《Amaron Online》 Chapter 1: Group of Four Chapter 1:The Group of Four The atmosphere today has been restless. With the launching of Amaron Online''s servers today, I''ve seen several students checking for the time and waiting for the bell to ring. Well, I''m also one of them. Having already bought a copy with my friends, I can''t wait to play it. I look at each of my friends and they in turn look at me. After giving them a nod, I turned to look at the clock. Just a few minutes more... ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ RiIIiIiiIIIiIiIIiiIIIiIiiIiiIIiiiIiIIiiIiIiiiIIIiiIiIIiIiiIiiIiiIiIiNGG!! Hearing the signal for dismissal I stood up and quickly grouped up with my friends. ¡°Hey!...? Where''s Lucas?¡± I asked while looking around. ¡°That guy ran straight for the door without even waiting for us.¡± The girl to my right informed me. Her name is Rin. With brown-ish blonde hair that reaches her back and a few centimetres shorter than me, she made a name for herself for being at the top of the class and for her achievements. What I call the typical ¡°perfect beauty¡±. Even though she''s very diligent in class, she''s also very fond of videogames. ¡°Geez... that guy is too excited. Servers don''t open until ten o''clock...¡± The girl to my left said. She''s the best-friend of Rin. Ruth. With brown hair tied into her signature pony-tail and around the same height as Rin, she''s second to Rin in class. If Rin is the ¡°perfect beauty¡±, then Ruth is the ¡°cool beauty¡±. ¡°Yeah well, I think we should get going too.¡± I suggested. The two look at each other and nod. ¡°See you in the game then.¡± Ruth said. ¡°How should we meet up?¡± I asked. ¡°Easy. Just don''t change your appearance.¡± ¡°Yeah. Don''t change your name too.¡± Rin said excitedly. ¡°What if our names are taken?¡± ¡°Impossible. Servers are only starting later.¡± Ruth said confidently. After saying that I try to think of anything else we might need in the game but just shrugged it off. ¡°Well whatever. Gonna hurry home myself then.¡± I said while jogging away. ¡°Okay. Ruth and I are still gonna do some shopping though.¡± ¡°Shopping? For what?¡± ¡°Groceries. Duh. Unlike a certain somebody, we need to prepare our own meals you know?¡± ¡°Ahaha....¡± I tried to laugh it off. ¡°Well anyways, see ya later.¡± ¡°Bye.¡± ¡°Later.¡± And with that I rush off to my house. Exiting the school building, I jog for a few minutes and got to my destination. I open the door and rushed to my room. I threw down my bag and had a quick shower. Putting on a new set of clothes, I turn to check myself in the mirror. What I see is a person a little over 5 ft. tall with dark brown hair. ¡­ I''m still in highschool... I can still grow. After checking myself one more time, I went downstairs and into the dining room. On the table are a few dishes and a total of three plates. Taking a seat I hear a girl''s voice from the direction of the kitchen. ¡°(sigh) didn''t even stop to say hello?¡± ¡°Ah- Oh, um... hello?¡± Greeting the girl behind me, she puffed her cheeks and crossed her arms. Maggie, my little sister. Younger by two years and in her last year of middle school. Black hair that''s cut just above the shoulder and a head shorter than me. The one person I know that helps me feel tall. ¡°So uh... how was school?¡± ¡°Fine.¡± Still puffing her cheeks as she sat herself down. ¡°I''m meeting up with my friends in the game later on. Wanna join?¡± ¡°No thanks. I only want to play with bro when your friends aren''t around.¡± She said so cheering up a little. ¡°Hm? Why?¡± ¡°They pamper me too much...¡± She said whilst shivering once she remembered her last encounter with them. Giving her a little smile, I ate and quickly finished up. Thanking my sis for the meal then hurrying to my room once again, I checked the time. 8:40... Still quite early... Thinking this, I checked the forums for some info on the game. Going to my laptop, I looked at what''s available. Information about the game is gathered by the beta testers and looking at what''s here, I can see some guides for beginners. I click on the one that seems to be the most visited and scrolled down. After skimming through what I already know, I read the first thing I thought was important. The stats. Seeing that there are quite a bunch of stats, I tried to make sense out of it. But after looking carefully, it''s actually quite simple... The status window contains all the information about your character which includes your name, which is above your health, then beside that is your level. Beside your health is your mana. After that is your class, titles, alignment, and your stats. It looks like this... (Dunno how to make tables :P) Name: Level:1 HP:100 MP:100 Class: Title(s): Alignment: Stats: (StatPoints:50) Strength: -Attack:10 -ArmorPenetration:10 -CriticalStrike:10 Vitality: -Health:10 -Armor:10 -HealthRegeneration:10 Intelligence: -MagicPower:10 -MagicPenetration:10 -Burst:10 Wisdom: -Mana:10 -MagicResist:10 -ManaRegeneration:10 Dexterity: -AttackSpeed:10 -MovementSpeed:10 -CriticalStrikeChance:10 Abilties: Active: Passive: Skills: - - - - - - - - - - Okaaay~ Getting my thoughts into order, I analyzed the information Let''s start from the beginning. After your name, is your Level. Upon player level up, you gain 10 stat points. Leveling up DOES NOT affect your stats. So if I choose not to allocate any stat points and get to level 10, my stats would remain the same while also leaving me with 150 stat points. Below your name is your health, or HP. For each level up, you get 50 HP. Leveling up skills can also affect your HP and other stats. Same goes for your Mana, or MP. Only this time, for each level up, you get 20 MP. Next up is Class. Having a class can give you special skills not available in the beginning. These skills can be equipped without the need of skill points. Having a class can also give you Abilities. More about this later. Below Class is Title(s). These give you benefits such as stat increase and reputation. And miscellaneous ones like affecting the price you sell monster drops for. Another one is Alignment. There are 5 alignments, which are Heroic, Good, Neutral, Evil, Chaotic. Everybody starts off as neutral. You can become Good by doing quests that make the NPCs favour you and you become Evil when declining to help or doing things NPCS might think is unreasonable. To become Heroic, you do the same thing when aiming to become Good. However. When one kills another player with no good reason, no matter what alignment you are, you become Chaotic. Benefits from Heroic and Good alignments include good relationships with NPCs and protection from bounties. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.Players and NPCs can place bounties on another player as long as they have a valid reason and the money for the reward. I mean, having bounties on people who have Heroic and Good alignments make no sense right? Also when people place bounties, that person must have neutral, evil or chaotic aligments. Once placed, even when that person manages to get good, or heroic alignments, the bounty stays. After that we have the stats. Looking at it again, the stats seem self-explanatory. Also, even though there are 15 stats, there are a bunch of hidden stats and factors that affect you but won''t be aware of. Moving on we have the Abilities. These can be classified into either active or passive and you can have as many of each as possible. Abilities also have a level system from level 1 to level 10. Leveling an ability will improve it''s effects. To get Abilities, you can learn some once you get a class and earn more when leveling it. But to use these Abilities one must have equipped the appropriate Skill. Upon equipping a Skill you can unlock and equip some Abilities. More on Skills. Every player starts off with 5 Skill Points. To learn a skill, one must use a skill point. One skill point = one skill. Easy enough. The only problem, is that there are a TON of skills. Each categorizing into weapons, magic, crafts, stat boosters and miscellaneous skills. Looking at the weapons, there seems to be one for each every known weapon out there, but not all are available at the beginning. As for magic, there are four basic element types which are fire, water, earth, and air. Other magics include, light, dark, buff, and debuff which are also available in the beginning. The list of magic is as long as the weapons list, with spells like lightning or summoning magic. Crafting includes synthesis, alchemy, chemistry, blacksmith, tailor, carpentry and many more. Stat boosters are simple as they only increase your stats... Miscellaneous ones include fishing, swimming, taming, mining... the list goes on and on. Back on topic. When equipping a skill, one can learn abilities that pertains to that skill. For example, equipping the [spear] skill will allow you to learn abilities that uses a spear. Just like Abilities, Skills have a level system from level 1 to level 10 AND a ranking system. Simple enough... There are four ranks, Beginner, Intermediate, Advance, Mastered. Some skills give you stat bonuses once leveled. And upon leveling a skill to 10, the skill moves on to the next rank. Reaching the next rank will give you 1 skill point. It may also give you improve stat bonuses and added benefits. And the last and most important point in Skills is that you may have up to a maximum of 10 Skills equipped. Therefore limiting your Abilities. For example unequipping a skill will make you lose it''s benefits. So when I have fire spells and unequip [Fire Magic] I lose the ability to use those spells? Huh. Finishing up and deciding what skills to get, I looked at my clock. 9:50... Did I just spend more than an entire hour reading this? Guh... Looking at the time after reading this got me tired all of a sudden... Thinking that, I head to my bed and put on a visor. Turning it on and connecting to the internet, I use a controller to select Amaron Online which I have just installed. After that, I put the controller down and relax. Waiting for the time to strike 10:00, I hold on to my excitement. ¡­ 10:00 ¡°Play.¡± A single word brought my consciousness to darkness. Looking around I find a person. A woman in her early twenties. Wearing a white dress and hair tied into multiple braids, the image she gives off has a fantasy-like feel to it. ¡°Hello and welcome to Amaron Online.¡± ¡°Oh, um. Thank you?¡± ¡°Hahaha, well what name would you like to use?¡± ¡°Adrian.¡± ¡°Would you like to make changes to your appearance?¡± ¡°No thanks.¡± ¡°You won''t?¡± The woman asks a bit surprised. ¡°I''m meeting up with my friends so I''d want them to recognize me.¡± ¡°I see... well, you may now use this time to get used to your body and allocate stat points. You may also spend skill points to get skills.¡± She said to me seemingly amused. ¡°''Kay. Thanks.¡± Saying this I move my body around and found myself covered in leather armor... the so-called ¡°beginner armor¡±. After that I allocated my stat points. Hmm... I have 50 points and there are 15 choices...meh. Let''s keep it simple. I put 30 points into attack speed and 20 into movement speed. Now taking a look at the skills, I chose what I had in mind. [Dagger lvl.1] [Bow lvl.1] [AttackSpeedBoost lvl.1] [MovementSpeedBoost lvl.1] [Tracking lvl.1] Satisfied with what I chose, I informed the lady. ¡°Good.¡± She smiled. ¡°Now you are ready to walk the lands of Amaron. You will be given 1000 copper coins and a backpack for your inventory.¡± Appearing in front of me is a backpack and a notification saying I obtained 1000 copper coins. Copper coins seems to be the lowest form of currency so I asked what the cost of currency is. ¡°Ah. I have given you 1000 copper coins yes? This is for players to learn about currency in game when they buy, sell, or convert they''re money. The 1000 copper coins you have right now is equivalent to 10 silver coins. Meaning 100 copper coins equal 1 silver coin. And 100 silver coins is equal to 1 gold coin. Understand?¡± ¡°Ah, yes. Thank you.¡± ¡°Well, good luck with finding your friends.¡± ¡°Yeah, I will.¡± After that exchange, my vision turned to white and before I knew it, I found myself in the center of a town crowded by thousands of other players. Looking around I try searching for my friends. After a few minutes, I hear someone calling my name. ¡°Adriaaan!¡± Turning my head to look for the voice, I finally spot them jogging towards me. Happy to see them I called back. ¡°Hey.¡± The moment I said that the three people were already in front of me. In the middle, I recognized Rin in cleric clothing. The one to her right is Ruth in the same leather clothing as me, only a version for girls. And finally, the boy to Rin''s left. Lucas. He has black hair, just as tall as I am, and in what seems to be mage clothing. Smiling at my friends I noticed... ¡°Where''d you get those clothes?¡± ¡°...? Oh we bought them. Come, we''ll show you the way.¡± Lucas says excitedly and walks ahead of us. Smiling once again at my impulsive and docile friend, I looked at the other two and they smiled as well. Almost losing track of Lucas, the three of us rush to catch up to him. And this is where our story begins... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author''s Note - Hello again :P I''m saying this now... I''m not a writer. Sooo if you see any mistakes, please inform me. And also, comment your opinion please :D Chapter 2: Duo Queue Chapter 2: Duo Queue The day Amaron Online will release it''s servers... So much fuss for just a game... Thinking this, I let out a yawn and look at the classroom. Seeing my classmates listening attentively, I spot a select few who check they''re watches every two or three minutes. Still looking around, I find one empty seat. To think she''d even break her perfect attendance record for a game... well that''s one less problem for me today. Hearing the bell ring, the class disperses to go to our next classroom... After taking notes and sleeping through a few classes, the bell giving off the the final ring, I pack up my stuff. At the end of the day, still feeling incredibly sleepy, I take my time walking home. Arriving at my apartment on the third floor of the building, I turn on the lights... ...which are already on. ¡°Hey, what took you so long?¡± Looking at the girl in my apartment, I don''t think I can be surprised at this point anymore... Considering she does this every two or three weeks... Her name is Sarah. 19 years old, black straight hair, and shorter than me by a few inches. Surveying my apartment, I asked... ¡°So you skip class just to clean my apartment?