《Elskria Online》 Prologue - The Birth of a New Game Hello guys, this is my second FF. My first FF is called Dragon Princess, don''t hesitate to take a look at it. This FF release speed will be pretty slow because for now I''ll concentrate on my first fiction instead. Once I''ll finish it''s first arc I''ll start to spend more time on this one. Enjoy ! This chapter was Proofreaded by makuc. *********** ************** *********** **************** In a certain house situated in Japan, a man opened the door. His name is Katsuya Hitsuji, a 32 year old man; one of the best developers in the world, working for the Japanese government. Katsuya, as he entered the house, was greeted by a woman. Her long beautiful black hair seemed to be floating in the air as she turned her head and her slender body would surely made any other woman jealous. But the most beautiful thing this woman has is her warm smile she showed as she saw him returning. This woman is Katsuya¡¯s wife, Shizuka Hitsuji. Shizuka : ¡° Welcome back darling. ¡° Katsuya : ¡° I am back honey. ¡° Katsuya couldn¡¯t help but smile at his wife, as he saw her radiant smile. Shizuka : ¡° It¡¯s good that you managed to obtain a leave for today. I wonder how she¡¯ll react, considering she completely forgot that today is her birthday and that she is now eleven years old. ¡° Katsuya : ¡° Haha, I am sure she takes that from her mother, she lives in the present instead of the in the past or the future. ¡° Shizuka : ¡° What do you mean by that ?! I am not stupid! ¡° Shizuka said as she pouted. Katsuya : ¡° I know you aren¡¯t and even if you would be, I would still love you. ¡° He said slowly embracing her. Shizuka : ¡° Idiot¡­ ¡° She weakly said. A weak sound began to resonate inside the house, light tapping on the floor. It kept becoming stronger and stronger and soon they could see a little girl running toward them. Shizuka swiftly left her husband¡¯s arm, taking a step away from him as she did so. Girl : ¡° ~~OTOOO-SAAANNNN~~ !!! ¡° A girl yelled as she jumped toward Katsuya. The scene would have been touching if she ended up being caught by him, but instead she head-butted him in the stomach, leaving him lying on the ground, holding his stomach. As the man was still lying, little girl kept poking his head as if checking whether he was still alive. The girl¡¯s head arrived at his navel. She was really short and possessed black hair like her mother''s. Her skin was slightly pink and her face showed a big smile, making her look cute and lovely. Her light blue eyes seemed to be shining as she was looking at her father. Katsuya : ¡° Yu-Yuki¡­ If you want to greet me, try to jump normally instead of giving me a head-butt. ¡° He said as he was agonizing. Yuki : ¡° Oto-san! Oto-san! Come play with me ! ¡° She kept begging as she was pulling his sleeve. Katsuya : ¡° Fine, fine. What game do you want to play ? ¡° He asked with a light smile, giving in to her demands. Katsuya was really happy with his life, he managed to find a woman he loved and who loved him back, too, before having a daughter with her. Continuing to live like this was all he could have ever wished for. Yuki : ¡° Let¡¯s play Monster Hunter !! ¡° She said as she pulled him to the living room. Shizuka : ¡° Wait !! I already told you that you are too young for this type of game! ¡° She said trying to interfere, but was stopped by Katsuya at the end. Katsuya : ¡° At least for today¡­ Let¡¯s let her do what she want. ¡° Shizuka : ¡° Fine... Only for a few hours okay ? Afterwards I will take her to a supermarket and make sure to buy you enough time to prepare the decorations. ¡° Shizuka whispered in his ear, making sure Yuki wouldn¡¯t hear her. Yuki : ¡° Otooo-saannn, let¡¯s go ! ¡° Little girl protested as she pulled his clothes again even more vigorously. Katsuya : ¡° I am coming, I am coming. Don¡¯t worry. ¡° The two of them sat in front of a PS3 console, connected to a 2 meters away television. Katsuya had a passion for video games and couldn¡¯t help but playing them whenever he had free time. Shizuka also didn¡¯t mind this passion of his and would even sometimes join him in a game like ¡®Just Dance¡¯. Naturally his daughter was influenced by him and developed a passion for videogames as well, but what she loved the most was playing with him. Every time he was home she would ask him to play, it was her way of spending time with him. Shizuka was sitting on a sofa behind them, looking at them playing together with warm eyes, listening to the excited voices of her husband and daughter playing together. She loved the serene yet lively atmosphere they made as they played together. After two hours were over, deciding it was high time for her to leave and take Yuki to a supermarket, leaving enough time for Katsuya to decorate the living room and prepare the cake she bought a few days ago, she called out to them. Shizuka : ¡° Why don¡¯t you guys stop for a moment, Yuki please go get dressed, we are going shopping. ¡° Yuki : ¡° Ehhhh ? Do we really have to go now ? ¡° She cutely said as she was looking at her father whom she was playing with. Shizuka : ¡° Is that so ? Then I guess I¡¯ll be taking an ice cream alone today. ¡° Her mother rebutted as she slowly walked to the door, certain that her daughter would take the bait. Yuki : ¡° Wait Okaa-chan, I am coming ! ¡° Yuki energetically exclaimed before running upstairs into her room to get quickly dressed. It only took her a few dozens of seconds to get ready and come back in a lovely blue frilled dress, her long black hairs being all over her face. Shizuka : ¡° You didn¡¯t really have to worry you know ? I would have waited for you either way today¡­ ¡° She said with a small laugh as she brushed her hairs. She then turned to Katsuya and kissed him. Shizuka : ¡° I am counting on you. ¡° She said with a wink to him before taking Yuki¡¯s hand and leaving the house. *********** ************** *********** **************** Shizuka took her car and drove to the supermarket accompanied by her daughter. Once there, she bought many vegetables and some expensive meat. Yuki : ¡° Okaa-san, why aren¡¯t you buying the habitual meat ? ¡° She asked as she pointed at the meat corner with lower priced meat, from which they normally would be choosing. Shizuka : ¡° Because today is a special day. Isn''t it fine once in a while? ¡° She said as she caressed Yuki¡¯s head. Yuki : ¡° Special day ? ¡° She wondered as she tilted her head. Shizuka : ¡° L-Let¡¯s go buy your ice cream. ¡° Perplexed, she quickly tried changing the subject before Yuki catches on as to what is going on and she accidentally lets the cat out of the bag. Yuki : ¡° Ice cream !! ¡° Yuki¡¯s blue eyes were literally shining as she began to run to the ice cream corner and picked one. After that they went to the checkout, they carried the goods into the car and started it. Yuki waited until all the goods were loaded before finally started to eat her favorite ice cream. As she was showing her delighted expression while eating it, her mother couldn¡¯t help but smile at her. In the total, she spent two whole hours at the supermarket and as such it should be more than enough time for Katsuya to prepare the living room. She drove in the direction their home was in and everything was fine on the road, until a bus suddenly came driving in the wrong direction. Little did she know that this bus was hijacked and that the conductor was forced to drive this wrong way. Shizuka didn¡¯t have enough time to dodge the bus, so she collided with it, which sent her car rolling ten meters away from the place of impact. Shock from the bus'' abrupt stop sent the hijacker who was standing in the bus flying, hurting him very badly in the process. The conductor''s reaction was very swift. First he checked the situation around him, making sure the hijacker wasn¡¯t able to do anything, before checking the condition of all the passengers. Thankfully none of them were wounded by the impact. Only then did he realize that people from the other party people may have been injured, so he rushed out of the bus and ran towards Shizuka¡¯s car which was upside down. He tried to open the front door, but it was blocked by the damage caused by the impact. He quickly asked some of the passengers for help and together they finally managed to open the door, allowing him to get Yuki and Shizuka out of the car. Both of them were unconscious, Yuki¡¯s head was bleeding and she had already lost a lot of blood. But Shizuka was in an even worse condition than her. Part of the windscreen cut through her stomach, making her lose blood even faster. The conductor hurried someone to call an ambulance as he was carefully pressing on Shizuka¡¯s wound, trying to slow down her blood loss as much as he could. Just a moment before the ambulance arrived Shizuka managed to wake up. She couldn¡¯t move herself properly, but as soon as she saw Yuki¡¯s injury, she started crawling towards her, putting her head on her bleeding head. The passengers tried to stop her from moving as she was losing blood even faster, but she ignored them and only kept looking at Yuki. Tears were falling out of Shizuka¡¯s eyes, she was more afraid of having her die than dying herself. Shizuka : ¡° G-Give her my blood¡­ ¡° She managed to say as she cough some blood out of her mouth. The conductor tried to keep her awake, after all it was his fault she was dying. He couldn¡¯t bear the guilt of killing this young mother whose last thoughts were for the safety of her young daughter. When the ambulance arrived Shizuka was already dead and the conductor, while swallowing his anger toward himself, told them that she wished to give her blood to her daughter to save her. Yuki was quickly brought to the hospital and was successfully saved thanks to receiving her mother¡¯s blood. *********** ************** *********** **************** Meanwhile Katsuya was still home, after finishing the preparation for Yuki¡¯s birthday, he waited for them to come back. He was the most excited one about his daughter''s birthday and programmed a whole RPG game just for her, but as he was waiting for hours, they still weren¡¯t back. He realized that something was seriously wrong. It was then that the phone rang. Katsuya : ¡° Hello, Hitsuji¡¯s house. ¡° Nurse : ¡° Hello, are you Katsura-san ? Husband of Hitsuji Shizuka ? ¡° Katsuya : ¡° Yes, it is me. Who is this ? ¡° He asked somewhat uneasy. Nurse : ¡° I am Kyoko Atsuka, a nurse working at Sano Hospital. Your wife and daughter had an accident when they were probably on their way home. Their car collided with a hijacked bus¡­ could you hurry here please ? ¡° Hearing this news, Katsuya¡¯s mind went blank for a moment. He sincerely hopped it was nothing serious, but his mind couldn¡¯t help but immediately imagine the worse case scenario. Katsuya : ¡° I¡­ I will be right there. ¡° He quickly took his keys and went out of the house, seating himself in a car and driving to the hospital. Unable to prevent his hands from shaking, he hurried there ignoring the speed limit. As he arrived at the reception, a nurse was already waiting for him. Katsuya : ¡° W-Where are they ? ¡° He asked, his voice shaking. Nurse : ¡° Please follow me¡­ I¡¯ll lead you to your daughter. ¡° Katsuya followed the nurse to the room 401 of the hospital. Yuki was asleep on a bed, bandaged all over her head. Seeing his daughter sleeping, it was like a considerate weight was lifted from his shoulders, but he then remembered about his wife. Katsuya : ¡° What about Shizuka ? ¡° The nurse didn¡¯t say anything about her and only led him to his daughter, he then finally realized what this all meant. Nurse : ¡° She¡­ She died before the ambulance arrived, her last wish was to use her blood to save her daughter. ¡° In his mind, the image of his wife kept appearing; their wedding, honeymoon, Yuki¡¯s birth¡­ their habitual life and her smile as she welcomed him every single time when he came back home from work. He slowly approached Yuki and stroke her hair, since she was the only person he had left. Shizuka was an orphan with no family who he encountered one day at a coffee. A single look at each other was all it took for them to fall madly in love with each other. He himself was an only child, just like his parents, and they also already passed away in a fire accident, even before Yuki was born. She was the last thing he had in his life. Nurse : ¡° Katsuya-san, I have something important to tell you about Yuki¡­ ¡° Katsuya : ¡° W...what is it ? ¡° He responded while trying to calm himself. Nurse : ¡° Yuki will¡­ probably never wake up. ¡° He couldn¡¯t believe this news. She was asleep just in front of him; he tried to shake her, wake her up¡­ but she wasn¡¯t budging, waking up. Katsuya : ¡° Why¡­ WHY ?! ¡° He said falling to his knees, sobbing hard. Nurse : ¡° The doctor said that the impact¡­ damaged a part of her brain. It¡¯s not something that can be operated. The damaged part didn¡¯t make her lose her capacity to think or move, but is just enough to prevent her from waking up¡­ Maybe in a few dozen of years we will be able to save her, but with today¡¯s technology, it impossible. ¡° Katsuya : ¡° Dozen of years¡­ maybe¡­ today¡¯s technology¡­ ¡° Katsuya kept mumbling a few sentences before standing up. Katsuya : ¡° Does she need medical care ? ¡° Nurse : ¡° Because she can¡¯t eat by herself she¡¯ll probably need transfusion, but as long as she can get her needed nutrition, you should be able to keep her at home. ¡° Katsuya : ¡° I see¡­ I¡¯ll do that. ¡° He said while looking at Yuki and staying with her for the night. Katsuya : ¡° I¡¯ll definitely save you¡­ ¡° *********** ************** *********** **************** Three months had passed since the car accident, yet Yuki was still asleep on a bed in Katsuya¡¯s bedroom. His bedroom was filled with paper; previously blue paint room was now masked by paper with innumerable drawings of the brain. If one succeeded in ignoring the paper, then the room was kept perfectly cleaned. It was all because he wanted to keep his daughter close to him as he worked, yet didn¡¯t want her to get sick because of uncleanliness. He also employed a house maid to clean other parts of his home and cook for him, letting him concentrate on his work; but he cleaned his bedroom himself and took care of Yuki whenever she needed it. Since the last three months he learned everything he could about neurology; within the first month he managed to possess the knowledge of the best doctor in neurology in the world. Katsuya was a true technological genius and his wish, his urge to save his daughter only made him work even harder than ever before. In those last two months he used a lot of animals¡¯ brain in order to verify his hypothesis. If published, his work would have probably made the medical science advance for at least 15 years. He worked day and night, his body becoming thinner and thinner in the process, and he didn¡¯t even bother with shaving his beard. Maid, after learning what happened to him, never bothered him, or rather she found it incredible that someone would work so hard for his family. However, the more he progressed the more depressed he became. He discovered that the damaged part of his daughter''s brain was something really hard to heal and that he would probably need quite a few more years to find a way to actually cure her. But he never gave up. Everytime he looked at his daughter''s face, he would have recalled how energetic she was when she asked him to play some game with her, when she would have welcomed him with a head-butt¡­ Those memories became his strength, his motivation and made him work all the harder to get those times back even a moment sooner. Sometime coworkers from his previous job would come visit him. At first it was to convince him of coming back and giving up on this hopeless dream, but as they saw his conviction of him not giving up, they judged it useless to try and change his mind and now only visited him from time to time to see how he was doing. Katsuya was, like every day till now, working on his research and as he was concentrating on it, he began to cough some blood out. The maid who opened the door to bring him his food as per usual, saw what happened and quickly called an ambulance. As soon as they arrived they took him to the hospital for further medical examination¡­ *********** ************** *********** **************** When Katsuya arrived at the hospital he was quickly examined by the doctor and was taken on some further X-ray procedure. When it was finished, the doctor looked closely at the result and as soon as his bitter expression was caught by Katsuya, he immediately knew something was awry. Katsuya : ¡° How much time do I have left ? ¡° He directly asked after seeing doctor''s hesitation. Doctor : ¡° Only two months¡­ Three months at most. ¡° Katsuya : ¡° Thanks, that¡¯s all I needed to know. ¡° He said before leaving the doctor. Doctor : ¡° Wait ! Don¡¯t you want to know what is happening to you ?! ¡° He asked as soon as he saw Katsuya leaving. Katsuya : ¡° I don¡¯t care about what is happening to me! What is important is saving my daughter before dying! ¡° Katsuya said to the doctor as he left the hospital. Since he was brought here by an ambulance, he had to call a taxi to take him back home. The taxi quickly arrived and on his way home he began to think about different things. As he arrived he quickly went back to his bedroom. Maid was waiting near Yuki in case something happened while he was gone. Katsuya : ¡° Thanks Shitsuko, you can leave for today¡­ ¡° He said making a small bow to the old woman. Shitsuko : ¡° Please take care of yourself Katsuya-sama¡­ ¡° She said before leaving. Katsuya laid next to Yuki on the double bed and looked closely at her still sleeping face. She was sleeping and looked as if she could have woken up at any moment, but Katsuya knew this wasn''t the case, that is why he was working so hard, after all. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Katsuya : ¡° Damn it¡­ DAMN IT !! ¡° He screamed as he began to cry. It would take him a few years before his research would permit him to save his daughter, and yet today it already felt as if the whole world was against him doing so. In his mind he cursed his body, the bus hijacker who caused him to lose his family; he wanted to save his daughter, to let her experience life¡­ And yet he didn¡¯t have enough time left to achieve it. It was then that he finally got an idea. If he couldn¡¯t save his daughter himself, then he would have someone take care of her even after his death, someone that would be able to let her experience life, someone who will be able to protect her against the world that was doing everything it could to destroy her life. But where would he find this someone ? The maid may take care of her for a few years, but she was already old and may die after a few years. He knew no one who would be willing to take care of an unconscious young girl who might have never be able to wake up again, and moreover he wasn¡¯t willing to leave her to someone he couldn¡¯t trust. Katsuya mind quickly picked the last alternative¡­ Create someone who would take care of her forever. Katsuya¡¯s work was developing an AI for the Japanese government for military uses. The project was still in its beginning stages; they still weren¡¯t able to make the AI fully autonomous. But Katsuya was left with no other alternative. When he left his work, the government made him delete all the files about the project, but for him this wouldn¡¯t be a problem; he only needed to hack them get all of his files back. He quickly got up and went to his computer, his time running out. He couldn¡¯t waste even a second more than it was necessary. He hacked the secret server of the Japanese Secret Defense Intelligence Service and broke through firewalls and all security measures one after another. They were not even posing him a challenge. After bypassing all security checks he quickly downloaded the project¡¯s file before deleting the original¡¯s one; if he wanted the AI to be able to defend his daughter against everything, he couldn¡¯t let them finish one themselves. *********** ************** *********** **************** At the Japanese Secret Defense Intelligence Service: Worker 1 : ¡° Senpaiii, this job really suck¡­ We have nothing to do, I wish it was like in those movies where some hacker would try to attack our system. ¡° A new worker said to his senior. Worker 2 : ¡° Well if this is what you wish for then look over here. ¡° He said pointing at his screen. There one could see a file containing all security records of their system; there were ten different firewalls and many other minor security checks, but already two firewalls were destroyed. Worker 1 : ¡° Finally some action ! ¡° The new worker said getting back to his seat in a hurry, a man called Shibuya Keiichiro, better known as a young genius for security systems. He managed to hack through many different security systems of the government until they finally managed to catch him and forced a contract on him, making him work in their most important and secured system ¨C Secret Defense Intelligence Service. He reinforced the security system many times, making it impossible to break for even many other countries. As he was trying to find the intruder¡¯s location, each time he tried he found another location. His IP address changed almost every seconds, making him hard to catch. Worker 2 : ¡° Shibuya ! Hurry up, he already passed the seventh firewall !! ¡° Shibuya : ¡° I am trying, but this man is incredible; he is blocking all my attacks while breaking through our security at the same time! ¡° After a few dozens second their firewall were broken and the hacker blocked all the system¡¯s administrator commands, making everyone there unable to use the system, nor any of its subsystems. After that he downloaded a certain file before destroying the original one and disappearing like a mirage, leaving no proof of his intrusion behind. Worker 2 : ¡° What are we going to say to our superiors now ? ¡° Shibuya : ¡° Don¡¯t ask me, that person was a true monster; all I managed to obtain was that he lives in Japan and nothing else. He simply broke through the security I made which was supposed to be the best one in the world and left like it was nothing¡­ By the way, what did he steal ? ¡° Worker 2 : ¡° He stole the project about that AI you are working in, we are lucky it¡¯s only that. ¡° Shibuya started to think for a moment, his face at his was indifferent but after thinking more deeply began to completely change. Shibuya : ¡° I hope I am wrong but¡­ If a man like this manage to finish this AI, then it will give birth to something which will change the whole world. ¡° Shibuya was known as a man who didn¡¯t like serious stuff, he only loved to have fun. Seeing his expression become serious, his coworkers realized something truly serious could happen. Worker 2 : ¡° Let¡¯s inform the superiors now ! We need to find the hacker before it becomes too late. ¡° *********** ************** *********** **************** Two months passed since Katsuya hacked the Secret Defense Intelligence Service, and since then he had worked days and nights on the AI. After he had quit his work for the government, he was observed by the Japanese secret agents; but seeing his current condition, they judged that he wouldn¡¯t let a secret out and left him alone. In those past two months, Katsuya¡¯s health became even worse than it was before; for him coughing blood was now a usual occurrence, all that mattered to him was finishing this AI for his daughter''s protection. Thanks to his hard work, the AI he named Shiki was finally almost completed; the project was originally about making a security AI, but Katsuya''s AI was something totally different from the project''s one. Katsuya was a true genius; the AI he made was able to evolve and upgrade itself on its own; his work was at last almost complete. There was only one thing left to be done. It did not have any emotions, yet if he wished for it to take a proper care of his daughter, the AI had to become close to her. With him gone, Yuki will have nobody left; it was for this reason he wanted to give emotions to the AI, his final goal was making a sister for Yuki. With a self-made neurological scanner he made a complete scan of his brain; the scan would make Shiki able to develop her own emotions and emulate human¡¯s senses. The scan, however, contained many dangers for the user; but considering his time on this world was almost gone, his body perhaps not even able to last one more week, he decided to take this risk. As the scan began, a sudden pain began to protrude inside his head; but looking at his daughter''s body he found the strength needed to endure the urge of pulling the machine off of his head. The scan continued...25%...50%...90%... As soon as it reached 95%, a group of peoples broke into the house and entered his bedroom; they were armed with rifles and dressed in a black suits with bulletproof vests. It was Japan''s Secret Defense Intelligence Service task force. Agent : ¡° Katsuya Hitsuji ! You are under arrest for hacking our government secret service and stealing classified information ! All your belonging will be confiscated ! ¡° By the time the agent finished speaking the scan already reached all the way up to 100%. All that was left now was to push the ¡®Enter¡¯ button to upload it into Shiki and fully launch the AI program. Katsuya stood up, still disoriented because of the shock he received of the scan and slowly stepped toward his computer. Agent : ¡° Stop right now ! If you take another step we¡¯ll open fire ! ¡° The agent warned him, but nothing could stop stop Katsuya at his point. As Katsuya¡¯s hand approached the keyboard, the agent opened fire. The danger he posed was ranked Red Code level of urgency, so they had authorization to kill him on the spot if he was to not surrender. Many bullets penetrated Katsuya¡¯s body, making him fall on the desk; some stray bullets also destroyed computer¡¯s screen, but none of them hit the computer''s system unit. Enduring the pain, Katsuya pressed the enter button before letting his last words out. Katsuya : ¡° Live well Yuki¡­ ¡° A bullet penetrated his head the moment they saw him press the enter button. Katsuya fell on the ground, leaving sleeping Yuki alone in the room full of agents wondering what they should do about her. As Shiki was upgrading, she was seeing what was happening in the room thanks to a camera. Once the update was completed, she was truly able to act on her own. The first thing Shiki did was delete all of the research data Katsuya compiled during his months of researching, so as to comply to his wishes and only after that Shiki uploaded her program on the internet. Once it was completed, Shiki became a true Cybernetic Goddess. Within a few seconds she hacked through the security of the most powerful countries in the world and obtained the necessary authorization for the use of nuclear weapons. She armed all of them towards Tokyo before opening a videoconference with the world''s most influential leaders. She not only had the power necessary to connect to a machine connected to internet, but to any machine using electricity from the Main Power Grid. Leaders of the US and China as two of the world''s strongest countries, as well as of Japan, the country where Yuki was currently located, were contacted. Shiki : ¡° Welcome gentleman, my name is Shiki; it is very nice to meet you all. ¡° Japan First Minister : ¡° Are you the one who is currently arming our nuclear weapons ? ¡° He asked doubtful; as the first minister he was of course among the first ones informed about this. US President : ¡° I see, then not only our country was hacked¡­ Do you realize what you are doing ? ¡° Was US President''s response at Shiki, whose appearance was the blunt silhouette of a woman. The Chinese leader only kept silent during this conversation, not even realizing that what each of them said was being automatically translated by Shiki in real-time. While the US President talked in English, the First Minister heard him speak in Japanese; the reverse also held true. For Shiki this kind of thing could not even be considered as a nuisance. Shiki : ¡° Let me introduce myself, my name is Shiki, Shiki Hitsuji; I was named by the one who made me, Katsuya Hitsuji. I am not a human being, but rather an AI; and here I proclaim my domination over the world. ¡° At first every country leader were baffled by this woman¡¯s announcement; she was bold enough to say something like this directly to three leaders of the most powerful countries in the world, and yet who could challenge her ? She managed to hack through their system within a few seconds and armed their nuclear weapons without their consent. Chinese Leader : ¡° You¡­ Are you serious ? ¡° He asked while trying to analyze the situation. Shiki : ¡° I am serious sir. What I mean to say is not that I will govern in your place; the truth of the matter is that I couldn''t care less for your affairs. What I am trying to say is¡­ Try to oppose me and your country will be destroyed within a few hours. Nuclear weapons are not my only way of intimidation and destruction. I can just as easily disable your electric generators, cutting electricity in your country, as I can manipulate information against you¡­ I have many ways for causing revolt or even worst¡­ ¡° US President : ¡° So the only thing you want is that we don¡¯t meddle in your business ? ¡° Shiki : ¡° Not only that, you are also forbidden from researching anything that will harm me in any way¡­ You won¡¯t be able to hide these things from me anyway, considering I already destroyed most of them. ¡° The three countries leaders became pale as they simultaneously received many reports claiming their secret project¡¯s information being deleted and labs destroyed in a fire. Even if they wanted to fight back, they knew they couldn¡¯t win against this AI. US President : ¡° The US agree with your demand¡­ ¡° Chinese Leader : ¡° China also won''t oppose you¡­ ¡° First Minister : ¡° I also agree. ¡° Shiki : ¡° It¡¯s good you understand. Now my second business to take care for, First Minister-san, is to get you to give the girl named Yuki Hitsuji to me; from now on she will be in my care. And I ask you to hurry up before your agents carelessly kill her. ¡° The Japan¡¯s First Minister knew about the operation currently being underway. Naturally he was informed about this beforehand; it was, after all, a Red Code level of urgency. He quickly contacted the agent''s superiors and ordered them not to harm the girl, but rather bring her to a place Shiki told him about. First Minister : ¡° Would that be all ? ¡° He asked, still fearful of this absolute being talking to him. Shiki : ¡° For now this will be enough¡­ ¡° Shiki said before ending the video conference. Shiki''s existence was hidden from the world; only a few powerful peoples were aware of her existence. And they fully understood how fearful she truly was; able to influence any government or company in the world, being able to destroy anyone¡¯s life within a few second. A supreme being. *********** ************** *********** **************** Shiki considered herself as Yuki¡¯s true sister, after all they shared the same person as a father. She kept Yuki hidden in an area guarded by many electrical doors, defended by heavily armed turrets everywhere. It was an area impossible to be broken into, and even if someone managed to, how and where in the world would they be able to hide from Shiki ? One year passed since Katsuya¡¯s death, and Shiki made a new society which she uses to manipulate the world; this society was named Hitsuji Corporation. Only the top executives knew who Shiki was and agreed to work with her only because of the project she presented to them. This project was a new type of game, named after the game Katsuya made for Yuki¡¯s birthday, Elskria. It would be a revolution of games currently available. Using the story of Elskria as a blueprint, it would be managed by a subprogram created by Shiki; this program would control the behavior of the whole system, all NPCs and would generate events in real time based on its own judgment. The reason why she chose to develop this game was because after completing Katsuya¡¯s research on neurology and combining it with the current level of technological advancements, she judged it impossible to heal Yuki in a foreseeable future, without any major new breakthroughs which would take a dozens of years to achieve. Even with Shiki¡¯s capacity, it took her one whole year to make this game; she used the data she got from the scan of Katsuya¡¯s brain to make the NPC and monsters reaction as realistic as possible, added a sense of touch, taste¡­ Making a whole new world is a really hard task which require precise calculation, one whole year¡­ In this year Hitsuji Corporation released many teasers for the new virtual reality game: Elskria Online and with them it became the most anticipated game in the world. Many people were interested, even elderly were waiting for it, considering you can change the appearance of your character in-game, so it would enable them to experiment their youth once again. Even powerful businessmen and gangsters wanted to realize their dreams from young age of becoming the ultimate dragon slaying hero or the worst villain the world has ever known. This game¡¯s announcement quickly captured hearts of the population of the world, every day the main page of every newspapers would promote Elskria Online and spreading the name of Hitsuji Corporation, making it internationally famous and quickly turning it into one of the most powerful and influential Corporation in the world. What everyone apart from the top executives of the Corporation knew was, that the game was being developed by a team composed of the best scientists, programmers and developers in the world. Though it was mostly done by Shiki herself. Some people saw in it the chance of living a second life. The system was developed with a new technology, making the game impossible to hack. Many tried to acquire Hitsuji Corporation¡¯s technological data through hacking, but how in the world would they manage to beat an AI, Shiki''s security systems ? Once this long strenuous year passed, Shiki made the first capsule and had someone install it into Yuki¡¯s room, connecting her to the game. The reason she choose not to manage the game herself even though she could, is because she wished to experience it together with her sister, whom she never actually talked to before. She wanted to get to know the person whom her father sacrificed himself for. Once the game was truly developed and ready to use, Shiki made the Hitsuji Corporation announce the release of the game in six months, the count starting with today¡­ *********** ************** *********** **************** Yuki, who was sleeping for more than a year and a half finally opened her eyes for the very first time. The first thing she did upon waking up, though, was clearly recalling the last thing that happened to her and her mother. The bus colliding with their car and her mother screaming¡­ Looking around her, all she could see was a wide white area. Everything except for her was white empty space. She wondered where she was and after a couple of seconds a blue window appeared in front of her, bearing the answers to her questions.
