Seriously?¡± This gives him odd looks from everyone. ¡°Well it doesn''t matter. You can carry extra equipment or something. You have my word that we will not gimp you out of your share.¡± ¡°Sorry.¡± Null says simply he''s about to walk away. The dancer girl comes over. She grabs Null''s arm and places it between her breasts. ¡°I would really appreciate it if you said yes.¡± Dancers have stats like the beauty stat and charm stat. A person can fall under from their charms without even realizing due to the game. She had activated a technique to make Null fall for her and not be able to resist her beauty. However, she made one mistake. Null did think she was really beautiful, and the technique she used to make someone infatuated with them did work on Null. However, Null has a phobia of beautiful women. All the women that have gave him his traumas were all beautiful. The more beautiful the woman, the more fearful of them he will become. Null quickly separated from her. ¡°That technique is useless against me.¡± Null says to her. ¡°What? Impossible! Are you gay?¡± ¡°*sigh* And here I was hoping you would come willingly.¡± That leader''s personality changes. Before, he was polite and kind. Now he has an arrogant haughty tone. ¡°I am surprised that the person our leader wants us to capture is a librarian. You must have figured out a secret of the class. Well, that''s no concern of mine. Now, do you want to come with us quietly, or will you have to lose a few levels before you take a hint?¡± More players that were in the town come out and try and surround Null. Their numbers grew until they hit around 50. Null had long ago sensed them in hiding when he used Essence of Mana. Null throws a throwing knife in a random direction. It cuts and activates a switch that throws multiple needles at the opponents in front of him. Some people get hit and die. Since Null made it that the degrees of separation from him throwing the knife and the needles hitting the opponents were high, he did not get the murder mark. ¡°I''ve long ago figured out that you all were following me in this village. I was wondering when you would make your move.¡± The people that were killed soon revive back. The warriors rushed at Null with swords and spears. Null kept moving so that they couldn''t trap him. He managed to cut some people with his poisoned gauntlets making them no longer a threat. ''There are too many opponents.'' Thinks Null. Null hides and kills them off one by one. However, they soon revive. Null kills them off again. That warrior, realizing his tactics aren''t working switches them. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°Grab everyone in this village!¡± The warrior yells out. Soon afterwards, yells and banging noises could be heard. The villagers are brought to the center of the village. The leader yells out, ¡°Null, I know you cared for these people! For every minute you don''t come out, some one will die!¡± ¡°Ah, what a waste. And we were planning on selling them. It would be a shame to kill them. They have gotten so healthy thanks to you Null.¡± That mage said snarky. Null answered them by killing another one of their members with his needle launchers. ¡°That''s the way you want to play it?¡± The leader raised up his hand. They killed three of the villagers right there by beheading. The villagers were in a panic. Screams and cries of anguish could be heard. Them killing the villagers causes Null to pause. He didn''t think they would actually go through with it. He thought they were bluffing. Null comes out. He may not like people, but that doesn''t mean he''s a sociopath. ¡°Null!¡± May yells out while being held as a meatshield. ¡°Fine. I''ll go with you.¡± Null says resigned. The Bloody Dagger leader laughs and shakes his head. ¡°Oh no, no, no. This won''t do. You see, you''ve done irreparable damage to us. Do you think that coming with us alone is going to fix this?¡± Null furrows his brows. ¡°What do you want? Get this over with.¡± He lets go of some of the villagers. ¡°Here''s how this is gonna go. You''re going to let the villagers kill you.¡± That''s not actually that big of a deal to Null. Death isn''t permanent in this game for him after all. ¡°For every 20 seconds that you stay alive, we''ll kill a villager. And begin!¡± The leader says with a bloodthirsty smile. ¡°I''m sorry Null.¡± One of the villagers says while running at him with a sword. Null takes a poison and drinks it. He then removes his armor. This makes it so that the villagers were easily killed by him. He revives back in the village later. ¡°There. It''s done. Let''s go already.¡± Says Null. The leader shakes his head. ¡°No can do. You cheated by taking poison! You cheated by taking off your armor!¡± The leader swings his sword down and kills another villager. Blood coats the ground and his sword. ¡°Mother!¡± One villager yells out. ¡°Put back on your armor and let''s begin again.¡± He says with a smile. Null can see how this will end. No matter what he does, all the villagers will end up either dead or enslaved. He sees the crazed look on the villagers, desperately trying to kill him. They had tied Null up, so he can''t take any poison to help him. Null looks on. The villagers keep steadily dying. The players have hostages so he can''t get to them. He suddenly has another epiphany. ''No matter what I do, it never ends. I tried befriending people, and they ended up betraying me. I tried running away from people, and they ended up following me.'' Null looks at the villagers who had changed, desperately trying to kill him. ''It seems... I was mistaken. All this time, I knew that people were disgusting, but I never stopped to ask why.'' The villagers are frantically trying to kill Null, but his armor is too powerful. There are tears in their eyes. ''People are disgusting, to protect themselves from other disgusting people. It''s the only way one can thrive in the world overrun by people. Sure, some bully for fun, but others bully because they in turn don''t want to get bullied. Sure, some hurt people for fun, but others hurt people because they in turn don''t want to get hurt.'' Null keeps getting beat down, but doesn''t fight back. ''I will only do harm to myself if I keep going along the way I''ve been going. To not fight back when being provoked? That''s going to lead others to provoke me. That''s the way humanity is. That''s human nature. So from now on, I''ll...'' ¡°HAHAHAHA! How do you like the mayhem that you caused? Huh Null?¡± The leader says laughing at him. ''I''ll...'' ¡°This was brought about because of your actions! Caring for NPCs? How pathetic! HAHAHA!¡± The other players laugh along with him. Suddenly, it looks like something breaks within Null, his fragile psyche broken. The look he makes is one of madness. He suddenly... Smiles? But there is nothing warm about this smile. ''I''ll embrace my humanity as well!'' Null raises his crossbow and shoots through a hostage. It hits the person holding her and shoots through him as well. The hostage was May, the little girl that had always followed Null around. The girl''s face shows surprise as she sees this. ''Null... Why?'' Was all she thought before she fell to the ground and closed her eyes.
Due to your cruel actions, your infamy has gone up by 10.
Null gains the murder mark. The crossbow was always meant for enemies with a high degree of armor. That he would use it on a defenseless little girl was overkill. This action causes the villagers to pause in their steps. They see Null smiling. He had never smiled even when they were celebrating. Null then dashes towards another player. He tries holding the man up as a hostage. It doesn''t deter Null in the slightest. He cuts through him, making it to the player holding him killing him. The leader sees the change in the situation. ¡°Do you want the villagers to die!?¡± He yells out towards Null. Null doesn''t answer back. He rushes towards another batch of players, eyes wide and smiling. ¡°Dammit! Kill the hostages!¡± The people that were going to kill the hostages got attacked by paralysis needles along with the hostages. Null beheaded the poisoned players, looking gleeful while doing it. ¡°Seems we can no longer use the hostages. Attack Null!¡± They rush out to attack. Each of them is strong. Null cannot fight all of them at once. He chooses to retreat. The players follow after him. They run into the forest. ¡°AAAAAAH!¡± A player falls into a trap and gets impaled. The spires are covered with that poison that attacks the nerves. Another player steps on a landmine, exploding and blowing off his leg. The more they advance, the more players that fall to Null. They kept advancing until there was only a fifth of them left. ¡°Dammit. Retreat!¡± They all run away, but Null was not done with them. He shoots at their backs, hitting them with needles and his crossbow. Every time they try to give chase, Null retreats and they are unable to get to him. Only 3 people made it back to the village alive out of 50. When you kill a person once, you get a murder mark. If you kill the same person twice while having the murder mark, you get teleported to the outskirts of the city, town, or village you''re staying in. You can kill as many players as you want without being teleported away, so long as you do not kill the same person twice. There is an invisible force field that covers the city, town, or village that doesn''t allow you to enter. An exception to this is if there is property you own. You can kill the person as many times as you want without suffering any consequences if they''re on your property. This is how Red Serpent Guild was able to get away with what they did with Null. ¡°Are you telling me he managed to kill all of you!?¡± That leader yells frustrated at a person who had just revived. ¡°He keeps running away.¡± ¡°You have trackers with you! You can find him!¡± ¡°We''ve already tried that. It always leads to traps that gets more of our people killed.¡± ¡°We have thieves that can see and disarm traps!¡± Thieves have the passive ability Detect Trap which makes it so that traps glow blue in their vision. Thieves also possess the active ability Disarm Trap in which they use system assist to guide them on how to disarm a trap. The more complex and powerful the trap, the longer it will take to disarm it. A lot of times, thieves won''t be able to disarm a trap without a sufficiently high level in Disarm Trap. ¡°We''ve tried that as well. We manage to find and disarm one or two traps, but Null always takes out our thieves with his damned arrows.¡± Null put up decoy traps for the express purpose of weeding out their thieves. When he finds them, he shoots them down with his crossbow. ¡°Dammit. He''s got us.¡± The leader says frustrated. They stay for an entire day. Null can no longer enter the city because he''s killed a person more than once. Every time they leave to try and find Null, they always end up killed. The leader decided that he has had enough. ¡°We have already lost countless levels thanks to Null. Let''s just cut our loses and leave.¡± They all leave the village. While in the middle of the forest, Null ambushes them. He takes out a quarter of them by throwing needles and bombs. He then quickly retreats, leaving as quickly as he came. The trackers quickly try to find him, but they soon realize that it''s useless. The trackers are quickly attacked. They try to run away, but they kept running into traps. They''re all killed. They revive back in the village, starting the whole process all over again. ¡°At this rate, we''ll all fall back to level one if nothing is done.¡± The leader says with clinched teeth. The leader goes out by himself. ¡°Okay Null. We know you''re angry because of our actions.¡± He pulls out a huge sack of gold. ¡°This is 2000 gold coins. All we ask is for you to let us leave. What do you say?¡± Null answered him with an arrow straight through his eye. *************] David is now in school. He has laid countless traps throughout the region in proximity to that village. They won''t be able to make it too far even if Null was gone for 10 days straight. Everyone is looking at David strangely. That''s because he is smiling. He doesn''t care about anyone''s stares though. A person walks up to David. This is one of the people who always bully David without touching him. ¡°What are you so happy about? I didn''t know a depressing loser like you was even capable of joy.¡± Most of David''s other bullies saw that something was off about him, so they left him alone. This bully is one of the slower ones. David didn''t pay attention to him and kept on walking still smiling. The bully, aggravated that he''s not getting a reaction out of David, gets in front of him and puts his finger in David''s face. ¡°You look at me when I''m talking to-¡± David grabs his finger. This shocks the bully. David''s smile expands. Crack! ¡°AAAAAAH!¡± The bully holds his hand while on his knees, screaming in pain. Seeing how the bully was blocking his way, David kicks him over and over again, then he kicks him towards the wall, smacking him into it. That bully holds his chest along with his hand, looking at David with a look of horror. David acts like the bully wasn''t even there, like the bully was just a can on the road, that just so happened to cross David''s path. David walks pass him without even sparing that downed guy a second look. People look on in shock at David''s cruel actions. ------------------- Author''s Note: I bet a lot of you thought when looking at the title that Null would turn into a goody two shoes. Oh how I live to fuck up your expectations. Chapter 34: Reaching His Destination Author''s Note: Shit gets real cray cray this chapter. -------------- Cecile is walking to class with concern on her face. She has heard about what David had done, but she doesn''t believe David to be so cruel. She knows that David is a kind person, though he doesn''t like to admit it. When she sees him, she thinks that maybe the rumors weren''t so unfounded. David is smiling! David! His smile sends chills down her spine. ¡°Um, David? Is everything okay?¡± Cecile asks, worry written all over her face. ¡°Never been better.¡± David responds and walks away. Cecile gets sad. ¡°What happened to you?¡± ¡°Nothing in particular. I just found that my old worldview was full of holes, so I decided to plug them up.¡± ¡°...Remember if you need anything, I will always be here for you. I''m your friend after all.¡± ¡°Heh.¡± Was all David simply said before taking his seat. ''I know you will make it through whatever you''re going through stronger than ever. After all, you''re the person I deeply respect.'' ******** It has been a month in-game since Null had his personality change. He is still staying outside that village. No player is permitted to enter that village. No player is permitted to leave that village. Null had never told anyone this, but the other players had figured it out due to Null''s actions. Anyone who disobeys these unwritten and unspoken rules is dealt with mercilessly. Null can no longer enter that village, but the village is small enough that he can use his Essence of Mana to find everyone''s location. He has used Essence of Mana so much that it had leveled up to where he can now see everyone''s individual mana signature. Mana flows in everyone different depending on what stats you put your points into. Even for those with identical stat point distribution, their class, height, and way of movement will a lot of the times be different. 80% of Bloody Dagger in that area have already deleted their accounts due to Null repeatedly killing them to a point where they would be better off starting over. They tried leaving when Null was not there, but there were far too many traps and they didn''t make it far. When players were found, Null killed them without saying a word. Bloody Dagger tried sending reinforcements. A lot of them even manage to make it to the village with heavy casualties. However, when they make it there, they end up in the same predicament as the rest of Bloody Dagger. All of Bloody Dagger had decided just now that they will have a final hurrah. They try to rush out and kill Null while also running through the traps. If they fail, they''ll just delete their accounts. They are mentally strained. They constantly have to watch their backs for arrows. They thought Null would eventually get bored, but it appears that''s not the case, like he enjoys dragging out their suffering. They charge out as a group. When they charge out, they trigger a trap which shoots needles that cause partial paralysis. That didn''t deter them. Someone triggers another trap that makes a gigantic ax swing out, cutting some of them in two. They still weren''t deterred. Some fall in pits. Some get their legs caught in ropes, getting impaled by arrows in the process. Some fall in burning oil. Soon, all that remains is five. There may be five, but these are people who have lost countless levels. They came here with levels in the 200''s. Now, the highest leveled person there is a lowered level 1. Null comes out with his gauntlets drawn. This is what they were waiting for. At least they want to fight Null directly before they go. When they almost make it to Null, they fall into a pit, impaling themselves. Null won''t even let them have the satisfaction of being able to reach him. ¡°Damn you!¡± The leader yells out before dying.
Your infamy has now surpassed 500. Due to your cruel actions and your indiscriminate attacking, your Flinch has changed to Killing Intent. Your opponents attack power will fall according to their level. At later levels can cause partial paralysis..
Killing Intent is unusual for a skill. To level it up requires for stronger and stronger opponents to fear you. ¡°Heheheheh... HAHAHAHAHA!¡± Null laughs, giddy at this development. ¡°Embracing my humanity was the best decision I have ever made! Humans are creatures that need to be taught examples. Ever since I''ve completed my worldview, I have been left alone! I regret never having done this sooner! If you take from me, I will leave you with nothing! If you slight me, I will cause you unbearable misery until you would rather die! If you hurt me, I will leave you breathing and eating through a tube!¡± Null leaves that area, preparing for his next move. ''I cannot go to work on the Transmutation Circle Skills with this murder mark. Players and NPCs are hostile towards those with murder marks. I have three options to get rid of it. One is to kill evil monsters and evil people. The more people I have killed, the more evil monsters and evil people I will have to kill in order to get rid of the murder mark. I have killed far too much. I don''t have the time to do that method. The second method is to buy forgiveness from a church that aligns with light. The more I have killed, the higher price I would have to pay. I cannot use that method either. I don''t have anywhere near enough money for that. Besides, those churches are usually in towns. I would be like a beacon, alerting everyone to my presence. I don''t need that. The third method is to find that fountain that washes away all your sins if you bathe in it. The murder mark will disappear no matter how many you''ve killed. The problem with that is that it is notoriously difficult to even find. Even high leveled players will have great difficulty in reaching it. Well I have no other options. Luckily for me, during my time in the Holdendale library, I managed to come across information on a fountain location. It should take me around four months to get there from here.'' ********* An unknown location. There is a person here sitting down currently looking at different messages from across the world. He is looking at the state of things. ''Too slow. Everything is moving too slow.'' This person thinks angrily. This person is the one who controls the countless dark guilds in the western hemisphere. He then suddenly receives a message of interest.
Message from Bloody Dagger Guild leader
I''m sorry sir, but we were unable to get Null.
This causes that person to smile. ''Little did they know that they were only used as a test for Null. Looks like he''s developing nicely.'' The person asks the Bloody Dagger Guild leader to retell all the events of what happened. The more he hears, the more his smile widened. ¡°HAHAHAHAHA! Null you magnificent bastard! You''ve exceeded my expectations! I wasn''t wrong in choosing you as my partner!¡± This person with the power to subjugate all the dark guilds in the western hemisphere is none other than Void, the same Void that had asked Null when he started playing New Reality to be his partner. Void''s class is butler. While the librarian class is widely known for being the ¡°weakest¡± class, the butler class is widely known for being the ¡°second weakest.¡± Just like the librarian class, special conditions have to be met in order for the class to reach its full potential. There is a technique that a butler gains once he reaches intermediate in his awakened class. Sometimes when cleaning, there is a tough stain that no matter what you do, it stays put. Therefore, a special technique was created in order to get rid of those stains: Annihilation. The butler class is the only way to the path of the annihilation mage, the most feared class of mage. Void didn''t even particularly try to get the annihilation mage ability. He just wanted a class that could challenge his genius intellect. ''Null, you just keep growing stronger. See people for how they truly are. When you have grown strong enough, I will seek you out. We will destroy everything. Humanity''s existence is a sin that needs to be purged.'' Void grew up in remarkably similar circumstances to Null. He is considered a genius in the real world. His parents however were more interested in their jock son who was the star of his football team. He was bullied in school because of jealousy and because he was a bit smaller than everyone else. He was also betrayed by his best friend. It was then that he reached a similar crossroad to Null. While Null had decided that he wanted nothing more to do with humanity and had chosen the path of isolation, Void decided on a different path. ''These people. Look at them. Laughing merrily while pillaging resources from other weaker countries. They in turn take from weaker villagers. So on and so forth. To live is to suffer. Constantly having to impress people so you do not get singled out. Constantly having make enough to eat so you do not starve. Constantly having to find forms of entertainment so you do not suffer from boredom. Why do we do this? We have no choice. We are born into this world with no consent. We have to do as we are told or get hammered down. We''ve wiped out countless species, and for what? These poor people. They are brainwashed from birth to be this way. I''ll save them from themselves. They don''t know that their existence serves no purpose other than to consume resources. Their existence is a sin. My suffering was a blessing. I was able to witness humanity in its primal state. I will make them suffer. Humanity, is sickening.'' ************** Null starts his trek. He ran across many monsters on his trek, far more than usual. That murder mark acts as a beacon which draws NPCs and monsters towards him. They attack with far greater ferocity than before. Every living thing in New Reality is more hostile to players who possess murder marks. Despite all this, players were even more of a concern. You can kill someone with a murder mark without getting one yourself. A person with a murder mark is guaranteed to drop something upon death, and they drop a lot more. Four months later and Null makes it to the edge of where his hell will begin. The place is beautiful. There are gigantic flowers 2 meters tall growing out the ground. The trees are the size of sky scrapers. There are glowing orbs floating in the air. Null doesn''t know what those orbs are. He steps onto the land.
You are the first player to find Fairy Glades. 2X experience for one week.
¡°Wicked one! You dare trespass upon this sacred place!?¡± He hears this from every direction. Null ignores this and continues onward. The area starts to change. The forest starts springing to life. Roots come out of the ground and start attacking Null. These roots are around 2 meters thick. Null dodges and doesn''t stop moving. His Essence of Mana is constantly active looking for the fountain and looking out for enemies. The flowers start opening up. Null was surprised to know that fairies were actually inside them. They were beautiful with translucent wings. They had on short dresses of varying colors depending on which color flower they came from. They different fairies raised their hands. The glowing orbs of light followed their movements. ''Those fairies control those orbs?'' Thought Null. The fairies then threw down their hands aiming at Null. Those orbs shot out like bullets. Null had to take cover behind a boulder. Some fairies on the other side of the boulder then shot their orbs at Null. ''There is no safe place. No choice but to keep moving.'' Null ran constantly getting pummeled by those light orbs. It was then that a tree root almost landed on him. Null did a somersault and got out the way in a nick of time. That root didn''t give Null the chance to rest. It then swung across. Null jumped onto the tree root''s side. It was blocking a lot of the orbs the fairies were aiming at him. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Null dashed further inside. It was then that tree golems came out of the ground. They were slow, but huge. One smashed his hand where Null was currently standing. He got out of the way, then ran up the golems body. The other golems attacked Null while he was running on it. ''Looks like these golems have low intelligence.'' Thought Null. While running, he then finds something. There is an area where the concentration of mana is super high. When he rushes towards it, the attacks against him greatly increase as if they''re desperately trying to stop him. ''Looks like I found the place.'' Null''s smile widens. When he reaches a certain distance, the attacks against him cease as if they''re afraid of damaging the fountain. He walks until he sees the place he''s looking for. ''Finally.'' When Null was about to reach the fountain, it started to glow. A beautiful woman arises from the fountain. ''Wow. She could give Luciana a run for her money in looks.'' Thought Null. ''I want to see what I''m up against.'' ¡°Identify.¡±
Fountain Guardian
Information: She was bestowed her power by the gods, using that power to rid the world of evil.
Level462
Health ???Mana ???
Strength ??? Dexterity ???
Vitality???Charisma???
Intelligence???Wisdom???
Luck???
Attack???Defense???
¡°...Shit.¡± Null just couldn''t help but say. When Null had fought Plague, there was a difference of near a hundred levels. Null had Cici''s help to buff him, and even with that, he still was no match for Plague. He needed Swordedge''s help. Null is now level 243. There is a difference of 219 levels between him and the guardian! He doesn''t even have Cici''s help. Even if he did, it would be pointless. This fountain guardian could sneeze and it would be the end of Null. He can''t even run away from that power. All he can do now is curse his terrible luck. This guardian holds out her hand and raises her finger. Null is lifted into the air. She was using telekinesis to raise Null up and bring him towards her. Null couldn''t resist in the slightest. She then holds her hand on his head. Null could feel his memories being pried into. He wanted to yell stop, but there is nothing he can do in this situation. The guardian then raises up her arms. Null closes his eyes prepared for the attack that''s about to come. He waits and then feels his head go in between two soft mounds. ''Huh?'' Null thought confused and aroused. She let him go. Null opened his eyes to see the guardian... Crying? ''You have been through so much haven''t you?'' The guardian spoke to Null via telepathy. ''Wait. This is the voice that was mad at me for trespassing.'' Thought Null. ''Yes, that was me.'' The guardian replies back. ''Aren''t you going to kill me?'' She shakes her head. ''To make it here was a trial. Only those who pass have the right to be judged. To those that make it here, they are judged. If they are deemed evil, they are killed. If they are capable of being redeemed. I will wash away their sins.'' ''Fine then.'' Null holds out his hand, waiting for the water. She shakes her head. ''You have not yet been redeemed.'' ''Oh.'' Null''s expression falls. ''You have been through so much. Everyone around you antagonizing you, no one to rely on, and even your only friend betraying you. You were constantly hurt, so you chose not to get hurt anymore by isolating yourself.'' Null is feeling uncomfortable with someone prying into his thoughts and recalling his past events. ''Even though you say you have zero faith in humanity, you have helped them. You saved Panford from Plague, and you even saved that village. You sacrificed yourself by getting the murder mark and constantly killing those evil players. If it wasn''t for your actions, they would have been killed or enslaved. You even managed to do it without killing any of the villagers. I have never met such a kind person. However, you will change upon not having a stable foundation like you are now.'' ''What are you talking about? I have never been kind. I only did what I did with selfish motives. You are mistaken.'' Null tells the guardian. ''Okay.'' The guardian says clearly not believing him. ''Null, you should think about this new path you started out on. The path you''re on leads to being a revenge obsessed little emo bitch. You don''t want that do you?'' This badly frightens Null. He doesn''t want that at all. ''All you have to do is make a foundation. Choose what your foundations should be. Calm down with that revenge shtick.'' ''Perhaps I went a little overboard with my new worldview. It wasn''t entirely wrong, but like in all things, it needs to be done in moderation. As for my foundations, I''m sorry, but I can no longer trust anyone. I do need to start trusting myself though. I have never once done that. From now on, I''ll have faith in some of my abilities. That will be my foundation.'' ''Good. Give it time. Someone will eventually heal your wounds.'' She raises water from the pond with telekinesis and washes it over Null. This causes his murder mark to disappear. ''I have high expectations from you Null.'' She places him down with telekinesis onto the ground. Null then walks away. ''This must be his doing. He must be trying to manipulate Null into doing his bidding. If he manages to rope Null in, he just may succeed. However, I have faith that Null will stop him one day.'' A glowing orb falls from her chest and lands in the pond. A light then shines down on her from the sky. That light pulls her up and she disappears. ********** Void is currently reading different messages from around the world. It was then that a light shown in the area he was in. ''So she finally decides to show herself.'' Thinks Void unconcerned. It was then that she appears from the light. That light disappears into the sky. Void says to her, ¡°You saved me the trouble of finding you. Do you know how hard you are to find?¡± ''I will stop you. I will not let you get Null!'' She yells out telepathically. She saw in Null''s memories on how Void had approached him. She knows that Null has the potential to become someone of great power in the future. If he and Void were to join hands, then everything would be finished. This makes Void''s face show slight shock. ¡°You know of Null? That means that he was able to find your location. His information gathering skills truly are formidable.¡± He chuckles to himself. ¡°Last time we fought, you ran away with your tail between your legs. What will make this time different? You are but a mere fragment of Ianuaria. She should butt out of mortal affairs.¡± He starts laughing maniacally. ¡°She''s afraid of me knowing what I plan, but she couldn''t come down herself, lest she destroy this mortal plane and receive the other god''s wrath. The gods truly are incompetent! She sent a weak fool like you!¡± His eyes turn insane. His mouth curls into an ax crazy smile. The guardian had already started her opening move. Countless boulders between 5 to 10 meters start raining down towards Void. ¡°HAHAHAHA! Pathetic! Truly pathetic!¡± Void raises his hand. A white light with a red outline shows in his hand like a ball. That ball then turned into rays that shot out in multiple directions, heading towards the countless boulders. Anything that light touches turns into nothing but individual protons, neutrons, and electrons. This is Void''s Phase 1 annihilation. Void has researched this ability to the point where he doesn''t even need a chant. One of the rays of light heads towards the guardian. She swiftly dodges and runs forward. The guardian knew that that opening attack wasn''t going to do anything. She rushes towards Void with her palm glowing. There are strange characters written on her palm. This techniques allows a person to seal a person''s ability indefinitely until they can find a way to undo the seal. Void seemed caught off guard, but then a white shield with a red outline shows up at the last second. She had slammed her hand into it, causing her hand to disappear. She holds her now empty stub in pain. She had used all her remaining mana into that attack. She learned from past experience that you do not want to fight a dragged out battle with Void. ¡°You didn''t think I was that easy to fool did you?¡± Void says to the guardian while looking at her insanely. ¡°I see now. You were so desperate when you searched Null''s memories of me that you came rushing here.¡± Some glowing brown markings started to surround Void. His speed dramatically increases. He places the shocked guardian inside a bubble. ¡°I tire of you. Your existence is a sin. Head towards the most optimal state, nothingness, and be forgiven.¡± ¡°Null will stop you.¡± The guardian says with a smile. ¡°Hmph. As long as he holds on to his hatred of humanity, that''s all it will take.¡± That bubble then glows white with a red outline. When that bubble disappears, only a crater is left in its wake. Void falls onto the floor exhausted as those glowing lines surrounding his body disappear. ¡°I''m still... Far too weak.¡± Says Void. *********** After leaving the Fairy Glades, Null decided to follow the compass to its destination. He makes it to an area where the compass just points at an empty area. ''Did I come all the way here for nothing? No, there must be something here.'' Null looks around and sees a rock in a strange position. ''Huh? What is this?'' The book that Null was holding starts to glow and sends a ray of light towards it. An image appears. ''It''s a transmutation circle! I now know what to do.'' ¡°Transmutation Circle Activation!¡± That circle lights up. That glowing circle leads to glowing lines that make it towards the empty area. A doorway then appears in the middle of the air. ''Woah.'' Thinks Null. He steps inside it. There is a long tunnel that he walks through. ''This tunnel does not look like something from this time period. It looks like something from my world.'' Thinks Null. When he makes it out the tunnel, Null''s jaw drops. Cars, neon signs, and helicopter drones controlled by people. They''re everywhere in this futuristic city. How Null knows he''s not in the real world is that everything has a transmutation circle on it. Null gets a look of satisfaction. ''Finally. My journey comes to an end. When I''m done, I can once again return to my solitude.'' ---------------- Author''s Note: Null finally reaches his destination. I guess all that''s left is for him to calmly receive instruction in the transmutation circle skills and then once again return to his solitude, thus ending the story... Right? Chapter 35: The Out of Place Tech City Gnosia Author''s Note: The beginning of the Gnosia arc! Sooooo.... About why I hadn''t showed up lately... Oh why should I have to explain myself? There are people who are gone for months at a time who write far less for chapters and no one bats an eye. But yeah. Monster Hunter Tri is a great game. Those Great Jaggi can suck the fattest part of my great sword. ----------- Null looks out at the city he is about to go into. It numbers at around 60000. ''This city looks very advanced. The technology looks like its from around the World War II era, maybe even 1960s. This is the most advanced city I have seen in New Reality to date. While it is advanced, it''s nowhere near as advanced as the technology I''ve read about in the past. What''s going on?'' Null walks out the tunnel. There are guards near the entrance. Some have rifles and are decked out with helmets and body armor. They look like the American army from World War II. There are however differences. Their army gear has transmutation circles all over them. Not only are there gunmen, but there are also swordsmen and spearmen. Their armor differs greatly from the gunmen. Their armor looks like the armor Null has seen everywhere else in New Reality, but their armor has transmutation circles on it. There are random flares of fire coming off some of their weapons and armor while some have random sparks of lightning coming off. The guns look like nothing Null has seen before, which also have transmutation circles transcribed on it. ''Amazing. I wish I could steal the transmutation circle design from them using Copy-Paste, but the circles are being concealed. All the transmutation circles in this city look like they''re being concealed. Well, I knew it wasn''t going to be that easy to learn about the skill.'' The guards make their way to Null. One of them says, ¡°That you were even able to enter this city means you are probably not an enemy, but we have been bitten by that sentiment in the past. You will be watched closely for the duration of your stay.¡± Null''s face shows irritation. The guard notices this. ¡°Don''t worry. We will not intrude on your privacy. This city is called Gnosia. This is the city in which the creator of the librarian class, ruled during his reign. As you can see, there is a need to keep this place hidden from the outside world.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Null asks. ¡°To get through all the reasons? I am far too lazy to do that. Let someone else talk to you about that. There are two main rules that you must remember. One, non citizens are not permitted to go within certain eras. Two, citizens are not allowed out of this city without written permission from the city''s leader. Most laws from other lands like no killing or stealing and the like also apply here. Any questions?¡± ¡°Do you know where I can find a map?¡± ¡°Map?¡± The guard crosses his arms and tilts his head. He looks like he''s really trying to think. ¡°Sorry. None of the guards among us has a map. You would be hard pressed to find a map. There isn''t any money in making it. In this city, almost everyone lives here their entire lives. The amount of visitors we receive here is minuscule. We would be lucky to receive a visitor once every 2 decades. Any other questions?¡± ¡°None. Thank you.¡± Null can see that they are very wary of him, so he doesn''t want to stay any longer than he has to. He leaves the guards and starts walking around the city looking at the neon signs and skyscrapers. He sees that the tallest building in this city is constantly being struck by lightning. ''Now that is something that rouses my curiosity. How is it that lightning constantly strikes the same place continuously? Must be some Frankenstein type experiments going on in that building.'' Null continues observing the sites. ''This feels weird.'' Null thinks as he sees some 1950''s era looking cars zipping by. ''This city doesn''t have that ¡°Middle Earth¡± feel that I''m used to seeing from New Reality.'' He sees the people around him staring at him. Gnosia hardly ever receives any visitors, so its understandable. What''s strange to Null is that everyone is giving him a wide berth. Null soon hears the reasons why. ¡°Mommy, I''m getting a bad feeling from him.¡± A little girl says. ¡°Shhh. Just ignore him honey.¡± A mother says grabbing her hand and rushing away from Null. He hears other people''s talk about him. ¡°Why do things feel off with him? Only someone with high infamy can make someone feel this way.¡± ¡°We should watch him. He might kill us if we''re not careful.¡± ¡°Even if he is a spy, if he tries anything, he won''t be getting out this city alive.¡± ¡°He''s a foreigner isn''t he? Killing him won''t do anything. This is my first time seeing a foreigner.¡± Null thinks, ''So if high fame makes others revere you more and more, high infamy must make people wary of you more and more. Well, thanks to this high infamy, people are leaving me alone, so this is not a big deal at all to me.'' Null still doesn''t like the attention that he''s getting. He unconsciously pulls his hood over his head more. Null walks looking at his surroundings and notices something strange. ''There are various signs of battle throughout the entire city. I don''t even know what could create battle scars like this.'' Null thinks concerned. ''Some of the battle scars look pretty recent. Like, happened yesterday recent. It looks like there are repairs attempting to hide some of the older battle scars. Looks like this has been going on for years. Is this city repeatedly being attacked by outsiders? What''s going on?'' While he''s pondering, he hears a crashing sound. ¡°Oh drat!¡± Null hears someone yell out. Null looks at who it is. Most people seem to be ignoring the man. He is in a lab coat and glasses trying to pick up the parts that were dropped onto the ground. He looks short and seems to have that ¡°Do your best!¡± type of personality. ¡°It''s going to take me forever to pick all this up.¡± The man sighs. ¡°What do you know. Another invention that has failed to work. What a surprise!¡± A person on the side says snickering at him. ¡°This guy is a lost cause.¡± Another person says looking at him. ¡°He dropped it though. This has nothing to do with failed inventions or what not. You guys are just grasping at straws.¡± A person says in defense of the man. ¡°A crackpot is a crackpot. Doesn''t matter either way.¡± No one moves to help the man pick up his parts. Null is curious about the parts, so he goes to get a closer look. The man on the ground trying to pick up his parts sees Null and gets a happy look on his face. He doesn''t even seem to mind the slightly bad feeling that he gets from being near Null. ¡°Excuse me sir.¡± He says to Null. ¡°I have never seen you around here before. It''s very rare that this city receives visitors. My name is Aldan Lockett. It is nice to make your acquaintance!¡± He gets up and starts shaking Null''s hand furiously. Null wonders what his problem is. ¡°Do you mind giving me your name?¡± Aldan asks. ¡°Null.¡± ¡°A fine name indeed. Null, as you see, I''m in quite a bit of a conundrum. I have dropped my invention that I was going to take to my guild. Do you think you can lend me a hand? I will not let you help me for nothing. Since you''re new here, I will be happy to show you around. How about it?¡± [/size]
Quest: Pick up the parts
Quest Information: Aldan dropped his parts on the ground. Help Aldan pick up all the parts. Does this really need to be elaborated? Reward: Aldan will show you around Gnosia Quest Rank: F Penalty if refused: Decreased intimacy with Aldan. Do you accept?
''Very clever game. Instead of giving me a map like in a normal city, just give the player a person instead. Sheesh. Well, at least I now have a lead. There might even be a clue to the A-rank mission inside this city.'' ¡°Okay.¡±
You have accepted the quest.
Null gets on the ground and helps him pick up his parts. While he''s handing the parts to him, Null was using identify on the separate parts the whole time. ''Amazing. Some parts are familiar. I can see things like the circuits and capacitors. Where is the power source though? Some parts are completely foreign to me. These parts look like they are on stone. This looks exactly like a circuit board, only this is made of stone and the circuits are made of ink. They don''t look like they go together. What is something like this used for?'' Null was thinking while helping him. When they are both done picking up the parts, Aldan says to Null smugly, ¡°I see you have taken a liking to my invention.¡± ¡°It''s not that. I don''t even know what this does to be honest. I have just never seen parts like these before. To think that a blacksmith could create things like this.¡± Null says. ¡°Blacksmith? Do not mistake me for that lowly profession!¡± Aldan says making a face like Null just talked about his mama. ¡°I am a tinkerer!¡± He says proudly. ¡°Tinkerer?¡± Null asks. He has never heard of that class before. ¡°It''s a class that has been lost in the outside world. Any information on the tinkerer that hasn''t been hidden has probably been destroyed, so its no surprise you haven''t heard of it.¡± Aldan sighs. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡°What does a tinkerer do?¡± Null''s curiosity is so great that he has forgotten about his misanthropy. ¡°Oh many things! While we cannot create metal of the quality that blacksmiths can make, we make up for it with our electronic creations! Do you want to see an example of what a tinkerer can create?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± Even though Null''s face shows an indifferent expression, he is actually pretty excited to see what invention could be made with these types of parts. ¡°Behold!¡± Aldan pulls out a light bulb in dramatic fashion. While pretty neat for New Reality standards, Null was still left feeling sorely disappointed. ''Still, the light bulb looks like it is working without a power source. I wonder what powers this.'' Null thinks. ¡°How does it work?¡± Null asks. Aldan gets a flame lit up in his eyes. Seeing this, Null thinks he will regret asking him that question. ¡°Look at the wire inside the glass bulb! It interacts with the gas...¡± Aldan starts talking about the components of the light bulb and how it''s all put together. Null already mostly knows how a light bulb works. He''s just waiting for Aldan to talk about how the light bulb is powered, but he never gets to that. Null spends the next 40 minutes just listening to the guy rambling on about the wonders of light bulbs, the different kinds of light bulbs, and the history of the light bulb in this world. Null starts losing his patience. ¡°What is this light bulb powered by?¡± Null says interrupting Aldan''s grand speech. ¡°Why, a transmutation circle!¡± ''Finally! I can get what I came here for!'' Null thinks. ¡°Can you show me?¡± ¡°I sincerely apologize, but I''m not allowed to show outsiders. However, if you really want to know, you can go to our library! Well, you''re not allowed at the second level of the library where you would find this out. Well, the head tinkerer could probably tell you what you need to know, though its unlikely he will ever even bother with you. So, good luck with that.¡± ''*sigh* Of course I couldn''t just waltz in and learn what I need to know. I will most likely have to go through a lot of bullshit before that happens. Why can''t things involving me ever be simple?'' Thinks Null slightly annoyed. ¡°I see. Can you show me the way to the library?¡± ¡°I will be happy to!¡± While they are on their way, Null asks Aldan a question regarding his parts. ¡°I noticed that one of your circuit boards has circuits made of copper etched onto glass. This is expected as that is the same as in my world. What is with the stone tablet with ink lines running through it? The way the ink is configured one the tablet makes it looks like a circuit board.¡± ¡°Ah, so you even noticed this.¡± Aldan says impressed. ¡°Power is primarily generated through two means here. One is through the method you''re familiar with: A gradient with electricity running through metal circuits like copper. The second method is with using transmutation circles that hold mana with mana running through the ink generated by a calligrapher''s Ink Hand technique. That ink is very mana conductive.¡± ''That''s... Actually very useful information he told me.'' Null thinks. ¡°You may not know this Null, but the technology you see before you in this city is nothing but a crude approximation of the technology that used to exist in the past. Even this city wasn''t spared from that technological purge that happened long ago.¡± ¡°How were the enemies in the past even able to enter the city? If the tech was more advanced, it should have been impossible.¡± Null asks. ¡°That we do not know. A lot of our history is missing. Luckily we were able to salvage some of the technology and hide away. Thanks to this city''s teleportation array, we can run away when we need to.¡± ¡°Wait a minute. You''re saying this entire city can teleport?¡± Null asks shocked. ¡°Yes indeed! This city teleports about once a month in order to not stay in a single place too long. The entire world is opposed to our ideals, so this is necessary. We also have a cloak covering it to hide us.¡± ''So this city actually does teleport. I was shooting in the dark when I made that hypothesis.'' Thinks Null. ¡°I have a hypothesis that the people in the past discovered a combined version of the two types of power generation. Think about it. Electricity flows quickly, but it is limited in its applications. Mana can do almost anything, but it runs far too slowly. Combining them together would create marvels the world has never seen since the past. I think that this electric mana was what the people used for their high level technology. I''ve tried to successfully combine them together, but to no avail. *sigh* People laugh at me and call me a crackpot! One day, my theory will be proven right!¡± Aldan yells out with determination. ¡°Pipe down crackpot!¡± Someone yells out from the side. ¡°Okay.¡± Aldan answers back quietly. ¡°Do you see Null? Do you see how they treat me?¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Null says not caring about his woes at all. He has no sympathy for crackpots either. They finally make it to the library. ''Woah.'' Null thinks. He is immensely impressed with the size of this library. It''s around 3x bigger than the library in Palperroth, which was the largest he had seen before this. Aldan hands Null a card. ¡°The tinkerer''s guild is right across the street from the library. I''m usually in there. If you need anything from me, please do not hesistate. I would love to talk to you more about how the light bulb-¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± Null interrupts Aldan and leaves. He''s glad to be separated from the guy. To Null, Aldan was helpful, but he didn''t know when to shut up. ''So the transmutation circle skills that I''ve searched so hard for is here. Will my journey finally come to an end? Fat chance of that.'' He makes it inside and finds the best place to start. ''Okay here we go.'' He thinks of transmutation circles and says, ¡°Information Finder.¡± The room he is currently in shows up completely dark. ''Not here? Okay. Next room.'' Null does this with every room he comes across. It''s finally when he''s in a room with stairs leading up to the second door that he sees a blue glow coming from behind the door on the second floor. ''It''s there!'' Null starts heading towards the stairs when he notices that there are guards posted all around the stairs. One of the guards walks up to Null and says, ¡°You are not allowed up on the second floor.¡± ¡°You see, I have to learn about the transmutation circle skills. I''ve spent a long time finding this city just to learn about them.¡± ¡°Ah. I fail to see how that is my problem sir. You need to be a citizen of Gnosia in order to go to the second floor. Rules are rules.¡± The guard tells Null bluntly. ¡°What do I have to in order to become a citizen of Gnosia?¡± ¡°I don''t know. Do I look like Citizenship and Immigration Services to you?¡± The guard says to Null rudely. Null tries to plead with me one more time. ¡°Name your price. I need to learn those transmutation circle skills by any means necessary.¡± The guards hearing this huddle and talk among themselves. They then get out the huddle and smirk. The guard says to Null, ¡°Well, there may be something you can do for us, but first let me ask you a question.¡± ¡°Shoot.¡± ¡°Are you a citizen?¡± ¡°...No?¡± ¡°Well there you go. Goodbye.¡± The guards laugh and go back to their posts. ''Did I just get trolled?'' Null thinks angrily. ''Fine. I will get the transmutation circle skills one way or another. Do you think you can stop me? I will sneak inside the library tonight and steal the books by force. I''m not talking about just petty thievery. I''m talking James Bond levels of skill and cunning. Come in quick and leave out quick. This is the most brilliant idea I have ever had!'' *********** ''In hindsight, this was the dumbest idea I have ever had.'' Null thinks. He was currently surrounded by over thirty guards with their weapons drawn. One of the guards, the same guard that had harassed Null earlier that day says, ¡°Hey man. What you doin''?¡± ¡°Oh you know... Just hanging around.¡± Null says. He is currently suspended in the air holding onto a rope that leads to the window of the second floor library. ¡°Any particular reason you are on the side of the library with the least amount of security?¡± ¡°I just wanted to work on my rope climbing skills.¡± ¡°And the reason for doing it on a cloudy night?¡± ¡°The sun gets in my eyes during the day.¡± ¡°Well Mr. Sun gets in eyes. If you give each of of 5 gold, we''ll turn a blind eye to your ¡°rock climbing escapades¡±. Null hands each of them 5 gold. They then cut the rope and pulled Null away from there. ¡°If we catch you doing this again, we''re kicking you out the city. Understand?¡± ¡°Okay.¡± They soon disappear. ''I really hate this city.'' Null thinks. --------- Author''s Note: The real reason this chapter took me so long is because not only does this arc determine all future arcs, but I had to write the entire history of New Reality. You''ll learn about the founder in this arc. I''m also lazy. Chapter 36: The Robots Are Attacking Author''s Note: Hey you guys! Get over here for another chapter! --------------- After the whole mess the previous night, Null decided that it would be best to play by their rules and get the annoying bullshit out the way so he could receive what he came here for and leave. He stayed in an inn for the night and left the following morning. ''Guess I''ll go to the tinkerer''s guild and look for that rambling crackpot.'' Null decides. He visits the Tinkerer''s guild. The building''s size is on the scale of Gnosia''s library. Null constantly sees people traveling between the tinkerer''s guild and the library. When he enters the tinkerer''s guild, the tech he was expecting to see isn''t there. The room he is currently in looks like a waiting room. ''Well, I guess it makes sense not to put things out up front.'' Null reasons. He waits in line until it is finally his turn. ¡°How can I help you?¡± The receptionist asks. ¡°I would like to enter this guild and take a look around.¡± ¡°I''m sorry, but tours are only scheduled on the first of every month. You will have to wait until then.¡± ¡°I can''t enter now?¡± ¡°Not without a member of this guild to accompany you.¡± ¡°Well, can you get... Um...¡± Null had forgotten his name. He usually forgets everyone''s name. ¡°Yes?¡± The receptionist is waiting patiently. ¡°The guy that rambles and doesn''t know when to shut up.¡± Null says hoping the receptionist could figure it out. ¡°That only reduces the amount of people to 75%.¡± The receptionist says sarcastically. ¡°Has an unhealthy obsession with light bulbs?¡± ¡°Still not helping.¡± ¡°...Crackpot?¡± ¡°Oh! You mean Aldan Lockett?¡± The receptionist says snapping her fingers. ¡°Yes. That''s the one.¡± ¡°Let me ring him up. What is your name?¡± ¡°Null.¡± The receptionist calls Aldan and tells him that a Null is here to see him. ''Oh right. I just remembered that I had his card. Well, whatever.'' Thinks Null unconcerned. Null hears slight scampering sounds from far away that gradually get louder. ¡°What is that?¡± Someone in the reception room asks. ¡°The crackpot is nearing.¡± Someone else says ominously. Aldan runs in having a cartoon like smoke cloud in his tracks. He stops running in front of Null and starts panting from exhaustion. ¡°Null! I didn''t think I would meet you again so soon!¡± ¡°Alright.¡± Null replies. ¡°Let''s go into my laboratory.¡± While they are headed to Aldan''s laboratory, he shows Null the different types of machinery they pass by and explains what they do. ¡°Well. Here we are! Pretty neat don''t you think?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± Null says not caring. ¡°This is what I am currently working on. I''m trying to fuse the two types of power generation! This is experiement #2512! Here. Wear these.¡± Aldan hands Null some goggles. ¡°And here we go!¡± He presses a button and the whole thing explodes. ¡°Was it supposed to do that?¡± Null can''t help but ask. ¡°No. It was just a little kink. All I have to do is adjust it a little this way and...¡± It explodes again. After several more explosions. The novelty of Aldan getting himself nearly killed multiple times starts to wear off. ¡°Aldan. I came here in order to meet with your guild leader. Do you think you can do that?¡± ¡°That jerk!?¡± Aldan gets upset. ¡°He''s the one who started the trend of people calling me a crackpot! Just because he''s one of the most brilliant tinkerers this world has ever produced doesn''t mean he''s always right!¡± ¡°Do you think I can meet him?¡± ¡°Nope. Probably not. Not a chance.¡± ¡°Dammit crackpot!¡± Both Null and Aldan hear this yell coming from outside the door. It then slams open. ¡°How many times have I told you to limit your explosions to 20 times a day!? You''re disturbing other people who are actually doing useful things!¡± It''s a lady in the same lab coat as Aldan who seems to be in her 30s. She has a shrill voice, and seems like an unpleasant person. ¡°Oooo.¡± Aldan says under his breath. ¡°I sincerely apologize Ms. Joyce.¡± Aldan says submissively. ¡°And who is this with you?¡± She says with a screeching voice. Her hands are on her waist. ¡°His name is Null. Null, this is Ms. Joyce. She is the number one protege of our guild leader, Mr. Winford Jansen. She''s actually the same age as me. She''s next in line for the guild master position.¡± Null nods. He already knows that they are not going to get along. ¡°Why did you let a foreigner into this guild?¡± ¡°...There isn''t a rule to forbid foreigners, so I thought-¡± ¡°That''s the problem! You never think! I heard reports from people we sent outside in the world! These foreigners think of us as less than animals! They don''t even see us as people!¡± ¡°Well... I''ve never seen a foreigner before so I don''t know much-¡± ¡°You don''t know much about anything do you?¡± The woman yells back. Null seeing this thought, ''Cindy, Cecile, someone''s gunning for your places as most annoying person I''ve ever met. Why is it that every other person I meet is annoying as hell? Well... At least her name doesn''t start with a C.'' ¡°But Claris, Null has shown me nothing but respect!¡± Aldan says. ¡°How many times have I told you to never call me by my first name!? I''m your superior!¡± Ms. Joyce says admonishing Aldan. ''I stand corrected.'' Null thought deadpanned. ¡°Anyway, get this guy out of here!¡± ¡°No! Null doesn''t laugh at me even though I showed him my inventions! He understands me and is also a fellow pursuer of knowledge! I won''t let you!¡± Aldan says shaking from fear. He can''t believe he''s actually standing up to her. ¡°Well look who finally decided to grow a backbone!¡± Ms. Joyce yells at Aldan. Her yelling was starting to grate on Null''s nerves. ¡°Listen lady. I came to this city because I unlocked the transmutation circle skills. I just want to get some transmutation circles and be on my way. The sooner I can get them, the sooner you won''t have to see me anymore.¡± Null says this calmly, but one could hear the slight irritation if you listen closely. ¡°Wait. You unlocked the transmutation circle skills?¡± A new voice comes in. ''God dammit! Not another person!'' Thought Null irritated. ¡°Sir!¡± Both Aldan and Ms. Joyce show extreme respect when he came in. This person has a short beard and looks like he''s somewhere in his 50''s or 60''s. He has a kindly aura surrounding him. ¡°I was wondering what all the commotion was all about, but it was just you Claris.¡± He says with a kind laugh. ¡°Yes. I unlocked the transmutation circle skills.¡± Null says not caring who he is. ¡°What is your class?¡± The person says stroking his beard. ¡°Librarian.¡± ¡°Hmm...Oh. Excuse my manners. My name is Winford Jansen. I am the head of the tinkerer guild and am responsible for improving and maintaining Gnosia''s infrastructure.¡± ¡°That''s not all!¡± Ms. Joyce says. ¡°He''s also one of the greatest tinkerer''s this world has ever known! He is single handedly responsible for drastically improving our technology which had stagnated! He''s second only to the librarian founder in how incredible he is!¡± ¡°Alright Claris. I''m sure he didn''t come here to hear you brag about my achievements.¡± Winford says laughing. ¡°Nice to meet you.¡± Null says, obviously not caring about him at all. ¡°And what do you go by?¡± ¡°Oh this is Null, sir.¡± Aldan says to Winford. ¡°He obviously wasn''t talking to you!¡± Ms. Joyce yells at Aldan in a shrill, annoying voice. ¡°Why are you always picking on me?¡± Aldan asks downtrodden. ¡°Because you never do right!¡± Ms. Joyce yells back. ¡°Claris please. Enough with the yelling. No man will ever love you if you keep acting like this.¡± Ms. Joyce says, ¡°Besides you and the librarian founder, the rest of the men are pigs.¡± Winford ignores Claris and asks Null, ¡°So did you come to Gnosia to learn about your transmutation circle skills?¡± ¡°Yes. Well, I originally came here to learn about the transmutation skills, but I think there might be a clue to the A-rank mission I received in this city.¡± Null says to Winford. ¡°And what is this A-rank mission if you do not mind me asking?¡± Winford asks. ¡°Finding the missing history and why the advanced tech disappeared. You do not have to show me your technology if you don''t want to. I would be happy just to receive how to make transmutation circles.¡± ¡°I''m afraid it isn''t that easy.¡± Winford says. ¡°You have to prove yourself. The transmutation circle skills are a huge responsibility for someone to carry. In order for this city to help you with that, you have to prove yourself. Null, you aren''t the first librarian to unlock the transmutation circle skills. Many who have unlocked those skills have come here and few have succeeded in receiving instruction. Even for those who succeeded, they failed to reach their ultimate goal.¡± ¡°We should kick Null out of the guild on account that he is a foreigner!¡± Ms. Joyce yells out pointing at Null. ¡°No! Null should stay in the tinkerer''s guild! Null is my friend, respects me, and actually likes my inventions!¡± Null thinks, ''Friends? Respect? I''m indifferent about his inventions. This crackpot is making a lot of assumptions.'' Winford make his decision. ¡°Null, you can stay and learn about how our technology works. You probably would like to learn more about our mana technology, so lets start there.¡± Ms. Joyce yells out, ¡°But sir! He''s a foreigner!¡± ¡°Enough Claris. My decision is final.¡± Aldan sighs in relief. ¡°Null, you should learn about the technology from someone else other than Aldan.¡± Winford tells Null. Aldan''s face falls. Winford says, ¡°Aldan, you have the potential to be a great tinkerer. Why must you bother with these crackpot ideas? If Null stays here with you, I''m worried he will become corrupted with your lunatic theories. Null, come with me.¡± ¡°Null, you want to stick with me right? We became fast friends, right?¡± Aldan starts pleading with Null. Null starts walking away with Winford not speaking another word to Aldan. ¡°Null? Null!? NULLLL!¡± Aldan yells out when his only friend who actually wasn''t his friend abandoned him. ¡°I''ll be watching you.¡± Says Ms. Joyce squinting at Null. She then walks away. ¡°Okay.¡± Null replies back indifferently. Null enters a room. There are concealed transmutation circles everywhere. Winford introduces Null to another tinkerer who specializes in mana technology. The guy is quiet and polite. Null likes him already. Null looks around at the different types of technology with sparkling eyes. Winford asks, ¡°Null, have you ever heard of a mana stone?¡± ¡°Yes. I recall seeing one before.¡± ¡°What if I told you that we can grow mana stones?¡± Winford tells Null expecting him to be excited. ¡°I guess that would be pretty neat, but since I don''t know what a mana stone does, that doesn''t do much for me.¡± Null says. ¡°Mana stones primarily raise your mana carrying capacity and can boost techniques that rely on mana up to 30% more powerful.¡± ¡°With transmutation circles, we can actually grow mana stones.¡± The quiet man says. Null is actually impressed. Winford says, ¡°With all these transmutation circle arrays combined together, we can grow a single mana stone every 2 weeks.¡± ¡°How long a mana stone last?¡± Null asks. The quiet man says, ¡°It depends on what it''s used for and which class uses it. Mana stones for warriors can last for years while for mages only last for a few months.¡± Null asks, ¡°What happens to the mana stones if they run out of mana?¡± Winford says, ¡°Those depleted mana stones are a nuisance. They are an environmental hazard. It''s actually illegal throughout the world to not get rid of depleted mana stones safely, because it will cause environmental catastrophe if left unchecked. Those depleted mana stones are unstable and keep absorbing and releasing mana randomly at an astonishing rate. They have to be buried far beneath the earth in order to keep the damage to the environment to a minimum.¡± ''Seems that having a mana stone is more trouble than it''s worth.'' Thinks Null. BANG! BANG! BOOM! Everyone there hears explosions and screams outside. ¡°It''s starting again.¡± Winford sighs. Null is looking at Winford to continue. He was wondering what made the battle scars he has seen through town. Null is sure its from something he has never seen. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. ¡°Null, would you like to see how Gnosia fights?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Some of the tinkerer''s in the guild make their way outside. Civilians are doing their best to run away. The gunmen and warriors are running towards the chaos along with the tinkerers. Null is among them. When they make it there, Null''s mouth opens the widest he can open it. What Null sees is a 3 meter tall robot. It has two glowing red eyes, left arm that looks like it can extend, and right arm decked out with long range weaponry. What surprises Null even more is how advanced it looks. The technology looks like it surpasses the technology in even the real world. ¡°Identify.¡±
Robot: Humanoid Model XR2796
Information: A robot humanoid with mysterious origins. It''s decked out with an extendable punch and weapons of many kinds. Who could have made such an awesome robot? Identify won''t help you with that part. Sorry.