¡± ¡°Not only that but I also installed a VR machine together with Amaron Online for you~¡± Hearing that, now I really am surprised. Seeing me silent, she called my name. ¡°Malcolm?¡± ¡°...... (sigh) How much do you want from me?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I mean, isn''t a VR machine really expensive? And Amaron Online too?¡± ¡°Look. Just play the game and you don''t have to pay. Alright?¡± ¡°...¡± Saying nothing, I sighed while walking into my apartment. Just as I walked in, she walked out. ¡°Dinner''s on the table, so you better eat it before it gets any colder. See ya in the game!¡± Sarah said just as she was closing the door and flashed a smile before she left. Now that she said it, I finally notice the aroma and my stomach grumbles as I look towards the table. Finding a plate with an assortment of food prepared, I sat myself down. ... Eating my meal in silence, and finishing up, I brought the dishes to the sink and left it there. Going to my room, I find a visor like machine on my bed. Looking at it, it seems to be turned on already. Having inspected the visor, I put it aside for now. Looking around my room once more, I find my laptop on a desk beside my bed together with a console-like machine. I''m guessing it''s part of the VR machine. Turning around, I head for my closet and changed into a new set of clothes, dumping the old ones somewhere in the room. Walking back towards my laptop, I turned it on. Seeing as it is still early, I decided to look into the game more as I''m a bit curious. Looking through a few guides, I found out that there is only one starting point and only one race. Which is obviously human. I also found out that there are a lot of stats, a lot of abilities, a lot of skills, and a lot of everything else. It also seems that the players have levels, classes have levels, and abilities have levels, whilst skills have levels AND ranks. Same goes for weapons. They have a ranking system but not a level system. There are three ranks, which are Clumsy, Adept, and Mastered. Every weapon starts of as Clumsy, and upon ranking up, it becomes stronger. Another thing that caught my eye is that time inside virtual reality is three-times faster than in real life. A paradise for college students... but it seems you can''t access internet there. Trying to absorb what''s on my screen about the game, I gave up. (sigh) I guess I''ll just improvise... Checking the time again and find that it is still early, I continue to look at some more guides. After a while, I check the time and saw that it was already passed 10:00. And so, I closed my laptop. I got to my bed and lied down, picking up the visor-like machine, and put it on. Remembering what I read online to play it, I muttered the key-word. ¡°Play.¡± Saying this, a new sensation washed over me and everything around me turned dark. Looking at my body, I find myself wearing some leather clothing. Moving in this body feels very different than in real life. Well, whatever. Looking around my surroundings all I see is darkness. Waiting for a while, I quickly became bored. ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Geez! You''re no fun at all!¡± ¡°...?¡± I turned to the voice behind me. ¡°...And you are?¡± ¡°Amy.¡± She pointed at me. ¡°I''m in charge of looking over the character creations of the players.¡± The girl in front of me puffed her cheeks while saying that. Looking at her, she was wearing a white dress and donning a set of twin-tails. Out of curiosity, I asked... ¡°So are you an NPC or something?¡± ¡°What?! Of course not!¡± ¡°How old are you?¡± ¡°18.¡± ¡°So you are an NPC...¡± ¡°What makes you say that?!¡± ¡°I mean, look at your height...¡± Looking at the girl once more, she looks like she''s no more than two heads shorter than me. I heard that you could change your appearance in virtual reality but... ¡°This is revolutionary...¡± ¡°Stop joking around! I just made this character this way!¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah. So, you''re the one facilitating the character creations right?¡± I said quickly changing topics. ¡°Hm? Oh, yeah. I am.¡± She said becoming a bit serious. Seriously? ¡°What do I do now?¡± ¡°We start off with your name.¡± ¡°Malcolm.¡± ¡°Alright. Next up is whether or not you want to change your appearance. Do you want to make a few changes?¡± ¡°Hmm... sure.¡± Quickly after saying that, a mirror appeared in front of me. Taking a look at myself, I see a guy with black hair with a height of six and a half feet. Dark coloured, slanted eyes, and average features. Thinking for a while, I decided not to. ¡°You know what, nevermind.¡± The mirror in front of me disappeared just as fast as it came. ¡°Okay. You may now use this time to get used to your body, allocate stat points and get some skills.¡± Opening my status window, I started with my stats. 50 points... After deciding, I put 10 into damage, 10 into armor penetration, 5 into crit. damage, 10 into attack speed, 10 into movement speed, and 5 into crit. strike chance. Next up are my skills. With 5 points, I can get 5 skills. I chose what I thought is appropriate. [great-sword lvl.1] [AttackBoost lvl.1] [ArmorPenetrationBoost lvl.1] [AttackSpeedBoost lvl.1] [MovementSpeedBoost lvl.1] Meh... That''s good enough. ¡°Hey. I''m done.¡± ¡°Alright, with this you''re ready to walk the lands of Amaron! You will now be given 1000 copper coins and a backpack for your inventory.¡± Appearing before me is a backpack and a notification that I obtained 1000 copper coins. ¡°Hey, how does currency work in this game?¡± ¡°Simple. 100 copper coins equal 1 silver coin, and 100 silver coins equal 1 gold coin.¡± ¡°Hm... does currency automatically convert?¡± ¡°Yup. So once you get in-game, you''ll have 10 silver. Anyways, good luck!¡± Immediately, everything turned white and took on color just as fast. Now I find myself surrounded by thousands of other players. Walking around for a while, the huge group quickly disperses until a few dozen players are left behind. ¡°Malcoolm!¡± I heard a voice calling my name. Trying to ignore the voice, I walk away. ¡°Malcolm! Haa... finally found you.¡± A female voice said, quickly catching up to me. ¡°...¡± I turned to her while sighing inside. ¡°Now come on. I bet you don''t know what do so I''ll show you around.¡± Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Ignoring her comment, I followed. After a short walk, we enter a shop. Looking inside, I find weapons of all shapes and sizes. ¡°So what weapon did you equip?¡± She asked. ¡°You''re only asking that now? What if I chose some magic instead?¡± ¡°Then we go to the Mage Guild in the other side of town.¡± She said so as if it was common-sense. ¡°(sigh)... [great-sword]...¡± ¡°Okay. All beginner weapons cost 100 copper coins.¡± ¡°Hmm... anything better?¡± ¡°There are better ones but I don''t recommend them ''cause drops from weapons and crafted ones are always better than buying them from NPCs.¡± ¡°So no choice I guess... What are your skills by the way?¡± I asked a bit curious. Thinking for a while she enumerates them. [Spear lvl.1] [HP Regen lvl.1] [ArmourBoost lvl.1] [MagicResistanceBoost lvl.1] [LightMagic lvl.1] ¡°So... a tank build?¡± ¡°Not exactly. It''s actually for PVP.¡± PVP. Player versus player. A system where players can fight eachother. Places where you can PVP is anywhere outside of a town and during tournaments. When a player gets killed by another player, that player is immediately respawned in the last town that player has been. This is to prevent spawn camping. ¡°I told you my skills, you tell me yours.¡± Being told this, I sighed then told her my skills ¡°Hmm... you sure you don''t want any crafting skills?¡± ¡°Yeah I''m sure. I don''t think I can use them properly ayway.¡± ¡°Okay. Oh! Before I forget...¡± She fiddled with her menu. The player Sarah has invited you to a party. Yes/No. Popping up in front of me, an invitation has been sent to me. I gave the obvious answer. ¡°No.¡± ¡°Why not?!¡± ¡°I''ll go solo for now.¡± ¡°At least add me on your friends list.¡± ¡°Fine...¡± After that, Sarah pouted and after a while she pointed at me and said... ¡°But you better team up with me later okay?!¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah.¡± After this exchange, we finally bought our weapons, a great-sword and a spear respectively. And we bought some armor and potions leaving us with a few hundred copper coins left. ¡°Say... how do you get a class? You know, the basic ones?¡± ¡°Oh, you can get one once your level 10. Just do a quest corresponding to the class of your liking.¡± ¡°Can you get as many classes as you like?¡± ¡°Yeah, just do multiple class quests then you''ll obtain them. But take note, you can only equip one of them.¡± ¡°Can you unequip them?¡± ¡°Yeah. Here''s an example. Say you have the [Warrior] class equipped and it''s level 5. When you unequip it, it will retain it''s level. When you equip another class, that class starts at level 1.¡± ¡°So the level 5 [Warrior] stays?¡± ¡°Yup. Also, the skills they give go with them. Since [Warrior] gives you some Abilities, unequipping it will take those away.¡± ¡°I see...¡± After saying that, Sarah just looked at me and smiled. ¡°What?¡± I asked. ¡°Nothing... It''s just that you seem more talkative now.¡± She said then turned around. ¡°...¡± Saying nothing, I followed her up until the main gate and from there, parted ways. ¡°...¡± Remembering what she just said, I shrugged it off for now and decided to get some levels. Going towards the plains, I spot my first monster. A slime. Walking towards it I brandished my sword. The sword I have right now looks very rusted but otherwise kind of heavy. Rusted Great-Sword (common) A sword used by it''s previous owner. Clumsy Attack+5 Quite the description. Looking at the slime again, I noticed something. You can''t see they''re HP? ... I can see mine just fine. At least I can see it''s name and level. Thinking this, I quickly bring my sword down. With a splat, the slime transforms into light particles. Looking around I saw that it has dropped something and so I put it in my inventory. Thinking back, I''ve never used a sword before. And the way I swung the blade a while ago felt natural... Must be the system assist. Not minding and killing around two dozen slimes, I received a notification that I leveled up. This seems inefficient... I''ll try going further. Leveling up gave 10 stat points so I put 2 into attack, 2 into armor penetration, 1 into crit.damage, 2 into attack speed, 2 into movement speed and 1 into crit. chance. I''ll allocate my points like this from now on. Hm? Looking at my stats there seems to be an increase to attack, armor penetration, attack speed, and movement speed. My skills maybe? Thinking this, I moved from the plains towards the forest not far from the town. Entering, I walk for a while without encountering any monster. After a while longer, I heard some rustling in the bush beside me. While trying to bring out my sword, the entity jumped and bit me. Tch! Throwing it to the side while confirming the damage I have taken, I charge toward it and brought down my sword. Looking at it now it seems to be a really big dog. Noticing my attack, it dodges and lunges at me. Fast! Using my sword as a shield, the dog tackled me and I fell down. Lunging at me again, I panicked and tried to stab it. Since the dog can''t dodge mid-air, the sword clumsily slides itself into the neck of the dog and blood spilled from it. It fell down with my sword, and so I let go of it. ¡°Haa, haa...¡± Breathing a bit heavily and pulled the sword out. The corps stayed there a while before turning into light particles. Seeing the drops, I put it in my inventory and took out a small HP potion. Drinking it my HP climbs back up to full. Standing up I decided to go back... But...how? Quickly understanding that I don''t know where I am, I panicked a bit. ...(sigh) nevermind... After resting for a while, I began walking again, only this time more vigilant. Encountering another dog, I quickly slash at it''s back. With the blade still sinking into the back of the dog, it tries to shake it off and bite me. Putting more force into it to pin it down, the dog continues to lose blood until it finally died and turned into light particles. From there, I continued to walk while paying attention to my surroundings. Encountering a few more dogs and disposing of them, I received a notification telling me I leveled up again. Allocating my stat points, I continue walking. ¡­ They''re not so tough after all... Killing more dogs along the way and leveling up again, I finally see something other than trees. A cave. Entering it, I walk in mindlessly. Getting deeper, It becomes darker and my eyes begin to adjust. Having a good distance away from the entrance, a sudden pain assaulted me from the side. Jumping the opposite direction, I brought out my sword. Aah... What am I doing? Looking at my HP, more than half has been cut down. Clicking my tongue, I look at the culprit. The culprit was as tall as me and also has a sword. The only difference is that this guy has bones making up it''s body. A skeleton. I charged and tried to slash it with my sword, only to get parried. Unable to react, the skeleton mercilessly stabbs me with it''s sword quickly bringing my HP down to zero. As my consciousness darkened, a notification appeared in front of me. You have died. Chapter 3: Solo Player Chapter 3:The Solo Player click -stocks of the game has been immediately sold out- click -hundreds of thousands are anticipating- click -Amaron Online- click- And with that the TV was cut while leaving it''s static resounding in the room. Pushing his glasses up his nose, he then picks up a mug of coffee and takes a sip. Enjoying the peaceful atmsophere, he closed his eyes. The man in the prime of his life had sharp features making him quite handsome for his age. His hair held up with gel gave him a nonchalant image while what he wore, which were black-rimmed reading glasses, a suit with a necktie, and jet-black leather shoes gave him an astmosphere of a professional. Being one of the administrators of the game, he was just happy that the game was selling. Looking back at it, his eyebrow twitched when he remembered how much it took to make the game. Creating the systems, the codes and especially the AI. Weeks of sleepless nights coupled with deadlines left him and his colleagues glued to their screens. Making the game from scratch and from there, a long process of trial and error and finally debugging it. Even if they did work through shifts, the entire process got them wondering whether or not they could finish. Although pressured by deadlines, they wanted to make this game as perfect as possible. Even though the game is out now, they still think they could make a few adjustments here and there. It was long and gruelling. But seeing many people anticipating the game made their skin crawl with excitement. Will they like it? Will they think it''s good enough? Questions like these made them anxious and thrilled at the same time. Because when they ask themselves these questions, they could think of so many things they could do to improve it. They would often talk about future updates, hosting events, and even playing the game themselves. Taking another sip of coffee, he was reminded again of being free from the hectic schedule and can finally enjoy their masterpiece. Though he wasn''t the best player around, he''s decent. But with Amaron Online, he thought he would want to fool around a bit. ¡°Joseeph!