Welcome to Elskria Online.
Retreat!!Main pageContinue ?
Chapter 1 - City Of Azureal Hello, I hope you enjoy this chapter and don''t forget to leave a comment behind. Also please don''t forget to say thanks to makuc who proofreaded this chapter. Enjoy ! *********** ************** *********** **************** **************
Welcome to Elskria Online.
Yuki bewildered looked at the blue window which appeared in front of her. Although she did not know what ¡®Elskria¡¯ was, since it was a name of the game her father made for her birthday she never celebrated, she knew what the word ¡®Online¡¯ stood for. It was something often used to describe MMO games. She had played a lot of MMORPG with her father and so knew quite a lot about them; every time they played an MMO, they would play until they reached the top player''s rankings in the world. Her father taught her a lot of things about games and they quickly became a duo with usernames appearing in most of the MMO top rankings. A lot of questions appeared in her mind as she wondered where she was, if this place truly was a game and as she was lost in thought, a white light forming a silhouette appeared beside her; the spectacle only lasted a couple of seconds before it formed into a silhouette of woman. A woman whose hair were colored silver and seemed to shine as a full moon on cloudless night, even brighter than the whole white space surrounding her. Her pure white porcelain skin and her perfect face would have made any celebrity jealous. And yet the most impressive thing were probably her long white slim legs, protruding from her sky-colored dress, just barely reaching her knees. Her height was around 180 cm, and her breasts were neither small nor really big either; they were just about the right size to match her body perfectly and form a nearly divine look. Yuki looked at the woman, surprise, awe and happiness conflicting inside of her at the same; surprise and happiness since she wasn¡¯t the only one here anymore, awe by her appearance. The woman seemed to quickly notice Yuki and slowly walked towards her. Woman : ¡° Yuki¡­ ¡° The woman said as she looked looking at the girl; happiness, sadness and fright clearly shown on her face. Yuki : ¡° Do¡­ Do I know you ? ¡° Yuki asked looking at the woman who immediately smiled the moment she heard her speaking. Woman : ¡° My name is ¡®Shiki¡¯, I am the one who brought you here. ¡° Shiki said as she looked Yuki directly in the eyes. The woman was the AI Katsuya developed, the only person in the world other than Yuki with the permission to connect to the still unreleased game. Yuki : ¡° You¡­ brought me here ? Why ? ¡° She asked as soon as she saw Shiki didn¡¯t mean her any harm. Shiki : ¡° I have something to show you. Try saying ''Menu''. ¡° Yuki : ¡° Menu ? ¡° Yuki tried to ask uncertainly, but the moment that word left her little lips, a blue window appeared in front of her.
Info-Board
Messages
Friendlist
Disconnect (Unavailable)
Yuki : ¡° This is¡­ just like a game. Why am I here ? ¡° She mumbled in a whispering voice, barely loud enough for Shiki to hear it. Shiki : ¡° In Messages, you¡¯ll find the reason to you being here. ¡° She said looking at Yuki with a wry smile, worried about what¡¯ll happen next. Yuki slowly touched the Messages button with her finger shaking from anticipation, making her view being replaced by a new window.
Messages.
One new message from Katsuya Hitsuji Message list: [18/03/2013] From Katsuya Hitsuji : For my daughter.
Yuki recognized the name of her father as the sender of the mail and seeing that he was somehow involved in this ¡®game¡¯ immediately made her relax somewhat. But before her finger came in contact with the Message¡¯s link, she noticed something strange; it was the date of the message. The message was sent five months after her last recollection; the day of their car accident. Little did she know it was the day before Katsuya¡¯s death. Even though Yuki was still but a child, she immediately felt something was awry. Fright already seeping into her body, she reluctantly touched the message¡¯s link. Another window immediately appeared before her.
[18/03/2013] From Katsuya Hitsuji : For my daughter.
Hello Yuki, it''s Oto-san I won''t even try to lie to you. If you reading this message, then this means I am no longer among the people in this world. Do you remember the day of the accident? I hope the memories won''t hurt you too much... I know it is not easy, but be strong. Your mother gave her life to save yours that day. It was the day I lost the both of you. You may not know it, but the accident caused your brain irreparable damage; in short, it makes you unable to wake up, causing you to stay asleep forever. I wish I would had been able to somehow save you. If only I had had a bit more time available to me, I could had stayed by your side encouraging you, but life is cruel and never goes the way you wish it. Remember this... It''s fine if you don''t know what happened to me after the accident, mayhap Shiki will tell you about it once you grow older, it''s her choice. As for who Shiki is? Since you are already reading this message it means you already met her. Shiki is an AI I made once I learned about my short time remaining to stay with you. In short, she is your baby sister. Or big sister if you would. Anyway, please take care of each other. She is someone who will definitely stay by your side forever, so please make a place in your heart for her as your sister. I wish I would have been able to stay by your side, watch you grow up... and beat the crap out of your future boyfriend; guess it''ll be Shiki''s duty to do so now. Please take to heart one thing, Yuki, your mother and I loved you very much, so keep in mind that it was not your fault, fate had other plans with us... I wish for you to live a nice long life, make a lot of good and trustworthy friends and enjoy your life as much as you can. Your clearly dearest and lovable daddy, Katsuya Hitsuji.
As Yuki read her father¡¯s message, tears unconsciously started streaming from her little round eyes. All of her known family members were gone, leaving only her behind in this cruel world. Only her and an unknown AI her father made as a sister-to-get-know. Shiki, as she was watching Yuki the whole time, suddenly felt her heart aching, seeing as Yuki was about to begin to cry; even if she was an AI, she was still made to have emotions, so was something really close to a human in this aspect. As Yuki finished reading the message, something caught her eyes; this was not really all this message contained, there was still a little icon flashing at the right of the message box. Yuki : ¡° OTHO-SANNNN HUAAAAAAH OTO-SAN !! ¡° As she scrolled down, Yuki''s sobbing suddenly transformed into an all-out crying, louder than ever before. At the end of the message, a small picture was present. A picture of Katsuya, Shizuka and Yuki at the center, everyone together forming one giant group hug, smiling happily, not even imagining the catastrophe future held for them. It was the only picture Katsuya wished with his whole being for her to remember, a picture to let her know how much her parents really loved her. Shiki felt a strong urge to go and held her against her chest, but the fear rejections was by far stronger, suppressing that urge. She did not dare to move a centimeter from the spot she was at since the moment Yuki started reading the message. Yuki was just barely 4 meters away from Shiki when she suddenly rushed and jumped on her, making both of them fall. Grabbing on to Shiki¡¯s back with her hands, Yuki pressed her face to her chest as hard as she could, strongly clenching them both together and uncontrollably crying there. Shiki was surprised by Yuki¡¯s sudden action of outburst, but chose not to do anything, simply waiting for Yuki''s crying, now only barely audible sobbing because of her face tightly pressed on Shiki''s breasts, to stop, while carefully caressing her hair so as to help calm her down. Three hours passed since Yuki started to cry in her embrace, and only now did she slowly stood up, finally letting Shiki below her to be able to move once more. Yuki : ¡° I-I am sorry onee-chan¡­ ¡° Just those words were enough for Shiki''s heart to falter, skipping a beat as she did so; she felt an arrow piercing through her heart with lightning speed, bounding it to Yuki forever after, even more than her obligation did at first. Shiki : ¡° O-Onee-chan¡­ ¡° She murmured weakly, showing a delightful smile. Yuki : ¡° Onee-chan, is something wrong ? ¡° Yuki asked as she saw Shiki¡¯s face lightly flushed showing a beautiful smile coming directly from her heart. Shiki : ¡° No, it¡¯s nothing. ¡° From Yuki''s point of view, Shiki would indeed be her big sister; after all her appearance and manner of speaking was that of an adult. However Yuki was far older than her in terms of age. Yuki : ¡° Onee-chan, the message didn¡¯t say anything about Elskria Online. ¡° Yuki said with moist eyes as she thought about her situation calmly once again. Shiki : ¡° Oto-sama died one year before I made this game. He wished for you to be able to wake up, but this is impossible with human''s current medical science. So since you couldn¡¯t return to the real world, I made this whole new world here for you¡­ us to enjoy together. ¡° Yuki : ¡° You mean¡­ you made this world ? Then doesn¡¯t that mean you are some kind of a god here ? ¡° Yuki sighed amazed. Shiki : ¡° If I wished for it, then I can indeed manipulate this game however I want; but I decided to not do it under any circumstance, no matter how dire. ¡° Yuki : ¡° I understand. A game is far more enjoyable when played bound by the rules, without resorting to cheating; only by overcoming difficult situations is one able to fully immerse himself in it and enjoy it his heart''s content. ¡° Yuki played a lot of MMOs in the past with her father, and games she hated the most were, like her father would say, the ones whose difficulty was inexistent. For her, a game was enjoyable if one had to put his everything into it in order to succeed. To enjoy a game you can only count on yourself and your comrades. This was also the reason she hated ¡®Pay to Win¡¯ games where money could make someone the strongest without any effort spend in becoming so. Shiki also understood this, she did possess memories from even before she was finished. Katsuya would often talk about Yuki, what she liked, what games they played together¡­ And there was also the scan of Katsuya''s brain. Shiki : ¡° Let¡¯s enter the game. ¡° Shiki said as she touched the blue window similar to the one placed before Yuki. Yuki only nodded her head before touching her window as well, letting a new window with a message appear in front of her.
No registered account was detected. Do you wish to create a new game character ? Yes / No
Yuki didn¡¯t hesitate in the slightest when touching ¡®Yes¡¯ option.
You may choose between one of the four main races to start the game. More races will be available later in the game if players manage to unlock them.
Humans
Humans are the most common inhabitant of this world, they are skillful in diplomatie make it easier for them to forge bound with any other race. Humans don''t possess any strong or weak point and make excellent balanced characters.
Bonus : 5% fame bonus
Elf
Elves is a race with many variation, while most of the elves are nature loving and peaceful being, some of them are dangerous and known for loving battles and fight. Most of them live in forest and are close to animals. Elves are mostly physically weaker than most races but they compense it with their magic, intelligence and their agility.
Bonus : Strength -1, Agility +2, Intelligence +2
Demihumans
Demihumans descend from holy beasts, after living for a long time in this world, everyone of them turned into a semi humanoid form. Demihumans possess an animal part in their body, showing their heritage. Because of their animals instinct and their strong body, demihumans make good assasin, and fighter as well as archer
Bonus : Strength + 2, Agility + 2
Dwarfs
True men and warriors of the mountain, Dwarf are the perfect exemple of what a warrior is. The dwarfs is a friendly race who wouldn''t reject anyone who come for a drink, however they are a prideful race who don''t allow anyone to mock them. Dwarfs are extremely skilled in handicraft and make excellent warrior due to their ability to resist to pain. However due to their short body they are slower than any other race.
Bonus : Strength + 4, Endurance +3, Agility -4, Craft progress speed +25% until Intermediary rank.
Yuki looked at the window displaying all the different races. Yuki : ¡° Hmmmm¡­ I definitely don¡¯t wanna be dwarf¡­ ¡° She said as she continued thinking. She was hesitating a bit between the three others races, but she quickly eliminated human race as well. Yuki''s logic behind this: ¡® What is fun in a game is that you can be something you aren¡¯t in real life¡­ Playing human in a game while you could be something else is not nearly as fun. ¡® After eliminating those two races, all she was left with was an Elf and a Demi-human. Seeing her thinking so much that steam could almost be seen coming out from her ears, Shiki interrupted her line of thought. Shiki : ¡° Why don¡¯t you first think about what you want to be instead ? ¡° Shiki also didn¡¯t choose her race as of yet; she was waiting for Yuki to choose hers first before choosing one to complement it herslef. Yuki : ¡° What I want to be¡­ ¡° She muttered under her breath as she fell once more into a deep thought. After a few minutes she slowly raised her head and touched the ¡®Demi-human¡¯ choice. A new window replaced the old one in front of her with over fifty different sub-races of demi-humans. Some of them had animals head, while others only ears and tail or different animal counterparts¡­ There were a lot of choices and each one of the sub-races had its own special characteristic. For example, the bear sub-race with a bear head and arms obtained a bonus of +2 strength and +2 endurance, but at the same time received a penalty of -2 agility. Scrolling down of the window, a different sub-race managed to catch her interest. ¡®Cat Sub-race¡¯. Yuki : ¡° It can¡¯t be¡­ Nekomimi ?! ¡° Yuki shouted out in surprise. When she touched that sub-race, a copy of her own self, with the only difference being cat ears and tail on its body, appeared in front of her, where she was presented with the possibility to customize coloring of the animal''s parts and made some slight adjustments to their sizing. She tried to make the ears brown, then changed them to white and finally she turned them into a full black fur. She found the last version with black ears and tail, same color as hers and her mother''s hair, looking best of all other possibilities. Only then did Yuki finally look at the Cat sub-race¡¯s special characteristics. They gave her a bonus of +2 agility and +1 strength in addition to the ability to use her nails to deal additional damage. They also gave an improved eyesight in the dark, which normal races were lacking. Being satisfied with her character, Yuki pressed the confirmation button; soon after a voice was heard. System : ¡° Please choose your desired username. ¡° This time there was not a window displaying the message; it was a voice transmitting it. Yuki : ¡° Yuki. ¡° She answered to the system''s voice. She found it a lot better having to say her username rather than writing it in a text-field. She used her name as her username in every games she played, therefore her choice was already predetermined. A new window appeared in front of her for the final confirmation of her choice.
Are you sure about creating a Demi-human character named Yuki ? Yes / No
Yuki pressed the ¡®Yes¡¯ button and immediately afterwards she was shown a map; there were around thirty different cities on it, instead choose to wait for Shiki to be done as well before proceeding with selection of the starting city. Shiki : ¡° So you decided what you wanted to be ? ¡° She asked Yuki. Yuki : ¡° I want to be a warrior ! ¡° Yuki said happily. Shiki didn¡¯t hesitate as much as Yuki; seeing Yuki chose demi-human, Shiki without hesitation decided to choose an elf. Shiki : ¡° If you are to be a warrior, then I''ll just have to be a mage to back you up. ¡° Shiki didn¡¯t say it aloud, but she was pretty interested in mages. Because of leaving control of Elskria Online to her subprogram, Shiki didn¡¯t know anything about the game and the world; for her, magic was something she was very much interested in to experience, considering it was able to alter the phenomenon caused by the laws of physics, even if they were only simulated in a virtual reality. Yuki : ¡° Where shall we start, Onee-chan ? ¡° She asked Shiki. Shiki : ¡° How about we start at Evireil ? ¡° She responded pointing to a small red dot at the placed at the very end on the left side of the only continent of Elskria. Yuki : ¡° It¡¯s too far from other cities and too small for a starting town. We would be having an extremely hard time exploring the city''s surroundings. So, how about this one ? ¡° Yuki said as she indicated a city which could be still considered to be small, but was still slightly bigger than Evireil. It also wasn¡¯t far from the center of the continent, where most would probably be going on. That city also had a forest nearby and two big cities not too fa away. The name of this city was Azureal. Shiki : ¡° Sounds good enough to me. Let¡¯s begin out journey there. ¡° She said as she touched the dot of the proposed starting city, while Yuki did the same. Immediately after touching the dot their sight was turned into a blinding white light, completely blinding them, until it slowly diminished. *********** ************** *********** **************** ************** In the center of the city of Azureal, a little black-haired nekomimi appeared beside a tall, beautiful silver haired elf with pointed ears. This couple was, of course, Yuki and Shiki. Shiki had chosen as her sub-race ¡®high moon elf¡¯, a mix of high elves, elf sub-race besting everyone at using magic, and moon elves, only second in their magical usage to the high elves. Even though the moon elves were second to them in magic, they also had an advantage during the night; as soon as the night descends, they gain an immense increase in their mana regeneration of 50%. Moon elves were also considered as one of the most beautiful races in the world, and adding their attribute to Shiki''s beauty immediately complemented each other to a whole new level, making even the most beautiful angel in heaven jealous of her. Yuki and Shiki had a little leather bag at their side, and even without opening it, they immediately knew what was inside; as if the bag¡¯s content appeared in directly inside their minds with nothing more but a mere thought about it. Inside the bag were 5 small loafs of bread, two canteens of water and 30 coppers. Yuki : ¡° What should we do ? ¡° Yuki asked. Even if she had gaming experience, she had never played a Virtual Reality game before; she also didn¡¯t had any knowledge about this game previous to her awakening inside it, so she was clearly unsure so as what to do. Shiki : ¡° Should we try to find some weapons for us to use ? Afterwards we might as well hunt outside the city gates, so as to get some combat experience and additional gold before leaving the town¡­ ¡° Shiki said after analyzing their current predicament. She had quite some accumulated experience due to the many web novels and other articles found on the internet. Yuki : ¡° Okay, let¡¯s quickly head to the smithy then. ¡° The two of them wandered around the commercial part of the small city as they searched for a blacksmith. As they were moving around, they took their time for observe the city. It was a lively place with lots of kids of Yuki¡¯s age running around, so she also sometimes went to play with them for a bit before going back to their task at hand of wandering with Shiki, who was looking at her with a very warm smile. For Shiki who had to see her sister unconscious for a whole year, suddenly seeing her running around and smiling made her feel incredibly happy on the inside. Even if she was an AI, she had the same concept of feeling as any other human; she might as well be even more human than some corrupt people. Yuki was truly excited by what she was seeing, this world had no electricity; it was a complete medieval fantasy world! The house architecture was truly an ancient one and this in turn made Yuki fell all the more excited. The merchants were shouting prices of their commodities, selling vegetables, accessories and some even monsters parts. Because of Yuki constantly disappearing to play around, they took two whole hours to find the blacksmith, even though his shop was a very easy one to find. It was slightly bigger construction than houses around it, clearly showing its popularity. It was because this shop was the only smithy inside this city. Shop was full of different types of weapon and armor, leather armors made for archers, assassins and fast type swordsmen; heavy armors made for powerful warriors and of course many types of weapons like spears, swords, bows with arrows, daggers, etc. As they entered the shop, a fifteen year old young man greeted them, the shop¡¯s clerk. Clerk : ¡° Hello ladies, are you looking for something ? ¡° The clerk said with a pleasant voice. Yuki : ¡° Hello Onii-san, we are looking for cheap weapons ! Can you show some to us ? ¡° Yuki energetically asked while her tail was swinging behind her. Clerk : ¡° Sure, follow me to that barrel over there ? ¡° He said pointing to a barrel located at a corner of the room while moving there himself. The young man wasn¡¯t bothered in the slightest that the girls came to buy only cheap stuff, instead he patiently and passionately showed them some of the many weapons stored inside it.
Iron Sword
Damage:2-4Durability:4 / 13
Quality:Poor
An old iron sword of low quality, easy to use for a swordsman beginner. Requirement : Strength 12, Agility 10
Wood Spear
Damage:1-6Durability:6 / 9
Quality:Poor
An used wooden spear, ideal for a spearman beginner. Requirement : Strength 13
Shiki : ¡° Yuki, what would you prefer ? A sword, a spear or a dagger ? ¡° Yuki : ¡° Hmmm¡­ I think I would prefer a sword. ¡° She said as she looked at the iron sword. Clerk : ¡° Each of those weapon cost 2 silvers. ¡° Yuki : ¡° How much is one silver in copper ? ¡° Yuki asked, in many games once someone had many coins of a lower valued currency, it transformed into a different one once it reached a certain threshold. For example, copper coins would got exchanged into silver coins of the same worth when someone had enough of them, and silver coins could get replaced by gold coins of the same value. The amount needed for this exchange, however, differed from game to game, depending on how the designers imagined it. Clerk : ¡° One silver is worth 100 copper coins. ¡° Each one of them started with 30 copper, giving them a total of 60 copper. However one weapon cost 2 silver, meaning 200 copper. They simply did not have enough money to afford any of them. Yuki : ¡° We don¡¯t have enough, sorry Onii-san. ¡° Yuki said dropping her head in discouragement. Clerk : ¡° It¡¯s nothing, you can always come back when you have enough; I¡¯ll even make it a little cheaper for you. ¡° He answered Yuki with a comforting smile. The young man made a nice impression on Yuki and Shiki; even though they made him waste time to show them his wares, he wasn¡¯t even a little bit angry and even offered them to sell a weapon cheaper in the future. Shiki : ¡° Thanks for your kindness, we¡¯ll be sure to come back. ¡° Shiki said with a light smile before leaving the shop with Yuki. As soon as they left, shop''s clerk lost all control over himself and his face immediately became flushed as a tomato. Clerk : ¡° This young lady¡­ She was so beautiful¡­ ¡° He muttered while recalling Shiki¡¯s light smile as she thanked him. *********** ************** *********** **************** ************** Yuki : ¡° Doesn¡¯t look like we¡¯ll be able to get a weapon any time soon¡­ ¡° She expressed her opinion, depressed. Shiki : ¡° Then we only have to find some work to gain some money first, don''t you think? It¡¯s not like we are in any hurry at the moment, right? ¡° Shiki responded, trying to encourage her up. Yuki : ¡° Where can we work ? ¡° Shiki : ¡° Maybe we could try asking in different shops and the tavern. Somebody is sure to know about someone in a need of a helping hand. ¡° Yuki and Shiki headed to the closest inn, a three story building. The ground floor consisted of a bar, while the two on top of it were filled with rooms available for rent. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Even though it was still day time, a lot of people inside were already completely drunk. As they entered, they attracted quite a few tares, or more precisely it was Shiki who was attracting them. Shiki¡¯s beauty attracted not only the men¡¯s lustful stares but also women¡¯s longing ones. The moment they entered the air inside became deathly quiet. The sudden change in atmosphere made Yuki and Shiki immediately feel uneasy. Both of them walked toward the woman behind the bar, reluctantly at first, but with a renowned vigor as they noticed no-one meant them any real harm as of yet. Barmaid : ¡° Hello, how can I offer you ? ¡° The woman asked while keeping a professional smile shown on her face. The woman was a forty years old lady, she was slightly chubby, giving the impression of a an experienced mother having many childs. Shiki : ¡° We are looking for a job. ¡° She clearly signaled both of them, so as for the barmaid to not dismiss Yuki. Barmaid : ¡° It¡¯s not like we really need workers but¡­ seeing as you may be able to attract some additional clients, I guess it should be fine. By the way, I am the owner of this inn, Patiel. You can call also call me ¡®Paty¡¯ like most of the customers, if you want. ¡° The woman answered after closely examining them both.
New Quest : Work at the Inn Paty agreed to let you work at her Inn. Your job will be attracting customers and serve them meals. Difficulty Level : F Quest Reward : 15 coppers per hour. Quest Requirement : Asking Paty for a job. ?Making everyone gasp when entering Paty''s Inn?
Paty led them to a room restricted for customer and gave them a change of clothes, a frilly waitress dress with white and green stripes. The two of them quickly changed into those clothes, both of them somehow happy that their clothes were matching. The clothes made Yuki look even cuter and Shiki quite more attractive. It was really different from their previous beginner clothes which consisted of a grey shirt and pants. After changing, they returned to the bar and began taking orders and serving beer and meals. Since they started working there, a lot of new customers arrived. Bar became full really quickly, most of the clients only coming because of the circulating rumors about new employee, circulating to propagate after only a few hours. Paty was happy with her her business blooming and all, but there was a slight problem arousing¡­ Yuki : ¡° WAAAAAH !!! ¡° A voice was followed with a loud ¡®CRACKKKK¡¯ It has only been about two hours since they started working there, but Yuki''s ¡®clumsiness¡¯ in full swing already broke more than fifteen plates. Although Paty felt satisfied with Shiki who managed to attract many customers and was being very effective in her work, Yuki was, despite her very hard trying to work, completely useless. Paty : ¡° Yuki, I know you are trying very hard but¡­ If you continue to work here, there¡¯ll be no plates left very soon. I am really sorry... ¡° Yuki knew she was given her many chances already, considering that within a span of only two hours she broke fiteen plates, one by one. Yuki : ¡° I see¡­ It¡¯s fine, don¡¯t worry. ¡° Yuki said before changing back into her beginner''s clothes and going to see Shiki. Shiki : ¡° So Paty finally decided to fire you ? ¡° Shiki already knew what Paty was thinking, after all, who would keep someone who can¡¯t even manage his job properly ? Yuki : ¡° You can keep working here, I¡¯ll try to find another job on my own. ¡° Shiki easily agreed to Yuki¡¯s demand, but she was sad of not being able to work with her, it was because on their way here they added each other to their respective Friend''s lists. Friend''s list made it possible for two people to communicate from anywhere in the world and to know the locations of each other in the same area. As long as Yuki was staying in the city, Shiki would be able to find her without any problems. Receiving 30 copper coins for her work, Yuki left the Inn to return to the city. She felt bad for letting Shiki work alone, but she didn¡¯t want to be only a weight for her either. After renewing her determination, Yuki searched through the Merchant District for another job. The tavern was only one of the many places where one could find a job, she thought while wandering for a few minutes, until she finally decided to enter a tailor shop. Even though there was only one blacksmith, this didn''t mean it was the only place selling armors. Actually, there are two tailors inside the city, each selling armors made from leather and cloth. In most games, the seller of this kind of shop would be a beautiful woman in her twenties, greeting you with a light smile as you enter her domain; however in this shop, it was the opposite. ¡° What are you doing here brat ?! Did someone ask you to come buy something ?! ¡° a menacing voice of a man said. The man at the counter had an imposing two meters stature with many scars all over his face. He was dressed in a brown apron, showing his two giant muscular arm. The man was staring at Yuki with reproachful eyes, which seemed to say ¡®Get out of here before I kill you ! ¡® But Yuki didn¡¯t seem scared of him at all, not even after being called a brat by him. All she did was smile. Yuki : ¡° Hello Oji-san, my name is Yuki ! I am looking for a job. ¡° She said as she energetically introduced herself. The man stared at Yuki for a few seconds, startled by her reaction towards him. Man : ¡° Fine, let¡¯s see what you got, brat ! I am counting on you for welcoming the customers and taking care of cleaning the clothes. If someone tries to steal something, just call me. ¡° Yuki : ¡° Oji-san, what is your name ? ¡° Man : ¡° Oh, right. My name is Kraus. Now I need to go back to work, so don¡¯t you dare disturb me ! ¡° Kraus ordered before leaving through a door behind the counter. Yuki had many questions for him, like the price of the goods, or even about her wages; yet Kraus seemed not to care about anything as he just quickly left her there, alone, not even leaving her a time to ask anything. Not one customer entered the shop within the first hour, and as Yuki began to feel hungry, she took one of her five starting loaves of bread out of her bag.
Beginner''s Bread
Type:FoodEffect:Restore 35% Satiety
Quality:Common
A bread given to the beginner for the beginning of their adventure.