Level331
Health ???Mana ???
Strength ??? Dexterity ???
Vitality???Charisma1
Intelligence???Wisdom???
Luck???
Attack???Defense???
''This is it! This is the tech I was looking for!'' Null thinks triumphantly. ''Where did this come from though? Ptah is being a douche again and won''t help me.'' There is another two robots accompanying the humanoid robot. They look like giant mechanical spiders with sickles on the end of their legs. They have multiple red eyes and gun turrets on the top of them. ¡°Identify.¡±
Robot: Spider Model XF1428
Information: A robot spider with mysterious origins. It''s legs have sickles on the end that can cut through lots of things. On its back is a gun turret. Still not going to help you with who made it. Sorry.
Level314
Health ???Mana ???
Strength ??? Dexterity ???
Vitality???Charisma1
Intelligence???Wisdom???
Luck???
Attack???Defense???
''That''s also pretty neat.'' Thought Null. The mages with their transmutation circles first engage with the humanoid robot. When the fire mages attack, the robots cover themselves in another layer of armor. The robots mostly block the fire and the fire mages'' attacks hardly do any damage. The lightning attacks from the lightning mages look like they have no effect at all. ''This is odd. Truly odd.'' Thinks Null. ''Robots typically have fragile electrical components that are vulnerable to electrical pulses. That they are not effective at all? How is that possible?'' The 3 meter tall robot starts walking towards them, then slowly speeds up into a fast run. The way the ground shook with every step it took made it look like an unstoppable juggernaut. ¡°Move! Move!¡± Someone yells out. Everyone scampers out of the way. That robot punches the ground, making a shock wave and causing a huge crater to form in the ground. The windows close to the robot crack and shatter. The warriors move in to engage. They get in formation and take turns attacking the robot. They activate their transmutation circles, and various elements start flowing in their weapons and armor. They only manage to cause scratches and dents on the humanoid robot. While the warriors are fighting the humanoid robot, the gunmen target the two spider robots on the sides. When the gunmen class use artillery weapons, they get a massive boost in firepower. Four men holding bazookas step to the front aiming at the robots. ¡°Fire!¡± The leader of the four yells out. Four rockets fire at the spider robots. The robots move rapidly out of the way and dodge them. The gunmen with gun turrets start firing at the scampering robots. The gunmen with the bazookas fire again and once again miss. The robot is heading for the tinkerers. Null is currently among them. Some of the tinkerers fire nets to attempt to slow the spider robots down, but their sickle arms slice right through the nets, not slowing them down at all. Seeing as how they''re ineffective, the tinkerer''s move out the way. ¡°Damn! It''s a new model! We have no data on this one! Retreat!¡± One tinkerer yells out. All the tinkerer''s choose to retreat. However Null stays put once again showing surprise on his face. ''When I did Essence of Mana to sense inside, I felt mana. It''s just that the mana is in a different form!'' Null thinks ready to fight. ¡°Null! Have you gone mad!?¡± Aldan yells out. ¡°Get out of the way!¡± Null gets in a fighting stance. He has his open palm technique ready. Mana starts moving in circles on his palm faster and faster. The robot attempts to bisect Null from straight down, raising its arm and swinging down. Null manipulates his mana for dexterity and moves slightly to the side. The robot left itself open and put all its strength into that blow, leaving it temporarily unbalanced. Null strikes with his open palm technique. The mana from Null''s blow travels inside the spider robot''s body and out through the robot''s back. The robots looks like it got damaged, but it is still going strong. Null did more damage to that robot with that technique than everyone else combined. Null quickly got out of the way from a flurry of slashes. ¡°Wait that''s...¡± Someone says surprised. ¡°That was a monk technique, only I''ve never seen mana flow out of someone''s back from a monk technique. How did he do that?¡± Someone else says. ¡°That robot is damaged! Attack it while we have the chance!¡± One of the gunmen leaders yells to his underlings. The gunmen start firing at that damaged spider robot. The robot is then destroyed. ¡°Hey kid.¡± One of the powerful warriors goes to where Null is. He throws Null a mana stone. ¡°This is...¡± Null says surprised. ¡°Keep it. Consider it thanks for helping destroy the robots in advance.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± The mana stone is attached to a necklace. When Null puts it on, his mana triples. Unlike with Cecile buffing him, his wisdom only increases slightly. The humanoid robot noticed that Null was the one that damaged the robot, so it starts heading towards Null. Two compartments on its left arm open up and rockets fire towards Null. Null jumps in the air while manipulating his mana and uses some tai chi to twist and divert the rockets to behind him. He couldn''t possibly do this in real life, but due to his heightened stats in the game it is possible. ¡°This guy...¡± One person says. ¡°Is a damn badass!¡± A warrior says excitedly. The robot saw that his rockets didn''t work, so he went to fight Null in close combat. Null knows force most likely won''t work on this robot, so he''ll rely on Tai Chi infused with mana blows to fight it. The robot extends his arm to punch Null. Null uses his hand to try and push the arm to the side, but realizes that the punch is far too powerful when he makes contact. He tries creating a big enough shock wave to divert the blow, but it is taking far too long. The punch sends Null flying. Luckily, Null diverted enough of the blow that it didn''t instantly kill him. ''This is very bad.'' Thought Null. ''I was worried ever since I realized my stat manipulation started showing signs of slowing down.'' He''s panting from exhaustion. ''It appears my mana manipulation has hit a limit. To increase my stats to a point where I can hurt opponents higher leveled than me in a fight will take too long. I don''t think my enemies will wait for me. Is there any point in me leveling up anymore?'' The humanoid robot starts charging towards Null again. ''Nothing I can do now but charge my attack ahead of time. Can''t manipulate for strength and dexterity at the same time. Have to take his punch head on!'' Null times this. When the robot''s punch gets ready to extend, he twists his body away at the last moment and runs forwards. He takes a huge risk. The other arm could attack at any time. The extended punch grazes Null''s side. The robot then prepares to knee Null. Null uses his hand to prevent the knee from hurting him. Using the momentum from the knee, he rises up and punches the robot in the head. This is the most powerful blow that Null has ever made. The robot''s head barely has a dent on him, but the insides of its head are a jumbled up mess. The humanoid robot falls defeated. The last remaining robot falls far easier thanks to Null. The people there rejoice defeating the new types of robots with no casualties. They all try to thank Null, but Null not liking the extra attention chooses to retreat back into the tinkerer''s guild. He makes his way to the room he was in before the robot attacks. The quiet man and Winford arrive soon after. Winford looks at Null astonished and says, ¡°I had no idea you were so skilled! You may be the one to help us after all!¡± Winford then sighs and tells Null, ¡°Null there''s a reason I wanted to show you this mana technology.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± Replies Null. ¡°Null, have you ever tried to learn a technique that relies on the elements?¡± ¡°Yes. A while back, I tried learning Essence of Wind, but I was unable to learn it.¡± ¡°There is a reason for this.¡± Null has always been curious why he couldn''t learn elemental attacks. ¡°Classes like the librarian class are actually cursed by the gods.¡± ''I figured that was the case.'' Null thinks. ¡°Because of the events that transpired in the past, everyone who is a decedent of the inhabitants of this city, and classes associated with them such as the librarian and tinkerer classes, have been cursed to never be blessed by the elemental gods. We still have other gods like the healing gods to help us. We have no choice but to rely on the transmutation circles. However, it isn''t all bleak. Thanks to that, we can more easily bind with transmutation circles than everyone else. Have you noticed that our mages aren''t as powerful as the mages you see in the outside world?¡± Null nods. ''Not only a 99% reduction with handheld weapons, but I can''t even learn elemental attacks. The librarian class is truly the worst class.'' Null says, ¡°Thank you for your time.¡± Null prepares to leave. ¡°Where are you going?¡± Winford asks. ¡°I''m just going to tour this city some more.¡± ¡°Come find me if you need anything.¡± Winford says in a friendly smile. Null nods and leaves. ''Something rotten is going on in this city. I need to find out who is making the robots. Not only will it stop the attacks, but I can use the tech to improve myself. I will investigate.'' BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! ''*sigh* Right after I go to school.'' Null logs out. ------------------ Author''s Note: Frickken robots man. Chapter 37: Heres some life. Who wants a slice? Author''s Note: Now let''s commence with the New Reality holiday special! -------- David gets out his pod all groggy and starts getting ready for school. He''s eating toast once again when Cindy comes down all excited. ¡°Daaaaaviiiiiid! David! David! David! Guess what day it is almost time for!¡± David has a confused look. He doesn''t celebrate holidays so he has no idea. David looks at Cindy with a dumb look. ¡°I don''t care. Leave me alone.¡± David says eating his toast not bothering to look at Cindy. ¡°Come on David! You know this one! The spirit of giving! The day everyone goes out with their friends!¡± ¡°....Christmas?¡± ¡°No dumbass! Why would we go to school if it was nearing Christmas? It''s almost Halloween! The spirit of giving me candy! Going out with my friends to get candy!¡± ¡°Oh.¡± David hasn''t celebrated Halloween ever since he had trick or treated with Keimi and her friends in 4th grade. David had went as a ghost in order to hide his fat. It didn''t work. Everyone thought David went trick or treating as an emergency tent. ¡°David, let''s go trick or treating!¡± She says excitedly. David doesn''t even bothering answering her. He leaves to go to school. ¡°But Daaaaviiiiiid... If you trick or treat with me, then give me your candy, I will have double the candy!¡± She tells David cutely. David decides enough is enough. He gets into a fighting position. He knows that at this rate, he''ll be drawn into her pace, so he decides to end this now. ¡°Heheheh. Someone''s eager.¡± She says with a smile that turns slightly crazed. Her hair starts moving as if a battle aura started surrounding her. ¡°This will be a lot easier method than the usual extortions. If you lose, you''re going trick-or-treating with me.¡± Cindy tells David. She also gets in a fighting position. She raises her hand and signals for David to make the first move. David squints and starts running towards Cindy. David''s defense is air tight. No way Cindy will easily get through it. David tests the waters by throwing out a simple punch. Cindy times it perfectly and jumps on David''s hand. She then jumps off his hand and tries to land a frontal kick on David''s face. As if David saw it coming, he leans back with Cindy''s kick just centimeters from his face. Cindy was in midair in the middle of a somersault. David tries to land a punch on her while she is in midair, but Cindy grabs David''s fist, and uses her arm as a fulcrum to land an ax kick on David''s head. David doesn''t have that many options in this position. He doesn''t have enough time to push her off, he can''t block it because Cindy has one of her hands free. He decides to move to the side so that the blow strikes his shoulder, David then uses this opportunity to punch her in the stomach. Cindy moves so that the blow also strikes her shoulder. They then separate. All of this happened in a second. This is another reason why David''s self confidence is so low. Throughout all their time together, David has seldomly beat his little sister. It''s only recently that he could fight her to a stand still. Her reflexes are just too high. ¡°Sheesh. Here I thought I could finally break the deadlock between us. Fine David. You won''t have to go trick-or-treating with me. I''ll have you make this up to me some other way.¡± She walks away hurriedly whistling innocently. David then hears some rapid footsteps. ¡°Who broke all the things in the kitchen!?¡± David''s father yells out at him very angrily. David sighs. ''Oh. That''s what she meant. Crafty bitch.'' ********** David is in homeroom. He is currently playing on his AR glasses. He has decided for the first time to look on the internet for information about New Reality. He''s trying to find a good way to go about finding out who is responsible for making the robots. When he goes on the New Reality forums and types in ¡°Gnosia¡±, nothing comes up. ''Gnosia isn''t known by any other players it seems. Well, that makes sense. If it was known to players, then enemy nations to Gnosia would also know. Guess I will have to figure this out on my own.'' David decides to give his mind a break from New Reality and starts looking up some electrical engineering things. David knows the physics behind electromagnetism, but not anything about designs dealing with electromagnetism. He decides to dabble in it because the technology in Gnosia had peeked his interest. While David is reading, he hears other students talk about what they''re going to do for the upcoming Halloween. ¡°Are you going to the school Halloween party?¡± ¡°Yea I''m going! After that, I''m going trick-or-treating.¡± ¡°Wearing a costume?¡± ¡°Yep! I got the perfect costume! I''ve even been practicing.¡± ¡°What are you going as?¡± ¡°A bank robber! Here. Let me show you. I think I have the act down perfectly.¡± The guy puts on a mask and pulls out a very realistic gun. ¡°PUT THE CANDY IN THE FUCKING BAG OR I WILL BLOW YOUR FUCKING BRAINS OUT!¡± ¡°Aaaah?¡± The other guy starts crying. The guy pistol whips him. ¡°I DIDN''T SAY CRY, I SAID TO FILL UP THE FUCKING BAG! DO YOU THINK THIS IS A GAME!? DO YOU WANT TO FUCKING DIE!?¡± ¡°N-N-¡± ¡°I SAID DO YOU WANT TO FUCKING DIE!?¡± ¡°Nooooooooo! Waaaah!¡± The other guy starts crying. The guy pulls off his mask and puts his realistic toy gun away. ¡°Pretty neat huh?¡± ¡°.....¡± The rest of the class is speechless. ¡°Well anyway...¡± A guy named Jacob tries to break the awkward silence. ¡°I''m gonna do it! I will ask her out to the dance!¡± ¡°Who?¡± Another guy asks curious. ¡°I''m going to ask Luciana out to the dance!¡± ¡°*sigh* This again?¡± His friend says to him. ¡°You always say you''re gonna ask Luciana out to this and that, but you always chicken out at the last minute!¡± ¡°Well can you blame him? Luciana is absurdly beautiful.¡± ¡°I have an idea!¡± The guy who is going out as a robber for Halloween speaks. ¡°Check out her likes and dislikes. See her model profile. Maybe you''re her type. Maybe you''re not. Even if you''re not her type, become her type. Looky here.¡± He sets his AR glasses to public and pulls up Luciana''s model profile. It reads... Name: Luciana Leavitt Hobby: Basketball, New Reality, Fire Favorite object: Fire Favorite color: Fire What you look for in a man: Fire Favorite thing to do in the middle of a forest: Camping Every guy there has already checked her model profile many times, but they''re all pretending they are seeing this for the first time. ¡°...So is fire like a metaphor for something or...?¡± ¡°She probably means we got to put a little pep in our step. Have a burning passion for something. I guess?¡± ¡°Hey Rick, you''re being awfully quiet.¡± Rick squints at who said that to him. ¡°You said you were going to help out with that raid in New Reality! You never showed up and we got destroyed!¡± The guy chuckles. ¡°Sorry man, Jessica said she wanted to hang out. Priorities.¡± Most of the guys there turn to him in anger. ¡°Dude! Bros before hos! You just violated the bro code!¡± Rick blows a whistle. A lot of guys show up in the class in two orderly lines. Five men then show up. ¡°It''s them!¡± ¡°The leaders of the Council of Bros!¡± The leader of the council of bros speaks. "According to Rick, you have just violated Section E Paragraph 13 of the bro code. You have been suspected of putting a ho before a bro. How do you plead?" "Your honors, the council of bros, I plead that Jessica is hot as fuck, so it was justifiable for me to put her before my bro." The council deliberates. "Ever since our founder The Chad founded the council of bros, he have enforced the rules unconditionally." Another council leader speaks. "We, the bros of best, find you, guilty. We revoke your bro license and sentence you to 1000 friend zones." "NOOOOOO!" He screams. ''This is stupid.'' David thinks. ''I fail to see how a bro-ocracy can be an efficient form of governance.'' ******** While David was in homeroom trying to get in some reading, Cecile was talking to the student council president. ¡°So you see Cecile, the student council needs your help. We don''t know of a more dependable person. Will you be able to lend a hand?¡± ¡°Sure! I don''t mind. How can I abandon a friend who needs help?¡± She smiles. ¡°Besides, we will be having visitors from other schools. We can''t have them talking bad about us right?¡± A lot of people think that the student council president and the Honor''s society president are secretly dating because they hand out a lot and get along so well. They have similar temperaments and are both wanted greatly by the opposite sex. However while Cecile thinks of him as a great friend, she holds no romantic feelings for him at all. While the President finds Cecile really cute and wouldn''t mind going out with her, he currently has a girlfriend. ¡°So all you have to do is pick up the decorations and candy. Here''s the key to the council room. We have five days before the Halloween party. Could you leave the decorations and candy in this room when you arrive to school?¡± ¡°Okay. We really don''t have that much to put up the decorations do we?¡± Cecile says. ¡°Clubs still have to use the gymnasium. That we get five days is still good in itself.¡± The president says with a cool, suave smile. They say there goodbyes and head to their respective destinations. ******* It''s now 2nd period AP Calculus. David is sitting down reading when he sees Cecile running towards him. ¡°Hi David!¡± ¡°Hey Cecile.¡± David responds, then returns back to his book. She smiles. She''s glad that David has returned to normal, well more normal from that whole psychotic episode that he had a while back. ¡°David, would you be interesting in going to the Halloween party we are preparing?¡± David sighs. ¡°Cecile, you''re a smart person, so why do you always ask questions you already know the answer to?¡± ¡°Maybe the answer will be different this time. No matter how long, I will always wait for my friend.¡± The way Cecile said that made David get goosebumps. People in the class notice. ¡°Wow. Cecile still wants to be friends with that psycho.¡± A girl says. ¡°I don''t like how chummy they''re being.¡± A jealous guy says. ********* Cecile goes to Walmart and buys the decorations and candy. Because of lack of funds, she decides that some of the candies like chocolate and the like would be better made by her, so when she gets home, she makes some extra candies. The next day, Cecile heads to school while politely and easily rejecting the boys that ask her out to the dance. It''s not that she has high standards. She is just so focused on school and New Reality that she feels she has no time for relationships. She has had boyfriends before. Ever since David had beaten her scholastically, she started focusing solely on her studies. She puts the bag on the sink and uses the bathroom. When she exits the stall, she notices that her bag is missing. ''Huh? Where did it go?'' She looks around to make sure it didn''t fall somewhere. When she finishes searching every nook and cranny of the bathroom, she comes to a conclusion. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°Somebody stole the stuff!¡± She yells out. ********* ¡°This isn''t good.¡± The president sighs. ¡°We only have four days until the party Cecile. What are we going to do?¡± The secretary asks Cecile. ¡°We barely have enough money in the budget for you to buy anymore decorations.¡± The treasurer says. ¡°I''ll make this right! I will only buy the decorations! I can make the candy!¡± The president becomes worried for Cecile. ¡°You sure you can do all that? That would be too much of a burden-¡± ¡°Leave it to me!¡± Cecile says. ¡°Leave it to you to feel solely responsible for what happened.¡± The president smirks. ¡°It is my fault for leaving the bags unguarded.¡± Cecile says downtrodden. ********** The next day, Cecile looks exhausted, but satisfied. She actually made all the candy that''s in the bags. Cecile gathered the supplies and headed straight into the student council room. As you need a key to enter, Cecile is fairly certain that nothing will happen. During Cecile''s first period class, the president sends her a message that he has not received the promised goods. ¡°What!?Bu-But I put it in the student council room!¡± Cecile places her head on her desk. ''Why is this person doing this?'' She starts crying. ******** By second period, Cecile is slouching and has bags under her eyes. She ignores everyone and sits down with her head on her desk. David notices her downtrodden expression, but chooses not to do anything and returns to reading his book. ¡°Cecile, what''s wrong?¡± Cecile''s friends are concerned. They rarely ever see her this depressed. ¡°*sniff* *sniff* The student council depended on me to deliver the decorations and candy, but someone keeps stealing it from me! I-I don''t know why!¡± ¡°Aww Cecile. It''s gonna be okay.¡± Cecile''s friends try to comfort her, but she doesn''t seem to be getting any better. David hears this and contemplates something. ''Should I help her? I only help people occasionally in order to not lose what little sanity I have left. Well, she has fed me multiple times. This is an opportunity for me to repay back my debt to her. Sure. Why not?'' David thinks. ********* David bought with his own money some tacky decorations and cheap candy. The next day early in the morning, he places the multiple bags outside the student council room''s door and leaves. It didn''t take long before the people who are bullying Cecile show up snickering. ¡°She still hasn''t given up yet?¡± A girl says annoyed. ¡°She must really have the hots for the president to be willing to go through all this trouble.¡± ¡°Will that stupid bitch ever learn? Looks like we need to teach her a harsher lesson in order for her to learn to stay away from my man!¡± One of the girls goes to take the bag. ¡°I should''ve known it would be this type of bullshit. Humanities'' depravities over frivolous things never ceases to amaze me.¡± David opens the door to the room he was hiding in. The three girls look at who it is. ¡°Who... Is that?¡± One of the girls asked. ¡°He looks sort of familiar.¡± Another girl says. ¡°That''s the guy who had went psycho a while back!¡± Another girl says whispering loudly to her friends. ¡°We probably shouldn''t provoke him!¡± The girl who had said David looks familiar says, ¡°Oh! Now I remember. I see him around Cecile sometimes.¡± The leader of the three girls says to David, ¡°Oh. Let me guess. You''re one of Cecile''s friends and you want to tell us to stop. Are you gonna beat us up? You''ll make an enemy of every guy in this school.¡± ¡°Like I care about that.¡± David says. ¡°The whole world is already my enemy. Oh, and I am not Cecile''s friend.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± The leader says confused. ¡°If you''re not her friend, why are you here? Don''t tell me you''re into that hero of justice bull.¡± ********* Cecile was on her way to the student council room to apologize when she heard voices. It was there that she saw David along with the three girls looking like they were about to come to blows. She chose to hide and hear what was going on. ''One of those girls is the secretary. Why are her group and David being so antagonistic?'' Cecile thinks confused. ¡°Also wrong. I, for one cannot stand Cecile.¡± David says. ¡°You''re not making any sense. Why are you helping her then?¡± ¡°To repay a debt. That''s all.¡± ¡°A debt huh?¡± The leader of the girls brings her friends into a huddle and start discussing something. They then start snickering and break the huddle. ¡°Maybe you can help us out with something.¡± ¡°Come again?¡± ¡°You said you hate Cecile right?¡± David nods. ¡°With every fiber of my being.¡± ¡°Here''s what gonna happen. Turn a blind I stealing these bags and we''ll give you 20 dollars. If you take the decorations we stole and smash them in front of her, we''ll throw in an extra 50 dollars. What do you say?¡± ''So it was her.'' Cecile thinks angrily. ''It now makes since how the decorations were stolen from the student council room. You need a key to enter!'' ¡°Hmmm... A very tempting offer. First, tell me why you''re doing what you''re doing to Cecile and I may consider it.¡± The secretary grits her teeth. ¡°That bitch is being a little too friendly with my boyfriend! I seen how he looks at her! He has never looked at me the same way! She always does whatever the president asks! People are starting to think that they are going out! I just want to humiliate that bitch in front of the president so that he never wants to depend on her again!¡± ''It was over some boy? You did all this because of some boy!?'' Cecile thinks outraged. ''Once again, I''m reminded that my decision to stay in solitude wasn''t the wrong choice. People are disgusting.'' David thinks. ¡°Oh. I see.¡± David simply responds. ¡°So do you want in or not? We can use this money to forget about whatever debt Cecile has from you.¡± The secretary says. Cecile is pretty worried what choice David will make. Sure, it''s not like David to bully others, but Cecile had made David''s school life an annoying hell before their chance meeting in New Reality. She knows she deserves it if David decides to turn on her. ¡°I will have to decline.¡± David says. ¡°You don''t make any sense! Why?¡± ¡°I have no desire to become like the humanity I despise. Now, hand over the supplies.¡± ''Typical David.'' Cecile says smiling. The girls know they are no match for David, so they choose to run away. Cecile chooses not to reveal herself, not because she''s afraid of the secretary, but because she knows that David will be embarrassed if he knows that she heard him say those cheesy lines. ''Too slow.'' David thinks. He grabs the bag from them and starts walking away. The secretary then yells out, ¡°Help! Help! This man stole my bag! Please someone get it back?¡± People in the hall hear this and start heading towards David. ¡°That guy really has turned into a psycho. Stealing a girl''s stuff for no reason.¡± ¡°I heard that the guy''s tough.¡± ¡°We have numbers. All we have to do is take the bags back.¡± They walk towards David. ¡°Listen man. We don''t want any trouble. Just slowly give the bags to us.¡± ¡°These bags are Cecile''s. Not hers.¡± David says to the group of people. ¡°Wait, so he stole a girl''s supplies to give as a gift to Cecile?¡± ¡°Cecile would never fall for a thief!¡± ¡°Come if you want to.¡± David says. One thing has changed since his stay in the village in New Reality. He will no longer let others provoke him if there are other people present. The people all charge at once. David bobs and weaves through their grab attempts. Seeing as he was getting surrounded, he throws the bags in the air, and does open palm thrusts at all of them. He holds out his hand to catch the bag. He misses and the candy drops to the floor. Others start scrambling for the bag unintentionally messing up the bag more. ''Oh, poopy. Looks like my debt still hasn''t been repaid. Oh well.'' David thinks unconcerned going to homeroom. Cecile was watching the whole time. She noticed that the bags that David was trying to protect weren''t the bags that she had bought, so David must have bought that with his own money. She also noticed how hard David fought for it. Even though he failed, Cecile was really touched. ''David...'' It was then that she noticed. It was so confusing and murky before, but now it''s clear to her. She places her hands on her chest. ''How long? Was it when I watched him trying to help me with the bags? Was it when we spent our time together in New Reality? No. It has been a lot longer than that. It''s just that now it has become clear. Damn you David! Why do you always take from me!? You took my awards! You took my dignity! You took... My heart.'' She blushes. ****** David is on his way to his homeroom when an incomparable chill the likes of which he has never felt before struck him. He does a barrel roll into some nearby bushes. ''Am-Am I about to die!?'' David thinks terrified. ********** Cecile is on her way back to the student council room when she sees the president. ¡°Listen, I would like to-¡± ¡°Thank you Cecile for holding up your end. We''ll take it from here.¡± ¡°Huh? What do you mean?¡± Cecile asks confused. ¡°Wait. Luciana says that she delivered these supplies because of you.¡± ¡°She did!?¡± Luciana was also near the bathroom when the girls decided to steal Cecile''s stuff. Luciana doesn''t take kindly to bullying. When Luciana stuck out her hand, they handed it over obediently. They know that she is not one to be crossed. She held onto the supplies so that she could hand them over to the president directly. ''Looks like I will have to thank her.'' Cecile thinks. ******* Luciana is walking to homeroom. She had seen what David had did to help Cecile. She shakes her head and thinks, ''David Lewis. You are a peculiar fellow.'' ******* David is reading his book when he sees Cecile walking in talking happily with her friends. ''Hmm... Looks like she''s back to her old, annoying, cheery self. Things are back to normal. Wonder what happened. Oh well. That''s none of my business.'' When she''s about to sit where she usually sits, which is next to David. She pauses and stares at him like a deer caught in the headlights. David feels the stare so he looks at her. Cecile''s face turns red and she hurriedly moves to a different seat far away from David. She didn''t even talk to him. ''There''s that frightening chill again.'' David thinks. ''What is that?'' -------------- Author''s Note: First, when I said that it was a holiday special, that didn''t necessarily mean Christmas/Ramadan/Kwanzaa/Hanukkah/Winter Solstice/Festivus/Holiday/Any I forgot. Waka Waka! Second, if you think Cindy is powerful now, just wait until she starts playing New Reality. Third, let the butthurt, whiny comments commence talking about how you don''t like this and that and that you''re going to drop this story because blah blah blah. Chapter 38: Things Are Getting Out of Hand Author''s Note: Thanks for waiting patiently. --------------- ''*sigh* Still nothing.'' Null has been searching for clues of the robots for days. Most of his time has been spent doing miscellaneous things such as going to restaurants and acting like a typical tourist. Sometimes when Null is walking, robots would come out and attack somewhere in the city. Null decided the best thing to do would be not to engage with them unless in close proximity. He doesn''t want anyone to know that he''s actually searching for the robot maker. The less people that are on guard against him the better. Null soon makes it to what seems like another battle place. There is debris everywhere. ''From the markings I''ve seen, there isn''t just the spider type and humanoid robots. There seem to be multiple types. Where can all these robots hide? My information finder only works on written information. If the written information is enclosed inside a place with no windows, I won''t be able to see it.'' Null has kept doing Essence of Mana trying to sense the underground, as he thinks that''s the most likely place to keep things hidden. Since mana travels far better through air than through earth, Null was having problems. Not only does mana flow slower in earth, but each type of mineral has mana flow differently through it. When Null first started trying to sense the underground, everything was a jumbled up mess. After a long while of using essence of mana, he starts getting a clearer and clearer picture of the underground. It takes few days for his mind to completely adjust. Null soon stops and starts walking away. ''I''m being followed.'' Null thinks, wondering who it could be. Null has used his Essence of Mana and pretty much knows about all the guards who are supposed to be watching him. Those people are not what he is concerned about. ''Three people. Judging by how faint two of their mana signatures are, those two people should be one or two of the rogue classes. I''m sensing two types of mana signatures that don''t belong to humans. The mana is also of a different quality. Highly likely those two mana signatures are the robots I''ve been searching for. Damn. And I was so careful.'' ********* ¡°Target is currently surveying another battle site. Chances are high that he''s searching for us.¡± A tracker says watching Null. There are currently three people looking at Null in the shadows. They are all dressed in black. Even their faces are covered. ¡°Do you think he has a chance to succeed?¡± An assassin class asks. ¡°Highly unlikely.¡± The only non rogue class who is manipulating the two robots chimes in. ¡°According to our data, he''s just a librarian with better than average monk techniques. This city has plenty of librarians, and none of them have managed to figure out what''s going on.¡± The two robots he has with him are miniature helicopter drones. They aren''t good for fighting, only observing. The tracker then notices something. ¡°Target has suddenly started walking in irregular paths.¡± The tracker says. ¡°Have we been discovered?¡± ¡°He shouldn''t have discovered us. Your assassin''s stealth skill should be active masking all three of us.¡± The robot controller says. Only sufficiently advanced locator skills would be able to detect them when the assassin''s stealth skill is active. There is an arms race between hiding skills and finding skills. When one is higher leveled or has sufficiently higher skill mastery, you can hide or find one or the other. It was then that the tracker was taken by surprise. ¡°I''ve lost the target!¡± The tracker says. ¡°What!?¡± The assassin yells out in surprise. ¡°Impossible!¡± The robot controller yells in disbelief. Null had pretty much vanished. Due to Null being bullied, he found ways to give people he doesn''t want to see the slip. ¡°What do we do?¡± The assassin asks. ¡°We search for him. If you find him, do not engage.¡± The tracker tells them. They head towards the direction Null was last seen in. The helicopter drone slowly starts surveying the area, searching for any hint of where Null could have gone. ¡°I''m not picking up his foot tracks. It looks like we have been discovered.¡± The tracker says. It was then when one of the helicopter drones was shot through with an arrow. There was an attempt on the second robot, but due to knowing it was being attacked managed to dodge the arrow. The three people there also get attacked by needles, but they manage to dodge them in time. ¡°You guys were looking for me? Well, you''ve found me.¡± Null says appearing as if he''s come out of nowhere. He''s wearing different shoes than the ones he had on before. ¡°I also happen to be looking for you guys too.¡± The three people don''t even bother answering him back. They chose to retreat. ¡°Fine then. Be that way.¡± Null says, running after them. The three try to shake Null off of them, but Null is persistent. ¡°It won''t be long before he reaches us.¡± The assassin says. ¡°Plan B?¡± The tracker asks. ¡°Looks like we have no choice.¡± The robot controller says. The assassin throws throwing knives at Null. Null knows that the knives are most likely poisoned, so he chooses to get out of the way. The person controlling the robots puts his hand on the ground, and a pattern appears out of ink that quickly gets covered up. ''A transmutation circle? Then that means this person''s class or subclass is calligraphy.'' Null thinks. When the transmutation circle is complete,it glows brightly, and a giant humanoid robot appears out of nowhere. The people in the area familiar with this know that another robot has been summoned. They start panicking and running away. The three Null was chasing after used the robot as a distraction and chose this moment to flee. Null couldn''t do anything due to the robot in his way. ''Damn. Lost them. Just when I thought I had a lead.'' Null thinks disappointed. Null sees the robot that''s heading for him. Last time he fought this type of robot, he had help from Gnosia''s fighting force. When he was trying to lose the three tailing him, he also inadvertently made the guards that are supposed to watch him lose sight of him as well. Null right now is currently alone. ''Right now I can''t fight this thing. I have to retreat.'' Null is about to run when the robot does a charge at him. Null does his best to manipulate his mana for dexterity, but the stat manipulation is moving too slowly. Realizing that won''t work, he fires multiple arrows from his crossbow, but the arrows only makes dents on the robot. ''Damn! Not enough time for a mana shock wave!'' He braces himself for impact and crosses his arms in front of him. The robot smashes into Null and runs through multiple buildings. When the robot stops moving, Null''s momentum keeps him moving forward like a rag doll. He collides with the wall. Null feels a painful sensation in his everywhere. When he opens his eyes. He sees he only has 13% of his health left. ''A single casual move. A single casual move and I almost died.'' Null thinks finding the whole thing ridiculous. Null had forgotten that the gaps of power between levels only increases as you go higher. Null barely survived a casual attack from that robot. The civilians in the area upon seeing the robot, started to yell and flee. The robot was about to attack Null again, but Null put out a smoke bomb. The robot''s sensors couldn''t see Null through the smoke, so it fired madly through the smoke cloud. By the time the smoke cleared, Null was long gone. ******** Null is resting in an old collapsed building, trying to recover his strength. Null knows that right now, he can''t do anything to the robots. Mana attacks work slightly, but right now, his mana attacks move far too slowly to do any good. ''I need to find a way to destroy the robots more easily. I can''t spend all my time spending hours going against one robot when the enemy potentially has thousands.'' After Null''s health gets filled, he continues his search. ''Was I close to something which is why they chose to follow me? I think I''ll continue on that path.'' Null makes it to where he was before, constantly emitting mana waves through the ground. After a while, he notices something peculiar when he uses mana manipulation on one section of ground. There is a type of earth that''s a lot different from earth surrounding it. It''s a lot more uniform than the earth surrounding it. That different type of earth has a pattern of a winding tunnel. ''They must have made a tunnel and then filled it up when it was no longer needed. These people have teleportation, so it makes sense to fill it up. Don''t want anyone discovering your secret lair and whatnot. Hmmm... I wonder if their teleportation has a maximum range.'' Null writes various things in many obscure places. Since he doesn''t have a map, this is the next best thing. He can use Information Finder to find what he wrote, which would lead to this location. ''I should tell the others about this place, as I do not have any earth techniques that can dig through this.'' Null thinks planning his next move. Null asks a person for directions to the police. After getting them, Null thanks him and heads inside. A secretary greets Null. ¡°Hello sir, would you like to file a-¡± The secretary seeing Null looks frightened. Null notices this. ''Why is she so afraid of me? I haven''t even done anything.'' Null wonders. She rings the silent alarm under her desk. ''Something is not right. Where is everyone?'' Null thinks. It was then that around 50 people come out in formation surrounding Null. Their rifles and melee weapons are pointed at Null. Null squints. ¡°What is this all about?¡± He asks the people who''s weapons are pointed at him. It was then that the tinkerers had also arrived. ¡°I knew you foreigners couldn''t be trusted!¡± Claris Joyce yells out angrily pointing at Null. ¡°To think it was you.¡± Winford sighs shaking his head. ¡°Null... Why?¡± Aldan says nearly crying. ¡°Will someone please tell me what this is about?¡± Null asks irritated. ¡°Null, you are now a prime suspect for being the one responsible for the robot attacks.¡± The police chief says to Null sternly. ¡°What?¡± ¡°We came across some papers detailing plans of the robot attacks for the past two months and next 6 months. Your finger prints are all over them. The attack that had just happened is almost definite proof that you are responsible, or are somehow involved. There is an exact location and everything detailing the attack. We also came across your footprints being near most of the battle sights of the past two months. The age of the footprints corresponds directly with the robot attacks.¡± The chief says to Null. ¡°There were also remains of teleportation circles by the use of Ink Hand techniques. Only someone with a high level in calligraphy could make detailed transmutation circles like that, and according to a report from an ally in Palperroth, your calligraphy is at intermediate!¡± The police chief says. To the people listening, this proves to them that Null is somehow involved. ¡°I''m obviously being framed.¡± Null says. ¡°I found a probable hideout of the real attackers, and they are trying to frame me because I am their only threat. Don''t be stupid.¡± The reason they all don''t jump on him now is because they know how powerful he is. Sure, if they all jump on him at once, they could take him down, but there would be many casualties. Right now, they''re trying to buy time for their mages to make it here. The gunmen are trying to seal off Null''s possible exits. Null then senses two people that makes his eyes open wide. When he was using his Essence of Mana to sense around him, he felt that those two people''s mana felt familiar. Null squints and says, ¡°Who are those two behind you?¡± ¡°Why do you want to know? I see no reason to tell you.¡± The police chief says. ¡°Oh! I know this one! The one on the left is leader of our Investigation Squad! He''s one of our top trackers, Frederick Richardson! The other guy is leader of the Deployment Squad to gather information on the outside world, one of our top assassins, Bernardo Barrow!¡± Aldan says excitedly amidst the talks for him to shut up. ¡°Idiot!¡± ¡°Stupid crackpot!¡± The people there say at Aldan yelling at him. ¡°Was I not supposed to say that?¡± Aldan asks confused. The realization makes Null''s eyes open wide. The two behind the police chief start smirking slightly just enough so that only Null would notice it. ''How high does this conspiracy go?'' Null wonders. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. It''s obvious to him that he will have to escape now. He senses the gunmen trying to block his escape. ¡°Now will you come quietly?¡± The police chief says. ¡°Come quietly? Heh. The only way humans learn of consequences is by leaning through examples, so I ask you all.¡± Null''s eyes open wide, getting a crazed insane look. ¡°Who will be my example?¡± Null releases his killing intent. That killing intent spoke of unspeakable horrors for anyone who would be dumb enough to try and attack him.
For causing extreme terror and for making that one guy soil himself, your Killing Intent has increased to Beginner Level 2.
Killing Intent
Skill typeActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 2
Cause fear and terror to your foes. Cost: 200 mana per second
Null uses this chance when they are disoriented to throw down a smoke bomb. ¡°Stop him!¡± The police chief says. Smoke fills the area. People are noticing that they are feeling a little stiff. The smoke bomb also had a paralysis aspect to it, but due to most there having a high level, it barely affects them. By the time the smoke clears, Null is long gone. ¡°Shit!¡± The police chief yells out. ********** ''These smoke bombs are the most useful thing I have ever created.'' When Null escapes from that encirclement, the gunmen try to intercept Null. Null throws several cluster bombs in one spot in order for them to make way. The snipers among the gunmen constantly try aiming for Null''s vitals, but he keeps moving around randomly so that they miss. He eventually makes it out of their range. Null keeps running until he makes it to a safe place. He takes out an odor bomb and covers himself with it. He then changes his shoes. All this is so that the trackers would not be able to track him. ''So now what''s my next step? Should I try to figure out the sides of this conflict and work with the ones opposing the robots? No. People are stupid. Why would they trust a suspect over their leaders? Looks like I have to do this on my own. What can I do though? I''m not strong enough to take on those robots by myself. First things first. I have to show people this hideout.'' ******* Null does things that draws people towards the hideout. He gets fire works, makes a general racket, and just becomes a huge nuisance. The people chasing after Null start noticing that some of their members are acting strange. Some are trying to dissuade them from going there. Some say that we should think of some plan before going after Null. Now, doing that would be fine, but these members have never acted like this before, even when going against extremely powerful robots. Why are they acting like this now? They make it to the location Null was making a racket in. Null isn''t there anymore. There is only a note. It says, ¡°Dig here. I''m at the end of this tunnel. Come get me if you dare.¡± The track prints also end there, so some feel they have no choice but to go along with his games while some are opposed. A few people are vehemently opposed to digging. However, most vote to dig, so they go along with it. The earth mages among them start moving the earth around, and they start moving through the tunnel. The people acting strange have only started acting stranger and stranger, as if they''re hiding something. When they''re almost at the end of the tunnel, giant robotic centipede comes out. However, thanks to the narrow space they''re in, the gunmen and mages can attack and not worry about aiming. What''s really suspicious is that some of the long range people started fighting as if they were purposely trying to miss. One of the people slowly make it to the police chief and whispers, ¡°Chief. Have you noticed that some of our people have been acting very strange?¡± The chief was one of the first who noticed. He thinks back to the words Null had said before. ********* Flashback: ¡°I''m obviously being framed.¡± Null says. ¡°I found a probable hideout of the real attackers, and they are trying to frame me because I am their only threat. Don''t be stupid.¡± Flashback end: ********* ''The more I think about it, the more it makes sense.'' The police chief thinks. The earth mages make it through the final stretch of tunnels. It was then that Null decides to show himself. ¡°Kill him!¡± Hurry up and kill him!¡± Some are ready to kill Null right then and there. ¡°Stop!¡± The police chief says. ¡°Sir, what are you doing!? We have to kill him now!¡± That person says as he''s about to pull the trigger on his gun. ¡°Are you disobeying my orders!?¡± The police chief yells out. The guy grinds his teeth and puts his weapon down. ¡°Null, I take it there''s a reason you took us down here?¡± Winford asks Null. ¡°There is. As some of you may know, I''m a librarian whose class just so happens to be at intermediate. Also know that my book repair is also at intermediate.¡± ¡°Okay, so what?¡± Someone asks. ¡°Watch carefully. Don''t take your eyes off of me for even a moment.¡± Null raises his arms in the air like he''s Moses. ¡°Book Repair!¡± All the ashes on the floor start moving and coalescing into multiple tornadoes. Those tornadoes then condense into multiple papers with written information on it. Null''s Book Repair is at intermediate. Even if burned down to ashes, as long as its on paper, Null can still repair it. He can also repair multiple books and papers at a time. ¡°Read them.¡± Null says. Everyone reads through the papers and is shocked. The information on the robot attacks. The interval of the robot attacks, and even the mastermind behind the whole thing is written here. It was then that everyone understood. The people who were once unified split in two. 10% of people were separated from the others, and had weapons drawn on them. ¡°Winford... Why?¡± Claris Joyce says with tears in her eyes. Winford was the last person people have suspected. He was always kind and treated everyone with respect. He helped whenever someone asked for help. He maintained Gnosia''s infrastructure and contributed greatly to the creation of the city. Why would he do something like this? ¡°Don''t believe Null''s lies! He''s using some sort of trick!¡± Winford says trying to pin this on Null. Null shakes his head. ¡°Most of you should be familiar with the librarian class. You should all know that the librarian class''s Book Repair can only bring back what was lost. You all were also watching me closely the whole time. You all can confirm that I didn''t do anything extra. They nod. ¡°The papers from before blaming you was falsified. We had simply taken Frederick''s words at face value without checking it ourselves, and for that Null, we apologize. We will learn from this so something like that never happens again.¡± A tracker says to Null. ¡°Frederick was trying to frame you from the start. These papers here however are filled with all the information of attacks and orders of the attacks, that hit this city in the past 15 years. We trackers have all confirmed that Winford''s fingerprints are all over them. It looks like Winford is the mastermind. What do you have to say for yourself Winford?¡± The police chief says. ¡°Looks like the jig is up.¡± Winford shrugs unconcerned. This causes Claris, who was still in denial about Winford to finally let it sink in. She collapses on her knees. ¡°Please tell me why?¡± Claris asks with tears in her eyes. ¡°My research was at a standstill. I had just found a way to create the robot tech. In order to advance further in my research, I needed true mage abilities to study, and not this cheap knockoff transmutation crap. However, in this city that is impossible. I was so angry. Why do I have to suffer for my ancestor''s mistakes? That''s when he approached me.¡± Null feels something super important coming, like this is some annoying bullshit that will affect him later on. ¡°This man''s power was something I couldn''t even begin to understand. If he wanted to, he could have easily destroyed this city and everyone in it with but a thought, but he chose another way. He is the man in the red cloak, the only person in the world who holds the Deities'' Emissary class.¡± This causes everyone, including Null, to pause. They may have lost their history, but they all know how the librarian founder died. It was due to the man in the red cloak. He had the Deities'' Emissary class. There can only be one Deities'' Emissary at a time, and there hasn''t been one that powerful since him since. The librarian founder was one of incredible power, and yet he still fell. ¡°Red cloak? Impossible! You won''t get out of your crimes with that stupid bluff!¡± The police chief yells out at Winford. ¡°Everyone knows he died more than a thousand years ago!¡± Someone else yells out. Null is the most shocked of all, thinking, ''God dammit! I might have to fight that OP son of a bitch that I saw in the flashback! I won''t! I refuse! Things won''t go the way you want them to go Ptah!'' ¡°You still haven''t said why you did what you did!¡± Claris yells out. ¡°At first I attacked him. I wanted to know how he found and got into this city and I tried to ask him by force. When I realized that wouldn''t work, I asked if he is here to kill us. He said no! He said he sympathized with my suffering! He also thinks that its unfair for us to get punished with the mistakes of my ancestors, so he said he''ll give us a chance. Naturally I didn''t believe him, but with a wave of his hand, he said ¡°Try shooting fire from your hand.¡± It worked! It really did work, however with another wave of his hand, my newfound powers were gone.¡± ''Can''t this guy get on with it?'' Null says bored out of his mind about to fall asleep. ¡°He said all I have to do in order to once again get accepted by the gods is to denounce the ideals of the librarian founder and have everyone in this city do the same. That way, not only me, but everyone can get blessings by the elemental gods again! Naturally, I found others to join my cause. That red cloaked man was also very clear. Everyone would have to renounce the librarian. I used the robots to kidnap people. I told them that they had freewill to join or leave. Those who refused to join were killed!¡± This causes others there involuntarily flinch. ¡°You... You''re a monster!¡± Claris yells out. ¡°Sticks and stones Claris. I would''ve taken you in as you''re very talented, but you wouldn''t shut up about how much you like the founder! Now my offer stands to all of you as well. Do you choose to denounce the first librarian and his ideals?¡± Some of the people were intrigued, especially a lot of the mages. They can''t improve and make new techniques automatically. Some choose to side with Winford. The people being surrounded started to change. ¡°Null, you really know how to make a mess of things. All I had to do was destroy this city and anyone who sympathized with that heretic librarian. Around 10 more years or so and I could''ve gathered enough data for my robots to destroy this place easily. Looks like the second phase will have to start early.¡± Winford takes out something. It''s a robot, but this robot is small. The robot then transforms and covers Winford. He has high tech armor covering him with Tron-like glowing lines covering that armor. Null can sense that those lines have electric mana running through it. He gains a visor that scans things. He also gains a high tech big sword the size of Winford himself that makes shock waves when hit against a surface. He transformed his right arm into various assortments of long ranged weapons. Metallic tentacles grow out his back. ¡°Everyone.¡± Winford tells his allies. ¡°The operation begins now!¡± One guy teleported away to the surface. He then launches a red smoke signal into the air. It was then that thousands of transmutation circles show up around the city at the same time. Multiple robots of many shapes and sizes show up. Null could hear the rampaging and screams from even down there. ''Well then.'' Null thinks. ''Things escalated waaaay too quickly.'' ----------------- Author''s Note: Those silly robots and their hi jinks. They just conveniently forgot Asimov''s laws. Pranksters. Chapter 39: Gnosia Plunges into Civil War Author''s Note: Merry Christmas! Wait, it''s not Christmas anymore? Noooo! And I wanted to jingle my bells on Rudolph''s red nose! Oh yeah, and one THOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUSAND followers! -------- There''s a boy and his father in Gnosia who just stepped out their car and are about to take a walk in Gnosia''s park. ¡°Dad, you really mean it this time? You will actually spend the day with me?¡± The little boy says with a big smile and sparkling eyes. ¡°Of course Billy. When have I ever let you down?¡± Billy starts to frown and starts counting down on his fingers. ¡°Well dad, every time a robot attacks, you always tell me to go back to the car. It happens every single time.¡± ¡°Haha.¡± The father laughs a kind laugh. ¡°Well son, I have recently gotten stronger. I''m a level 230 swordsman now from fighting those robots all the time. I don''t fear those robots anymore. Even if 10 robots were to show up, it won''t stop me from spending time with my boy.¡± The father says kindly to Billy while patting his head. ¡°Wow dad, you''re awesome!¡± Billy says with a fist bump in the air. It was then that Billy noticed the red smoke signal going into the air. ¡°Hey dad, what''s that?¡± Billy asks curious pointing at the smoke signal. ¡°That is peculiar. I don''t recall Gnosia having a signal like that. What could that be?¡± The father ponders. It was then that transmutation circles show up throughout the city and thousands of robots show up. The most robots people have seen at once was around 10. This is unprecedented. ¡°Oh my god dad! I''ve never seen so many robots! Luckily since you''re stronger and you made your promise to me, we have nothing to fear!¡± Billy says proudly. ¡°....Billy, get in the car.¡± Billy frowns. ¡°But dad, you said-¡± ¡°I SAID GET IN THE CAR!¡± The father yells out with a high pitched, scared voice. They both run to the car and drive off for their lives. *********** In the city of Gnosia, Winford''s allies upon seeing the signal start to rejoice. ¡°Finally! I can finally become a real mage instead of this cheap knockoff!¡± A mage who relies on transmutation circles says. ¡°The gods will finally bless me! I''ve been waiting for this day!¡± A calligrapher says. ¡°I know a lot of people who will refuse our offer. Alas, sacrifices must be made. You cannot go against the gods.¡± Someone says with regret but determined. ******** ¡°What does that red smoke mean?¡± A young woman asks an old man looking up at the sky. ¡°In all my years, I have never seen anything like that.¡± The old man responds baffled. It was then the young woman saw someone she knew making a transmutation on the ground. ''What''s he doing?'' She wonders. It was then that the person summons a mole-type robot onto the ground. ¡°Wait. Has our side finally figured out how to summon the robots!?¡± The woman says giddy. ¡°Then fighting the robots will become easier!¡± When that robot started destroying things around it, that''s when they started knowing the truth. ¡°Dammit! It''s been our own people attacking us all along!¡± The woman says with anger in her voice. She and the old man start running away. ¡°What in the world made them do this?¡± The old man sighs looking like he aged a few years in the last few minutes. ************** It was one of Gnosia''s watch tower that one of the guards noticed the red smoke signal. A new guy there looks at it and asks the other guards, ¡°Is this some type of procedure I don''t know about?¡± ¡°I have no idea what that is.¡± One of the guards smiles wide and starts making a transmutation on the ground. ¡°What are you doing?¡± One of the guards asks the man acting weird. He draws his gone on him. ¡°Shit!¡± A robot was summoned. It heavily injured most people there in an instant. The new guy was on the ground holding his side when he looks out the window. There were robots everywhere in the city. ''I have to warn everyone.'' The guard struggles up to the emergency signal. He rings the alarm for the entire city, then collapses on the floor and closes his eyes. Everyone in the city hears the alarm and knows what that alarm means. It means that the city is declared in a state of emergency and that they are at war. With that alarm is sounded, all stores close and people who are not able to fight are to immediately go to the emergency shelters. Anyone able to fight is to gather arms and help repel the invaders. Winford''s side may be vastly outnumbered, but due to their tech and planning, they are at an advantage. ********** Gnosia''s side was currently staring down Winford''s side underground. Most people there were afraid to be the first one to spark the battle that''s inevitable between them. Winford''s armor made him look the scariest out of all of them. Robotic armor? That''s an unknown no one wanted to fight against. ¡°Kill them.¡± Winford commands his allies. Winford stands aside arms crossed seeing how the other side will deal with this test move. The gunmen on each side were the first to move. Since Gnosia''s side had more people, they had the advantage in this gun fight. The bullets spread everywhere like they were air. Winford''s side was quickly pushed back. Winford however stayed put. The bullets bounced off his armor. Seeing as the guns weren''t working on him, four gunmen on Gnosia''s side had their cannons aimed at Winford. He looked ahead as if they weren''t even there. ¡°Everyone. We''re about to attack Winford. Get ready.¡± The gunmen leader tells his side. Fear is evident in his voice. ¡°Fire!¡± The shells shot out with blazing speed. Winford unfolded his arms. Wheels came out of his feet. He leans forward while spreading out his arms. The glowing lines on his armor appear to grow brighter. It was then the wheels made a sound that belonged on a race track. Winford shot forward at a speed that caused disbelief on Gnosia''s side. He dodged the cannonballs with no effort at all. The mages saw that he was getting closer, so they readied their attacks. Water and lightning shot out forming a torrent that not even a mouse would be able to pass through. They do not want to attack with fire while being under ground. Winford was not deterred. His right arm transformed into a shield and he forced his way through that combined attack. One of Winford''s metallic tentacles starts to move. It dashes straight ahead much to the fear of Gnosia''s side. The amount of power it has looks like an ordinary person will die from just one hit. A shield warrior takes the initiative and attempts to block it. The warriors face shows shock as the tentacle turns 90 degrees to the side to avoid him, turned 90 degrees again to move forward, then turned 90 degrees a few more times and ended up on its original trajectory all in a split second. More warriors try to stop it. That tentacle skillfully avoided everyone it wanted to avoid. It was then that a surprised cleric was impaled. It punctured him with no resistance at all. He died with disbelief on his face. The morale that was originally on Gnosia''s side started to wane. ¡°This is ridiculous.¡± A mage on Gnosia''s says dispirited under his breath. ¡°Wow! Incredible!¡± A warrior says on Winford''s side says all smiles. ¡°We aren''t even needed.¡± A mage on Winford''s side says with a smug grin. ''Is there nothing we can do?'' A gunmen on Gnosia''s side thinks with clinched teeth resigned to his fate. All of the metallic tentacles raise, preparing to strike everyone down. Some warriors drop their weapons. Some close their eyes. They heard the characteristic sound of the tentacles rushing towards them. Strangely they heard something that sounded like paper being unraveled. ¡°Art Materialization!¡± It comes from Gnosia''s side. Null knew that when he found the robot maker, he would likely have to fight robots in some fashion. What seems like a huge glob of water comes out from the scroll. It blocks Winford''s path so he couldn''t go through. Winford wasn''t worried. He puts his shield arm in front and continues on attacking. It''s only when three of the tentacles touch the water that Winford realizes something is wrong. ''This isn''t water!'' Winford thinks shocked. He quickly retreats before he gets covered in it. ''Totally worth 8 levels.'' Null thinks. ''Hope you like hydrochloric acid bitch.'' Three of Winford''s tentacles get damaged beyond repair. Bits of the acid went into his armor''s system. Gnosia''s side was shocked. ¡°You all should probably leave now while you have the chance. I only had one of those.¡± Null tells the people behind him nonchalantly. ¡°Dammit! I need to repair this suit! Kill Null while I fix this stupid thing!¡± Winford yells out in frustration to his allies. ¡°The nerve of that guy! You don''t see me pouring acid on his things!¡± Winford says under his breath. He constantly uses the repair skill. Since there are so many components to repair, this will buy Gnosia''s side some time. Winford''s side starts charging in. The warriors run over while the mages and gunmen prepare their long ranged attacks. Null throws some poison smoke bombs in their area. Winford''s side couldn''t avoid the smoke in time. This gives partial paralysis to most of Winford''s people. Unfortunately, Winford''s visor has an air filtering system, so it doesn''t affect him at all. ¡°Null! You saved our asses! HAHAHA!¡± A warrior exclaims happy to be alive. ¡°We can win this! Thanks to Null, they''re weak!¡± A lightning mage says readying another spell. Gnosia''s side starts their attack again. Due to Null''s poison, Winford''s side is at a disadvantage. ''Do these people not listen?'' Null thinks while facepalming in disappointment. ''Well, whatever happens to them, it''s not my problem.'' Null thinks not caring about them. ¡°Yes! We''re winning!¡± ¡°Keep pushing them back!¡± ¡°Traitors deserve death!¡± Gnosia''s side''s morale was at an all time high. ''I''ll give it 2 minutes.'' Null thinks to himself nonchalantly. They were fighting valiantly, but it was then that a tentacle came out from seemingly nowhere and impaled someone. Winford then changed his shield arm into a chain gun and started shooting everyone on the enemy side he came across. ¡°Oh no! He''s fixed so soon!¡± ¡°Fall back! Fall back!¡± ''45 seconds. I was way off.'' Null thinks deadpanned. The police chief walks up to Null and asks, ''Do you have anything that can stop him?'' Null shakes his head. ¡°*sigh* Then our only choice is for us to retreat. There is no sense fighting a losing battle.¡± ¡°Everyone! Retreat!¡± The police chief yells out to his side. No one objects. Most of them are not idiots. ¡°Do you think I would just let you leave?¡± Winford says in a looking down tone. Winford''s working metallic tentacles try to impale their fleeing backs while also firing rockets from arm which transformed into a rocket launcher. ¡°Art Materialization!¡± Null says, bringing up a huge metallic wall. It costs him just 1 level. The earth mages then hide their tracks by turning their trail back up the surface into a maze. ''No matter.'' Winford thinks. ''Right now, we have to make ourselves known why we''re doing this. The symbol of this city is that library. That building is the building that started the trend of opposing the gods. I have to destroy it.'' ¡°We''re leaving.¡± Winford tells his allies. ¡°Are we chasing after them?¡± Someone asks. ¡°No. We have much bigger priorities.¡± ********** Null and Gnosia''s side had escaped and are currently inside one of Gnosia''s forts. The ones that fought with Winford told them of the events that had transpired underground. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. ¡°So that''s why all this is happening.¡± ¡°We''ve been duped this whole time!¡± Someone yells in anger while smashing his fist. ¡°What do we do now? Winford was the one that was in charge of Gnosia''s defense system.¡± ¡°His access can be overridden if there is a high ranking tinkerer and 2 other ministers to take over.¡± ¡°Claris Joyce is the one that was supposed to be next in line right?¡± Everyone looks at her. Ever since Winford had shown his true colors, Claris has been always looking downcast, always depressed, and just quiet. She looks dead inside. ¡°Are you sure she''s in a position to be running anything?¡± ¡°We have no choice! Besides Winford, she''s the best tinkerer we have!¡± ¡°Why bother?¡± Claris says downcast. ¡°Lives are at stake! I know you''re going through a lot, but this is no time for selfishness! Get depressed on your own time!¡± Some yells reprimanding her. Claris looks up in anger. ¡°This is what I mean! It''s all the same! People just use you and then stab you in the back when they''re done with you! Why should I do anything for any of you people!? I would be better of by my-¡± ¡°Hey, annoying lady.¡± Null surprisingly interrupts her. Everyone there is surprised Null is taking the initiative to talk. He''s not known for talking unless he has to. Claris scowls but listens. Being a person of few words makes your words more valued. ¡°You do not want to go down the path you''re about to go on. There''s nothing to gain from it.¡± ¡°What do you know!?¡± Claris yells out in frustration. ¡°Plenty. My family ignores me and I have no friends.¡± ¡°But I''m your friend.¡± Aldan interjects. ¡°...As I said before, my family ignores me and I have no friends. Sure, my path is safe. People won''t hurt me anymore. I''m also content with not having to measure to anyone''s expectations. However, the path I''m on is totally, utterly boring.¡± ¡°....That''s it?¡± ¡°Yep. Other than that, its great. Also, since you''re not hanging around others, you have to worry if what you''re doing is considered ¡°normal¡± or ¡°socially acceptable¡±. Also, I don''t know if it''s a problem with other hermits and misanthropes, but my sanity keeps slipping from time to time.¡± ¡°Oh. You''ve given me a lot to think about.¡± ¡°Good. Well, goodbye.¡± Null says to everyone there, seeing no reason to stay. ¡°Null, please wait!¡± ¡°Don''t go!¡± ¡°Stop!¡± ¡°What?¡± Null asks them. He hates being around them. It was then that a minister speaks. ¡°Null, it''s thanks to you that this conspiracy has been uncovered despite being a wanted fugitive by us. It''s also thanks to you that the members originally sent to arrest you had survived and delivered us this crucial information. You didn''t have to save them, but you did it anyway. Winford is one of the most powerful people in this city. If we get people to work under you, can you stop Winford and protect this city?¡± [/size]
Quest: Protect Gnosia and defeat Winford
Quest Information: To gain favor of the mysterious red cloaked figure and to get the gods'' blessings, Winford has betrayed his birthplace and is trying to recant the librarian founder''s ideals. His forces are strong. Defeat Winford''s rebellion and Winford himself. Reward: Unknown Quest Rank: B Penalty if refused: Intimacy with residents of Gnosia will reach the lowest point. You will be treated as another enemy and attacked. Do you accept?