¡± Hearing a woman''s voice, he stood up. Walking out the door, he went for the stairs. Whilst taking the steps he heard the voice again. ¡°Joseeeph!¡± The voice called out merrily. ¡°I''m already coming.¡± Joseph replied. As they''re eyes met, the woman smiled. ¡°Dinner''s ready.¡± ¡°And Pepper?¡± Joseph inquired. ¡°She''s alreaady finished...¡± The woman gave a small smile. ¡°She''s pretty excited for today.¡± Joseph smiled back. The woman''s name is Bella. Also one of his colleagues who worked on Amaron Online and Joseph''s wife. Still retaining her beauty even through the course of the years, her blonde hair which is now braided hung over her shoulder. Joseph chuckled as he remembered when they were still working on Amaron Online. He remembered when everybody just dropped and abandoned the word ''hygiene''. They all wore the same clothes everyday, not one person didn''t have eyebags and anyone you talk to would have disheveled hair. Guessing what was on his mind, Bella pouted and glared at him. Noticing the look she was giving him, he smiled awkwardly and thought back to what she said last. ¡°W-Well, today is a very special day for us...¡± Letting out a sigh, Bella replied. ¡°Well I guess it is. And I''m in a good mood because of it. Now come. Dinner''s getting cold.¡± She said walking back into the dining room. Breathing out a sigh of relief, he followed. Entering the dining room, he saw mouth-watering dishes on the table. Feasting his eyes before feeding his belly, his stomach growled in protest. Hearing that, Bella chuckled and motioned him to sit. Taking their seats, they began to eat. While enjoying they''re meal they began to talk. ¡°So... about the game-¡± ¡°Sorry dear, but I''m not gonna change my mind.¡± Joseph said thoroughly. Hearing this, Bella smiled sadly. ¡°Are you sure?¡± ¡°I''m sure. I wouldn''t want to slow you guys down now do I?¡± ¡°But you won''t slow us down... even Pepper''s looking forward to it.¡± ¡°Haha, I''m sure she does.¡± ¡°Then-¡± ¡°But I''m still going solo.¡± Sighing once again, Bella resumed eating. Seeing this, Joseph tried to cheer her up. ¡°Maybe in the future?¡± ¡°You better.¡± Bella smiled. Having the atmosphere lighten a bit, they quickly finish their food and cleaned up. Going back to their room, they check the time. 9:35 Setting up their bed and their VR machines, they lie down and wait ''til it''s 10:00. While waiting, they start up a conversation about what they would do in the game. ¡°So it''s like a literal tank build?¡± Joseph asked. ¡°I guess you could say that? Well what I mean to say is that I would want to deal a ton of damge whilst not taking any. Something like that.¡± Bella explained. ¡°But that''s going to be quite hard, huh?¡± ¡°I guess so. What about you? What are you going to do?¡± Pondering what to say, he replied. ¡°Something even harder.¡± Joseph smiled. And at that moment, a cellphone rang. Hearing this, Joseph sat up and picked up the phone. ¡°Hello?¡± -Ah, Joseph. About that item you asked about- Hearing this, he grinned. ¡°Yeah, about that. Just tell me how to get it.¡± Listening to her husband talking with their colleague, Bella asked unamused. ¡°You''re up to something again aren''t you?¡± Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. To her question Joseph just gave her a wry smile. After a while, Joseph finished up his conversation, put the phone down, and turned to Bella. ¡°Well it seems I won''t be going solo for now.¡± Hearing this, she widened her eyes and beamed. ¡°Really?!¡± Hugging him, she exclaimed. After which, she said... ¡°But you better tell me what you''re up to.¡± Hesitating, he vaguely answered. ¡°Well, there''s a kind of item I wanted so...¡± Joseph scratched his cheek. ¡°Isn''t that a bit like cheating?¡± ¡°Well... you know? Hahaha...¡± Being the developers, of course they would know more about the game than the players. But that only applies to the game''s mechanics. When making the game, they made a setting of a world with monsters and villages and let it advance for a few thousand years to get it where it is now. With kingdoms, heroes and dungeons not even the developers expected. Though they do admit that they did a bit of interfering here and there but more than half of the world is still a mystery to them. What their colleague did was check the current database of the game to find said certain item. And doing that, is HARD. Looking for something amongst the unbelievable amount of code of the game is really, really, really hard. Why you say do they not look at the game itself rather than the code? Well, where''s the fun in that! But since they do have a bit of an advantage, they decided to impose a few disadvantages on themselves. Disadvantages like receiving less experience and lower drop rate. This cancels out their know-hows about the game because this makes it so that just knowing will only get you so far. ¡°Fair enough.¡± Bella said, shrugging her shoulders. Checking the time again, it''s already a few minutes past 10:00 so they immediately logged in. As darkness stole Joseph''s vision, he was greeted by a woman. She had brown shoulder-length hair and wore a white dress that gave a small mystical feeling. ¡°Hello there.¡± She smiled. ¡°Would you mind telling me your name?¡± Pondering for a while whether to use his real name or not, he decided to just go with it. ¡°Joseph.¡± ¡°Would you like to make changes to your appearance?¡± ¡°No-¡± Joseph paused, then continued. ¡°...Well, there is one thing.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Could you maybe, uh, make me a bit younger?¡± Joseph said then scratched his cheek. The woman chuckled. ¡°How old would you like to be?¡± ¡°Around the mid-twenties would be good.¡± After that, Joseph felt a change. At the same time, a mirror image of him appeared. Albeit a bit shorter, he certainly became younger. Wouldn''t want to be looked at differently by the kids now would we... He thought to himself. Or rather, making an excuse to himself. ¡°Anything else?¡± ¡°Nothing else.¡± ¡°Alright, you may now use this time to get used to your body, distribute stat points, and obtain some skills.¡± Doing as she said, I distribute my stat points. 15 to Attack, 10 to Magic Resist, 15 to Magic Penetration, 5 to Mana and 5 to Mana Regen. After which, I chose my skills. [Staff lvl.1] [FireMagic lvl.1] [AttackBoost lvl.1] [MagicResistBoost lvl.1] [MagicPenetration lvl.1] Smiling, Joseph told her he was done. ¡°Good. You will now be given, 1000 copper coins and a backpack for your inventory.¡± Appearing before him is a backpack and a notificaton. Nodding to this, the woman then said... ¡°You are now ready to travel the lands of Amaron! Goodluck.¡± White filled his vision, and is quickly replaced by a scene crowded with people. Looking around, he immediately spots Bella and jogs to her. ¡°Bella!¡± ¡°...? Oh, Joseph! ...Joseph?¡± Bella looked at the now twenty-ish year old Joseph. ¡°Bella?¡± ¡°Why didn''t I think of that...¡± Bella whispered something to herself. ¡°Are you alright?¡± ¡°Hm? Ah, yes yes. I''m... alright.¡± Not knowing what''s wrong, he shrugged it off. ¡°Well anyways, where''s Pepper?¡± At that moment, a female voice reached their ears. ¡°Mom! Dad!¡± The girl shouted happily as she approached them. In response the two smiled at her. The girl''s name is Pepper. 16 years of age and has black hair with natural streaks of blonde here and there which made her look exotic. What she was wearing though was her ''beginner armor'' but did little to no effect to her appearance. As pepper looked at both her parents, she turned towards Joseph. ¡°...?¡± Pepper tilted her head. ¡°Uh, Pepper?¡± ¡°Who are you?¡± Recieving a bullet from out of nowhere, he staggered. ¡°I-It''s me, your father.¡± ¡°But dad looks MUCH older than that. And he wears glasses.¡± Recieving two more bullets from out of nowhere, he explained. ¡°During character creation... you can change your appearance...¡± ¡°Ohhh. Okay, now I get it.¡± She said, not really caring anymore. ¡°Well anyways! Let''s make a party.¡± Saying so, she sent them invitations. Bella accepted and Joseph, though still frowning, accepted it as well. ¡°Alright!¡± Pepper said nodding. ¡°Next is... Ah! Let''s go get our equipment.¡± She said as she ran off to one of the stores. Seeing this Joseph sighed and followed together with Bella. ¡°Say... do I really look all that different?¡± Joseph asked. ¡°Dunno.¡± She smiled mischievously. ¡°Now let''s go. If we don''t hurry up, we might lose her.¡± Sighing once again, he picked up his pace. ------------------------------------------- Author''s Note - Ooookay. Hope you enjoyed as tried hard to make this at least a tinsy bit funny. I hope you thought so. And if you find any mistakes. Please inform me so I may improve. :D Chapter 4: Girl Gamer Chapter 4:Girl Gamer I''m so excited! I roll around in my bed. I can''t take it anymore! I wonder what skills I should choose? Should I go for melee or ranged? Magic sounds fun too... Or maybe reconaissance? Ahhh! I can''t choose. Maybe I''ll just ask brother... Getting up from bed, I skip towards my brother''s room. Knocking first before entering, I enter even without his permission. :P ¡°Brother? I want to ask you something. Can I ask you something? Is it alright to ask you something?¡± Inside the room, my brother turned toward me. 19 years old and much taller than me, he had dirty blonde hair and clean features. Just like me, his eyes are amber coloured. What''s different is that my eyes are rounder while his is a bit slanted. Other than that, I think he looks average. Looking at him, he seemed to be working on his laptop. ¡°What is it?¡± He asked. ¡°What do you think I should shoot for in the game? Melee or ranged? Or maybe even magical?¡± ¡°Dunno. The game lets you play as many gamestyles as you want. And although it may be hard, you can have as many classes as you want.¡± ¡°Yeah I know. But you can equip only one right? What should I start with?¡± Becoming silent for a while, he started thinking. After which, he gave me a question. ¡°Hey Tori. You''re fond of animals right?¡± I nod. And guessing what he was trying to imply, I asked to make sure. ¡°You think I should go for tamer?¡± ¡°Yeah. Is it alright? It''s really hard though.¡± ¡°Hmmm... Sure. Sounds cute.¡± ¡°Alright. Should I recommend some skills?¡± ¡°Yeah. That would be helpful.¡± Telling me what to get, I thanked him and got back to my room. Checking the time, it''s just a few minutes before 10:00. Reminding myself of what to get, I watch my clock tick until it was time. Hitting 10:00, I almost shouted. ¡°Play!¡± Darkness invaded my vision and a girl my age was in front of me. She was pretty. She had long, wavy hair and a white dress. Giving a bow she greeted me. ¡°Good day. My name is Aria what is yours?¡± ¡°Good day to you as well! My name, is Tori.¡± ¡°Alright Tori, would you like to make a few changes to your appearance?¡± ¡°Yes please!¡± Appearing in front of me is a mirror image of myself. Looking at myself, I see a 16 year old girl with shoulder-length black hair and thought about what to change. After a while I went ahead and asked the girl instead. ¡°Hmm... What do you think I should change?¡± ¡°Eh? You''re, asking me?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± I turned my head to look at her. ¡°A-Ah well... how about your eyes?¡± I turned to look at my mirror image. ¡°Hmmmmmm... my eyes?¡± ¡°Yeah. ''Cause... I mean look, they have a beautiful colour. You know?¡± ¡°Hm. Yeah, okay. Sure.¡± ¡°So what do you want to do with them?¡± ¡°...Make them, a bit more prominent.¡± With that, I see my mirror image''s eyes change slightly. ¡°What else?¡± I asked her. ¡°Oh well, um... I, don''t think I should... anymore...¡± I pouted. ¡°Boo. Boring.¡± Hearing that she bowed lightly. ¡°S-Sorry...¡± ¡°(sigh) Well, I guess it''s alright. I''m fine with this.¡± Saying that, my mirror image disappears. ¡°Alright... next is... um, you may now use this time to uh, distribute stat points and obtain some skills.¡± Remembering my brother''s advice, I chose not to allocate any stat points. As for my skills... [Taming lvl.1] [BuffMagic lvl.1] [ManaBoost lvl.1] [MovementSpeedBoost lvl.1] [Cooking lvl.1] Telling the girl I was done, she proceeded to give me a backpack and 1000 copper. ¡°Okay. With this, you are now ready to travel the lands of Amaron.¡± She said, snapping her fingers. ¡°Ah! Before I go-¡± Without letting me finish, a burst of light consumed me and disperses to become a flurry of colours. Surrounding me now are hundreds players, and hundreds more that kept coming. Looking around, I see some players going towards some shops. ¡°I wanted to ask her something...¡± I pouted. Sighing, I walk around. After a while, I spot brother. ¡°Ah! Brother!¡± I called out to him. Hearing my call, he turned towards me and smiled. Just like me, his avatar is the same as his real appearance. Although with a minor change as well. ¡°Hey. Nice tattoo.¡± I snicker. ¡°Aah... This?¡± On his face was a red tattoo under his right eye. Two curved triangles, one bigger than the other, had their tips pointing downwards. They looked like fangs. ¡°It looks cute.¡± ¡°...right...¡± ¡°Well anyways, how ''bout me? Do you see any changes in me?¡± I look into his eyes and blink a few times just in case. ¡°...?¡± Looking at me, he put a hand on his chin and inspected me. And even squinted... ¡°Where?¡± I got shot by a bullet. ¡°T-Try harder!¡± I glare at him. ¡°I... really don''t see any difference.¡± ¡°Tch!¡± I clicked my tongue then pointed at him. ¡°Compensate!¡± ¡°Compensate for what?¡± ¡°For not noticing!¡± ¡°Not noticing what?¡± ¡°My eyes!¡± ¡°Your eyes?¡± ¡°My eyes!!¡± ¡°Your eyes?¡± ¡°My eyes!!!¡± ¡°Ohhhh. I see the difference now.