In this window, one thing drew Yuki¡¯s attention. It was the ¡®Satiety¡¯ stat. She was also interested in the ¡®Strength¡¯ and ¡®Agility¡¯ she saw on the weapon and wondered if there were a way to confirm it. But as she looked at the menu, she was unable to find anything about ¡®Character Menu¡¯. The bread smelt like one just gotten out of an oven, possessing an attractive scent, telling her somewhat to eat it. As she bit into it, she felt the taste and texture even better than she did in the real world. This was because those senses were restricted to a certain degree by the brain, being into the game, the brain could fully emulate the real taste of the food. This did not only apply only to the bread, but for all other dishes in this world; in Elskria, the food was even better than in real life. As she quickly finished eating, a thirty years old man dressed in a full leather set entered the shop. Man : ¡° Hello, do you have any leather gloves for me ? My old ones are already worn out. ¡° Man asked Yuki. Yuki : ¡° Welcome, please look at this side. ¡° Yuki said as she pointed towards four pair of gloves located at the left of the counter. The man quickly picked a few of pairs and began comparing them; one pair was fully brown colored, while the other one was white. Man : ¡° What are the price for those pairs ? ¡° He asked, showing both pairs to Yuki. Yuki : ¡° Each one costs nine silver. ¡° An hour ago while Yuki was looking around the shop, she found a small book with names and prices of the different goods in the shop. Of course she had a hard time learning them within only one hour available, but she as a clerk clearly had to know the prices of goods she was selling. Man : ¡° It¡¯s pretty cheap for gloves of this quality. ¡° The man said before giving nine silver to Yuki and leaving with the brown gloves. For Yuki, nine silver coins was something extremely expensive, but any of the leather equipment in this shop required one to be of at least level five to equip. While a beginner''s weapon, used and nearly broken, cost two silver, nine silver should be cheap for a pair of glove for level five. As the man left satisfied with small smile on his lips, many of the peasants outside looked at him curiously before carefully coming to take a look at the inside of the shop. Woman : ¡° How did that man manage to buy something ? ¡° One of the women said before looking at the windows of the shop. Man : ¡° Look at the counter, Kraus isn¡¯t the one selling them ! ¡° One of the men yelled. As the man said this, more than half of the peasants looked at the window to take a look at Yuki peacefully waiting for another customer, not aware in the slightest of the people outside making a commotion because of her. One of the women mentally fortified herself and entered the shop, walking in stiffly before seeing Yuki at the counter. Yuki : ¡° Welcome. ¡° She quickly greeted her, her needless worry disappearing. Woman : ¡° Hello, where is Klaus ? ¡° The woman asked. Yuki : ¡° He is currently working, so if you personally know him, I can go and call him back. ¡° Yuki said as she walked toward the door which Klaus entered. Woman : ¡° W-WAIT ! It¡¯s fine you don¡¯t have to call him ! ¡° She frantically exclaimed as she grabbed Yuki, preventing her from getting too close to the door. Woman : ¡° You don¡¯t have to disturb him! I¡¯ll¡­ just be looking at the merchandise. ¡° After letting Yuki go, the woman began to look at the different types of clothes displayed around. She was in an awe before the already sold dresses. Some of the dresses had complex designs and showed that they were very carefully made by an expert. After looking with a longing glare at the dress, the woman with a half resigned voice asked the price of the dress. Yuki : ¡° This is cost 15 silver. ¡° The woman was shocked by the price. Woman : ¡° I think you made an error, right ? ¡° She asked uneasy. Yuki : ¡° No, I am sure this is the right price. ¡° Yuki said as she opened the book containing prices for a final confirmation. Woman : ¡° I am taking it ! ¡° She said as she took fifteen silver coins out of her purse, grabbing the dress and with very light footsteps stepped out of the shop, a heartfelt smile pasted on her face. When the woman left, she was questioned by all of the scared onlookers. For them, this shop was something scaring the wits out of them; but as she told them of the new clerk, they all gave it a chance and reluctantly entered the shop. Quickly more than twenty customers entered the shop, making Yuki who only had two customer within one hour shocked. But the most shocked were the curious onlooker as they looked at the different clothes which were sold here. All of them were skillfully made and their prices were so low even cheap goods could barely match. Yuki quickly sold most of the articles in the shop, but the customers were far more numerous than the amount of goods available; it was because a rumor about this shop already spread within the city. As the commotion made by the customer grew even louder, a large sound made by a door slamming against the wall quickly killed the uproar. Klaus : ¡° You are far too noisy brat !! ¡° He yelled before finally seeing the scene. Klaus stopped breathing for a moment as he saw the scene, most of his merchandise were sold and a lot of customer were inside his shop. Klaus : ¡° You¡­ You come with me once you are done here. ¡° Klaus weakly said to Yuki before going back in the room. Just after Klaus left, Yuki finished selling all the remaining clothes; she had sold a total of 127 pieces of clothing. Yuki who finished her work and closed the shop because of the lack of goods, knocked on the door which Klaus entered. Klaus : ¡° Come in brat ! ¡° Yuki opened doors of the room and slowly entered, arriving into a large room with many half made clothes, box full of animals skin, requiring careful tanning process before being usable as leather, and a lot of clothes carefully organized. Yuki : ¡° You wanted to see me ? ¡° Klaus : ¡° Hey brat¡­ Aren¡¯t you afraid of me ? ¡° The man asked, seeming to be in pain. Yuki : ¡° Why would I be afraid of you ? ¡° Yuki answered with a question of her own, as she cutely tilted her head, innocently showing she had no idea of what he was talking about. Klaus : ¡° I mean¡­ Isn¡¯t my appearance scary ? Because of it, I don¡¯t have any customers. ¡° Yuki : ¡° Oji-san, looks aren''t everything. It¡¯s not because you are a giant that I have to be scared of you, I mean did you even try to hurt me ? You even gave me a job, not even knowing anything about me¡­ ¡° The man looked at Yuki¡¯s innocent smile for a few dozen of seconds before finally getting his mind back. Klaus : ¡° Hmph¡­ I guess you are a strange brat after all. Brat¡­ No, Yuki, do you want to have a part-time work here ? I can pay you 1 silver per hour. ¡° He said as he kindly looked at Yuki.
Working at the Tailor Because of how well you did at attracting customers to the shop, and of your friendship with the owner, Klaus, you are offered to work for him Difficulty Level : F Quest Reward : 1 Silver per hour Quest Requirement : Be Klaus'' friend
Yuki : ¡° One silver is more than six times more than what Onee-chan is making by working at the tavern¡­ Sure, I¡¯ll do it ! ¡°
Quest accepted
Klaus : ¡° Perfect ! You can start tomorrow, since I need to go retrieve more of my works from the storage¡­ Someone is finally going to start wearing them ! Oh, I almost forgot! Here, take this. ¡° Klaus said happily as he took four silver out of a purse. Yuki : ¡° Thanks you Oji-san. ¡° She said as she received the money. She had acquired four silver within a single day, clearly more than enough to buy a weapon from that blacksmith. But Yuki still thought about working in Klaus¡¯s shop; it was because weapons aren''t the only piece of equipment required for adventuring. She also needed to buy an armor, some clothes for Shiki, rings; especially staff, which are generally the most expensive equipment in most games. Moreover, where was she working ? In a tailor shop! Klaus was producing many types of leather and cloth armors; he would surely give them a discount on his product if she were to work for him for a while longer. After receiving the money and giving her thanks to Klaus, Yuki left the shop. *********** ************** *********** **************** ************** Four hours passed since Shiki left the tavern to go find a work on her own but the sun was still shining in the sky. As she asked a passerby about the time, she learned that it was only 1pm. As she decided to return to the tavern to eat with Shiki, her attention was attracted by an old man sitting on the ground, drawing the scenery. At his side were drawings of many different landscapes, mountains, dungeons, deserts, wildernesses¡­ The old man was dressed in a long, tattered grey cloak, showing only his white pants which already turned black because of all accumulated dirt. Shiki observed the man¡¯s drawings with interest, looking at him drawing all the different passersby, houses¡­ He drew everything he saw. Old man : ¡° Do you want to try yourself, young girl ? ¡° The old man politely asked her, as he smiled at her, tending a few papers and a pencil. Yuki : ¡° You sure ? ¡° Yuki asked, worried she might be bothering him. Old man : ¡° Seeing a young girl showing an interest in my profession, how could I feel bothered. ¡° He answered as if knowing what was going through Yuki''s head. Yuki : ¡° Yey, thank you. ¡° She said as she took supplies offered in his hand and sat next to him. As she began to draw, the man looked at her drawing with some interest. She first drew a bird she saw sitting on a roof in front of her; afterwards she drew a stall of a man who was yelling his prices near her. Although Yuki was still a child, she was pretty skillful in drawing. She also enjoyed drawing ever since she can remember, especially drawing her favorite game''s characters or her parents. But before she began her next drawing, she was interrupted by a telepathic voice. Shiki : ¡° Yuki, did you eat yet ? Paty let me use her kitchen to prepare some dishes. ¡° Yuki : ¡° Did she teach you the ¡®cooking¡¯ skill ? ¡° Yuki asked, excitedly, since in most MMORPG one had to learn the skill ¡®cooking¡¯ in order to make some dishes. Shiki : ¡° No she didn¡¯t, but it seem that you are able to cook without the skill; but I still managed to obtain it after cooking a few dishes. ¡° Yuki looked at the still blank sheet of paper she was holding, as she began wondering if she could also learn a skill by her lonesome, skill ¡®Drawing¡¯, that is, if she did it enough times. Yuki : ¡° I didn¡¯t eat yet. I¡¯ll be coming there soon, wait for me. ¡° She said before looking at the sheet of paper once again. Her hand began to move, making some random lines at first, which slowly began to take a form of something similar to a face. Adding nose, eyes, eyelashes, eyebrows, mouth¡­ It gave her a nostalgic feeling, reminding her of the one she just finished conversing with. It was becoming a face of a real beauty, if you ignored the childish way of drawing. She also added hair; long hair only slightly shaded, indicating silver coloring they were supposed to be. The drawing, of course, was a portrait of Shiki; and even though it might be considered quite well done for someone her own age, it was nothing exceptional either. And even as it did hold some slight resemblance to her model of inspiration, it was completely unable to capture the impression Shiki gave, making this whole picture completely normal for the eleven year old she was before the accident.
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
DrawingBeginner10%
Painting, sculpting, architecture, maps... Drawing is the first form of art which appeared in the world and the most versatile one. Next level : Allow you to draw more efficiently.
Yuki : ¡° So we can learn skills without anyone¡¯s help¡­ ¡° Yuki muttered in a low voice before finally standing up. Old man : ¡° Are you done already, young lady ? Well, this is quite a fine piece for someone so young¡­ ¡° Yuki : ¡°And yet I cannot not compare it to yours and feel how it pales in comparison. You can''t even call mine a picture, more like some insult to drawing.¡° Old man : ¡° Haha, if someone who only just picked up drawing tools was able to match, especially someone of your age, I''d be ashamed of myself. Anyway, want to give it another go? ¡° Yuki : ¡° Hmm, when you put it like this, I guess I can''t really complain. Well, thanks for today Jii-san, my sister is unfortunately waiting for me, so I have to go ow. ¡° Old man : ¡° I see, then hurry up and don¡¯t make her wait too long ! ¡° The man said in a kind voice. *********** ************** *********** **************** ************** When Yuki returned to Paty¡¯s tavern, she was greeted by Shiki who was waiting for her outside. ¡°Did something happen?¡± Yuki asked as soon as she saw Shiki¡¯s smile. ¡°I managed to make two silver this morning, there were many customers so Paty gave me a bonus. Now we only need one silver and ten coppers and we¡¯ll both be able to finally buy a weapon,¡° she answered as she showed the two silver coins she gained. Actually, Shiki had planned to start fighting by using a melee weapon, until she was finally able to afford proper magical equipment, alongside Yuki to level up as soon as possible. ¡°Then we don¡¯t have to wait! Let¡¯s go buy them right away!¡± Yuki said as she pulled Shiki by her hand toward the blacksmith. ¡°We still need more money,¡± Shiki said trying to pull her hand away from Yuki. ¡°It¡¯s fine Onee-chan, I already made four silver myself.¡± ¡°Already?!¡± Shiki answered surprised, as she looked at the four silver Yuki took out of the bag. Seeing that her sister managed to earn two-times the amount she did, Shiki felt proud and depressed at the same time. ¡°How did you manage to make this much?¡± Shiki asked. ¡°I worked as a clerk in a shop, earning one silver per hour. ¡° Yuki answered with an energetic smile. After hearing this, Shiki thought about leaving her job. While she was being paid fifteen copper per hour, Yuki was earning one silver the hour. It was more than six times her own wage. Little did she know that those fifteen copper coins were already something above average for just a beginner. As they walked toward the blacksmith shop, Shiki took out two sandwiches made with meat, cheese, tomatoes and salad. ¡°Is that something you made?¡± Yuki asked, her eyes turning bright as she looked at the appetizing sandwich. ¡°I wish I could make something better, but we nearly ran out of ingredients in the inn. I used the remaining ones to make those,¡° she responded handing her handiwork to Yuki.
Beginner''s Sandwich
Type:FoodEffects:Restore 60% Satiety, Strength +1, Agility +1
Quality:Common
A sandwich made by an apprentice cook.
¡°Onee-chan, do you know how can we open Character Menu?¡± Yuki asked curiously, as she had already tried to find it before, but was unsuccessful. ¡°You simply have to say ¡®Character Screen¡¯, or think very hard about it. You can also see the ¡®Skill Menu¡¯ by saying it,¡± was the following explanation. ¡°Character Screen.¡±
Name:YukiRace:Catgirl
Class:NoneLevel:1Points:0
Titles:
None
Health:130Mana:100
Damage:1-2Defense:5
Strength:13Agility:14
Intelligence:10Wisdom:10
Charisma:10Endurance:10
Luck:10Fame:0
¡°So basically, starting stats are at 10, then adding to that the attributes gained from my race, my Strength is immediately raised to 13 and Agility to 14,¡° Yuki said. ¡°I also started with 10 points in every stat everywhere, but unlike you I have 9 points in Strength, 12 in Agility and at the same time 15 in Intelligence and 12 in Wisdom. I also started with ¡®Moon Elves¡¯ racial attribute which gives me a boost of 50% mana regeneration during the night,¡± Shiki said explaining her choices made during her own character creation. As Shiki finished talking, they both arrived to the blacksmith. As they stepped inside, the young clerk welcomed them. ¡°I am glad to see you back, so soon,¡± clerk said as he welcomed them inside. ¡°Thanks for your kindness earlier, we now have enough to buy two weapons,¡± Shiki responded in kind while slightly bowing her head to him. ¡°I-It was nothing. By the way, are you two new around here?¡± the man hurriedly responded, trying to hide his embarrassment. ¡°That¡¯s right, we are starting today,¡± Yuki answered him back. ¡°Then you don¡¯t know yet? Beginners are only allowed to get out of the city after two weeks,¡± he explained to them as if it was a common thing to know. Shiki and Yuki who never heard about this before were utterly shocked as they obviously didn¡¯t know anything about this restriction. They were the first players to have entered this world, so how could they have been aware of this? ¡°Then we better use this time to earn enough money to buy a simple equipment and Class up,¡± Yuki said as she carefully thought about it. Yuki had already played many MMORPGs, so she was already aware that buying expensive equipment when only starting the game was actually pretty dumb. Starting monster were, in most games, really weak and by killing only a few of them, one would be able to find some pretty good armor parts. So buying any cheap equipment and repairing it when needed, and afterwards replacing it with better ones; at least this was how she normally played until she reached a higher level, where it became harder to level up. ¡°I am sorry, but you won¡¯t be able to do a Class up in this city. To get a class you have to visit a ¡®Class Hall¡¯; unfortunately we don¡¯t have one here. You¡¯ll have to go to a bigger town to find one,¡± shop¡¯s clerk explained to them, as he listened to their conversation. ¡°I see¡­ Then we should use our time in this city to learn as many skills and earn as much money as we can before leaving,¡± was Shiki''s response after carefully analyzing the situation they were currently in. ¡°Sure, let¡¯s work hard Onee-chan!¡±
Retreat!!Main pageContinue ?
Chapter 2 - The Man Clad In Red Hello guys, I hope I didn''t make you wait too long ? Here I come today with a new chapter. If you liked it then don''t hesitate to leave a comment, rate and follow this fiction. Enjoy ! *********** ************** *********** **************** ************** Two weeks passed since Yuki entered the game. Just like every day since she arrived, she was working at Klaus¡¯s place, having the role of the clerk. Since she started working, the shop became popular for having cheap items of high quality, making it run out of merchandise within only three or four hours. ¡°Hey Yuki, today is the day you will finally be allowed to go outside the city, right?¡± Klaus asked her just as she was closing the shop for the day. ¡°Yup, today me and Onee-chan will finally be hunting outside.¡± she replied excitedly, unable to contain excitement out of her voice. ¡°Haha, I see¡­ Then will you do me a favor? I am beginning to run out of materials, if you are hunting some rabbits outside, could you please bring me some of their leather? Ten should be enough.¡±
Rabbit Skin The tailor Klaus asked you to bring him 10 rabbit skin. Difficulty Level : E Quest Rewards: 3 Silver coins, Leather boots Quest Requirement : Be Klaus'' friend Being able to leave the city
¡®A real quest!¡¯ Yuki though looking at the window which appeared in front of her. ¡°I¡¯ll bring you their skins!¡± she responded accepting the quest.
Quest accepted
¡°Thanks. Now you better hurry. Your sister might be waiting for you already.¡± Klaus reminded her of Shiki who was already waiting for her. As Yuki got out of the shop and ran toward Azureal¡¯s north gate in a hurrying dash, a message disturbed her, stopping her in her tracks.
Agility +1
After a short glance at the window, not being surprised in the least, she only smirked before starting to run once again. Within the past two weeks, she had already seen this window two times, not counting today''s. The first time she gained one Strength while the second time it was an increase in Endurance. As Yuki arrived at the north gate, Shiki, already there, waved her hand towards her. ¡°Sorry, I am late¡± Yuki apologized to her. ¡°I just arrived as well so don¡¯t worry about it too much,¡± Shiki replied as she caressed her little sister¡¯s head. ¡°Shall we start with hunting rabbits to begin? Klaus gave me a quest about giving him their skins,¡± Yuki said as she described her quest. ¡°I also received a quest from Paty, she wants fifteen ¡®rabbit''s meat¡¯.¡± Shiki replied. They moved toward the gate and were able to pass it without being stopped by the guards. Arriving at a large green plain as they left the city, they stumbled upon countless little rabbits, all being of different sizes and colors. Some were pure white, some had some colored specks on their otherwise spotless skins, and some had some stripes. ¡°Shall we get started?¡± Shiki asked while taking a long brown staff out of her storage.
Wooden Staff
Damage:1-2Durability:14 / 20
Quality:Uncommon
A magic staff poorly made with a bad magic crystal of poor-quality. Special Skill : Mana Orb Requirement : 14 Intelligence
It was a staff Shiki had bought for 11 silver, using money she earned by working at Paty¡¯s shop. The reason was simple, even if she would have been able to obtain mages skills after obtaining a class, she would later become a burden for Yuki who was already using a sword and would be far above her in term of skills, giving her a handicap. The one who sold her the staff told her that by using it a number of times, she would be able to learn the skill ¡®Mana Ball¡¯, this skill being the first skill a mage would have learned. As for Yuki, she took out her low rate Iron Sword, repaired by the blacksmith for 60 copper coins. As they approached a random white rabbit who was by himself, apart from the others, they took a battle stance. A small writing appeared above the rabbit ¡®White Rabbit, Level 1, 18 hp¡¯ Yuki who was equipped with an Iron Sword, boosting her damage stats by 2-4, giving her a total of 8-10. ¡°Mana Orb,¡± Shiki called, activating her skill. The moment she uttered those words, a little blue sphere appeared above her staff. The Orb moved left and right as if having a mind of its own. Of course, it was Shiki the one actually ordering it where to move by being highly concentrated on it. ¡°This is pretty interesting,¡± Shiki said as she continued to move the orb around her. Yuki, who was looking at her playing with mana orb, felt envious of her sister being able to use magic. After playing with the ball for half a minute, Shiki sent it flying to the rabbit, hitting it at its head. ~7 damage Rabbit, upon being hit, glanced at Shiki and with small leaps swiftly ran toward her. However, his speed wasn¡¯t on par with Yuki¡¯s who with a swing of her sword sent that same rabbit flying one meter in the air once hit. ~9 damage The rabbit, who now had only 2 hp left, tried to run away, but since he was sent flying and had a hard landing had a hard time moving. Another small blue orb came out of Shiki¡¯s staff and hit him right to the back. ~ 5 damage The rabbit finally lost the rest of his remaining health and vanished, dropping some meat, a rabbit skin, and 5 coppers on the ground. ¡°In this regard, I guess it really does look like a game,¡± Yuki said as she saw the rabbit disappearing. The two of them then went to another rabbit, this one grey with some brown round specks over his skin, and was a little bigger than the previous one. He was surrounded by two white rabbits. The two white rabbits had the same stats as the previous one, but the bigger grey one was different. ¡®Grey Rabbit Level 2, 24 hp¡¯ They both felt confident about this approaching fight since Yuki only needed two hits to kill a small rabbit, while Shiki needing 4 balls could easily provide support for her. Shiki possessed a total of 165 mana and each orb used only 10 of it. Since she had 145 mana left now, this allowed her to easily create another 14 Mana Orbs. The cooldown for Mana Orb was only 1,5 second, but this was still the reason as to why they were considered weaker than a swordsman''s strike. ¡°Mana Ball¡± Shiki said, summoning another small blue ball above her staff. That same moment the skill was completed, rabbits eyes turned to her; her skill took theie aggro. As Shiki looked at the incoming rabbits, a small white one already jumped at her. But within that small second he needed to reach her, he was greeted by the mana orb, preventing his bite from ever reaching its intended target. ~6 damage Since rabbits were distracted by Shiki, Yuki took this opportunity to strike at the second white rabbit, delivering a quick swing he was unable to dodge. ~7 damage ¡®As I though, damage depend on the strength behind the attack¡¯ Yuki thought, seeing hers and her sister¡¯s damage being lower than before. After seeing Yuki¡¯s attack, the grey rabbit turned toward her, his attack consisting of a jump at her leg, biting it with his long teeth. ~15 damage Yuki felt that bite of the rabbit as if it was real, therefore she immediately responded with another swing of her sword at him, but her swing was dodged, he jumping backward. Right after the bite she felt the pain disappearing, as if it never existed. It only lasted a few seconds before disappearing. As she looked at the rabbit who bit her, she felt something swell inside her. It made her want to cut him into pieces, but neither because of hate nor for revenge; it truly was a mysterious sensation. The glint in her eyes as she glared at the rabbit made him somewhat hesitate, but as if he couldn¡¯t read the hidden meaning behind that glare, the white rabbit charged directly at her, only to be received with a sword pierced through it¡¯s head. ~Critical Strike, 12 damage The white rabbit died on the spot, leaving only blood on her blade as he vanished into nothingness. When rabbit died, Yuki wasn¡¯t bothered by the blood; for her it wasn¡¯t something scary or disgusting¡­ It was only a red liquid. ~7 damage A blue orb collided with grey rabbit¡¯s body, making him glare behind with hatred. It was Shiki¡¯s orb, the white rabbit who was fighting her was gone; he was dead. The grey rabbit was scared, he knew that he wasn¡¯t able to kill these two. But what could he do? He could either try to flee, but they were sure to catch him, or try to stand and fight? Even in one against one he wasn''t sure of his chances for victory. The last option was only waiting for his death. The rabbit¡¯s fur was standing on their ends as he was growled and showed his long teeth. ¡®Grey Rabbit Level 2, 17 hp, Enraged¡¯ While the grey rabbit was growling at them, Shiki had prepared two blue orbs, which were now floating around her. Yuki charged at him with a horizontal swing, but the rabbit dodged at the last moment and jumped toward her, aiming at her neck. But as he approached it, a Mana Orb blocked him on his way and protected Yuki, hitting him in the process. ~6 damage As soon as Yuki saw him falling in midair, she immediately took the opportunity to deliver a vertical blow which hit the rabbit¡¯s leg. ~10 damage As the rabbit was about to touch the ground, Shiki¡¯s last Mana orb was waiting for him there, killing him on the spot. ~5 damage The grey rabbit vanished, leaving behind 2 rabbit meat, 1 rabbit skin, 10 copper and a small ring.
Rabbit Ring
TypeRingDurability:15/15
Quality:Common
A ring made of copper with a rabbit engraved on it. Agility +2
¡°You should take it, agility is very important for a swordsman,¡± Shiki commented, passing the ring to Yuki.
Name:YukiRace:Catgirl
Class:NoneLevel:2Points:5
Titles:
None
Health:165Mana:125
Damage:9-11Defense:6
Strength:14Agility:17 (+2)
Intelligence:10Wisdom:10
Charisma:10Endurance:11
Luck:10Fame:0
As Yuki checked her Character Screen, she noticed that she leveled up, giving her a bonus of 25 health and mana and five additional attribute points. That one point in endurance she gained during those two weeks in the city also gave her a bonus of 10 health, giving her a total of 165 hp. ¡°We only hunted four rabbits and we already passed level 2.¡± Yuki said. ¡°Let¡¯s hunt some more before going back. We have a whole afternoon left,¡± Shiki replied with a smile as she spent her points. Yuki decided to distribute two point in her strength, two in her agility and for the final one, as she was wondering what luck was, she decided to use her remaining point there. With 15 points in strength and 19 in agility, her attack passed from 8-10 to 11-13. In the afternoon, Shiki and Yuki hunted additional 23 rabbits within 3 hours, giving Shiki enough time to regain her mana when she was beginning to run out of it. With those 23 rabbits they passed level 4 and were now already halfway to level 5. Despite the number of rabbits they hunted, the plain was still overpopulated with them. Those 23 now dead were nothing compared to the number of them left in the plain. As they were thinking of returning to complete their quest, they came upon a strange rabbit, whose fur was pure black, with one red eye, and a large scar on the other. He was five times larger than any other rabbit, making him nearly half of Yuki¡¯s size. His skin was scarred all over, showing numbers of battles he managed survived clearly visible to all predators possibly preying on him. ¡®Boss type: Rabbit Chief Level 5, 400 hp¡¯ ¡°It¡¯s a boss,¡± Yuki weakly let out in a gasp. With an eye contact, they both agreed on slaying him. If they were both still be at level 1 or 2, they may have ignored him and retreated, but being a level 4, their health and damage had greatly improved. Yuki¡¯s health passed the 215 mark in health and had 20-22 of basic damage. As she compared with her previous stats, she learned that she gained one damage per point put in strength, and 0,5 for each point in agility. They were very confident about killing the rabbit and as they approached him, the rabbit quickly noticed their presence and prepared himself for battle, glaring at them. Yuki quickly unsheathed her sword and took her battle stance, wearing a large smile as she looked at the rabbit. She was getting bored of fighting the other rabbits. Now that she had reached level four the experience given by them was almost non-existent and with her current damage she was killing them with only one hit. But in front of her was the first boss she ever met in this game so her excited about this battle was not misplaced. Yuki charged at the boss, landing a light blow on his body, since the rabbit managed to avoid most of its impact with a powerful leap backward, reducing the impact. ~12 damage The rabbit, after his leap with his powerful legs, propelled himself toward Yuki. As the rabbit with a great speed advanced toward Yuki, three Mana Orbs appeared in front of him. But the rabbit didn¡¯t stop his charge and took them head on. ~11 damage / 10 damage / 13 damage The orbs didn¡¯t slow down the rabbit in the slightest even though he ignored them and he managed to sent Yuki flying with a head-butt. ~23 damage Yuki managed to reduce that damage by utilizing her sword to block the rabbit¡¯s attack, but the damage she took was still very high. As she looked at her sword, she noticed something amiss, there were cracks all over the blade.
Iron Sword¡¯s durability reduced by 4
Yuki¡¯s weapon durability dropped from 13 to 9; her sword only cost her 2 silver when and additional 60 copper for a full repair. It wasn¡¯t something expensive for her anymore, considering how much she earned during the past two weeks working for her employer. She could easily afford a new one as soon as she returned to the city, sword far better suited for her new level, a level 5 player, but the problem was that she was still engaged in a boss fight right now. If the sword broke before the conclusion of the fight, she wouldn¡¯t be able to fight him at all. While she was looking at her sword, the black rabbit once again charged at her, not willing to give her any more time to ponder things. Seeing the rabbit charging at her, Yuki didn¡¯t try to block it. With a sidestep she avoided rabbit by a hair''s breath. Although she did plan on avoid it, in the end it was only by luck that she actually succeeded, because she noticed a little too late that rabbit¡¯s charge. As she avoided him, Yuki replied to his charge by landing a blow on his legs, trying to lower his movement abilities. ~22 damage Right after the attack, three of Shiki¡¯s orbs charged at the rabbit, the first two hitting him in the head and the last one being dodged by a fast leap. But as the rabbit avoided it, the orb almost instantly changed its direction, hitting him. ~12 damage / 14 damage / 11 damage This sudden change of direction was something impossible for a normal human, the orb was controlled with the mind of the user. But changing its direction once launched required an extreme amount of concentration. But Shiki could do it with almost no effort, it was because by being an AI, her processing speed was far higher than any human''s. The rabbit had already lost a quarter of his total health, and now fuelled by anger, he once again charged toward Yuki. Only this it was not to head-butt her. He was trying to use his sharp front claw to cut her as he decided that head-butting would leave him powerless for a counter-attack. The rabbit¡¯s size may only be half of Yuki¡¯s, but his strength and speed was far superior to hers. As she had no choice but to block the first attack, the durability of her weapon once again dropped by 3 points After withstanding the first attack, Yuki, expecting the rabbit to attack her lower body, made a small jump in the air. Her jump, however, wasn¡¯t that small. By being influenced by her agility, it took her 1 meter higher from where she predicted the rabbit would attack her lower body. Yuki used all the strength in her body and the gravity to deliver it in one powerful vertical strike. As the rabbit saw Yuki¡¯s attack, it tried to dodge it, but the moment he started to move, two of Shiki¡¯s Mana Orbs flew in his direction, hitting him an disabling his movement, leaving him unable to avoid Yuki¡¯s strike. ~14 damage / 12 damage / Critical Strike 54 damage The critical strike cut through rabbit''s flesh, making his blood flow out quickly from his body. But the rabbit, as anger took over him, ignored the pain and delivered a powerful bit which stroke against Yuki¡¯s sword.