''Holy shit! B-rank!? Only the most powerful guilds in the world can take those kinds of quests on! This is insane!'' Null tells the minister bluntly, ¡°I see no reason why I should bother helping you people. Why should I stick my neck out for you with a B-rank? You all have treated me very poorly ever since I stepped foot into this city.¡± ¡°Well, that may be, but we will make it worth your while.¡± ¡°I want information on the transmutation circle skills. That is as low as I am willing to go.¡± ¡°Fine. Consider it done if the mission is complete.¡± ¡°Good. Then I accept.¡±
You have accepted the quest.
The minister makes a sigh of relief. ¡°Now that that''s settled, we need to do two things. First, we need to have a high ranking tinkerer along with two ministers override, Winford''s control over the city''s defense system. Second, not everyone has evacuated yet. We need to ensure the safety of the civilians. Claris, have you decided what to do?¡± Claris looks at Null and gets a look of determination. She says, ¡°I refuse to become a weirdo like him, so I will also fight!¡± The minister nods satisfied. ¡°I''ll be on the side that fights the robots then.¡± Null says. If he can''t find a way to fight against them, then all is lost. The vast majority of people there numbering around 100 are to escort Claris and the ministers to the defense network. They are the Gnosia defense team, and they have the more powerful people. The rest are sent to work under Null for helping to evacuate the citizens. They number at around 20 and are the weaker members of this entire group. They are the Gnosia evacuation and research team. Aldan is included in this. ¡°One question. If you all had a defense system, why didn''t you use it to fight the robots in the first place?¡± Null asks. ¡°Because it would be like using a gun to kill a fly.¡± Someone says proudly. With their positions set, they split up. *********** ¡°Heheh. Taking over the defense system was probably the easiest job out of everyone Winford assigned!¡±A tinkerer says bragging to his friends. ¡°It''s not over until this battle is won. Burton, I''ve often told you that your arrogance will be your downfall.¡± Another tinkerer says rebuking him. ¡°But who can stop us?¡± He says leaning back in his chair with his hands on the back of head. It was then that they saw a huge group of people coming towards them. ¡°Ahaha! Now the fun can begin!¡± The wiser tinkerer starts readying the defense to get rid of them when the arrogant tinkerer stops him. ¡°Wait man! No one can stop us here! In here we''re invincible! I want to play with them a little. It shouldn''t hurt.¡± ¡°Burton, you are going to get us killed. However, when that time comes that they make it here, I will leave you behind.¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah. Whatever.¡± ********** ¡°Why haven''t they started attacking?¡± A minister asks confused. ¡°Two possibilities.¡± Claris says. ¡°One, our side has been incapacitated, but the enemy side still hadn''t taken over which explains how we are locked out of the system. Two, the enemy side has managed to take over, but they think they''re invincible up there. I bet it''s Burton. He always thinks of everyone as beneath him and overestimates his abilities. If that''s the case, taking over the defense system will be easier than I thought.¡± ******* ¡°Huuuh? A frontal attack? How dumb!¡± Burton yells out laughing arrogantly. Burton presses a button. The road that the defense team is on changes. The road their traveling on starts flipping like multiple tiles and an assortment of mines appear on it. ¡°Hahaaa! Stopped your advance didn''t it? Let''s see how far you can go.¡± The members of the defense team start walking carefully, trying to avoid the mines. ¡°Burton, we should kill them now while we have the chance.¡± ¡°Oh quit your whining. We''ll get to it. We''ve been stuck in here all day with no one coming. Let me have my fun.¡± He watches the members trying to step over the mines. ¡°Yeah, this was far too easy. How about we take it up a notch!¡± Tinkerer''s have a special ability. When it comes to things they possess, they have the ability to upgrade them temporarily using only their mana. How much they advance depends on how powerful the tinkerer is. The mines start changing form. Burton uses this ability to take over the mines and manipulate them into exploding even if they step close to a mine. ¡°Oh? They still want to come through? Good! It would''ve been boring if they tried running away!¡± He smirks. He presses another button. Multiple cannons pop out. ¡°I don''t want you to get bored just stepping over the mines! HAHA!¡± The shells start firing. When he notices that no one has died yet, he frowns a little. ¡°No matter.¡± He upgrades the artillery cannons into multi barreled cannons and starts firing. When he''s done with that, he deploys a bomber to help finish them off. Throughout this time, he still hadn''t noticed that the defense force on the ground was a distraction. The two tinkerers were together with 5 warriors who were in charge of protecting them. They are fairly powerful, but sneak attacks by assassins kill them easily. ¡°What!?¡± Burton''s face turns ugly. ¡°How did you get through? You haven''t even made it halfway through!¡± ¡°Still as arrogant as ever Burton. You are such a pain!¡± Claris yells out at Burton. ¡°Claris...¡± Burton says with a frown. He hurries to try and press the system''s self destruct, but is killed before he can do anything. The other tinkerer had left long ago. With two ministers with Claris, they both use their authority to kick Winford''s access out the system and make Claris the new head of the defense system. With that done, they start taking out multiple robots one by one. They use mines, guns, cannons, missiles, and bombers to take them out. The system is powerful, but it is not omnipotent. ''We''ve done our part. With this protecting the others will be easier, but it''s not over until Null''s side succeeds.'' The minister thinks to himself. ************ There''s a mother and child currently running. They''re trying to run towards a shelter. However, they''re being chased by a robot, bear version. She trips. ¡°Sam! Keep running!¡± ¡°Mommy!¡± The bears is preparing to maul them when a blow knocks the robot bear back. It was Null. He had been preparing that punch ahead of time. The bear then gets captured by a net from Aldan. It''s sensors are blinded by an assassin throwing ink in its eyes. ¡°Get out of here!¡± Someone tells the mother and child. ¡°Thank you.¡± She grabs her son and runs off. It takes a long time to defeat the bear robot, but they eventually succeed. It''s due to Null that they have taken out multiple robots with no casualties thus far. The robots disappears and a mana stone along with a depleted mana stone takes the robots place. Null has found it strange. Sometimes when they defeat a robot, a miniature mana stone drops. Sometimes when they defeat a robot, a depleted miniature mana stone drops out. Sometimes, it''s both. Null gets curious. ¡°Aldan, why does a depleted mana stone sometimes show up?¡± ¡°It''s just happens to be like that. It''s a luck of the draw.¡± ¡°Why do they manage to appear in equal amounts?¡± ¡°They do? I never paid attention to the depleted mana stones.¡± Aldan says to Null. ''Hmmm... I have a hypothesis.'' Null thinks. ''What if the mana stone and depleted mana stone actually are both used to make the robots work? No one would ever think the depleted mana stones would be used in such a fashion because they are a nuisance. My mind is going into research mode again. This is going to be fun.'' ---------- Author''s Note: Null fought the bots and the... Bots won. Null fought the bots and the... Bots won. Chapter 40: Wha? A new chapter? Wha? Author''s Note: Um... Sorry.... ---------- Inside Gnosia. It has been 6 hours since Winford had started his operation. Smoke bellows from destroyed buildings. Robots are wrecking havoc everywhere, destroying homes and wrecking buildings. These robots look like they are destroying just for the sake of destroying, but the robots are ultimately a diversion. Winford''s true purpose is to destroy the library that the people of Gnosia regards as the city''s symbol. The rebels march towards the library in orderly formation. Winford''s march is mostly unimpeded, as most know they are no match for him. People right now don''t have the luxury to try to stop him, so they are only just trying to survive. There are some brave civilians that group together to try and stand up to Winford, but it is futile. Winford wipes them all out without hesitation. After a long march from the rebels, the library is finally in sight. Gnosia''s army surrounds it, preparing for a long, drawn out battle. There is no way that the army of Gnosia would just let Winford wantonly destroy their symbol. This library was established by New Reality''s first librarian. The landscape around the library changes. Winford sees various weaponry such as cannons, guns, and even arrows, coming out of the surrounding areas. Various bright, red dots show up on the rebels. Some of the rebels seeing these bright red dots show fear, but Winford is still calm as if the weapons wouldn''t have any effect on him. He shows no panic nor fear. If you were to look closely at his face, you would see relief, despite all the weaponry taking aim at him. All he has planned for. All the research he has done was for this moment. Once the library falls, the symbol of the old system would have been destroyed. The weaponry changes position and shape while being manipulated to cause the most damage towards the rebels, while not trying to cause friendly fire towards the army. Joyce is manipulating the defense system to its maximum power. The area surrounding the library is where Gnosia''s defense network''s power is at its highest. The rockets and bullets start firing. Soon, displays like fireworks go off in front of the library. The rebels in the front are hit with the blasts. Bullets hit them like rain. There are so many projectiles firing at them, that they could not possibly defend them all. They are the first casualties. This did not deter the rebels though. As Winford was calm, his calmness rubbed off on them. It seemed like the rebels were trying their hardest to make it to the library, blindly charging in like raging bulls, but they kept falling one by one. This filled Gnosia''s army''s side with much needed morale. ¡°Kill them all! HAHA!¡± ¡°That''ll teach ya to mess with Gnosia! Our city''s defense is unrivaled!¡± Archum looks at the scene of the rebels falling and frowns. He is a tall man with a powerful build and a long beard. He wears heavy armor, befitting of his powerful physique. Even though he''s old, he doesn''t look weak in the slightest. General Archum is who all the soldiers in the army look up to the most. One of his men notices Archum''s mood. ¡°Sir, what''s wrong? Our side is winning heavily! They can''t even get close!¡± Archum shakes his head and says, ¡°Look at Winford. Despite suffering such heavy losses, he hasn''t been moved at all, as if everything is going according to his whims.¡± Archum then starts pondering something. ''Wait a minute. The various robots Winford has that have been scattered around this city. Why hasn''t a single one come over here? Unless...'' Archum''s face changes in realization. ''This is a diversion!'' It was then that a rumbling sound was heard coming from underground as it steadily got louder. ¡°What is that?¡± Someone from Gnosia''s side asks afraid. The general''s face shows worry, as he doesn''t know what will happen. ¡°Lachford!¡± Archum calls out. Lachford is an earth mage that has managed to make great grounds in using the earth transmutation circle in various ways. If he wasn''t limited by the gods'' curse that had befallen everyone in Gnosia, which prevents them from learning elemental mage skills, he could probably rival the top earth mages in all of New Reality. He''s Gnosia''s best earth mage. ¡°Sir!¡± ¡°I want you to check underground. See what''s the cause of that rumbling.¡± Lachford nods and closes his eyes. He makes a tremor which travels everywhere underground. Since Lachford is a very proficient earth mage, anything he can''t control underground will be the most probable cause of the tremors. When Lachford opens his eyes, his face looks pale. He starts to shiver. When the general looks at his expression, he knows this isn''t a good sign. ¡°I''ve- I''ve never seen this model before!¡± Lachford says flustered. He then looks at the general frantic. ¡°We have to get those robots out of the ground! They''re attacking the library underground!¡± Archum nods. ''Attacking where the defense is the weakest. I should have seen this coming.'' ¡°Earth mages!¡± The general shouts. All the earth mages line up in orderly formation. Archum points to half of them. ¡°You half are in charge of detection.¡± He then points to the other half. ¡°You half are in charge of bringing those robots up to the surface.¡± ¡°Yes sir!¡± The people in charge of detection spread out and surround the library equally spaced out. They all start making tremors underground. Although they are not as proficient as Lachford, they don''t need to be as all the robots underground were converging on the library''s location. When an earth mage finds one, they place a small pillar above it marking where the robot is. They then move on to finding more robots. The other earth mages then use their power to bring the robots above the surface. Robots flood the surface coming up one after another like a geyser. The army gets a good look at the robots. The robots are around 5 feet long. There are drill bits at the front, and thrusts on the back. ¡°Adams, your class is Beast Summoner. Do Monster Identify to see what we are dealing with." Archum says. ¡°Yes sir.¡± Adams looks at a robot. ¡°Identify.¡±
Robot: Digger Model XG2416
Information: Have the ability to travel through ground as easily as people do air. Has thrusters that can dramatically increase it''s linear speed. Not good at turning well.
Level268
Health ???Mana ???
Strength ??? Dexterity ???
Vitality???Charisma???
Intelligence???Wisdom???
Luck???
Attack???Defense???
Since Adams is part of the army, everyone can see the information that Adam had scanned. ¡°So their goal was to use these robots to attack underground this whole time.¡± Someone says. ¡°As if we''d let them get what they want!¡± Lachford yells out. ¡°Earth mages! Do not let them get within 100 feet of this library! It would be too huge of an embarrassment! Show Winford he made a huge mistake betraying Gnosia!¡± The earth mages make a general strategy. They''ve noticed that these digging robots can only use their thrusts for a limited time, around 4 seconds in total. However during that time, they become nearly impossible to bring above ground. They have to predict where it will go. Their only strategy is to bring it above ground, where they are slow. They cant build earthen walls underground as the robots could easily penetrate through them. Archum feels the situation is under control for now. Gnosia''s defense system was keeping the rebels at bay, and the earth mages are doing a good job of finding and bringing the robots above ground. He looks at the rebels. The shield warriors are blocking the attacks from Gnosia''s defense system and are barely hanging on, but it''s clear they won''t last much longer. Each time grenades or rockets fall, someone on the rebel''s side falls. The shield warriors found it increasingly difficult to protect others and had no choice but to protect themselves. Every time a shield warrior tried to charge through, all the attacks of the defense system would focus on that person. It was when the shield warriors fell to a scant number that Archum made a decision. ''Now should be a good time to use it. A pity. You''re about to be taken out by the weapon that you yourself designed.'' Archum thinks looking at Winford. What makes Archum uneasy is that despite losing a lot of personnel, and despite being cornered by Gnosia''s defense system, Winford isn''t flustered in the slightest. He''s just standing there calmly while the metallic tentacles on his armor deflects the projectiles aimed at him like flowing water. The density of people around Winford is the highest, partially because people want to protect him, and partially because around Winford is where it is safest. ¡°Activate the trap!¡± Archum yells out. BZZZZ! A circle glows under the rebels'' feet. It''s around 100 feet in diameter. It starts glowing white and buzzing. ¡°What is this?¡± One of the rebels asked. ¡°There is no escape from this once it activates. Claris has most likely upgraded this to a feature I can no longer recognize.¡± Winford tells him. A calligrapher tries to make a transmutation circle, but finds that it keeps failing. ¡°I can''t teleport out!¡± He yells frantic. ¡°We''re all trapped in here!¡± One stubborn shield warrior tries his luck escaping. He runs towards the edge of the trap with bullets firing on him. Strangely enough, the projectiles do not focus on him, as if saying even if we don''t hit you, you still won''t be able to leave. He felt an invisible force pushing him back. The closer he got to the edge, the more the force pushed him back. He wasn''t even halfway there before the force multiplied exponentially and pushed him back towards the center. ¡°How in the world...¡± The shield warrior scratches his head confused. ¡°The worst is yet to come.¡± Winford says calmly. Sounds of mechanical parts turning is heard. A platform raises from the ground. Whats looks like a massive rifle forms once the platform finishes raising. The rifle looks to be around half a kilometer long. ¡°What is that?¡± A rebel asks looking fearful at the weapon that''s aimed at them. ¡°That''s one of Gnosia''s most powerful weapons. A weapon that relies on pure kinetic energy to fire a pillar of black iron at subluminal speeds that can penetrate anything in its path. Its impact is the equivalent of 10000000 tons of gunpowder. Shields and barriers can do nothing against it. It really is exceptional I was able to make something like this that didn''t rely on the new technology I invented. This trap that we''re in, nothing can escape it. It is able to contain that weapon''s massive power so that it doesn''t damage the surroundings.¡± This sends terror to the rebels trapped in there. ¡°Sir, what do we do?¡± ¡°Patience.¡± Winford says calmly. ******* Inside Gnosia''s defense center. Claris is sitting in the main operator''s chair. Her fingers are a blur. She is constantly gulping down mana potions to replenish her mana due to it being lost by constantly upgrading. She''s in charge of protecting everyone in Gnosia, and it has been a really taxing job for her. Constantly upgrading various parts of the defense system has not been easy on her. The coup d''etat had only started a little more than 6 hours ago, but for Claris, it feels like it has been an entire day. ¡°Ma''am. Bertha XL is charged at 60%.¡± A tinkerer tells her. ¡°Good. Turn off the rest of the safety valves. Archers, make sure your shot lines over the trap Winford and the rest of the rebels are in. I do not want us to hit anyone from our side. Only take the shot if you are 100% sure!¡± Claris tells them. That weapon can only be fired when all 10 archers press the trigger. ¡°Yes ma''am!¡± Everyone replies back respectfully. Sounds of various switches flipping could be heard. ¡°Ma''am. Bertha XL is charged at 80%.¡± A tinkerer tells her. ¡°Okay. Now is the moment of truth. Load the pillar into the firing chamber.¡± Claris tells them. The pillar was put into the chamber like a bullet being loaded. The front of Big Bertha started spinning. The pillar that was loaded in started rotating. Each second that passed by, the speed of the pillar''s rotation grew faster and faster. The pillar started to turn red because it was generating so much heat. ¡°Ma''am. Bertha XL is now at 100%!¡± The tinkerer says. Claris closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. ''Master, thanks for the memories.'' She thinks, remembering fond memories. Her face then changes to one of resolution. ¡°Fire!¡± ******* ¡°It looks like that thing is about to fire.¡± One of the rebels says. ¡°There won''t even be a piece of us left if that thing hits!¡± This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Winford then says, ¡°These things, I had already foreseen them. I wanted them to bring out this library''s best defense, because when bring it down, their hope and morale will follow.¡± Just when Gnosia''s side was confident of their win, someone yelled something that poured a cold bucket of water on them. An airmage said, ¡°Sir, there are hundreds of air borne robots coming this way! I haven''t seen this model either!¡± These robots looked like bombers, only sleeker and faster in design. Some of the wind mages in the air tried to attack these robots, but their armor was just too strong. ¡°Let''s just attack one robot at a time!¡± The head wind mage said. The wind mages together create a giant air blast that destroys that robots armor, then finally the rest of the robot. When that robot broke apart, their hearts shook. Loaded on the robots were hundreds of bombs. ¡°Everybody below! Run!¡± The wind mage leader said to his allies. The wind mages tried their best to deflect most of the bombs from Gnosia''s side, but there were just far too many. All the robots in the air released their payload. Some earth mages made huge barriers made of earth above them to protect their allies. Some earth mages brought the people around them underground to protect against the explosives. Unfortunately, some of the bombs had exploded on the locking mechanism on the trap which had freed the rebels. With that done, around three or so calligraphers who had found a way to bind with a teleportation circle, came out and ran towards Bertha XL. That gun was very close to firing. It had already built up too much power. If it didn''t launch, Bertha XL would explode killing them all. ******* ¡°Shit! Winford managed to escape!¡± Claris yells out in frustration. ''Looks like we have no choice but to dampen the power and fire at a barrier trap in an unpopulated area.'' She thinks clenching her teeth. Just when she was about to issue her commands, one of the people that were supposed to be on her side suddenly held something in his hand. The assassins hidden in the shadows were quick to react. They cut off his hand before he had a chance to even use what he had. Another assassin quickly beheaded him. When his body fell to the ground, green gas had poured from his clothes and quickly spread around. ¡°Shit! We have to get out of here!¡± Yells Claris. Seeing the cloud of death heading towards them, they quickly ran out the room. The air conditioning unit turned on, and started cleaning out the air. They would be able to go back into the control room, but it will take a while for them to reenter. ******** The calligraphers had created a giant teleportation circle around Bertha XL. Bombs were still raining down on Gnosia''s side, so they could not do anything. It took them around 10 minutes to complete the circle. They then activated the teleportation circle. A blue glow starts flowing through the newly laid out teleportation circle. When they were done, they had passed out due to not having any mana in their system. In the real world, people can live without mana, but in New Reality, mana is inextricably linked to someone''s body. People evolved with the mana. Bertha XL didn''t move that much: Only a few degrees. However, the more mass something has, the more mana is required to move it. When Gnosia''s side saw where the gun was aimed at, their blood had turned cold. Bertha XL was now aimed at the library. Bertha XL was about to explode. Someone had to fire the gun before it could endanger the city. ******** A beeping sound is heard that signaled that it is now safe to enter the control room. Claris and them ran in hoping to salvage the situation. They saw that the computers were beeping a warning. Bertha XL was about to explode! ¡°Ready the controls! We have to fire this thing!¡± ¡°Ma''am! Bertha XL is aimed at the library!¡± ¡°We have no choice! The library has a powerful barrier surrounding it, so no lives will be lost if we fire this there!¡± The archers got in their computer chairs. ''We were played for fools.'' Claris thinks. ¡°Ready, fire!¡± ******** A deafening sound was heard all throughout Gnosia. Most people did not know what the cause of that sound was. A pillar was fired. It was so fast, that no one would be able to see it even if they were looking at the weapon directly. Huge arrays of glowing transmutation circles start to surround the library. The transmutation circles were glowing and dancing around. It was a beautiful site. The pillar that was launched had already turned into plasma by the time it reached the library''s shields. Sounds of a huge explosion coming from the impact rang throughout all of Gnosia. Everyone in the city had to shield their ears. If it weren''t for the fact that the library''s shields absorbed most of the sound damage, everyone there would have turned deaf. The explosion was about to spread out, but the library''s shields absorbs them in time. It didn''t take long for the library''s shields to completely fail. The explosion starts to fade. Sounds of glass cracking could be heard. The sounds were coming from the breaking barriers surrounding the library. Centuries of accumulated mana inside those transmutation circles were all used up. Meanwhile, the rebels themselves were celebrating. ¡°The libraries shields are down!¡± ¡°Now nothing can stop us!¡± ¡°Sorry for deceiving you all.¡± Winford tells his allies. ¡°I had to keep you in the dark. If you were to know, they would know what I had planned.¡± ¡°Sir, it''s fine. This was all necessary. We have to get the gods'' blessings.¡± The rebels started walking towards the library with Winford in the front. He had all of this planned: Bertha XL guarding the library, goading Gnosia to use it. They had all fell for it and Gnosia''s side realizes it. The army was mostly incapacitated right now. The few people who could fight back were badly outmatched. Now the robots that were all over Gnosia had come to this place. Right before the stairs leading up the library, Winford climbs up the stairs and addresses the rebels. ¡°All that we have waited for, all that we have dreamed is now finally about to be realized!¡± Cheers could be heard. The rebels were smiling from ear to ear. Some were jumping up and down. Some were doing fist pumps. Winford watches this briefly, then his face changes to seriousness. He walks up the stairs, and takes his first step into the library. ********** Null and his group were in the middle of resting when they heard the boom that spanned Gnosia. ¡°What was that?¡± Null asks the people with him. He''s been hearing signs of battle, but he has never heard something that loud so far. That did not come from an ordinary weapon. ¡°Wow. To think we were forced to use Big Bertha XL. Winford truly is formidable.¡± Aldan says sighing. ''What in the world is Big Bertha XL? We are in an almost sound proof room, and yet I still almost became deaf.'' Null thinks in astonishment. ¡°Null, Big Bertha XL is Gnosia''s most powerful weapon. It fires a pillar that relies only on its momentum to deliver a powerful blow!¡± Aldan says with pride. ¡°It''s something only a tinkerer would be able to make.¡± ¡°Just its momentum?¡± Null says in shock. Null knows physics, and knows that for something to release that much energy relying just on momentum either requires a high mass, high velocity, or both. ''I want to see how that weapon works.'' Null thinks. ¡°Hmph. You tinkerer''s think you''re so smart, yet you still got duped by Winford.¡± Someone there says in disdain. ¡°What? Your primitive mind too small to even comprehend what Null and I are talking about?¡± Aldan replies disrespectfully back. ''*sigh* I regret choosing to help these people.'' Null then shakes his head. ''Remember Null. This is only temporary. This is the price I have to pay in order to advance. When this is over, I will never have to see another person in this game ever again.'' Null thinks in his mind as he watches the people he''s with arguing. Null and the people assigned to him are currently in Aldan''s laboratory. They had just come back from rescuing as many people as they could. They''ve been repeatedly going out for the past six hours and had only managed to take out 27 robots. If it weren''t for the fact that Null could manipulate mana, and could somewhat make the robots lose control, Null''s team wouldn''t have even been able to take out 10. Most people now have made it to one of the shelters in the city. Those that couldn''t make it to one have chosen to hide. Now everyone out in the open are the people who have chosen to participate in the civil war. ¡°Null, when do we head back out?¡± Null frowns as he puts his hand on his chin while thinking on his next move. ¡°I have an idea of some kind. I don''t know if it will work, so I will stay here with Aldan while the rest of you head out.¡± ¡°But, you''re the reason we can even take out Winford''s robots! There would be no point going out if you''re not with them!¡± Aldan yells out. ¡°The way we''re taking out the robots is far too inefficient. At the rate we''re going, we will fail the overall mission of protecting this city.¡± Null says calmly, but you could hear the annoyed undertones. ¡°I agree with Null''s decision. If we were to keep going with the same method, we would eventually lose this war.¡± The blacksmith with them says. That blacksmith''s name is Ferron. He is one of the best blacksmiths in the city. The blacksmiths and the tinkerers'' relationships could be described as less than civil. In fact, you could call it downright hostile. It''s unknown whether Ferron is agreeing with Null due to liking his idea, or disagreeing with Aldan. It''s probably both. ¡°Of course the primitive blacksmith would disagree with me. Hmph.¡± Aldan snubs his nose at him looking away. ¡°You weak uppity tinkerers need to know your place!¡± Ferron says angrily to Aldan grabbing his hammer. ¡°You blacksmiths only know how to resort to violence!¡± Aldan says grabbing his wrench. Seeing Aldan and Ferron about to go to blows, Null sighs once again and says, ¡°You know what? I''m tired of all of you. This city being destroyed has nothing to do with me. Maybe I should just break into the second floor of the library while everyone''s distracted with this war. It would be a lot easier than putting up with you people.¡± Aldan, Ferron, and everyone in the room stare at Null. ¡°Pffft.¡± ¡°HAHAHA!¡± Everyone starts laughing. ¡°What''s so funny?¡± Null says annoyed. Aldan wipes his tears while chuckling and explains. ¡°Null, you know that this defense system is relatively recent right?¡± ¡°Okay, so what does that have to do with anything?¡± ¡°Even before this defense system protected Gnosia, even though Gnosia has been conquered by outside powers numerous times, that library has never once been breached throughout its history.¡± This came as a huge shock to Null. ¡°How is that even possible?¡± ¡°It''s because of the librarian that guards the library.¡± Ferron continues where Aldan left off. ¡°The librarian?¡± Null says skeptically momentarily forgetting that he''s a librarian himself. ¡°Well, its only one powerful librarian at a time. The powers have been passed down, though no one knows how it works but them. Even if Winford were to completely destroy the city, I''m confident that the library will still stand.¡± ¡°Huh.¡± Null says sort of intrigued. ********** A sound reverberates throughout the area. It sounds as if something metal were broken through with a single blow. What was even more surprising was the sight of Winford being knocked back. He flew through the air as if he were a football. A huge hole was made in the library from where Winford started flying through. He went through five buildings before finally slowing down. When seeing Winford, he looks a mess. The armor he is wearing looks broken beyond repair. ''Heh. I thought this armor would last a little longer going against him. He was already placed extremely high in my mind, and yet I still underestimated him.'' Winford takes off his armor and replaces with even more powerful armor. ¡°This little brat.¡± A gruff voice is heard coming from the library along with footsteps. The hole Winford made going through the library wall had already shown signs of healing as if it were a living thing! A man walks down the steps slowly. ¡°I don''t care what you do to anything else, but when you tried to destroy this library, your little coup d''etat became my problem.¡± He was a rather tall person who had a long white beard, glasses, and had on scholarly robes. He looked rather old, but still looked like someone you didn''t want to mess with. The glare given off from his glasses made the rebels'' hearts chill. He had no weapons on him: Only a single book. ---------- Author''s Note: The librarian enters the stage. Next chapter you will see what a librarian is capable of. So... About my absence. Honestly, I had just gotten bored with this. No pay and I was working so hard on this. I just needed a break. Then I had forgotten about this thing. It was when I was looking at the original One Punch Man web comic by ONE. Everyday, I would look at the updates and there would be none. One month. Two months. Three months. Nothing. I thought to myself, ''Geez. This guy doesn''t update for months at a time with no warning. What an asshole!'' It''s then I remembered I never updated my own work in a long time. I''m that asshole! Fuck! So this work isn''t canceled, and I intend to finish it. Well, as a consolation, I finished this arc, so there''s that. Chapter 41: A Librarians True Power Author''s Note: Get ready for some librarian on tinkerer action. ------------- The man takes his time walking slowly down the stairs. He appears to be in no hurry. Every step he takes forward, the rebels take two steps back. This is who the rebels all fear the most. That man stops walking once he reaches the bottom of the stairs. ¡°I-It''s him!¡± One rebel whispers as if he trying not to be noticed by that man. ¡°Gnosia''s most powerful person: Emmanuel Newton.¡± Another person says while slowly stepping back. ¡°I didn''t think he would come out so soon.¡± Another person says visibly shivering. ¡°Even if we all attack him together, we would be no match! We have to get out of here!¡± Someone yells in a panic. As if on cue, all the rebels scatter as to avoid Emmanuel''s wrath. ¡°Hmph! You try to destroy this library, and think you can leave just like that?¡± Emmanuel says with a glare shining on his glasses. He stomps on the ground and multiple black ink marks come traveling out in blinding speed on the ground. The ink lines bend and warp around as if they are snakes that had found prey. ¡°He''s attacking!¡± Someone yells out while fleeing. ¡°No matter how powerful he is, I just won''t sit still and let him attack me!¡± A fire mage yells while turning around from running to face Emmanuel. You can tell from his trembling expression and his soiled pants that he''s afraid, but a cornered rat is when a rat is most vicious. One of the black ink lines from Emmanuel wraps around the fire mage faster than he could move out of the way. The ink line slithers menacingly, making it to the transmutation circle on the fire mage''s robe. The ink lines connects, and the transmutation circle visibly changes. When that fire mage tried to use his transmutation circle to fire off a fire based magic spell, he found that he was unable to use any of his fire powers. ¡°Dammit!¡± That fire mage says eyes open in shock. Nothing but horror is in his expression now. ¡°I can''t use my transmutation circle at all!¡± Most people in New Reality would be lucky to even bind to one or two transmutation circles. The transmutation circle that they want to bind with has to be compatible with them. Any change in the transmutation circle by the wrong type of person would result in the circle not being usable to the person. Even though compatibility makes circles so fragile, most people who wear them are not worried. Even if they get damaged, transmutation circles are easily repaired, depending on where you place them. For example, if you place a transmutation circle on a sword and it gets damaged, you can repair the circle with Weapon/Armor Repair along with the sword. Even if a calligrapher tries to write over it, the transmutation circle will work just the same as before. However, there is one way to change a transmutation circle, and that is with the skill Transmutation Circle Creation. Calligraphers can only copy transmutation circles. They can also change them, but once that calligrapher changes that transmutation circle, that circle becomes useless. Only someone with the skill Transmutation Circle Creation can create and change transmutation circles, and still get them to work. All the circles that the rebels have have been copied and pasted from some original circles that some special librarians had designed with their Transmutation Circle Creation skill. Even the teleportation circles the calligraphers have created have been copied using the skill Copy-Paste. Given how rare the skill Transmutation Circle Creation is, as it requires a person with the librarian class to get intermediate in five classes, most people don''t even worry about not being able to use their transmutation circles. The rebels knew that the head librarian of Gnosia had this ability, but they thought that they would be long gone by the time he came out. That is why they are in such a panic. ¡°Since you are in such a rush to die, let me help you.¡± Emmanuel says calmly to that fire mage. That transmutation circle that is attached to the fire mage starts changing again. The circle then activates, out of the fire mage''s control. ¡°AAAAAAAAH!¡± The flame mage starts screaming. A bright flame bursts forth, covering his entire body. It didn''t take long for him to burn into ashes. The rebels look on in horror. ¡°He... He couldn''t even do anything!¡± An air mage rebel says in the air. ¡°This will turn into a massacre if we stay here.¡± A warrior rebel says shaking while slowly backing up. ¡°Don''t worry. You all will soon be joining him.¡± Emmanuel says passing his judgment on the rebels. ¡°Run!¡± ¡°Flee!¡± More ink lines come from Emmanuel''s foot. It looks like the ink lines coming out travel much farther and faster than what Null, or any calligrapher there is capable of. Null can only control two ink lines at a time with adequate control with his Ink Hand technique, and the maximum range is 7 meters. If Null tried to control more lines, he would quickly lose control of them. Emmanuel however has not moved at all. His arms are crossed, and he''s looking on as if he''s watching something that has nothing to do with him. He moves those ink lines as easily as one would move their pinky: Effortless. His ink lines reach a warrior who specializes in speed, 84 meters away! It looks as if Emmanuel has no limit on how far the lines can go. What''s even more surprising is that he''s controlling the lines with one foot. Null is only capable of adequate control when the ink is coming from his hands. Emmanuel however can make ink come from any part of his body. Yes. Anywhere. Even there. Don''t think about it. Some die by having their transmutation circles changed to bury them alive. Some die by having their transmutation circles summon a globe of water around them and drowning them. They die in a myriad of ways. None of them pleasant. Since the remaining rebels decided that their chance of escape was small, they tried attacking Emmanuel at the same time. Arrows, magic spells, and bullets. They all surround Emmanuel so that not even a mouse would be able to escape that onslaught. Emmanuel then raises his hands in the air. A colossal amount of mana gets summoned from his body. There''s so much mana being generated, that he shines like the moon on a starless night, even during the day! That mana condenses and becomes a shield construct made entirely of mana. The shield dome shaped in nature, and proved to be very sturdy. The rebels last ditch all out attack couldn''t even make the shield budge. Unfortunately for Emmanuel, mana constructs take a huge amount of mana, so Emmanuel can''t summon them for long periods of time. Fortunately, he doesn''t need a huge amount of time for them. One of the more powerful earth mages surrounded himself in an earthen dome so that the ink lines do not make it to him. He then tries to use his powers to turn the earth underneath Emmanuel''s feet into a soft mud in order to drag Emmanuel into the earth. ¡°Hmph.¡± The land under Emmanuel''s feet changes. A white light shines on the land he stands on and changes it. He changes the land back into some glass-like surface. The earthen dome that the earth mage has surrounding him has a transmutation circle drawn upon it. The transmutation circle starts to glow. The earthen dome protecting the earth mage becomes a prison. He can no longer control the earth that he had manipulated. It starts constricting around him and changing into coal. His screams were being muffled by the coal surrounding, suffocating, and crushing him. ¡°Wow. To think that librarians could even change composition of things.¡± A warrior on Gnosia''s side comments. ¡°That wasn''t a librarian technique.¡± An alchemist shakes his head correcting the person. ¡°That''s was an alchemist technique called Transmutation Mineralization. Only an advanced level alchemist is capable of that. I thought only the head alchemist here was at the advanced level in alchemy. I had no idea Emmanuel was there too.¡± He says astonished. While the rebels were trying to escape, one of the wind mage rebels notice that the ink lines are only traveling on the ground. ¡°Hey, have you noticed that the lines only travel along the ground?¡± An air mage rebel says. ¡°Huh. You''re right! We might have a chance!¡± Another air mage says with newly revived hope filling his eyes. ¡°We''ll have the glory of taking out Emmanuel Newton. Heheh.¡± Someone says with an evil grin. They fly high above the ground just above Emmanuel, and arrange themselves in a circle to set off a terrifying combination attack. The attack they are using is a wind mage technique called Vacuum Pulse. It''s a high level wind mage technique that first hits you with a high powered blast of air, then the vacuum that''s created creates a second attack that pulls in the wind causing a shock wave to further damages you. What makes the attack even more potent is that the attack is invisible. There is no ¡°wind is green¡± in New Reality. While Emmanuel is massacring the rebels, he notices their plan. ¡°Hmph.¡± Is all he says. He doesn''t hold these people in any regard at all. Emmanuel''s finger raises in the air. A little gap appears in his mana shield. Once again ink appears on Emmanuel. This time however, the ink appears on his finger. The ink line does something unexpected. It travels in the air at the same blinding speed as it did on the ground. It splits just the same as it did on the ground. The wind mages were caught off guard. ¡°He can create ink in the air!?¡± ¡°That''s an advanced level calligraphy technique!¡± ¡°God dammit! That''s just cheating!¡± They died just as brutally as everyone else. They had died from asphyxiation. The sounds of anguish and terror from the rebel''s side continued until there were very few left. Unfortunately for Gnosia''s side, Winford was not taken down so easily. Winford knows that a transmutation circle needs to be completed before it can work. Any transmutation circle that is attempted to be drawn on him gets interrupted when his armor changes shape. It''s hard to draw a circle on such dynamic armor, so he''s safe for now. With Emmanuel sparing no one, even Gnosia''s side have pale faces on them. ¡°This is too unreal! He hasn''t even moved!¡± One warrior says watching Emmanuel''s fight like his life depended on it. ¡°He is so merciless! I''m glad he''s on our side.¡± Another person says shaking his head. ¡°I always thought the stories about Emmanuel have been greatly exaggerated. It appears I was wrong. I thought he was just a librarian.¡± A warrior says. ¡°¡±Just a librarian?¡± While they are mostly weak, a librarian has the potential to become very terrifying! Just look in front of you! Most of us mages started out trying to be librarians hoping to be even a sliver as powerful as Emmanuel, but that class is just too difficult to develop.¡± He says that last sentence in a sour mood. ¡°Yeah. We started out not having any stat boosts from that class. I remember being frightened from even seeing a common rabbit. Haah. Those were the days. Being a librarian is great and all, but I''ll stick with being a mage.¡± ¡°Looks like the final battle is about to start. The survivors that were able to escape abandoned Winford. He''s by himself. Looks like Emmanuel''s transmutation circles don''t work on him. Dammit. I thought it would be an easy victory with Emmanuel out on a rampage.¡± ¡°Don''t forget. Winford is one of the very few to make it to the advanced stage in his mastery, the same as Emmanuel. Of course he won''t go down that easy.¡± Winford looks at Emmanuel Newton completely different from everyone else. Winford had held everyone attacking him with disdain. However, with Emmanuel, he looks at him with respect. That respect isn''t reciprocated however. Emmanuel starts walking slowly towards Winford and looks at him as if he''s an annoying fly. He stops a few meters away from Winford. ¡°As the leader of this little movement, you will not have the luxury of dying so quickly as your underlings.¡± Emmanuel says to Winford as if stating a fact. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! ¡°Tch.¡± Winford says as all the tentacles move at blinding speed to attack Emmanuel. Emmanuel didn''t even move as the mana surrounding him condensed into a mana shield. The tentacles bounce off the shield with a ¡°Clang¡± sound. The mana shield disappears. Emmanuel raises a hand in the air. More ink lines start forming. They form into a transmutation around the size of Emmanuel himself. The circle starts to glow. Fire starts blazing out of that transmutation circle and condenses into a ball. Extra plating starts sticking out of Winford''s armor and covering him. Emmanuel launches his attack. Massive fireballs fire at Winford and he is hit. Winford is pushed greatly back and collides into a building. His armored plating has some cracks, but other than that he''s fine. He quickly uses his repair skill to repair his armor. Emmanuel creates more transmutation circles in the air. They contain different elements condensing to form different attacks. Wheels form from under Winford''s feet as he rushes towards Emmanuel. Winford also gets rid of his extra plating, as they impede his mobility. He dodges some in the nick of time, but he is still hit. The damage though didn''t look to be that serious. Winford is trying to get back up from Emmanuel''s last attack. He then sees a bright light glowing on the ground. He realizes that this glow is not something that''s on the ground. This glow is coming from the very ground their standing on, as Emmanuel changes the ground to suit his needs. He uses the trick that earth mage had tried to use on him before: Turning the ground into a soft mud to trap his enemy. Winford was quick to react before any damage was done. The armor on his arm changes. A grappling hook appears on his arm. He fires it towards the top of a building and pulls himself towards it. Emmanuel though still wasn''t done. He then changes the composition of the building he is pulling himself towards. It starts turning into mud. Winford starts releasing the hook from the building being demolished and starts using his grappling hook towards other buildings. Emmanuel steadily turns all the buildings around Winford into mush, leading Winford''s building escape plan to failure. Seeing as how using his grappling hook is now useless, he summons a flying robot towards him and uses it as a platform. Emmanuel follows suit. Two transmutation circles appear underneath his shoes. A gale starts blowing from him. It''s so powerful that even the Gnosia army far away have to cover their faces. With a leap, the circles under his feet glow. Two huge wind blasts are fired from his feet, enabling him to fly. Emmanuel chases after Winford, and the gap between them steadily closes more and more. Emmanuel spreads out an arm. Mana starts to condense and grow out. At around 5 meters, the mana starts to stabilize. He creates a giant sword made out of mana. He then adds transmutation circles on the giant sword. Those transmutation circles join together to create a transmutation circle array. Those transmutation circles look like they increase the sword''s power. Winford knows it would be terrible if that sword were to hit him. He has already wasted a lot of mana on repairing his armors. The more components there are to a gadget, the more mana a person needs to repair it. Since Winford''s armor is so advanced, he uses up a lot of mana to repair it. He can''t afford to repair his armor too many times or he''ll run out of mana. He pulls out a huge grenade launcher and starts firing shots. Emmanuel swings his arm out along with that huge sword. Emmanuel''s mana sword is able to deflect most of the bombs coming towards him. Multiple explosions go out due to Winford''s bombs, and they seem far more powerful than the bombs that Null uses. Emmanuel''s sword manages to block most of the bombs, but he has to fly out of the way of some of them. Winford then takes out his giant sword. ¡°Upgrade!¡± Winford uses his tinkerer skill, Upgrade to upgrade his sword into a gargantuan sword about the same size as Emmanuel''s sword. Emmanuel flies towards Winford while Winford rides on his robot towards Emmanuel. When those two swords meet, a huge shockwave is generated. During that collision, Winford was clearly in the weaker position. He was pushed back, even with his robot helping him. Still, a huge dent with cracks showing was present on Emmanuel''s sword. The mana sword Emmanuel has starts to change. It starts to change into a ball. Four additional appendages come out. It''s a mana construct made into a giant hand. He starts flying towards Winford with an open palm. Winford takes out his chain gun to shoot Winford from afar. However, the bullets can''t get through Winford''s giant hand. He switches over to his grenade launcher. The weapon manages to make the hand construct shake, but it was still growing strong. Seeing as the hand was about to approach him, Winford pulls out one of his most powerful works. Due to Winford being a high leveled tinkerer, he has a huge amount of bag space contained on his person. He pulls out a metallic arm around half the size of Emmanuel''s mana fist. ¡°Tch. You think you can beat my Fist of the Titan so easily? Upgrade!¡± Winford then upgraded the fist to be just about the size of Emmanuel''s. The fists countered each other as they became emboldened in a hand lock. Emmanuel then clinched his fist, crushing Winford''s giant fist little by little. Winford detaches the fist and retreats. A huge explosion! That fist was actually a gigantic bomb. Even Emmanuel didn''t come out unscathed from that surprise attack. Emmanuel was finally injured for the first time, though it was only superficial wounds. Meanwhile on the ground, Gnosia''s side was watching this battle in astonishment. ¡°Winford truly is powerful. To think he is still alive after facing Emmanuel.¡± ¡°Still, it''s clearly seen that Emmanuel is stronger. Winford is only delaying the inevitable.¡± Emmanuel creates more transmutation circles in the air. They once again fire at Winford. He manages to dodge most, but not all. A boulder smashes against his arm. The armor is unresponsive in that arm. A huge fireball is aimed at Winford''s head. This throws the sensors he has built into his head in disarray. The robot Winford is riding on is also hit. It''s starts flying erratically, trying to stabilize its flight. Emmanuel aims and Winford is hit again. This time, the robot''s wing he is flying on is damaged. Winford doesn''t have the time nor the mana to repair this damage. The robot that he''s on starts falling towards the ground. Winford jumps off it before it crashes. Luckily for Winford, he and Emmanuel''s battle traveled far from where Emmanuel had changed the ground, so there was ground to stand on. Winford was in pretty bad shape. His armor was in a mess. It will take him a while with the repair skill to repair the damages. The ground then starts to glow again. Winford sinks and becomes trapped! Only his upper torso and body is visible. Emmanuel lowers himself and levitates above the trapped Winford with his arms crossed. ¡°You''ve done well. You even managed to slightly injure me. However now, it''s over.¡± Emmanuel says walking slowly towards Winford. Winford struggles to get out of this predicament, but it looks like he''s stuck. The controls that still work on his helmet are giving the command to retract. The helmet retreats onto his armor showing his bruised, beat up face. Despite being trapped, despite looking like he''s on his last legs, he still has that smile that is saying that everything is acting according to his plan. That smile unsettles Emmanuel a bit. It''s then that the ground starts rumbling. Not only that, Gnosia''s army sees something that shocks them. A huge army of robots start approaching, from the land, from underground, and from in the air. Each of these robots are the most powerful robots in Winford''s arsenal. They are all level 300+. He was waiting for Emmanuel to spend his mana just for this moment. Flying robot suicide bombers dive towards Emmanuel. Emmanuel created three transmutation circles while flying in the air. The robots aren''t like the rebels he fought before. They are far more powerful and durable. However, Emmanuel still manages to take the robots out in one hit due to his sheer power. He manages to take out a few before the attacks got to be too much even for him. Emmanuel puts up a mana shield. The shield is able to hold for a while, but there are just far too many robots. He only has so much mana inside of him. The collisions aren''t very powerful, but there are just so many. Cracks start showing up in Emmanuel''s mana shield. It didn''t take long for that mana shield to shatter. He realizes that it''s not a good idea to stay in the air, lest he become an easy target with everything able to fire at him. After he lands on the ground, he puts up earthen pillars to block the flight trajectories of the suicide bomber robots. Those giant humanoid robots start ramming through the pillars and charging towards Emmanuel. There are some that are destroyed, but some are able to make it towards him. Emmanuel uses his alchemy to sink them into the ground. However, the robots that dig are immune to this, and help dig out the suicide bomber robots. The suicide robots then resumed their attacks. This was a battle of attrition, and Emmanuel was losing. ''I don''t have that much mana left. Should I withdraw temporarily?'' Emmanuel ponders in his mind. The attacks start ramping up. The attacks steadily increase while Emmanuel''s mana decreases. Emmanuel eventually gets overwhelmed. An explosion hits Emmanuel. Blood spurts out his mouth. This is the first time Emmanuel''s face shows anger. He tries to escape by flying away, but he gets mobbed. Attack after attack is brought upon Emmanuel, with no breaks in between. It was then, that Emmanuel falls to the ground beaten. All of Gnosia''s hope falls when Emmanuel falls. ¡°He... He actually lost!?¡± ¡°He was our last hope. *sigh*¡± ¡°We have to save him!¡± That person yelling that starts to rush out. ¡°Don''t be an idiot!¡± Archum yells at him and others attempting to save him. ¡°If Emmanuel himself couldn''t stop him, what makes you think we have a chance?!¡± They all look down depressed knowing that Archum is right. ¡°All we would be doing is throwing our lives away. I''m sure Winford will not kill him for now. Knowing him, he''ll make a big public wide execution.¡± ¡°But what can we do?¡± Someone asks Archum anxiously. ¡°We retreat and hope for a miracle.¡± Gnosia''s army retreats. Winford''s robots don''t pursue. Winford sees them as no threat. Pretty soon Winford plans on taking over the entire city, and there will be no place left for them to hide. He also knows all of their strategies. After all, he helped develop most of them. Winford is now out of the ground due to his robots digging him out. He walks towards Emmanuel''s downed body. Emmanuel looks at Winford with clenched teeth. ¡°What''s with that look?¡± Winford gloats. ¡°You probably imagined yourself invincible in this city, right? You were the hardest obstacle in my plan. Don''t worry, you''ll live. For now anyways.