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Now come on, let''s go.¡± He turned around and left. I hate him... I thought this as I followed him. After a while, I spot a friend of mine. Seeing her cheered me up. ¡°Ah! Pepper!¡± ¡°...? Oh! Tori!¡± Her name is Pepper. She''s a classmate of mine and just like us, she looks just like her real appearance. I''ve known her for like forever and at school we are almost always together. ¡°...? Hey Tori. Are your eyes a bit bigger? Kinda cute.¡± When she said this I beamed. ¡°Yeah! I''m glad you noticed.¡± Just as I said the last word, I glared at brother. And just as I turned to him, he looks away. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.Seeing this, Pepper chuckled. ¡°Well anyways, I gotta find my parents. Catch ya later~!¡± She said as she jogged away. ¡°See ya later!¡± I waved back at her. And wave as in, I wave both my arms in the air. After that I turned to brother. ¡°See that? At least she noticed.¡± I glared. Again. ¡°Geez. Can''t you forget about that already?¡± ¡°No way! Never! Not even in a million-¡± ¡°I''ll treat you to some sweets later on?¡± ¡°Forgot about it! Completely forgot about it! Absolutely forgot about it! What were we talking about again?¡± Brother chuckled as we began to walk through the streets. And after a while, we got to the main gate. ¡°Uum... What about our items and stuff?¡± I asked. ¡°Don''t worry~. I''ve got us covered.¡± Brother said brushing it off. ¡°...Right...¡± Well if brother says so, then don''t question it. Most of the time. Passing through the gate, we found ourselves in a plain. And all around us, were dozens of slimes. ¡°Alright. Tori, try taming one of those slimes.¡± Brother said. Hearing this, my eyes sparkle. ¡°Right away!¡± Running off, I confront one of the slimes. Then ran back to brother. ¡°I can''t fight it...¡± Looking at my skills, I realized that I don''t have a means to attack. Unless I have to do it bare-handed... But brother looked indifferent. ¡°Hn? Just tame it. It won''t attack you.¡± ¡°...¡± Oh yeah. I forgot to mention, that brother was a beta tester. Not only that but he also took part in the development of the game, which a lot of people thought was amazing for his age. What''s more is that when he participated in the beta testing, he was one of the top players. And speaking of top players... I heard from brother that there was a paladin sort of player that never died once and another player who managed to change his race. There was also a necromancer that can create really strong undead. But back to the problem at hand. Even if brother said that slimes won''t attack you, what about the monsters that can? So what if I managed to tame a slime? It might be cute but it won''t help me in subduing stronger monsters. ¡°I told you not to worry right? I''ve got us covered.¡± Brother said brushing it off again. Well if brother says so, don''t question it. I went back to the slime. Using the ability [Tame], which I got from the skill [Taming], I tried taming it. I crouch down in front of it and stretched both my arms with my palms pointed at the slime. Concentrating, I felt my ability working and the slime glowed a little. ¡­ Nothing''s happening. I turn to brother. ¡°Hey, how can you tell when they''re tamed?¡± ¡°...? There will be a window saying that you tamed it.¡± ¡°Oh okay. Thanks.¡± Turning back to the slime, I tried again. ¡­ Hrng... Hrrngh... Hurrrnngh! With each passing moment I tried concentrating harder and harder. And harder. ¡°Bah! Why is it so hard?!¡± ¡°I told you it would be difficult.¡± ¡°You didn''t tell me it was THIS difficult! They''re slimes right?! They''re only slimes right?! Passive slimes right?!¡± ¡°Ahaha... Well let''s just say there''s a reason as to why we made it so hard.¡± ¡°Oh yeah?! What is it?!¡± ¡°Secret.¡± ¡°Spill it!!¡± ¡°No.¡± Pouting, I glared at him really hard. With tears beginning to form at the corner of my eyes, I tried one more time. ¡°Please?¡± ¡°Look, just keep trying ''til you succeed. Alright?¡± I frowned. ¡°Fine.¡± I turned sharply then stomped off to one of the slimes. And again, I tried taming it. ¡°[Tame]!¡± ¡­ ¡­ Tch. ¡°[Tame]! [Tame]! [Tame]! [Tame]. [Tame]. [Tame]...¡± I feel like crying. B-But don''t blame me okay? It''s not my fault okay? I can''t help being a bit impatient okay? I''m... I''m not crying okay...? Sniffing, I slapped my cheeks and tried to renew my determination. Don''t give up Tori! You''re not the type of girl to just simply give up! Don''t give up just because of a few mistakes! Yeah! I will keep trying until I get it! Even if I''ll have to try a gazillion times! ¡­ That doesn''t sound too appealing now does it? I shake my head off from that line of thinking. No Tori! You just told yourself not to give up right?! To keep going forward right?! So that you can live up to brother''s expectations right?! So that he could pet you right?! Oh wait. I''m straying off. *Ding Eh? You have successfully tamed a slime. Seeing this, I beamed and ran off to brother. Maybe it''s not so bad after all? Teehee. -------------------------------------------------- All right!! That''s the fourth POV, sooo from here I''ll go back to group number 1 and cycle from there! :P Now I know what all the other author''s meant when they said that comments give you power. It does, and just one review got me really motivated for some reason. Sooo thanks for that :P I just started this story on a whim cause you know... (Azalon pls come back...) Well anyways, I''m working on the next chapter already since I got really motivated and well, I just wanted to say... wow. making up an interesting plot line is HARD. so I''d appreciate some feedback, suggestions, and anything else. and also *cough* criticisms *cough*. sorry, ignore that one. well anyways, I''ll try to write more whilst my first day of college is still a few days away... and um, thanks! for uh, you know? haha... I''m so awkward... Chapter 5: Group of Four Chapter 5:The Group of Four Alright. After getting some equipment for me, which are a set of better leather clothing, a dagger and a bow, we held a litte meeting. Too bad the arrows were too exepensive as I could only buy one or two at most... Well whatever. ¡°Hey Lucas. You''ve been smiling this entire time. Something good happen?¡± I asked. ¡°Oh, uh. Ahaha.¡± He rubbed his nose looking a bit smug. ¡°You won''t believe it. After choosing my skills, I received a class!¡± ¡°I don''t believe you.¡± ¡°But it''s true?!¡± ¡°But you said not to?¡± ¡°O-Oh. I guess I did.¡± Typical Lucas. But seriously. A class? ¡°So what''s your class? Since you got it from the beginning, I''m not really expecting much.¡± Ruth asked. ¡°Well I got it when I chose my skills. It''s the [Enchanter] class. And obtaining it gave me another skill!¡± ¡°[Enchanter]? What skills did you get?¡± When Ruth asked this, he enumerated. [BuffMagic lvl.1] [DebuffMagic lvl.1] [ManaBoost lvl.1] [ManaRegenBoost Lvl.1] [MovementSpeedBoost lvl.1] ¡°So you got it from the buff and debuff skills?¡± Rin asked. ¡°Yeah. And from the [Enchanter] class, I got the [Enchanting lvl.1]¡± ¡°Lucky bastard.¡± I punched him lightly on the shoulder. ¡°Alright. So what did you guys get?¡± Lucas asked. Starting from me, we enumerated. I told them I got skills relating to reconnaissance and covert operations. They nodded and Rin told us hers. [Light Magic lvl.1] [MagicPowerBoost vl.1] [ManaRegenBoost lvl.1] [Tailor lvl.1] [Cooking lvl.1] So a healer type? Good, good. Those are always needed in a party. In my opinion. Next was Ruth. [Synthesis lvl.1] [Alchemy lvl.1] [Chemistry lvl.1] [Blacksmith lvl.1] [Mining lvl.1] Ruth opted skills that can help her make potions and weapons for us. Not bad. ¡­ ¡­ But there is one huge problem. ¡­ We don''t have a damage dealer or a tank. ¡°This is problematic...¡± All of us nodded at Ruth''s statement. ¡°And it''s all Adrian''s fault...¡± ¡°Why me?!¡± ¡°Is it not?¡± ¡°No!¡± ¡°Well whatever.¡± Ruth shrugged her shoulders. ¡°But what do we do? Should we have someone convert?¡± She suggested as she looked at all three of us. I look at my friends and thought about it... ¡°Nah, I think we shouldn''t.¡± I voiced my opinion. ¡°You guys?¡± ¡°Yeah. I agree. I mean I''m happy with what I''ve got.¡± Lucas said. ¡°Me too. And I don''t think I''m cut out for those roles.¡± Rin said. Hearing our opinions, Ruth nodded. ¡°Then I guess we should try whether or not our team composition is good. Let''s go.¡± Saying this, Ruth led us to the main gate and entered the fields. Upon entering, we found a bunch of slimes around. ¡°Alright. Lucas, give us some buffs.¡± Ruth ordered. ¡°Right away.¡± Saying this, Lucas casted an attack buff on me and... ¡°What should I give you guys?¡± ¡°Defence buffs? Or maybe MovementSpeed buffs.¡± Ruth said. Lucas then casted more buffs on our team. Having received the buffs, I checked my stats. ¡­ Nothing changed. I don''t feel any different either. ¡°Hey uh, Lucas? Are you sure you put buffs on us?¡± I asked. ¡°...? Ah yeah. Why?¡± ¡°I don''t feel any different? You guys?¡± I looked at the two girls. ¡°Yeah. Me too. I don''t feel any changes. Ruth?¡± Rin said. ¡°... I knew not to expect much from you.¡± Ruth looked at him with half-open eyes. ¡°D-Don''t look at me like that! You''ll see! Once I become stronger, these buffs will too!¡± ¡°Well, until then, we won''t be relying on you too much. Or not at all to be honest.¡± Ruth bluntly said. Aah, poor Lucas... Even Rin is laughing awkwardly. ¡°Stop! Please! Don''t give me those pitying gazes!¡± Lucas complained, then thought of something. ¡°Ah! I-I still have enchanting!¡± Ruth raised an eyebrow. ¡°Oh? Show us.¡± Hearing this, Lucas quickly took a look at his new skill. ¡°So what does enchanting do?¡± I asked. ¡°Is it like your buff magic?¡± ¡°W-Well yeah. But entirely different as well. It looks like I can stack it together with buff magic.¡± ¡°So you could buff us and then put enchantments?¡± Rin asked. ¡°Yeah. It also seems that you can''t put the same buff or the same enchantment twice. So I can only put one of each buff and enchantment on you guys.¡± Lucas explained. ¡°I see...¡± Ruth said while putting a hand on her chin. ¡°Well let''s hurry up and get on with it.¡± Giving a nod, Lucas cast his magic. Unlike the buff magic, this time I definitely felt a change. ¡°Ooh!¡± I exclaimed. I then checked my stats. But unfortunately no changes. So it won''t show? ¡°Alright!¡± Ruth said. ¡°With this, why don''t we try it out?¡± After giving a nod, our party went off to face one of the slimes. Our formation is me in front, Rin and Lucas behind me, and Ruth... really far behind us. ¡°Go guys! You can do it!¡± Ruth cheered. Oh yeah. Her skills are more crafts-oriented so she''s not suited for battle. Looking at her again, I see Lucas with her. ¡°Hey! What are you doing there?!¡± I shouted. ¡°Ahaha. Well I''ve already put buffs and enchantments on you guys remember? I don''t have much to do for a while ''til it expires.¡± ¡°Tch. So you are useless.¡± Ruth said. ¡°Aren''t you on my side?!¡± Lucas exclaimed. ¡°Since when?¡± Ruth tilted her head. ¡°Ah...¡± Lucas gave up. I laughed a little. But anyways. I turned back to the slime. It''s been a while and the slime hasn''t attacked us. Maybe because it''s passive and that we didn''t engage it in battle? Huh. Well that''s good news for us. But I doubt they''re actually strong. And so I charged at it. ¡­ Is it just me or am I the only fighting potential we have on our team? Sigh. Getting close enough, I slash it. Apparently it didn''t die. So, I slashed again. And again. After that the slime dropped something and vanished into light particles. Smiling, I picked up the drops. I ran back to my group. ¡°So do we keep going? or... go somewhere else?¡± I asked. ¡°I say we keep going at the slimes.¡± Lucas said. The girls nodded and we repeated what we did with the slimes a few dozen times until we finally got our first level up. I gained 10 stat points so put 6 to attack speed and 4 to movement speed. Don''t hate me. The others seem to have allocated their stats too. I look at each of them and see Ruth fiddling with some grass. Huh. ¡°Hey Ruth? What are you doing?¡± I asked curiously. ¡°Hn? Oh, I''m trying out the synthesis skill. Look, I made some potions¡± Ruth said happily and continued. ¡°I was collecting materials while you guys were fighting.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°Well... I''m kind of running out of materials and the only things I find here are low grade herbs. Since we leveled up one, why don''t we go somewhere else?¡± Agreeing to her, we made our way to the forest near the plains. Exploring a little while we helped her collect some materials. And while I was picking up some... grass, I spotted something behind the bush. It was a dog. I called my friends over and followed it. It seems to be alone so we attack it. I mean, I attack it. Lucas gave me buffs while Rin and Ruth... kept collecting materials. I won''t care anymore. Charging at the dog, I gave a quick stab. The dog noticed too late and I pressed it down with my weight. I grimace as blood spilled from the wound as the dog shrieked. I removed the dagger and stabbed again. After that, I kicked the dog away. Haa... haa... The dog got up and limped to face me. Looking in it''s eyes, I see anger hatred. This is just a game... right? I brandished my dagger again and the dog leaped at me despite it''s injuries. But it was too slow. I guess putting a bunch of points into movement speed was a good idea after all? I dodge to the right and jumped back to the dog to give a stab. Receiving my attack, the dog staggered, then swayed before finally falling down. The dog turned into light particles leaving only it''s blood stained on the ground together with it''s drops. I picked up the drops and got myself relieved as the drops didn''t have a single drop of blood on them. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.Pocketing the drops into my inventory, I ran back to my party... and found them taking a picnic. ¡°You jerks!¡± ¡°Ha? We were just waiting for you, you know?¡± Ruth said as she popped a piece of bread into her mouth. Rin just flashed me an apologetic smile and Ruth continued. ¡°Now sit down. I found out a bunch of other stuff I can make.¡± Grumbling, I took a seat on the floor as Ruth lined up a bunch of items in front of us. And among the items, I beamed when I saw a certain item. An arrow. ¡°Hmhm.¡± Ruth made a smug face. ¡°What do you think?¡± ¡°Yeah but...¡± I eyed the arrow. ¡°Why only one?¡± ¡°I also made some status inducing potions.¡± ¡°Don''t ignore me!