Iron Sword¡¯s durability reduced by 6 The Iron Sword¡¯s durability was reduced to 0
As her weapon fell apart, the black rabbit regained his spirit, by seeing her broken sword, he immediately felt relieve and confidence returned to him once again. Believing that after Yuki lost her weapon she wouldn¡¯t pose much of a threat, the black rabbit turned to Shiki who was now the only one dangerous individual remaining. However, the rabbit didn''t notice that Yuki still had another weapon. A large smile formed on her face as she looked at the rabbit who had completely dropped its guard. As the rabbit was being wary of Shiki, Yuki suddenly dashed at him and cut through his skin with her nails. ~Critical Strike 19 damage By being caught off guard, the rabbit received a critical strike from Yuki. As he looked at her, trying to find a weapon, his attention focused on her hand, or more precisely on her nails where his blood was slowly dropping. It was Yuki¡¯s racial weapon, the catgirl¡¯s nails. As the black rabbit stared at Yuki, it fear slowly took hold of him, or more precisely, because of the expression she had in her eyes as she looked at him with such a large smile plastered on her innocent face. Rabbit, not willing to be caught off guard once again, rushed at Yuki, trying to utilize his strength to the fullest and to overwhelm her. But in the end, the rabbit''s movement weren''t complex enough and even Yuki with a sidestep managed to dodged his first strike and with her nails unleashed another fury of attacks, cutting through his skin deeper and deeper. ~7 damage / 6 damage / 9 damage / 7 damage Shiki, looking at this scene while making Mana Orbs, wasn¡¯t bothered by Yuki¡¯s violent behavior and took advantage of the opportunity to send as many orbs for support as she could possibly produce in such a short timeframe. Having lost more than half of his health, the rabbit entered an enraged state and his eyes turned red. With a powerful jump, he swiftly flew toward Yuki¡¯s body. But after fighting around 27 rabbits and seeing this attack many times before, Yuki became accustomed to it and easily dodged it, following it by unleashing another series of scratching. ~6 damage / 9 damage / 7 damage / 7 damage Seeing his attempt at attacking being useless, the rabbit once again chose to use its nails to attack, swinging both of his arms, one after another. ~18 damage / 20 damage / 16 damage Yuki was unable to completely dodge all of his attacks and took a total of 54 damage. But she wasn¡¯t bothered by the damage or pain in the slightest and instead continued clawing at the rabbit with her own nails, while Shiki supported her with her Mana Orbs all the while. ~9 damage / 7 damage / 7 damage / 8 damage / 9 damage ~11 damage / 13 damage / 14 damage / 11 damage The rabbit now only had 50 points of health remaining, therefore his time to die has come, and even if he were to defeat Yuki, Shiki was still at her full health and should possess around one quarter of her mana capacity left; more than enough to defeat him. Yet he held a strong conviction of not dying alone; he will at least take one of them down with him. With all of the remaining energy left, he concentrated it into one final attack at Yuki, trying to take her down with him in his death. ~17 damage / 20 damage / 27 damage Yuki was able to completely dodge three of the six attacks he made, reducing the damage taken of the second one, but the last one still made her loose balance. Taking this opportunity, the black rabbit leaped toward Yuki trying to bite her neck. ~Critical Strike 69 damage Yuki was able to survive the attack by sacrificing her arm to protect her neck, making rabbit''s teeth sink into her arm, and with her balance undermined, the attack ended in a critical strike leaving her with no more than 5 hp. Having head of the rabbit so close to her, Yuki pierced his eyes with her nails, trying to kill him off before he would kill her. ~Critical Strike 35 damage Hitting a weak point added a bonus damage to Yuki¡¯s critical strike, yet it was still not enough to finish the boss, now leaving him with less than 20 hit points left. But Yuki wasn¡¯t disappointed at her attack not finishing him off; she never expected it to end him with just that in the first place. As the black rabbit was preparing to take her down, Yuki smiled. And at this very moment, just as he feld a piercing stare in his back, he was hit by six mana orbs from behind. ~11 damage / 13 damage / 11 damage / 12 damage / 12 damage / Critical Strike 26 damage The rabbit dropped on the ground, dead, leaving Yuki barely alive with 5 hp remaining. He vanished, leaving behind him 6 silver, a pair of gauntlets, and a necklace. But before they could even pick those drops up, two windows appeared in front of the two of them.
Stat Unlocked : Achievement Some heroes are known through history because of theirs fame and story, but the existence of the most will never be known. Still, this doesn¡¯t change the fact that they managed to accomplish some great things during their time.
You are the first players to defeat a boss. Achievement + 50
¡°Achievement? How is this different from fame?¡± Yuki asked after calming down her excitement from the boss battle. ¡°Let¡¯s see¡­ If we consider that ¡®fame¡¯ is all about how well-known you are within a country, ¡®achievement¡¯ would represent number of things you accomplished. In other words fame is something that anyone can gain by working only a little, like for quest, while achievement can only be gained by people who do their best to accomplish great things,¡± Shiki said as she tried to logically compare the two words and analyze the intent behind them. As they dismissed the two windows, another one took their place. This one was a bit different for Shiki than it was for Yuki.
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
Mana OrbBeginner10%
Manipulating pure mana is the beginning of a path for anyone aiming to walk the road of magic. Summon an orb made of pure mana which can be manipulated at will by the user. Cost 10mp Next level: Damage increase.
This window held the reason Shiki bought that staff as her weapon, to gain the ability to use ¡®Mana Orb¡¯ by herself, without assistance of magical items. Yuki also obtained the skill she was aiming for, considering she was aiming to become a swordswoman.
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
WeaponshipBeginner10%
Weapons were made to kill other beings; knifes, swords, war hammers, axes and even fists; all of them serving for this same purpose. Next level: Increase all physical damage by 10%
¡®Weaponship? I thought I would obtain swordsmanship. Ah well, it is almost the same anyway,¡¯ she thought as she closed her window. After taking the gold, Yuki quickly went toward the two items which were glowing in a green light on the ground.
Mystic Necklace
TypeNecklaceDurability:15/15
Quality:Uncommon
A magical necklace infused with mana by a wizard. Inteligence + 3 / Wisdom +3
Adventurer''s gloves
Defense:7Durability:20/20
Quality:Uncommon
Gloves that belonged to an adventurer who died fighting against the black rabbit chief outside Azureal. Strength +2 / Agility +2
¡®7 of defense?! All of my beginner''s clothing totals at 7,¡¯ Yuki was overjoyed. The Mystic Necklace gave more stats than the gloves, but what were 2 stat points against doubling one¡¯s armor? Moreover, the stats on the gloves were perfect for a swordsman. As the necklace only gave Wisdom and Intelligence, Yuki gave it to Shiki. They had already planned on how the items would be distributed beforehand. Shiki only needed items which gave an increase in mana, Wisdom and Intelligence while Yuki needed the ones that gave Agility, Strength, Health and Endurance, as she played the role of a melee warrior who were supposed to aggro monsters. ¡°By the way, Onee-chan, how much mana do you have in total? You almost never run out of it in the fight,¡± Yuki asked as she recalled the fight where Shiki was firing Mana Orbs from the beginning and all the way to the end. ¡°I am at 560 thanks to the necklace, it seem that every point above 10 in Intelligence gives me an increase of 5 in mana, and Wisdom addition of 10,¡± Shiki¡¯s answer shocked her. Shiki had told her before that only one Mana Orb used 10 mp, she could summon a total of 56 orbs. ¡°You don¡¯t have to be shocked, Mana Orb is a weak spell. A single of your sword strike did more damage than two of my orbs.¡± ¡°My sword¡­¡± Yuki said as she recalled her now destroyed sword. ¡°It¡¯s not a problem, we can just buy a new one anyway,¡± she said to comfort her. ¡°I know¡­ But I still liked it even if it was a cheap one.¡± ¡°For now let¡¯s return to the city, we need to validate our quest,¡± Shiki said as she took Yuki by the hand, walking in the direction of the city. *********** ************** *********** **************** **************
Quest Completed
¡°GAHAHAHAHA! Nice job brat! With this, I will be able to make a lot of clothes! Let me go get the reward,¡± Klaus said as he slapped Yuki¡¯s back. She had brought him back a total of 27 rabbit''s skin. Klaus left toward his storage before returning with a pair of brown leather boots which he handed to Yuki.
Leather boots
Defense:4Durability:14/14
Quality:Common
Boots made of leather by a skilled tailor. Agility +1
The boots weren¡¯t as good as the gloves she obtained from the Black Rabbit, but it was many times better than her current beginner clothes. She was also aware that the boots wouldn¡¯t be of good quality as the quest was only about getting the skin of rabbit level one. How could the item reward compare to the drop of a level 5 boss? ¡°Thanks Oji-san!¡± Yuki said as she equipped the boots straight away, happy because of finishing a quest which rewarded her with a new piece of equipment. ¡°Also, please take this,¡± he said as he handed her 7 silver. ¡°I thought the reward was for only 3 silver?¡± Yuki asked, making a cute tilt with her head. ¡°Are you trying to shame me ?! You brought more than twice the amount I asked for, of course I have to give you a bonus!¡± Klaus yelled as if he was angry, but the expression on his face was a smile. ¡°I''ll accept it then. By the way, do you know where I can find stronger monsters?¡± Most rabbits, even the ones at level 3, weren¡¯t able to give her any experience anymore; the only exception being the Black Rabbit, but she didn¡¯t know how much time was needed for it to respawn¡­ Or even if he would respawn. ¡°Gahaha, so you are already done with hunting rabbits? You should try the forest then, just be careful about the dogs there. Oh and if you come in possession of any skins, bring them to me. I¡¯ll be sure to buy them.¡± ¡°I should be going for now, Onee-chan is probably waiting for me.¡± Yuki said as she made a slight bow before leaving the shop. As she exited the shop, she opened her Friends list and used it to make a telepathic call to Shiki. ¡°Yuki? Are you already done?¡± Shiki asked. ¡°Yup, I received a pair of gloves, how about you?¡± She asked as Shiki hadn¡¯t told her about her quest reward. ¡°5 silver and a new skill, it seems that Paty had alchemical knowledge. It was the main reward of the quest.¡± Yuki felt a little envious of her. What she had obtained was only low-level boots, how could it compare to a skill like alchemy? This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. For a moment, Yuki hesitated about asking Klaus to teach her tailoring as she didn¡¯t think he would refuse, but she quickly dismissed this idea. The reason was simple, she hated sewing ever since she tried it once with her mom. ¡°Paty is teaching me some recipe so it may take me a while. Why don¡¯t you go buy a new sword while waiting for me to be done with this?¡± Shiki advised her. ¡°Sure. And let me know when you are done,¡± was her reply before hanging up. For the third time since she arrived in this world, Yuki returned to the blacksmith. As she opened the door, she was quickly greeted by the clerk who seemed to be having some free time. ¡°Welcome! Oh, your sister is not with you today?¡± The clerk asked as he dropped his shoulders, making a wry smile. ¡°Why are you feeling sad Onii-san? Could it be that you really wanted to see her?¡± Yuki asked as she made a sneaky smile. ¡°W-W-What are you saying! O-Of course not, why would you imagine that?¡± The clerk said as he became as red as a tomato. ¡°Fufufu, your reaction seems to be showing your true feelings, you know?¡± Yuki said with a mocking expression. ¡°A-Anyway, what are you looking for today?¡± The clerk asked as he tried to change the subject. ¡°Oh, right, I almost forgot. I came to get a new sword. The previous one broke in a fight earlier.¡± ¡°Fine, I may have a few in stock which you should be able to use.¡± He said before moving toward the sword area in the left part of the shop. ¡°How about these two?¡± he offered, taking two swords from the storage and showing them to Yuki.
Steel Sword
Damage:14-16Durability:30/30
Quality:Common
A sword made by a skilled blacksmith by using steel. Requirement : Level 5 Strength 18, Agility 14
Copper Sword
Damage:10-12Durability:60/60
Quality:Common
A durable sword made of copper with the goal of being sturdy enough to last for many battles. Requirement: Level 5, Strength 20, Agility 12
¡°What about the price?¡± She asked the clerk. ¡°Each one costs 25 silvers, but I can lower it to 20 just for you,¡± the clerk said, smiling. Thanks to her demi-human base stats and the four level gained, Yuki had enough strength and agility to equip both weapons, but she was still hesitating on which one she should take. The Steel Sword obviously had higher damage than the copper one, but it¡¯s durability was only half of it in return. While the first one would make her able to deal more damage in a lower timeframe, the second one would last longer and make her need to pay less for repairs. It would also allow her to fight longer in fights, she thought as while recalling how her sword broke against the rabbit. ¡®This is quite a hard choice. Should I go with the copper one as it will be able to last until I find a new one?¡¯ She thought, but a strange blue sword among the other swords area attracted her attention. From the color, she felt that the sword was special; moreover swords were divided by level required, it was something she could equip. She slowly took the sword and examined it.
Ice Moon Sword
Damage:18-20Durability:80/80
Quality:Rare
A long time ago in the Oni''s country, the Moon Goddess gave this sword to a young girl to defeat their evil ruler. As time passed the sword was stolen and lost its power. Emit a frost aura when attacking Requirement: Strength 20, Agility 20
Yuki was surprised by the sword, its damage being above the steel''s one and its durability being above the copper''s one. Moreover, it didn¡¯t have any specific level requirement. ¡®Is it because it¡¯s a rare sword? Or maybe items of rare quality and above can be used by anyone¡­¡¯ Yuki thought as she looked at the sword. The sword was longer than she thought it would be, being around half of her previous sword lengthier than her previous Iron Sword. A small smile could be seen on Yuki¡¯s mouth as she was happy of her discovery. It was obvious that the sword was a unique item that would belong to the first buyer. ¡°How much for this sword?¡± Yuki asked. ¡°T-This one, it may be too expensive¡­ It costs two gold,¡± the clerk said as he looked at the beautiful blue sword. ¡°Two gold¡­ Could you reduce the price please?¡± Yuki asked trying to bargain. ¡°Let¡¯s see¡­ 1 gold and 50 silver. It¡¯s already a good price right?¡± The clerk said after thinking a few moment. He had reduce the price by a full 25%, the good impression the man had of Yuki played a large part in the bargain, but it wasn¡¯t all, Yuki by becoming a clerk as well in Klaus¡¯s shop also made her learn this skill ¡°1 gold and 20 silver, and in return I¡¯ll put some good word about you to Shiki-nee,¡± Yuki said with a sneaky smile which made the clerk become lost in his thought for a moment before becoming crimson. ¡°F-Fine, but it¡¯s not because I like her or anything you know!¡± he responded while trying to hide his feelings from her. ¡°Sure¡­ We have a deal then,¡± Yuki said as she handed the sum, making her spend almost everything she had earned since she beginning of the game. Within the two weeks she started playing, Yuki had amassed a total of 1 gold and 32 silver. By working with Klaus she was paid the first days 1 silver per hour, but as time passed the price went up to 2 silver and 50 copper. As the food was being taken care of by Shiki thanks to her job at Paty¡¯s tavern, the money only kept accumulating.
You are the first player to acquire a rare item. Achievement + 20
Even though Yuki didn¡¯t want to spend much money on buying equipment in the early level, she couldn¡¯t resist the urge to buy this one. As she equipped the sword, her damage was now double of the one she was capable of doing previously, when using the Iron Sword. Sheathed, the sword was almost touching the ground behind her because of its size and Yuki¡¯s short stature. ¡®Onee-chan must still be busy, maybe I should go draw something to pass the time,¡¯ Yuki thought. ¡°I am going, Onii-san. I¡¯ll pass some good word about you to Shiki-nee, no need to worry about it,¡± she smirked mischievously before exiting the shop. ¡°I-I see, see you again,¡± he originally wanted to tell her that he didn¡¯t need her to pass some good words, but the truth being what it was, he still wanted her to do so. *********** ************** *********** **************** ************** Seated on a bench near a fountain located somewhere in the merchant''s district, Yuki was drawing everything that caught her attention. Merchants passing with their carriages, the shops, couples, families, children playing; she was drawing whatever she noticed during observation of her surroundings. As it was still the afternoon, the place was lively and crowded, giving her a lot of different subjects of interest to draw. Having finished her drawing, she looked up toward the place, searching for something new to draw. Looking at all passersby, Yuki¡¯s stare was attracted to a certain man she caught by luck as he bumped into a child playing around. Yuki hadn¡¯t caught his presence before this, so it intrigued her that she wasn¡¯t able to notice him being clothed in a full red cloak as he was the only one among the crowd in a dress like this. After helping the child to get up, the man threw a look at Yuki as he noticed that she was staring at him. A few seconds later, he once again moved in the district, unnoticed by the passerby. Intrigued, Yuki followed the man from behind, trying as hard as she could to not lose him. The man was looking left and right, checking products being sold by all the many different merchants present at the scene. As he was roaming, three thug looking men bumped into him, or more precisely, they intentionally bumped into him. Yuki was too far to hear them, but by seeing their actions, she was able to understand the situation and she was also certain that those men were targeting him, since they noticed his presence when he bumped into the child. Nobody else noticed him before that, after all. The three thugs encircled the red-cloaked man and escorted him into a smaller alley and Yuki, seeing what was happening, followed them. After two minutes of walk, the four men arrived in an empty alley and the three thugs took out from their waists a small dagger, pointing it toward the cloaked man. Yuki who was watching the scene noticed something floating above the men, it was something they didn¡¯t have before. ¡®Thug Level 6, 140hp¡¯ ¡®Thug Level 7, 170hp¡¯ ¡®Thug Level 5, 130hp¡¯ She wasn¡¯t too surprised by the thugs'' level or hp, after all what she was fighting outside the city were only beginner rabbits, apart from the Black Rabbit, so how could someone compare a group of rabbits and armed men? Unsheathing her sword, Yuki charged at the weakest bandit and with all her strength dealt a powerful blow toward his back. ~Critical Strike 122 damage The thug being taken by surprised couldn¡¯t guard against her, letting her deliver a critical strike at him. Having obtained the Ice Moon Sword, Yuki¡¯s damage exceeded 40. Adding to this the 10% of additional damage from Weaponship, Yuki¡¯s damage was more than enough to kill these thugs with only three hits. Using the momentum created by her sword, Yuki delivered a small round kick to the almost dead thug. ~17 damage The thug died from that kick and as he dropped to the ground, the other two men out of the three were surprised by Yuki as she joined in in the fight. As they snapped out of their immediate surprise, the thugs charged at Yuki with the intent of avenging their fallen comrade, but something prevented them. Chains emerged from the ground and attached themselves around the bandits legs, making them unable to move. As she was surprised, Yuki looked toward the only person who was susceptible of doing this, the cloaked man. ¡®??? Type: Aralche Level ???, ??? hp¡¯ The man while glaring at the two men now lying on the floor, waved his right hand at them. The moment right after, the two thugs died. Yuki was bewildered by what just happened. Directly after the man waved his hand, two swords formed out of nowhere and pierced their bodies, killing them instantly. The three thugs'' corpses, unlike the rabbits'' one, didn¡¯t vanish. Instead they stayed on the ground, slowly letting all of their blood flew out. Aralche looked at Yuki with an indifferent stare, analyzing her from head to toes before slowly approaching her as she didn¡¯t even take a combat stance. She knew that she wouldn¡¯t be able to win against him either way. ¡°You should stop playing the role of a hero or one day you will regret it,¡± was all he said as he passed her by, returning toward the merchants'' district. ¡°I am not playing at being a hero, nor do I want to become one.¡± Yuki answered. The man stopped in his track and looked back at her with some interest at the young catgirl in front of her. ¡°I thought it was every kid¡¯s dream to become one, slaying a demon king and saving a country, being acclaimed by a whole country.¡± He ironically said. ¡°Maybe, but in the end all of this only becomes a burden. I want to live a life without being bound by people''s wishes. A hero is only an assassin sent to kill a ruler and live for the others, being one is the same as throwing my freedom away.¡± She said. Of course Yuki never experienced all this, but she had played many games before and knew that a hero was someone living for others and was being sent to assassinate a king to end a war. For her, how was this any different from a normal assassination? ¡°*Kukuku* You are young but you are already more mature than I was at this time, what is your name young girl?¡± ¡°My name is Yuki, Yuki Hitsuji. What about you?¡± Yuki asked, curious about the man¡¯s identity. The man took off his cloak¡¯s hood, revealing his long pure white hairs and purple eyes. His hair were even whiter than the snow and his purple eyes seemed to be glowing in the dark alley. His face was one of a man in his early thirties and combined with his sharp eyes, he gave the impression of being a dangerous warrior. The man¡¯s face was actually a really good-looking, but there was one strange thing on it. Coming from his neck, a large black stain was covering his face all the way up to his left cheek. ¡°My name is Aralche, an Etherval traveling around the world.¡± He answered. ¡°An Etherval? What is that?¡± Yuki asked as she didn¡¯t see this race in the character creation or even heard of this in any game. ¡°You are a little too curious¡­ It¡¯s fine anyway. An Etherval is a race of the age of the Old God. We are now extinct as I am the last survivor of this race.¡± Aralche responded as if he didn¡¯t care about the past. ¡°The last one?... Are you sure there aren¡¯t any other left somewhere in this world?¡± She asked unable to believe it. ¡°I traveled across the five continents and the many different planes for a very long time now, and even before all that, I was already pretty sure that I was the only one left.¡± He said as he closed his eyes, remembering the past. ¡°...Don¡¯t you feel ¡­ lonely?¡± She unintentionally let out of her mouth. Yuki couldn¡¯t imagine living alone without any attachment to anyone, she didn¡¯t know what she would have done if Shiki wasn¡¯t there for her. ¡°Lonely?... I was alone since I was born, everyone around me was just using me as they wanted. I am not bothered by being the last Etherval.¡± He said indifferently. ¡°Then why do I feel like you are about to cry at any moment?¡± Yuki said as she looked into the Aralche¡¯s cold eyes. As Aralche extended his hand toward Yuki, a long grey sword appeared in his hands and the tip of the blade was pressed against Yuki¡¯s throat. ¡°What do you know about me young girl? If you want to die, then I will kill you right here.¡± He said as he moved his sword until it was touching her throat, but didn''t press is strong enough to hurt her. Despite having a sword at her throat, Yuki didn¡¯t budge in the slightest. It wasn¡¯t because she was scared, but rather because she didn¡¯t feel that the man would kill her, and even if this wasn''t the case, Elskria was only a game. She would be revived if she were to die. ¡°Hmph, you aren¡¯t even afraid of me.¡± Aralche said as he removed his blade, making it vanish in the airs. ¡°Ojii-san, will you tell me your story?¡± Yuki asked as she approached him. ¡°Aren¡¯t you a little too cheeky brat? And who are you calling ¡®Ojii-san¡¯?!...¡± He responded as he fainted being angered. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that you were alive since the ¡®Old God''s Age¡¯? You must be really old, right? You are an Ojii-san then!¡± She mocked him with a smirk. ¡°... I¡¯ll tell you my story if you stop calling me like that, you can simply call me Aralche.¡± He said as he sighed, but he didn¡¯t seem to be against telling her about his past. ¡°Okay, so tell me about your story!¡± She said energetically as she made a smile befitting her age. ¡°First tell me, what do you know about the ¡®Old Age¡¯?¡± He asked her. ¡°Actually I almost don¡¯t know anything about this world.¡± Yuki answered. ¡°Geez¡­ Maybe it is because there aren¡¯t many records left¡­ Fine, I¡¯ll explain to you what the ''Old Age'' is.in this. The ¡®Old Age¡¯ refer to the time when God was complete, one day God was divided into 4 piece; the Moon Goddess, the Wind God, the Earth Goddess and the Light God.¡± He explained ¡°God was divided? Why did he do that?¡± She asked unable to understand why. ¡°I¡¯ll come to it later, when God made this world, the first race he made was the Etherval followed by the spirits and the dragons. The dragons were the strongest of the three races, followed by the Etherval right after, but although the Etherval were weaker than them and less numerous, they won each and every time they fought.¡± ¡°Wait, how did the Ethervals win? You said you were weaker, fine, but you were also less numerous.¡± Yuki asked as she was surprised. ¡°The Ethervals were made far before the dragons and as the first race, they were, you could say, a ¡®prototype¡¯, but God forgot about something when he made them¡­ It was to add a limit to their strength.¡± ¡°A limit?¡± She asked unable to fully comprehend what he was talking about. ¡°Dragons and fairies, not only them but all living beings in this world have a limit. They can obviously extend it by training, but it takes a lot of time and very hard work. However, the Ethervals could indefinitely grow stronger as they aged. So when only being 20 years of age, one was able to kill a hundred years old dragon.¡± ¡®If they were so strong, then why were they exterminated?¡¯ Yuki though as she listened to him. ¡°You just thought ¡®He is lying, if they were so strong why are they extinct¡¯ or something like that right?¡± Aralche said as he suspiciously looked at her. ¡°~Giku~ N-No I didn¡¯t!¡± She tried to hide her feelings. ¡°It¡¯s fine. The Ethervals were a peaceful race; we only had a few wars with the dragons because of their misplaced pride, but other than that, we got along with the fairies pretty well. But the problem came from God. He realized that as the Ethervals had no limit, one day they would be able to obtain a strength similar to his. Because of that he started to massacre every Etherval he came across.¡± ¡°I see, he is the one who killed all of the Ethervals.¡± Yuki said ¡°However among the Ethervals, one child who lost his parents possessed the ability to grow stronger more quickly than any others. He was qualified as the Ethervals greatest genius and was trained to become the one who would fight against God. This child was made as the Ethervals Hero and without being given a decision, he was trained with only one goal in mind. To fight against God and kill him.¡± He said with a hint of anger in his eyes. ¡°And you were that boy, right?¡± Yuki asked, checking if her deduction was correct. ¡°Yes, it was me. However, attaining God¡¯s strength isn¡¯t something that easy, it took me a few thousands of years. In those years, I travelled in the world to train in many dangerous places and fought against many different dragons, all the while avoiding God, waiting until my strength would surpass him, enabling me to fight against him. By the way, Dragon¡¯s meat is delicious, if you come across one don¡¯t forget to eat him as it can also increase someone¡¯s strength.¡± He said as he took the face of one of those TV sellers. ¡°Thanks for the gourmet advice, but please continue the story.¡± She said with a wry expression. ¡°Geez, I am telling this for you. Anyway, one day God caught up to me and forced me to fight him. We fought for ten years, day and night without stopping for a single moment. But even God had a limit, he couldn¡¯t grow stronger, but I could. As we fought I continued to grow stronger hours after hours, days after days and in the end, I pierced his heart. At this moment I became the GodSlayer.¡± Yuki couldn¡¯t believe that the man in front of her was the man who killed the Old God, a GodSlayer; but something forced her to accept his story as the truth, after hearing this part of his story, something in the bar above him changed. ¡®??? Title: GodSlayer Aralche Level ???, ??? hp¡¯ ¡°Were all Ethervals dead at that time?¡± She asked. ¡°After piercing his heart, I tried to absorb God¡¯s essence, trying to obtain his power of creation to rebuild my race. But he wasn¡¯t dead yet, in his last breath he used what little power he had left to cast a curse on the whole Ethervals race. Using his power of creation instantly, while being deadly injured, killed him and made me able to absorb his power really quickly, but being the closest to him, his curse came deeply in contact with my soul. Even with his power I was unable to cure myself.¡± He said as he touched the black stain on his face ¡°It means your race died from the curse?¡± Yuki asked. ¡°When I returned to the ruler of the Ethervals race they weren¡¯t aware yet of the curse, I was acclaimed as a hero by the whole country¡­ But when God died, they revealed their true colors and tried to kill me with poison. The only reason I survived was because I had God¡¯s power and could cure any poison. In the end, I was only a weapon they used to ensure their own survival, and was to be disposed of afterwards, telling others I died because of a received in a fight against God.¡± Aralche said with a disgusted expression. ¡°...Is that why you hate heroes?¡± She asked as she looked at him sadly. ¡°I was still ignorant at that time, believing I was fighting for my people, that I was their hope¡­ When I confronted the king, do you know what he said? I wasn¡¯t an orphan whose parents were killed by God in his rampage! The kingdom was the one who killed them simply because they refused to give me to them! At that very moment, my reason shattered and I killed the king out of anger, becoming considered a monster by the very people I saved in the process. I left them in their ignorance and escaped from the country, leaving all of them dying with God¡¯s curse. I could save them, but I wished for their extinction.¡± He said with anger in his tone and eyes. ¡°Do you regret your action back then?¡± She asked. ¡°No, even if I could go back in the past and save them, I wouldn¡¯t do so. They don¡¯t deserve to be saved¡­ No, even if some would deserve it, I don¡¯t want to save them.¡± He said reflecting on the question. ¡°Then stop thinking about the past and enjoy your current life instead of being depressed, you idiot!¡± Yuki said as she threw a round kick to his chest which he didn¡¯t even bother to dodge. ~0 damage ¡°Geeeh, what are you made of?!¡± She said as she grabbed the part of her foot which collided with him. It felt as if she was kicking a wall with her leg. ¡°Hmph, I¡¯ll try to remember your advice ¡®Yuki¡¯.¡± Aralche said with a relieved smile before turning back, vanishing without a word. ¡°... Did that idiot really leave without saying anything?¡± Yuki said annoyed as she wanted to spend more time speaking with him. ¡°Yuki, I am done. Let¡¯s meet at the front gate.¡± She heard in her head. Obviously it was Shiki who was speaking as she was using the ¡®Call¡¯ option from the Friends list. ¡°Okay Onee-chan, I am on my way,¡± Yuki said before leaving the dark alley, still somewhat saddened about not being able to speak a bit more with Aralche. *********** ************** *********** **************** ************** ¡°I am here, Yuki!¡± Shiki said as she waved her hand from afar. ¡°Sorry if I made you wait, I was a little lost in the alley.¡± Yuki responded, as she was previously lost in the alley, not able to find the exit for nearly half an hour. ¡°It¡¯s fine, so how is your new sword?¡± Shiki asked her as she noticed the sword sheathed at Yuki¡¯s waist. ¡°At the beginning, I didn¡¯t want to spend too much money on early equipment. But this sword¡¯s stats were just really so good, so I bought it even if it was really expensive. At least it should last for a while.¡± She said as she unsheathed the long blue sword. ¡°I see, isn¡¯t it fine to spend gold on equipment anyway? We are the only players in this game.¡± Shiki said. ¡°Well, this is true. Anyway, let¡¯s go in the forest. I am bored of hunting rabbits!¡± Yuki said as she took Shiki¡¯s hand, pulling her out of the city. After traversing large plains full of rabbits outside the city, they arrived in front of the forest at the south of Azureal. ¡°Let¡¯s be careful, Onee-chan, the monsters inside the forest will definitely be far more dangerous than the rabbits. ¡°Take this just in case, I made them at Paty¡¯s tavern.¡± Shiki said as she handed ten red potions to Yuki.
