《Second Horizon》 Second Horizon: Chapter 1 Second Horizon: Chapter 1 In 2032 Virtual Reality hit the market overtaking the sales of any other next gen consoles sold. The company, GlobalDome, who developed the virtual reality software also made the first game for it called Second Horizon. GlobalDome sold several million copies of Second Horizon which boasted realism on the level of actual life. Even the world in the game was two times that of Earth. This was the start of the first adventure through full-immersion gaming. The world can be harsh. Trust me, if anyone knows that the best, it¡¯s me. Most of the time I don¡¯t hang out with my friends because making a living through gaming while still in high school is the dream for many adolescents of today. Even though sometimes it is lonely, there¡¯s fulfillment of selling legendary items from recently found dungeons and making thousands of cash. It obviously outweighs the need for friends or a social life. Recently the game everyone has bending over backwards to get is Second Horizon. However I don¡¯t have to worry about getting up at 3AM and fight through a herd of crazed gamers to get a copy. My father works for GlobalDome and secretly snatched a copy for me. This isn¡¯t just any copy, it¡¯s the first one in line to be sold and first one made! Right now I am currently fumbling through cords and unboxing the capsule like an eager child on Christmas morning. After setting it up and shimmying my way on the gel bed I close the lid to the capsule. Once the capsule is sealed the bed automatically reads my heartbeat for the boot-up sequence. It feels and sounds like an MRI at a hospital yet somewhat calming. Then the world goes black. I wake up relaxed in a comfortable office chair across from a beautiful woman with sharp eyes and an indifferent expression on her face. She is sitting behind an expensive mahogany office desk and she is dressed in business attire. This reminds me of one of those crime shows where you walk into your boss¡¯s office waiting to be yelled at for letting the suspect escape. However the surrounding area doesn¡¯t fit in whatsoever. Everywhere is white and devoid of any material items! Before being allowed to observe anything else my thoughts are interrupted, and the awkward silence finishes. ¡°Welcome to Second Horizon, luckily you are the first to login and also own the first copy of the game. This allows you to pick the hidden race Demon Master. The Demon Master can choose to start with one of the two exclusive classes. Shadow Denizen or Hell¡¯s Collector. A word of warning though: should you choose to be a Demon Master and decide on a class, it becomes impossible to switch classes later on in the game. Furthermore it will be impossible to ever be above negative intimacy with the Holy Order. You will start out as hostile which can become negative in time.¡± What?! A hidden race? That is unreal, just think of the benefits of having something as valuable as this. A hidden race is a race that is the akin to the first person in history who found diamonds. The possibilities of such is 1 in a million. However it is not all advantages, there is still the negative intimacy with the Holy Order, one of the major powerhouses of Second Horizon. The Holy Order regulates power nobles attain in order to keep peace, similar to checks and balances. Not only that they also own many temples that players can receive quests from to help level up faster. This could be a setback for later when I am on the road to getting stronger. First figuring out what these two classes mean before deciding should be the best option. ¡°Umm, Ms. AI ca-¡° ¡°It¡¯s Ms. Olivia.¡± ¡°Oh, ok¡­Ms. Olivia, can you tell me what a Shadow Denizen and Hell¡¯s collector involves?¡± ¡°Yes. A Shadow Denizen is fairly simple. The role you play is similar to a Rogue/Assassin from other games. However the skills used more relate to what you would expect from Hell. Such as enchanting your daggers or other small arms with hellfire that would penetrate any armor and apply a curse or hex on the target for a limited amount of time. Another would be to use a combo of attacks in quick succession to induce fear which will slow movement speed or stun the person, and even make them see hallucinations of the worst of tortures discovered in the depths of hell.¡± If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Holy Hades! Isn''t this a little much? I understand the game needs the player to be 17 years old but this could seriously wreck someone¡¯s mind! ¡°However remember that this comes at a price. Every time you die you have to experience Hell for the duration of 15 real life minutes for each time you use an attack like the hallucination. Not all skills are pretty and rosy.¡± This is a little out of character for her. It doesn''t fit the overbearing evil boss/strict librarian persona of hers. ¡°Okay well, you were going to tell me about Hell¡¯s collector then right? This Shadow Denizen is a bit too dark (no pun intended), so I might come back to it later.