¡± Winford snaps his fingers. Locks and chains covered in depleted mana stones are put over Emmanuel. Now he can''t use any techniques at all. All those mana stones suck in Emmanuel''s mana and spit it out random. It happens so rapidly that Emmanuel can''t control it at all. They take him away with Emmanuel not knowing what''s in store for him. ------------ Author''s Note: Null''s end path will not look like this. It won''t even be similar. This was just to show what a librarian is capable of. On another note, the toaster burned my toast, the lights went out when I took a shower, and my broadband keeps cutting off. We don''t have to wait for a robot uprising! It has already begun! Curse their annoying, inconvenient revolution! Chapter 42: The Secrets of the Mana Stone Author''s Note: Just some crafting in this chapter, so you can skip it to those that don''t like that. ---------- Let''s go back to just before the battle started between Emmanuel and Winford. Null starts laying out the details of his plan to Aldan to see if his plan is feasible. ¡°So you''re saying use the depleted mana stones along with the mana stones along with a material conductive to mana. Am I hearing this correctly Null?¡± Aldan asks. ¡°Correct. What do you think? You''ve been the only person besides Winford trying to make mana based technology, so you are the best person to ask.¡± Aldan''s eyes start to shine. He starts to shiver. ¡°Aldan?¡± Null asks. ''Was the idea that bad, and he''s trying to stop himself from laughing?'' Null ponders. ¡°BRILLLIAAAANT!¡± Aldan yells out with a smile while jumping up and down. ''Oh.'' Null thinks. Everything that was so cloudy before had suddenly come to light in Aldan''s eyes. While he is jumping up and down, Null just looks on with no emotion. Null now knows that he is on the right track. ¡°I''ve never even thought of that! Now that I think about it, depleted mana stones don''t do any good to anything.¡± Aldan now calms down and starts thinking seriously. He paces back and forth with a frown, repeatedly shaking his head and nodding from time to time. Aldan then says while pacing, ¡°Even if what you said worked, there are many problems. Depleted mana stones are called an environmental hazard for a reason. They will take in and spit out mana erratically. How will you deal with that? Even if you do manage to make a circuit, the depleted mana stone will still pose a problem. That depleted mana stone will even interfere with the circuit that it itself helped create.¡± ¡°For now, I do not know, but I do have intermediate in alchemy and blacksmith, so I''ll probably figure something out in the long run. I want you to find suitable material for a mana conductor and an optimal configuration for it. Think you do it?¡± Null asks Aldan. Aldan nods with a smile and says, ¡°I knew that there was something special about you when I saw you. Let''s do this!¡± ¡°That''s because you''re an NPC and I triggered an event by coming here.¡± Null says under his breath. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Nothing. Let''s get started.¡± Null then faces the others in the room and says, ¡°You guys go and try to rescue as many people as you can without me. You won''t be any help here. Your top priority is your own lives. Don''t be a sacrificial hero.¡± A voice then interrupts Null. Ferron runs towards Null and says, ¡°Wait. I want in on this.¡± ¡°Why? With your meager abilities, you would only get in the way.¡± Aldan says bluntly to Ferron trying to incite him. Ferron ignores Aldan''s remark and says to Null, ¡°If you''re looking for materials, I am a good smelter, and I have loads of materials in my shop. Maybe, I can help.¡± ¡°My smelting is at intermediate. Your help is not needed.¡± Null says to Ferron apathetically. ¡°We don''t have time! You need to find someway to stop the negative effects of the depleted mana stones. How will you do that and smelt at the same time? We need to finish before Winford finds out about this project!¡± Null sighs. He knows Ferron is right, but he just wants to deal with as little people as possible if he has to. However, Null knows right now he doesn''t have that luxury. ¡°Fine. Let''s get started. Ferron, Aldan, you stay here. Everyone else...¡± Null starts assigning people to various jobs. Two assassins are in charge of periodically telling Null what''s happening on the outside world. One assassin is left with Null for surveillance. A single warrior is also left with Null. Everyone else goes out to try and rescue more stragglers, so in all, there are a total of five people including Null himself. ¡°Okay, let''s get started. In order for us to figure this out, Winford''s robots hold the key. Aldan, first tell me everything you know about Winford''s robots.¡± Aldan holds his chin in thought and says, ¡°Well... First off, they are pretty much immune to lightning attacks.¡± Null thinks about this. ''Immune to lightning attacks? That''s odd. Usually electronic equipment is very fragile when hit by large pulses of electricity. Either the robots have sufficient protection against lightning attacks, or the robots do not run on electricity at all. This wouldn''t make sense to just make the robots be super immune to electric attacks, because lightning mages in this city are relatively rare.'' Null nods. ¡°Okay. Continue.¡± ¡°Hmmm... Oh! What you mentioned before about robots dropping mana stones and depleted stones.¡± ¡°Anything else?¡± ¡°That''s all I can remember.¡± Aldan says. ¡°Ferron, what about you?¡± ¡°Barely know anything about em''. That''s outta my field of expertise.¡± Ferron says. ¡°I always thought they had dropped depleted mana stones due to bad luck. Everybody else assumed so too. No one knows how to stop their horrible effects so we just buried them deep inside the earth where their damage could be minimized. If what you say is true and they do need the depleted mana stones, how are the robots not affected by the depleted mana stones? Too bad the robots disappear when you kill them. I would love to study them.¡± Aldan says. ¡°Alright. I''m about to start the experiment. Aldan, bring out the depleted mana stone.¡± Null tells him. ¡°Okay.¡± Aldan puts on a suit reminiscent of old hazmat suits worn during the 30''s. Those suits are currently the best thing capable of minimizing the effects of the depleted mana stones, but even they do not work that well against them. However, it''s good enough to the point where the suits can barely handle the stones. Aldan goes to a storage area and picks up a miniature depleted mana stone with tongs. The miniature depleted mana stones are far easier to deal with than a full sized one, so they will use these for their experiments. Next, Null places a miniature mana stone on the floor, far away from the depleted mana stone so that they have very little interference with each other. ¡°Okay, first test. I will use the mana from my ink hand to see if it works.¡± Null tells Aldan. ¡°Ah! Right! Ink from the Ink Hand technique is a great conductor for mana!¡± Aldan thinks excited. Null places a finger on the mana stone. An ink line emerges from Null''s finger. The ink line travels across the floor until it connects to the depleted mana stone. Null then quickly steps back in order to see what kind of effect this will have. What happens after Null moves happens near instantaneously. The mana is drawn out of the mana stone towards the depleted mana stone using the ink line as the path the mana is pulled through. The originally black line starts glowing light blue. At first it looks like a success, but problems soon start arising. So much mana is being pulled out, that the vast majority of the mana starts leaking out of the ink line. It looks as if a glowing blue mist is growing out that ink line. Shortly afterwards, the ink line stops growing. The mana was pulled out of that mana stone, and while it hasn''t turned into a depleted mana stone yet, it''s very close to being one. ''So it didn''t work.'' Null thinks. To Null, this had looked like a failure, but to Aldan, his reaction was completely different. He was smiling from ear to ear and running around excited. ¡°You were right Null! A circuit can be made with a mana stone and a depleted mana stone! This is a huge first step!¡± Aldan yells out with joy. ¡°Alright. Now that we confirmed it, I''ll find a way to deal with the depleted mana stones. Aldan, you find a suitable material for the circuits. Ferron, smelt different materials for us to use.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Aldan says with a determined expression. ¡°This is gonna be fun.¡± Ferron comments with a smile. They soon get to work. Null wears the hazmat that protects somewhat against the depleted mana stones. He keeps using the skill Potion Creation to find a way to deal with the depleted mana stones, but he kept ending up short. Every once in a while, Null has to take a break from the depleted mana stone in order for his mana to not all be sucked out. Ferron was busy refining and purifying different ores that he had stored in his workshop and brought with him. He mixes different metals into differing ratios, trying to make a compound that could hold the mana without it leaking out. Compounds that do better are kept and experimented on. Compounds that do worse are discarded. Soon, a knock in a specific sequence was heard. Only Null''s group knows about this knock sequence. Null did this to differentiate his people from anybody else. If you were one of Null''s people, he will let you in. If you weren''t he would not, no matter who you were. What they were working on is supposed to be top secret. If Winford found out, he would not hesitate to kill them all. ¡°Come in.¡± Null says. Who greets him is one of the assassins that was sent to tell Null what was going on. ¡°What''s the situation outside?¡± Null asks the assassin. The assassin takes a deep breath and then sighs. He then says with melancholy, ¡°Emmanuel... Lost.¡± This makes everyone stop what they are doing at look to the assassin in shock. Aldan had dropped his tongs. Ferron''s mouth opens wide while he spills a mixture he was working on on the floor. Null has no change in expression. ¡°You sure that this wasn''t someone that looked like Emmanuel?¡± Ferron asks in astonishment. ¡°No, it was him.¡± That assassin says. ¡°But, this is impossible! How could he lose!? He is the most powerful person in this city!¡± Aldan says in shock. ¡°No way that he lost.¡± Ferron also expresses doubt. ¡°That man has the Transmutation Creation ability. His powers are only limited by his imagination. He also has the largest mana capacity I''ve ever seen in anyone. Are you telling me he lost?¡± The assassin speaks. ¡°Of course, Emmanuel had Winford on the run at first. Winford could barely do anything to him, but once Winford''s robots came into play, Emmanuel kept on fighting until his mana was exhausted.¡± ¡°So he was mobbed. Of course.¡± Ferron says with a hint of frustration. ¡°I''ll be honest. This is a huge shock to me. I honestly do not know what we are going to do. Do you all think we can do something Emmanuel himself couldn''t do?¡± Everyone is silent on this question. Just when Null was about to go back to what he was doing, another knock is heard. When Null let''s the person in, he finds that it''s the other assassin. He''s with the other people Null sent out to help other people. ¡°Null, I have a report.¡± ¡°Is it about that librarian guy losing? If so, I''ve already heard it.¡± Null says. ¡°No, it''s not that. Winford is starting his campaign. He''s taking over Gnosia! He''s sending his robots to take over Gnosia one building at a time.¡± ¡°Huh.¡± Null says. ¡°I have more to report.¡± ¡°Oh? What?¡± Null asks. ¡°The civilians are forced to swear allegiance to Winford and denounce the librarian founder. If they took part in the war, then they are imprisoned. Once the person is imprisoned, shackles with depleted mana stones are put on them so that their mana will stay drained. Also, the ministers with Claris along with her team have holed themselves in the defense system. They haven''t been captured, but they are effectively trapped.¡± Null thinks about what to do next. ''They''re just imprisoning them? Well, that''s fine. If that''s the case, we can just hide and take our time with this project. There''s no rush. Claris? I don''t even know who that is. The ministers? Who cares?'' Anyone who is not a threat to Null or hasn''t contributed to his various traumas is almost always instantly forgotten about. ¡°There''s one other thing.¡± The assassin says. ¡°Still more? What?¡± Null asks. ¡°Emmanuel is scheduled to be executed in two weeks.¡± ¡°What!?¡± Everyone there except Null gasps. ¡°Oh. Well, that''s not our problem.¡± Null says. They all look at Null in shock. ¡°What are you saying!?¡± Aldan says yelling at Null. ¡°What? You think of me a saint that has to rescue every random person? Many people have died because of Winford''s coup d''etat. You think just because that librarian guy is a bit more powerful than them that he''s special to me? All people are the same in my eyes. I won''t give that guy any special treatment just because he''s powerful.¡± Null says bluntly. Everyone is speechless listening to Null''s words. Ferron then responds to Null. ¡°If Emmanuel dies without a librarian inheriting his will, the library that''s the foundation of this city will disappear!¡± ¡°Hmmm. That does sound like a problem. Maybe we should rescue him. Well, nothing we can do right now.¡± Null responds with a shrug. ¡°Null, for thousands of years, the existence of the library from the founder has been tied to the library. We actually don''t know what will happen. If Emmanuel dies, that library would probably choose a new guardian. It may even be you. If that were to happen, you would never be able to leave Gnosia again.¡± Aldan says. ¡°We have to rescue that librarian by any means necessary!¡± Null yells out. ''This guy is so easy to figure out.'' Aldan, Ferron, and everyone else thinks deadpanned. Aldan had said a lie, but he has pretty much figured out Null out by now. ''Two weeks huh? Tomorrow''s a Friday. One day in the real world is five days in New Reality. I''ve lucked out this time.'' ¡°Are all foreigners like you?¡± Ferron asks looking at Null with pity. ¡°I wouldn''t know. I don''t hang around with any of them. Well, except for that horrifying month I spent with Cici.¡± ¡°Oh? Cici? Is that a girl?¡± Aldan asks curious. ¡°Yeah. What of it?¡± ¡°And it was just the two of you?¡± Aldan nosily asks. ¡°This conversation ends now.¡± Null says staring at Aldan as if daring him to say something else. ¡°I have another report.¡± The assassin says. ¡°There''s no end to this is there? Are we going to be here a while? What?¡± Null asks. ¡°Any resistance that is found, is swarmed like robots just like how Emmanuel was swarmed. We cannot be found no matter what. If Emmanuel himself couldn''t deal with that, what could we possibly do?¡± ''That does sound like a problem.'' Null thinks to himself. ¡°I have more to report.¡± The assassin says. ¡°Okay. Enough of this shtick. Could you just tell me whats need to be said and be done with this?¡± Null asks exasperated. The assassin nods. ¡°Do you really mean it this time?¡± Null asks. The assassin nods again. Null does a sigh of relief and asks, ¡°Okay. What is it?¡± ¡°The scouting robots are on their way here.¡± ¡°...You could''ve mentioned that first!¡± Null yells out in frustration. They hear the buzzing of the flying robot drones as soon as Null yells this out. They are the scouting robots Null had defeated before from the people who were following him. The robots are weak, but they can summon other robots to their location even if destroyed. ''Dammit.'' Null thinks looking at that assassin with daggers in his eyes. The robots fly to where Null and the others are hiding. It looks around and scan the room. When it doesn''t find anything, it soon leaves. The sound of a technique being dropped is heard. Null and the others start reappearing in a corner of the room. They were blurry until their images started to solidify. All the assassins had done a group stealth technique to make themselves not able to be seen. It was a close call. Any later and they would''ve been discovered. Null wipes his forehead that was covered in sweat. He then makes a decision. ¡°Everyone.¡± Null says. Everyone looks at Null and prepares to listen to what he''s about to say. ¡°Gnosia is no longer safe. There''s no way we can finish our project on time to rescue everyone if we constantly have to split our attention on the project and the robots. We''re leaving Gnosia.¡± ¡°Leave? Gnosia?¡± ¡°We''re not allowed to leave Gnosia.¡± ¡°The only way we can leave is with permission.¡± ¡°Permission from whom?¡± Null asks. ¡°The people who have already been captured in prison? We have three choices. It''s either leave Gnosia to develop the technology to help rescue that librarian, stay here and get discovered by Winford and be swarmed by his robots the librarian guy himself couldn''t beat, or do a suicide rush to find where the prisoners are being held while being surrounded by hundreds of robots and eventually killed. I won''t even help you if you decide on the last one. It''s your choice. Choose.¡± After a long silence, everyone there nods, agreeing with Null''s first choice. ¡°Good. We''ll have to sneak out without being seen.¡± Says Null. ¡°Leave that to us Null. Stealth is what we specialize in.¡± An assassin tells Null. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. They soon leave the building that they''re in, careful as to not alert anyone to their location. It took a while for them to escape, having to take long routes round to avoid detection. There were some close calls while trying to leave. One of the robots even found them. Null swiftly destroyed the robot before it could alert any others. They left the area quickly due to the robot signal disappearing, alerting other robots that something was wrong. Soon, they reached the edge of the wall where now, Winford''s underlings were guarding. They bypass them and soon leave out of Gnosia. They look out at the vast expanse of land in awe. Most of them had only known buildings their entire lives. ¡°I''ve never left Gnosia before.¡± Aldan says nervously. ¡°Haha, you tinkerers are so soft. I''ve left Gnosia many times.¡± Ferron says laughing and bragging. Null then leaves with the others follow him. While they left, they went through Gnosia''s farmland located outside the city. They gathered food from here and quickly left. They then start looking for a suitable shelter to hide out in. After a few hours of walking, it was then that Null noticed that something in his inventory was pulsating and vibrating. ''What the? Oh god Ptah if this is one of your practical jokes...'' Null thinks with slight anger showing on his face. He looks in his inventory and sees the mystery book vibrating and glowing. ''Oh thank god!'' Null breathes a sigh of relief. ''But wait. What could cause this book to react like this?'' He does Transmutation Circle Activation on the circle on the mystery book, but it still points to Gnosia. He figures that something set the book off, but he''ll have to search himself to find it. They were out looking for several hours when Null found something strange when his mana bounced off of something. ''Something that absorbed most of my mana?'' Null thinks. When he makes it to that location that had absorbed his mana, he sees a cave. Null goes into the cave with the others following him. The cave appeared ordinary, with no distinguishing features. Soon however, the cave path turned into something akin to a hallway. It was clear that this was a man made structure. ¡°Rooooar!¡± Ferron is surprised when he sees the kinds of monsters that are located here. ¡°This is the Red Furred Rhinoceros! Even the lowest leveled one is in the level 400''s! It should be in the Dread Forest! What''s it doing here, much less in a cave!?¡± Ferron yells out shivering and slowly stepping back. The rhinos start charging towards the intruders. One of the assassins thought he could dodge, but he ended up being skewered by a rhinoceros''s horn. It was like an infant going against a bulldozer. He had no chance. People were yelling out in panic. Another person is quickly killed in front of someone. ¡°We have to get out of here! We''ll all be killed!¡± Someone yells out. They try to run, but they can do nothing against these rhinos. Even the assassins who specialize in speed look like snails in comparison to the rhinos. Everyone sees their allies fall one by one. Almost everyone starts to panic. Null however was not perturbed in the slightest, not even flinching at the massacre occuring before him. He walks a leisurely stroll, closing his eyes from the sights around him. While everyone is panicking trying to escape, Null stabs his gauntlets into a section of the wall. A shattering sound is heard. All the rhinoceros that were killing everyone start to vanish. Null had stabbed into a section of wall that was responsible for the illusions. The people quickly return to their senses. People look around dazed, surprised to see people they had thought died walking around fine. ¡°I thought you died!¡± ¡°I thought you were dead!¡± ¡°I saw you being impaled with my own eyes! How do you have no wounds?!¡± ¡°Does that mean what we saw wasn''t real?¡± While everyone confirms with one another that they''re alright, Null walks further into the cave. What he sees surprises him. There''s a transmutation circle on a door, although it''s much simpler than the transmutation circle on the mystery book Null has with him. It''s just a circle with a square inscribed in it. The door the circle is on looks like it has been frozen in time. It''s made from a material Null is not familiar with. ¡°Oh? A transmutation circle?¡± Aldan asks. ¡°Even if one of us could bond with it, it would take a while for that to happen.¡± A warrior says. ¡°Lemme try bringing the door down.¡± Ferron says taking out his hammer. He raises up his hammer and swings down at the door with all his might. Dust flies in the air in the aftermath. When the dust cloud clears, everyone sees that not even a small dent had been made. ¡°Wow. Such a sucky blacksmith if I do say so myself.¡± Aldan says chuckling. ¡°Like you could do any better you pathetic tinkerer!¡± Ferron yells back at Aldan. ¡°Let us try.¡± A warriors says readying his own weapon. They do the same thing Ferron attempted and had attacked the door at the same time. Even though the warriors were stronger, and there were more of them, their results were the same as Ferron. The few mages there also try, but their results weren''t any better. Null waits there patiently for them to finish, not in any kind of rush. When they''re done, he walks to the door and places his hand on the circle. ¡°Transmutation Circle Activation!¡± Null yells out. The circle on the door starts glowing a light blue. The door that the circle is on then starts raising up. This causes surprise among everyone. ''Wow. The concentration of mana in this room is far higher than outside. This feels so refreshing. Wonder what caused this.'' Null thinks. ¡°Huh? You know the transmutation circle skills?¡± Ferron asks surprised. ¡°Oh? You didn''t know? Why were you following me in the first place then?¡± Null asks. ¡°Because you''re fairly powerful! Wow. We have a second Emmanuel among us!¡± Ferron says in awe. ¡°I only followed you because of orders. I wasn''t that impressed with you before, what with your cold attitude, but you''re really starting to win me over.¡± A warrior says to Null. ''Like I care.'' Thought Null. People to sigh in praise and give Null his accolades, but all of this causes Null to frown. He''s not used to people praising him. It makes him feel feelings that are too unfamiliar to him. Null soon walks on ahead, trying to avoid their praises. When he makes it inside the door, his book starts to glow. Transmutation circles all around the room start to glow. The lights from the circles gather upon Null''s bag. Null then pulls out the mystery book, as he believes this is what the transmutation circles are signaling to him. A message is written down on the book. When the message is complete, it says, ¡°Greetings to whom it may concern. If you''re reading this, congratulations! You''re on the right track! This is something I consider just a lowly supply closet. This is my lowest ranked one! I have many scattered throughout the world. Compared to other things I have, what is here is considered nothing. Do try and find my other hiding places. I''m sure you''ll like what you find.¡± Null finishes reading the message. It''s then that he looks around. Different expensive looking ores, alchemy ingredients, and even mana stones among other things are found all throughout this huge room. Everyone starts looking around amazed. ''Looks like we no longer have to worry about supplies for the project.'' Null thinks to himself. ¡°Null, you''re amazing!¡± ¡°It''s too bad Null couldn''t stay with us. We''d be rich within a month.¡± Null ignores everyone and looks at everything with his Identify. ''Most of the alchemy ingredients have expired. I''ll hold on to them for now. There''s still a few I can use. The ores all look very good. Okay. I can work with this.'' ¡°We''ll stay here until the day before Emmanuel''s scheduled execution.¡± Null says to everyone. ¡°At first I thought it was hopeless, and we would be needlessly running to our deaths, but now you fill me with hope.¡± ''I''m sure that most of you will still probably die.'' Null thinks in his mind. They soon start on their respective projects. Aldan still works on finding a suitable circuit, Ferron smelts the ores in the room, and Null uses different materials for the depleted mana stone and tests what works. ¡°There''s some really good stuff in these ores.¡± Ferron says. ¡°There''s some mithril, some dafernite, some mana rich iron, and other things. We really hit the jackpot!¡± Like this, they work ceaselessly, only stopping for rest. Around one week later, Aldan makes a huge breakthrough in finding a suitable material for mana circuitry. ¡°Okay. Now starting test #427. Compound that''s 4 parts mithril, 2 parts black iron, 1 part dolomite. Other miscellaneous chemicals. Starting now.¡± Once the wire connected the two parts, something incredible happens. During this week of testing, Alford was used to seeing similar things happening: The circuit would glow, but then huge amounts of mana would leak out. This time, something different was happening. The mana glowed inside the circuit just as before. The mana tried to leak out, but it was being kept at bay. This would be around the time when the mana would start to leak out, but it strangely didn''t this time. Aldan had successfully found the compound to contain mana. Just as when he was about to celebrate, the mana starts to act strangely. Since there was so much mana trying to fit inside such a tiny wire, and none of the mana could escape, something had to give. All the mana condensed and changed form. A buzzing sound is heard The mana had turned electric like, although it wasn''t true electricity. Aldan had rediscovered mana electricity. This time, there was no celebrations from Aldan. He looked at the mana electricity and tears were streaming down his eyes. All those years of being called a crackpot due to Winford, all those years of being mocked, and now he had finally succeeded. However, that silence didn''t last long. ¡°NULL! NUUULLLLLLL!¡± ¡°What?¡± Null responds annoyed. Aldan excitedly points at what he created. ¡°Huh.¡± Null says simply. ''Looks like we''re making progress. Good.'' Null thinks to himself. Null then went back to what he was doing. ¡°NUUULLLL! NUUUULLLLLLLL!¡± ¡°What?¡± Null responds clearly irritated. ¡°The mana electricity doesn''t shock at all! Look! I can touch it and it won''t affect me! Maybe since the robots are immune to electricity, we''re immune to mana electricity! This mana electricity could be their weakness! So intriguing!¡± ¡°Huh.¡± Null says, happy that Aldan discovered what he had always wanted to discover, but annoyed at his antics. Aldan does more tests on the mana electricity. He coils the wire into a spiral shape and connects the mana stones to each end. What Aldan is trying to see is if a magnet can be generated by going through wire just like normal electricity. Aldan holds up a piece of iron next to the coiled wire. Nothing happens when he places the iron next to the wire. However, when he places the new metal he invented that holds mana next to the wire, the coiled wire attracts it. Aldan nods and writes down his results. A few days pass from when Aldan had discovered mana electricity. Null furrows his brows contemplating something. The Potion Creation skill tells him that this is the closest he can make it to the true potion for the depleted mana crystals. He has mixed hundreds of potions, but they had all ended in failure. He''s so close, yet still can''t figure out what''s missing. Even the Ingredient Finder technique just does nothing when he activates the technique. ''What am I missing?'' Null does the Ingredient Finder skill again. It was then that he noticed. The transmutation circles along the walls and ceilings start to glow. ''That doesn''t make any sense. The Ingredient Finder skill shouldn''t work on circles or arrays. Why does it keep doing that? Those circles should just be for passing on a message right?'' It was then that it all came to Null. ''Oooh!'' Null places his finger inside the incomplete potion. ¡°Ink Hand!¡± The mixture in the bowl starts to react. The mixture in the bowl starts to float in the air and starts revolving around Null. The ink then enters Null''s body. ''What was that?'' Null thinks kind of afraid. Null looks on his body. Not a speck of ink could be seen. Null gets a hunch. He places a finger on the depleted mana stone. ¡°Ink Hand!¡± Ink covers the mana stone. What surprises Null is that the mana that was being sucked from him had stopped. Null eyes open wide. He had done something not even Emmanuel had been able to do. ''Huh. So now I can change the property of my ink to conduct mana or block it. Neat.'' When Null tells the others about what he has done, Aldan gets excited. He has been testing the properties of his mana electricity and further refining the circuit to be more efficient, but if you can''t find a way to deal with the depleted mana stone, it will all be for naught. They soon move onto the next stage. When they connected the covered depleted mana stone with the wire Ferron had developed, the circuit was working fine, delivering the mana electricity as intended, but a problem soon arises. The depleted mana stone that was covered with the mana inhibiting ink had exploded. ''Hmmm. Needs some sort of opening while the stones are being connected.'' Null thinks to himself. They try again. With the small opening in the depleted mana stone, the mana flows out smoothly from the depleted mana stone. Time passes on as Aldan, Null, and Ferron take care of all the kinks present in the design. It took a long time, but the final configuration was completed. Aldan had found the most optimal circuit design, Ferron had developed the best wire, and Null had developed a way to deal with the depleted mana stone. They then build a complete circuit.
For recreating the technology that the librarian founder discovered, +100 knowledge.
¡°We did it!¡± Aldan says jumping up and down. Null nods. ¡°Now the hard part is done. Now we need to make weapons. Lot''s of weapons. Aldan, you''re in charge of this.¡± Ferron says, ¡°Haha my favorite part! I''ll make the base, Aldan will do the wiring. This will be fun!¡± ¡°I''ll help do the smelting somewhere else. I''ll bring the smelted materials over here. I''ll also mark the depleted mana stones. Unless there''s an emergency, don''t bother me.¡± Null says as he walks away. He had already reached his tolerance level on being around others long ago. He only stuck around because he had to be there to help. Now that Null was no longer needed, he quickly left. ¡°That guy has issues.¡± Ferron said out loud as soon as Null left. The others all nod in agreement. Time quickly passed. They rushed quickly making as many weapons as they possibly could. Soon, it was the day before Emmanuel''s scheduled execution. Null comes out of hiding and walks towards the others. Aldan sees Null and walks towards him with things in hand. ¡°Null, I made these for you. I couldn''t add all the other trinkets in time like your crossbow or needle launchers, but the extendable blades are here. I also made you custom made armor with the same tech. It''s extremely crude compared to Winford''s tech, and it probably won''t last very long, but it will have to do.¡± Aldan says to Null. Aldan also gives Null electric mana bombs and other things. ¡°This should help clear out any obstacles in your way.¡± Null nods and puts on his armor. He then turns the armor on. The wires on the armor and gauntlets start to glow blue. Null opens a little opening in the depleted mana stone with his improved Ink Hand. Null asked Aldan to put on a switch because he didn''t want to waste the mana crystal by leaving it on all the time. When he turns it on, he is surprised. ''I can turn my mana into stats faster than ever before! Thanks to the mana stones, I have 200% more mana too!'' Null thinks excited. Null then turns to everyone. ¡°Let''s go.¡± Null says to the others. They all nod and follow him. Well, they all try to follow him, but his new speed is far faster. Null feels it. The mana that he vibrates for dexterity is being aided by the electric mana by exciting his own mana. The others can''t even hope to catch up. He moves so fast, that he can barely see in front of him. He tumbles down and falls. While on the ground, Null soon realizes he''ll have to get used to how powerful this armor makes him. --------- Author''s Note: Next Chapter, Null and the gang return to Gnosia. Chapter 43: The Counterattack Author''s Note: Robots. Robots. Robots. ---------- After a long trek, Null and the others make it back to Gnosia. Null sends the assassins to scout out Gnosia to see if there is anything out of the ordinary. After a long while of waiting, all the assassins return. One of the assassins speaks. ¡°Null, according to what I found, Winford installed a curfew. They have to be indoors by 7 pm.¡± ¡°Anything else?¡± Null asks. Another assassin then says, ¡°They built an execution stage in the center of the city. That''s where Emmanuel, the top officers, and the ministers they managed to capture will be executed at 12:00.¡± ¡°Good. They haven''t executed them yet.¡± Null says in relief. ¡°I have another re-¡± ¡°Yeah, no. We are not going through that shit again. Just say what you need to say!¡± Null says irritated. The assassin nods. ¡°Claris, some of the ministers, and other personnel are still inside Gnosia''s defense system. Winford was not able to reach them, but he and his underlings had damaged the defense system, so they won''t be able to help us as things stand now. I have also found the Gnosia army hidden in separate areas outside the city..¡± ¡°Now was that so hard?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Null ignores that remark and thinks, ''That might be a problem. I''ll need to repair that defense system. That would significantly increase our changes of success. I can''t do it now or I''ll be swarmed by the rebels and rebels. Those Gnosia soldiers will make a good distraction.'' ¡°Any news where they''re being held?¡± Null asks. All the assassins shake their heads. ''It would be stupid to just rush in blindly not knowing where anything is. I''ll wait until tomorrow. Hope the soldiers can make a good enough destraction.'' They camp out for the night waiting for the next day. Tensions are high for the denizens of Gnosia, but for Null himself, who had constructed his own tent away from everyone else, he is just relaxing with an apathetic look. While they are concerned with tomorrow''s battle, Null is just happy to finally get away from them. Tomorrow soon arrives. Null and his group go back to Gnosia, careful not to alert any of the robot watch drones or rebels at outposts. They soon enter the city limits undetected. They notice the people''s mood. There are bags under most people''s red eyes. Everyone has their head down. This dreary atmosphere had only increased when they moved closer to the execution platform. Null and the others decide to wait here and not cause attention to themselves. As time passes, the amount of people nearing the execution platform increases. Soon, when 10:00 passes, rustling of chains is heard. The crowd looks at what the cause of this noise is. It is there that they see Emmanuel, the ministers, and all the high ranking personnel who decided not to follow Winford. They are all in worn, ragged white clothes, and are connected by one, unbroken thick chain. Null''s mana sense can''t even detect the chain, as most of the mana he sends out is absorbed by the depleted mana stones that are distributed throughout the chain. There are various bruises and marks on the few patches of skin that people see. Seeing this, people frown. The chained people are forcibly dragged to the execution platform. The crowd makes way, as to not wanting to be thought of as trying to break them out. Null contemplates whether or not he should save them now, but soon gives up on that idea. Winford is walking alongside the imprisoned along with a huge assortment of robots. Humanoid giant robots, flying robots, Null can even sense the mana of robots underground. The execution platform is also surrounded by the rebels. Null feels he would surely lose if he goes out now, he would be swarmed and would suffer the same fate as Emmanuel. ¡°Null?¡± Aldan asks. ¡°We wait.¡± Null says. Emmanuel and the others are then chained to posts. Winford takes a seat on what looks like a throne. This blatant symbolism was not lost on the people below, causing them to frown even more. They are a democracy, and had done away with the system of kings and queens for thousands of years. They do not want to return to those times. Time slowly passes. Soon, 11:00 arrives. Winford gets out of the throne-like chair walks towards the center front of the execution platform. His every step is measured and precise, as if he is trying to show the world his greatness. When he makes it towards the front, he looks down upon the audience with his hands behind his back. Winford has his armor already on, as if he is preparing for a battle. Robots surround the platform, as if daring anyone to come by and rescue the prisoners. ¡°Greetings to all who came here today.¡± Winford says to everyone. People look up and frown at Winford, but they know they can''t do anything to him right now. Winford sees their foul moods, but he doesn''t mind. ¡°I''m sure most of you will want an explanation for my actions. Why would I, one of Gnosia''s most valuable assets, do what he did? I''m sure most of you are all wondering this right?¡± There''s silence, but they all curious as to why Winford did what he did. Winford had everything: Respect, prestige, money, and honor. He already had a lot of political power at his disposal. What was the point of all of this? ¡°Well, believe it or not, I''m doing all of this for you.¡± Winford says to everyone. This causes everyone to curse in their heads. Doing this for us? How arrogant! How many lives were lost? How many homes were destroyed? ¡°Do you know why we are forced to flee from the rest of the world? Do you know why mages here aren''t able to control the elements naturally and have to rely on a sub par transmutation circle?¡± Of course they all know. They were cursed by the gods, but they don''t even know why. The people look at Winford. ¡°The founder of Gnosia, the first librarian who you all look up to, must have made the gods curse us! What else reason are we not able to connect to the elements!? We all have no choice but to use these sub par methods of using transmutation circles! We might not know what happened during those missing years in our history, but it couldn''t have been any good if the gods themselves have cursed us even to this day!¡± The people are silent and think. The founder? What does he have to do with the gods? Winford is probably just grasping at straws. Null just shakes his head listening to all this. ''Just another egomaniac justifying his atrocities with excuses. Even with differing cultures and differing values, humanity all reaches the same conclusions. The tyrants will rise to the top while the peaceful will either submit or be destroyed. Just another disgusting quality of us humans.'' ¡°Cut the crap Winford!¡± Emmanuel yells out. With that shout, a huge number of people come out from hiding. They are the Gnosia Army. ¡°The army has finally arrived!¡± ¡°Good! They haven''t given up!¡± The people shout out with smiles. This is what they need right now: Hope. ¡°We don''t know what happened during the missing history, but we know what happened before!¡± Archum yells angrily. ¡°If you were a noble or rich, you lived great, but if you weren''t, your life was a living hell! All knowledge was in the grip of those nobles! Our founder sacrificed himself to bring knowledge to the common people! We won''t forgive anyone who tarnishes him!¡± Winford squints. ¡°So you finally come out. I knew you couldn''t resist trying to rescue your precious librarian.¡± Null then speaks to his group. ¡°Everyone, get ready.¡± Aldan nods and readies himself, saying, ¡°What do we do?¡± ¡°While the army fights, Aldan, you go and rescue Emmanuel and others. Ferron, you block any robots coming his way. All the warriors, fight any of the rebels that come your way. While charging, pass as many of the new weapons as you can to the Gnosia army.¡± ¡°Okay. What will you be doing?¡± Aldan asks. ¡°When you free Emmanuel, I''ll lend him the armor you made me. With that armor, that librarian should easily be able to handle Winford.¡± ¡°Okay? But what will you be doing?¡± Ferron asks. ¡°The defense system.¡± ¡°The defense system? What about the defense system?¡± Ferron asks astonished at Null''s shamelessness. ¡°Winford damaged the defense system, so the people trapped inside can''t do anything right now. While you are out risking your lives fighting, I''ll go and repair that defense system to the best of my ability.¡± Null knows this is a terrible thing to do, but he thinks that he has no choice. The truth is, Null has performance anxiety. It was formed from one of the various traumas that still haunt him to this day. If he is trying to do something to impress somebody else, or if there are a huge number of people focusing on him, he is doomed to failure in whatever it is he is trying to do. That''s why he did so poorly at school before his change: Trying to focus on impressing Keimi and his parents. Null might have changed, but that particular trait didn''t go away. Due to the scheduled execution, more than 50000 people are currently watching events unfold. It would be a catastrophe if he were to go and fight someone like Winford under these conditions. ¡°So you want us to fight while you''re repairing!?¡± Aldan asks in astonishment. ¡°It can''t be helped. I''m the only one here with Weapon/Armor Repair.¡± Ferron then says, ¡°But Null, I also have-¡± ¡°We have to move! There''s no time!¡± Null yells out while running away. The others all look at Null''s back as he''s running away. ¡°...What a jerk!¡± Ferron says out loud. The others all nod in agreement. While this scene is playing out, the Gnosia army readies itself for battle. The mages step to the front and prepare their spells. There are snipers hidden on rooftops and in buildings. The audience starts to panic and run away from the battleground that''s about to be laid down. Winford was already prepared from the get go. He pointed at the army, and the robots, following Winford''s command, run towards the army. He had after all designed this trap to draw the army out. He wants to get rid of any loose ends. The mages fire their different elemental attacks. The archers try aiming for the robots sensors, but even the eyes where the armor is weakest can''t even scratch the robots. The robots are just too powerful. Even when all the mages focus on one or two targets, it still takes too long to beat them. The army starts to slowly retreat. The attacks that the Gnosia army perform seem very random. The first time Winford saw them fight, their attacks were very organized. Now, it looks like they are just randomly attacking. Winford knows that the general, Archum specializes in strategy. He just wants to know what Archum is planning. Something akin to a ray of light shines down. That ray produces a sonic boom from its sheer speed. A powerful attack from Gnosia''s most powerful archer was just launched. He had spent a lot of time charging his attack. The power he unleashed is even more powerful than the most powerful rifle in the real world. The attack is aimed at Winford. Despite the powerful attack, all it did was push Winford back a little. While he was being pushed back, two warriors of considerable power rush towards Winford. They ignored all the robots surrounding them and solely aimed for Winford, timing perfectly from when Winford was hit to catch him off guard. ¡°Tch.¡± Winford remarks in disdain. These people weren''t even worth his time. ''Attack while the enemy is trying to orient themselves? Oldest trick in the book.'' Winford thinks looking down on them. Two tentacles go out to meet the warriors. While Winford was disoriented, his tentacles could still attack. The tentacles go forward to attack the two incoming warriors. An explosion was soon heard. A bomb had exploded on Winford''s back. Winford was not worried in the least. He knows the likes of them cannot even hope to scratch his armor. However, Winford realized he found it difficult to move. A green goo-like substance had was spread on his back, and started spreading to other parts of his armor. ''Damn. So this was their plan.'' Winford thinks annoyed. The goo-like substance currently covering Winford is made from very expensive chemicals that cannot be found in a short amount of time. The gooey substance is also difficult to make, such that someone has to have an Intermediate level in alchemy just to even hope to produce it. Winford realizes that this was their all or nothing plan. If he had known that it was this goo bomb, he would have never let it get close to him, but they aimed at his back while he was distracted. ''There not trying to beat me. They''re trying to save them. You''ll all realize though that this was all for naught.'' Winford''s armor changes until multiple vents were seen. They shoot out a strange colored fire, aiming to destroy the goo. However, progress was slow. It looks like it will take time for Winford to get rid of the goo. ¡°While Winford is occupied, charge forward and save the prisoners!¡± Archum yells out. The warriors all charge towards the execution platform. However, they are all having a difficult time due to the robots surrounding the platform. Some extremely fast dragonfly like robots zip through attacking anyone who comes close, and they are so fast that it''s extremely difficult to even touch them. There are also some extremely bulky giant robots that warriors find it difficult to break through. They had a plan for Winford. They just don''t know how they are going to rescue the prisoners before Winford gets out of the goo with all these robots in the way. ¡°Um, excuse me.¡± While they are busy blindly charging forward, the army hears someone calling out to them. When they turn, they see Aldan, Ferron, and others running towards them. ¡°Hey, isn''t that the crackpot?¡± A warrior asks. ¡°Crackpot, what are you doing here!? This battlefield is no place for you! Get back!¡± A mage yells at Aldan. Aldan was worried that they wouldn''t listen to him, but he knows now is not the time to be backing down. ¡°Everyone, take these weapons! You can fight the robots easier with these!¡± Aldan says trying to pass out the weapons. The weapons look strange to the warriors. There are multiple glowing lines throughout the weapons. What are these supposed to be? Decorations? ¡°This is no time to be testing out your fashion accessories! We''re in the middle of a battle!¡± Someone yells out. "I don''t care to try one of your failures, crackpot!" Another person yells. The Gnosia army soon ignores Aldan and continues their seemingly hopeless rescue. Aldan looks down, slouching over in a somber mood, looking down with tears in his eyes. He''s about to turn around and go when a hand is put on his shoulder. When Aldan sees who it is, he''s surprised. Ferron actually supports him. Ferron smiles and nods, then looks to the army fighting. ¡°You idiots!¡± Ferron yells to the army. Some of the army that''s on standby turn around. ¡°Idiots?¡± ¡°We''re here risking our lives and you call us idiots!?¡± Ferron shakes his head. ¡°Do you idiots even know why Aldan was called a crackpot in the first place?¡± There is silence, but then their eyes open wide with realization. ¡°That''s right! It''s all due to Winford! He told us all that mana electricity was impossible. He said that mana electric based technology was impossible. He told us that Aldan is a crackpot because mana electricity is just a fable and you would be wasting your time if you research it. Now we know that he didn''t want someone else to rediscover his tech! Believe it or not, this guy managed to rediscover Winford''s tech." The army looks at Ferron skeptically. "You don''t have to believe us. Actions speak louder than words!¡± Aldan was deeply inspired by Ferron''s words. That''s right. They did rediscover the mana tech. So what if no one believes them? They''ll just prove it themselves. The people that were in Null''s group charge in, completely ignoring the army fighting. They seem to forgo all common sense and head towards the center of the robots. ¡°Are they insane?¡± ¡°They must be suicidal. Well, we refuse to rescue idiots.¡± The army mocks. Just then, one of the extremely speedy dragonfly robots rushes towards Aldan. Aldan activates his giant wrench. The wire lines on the wrench start glowing blue. Winford eyes grow wide while seeing this. ''Im-Impossible! No, maybe it''s just some glowing lines for intimidation. I refuse to believe a bumbling idiot like Aldan managed to recreate the technology I discovered.'' That speedy robot starts behaving strangely. It starts flying erratically and dramatically slows down while flying towards Aldan. It starts to shake and shiver as if it''s being jammed. Seeing this moment of weakness, Aldan swings down his wrench on the robot''s head. He hits the same spot three times before it finally falls and disappears. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Three hits. Three hits and the robot falls. The army''s eyes open wide like dinner plates. Their mouths move, but no words come out. Even their most speedy warriors had great difficulty fighting that dragonfly robot, only barely managing to take it down after hundreds of hits, and yet Aldan, who isn''t even a warrior, managed to strike it down in three moves? More dragonfly type robots go in towards Aldan realizing how great a threat he is. However, the results were all the same. Three to five moves, and the dragonfly robots die. This is because Aldan built a giant mana magnet inside his wrench. This disorients any robot that comes close to him making them stand still as easy targets. The mana electricity flowing through the wrench then overloads them, destroying their bodies.. Seeing as how the dragonfly robots were ineffective against Aldan, a giant bearlike robot goes towards him. Aldan hits the robot with his giant wrench the same way as the dragonfly robots. However, this method proved to be less effective on these types of robots. While Aldan''s wrench was able to disorient the robot, the robot still attacked crazily. Aldan''s wrench had jammed it''s sensor''s, inhibiting its judgement to judge friend from foe. It attacked everything in sight, even the other robots. Aldan realizes he wasn''t going to be able to beat this robot model. He looks at Ferron and nods. Ferron nods back and takes out his weapon. A giant hammer appears in his arm. He turns the weapon on and the same glowing blue lines appear on the weapon. However, this weapon was different from Aldans. Ferron''s weapon had bluish green electricity coming out from one of the hammer''s faces. The head of the hammer was massive, taking up half the size of Ferron himself. With the weapon in hand, Ferron looks at the robot bear that was attacking everything in sight and grins. He jumps in the air and smashes down with all the force he could muster. If the robot was acting normally, it could have blocked this with heavy damage, but right now it was disoriented due to Aldan. The robot''s head smashes inward due to the force from Aldan''s hammer. The mana electricity spreads throughout the robot''s body, making it short circuit. The robot is still alive, but is shaking due to short circuits happening all around its body. Ferron jumps up and attacks the same way two more times before the robot finally went still. The red glowing eyes start to fade. It then fell to the ground and eventually disappeared as grey smoke. This made everyone watching look even more surprised. Not only Aldan and Ferron, the other warriors who had Aldan''s weapons were also taking out robots far, far faster than hundreds of the Gnosia army put together. ¡°What''s going on?¡± ¡°Is this the crackpot?¡± ¡°Well, I guess he''s not a crackpot anymore isn''t he?¡± ¡°No, that''s not quite right.¡± Archum says getting into the conversation. ¡°He was never a crackpot. We were all just fools who fell for Winford''s schemes and didn''t see his genius." He walks up to Aldan and bows. "Aldan, I would be honored if you would gift us with your weapons.¡± Everyone there agrees with Archum''s statement. They then all run towards Aldan excited. ¡°Excuse me Aldan. I would like to apologize for all those times I''ve called you a crackpot.¡± ¡°Will you forgive us? We were all fooled by Winford.¡± ¡°Haha! Not bad! Not bad at all!¡± This archer says while patting Aldan on the back. ¡°You should have these in arrow form shouldn''t you? Shouldn''t be hard for a brilliant guy like you!¡± ¡°Aldan, Aldan. I regret not looking up to you sooner. What a rare genius! Do you have any of those weapons of your in spear form?¡± Aldan was swamped with complements, apologies, and respect. Aldan had never once been in this type of situation before. He had tears flowing down his face. All of his hard work had finally paid off. ¡°*sniff* Sure! I''ve got lots of weapons! *sniff* Take what you need! *sniff*¡± People smile patting Aldan on the back. Null, who was far away fixing the various weapons surrounding the area one by one, saw everyone crowding around Winford. Even he couldn''t help but slightly smile from that. Winford''s face however was ugly. He couldn''t believe someone else discovered mana electricity. He had mostly gotten lucky when he discovered it, and yet someone like Aldan was able to make weapons out of that in just two weeks? Gnosia''s army charged forward and made quick work of the robots with Aldan''s technology aiding them. They quickly made it to the prisoners. Emmanuel was pretty shocked that they actually made it to him. He had expected them to fail, or make it to him in far less numbers. ¡°Everyone. Hang tight. We''ll get you out of here.¡± The swordsman warriors cut through the chains keeping them at bay. When the locks and chains fall off, Emmanuel and the others nearly fell to the floor, but others caught them. Their bodies were just too fatigued at the moment. Just then, footsteps were heard coming. When everyone looked they saw that it was Null. ¡°Nice work everyone.¡± Null says to the people in his group. ¡°...¡± They all looked at Null with a fed up expression. ¡°Where were you!?¡± Aldan says angrily. ¡°I told you. Fixing the defense system.¡± ¡°But-But-But we were fighting the robots!¡± ¡°You''re still alive aren''t you? So I don''t see why you''re complaining.¡± Null says walking away without care. Null then faces Emmanuel. Since Null wasn''t present when he had fought Winford, and he hadn''t grown up hearing of the stories of Emmanuel, Null was less than impressed with Emmanuel, who right now looks like he''s on death''s door. ¡°So you''re the Null I''ve heard so much about.¡± Emmanuel says while being held up with his arm over a warrior''s shoulder . ¡°Yep.¡± Emmanuel looks at him, then looks at the weapons in everybody''s hands. ¡°Are you the one that had a hand in building these weapons?¡± Null shakes his head. ¡°No.¡± ¡°No?¡± ¡°It was all that guy over there.¡± Null says pointing at Aldan. ¡°I was just there.¡± ¡°Hmmm...¡± Emmanuel says. ¡°What?¡± Aldan says surprised. ''It was because of Null that this technology was even made. Even now his dislike of people made him not take credit for his contribution?'' Aldan wonders. Null then says, ¡°Wear this armor. Before, I heard you lost just because you were swarmed by Winford''s robots. Wearing this, they shouldn''t pose any problems to you. With a cleric here and enough mana potions, you should be good as new.