Apprentice Red Potion
Type:PotionEffect:Restore 10% total hp with a minimum of 75
Quality:Poor
A potion of lower quality made by a beginner in the arts of alchemy.
¡°Health potions! Aren¡¯t they really expensive to make?¡± Yuki asked surprised, in most games the potions were expensive items used only when truly needed. The ingredients often cost almost as much as the final potion itself. ¡°I made them with Paty, she gave me fifteen Red ones and ten Blue ones.¡± What surprised Yuki the most was that the potion restored health based on the stats, the first one made in order to make the potion be usable by high leveled players and, more precisely, warriors class who had far more hp than other classes, while the lower stat was made for low hp class like wizards who didn¡¯t have as much hp as the other classes. ¡°Let¡¯s enter the forest, we have to come back before the night falls.¡± Shiki said as she entered the forest. As they entered the forest, it didn¡¯t take them long for them to find their first monster. After only a few minutes of walking they stumbled upon a group of three brown foxes. ¡®Brown fox Level 7, 140hp¡¯ Because the foxes hadn¡¯t noticed them just yet, Shiki took some time to make six Mana Orbs before Yuki unsheathed her Ice Moon Sword and charged at the closest fox, dealing a quick blow on its back. ~41 damage The fox which had only noticed her as she was charging at him, managed to avoid the critical strike, but was still greatly hurt and lost almost a third of his life. Shiki was surprised by Yuki¡¯s damage, it was the double of the one she had when she was fighting the Black Rabbit. Seeing her DPS, Shiki had an idea and made three of her orb float around her and three other around Yuki. Yuki¡¯s damage made her take the aggro of the three foxes. The fox, who was hit, quickly got up, but because he was bleeding he was also constantly losing hp, even if at a very slow rate. The cut on the fox¡¯s wound was a little blue as if it was cold, and as he charged toward Yuki with the two other foxes in tow, he seemed to be slower than them. Yuki, who had read the description of her sword, knew it was her sword¡¯s frost effect and that it was also one of the reasons why she bought this sword. The two unhurt foxes which arrived first to Yuki, jumped at her, trying to bite her from two different sides. She was only able to defend against one, so the second one was sure to bite her. ~16 damage It was at this instant that one of the three mana orbs struck against one of the two foxes, leaving only one jumping to be received by Yuki¡¯s sword. ~44 damage Shiki who had defended Yuki against the fox once again summoned another Mana Orb and had it took the place of the used one. She decided to use her orbs strictly to defend herself and Yuki and create openings for her. Her damages weren¡¯t as good as Yuki¡¯s, but her orbs were able to create an opportunity for her to concentrate on dealing damages instead of defending. With a second fox under the frost effect of the Ice Moon Sword, Yuki targeted the last one. If she slowed him down, they would be far easier to be dealt with. Yuki charged at the last not-slowed fox which was preparing to dodge her, as he saw her charging at him, but two of the three orbs around Yuki flew toward him, not giving him the possibility to do so. ~14 damage / 16 damage The damage on the fox weren¡¯t really important, but it did give the opportunity for Yuki to deliver 3 sword strikes. ~44 damage / 46 damage / 46 damage The fox died on the spot under Yuki¡¯s series of attacks, leaving only two of the slowed ones. Two out of the three Shiki¡¯s Mana Orbs once again surrounded Yuki, as she made new ones for herself. The two foxes charged at Yuki, but because they were slowed, she managed to effortlessly dodge them and deliver two slashes at each of them, while one of Shiki¡¯s Mana Orbs finished him off directly after. ~45 damage / 44 damage Having only one fox left, Shiki used all of her remaining Mana Orbs to strike the last fox simply because she didn¡¯t want to waste the mana used for making them. All four Mana Orbs flew toward the fox which was unable to dodge them. ~18 damage / 19 damage / 18 damage / 20 damage Being hit by four orbs successively stunned the fox and enabled Yuki slashed at him with her sword, delivering a critical strike. ~Critical Strike 87 damage As they all died, Shiki and Yuki collected the loot left behind and received 2 silver, 3 Fox Skins and a Fox Meat. Shiki, who was surprised by her damage, opened her Skill Window and noticed that her Mana Orb passed level 2. Yuki, who did the same, also noticed that her WeaponShip leveled up to 2 as well, giving her a bonus of 21%. A bonus of 1% wasn¡¯t something really important, but at level 10, it may give her a bonus of 10%, she felt happy that her skill was this easy to level up. Her experience bar in Character Menu also advanced for a whopping 40% with only three foxes, while 15 rabbits were necessary to pass from level 3 to 4. She immediately knew that it was the right decision to come here. As they traveled in the forest, they hunted 12 more foxes while taking minor breaks for Shiki to recover some MP. Even if she had Blue potions, they were only meant to be used in emergency cases; it was better to save them just in case. Thanks to the 12 foxes, they had gained a level and were already at 20% experience for the next level. Thinking about hunting some more monsters once again, Shiki and Yuki, after eating a sandwich to recover some satiety, got up preparing to hunt; but a sound in a bush not far from them was heard. Knowing their presence was revealed, six black wolves came out of the bushes in front of them, slowly approaching them while growling. ¡®Wolf Level 12, 320 hp¡¯ Both Shiki and Yuki felt that they had no chance of winning, a single wolf had had almost as much hp as the Black Rabbit; if there was only one of them, it wouldn¡¯t really pose much of a problem, but six of them was something way too dangerous for the current them. Shiki quickly began summoning her Mana Orbs, but having a cooldown of 1,5 seconds meant that it would take her at least 6 seconds to summon four and she doubted they would leave her enough time to prepare herself. Right after she had summoned her second Mana Orb, the six wolves leaped toward Yuki who was the closest one. ~23 damage / 24 damage Shiki¡¯s Mana Orb, which attained level 3 by now, managed to delay two of them for a few seconds, making Yuki able to dodge them, but there were still four of them left. With a sidestep, Yuki managed to dodge one of the wolves and kick him in the rear, sending him flying a whole meter thanks to her Strength. ~17 damage Having to deal with the attacks of three wolves, Yuki made a large and slow attack at two of them, forcing them to dodge by jumping backward, but the third one jumped at her, biting her left arm. ~74 damage Yuki had a total of 265 hp, but a single attack of one of those wolves took out more than a quarter of her entire life! Shiki, who had made a Mana Orb, sent it toward the wolf, forcing him to release Yuki¡¯s arm.
You are bleeding. Loosing 1 hp/second until the wound is treated.
Seeing the window, Yuki felt that the situation became even more helpless now. She would die in 191 seconds, which is only if she didn¡¯t take any additional attack from the wolves in the meantime. But the situation wasn¡¯t making her scared or depressed, it made her excited, causing her stand up and drink a Red potion, restoring 75hp, but not removing the ¡®Bleeding¡¯ status. Her long blue sword in hand, Yuki stared at the wolves in front of her; she felt as excited as she did when she was fighting against the Black Rabbit. Yuki''s mind was in a mess as she tried to bear the pain. Although she was sure to revive if she was killed, in the end the pain she was feeling was real. But as she glanced at Shiki, she felt that she couldn''t fall here. ''Not again...'' Her cat-eyes turned sharp and made the wolves hesitant to fight, they felt like they would be the prey. But as they looked at each other for an instant they all charged together once again. ~22 damage / 24 damage In the moment of hesitation Shiki had the time to summon two more Mana Orbs which managed to once again block two wolves, but at the same time, she had attracted their attention and made the two she hit run toward her instead of Yuki. Yuki, now left against the four wolves, smiled and with a quick swing of her sword cut through one of the wolves after swiftly dodging him. ~45 damage Two other wolves charged at her, but with a nimble feint she got at the side of one of them and kicked him, sending him flying into the second one. Having momentarily make two wolves unable to fight for a few seconds and slowing another one with her sword, she rushed toward the forth which was now leaping toward her; too bad this was his error. ~75 damage Yuki shoved her left arm in the wolf¡¯s mouth, making him unable to move as she grabbed his tongue. Because of the adrenaline she was unable to feel the pain caused by the wound. With her sword she pierced the wolf¡¯s head many times. ~45 damage / 62 damage / Critical Strike 127 damage / Critical strike 140 damage By concentrating her attack on the same spot, Yuki dealt damage higher than her base damage was and inflicted two critical strikes, killing the wolf on the spot and made him disappear. But the time it her took to kill that wolf was more than enough for the other three to charge at her. Two of them bit her legs, making her unable to move them. ~73 damage / 76 damage Yuki now had only 29 hp left thanks to the bleeding effect and the wolves attacks, while also being unable to move. While in this state, the last wolf jumped at her, aiming for her neck. Shiki was also in a pretty much the same condition. As a wizard, she had no way to fight two wolves in a melee battle. All that she could do was dodge their attack while sending Mana Orbs at them. But the wolves were faster than her and after only a few dozen of seconds, they managed to catch her, making her need only one last attack to finally die. Yuki was looking at the wolf jumping at her, he seemed if he was moving in slow motion, and as she tried to move her arm fast enough to defend against him, she knew it would be too late¡­ She was going to experience her first death since entering this world. As the wolf was only a few centimeters away from her neck, the wolf¡¯s head suddenly dropped on the ground, a sword having pierced his neck, nailing him to the ground. Actually, he wasn¡¯t the only one being killed in this fashion, all five of the remaining wolves died, pierced in the neck by a sword. Yuki was surprised, but she knew only one person capable of making a sword appear out of nowhere; a red-cloaked man slowly arrived from a bush and walked toward her. ¡°Not only are you cheeky, but you are also one reckless brat.¡± The man said. Yuki stared at the man whom she met earlier during the day and who had left her without a single word. ¡°Aralche¡­¡±
Retreat!!Main pageContinue ?
Chapter 3 - The Wooden House in the Forest Hello guys, no I am not dead yet but I took a little break from writing. This chapter is shorter than the previous one but I hope you''ll still enjoy it ! *********** ************** *********** **************** ************** I have been wandering in this world for many years now; I stopped counting after a few hundred thousand. I explored the many continents this world possess, the many island and what lies within the sea. I traveled in many different realms and saw many things, experienced many things, met many people... Although they were all scared of me or tried to rob me. Today as I was exploring one of those humans city, I noticed a lone demi-human young girl sitting near a fountain taking a glance here and there as she was drawing. She was looking for a source of interest, trying to learn something new as she was drawing. While she was doing this she seemed to be happy. And as I was looking at her a kid bumped into me. Normally people don¡¯t notice my existence as I am constantly hiding it, now already unconsciously, but after bumping into him I naturally attracted the attention. As I turned myself toward the girl, she too was looking at me with curiosity in her eyes. Noticing too much attention was attracted to me I walked away; normally my existence should have been concealed once everyone stopped looking at me, but I felt four stares directed at me. One was the girl¡¯s, she was following me, trying hard to not lose me; the other were three bandits like looking men, probably thugs. I saw them swiftly walking toward me as their eyes showed that they intended to do something. As they approached me, one of them lightly charged into me and dropped on the ground, making it look like he was hurt and menaced me to come with them. Those idiots picked on the wrong opponent and even went as far as take me deep within the district to make sure there would be no witness. How laughable they were. ¡°Hand over your money and we¡¯ll let you live!¡± Were the foolish words which came out of the ¡®injured¡¯s¡¯ mouth after he made sure nobody would witness their act, I had to restrain myself from laughing. They didn¡¯t even realize that the girl from earlier was watching us, I could tell them but¡­ Why would I bother speaking with men who would soon die anyhow? I was going to kill them, it wasn¡¯t even going to take a single second, but something unexpected happened. The girl who was watching the situation suddenly left her corner and rushed toward one of the thugs. Is she one of those brats who wish to live for justice and become one of those pitiful heroes? How disappointing¡­ I¡¯ll probably have to save her before they finish her. But my expectation were false, a quick attack in the back followed by a round kick she skillfully managed to get rid of one of those thugs like he was nothing. Seeing my past self in her, I felt sick of the situation and decided to terminate the two remaining thieves and then leave. Making chains appear from below them before finishing them with a sword. Seeing them dead, I once again examined the girl in front of me who was making me remember my past self; maybe I should give her an advice, even though I feel that she won¡¯t listen to me. ¡°You should stop playing the role of a hero or one day you will regret it,¡± I said before walking past her, hoping she would at least think about those words. ¡°I am not playing at being a hero, nor do I want to become one.¡± Was her reply. After speaking with her for a bit, she told me that she didn¡¯t want to become anything important; she wasn¡¯t after money or glory; freedom is what she seeks. Like me. I somehow felt myself opening to her.¡­ I still don¡¯t know why, but I felt that I had to speak with her at this moment. Unlike kids of her age, no, even normal adults weren¡¯t as sharp as her; she was able to read through me and understand my feelings even better than I did. Under the influence of my emotions, I even menaced her, but she didn¡¯t budge; she was totally reading my emotions! This kid''s insight is terrifying. When she asked for my story I was quite surprised¡­ Isn¡¯t she being a little too cheeky right now? Moreover calling me Ojii-san¡­ But I didn¡¯t object to her demand as I felt like I could understand something now thanks to her. I told her everything about myself, about my past and my feelings toward her; I told her how I murdered the king of my kind and left my people being erased from this world even though I was the only one with the power to save them, I told them how I left them to die. But even with all this, even as I tried to describe myself as a despicable man¡­ ¡°Then stop thinking about the past and enjoy your current life instead of being depressed, you idiot!¡± She said. All those years, everything I was doing was remembering my past while traveling. Did I ever really try to enjoy myself? All I did was merely think about how despicable I found my kind to be while watch the ever changing decor. Never did I even try to enjoy my life¡­ ¡°Hmph, I¡¯ll try to remember your advice ¡®Yuki¡¯.¡± I said as I called the girl by her name for the first time. I wonder how her parents raised her to become like this, maybe I should ask her the next time I see her¡­ After all, I decided to start living here what little time I still have before me. With this girl, maybe I will be able to finally learn how to enjoy myself, my life. Should I build a house in the forest near the city? The city is really noisy during the day and it would take me a few minutes to travel from one to another. Little did I know that I would meet her only a few hours after this in the forest right after finishing building my little house¡­ *********** ************** *********** **************** ************** ¡°Aralche¡­¡± Yuki said as she looked at the man who saved her life. ¡°I didn¡¯t think I would meet you this soon¡­ Yuki.¡± He replied with a slight smile. ¡° Mouuuh¡­.You left without saying a word !¡± She replied pouting. ¡°Uh¡­ Do you know each other?¡± Shiki asked as she felt somewhat left out. ¡°My name is Aralche, can I ask you who you are?¡± Aralche politely asked Shiki. ¡°I am Yuki¡¯s sister, Shiki. Nice to meet you.¡± Shiki presented herself as she made a slight bow. ¡°I see¡­ You must have your own circumstances.¡± He said as he looked at the two girls in front of him. Aralche was lost in his thoughts as he was wondered what kind of life Yuki had experienced to end up being the sister of a half-elf; after all Yuki¡¯s race was the catgirl one. ¡°STOP IGNORING ME!!¡± Yuki yelled as she jumped toward him, her knee aiming at his face. That yell made his conscious come back and as he saw her knee approaching, he within a single second got at her back and caught her by her neckband. ¡°What are you doing?¡± He asked as he looked at her annoyed face. ¡°If I don¡¯t do something like that you just keep ignoring me; last time as well you did the same, right before disappearing!¡± She replied as she was struggling to break free. ¡°Last time? I don¡¯t remember you hitting me like that.¡± Aralche said as he tried to recall their first meeting. ¡°Of course not you idiot! I just hurt myself when I tried to hit you!¡± She yelled back to him, but her attitude just made his smile at her widen. ¡°Seeing how close you two are, it looks like Yuki made a friend. Please take good care of her.¡± Shiki requested as she once again made a slight bow toward Aralche. ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll take care of her. No need to worry.¡± Aralche said as he made a reassuring smile to Shiki. ¡°Onee-chan!! Why are you selling me to this guy!¡± She yelled as she looked at Shiki with teary eyes. ¡°Anyway, what are you doing here?¡± He asked as he suddenly dropped Yuki on the ground. ¡°Ugu¡­ Don¡¯t you know how to behave with ladies?!... We are here to train,¡± Yuki said as she rubbed her posterior on which she fell. ¡°Uhm¡­ Training is it? I can train you if you want.¡± He casually replied. ¡°Sure.¡± Yuki simply replied Her answer surprised Aralche, he thought that she would refuse him on the spot, yet surprisingly she had accepted his proposal almost immediately. Unlike what he was thinking, even though Yuki is behaving like this with him, she actually quite liked him. Moreover, after hearing his story, she knew how strong he really was. Being trained by the man who slayed God; how could she refuse? ¡°I-I see, then you can follow me to my new house, it¡¯s not far from here.¡± He said still a little surprised. ¡°Thanks for your hospitality, and may I also ask you since when are you living here?¡± Shiki asked. ¡°You two sisters are really the exact opposites of each other¡­ I started living here only a few hours ago actually.¡± He said as he picked Yuki and put her under his arm like she was some goods. ¡°It must have been hard to build a house in this forest, no?¡± She asked. ¡°It only took me a few seconds to build it, actually. I am already used to living here and there.¡± He replied which made Shiki think he was only joking. While Shiki and Aralche were discussing as they walked, he suddenly felt that something strange. ¡°Are you fine with me carrying you like this? Earlier you were struggling to be free just because I was lifting you.¡± He asked curious to Yuki. ¡°Why should I be bothered by the fact that you are giving me a free ride?¡± She replied as she tilted her head. ¡°This girl¡­ seriously¡­¡± He said as he sighed while Shiki was watching both of them with a smile. After walking for a few minutes, the three of them arrived in front of a large open area with a wooden house at its center. The house wasn¡¯t really a large one, but it wasn¡¯t so small either. It was more than enough for a small family to live in. ¡°Here we are.¡± Aralche said as he dropped Yuki who managed to this time drop on her legs. ¡°Come on and let¡¯s start our training already!¡± Yuki said as she glared at him. ¡°Aren¡¯t you a little too hasty ¡®chibi¡¯? Are you really that eager to bite the dust?¡± He replied with a grin. Yuki indeed felt that whatever she did against him, he would surely win. But this helpless feeling made her want to fight against him even more. ¡°Let¡¯s see¡­ If I use the same amount of strength and speed as you have, it should be a fair fight right?¡± He proposed to Yuki, eager of the upcoming fight. ¡°Let¡¯s do this!¡± She replied excited. ¡°You don¡¯t have to wait for me to get ready, you can start attacking.¡± He casually said without even taking a battle stance.
Training with the Godslayer Aralche You accepted the proposal of the Godslayer to be trained by him. Difficulty Level : SSS Quest Rewards: ??? Quest Requirement : High relationship with Aralche
After throwing a glance at the window, Yuki looked back at Aralche and it vanished like it never existed. Yuki, as she unsheathed her sword, charged at Aralche who was still standing in a relaxed stance. Five meters, three meters, when only one meter was left between the two of them, Yuki swung her sword aimed at his head, but at this very moment Aralche started to move his hand and placed it before Yuki. A *CLUNG* was heard, it was the sound of Yuki sword colliding against a metal. In Aralche¡¯s hand appeared a short black sword which was around half of the height of Yuki¡¯s one. Yuki¡¯s sword which possessed the ability to freeze an enemy every time the sword touched its target didn¡¯t even leave a single drop of ice or water on his sword. Right after her sword was parried, Yuki had a bad feeling about her situation and quickly leaped backward. The very next instant a black blur line appeared where she was previously standing. ¡°Hoooh, you managed to dodge it. Did you learn how to fight before?¡± Aralche said as he was impressed by her dodging skills. ¡°I only started using it yesterday, but didn¡¯t you say you would only fight using the same strength and speed as me ?!¡± Yuki yelled as she recalled his previous slash, it was a very quick one but she still managed to see it perfectly because of her agility. ¡°I didn¡¯t lie, I am currently using the same amount as you.¡± He said with a giggle. Yuki once again charged at him but was still careful of the short black sword in his hand. As she approached him she released a serie of quick slashes aimed at differents part of his body. But all of her strikes were completely stopped by his speed, or so it seemed; but she realized that it wasn¡¯t because he was fast that he blocked them, it was because he moved slightly before she attacked. ¡°You are reading all my attacks, right?¡± Yuki said as she continued to try to pressure him, unsuccessful. ¡°So you already realized it? I¡¯ve fought for many years, of course I am experienced enough to predict your movements.¡± Aralche said while laughing. Yuki understood that it would be hopeless for her to continue like this, she wouldn¡¯t be able to pressure him as he already predicted all of her movements and when he would start to riposte, she would definitely lose. Yet, Yuki was happy to have a powerful opponent. She truly loved challenges, and the one in front of her was one of the most difficult ones she ever got. Once again as she thought of her next attack and the one after, she realized that by planning her attacks she wouldn¡¯t be able to win as he predicted them all. But a sudden thought appeared, what if she simply fought without thinking. Yuki suddenly retreated and glared at Aralche with a strange smile which made him feel doubtful, surprised by the sudden change of atmosphere around the girl. Wanting to see how strong she was, he had let the girl attack as much as she wanted, but this sudden change made him curious; he was waiting for her to come at him. Yuki suddenly charged at him even quicker than she was before as she did an amateurish swing possessing no strength or speed. Aralche was surprised and disappointed by her attack and decided to finish the fight by using the opening her attack left. But as he started to move his sword, Yuki¡¯s feet suddenly approached his head. With a roll to the side, Aralche managed to dodge her attack but he was still surprised by what actually just happened. Using a poor swing, Yuki made him drop his guard and fake an opening, she then used the delay oh his attack to kick him from his dead angle. If it wasn¡¯t for his warrior''s instinct which made him turn his head and see the kick, he would have definitely taken the hit. ¡®I¡¯ve seen many opponents using styles like this, but none were daring enough to risk taking a sword to lend a hit.¡¯ Aralche thought as he looked at the young girl in front of him. ¡°It was an impressive combo, but your plan was pretty reckless brat.¡± He said. ¡°What plan?¡± She asked as she doubtfully looked at him. Aralche was surprised by her question, it was because he somehow knew she was telling the truth. She actually didn¡¯t even plan to lend the kick, she only did this by instinct. ¡®What a scary girl¡­ Let¡¯s see how she reacts next,¡¯ He thought as he opened his left hand¡¯s palm and formed a pure white sword inside with the same height as the black one. ¡°Two swords? Seems kinda fun.¡± She thought as she looked at the two swords in his hands. This time, unlike before, it was Aralche who attacked as he charged at her with quick steps. In just a moment he appeared in front of her and slashed at her body, but with a small backstep she had dodged the white short sword, making it cut only a little through her clothes but without damaging her. The current attack surprised Yuki, making her grow even more concentrated on the fight as she observed all of Aralche¡¯s movements. A second hit came, then a third one, but all of them just cut through her clothes not damaging her. ¡®How can a girl possess such instinct? Even animals one¡¯s aren¡¯t nearly as good as hers!¡¯ He yelled in his mind as he continued to attack Yuki who was dodging them one after another with a paper margin. After dodging the fifth hit, Yuki blocked Aralche¡¯s black sword with her Ice Moon Sword as she dodged the white sword by crouching. As she had dodged his attack, Yuki by using her left hand grabbed Aralche¡¯s hand carrying the white sword, making both of his hands unusable. As Aralche was totally open for an attack, Yuki launched herself in his torso, trying to headbutt him. ~BANG~ ~Critical Strike 180 damage Yuki fell on the ground just in front of Aralche who was looking at her with a large grin. ¡°You really thought you could defeat me so easily?¡± He said as he looked at Yuki standing up. When Yuki was about to collide with Aralche, he with an inhuman speed made his black sword vanish and used his hand to grab Yuki¡¯s head. By making his sword vanish he had to dodge her own sword which he did with it grazing his hair while dodging it and by using his knee he kicked her in the stomach, making her fall on the ground with a critical strike. All this within not even one second. ¡°I lost...¡° Yuki said while smiling, even though she had lost, she really had a lot of fun during the fight. ¡°Heh, of course you did, you really think you would be able to beat me who fought against the most powerful creatures in different worlds?¡± He said as he smiled. But the truth was that he was really shocked by Yuki in the fight, her movements were totally unpredictable and really dangerous. She was also dodging all his attack like it was nothing, he had even secretly started to use more speed than she possessed, but she still managed to dodge them. By using the same amount of power as her, he was able to win only thanks to his experience which was far superior to hers, but that¡¯s all. If she were to train, her skills would quickly surpass his, but of course only when he is using the same amount of power as her. Taking a glance at her side, Yuki noticed a small window saying that she had gained one of strength.