¡± ¡°Yes well, the Hell¡¯s Collector is interesting to say the least. As the class name states you collect from Hell. What this means is you pull different types of demons from hell. Such as an imp, succubus, even a demon king if you level up high enough. Each demon will have different styles of combat and even their own personalities. Whether or not they follow you is based on your overall player level combined with your combat prowess. When you call them from Hell they will become your servant if they deem you worthy. This could involve a duel or a certain game or even a quest, it depends on which one you summon.¡± This is a lot to take in, the two classes are unique but my play style has always been to get up front and personal with a weapon; not me hanging back and letting other people fight the front lines for me. However the fact that the Shadow Denizen¡¯s skills are that morbid feel like a turn off. I always liked to stay at least somewhat positive in my gameplay. The hell¡¯s collector also will let me fight many other monsters higher level than me because of my servants and also larger groups than one monster at a time. ¡°What sort of weapons does the Hell¡¯s Collector use if the Shadow Denizen uses daggers?¡± ¡°I was hoping you would ask that. A Scythe.¡± Her eyes look proud while her face remains stone cold. ¡°Well, are there any other perks to being a Demon Master that I should know about?¡± ¡°Yes, and it is the aesthetics! Every 40 levels you will get different features a demon displays. At level 40 you get horns, at level 80 you get a tail, etc.¡± ¡°Hmmm, however is there a way to turn off such features if I am in a village or city where the Holy Order is dominant?¡± ¡°Nope.¡± ¡°Guh-?! How is that supposed to be a perk?¡± What kind of nonsense is this?! I can¡¯t walk up to a Holy Order guard with a black pointy tail sticking out of my rear while asking for directions! What excuse am I gonna use? ¡°Sorry man I played a real hardcore game of pin the tail on the demon last night.¡± Also a Scythe will be difficult because it will take more accuracy to land blows in the area¡¯s I aim for. However if I work at it while my demons are attacking at the same time figuring out a rhythm could be easier. This is most likely the best option for fights to gain experience both for my level and style. ¡°Well, are you going to make a decision or keep staring into space?!¡± Olivia shouted irritated. Ah that¡¯s more like her attitude. ¡°I have decided! Hell¡¯s Collector.¡± ¡°Good. Now that you have chosen, will you add tattoos? This is only available for the Demon Masters.¡± Tattoos? I never really thought about it; well I don¡¯t have to worry about growing old and skin sagging with a tattoo¡­getting off-topic. ¡°Yes, I would like one on my neck with two Scythes crossed with each other similar to the skull and cross bones.¡± ¡°Very well, now that the character creation is almost complete you need a name, choose wisely this cannot be altered later on.¡± Well, that is easy, ever since I heard Hell and scythe it clicked. The name of the one who sends the souls to the underworld. I grin at her and announce proudly: ¡°Grim¡± ------------ This is my first chapter and first time trying something like this. I hope you all enjoy it. if you have any suggestions to improve my sentence structure I would be glad to have the feedback. Thanks! Chapter 2: Here to Serve There are different areas to choose from in Second Horizon for your initial spawn point. These reside in the starting cities, and one such starting city is Blackthorn. Well it¡¯s a fitting name for a master of demons such as myself. Blackthorn is one of the largest starting cities in the game. The paths and walls are made of a stone colored black hence the ¡°Black¡± in Blackthorn. Since it took so long for me to do my character creation, when I teleport there straight from Olivia¡¯s desk job, there are thousands of players looking around figuring out what to do. Naturally walking by them I head for one of the four gates: south gate. Walking there takes almost 30 minutes, while passing guards along the way. Thank goodness I don¡¯t have my horns or else it would have taken twice as long being stopped by guards asking why I look like the Devil incarnate. Once I reach the walls, the size of the colossal bricks used takes my breath away. If you thought the Pyramid was using huge bricks then you haven¡¯t seen anything. This would make the pharaoh bow his head in shame. Exiting the gate and crossing the bridge above the moat I enter a field. Looking around there are small rabbits running around giving a sense of tranquility. That is, before I hear hundreds of players yelling and attacking the rabbit and his brethren. Well, this is customary to all beginners, including myself. And by the looks of it there are many of the big eared fellows to go around. Using my mind to focus on opening the inventory, inside are very few items for starting players. 