¡± Emmanuel shakes his head. ¡°I won''t be any help to you all in my current condition.¡± ¡°...Urk!¡± Null says in disbelief. ¡°...What?¡± Says Archum. All the hope that he had was now dashed and grounded up into little tiny pieces, then flushed down the toilet. Those tiny pieces would then wreck havoc upon the sewage system. ¡°We''re doomed.¡± States Ferron matter of factly. ¡°What happened? Maybe I can help? Please let it be something I can help with!¡± Null says frantic. "Winford had ground the depleted mana stones along with other mana inhibiting chemicals into a drug and forced me to drink it. " ¡°Oh? Is that all? This isn''t actually that big a problem! If we hurry, I can probably make-¡± An explosion is heard. Mechanical sounds whir on in the silence that had befallen everyone. Dread now fear the air, as Winford frees himself from the gunk he was stuck in, and he looks pissed. The prisoners they have with them have not yet escaped. ¡°Noooo!¡± Null yells out while holding his face in a panic. Others are probably thinking that Null is panicking because of how the situation has gone down the gutter, but that''s not why Null is panicking. Null feels all the eyes of over 50000 people looking at him. Each person that notices his existence represents another threat to his well being. The more people that take note of him, the more potential enemies that threaten the solitude he seeks. Null has to concentrate to stop himself from shaking. ''It wasn''t supposed to be like this!'' Null thinks frustrated. ''They were supposed to fight the robots while I was in the background unnoticed fixing the defense system! Then, with Emmanuel freed, I would give him my armor he would be injured a little, but a cleric and mana potions would be a quick heal to that! Then, after I finished repairing the defense system, I would kill a few robots here and there, but ultimately remain unnoticed! Well fine! Luckily I''m so pessimistic! I have my backup plans!'' Null then says, ¡°I''ll take, um...¡± Null snaps his fingers trying to remember Emmanuel''s name. ¡°...Emmanuel.¡± Emmanuel says looking at Null like he''s an idiot. ¡°Yes. I''ll take Emmanuel and, um..." He doesn''t even bother trying to remember the other people''s names. "Um, the others to safety.¡± Null says preparing to take them away. Archum shakes his head and says, ¡°We appreciate the sentiment Null, but this is Gnosia''s responsibility. Your power is needed elsewhere. You are strong, and you have that armor to help you. You''re the best chance we''ve got to turn the tides!¡± Null shakes his head. ¡°I need to repair that defense system so that we can have a chance.¡± ¡°Already took care of it Null! I discussed with other blacksmiths and they are already on their way to repair it!¡± Ferron says smiling. ¡°Well, I need to find where those robots are being mass produced so that I can destroy them!¡± Null says getting irritated at Ferron. ¡°We are three steps ahead of you Null! Me and Aldan were just about to go look for that hidden robot factory. No need to worry about us, you''re needed out here. Do us proud Null!¡± Ferron says to Null with an insidious smile while running away. Null starts to shake. He has been checkmated on all fronts. ''My backup plans didn''t work!'' Null thinks in despair. ''It''s not like I can run away. That would make people hate me more. *sigh*'' ¡°You all block Winford and his robots while I get everyone incapacitated out of here.¡± Archum says to everyone. Winford looks at everyone with an ugly face. ¡°You think I''ll just let you leave?¡± He says this while walking towards the Gnosia army. ¡°You talk a big game Winford, but we have your weakness in our hands! Charge!¡± A warrior says. A group of warriors all charge towards Winford with their newly acquired weapons. ¡°Idiots.¡± Winford says shaking his head. The tentacles surrounding him start to glow bluish green and start humming. ¡°Take this!¡± A warrior says with a dark smile swinging his sword at Winford. Winford effortlessly blocks the sword with one of his tentacles. Electricity from his tentacle then buzzes and overloads the sword that the warrior has on him, causing it to shut down. The glowing blue lines on the sword fade to black. Winford then stabs that warrior with one of his tentacles for his troubles. When other warriors rushed towards Winford, the same result happened. The weapons were overloaded and shut down. ¡°What''s happening?¡± A mage says from far away. ¡°These weapons worked so well on the robots before. Why isn''t it working now?¡± Winford looks at them with disdain and says, ¡°I''ve been working on this technology for over ten years. You think a mere two weeks would be enough to stop the gap between us? You all got so overconfident for beating the weakest of my robots. The same weaknesses that my robots have are the same for your weapons. How could you be so blind as to not see it? I don''t have time to play with you idiots.¡± He looks at Emmanuel and the others fleeing. "I have bigger fish to fry." Winford snaps his fingers and giant robots come from out of some of the buildings. They''re the Robot: Humanoid Models XR2796 that Null had fought twice already. ¡°Upgrade.¡± Winford says. The robots all start to glow and grow bigger. Extra attachments are seen like thicker armor and more powerful ranged weaponry. Winford then focuses solely on the fleeing prisoners, and changes his armor as to pursue them. ¡°Stop Winford!¡± Someone yells out. However, try as they must, Winford proved to be too much for them. Null even attempts to stop him, but he got so nervous that he tripped and slammed himself against a building without even making it close to Winford. This causes a deadpan reaction from everyone there. "Wasn''t this the guy who did so well against the robots before? With his new armor, he should be doing pretty well. What''s he doing?" A warrior comments. "Is this guy playing around? Is this a joke?" "This is no time for jokes Null!" Winford easily bypasses the Gnosia Army and heads towards the prisoners scheduled for execution. Just when it looked like Winford was about to catch up with the others, a bang sound is heard. An artillery shell slams into Winford, careening him through a building. The people start to once again smile and celebrate. ¡°Hey, is that?¡± ¡°The defense system is back online!¡± ********** ¡°Ma''am. We''ve made a direct hit on Winford. The distance between him and the other prisoners is growing.¡± ¡°Good.¡± Claris nods. ¡°Null was smart to fix the system before going to fight Winford. I couldn''t imagine Gnosia falling before our eyes and not being able to do anything. Looks like I owe Null again.¡± Everybody else agrees. ¡°Let''s give Winford hell.¡± Claris says with an evil smile. ¡°Yes ma''am!¡± ************ The number of these giant robots were far less in number than the other robots, but the Gnosia army found the robots even more difficult to fight. One of the robots raises an arm in the air as if he''s about to release a punch. ¡°Everyone move!¡± ¡°It''s attacking!¡± Everyone flees from the area that robot is targeting. The robot punches down. A deafening sound is heard. People close to the impact zone have to cover their ears because of the loud shock wave being generated. Debris rises in the air. A massive crater is formed from where that robot punched. The surrounding windows shattered. "That upgrade is not for show." A warrior says with wide eyes looking up at the robot. "We have to hurry! Let''s all concentrate on attacking one robot together." "Okay!" The warriors all rush towards one robot while the mages all attack where there are no warriors. They are doing far better than they would have if they didn''t have Aldan''s weapons, but otherwise they''re doing poorly. After a lot of time, one of those giant robots finally falls. "Okay good! To the next one!" ¡°Whew! It took so much just to take out one.¡± ¡°We are not going to make it if we have to take each of those out individually.¡± On one of the robot''s chests, a hole starts to open up. The hole then transforms into a massive cannon. Massive amounts of energy is being gathered into the hole. He has it aimed at everyone below. ¡°Shit! That thing''s trying to kill everyone here!¡± One warriors says pointing at that robot in shock. ¡°I remember that attack even before that transformation. If he fires that, not only us, but even the civilians will die!¡± "There''s no way we can defeat it in time before it unleashes its attack! They all look in despair as that robot is about to fire his weapons. They didn''t notice a blur that went towards the robot. It happened so fast, that no one noticed. Another deafening sound was heard akin to the sound that robot made when it punched down. Green electricity pours from the center of that robots''s chest. The massive power that was unleashed from the blow causes the robot''s chest to cave in. It starts shaking from being overloaded. Briefly later, the robot then suddenly goes still. The robot starts falling as if it were a giant tree that was just cut down. The people look on in awe. Even Winford has his jaw drop from what he saw. Not even he could take out of of the giant humanoid upgraded models in one blow. When they see who had felled the robot, they are even more surprised. It''s that clumsy idiot who had tripped and slammed into the wall! ¡°How? How is that even possible?¡± ¡°All that work we did just to take out one of those things, and he easily took it out in one blow!?¡± ¡°Who is that person?¡± ¡°That''s Null!¡± Null looks on in horror at what he''s done. ''Craaaaap! I used too much power! I didn''t mean to! I only wanted to stop that robot''s attack, but I was too nervous! Stupid armor that''s hard to control! Stupid robot breaking so easily! Stupid nerves! Now everybody is looking at me! Why me!?'' Null sighs. -------- Author''s Note: And that''s another chapter completed. This is hard. Chapter 44: Null vs Winford Author''s Note: Have you ever been on stage with multiple eyes on you? That''s what Null feels like now, only he has to fight everything. -------- Everyone is looking at Null with wide eyes, as if he were some sort of weird looking creature. He starts to fidget a little under the gazes as he hates the attention. All of his instincts are telling him to run away and be alone somewhere, but he knows that now is not the time for that. How was Null able to take out one of the giant robots alone even though the warriors, who have higher stats than him and the same tech, could not? How was Null able to defeat a creature who is equivalent to the mid 300''s in one blow when even someone in the 300 range would find that very difficult to do? It''s because of Null''s high degree of control over mana. The mana electricity moves quickly around his body and has the ability to pull around mana that''s close to it. This means that when Null controls the mana electricity inside the armor, it also has the added benefit of turbo charging his own mana, massively boosting his stats. The mana electricity that Null is able to control at will is also the robot''s weakness. It''s like Null was specifically designed to counter Winford. Winford looks on in astonishment at Null. ''To think he is already capable of this, and he hasn''t even started training in using transmutation circles yet! There''s no telling what his end path will be like if he is allowed to grow! I need to end him now. Hmmm. He''s a foreigner isn''t he? That means he can''t die. However, he can lose levels. I''ll just keep killing him until he''s no longer a threat to me. You will suffer the same fate as Emmanuel.'' Winford thinks darkly. All the robots that were randomly attacking the Gnosia soldiers suddenly stop and head towards Null''s location. Null notices all the robots coming towards him and sighs. ''See? This is why I don''t like to do things in front of other people. Damn you Ptah! Quit making me do stuff!'' Null thinks annoyed. The robots surround Null so as to prevent escape. They take out their weaponry and aim at Null. Gun sounds are heard as Null rapidly moves out the way of the bullets to the best of his ability. His ability isn''t enough though, as a few bullets manage to hit him. He runs towards the closest robot which happens to be a bear model. Null pulls his fist back as green electricity is emitted from his fist. Null punches the robot where he sees the mana most concentrated at inside that robot. The bear robot dies in one hit. The robots aim at Null again and attack. Null grabs the mana stones that the bear robot had just dropped and does a somersault before the robots had time to hit him. He had planned his somersault to land above a humanoid robot. While in the air, he raises his foot above his head as green electricity flows out from the heel of his foot. Null does an ax kick and slams that robot into the ground. While that robot is disappearing, Null grabs the mana stones before they even reach the ground. Null notices that the energy inside his armor is running low. He drops the old mana stone from his armor, then places a new one in, all in one swift motion. No robot there is able to stop Null. Everywhere he goes is a new path of robot devestation. The robot do not have feelings and therefore don''t care that Null is taking them out in huge numbers. Null is doing well fighting the robots, but for every robot he destroys, two take their place. Null is starting to get tired. While Null was surrounded, a robot''s claw swipes at Null''s back, knocking him against a wall. The robots'' number quickly swell. Soon, thousands of robots start to swarm towards Null''s location. If looked at from afar, they would look like an ant or locus swarm. ¡°He''s starting to get overwhelmed. This is the same thing that happened to Emmanuel.¡± A mage says looking on not knowing what to do. ¡°Should we help him? I''m just afraid we would only be in the way.¡± ¡°Let''s do it! If our fate is the same, I would rather do something than do nothing!¡± A warrior yells out holding his sword. ¡°Turn off your weapons!¡± Null yells out. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°What are you talking about?¡± ¡°This guy is losing it...¡± ¡°How are we supposed to help you if we turn our weapons off?¡± Null shakes his head. A robot then releases bombs towards Null. He crosses his arms and jumps out of the way the best he could. Singes, claw marks, and bullet holes are all seen on Null''s cloak. His breathing becomes labored due to fatigue. ¡°You guys are too weak. You think you could actually help me? You''ll only run to your deaths. Turn off your weapons now!¡± Null yells out. ¡°Just fight the rebels and know your place!¡± They then see Null winking at them. They then notice. Winford is behind Null, and can''t see his expressions. Null must have some sort of plan. They all go along with it. ¡°This arrogant guy! Fine! If you want to die, so be it.¡± That guy says turning off his sword. ¡°We were wrong about him. He''s just an idiot.¡± That person also turns off his weapon. All the warriors are turning off their weapons. Winford shakes his head. ''This fellow thinks that he''s invincible just because he managed to take out a few of my robots. Doesn''t matter now. Now that nobody else is interfering, I can now fully focus on killing you!'' There are thousands of robots swarming in. The same thing happened to Emmanuel as he was defeated. Null starts to run away from the robot swarm. ¡°You think you can run?¡± Winford says smiling darkly. Null is barely hanging on. He has to repeatedly drink health potions just to survive. Null starts heading towards higher and higher ground. ¡°Hahaha! You idiot! You think you''re safe if you''re not on the ground?! Have you forgotten that some of my robots can fly?¡± Winford laughs at Null predicament. Null starts to get swarmed in the air as well. The bombers that were on standby in the air start to fly towards Null and fires their weaponry. The robots don''t even mind sacrificing a few other robots in the way as long as Null dies. ¡°I hope Null knows what he''s doing.¡± Someone says whispering. When Null can''t reach any higher, he jumps in the air. All the bomber robots above Null are about to release their payload. Null then does something strange. He also turns off his own armor. Winford finds that odd. ''What is he up to?'' Winford wonders. Null then takes something out of his inventory. The people looked at the device Null takes out baffled, wondering what that thing was. It was mechanical in nature, and about the size of Null himself. It looked useless if it was supposed to be a melee, as you couldn''t swing it like a sword. Was this a bomb? But not even their most powerful bombs could take out all the robots without massive casualties. Null wouldn''t be desperate enough to kill the robots to the point of killing everything else, right? ''What is that? Unless... Oh no.'' Winford gets a sense of foreboding. He''s about to control his robots to turn off but... ''Too late!'' Null thinks slightly smiling. He activates that strange looking device. A huge bluish green surge of what looks like electricity is released from it. Any robots caught inside that energy surge short circuits and breaks down. It''s like a light show was going on with all the robots emitting electricity. All of the robots in the air fall like rain, as if they have been unplugged. Null had destroyed thousands of robots in one moment. ********* Flashback: Null and the others are working on building the weapons to deal with the robots. ¡°Hey Aldan.¡± Null says to him, pausing in what he''s doing. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Do you know what an electromagnetic pulse is?¡± ¡°Yes I do. It overloads appliances and makes them burn out and crash.¡± ¡°Okay. Now do you think you make a device that can emit a huge electromagnetic pulse, but with electric mana instead of electricity?¡± ¡°Hmmm... So far, the mana electricity has been shown to be remarkably similar to electricity, but I''m not too sure if we will be able to pull it off.¡± Aldan says with a frown. ¡°We will have to.¡± Null says. ¡°I heard from one of the assassins how that librarian fell. He was overwhelmed by the robots attacking him. If this device is not able to be built, we will lose. It''s as simple as that.¡± Aldan nods. ¡°Okay Null. I''ll do my best.¡± Flashback end: ********* ''Huh. Looks like the mana electromagnetic pulse, or MEMP worked. Good work Aldan. I''ve gained like 10 levels from using this thing. Too bad this thing is a one time deal. This thing takes way too many mana crystals. 90% of the mana crystals we had went into the MEMP.'' Now, most of the robots in the surrounding area have been taken out. The few robots that survived the mana electric surge are in no condition to fight. Everyone looks on with mouths agape. ¡°....¡± No one can even say anything. This is just too surprising. That seemingly invincible swarm had just been swatted. ¡°What... Is he?¡± Someone managed to finally speak. ¡°Is this real life?¡± Another person says. ¡°I bet Winford is super pissed off right now.¡± Someone says smiling. Null has a satisfied look on his face. It was then that he hears footsteps running towards him. Null somersaults out of the way of a tentacle that was about to behead him. He lands on a robot''s body, and sees Winford not too far away from him. His fists are balled up. His teeth are clenched, and his face is red. ''This guys looks kinda upset. I wonder why.'' Null thinks to himself sarcastically. ¡°All my work! All the resources I put into make these! My ten years of work destroyed in an instant!¡± Winford says enraged. His previous calm attitude is gone. That everything is going as planned air he had about him has completely evaporated. He prepares to fight Null. ¡°Tell it to someone who cares.¡± Null says apathetically, completely brushing off what Winford said. This enrages Winford even more. Wheels grow under his feet. Winford prepares to blitz Null to not give him time to prepare for him. He charges towards Null as all the tentacles show flurried and furious movement. The stabs mostly miss. The swipes are dodged. Null being so hard to hit makes Winford even angrier. Null pulls out the blades from his arms. The speed that those tentacles are attacking with is starting to get scary to Null. Every swipe that Winford sends out, Null blocks it. Nulls is steadily being pushed back trying to get used to Winford''s fighting style. Winford throws in some punches and kicks along with the tentacles attacking. Null is at a disadvantage, as Winford has six of those tentacles along with his arms and legs, giving him a total of ten ways he could attack. Null only has his two arms and two legs to help him. Winford then combines two of the tentacles into one, trying to pierce through Null. This combined tentacle didn''t give much room for Null to dodge, so he breathes and focuses. The tentacle stabs forward. Null catches that tentacle blade with his two hands by clasping them together like he''s praying. Null emits mana electricity from his palms trying to destroy Winford''s armor. Winford was one step ahead and detaches that tentacle before Null could do any damage. While this is going on, Winford raises his leg and does a rocket booster powered round house kick. Winford knew Null was going to catch the blade, so he prepared beforehand. That kick hits Null right in the middle of his ribs, sending Null skidding along the ground. Null digs his hand into the ground trying to stop himself. While this is going on, Winford changes his arm into a rocket launcher. He fires at Null while he''s trying to stop himself from skidding. Null finds his bearings and starts running from the rockets that were following him. Null makes his way through obstacles so as to make the rockets explode on other things before they hit him. Winford follows after Null. He puts away his rocket launcher and puts the wheels back on his feet. Once again, he uses his tentacles to attack at Null. Null once again parries all of his blows coming his way. When Null sees an opening, he does an electric mana charged kick to Winford''s side, trying to give Winford a taste of his own medicine. Winford turns off that part of his armor in the nick of time, but is still sent skidding along the ground. ¡°Urgh.¡± Winford groans. He gets back up, and pulls out the sword he used on Emmanuel out of his inventory. Null sees how huge the sword is, being around the same size as Winford himself. ''Such a huge blade. There''s no way he will be able to use it swiftly.'' Null thinks to himself. Wheels once again appear on Winford''s feet as he rushes and swings down at Null. Null uses the blades on both his arms to block it. Winford''s sword then gets tiny blades sticking out. The blades start moving around the sword like a chainsaw. Null clenches his teeth and uses all of his strength to push the sword off of him. Winford then once again swings his sword down. Null does a quick dash backwards and dodges it. The sword makes a huge dent in the ground. Rocks and dirt are scattered in the air from the impact of the chain saw sword. Winford picks up his sword and chases after Null, aiming for a horizontal strike. Null takes this brief opportunity to exchange mana stones in his armor, as blocking that huge sword drained a lot of the mana that was present in the mana stone. Winford keeps swinging his sword, but cannot get a good shot on Null. He then attacks with his tentacles while swinging his sword, trying to make a weak spot. Null has to constantly dash backwards to avoid his attacks. ''I wish I had my needle launchers or my crossbow right about now.'' Null thinks frowning. Seeing as how his sword wasn''t doing much damage, Winford puts it away. He then rushes towards Null with his fist behind him. Suddenly, a giant robotic arm gets attached to Winford''s arm as he punches towards Null. This is the fist of the titan that had once caught Emmanuel off guard. Null times his somersault perfectly. Then, with an mana electric charged foot, he slams his ax kick on Winford''s giant fist. The charge destroys Winford''s robotic fist, but due to the resistance of the fist, the charge doesn''t make it through the rest of Winford''s robotic armor. However, it caused enough damage to where Winford couldn''t detonate the giant fists. The people on the sidelines watching the battle between these two are in awe in what they are seeing. ¡°He''s... Actually fighting Winford to a standstill!¡± ¡°I thought our situation was hopeless, but it looks like we actually do have a chance to win!¡± ¡°Go Null, go!¡± After fighting for a long while, Null and Winford then pause their fighting. Their breathing is labored and they are both putting their hands on their knees. This battle is taking a toll on both of them. Null was rolling his shoulders and stretching his arms. ¡°Okay. I think I got the hang of this.¡± Null says. Winford frowns. ¡°Got the hang of what? You got some lucky shots in and suddenly you got the hang of this?¡± Winford mocks. Null shakes his head. ¡°What I''m saying is, as you are now, you are no longer a match for me.¡± Just then, Null does a straight charge at Winford. When he gets close enough, he does a kick aimed straight at the center of Winford''s chest. Winford''s face shows shock as he was not at all prepared. He is sent flying. While airborne, Winford changes his arm into a gun turret. Winford finds out to his surprise that none of the bullets were hitting. Null was gone from that area before Winford even aimed there. Winford starts trying to look for Null. His face then shows shock once again as he suddenly feels a sharp pain on his side. Winford was once again kicked away. This time though, he didn''t have time to turn off his armor. That electric mana current wrecked havoc upon Winford''s circuitry. Null chases after him. Even though Winford''s armor was damaged, Null did not let up. He did a flurry of punches on Winford, then sends a kick to his chest, making him fly straight into the air. When he is airborne, Null jumps high into the air and kicks Winford again. Like if Winford was a football, he was constantly kicked away with Null following closely from behind. With every kick that Null landed, bits and pieces of the armor that Winford was proud of slowly chipped away. This scene causes excitement among the populace. ¡°He''s winning! He''s winning!¡± ¡°Just a little more!¡± ¡°We will win this war!¡± ****** In the defense system control center, the people there are watching events unfold. Archum had taken Emmanuel and the other prisoners here for safety. As they were watching Null on the moniter beating Winford, their faces show astonishment. ¡°I can''t believe Null has the upper hand!¡± Claris says out loud. Winford was seemingly invincible in her eyes. Even Emmanuel fell before him, even though it was Winford''s robots that beat him. ¡°I only said that Null could win just to encourage him. I didn''t think he would actually do it.¡± Archum says watching the monitor with rapt interest. Emmanuel was just silently watching the monitor with a stoic face. ¡°So sir Emmanuel, Null is a librarian just like you. What do you think of him?¡± Claris asks Emmanuel respectfully. ¡°...That young man... Is odd.¡± Emmanuel says. ¡°Agreed.¡± Archum says. ¡°Biggest weirdo I''ve ever met.¡± Claris says agreeing while shaking her head. ¡°But... Even I can''t see how he will end up in terms of power.¡± Emmanuel says. This causes Archum, Claris, and everyone in the room to be shocked even more. Who is Emmanuel? The most powerful person in Gnosia, and not even he can see Null''s end potential? ******* Winford is currently in a small crater, dazed from being put there by one of Null''s kicks. Null rushes towards him again, preparing to send him off with another kick. Winford quickly comes to his senses. Having enough of being treated like a football, he slashed forward with all his working tentacles to stop Null''s charge. Null jumps in the air to dodge them, and lands several steps away. There was madness in Winford''s eyes. He points at Null and yells out, ¡°No more holding back! You will take the full brunt of my rage!¡± Winford crosses his arms in front of him. ''You think I''m just going to stand here and let you get more powerful?'' Null thinks insulted. ''I''m not one of those battle maniacs. I''m also not stupid. Well... Most of the time.'' Null runs towards Winford intending to finish him once and for all. He pours all the available mana from the mana stone inside his fist. The green electricity coming off his fists looks reminiscent of the Chidori from Naruto. When Null charges forward, Winford then tosses a bunch of flash and stun grenades. Null had no choice but to close his eyes and cover his ears. The surprise attack had temporarily rendered two of his senses disabled. Winford then sheds the old armor that was breaking off and puts on new armor. This armor is the most powerful armor he possesses. ¡°Count yourself lucky Null. You are the first to see this armor.¡± Winford says to Null with a smirk. This armor was sleeker and had even more glowing lines all throughout it. Other than that, there was nothing distinguishable about this new armor. ¡°Upgrade!¡± Winford yells out. A surge of mana starts to surround Winford. The armor starts to buzz and glow in activity. There''s so much power going through it that green electricity starts pouring out and surrounding him. People have to cover their ears because of the sound that the suit emits. In this form, Winford''s suit is designed for him to be able to withstand the extreme g-forces that act upon him. The metallic tentacles from before have doubled in length and look even more powerful. From the way they are moving on Winford''s back, they appear far faster than before. On parts of his back are boosters that further increase his linear speed. Null''s vision starts to clear from Winford''s surprise attack. When he sees Winford''s new armor and the green electricity surrounding him.... ''Shit...'' Null then sighs to himself. Null then feels a sudden pain on his face. Winford wasn''t in his original position. He had moved so fast, that he had caught Null off guard. There was a green flash from where he was before. Null is rammed through several buildings before Winford stops charging. Even with Winford''s stopped charged, the momentum from how Null was struck kept him going until he hit a car, causing a dent on it. ''...Shit!'' Null thinks to himself. Null sees Winford coming towards him again. He tries to strike Winford down with an electric mana charged open palm, but Winford dodges it as if that open palm was moving in slow motion. One of the tentacles slashes at Null. Null attempts to block it with an extendable blade, but the extendable blade on his hand snaps due to the sheer power Winford''s tentacle is exhibiting. ''I feel like I''m fighting Ludis!'' Null thinks to himself. He is having a rough time trying to keep up with Winford''s newfound speed and power. Even the onlookers feel like Null''s chances of winning just plummeted. ¡°How did he get so powerful?¡± ¡°Now I remember. He used that upgrade technique before. I forgot he could do that.¡± Someone remembers deadpanned. ¡°Don''t give up Null! You can do it!¡± ********* Meanwhile, as this fight is going on, Aldan, Ferron, and the others attempt to find the supposed factory that reproduces the robots. One of the assassins comes back from another sector and shakes his head. Aldan frowns. ¡°We''ve pretty much checked everywhere. Where could this factory be?¡± Ferron frowns in thought. He then hears thunder as a lightning bolt striking the tallest building in Gnosia. It looks as if it''s about to storm again. Seeing this sight, he remembers something. Ferron then points at the building and says, ¡°How about that one?¡± ¡°Oh? That''s the building that the founder stayed in. You think it could be there?¡± Aldan asks. Ferron nods. ¡°That building suffers from repeated lightning strikes. There''s a lot of power that could be generated from that.¡± ¡°But people are forbidden from entering that building. How could the factory be there?¡± ¡°...That, actually makes it more likely that the factory is there. You tinkerers I swear.¡± Ferron says shaking his head. They quickly make it to the building. Due to the situation in Gnosia, there are no guards around here like there usually are. They make it inside. Aldan hesitates to enter the building, but is pretty much dragged in by Ferron. They found where the first librarian slept, where he ate, and where he even showered. It had gotten to the point where some of them had forgotten their original objective and had gone sight seeing. Soon Ferron sets them back straight so they could continue their search. Room after room they entered, but they had not found anything. It ¡°Still not finding anything.¡± Ferron says disgruntled. ¡°Let''s get out of here! I don''t want to get in trouble!¡± Aldan says trembling. ¡°*sigh* Pathetic.¡± Ferron says to Aldan. Just when they enter a new room, a sounds of machinary turning on is heard. The lights come on in orderly fashion on the ceiling. Giant mechanical arms are suspended from the ceiling, on the walls, and on the ground. One huge conveyor belt is seen snaking itself through the entire large room. Ferron and Aldan look at each other to verify that they are both seeing the same thing. Seeing the surprised look on each other''s faces, they both knew that they found what they were looking for. Suddenly, something that looks like a ball starts floating in the air. It''s the sensor robots that have constantly gotten in their way. Aldan, Ferron, and the others ready their weapons. The ball then shines a laser that scans all the people in the room. When that happens, an alarm rings. Red lights flash throughout the room. Robots that were deactivated soon start to activate. This is the security robots in this room. They''re ordered to kill any unauthorized personnel who enters no matter who they are. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Aldan uses his wrench to smash the robot that had scanned them. Due to the mana magnet located inside the wrench, the robot was disoriented, and could not escape. The security robots heading towards them have the appearance of gigantic robotic insects. Thanks to the tech than Aldan, Null, and Ferron made, the robots were quickly dealt with. ¡°We found the place, so let''s destroy it!¡± Ferron says. ¡°Destroy it!? But-But-But we can''t destroy it! This place is a historical site!¡± Aldan says appalled that Ferron would even think of such a thing. ¡°It''s either this building or Gnosia''s people. Choose one.¡± Ferron says. ¡°Oh, fine.¡± Aldan replies despondent. Just when they were about to head into areas to destroy the room, a roar is heard. A door is opened. Massive mechanical claws are seen breaking though the gate. Every step this creature made made the room shake. This creature had glowing red eyes, humongous wings, and long serrated teeth. ¡°A robot dragon. It just had to be a robot dragon.¡± Ferron said sarcastically. ¡°Can we be it?¡± Aldan asks frightened. An assassin says, ¡°It''s not a true dragon, so it shouldn''t be as powerful as them.¡± ¡°Right. Let''s go!¡± Ferron yells out. They all ready their weapons. Aldan was the first to charge. His weapon was best for jamming robot sensors and wrecking havoc on circuitry. The dragon opened its mouth. Energy was gathering in its mouth. Aldan''s eyes open wide while stopped in his tracks, and then started bolting in the opposite direction. The dragon shoots out a powerful energy beam. Aldan does a barrel roll to the side evading that beam in just the nick of time. ¡°I almost died I almost died!¡± Aldan yells out in panic. ¡°Well don''t count yourself lucky yet. It''s firing again.¡± Ferron tells Aldan. ¡°Aaaah!¡± Aldan transforms his wrench into a boomerang shape, and throws his wrench with all his might. The robotic dragon was about to fire its breath again, but the wrench hit the dragon''s chin, making it fire at the ceiling. The boomerang then returned to Aldan''s hand. ¡°You could do that!?¡± Ferron asks Aldan surprised. ¡°Oh? Yeah.¡± ¡°Why didn''t you do that in the first place then!?¡± ¡°I forgot.¡± ¡°You tinkerer''s I swear!¡± Aldan sighs to himself. Thanks to Aldan, the dragon was firing its breath randomly everywhere due to its sensors being interfered with by Aldan''s wrench. Next, Ferron ran towards the dragon with his hammer. Green electricity was buzzing from one of the hammer''s faces. While Ferron was running, Aldan also charged forward. Ferron jumped in the air ready to strike down thinking the dragon was now an easy target. Unfortunately, the dragon was at least aware enough that it realized something was aiming for its head. The dragon blocked the blow to its head, but at the cost of losing its arm. Green electricity was causing its entire arm to short circuit. However, that dragon''s body was too big for that mana electric charge to take out its entire body. Though the dragon couldn''t see Ferron, it had accurately judged that the person who did that mana charged strike should still be there airborne. The dragon prepares another charged blast with its mouth. Ferron couldn''t dodge while airborne, and looked like he was about to perish, but Aldan used his wrench boomerang to make the dragon''s head once again miss. Now the dragon was missing an arm, and was bonked in the head two times. If that dragon could feel emotions, it would be understandably pissed, but luckily it was just an unfeeling robot. ¡°Good! Now it will be easier to kill it now that it''s missing an arm.¡± Ferron says smirking. The dragon did a mighty roar and spread its wings, taking flight. The mechanical dragon started firing energy blasts out its mouth while doing figure eights in the air, firing down at the intruders. ¡°What do we do now!?¡± Aldan asks in a panic. ¡°My boomerang can''t reach up there, and I''m not good with moving targets!¡± ¡°I don''t know. I can''t jump up to there.¡± Ferron says furrowing his brows in frustration. An archer says next to them, ¡°You know, you guys aren''t the only two people here. Why do you not ever include anybody else in your plans?¡± A warrior says, ¡°I know right? They never include us in any of their conversations! I bet you don''t even know our names!¡± ¡°That''s not important! We need need to find a way to reach that dragon!¡± Ferron yells out. ¡°Hello? Archer? I shoot arrows far away!¡± The archer says disgruntled. ¡°Then shoot them!¡± Ferron yells out. The archer mumbles something under his breath, then aims his arrow at the airborne dragon. The arrow shoots through the dragon''s wing. As the arrow contained mana electricity as well, that arrow also damaged part of the wing. The dragon fell while emitting an ear piercing roar. It crashes to the ground, looking worse for wear. The dragon groans as if it could feel pain while laid out. Ferron moves to finish off the dragon. While Ferron jumped in the air, he then notices the dragon''s plot. The dragon had secretly been charging its attack and was just about to launch it, knowing that Ferron would rush up to it. Aldan and the others show shock as none of their weapons would be able to save Ferron in time. Just as the attack was about to be released, something slams in from the outside wall and crashes into the dragon, utterly destroying it. The dragon''s parts scatter from the impact. The glowing red eyes of the dragon that were lodged out of its head from the impact grow dim before it turns dark. Aldan and the others are relieved that the dragon was destroyed, but they wonder what sort of object slammed into it. ¡°Ow.¡± The object in question said rubbing his shoulder. The others are surprised when they see who it is. ¡°Null?¡± ¡°What are you doing here?¡± Null looks and notices that the others are here. ''I would like to know that myself.'' Thought Null as he was hurriedly drinking health potions. When he finishes drinking, Null tells the others, ¡°You guys should run. Far away from here.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Aldan asks. A sound is heard that makes everyone in the room cover their ears. The wall crashes open. Winford steps in the room with green electricity surrounding him, emulating power. Null points at Winford with his thumb and says, ¡°That''s why.¡± ¡°That''s a pretty good reason.¡± Aldan nods. Winford looks around and sees Null, along with Aldan and the others inside his secret room. He also sees how damaged this place is. ¡°So you weren''t satisfied with just taking out my robots. You also want destroy my base of operations. From the looks of things, it looks like you partially succeeded.¡± Winford says calmly. ¡°...You just made a giant hole coming in head first in this building. Two if you count the hole when you slammed me in here.¡± Null says pointing out the obvious. ¡°Since your whole gang''s here, why don''t I start by killing them first?¡± Winford says facing the others. Null frowns and hurriedly steps in front of them. ¡°They have nothing to do with this.¡± Null says. ¡°Oh but they have everything to do with this. Didn''t you say it was Aldan who had rediscovered this technology?¡± ¡°That was a lie. It was all me. Everything was done by me. They''re all just incompetents who can''t do anything right.¡± ¡°Oh? Well I''ll just kill them anyway because I feel like it then.¡± Null rushes towards Winford. He tries to give an mana electrically charged sidekick to Winford''s gut. Winford effortlessly dodges the kick and goes after the others. ''No!'' Null thinks frantic. Null rushes towards the others to the best of his ability. Winford''s tentacle chops down towards Aldan. Null attempts to move him out the way. Despite Null''s best efforts though, he didn''t make it in time. The blade chops down at Aldan. The clothes on his chest were ripped apart. His chest is exposed. A huge amount of blood rushes out. ¡°Aldan!¡± ¡°No!¡± ¡°You monster!¡± The people there were shocked at what they saw. They had figured they had something like main character immunity since none of them had died yet, but that had turned out to be false. *Cough* Aldan coughs out a mouthful of blood. ¡°N-Null...¡± ¡°Stop talking.¡± Null says to Aldan. ¡°I didn''t think he would go down so easy. Next, you.¡± Winford once again charges. This time his blades were pointed at Ferron. Null looks on as this time, Winford has his blade pointed at Ferron''s heart. Null had forgotten about everything right now. He doesn''t even notice that Aldan has his hand pointed at Null. ¡°Up-grade.¡± Was what Aldan had said before he closed his eyes. Something changes on Null. The suit he''s wearing changes. The mana electricity starts to move even faster. The plating becomes bulkier. His gauntlets become bulky like a gorillas. The armor that was only partially covering his body started to connect and become a full body armor. Strength Null has never felt before starts to surge throughout his body. In a flash, Null grabs the tentacle that was about to stab through Ferron. It was only an inch away from killing him. Ferron seeing as he was only an inch away from death sweats heavily. Winford is surprised that Null was actually able to catch him. He then sees that Null''s suit had changed. Winford clenches his teeth in frustration. Null doesn''t say anything. He is lucky that no one can now see his face, as everyone would''ve been able to see his pissed off expression. It takes a whole lot to make Null angry since he decided to discard humanity. However, once he gets angry, it''s difficult to get him to stop. Null grabs Winford''s tentacle and swings him around. He spins him around faster and faster. Null spins him around so fast, it looks like a miniature tornado is materializing around them. Null then releases Winford and he slams into the wall. Blood comes out of Winford''s mouth. The impact was just too much. Null waits for Winford to come out of the hole he made. ¡°You think just because you made a lucky shot you have the right to be arrogant!?¡± Winford yells out. Null doesn''t say anything. He does a straight charge towards Winford. Winford tries to time when Null when arrive and stabs at that direction with his tentacles. Null then suddenly speeds up and punches Winford with an electric mana charged punch. Even after the suit shorts out, Null still keeps punching. The suit starts falling apart. The dent in the wall which Winford is stuck in gets deeper and deeper. Winford realizes that he will truly die if he doesn''t activate his trump card. ''I will kill you and everyone in Gnosia!'' Winford vows. The arms all over the wall suddenly start to attack Null. Null was not expecting that. Null punches the arms on the wall, but more keep coming. Some doors on the ceiling open, and a huge flood of robots come into the room. ¡°Tch.¡± Null gets annoyed. There are even more robots than before. They come in like a tsunami. Null doesn''t have another MEMP, so he realizes that he has no choice. He pulls out a scroll that has a picture of the MEMP on it.
Due to the use of Art Materialization, you will lose levels. The number of levels you lose will depend on the rarity of the materials brought to be real. The picture that you used has cost you 34 levels. You can gain these levels back. The structure created using Art Materialization is unstable, and will turn back into paint depending on how high leveled the object is. The time until stability collapse of this object or objects is within 10 minutes.
As this MEMP is made with a lot of mana crystals, mithril, and other hard to find materials, the amount of levels Null lost was not small. Null feels himself getting weaker from the lost of levels. Null activates the MEMP. When the robots once again fall like rain, Null looks on to his horror. A robot he has not seen before him. The robot that was just constructed activates. This robot is colossal. Is has to bend down to fit in the huge room they''re in. There are countless gun turrets and cannons all over this robot. There are wings on this robot with boosters that give it the ability to fly. Winford is in the center of the robot, looking to be protected. This looks to be Winford''s final trump card. ¡°This is my greatest work! All of my research from day one went into this robot! You along with everyone in this city will die!¡± Winford says with madness. Null does Identify on the robot.
Murderthon 9000
Winford''s greatest work. As its name suggests, it''s really good at what it does.
Level402
Health ???Mana ???
Strength ??? Dexterity ???
Vitality???Charisma???
Intelligence???Wisdom???
Luck???
Attack???Defense???
Winford doesn''t even deal with Null. He breaks a hole inside the building and makes his way outside. The robot flies towards the top of the building. The defense network located outside the building focuses all its firepower on stopping Winford. Null notices that the defense system is really trying hard to not let Winford reach the top of the building, and he doesn''t know why. There are nets, bombs, and gun turrets all aimed at Winford''s collasal robot. Though they manage to slow him down, Winford breaks through it all, and refuses to stop. Null noticed that the defense system was doing a good job of delaying Winford, so he decided to wait until the robot ran out of power before going to destroy Winford himself. He stands there waiting while looking up at the defense system. A few minutes later, someone arrives at where Null is. It''s a cleric. Null is secretly relieved that a cleric is here. Now they don''t have to worry about Aldan''s condition anymore. The cleric is breathing heavily. It looks like he ran all the way here. ''How do they know about Aldan?'' Null thinks unaware that the building they are located in is the place with the heaviest surveillance. ¡°I have a message from Claris and Emmanuel.¡± The cleric says. Null is surprised. He thought he was just here to help Aldan. Claris and Emmanuel? It must be pretty important. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Do not let Winford reach the top of this building.¡± Null noticed something was off how Emmanuel was steadily trying to reach the top. ¡°Why?¡± Null asks. The cleric didn''t want to discuss, seeing as they didn''t have time, but he was warned of Null''s temperament from Claris, so he decided to be patient. ¡°Have you ever heard of an elemental crystal?¡± Null shakes his head. ¡°Elemental crystal are created from terrifying scale elemental forces. They may take up to thousands of years to form. There has to be perfect conditions for the object to be formed.¡± Null stands there blankly. The cleric continues. ¡°The elemental crystals are very beneficial if you are a mage that want to train in that element, but hardly anyone ever uses them to train. Do you know why?¡± Null shakes his head. ¡°It''s because the elemental crystals are inherently unstable. There is a unfathomably large amount of the element concentrated down into a small crystal. If a large pulse of mana comes in contact with the elemental crystal, it will unravel the elemental crystal turning it back into its base form. That unraveling... Is equivalent to one of your world''s nuclear bombs.¡± Null gets a sinking feeling. ¡°Don''t tell me...¡± The cleric nods. ¡°Yes. What lies on top of this building is a lightning elemental crystal. That crystal is what powers our city. All of Gnosia''s teleportation relay points are on grounds rich with lightning elemental energy. Only certain personnel are qualified to know this information. As Winford was once our head tinkerer, he also knows. If he sets that crystal off, an uncountable amount of lives will be lost.¡± ¡°Tch.¡± Null gets irritated. ¡°Take care of Aldan.¡± Null says to the cleric. He nods and goes down inside. Null then starts jumping on platforms along the walls reaching quickly towards Winford. Winford sees Null coming towards him. He knows that this robot is slow, and although the robot can take quite a few hits from Null, it will slow him down enough that the defense system would probably start to overwhelm him. All the cannons that Winford has on him are activated. Null notices that the guns aren''t just aimed at him. They''re aimed at everywhere! They fire. The missiles and cannons shoot up buildings even far away. Buildings collapse, and lives are lost. This amount devastation was something Null didn''t expect to happen. He never expected Winford to reach this level was madness. Null can''t help but feel guilty to what''s going on around him. He doesn''t like it when others get drawn into his battles. ''If I never came here, maybe this wouldn''t have happened.'' Null thinks solemn. However, he knows that now is not the time to be feeling sad. He rushes on the robot that''s above him. He tries to strike, but the gunfire is too thick. The robot is too powerful. Null can''t even get close to the robot. Null doesn''t know what he''s going to do. ''I really don''t want to lose so many levels again with Art Materialization. Will I have no choice?'' Null thinks to himself. It was then that other warriors came from below trying to get to Winford. ''That annoying lady must have sent them.'' Thought Null. The mages fired their elemental blasts, the archers fired their arrows, and the warriors were rushing up the wall jumping from platform to platform. The health Winford lost from the mage attacks and arrows was like a drop in the bucket. All the warriors who approached were gunned down. Minutes go by. Even though the mages and archers along with the defense system didn''t let up, his health didn''t fall by that much. Winford finally makes it to the top of the building after having been fired at by everything, but he had only lost a third of his health in total. When Winford makes it up there, he sees a pillar surrounded by some of the hardest materials in New Reality. Black iron, titanite, and unobtanium surround this pillar. Winford knows that this is where the lightning stone is located. In order to reach it requires a 100 digit code and five authorizations from different departments. Winford knew to get them to open this would be impossible, so he does the next best thing: He aims all his weapons at the pillar and starts blasting, hitting at the pole for several seconds. A cloud of smoke rises. When the smoke clears, Winford sees that the surroundings have been decimated, but the pillar still stands strong. This was within Winford''s calculations. He keeps firing his weapons at the pillar. He was so focused on the pillar that he didn''t notice someone was running towards him from behind. Null throws all the remaining power in the mana crystal into that punch, but to Null''s dismay, that attack only took off about 5% from Winford''s maximum health. It should be known that mana electricity is this robot''s weakness, and yet Null was only able to drop Winford''s health from around 60% to around 55% using full power. Null reloads mana crystals as he heads for cover. Null calculates he would have to hit Winford at least ten more times with full power like before. He knows that Winford won''t give him that luxury of standing still like that. Winford frowns he turns some of his weapons towards Null. He knows that Null can''t die, but it will take Null a while to revive. By the time Null revives, Gnosia would have already been destroyed. The pillar Null hides behind doesn''t last long. Null runs and finds a new hiding spot behind some fallen rubble. The others are finally able to make it to the top. Seeing the heavy firepower, they also hide behind rubble. ¡°Null, what do you think we should do?¡± Someone asks. Null says, ¡°I need to attack him at full power at least ten more times. I don''t think he''ll let me attack again.¡± ¡°We''ll block so you can get close enough.¡± Null shakes his head. ¡°You will not get involved in my battles.¡± In actuality, Null knows if they were to block for him, they will most likely die. ¡°Null, don''t worry about us!¡± A new voice is heard. When Null looks, he surprised. It''s Aldan, an he''s already walking around like he wasn''t even hurt. His clothes are damaged, and he has a scar from where Winford cut him, but otherwise he looks fine. ¡°Go back Aldan. This is my battle.¡± ¡°No Null, this is Gnosia''s battle! We will win or fall together!¡± Aldan tells Null. Null shakes his head. He knows there''s no stopping Aldan when he''s like this. If he wants to die, then so be it. ¡°Fine.¡± ¡°My research! My research will not end here! I will be recognized by the gods!¡± Winford yells out madly. He prepares his full powered attack again. ¡°It''s now or never!¡± A warrior yells out. The warriors rush out in front. Aldan stays behind Null. They prepare for one final charge. Winford showers the place with bullets and missiles. The warriors all fall one by one. ''How are we going to make it!?'' Null thinks. Just then, Null suits starts to glow again. ¡°Null, put all the mana stones in your suit! Don''t look back, just keep running forward!¡± Aldan tells Null. Null nods and does just that. The suit Null is wearing upgrades again. The power flowing through the suit is phenomenal. The suit looks like it cannot handle the strain for long. Null puts all the electricity inside his fists and runs forward. ¡°My research will not end!¡± Winford yells out. Winford fires out the maximum output of firepower the suit possesses. Null''s suit is getting chipped away slowly from the massive amounts of gun fire. Even Aldan who is hiding behind Null keeps getting grazed. Null''s face mask is now destroyed. Now it''s just Null in front. He puts all he has into this last attack. Null impacts the armor. He puts so much into this attack, that Winford is knocked out of the building. His robot is falling apart. Winford falls from the top of the building. When the suit falls apart, Winford is finally exposed. He still has a sliver of health left. Null then sees something that surprises him. The cannon from Big Bertha is aimed at Winford. It fires. Null looks on in awe at the firepower Big Bertha possesses. ''I want one.'' Null thinks to himself. The people look on in awe. ¡°It''s...¡± ¡°He''s....¡± ¡°Winford has been defeated!¡± ---------- Author''s Note: And so, Winford is down. Next chapter, the aftermath of everything that happened. Oh, and a flashback. Chapter 45: The Librarian Founder The people of Gnosia watch at Winford falls. Some point to the sky. Cheers are heard. Some cry from joy. People all run from their shelters and start celebrating. ********** ¡°He did it.¡± Claris says smiling happily. ¡°That weirdo actually did it.¡± Emmanuel nods and gets up. He says, ¡°I will head back to the library.¡± Claris looks at Emmanuel and frowns. ¡°Sir, you still aren''t at 100%. Maybe you should rest more.¡± Emmanuel shakes his head. ¡°Even though I''m weakened like this, do you think that there''s anyone besides Winford that''s a match for me?¡± Claris stops and thinks, but then nods. ¡°Take care sir.¡± Emmanuel nods and leaves. Archum says, ¡°There''s still work to be done. I''ll catch the remaining rebels and restore order to Gnosia.¡± One of the ministers say, ¡°We''ll calm the people down and tell them what''s going on.¡± Claris nods. ************
You have leveled up! You have leveled up! You have leveled up! You have leveled up! ...