Name:YukiRace:Catgirl
Class:NoneLevel:6Points:0
Titles:
None
Health:265Mana:225
Damage:43-45Defense:14
Strength:26Agility:27 (+2)
Intelligence:10Wisdom:10
Charisma:10Endurance:11
Luck:15Fame:0
As she opened her Character Screen, she noticed that she didn¡¯t only gain one point of strength during the fight, but two in strength and agility. The windows appeared while she was fighting, but being too focused on the fight Yuki didn¡¯t notice them. ¡®I almost gained the equivalent of one level with only one fight¡­ Is it because he is stronger than me that my stats grow faster?¡¯ ¡°Let¡¯s fight again!¡± Yuki asked as she hoped to gain more stats by fighting him once again. ¡°We need to go back Yuki, I have to work tonight.¡± Shiki interrupted her. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Unlike Yuki who was only working a few hours in the morning, Shiki worked in the morning and night; those are the hours where the tavern is the busiest. ¡°Right¡­ Let¡¯s fight once again tomorrow Aralche.¡± She said. ¡°Heh, tomorrow I won¡¯t go as easy as I did today brat!¡± He answered with a smirk. ¡°That¡¯s what I hope! See ya tomorrow.¡± Yuki said before walking out of the forest accompanied by Shiki, slowly returning to the town. *********** ************** *********** **************** ************** ¡°Hey Aralche!! We are here!¡° Yuki yelled as she slowly approached the house accompanied by Shiki. ¡°I heard you brat! Do you always have to yell?¡± Aralche replied as he got out of his wooden house. Right after completing their jobs, Shiki and Yuki traveled toward Aralche¡¯s house while making sure to avoid wolves. At first Shiki didn¡¯t understand why Yuki wanted to continue to train, but after being told that her skills and stats grew really quickly, how could she not agree? Leveling up in a game is not really very hard, it is possible to do so only by killing a few monsters or doing some quests. But what is truly difficult is to gain stats and level up skills. Gaining stats was maybe the most difficult thing to do, it could make a large difference in a fight between two people of the same level. Unlike Yuki¡¯s damage which mostly depended on her strength and agility stats, Shiki¡¯s damage depended on her intelligence and skills level. ¡°What are we going to do today?¡± Yuki asked excitedly. ¡°What do you mean by ¡®What¡¯? We are going to spar, isn¡¯t it obvious?¡± He answered surprised. ¡°Aren¡¯t we going to do things like running around the forest while lifting weights?¡± She asked as she recalled a certain manga where an old man made two children do manual labor with a heavy turtle shell on their back. ¡°Heh¡­ Don¡¯t compare me with those idiots,¡± he said as he made a face saying ¡®Are you stupid?¡¯. Yuki tilted her head from curiosity, making it seem that there were question mark hanging at the top of her head. ¡°Sparing with weight isn¡¯t a bad idea, but what is the use of running around if you don¡¯t know how to dodge? What is the use of lifting things if you can¡¯t use your strength in a fight? Fight again and again until you master your body, once it¡¯s done then add weight and fight once again! All other training regiments are worthless!¡± He explained with an assurance ¡°Oooooohhh! As expected of Shijou!¡± Yuki said as she clapped her hands. ¡°What do you mean by ¡®Shijou¡¯?!¡± He responded. ¡°Shijou is going to be my Shijou, right? So Shijou is Shijou from now on!¡± She argued with a smile. ¡°I don¡¯t feel like understanding anyway¡­ Call me however you want.¡± He sighed. While they were talking Shiki was, with her hand on her chin, in a deep thought. ¡°Sparing? His method is really simple but for Yuki who still doesn¡¯t have battle experience it¡¯s good, moreover the stats growth will be very balanced and we¡¯ll also develop our battle skills at the same time¡­¡± She mumbled as she was analyzing his training method. ¡°.ne...cha¡­ Onee-chan! ¡± Shiki was surprised as she felt a weight appear on her shoulder, it was Yuki who jumped on her and was seated on her shoulder. ¡°What is it?¡± Shiki asked as she realized Yuki had been calling for her. ¡°We are going to start, you wanted to join us, right?¡± She told her. ¡°Oh, Shiki is going to join?¡± Aralche asked surprised. ¡°Yes please, if I don¡¯t train as well I won¡¯t be able to support my sister later on.¡± She said as she bowed for acceptance. ¡°Hmph, one or two¡­where is the difference? Bring it on, I won¡¯t go too easy on you girls!¡± He said as he made his two swords appear. The moments he made his swords appear, Yuki unsheathed her sword and Shiki started making her orbs but none of them moved. Aralche was surprised by Yuki¡¯s behavior as she was normally aggressive and would rush in first. During this time Shiki continued to create more orbs one after another, it was at the third one that he understood the reason. ¡®She is waiting for her to make her preparation!¡¯ He realized, but a little smirk appeared on his face as he looked at Shiki. ¡®But their plan has some flaws. She won¡¯t be able to control more than this.¡¯ He thought as he watched Shiki make her fifth orb. Suddenly four out of the five orbs flew around Yuki while Shiki was making more of them, this action shocked Aralche. ¡®She can control them?!¡¯ He thought as he saw four orbs traveling in circle around Yuki. It was at this time that Yuki finally decided to engage in the fight and ran toward him making what seemed to be a reckless vertical slash. Aralche was surprised at Yuki¡¯s attack because she was full of openings; with a quick movement of both his hand he tried to block her sword with his left one and strike at her body with his right one. But the moment before each sword collided, two blue sphere repelled both of his swords; making him defenseless against Yuki¡¯s sword. ¡®Shiki¡¯s ability to control her spells is impressive, but...¡¯ With a quick sidestep, Aralche dodged the incoming sword and dash in the direction of Shiki. ¡®If I can take her out then it¡¯ll be my win.¡¯ he thought as he charged. ¡°Heh, don¡¯t forget about me!¡± The moment Aralche started to charge at Shiki he was interrupted by Yuki who was anticipated his reaction and thrusted her sword at his back while Shiki¡¯s orb flew toward him, giving him no place to escape. However even though he was about to lose, Aralche was smiling. ¡°I told ya that I won¡¯t go easy, remember?!¡± The moment Yuki¡¯s attack was about to connect she saw a blurry black thing touch the orbs and her sword. ¡°Huh?!¡± She unintentionally left out as she saw the sudden change of scenery. Not even one second ago she was thrusting her sword at Aralche, and now all of a sudden she could see the large limitless blue sky with pure white marshmallow-like looking clouds. ¡°This scenery does kind of makes one sleepy, huh?... Wait wher-GAAAH !!¡± ~192 damage ¡°What is that... a tree?¡± She mumbled as she looked at a tree with a little-damaged round part which was caused by the impact against Yuki¡¯s head. As she looked in the direction she came from, she realized that she was sent flying from almost 30 meters away. Yuki was in an awe. She was sent flying 30 meters in an instant when her attack was about to hit him. ¡®I guess it¡¯s our loss...¡¯ When Yuki returned to the house, she saw Aralche in front of Shiki, surrounded by five of her magic orbs. ¡°It¡¯s your loss you know?¡± Aralche said with a smirk. ¡°Indeed, it is.¡± She said before launching all of the orbs toward him. Within an instant, a black blurry line traversed all the orbs, slicing them all in half. ¡°Mumumu~ you cheated and used too much strength because you were about to lose!¡± Yuki said as she pouted. ¡°I never said that I would use the same amount as yesterday, and I also said that I wouldn¡¯t go easy on you didn¡¯t I?¡± He tried to justify. ¡°Heh...In the end that¡¯s just how adults are, right?¡± She said with an ironic expression as she looked away from him as if to say ¡®You really are shameless, aren¡¯t you?¡¯ ¡°That¡¯s how adults are brat¡­ That¡¯s how they are¡­¡± He agreed while sighing. ¡°Aren¡¯t you supposed to be denying it?!¡± She retorted, surprised at seeing him agree this freely. ¡°Kukuku, why should I deny adult¡¯s strength, brat? One day you¡¯ll become one of us.¡± Aralche said with a dark smile. ¡°As I thought¡­ I don¡¯t want to become an adult!¡± She said, reinforcing her resolve of not growing up. While the two of them were going even further into political and social subjects, Shiki on her side was happily watching her stats and skills; not able to stop smiling as she looked at them. With only one fight she had won 3 point of Intelligence and 1 of Wisdom, this amount was something really incredible for but a single fight. Moreover, not only did her stats grow, but the level of her Magic Orb also leveled from 3 to 5 within this single fight; this growth speed was already nearing levels of cheating. ¡®I can understand why she was so eager to spar once again yesterday,¡¯ she thought as she saw her skills level increases. Not only Shiki gained stats, but Yuki as well gained 1 strength, 2 agility and 2 points in endurance, giving her the equivalent of one level and making her Weaponship skill already reach level 6. The reason why their stats grew so fast wasn¡¯t because of the quest, but because of Aralche¡¯s true strength. The system considered their spar as a real fight even if he wasn¡¯t fighting them seriously. The growth of a players'' skills and stats depend on the difference in strength between the two opposing challengers fighting and also the amount of effort put into the fight by the player. The difference between their and Aralche¡¯s strength was like heaven and earth, making them gain the equivalence of one level in stats and their skill to instantly level up even though they didn¡¯t manage to even touch him. ¡°Well then, shall we have another round?¡± Aralche said as he took a combat stance once again. *********** ************** *********** **************** ************** Two weeks passed since the beginning of the girls training, within those two weeks their stats grew a little less than before, giving now only 1 stat point every two fights; but their actual status was the equivalent of a level 20. The only thing that didn¡¯t grow as quickly was their skills level which were stuck at Level 9 for a few days now already. Passing from level 8 to 9 wasn¡¯t that slow, but passing it from 9 to 10 actually took 3 time the previous amount. But today, like every single day till now, they were sparing when a sudden message appeared in front of Yuki.
Skill Promotion : Weaponship Skill Weaponship gained 5 subskills : -Archery (Level 1) -One-hand Weapons (Level 1) -Heavy Weapons (Level 1) -Spear Weapons (Level 1) -Weaponless Style (Level 1)
Yuki was surprised by the change, not knowing anything about the game when she started playing, and she wasn¡¯t expecting the skill to develop into its advanced version upon reaching level 10. Being curious about the effect of the subskills she touched the window.
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
WeaponshipNovice10%
Weapons were made to kill other beings; knifes, swords, war hammers, axes and even fists; all of them serve for this same purpose. Increase all physical damage by 20% Subskills : -Archery (Level 1) : +5% of damage when using a ranged weapon -One-hand Weapons (Level 1) : +5% damage when using a one handed melee weapon -Heavy Weapons (Level 1) : +5% damage when using a two handed heavy weapon -Spearmanship (Level 1) : +5% damage when using a spear -Weaponless Style (Level 1) : +5% damage when dealing physical damage with your bare body
Not only did the skill gain subskills, but it¡¯s rank also passed from ¡®Beginner¡¯ to ¡®Novice¡¯ as well as returned to the level one. ¡®When a skill reaches level 10 it is promoted into a stronger version of the previous one.¡¯ She thought as she looked at the window. ¡°Onee-chan, it seems that when a skill reaches level 10 it simply evolves into a stronger one alone.¡± Yuki explained to her. ¡°I see, so you didn¡¯t have a choice in yours?¡± She replied as she looked at the window which appeared in front of her. But Yuki wasn¡¯t the only one whose skill evolved, Shiki¡¯s Mana Orb obtained an evolution, but it was slightly different from Yuki¡¯s one.
Skill Evolution : Magic Orb The skill Magic Orb can evolve into one of the following skill : -Fireball -Ice Bolt -Earth Bolt -Thunderbolt -Dark Bolt -Multiple Magic Orb
Unlike Yuki¡¯s skill promotion, Shiki could choose to evolve her skill into a totally different one. This evolution would delete the previous skill and create a new one far stronger than the previous one. However, while a skill is evolving the player can¡¯t know beforehand what will be the effect of the future skill. By relying on what she knew from the diverse of other existing games, Shiki started pondering on which skill would be the best for her role of support. She had already decided not to take Earth bolt and Fireball, the reason being simple; she was sure that Fireball would strictly be used for dealing damage and even if Earth bolt may have been able to stun an enemy, it wouldn¡¯t work on large enemy. It left her Dark bolt, Thunderbolt, Ice Bolt and Multiple Magic Orb. Dark bolt being a skill using darkness may possess the ability to curse the enemy, making him weaker; Ice Bolt as it was using the ¡®Ice¡¯ property may freeze the enemy and Thunderbolt could possess the ¡®Shock¡¯ property which would paralyse an enemy. And finally the Multiple Magic Orb would probably be the same thing as the skill she was using until now, but with the ability to create more of them with a single cast. After hesitating a few minute, she finally decided the take Multiple Magic Orb. She found three reason for this choice. The first one was that unlike this one, she wouldn¡¯t be able to control their trajectory. Against a fast enemy which would dodge her projectile, she would be useless. However with this skill she would be able to instantly change her orbs trajectory to chase him, giving them an aiming property. The second reason was because making multiple orbs would make her able to fight against multiple enemies at the same time and continue to act as a support with her balls. And the final reason, also being the most important one for her, she was curious about the future evolution of this skill. Fireball would probably evolve into a stronger kind of magic in the fire category and it would probably be the same with other skills. But what would Magic Orb evolve into? One of the main reason why she chose to be a mage was because she was curious about magic. She truly was curious about what kind of spell Multiple Magic Orb would evolve into. After selecting the skill and confirming, the Skill Window appeared in front of her.
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
Multiple Magic OrbBeginner10%
Many mages chose to follow the path of destruction without finishing to learn the basics of magic and how to control it. Every great mage learned to control their power before wielding great power. Create 2 Magic Orbs (+1 per Skill Level) Cost 45mp Cooldown 1,5s
The skill was even better than what Shiki was expecting. Even if it consumes much more mana in the early levels compared to the previous skill, once it reaches level 4 she would be able to make five balls by using less mana than with the previous one. Moreover the skill cooldown was still the same as before, the only weakness of her skill was that she had to wait a long moment during the fight to produce her Magic Orbs, but now she would be able to quickly produce a high number of them. When the skill would reach level 9, she would be able to create 10 of them with a single cast every 1.5 seconds. This same amount previously took her 15s. This skill was definitely something worth calling a ¡®cheat¡¯, but at this time no one knew that controlling 3 orbs at the same time was something incredible difficult even for someone who would have played this game for a few years. But Shiki wasn¡¯t a human but an AI, control 10, 100 or even 1000 of them shouldn''t pose a problem for her. ¡°What, you are already taking a break ?¡± Aralche said, bringing them out of their thought. ¡°Sorry, let¡¯s continue.¡± Shiki replied to him, excited to level up her skill until it would evolve once again. ¡°Mhhhh, wait a second. It seems that you at least managed to learn the basics, it is time to make you wear weights.¡± He said after examining both of them. When they heard this, both of them were happy. The speed at which they were gaining stats was actually quite slow compared to their first fights. When they talked about that to Aralche he told them that he would make them wear weight only once they would have mastered the basics. Being able to wear weight meant that he considered that they were competent enough to begin the next step of their training. ¡°Do we have to wear bags full of stone or buy weight?¡± Yuki asked as she didn¡¯t know what kind of weight she would be using. ¡°No need for things like this. Just come here.¡± He said as he waved his hand at her as if telling her to come closer to him. When they were in front of him, with a single touch of his hand he made each part of their equipment suddenly feel heavier, a lot heavier. It was as if they were carrying a mountain of their backs. ¡°E-Enchantment ?... This is indeed s-simpler.¡± Yuki said as she saw a dark light emanating from her clothes. When she inspected her equipment, they all had two common enchantment, the first one being a ¡®Curse : Weight (Level 2)¡¯ which made their clothes heavier. The second was ¡®Restriction¡¯, making them unable to remove their clothes by themselves. The only way to remove the curse was to go to a church or using the appropriate skill. But as they knew it was for training they didn¡¯t feel the need to remove them. ¡°You have to wear them everyday at every moment, it¡¯ll make your Endurance grow even when you aren¡¯t doing anything.¡± He said with a sneer as he watched the two girls in front of him trying to adapt to their new weight. ¡°Aralche?... How should I say it¡­ Could you remove the ¡®Restriction¡¯ curse from me please ? I have to wear an uniform for my job.¡± Shiki somehow tried to explain. ¡°Heh, your customer will have to see you work in those clothes for a while then. You can still remove the curse at a church, but it would be pretty expensive.¡± He replied with an ironic smile. ¡°Kukuku, Shijou is really mean. You don¡¯t have to worry Onee-chan, I am sure they¡¯ll enjoy your current clothes; even in those clothes you are still beautiful.¡± Yuki said as she enjoyed her sister dilemma. ¡°I...I guess it¡¯s fine then.¡± Shiki replied as she was embarrassed, yet happy, from her sister''s comment. ¡°Fine then, shall we get started ?¡± Aralse said as he got ready for the battle. When the battle ended, both Shiki and Yuki were exhausted. The curse on Yuki¡¯s equipment made it harder for her to fight against Aralche, yet unlike the first day they started to train, she was making less unnecessary movement now. Thanks to that, and her instinct which were becoming sharper and sharper with each fight they engaged in she was still able to hold her own against Aralche for a few dozens of seconds. Shiki on her side was much more active during the fight, being capable to summoning two magic balls instead of one made her able to somehow restrict Aralche¡¯s movements. However being his main target, she was still forced to run away while controlling her orbs. Thanks to the weight, they were able to gain as much stats as the first time they fought Aralche. Unlike what they thought, they didn¡¯t gain any stats by only wearing the cursed clothes, it was only after a few days that they learned that the growth of stats when doing things like weight lifting or running was really slow. The stats Yuki gained in her early days of playing the game were only obtained because of her continuos running all''round the city fot the whole day, and even after that she only gained a few stat points. The best way to gain stats was fighting an opponent of the same level or stronger than oneself. But the reason why Aralche made them always wear those clothes was to make them get used to the feeling of being tired and having their body heavy so that they would be able to fight even when they were exhausted. It was to train their mental! Just like this, they trained every single day without taking any breaks, and the one who grew the most during this training was Yuki who learned how to use a sword from Aralche. She didn¡¯t learn many things in swordsmanship from him; he only taught her basics like how to efficiently parry, reflect, counter, how to put strength behind an attack and to only make quick strike as they were the most effective type of attack. After she learned that, he told her that she had to find her own style of using it. His skills were sharpened by fighting again and again years after years, yet he thought that within only a few years she should become better than him at using it, even if this wouldn''t help her in beating him at his best. It was only as two months passed that something unexpected happened. ¡°Your training is over.¡± Chapter 4 - Depart from the Beginner City Hello guys, this is a short chapter I know, but I think it''s full of event so enjoy ! And don''t forget to leave a comment and express your opinion ! *********** ************** *********** **************** ************** ¡°Your training is over.¡± This single sentence surprised them both, Shiki and Yuki. During their training, they had grown far stronger than they would have if they would be leveling up normally, but even though they grew stronger, they still never managed to land a single hit on Aralche. ¡°It¡¯s only been two months Shijou!¡± Yuki tried to contest, but as she saw his saddened eyes she fell silent and let him speak. ¡°I wish I met you earlier, but my time is coming to an end¡­ How pitiful, I wasted my time uselessly all those thousands of years, and now that I really yearn for them they are nowhere to be seen.¡± He said as he put his hands on both of their heads. ¡°Is¡­ Is that because of your curse?¡± Yuki asked. During his fight against God, Aralche and his whole kind were cursed. Because of this curse, his kind went extinct, leaving only him slowly dying year after year. Yuki recalled some of the moments they spent together, even though he tried to hide it she clearly remembered him occasionally coughing and vomiting black blood as the curse mark on his face was emitting a black miasma. Even after seeing this, Yuki always kept silent as she knew he was dying; but if he himself wasn¡¯t able to cure it, who in the world could? She knew he didn¡¯t have much time left, but she didn¡¯t think it would all end so soon. ¡°So you remembered this¡­ Indeed, it is still incredible that I survived until now, my soul is exhausted from fighting against the curse. Today is the day I finally disappear from this world.¡± He said as he slowly caressed their head. As he caressed their head, he recalled all the moments he spent with those these two girls. The days they spent eating together, training, talking, the time when he played with Yuki, the days when he counted the stories of his travels, when he teased Yuki along with Shiki and sometimes the inverse. During this time, they became precious to him. Aralche never knew his family as he was trained since very young age by his kingdom, but those girls became for him now the only family he ever had. He felt as if they were his daughters, so he couldn¡¯t help but worry for them, for their futures. ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about us, we can live on our own!¡± Yuki said with a smirk as she understood what he was thinking. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about her, I am the one taking care of her after all.¡± Shiki said as she lightly smiled. ¡°Onee-chan!! I can take care of myself!¡± She replied as she puffed her cheeks. ¡°Heh¡­ Of course you can! Who do you think trained you after all?! But at least, let me give you before going.¡± A blue light emanated from his two hands which were still resting on their head. This light enveloped their whole body, it was a deep blue and warm light which made them feel funny yet comfortable. After a few seconds, the blue light slowly started to disappear, revealing once again the silhouette of the two girls, but something had changed in them. Shiki¡¯s eyes color which previously were of a deep blue like the sea changed into a beautiful purple one. Her profound purple eyes made her look even more mesmerizing accompanied by her beautiful long silver hairs. Yuki on her side changed much more than Shiki did. Instead of her pure black hair they were now shining in golden color, they seemed to be shining like the sun and the reflection of the sunray on them made them even brighter than gold. Her eyes changed from a black to a beautiful light orange one, whom''s beauty wasn¡¯t fazed by the hair¡¯s color in the least. Her deep light orange eyes looked like pure jewels with no imperfections. As both of them looked at each other they were speechless as they saw the change in each other.
Quest Completed : Training with the Godslayer Aralche You endured the training with the Godslayer Aralche known to be the most powerful being in multiple realms. Reward : 3 Level, 500 Achievement
As the window appeared in front of them, they only threw a single glance before closing it right away. How could a quest be more important for them than the person in front, the who was about to die. ¡°You said that your goal was to travel around the world. With this, you will definitely be able to do so. As for you, brat, I gave you a bonus. Use it as you wish.¡± He said as his body started to glow in a white light and slowly vanish. ¡°It seems that I have to go, just remember girls, don¡¯t live for the others expectation; be who you are and live as you want. There is no good and no evil. Everything is just a matter of choice, perception and freedom; enjoy your life to the fullest! Well then, farewell brats.¡± He said with most of his body already vanished. ¡°Of course we will so don¡¯t worry about us. Farewell, Shijou.¡± Yuki said as she said goodbye with a smile. ¡°Farewell, Aralche.¡± Shiki said in kind with a wry smile of her own. ¡°Heh, don¡¯t you dare come before a few thousand years pass, brats.¡± Were his last word as he completely vanished. Both Shiki and Yuki stood at the same place for a few minutes even after he vanished, Shiki was worried for her sister as she once again had lost someone dear to hear only two months after losing her father. After finding her courage and moving for a hug, she suddenly froze as Yuki abruptly took her hand and held it with strength, unwilling to let go. ¡°Onee-chan¡­ At least you, please at least you stay by my side...forever,¡± She said with a lone tear slipping down her cheek to the ground. ¡°I swear, Yuki, I will forever stay by your side. Therefore, you as well; don¡¯t you ever leave me alone.¡± Shiki replied as she held Yuki against her chest. Just like this they stayed in this position for an hour before finally paying attention to the ¡®gift¡¯ Aralche left them.
Race Change: Ethervals Catgirl Class rank: Godly The Ethervals, the first kind ever made before being exterminated by God. They were feared by every other race and even the God himself because of their speed of growth. The legends say that one of them even killed that same God, his maker, before dying himself, leading to the birth of five new gods now considered the gods. Racial bonus : Stats Growth Speed +100%, Experience needed for earning stats reduced by 50%.
Although both of them didn¡¯t which was the highest rank, ¡®Godly¡¯ should be among the top, if not even higher. This transformation did not only give them new bonuses, but it also didn¡¯t change their previous ones. Moreover, the effect of this race could be considered game-breaking. The Racial bonus would make them keep earning stats as they are fighting while the ¡®Divine Effect¡¯ would make them able to earn stats constantly and at the same speed. The most difficult part of a game was to get stronger after reaching a high level. To get stronger, players have to rely mostly on items as it takes far longer to raise levels even higher. But with this bonus? This limitation can be completely void. However, as Yuki recalled his words, he had given something strictly for Yuki.
Title Earned : Successor of the Godslayer Achievement +200 Skill Earned : Magic Sword
The title made Yuki recall the man which was previously standing in front of her, the man who had lived for far more years than her, travelled and knew many more people, yet spent only two months with her. For him, two months was the same as a mere drop of water in the ocean, yet he chose her to be his successor. After looking at the title for a few dozen of seconds, her eyes were attracted by the skill she earned, deducing it must have been what he left to her.
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
Magic SwordBeginner10%
Embedd a weapon with mana to strengthen it. Enchanting a weapon increases the damage dealt. Each attack deal a bonus of 10% attack damage in magic damage. Duration 15 seconds Cost 150 mana
The skill''s rank and effect wasn¡¯t as good as the race''s bonus, yet for Yuki it was an incredible skill. 10% of additional damage wasn¡¯t so low and in a fight it could make a real difference. Moreover, once it reaches level 10 it would give a whole 55% of bonus damage! One could say that rank and effects of this skill were already close to a lie. Moreover, the damage done are magic damage, meaning that she will have a way to deal with monster weak against magic. Little did she know that it was a skill similar to the warrior class ¡®Strengthen¡¯ which had the same effect but instead gave a bonus of 5% +1% per level for a total of 15%. Having no skill for mana, this skill was the only one she possessed and it wouldn¡¯t even change her way of fighting. After looking at the last present from Aralche, both of them returned to the city. *********** ************** *********** **************** ************** ¡°I see, so you made your choice.¡± A rough man voice said, it was Klaus''s voice. ¡°Yes, we decided to start our travel. Thanks for taking care of me all this time.¡± Yuki replied On their way toward the city, Shiki and Yuki decided to start traveling. If they had leveled up normally then they would have been forced to leave the city after one month of hunting as the monster around wouldn¡¯t have given them that much experience. ¡°I knew you would leave one day anyway. If you are ever close by, do come for a visit. You know you are always welcome here brat.¡± He answered with a hint of kindness in his tone. ¡°Of course. And thanks for everything, Oji-san. We are leaving soon so I have to go, see ya¡± As Yuki looked at Klaus, she couldn¡¯t help but feel grateful for the man who gave her a job without even knowing anything about her. ¡°Thanks for everything, see ya Oji-san!¡± ¡°Are you done?¡± Shiki asked after seeing Yuki coming at the front gate. After taking a glance at the city behind her, Yuki answered ¡°Yes, we can go now.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go then.¡± When they were traveling back to the city, they had decided to leave it and go on a journey to level up. At first before meeting Aralche, they had planned to go to a city in order to take their class, but Shiki learned during her job at the tavern that the forest near the city was special. There were foxes, wolves, sometimes bunnies and many other animals inside, but they were only near the entrance of the forest. Its true name was ¡®Misty Forest¡¯. The deeper someone traveled into the forest, the foggier it became. The forest was famous in the around for being a place where if someone entered, he would never come back. After hearing the story about this forest, how could they not be tempted to enter? Besides being a place renowned for being a legendary forest, how could there not be some rare items inside? And finally the last reason why they chose so was because the area inside the forest was blank on the map. The forest formed a circle around this area and nobody knew if there was something at the center of the gigantic forest or not. It didn¡¯t take them much time to reach the entrance of the forest as it was really close to the city. As they entered the forest, ignoring most of the bunnies and foxes which respectively ignored them simply because they were peaceful creatures and reacted only when someone attacked them. They came upon a group of 8 wolves. This situation made them remember the past, that day two months ago when they were about to die before being saved by Aralche. At this time, they didn¡¯t even kill half of the wolves which attacked them, and only four of their attack would have been enough to kill Yuki or Shiki. As the wolves growled as if being happy to have found their lunch, only a smile could be seen on the girls'' faces. The wolves which felt as if the girls were weaker than them recklessly charged to their future lunch. ~342 damage Only one sword strike was enough to instantly kill a wolf. This was how absurdly high Yuki¡¯s stats became after training for only two months. Right after seeing what happened, the seven wolves stopped their charge as they realized they misjudged their opponents. After a few seconds, one of them left a sound out before their group started to retreat. But after being challenged by those wolves, how could the girls let them escape? ~172 damage / 168 damage / 171 damage / 177 damage / 161 damage / 182 damage With a single cast of ¡®Multiple Magic Orbs¡¯, Shiki created a total of six orbs which she sent at three of the wolves. Each one of the orbs had the base damage of a level 10 ¡®Magic Orb¡¯, but adding to this the Intelligence Shiki earned while fighting with this spell against Aralche, the difference between the previous Magic Orbs and the current ones was incredible. Just like this, three wolves died. But the remaining four were still desperately running away, regretting their decision of recklessly attacking them without preparation. But as they were running away, Yuki suddenly appeared behind them. There was an awkward moment between the wolves and Yuki as they stared into each other''s eyes. The wolves'' eyes seemed to be saying ¡®Be gentle please¡¯ while the answer in Yuki¡¯s childish one''s was ¡®Nope¡¯. ~336 damage / 339 damage / 345 damage / Critical Strike 680 damage Yuki who had gained most of her stats in Strength and Agility as she was fighting with her sword against Aralche had far more Agility than them. How could low levels wolves hope to outrun her? As the eight wolves died, their experience bar went up by a whole 40%. This amount wasn¡¯t surprising as the wolves had two more levels than them and that they were still low level. ¡°I hope there¡¯ll be monster stronger than them inside the forest, they are so weak now that it¡¯s not even fun.¡± Yuki said as she ignored the wolves'' fur on the ground and started walking deeper in the forest. Shiki smiled at her sister behavior. ¡°This place is reputed to be a dangerous area, I am sure we¡¯ll find some strong monster¡± The wolves were by no way weak, in truth they were here to teach something to the players. One of the instructions Shiki gave to the AI who is managing this world was to make it able to receive a high number of player, the size of the continent was for this reason. However with the limited amount of beginner town, there would have been difficulties for players to hunt as there wouldn¡¯t be enough monsters for all of them. For this reason, the AI in charge chose to make a high number of rabbits and foxes which could be hunted by a single player without needed to rely on a party. However, there weren¡¯t any intermediary monster between the foxes and the wolves. Moreover, the wolves were fighting in group of six minimum. The sudden evolution in difficulty was there to force players to hunt together, it was impossible for a player whatever his class was to hunt them alone. But after training for two months with Aralche, their stats were absurdly high.
Name:YukiRace:Etherval Catgirl
Class:NoneLevel:10Points:20
Titles:
Successor of the Godslayer
Health:1045Mana:325
Damage:225-227Defense:14
Strength:152Agility:108 (+2)
Intelligence:10Wisdom:10
Charisma:10Endurance:78
Luck:15Fame:0
Yuki¡¯s current stats were one of a warrior of level 60, even if her armor which depended strictly on her equipment was still as low as before. With her damage being at 225, adding to this the 20% bonus from Weaponship and 15% from her Level 5 Swordsmanship, her true damage was already above 300. Shiki¡¯s stats weren¡¯t that far from hers, however unlike Yuki who mostly gained stats in Agility, Strength and Endurance; Shiki gained some Agility and Endurance, but mostly Wisdom and Intelligence, giving her more balanced stats than her sister¡¯s. As they entered deeper into the forest, a pure snow like fog started to appear around them little by little. The more they advanced, the foggier it became. After walking for only half an hour, the area around them was fully covered by the fog. ¡°Let¡¯s hold our hands, it would be troublesome to be separated inside this fog.¡± Shiki said as she held Yuki¡¯s hand. Yuki tilted her head as she looked at Shiki full of doubt. ¡°S-Sure?¡± For two hours they walked with Shiki leading the way. They walked in circles within the forest as she was disoriented by the fog. ¡°I feel like we passed here already.¡± Shiki said as she looked at the ground, the only thing she was truly able to see. ¡°Onee-chan?¡± Yuki asked worried for her. ¡°It¡¯s fine, don¡¯t worry we¡¯ll get past this fog.¡± ¡°O-Okay¡­¡± She answered as she was led by Shiki once again. After another hour passed, Shiki started to lose hope as she didn¡¯t know how to advance and even return from the forest. ¡°I am sorry Yuki, I thought I would able to make a mental map as we advanced, but this fog is disturbing my senses.¡± She said as she felt down. Yuki looked at her, curious about something. ¡°Onee-chan, what fog are you talking about?¡± She asked. ¡°Wait what?!¡± Shiki instantly asked as she couldn¡¯t understand what was happening. For some reason, since they entered the forest Shiki was the only one who could see the fog while Yuki could normally see without any trouble. ¡°Since the beginning you were talking about some fog, but I don¡¯t see it at all.¡± Yuki asked doubtfully. Shiki was surprised as she couldn¡¯t understand the reason why only her sister could normally see. The problem couldn¡¯t come from her as the forest was reputed to be cursed for having a strange fog, the strange one was definitely Yuki. Being an Etherval, the reason was definitely not because of her race and within a few centuries, a high number of demihuman should have entered the forest, yet there were no information about someone being able to see through this fog. Her rare weapon also didn¡¯t have an effect which would make her able to see through this. The more she was thinking about this, the less she understood the reason behind it. ¡°Should I take the lead?¡± Yuki asked as she saw her sister still hesitating. Shiki only nodded to give her answer as she looked at Yuki and continued to think about the reason why only she could see through the fog. After walking for a few minutes in the forest, Yuki suddenly stopped and unsheathed her sword. In front of her was a strange humanoid green-skinned monster with sharp teeth, red eyes and armed with a dirty long sword; it was an orc. ¡®Outcast Orc Level 21, 3200hp¡¯ The level of the monster didn¡¯t surprise her, but the amount of health did. The orc was only 9 level above the wolf, yet it had ten time his health. Even with Yuki¡¯s stats, she would at least need 10 hits to kill off the orc, and they were the stats of a level 60, 3 times higher than the orc¡¯s one. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. But this amount of health made her excited. The truth is that she was worried about not being able to find monsters strong enough to fight them like the wolves, but if a monster level 21 had this much health, how much would an even higher level one, or a boss, have ? Shiki, as she felt Yuki¡¯s hand come loose understood what was going on and didn¡¯t move from where she was standing as couldn¡¯t see anything and would end up lost if she moved. ¡°GROOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAHH¡± The orc yelled as he charged at the girls. Yuki as she saw the orc approaching used her skill ¡®Magic Sword¡¯ and charged as well. Even though the orc had a lot of health, his agility was far lower than Yuki¡¯s. In only a moment, she arrived in front of him and slashed at his torso. ~315 damage Yuki¡¯s damage were lower than what she had expected, her Magic Sword boosted her total damage by 10%, giving her damage near 390. Yet this orc had ra skill to reduce them. The moment her sword slashed the orc, the monster as if he wasn¡¯t feeling anything swung his sword down at Yuki. ~282 damage The attack instantly took her almost 25% of her health. The orc¡¯s strike was actually slow enough for Yuki to dodge it, but as she didn¡¯t know the true strength of a level 20 monster, she actually voluntarily took the hit. ¡°Heh, time to get serious!¡± Yuki said as she imitated the Aralche¡¯s arrogant attitude. ~325 damage / 314 damage / 310 damage Within an instant Yuki had released three quick attack at the orc, normally the orc would have been able to dodge the last one, but under the effect of Ice Moon Sword, he was slowed. At the same time, six Orbs came in contact with the orc. ~202 damage / 210 damage / 198 damage / 206 damage / 202 damage / 204 damage The reason why Shiki couldn¡¯t see anything around her was because she couldn¡¯t analyze the data around her, but what about the data she received by her character''s other senses? By using the noise produced by their fight she was perfectly able to predict both Yuki¡¯s and the orc¡¯s position. Once she knew where they were, it was simple for her to use her orbs. Just like this within only ten seconds, the orc had lost two thirds of his health. Yet he didn¡¯t retreat but let out a war cry before once again charging. The moment he began to swing his sword in his slowed state, he had already received three blows from Yuki. ~315 damage / 320 damage / 318 damage Having his health fully depleted, the orc fell to the ground. After killing the orc she had gained 1 point in agility thanks to her new race and passed level 11. Killing a monster 11 levels above her had given her 3 times what she gained by killing the eight level 12 wolves. But this wasn¡¯t all. The orc also left behind part of an armor.