¡± ¡°But I''m kind of running out of materials to experiment on. So hand the drops over.¡± Ruth said as she stretched her arm towards me, palm facing upwards. ¡°Why should I?!¡± ¡°In exchange for the arrow.¡± ¡°But there''s only one!!¡± ¡°Tch.¡± ¡°Did you just click your tongue?!¡± ¡°Then I''ll just make more for you.¡± ¡°I told you not to ignore me!!¡± Haa... haa... Why is that at times like these that I remember that there is PVP? It''s okay to do PVP, right? ¡°Well anyways, let''s continue grinding!¡± Lucas casted a bunch of buffs on me. Rin just silently heals me despite me not having received any damage. And Ruth stashed away her stuff. In the end, I just gave her the drops. While she gave me the arrow. Walking again and not long after, we find another dog. Lucas gave me enchantments while I get into position. ¡°Hey.¡± Lucas called out. ¡°Why not try the bow?¡± I guess... it won''t hurt to try? I brought out my bow and the single arrow. I nocked it into my bow and aimed. -whish- I let go, and the arrow flew. Looking, I saw that it hit cleanly... on the ground 10 meters from the target. ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Where are you aiming?¡± Ruth stared at me with half-opened eyes. ¡°AT THE DOG!!¡± ¡°Um, well. I-It''s alright! I think you have a great aim!¡± Rin tries to quickly comfort me. ¡°You do know that comforting him with lies will hurt even more?¡± Lucas raised a finger. ¡°E-Eh? Is that so? Sorry...¡± ¡°Lucas!! Rin, don''t listen to him! It''s the thought that counts yeah? So you don''t have to apologize.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Rin looks at me with upturned eyes. ¡°Y-Yeah.¡± I take a step back. Such destructive power... ¡°Well anyways, back to the dog.¡± The dog was still there probably because it didn''t notice the arrow that landed 10 meters away from it. I don''t know why but I feel irritated. I leaped to the dog and gave a swung my dagger down. The dog shook me off and tackled me. I stumbled and the dog jumped towards me. But before it could get to me, a leather pouch hit it''s side and a tiny explosion erupted from the bag. The dog was thrown to the side because of this. Taking the chance, I ran towards it and brought my dagger down. Blood spilled before the dog disappeared into light particles and leaving it''s drops. Standing up, I try to look at the one who threw the pouch. It was Ruth. The other two who were with her, hurried to me. Rin healed me and Lucas gave me more buffs. ¡°That worried me a bit but at least you''re all right.¡± Lucas said. ¡°I just struggled a bit that''s all.¡± I shrugged. ¡°But that was kind of scary...¡± Rin said. ¡°Scary? What was?¡± I asked. ¡°When... the dog jumped to attack you...¡± Rin looked away. ¡°What?¡± I blinked. After which, I was hit on the head from behind. ¡°Ow!¡± I turned to look and find Ruth. ¡°Hey! What was that fo-!¡± Before I could finish my sentence, Ruth cut me off. ¡°What Rin meant was that it was not scary that the dog ATTACKED you but it was scary that the dog attacked YOU.¡± ¡°...¡± I stayed silent. ¡°C''mon. Let''s continue.¡± Ruth walked ahead of us. Rin quickly followed and Lucas and I were left behind. Looking at eachother before giving wry smiles, we jogged to catch up to them. For a while, all we did was hunt some dogs and the occasional snakes and rabbits. Leveling up a few times and allocating statpoints, we kept at it and took a rest at times. And after a while, we found a cave. Meaning, a dungeon. I turned to my friends. ¡°Should we?¡± I smiled. ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You seriously think we can take a dungeon on already?¡± Ruth said in disbelief. ¡°But it''s a dungeon. What''s more a dungeon in a low level area! That must mean it''s a low level dungeon too!¡± I tried to convince them. The three looked at eachother and sighed. ¡°But if it gets too dangerous, we''ll leave you behind.¡± ¡°Why?!¡± ¡°''Cause you''re an idiot.¡± ¡°But if I die, I''ll respawn somewhere in the dungeon and not in town!¡± ¡°Don''t worry. Once we get out, we''ll train like super hard and get you out.¡± ¡°But your builds aren''t for fighting!!¡± ¡°You saw me throw a bomb a while ago right?¡± ¡°But that doesn''t scale off of levels!!!¡± Haa... haa... It''s definitely okay to do PK- I mean PVP right? It''s totally okay right? I mean... their doing it indirectly... right? In the end, we decided to go in the dungeon. Walking a bit, it started to become dark. ¡°Oh! Hold on...¡± Rin stopped us for a bit as she cast a spell. Suddenly, a ball of light appeared. It''s looks to be as big as a baseball as it floats above our heads. Thanks to that, the cave''s darkness is no longer a problem. ¡°Good job.¡± I praised her. She replied only with a big smile as she slightly blushed and stepped up beside Ruth. There we continue walking and encountered our first enemy. A goblin. Green skin, and ugly features. A big nose and pointed ears. Spotting us, it stood still and took a slow step back. As it stepped back, I stepped forward. Lucas quietly casted buffs and enchantments on me as he backed away with the girls. Seeing the other three back away, the goblin immediately dashed towards me dagger in hand. It was fast. But not as fast as me. I dodged and swung my dagger. I sunk it deep in it''s back and the goblin wailed. Quickly regaining it''s composure, the goblin slashed my arm to get away. Immediately, Rin healed my wound and I went back into action. Our battle was a series of stabs, slashes and a bunch of dodging. And every time I land a hit, I feel like I didn''t do any damage, even though the goblin looked like it did. After a while, it finally stopped moving after my last stab and it''s body fell limply on the floor. It''s corpse stayed there a while before finally turning into light particles. Blood stained the floor, walls and my dagger. When I went to collect the drops, I noticed that I was breathing rather heavily. I''m... tired? But there''s no stamina bar or a satiety bar. I absent-mindedly collected the drops as I thought about this. My team hurried towards me and we checked our- my condition before moving on. We encountered two more goblins and it took me a long while to take care of each of them. And after each battle, I was even more exhausted than the last. I asked to take a break so we sat in a corner of the cave. Rin was the first to voice her concerns. ¡°Are you... alright?¡± ¡°Yeah. Just... a bit tired.¡± The three looked at eachother with worried expressions so I tried to lighten the mood. ¡°So uh, Ruth? I know it''s a little late to ask but, what was that bomb thing you used a while back?¡± ¡°Ha?¡± Maybe noticing my attempt to cheer them up by changing topics, she followed my lead. ¡°You''re only asking that now?¡± Our group laughed a little and proceeded to talk about the items she made. And during that time, we shared jokes and stories about our real lives and about the game. It was one of those moments we usually had and hoped to always have. A moment spent with our friends... -------------------------------------- Sooo uh, yeaah! We''ve gone full circle, good, good. I''m already working on next chap, but I gotta say... I suck at fight scenes XD sooo spare me? haha. well anyways, i hope you enjoyed. again. :P Chapter 6: Duo Queue Chapter 6: Duo Queue After receiving that notification, I respawned and found myself in the same dark cave. Probably. Maybe even deeper. Looking around, I could see faint details of the cave but no signs of enemies. So this might be a safe zone. I get up and also found out that a death penalty has been put on me and will last for quite a while. Well for now, I just moved towards one direction. My eyes have already adjusted so inspected the place while moving slowly. Shortly after, I spot a skeleton. Quickly hiding behind one of the rocks, I quietly took a peek. The skeleton walked around and is now finally a few meters away from me. Close enough for me to see it''s name and level. Lesser Skeleton lvl.11 I widen my eyes at it''s level. Sigh. What have I gotten myself into? I grit my teeth as I hardened my grip on my sword. The skeleton was close, but not close enough for me to launch a successful sneak attack. I kept waiting. ¡­ And after a while, the skeleton was now around 2 meters away from me. Taking this chance, I dash out. The skeleton noticed me but I tried to slash it anyway. The skeleton tried to do something but my blade managed to get to it first. I was not able to cut through it''s bones but my sword was heavy enough to push it back. Taking this time when it was staggered, I gave another heavy slash. But it recovered too quickly and parried my blade. Now, our positions have been reversed and before I knew it, the skeleton''s blade cut deeply into my shoulder. I flinch at the slight pain I felt as well as the blood that spilled from the cut. I check my HP and saw that more than two-thirds of it has been shaved off. But the skeleton was not kind enough for it to wait for me to recover. It gave another slash and I barely dodged by jumping back. But because of that, I tripped and fell on the floor. Fuck! Not giving away this oppurtunity, the skeleton brought my HP down to zero, and just like last time, it did it with a stab. You have died. My vision darkened and the same notification from before appeared again. Respawning, I found myself in the same place I last respawned in. I remained seated and contemplated on what to do. The skeleton I fought with was more than twice my level and it was most likely that the first one as well as the rest of the monsters were the same. If so, I only had a few options. One option was that I would try to run as fast as possible for the exit. I didn''t like that. Another would be to call for Sarah ask for help. I didn''t like that either. I could also re-create my account but I think it''s too troublesome. So, I was left with the last option I could think of. To fight my way through. But how? Those guys are more than twice my level and all I know how to do is swing my sword. ¡­ Fuck it... I brought myself in this situation, might as well go with it... Standing up, I went towards the same direction. Finding the skeleton, I grew a bit irritated. So once again I brandished my sword. Doing the same as I did before, I hid and ambushed it. Jumping out of hiding, I did a quick stab and tackled it into the wall. In response, the skeleton flailed it''s blade in suprise but only managed to graze me. Looking at my HP, even though it was a graze, it took quite a bit of HP still. I pinned it to the wall as I tried to do as much damage as I can. If I was dealing any in the first place. But unfortunately, the skeleton regained it''s composure and did an accurate stab to my back. ¡­! Still lodged in, it brought my HP down to the red zone and immediately brought it to zero. Recieving the same notification and added penalties I got back in the same place as before. Thud!! ¡°Shit...¡± I punch the wall behind me as anger welled up inside. Gritting my teeth, I slid down the wall and sat down. Trying to keep myself calm, I collected my thoughts. The skeletons are much stronger than me and it feels like I''m dealing no damage at all. Plus the added penalties will make it harder for me. Standing up while I tried to renew my ''determination''. Meaning my ''desire to beat this guys ''til I''m satisfied'' determination. Walking towards the same direction again, and finding the skeleton again, I fought it again and obviously died again. Repeating this a few times, I been able to do a few scratches dents here and there. And after repeating for a few more times, I notice that it has been accumulating damage. I grinned and tried again, but after that, the small glint of hope fell short. ¡­ I lost a level. It wasn''t part of the penalties before so I wasn''t worried. But seeing as I returned to level three, I despaired and thought about what to do. Should I continue risking another loss of a level? Or should I wait until the penalties die out? But there is also a risk in waiting. What if it regenerates HP? That would mean I''d be back to square one. I groaned cause I thought it wouldn''t get any worse. My weapon''s durability is almost depleted. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. ¡°Fuck!!¡± I shouted as I grew irritated at my situation. Standing up, I stomped off towards the same direction. One last time. I''ll keep going until I deem it to be really hopeless. Anymore than this, and I''ll resort to making another character. Finding the skeleton, I charge at it and prepared my sword. The skeleton saw me and it positioned itself into a fighting stance. I swung my sword in an upward motion and the skeleton parried with a downward swing. The two blades collided but I felt that the skeleton''s movement was groggy. Can skeletons get tired? Nah, I don''t think so. Thinking that I poised myself and launched another attack aiming for it''s head. Blocking my blade, the skeleton pushed me back and it swung it''s sword again. Seeing it''s attack, I sidestepped to dodge. Swish! The sword flies by me and I took this oppurtunity to attack. I tackled it and it fell backwards. Going with the momentum, I jumped and brought my sword up. Bringing it down on it''s head, the sword smashed it''s skull and I stumbled forward. Tripping and falling a bit, I turned to look at the skeleton while breathing heavily. What lay there was a lifeless skeleton with a smashed skull. And somewhere along the side is my sword. Also in the same state as the skull. With this, I slump down and with my back against the floor. Haa...haa... Looking at the ceiling and resting for a while, I noticed that I was tired. Checking my stats, I received a notification saying that I leveled up twice. Closing them, I checked to see if there was a stamina gauge, but there wasn''t. Then why was I feeling tired? Well whatever... Sitting up, I looked at the skeleton. Seeing as it wasn''t there anymore, it must have turned into light particles. What''s left is the broken skull and the sword the skeleton used. Thankfully, it was a greatsword. Picking it up, I checked it''s stats. Iron Great-Sword (common) A sword made of iron that was was dropped by a skeleton. Clumsy Attack+12 Looking at it made me happier as it has more than twice the attack of my previous sword. Quickly equipping it, I went back to the ''safe zone''. Having fought for so long, I checked the time. It''s been around 12 hours in-game, so it must have been over 3 hours in real life. Remembering that I still had some work to do for college, I logged out. ¡­ Opening my eyes and seeing the oh-so familiar room, I took the helmet off and got off