At the top of the tallest building, Null looks on at the wreckage falling that was formally Winford. He and falls due to his body''s mana being overdrawn. The armor that he is wearing crumbles into pieces. That armor just couldn''t handle the strain of all those multiple mana stones along with Winford''s firepower. Aldan also falls on his butt. There are multiple wounds on him, but despite his poor appearance. There''s a big smile on his face. Null''s face then shows shock. There''s something like a heartbeat coming in through Null''s inventory. Null''s pulls the item out, and to no one''s surprise, it''s the mystery book that Null had received. It''s starts to glow and dim like a heart beat. Aldan looks curiously at what''s going in. To Null''s surprise, there''s is something else that''s glowing. There''s a painting inside this room. It''s a humble picture, as it''s a picture of a book with an arrow above the book pointing upwards. The painting then suddenly shoots a beam at the book Null has in his hand. The book starts to glow brighter and brighter until Null is consumed by the light. ¡°Null!¡± Aldan yells out. - ********** Null opens his eyes. To his surprise, he finds himself in a different place. He looks at his hands and sees that they are translucent. ''Ah. This must be another flashback.'' Null figures out. Null looks around. He appears to be in a one-room, small, shoddy, run-down house. There''s a woman in the bed. She looks to be very ill. Her breathing is labored. There is no one else in the room right now. ''What am I doing here?'' Null wants to know. Suddenly... ¡°Mom!¡± ¡°Mommy!¡± Two boys come in from outside. They seem to be young. One looks to be about 12 years old, while the others seems to be about 8. Their clothes are tattered. They come by their mother''s bedside. ¡°*cough* *cough* Oh? You two seem excited. What happened?¡± The mother asks with a smile. ¡°We finally worked enough to earn food for you! You''ll get better in no time!¡± The older boy says with conviction. ¡°Mother, you haven''t eaten in 3 days. Please eat!¡± The younger looking boy said sadly. ¡°I will, but more importantly, are you two eating well?¡± The mother asks. The two boys avert their gazes. Seeing this, the mother shakes her head. ¡°You two. Eat.¡± The two boys look on in worry. ¡°But mother...¡± ¡°Mom, please...¡± The mother looks at her two boys and says, ¡°Alexander, Abel, my words are final. Eat.¡± The two boys sigh. Null looks at the amount of food that they are eating. It''s a paltry amount. The food also looks like it had expired. The people looked malnourished. ''*sigh* I don''t see any good things coming from this flashback.'' Null thinks in his mind. ¡°Mom, I promise...¡± The older boy speaks up. ¡°Alexander?¡± The mom looks at him. ¡°I will cure you mom! I will become an alchemist! I won''t let you die like dad!¡± Alexander says with tears with his eyes. ¡°All I''ve ever wanted is for my two boys to happy. As long as that happens, then I can die in peace.¡± ¡°Mom...¡± The younger boy Abel looks at his mother sadly. ¡°Mother! Don''t say that!¡± Alexander yells at her mother. Afterwards, the mother talks to her boys more, then she falls asleep. The younger boy Abel cries. Alexander puts his hand on Abel''s shoulders. ¡°I''m going to go back to work. We have to be strong. We don''t want mom to worry about us right?¡± Abel nods. Alexander then leaves the house and heads towards one of the places he works to earn his family enough to eat. Null looks around while he''s following Alexander. The place he''s in looks deplorable. There are even chained slaves around, doing work no one else wants to, such as changing out the septic system since there is no plumbing, and picking out seeds from fruits by hand. It looks like Alexander stays in the ghettos. It looks as if the nobles own all the land around them, as the people in the slums have only small scale farms.. Compared to today in New Reality, where even emperors would send aid to their subjects if they were in trouble, people in power back then didn''t care about the commoners at all. Death, disease, and poverty were rampant in the slums. The people in the slums are taxed heavily for what little they make. Alexander makes it to a restaurant and goes into the kitchen. He grabs a washcloth and starts washing the dirty dishes present in the sink. ¡°If these dishes aren''t done by the end of the night, I won''t pay you!¡± An overweight man says looking at the people working while smirking. A few hours pass by as Alexander is worked to the bone. When Alexander is done, he leaves the place. He barely made the allotted time today, so he got paid. When he''s done, he runs off somewhere and sneaks off somewhere. Alexander starts to break into a gated community, sneaking past the guards. He finds a building and looks into it through a window. When Null looks in the building, he sees that it''s a classroom. Null sees the uniforms of the kids. They look like nobles. Null makes a deduction. ''These nobles must not be too high ranked. I doubt a little kid like this could break into this area if these nobles were really important.'' Null sees him learning letters, numbers, and words, writing down and repeating to himself everything he sees. To Null''s surprise, Alexander picked up on things incredibly fast. He must be a genius. Null then sees the building that Alexander is learning from. On the side of the building is a mage symbol Null has seen before. This school is actually a mage academy. Back then, people learned to read and write in mage academies. That was the equivalent of a school. People wanting to learn magic didn''t start until they were 16. New Reality has a system where you couldn''t level up or have a class until you turned 16, which coincidentally is the age in which a player is old enough to play. This is why typically, NPC''s at the same level are in general stronger than players. Players that don''t know any better try to level as soon as they enter New Reality. Before they turned 16, they learned math, history, and other general subjects. This was done on purpose. Although a person couldn''t learn magic or level up before 16, you could still get stat boosts from doing various things. They are learning to get the boosts in intelligence and wisdom. For a mage, technique is an afterthought compared to the raw power you can produce. When the lesson is over, Alexandria finds a place to meditate. Alexandria knows he has no talent as a mage, but he finds that he does his best thinking when he meditates. Feeling the mana that''s inside of him produces a soothing effect in his mind. If he had talent, he would be able to feel at least a little of the elements in the air, but Alexander doesn''t feel any at all. This matters little to him as he aims to become an alchemist. A bright light flashes in Null''s vision. When his vision clears, Alexandria looks a bit bigger. Null figures out that that must mean the light is like a fast forward into the future. When Null sees Alexander again, the look on his face shows worry. His mother''s condition is getting worse and worse. He doesn''t know what to do. Suddenly, Alexander hears a voice. ¡°Selling health potions! Real cheap!¡± A clean looking youth looks out here. It''s rare for nobility to sell to the slums. ¡°How much for a potion?¡± Alexander asks the youth. He looks to be a few years older than Alexander. ¡°20 silver.¡± The youth says. Null looks shocked. ''20 silver for that health potion? But it''s so small compared to the health potions of today, and 10 times more expensive!'' ¡°Wow. Very cheap.¡± Alexander says nodding satisfied. ''Cheap!?'' Null looks on in shock. Alexander buys three of them. ¡°Pleasure doing business with you.¡± The youth says to Alexander. Alexander soon heads back to the slum he lives in. Soon some people come and try to haggle him. ¡°Hey Alex.¡± Someone says to him. ¡°We saw you buying health potions.¡± Alexander is silent and holds on tightly to his bag. The potions are within. ¡°We really don''t want to do this, but we have no choice. Take his potions!¡± Try as he may to old on to them, Alexander is just too weak. They end up stealing two of them. They saw how determined he was to hold on to that last health potion, so they let him keep it. He rushes home before anyone else gets any idea to steal his last potion. He shows the potion to his mother. ¡°Mom, take this. You will feel better.¡± Alexander says smiling sadly at his mother. ¡°Alexander, did you steal?¡± His mother says with a frown. ¡°You do know how I feel about stealing.¡± ¡°I didn''t steal. A nice person sold these health potions to me cheaply.¡± His mother then sighs. She would rather him buy food for themselves, but since it''s already been bought, she''ll just take it. When she drinks the potion, her face starts to clear up a little. Seeing the improvement in her condition Alexander gets a little happier. He ends up going to work in a good mood. However, that good mood would not last long. Later when he comes back, he finds that his mother has become even more ill. He get''s a bad premonition inside his heart. He grabs the bottle and smells into it. ''He must have sold me expired health potions!'' Alexander gets angry, as he slams the bottle to the ground while yelling, ¡°I can''t trust anyone!¡± Null finds this parallel between him and Alexander to be disturbing. Alexander decides to take matters into his own hands from now on. He doesn''t show up for work the next day. He steals some black clothes from a shop. The store owner sends his guards to try and catch him. Due to Alexander working so hard, and knowing the terrain so well, he is really physically fit. None of the guards could catch him. Alexander chooses a spot where nobility likes to go into and waits. It didn''t take long to find the person who sold him the expired health potions. Alexander balls his fists. Although this person is an aristocrat, he''s not that high ranking. He''s also one of the lousy alchemists. This alchemist is surrounded by two guards who happen to be warriors. Alexander decides to put his plan into action. When the alchemist and his bodyguards walk to a certain area, Alexander pulls a wire. A slingshot made from vines holding a rock is released. The rock hits one of the bodyguards in the back of the head, knocking him out. The other bodyguard pulls out his sword and protects the alchemist. Suddenly a whole bunch of rocks come out. However, that bodyguard is good. He uses his sword to parries all the rocks. While this going on, something tightens around the alchemist''s feet. ¡°Waaaah!¡± The alchemist screams as he is dragged away. The bodyguard turns around as the alchemist is being dragged away. He attempts to chases after the alchemist, but that bodyguard is also hit in the back of the head with a rock and passes out. When the alchemist makes it to Alexander, Alexander''s knocks him out. A few minutes then pass. ¡°Ooooh. My head.¡± The alchemist wakes up tied up with a huge headache. Even though he''s a low ranking alchemist, it''s a general rule that the nobility are far more powerful than the commoners, so Alexander is taking the right precautions tying him up. ¡°What do you want!? If you want money, I have it! Just please let me go!¡± ¡°I want your alchemist book.¡± Alexander says, looking at the alchemist in disdain. He''s wearing a mask so that he doesn''t get recognized. ¡°An alchemy book is an alchemist''s pride and joy! I can''t just hand it over!¡± ¡°If you refuse, I''ll just take your life.¡± The alchemist panics. ¡°If you untie me, I will gladly hand it over.¡± ¡°Do you think I''m an idiot? Open your inventory and pull out your book. I tied your hands up in front for this reason.¡± The alchemist does what he''s told. Alexander also steals all the money that''s on him. ¡°Okay, it''s done. Aren''t you going to let me go?¡± ¡°You''ll be let go when your guards wake up to untie you.¡± The alchemist starts crying. Alexander heads for the forests to hide out. Meanwhile, the alchemist was found and untied by hid bodyguards. He went to authorities afterwards. That alchemist knew from the way the person was dressed that he wasn''t part of any known thieving guild. He was dressed like a commoner. The police in this time were just attack dogs for those in power, so not that much different from today. They searched every house in the slums. They even searched Alexander''s house, but they found nothing out of the ordinary. Of course, Alexander wasn''t stupid enough to buy anything or show up when the police were looking for suspicious activities. Alexander runs away into the forests. The beasts here are very powerful, so the nobles generally leave these lands alone. They could subdue these lands if they wanted to, but they just think it''s not worth the effort. He knows this is only place he can hide out for now. While Alexander is walking, a powerful monster comes out, slowly approaching behind him. It looks like a 10 foot long mongoose with sharp, long claws. When it gets close enough, just when it was about to pounce, the mongoose smells something awful to its nose and walks away. Alexander covered himself in substance very unpleasant smell to most monsters, so they''ll generally stay away. However, this won''t work on all the monsters in this forests. Time passes as he spends time in the forest. He builds a tree house that takes him around a day to complete. When the heat from the police starts to lessen, he heads back home to check on his family. He makes it home to see how his family is doing. When he makes it inside, he sees that his mother isn''t doing so well. He gives his brother some of the money he stole from the alchemist. ¡°Where did you get this?¡± Abel asks surprised. ¡°That''s not important. Buy fresh food for yourself and mother. Buy fresh health potions. Don''t buy any potions that are at a discount. Don''t spend money extravagantly.¡± Abel nods. ¡°Tell mother I''m going away for a while. I''ll leave mother to you.¡± Abel nods, ¡°I''ll be strong for mother.¡± ¡°Good.¡± With that, Alexander goes back into the forest. He opens the alchemy book and reads how to make health potions. That''s all he focuses on. There are terms he doesn''t understand. He knows he can''t go to the mage''s library. It would be suspicious if a slum kid paid all that money to go to the library to look up alchemy terms. That''s pretty much yelling out he was the culprit. Since he doesn''t know what terms mean, he decides to experiment. It''s very slow. Words he doesn''t understand he has to guess what they mean and experiment. Luckily there are pictures next to the ingredients themselves, so he knows what to look for. If it was anyone else, they would have given up, or would have run into a dead end in which they couldn''t crawl back from. Slowly but surely, his errors become less. Months pass by. Today, Alexander finally perfects his health potion. The ingredients of the potion were nontoxic, so he had been using himself as the guinea pig. He hasn''t even touch anything else in the alchemy book. He only wants to learn how to make health potions for his mother. He makes a small cut on himself. When he drinks his health potion, the cut starts to heal. The potion isn''t nearly as potent as a potion made by a true alchemist as he isn''t one. However, that matters not to Alexander as he is very excited. He is intelligent enough that he had memorized how to make the health potion while doing it. While he''s working, he is spied on. Alexander had underestimated that noble. He paid a tracker to find out who it was that robbed him. It would be a humiliation if people found out a slum kid had bested him, so he foolishly decides to go out himself for revenge. The alchemist decides he will torture Alexander. He plans on giving him all kinds of poisons for Alexander to test. The tracker he hired told him that Alexander is weak, so he didn''t need to worry about him. He heads towards Alexander. While walking, he triggers an early warning signal. Alexander sees it''s the man that he stole the health potion book from. Alexander runs away. The alchemist gets an evil smile on his face. ¡°Think you can run?! You are destined to live the rest of your life in a cage being my guinea pig!¡± The alchemist yells out, angry at the humiliation he received from Alexander. Although they are both level 1, the alchemist has far greater stat gains than Alexander and better equipment. That''s the gap that exists between commoners and nobility. Alexander kicks a lever which activates a hidden trap. Projectiles are then shot towards Alexander''s pursuer. ¡°You think your rocks can get through my armor!? Fat chance!¡± He soon realizes that we was not pelted with rocks, but some sort of smelly substance. That alchemist gets angry. He soon gains on Alexander. Just when he was about to cut Alexander down with his sword, he hears a roar. It''s the giant mongoose Alexander had run into before. The alchemist looks on in shock as the mongoose cuts him down. He didn''t even know how the mongoose killed him. The mongoose looks in Alexander''s direction, but the smell Alexander is giving off is nauseating to him. That mongoose then focuses on eating the alchemist he just killed. When it eats its fill, it walks away. Alexander comes back to the aftermath. The alchemist had dropped an alchemist book, and it looks to have more information than his previous alchemist book. Alexander smiles. He takes the book and decides to head back home. Alexander had noticed that police presence had dropped off considerably. Some police see him and ask him questions, and he is soon left alone afterwards. When he makes it back to his house, he sees his mother in an even worse condition. Her skin had turned gray, and her labored breathing is worse. She strains her head to see who had entered the room. When she finds it''s Alexander, she smiles. She hasn''t seen him in a long time. Alexander looks in shock at her deteriorating condition. He hurriedly says, ¡°Mom, I brought lots of health potions! Please drink them!¡± The mother shakes her head. ¡°I... Don''t think I will make it.¡± She says with a sad smile. She had held on for so long just so that she could see Alexander one last time. Tears appear in Alexander''s eyes. ¡°But...¡± ¡°Now Alexander, you are a very intelligent person, one of the smartest people I''ve ever seen. Abel, I''ve never seen someone with such high potential to be a mage. I wish you two were never born here.¡± ¡°Mom! Don''t say that! If I were born a noble, I would probably be arrogant and heartless like them! I do not regret at all you and dad raising me! Those nobles! I will never forgive them!¡± Alexander yells out with tears in his eyes. ¡°Alexander, you must promise me.¡± ¡°Anything mom!¡± Alexander looks at his mother. He realizes these are her final moments, and he will not forget whatever it is that she promises. ¡°The people in this world are so heartless, but I can see it in their faces. The people are sad. People are stepping on others just to survive. They hate this world that forces them to act like this. People swindling and scamming others of their hard earned work. They hate having to resort to this because they see of no other option to survive. I''m sure you''ve seen this before.¡± Alexander nods. ¡°Alexander, you are so intelligent. Please, I beg of you, don''t take revenge against the nobles. Don''t hold it against people that live in the slums for trying to survive. It''s all they know. They were taught from birth that anyone not born a noble is trash, and they have never learned any other way. Please. Use your intelligence to try to make the world a better place. Teach the people in this world a better way. At least give people a chance to change. Help those in need without asking for anything in return. I know you can do it. I know you will be a great person someday. I just don''t want you to go down the wrong path.¡± With tears streaming, Alexander says, ¡°Mom, I promise. I will try to change the world for the better.¡± ¡°Abel, please use your power to protect. Don''t revenge for my or anyone''s sake. Do you promise?¡± Abel can only nod with tears. Their mother smiles. ¡°Good. Thank you.¡± She dies with a smile on her face. Null thinks, ''That person is very wise. I see where this Alexander gets his intelligence from. She knew he was intelligent, so before he got to being too powerful and conceited, she said what she had to say to not get his ego too over inflated.'' Takes her body to grave. Places a boulder next to her grave. They stay a while to pay their respects. Alexander then says, ¡°Abel, there''s no use in use being in this town anymore.¡± Abel nods. ¡°We are going to get stronger.¡± Abel nods again. ¡°I''ll earn enough money to send you to a mage academy. We will honor mom''s dream and change the world for the better!¡± Abel gets a determined look and nods. They take their meager belongings and leave. They don''t know where they are going to go. While moving, Alexander meditates everyday and practices making new potions. Everyday he steadily gets better. One day, he gets a prompt that greatly surprises him.
For showing such proficiency in Alchemy, you have earned the Alchemy skill.
Alexander looks at the window in shock. Although you can earn skills by being proficient in something, Alexander has never heard of someone gaining the Alchemy Skill outside of the Alchemy Class. The Alchemy Skills are usually bestowed by a master from the greater Alchemy Class. After a few months of traveling, they make it to a town called Cromer. This town is a near mirror image of the place he grew up in. There''s a slum, a shopping district, and an upper class area. The people in the slums are constantly looking downwards as if there is no hope. They buy a house in the slums. With the money Alexander stole, he could easily buy a small house in the noble district, but Alexander can''t get over his hatred of the nobles. He''s doing his best to deal with that because of the promise to his mother, but he knows that it will require baby steps. When they get settled in, Alexander decides to start the first phase of his plan. He goes to a herb shop, buying a lot of ingredients, so much that the place that sold them had sold out. As for why Alexander bought a lot of ingredients, he knew that once his plan had gotten underway, people would try to block him, so he bought the ingredients ahead of time. He opens a stall and starts selling the health potions he made cheaply. It would do no good to give them away, as Alexander still need funds to buy the things for his alchemy. Even though Alexander sells his potions very cheaply, people aren''t buying, as they are skeptical. They know that people who sell cheap potions tend to be rip offs. No one buys them, but this doesn''t discourage Alexander. ''Wait. The prices he is selling is around the same as the prices of today. Are they related, or is this just a coincidence?'' Null ponders. Soon, someone desperate comes. He had just come back from a hunt and was gravely injured. However he is poor, so he feels he has no choice but to buy Alexander''s potions. When he drinks the potion, he is surprised. The results show instantly. They are of an even better quality than the expensive potions he can''t afford. That person tells others about this. People are skeptical at first, but the results start to show. Word quickly spreads. Everybody starts buying potions from Alexander. People would much rather buy potions from Alexander than the other nobles, as he always sells to them with a friendly smile while also not looking down on them. It doesn''t hurt that they are so cheap as well. Soon, Alexander''s stall becomes the most popular place to buy potions in the slums. Other alchemists in the area don''t like Alexander. He''s become so popular that even nobles started buying from him. Their sales are suffering as a result. They send people to threaten Alexander. He''s not ready yet for a full confrontation with Cromer''s Alchemy Association, so he''s forced to slow down production. However, his first step had succeeded. The people now know about him. That confrontation did remind Alexander though that his power is greatly lacking. He buys a sword and starts practicing the way of the sword. Three years pass by. Alexander has finally saved enough money to send Abel to school. This also has the added benefit of helping Alexander with his reading. Abel soon teaches Alexander things that he has had trouble with. Alexander catches on very fast. Soon, Alexander starts helping Abel with his work. Thanks to Abel, Alexander could now read more things he wasn''t able to read before. It didn''t take Alexander long to reach intermediate in the Alchemy skill. Intermediate in Alchemy represents a major milestone. He can now work and negotiate with major powers in the city he''s in if he now chooses to. Alexander starts the next phase in his plan. First, he goes to the warriors guild and hires warriors. They don''t have to be powerful. They just can''t be corrupt. He then goes to the archers guild to do the same thing. He quickly ramps up production on his alchemy products. Thanks to his intermediate in alchemy, he can create a lot more things. His increasing demand lets him decide to hire more people. The people he hires are all from the slums. He pays people to search for ingredients in the forests, and also to sell his products. He upgrades his stand and creates a store. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Cromer''s alchemy association had sent several people to threaten Alexander during this period, but they were all chased off. After the repeated attacks, Alexander has a conversation with his brother, the warriors, and archers. ¡°The Alchemy Association is really getting rampant.¡± A warrior comments while sharpening his sword. ¡°I don''t think we have enough power to go against them yet.¡± Abel says sitting in a corner. Alexander smiles to the people in the room and says, ¡°I have a plan to deal with them. I will learn the blacksmithing skill.¡± Abel looks at Alexander confused. ¡°But Alex, you should focus on being an alchemist. You already have intermediate in the alchemy class. Why would you do that?¡± ¡°Ha. Abel, have you forgotten?¡± Alexander says while wagging his finger. ¡°I don''t have the Alchemy class. I only have the Alchemy skill.¡± Realization hits Abel''s face. Although he is greatly limited by not having the Alchemy Class in what he can do in Alchemy, he can gather other skills if he gets proficient enough. Without the Alchemy class, experience in the skill is 10x slower than if he had the class to start with. He also doesn''t have the skills like Potion Creation or Ingredient Finder. ¡°Okay. I agree with your plan Alex.¡± Abel says. Alexander goes to a blacksmith and pays for beginning blacksmith lessons. Like with Alchemy, he quickly catches on. The blacksmith who teaches him commends his hard work and talent. Alexander quickly levels up in this skill. He makes many unique and novel things. Since he has so much he''s working on, he keeps a journal to write down all the things he''s making. Soon finds he has a lot to write and not enough time, so he decides to go to the calligraphy guild and learn calligraphy. Although he doesn''t have the Ink Hand technique, the speed of his writing dramatically increases. Since the people in the slums couldn''t read, he needs pictures to help them identify ingredients. He goes to the painting guild and learns to paint. Soon, he finds he needs a lot of paper. He goes to the mage''s library for a book on paper making techniques. He buys a copy of book on how to make paper. Soon, he finds a way to mass produce paper production. ''This person is just too damn perfect. Quickly inventing new things and even reaching intermediate in a skill he doesn''t even have a class in.'' Null says frowning. ''He reminds me of my siblings.'' Alexander is now ready for next stage in his plan. He teaches people in the slums how to make his health potions. He has other types of potions, so he''s not worried about his sales. The Alchemy Association had enjoyed their oligopoly for so long that they never even bothered trying to research new ways to make easy potions like health potions. Soon, other alchemy stores not under the Alchemy Association pop up in Cromer. Alexander is proving to be a real headache for the Alchemy Association. Because of Alexander''s actions, he becomes a major power in Cromer. He had revitalized the slums. The people working under him have incredible benefits. Some people leave and make their own companies. Alexander smiles. He wants people to leave. He wants to strangle the powerful alchemist association. More people forming their own alchemy places means more people that are targeted instead of him. Soon, the Alchemy association sends out a powerful force to combat Alexander. They put all of their money into this final stand for them. The warriors and archers had a tough battle, and the force was quickly subdued. The beginnings of the tech Null had seen is starting to show. They had arrows covered in paralyzing poison. No causalities happened because of this battle. They were released and given a letter. This letter was for the Alchemy Association. The assassins report their failure. The heads of the alchemy association are mad. They had spent all their money! Although they get a refund because of the failure, they don''t have any method of dealing with Alexander. The assassins give them the letter. It says, ¡°Dear Alchemy Association, Hello! I''m the little kid that you have been trying to subdue the last few years. How are you faring with your nonstop failures? I just want you to know that I will not stop. You have two options laid before you. The first one is you can listen to my demands. You will reduce the prices so that commoners can afford the health potions you create. You will also start hiring commoners as apprentices and journeymen. As a consolation prize, I will teach you how to make more efficient and powerful potions. The second options is that you keep on opposing me. You will keep on failing while I expand and you will quickly become irrelevant. Either way, I will win. Choose wisely. With love, Alexander¡± They know they have no choice but to choose the latter. The alchemy association maintains its independence, but in name only. They have been thoroughly gutted by Alexander. Now that he doesn''t have to constantly worry about his safety, he greatly expands until he practically corners the entire market on potions in Cromer. Periodically, Alexander gives the Alchemy Association better methods to make potions. Every time though, Alexander finds a way to make a potion better. They realize how formidable Alexander is, so as a sign of good faith, the alchemy association sends a copy of all their books to Alexander. It could also end up helping them. He has lots of books to read, and so little time. Over time, he develops a Blacksmith Skill, Calligraphy skill, and Painting Skill. He had been constantly sparring with the swordsman in his group and gains the swordsman skill. Years pass by. Something happens that surprises him. He had been meditating to feel his mana since he feels that''s how he does his best thinking. He had gained a skill called Essence of Mana. He had heard that only the Mage Association could bestow this skill. How did he end up learning it? He ends up experimenting with the new skill he received. He finds that other than helping him better sense the mana inside of him, it doesn''t do anything special. However, that doesn''t deter him. People of goodwill in Cromer send Alexander lots of books in the hope of working with him. Alexander wonders if now would be a good time to start the next phase of his plan. He plans on opening his own library, but he would be competing with the mage association. The mage association is nothing like the alchemy association. They''re a unified force nationwide, and besides royalty, their the most powerful force in that country. They could easily crush Alexander if they wish to. They just don''t see him as a threat. When he sees the people in the slums, he decides to do it. Alexander gets people to build a small building. This is the first true library. Alexander teaches a select few people from the slums, who in turn promise in exchange for being taught will teach others. He also lets people read in this library for free. These are the beginnings of the library system that are found all over New Reality. Nobility who aren''t total assholes also love him. They were always taught commoners were trash. Now they know better thanks to Alexander. The powers that be in Cromer are starting to get nervous. Years pass by. Soon, when Alexander turns 16, something amazing happens. A Window pops up.
You have achieved the prior prerequisites to gain the librarian class. The God of Knowledge has acknowledged you and wants to bestow this class to you. Prerequisites you have achieved: Teach people without asking for anything in return. Build a place of learning that anyone is able to join. Spreading your ideals so that others could emulate you. If you were to change into the librarian class, you would be the first in history to become a true librarian. Do you accept?
Seeing this, Alexander starts to laugh happily. Everyone looks to see what''s the matter. Alexander smiles and says, ¡°I happily accept!¡±
New stat added: Knowledge For being the first to be the librarian class, you have gained 1000 Fame. +50 intelligence +50 wisdom +100 knowledge. 99% reduction in hand held weaponry 30% reduction in ranged weaponry.
Ice cold water drops on Alexander''s mood. ¡°99% reduction!? That means that swordsmanship is useless to me now!¡± Null couldn''t help but snort. He had the exact same expression when he became a librarian. ''Guess even the first librarian isn''t immune to how much the class sucks.'' Null thinks to himself. A white light then envelops Null''s vision. He opens his eyes and jolts up. He appears to be in a bed. Aldan is sitting by his bedside. ¡°Null, you''re alright!¡± Aldan says relieved. Null looks around in his bed. ¡°Where am I?¡± Null asks. ¡°In the hospital. When you were hit by that white light, you wouldn''t wake up!¡± Null looks surprised. ¡°How long was I out?¡± ¡°A whole 20 minutes!¡± Null looks at Aldan deadpanned. He then gets out of bed and grabs the mystery book that''s on the table, unaware that the transmutation circle on the book had changed. ¡°Where are you going?¡± Aldan asks. ¡°To the library. I held up my part of the bargain when I helped rescue that librarian and defeated Winford. I want what''s owed to me.¡± Null says while walking out. Null and Aldan make their way to the library. Everywhere they walk, people cheer. ¡°It''s him! It''s really Null!¡± ¡°Null please? Can I have your autograph?¡± ¡°How did you get so strong Null?¡± ¡°Sir Aldan, to think you were so amazing! Why did you play a crackpot and hide your skills?¡± Null frowns from all the attention. He finds he just can''t deal with this. He runs away, and Aldan chases after him. He then covers his face and changes his clothes. ''From now on, I''m keeping a mask on when I''m around people.'' Null says determined. When he walks by, people don''t recognize him. Aldan was a considerable distance away. He knows how Null feels about people. Now that Aldan is a bit famous too, he just decides to take the guffawing fans to himself. Eventually, they both make it to the library. Null is surprised when he sees Emmanuel, Claris, Archum, and the ministers there. Null had only wanted to see the minister that promised him his reward. The others are unnecessary. ¡°Null, on behalf of Gnosia, I would like to thank you for saving our city.¡± The minister says to Null. ¡°Okay.¡± Null says with half lidded eyes. They can tell Null doesn''t care, so they get straight to the point. Claris is the first to start. ¡°Null, Winford dropped something when he died.¡± Claris hands Null the blueprint for Winford''s most powerful robot. The important thing about Winford''s most powerful robot is that all his research went into it. Null is surprised. ¡°Wouldn''t this greatly help you? Why would you give it to me? I probably would have never found out that you kept it. This makes no sense to me.¡± Null asks Claris. ¡°You really don''t think much of people do you? You defeated Winford, so you get what he dropped.¡± Null shakes his head and says, ¡°It was not just me. It was also Aldan. I would have never been able to beat Winford on my own.¡± Null tells them.¡± ¡°Well, it''s not we can split this or copy it. The Copy-Paste skill only works on things with ink. This blueprint is a hologram, an Aldan insisted that you have it.¡± Null opens up his blueprint skill and takes out a pencil. It takes him a while, but he manages to completely replicate Winford''s blueprints. ¡°Aldan, this is for what I owe you.¡± Null hands Aldan the blueprints. ¡°Nullll! You''re the best! *sniff* I''ll always remember your kindness! *sniff*¡± Aldan says. ¡°Now that that''s taken care of, it''s time that you made your decision Null.¡± Claris tells Null. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°I''m saying would you like to class change into a tinkerer?¡± ¡°A tinkerer?¡± Null says intrigued. He''s seen what tinkerers can do. Although blacksmiths are good with metalworking, they don''t really specialize in inventing and advanced tech. He thinks that the tinkerer class would be a lot better for him than the blacksmith class. He''s thinking of choosing it. ¡°Be warned however. If you were to choose to be a tinkerer, most of the accumulated skills you have accrued will either disappear, or be downgraded to just a skill, so choose wisely.¡± Claris tells Null.
You now have a chance on being a Tinkerer. If you become a tinkerer, you could now handle build technology with system assist and design new technology. You would also be the first foreigner to be a tinkerer. Be warned however that if you do change classes, you will lose the librarian class, alchemy class, painting class, calligraphy class, and transmutation circle skills. Do you accept?
Null thinks long and hard. He won''t be able to make that advanced tech he''s been wanting to make without the system assist, as he knows very little about engineering. On the other hand, all the skills he has accumulated so far will be for naught. He will even lose the transmutation circle skills. ''Do I have to choose?'' Null thinks. ''Will I really have to give up on my dream of building some advanced tech if don''t become a tinkerer? Wait. In the first flashback I saw with Alexander, he had advanced tech, and yet he still did alchemy. That means his class remained the same! Okay. I''ve decided.'' ¡°Thanks, but no thanks. I''ll stick with being a librarian.
You have rejected the class change
¡°Oh, a pity. You would''ve made a great tinkerer.¡± Claris said with a shrug. ¡°Even though you won''t be a tinkerer, you''ll always be an honorary one in my book Null!¡± Aldan says with a smile. ¡°Now that that is taken care of, we will have to choose a new head tinkerer since Winford betrayed us.¡± A minister says stroking his beard. Claris smiles also nodding. ¡°I agree.¡± They all then look at Aldan. ¡°Aldan, will you accept the position of new head tinkerer?¡± The minister asks Aldan. ¡°Wha-Wha-Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!? Me!? But-But-But Claris!¡± Aldan can''t believe what he''s hearing. Claris tells Aldan, ¡°We plan on reinventing the entire city with this tech, and you know it better than anyone here. You are the person best qualified to be head tinkerer.¡± Aldan eyes open wide. He then gets a determined expression on his face. ¡°It would be my honor to be head tinkerer!¡± The minister smiles. ¡°Good. We have a lot of work to do and it will be hard.¡± ¡°I''m ready for the challenge!¡± Aldan says with fire in his eyes. Null doesn''t show it on his face, but he''s happy for Aldan. However, being happy for Aldan is not why he is here. Emmanuel notices the impatient look on Null''s face. ¡°Come with me.¡± Emmanuel tells Null. Null nods and follows. They head to the second floor of the library. When they''re alone, Emmanuel asks Null what he saw. Null said he saw Alexander''s life before he became a librarian. Emmanuel is surprised. ¡°His name was Alexander?¡± ¡°You don''t even know his name?¡± Null asks surprised. ¡°Our history of that time period was lost. We don''t even have his name. What else did you see?¡± Null tells Emmanuel the accounts that he saw. Emmanuel gets a book and uses Ink Hand to write down everything Null had seen. Emmanuel gets surprised, angry, and happy over Null''s tale. ¡°Why weren''t you able to see it?¡± Null asks. ¡°After all, you are far more proficient and more powerful than me.¡± ¡°Maybe I wasn''t able to fulfill a condition that you were able to.¡± Emmanuel ponders. ¡°But that''s enough of that. That''s not why you''re here, right?¡± Null nods. Emmanuel pulls out a book from seemingly nowhere. The book is titled, ¡°Transmutation Circles for Dummies.¡± He hands it to Null. ¡°Thanks.¡± Null says to Emmanuel. ¡°You''re welcome. That reminds me. You''ve already embarked on uncovering the history of Alexander, but what you saw was only the very beginning.¡± Null gets a bad feeling. ¡°Alexander had established a friendship with the people of the fishman race. However, what he did is shrouded in mystery as that history was wiped out. It was said that the beast that protected the history turned on the fishmen and became a powerful calamity. Once a year, that calamity comes out of hiding and attacks the fishmen causing numerous calsulties. Will you help uncover what happened and save our fishman allies if you can?¡± [/size]
Quest: Find out the missing history and help the fishmen
Quest Information: Long ago, the fishpeople''s guardian turned on them. Now, once a year, the guardian comes out of hiding and attacks them. Will you help them? Will you uncover more of the missing history? Reward: Unknown Quest Rank: A Penalty if refused: Permanent ban from all libraries everywhere. Libraries will say bad things about you and keep decreasing your Fame and reputation. Do you accept?
¡°Heh. No.¡±
You have rejected the quest.
''I don''t plan on meeting with anyone ever again. So what if I''m banned for life from libraries? That doesn''t matter to me at all. It doesn''t help that it''s a damn A-rank as well. So Ptah, take your quest and shove it.'' ¡°But Null, you are the only one with the power and the trust capable of accepting this mission. I beg you to reconsider. Will you do it?¡± The quest message pops up again. Null starts to sweat. This all seems so familiar to him. Null tries to escape, but as before, the place turns into adamantium. Null knows that there is nothing he can do. He sighs. ¡°Fine then. Give me the mission in which I have no choice but to accept.¡±
You have accepted the quest.
¡°You did good Null.¡± Emmanuel nods in satisfaction. ¡°I know you won''t let us down.¡± Null looks angrily in the sky and thinks, ''Ptah, if I''m ever able to meet you again, I''m kicking you in the balls! I will kick you so hard, that your nuts will have achieved escape velocity! Your nuts will be like protons gone through the Large Hadron Collider!'' Null vows. ''Well, it''s not like I have to start right away. I can take all the time I want to complete this mission, so there''s no rush. I''ll enjoy my solitude in the meantime.'' Null skims through the book he received. ¡°There aren''t any powerful circles in here like that teleportation circle.¡± Null says frowning. ¡°I don''t even see any elemental circles. What''s going on?¡± ¡°Null. You, me, and everyone before had to start from the basics before moving up.¡± ¡°Okay, but I wasn''t planning on coming back here. What do I do when I learn everything in this book?¡± ¡°Null, you will learn to create new and better transmutation circles. Transmutation circles are great if you have Transmutation Circle Activation as the technique, but they have one fatal weakness: Using a transmutation circle over and over again won''t level it up at all. Unlike true mages who can improve by doing techniques over and over again, using the same transmutation circle won''t let you improve at all. You can use a certain transmutation once or a billion times all you want, but the power that transmutation circle gives will remain the same. The only way to improve is to create new transmutation circles yourself, and that''s why I''m giving you this book on the basics. You won''t go anywhere if you blindly follow in my, or anyone else''s footsteps. That would greatly limit your potential.¡± ¡°Give me the teleportation circle.¡± ¡°No. Go out and find one on your own if you want one so bad.¡± ¡°I want the teleportation circle.¡± ¡°Get out.¡± Emmanuel kicks Null out the library. To add insult to injury, he teleported Null out with a teleportation circle. ''That why you smell like rotting paper you old man! Go die from having a bad hip already!'' Null thinks in his mind. Null then starts leaving the city. He makes it to the exit when he hears someone. ¡°Wait!¡± Someone calls out to him. It''s two people: Aldan and Claris. Claris hands Null a book and says, ¡°This is for you. I imagine that Emmanuel didn''t give you any useful transmutation circles. Don''t hold it against him as he''s just strict. This book teaches you how to make mana stones. I imagine finding mana stones will be incredibly difficult, and the armor you will probably make will rely on this right?¡± Null didn''t even think about that. He does need very expensive materials for the armor he wants to make. ¡°Why are you giving this to me? As I recall, you hate foreigners.¡± Null tells Claris. ¡°You rescued me from my despair, so this is the least I can do.¡± Claris tells Null. Null nods. A question then pops into his mind. ¡°Do you know where I can find a place rich in minerals?¡± Claris nods. ¡°Try the Verdonic Mountains. Parts of that mountain are the territory of the dwarves. It''s one of the most resource rich places in the world. It will take a while to reach there. Do you have a map with you?¡± Null nods and takes out his map. She marks the area on his world map. Aldan looks like he''s about to cry. He then says, ¡°Null, Gnosia will forever be your ally! Anything you need, you can come by anytime!¡± Null nods. He thanks them both and finally leaves Gnosia. ''Good riddance. Now my life of solitude begins in New Reality. Now that I think about it, my mining skill is low leveled. The Verdonic Mountains probably won''t help me in any way. *sigh*'' Null thinks to himself. ******** Around three weeks later after Null left Gnosia. Someone had entered Gnosia, even though entering here requires a specific transmutation circle. This person''s figure was blurry, as if he was there and not there at the same time. He appeared to be walking slowly, but no one had noticed him at all. What''s strange about him is that he appeared with a red cloak covering him. ''Hmm... No sign of Winford. Did he fail? No matter. I already got what I needed from here anyway.'' He looks around at everyone smiling and going on with their day. He gets a pondering look. ''Should I destroy this city? Should I destroy it in one fell swoop or should I destroy it systematically? Their screams of terror could prove to be amusing. Maybe I could act as a savior and see hope in their eyes. Hmmm... Nah. I''ve already done that plenty of times. The reactions are always the same. That''s too boring.'' He hears the conversations around him. ¡°When I grow up, I want to be as powerful as Null was!¡± Someone says. The red cloaked man''s interest is peaked. Null? He''s already recorded all the most powerful people in Gnosia. Null is someone he''s never heard of. ¡°I will never forget the sight of Null defeating Winford. I wonder. Are all foreigners that powerful?¡± The red cloaked man''s interest is once again peaked. A foreigner named Null? He smiles. There are a lot of powerful players named Null. He gets an amused smile on his face. Seeing as he got what he came for, he leaves. Even though he''s walking slow, no one is even able to see him. ''Null huh? What should I do when I meet him? It''s always so amusing seeing cocky players get utterly destroyed without being able to fight back. Maybe I will slowly destroy his way of life and drive him mad. Maybe I will find out his identity in real life and ruin his life to the point of suicide. That could prove amusing. Better yet, I could train him, as I have yet to find someone who truly challenges me. Winning all the time is boring. Should I wait till he''s stronger? I don''t know. I''m bored. Times are too peaceful. Maybe I should start another war. No. It''s too early.'' To this person, people are nothing more than his playthings to manipulate as he sees fit. Humanity is nothing but play dolls in this man''s eyes. He is always curious to how someone will react to some effect. Be it happiness, sadness, despair, or hope, he finds enjoyment pulling these different emotions out of other people. However, to other people, this person wears a mask of a kind, caring individual. This red cloaked man is not the red cloaked man from Null''s flashback, as he had died thousands of years ago. This red cloaked man is his successor. He is not an NPC. He is a player. What''s unusual is that for the class that he picked, he was well above level 200 before he was able to become this class. This class is the most difficult class to become. It''s even far more difficult than unlocking transmutation circle skills, or unlocking the annihilation mage skills. This person has the most powerful class from the start: Deities'' Emissary. The more gods want you to work for them, the bigger share of their power you will receive. He used his sharp tongue and caring persona to convince many gods to let him work under them, to the point that he had long since surpassed the original red cloaked man. He is by far New Reality''s most powerful player, though the world doesn''t know it yet. If you were to look in the top rankings, you would not find this person. If Null were to ever see this person, he would look very familiar to him. ******** Author''s Note: So that ends the Gnosia ark. Next ark, Null starts his training in the transmutation circle skills and starts the creation of his brand spanking new armor. There''s a problem though. The materials that he is after are incredibly rare, incredibly expensive, and incredibly owned by other powerful forces. Will Null ever find the solitude he wishes for? Find out in another 7-8 months! Chapter 46: Slice Life Slice Life Slice Life Author''s Note: That last author''s note was a joke. I guess I''m the only one that gets my twisted sense of humor. I''ve been in such a good mood lately. I''ll put out as many chapters as I can before it ends. --------------- Null is very tired. It has been around three months since he last left Gnosia. The first part of the trek wasn''t so bad. However, the plains that Gnosia was situated on slowly started turning rocky. Since he was heading towards the Verdonic Mountains, the changing geography made it harder and harder to grow food and find fresh water. ''I hope I find some fresh water soon.'' Null thinks in his mind. Null had to rely on hunting to get his nourishment, but the monsters that were edible were getting to be less and less. After a long time, he finally makes it to the Verdonic Mountains. He doesn''t know where to start to look when he gets here. Null tries to use Ingredient Finder, but remembers that it only works for objects not being interfered with anything. Since the objects he''s looking for are mostly underground, it won''t help him. There Null finds a herds of mountain deer. They''re mostly in the level 200s. Null had the new armor Aldan had made him destroyed, so he has the same problem as before. He has so much mana, that it takes too long to turn them into stat boosts. Even though he had lost around 34 levels using that second MEMP bomb, he had gained levels from using the first MEMP bomb and taking out all those robots and from taking out Winford, so his level remained around the same. He had also grown an additional 2 levels from leveling up over the past 3 months. Leveling up becomes a lot harder as time goes on, and he wasn''t actively hunting. Null soon finds a place with water. He also sees that there is life here. What''s even better is that there are no people. He decides he will settle down here. Null then takes out his pickax, finds a cave, and starts mining. He mines for around 5 minutes before he finds his first ore. ''Coal. I''m off to a good start. When I was in Holdendale, it took me around 20 minutes to find my first ore.'' Null thinks with a smile. Ever since he came here, he has been in a good mood. He hasn''t seen nor heard a person ever since he arrived here. Null starts to mine again. ********* Another two months pass. Null''s good mood had evaporated. He knew from the get go that finding materials to build and experiment for his new armor would be hard, but he had underestimated how hard it would be. During this time, he had only found a small chunk of mithril. Mithril is a major component for the circuits he needs for the armor. He had also found no black iron. Black iron is needed for his improved weaponry. Null calculates it would probably take him around 20 years in order to get the materials needed just to make even one armored suit. Don''t forget that he has to experiment, and recycling could only recover so much materials. He would probably need materials for hundreds of suits before he could make one good enough for him. ''I really did not think this through.'' Null says with a frown. ''This is so boring. I think I''ll just log off for a bit before I go insane.'' Null logs out. ************ Null is in the middle of watching a movie. He''s watching it on his AR glasses. This detective just used his 100% can''t miss abilities with his pistols to take out all of the henchmen who hadn''t even managed to scratch him with their AK-47s even at point blank range. ¡°I figured it out!¡± A detective says with shades and a don''t care attitude. ¡°You figured out that villain''s plot?¡± His plucky sidekick with a can do attitude asks. ¡°No. This generator that''s supposed to power up this orphanage isn''t a generator. It''s a bomb!¡± Those two run for their lives. The building they are in explodes. Later, after an epic shootout, the villain dies by falling into a vat of his own creation. They are then awarded by the city despite costing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage to the surrounding areas and multiple violations of policies. Later on, the detectives wife is in labor and is about to give birth. He gets in his car and drives the maximum speed the car will allow at 130 miles per hour. Strangely, there are no police there to stop his reckless driving. When he nears the hospital, a ticking sound is heard. ¡°Honey, what is that?¡± The wife asks curious. ¡°This car is a bomb!¡± That detective yells out. ¡°What!?¡± The wife said surprised. He abruptly stops the car and grabs his wife. The guy runs with his wife in a princess carry while running in slow motion. The car then explodes. The detective makes in the nick of time by diving through the automatic hospital door someone else had triggered with his wife in his hands. Later on, the detective is present when his wife gives birth. ¡°Waaaah!¡± A baby''s cry is heard. ¡°Congratulations! It''s a boy!¡± The nurse says giving the boy to the mother. A ticking sound is soon heard. The detective runs into the room. ¡°That isn''t a boy! It''s a bomb!¡± The detective throws the bomb disguised as a baby out the window. Boom! A massive explosion is heard. ¡°Oh my god!¡± The mother says not sure what is going on. Some more ticking is heard. The detective looks at his wife. ¡°This isn''t my wife! It''s a bomb!¡± The detective throws the bomb disguised as his wife out the window. Boom! Another massive explosion is heard. Soon, more ticking is heard. The detective looks and can''t find what he''s looking for. It''s then that he realizes something. ¡°I... Was a bomb the whole time!¡± He jumps out the window and explodes. The movie ends. The credits start rolling. ¡°Directed by Michael Bay III¡± is listed in the credits. ********** Null takes off his AR glasses and frowns. He thinks, ''Wait. So does that mean that there''s a real detective that wasn''t a bomb? I don''t get it.'' He watches other movies until he goes to sleep. The next day, Null heads to school. He arrives in homeroom. What''s different is this time, the homeroom teacher is saying something to the class. After she gets her introductions out the way, she has this to say. ¡°It''s almost Thanksgiving. That means that you all will only be coming to school Monday and Tuesday next week.¡± The class is happy and whooping it up. ¡°What will you all do? You are seniors now. This time should be the best times of your lives.¡± David listens to this in horror. ''Oh god.'' ¡°Every year, the school holds a small play.¡± The teacher tells them. ¡°Make sure you head to the meeting tomorrow night. Since every year, no one wants to play any parts, we''ll have a vote on who gets to play what.¡± ''And the good news just keeps on coming.'' David thinks in his mind. David thinks about whether or not he will go to the meeting. It took him around 0.3 seconds to determine a decision in his mind. ''Won''t go.'' David thinks in his mind. While he is walking he notices that Cecile is chatting with her friends walking by. When she notices David, she stops and tells her friends that she has something to do. She then runs away. Her friends notice David and frown. They walk towards him. ¡°What did you do to Cecile?¡± One of the friends asks. ¡°Ever since around a month ago, whenever she sees you, she avoids you.¡± ¡°Did you touch her inappropriately? Do I have to go to the police?¡± Another one of the friends asks. ¡°Maybe you''re jealous that she likes someone and you decided to get revenge on her.¡± That first friend says. David frowns. ''What the hell is their problem? Cecile has been avoiding me lately, which has been heaven for me, but now her friends think I did something to her. Even when she leaves me alone, she''s still an annoyance. Why can''t people just leave me alone?'' David then says, ¡°I haven''t done anything to her. Leave me alone.¡± He then walks away. Those two discuss trying to find out what David has to do with Cecile''s mood. ¡°Every time I ask Cecile what''s wrong, she just puts her hands on her face and shakes her head.¡± ¡°...You don''t think she likes him do you?¡± ¡°That''s totally impossible. Look at him. He''s so gross. Always wearing oversized, dinky clothes and is always so cold to everyone. Cecile is beautiful, smart, and kind. Of all the people, why would she choose to like a loser like him?¡± ¡°I know it seems unlikely, but I don''t know what else to think. I asked Cecile if we should report David to the police and she got angry at me.¡± ¡°I think I know what''s going on.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You know that they have a rivalry when it comes to academics right?¡± ¡°Um, more like she has a rivalry. I don''t think David cares.¡± The second friend says. ¡°She must have been discouraged and has given up!¡± ¡°Oh! That makes perfect sense! Cecile has lost her confidence going up against David!¡± ¡°We have to regain her confidence somehow!¡± ¡°Hmmm... How about that play?¡± ¡°The play?¡± The girl looks at her friend confused. ¡°Think about it. Have you ever seen David be in anything that requires other people?¡± The other friend furrows her brows trying to think. ¡°He''s just so unnoticeable that I don''t really pay attention to him.¡± ¡°Exactly! He doesn''t like attention! If we vote for him in the play, he will make a fool of himself! Seeing David acting like a bumbling idiot on stage, Cecile will regain her confidence!¡± ¡°Oh you''re such a genius!¡± They then flesh out the details of their plan. ********** The next day, David heads to school. He walks to school as if he''s about to be executed as usual. When David makes it to his desk, the homeroom teacher says, ¡°Okay! The roles have been decided! I''m passing out to everyone who will be in the play. Remember, to those that will be in, it''s mandatory!¡± David takes the pamphlet from the teacher. He plans on skimming through the pamphlet, then throwing it away, but to his dismay, he sees his name on the form. David is strangely very calm. He clothes the pamphlet, then opens it back up. ''I kinda had a light breakfast today. I must be seeing things.'' David reasons. He looks at the same page again and sees his name. David raises his hand. ¡°Yes, do you have a question?¡± ¡°There must be some sort of mistake. Someone must have accidentally put my name on here.¡± David says. Denial is the first stage of grief. ¡°No, there''s no mistake.¡± The teacher says. ¡°Maybe it''s someone who has the same name as me.¡± David reasons. ¡°No, it''s you. Your picture is next to your name and everything. See?¡± The teacher says to David pointing at his picture. ¡°How was it my name that ended up here!? I want nothing to do with this stupid play!¡± David lashes out in anger. Anger is the second stage of grief. ¡°There''s no need to be mad. Some people suggested you and people voted. I just recorded down who voted for who.¡± Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. It actually wasn''t that hard for Cecile''s friends to get them to vote for David in the play. One of them said, ¡°Wouldn''t it be hilarious if this guy was in the play?¡± Everyone then agreed and voted. ¡°If I can do something for the school, and I be excused from the play? Maybe if I pay you, you can just replace me with someone else? Please? Just please don''t let me be in the play.¡± David says pleading to his homeroom teacher. Bargaining is the third stage of grief. ¡°Well I''m sorry...¡± She looks at the pamphlet. ¡°...David. But this is final. Maybe you could have made your case if you had actually went to the meeting.¡± ¡°Uuuuugh.¡± ''She''s right. Why didn''t I go to the meeting? I didn''t actually think I would be chosen. Hardly anyone even knows about me. Maybe I deserve this punishment. I wish I were dead.'' Depression is the fourth stage of grief. ''You know what? Maybe this won''t be so bad. Maybe I can think of another way.'' David thinks in his mind. Acceptance is the fifth stage of grief. David gets out of his chair and walks towards the door. ¡°Where are you going? Homeroom isn''t over and I haven''t excused you!¡± The teacher says to David. ¡°Oh? I''m dropping out of school.¡± David says nonchalantly. This throws the people in the class off guard. David''s reaction to this play may be a tad too extreme. ¡°David, it''s not that serious! It''s just a play! Anyway, you aren''t even allowed to drop out while you are in school.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± That didn''t stop David in the least. He still heads towards the door. ¡°Seriously David! You''re only background tree number 2! You won''t have any lines and no one will pay attention to you!¡± The teacher pleads. This makes David pause. ¡°Background tree number 2?¡± David asks. ¡°Yes!¡± ¡°This is acceptable to me.¡± David says. He then returns to his seat. ¡°Sheesh!¡± The teacher thought. ********** Let''s fast forward to the time of the play. Happy parents waiting to see their kids in the play are in the audience. Kids whose friends are in the play also populate the audience. This play is about Thanksgiving, about settlers coming to meet the native Americans and coming together. David makes it here a bit late. He had never shown up to any rehearsals. He had never even met any of the people who will be in the play. This is his first time coming here. There''s a student who is in charge of getting the play together named Janet. She looks at David coming in with a fed up expression. ¡°Why didn''t you show up to any rehearsals!?¡± She yells at David angrily. ¡°Because I didn''t want to.¡± David says to her apathetically. ¡°*sigh* Just stay in that corner with this tree costume and don''t say a thing. Just follow the motions of what other people are doing.¡± ¡°That''s fine with me.¡± David says. It''s then time for the play to begin. ************ Cecile is in the audience with her friends. She just had to show up when she heard David was going to be in the play. It''s not even about having a crush on him. Just the sight of David being on stage amuses her greatly. The curtain opens. David stands there stoically holding some branches. However, as promised, he remained unnoticed by all the others on stage. He half-heartedly went through the motions on everything. The play was about the Native Americans giving the pilgrims a feast to eat, and everyone was all happy and grand. Everything went fine, until that event happened. Unknown to Janet who is a studious artist type of person, the person cast for one of the pilgrims is a notorious class clown. He only lives to ruin everything around him as hilariously as possible. His name is Andrew Ross. Some say he was born under a bridge. Some say he''s the incarnation of Murphy''s Law. Andrew in his pilgrim clothes talks to one of the Native Americans and says, ¡°Thank you for the food we received. As thanks, would you like some blankets?