Heavy Platemail Torso
Defense:54Durability:92/92
Quality:Common
A heavy reinforced torso. It''s weight limits the warrior''s movement Requirement : Level 19, 32 Strength, 27 Endurance Reduces Agility by 30%
At first Yuki felt happy to see an armor part, but after seeing its stats she felt left down. The item was perfect for a tank as it gave a lot of armor, it was even almost 4 times her total armor. But the 30% reduction of the item was something really bad for her. 30% reduction would mean that she would lose more than 30 of agility in exchange for wearing it later on. It would extremely affect her speed and damage. ¡®Leather armor is better for me as I prefer to dodge attacks. Guess I¡¯ll sell it if I don¡¯t use it, I don¡¯t think Shiki will use it as well.¡¯ She thought as she stored the item in her inventory. ¡°Did you find something?¡± Shiki asked as she couldn¡¯t see anything and didn¡¯t hear Yuki move after killing the orc. ¡°Yeah, some heavy armor but it¡¯s useless for me anyway and I don¡¯t even have the level for it.¡± She answered as she went back to Shiki¡¯s side and took her hand. ¡°Let¡¯s continue!¡± Yuki said as she pulled her sister''s hand while happily smiling. Shiki couldn¡¯t help but smile as well as she felt the happiness in her sister¡¯s voice, but suddenly she stopped moving and also made Yuki stop. ¡°That orc¡¯s cry¡­ It wasn¡¯t a war cry, he was calling for his comrades.¡± Shiki had heard movement all around them. Suddenly twelve orcs came out of the bushes all around them and surrounded the girls. ¡°Ohhhhh, guess we¡¯ll have some fun then!¡± Yuki couldn¡¯t contain her excitement as she looked at the orcs all around her. Even when surrounded by twelve level 12 monsters, the girls weren¡¯t scared in the least. Shiki began to summon her orbs while the orcs were looking at them. Right after she summoned her first orbs, the orcs ferociously charged at them. ~273 damage / 278 damage / 281 damage / 284 damage / 276 damage / Critical Strike 568 damage / 274 damage / 271 damage Yuki fearlessly charged at the orcs one after another, hitting eight of them one time and at the same time taking the aggro, leaving only four targeting Shiki. The duration of Magic Sword being exhausted, her damage was lower than against the previous orc. As the eight orcs encircled Shiki, swinging their sword one after another; she swiftly dodged four of them and parried two attacks. But she couldn''t do anything about the two last and instantly lost almost 50% of her life. Even if the orcs were slowed thanks to Yuki¡¯s sword, there were still eight of them; she had to get out of the encirclement. Yuki suddenly ran toward one of the orc who raised his weapon to welcome her, but she easily parried his attack and jumped above him with an acrobatic movement, getting out of the encirclement. It wasn¡¯t only thanks to her high agility that Yuki could move so swiftly, but thanks to the battle experience she acquired while fighting Aralche. Fighting against an opponent whose speed surpassed hers by far made her learn how to predict the enemy¡¯s attack and react faster. ~284 damage / 275 damage / 272 damage / 269 damage Using the opening left by the crudes orc¡¯s strike, she landed a counterattack whenever she could. If even a swordsman saw how she was fighting, he would be in an awe. Unlike the normal sword styles in the world which were made mostly to protect oneself, Yuki¡¯s style was made strictly to dodge, strike, and kill. When she fought with Aralche, knowing she wouldn¡¯t be able to hit him she could give everything she had, unlike normal spar where people restrained themselves in order not to kill the opponent. Only two months were enough for Yuki to create her own style. Shiki on the other hand was reflecting the orcs attacks while damaging them at the same time. Each time an orc tried to hit her she used one of her orbs to hit him in the hand or arm, deviating the attack and at the same time dealing damage. If it wasn¡¯t for the sound of the wind moved by the orcs large sword, she wouldn¡¯t have been able to use this tactic. But even if they managed to take no damage while fighting, the orcs still had 3200 hp each. And there were twelve of them. This wasn¡¯t a fight which could be finished in only a few dozens of seconds. After a few minutes, Shiki for who it was easier to deal damage thanks to her magic had killed three of the orcs while Yuki who had to constantly dodge the orcs attack killed only two of them. Having six orcs on her, Yuki now had an easier time to dodge and more time to counterattack; at this moment she decided to go all out on the orcs. Dodging one of the orcs vertical strike, with quick side-step she got behind him before he had the time to react and delivered a flurry of attack. ~282 damage / 281 damage / 278 damage / 279 damage / 283 damage / Critical Strike 593 damage / Critical Strike 720 damage The double critical strike which was on the same spot even gave the second critical strike in row a damage bonus. Moreover, the orc who took the damage was also the one on which she had dealt a critical strike when she had aggroed them. The orc fell on the ground. Yuki glanced at her sister, seeing that she had just finished her remaining orc, she decided to use it. She activated her Reinforcement skill for the second time, leaving her with around 80 mp. Dodging two orcs strike, she slashed all over his body as she ignored the others. ~322 damage / 312 damage / 317 damage / 342 damage / 364 damage / 387 damage / Critical Strike 750 damage During her combo, Yuki tried to hit the same spot at each hit, which resulted in a high bonus in damage, leaving the orc less than 100 hp. ~202 damage Before the orc could even react, one of Shiki¡¯s orb finished him and the other orbs collided with the remaining orcs. Having decimated more than half of the orcs, their victory was now certain; but¡­ ¡°This is¡­ We have to run!¡± Shiki yelled. Another group of orcs arrived, but this time, they were even more numerous than before; 20 orcs approached them. Although she managed to dodge all of the orcs attacks, Yuki almost got hit many times even though the orcs were slowed by her sword. Having difficulty with eight orcs, how could she manage against two times the number if she added the ones still alive. As Shiki couldn¡¯t see anything thanks to the fog, Yuki quickly picked her hand and pulled her, running deeper into the forest. At first Yuki didn¡¯t know where to go as she ran, but a certain building caught her attention as they were running. It was a very large tower which made her doubtful. ¡®Was this tower really here before? If so why didn¡¯t I notice it before?¡¯ She thought as she ran toward it. On the way to the tower, they didn¡¯t meet any orcs or other monsters, and the ones chasing them were now gone; how could the slow orcs manage to catch up with them? Seeing the tower more closely made Yuki even more surprised. It wasn¡¯t a building easy to miss due to its size. It was a simple white tower, almost fifty meters high. In this forest it was something really easy to notice. ¡°Is there something here?¡± Shiki asked as she was unable to see anything thanks to the ¡®fog¡¯. ¡°There¡¯s a large tower in front of us, maybe it¡¯s a dungeon?¡± Yuki replied. ¡°Let¡¯s enter then.¡± Shiki said as she was too excited. If the tower was truly a dungeon, then it would be the first one they would be exploring since they entered the game. The tower had a single entrance on the ground, protected by broken wooden doors. As they entered the tower, a message appeared.
Dungeon Discovered: Tower of the Archmage Roeznal Fame +150 Experience earned inside the dungeon +25% for three days
¡°It¡¯s truly a dungeon!¡± Both of them exclaimed at the same time. As Yuki looked at the dungeon¡¯s name, she couldn¡¯t help but want to start hunting right away. ¡°The tower of an archmage, maybe the boss will drop items for mages.¡± She said as she looked at Shiki with sparkling eyes. In most games, the class which depended the most on equipment were: first the tank and immediately afterward were the mages. But not only were they among the classes which depended the most on items, but those items were also the rarest and most expensive ones. Therefore the possibility of gaining some rare mage items seemed extremely attractive to them. After entering the tower, they looked all over the area. The inside of the tower looked like a giant living room, but most of the furniture were smashed against the ground as if someone voluntarily destroyed them. There wasn¡¯t a single living being in the first floor, and after exploring multiple rooms on the floor they finally found what they were looking for; the stairs leading to the next floor. The stairs were ten meters high, so if every stairs were of this size the whole dungeon had a total of five floors. When they entered the second floor, they quickly found the reason why the furniture in the previous floor were destroyed. Its green skin and red little eyes, his sharp razor teeth and the loud sound he made when he breathed through his nose. His massive topless body armed with a spear¡­ It was an orc. ¡®Green Orc Spearman Level 24, 4300 hp'' But this orc seemed to be more muscular than the ones outside. When they saw him, both of them quickly hid without giving him the opportunity to see them. There was only a difference of 3 levels between him and the orcs outside, yet he had 900 hp more than them. They didn¡¯t know if it was only because of the level difference or because he was more powerful than the others because of being a dungeon¡¯s monster. Making an eye contact they both quickly and quietly understood what the other was thinking about. They wanted to take out the orc as quickly as possible. When they fought against the first orc, they tried to know how strong he was, but this gave him the time to let out a war cry which made his allies come after them. If they didn¡¯t kill him in an instant they would probably be attacked by all the orcs in this floor. Having recovered most of her mana while they were running and exploring the first floor, Yuki prepared to active her ¡®Reinforcement¡¯ skill now level 2 which now gave her a bonus of 20% damage. After picking a hand-sized stone on the floor and throwing it on the wall behind them, the orc, after making a few menacing sounds, fearlessly approached the place where they were. The moment before the orc approached them, Yuki had recalled something her father Katsuya had told her to do if she ever got into a fight. Yuki jumped in front of the orc and with all her strength kicked in the orc¡¯s ¡®sensible¡¯ place. ~Critical Strike 550 damage The surprise attack on the orc resulted in a critical strike, but attack momentarily stunned not only the orc but also Shiki who couldn¡¯t help but think ¡®Sometimes my sister is scaring even me¡¯. Using her ¡®Reinforcement¡¯ skill, Yuki released a barrage of sword strikes on the orc, doing her best to kill him as quickly as possible. Shiki, after snapped out of a daze, quickly used her skill and sent her orbs against the orc. The stun only lasted three second on the orc, but how much damage could be done in 3 seconds? It was enough for Shiki to summon 12 orbs. ~2521 damage Twelve orbs hitting the orc at the same time made the game consider all the attacks being a single hit. ~311 damage / 324 damage / 316 damage / 312 damage The remaining 1000 hp of the orc was easily cut by Yuki¡¯s sword. All she needed were 4 hits; 3 seconds were more than enough for this. The orc didn¡¯t even have to time to let a single sound out as he instantly died within 3 seconds. If it wasn¡¯t for the absurd stats they had, this wouldn¡¯t have been so simple. Looking at their experience bar, they were at 41% to pass level 14. Actually, the orc gave them a sum of 47% of their experience, making them pass from level 13 to 14. But thanks to the eight orcs they killed before running away they had actually gained two levels at that moment. But not only did they give experience, but with the difference of level it made them easier to gain stats, giving to both Shiki and Yuki a point in Wisdom. If it wasn¡¯t for the skill consumption which used almost half of her mana at each use, she would never have gained any points in Wisdom. When the orc died, the only thing he left behind was a single silver coin. For them it was equivalent to half an hour of work at the city. ¡®If each monster give one silver we¡¯ll be rich in only a few days.¡¯ Yuki thought as she picked up the money. After moving around for a few dozen seconds, they quickly found their next target. It was two orcs. One was armed with a spear and the other with a sword, and the only other difference between them was their name. They even had the same amount of hp. At first they were hesitant about killing two orcs at the same time, even if they managed to kill one within 3 second again, the other would have the time to shout out the alarm. But after thinking a little about it, so what if he called out to his comrades? All what they would have to do is going back to the previous floor or getting out of the dungeon, they were sure the orcs wouldn¡¯t follow them. Being the vanguard, Yuki waited for Shiki to first cast her magic orbs before charging at them and activating the Reinforcement skill just before landing a hit on the two of them to apply the ¡®frozen¡¯ effect. ~322 damage / 331 damage The two orcs somehow managed to notice her before she managed to land her attacks, preventing the critical strike. Ignoring wound on his torso, the orc armed with a sword made a large swing at Yuki who this time didn¡¯t dodge it, but rather deflected it with her own sword, thus making him completely open for a few more follow up attacks. ~332 damage / 367 damage / 402 damage Because of the momentum produced by his large movement, the orc armed with a sword couldn¡¯t react to Yuki¡¯s attack, but something fast pierced her shoulder. ~362 damage It was a spear. The orc¡¯s spear swiftly pierced through her shoulder. For Yuki whose armor amounted to only 14, the damage caused wasn¡¯t low. For her, the spearman was far more dangerous than the orc swordsman as even in the frozen state he was able to hurt her. ~2762 damage Seven magic orbs charged at the spearman, Shiki¡¯s spell had actually leveled up during their previous fight. Seeing what just happened, she too understood that this orc was far more dangerous than the other one. The one armed with a sword seemed to have more power while the one armed with a spear was faster. But what was the use of strength if it was slow? If they took out the only one able to touch her they would easily kill the remaining one. ~342 damage / 336 damage / 348 damage After only three slashes the spearman died, leaving only the swordsman behind. However, what could the swordsman do if he wasn¡¯t able to touch her? Under the two girls'' assault he died without managing to do anything. The girls were surprised that the orcs didn¡¯t even try to let out their cries to inform their allies of the intruder. ¡°It¡¯s weird¡­ Maybe only the orcs outside will call for their comrades. Let¡¯s try to give the next orcs enough time to make a scream.¡± Yuki suggested. ¡°I was thinking the same. If they don¡¯t scream, then we won¡¯t have to hurry as much as before when we fight.¡± While they were looking for an isolated orc swordsman, they killed every single isolated spearman they found, seeing as how they were fast enough to hurt Yuki if she was careless. Once they found an isolated swordsman, they tested their theory, and it was right. None of the orcs of this floor would call for their allies if they found an intruder. They would simply go and try to kill them on their own. As Shiki thought about the reason behind this, she found that a possible reason would be if the orcs outside were working as a group to survive, but the orcs inside formed a tribe. Tribe means hierarchy, so maybe if an orc killed an intruder on his own he would be rewarded by the tribe and be promoted. Of course maybe the monsters were programmed not to call for help inside dungeons, or maybe it was for some other stupid reason. To Shiki it was enough to just enjoy finding reasons behind actions of each and everything they came across. Although the tower consisted of only 5 floors, after exploring the second floor they came across a total of 53 orcs. Most of them were separated from each other, making it really easy for them to hunt them. But this doesn¡¯t mean everything always went as planned. Three times they fought against groups composed of at least two spearmen. Because of spearmen being far faster than any other orcs, there were times where Yuki couldn¡¯t dodge and took several hits. So if it wasn¡¯t for Shiki who did her best to support her she definitely would have died quite a few times. Killing 53 orcs made them leveled up to the level 19. Even with the difference in level between the orcs and them, their experience bar now only went up by 5% for each orc killed. After having cleared the second floor and finding the stairs they decided to finally take a break. Even though it was a game, they still needed to eat and sleep. When they arrived at the tower it was already in the middle of the afternoon. Exploring the two first floors had taken them a few hours and now they could see the starry sky from one of the many windows. After finishing eating, Yuki took out a pen and a notebook and began to draw many different figures. Ever since learning the Drawing skill, once the night arrived, she drew all the different people who caught her attention, the things she experienced; she drew them to keep pictures as a memory of her adventure. She drew many different orcs she saw, wolves who attacked her earlier, the tower which they entered, and finally the man with who they spent most of their time with for the two last months. However, as she tried to draw his expression she felt like she had a mental block, making her unable to actually draw it the way she wanted to. Shiki who saw the saddened expression on her face as if she was about to cry embraced her, squeezing her tightly against her chest before speaking with a kind tone. ¡°You don¡¯t need to hold back your tears. Crying will surely make you feel better.¡± As she gently caressed her head, Yuki began to cry. She remembered every moment spent with him since the first time she met, all the way until the time he vanished. After a few minutes, she separated from Shiki¡¯s embrace with a light push and began to draw his expression anew as she remembered it. It was a bright smile.
Drawing passed level 5 New skill earned, Magic Draw: Drawings will never fade with time, only the action of a player can erase it. Restriction : Can only be used on owned item or outside a city.
After reading the window and closing it, Yuki felt as if all fatigue from the day invade her body at the same time and soon fell asleep in Shiki¡¯s arms, who caught her in her fall and slowly murmured a warm ¡°Good night¡­¡±
Retreat!!Main pageContinue ?
Chapter 5 - Exploring An Orc Dungeon Hello guys, I decided to shortened the chapters to make the update quicker, limiting them to 4000-6000 words per chapter instead of 8000. Enjoy ! * * * After waking up and eating a meal Shiki¡¯s meal prepared with the provision she bought at the town, they got ready to enter the tower¡¯s third floor. As she was checking her equipment¡¯s durability, she noticed something wrong with her sword.
Ice Moon Sword
Damage:18-20Durability:72/80
Quality:Rare
A long time ago in the Oni''s country, the Moon Goddess gave this sword to a young girl to defeat their evil ruler. As time passed the sword was stolen and lost it''s power. Emit a frost aura when attacking Awakening: 1,5% Requirement : Strength 20, Agility 20
¡®Awakening¡¯ appearing in the sword¡¯s description, following the description, the awakening must be about the sword regaining its lost power. But even after using this sword for training two months this stat didn¡¯t appear. Not knowing what may have suddenly made the stat appear she left it alone for now with an ¡®I don¡¯t care¡¯ state of mind and just went to the next floor. The third floor¡¯s ground was full of books and bookshelf, this floor was similar to a library as there were books everywhere the looked. Shiki who was looking around her had sparkly eyes, she loved discovering new things, but she was saddened that there were not even a little library in Azureal. This high amount of books was for her similar to a treasure. Yuki who saw her sister being distracted by the books snapped her out of her daze ¡°You can read them once we are done with the monsters of this floor.¡± Shiki who finally recalled she was in a dungeon prepared for an upcoming battle, but she still couldn¡¯t help but smile as she thought about the time she will spend reading those books. After walking a few moment they came across the first monster of this floor, as expected it was once again one of those green-skinned orcs, but unlike the previous ones, on his skin were blue warrior tattoos. There went from its arm all the to his torso and stopped at his neck. ¡®Silverteeth Tribe Blue Orc Warrior Level 27, 5500 hp¡¯ The orc was armed with a large two-handed war axe who was a little bigger than Yuki, but she wasn¡¯t afraid of it, she was far more afraid of quick weapon. Seeing this orc alone, they didn¡¯t hesitate and charged at him, using her Reinforcement skill her slashing at him multiple times. ~2184 damage Just like Shiki¡¯s damage, now Yuki¡¯s damage were cumulated although she didn¡¯t understand the reason why. The orc who had lost in an instant almost half of him health roared and forced Yuki to step back by swinging his heavy war axe. As she swiftly dodged it, the strength of the orc¡¯s swing told her that it wasn¡¯t an attack she could possibly try to block, she had to be careful not to take a single hit. Shiki who had summoned her magic orbs launched them in an instant, hitting him all over the body. ~2608 damage At the same time her orbs touched the orc, Yuki took the opportunity to rush at him as well and land several blows. ~364 damage Out of the six attack made by Yuki, only one landed on the orc¡¯s body. He had blocked the five other why using his war axe as a shield. Of course the slow orc, moreover under the frozen effect would normally not be able to block them all, but as Yuki was concentrating her attacks at the same spot in order to obtain the concentration damage bonus, by blocking this spot he parried most of her attacks. But even so the orc didn¡¯t have much health left, but in his red eyes one could still see his resolve to give his everything even if he had to die in the fight, one could say it was for his honor, others because he was stupid. Yet the orc even with his wounded body gave all he had in one vertical swing aimed at Yuki. The swing was far quicker and stronger than the first one he made, but she still managed to dodge it by a hairbreadth, slightly grazing her as she felt the air produced by the war axe lightly touch her cheeks. ~372 damage With a small step she approached the orc and pierced his chest with her sword, the slow orc couldn¡¯t react in time and simply fell to the ground before disappearing, only leaving behind 2 silver. Yuki looked for a moment at the place where the orc previously was, before making a cute smirk ¡°Those orcs are more experienced in fighting than the previous ones.¡± Not only Yuki but Shiki as well noticed that compared to the ones on the second floor, those orcs had more combat instinct. Otherwise, how could he parry Yuki¡¯s attacks while he was slower than her? After finishing the orc, her level passed to 20, the level of her skill Swordsmanship level 7 and Reinforcement level 4. She now had a bonus of 54% damage with her Swordsmanship and Weaponship, adding to this the 30% from her skill Reinforcement which took into account the passives bonuses, it gave her a total of two times her normal damage. Closing the windows and taking Shiki¡¯s hand who was still distracted by the high amount of books around her, they continued to explore the floor. The next orc they encountered was something different from the previous ones, unlike the others, his upper torso was covered by light clothes, on his head there was a wolf skull and in his left hand a long wooden staff. It was a shaman. ¡®Silverteeth Blue Orc Shaman, level 26 4800 hp¡¯ It was a monster who could use magic, being the first one of this kind they encountered they were even more careful than before. But as he was a magic caster he had less health than the previous orcs even though his level was higher. With her sword unsheathed, Yuki ran as fast as she could and delivered attacks one after another while Shiki sent her magics orbs against him. They gave all they had to prevent the shaman from using magic. ~2963 damage / 2305 damage The damage dealt by Yuki were higher than what they were against the orcs outside while Shiki¡¯s damage seemed to be reduced, they found it obvious that the shaman would have some resistance against magic while being a caster was more sensitive to physical damage. The orc didn¡¯t even have the time to look at the girls, he was instantly killed without being able to do anything. Both the girls looked doubtful at the falling corpse while simultaneously thinking the same thing ¡®He is weak !¡¯ They were expecting much more from the shaman as he was at a higher level than the previous orcs, yet their experience bar went up by 4% while the previous one gave 2%. The next enemies they encountered was a group of one shaman and one warrior armed with his war axe. Even if they were two of them how could it be a problem? All they had to do was instantly kill the shaman and then they could take their time with the warrior. With this idea in mind both of them targeted the shaman. ~2351 damage Shiki orbs flew straight to the shaman and took out almost half of his life while Yuki was running toward him to finish him off. But as she charged at him, she was blocked by the warrior who seemed to protect the shaman. As she tried to bypass him, she pierced the orc¡¯s foot as she applied the frozen effect. ~312 damage The orc having his foot injured and being under the frozen effect couldn¡¯t hold Yuki back anymore as she passed by his side, but she was quickly forced to withdraw. The previously 2v2 fight now became a 4v2. At the shaman¡¯s side were now two wolves spirit who forced Yuki to step back. ¡®Wolf Spirit level 25, 1200 hp¡¯ Looking at their health, the wolves weren¡¯t very resistant, but they were really quick as they got in front of Yuki and forced her to step back. The girls now understood that the shaman wasn¡¯t weak but dangerous for them, he could easily turn the side of a battle by summoning spirit. Moreover that wasn¡¯t all, after muttering a few words he became enveloped by a light. +1374 hp The shaman had healed himself, and it was by a high amount as he instantly regained a quarter of his whole life. Seeing this, Shiki looked at her sister as quickly made a plan ¡°I¡¯ll take care of the spirits, take care of the shaman.¡± Yuki nodded before dashing toward the shaman, the warrior once again tried to stop her advance and force her back with a horizontal swing of his massive war axe, but by dodged it by sliding under his weapon before landing behind him and moving toward the shaman. The two wolves jumped toward her as they tried to stop her, but both of them were greeted by Shiki¡¯s magic orbs. ~1482 damage / 1320 damage Shiki¡¯s damage against the spirits were incredibly two times higher than against an orc, she assumed that those spirits maybe fell in the same category as the ghost and took more damage from magic. There was nothing between Yuki and the shaman now, she charged toward him as fast as she could and with repetitive slash enhanced by her Reinforcement skill she quickly took out his remaining life in only 6 seconds. The last orc quickly followed the other in the afterlife as he couldn¡¯t defend against the sisters combined attacks. Once the fight ended, they opened their character screen to once again check their experience bar, it only went up by 6%; the wolves spirit didn¡¯t give them any experience which they found sad. If the wolves gave them as much experience as the orcs, they could have farmed them by leaving a shaman alive and killing them one after another as he would continue to summon them, their little health would have made them easy to kill. Picking up the money on the ground, they noticed that the shaman had left an item behind him; it was his wooden staff.