the bed. Walking towards my bag, I brought out a notebook and some folders. I went to my desk and opened my laptop. I opened a few applications, and started from there. Taking several hours of typing away at the keyboard and operating some stuff, I finished and put everything away. After this, I turned to my closet and changed into some outdoor clothes. Moving around the room and picking up what I needed like my wallet, keys, and my phone, I then went outside and locked my room. It was around midnight already so I had a jacket on. I walked through the streets, passing by a series street lamps as I made my way to another part of town. There, I entered a building with a sign saying ''BarTENDER''. (Author''s note ¨C I know... I have a bad naming sense...) Inside, I found various customers seated around various tables. Walking towards the counter, the bartender nodded towards me and in turn I, him. After that we both walked and entered an ''authorized personnel only'' room. There, I went to a locker and changed into a uniform. A white long-sleeved polo and a black vest. A standard bartender uniform. I put on a bow tie and moved to replace the previous bartender. This is my job. A shift ''til it''s around 5:00 to 6:00 in the morning. After that I''ll go home then to school. I have a peculiar schedule for school, so the time I go home varies. And when school''s done, I work on whatever they''ve given me and I repeat the process. As for my sleeping time... It''s before, during and after my class sessions. ¡­ But I guess I''ll mix my schedule up a bit now that I''ve got the game. Yeah, that sounds good... givng the game some time. Time for me to vent my stress. ----------------------------------- Sooo here you go! Another chapter! A chapter that I''ve had a hard time writing! well anyways. I hope you enjoyed and i also hope that the last part did not sound too forced. and also, i never worked before ( ehehe~ :P ) so that part about his job is just how i speculate how it works. and i guess, that''s... all i have to say now? haha oh! and chapter releases WILL become slower and slower. most prabably. as i don''t have any drafts and i write as i go. and i don''t have a solid idea of where i''m going. and about the previous chapters... now that i think about it, chapters 1 through 4 is, technically, four chapter ones. ... i hope you understood that. well, that''s that sooo i hope you enjoyed reading. i''ll try writing again tomorrow. Chapter 7: Solo Player Chapter 7: Solo Player Alright. Having Pepper drag us around for a while, I took this time to memorize exactly where we''re going. First off, we went to a store that sold many weapons and armor. Apparently it wasn''t just a store as it was also a blacksmith. We went to this one first as it was the closest one we could find. We spent a while there just so the two girls could choose some weapons. Since I was planning to have a magic-oriented build, I had to wait outside for them. And it took a looong while. After a while, the two girls exited the shop and walked up to me rather cheerfully. But I noticed something. Only Bella had equipment on. ¡°...? Hey uh, Pepper. What about your equipment?¡± ¡°Hn? Oh I''m planning on becoming a mage.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Tell me... what did you buy?¡± ¡°Ah! We took a look at many weapons and it was really cool! There were a bunch of stuff that looked really weird like that three-pronged knife thing. They also had a bunch of armor too. It was really fun. And in the end we bought a shortsword, a shield and a few pieces of really sturdy armor.¡± ¡°So you''re telling me, that, it took you TWO AND A HALF HOURS just to buy one set of beginner equipment?¡± ¡°Yup.¡± / ¡°Pretty much.¡± ¡°...¡± Sighing loudly, I looked at the sky. Women. I could rage-quit just for this reason. ¡°Alright! Now that that''s done, let''s go get our equipment!¡± ¡°Could you tell me why I couldn''t have gone by myself to do that like, I don''t know... TWO AND A HALF HOURS AGO?¡± I complained. ¡°''Cause we would''ve pummeled you if you did so! Now let''s go!¡± Pepper marched off. ¡°...¡± Again. Women. A perfectly good reason for me to rage-quit and instead drink a nice, hot cup of coffee... Yes. That would be nice. But in the end, I just wordlessly followed them. Okay. From the blacksmith, to the right is the market district and to the left is... still part of the market district but if we kept going we would end up in front of the mage guild. Which, I think is a good place to start. When we were in front of the building, I had only one description for it. It was huge. And in my opinion it looked like an academy. ''Cause the people in robes in the vicinity looked like students. After marvelling at it for a while, the three of us entered it''s huge doors. Inside, was much more crowded as it was bustling with mages everywhere. Looking around, I saw receptionists behind a counter that was at the very center of the room. The counter was a was a big circle, and inside were the receptionists that were tending to the many mages. I decided to line up for one of the receptionists with Pepper. As for Bella, she went outside to wait for us. As the line moved little by little, we were finally next. After the mage in front of us went away, we stepped up to the counter. ¡°Hello, how may I help you today?¡± ¡°Could you tell us how to get equipment for mages?¡± ¡°Ah yes, first off, you will have to register yourself here, and then you will be given a short orientation on how to use magic.¡± So basically a tutorial. ¡°After your orientation, you will be given basic equipment as a little reward.¡± ¡°For free?¡± ¡°Yes sir. But registering will cost you 3 silver.¡± Of course... ¡°So about the ''orientation'', is that it? Or is there more that we could do?¡± ¡°About that, after your orientation, you are free to do what you want, but to further advance your magic, you are to find the appropriate teacher of your particular magic. Say for example, you had fire magic as a skill, therefore having you find a teacher for fire spells.¡± ¡°What if you have multiple magic skills?¡± Pepper intervened. ¡°Then you have to find teachers for each of them.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Pepper nodded understanding. Curious, I asked her for her skills. ¡°My skills? They''re like this...¡± [Staff lvl.1] [FireMagic lvl.1] [Water Magic lvl.] [MagicPowerBoost lvl.1] [MagicPenetrationBoost lvl.1] Nodding, I also told her mine as I registered our names. ¡°[AttackBoost]? Why?¡± She asked rather surprised. As a response, I only gave her a chuckle. After registering, the receptionist told us to go to a certain room to the left. Just like us many were heading there as well. Entering the large open door, we found a huge room filled to the brim with mages. It looked like one of those college classrooms that had seats like those at the cinema. We sat ourselves down, as we looked at who was in front. There, an old man with a fantastic grey beard stood on top of the stage. He had a big pointed hat and a fancy robe that complemented it. Seeing everyone seated, he made a motion with his hands and the door behind us closed. Clearing his throat, he spoke with a hoarse yet powerful voice. ¡°Hello, and welcome to the mage guild. I am Rudolph, a... mage. Seeing as you have all registered for the mage guild made this one happy. So in return, I will be teaching you how to use magic...¡± Listening to his explanation, he talked about what mana is. It is an invisible well of power that flows within us. There are various ways for us to use it, and that is to cast a spell, strengthen others, or maybe even weaken them. Stolen novel; please report.To use it, you must let it flow outside of you. To move it accordingly. Moving mana is somehow similar to moving your body. I thought of it as an extension to your body, except that it is undetectable to others and can only be felt by you. But there is another way to detect magic. That is to concentrate mana into your vision. This action is another application of ''strengthening'' magic. But this one in particular is pretty advanced and hard for beginners to use. What he told us to do first was to ''feel'' the mana flow within us. The ''class'' seemed a bit confused as we tried to do what he told us to do. Albeit, not really knowing what to do. So I went ahead and tried to feel this mana. Regulating my breathing, trying to feel if there is anything different, and whatnot. I couldn''t feel it. ¡°Yes! I did it!¡± Surprised by the voice beside me, I took a look a Tori. ¡°Wha-!¡± I widen my eyes. In her hand was a small flame. ¡°How did you do that?¡± I asked. ¡°Hmhm~¡± She had a smug smile as she puffed her chest out. ¡°I kind of thought of it as blood you know? And I like, imagined it flowing into my palm. And guess what! It felt like I was holding a bit of water in my hand! Then I wanted to do some magic, you know? And since I had [FireMagic], I thought of something hot like... a fire! And then poof! There''s this cute little flame here!¡± ...Well at least I understood that better than Rudolph''s explanation. So I went ahead and tried it. First is to think of it as... blood, right? Then flow into my palm. Hmmm... like if there''s a wound and I''m bleeding or something? Oh! It does feel like I''m holding water! And next is to imagine a flame... After thinking of that, the ''mana'' in my hand created a small spark. Then a flame. ¡°Alright.¡± I said as I pumped my fist. Looking around, I notice others around us doing so as well. Some had fire, others a ball of water, and I even spotted one with a small plant. Huh. Pepper might become a good teacher someday. I took a quick glance at her to see what she was doing. And again, I widen my eyes. She had about five balls of fire the size of a fist dancing around her. Ahh my daughter. Never ceases to amaze me. ¡­ But somehow I feel bitter. I try to do the same thing as her. Okay. Imagine the flame becoming bigger. Just as big as the ones Pepper has. As I concentrated my mana into the small flame I had on my hand, I felt a burst as though I had popped a waterballoon. The flame in my hand exploded. ¡­ Just like me, the people around me were surprised. A bunch of eyes were on me and I just sat there frozen. Although it exploded right in front of my face, I only took a small amount of damage. What did ''damage'' me was that I was kind of the center of attention. I looked at Pepper for some help. Noticing my gaze, she- looked away and ignored me, continuing whatever she was doing. Don''t at as if you don''t know meee!! Ahh I give up. ¡°Ahaha... D-don''t, don''t mind me. Haha...¡± I tried to laugh it off. After that, they turned away muttering a few complaints here and there. Especially the ones close to me. Sighing, I went back to my own experimentation albeit in a smaller scale. After a while, Rudolph told us a few more things like, going to a teacher to learn more but for a small sum as payment or do it ourselves like what we did a while ago. Although some of us were able to manifest our mana into something related to the element we chose, those aren''t considered spells. Spells are more complicated because some need incantations or magic circles to enhance what we were manifesting. And after saying all this, he dismissed us by opening the door and giving us some robes and staves. Walking outside with Pepper, she asked me a question. ¡°Sooo what now?¡± ¡°I guess we can continue experimenting with our magic.¡± I answered. ¡°...¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I think you should go to a teacher.¡± ¡°WHY?!¡± Giggling, Pepper skipped towards the exit. I followed her outside and found that she met up with Bella. Looking at them, they seemed to be talking about something. And laughing. For goodness'' sake... For the last time. WOMEN. Looking at the sky once more, I sighed and prayed to the gods that the following days be better. ------------------------ Sooorry for the delay!! Here''s chapter numero seven for you guys! I checked my average views and I was happy to see it at a hundred and fifty. or somewhere along those lines. :P It may not be much compared to others but it feels like a BAJILLION to me. :D Sooo thanks again for reading this storythatwasjustdoneonawhim of mine. XD Oh! and about those comments where they told me to describe things better, well... i already know i''m bad at it. :P but i''ll try to improve! one reason i''m bad at it, is that i prefer to draw instead of describe. i''m not very confident in my drawings but tell me if you want some illustrations, like a map or something. maybe even characters. sooo yeah. i guess that''s it. see you again later! (four days ''til college...) Chapter 8: Girl Gamer Chapter 8: Girl Gamer Reuniting with brother, I showed him the fruits of my hard-work. ¡°Taadaa!¡± I said happily. ¡°Well that was sooner than expected. Good job.¡± I became even happier as he said that. ¡°Now, try taming around five more. Or until your [Taming] skill levels up.¡± ¡­ I have fallen into the depths of the abyss... Seeing me depressed, he quickly added. ¡°I-I''ll help you this time! Chances increase when you bring down their HP.¡± ¡°Ohhh! Really?! Yay!¡± I beamed as I jumped up in joy. Haha, I know... I''m a spoiled young woman... But that doesn''t matter right now! It took me around 20 minutes just to tame that one slime!. ¡°Well, there are other methods as well but I think this would be the easiest right now.¡± ¡°Other methods?¡± I asked. ¡°Yeah. But I''ll tell you later. Ah! I know. I''ll tell you as a reward once you level your [Taming] skill.¡± I renewed my determination. If it means increasing my chances of taming monsters, I''d gladly take it. ¡°Alright let''s begin.¡± Brother said as he led us to the closest slime. ¡°I''ll poke it, and you tame it. Simple, right?¡± I nod as he proceeded to poke the slime with his dagger. ¡­ He killed it. ¡°Wha-! Wait, what happened?!¡± I shouted as I watched the slime turn into light particles. ¡°It died just by touching the tip of your dagger?! Brother!!¡± ¡°Ahaha~ I power-leveled too much...¡± He said as he scratched his head and laughed wryly. ¡°What in the world is your level for you to be able to do that?¡± I glared. ¡°Seven.¡± ¡°With only slimes?! Aren''t these supposed to be practice dummies?! And you did that in only 20 minutes?! Wait. Do these slimes give enough experience for you to do that?!¡± I want to plunge the world into oblivion for some reason now... ¡°C-calm down for a minute... Well, since it''s come to this, let''s go to a higher leveled area. Is that okay? You''ll get better pets?