¡± Janet notices something''s wrong. ¡°Blankets? That''s not in the script.¡± She said flipping through it. Little did she know, that was the only warning she was going to get. The people playing the Native Americans were confused. However, they had no choice but to go with the flow. They took the blankets and thanked him. Andrew then had the most trollish smile on him. He took out a magic wand from his sleeve and then said, ¡°Alakazam! Tadaa! You now have smallpox!¡± ¡°What?¡± He runs to all the pretend Native Americans. ¡°You get smallpox! You get smallpox! Everybody here gets smallpox!¡± He runs from stage end to stage end like a fairy granting wishes. ¡°What is he doing!?¡± Janet thinks in dismay. ¡°He''s ruining everything!¡± The audience murmurs. They''re not sure what''s happening. ¡°Now that that''s done, let''s play a game!¡± ¡°A game?¡± One of the pretend Native Americans asks. ¡°Yes! We are going on a little hike! You see the trail in front of you?¡± ¡°Trail?¡± The pretend Native Americans pretend to see a trail. ¡°Oh is this the friendship trail that we do to celebrate the wonderful friendship we have?¡± One of the pretend Native Americans says to salvage the situation. ¡°No! I''m stealing your land, but do not fret! We built some shabby houses on land we don''t want!¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Walk faster! HAHAHA! Oh I''m so glad to mark this wonderful Thanksgiving Day of friendship! Huh? Why are you crying over there? Why are you putting tears on my trail?¡± It''s at this point that the audience starts murmuring loudly. They had probably guessed that this wasn''t supposed to happen. They start to boo and throw tomatoes at Andrew. ¡°Tomatoes?! Why!? Why am I being pelted with tomatoes!? I''m just here trying to act my best, and some hecklers wanna pelt tomatoes at me! I just want peace in the world!¡± He then starts trying to dodge the tomatoes as dance moves. David thinks seeing the tomatoes, ''Where the hell are these people getting these tomatoes?'' ¡°Tree #2? Aren''t you glad that those pesky Native Americans aren''t around?¡± ¡°...¡± David looks at Andrew angrily. ¡°Fear not, as I will chop you and all your people down!¡± He grabs an ax and starts swinging towards David. Luckily, David is wearing a big tree costume and it is thick. He just doesn''t appreciate Andrew drawing attention to him. David pushes him away.¡± ¡°Tree number two, what are you doing!? Trees don''t move! Nothing in the world makes sense anymore! Why tree!? Why must you go against the natural order!?¡± David is pretty fed up with Andrew. Thanks to him, he''s also getting pelted by tomatoes that miss Andrew. ¡°Tch.¡± David makes like a tree and leaves. Janet is even more in dismay. The audience is in pandemonium from what''s going on. ¡°Why Andrew!? Why David!? My dreams! Ruined!¡± Janet thinks in dismay. ********* David starts to head back home. It was then that he saw Cecile standing at the door blocking his way. Cecile says clumsily, ¡°Um, h-hey David. I thought you looked... Really cool in the play.¡± She says with a blush. David is pretty upset from that play and he isn''t in the mood. ¡°Thanks.¡± David says walking past her. ¡°David!¡± Cecile calls out to him. David stops and turns around. ¡°Do you want to go to a movie... Or something?¡± She mustered all her courage saying this. David frowns even more. ¡°Why?¡± David asks. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Why are you always bothering me? First you annoyed me, then you were nice to me, then you ran away from me. Why are you always bothering me?¡± Cecile looks down sad. She thinks and says, ¡°I only... Want to be your friend.¡± David then remembers. He remembered when Cecile told David that she feels guilty for what Keimi did to him. Everything is starting to become clear to him. She pities him! She feels guilty for what her former friend did so she''s trying to make it up to him with her friendship! David doesn''t care if you look down on him or if you ignore him. However, David hates it when people pity him. He feels that he has made it this far on his own, so he doesn''t need anyone to pity him. David looks at Cecile with an understanding look and says, ¡°Look Cecile. I appreciate the fact that you are trying make amends for what Keimi did.¡± ¡°What?¡± Cecile is confused. ¡°However, I don''t need your pity. I''ve been alone from the start and alone I will stay. If you honestly and truly want to do something for me, then stay away from me! While we''re at it, tell your friends to stay away from me too!¡± ¡°But...¡± ¡°I am a loner. I am a misanthrope. We could never be friends, because I could never trust you. Maybe things would be different if I had had you as a friend first instead of Keimi, but things are different now. I''m different. I don''t want any friends. Any aspect of friendship died when Keimi left. Do you understand?¡± Cecile is quiet for a long time. Tears then start dripping down her face. ''I feel, so stupid.'' Cecile says to her self. David is surprised from seeing tears fall down Cecile''s face. ¡°Yes David, I understand. I''ll leave you alone from now on.¡± She slowly walks past David. David then heads home. ''Build walls. Burn bridges. That''s the path I had already chosen. I have no regrets.'' David thinks in his mind. *********** Null makes it back to New Reality. He still feels upset from the play, so he''s mining extra hard. Suddenly Null hears something. ''These are sounds of battle.'' Null thinks in his mind. Now normally a protagonist would go, ¡°Well gee whiz! I wonder what''s over there!¡± and get himself involved in some sort of troublesome situation. Not Null, he gathers his things, and goes in the opposite direction of the battle sounds. ''Nothing to do with me.'' Null thinks. Suddenly he hears the sound of running coming towards him. David panics and starts to run himself. ''No! My solitude will not end here!'' Null yells out in his mind. Suddenly Null is surprised. There''s a person that runs past him. He''s very short, but he''s wearing the same mask and cloak he''s wearing. It seems the other person is also surprised from what Null is wearing, but he soon runs past him. Since Null''s new armor broke, he once again has trouble turning his mana into stat boosts. Soon, men in black cloaks surround Null. ¡°We finally caught up with you.¡± One of the people in the black cloaks says. ''Dammit! Is it too much to ask to just be left the hell alone!?'' Null thinks aggravated. -------------- Author''s Note: New ark starting! Oh, and to all the people who will complain for what I did and did not do and Cecile and whatever, I already have something planned. I listen to you guys when I have some grammar errors, spelling errors, or plot holes, but anything like trying to tell me how my story should go, I end up ignoring. There''s a reason I have never done any polls. Chapter 47: The Forces of New Reality Author''s Note: I had accidentally switched two of the future arcs, so if you see anything weird, other than the usual weirdness, you have not gone crazy. ---------------- Null asks the people surrounding them, ¡°Can I help you?¡± ¡°You know exactly why we are here. You''ve been running from us for a long time. Will you accept our offer?¡± ¡°You have the wrong guy.¡± One of the people looks closely at Null. Though he''s wearing a mask and wearing a hood, he is a lot taller than the person they''re looking for. ¡°Boss, I don''t think this is him.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± A thief tells his boss. ¡°My Person Identify says that this person is a librarian and a foreigner. His name is Null, and he is level 289. Not bad, but not that good either. He''s probably not the person we''re looking for.¡± ¡°You think so? Well this is an awfully big coincidence that he ends up wearing the same thing as him.¡± The person that appears to be the leader then faces Null and says, ¡°Would you mind coming with us?¡± Null squints. ¡°And if I refuse?¡± The people there get into a formation that Null could not easily escape from, and take out their weapons and ready their spells. ¡°It would be in your best interest not to.¡± The leader says smiling darkly. Null sighs. He pulls something out of his side. ¡°He has something!¡± ¡°Watch out!¡± Null throws it towards the ground. Suddenly, white smoke fills the area. The people surrounding Null start to cough. When the smoke clears, they see that Null is gone. They look around, but Null is nowhere to be seen. However, they are not flustered in the slightest. There''s a powerful earth mage with them. They look at him to see what he will do. The earth mage closes his eyes and senses around him. Powerful earth mages have seismic sense like Toph from Avatar. They can sense the vibrations in the earth and tell where everything is as long as it''s touching the ground. ******* ''What the hell was their problem?'' Null thinks to himself. ''How do I keep getting involved in these situations? I''m sure that jackass Ptah has something to do with this. He''s always trying to ruin my life! Well, time to leave this area.'' Null is running calmly when his face shows shock. His mana had just bounced off of multiple people following him. ''How did they find me? I made sure to escape through their blind spots! Dammit! They have a sensor with them!'' Null thinks irritated. He starts running away faster. It''s very aggravating to Null that his stats are higher than the average librarian right now, but that doesn''t really mean anything right now. His stats can''t be raised quickly enough. Soon, a rumbling is heard. The people that were chasing after him had appeared from underground. ''Ugh. An earth mage.'' Null thinks. That earth mage had used a technique where he pulled himself and his allies underground. He then rapidly traveled underground until he could find Null. Null stops in his tracks and does a 180. He then starts running away again. The earth mage starts gathering power in his hand. ¡°Terra, pulverize all that do not respect your might! Collapse!¡± The earth mage places his hands on the ground. A deep rumbling is heard. The very foundation of earth Null is running on starts showing cracks. The earth gives way, and a huge sinkhole is formed. Null looks down at the very deep hole with a somber look. ''I knew I should''ve stayed in and watched Gintama. Maybe I should''ve watched Pokemon season 27. Mega Pikachu was just starting to grow on me. Ever since all Raichus everywhere died in that car accident, Pokemon has never been the same. I don''t know what is happening. All I know is that it''s all Ptah''s fault.'' While Null was falling, a figure appeared and grabbed him in midair as he was sinking into the hole. He pulled Null away as he escaped from the people trying to capture him. ''Yaaay...'' Null thought unenthusiastic. A woosh was then heard. A wind mage came by flying at high speeds. When he arrived, he then picked up both Null and Null''s mysterious rescuer and flew away. The earth mage frowns and says, ¡°I can''t sense them in the air.¡± ¡°Once again he slips by us.¡± Another person says. The earth mage''s face then shows annoyance. ¡°Maybe this is for the best, because others are on their way here.¡± ¡°They''re here so soon?¡± ¡°We''re lucky we didn''t catch him then.¡± They all disappear into the earth and start traveling underground due to that earth mage''s techniue. ******* Null and his rescuers flew through the air for a while until they made it into a cave. Wind mage carrying him brings down person who saved him and Null. ¡°Hahaha! That was a close one!¡± The person who rescued Null said. He had taken off his mask. To Null''s surprise, this person was a dwarf. He had a long beard and pointed ears. What was most visible about him was his short height. ''This is the person that was wearing the same thing as me, and had gotten me involved in yet another troublesome venture.'' Null thinks in his mind. ¡°Why did you save me?¡± Null asks. ¡°Haaah?¡± The dwarf looks at Null with wide eyes. ¡°To drag someone into your problems and then abandoning them!?¡± The dwarf gets fire in his eyes. ¡°That''s is super unmanly! Manly men will correct their mistakes! They don''t wimp out and abandon someone when things get impossible!¡± ¡°Oh... Thank you for saving me.¡± Null says. He might blame them for his predicament, but at least they were honorable enough to come back and rescue him. ¡°Haha! No trouble! No trouble at all! It was my fault you got involved with them after all.¡± He says with a hearty laugh. The wind mage then sits in a corner and starts to meditate. The dwarf goes into his pantry and pours himself a drink of alcohol. ¡°You don''t look old enough to drink yet. Want some water?¡± The dwarf asks Null. ¡°No thanks.¡± Says Null. The dwarf takes a big swig of his drink. ¡°Aaah.¡± He says in satisfaction. ¡°I don''t envy your luck kid.¡± The dwarf says to Null. ¡°That force you just encountered was one of the black op squads from the Qudao Empire. They probably won''t leave you be if we let you go.¡± Null frowns. Black ops? This is way worse than he thought. He cannot remove his mask now under any means necessary unless he wants to get known by troublesome forces. ¡°I know this isn''t any of my business, but since I''m now involved with what''s happening I would like to know. Why are they after you?¡± The dwarf sighs. ¡°This all started a few weeks ago. It''s a long story. So tell me kid, what''s your name?¡± ¡°Null.¡± ¡°Not a bad name. My name''s Damina! I''m a miner! My motto is to solve all your problems by smashing through them one smash at a time!¡± ''Damn. He''s one of those kinds of people.'' Null thinks annoyed. ¡°Well since you''re already involved and it''s not exactly a secret anymore, I''ll tell ya!¡± Damina takes a swig of alcohol. ¡°Well like I said before, this all started a few weeks ago. I was busy teaching my men how to be men when it happened. I''ve managed to reach the advanced stage in mining!¡± Null''s eyes open wide in surprise. ''Advanced stage? Wow. That''s even rarer than me being happy to see someone. This is my first time meeting an advanced mastery person.'' Actually, Null had met two people with advanced level mastery, though he didn''t know that they were at the advanced level. Those two people are Winford and Emmanuel. If it wasn''t for the fact that Null was a direct weakness of Winford''s technology, and how he was helped by the Gnosia army and their defense system, Null would''ve lost terribly against Winford. Null then squints. ''This... Is a little to convenient right? I had trouble getting the resources I needed, not even getting past beginner level 5 in mining, and yet someone comes by who has advanced level mastery in mining? Ptah, that dick. Is this his way of making amends? Sending black ops after me?'' Damina continues. ¡°The Dwarven Kingdom I resided in were very excited. With me being advanced level, I could bring in even rarer minerals for the kingdom. I was given a huge mansion to stay in, and I was leading the life of luxury! I had all the alcohol I could drink! So nice, so nice.¡± Null was just silently listening to his story with his eyes closed. ¡°Then, that event happened. One of the powerful empires had found out about my advanced mastery in mining. Word had then quickly spread to the other countries about my newfound ability. The Goldcrest Empire then took my wife and kids hostage, saying that they will release them if I join them. Then, the Raygly Empire threatened war if I went to join the Goldcrest Empire. The Qudao Empire has become really brazen and is trying to capture me. Other countries also sent their intelligence to spy on me. Though they aren''t forcibly trying to make me join them, they''re trying to see what outcome this little struggle has. Tch. Those other countries are supposed to have a non-agression pact with us, in exchange for letting them mine off our mountains. They are so blatant it isn''t even funny! The only shining light has been that the most powerful country in the world had sent someone to help. See that wind mage in the corner?¡± Null turns his head towards that wind mage. Even Null could see if they were to fight, that Null would be no match for him as he is now. ¡°He''s one of the people from the most powerful nation in the world: The Ostana Republic! They sent him here just to protect me. He said as long as I don''t join anyone else that he''ll help me. Heh. I guess if I come out of this unscaved, I''ll owe em'' one.¡± ''The Ostana Republic?'' Null thinks. ''I''ve read about them. Not only are they the most powerful nation in the world, but they''re also the largest democracy. I''ve really got involved in something troublesome.'' If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. He then takes another swig of his alcohol. Null asks surprised, ¡°Wait. All the powerful countries are after you just because of your advanced level mastery in mining?¡± Damina takes another swig of alcohol and says, ¡°Kid, you underestimate just how formidable an advanced level mastery is. Most people in the world have their masteries stop at beginner level 5. That''s enough to let you live a decent life most of the time. There are some who go above and beyond and go past beginner level 5. They get more and more respected. Once someone reaches the intermediate stage, their quality of life completely changes compared to even when they were beginner level 9! Locally, they will usually be revered. Intermediates can also advance a person''s mastery faster if they teach a person of a lower level, so they are also teachers who people pay a lot of money for. They can pretty much join any organization they want. However, for nations and empires, intermediate is not that big a deal. Those powerful organizations won''t go out of their way to try and recruit you. That all changes once someone who is intermediate reaches the advanced stage. The gap between advanced mastery and intermediate mastery is far wider than the gap between beginner mastery and intermediate mastery. Think of it this way. For the time it would take an average blacksmith of intermediate mastery to create a sword, an average blacksmith of advanced mastery could create over a hundred swords of the same quality. Do you know what that sort of skill would do for a nation? It doesn''t help that there are so few people with advanced mastery. Countries and organizations will be begging to invite you to their factions. However, other nations won''t like it if you join enemy factions, so they will try any means necessary to deter the person of advanced mastery.¡± He takes a swig of alcohol and sighs. ¡°Getting advanced mastery was both a blessing and a curse. Everyone wants you. The problem is that everyone wants you and not to join anyone else.¡± ¡°Huh.¡± Null says interested. Null gets enlightened on the power dynamics of the nations in New Reality. They had just gotten out of a major war around 10-15 years ago, and the nations in the east had greatly expanded because of that, so they''re all only focusing on increasing their strengths during this temporary time of peace. ''If it''s like this with just advanced, I wonder what a person on the level of master has to go through. I have never even read nor heard of someone with the level of master.'' Null thinks. ''Maybe they hide to not be discovered.'' He reasons. ¡°So, what will you do from here on?¡± Null asks Damina. ¡°Hmph!¡± Damina makes a flexing pose. ¡°What else is there?¡± He then makes a Power Ranger pose. ¡°I''ll rescue my family, then I''ll destroy that stupid squad that took him! That''s the Damina way!¡± ¡°Is that the squad that tried to capture me?¡± Null asks. ¡°No, that''s the Qudao empire. The squad that captured my family is much stronger.¡± ¡°Oh. Do you have some sort of plan to deal with them? I think this is an opportunity for both of us.¡± ¡°Oh? What do ya mean kid?¡± Damina asks Null. ¡°I''m currently trying to mine some very rare minerals. However, try as I may, my mining mastery has not gone beyond beginner level 5, even with my librarian class speeding up my skill proficiency. I''ve hit a wall, and I want you, an advanced level person in mining to teach me.¡± ¡°Psh.¡± Damina says in disdain towards Null. ¡°You think a weak punk like you can help me? Look at you! You''re not a manly man like me!¡± He yells while pointing at him. ¡°You are so frail and polite! You''ll only get in the way! And look at your class! A librarian? That''s the least manly class possible! How is reading a book gonna save my wife and kids!?¡± Null knew that this person would be difficult to deal with, so he was patient. ¡°Okay, how about this? You mine me the minerals I need, and I''ll help you rescue your family.¡± ¡°Psh. As if! If you want minerals from me then you pay me like everyone else!¡± ¡°I actually prefer this arrangement.¡± Null says agreeing. He would rather have people do hard business with him than something platonic. To Null, he knows where the person stands in a business relationship. They do everything for profit. ¡°If I help rescue your family, will you teach me mining?¡± ¡°As if someone as none manly as you could do it, but fine. It doesn''t hurt me one bit!¡± [/size]
Quest: Rescue Damina''s Family
Quest Information: Because of Damina''s mastery reaching advanced level in mining, his family got involved with some troublesome forces. Will you help rescue Damina''s family? Reward: Damina will teach you mining as far as it will reach. Quest Rank: C Penalty if refused: Decreased intimacy with Damina to the lowest possible. He will abandon you. Failure if all of Damina''s family dies. Do you accept?
''Oh? A C rank! Oh thank god! How refreshing! I don''t think I could''ve done a B or A rank.'' ¡°I accept.¡±
You have accepted the quest.
¡°How much will things like blackiron, mithril, dolomite, dafernite, ignatia, and milaton cost me?¡± Damina whistles impressed by the minerals Null is looking for. ¡°How much do you want of each?¡± Damina asks. ¡°Hmmm. How about 200 pounds of each?¡± Null asks. Damina frowns. ¡°Are you yankin'' my chain? And here I thought you were serious! Something like that isn''t something you can afford!¡± ¡°Maybe I started out too high. How about 50 pounds of each?¡± ¡°Still too much for your paygrade!¡± Damina yells out. ¡°Try me.¡± ¡°At 50 pounds? That black iron will cost you 40000 gold coins! That mithril is even worse at 90000 gold coins! The dafernite and milaton are a little better at 26000 and 21000 gold coins respectively. The ignatia will cost you 37000 gold coins! Well mister rich guy, what do you think?¡± ''Fuuuck...'' Null thinks with a stupid look on his face. Null has only 6154 gold coins on his person, and in New Reality for a player, that''s considered decently rich. ''I need to find a way to make more money!'' Null thinks. It was then that Damina had a serious look on his face and turned his head towards the entrance. The mage that was meditating opened his eyes and also looked towards the entrance. Null looks at both of them. ''Wow. These people are the real deal. I can''t even sense the people since they''re so far away, but they were able to.'' Swoosh. Swoosh. Swoosh. Multiple people come in. These people are also in black cloaks like what Null saw before, but these cloaks are a lot slimmer. There''s a person in front with a smug smile. ¡°Damina, Damina, Damina.¡± The person in front says. ¡°Why do you keep running from us? All you have to do is agree to join the Goldcrest Empire. Then you can have your family back and we can give you anything you desire. Why do you refuse?¡± ¡°Grrr.¡± Damina gets angry. ¡°You think I will join some spineless wimps who sneak around taking people''s families by surprise!? Dream on!¡± ¡°Now Damina, be reasonable.¡± The leader says to him. ¡°Don''t let us have to force our hand.¡± ¡°Good! I''m tired of running! I''ve been itchin'' for a fight!¡± Damina says smiling darkly while cracking his knuckles. The wind mage then steps in front of Damina. He says, ¡°We, the Ostana Republic, will not allow you to take Damina. Do you really want to risk war with our countries with your actions?¡± ¡°Psh.¡± The leader says. ¡°I highly doubt that the Ostana Republic will go out of their way for just one person of advanced mastery.¡± He then notices Null in the back. He has a hood and mask on. ¡°And you are?¡± ¡°Jeff.¡± ¡°Right...¡± That leader then ceases to care about Null. ¡°Now Damina choose. I''ve been more than courteous. Even though your wife and kids are not allowed to leave, they are waited on, hand and foot. They are living in luxury. We have not harmed them.¡± ¡°Fine. We''ll just drag you back!¡± This person is also an earth mage. However, he has a different path from the earth mage that fought Null. He places his hand on the ground. ¡°Arise, and break through any obstacles in your way! Golem summon!¡± The earth changes. Golems of collosal size slowly grow out the ground. One of the golems charge towards them. They have no choice but to dodge, but Null being the weakest person there, couldn''t dodge in time. Luckily, he had been manipulating his stats towards strength and had stored it up before time. He charges towards the golem and does a punch. Boom! The golem is knocked back and slammed towards the wall. However, it''s unharmed. Even though it''s unharmed, Null''s display of strength shocked everyone there. ¡°Now that''s what I''m talking about!¡± Damina yells out with a smile. ¡°Force your way through obstacles no matter how hard they may seem. Doing the impossible! That''s the Damina way! Seems I underestimated you!¡± ---------------- Author''s Note: The next few chapters will have a whole bunch of stuff happening. I will probably mess up somewhere so please tell me if you see mistakes. Please and thank you. Chapter 48: The Forces Are Annoying Author''s Note: Another day another chapter! ¡°But Rainbows, it''s been fucking weeks!¡± Meh, details. It took a long time not because of this chapter, but because I had rewrote chapters 40 through 45. You''ll probably appreciate the uptick in quality, so reread it if you want. I''m thinking of rewriting my earlier chapters too. If I were to do that, it would take me from one week to several decades to get it all done. If 100 years have passed and my chapters still haven''t been rewritten, it''s safe to say I probably won''t be rewriting them. ------------ Seeing Null''s display of power, the people there start taking Null seriously. The archers produce a steady hail of arrows, launching them at Damina, the wind mage, and Null. Thanks to the wind mage, most of the arrows aimed at them are blocked by a invisible twister surrounding them. Anybody found trying to directly charge at them is met with resistance by Damina, whose pickax slams into the ground attacking the opposing side with various minerals. Some of the minerals in question were very valuable. Despite all of this, Null along with the others realize that they are losing ground, because if nothing changes, they will lose. They are steadily being pushed back. The enemy is too many while they are too few. Seeing how things are turning out, Null puts on his old gauntlets, hoping to turn the tide of battle. Null aims his arm and fires his needle launchers. The effect is less than what he hoped for. For the archers, the needles are easily dodged. The warriors don''t even bother dodging as the needles just bounce off their armor. Seeing as how the needle launchers weren''t working, Null then unravels his crossbow. Since he can only fire one arrow at a time, he aims his arrow at the earth mage who seems to be the leader. He then fires his crossbow. While the arrow travels, multiple golems quickly grow out of the ground. The arrow pierces through two golems before stopping at the third golem. ''This guy can manipulate golems and even make them from the very surroundings. What a pain in the ass.'' Null thinks. ''It looks like my weapons are completely ineffective at this level of power. I was right in deciding to create a new armor.'' Null then hears rumbling from under his feet. ''Shit!'' Null thinks frantic clenching his teeth. Null then rolls out of the way just in time as a giant golem hand comes out from where he was just standing. The golem arm turns its hand into a fist, barely missing grabbing Null. When Null stops rolling, an arrow lands next to him and explodes, shattering a lot of debris close to him. Null shields his eyes from the scattering debris. A golem rises from the ground behind Null. He notices the golem too late. The golem swings his arm, making Null collide into the cave wall. An archer on the other side loads more arrows. The wind mage tries to block the arrow, but he already has his hands full trying to block all the other arrows from the other arches, and this archers arrows look to be more powerful than the others. The arrow plunges through the wind the wind mage generated, only losing a small amount of its momentum. However, thanks to the wind mage''s interference, the arrows aimed at Null miss. The missed arrows explode as they hit the cave wall. Null tries to throw his bombs at the archer, but he shoots down Null''s bombs in midair. Null jumps into the air, throwing a multitude of bombs above where the wind mage was generating his twister shield. This time, the archer loads multiple arrows. He shoots at Null while he is in midair. When it looks that Null was about to be hit, Damina slams his pickax in the ground, making gold nuggets rise which collide with the arrows. ''To slam his pickax into the ground and make gold collide with the arrows that were aimed at me. His advanced mining skill isn''t for show. Only this person would actually fling gold like it''s nothing. This guy did the attack equivalent of shitting gold bricks. Fuck this guy.'' Null thinks in envy. While this is happening, the earth mage starts releasing a lot of energy into the ground. Earth starts rising from the ground. A amount of earth far larger than the other golems rises from the earth. The risen earth then starts to condense until it forms into about the size of a man. The compressed earth then starts transforming into a human-like shape. When the transformation is complete, the rock changes texture to look like skin and clothes. Other than the black eyes with red irises, it looks exactly like a human. There''s a red gem in the center of his forehead. The earth mage kneels down and starts to pant. It looks as if summoning what he did took a lot out of him. ''Yeah, I''ve watched enough shows to know that the human-like monsters are the most powerful of whatever version a force is fighting. I''m barely fighting evenly against the golems as is. I should leave for now.'' Null thinks. ¡°Grrrr...¡± The man-like golem groans. ¡°That''s an arch golem!¡± Damina says surprised. ¡°Although golems in general are stupid and have no brains, arch golems are golems that have lived and grown stronger for thousands of years and had transcended golems! They have a high amount of intelligence, usually being high ranking demons! How did he manage to get a hold of this guy?¡± Damina says smirking with sweat dripping down his forhead. ¡°Attack the masked man and the wind mage!¡± The earth mage says commanding the arch golem. The arch golem clinches his teeth. ¡°Blow it out your ass.¡± The arch golem tells the earth mage in condemnation. The earth mage then holds out his hand. The red gem in between that golem''s head starts to glow. Red tattoos start coming from where the gem is placed. ¡°Gaaaah!¡± The arch golem clutches his head. He looks to be in pain. ¡°I said attack!¡± The earth mage commands. ¡°When I get out of this I''ll...¡± The earth mage amps the power on whatever is hurting the arch golem. He falls to the ground, rolling and clutching his head in pain. The glow from the crystal then stops. ¡°If you attack, then all that pain will go away.¡± The earth mage says to him. ¡°Tch.¡± He gets up and dusts himself off. He then turns towards Null. Null readies himself, having his needle launchers aimed at the arch golem. The arch golem then sprints towards Null. ''It might not do much, but I can at least slow him down.'' Null thinks. He fires his needle launchers. The arch golem hardens his skin to stone, making the needles bounce off his skin. ''Okay, so I now know his composition. He feels a need to harden his skin, so it looks like he''s has a flesh and blood body beneath that stone skin. I''ll aim my crossbow at his heart. It should be enough to penetrate that thin stone skin.'' Null thinks. Null pulls a string, and the crossbow unravels. He aims his bow at the moving arch mage and fires. The arch golem then sinks inside the ground, moving through it like water. The arrow flies loose, and goes through the cavewall. Null loads another arrow in, looking around carefully. He spreads out his mana, not wanting another surprise attack like before. Suddenly, Damina slams his pickax into the ground, making rubies come out the ground as projectiles aimed at Null. Null is surprised, but he catches on. He moves out the way just as the arch golem was coming out the ground. The arch golem is hit. Cracks start showing on the arch golem''s skin. Null did not come out unscaved, as he was also hit with Damina''s attack. Null used this opportunity to hit the arch golem with his crossbow. ''Your stone skin won''t stop this attack. Game over.'' Null thinks. While the arch golem was disoriented from Damina''s last attack, the arrow was unleashed. The arch golem then did something that surprised everyone on Null''s side. His skin had changed into a complete different, harder material. The arrow didn''t even make the arch golem budge. ''Well, I''m all out of ideas.'' Null thinks. ¡°Damn. I feel so unmanly right now.¡± Damina says. The wind mage was still deflecting arrows, seeing the situation turn for the worse. Just when situation was about to turn really bad, arrows come and aim at the enemies. Many dwarfs and humans in clothes similar to the wind mage come in. The mages were in flowing robes. The human warriors had armor that looked similar to Roman Armor. ¡°Guys!¡± Damina says in excitement to his fellow dwarves. They all smirk given Damina''s a thumbs up. The wind mage just nods at the people from the Ostana Republic. ¡°People from the Goldcrest Empire. If you continue your actions, we, the Ostana Republic, will declare war. This is your final warning.¡± The wind mage says to them. The air was tense. Both sides'' archers had their arrows nocked. No one wanted to be the first to move. Seeing the situation, the earth mage frowns. ¡°Stand down.¡± The earth mage says to his people. The archers from both sides take their arrows off their bows and put them down. The warriors put down their weapons. ¡°Let''s go.¡± The earth mage says. The people from the Goldcrest Empire all start walking out. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Wait a minute you bastards!¡± Damina yells at them. ¡°I want my family back!¡± The earth mage smiles. ¡°Oh, that''s simply done. All you have to do is join us.¡± ¡°In your dreams!¡± ¡°Then I guess you''ll never see them again.¡± They all walk off. ¡°Just you wait bastards! I''ll get you back for this! We''ll rescue my family!¡± The wind mage says to Damina, ¡°I''m afraid that we cannot rescue your family at this time. We were only ordered to prevent any forces from forcibly taking you. That is all.¡± Damina grabs the wind mage by the collar and yells out, ¡°So you assholes are just gonna let them keep my family?!¡± A strong gust blows, knocking Damina on his butt. The wind mage fixes his collar while saying, ¡°Do not forget that we are here helping you without asking for anything in return. Would you rather us leave?¡± ¡°Tch. Useless. The bunch of ya.¡± Damina says vexed while leaving. Only the wind mage followed Damina. The dwarves went back to their kingdom while the Ostana Republic went back to a hidden area. Damina''s bad mood had quickly passed while they were walking. ¡°Man Null. Here I thought you were just some wimp. Those gadgets you had were amazing even if they didn''t do any good. Who made them?¡± ¡°I did.¡± Damina whistles impressed with Null. ¡°Man there''s just someone you have to meet.¡± David frowns under his mask. ¡°He''s a blacksmith interested in these kinds of things. You''ve just gotta show him your stuff!¡± ¡°Where are we going?¡± Null asks. ¡°Where else? To the most technologically advanced place in the world!¡± ¡°You mean...¡± ¡°That''s right! The Dwarven Kingdom!¡± ¡°...Oh.¡± Null says relieved. They walk through the mountains for a long time. Null found that Damina was surprisingly more nimble than he appears, as Null found it hard to keep up with him. ¡°Almost there!¡± ''You''ve kept saying the same thing the past few hours.'' Null thinks annoyed. They soon make it through a wide valley. It was covered in holes. On the top of one side of the valley, a huge aqueduct could be seen. Water from the aqueduct seemed to be flowing into the valley walls. Null and Damina walked to one of the entrance holes. Two giant, well made statues of dwarves could be seen next to that hole. Two dwarven guards wielding spears were standing guard. ¡°Sir!¡± The guards say to Damina respectfully. Damina smirks and punches one of the guard in the shoulder. ¡°No need to be so stiff! Keep up the manly work!¡± ¡°SIR!¡± The guard says with enthusiasm. Null, Damina, and the wind mage then proceed through the tunnels. There was tunnel after tunnel that they walked through. They were kept well lit, and were well maintained. They then enter an underground town. There was a giant hole in the ceiling where this town was located. Damina entered a tavern to drink. The wind mage also entered as to protect Damina. He did not drink. As Null was too young, he had waited outside sitting on an empty barrel. When Damina was finished, they left the town and continued to travel. Town after town they entered. The way the Dwarven Kingdom was set up reminded Null of how ant hills were set up. There were various interconnecting tunnels with some bubbles where things were stored or towns were built, just like ant hills. After around a week of walking, they finally make it to the Dwarven capital. The city looks huge compared to the towns Null had visited before. There were many tall buildings. The hole above the city that led to the surface was even wider than the hole above the other towns. In the very center of this city lied a huge palace. Many smith shops could be seen throughout the area. There were people of all races walking around. Most of the people here were dressed in merchant clothes. ¡°Welcome to Narbuldor, the most advanced city on Earth!¡± Null looks around unimpressed. ¡°...Huh.¡± Null says. ¡°What''s with that reaction!? Your blood should be pumping!¡± Damina yells out while flexing. ¡°It is.¡± Null says apathetic. In actuality, the most advanced city Null had ever seen is Gnosia. As most people don''t know of its existence, it''s understandable that Damina doesn''t know. They both soon make it to a big blacksmith shop. When they make it to the door, Null is surprised by Damina kicking in the door. ¡°Who''s the big balled bastard who kicked my door in?!¡± An angry voice yelled out from inside. ¡°It was I, you tiny testicled toddler!¡± Damina yells back. ¡°Damina, I''ll kill ya for wreckin'' my door!¡± The shop owner yells out in a rage. ¡°As if your unmanly self could do anything!¡± Damina yells out angry. They both start yelling out, charging towards each other. Just when they look they''re about to come to blows, they both give each other bear hugs and start to smile. ¡°I never see your dumbass anymore. You''ve gotten too good for us now that you''ve gotten advanced mastery huh?¡± The blacksmith asks. ¡°Ha! Don''t be ridiculous! It''s those assholes from the empires that keep getting in my way!¡± Damina yells out. ¡°Who''re the people next to ya?¡± The blacksmith asks. ¡°The tall one in the robes is a wind mage from the Ostana Republic. I honestly don''t even know his name.¡± Damina says. The wind mage just stands there, ignoring their conversation. ¡°The masked guy in the assassin clothes is called Null. He''s the reason I came to see you.¡± ¡°Hey.¡± Null says apathetic. ¡°This guy looks like a wimp.¡± The blacksmith says. Null looks at the blacksmith deadpanned. ¡°Don''t let looks deceive ya. This guy might be a wimp, but he''s a formidable wimp.¡± Damina says. ¡°Null, show him your weapons.¡± The blacksmith sees the effective spread of the needle launchers and the penetrative power of the crossbow. The blacksmith looks on sort of impressed. ¡°Where did you get these?¡± The blacksmith wonders. ¡°I made them.¡± Null says. ¡°These are pretty interesting. It would be even more impressive, if you could minimize these needles with the same amount of firing power so they could penetrate deeper into enemies.¡± ¡°This is the limit on how small I can make the needles.¡± Null says. ¡°Oh, that''s right. You don''t have Miniature Smithing as a technique. It''s usually limited to Dwarf blacksmiths. That''s our signature ability.¡± ¡°Miniature Smithing?¡± Null asks. ¡°It enables someone to smith the small. The higher the mastery, the smaller you can smith, and the more detailed your creations become.¡± The blacksmith says. ''I had no idea a technique like that existed.'' Null thinks. ¡°Since I like your gizmos, and since Damina likes you, I''ll give you a chance to learn it.¡± Null shakes briefly. ¡°Now, don''t get too excited yet. Miniature Smithing is a trade mark for Dwarven blacksmiths. It shouldn''t be too cheap to learn it.¡± The blacksmith tells Null. ¡°How about my weapons?¡± Null asks. ¡°Ha! Not even close!¡± The blacksmith tells Null. Null frowns under his mask. ''I''ll just think about this later.'' Null thanks the man and they soon leave the shop. ¡°Well, he was the only person I wanted you to see.¡± Damina tells Null. Damina''s face then shows anger. He takes out his pickax and puts it in his hands. ¡°Now, I''m going to go rescue my family!¡± Damina tells both Null and the wind mage. Damina prepares to run off. ¡°Please wait.¡± Null says. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Your family isn''t in any danger. It wouldn''t do them any good to cause them harm if they are trying to recruit you. Let''s wait until I complete my armor before we rescue your family.¡± ¡°Wait!? Who would do an unmanly thing like waiting!? I''ll rescue my wife right here, right now!¡± Damina then starts running off. ''Oh geez.'' Null then sighs. The wind mage tells Null, ¡°Do not worry. I will not allow any harm to befall Damina.¡± Null nods. The wind mage then flies and chases after Damina. Null walks until me makes it to the nearest exit from the Dwarven Kingdom. He decides to go on his own from here on. Null knows where Damina''s hideout is located, so he can go there when he needs to buy his ores. ''Now the question is how do I make the money to buy Damina''s ores? Where would I sell the items I make? If I were to sell in the game and make a lot of money, I would get a lot of attention. That would completely defeat my purpose for playing New Reality. Ugh! I have a headache. I should just listen around in school. Lots of people play New Reality, so they should have some useful information.'' Null stays in New Reality smelting iron ores until it was time for school. When the buzzard for school starts, he logs off. ----------------- Author''s Note: As with most problems in life, they are caused by not having enough money. Chapter 49: The Dreaded Luciana Author''s Note: Another chapter for you sexy people. As always, if you find any mistakes tell me. I''ll get to it. Eventually. Probably. ----------- David then got out his pod. He washed, brushed his teeth, and got dressed. When David was about to leave, he hears something he least wanted to hear. ¡°Oh Daaaaaviiiiiiid!¡± David''s face distorts into something unpleasant. ¡°Hello my amazing brother David! How are you doing today!?¡± Cindy says with a big smile, running around David. ¡°What do you want Cindy?¡± David asks with an annoyed frown. ¡°Aw, can''t I just be happy to see my brother?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Ah. You got me. Can you take me to the Thanksgiving parade?¡± ¡°No. I see no reason why I should.¡± ¡°But David, I''ll probably be out all day all alone! It''s dangerous for a girl to be out at night!¡± ¡°Cindy, if there''s someone that is strong enough to beat you, me being there will not have any impact on your safety.¡± Null points out. ¡°You''re faster and nimbler than me. Maybe if you were outnumbered, it would be a problem, but I''ve seen you take out a large group of men by yourself before.¡± ¡°That''s not important!¡± ¡°Anyway, even if I did want to take you, guys always give me a mean look when I walk with you, mistakenly believing we''re going out. In a parade, we would be surrounded by a lot of people. They would all stare daggers at me.¡± ¡°That''s also not important!¡± ¡°I''m leaving.¡± David says about to walk out. ¡°David please!¡± Cindy says grabbing David''s leg and getting dragged by it. ¡°Why do you hate parade balloons so much!?¡± ¡°Go away Cindy! I won''t take you to the parade! I''m busy in New Reality! Plus, I don''t like you!¡± Cindy then gets a confused look on her face. She says, ¡°What are you talking about? Your pod will be need of serious repairs that day.¡± ¡°What are you talking abo-... Oh.¡± ¡°I''m glad we reached and understanding oh bestest big brother of mine until Michael gets back!¡± ¡°Fine. I''ll just tell all your friends about the time when you took a shi-¡± Cindy covers David''s mouth. ¡°Let''s make a deal. We both go to the parade, your pod won''t break, and nobody has to no about that event. Deal?¡± Cindy says with scary eyes. ¡°Fine. I guess. But I''ll only go to the parade.¡± ¡°Woo! Woo! Woo!¡± Cindy yells out excited, doing fist bumps in the air. David walks to school disappointed in himself for once again falling for Cindy''s schemes. He opens the door when he sees something that shocks and arouses him at the same time. Someone had pasted a nude picture of Luciana on the wall. It looks like the person took it while she was showering. David''s mouth opens wide, so much that drool starts spilling out. David then starts to reach for the zipper on his pants. When he realizes what he is doing, he snaps back to his senses. ''No! Bad hand! We wait until we get home!'' Those feelings of lust were soon replaced with dread. Sweat starts dripping down his body. His heart starts beating rapidly. ''You fools!'' Null thinks frantic. ''Whoever you are, you have doomed us all! Do you not remember what an enraged Luciana is capable of?! I still have nightmares from her last rampage!'' Since David didn''t want to die, he took the picture down and tore it up into little pieces to the point where it was unrecognizable. He then wipes his forehead, and continues on where he was going. When he turns a corner, he looks at the wall and once again sees that vivid picture of Luciana. Once again David goes into lust before coming to his senses. David tears the picture and throws it in the recycle bin. ''I have to tear up all these copies before Luciana gets here!'' David vows to himself. ''I always get involved every time she gets angry. Not this time.'' Unfortunately for David, someone caught wind of the picture before David had gotten to it. He was about to take a picture with his AR glasses, but David grabbed the picture and tore it up before he could snap a photo. ¡°Dude! I was in the middle of something!¡± The guy yells out to David. David ignores him and continues running through the school. The guy contemplates. ''Wait a minute. He''s running throughout the school as if he''s in a hurry. There must be multiple pictures out there! I have to tell everyone!'' He sends a message to his friends. They send a message to their friends. Soon, most of the guys in the school learn about Luciana''s picture. ********* The football team. ¡°We will find those pictures!¡± A football player yells out to his teammates. ¡°We''ll tackle anyone who blocks us, just like on the field!¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± They all yell out. ******** The art club. ¡°This could prove to be an amazing muse.¡± ¡°Oh yes. I''m feeling inspired already thinking about that picture.¡± ¡°...Your bulge is showing.¡± The guy tells that second guy. ******** The Honor Mathematics''s Society. ¡°I heard that there''s a nude picture of Luciana floating around!¡± ¡°What does that have to do with math?¡± ¡°Nothing, but are we going to just let the jocks take the picture? We''re always getting the shaft! It''s time we finally got some boobies!¡± ¡°I''m with you!¡± ¡°Me too!¡± ********* Two boys are walking to school. Their names are Rick and Paul. Paul is looking to be in a foul mood. ¡°Paul, are you still mad at me for being kicked out of the Brociety? You have no one to blame but yourself.¡± Rick tells Paul. ¡°Yeah, Yeah. I know I know, but this is so terrible.¡± Paul sees a girl walking to school. He straightens himself out and combs back his hair. He then walks up to her. ¡°Hey there.¡± Paul says with his best impression. ¡°Oh? Paul? Is that you? It''s been forever!¡± The girl says with a smile. ¡°I know right?¡± Paul says not even remembering who she is. ¡°So, how''s everything been going?¡± ¡°Oh same old. Same old. Just applying to colleges like everyone else.¡± ¡°I hear ya. Well you see, there''s this new place across town that makes the best pastries, and I was wondering if you wanted to go there with me.¡± Paul says to her. She gets a sad smile. ¡°Paul, you''re a really great guy.¡± ''No.'' Paul hears in dread. ¡°And I''m sure there are many girls who like you.¡± ''No!'' Paul panics. ¡°But I think we should just stay friends.¡± She tells him with a pat on the shoulder as she walks away. ''Nooooooooooooo!'' Paul thinks in dismay. ¡°Man, this is like your 100th rejection. The other 900 will go by like yesterday.¡± Rick says to Paul to comfort him. Paul then gets a message on his AR glasses. He smiles wider and wider reading more of the message. ¡°Hahahaha!¡± Paul laughs with glee. ¡°Well you''re awfully in a good mood for just getting rejected.¡± Rick tells Paul. ¡°No, there''s rumors of a nude picture of Luciana floating around! If I can find it, I can get back into the brociety''s good graces and once again be a bro!¡± ********* David is running throughout the school, tearing up the nude pictures of Luciana. Suddenly, a huge mass of people block David''s path. They''re the school''s band team. There is no woman to be seen, and they all have their instruments out. ¡°We''ve heard about a guy named Dilan running around with clothes several sizes too big trying to tear down pictures of Luciana. Well, we''ve come here to stop you!¡± The conductor tells David. ''Oh no. More people are involved. Should I stop? I do not want the attention.'' David then gives up on that idea. ''No. I fear her more than I fear everyone else. I have to go.'' David starts running. The conductor raises his hands and the instruments blow. It''s so loud that David has to cover his ears. He runs the other way and takes a detour. He runs until he sees someone else. The baseball club blocks David''s way. ¡°Dilan, we know you''ve probably took a picture of Luciana. Give it to us or prepare to be pelted!¡± ¡°I never took a picture.¡± David tells them. ¡°Lies! Pitchers ready!¡± They all throw baseballs at David. He flips and takes cover in a classroom. He goes outside through the window. ''Is everybody really doing this just for a pic of Luciana? What a bunch of idiots! Ah who am I kidding? I would probably do the same thing. That ass was just...'' David runs inside another hallway, continuing his search, he tries running down another corridor, but he crashes into it. It was like an invisible wall. David hurt himself in the collision. ''What in the world?'' Looking closely, David could now see that this hallway was just a picture painted on the wall. ¡°So you finally make it to us.¡± One of the students says. The art club students surround David. ¡°Hand over the picture Dilan.¡± ¡°I don''t have any pictures.¡± David tells them. The art students then put out buckets of paint. They throw them at David. He is hit, but not deterred. David keeps running, tearing down pictures of Luciana wherever he finds them. He then finds another picture. He is about to tear it. A baseball is thrown at David''s back, distracting him. The band then plays a loud sound. It''s so loud that David has no choice but to cover his ears. He drops the picture. ''All the different groups are starting to get organized.'' David thinks. He then picks back up the picture and runs a corner. A great many people were blocking his way. He then turns around and tries to run. Another group of people were blocking his path. He was now trapped. A group of people then step forward. In the forefront was Paul, standing next to the council of bros. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°You have done good work Paul. We hereby reinstate your bro-liscence.¡± ¡°Fuck yeah!¡± Paul says with glee as he runs to find some women. ¡°We''ve heard about you Dilan. You have pictures of Luciana. We, the council of bros, demand that you give up the picture.¡± David frowns. ¡°You''re all insane. Have you all forgotten about Luciana''s last rampage? Even me who wasn''t involved in any way was hurt in the crossfire. You all had it much worse.¡± ¡°That''s a sacrifice we are all willing to make. Will you give it up or not?¡± ¡°I haven''t even took a picture. I''m trying to save all of us!¡± ¡°What''s that in your hand then?¡± ¡°A picture that I found along the way. Just let me tear it up for all of our sakes!¡± ¡°We will not relent. Clearly you don''t know of the Brociety''s reign. Our territory consists of 20000 square centimeters. You cannot hope to defend against that kind of power!¡± ¡°I''m more afraid of Luciana far more than I''m afraid of your stupid Brociety.¡± ¡°Take that picture.¡± A bro councilman says. Null is mobbed. He couldn''t defend himself and protect the picture, so the picture was exposed. Everyone there sees the picture, making comments about it. ¡°My god I''m going camping so hard.¡± ¡°I think we''ll all be pitching tents tonight.¡± ¡°Her booty looks even better with nothing on it!¡± ¡°That booty looks so shiny I can see myself in them!¡± They all have goofy looking smiles on their faces. Suddenly, footsteps were heard. All of the lust driven people there soon had fear in their hearts. ''Here it comes. Our time of reckoning.'' Null thinks to himself. ¡°I remember that sound. That''s the last sound I remember before I woke up in the hospital.¡± ¡°Oh no! It''s happening again!¡± ¡°Luciana is here!¡± ¡°Shit! Tear the picture! Tear the picture!¡± ¡°It''s too late! She''s already here!¡± Someone yells crying. Luciana soon arrives to the scene. The look on her face says apathy, but the invisible aura she''s generating tells everyone there that this is just the calm before the storm. Luciana looks at David, and starts walking towards him. ¡°Urk!¡± David clutches his chest. It looks as if he''s having a heart attack. He falls to the ground in surrender. Luciana continues to go ever closer. David backs up until he hits wall. His eyes open wide, and he starts to sweat. He starts shaking and quivering. Luciana continues to go closer. David then covers his face and gets in fetal position, prepared for his beating. ¡°Thank you, David.¡± ''Huh?'' David uncovers his face and looks at Luciana. Luciana looks at David with an apathetic expression. ¡°Leave David. You probably don''t want to stick around for what''s going to happen.¡± ¡°Yes ma''am!¡± David then flees like the road runner. There''s a dust cloud being generated from his trail as he runs. Contrary to your expectations, Luciana doesn''t give a single fuck about what David did. Luciana is one of the most beautiful people in the world. She has plenty of ¡°nice guys¡± constantly trying to do things for her. If David didn''t do what he did, someone else would have. Luciana then focuses her attention on everyone else there. Some people gulp. ¡°As for the rest of you, I honestly don''t care that people see my naked body.¡± She closes her eyes. ¡°However, if I did nothing, you all would get the incentive to keep doing these kinds of things.¡± She opens her eyes. What was once apathy had been replaced with pure, blind rage. ¡°So you all must be punished.¡± She runs towards them with inhuman speed. ¡°Run!¡± ¡°Oh my god! We''re all doomed!¡± The guys run away and scatter. They tried to flee and hide, but Luciana had memorized their scents. One after one they fall. In one group of people, there were five people currently running away. ¡°Keep running! There''s no way she can make it to all of us!¡± ¡°Aaah!¡± Someone screams out. The other four turn around and see that their fifth friend is nowhere to be seen. This makes them run even faster. ¡°I knew looking for her pictures was a-¡± There was silence. ¡°You knew looking for her pictures was a what?¡± They turn around, and another one of them had mysteriously disappeared. ¡°We are so fucked!¡± ¡°Don''t let her get to you!¡± ¡°Guys let''s hide here!¡± He turns around and sees that he''s the only one left. ¡°...Guys?¡± He says in a sweat. He hides in the closest. His clothes are soaked in sweat. He wants to pant but knows that it will give his position away. ''This is what I get for thinking with my penis.'' He thinks. ¡°This is a terrible hiding spot.¡± A feminine voice tells him. ¡°It''s the best I could HEEEEEEEE!¡± He runs out the closet, but he didn''t make it far. His ankle is grabbed. ¡°LET ME GO LET ME GO LET ME GO!! AAAAH!¡± He was slowly dragged back into that closet while trying to grab onto the floor. When that door closes shut, only silence could be heard. Scenes like this were happening everywhere. No one who had saw Luciana''s picture was left safe. A lot were sent to the hospital. Of all the people who saw Luciana''s picture, David was the only one who made it out unscaved. He will also be one of the few whose hands actually work. David thought to himself while making a fist with a slight smile, ''Tonight, I will masturbate like a king.'' ******* David goes to homeroom and makes it to his seat. A little while later, David sees Luciana coming inside the classroom covered in blood that wasn''t hers. Despite the odd appearance, no one looks at her, as if that blood on her is just perfectly natural. There''s silence as she takes her seat. Some students enter the room after her with bandaged bodies. Luciana looks up at them as they enter. Their faces twist in agony. Some groan. One even runs away. They quickly avert their gazes and sit quietly in their seats. There''s an awkward silence in the room. Soon afterwards, that silence starts to die down. ¡°Hey, have you heard that a new android model is being unveiled? They say that it''s nearly indistinguishable from people.¡± ¡°Oh great. Just what we need. More androids working jobs so that we will have less jobs available to us.¡± ¡°Androids aren''t so bad. It''s because of the androids and robots that we even have the basic income system in the first place. Anyways, I''ve heard a disturbing rumor. You know how we mostly rely on solar for our power right? Some are saying that the materials that we need for solar are running out.¡± ¡°You know, that would explain why there is such a big push by the government in energy generating research.¡± ¡°You think nuclear fusion will be feasible any time soon?¡± ¡°They always say 50 more years. They''ve been saying the same thing for over a hundred years!¡± ¡°You know, these topics are kinda depressing. Let''s talk about something else. What have you guys been up to?¡± ¡°I''ve been hitting the arcade. You?¡± ¡°I''m in the city of Caledona in New Reality.¡± ¡°What are you doing there?¡± ¡°Nothing in particular. Just hunting around the area. How about you all?¡± ¡°There''s a nice sword I saw on the New Reality auction site that I really want to buy, but I don''t have enough money right now. I''m mostly doing quests to earn the money.¡± ¡°Did you hear about someone selling that Grand Chaos Dominion Spear at the auction?¡± ¡°I wonder who did that. Whoever decided to sell it is smart. If he kept it, he would eventually be found out, and the big guilds would not keep quiet. If he tried to sell it in the game itself, someone would also find out. Since he sold at the auction site, he will be left anonymous.¡± David listens to this astonished. ''What in the hell is with all this convenient shit happening to me lately? I expected to have to listen for weeks to find some useful information, and yet just during my homeroom, I get this information. This is just so ridiculous! Is there a switched that I pressed? Can I keep this on?'' David gets on his AR glasses and searches for the auction site. He looks on for the auction site that lets you stay anonymous. After a while of searching, he finds a site you can go to to sell your items, and get money back. However, you need reputation. People first starting out get no reputation. People rarely buy these items, as they can be scams or whatever. In order for more people to buy your items, you have to work your way up in reputation. He reads up on all the things he needs. The only thing the auction requires is that you either submit your username that you use on New Reality or remain anonymous. However, the site suggests leaving your username, as no one buys from anonymous people who don''t show their name, as they tend to be the biggest scammers. David decides that leaving his name up would be for the best, as his name is fairly common in New Reality, and since no one will know who he is anyway, it doesn''t matter. Class soon ends. During the day, David passes by Cecile in the hallway. She''s happily talking with her friends. David doesn''t look at Cecile, and Cecile doesn''t look at David. They ignore each other, as if they''re strangers. Cecile had decided to move on from David, and David has been ignoring Cecile like he always does. After going through all his classes, he goes to the gym. Afterwards, he soon returns home. After doing his kingly duty, he logs back into New Reality. ------------------- Author''s Note: This arc is the most difficult personally I''ve done so far. Chapter 50: Transmutation Circle Training FINALLY!! Author''s Note: And it only took me around 40 chapters for Null to finally start training in transmutation circles from when they were introduced. On a serious note, oh my god. How in the world do Chinese online novel writers write a chapter every day? I''m struggling with just this. Like seriously. How do they do it? -------------- Null logs in goes back to the hidden cave he found. He sits down to do some thinking. ''Now to think about what I should sell at the auctions. Paintings? That could work. My paintings do give great effects after all.'' Null then shakes his head. ''No. Paintings do not go for that much the last I''ve checked. Maybe I should try alchemy. Yeah, I could try selling more of my exotic potions. That could work.'' He then shakes his head. ''No. I''m in the mountains right now. I''ve looked around so far, but there is no suitable soil for me to grow the more exotic plants needed for the more unique potions. I really should find a way to raise my Gardening mastery. Should I sell books? Maybe I could sell skill books. No, that''s a terrible idea. There are very few librarians who stick around beyond level 25, and if a person named Null goes around selling all these amazing skill books, it wouldn''t be too hard to put two and two together and trace it back to me. Smithing?'' Null then gets a look of realization. ''Yes! That''s perfect! I''m currently in the region that''s best known for generating minerals. I could sell the items I craft! Now that I think about it, I don''t even have to smith. I still have the mana stones I received from that Alexander''s depository and from the robots I defeated. I could sell them.'' Null contemplates whether or not he should sell his mana stones. He then shakes his head. ''No. I still need these mana stones for my new armor. However, this did make me remember that I have a book that teaches me how to generate mana stones. I could just sell the mana stones that I generate and not have to worry about building anything to sell.'' Null takes out the book that was given to him by Claris. He looks at the method to generate the mana stones. Not only will he need ingredients incredibly difficult to prepare, but he also needs to build a very complex transmutation circle array. Null knew from the get go this would be difficult, so he gets to work. He copies and pastes all the circles on the ground. He then joins them together by copying and pasting the joinings in the book. Even with copying and pasting, it took him several hours to complete the diagram. It was huge, as it was around 70 meters in length. ''And to think that this is just the first step.'' Null thinks intimidated. Null then places his hands on one of the transmutation circles. ¡°Transmutation Circle Activation!¡± He yells out. At first the circle looked as if it were glowing. However it soon shuts down. ''Huh?'' Null thinks confused.