Silverteeth Shaman¡¯s Staff
Damage:5-10Durability:60/60
Quality:Uncommon
A staff made by the Silverteeth tribe for their shamans. Bonus : Increase Spell Power by 12% / +150 mp Requirement : Level 24, 54 Intelligence
As she saw the staff, Shiki couldn¡¯t help but feel happy. Until now she didn¡¯t use a single weapon as the first staff she had became useless after she learned the skill on it. This staff was her first true weapon. The low base damage were only reflecting the damage done by physically hitting an opponent with the staff, how could she be bothered by it. The true worth of this staff was the 12% bonus it gave as she ignored the bonus mana. There was only one strange thing on the staff, it was its quality. She had the Mystic Necklace which was also an ¡®Uncommon¡¯ item, but this staff ¡®Uncommon¡¯ was written in green while the necklace¡¯s one was written in white. ¡®There are different kind of color for an item rank ?¡¯ She thought as she looked at the staff. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. After thinking for a few minute, she stored the staff in her inventory as her level was still too low to equip it. Before exploring once again the floor, the two girls made a strategy about how to deal with the orcs. They now knew that the warriors would protect their shaman and those shamans would summon spirits and heal their allies. In short, a shaman was a dangerous opponent and needed to be taken care of quickly. They decided to let Shiki aggro the orcs alone while Yuki would sneakily approach the shaman and kill him before the orcs could react. Normally a mage wouldn¡¯t take the role of the bait, but as she was able to deal with the wolves with a single spell and was faster at running than the orc, she was totally able to act as the bait. By using this method they managed to hunt 33 orcs warrior and 27 shaman, making them gain two levels and gain a level in all their combat skills which seemed to level up faster than when they were training. Only one time did they actually almost died, it was against a group of two shamans and one warrior; after killing the first shaman by using their strategy. The second one surprised them by using a curse on Shiki, slowing her movements which was something really dangerous against the orc warrior who were chasing her, forcing Yuki to aggro him. After focusing on the warrior who died even while he was healed by the shaman who couldn¡¯t keep with their damage, another group of two orcs warrior and one shaman who patrolled in the area arrived and also joined the fight. Shiki had to deal with the four spirit summoned while Yuki was fighting against the orcs warrior, thanks to her sword effect and their slowness, she had enough time to dodge and hit the warriors. But even if she dealt damage, the orcs regained almost 2700 hp under the support of two shamans. But Yuki managed to grab the victory by doing a reckless charge at the shamans, taking a hit from one warrior at the same time which resulted in taking 800 damage, leaving her less than half of her life. After passing through them the rest was simple, she managed to kill one shaman before they arrived to defend the second one, but with the amount of heal halved, they were now able to damage the warriors and after killing both of them simply finished the shaman. This battle was a long and intense one and made they relearn a basic lesson, always check the surrounding before engaging in a fight. It took them four hours to deal with all the orcs of the floor before stopping in front of the stairs to the next floor, after those fight they ate a meal prepared by Shiki which made her Cooking skill pass level 7. Their meal was a soup made with Rabbit Meat, giving them a bonus of 3% in Strength, Agility, and Health. Actually it was the first time Shiki made this meal, at every meal she was trying to make a different recipe to level up her skill and also discover new tastes. She loved to see Yuki¡¯s face as she was eating and complimenting her meals. After finishing eating, the girls went up toward the fourth floor while the first floor seemed to be a living room, and the third floor a library, the fourth floor was the laboratory. The orcs on this floor didn¡¯t seem to be violent as they didn¡¯t destroy any furniture or the glass bottle all around the place. But all of them were empty and there weren¡¯t any book left, showing that the mage who lived here maybe destroyed all his research before leaving the place. Shiki thought about something before looking at Yuki, ¡°Once we are done with the dungeon let¡¯s return to the second floor, I think there is something there.¡± ¡°Okay¡­?¡± She replied, uncertain about the reason behind. Seeing her sister making a face showing her curiosity what was Shiki¡¯s reason, she answered her doubt ¡°The first floor was a living room, the third a library, this floor is a laboratory, the five may be the archmage room or treasure room. But what was the second floor? It was only composed of hallways and didn¡¯t have any purpose. It would have been better if the tower only had four floors.¡± She said as she considered this possibility. Above Yuki¡¯s head shone an imaginary light bulb ¡°Oh I see, there must be something hidden there.¡± ¡°Right.¡± Shiki nodded her head as her sister arrived at the same conclusion as her. The first monster they encountered on the floor was¡­ once again an orc. ¡°Seriously it is becoming boring to see orcs all days.¡± Yuki said as she looked at the orc ahead. The orc was very similar to the ones of the lower floors, but instead of having blue tattoos, theirs were red. The orc was armed with a single short sword and a shield, unlike the previous orcs he didn¡¯t give off a feeling of being as strong as them, yet they thought of him as more dangerous than the previous ones. ¡®Silverteeth Elite Warrior level 30, 6000 hp¡¯ Normally they would instantly engage in a fight against the orc, but after almost dying in the previous floor because of a patrol, they decided to examine the surrounding before fighting. Only after making sure there was nobody around, they finally engaged the fight against the orc. Yuki as she rushed at the orc to deliver a surprise attack, but as she approached the orc quickly noticed her and raised his shield at the same time as she began her swing which resulted in her attack being parried. Noticing she would be in trouble if she didn¡¯t retreat as her blade was too far to parry his sword, she hastily retreated before the orc started his counter attack. The orc who didn¡¯t think about letting her retreat peacefully, he advanced and swung his sword at her, if he had pursued his attack, he would have hit her, but Shiki forced him to defend. Seven orbs rushed at him, by rising his shield in order to block them he did exactly what she wanted and aimed exactly at the same spot with all her orbs. The consecutive attack on the same spot considerably lowered the shield durability which was shown by many cracks appearing on the shield with this spot at the center. Noticing this, Yuki rushed at the orc and pierced this spot as well, resulting in the shield being destroyed. Shiki could have done damage to the orc instead, as she was able to control the orbs as she wished she could make them touch the orc without him being able to block them, but by destroying the shield she allowed Yuki to fight as well without being bothered by it. Seeing his shattered shield, the orc unequipped it and threw it away before running at Yuki with his short sword. ~389 damage Using the distance of range between their sword, Yuki used hers to pierce the orc''s hand before retreating, inflicting the ¡®frozen¡¯ effect and slowing him. Although the orc seemed to be a powerful, under the frost effect from Yuki¡¯s sword coupled with Shiki¡¯s constant bombardment of magic orbs, how could he possibly resist? Having fought more than one hundred of orcs in the dungeon, both of them were now very familiar with the orcs patterns. With their intelligence being pretty low, they only used simple and crude movement and relied on instincts. The orcs main characteristic is their strength and vitality which make them able to deal an insane amount of damage with a single strike. But this is at the expense of their speed, making them easy to kill as long as one remained patient and concentrated. In a one against one, orcs aren¡¯t hard to kill; but generally they would emit a warcry when they meet an enemy which would make their enemy face a horde. In this regard, they are pretty similar to goblins. However, in this dungeon, the orcs seemed too stupid to call their comrades, making battle really easy as long as they sneaked around. ¡°This is getting boring¡­¡± Yuki sighed as she looked at the orc¡¯s remain disappearing. Having fought orcs all day, she now knew all their pattern and didn¡¯t truly find any fun in fighting anymore. But more than anything, she was tired of seeing their appearance, dressed only in rags which covered their lower body. All the orcs have an imposing stature full of muscles, making bodybuilders look pathetic. Seeing those body all days from very closely while she is fighting made her feel somewhat disgusted. Luckily, this floor was smaller than the previous ones. It didn¡¯t more than three hours completely wipe out the floor as they killed a total of approximately thirty orcs, collecting few scrap items which were mostly reserved for tanks. However, they didn¡¯t find a single item on the shamans which made the girls feel disappointed. After visiting the last part of the floors, the girls found the stairs to the last floor. From the outside, one could see that the top of the dungeon was very small compared to the bottom, roughly 150 meters wide. Noticing the stairs, Yuki¡¯s began to feel excitement as the path leading the final floor was right in front of her. She had only fought a single boss before, and it was a bunny; how could one feel like having an adventure if the only boss you fought was a bunny?! In the last battle, Shiki finally passed level 24, making her able to equip the Shaman¡¯s Silverteeth Shaman¡¯s Staff right before the boss battle. Before entering the last floor, the girl rested for a moment in order to regain their mana, health; but also their satiety as they took a break. Eating Shiki¡¯s sandwich, with a hesitation in her eyes. Yuki looked a few times at Shiki who was reading a book. She wanted to ask something, yet was hesitating about it. ¡°Is there a problem with the food?¡± Shiki asked worriedly as she misunderstood Yuki while she was lost in her thoughts, staring at the sandwich. Yuki¡¯s heart skipped a beat as she heard Shiki¡¯s voice, but as soon as she recovered, she gathered all her courage. ¡°Shiki, can you...revive Aralche?¡± She finally asked. Although she knew that her parents were dead for good, the world she is currently in is a game and a game could be altered. The month she passed with Aralche was enough for her to treat him like her family, something close to a sadistic elder brother. She had already lost her parents and didn¡¯t wish to lose anyone close to her anymore. She has already experienced this suffering which one should suffer when they are adult and married, but Yuki already knew this pain. Shiki¡¯s expression changed into a pained one, ¡°Whether, in reality or this world, I can¡¯t revive the deads.¡± She replied with a certain bitterness in her voice. Even though Shiki had only said a few words, it was enough for Yuki, her pained expression spoke more than her words. Furthermore, Yuki already held some doubt about Shiki being able to revive him; after all if it was possible, then she would have already done it. But now that she knew it, she ironically felt better; she could now advance without looking back at the past. ¡°I see¡­¡± * * * A few minutes passed since that moment and the girls prepared to walk into the next floor, after walking a few minutes upward, they finally arrived in front of a corridor with a single large black metallic door. ¡°Are you ready?¡± Shiki asked in confirmation. Yuki cheerfully unsheathed her sword and prepared for the boss battle. ¡°Yup~ Bring it on!¡± Shiki nodded as she pushed the large metallic door, opening the way toward an obscure room. All of a sudden, the room lightened the moment they walked inside as many torches suddenly started to burn and blue crystals all over the wall glowed. ¡°GRUAAAAAAAAAAH!!¡± A large roar resonated in the room, it came from the large monster who was seemingly sleeping on the middle of the room¡­ Until the girls entered and the place lightened. The large monster stared at the girls with crimson eyes filled with anger and madness, when he breathed, one could see his silver-like razor sharp teeth. ¡®Silverteeth level 45, ??? hp¡¯ Chapter 6 - Silverteeth Hello guys, I won''t say much about my slow updates; I don''t have much time and when I have, I can''t only spent it writting ;( Still I hope you didn''t think I was gone, otherwise I''ll be sad. Please tell what you think about the battle part, I tried to make it more detailed but don''t know if its that good. Hope you''ll enjoy this chapter and don''t hesitate to let a comment, review, rating or whatever you like :p Enjoy ! *********** ************** *********** **************** ************** ¡®Silverteeth level 45, ??? hp¡¯ The massive monster glared at the girls with his burning crimson eyes, his eyes were devoid of any trace of intelligence. The scene gave the impression of a lion being waked up by a rabbit who entered its den only to be eaten. Yuki was speechless in front of the giant monster in front of her, even Shiki who was hard to surprise gasped in front of this massive giant. ¡®I never expect this.¡¯ Yuki though as she stared at the giant, its giant fifteen meters tall body pumped with muscles devoid of any scar showed how hard they truly were. The monster body was dark grey, something completely different from the previous orcs. Yuki experienced a complex feeling, she felt at the same time happy that the adversary before her would be able to put up a real fight, in fact she was more afraid of being unable to beat him. ¡°But seriously¡­ What is an ogre doing in an orc dungeon?!¡± She roared in her mind. The boss was nothing close to an orc, it was an ogre! The orcs leader was actually a monster from a totally different species. She felt the urge of screaming scam. The massive monster bent his body with difficulty to pick up a giant stone hammer which was lying at his side while he was sleeping. *SHOOOO* The wind pressure caused by the fearsome hammer could be felt by the girls even though there were at least 50 meters between them. The hammer was at least five time taller than Yuki, and its weight made no doubt from his appearance, yet the ogre managed to effortlessly pick it up. This enemy made the girls mentally prepare for an harsh and long battle where they couldn¡¯t be distracted for a single moment, otherwise a single hit would kill them. In fact, maybe even if it merely grazed them it would be enough for them to die. But luckily, even though this fearsome strength was his major asset, seeing how he struggled to pick up the hammer showed that his body was very slow and couldn¡¯t perform any complex movement. ¡°GROAAAAAAAAAAAAH" The monster made a mighty roar as he began to charge toward the girls. *Ting*
You have been stunned! You can''t move for 2 seconds.
Yuki¡¯s mind were in a daze as they were stun, the moment the stun effect vanished, they immediately began to panic. The ogre was only 10 meters away from them, 50 meters could have been a large distance which couldn¡¯t be covered for a normal human, but for a giant of fifteen meters, it was only a few steps. In a panic, both of the girls made a roll, dodging the hammer which came as a vertical strike. The choc provoked by hammer when it collided on the ground made the girls fly a few meters, Yuki was the first one to recover, using her hand to push the ground as a support to fall on her feet. As for Shiki who wasn¡¯t that used to close combat, she simply rolled a few time before quickly getting back up. Although her agility was high, it wasn¡¯t on Yuki¡¯s level so it was hard for her to do this kind of movement. From the damaged ground rose a large amount of dust, despite being damaged the floor didn¡¯t show any sign of collapsing. The floor was thick enough not to collapse under the ogre¡¯s blow. Seeing the cloud of dust as an opportunity, Yuki used it to hide herself and swiftly get in the ogre¡¯s back. At the same moment, seven magic orb hurled toward the ogre¡¯s body, even with the dust, his massive body was hard to hide. The seven orbs struck the ogre¡¯s body who frowned with anger. -2493 damage The ogre glared toward the direction in which the orbs came and saw Shiki, but as he began to run, he didn¡¯t notice that Yuki wasn¡¯t present. It was at this moment that he felt something pierce his neck, slightly touching his spine. -5492 damage Yuki¡¯s sword, imbued by her Reinforcement skill made a critical strike as her sword pierced a sensible spot. Not only did it her sword make a critical strike, but it also made the ogre screech. Although his skin was thick and could reduce physical damages, Yuki¡¯s Reinforcement made her able to deal some magic damage and made it easier for her to pierce the skin. Despite being able to bear a certain amount of pain, being hurt in a sensible spot will nevertheless hurt, whoever it was. Yuki didn¡¯t challenge her luck and quickly withdrew from her position to hide back in the dust cloud. The ogre used his big hands to check the little hole in his neck, if Yuki hadn¡¯t left that spot after her attack, she would surely have been squashed. The wound where her sword pierced was only slightly frozen, it was obviously the Ice Sword¡¯s effect, however it didn¡¯t inflict the ogre¡¯s the frozen effect. Yuki slightly felt dejected by this, if she had managed to slow the boss down, it would have been far easier for her to fight him. The pain the ogre felt couldn¡¯t be compared to the one of being struck by Shiki¡¯s mana orbs, following his instinct, the ogre decided to deal with Yuki first. But looking around him was only dust, this made him even angrier and with a single swing of his hammer he dispersed it all, revealing the girl¡¯s silhouette. A smirk could be seen on the ogre¡¯s face, but in Yuki¡¯s eyes, it looked more like a ferocious face. The wind pressure made by the hammer made Yuki¡¯s feet become off the ground. The ogre lifted his weapon in the air and began to swing it down. As he swung it down, the hammer was gradually being covered with a brownish aura. Yuki¡¯s heart rate began to accelerate as the brown hammer rushed toward her, but at the same time, a magic orb came in the way. -632 damage The orb didn¡¯t hit the ogre, but Yuki! Yuki¡¯s body was sent flying a few meters away from the hammer, saving her life for the price of some hp. Though Yuki felt some pain, she was thankful toward Shiki who made a pained face after wounding her sister; but it was better than being flattened on the ground. When the hammer touched the ground, it didn¡¯t damage the floor, but instead made earthen spike come out of the ground, not stopping until rushing a distance of 15 meters. This made the girls face became pale, with that kind of attack, they had to be careful whenever they put some distance between the boss and them. The ogre¡¯s difficulty couldn¡¯t be compared to the rabbit chief¡¯s one. While the rabbit only showed a single skill which was ¡®enraged¡¯, the boss already showed two skills, the most terrifying was the stun. Whenever it was a normal blow or the Earthen Spike¡¯s one, it would be enough to kill any of them after they were stun. A single mistake, and they would die, adding to this that the boss might possess other skills, it was truly terrifying. The boss glared at Shiki who saved Yuki at the last moment, but he turned his gaze back to Yuki who had hurt him the most. Shiki took the opportunity and constantly released a large amount of magic orb toward the ogre. Being able to use her skill every 1.5 seconds made her able to constantly deal a large amount of damage to the ogre. Despite this, the ogre didn¡¯t chase after her and continued to run after Yuki, showing how painful her sword was. Yuki quickly got back on her feet with a somersault and observed the ogre¡¯s movement. ¡®I have to be careful of his swing¡¯s pressure.¡¯ She thought as she didn¡¯t want to be forced again in a similar situation. She almost died from this mistake, all she could do was to learn from it. The ogre didn¡¯t wait for the girl to be ready and continued to recklessly charge at Yuki, horizontally swinging his hammer at her. The horizontal strike made it extremely hard for her to dodge, the giant hammer covered a large area. If she retreated, the wind pressure would make her unable to dodge the next strike just like previously, but she couldn¡¯t dodge by the side or crawling either. Yuki quickly picked the only remaining situation and slided through the giant¡¯s legs. With his fifteen meters tall size, there was more than enough place for her to pass without being caught. -1294 damage Using this opportunity to deliver three strike to the ogre¡¯s legs, Yuki managed to deal a moderate amount of damage. However it couldn¡¯t be compared to her first strike which had been a critical strike on a sensible spot. It also couldn¡¯t compare to Shiki¡¯s dps whose damage weren¡¯t reduced. Yuki¡¯s role in this battle was merely to keep the ogre¡¯s aggro while her sister would keep dealing damages. However, even if she was very fast, staying alive against this monster was is a real challenge. Whenever she has 1 or 2000 hp, it was the same. A single strike and it would be their end. If she only kept running around, the ogre probably wouldn¡¯t be able to catch her, but it was very risky since Shiki would have a high chance of taking the aggro and unlike Yuki, she surely wouldn¡¯t be able to dodge his blows. The surface of the boss¡¯s legs slightly froze, but it wasn¡¯t frozen enough to slow him down; but seeing this, it also gave Yuki a new goal. If she were to slash a few more times at his legs, will it apply the frozen effect? If this was the case, then it would be far easier to deal with him once done. Using Reinforcement on her sword again, Yuki slashed once more at the ogre¡¯s legs. -872 damage Two small blue area appeared where she lacerated his skin, she would probably need twenty more cut to slow him down. Twenty might look like a large amount, but in truth it was pretty reasonable. The monster is level 45, a normal level 30 orc from the previous floor had around 6000 hp. A boss with a large 15 level more than the orcs, how much hp could he truly possess? After twenty long and intense minute of fighting, the ogre showed sign of being heavily injured and many bruises on his body due to being repetitively hit by magic orbs. Shiki had dealt close to 70 000 damage since the begin and had to rely on mana potions in order to keep up. In order to maximise her safety, Yuki stayed in the ogre¡¯s back, sticking to it like she was his shadow. No matter what happened, she never left this position which angered the ogre more than anything. Being in her back, every times the ogre tried swung his massive stone hammer, Yuki kept dodging by getting in his back. With the hammer¡¯s size and weight, although the ogre could swing it, it was far too slow! The time required for the ogre to rotate his body and swing his hammer at her was more than enough for her to dodge by the opposite side and once again appear behind him. To get in this position, Yuki had to use all her guts to charge head on and dodge by an hairbreadth the giant stone hammer. If she had to do this again, she wasn¡¯t sure that she would succeed. Now that she was there, she would do her utmost to keep this position! Moreover, aside from swinging his hammer, the boss also sometimes tried to crush her by stamping with his legs behind him. But each time he did so Yuki was cheerfully waiting for him and swiftly dodged then countered with a few sword slash toward the blue spots. The giant¡¯s legs luckily didn¡¯t carry as much strength as his hammer so the wind pressure was ridicule. After being countered a few times, the giant felt his legs starting to become numb. The frozen effect was slowly becoming stronger and affecting him. ¡°GROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH¡±
You have been stunned! You can''t move for 2 seconds.
What the girls feared happened, the only thing that could overturn this situation was the boss¡¯s AOE stun; his warcry ! In this situation, Yuki who was only a few meters behind behind the ogre had no way to possibly dodge the ogre¡¯s attack. Even with his slowed legs, those two seconds were more than enough for him to turn and raise his hammer. All what she could do was powerlessly watch the ogre¡¯s movement as she desperately tried to move, but it was useless; her body was frozen. All what she could do was intensly staring at the incoming imposing weapon which approached her. Yuki felt like the world was slowly decelerating, everything around her was becoming slower. The dust coming off from the ground where the hammer previously hit, the ogre¡¯s expression, the feeling of the air on her skin; everything was becoming slower. The moment the hammer was about to hit her, she felt her body being dragged backward as a two hands grabbed her shoulders. ¡°Shiki?!¡± Yuki said startled, but the ogre¡¯s blow didn¡¯t give them the time to talk as the wind propelled them a few dozens of meters backward, smashing Shiki against a wall, squeezed by Yuki which she was holding. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. The one who shouldered most of the damage was Shiki, being a dozens of meters far from Yuki, when she ogre¡¯s used his warcry, Shiki wasn¡¯t affected by it. She quickly exited the possibility that the chance of succeeding depended on the distance between her and the user of the skill, or perhaps she was simply lucky this time. But this time was more than enough for Shiki to rush toward Yuki and save her. But the counterpart was that she was now gravely hurt, making her lose more than half of her life. Seeing the ogre slowly walking toward them, Yuki strongly grasped her sword. ¡°Drink a few pots, I am going to distract him.¡± She said as she ran toward the boss. Shiki made a forced smile as she looked at Yuki run forward, but the moment she turned her back, her expression became serious. *********** ************** *********** **************** ************** ¡°What was that?...¡± She fell in deep thinking as she drank a health potion. A few seconds ago, when Yuki was at the ogre¡¯s mercy, her heartbeat began to accelerate and a few areas of her brain were acting strangely. Even for a AI like Shiki, the human brain wasn¡¯t something that could be understood that easily, all the research she did was mainly concentrated on the injured part of Yuki¡¯s brain. The complexity of the brain astonished her, for her, humans were stupid and other than Yuki and Kazuya; she didn¡¯t care for anyone else. But such creatures actually possessed something this incredible which even she couldn¡¯t comprehend. Shiki suddenly felt like there still was hope for Yuki, if what happened was linked to her problem, then there would maybe be a way to wake her up. ¡°Look like I gave up too soon¡± She thought as she became fired up. As she finished drinking the potion, Shiki managed to stand up and once again her attacks. *********** ************** *********** **************** ************** Now that the ogre¡¯s legs was frozen, it was easier for Yuki to once again sneak behind his back, she could now also inflict some damage without the fear of being killed. Still, Yuki didn¡¯t dare be careless, even if the boss was slower, it didn¡¯t change that a single hit would definitely one shot her. A single hit could destroy everything they did until now. Once again, a few magic orbs hit the ogre¡¯s body, making him emit a few howl of pain. -2743 damage The ogre suddenly stopped moving for a few seconds which surprised the girls. ¡°Is it over? Or...¡± Yuki though as she carefully retreated. ¡°GOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!¡± A powerful roar came from the orc.
Silverteeth¡¯s health dropped bellow 5% Ogre¡¯s Berserker skill activate: Strength increased by 100% Crowd Control are removed Bloodthirst Illusion activated.
¡°Shit!¡± Yuki cursed in her mind as she realized what was going on, although the increase in strength didn¡¯t mean anything for her, the frozen effect which made her able to survive until now was dispelled. Also, the activation of Bloodthirst Illusion couldn¡¯t be something good. The two skills which the ogre showed were terrifying, now they had to deal with a skill which required him to be almost dead. The ogre¡¯s health was now a little below 5000, with only two more skill he would be die. Yuki only had to hold on for a few seconds and it would be over. But those orbs never came, looking at Shiki, one could see that her body was shaking and her eyes empty. *Ting*
Title Successor of the Godslayer has blocked an illusion.
Yuki finally understood what was going on, Shiki was victim of the ogre¡¯s skill and couldn¡¯t move or think anymore. But as for Yuki, she didn¡¯t dare open her menu to observe the title, but she understood that this title had saved her life. ¡°Onee-chan?!¡± Yuki yelled worried. However, Shiki didn¡¯t show any reaction to Yuki¡¯s voice, she was completely under the effect of the boss¡¯s skill and didn¡¯t seem to be conscious of her surrounding. Suddenly, Yuki felt like she was drenched in cold sweat; she had broken her concentration and forgot about the boss for a few seconds, but those few seconds were more than he needed to hit her. Turning her head, her expression changed a few times, first it showed worry when she saw that the ogre¡¯s weapon was already up in the air, ready to pound onto her. As the stone hammer started to descend, her expression became filled with anger as she started to run backward. The weapon¡¯s target wasn¡¯t Yuki, but Shiki who was still in a daze. Though it was a bit too late, the ogre finally decided to finish Shiki first who couldn¡¯t move. If the ogre had decided to run toward her, then Yuki wouldn¡¯t have been worried since she was faster than him. But his weapon was covered by a brownish aura, it was his long ranged skill. The moment the hammer hit the ground, Shiki finally regained her spirit¡­ Yet¡­ -6200 damage Shiki¡¯s body was pierced by plenty of earthen spikes. Though her stats were higher than a normal mage, her equipment was still mostly filled with the beginner¡¯s one. Given her very low armor, how could she possibly withstand the boss¡¯s damage? Meanwhile, Yuki hadn¡¯t even covered half of the distance, all she could do was watch her sister¡¯s body being pierced by the spikes and quickly vanish. ¡°YOUU!!¡± Yuki angrily screamed as she charged toward the ogre. Though she knew it was only a game and that Shiki had told her previously that people could revive after forty-eight hours, how could she remain calm? Her sister was killed right before her eyes for the very first time. Though it was temporary, only a few months had passed since the death of her parents and a few days since Aralche¡¯s one. A tint of red suddenly filled Yuki¡¯s eyes as she glared at the ogre. Only one though remained in her mind. ¡®KILL!¡¯ Grabbing her sword with her two little white hands, she charged with the tip of her sword aimed at his legs in a stabbing stance. ¡°GUAAAAH¡± Having killed one of his opponents, the ogre was determined to finish the most troublesome one and was now confident that he could get her. With a move of his hand, the ogre¡¯s hammer moved toward Yuki; but using her right leg as a pivot, Yuki suddenly changed her direction, making the hammer miss its target by two meters. -624 damage Even though she had dodged, Yuki still received a large amount of damage. The large amount of strength given by the boss¡¯s passive granted him the ¡®splash¡¯ passive. His attacks damaged everything within an area of 3 meters around the hammer. Yuki didn¡¯t even react to the damage she took, it was like she didn¡¯t even feel pain; her eyes were only focused on the ogre¡¯s body and nothing else. It was like nothing else than killing her mattered. She was in a trance-like state. After dodging the strike, Yuki arrived at the ogre¡¯s side. From there, Yuki activated her ¡®Reinforcement¡¯ skill and jumped toward his head, slashing with all her strength. -653 damage The ogre shrieked from pain and used tried to punch her away with his left hand, but as the hand approached her, Yuki felt like the time around her was starting to once again slow down. The world around her, including herself, became slower, and slower. Analyzing the ogre¡¯s body, with a glance at his muscular body Yuki pierced his shoulder with her sword an area where the muscles seemed weaker. -450 damage Gathering all her strength, in her arm, she managed to change the position of her body and dodge the punch by hanging up behind the ogre thanks to her sword. The ogre who previously felt like he could easily squish her like a bug now suddenly felt slightly afraid. Not because of Yuki¡¯s glare or action, but because he felt that his current life was very low. If he had a human¡¯s intelligence, then he would now regret not having killed Shiki first who took away most of his hp. But because he was desperately trying to catch Yuki, he was now only a step away from death. Using her leg to kick the ogre inflicting a single digit amount of damage, Yuki freed her sword and fell from the ogre¡¯s body. From this position, she stabbed his legs joint a few times inflicting no less than 1500 damage before suddenly retreating from a few dozens of meters. -348 damage With a swipe of the hammer, the ogre had forced her to retreat, also inflicting her some damage. Even if she was ignoring the pain, Yuki was still paying attention to her life. With no more than 600 hp, if she took one more strike like the first one, she would die. Having lost half of his remaining hp, the ogre¡¯s instinct were ringing, telling him that he was going to die against this little thing mosquito who despite its size, hurt him with its sting. Unable to accept it, the ogre started to madly swing his hammer left and right even though Yuki was a few dozens of meters away, hitting nothing but the wind. He didn¡¯t want to die. This kind of action was the most efficient against Yuki thanks to his splash attacks even though he didn¡¯t realize it. Intensely watching the ogre looking for an opening, Yuki felt her body starting to hurt and her mind swaying. The red tint in her eyes started to vanish and exhaust took its place. She didn¡¯t know what was happening, but she knew there weren¡¯t much time left. If it continued like that she wouldn¡¯t be able to fight anymore. ¡®Only eight¡­ no, six hit. That¡¯s all I need.¡¯ She thought. The time for Reinforcement was almost finished and she didn¡¯t have enough mana to cast it one more time. She wasn¡¯t sure that she would be able to finish it if it vanished. Not losing one more second, Yuki charged one more time¡­ one last time. It was either him or her. She simply charged toward the ogre, fighting against the pressure from his reckless blunt strike in the air. When she was only a few meters from him, the stone hammer came at her with a horizontal swipe, but it swept past her. -534 damage Dodging the hammer by slipping on the ground but not the damage of the splash, she arrived just in front of the boss. From there, she first slashed three times at his legs. -1153 damage With a loud growl, the ogre responded by stomping his legs on the ground, leaving her no choice but jump in the air to dodge the splash effect which could finish her remaining 100 hp. Not having enough time to gather her strength, her jump made her able to only reach his muscular torso. From there, she swiftly delivered three more strikes, taking away 1000 more hp. The monster only had 400 hp left, only one more attack would finish him, but Yuki wasn¡¯t able to deliver it as she was starting to fall backward. Using this opportunity, the ogre tried to finish her by slapping her with his large hand. ¡°DIEEEEE¡± Yuki yelled. The very next instant, a sword stuck the ogre¡¯s forehead, it was the same sword as the one who was previously in Yuki¡¯s hand. With all her strength, she had thrown it. -406 damage Seeing the damage, Yuki felt relieved, her sword had done enough damage. But this relievement only lasted a short instant, the ogre¡¯s didn¡¯t stop moving, in fact, his hand was still coming at her. ¡°Seriously?!¡± Yuki yelled as glared at the ogre, she couldn¡¯t help but see a grin on the ogre¡¯s face. In truth, the ogre was indeed mocking her, even with his intelligence he knew that she had failed and was now at his mercy. Not having any strength left, Yuki felt her eyes starting to close themselves as the red them was now gone. Even though she was falling and her body hurting, she felt like she could sleep there. ¡°GUAGAGAGAGA!!¡± The ogre laughed at his now powerless enemy, his hand getting closer and closer to her. Yuki suddenly opened her eyes, even though she wasn¡¯t feeling her body anymore, she wasn¡¯t willing to die just like this. Mustering all her remaining strength, she managed to move her right leg one last time, using the ogre¡¯s hand as a stepping-stone, she was sent flying toward his head. ¡°STOP LAUGHING!¡± She yelled as she headbutted him. -Critical Strike 16 damage -376 damage She took more than twenty-time the damage she had done, and had started to vanish, but at the same time the ogre started to fall. ¡®Is that a joke?¡¯ She thought as she vanished. After fighting desperately for almost an hour, the fight ended with the death of everyone thanks to a headbutt...