¡± He said as he tried to appease me. ¡°Muuuu....¡± I pouted. ¡°...........Fine.¡± Sighing, I gave up. Well, it is brother... right? Still pouting, I followed brother into the woods. While walking, brother picked up some things here and there saying it would be useful in the future. There were a variety of things, like mushrooms, plants, pebbles...? Twigs? Okay, now he''s just picking up random stuff. ¡­...I will never understand. After a while, we finally encountered our first monster. It was a big dog named... ¡°Rabid Dog¡±. And surprisingly, it''s level 5. Hey, where did all the level twos and threes go? I asked to no one in particular. ¡°Okay. Just like before, I''ll lower it''s health and you try to tame it.¡± He said as we sneaked towards it. This time, instead of just walking nonchalantly towards his target, he leaped and ambushed the unsuspecting dog. Quickly bringing the dagger down, brother twisted the blade once it lodged inside. ¡­ Poor dog. Growling, it barked as it tried to bite brother back. But when the dog thought it was close enough, brother quickly jumped away and jumped back in to stab it once more. ¡°Now!¡± Brother shouted at me. Snapping back into reality(or virtual reality), I quickly used [Tame]. Light appeared around my hands, as well as around the dog. Visibly, the dog slowed down. But that was it. The dog resumed to attack brother as if nothing happened. ¡°Keep going!¡± Brother shouted again. ¡°O-okay!¡± For the duration of the fight, I continued casting [Tame] while brother led the dog around in circles. This is completely inefficient... And no matter how hard I tried I couldn''t tame it. It felt like forever. And finally, brother killed it because he was getting tired. ¡°Haaa! This was harder than I thought.¡± Brother said as we sat down somewhere to rest. ¡°...¡± And of course, I was a bit depressed. D-don''t blame me okay? I''m... I''m a sensitive woman. ¡°Tori?¡± I looked up towards him. ¡°Why don''t we keep going?¡± He asked. ¡°...Yeah.¡± ¡°............-sigh-, I guess, it''s okay to tell you the other methods? What do you say?¡± ¡°Hm? Is that alright?¡± I asked. ¡°Well I don''t think it would help our situation anyway so why not?¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Okay, um, another method is to befriend them.¡± ¡°Befriend?¡± ¡°Yeah. You try to become friends with the other party by doing various actions to help make them have a better opinion of you.¡± ¡°Like, feeding them and stuff?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± He nodded. ¡°But the animals in here... are kind of aggressive.¡± ¡°I see...¡± ¡°Another method is to... challenge them? I think?¡± Brother said as he ate some bread. ¡°Challenge them? Like a competition?¡± ¡°Almost. But that''s essentially the idea, anyway.¡± ¡°But how do you do that?¡± I asked. ¡°Ahh well, that method is kind of for more sentient monsters.¡± He tossed me some bread. Catching the bread, I thought about what to do. Sighing, I played with the bread in my hands. ¡°Do you want to go back to the slimes?¡± Okay. Anything but that. Didn''t you just say that you would try a bajillion times right? Or was it gazillion... Anyway! You''re not one to give up so easily right?! Just like last time, if you persevere, you will be able to do it, right?! I know. It''s a weird way of motivating myself. Well anyways! I feel better now. ¡°Okay. Seems you''ve cheered up now. So, do you still want to continue?¡± Why did it feel like that question in t*kken when you lose... But I nod anyway! Seeing my renewed-renewed determination, we went to look for some more dogs. So far, it''s been just like the first. Brother would injure it and run in circles while I try to tame it. And when it''s been too long, brother kills it and we rest. Ding! I''ve already reached level four from the several dogs we encountered as well as having my [Taming] reach level two, which made me extremely happy! We''ve also encountered some cats(that were so cute that I put in a little more effort), some snakes(that if possible I don''t want to tame, but brother still told me to), and a bear(that looked like it would be really nice to hug). Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. So far, no luck. But this time, I won''t let it affect me! Unlike before, I''m an even more determined young woman, with my renewed-renewed-renewed determination! And it''s been kind of fun exploring the forest and seeing many different animals in person and not through a TV screen. With everything we''ve encountered, I rose up to level seven while brother at level eleven. ¡­ Now I really am beginning to wonder how brother managed to get level seven with only slimes... Walking around again, we encountered another dog. I walked in front of it without being fazed by it. Why, you ask? ''Cause my [MovementSpeedBoost] reached level three! All because I tried so hard to catch up to brother... Somehow I feel a bit irritated. Oh! And also! My [Taming] reached level four because of my many(failed) attempts! As I stood in front of the dog, it growled as it lowered itself in a stance looked like it could pounce at me anytime. Even in the face of a scary dog, I stood confidently in front of it. The reason why, is not because I was stronger or anything... well, honestly I think the dog can still mangle me to death even though I''m higher leveled than it. No, the reason is because I know brother will help me fight it! ¡­ Haha, I''m a spoilt young woman. Smiling, I looked around for brother. ¡°..................................brother?¡± Seeing no sign of him, I quickly tried to search for brother. Turning my head in every direction, I couldn''t see even the faintest bit of anything about brother. Hey,hey, hey! Where is he?! He dare leave his cute little sister behind?! Grrrroowwlll~ I stiffened up. Haha, don''t worry... you can outrun it right? You can definitely outrun it. Grroowll~ Right? ¡°Good.. doggie?¡± It leaped towards me with frightening speed. Following my instincts, I ran away at top speed... while screaming. ¡°Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!¡± Looking back, I see the dog catching up to me. ¡°Why?!¡± I''m supposed to outrun it right?! Quickly, I took out some stuff in my inventory. Finding a piece of bread, the one that brother gave me, I threw it at the dog hoping it would slow it down. Seeing the piece of bread fly towards it, it jumped and magnificently caught it with it''s mouth. Ooooohhh! Amazing! Wait! This isn''t the time to be praising it! Bringing out the rest of the bread brother gave me, I kept throwing them at the dog, quickly depleting my food supply. After a while, I finally ran out. ¡°May the Lord be with me...¡± But it doesn''t end there. After running like that for a while, I became visibly tired. Meaning, I also visibly slowed down as well. With the dog in tow, I couldn''t afford that, so I ran and ran and ran and... Good Lord, I can''t keep this up anymore... Finally stopping for a rest, the dog stopped somewhere behind me as well. How come we can get tired here?! There''s no stamina bar!! I complained. Turning to face the dog, I smiled wryly and meekly waved my hand. ¡°Hi?¡± Bark!! ¡°Eep!¡± I flinch. With the dog slowly walking towards me I panicked and tried to do the only thing I can do. ¡°[Tame]!!¡± As light began to appear, I noticed as the dog wagged it''s tail. *Ding You have successfully tamed a Rabid Dog. Seeing this, I could literally just cry. And I did. I jumped towards the dog surprising it, and hugged it as if to say I was never letting it go... And also to comfort me from the scary experience I just had. Ignoring the whimpering from the dog I continued hugging it until I wondered whether or not I was dealing damage to it. Letting it go, the dog was instantly relieved as it was visibly tired. Tired from chasing me? Or tired from being hugged? Well whatever. I hugged it again, this time gentler. ¡°Well that took a while.¡± A familiar voice reached my ears. I looked and saw brother walking towards us happily. Instantly, I flared. ¡°YOU!! WHERE WERE YOU?! HOW COULD YOU LEAVE ME BEHIND LIKE THAT?!¡± I want to cry... oh wait, I am. ¡°H-hold on! I didn''t leave you behind! If it really did attack you, I would''ve jumped in.¡± ¡°But it DID attack me!!¡± ¡°And you ran away before I could do anything.¡± ¡°...¡± I glared really REALLY hard at him. ¡°L-look, I''m sorry. But at least you tamed it... right?¡± ¡°Well I guess I did... but you better treat me to something expensive later okay?!¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah, I will.¡± ¡°I''ll burn your wallet ''til I''m satisfied!!¡± ¡°...¡± Sighing he gave up. ¡°...Fine.¡± At his answer, I beamed and gave him a hug. ¡°Thanks.¡± Seeing me like this, he sighed yet again. ¡°What am I going to do with you?¡± He said to his oh, so hopeless little sister. Releasing him from my hug, I smiled. Haha. I really am spoilt. But even so... I enjoy it. :D ------------------------------------------- Sooo! I hope that didn''t seem too weird for you! I also hope you enjoyed that ''cause, I sure did. and if you''re wondering... no, no incest. And about my illustrations, well... I really am having trouble with my scanner ''cause I don''t have the WIA driver thing. I tried many things, like downloading it, installing it, looked up some suggestions and stuff... It didn''t work. Sooo until I could find a way to upload my drawings, i hope you''ll be patient? And one more thing! two days from now is finally judgement day... my first day of college. sooo updating this will become slower yet again. i''ll try to find some time to write so rest assured you''ll be seeing more of Amaron. definitely. And once again thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed. Chapter 9: Group of Four Chapter 9: Group of Four After resting, we ( I ) went to go hunting for some more goblins. We didn''t go any deeper and just grinded our levels here. Although our line-up was pretty strange, we didn''t really encounter any other problems. And I hope it stays that way. Hopefully. Wiping my forehead with my arm, I exhaled after killing another goblin. ¡°Geez.. I really am getting tired.¡± I said. ¡°That''s why you need to work out more.¡± Ruth said as she was tinkering with the drops we had so far and contiued. ¡°Oh and come here for a sec.¡± Frowning at her remark, I walked towards her. Curious as well, both Lucas and Rin walked over too. ¡°So what do you want to show me?¡± I asked. As a response, she showed me an arrow. ¡°This.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°An arrow?¡± To this, she puffed out her chest. ¡°Hmhm. Not just any arrow. Even though it looks like this, the item name says it''s a [Bundle of Arrows x10].¡± ¡°What?¡± I said as I widen my eyes. ¡°This? But wait.. how exactly do I use this?¡± I asked bemused. ¡°Apparently you need a quiver for it. And lucky for you, I happened to make one just now with the dog skins.¡± She said with a smile that said ''praise me, praise me''. ¡°Wow. This is great! You actually did something useful for once!¡± I said amazed. *Boink ¡­ Why was I hit on the head? ¡°Hey, I complemented you. What was that for?¡± ¡°I did many things a while back too you know? Like making some potions as well as an arrow.¡± ¡°But that was just one arrow!¡± ¡°Yeah, that you wasted.¡± She said as she threw me both the ¡°bundle¡± of arrows and the quiver. Rummaging through her inventory, she brought out a potion with red liquid inside. ¡°Also, I want to try something out.¡± She said. ¡°Lucas, c''mere for a sec.¡± Looking at Rin and I, he shrugged and stepped forward. Nodding, Ruth played with the potion her hand and... threw it as hard as she can. ¡°...!¡± And with that, Lucas got a face-full of potion. ¡°Hey! What was that for?! You could''ve done that to Adrian!¡± ¡°Hey!¡± ¡°Okay, okay, stop quarreling.¡± Ruth intervened. ¡°Lucas, check your status.¡± ¡°What? Why?¡± While asking, he did so anyway. ¡°Woah! I have a strength buff! Was that the potion?¡± Smiling happily, she replied. ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°But still, that was a minor potion. So it''s not much.¡± Ruth shrugged. ¡°What are you talking about! These are great!¡± Lucas. ¡°Yeah, I think so too.¡± Rin. ¡°We could sell them?¡± Me. *Boink ¡°Hey! They would sell really well right?¡± ¡°That''s not the point.¡± Rin. ¡°Well whatever.¡± Ruth said. ¡°That was the only potion I made anyway and I ran out of materials.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Wait, ALL of the materials?¡± ¡°Well, not all but... most of it? I made some other stuff too though.¡± ¡°Like what?¡± ¡°Antidotes, minor healing potions, and a dagger.¡± ¡°I see, I see... wait, a dagger?¡± ¡°Yeah. The goblins dropped some weapon parts. Right now we have a hilt, aaand... a handle thing?¡± ¡°Handle thing?¡± ¡°Yeah. A handle thing.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°..Okaaay.¡± I said. ¡°So do we keep grinding or do we go deeper?¡± I tried to change topics. ¡°Go deeper I guess.¡± Lucas shrugged. ¡°Deeper it is then.¡± After that, we ventured forth and we encountered many more goblins. Some of the new goblins were problematic. They can cast some magic but they weren''t too strong. What was really bothersome though was that they had ''meat shields''. Since I was the only damage dealer(along with the occasional bomb from Ruth), we had a lot of trouble just getting towards them. But in the end we sort of managed. But since we were running low on both health and mana, as well as items, we had to go back and restock. ¡°Sheesh. I had to use some bombs too. Now I have like three left.¡± Ruth blew her hair from her face. ¡°Though our levels are like this, we can''t really get far can we?¡± Lucas. Currently our levels are as follows. Me at level 9. Rin at level 8. Lucas at level 8. And Ruth at level 7. Being really stubborn, I put my points into speed. I don''t really know about the others but I know their smart enough. ¡°So. Do we go at it again?¡± Lucas. None of us spoke reason being that we may be wanting to rest. ¡°How long has it been anyway?¡± I asked. Checking our in-game clocks that showed real-world time, we agreed to log out for now. As for the clock, it moves much slower in-game. So we know what time it is outside. There''s also a separate clock for this world as well. ¡°So when do we meet up again?¡± ¡°Obviously after classes.¡± Our conversations went like this as we planned for tomorrow. ¡°Well anyways. See ya guys later.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Bye.¡± ¡°Bye.¡± Logging out at the same time, our bodies dissipated into light particles. ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ Opening my eyes, my room entered my vision. What greeted me next was the aroma of breakfast. Wow, has it really been that long? Rubbing my eyes and yawning, I got up from bed. Going through my already-open-door, I walked downstairs and entered the dining room. On the table were some table ware and some dishes in the center. This time, I entered the kitchen first. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Mornin'' sis.¡± I greeted. Turning around, my little sister greeted me as well. ¡°Morning.¡± What she wore was a pink apron above her school uniform. She was holding a ladle and in front of her was an oven with a pot in top. ¡°Mom and dad?¡± ¡°Still sleeping.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Our parents work at the company that made Amaron Online. And since this game seems to be popular, their workload would increase. But even so, they seem to be very happy. ¡°They said they''ll play the game with us at some point though.¡± Maggie said. ¡°Really?¡± I said. ¡°Wait, did you start playing already?¡± ¡°Duh. Of course I did. I played with some friends who happened to get the game as well.¡± ¡°Really now. Say, what level are you?¡± I asked. She frowned. ¡°I''m not a hard-cor gamer like you, so my friends and I are at about six ot seven.¡± I chuckled. ¡°What are you talking about? That''s quite a good start already. And besides, you did really well during beta testing.¡± Frowning further, she turned back to her cooking. After a while, I asked her another question. ¡°So what are you planning? Same as last time?¡± ¡°Hmmm... maybe.¡± She shrugged. ¡°You sure? It was kind of... you know?¡± ¡°Hmph. Of course I''m sure. It was cute.¡± I smiled wryly. Okay, I know what you''re thinking. That my sister''s class was something along the lines of being cute and adorable and all that. NO. Her class was a necromancer. A super-rare class. And although she doesn''t want to admit it, she''s just as much a gamer as I am. And also, I hate to admit it but, she could be even better than me. Going back into the dining room, my sister came back a while after while carrying a pot. I went to help her carry it and set it on the table. There, we ate while talking more about the game. And after finishing, my sister went straight for school while I went back to my room to get ready. Changing into my school uniform, I packed up my stuff and went out. Class that day was uneventful. We had some quizzes, but for Rin and Ruth being who they are, easily aced them. Lucas and I are one of those who just get decent enough grades. Isn''t it amazing? How Rin and Ruth play games and are still frustratingly smart? Ahem. Well anyways, by the end of the last class, the four of us were nowhere to be seen on campus... ''Cause we rushed home to do something completely unrelated to school whatsoever! From there, I logged back in and met up with the others. ¡°So you guys ready to go in now?¡± Lucas asked again. ¡°Don''t get too excited.¡± Ruth answered. ¡°We came back because we ran out of supplies remember?¡± ¡°Oh yeah.¡± Typical Lucas. There, we entered the forest. The forest was kind of dense. Thick trees along with a bunch of shrubs scattered everywhere. It was kind of hard to find what we needed. Mostly because of Ruth''s vague descriptions. ''They have long leaves that look like bunny ears.'' Like so. So, I ended up just picking up everything I came by. And yes, most of them are weeds. After a looong while, we finally reached our ''quota'' and prepared to enter the dungeon again. But first, we had to log back out to eat dinner. The dungeon was pretty simple. It was a cave system with a few dead-ends here and there. The roof had those spike things and droplets of water would drop from it from time to time. After moving for a while and encountering a few goblins, we found tracks. Railroad tracks. You know, the ones for the carts the miners use? Those tracks. And from there we found a few lamps hanging around to keep the place lit. And since we were moving deeper, the goblins were, of course, getting stronger as well. ¡°Man, it''s getting a bit difficult now.¡± I complained. ¡°No, no. Just, carry on. We''ll support you.¡± Ruth. ¡°...¡± I swear, this team. We continued on and... stopped immediately. Out of nowhere, goblins on wolves ambushed us. I quickly faced one but several others rounded me and attacked the ones-with-almost-no-combat-potential. I heard the others shouting and screaming but the goblin rider in front of me kept me busy. And almost as quickly as that happened... We all died. ----------------------- Sooo! Here is the chapter! Sorry for the delay and if the plotline was like meh. To me, it sort of feels forced? The jokes and stuff. But hey! I tried being a bit more''descriptive'' of the environment(even if it''s only minimal) and i hope you noticed it. i''ll be updating less ''cause i want to finish my entry for the contest. ''cause i''m kind of scared i won''t have enough time because of college. instructors made it clear that they''ll be a bit strict. of course, i''ll write for this too obviously, cause i''m really liking it. oh! and don''t think the instructors are bad though. they''re nice. giving us advice and everything. As for the drawings............................. not yet. :P maybe i''ll just bring the printer/scanner to my desktop and do it there. my laptop refuses to scan. Sooo! i guess that''s it again. i hope you enjoyed ''cause i really really am. really. and i''ll see you next time! Chapter 10: Duo Queue Chapter 10: Duo Queue It''s been a while already and I''ve killed 2 more skeletons. And because of that I leveled two more times. So now I''m level seven and very close to getting another. As to how I killed the skeletons, the new sword I got was pretty good. Especially as a blunt weapon. And I used hit and run tactics to whittle down the non-visible health of the skeleton. Of course, I died (several) a few times but managed to kill the first one. Just like last time, I lost a level and gained one so I became level six. I did the same to the next and I''m now currently facing my fourth skeleton. But the only difference is that this one seemed stronger. And its name can vouch for it. Skeleton lvl.14 I''m currently wielding the same broad-sword as before which is also actng as my shield. -Clang! The skeleton strikes me and I block with the sword. Right now, I was able to harass the skeleton as I still did the hit and run tactics. Almost died a few times but I still had potions from both the dogs and the skeletons. -Clang! The skeleton kept slashing at me and even though I was blocking, I can see that my health bar is slowly depleting. Taking my chance after it slashed one more time, I swung my sword upward and vaulted the skeleton backwards. Been fighting this guy for a while now and I''m already getting tired. I think I''ve whittled this guy down a bit. Maybe. ''Cause I see that I''ve made some dents and cracks here and there, and seeing as how I''m holding up, I''m quite impressed with myself. You have died. Okay, I take that back. Quickly going back to where the skeleton was, I see then engage it again. Making a preemptive strike, I brought my sword down upon its skull from behind. And shattered it. ¡­ Dafuq? The headless skeleton grew limp and fell forward. Recieving a notification saying that I leveled up, I look at the skeleton as it disappears, leaving behind it''s shattered skull and a broad-sword. Picking up the drops, I thought about what just happened. Okay, first off. I''m pretty sure that skeleton was much ''healthier'' than that. And second... well there is no second but whatever. I just one-shot what I shouldn''t have one-shot. Well to be honest, it does make quite a lot of sense. I mean, if you pierce someone''s heart, then no matter how strong your defence is, you''d still die. ¡­ Works for me. But still, that skeleton was a bit careless. Seeing as how I snuck behind it (without even trying) and landed a clean shot. Guess Lady Luck is on my side. Moving on. I made my way around the cave whilst engaging a few more lesser skeletons. Of course, taking note of the fact that I could kill them just by smashing their skulls open. Just making sure that that is true, I quickly tried to experiment on the first one. First, I hid behind a rock and waited for it to come closer. Once it was close enough, I brought the broad-sword down with a lot of force just like how one would try to smash a watermelon open with a bat. And sure enough, it did. I broke part of it''s skull and the effect was immediate. Sadly enough, it didn''t die. Hmm.. maybe it was because it was only part of the skull? Well whatever. A bit disappointed in myself, I fought the skeleton and finished it off. Huh. It''s actually getting quite easy. I thought as I went deeper into the cave to fight my next skeleton. Oh. But I did notice. That the cave was becoming more humid as the walls of dirt and rocks became darker. And of course, the cave did too. Until it got to a point. The walls and ceiling, as well as the floor is beginning to have these shiny rocks that glew and brightened the cave a bit. Thanks to this, I could see better. And what I saw next, was another skeleton. And this skeleton actually has proper armour. Iron helmet, breastplate, greaves, gloves, and an iron sword. Skeleton lvl.17 Quite the jump in equipment for a three level difference. Trying to sneak behind a rock like before, the skeleton did something I did not expect. It turned it''s head towards me. And ran. It ran straight to where I was hidden, as it poised its sword. Honestly it was a bit scary. You know those part of horror movies where the ghosts will jumpscare you? Yeah. This was exactly like one of those. ''Cause it ran fast. And mind you, that I am actually quite used to jumpscares as I watch a horror movie every now and then. But even though I''m used to it, doesn''t mean it''s not scary. And besides, this is different. Unable to react to this suddeness, the skeleton stabbed me with elegant movement. And not even able to make a sound, an old friend came to greet me. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. You have died. Sighing in my head, I return to a familiar place. No glow rocks, dark, and humid. The solid rock formations, and many many pebbles and rocks scattered around the place. But even though it was dark, the skeletons were contrast. I stand up and decide what to do. I mean, I don''t even have to think about it. Kill the weaker skeletons, level up, get stronger, then finally going deeper to face the stronger skeletons. Haha, I feel my day just keeps getting better and better. Even though I died many times but... who cares? Not me. Besides, I feel this certain feeling of accomplishment that I''ve never felt for a looong time. Yeah, and this feeling... This feeling is ''progressing''. Giving another but ''happier'' sigh. I headed out to grind. And of course, keep track of the time so that I could finish my projects. I walked around until I found a skeleton. Preparing to engage it, something appeared in front of me just before I charged. From: Sarah Yo! Where are you? I mean, your level is is a bit low you know? It''s been quite a while too. But! But! If you''re having trouble, don''t hesitate to ask! I''ll definitely help you! Wut? I can understand that my level is low but... how did she know? Playing around with the menu( I never thought existed before), I found the ''friends'' section. And in that list, is one person. Sarah. How in the world did she get in here? Jesus... Oh, and it seems I can see her level. No wonder she can see mine. Hmm... lvl. 21? Oooh, she'' pretty good. But don''t worry. I may have had a rough start, but I''ll catch up soon. Getting back on track, I faced the skeleton and attacked. As the skeleton was unprepared, I swung my sword towards it''s head. Unfortunately, the skeleton saw me and did a rushed block. Which I was surprised it did. Somewhat blocking it, I was still able to go through with my attack and hit it on the shoulder. As my sword made contact with the shoulder, the arm got dismembered and fell off, together with the sword it carried. To this new turn of events, a grin crept up to my face. As the skeleton had no means of attacking anymore, it hastily tried to pick up the sword with it''s left hand. Not giving it a chance, I bashed its skull in and shattered it. Falling limp from it''s pitiful display, it disappeared and left a few things. Some potions, its sword, its shattered skull, and... a ring? Picking it up, I examined it. Bone Ring Not really special. But has effects anyways. Clumsy AttackSpeed+0.03 Not minding the description, the effect seems to be really nice. If my attacks are faster then the better. Even if it is miniscule. It might become better as the rank becomes higher. And besides, doesn''t hurt to have it on me. Putting it on, I equipped the ring and found it to be a perfect fit. Smiling at this, I continue on. Walking around, finding a skeleton then killing it, rinse and repeat. Rinse and repeat. Rinse and repeat. Rinse and repeat. Rinse and repeat. Simple. I did this routine for a few hours not really thinking it to be tedious, I noticed that it was getting quite late and logged off. Opening my eyes and came face to face with darkness. Removing the visor, I got up and went to opened the lights. I squint as the light assaulted the room and brightened everything up. There, I see my bed, the visor, my desk, laptop, aaand... my plates. (AN-this is a term equivalent to projects) Giving a sad sigh, I walked to my desk that had my plates on it. The desk wasn''t really impressive but it was wide. Wide enough to keep the console, my laptop, and 20x30 vellum cartolina on it at the same time. And still some space to spare. Sitting down, I look at the empty paper for a while then shrugged. Getting my T-square, I started by making my title block. Geez... This is going to be a looong night... ------------------------------------- Hello again! the little spider is here to give you an update! i''ll post chapters on some of my other stories as well. and no, i won''t drop any of them. because unlike the many senpais, i can''t work as fast as them. (srsly, i tried one chapter a day but everything went kabooom) and i think they even have it harder than me when it comes to rl. :P but well, you can call me a passive writer here. i''ll write when i can, stock up on chapters and post them all at once. sooo, i be seeing you guys later? pls? oh and i just recently watched an anime and i''m shipping 45 right now. why 45? because 5 x 9!! if you know what i mean. :P well anyways! see you later!