Insufficient level for the transmutation circle array. This array requires Intermediate level 2 in Transmutation Circle Activation.
Null frowns. ''Intermediate level 2? That''s a bit daunting. It took me years in-game to reach intermediate. Well, now is a good a time as any to start my transmutation circle training. I was hoping to start it when I had finished my armor.'' Null goes inside his inventory and takes out the book titled, ¡°Transmutation Circles for Dummies¡±. Null reads the front page that says, ¡°It would be best that you not read the book with people around. You would not want to be known by troublesome forces.¡± ''I agree with this.'' Null thinks. Null then turns the page. It reads, ¡°If you''re reading this book, congratulations! This means you now have the necessary skills in order to know about transmutation circles. Alright, so you''re now a big shot who is now capable of making transmutation circles and want to know about them. What is a transmutation circle anyway? Transmutation circles can do many amazing things, but at its core, transmutation circles are a remarkably simple concept. All transmutation circles do is move things. That''s all. That lies behind all transmutation circles from its most complex to its most simple. All transmutation circles do is move different things. Now we will move on to the basics. If you''re reading this, your calligraphy skills should be high. The first step is to make a perfect circle using your Ink Hand technique. The outside circle is the base of the transmutation circle. It is what holds the mana that is used to fuel the rest of the transmutation circle. Make a perfect circle.¡± ''A perfect circle huh?'' Null thinks. He attempts to make a perfect circle and fails. He attempts again and fails. Again and again he tries, but Null finds it to be nearly impossible. He then finally succeeds in making a nearly perfect circle. ''This was just making the circle. How in the world will I practically make transmutation circles?'' Null thinks daunted. He then turns to the next page. ¡°Making a perfect circle is difficult right? How long would you have to take to get all your lines and curves right to just get your transmutation circle to work? Right?¡± ''No kidding.'' Thinks Null. ¡°Well luckily, we have a solution to this. You do not have to get the figures inside completely right. When typically making a transmutation circle, people will first draw out the transmutation circle, then use the intermediate level Proofread skill to correct any errors. Since you are reading this book, you mostly likely have gotten intermediate in proofreading. At earlier levels, proofread only points out the mistakes you make, with more mistakes being found the higher the Proofread skill goes. When Proofread reaches intermediate, you can use the skill to directly correct your mistakes to your preferred design. Be warned however that the more mistakes you make, the more mana you will need for the proofread, and the less mana you will have left to activate your transmutation circle. When first starting out, your transmutation circles will be simple, so you won''t have to worry about that that much at first, but once your circles start getting more complex, the amount of mana being used for proofreading and activation will increase by a lot, so it''s a good habit to make as few mistakes as you possibly can.¡± Null then reads on. ¡°Next thing we will talk about is protecting your transmutation circles. Although you can create transmutation circles because of your skill, Transmutation Circle Creation, other calligraphers are able to copy it without the need for the skill, Transmutation Circle Creation. All they would need is the skill, Copy-Paste. Since this is the case, people have protected their transmutation circles they created to keep from prying eyes. See this image?¡± Null sees the fairly simple symbol. ¡°Always make a habit of placing this in the very center of your transmutation circle. It acts as a lock that spreads a film over your circle. This thin film protects your circle from being copied. It also keeps other calligraphers from changing and marking your circle. Keep in mind that this won''t stop other people who have Transmutation Circle Creation as a skill from changing your circle. Now that we''ve got that out of the way, we will get to what you have been waiting for: Making your first transmutation circle.¡± Null gets a little excited. ¡°As was said before, all transmutation circles do is manipulate things to go in different motions, depending on the transmutation circle used. The trick is finding out what you want to move, and what you don''t want to move. See this circle below.¡± There''s a picture of a circle with basic shapes in it. ¡°This circle is simple. All it does is make whatever you drew it on move forward three inches." Null takes a deep breath. He finds a rock around 0.5 meters across. He looks at the figure in the book and draws the circle. When he does transmutation circle activation on the circle, nothing happens. Null scratches his head. When he looks closely, he sees that a figure on the circle had a slightly different image. He then activates the circle again. Again, nothing happens. When he looks closely, he finds that a shape had been placed in the wrong spot. Again, and again, he tests and corrects his mistakes. He could''ve done Copy-Paste to directly paste the circle on the rock, but that would''ve defeated the purpose of him learning about Transmutation Circles. Finally, after a long while of testing, when he does the skill transmutation circle activation, the outside of the circle starts to glow. Null could feel his mana being drained. The glow starts on the outside circle and makes its way inward. When the whole circle glows, the rock moves about five centimeters forward. Null gets a rush of adrenaline in his chest. Whenever he finds something that he''s interested in, he becomes completely obsessed with it. There''s no middle ground with Null. He''s either obsessed or not interested at all. Null goes to another rock and places the same transmutation circle on it. This rock is smaller. When he does Transmutation Circle Activation on the new rock, he finds that less mana was consumed. ''Is mass what determines the amount of mana I spend? Lets try two experiments. One experiment will have two same sized rocks with one transmutation circle being larger, and the other experiment will have two of the same sized transmutation circles on two different sized rocks. Let''s see which consumes more.'' When he does the experiment, he finds that the rock with more mass consumed slightly more mana than the larger transmutation circle. He also found that bigger transmutation circles take longer to activate. ''Looks I need to find the right size to work with. Too small, and I won''t be able to do details. Too big, and I waste mana.'' He then tries changing the circle, experimenting to see how it works. He isolates the mechanism on the duration of the object''s movement, as well as the direction in which it travels. After a couple of hours of running more tests, Null returns to his book and reads on. ¡°Sometimes when a transmutation circle activates, you do not want to do everything at once, lest you end up with a disaster. As you have probably already noticed, it takes time for mana to go through the ink of your transmutation circle. Here is a circle that moves in two directions. Create and activate this transmutation circle.¡± Null does this. When the circle activates, the direction goes in the vector addition of the two directions. Null then read on. ¡°Your circle should have gone in both directions at once. There''s a way to make one go before the other. It takes time for mana to go through your ink, and making a longer path will delay parts of the circle.¡± Null looks at the diagram. One path leads straight to the shape that sets the circle in motion. The other path has a lot of ink taking up space leading to the second shape. Null followed the instructions and made the transmutation circle. It had first moved forward. The mana from the circle then stopped flowing to the forward diagram. It then moved to the left. Seeing this, Null frowned. ''This delay takes up a lot of space. As I recall, I can now make my ink lines mana conductive or mana inhibiting. Maybe I can go between the two, calculating the properties based on how long the delay should be.'' When Null does the experiment, he finds that it works. He then remembers that he has the Free Paint skill, enabling him to change the color of his Ink Hand. He color codes his delays according to how long things have to reach. After experimenting for a long time, he turns the page. This page talks about isolating things you want to move, and things you don''t want to move. It talks about finding different symbols to use. Some symbols work for a lot of things, while some only work for specific things. Experimentation is needed to find out what goes where. Null finds this will be the longest thing he will spend time on. He turns the page. This one talks about nested circles, enabling the circle to become more complex. It enables each nested circle to do a single task so they all move in tandem towards a desired effect. The next page talked about combining different transmutation circles together to form an array. Unlike nested circles, which work with circles of similar properties doing slightly different things to achieve an effect, an array combines completely different circles to create some desired effect. Some array combinations do not work, and it''s up to experimentation to find what works with what. A few more hours of reading, and Null makes it to the end of the teaching part. It said, ¡°So that''s it! That''s all you need to know when it comes to transmutation circles! You can now theoretically move or control anything!¡± Null at first is excited, but then quickly comes to his senses. ''Yeah. This is just like saying in computer science that just because a person knows the different variable data types, inputs and outputs, loops, and conditional statements that you can now make any program ever. Although it is theoretically true, that''s not really the case for anybody.'' He then gets exercises to do. ¡°Now it''s time to test your knowledge. Using only transmutation circles, make a rock move through this maze design.¡± Null finds a random large rock. He makes ink lines to serve as the maze. The trail the rock makes through the ground will determine if Null is successful or not. The first attempt, Null failed miserably. The second attempt, he did a little better, but it still veered off course. Over time, he finally got the result he was looking for, barely passing. The next assignment was doing the same thing he did, but with a more complex maze. He eventually succeeded and moved on. The next few assignments afterwards were guiding rocks through mazes that got more increasingly narrow and complex. It even went into three dimensional maze navigation. Null reads on. ¡°Navigating objects through mazes isn''t the only thing transmutation circles are good for. Now we will directly focus on manipulating objects themselves. Take out a piece of paper. Next, fold the piece of paper in two directly in the middle using only transmutation circles. The fold should be a straight line.¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ''This one will be challenging.'' Null thinks. He messes up many times before he succeeds. The next assignments were similar, only making more complex origami designs. It got to a point where Null had to log off to find out how to make some designs in real life. ''Well, if I ever wanted to make friends. I could say it''s magic and do tricks with origami.'' Null thinks. The next assignments had him only moving a certain thing when pasting the same transmutation circle to multiple objects. This also got increasingly complex. The amount of assignments Null had to do were seemingly without end. The projects he had to do became more and more difficult. Once he got to Beginner level 1 20% mastery in transmutation circle activation and transmutation circle creation, the mystery book starts to glow. Null takes it out. It was then he noticed that the transmutation circle had changed. ''This isn''t the same transmutation circle I had before on here is it?'' Null thought. He does transmutation circle activation on it. An arrow shows up on it. ''Is this the path to Gnosia or something else?'' Null ponders. David gets out of the cave he''s in. He wonders a long time before he makes it to another cave. David activates his Light Orb technique to see and proceeds further inward. He walks until he sees an empty area. There''s nothing in here. Null does Transmutation Circle Activation on the mystery book. It leads to the wall. However, there''s nothing on the wall. ''Why did the book bring me here?'' Null wonders. It''s then he noticed than there''s a flake of dry ink on the wall. He gets a hunch. ''Why would this be here I wonder.'' Null places his hand on the empty section of wall. ¡°Book Repair!¡± Book repair works as long as there is information written down with ink. A design slowly forms on the wall. When it''s finished being repaired, Null sees that it''s a transmutation circle far more advanced than he is able to create from scratch. As this transmutation circle didn''t have any mana flowing through it, there was no film preventing Null from copying this circle. Null is excited, as he''s never seen this transmutation circle before. The transmutation circle is huge on the wall. Null does transmutation circle minimization, shrinking it down. He then does Copy-Paste, pasting the circle into the book. He then erases circle on the wall, then goes outside. ''It''s a shame there isn''t a Cut-Paste skill.'' Null thinks. He goes back into his cave. When he make sure he wasn''t being followed by anyone, he closes the entrance. He takes out the mystery book and copies the new transmutation circle on the ground. ¡°Transmutation Circle Activation!¡±
Insufficient level. This transmutation circle needs Beginner level 5 in Transmutation Circle Activation in order to work.
''If I need beginner level 5 in order to activate this circle, then WHY THE FUCK DID THE BOOK MAKE ME FIND IT SO EARLY!?'' Null thinks infuriated. ''Ptah is trolling me again. Let me get back to smithing. Before I begin, let me make a transmutation circle to get Miniature Smithing. I didn''t think about it before, but my armor will be impossible without miniature smithing. I do not have the Tinkerer class enabling me to create the armor by system assist.'' Null thinks. He starts experimenting. Null is trying to make a transmutation circle that makes the iron ores more pure. He knows the isolating component of a transmutation circle, but he has to find out how to keep the things he wants and get rid of the things he doesn''t want. At first the circle started to repel different things. The circles Null created kept repelling rocks and random minerals. It took a long time for Null to find a specific transmutation circle that would keep the iron and repel everything else. Unfortunately, it also repelled some iron and attracted some unwanted minerals. Fortunately, the benefits outweighed the costs and had a net effect of 0.7% improvement in the quality of iron ores. Null needed a lot of transmutation circles just to even get this effect. He uses the nested circles to try to combine these effects, but a lot of effects were lost trying to do this. Null then finishes. It''s incomplete, but this is the best Null can do with his current skill level. He travels to Narbuldor to see the blacksmith that promised to show the Miniature Smithing ability. Null shows the effect of the circle. The blacksmith looks on with wide eyes. ¡°Where did you get this transmutation circle?¡± The blacksmith asks. ¡°I found it.¡± Null says, lying. ¡°Hahahahaha! Good! Good! I might not be compatible, but I''m sure one of my apprentices is!¡± The blacksmith yells out with a smile. ¡°It''s not bad. As promised, I''ll show you Miniature Smithing.¡± The blacksmith then shows Null to his workshop. He lights up his furnace and starts to smith. Null watches and jots down notes. After a long while, Null thanks the blacksmith and leaves. He heads back to the cave and uses the skill Instant Forge. Null goes through the motions trying to get things right. After a long time, Null makes a successful skill book.
You have acquired the skill book, Miniature Smithing. Would you like to learn the skill?
¡°Yes.¡± The book disappears and glows.
You have learned the skill, Miniature Smithing.
Miniature Smithing
Skill typePassive/ActiveSkill ProficiencyBeginner level 1
Enables a user to smith the small. The higher the level, the smaller a user is able to smith.
Null then gets started on smithing. He ends up creating a lot of different weaponry. After he''s done, he places his weapons on his transmutation circle that increases the quality of iron by a small percentage. He then deposits his items in his storage system located in his pod. Null then logs off. ******** Null goes online on his personal computer as soon as he gets out his pod. Unlike computers in the past, personal computers have AI built inside that vastly surpass human intellect from long ago. AI had an explosion in growth with the introduction of quantum computing in the 2020''s. Quantum computing is only good for solving certain problems, and AI happened to be one of them. The brain is good and running multiple things in parallel, and that''s what quantum computing specializes in. David''s computer works in conjunction with his AR glasses, vastly improving his range and functionality. David''s computer speaks to him and says, ¡°Hello David. Will you like to resume Big Boo-¡± ¡°Open main New Reality auction site.¡± ¡°Right away. What would you like to do with Big Boo-¡± ¡°Open main New Reality auction site!¡± ¡°As you command.¡± David opens up the auction site. ¡°Would you like to register David?¡± The computer asks. ¡°Yes. Do not give out any information that could be pertained to me.¡± ¡°Alrighty.¡± This takes a split second for the computer to do. ¡°Well, David. You said you do not want any information identifying you, but it says you either use the username that is assigned to your pod or you remain anonymous. What would you like to do?¡± ¡°Leave my name.¡± ¡°Okay David. You are now registered for the New Reality auction site. What would you like to do?¡± ¡°Unload all of the things I deposited to the pod and send them to be auctioned. How they will be auctioned I will leave to you.¡± ¡°Very well.¡± A split second and the computer is done. ¡°Alright. I''m all done. The process of the auction is complete. Once your items start to sell, I will notify you. Would you now like to resume Big Boo-¡± ¡°*sigh* Yes! God!¡± Afterwards, Null goes to sleep. When he wakes up, he goes to the auction site. David finds that none of his items were selling. He is a terrible businessman. ''I knew it would be bad, but I didn''t think that none of my items would sell. What should I do?'' David paces back and forth. He then gets an idea. ''Wait a minute. I don''t have the Tinkerer class to help me build my armor. In order to learn about these things, I have to learn engineering! Not only will that help me sell items, but it will also help me in how to create my armor!'' Since, he''s chosen to stay a librarian, he has no choice but to learn how to build armor on his own. He knows a lot about physics, but doesn''t know anything about engineering. There are tons of free engineering videos online to help David go over the basics. David goes over this information while walking to class. ''Let''s see. To engineer, first is to identify what you are trying to do. Bring water to your village? Trying to design a new method to transport supplies? Trying to cleanse a populated region with holy hell what the fuck fire? Trying to turn that aforementioned region into a snazzy new parking lot? Engineering will help you in that regard. Okay, so first, identify the problem. Second, the cost of materials. If you have to spend a ton of money just to make a slight improvement, it''s not worth it. Third, the laws of physics. If it''s physically impossible, give up. Okay? okay.'' David wasn''t paying attention to his surroundings. He accidentally bumps into someone. The other person falls down on their butt. David quickly takes off his glasses and says, ¡°Oh. Excuse m-¡± ¡°EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!¡± She ran away from David while flailing her arms. ''Huh? What was that?'' David thinks surprised. ¡°Did you see that? He just bullied her!¡± ¡°What kind of monster bullies such a sweet girl?¡± David gets annoyed. ''But I didn''t do anything.'' David looks down and sees she left her bag. ''I better give this back to her or people would call me a monster for leaving her stuff or something like that.'' ¡°Now look! He''s stealing her things!¡± ¡°The nerve!¡± ''Ugh.'' David thinks. Sarah is currently running away flailing her arms while thinking, ''He was trying to kill me because I bumped into him he has heat sensors probably there''s nowhere to hide and I will be the first to die when he takes over the world and its all over for me!'' ¡°Excuse me.¡± A voice calls out to her. She turns her head and sees David standing there. ¡°EEEEEEEEP!¡± She runs away while once again flailing her arms. ''Oh my god how did he get here so fast? Only one explanation: Rocket boosters! I''M doomed!'' ¡°EEEEEEEP!¡± She runs until she finds an abandoned building. She decides to hide there until David goes away. ''He''ll never think to look for me here.'' She thinks. She then starts to hear chains rattling. Her heart jumps. She gets up and tip toes around from there. She then sees a shadow out the corner of her eye. When she turns her head to look for shadow, it disappears. She steps on some glass. Some steps could be heard behind her. She starts to sob quietly. There''s a cracked mirror. She sees there''s a person in the mirror that''s behind her. She panics and turns around quickly. There''s no one behind her. She turns back around and sees that there''s nothing in the mirror. More rattling are heard. Her heart starts beating faster. Tears start streaming down. She shivers even more. ¡°Finally found you.¡± A voice echoes seemingly coming from everywhere. Due to the dim lighting, the light shines on David''s face, making him look ominous. Due to the hood on his head, David looks like the grim reaper. David points to her, then points to the bag in his hand. ''Maybe if I point to her bag she won''t run away again.'' David thinks. This action makes her shiver even more. ''That''s must be where he keeps the souls!'' She thinks, completely forgetting that that bag looks like her bag. ¡°You dropped this.¡± ¡°AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!¡± The girl promptly passes out. ''Wow.'' David thinks scratching his head in confusion. ''Seriously. What the hell?'' He then gets a good look at her. ''She''s really cute. Not in a pretty kind of way, but in a puppies and kittens kind of way. I''ve never met a more adorable person. Her personality is pretty interesting too. She looks so innocent, and doesn''t look like the type of person who would like to do me harm. Best of all, she''s not pretty to the point of intimidation like someone like Cecile or Luciana. Wait. That''s beside the point. Why would I care about those things? *sigh* Another troublesome person has appeared. I would carry her to the nurse''s office, but fuck that shit. People will be assuming I''m going to do this or that I did that. I don''t need all that. I''m just going to leave this bag here. Peace out!'' David places her bag next to her and leaves. She wakes up later on rubbing her head. ¡°Where, am I?¡± She looks around confused. ¡°Don''t tell me. Did David kill me!?¡± She says shivering in fear. She then looks down at the bag near her. She smiles. ¡°Hey! That''s my bag! I was looking for this! Yaay!¡± She then smiles an innocent smile and goes to her class, completely forgetting the reason why she had lost her bag or had run away in the first place. ----------- Author''s Note: That girl ain''t right. Chapter 51: Unwanted Fame Yet Again Author''s Note: Do you all know what this chapter means!? Take a second and just look at my title screen. I now have three of those white circle thingies at the bottom! I feel so important! I''m moving up in the world! :D ---------- David reads on for days. From the auction forums, he learns that you can actually use the 5x time effect of the pods without actually going into New Reality if you pay $300 for a lifetime subscription. In the future due to inflation, this amount isn''t that much. After he pays his fee, David gets inside his pod. Unlike before where he would just directly go into New Reality, a screen pops up. He goes under the 5x-time option. David then finds himself in a blank room with a screen floating in the air. This blank screen allows David to interface with internet. ''Should I just spend my solitude here? Hmm... No. I would eventually just get bored staying in here all the time. However, this place will be good for long periods of staying away from people.'' Null thinks. On the floating screen, David pulls up videos teaching him how to make things. While he learns, he goes back into New Reality to ponder what he learned. The great thing about New Reality is now his intelligence in the game has surpassed his intelligence in real life. He takes inspiration from the videos. If there''s something he has problems with, he goes back into the blank space to learn more from the internet. Null experiences a creation explosion. He creates many things. First, Null makes glass using a furnace and glass a blower he made. He shapes the glass he makes into lenses. Using colored dye, Null makes one lens red. He then makes a box with a opening on one of the sides. Null does the Light Orb technique and places it the box to see if it fits. Null then lines up the lenses so that the desired beam could be seen. Null had just made a laser. He makes new ones and places them on the crossbows and rifles. It didn''t take long for people online to catch on. At first, no one wanted to touch Null because he was a new user which implied that his weapons would be of shoddy quality. However, these unusual weapon designs made people stop and look just to see what they were. Null also made little contraptions similar to his gauntlets. They ended up being a big hit. made hidden weapons. Thanks to these sales, he barely gets enough to buy a little of Damina''s supplies. He doesn''t yet have enough to even begin to experiment making his armor, but he does have enough to start experimenting. He increases his proficiency in Miniature Smithing by experiment. He made things like retractable gauntlets that didn''t require the need for a person to move their hands a certain way. If there was something Null didn''t know, he would log off and go to that blank room to learn more. He uses some of the advanced tech he learned to create along with Aldan to create weapons the players of New Reality had never seen before. His ratings for his sales soon reach the top. People start talking about Null''s creations. ************ At one winged angel guild, currently ranked the 6th most powerful guild in New Reality. The people are in a frenzy. They''re buying up as many weapons that can appear from the mysterious person called Null. However, there is quick competition on who is able to buy Null''s weapons first. ¡°I don''t care how much, just buy all of Null''s things!¡± One of the commanders yells out. ¡°This person called Null creates some amazing things.¡± ¡°This shit again?¡± ************** At Kurokage guild, located in the Qudao Empire. ¡°Who is Null?¡± ¡°This shit again?¡± ¡°Yeah. A few times it''s happened, a person called Null created an amazing thing. First it was alchemy, then it was art. Now it''s smithing. Do a group of Nulls of different production classes just come together and coordinate when they''re going to release?¡± ************* At New Reality News. ¡°Did you hear? A person called Null creates amazing weaponry through the auction site. No one knows who he is.¡± ¡°This shit again?¡± ¡°You can''t say shit on the air!¡± ¡°But you just did.¡± ¡°We are so fired.¡± As with the first two times Null made news, the vast majority of people don''t care. Only the top players in New Reality are talking about Null''s actions. *********** Due to the auction site, Null finally has enough money to start buying and testing his armor. It takes him many days of trial and error to improve. Unfortunately, Null soon hits a wall. He hits the limits on what he can learn publicly. ''What do I do from now on?'' Null logs off and then goes online. He searches until he sees a site that he''s heard before. ''The Anarchist Information Network huh?'' Null thinks. Ever since the USA''s central government lost a significant amount of their power back in the 2050''s due to climate change, and the rise of the price of oil, and the rise of both far left and far right movements, the government has been unstable. The world was in turmoil, as people were fighting over the scant resources that were left. Scientists weren''t making the money they did as before, so more and more of them started working for corporations. Soon, more and more scientific information was behind a paywall. There were people who shared their information to the public, but they barely receive any compensation for it, so it was common sense not to share to. The common people felt that corporations were getting too powerful. This was before Basic Income was implemented. People were increasingly becoming unemployed. The causes of climate change and oil consumption was blamed on these corporations. The corporations tried to use propaganda to scapegoat a group and blame it on them, but it didn''t work as well as in the past. With the rise of unhackable computers due to using methods of quantum entanglement, no one could hack from outside. However, there was a group that was dedicated to bringing the information out. The person who started it went in from the inside and copied everything, spreading the scientific information to the common people. Thanks to this, this brought about a new wave of open source that has people creating networks rivaling big corporations. Some called this person a hero while others a thief that should be punished. To this day, no one knows who started the movement. This had sort of leveled the playing field between people and these corporations. Inspired by this person''s act, many people decided to do the same thing, sabotaging the big corporations from the inside out. Seeing as how people were becoming more and more unruly, the government decided to implement Basic Income. There were many groups that had contributed to the implementation of Basic Income, but the Anarchist Information Network was arguably the most important. Although they aren''t as powerful as before, they are still active to this day. David learned about the information activists. ''I couldn''t care less about their cause. However, I''m also a pragmatist. These people have a lot of information. Guess I''ll join.'' When Null joins, he gets access to information he''s never seen before. This helps get Null out his slump, and he gets back to creating and testing new armor. Using Winford''s blueprints to help him, Null further refines the armor, making it better and better each time. After a long time, Null finally finishes his armor. It''s clunky and looks shoddily made. The armor that Null had used to fight against Winford was better. However, Null feels this is the best he can do for now. He had only scratched the surface of understanding Winford''s blueprints. Null also thinks that this is good enough for now, as he can now manipulate his mana into stats quickly again. Damina looks impressed with Null''s armor. ¡°Well looky here. Are you trying to be a lamp?¡± Damina asks Null. ¡°I''m ready to rescue your family.¡± Null tells Damina. ¡°No wait! I want you to do something for me. If you do it, I''ll give you a lot of ores.¡± ¡°What?¡± Null asks. ¡°I need a weapon.¡± ¡°Oh. That''s easily done. What like a sword? A spear?¡± ¡°A drill!¡± Null frowns. He then says, ¡°I can''t recommend drills in battle as they will only do damage if the drill is orthogonal to whatever it is you''re trying to attack. If not perpendicular, they will tend to slide off. Surfaces that curve outward are also a no-no.¡± ¡°Enough with your unmanly logic! Drills are the dreams of all men! You must be the type that perfers to make holes than drills!¡± ¡°...¡± Null just looks at Damina dumbly. ¡°With my drill, I won''t stop! My drill will be the drill that will pierce the heavens!¡± ''Wait a minute.'' Null thinks. ''I can''t help but to think I''ve heard that somewhere before.'' Damina then clenches his fists and says, ¡°We evolve and advance with each turn! That''s how a drill works!¡± David looks deadpanned. ''That was ripped straight from Gurren Lagann!'' It only took Null around four days of working in order to finish the drill. Damina accepts the drill while giving Null his ores. ¡°Now we''re really talkin here! Those Goldcrest bastards will pay for kidnapping my family. My drill will shine brighter!¡± ''Please stop.'' Null thinks. ¡°Okay, here''s a plan I think will work.¡± Null says. ¡°Psh. Plan? Manly men do not need plans! So what if what I''m doing is stupid and wrong!? I''ll just keep doing that stupid and wrong thing until I end up right!¡± ¡°But um...¡± ¡°But nothin''! I''m stronger, faster, and have a higher mastery than you! Why should I listen to you!?¡± Damina says. ''He does have a point.'' Null thinks. ¡°Okay. Well I''m starting the rescue. You can do your own thing while I do mine.¡± ¡°Now we''re talking here!¡± Damina says with a smirk. ******** ¡°You call this food?¡± That person then knocks the prepared food to the ground. ¡°Make it again!¡± ¡°As you command miss.¡± A person in chef clothes says. He then bows and goes to the kitchen. The butlers on the side start to clean up the mess. There are numerous broken plate shards everywhere, suggesting this isn''t the first time this person did this. Null quietly enters this room and looks to see who he''s rescuing. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ''My goodness. They are all so morbidly obese. I guess that miner guy likes them chunky.'' Null thinks to himself. ¡°This is the life!¡± The youngest son says. ¡°Even when we were close to the Dwarf King, we didn''t receive this kind of luxury treatment!¡± The eldest daughter says. ¡°Oh I hope that my dear won''t try to rescue us too fast. I love it here!¡± The mother of those two and Damina''s wife says. Suddenly, a canister is heard falling. ¡°Who''s there!?¡± A guard yells out. They get into formation around the hostages. Smoke bellows out of the canister. When smoke fills the room, paralyzing needles are then thrown to the guards'' necks, knocking them out. They fell as if they were boneless. ¡°What''s going on? I''m scared mommy!¡± The youngest son says. When the smoke starts to clear up a little, Null is shown with his armor on. There are glowing blue lines all over it. ¡°Come with me if you want to live.¡± Null says in an apathetic, deadpan voice. Damina''s family shows fear towards this new person. ¡°Who are you?¡± Damina''s wife asks. ¡°That miner guy and I are rescuing you. He''s doing his own thing while I''m doing mine.¡± ¡°How do we know you''re not from some enemy country trying to kidnap us?¡± Damina''s daughter asks. ''You know, that''s a really good question. I was so focused on the rescue that I didn''t even take that into account. Meh. I''ll just knock them out and take them with me. I''m sure that miner guy will understand.'' Just when Null was about to take out his needles, a barrage of rocks are flung his way. Null manipulate his stats into dexterity and dashes to the side, avoiding the boulders. Null looks and sees that it''s that guy who had almost made Null fall into a sinkhole he created. ¡°It''s you again.¡± The earth mage says. ¡°You''re meddling into affairs that have nothing to do with you.¡± ¡°Hey. I''m not the one who tried to make you fall into a sinkhole.¡± ¡°Okay, I admit I was too hasty. To think you could knock out all my men. I''ll make you a deal Jeff.¡± ¡°Jeff?¡± ¡°That''s your name, right?¡± ¡°Oh, right. Continue.¡± ¡°You leave and I will give you 50 gold. That''s all you have to do.¡± ¡°Hmm... Nah.¡± ¡°Choose wisely Jeff. It isn''t wise to look at a gift horse in the mouth.¡± ¡°Hmm... Nah.¡± ¡°*sigh* So be it. Terra...¡± While the earth mage is chanting, Null starts running towards him. ¡°Strike down all those who do not respect your might! Earthen spikes!¡± Spikes around one meter long grow out the ground. They steadily get larger as the wave of spikes grow out the ground like bamboo shoots growing out the ground. By the time the spikes make it to Null, they are already over two meters tall. Null jumps over the spikes and pulls back his fists. ''He''s much faster than when I seen him before. How did he get so fast in such a short amount of time? Is it because of that weird looking armor he has on?'' The earthen mage ponders to himself. When Null goes to punch the earth mage, an earthen fist rises from the ground and blocks Null''s punch. Null punches through it. By the time the fist is destroyed, the earth mage is gone. Thanks to Null''s armor, he can use his mana sense far faster. When he senses a perturbation in the ground, he moves out the way and dashes from some seemingly random spot. Null didn''t stay away for long, as he dashed back as the arm was coming out the ground. He punched through the golem arm, which had reached earth mage. The earth mage is hit in the face. The earth mage tumbles, then slides on the ground. He gets back up, holding his cheek. ¡°You''ve improved, Jeff!¡± The earth mage says with clenched teeth. ¡°Why thank you. You haven''t.¡± Null replies back. Null rushes to end the earth mage. The earth mage starts to glow a lot of energy. The other archers that were hidden take aim at Null. As the wind mage wasn''t here to help him, Null had to deal with all these arrows by himself. One arrow was aimed at the ceiling above where Null was directly going to go. It explodes, and debris starts to fall. As Null was attacked from arrows from the side, and was getting showered by debris from above, he had no time to go after the earth mage, as that was where the arrow fire was heaviest. The earth mage completes his summon, and the arch golem from before rises from the earth. ¡°You know the drill. If you do not want to suffer then do my bidding.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Answer me!¡± The earth mage raises up his hand. ¡°Gaah!¡± The arch golem clutches his head in pain. ¡°Fine.¡± The arch golem says dispiritied. ¡°You must really hate that guy.¡± Null comments. ¡°I don''t need any sympathy from a human.¡± The arch golem responds beligerent. They then start running towards each other. The arch golem transforms his arms into bladed weapons. The arms turn black into some hard, unknown material. Null blocks with his own bladed weapons that are located on Null''s forearms. They each attack and block, trying to find an opening. The arch golem then stomps its leg into the ground. A leg pops up from under Null. Null has long ago gotten used to these tactics. He jumps up, grabs the foot with his hand, and uses it as a fulcrum to deliver a mana charged kick for strength to the face of the arch golem. The arch golem is kicked back, but while being kicked back, the arch golem stabs at Null''s side, delivering a nasty looking wound. However, thanks to the backwards motion from Null''s kick, the damage was greatly mitigated. The golem then starts to sink into the ground. Before it could sink further, Null rushes and kicks the arch golem in the face. This only momentarily stops him as he sinks into the ground. He suddenly rises above ground. Null kicks, once again aiming for his head. The arch golem had covered his head into a rubbery substance, while keeping it''s arm covered in a hardened, black substance. Null had bounced off due to the kick, and the arch golem had stabbed into Null again while Null was surprised. Null held onto his side. ''So he can change different parts of his body into different compositions at the same time. What a pain in the ass.'' Null thinks. The battle continued. Each side started wearing the other side down. They were both panting heavily. ¡°You''re *pant* not bad. *Pant*¡± The arch golem says with a smirk. ¡°Thanks. You are also annoying.¡± Null replies back. They were about to charge towards each other again when suddenly, a huge cloud of sand attacked them from the side. ''Huh?'' Null thinks in shock. He rolls out the way before the sand could envelop him. The arch golem grew his palms wide, changing them into a hard material to block the sand. ''Why would that earth mage attack the ally it was controlling?'' Null thinks in confusion. ¡°You!¡± The Goldcrest earth mage says in irritation. Null looks and sees that new people have become involved. ¡°We were waiting for an opening to kidnap Damina''s family. Thanks for the help, Jeff!¡± A person says with a smirk. The black clothes that they were wearing reminded Null of the clothes the Dai Li wore from Avatar the Last Airbender. ''The Qudao Empire. Fucking hell. And right when I''m tired and weakened.'' Null thinks with a frown. The battle rages on. Null is starting to lose ground being attacked by so many multiple people. The arch golem stopped fighting with Null and started fighting with the Qudao Empire. ''Well, I''m about to die. It doesn''t really matter to me though, as I can come back to life. Really. It''s just a game. It''s not that serious.'' Null thinks to himself. Just when Null was about to be hit with finishing blow from an arrow, a motorlike sound was heard. ¡°Interfering with a blood boiling battle!? That is super unmanlyyyyyy!¡± Damina drills through the cave wall. He lands on the ground, kneeling down in a cool pose. ¡°Honey!¡± Damina''s wife yells out. ¡°Father!¡± Damina''s kids yell out. Damina looks at who says that and gets a surprised look. ¡°Huh? Who are you people?¡± Damina says in surprise. ¡°Why we''re your family!¡± Damina''s wife says with a frown. ¡°No way my family would look like a bunch of morbidly obese slobs!¡± Damina yells out. ¡°How could you say that!?¡± Damina''s wife says crying. ¡°Have you looked in a mirror!?¡± Damina yells out. ¡°That''s no way to talk to your wife!¡± ¡°Lose some weight!¡± She starts to cry. Damina pats her on the shoulder. ¡°There, there. I''m sure it''s those Goldcrest bastards that forced you to do this.¡± Damina says. ¡°Actually-¡± The son''s mouth is covered by his mother. ¡°Yes, yes, that''s right! They forced us into eating delicious food!¡± The mother yells out. ¡°Goldcrest bastards, you will pay for this!¡± Damina yells out in a rage. ¡°That is some fucking bullshit!¡± A butler yells out on the sidelines, flabbergasted at the mother''s shamelessness. ¡°She worked us like dogs getting food for her!¡± ¡°Enough of your lies!¡± Damina yells out. Suddenly, Damina is attack by some sand. ¡°Stay out of this!¡± Damina turns on the drill he''s been holding in his arm. It starts showing glowing blue lines on its surface. The drill spins faster and faster until it''s a blur. The drill collides with the sand,leaving Damina unharmed. ¡°I would hate to interrupt the manly battle you were having with the arch golem, so I''ll go and play with those Qudao bastards instead.¡± Damina says with a smile. ¡°Okay.¡± Null says not caring. ------- Author''s Note: This arc was intended to be short. I was planning on two chapters tops, but it just kept on getting longer and longer. The next time I write a short arc, I''ll just let David eat lima beans the whole time or something. Chapter 52: How a Drill Works Thanks to that shtick Damina did, it gave Null enough time to consume health and mana potions. Null looks at the arch golem while he also looks at Null. ¡°I saw you consume potions, but that doesn''t matter to me. As long as I''m in contact with the earth, I can also heal.¡± The arch golem tells Null. ''It''s about time I wrap this up.'' Null thinks. They once again start to battle. They once again fight. Null gets wounds on his body. The arch golem however notices a strange trend. ''All the attacks he''s ever inflicted on me has been on my head. Why?'' Suddenly, the stone that was controlling the arch golem started to feel lose. ''No!'' The arch golem thinks in dread. ''This can never be removed or I''ll...'' The stone that was attached to the arch golem''s head started to become unstable. While the arch golem was dreading the stone being dislodged, Null does one final blow that removes that red crystal. ¡°Nooo!¡± ¡°Damn. He removed the stone. It will take me forever to find another arch golem.¡± Goldcrest''s earth mage says complaining. The mana surrounding the arch golem starts becoming unstable. The golem''s body started transforming into different minerals randomly. Earth elemental essense was flowing into him uncontrollably. He was about to break down and explode. ''Is this how I die?'' The arch golem thinks solemnly. He remembers the first day he became self aware. Afterwards, he got entangled with the demon race. It wasn''t long afterwards that wars happened. He developed a strong hatred of humanity. Not long afterwards, he lost a battle and was captured. ¡°Get back! He''s about to explode!¡± The Goldcrest earth mage says to his people. The arch golem kneels on the ground prepared to die. He has a content look on his face. ''Well, at least I''m dying free.'' He thinks to himself. Suddenly, a hand is placed on his forehead. He gets a surprised look. ''The one that fought with me.'' The arch golem thinks. ''What''s he doing?'' Null was prepared from the beginning. He knew that there would be some sort of mechanism to destroy the arch golem should he ever escape, so he has been constantly implanting his mana inside the arch golem, figuring out how the red crystal controlled the arch golem. The crystal was designed in such a way to make the arch golem self destruct should it ever be removed. Null takes the crystal and pours his mana into it while placing it on the arch golem''s body. He''s neutralizing the signals command the earth essence to pour in by making it go in reverse. Now the forces are equalized. However, Null would have to stay like this forever to not make the arch golem explode. Null then uses the crystal to erase the commands to make the arch golem explode. While doing this, Null notices something. ''This is kinda like a transmutation circle being inscribed onto this arch golem.'' It didn''t take long for it to completely collapse. ¡°He actually stopped the arch golem from exploding?¡± ¡°Who in the hell is he?¡± Null places the crystal off of the arch golem. The arch golem is in a daze, not knowing what''s going on. This didn''t compute to him. ''Why didn''t he use the stone to reenslave me? Why didn''t he just let me explode to kill me? Why did he make me free?'' The arch golem didn''t understand. Humans and demons have been enemies since antiquity. Other than a few sparse times, it''s an unwritten rule that humans and demons are to hate each other. The arch golem looks at Null and says, ¡°You. Human.¡± Null looks at the arch golem. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Why what?¡± ¡°You know exactly what I mean. Why did you rescue me?¡± ¡°Don''t look too much into it. I don''t like seeing people enslaved or doing anything against their will is all. It would have left a bad taste in my mouth if I had killed you while under the control of that guy.¡± Null says look at the Goldcrest earth mage. ¡°Now that you''re free, I should tell you this. If you attack me now, I will not hesitate to kill you.¡± Null says talking to the arch golem. The arch golem chuckles. ¡°So are you one of those people who believe everyone can get along and live in peace?¡± The arch golem asks. Null shakes his head and says, ¡°Not at all. I believe that any race, be it the elves, the demons, the humans, or what have you, are all inheritely disgusting.¡± ¡°Disgusting huh? You humans had destroyed my homeland.¡± ¡°Don''t talk as if your race is free of guilt.¡± Null responds back. ¡°Go back far enough, and you will find a member of any of the major races on this planet committing atrocities.¡± ¡°So you look down on everyone, including your own race huh? Do you think you''re so high and mighty?¡± Null shakes his head. ¡°Not at all. I''m a human too. I''m capable of great evil just like everyone else. I also do things that are terrible just like everyone else. The difference between me and most people, is that I''m self aware. I don''t think my country is great, or my race is great, or whatever tribal nonsense people like to put themselves into. The way everyone conducted and deluded themselves had only filled me with disgust. So instead of finding a group of people to belong to, I just declared myself my own tribe.¡± ¡°BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Declared yourself your own tribe! HAHAHA! How rich! You''re pretty interesting human!¡± ¡°Do you want to continue?¡± Null asks. ¡°Nah. I''m done with that. I want to take my revenge against a certain people.¡± Goldcrest''s people get an ominous feeling. ¡°Retreat!¡± Goldcrest''s earth mage yells out. ¡°I won''t let you get away!¡± Suddenly the arch golem transformed its body into a giant. He started displaying powers that Null didn''t even see in their fight. ''Oh. So he was holding back against me.'' Null thinks. ¡°Human, if you ever make it to the Demon Area, try to find me! My name is Chrome!¡± The arch golem tells Null. ¡°Oh. Okay.¡± Null says not caring. Chrome then runs after the retreating Goldcrest people. Null watches as Chrome gives them chase. Null soon loses interest, and starts focusing on the other battle about to start. Null thinks, ''So now it''s just Damina and the Qudao Empire. Maybe I should-'' ¡°Don''t interfere! My manly blood is boiling! This is a man''s battle!¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Null says again not caring. Null leans against the wall with an apathetic look, putting his hands in his pockets. ¡°Aaaah!¡± Damina yells out, charging towards the Qudao Empire. ¡°Remember not to kill Damina! Move to capture his family!¡± The Qudao Empire earth mage yells out. The warriors then split into two groups. One group works to keep Damina and Null occupied. The other moves to capture Damina''s family. ¡°Hey, maybe I should-¡± ¡°Stay out of this!¡± Damina yells out. ¡°Fine.¡± Null says. ¡°Haaa!¡± Damina yells out while thrusting his drill into the ground. The entire area of ground starts to crack. Iron ore chunks shoot out the ground as projectiles, hitting all the warriors at the same time. Both groups of warriors were knocked out at the same time.\ Arrows covered in a paralysis potion were shot towards Damina. As if in slow motion, Damina deflects them all, even though the arrows were coming at him from all directions. ''Wow. Advanced mastery is not for show.'' Null thinks. Damina makes quick work of the other mages and archers. There were gunmen who were there, but they were under strict orders to not harm Damina. They were also taken out by Damina. Damina then jumps out the way as a cloud of sand moves to envelop him. ¡°Haha! Good! Good! You should at least be this skilled if you have advanced mastery!¡± The Qudao Earth mage says smiling. ¡°Shut up and get lost!¡± Damina yells out. Damina runs towards the earth mage and thrusts his drill towards him. The Qudao earth mage blocks drill with his sand. The drill starts spinning faster and faster, but the earth mage kept smiling unperturbed. Soon, the amount of sand that was summoned made Damina feel uneasy. He leaps out the way as a wave of sand tried to capture him. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. More sand was generated. Damina was up against the cave wall. ¡°Just surrender and join the Qudao Empire.¡± ¡°I will not!¡± Damina yells out. ¡°Why do you continue to delay the inevitable? Be reasonable. I know all your moves. There''s no way your drill can get through all my sand. It''s impossible for you to beat me.¡± The Qudao earth mage says. ¡°If it''s impossible to beat you, I''ll kick reason to the curb and go beyond the impossible!¡± Suddenly the drill starts to glow in a bright greenish-blue light. The drill starts to grow bigger. It grows to the point that the drill took up almost all the space in the area. ''I... Do not recall installing that function into the drill.'' Null thinks with a twitching eye. The earth mage is surprised. ¡°Splendid!¡± He says. The earth mage steps onto a cloud of sand to levitate. He keeps swinging that giant drill around, but it''s too big and the area he''s fighting in is too cramped. ¡°Hey. Maybe you should decrease the size for easier maneuverability.¡± Null says. ¡°Decrease the size of my drill?!¡± Damina yells out. Instead of doing the common sense thing and decrease the size, he instead increases the drill size again to the point that now the drill is stuck between the floor and ceiling. ¡°Just who the hell do you think I am!?¡± Damina yells out. Damina destroys the foundation of the cave, causing it to become unstable. ''Or you could just do that.'' Null thinks deadpanned. ¡°Let''s get you out of here.¡± Null says to Damina''s family. ¡°My father''s so cool!¡± Damina''s daughter yells out excited. ¡°Only my dad could do the impossible! See the invisible!¡± Damina''s son yells with sparkles in his eyes. ¡°Row row fight the powah!¡± Damina says from far away. ''Ugh.'' Null thinks. ¡°That''s impossible!¡± The Qudao earth mage yells out in fear. Damina then plunges forward, destroying everything in his path. ¡°Let me see you grit those teeth!¡± ''Enough Gurren Lagann references!'' Null yells out in his mind. Earth mage is defeated. All the intelligence squads from different countries get word on how the two most powerful squads were defeated. They report to their nations. Soon afterwards, Damina stopped getting people following him. ¡°Honey!¡± ¡°Father!¡± Damina''s family runs to him. ¡°You all seriously need to lose some weight.¡± Damina tells his family seriously. ******* Null completed his quest. Damina pats Null on the back. ¡°Now that I finally got my family back, it''s time I returned home. If you need me, I''ll be in Narbuldor. Once I get my family settled, I''ll help you raise your skill mastery in mining as I promised. The next day, Damina takes Null to a section of mine. Null just spent his days being yelled at by Damina. ********* David is once again getting ready to go back to school. ¡°David! Bad news!¡± David frowns. ¡°What now Cindy?¡± ¡°I''m going to be going on a trip to many places! I''ll be gone until next year!¡± David is surprised. He then gets a little happy. ¡°Also, both our parents insisted on going with me, but I wanted someone to keep you company.¡± David says, ¡°Hell no! I do not desire to see any of you! You guys go away as long as you possibly can! Crash on a deserted island if you can!¡± David says smiling. They pack their suitcases and leave. David was smiling the whole time. He''s in a really good mood. The next day, he goes to the area of forest to see sunrise. ''I feel at peace because now, I''m finally alone, but it feels like there is something missing.'' David then meditates. ''What is it? What is it that I''m missing?'' A bird then flies on David''s shoulder. "Chirp Chirp!" "Hello little bird." "Chirp Chirp Chirp!" "You say you want to overthrow mankind because it''s because of them that your forests were destroyed?" "Chirp!" ¡°You say your people have waged this war against humanity since the dawn of time?¡± ¡°Chirp!¡± "Little bird, your bird poops are formidable, but they are no match for bullets and bombs." "Chirp!" "Why did you fly to me if you hate humanity, little bird?" "Chirp Chirp!" "Really? No one has ever complimented me like that before. I like you little bird. I''ll name you Juan. You like that?" "Chirp!" Just then, another bird lands on David. "Hello." "Chirp!" "Do you also want to discuss the plight of-" "Chirp!" "Oh. You just want bird seed?" "Chirp!" "Okay little bird. I''ll call you Pablo. Is that fine?" "Chirp!" Another bird then flies down. "Chirp!" "You want bird seed too?" "Chirp Chirp!" "You will be known as Tyrone. You like that little bird?" "Chirp!" Juan then says something. "Chirp Chirp Chirp!" "Oh you changed your mind about overthrowing humanity, and you would also like some bird seed?" "Chirp!" Different animals started walking to David because of his friendly, peaceful aura, but Null spent most of his time with the birds. People see Null taking to birds and start questioning his sanity. ¡°That guy has really lost it.¡± One person says. ¡°I always knew he would snap one day.¡± Another person says shaking his head in disapproval. One of Cecile''s friends run towards her. ¡°Cecile, have you heard? David lost his mind and is talking to animals!¡± Cecile has a sad smile and says, ¡°Whatever David does from now on has nothing to do with me.¡± Friends look at Cecile curiously and ask, ¡°Did something happen.¡± Cecile smiles bitterly. She closes her eyes and shakes her head. ¡°No. Nothing happened.¡± The friends faces show confusion. ****** Thanks to David talking to animals, he realizes he now feel an emotion he forgotten even existed: Happiness. Thanks to talking to the animals, everyone in school gives him a wide berth. No one wants to be on the receiving end in case David decides to snap again. So David is essentially isolated. Since his family is gone, and his bullies have left him, David has finally found peace of mind. In New Reality, many months have passed by. David now has intermediate in mining. ¡°You really do suck at mining. This is as far as you can go.¡± Damina tells Null. ¡°This is fine. Thank you for your help.¡± ¡°Heh. I should be thanking you. If you ever want ores, I''ll sell em to ya at half price. If you ever want to learn how to finally be a man, you also know where to find me.¡± Damina then walks away. Null looks around. Now, he is essentially alone. The only sounds around him are the sounds of breezes whistling through the mountains. ''I''ve finally found what I was looking for! I''m afraid that this is all a dream and I will wake up from it.'' Null thinks happily. ''Now I will focus on improving all my masteries. I think I''ll stay here for the rest of my days.'' Null lays on the ground with a content smile. ''I guess even I can get good days. I finally found my solitude.'' ------------ Author''s Note: And that''s the end of that arc! Null finally found his solitude! So... I guess that means the stories over. Goodbye! Huh? What''s with that unsatisfied look!? Annoucement Hello to all 3 and a half people that read this story. As you may have noticed, my quality has dropped off by quite a bit. I''ve been rushing trying to make these new stories that I didn''t even think about the quality. I''m going to fix my earlier chapters, so until I do, I won''t be making any new ones. I don''t know when I''ll be done. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. I''m a changed person (not really), and I really value all of your opinions and input (lies), so I won''t just leave you guys hanging like before. Just giving you a heads up. Thanks.