2 loafs of bread, a canteen of water, and a weapon. However the weapon shocks me. Usually you would start with something flimsy like a dagger that could be chipped or have low durability, or another type of cheap weapon. But no, my weapon: a scythe. Scythe- A novice weapon used for the class Hell¡¯s Collector. Damage 1-3 Durability 15/15 Pulling out the scythe from the inventory to equip it, and putting it in my hands it feels like I was born to hold it. Is this the AI, or the hidden class causing it? The scythe is as tall as me when standing up perfectly straight and the blade is about as long as the end of my index finger to my elbow. And it is all black, both the blade and the wood it is attached to. A few other players that walk by are giving me stares and whispering to each other but I ignore them. This weapon needs to become like an extension of my body so training has to start now. Running up to a rabbit I use both of my hands to slash downwards like an ax towards the fluffy creature but miss entirely. Its beady eyes lock onto mine and hops towards my face delivering an attack that takes 15% of my health off. Stunned at my lack of skill, I step backwards and ready the scythe again, this time sweeping across the air horizontally. The rabbit tries to dodge but I am already at its body, delivering a blow taking off 50% of its health. This time the rabbit finally gets its bearings and is cautious now that it knows I¡¯m no flower-picking pushover. It springs into attack the same as before however I use the opposite end of my weapon like a staff and smack it, knocking it to the ground. Before it gets the chance to get up I finish it with the overhead attack from before. Finally! Didn¡¯t think it would be this difficult to take down a lvl 1 rabbit! After this I continue to hunt rabbits until it is time to go to sleep in real life. End of day: lvl 5 After last afternoons rabbit fiasco I look at my stats and the skills I can do right now. Grim Level: 5 (34% to next) Health: 120 Stamina: 100 Mana: 150 Strength: 15 Agility: 16 Defense 12 Intelligence: 20 Luck: 10 Number of servants available: 1 This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.-Skills: Vertical Pin (lvl:2) ¨C Thrust downwards from overhead, pinning the target to the ground for 2 seconds. After two seconds scythe will automatically remove itself. During the 2 seconds target will bleed for half the damage of the attack. Cost: 40 stamina Dexterous Hands (Passive, lvl:2) ¨C The more you use your scythe the easier it will be to maneuver it and hit the intended target. Summon Hell Servant (lvl:1) ¨C Use your demonic energy to bring forth a being from Hell. During your summoning, if the demon dies it will be sent back to the underworld where it cannot be called for 4 hours. At this level you can summon an imp, or a succubus. The servant cannot harm the master and must listen to all commands given Cost: 120 mana Fighting the rabbits like a deranged lumberjack created the skill Vertical Pin. It¡¯s interesting because when it says ¡°will automatically remove itself¡± the blade would easy slide out by itself right until the tip reaches the gap between the monster and the blade. However I was expecting it to have meant it would retract the whole scythe back to a fighting position. I guess it could help seamlessly switch to different attacks in the future. Also during my leveling when I got to level 5 the skill Summon Hell Servant appeared. The question is which will I summon? It¡¯s obvious, the succubus of course! ¡°Summon Hell Servant!¡± -Which type?- ¡°Succubus¡± Mwahahaha Suddenly a pillar of fire shoots from the sky into the grass in front of me and dissipates. What is it with the fire all of the time, I mean I understand its Hell and all. Out of the smoke appears a light red skinned beauty about 5¡± 6¡¯ and red eyes with smooth black hair down to just below the shoulders. But that¡¯s not all, she has horns and a long black tail with an end like a spade like in card games. Not to mention the twin peaks on her front side that barely fit the cloth over her chest. I will now become a metaphorical mountain climber to topple those new ¡°heights.¡± Anyways it¡¯s obvious why the clothes she is wearing is somewhat like a beggar, because my skill is at level 1; I shouldn''t be expecting the queen of succubi after all. Or whatever type of hierarchy the have down there, if any. However, as time passes she will be able to wear better armor when we find more valuable loot. ¡°Hello Master, this is our first time talking together please treat me well from here on.¡± She said in a sultry tone. ¡°Uhh¡­er¡­yeah of course, so what is your name?¡± Really need to change the mood, I might get carried away. ¡°I don¡¯t have a name. I am given a name when sent to please and ensnare my victims, however this is the first time in many years a succubus has been summoned. Thus it is up to Master to give me a name.¡± Damn. I was never good with names. It might be a hereditary thing, my parents named me Joe because they couldn¡¯t figure a good one out in time to fill the birth certificate out. Not that Joe isn¡¯t a bad name but personally a more interesting name would have been preferable. Oh well, I digress; this name should work. ¡°Lyra.¡± ¡°Ohh Master chose a good name, I¡¯m sure you will be yelling that out while you bend me ov-¡° ¡°Okay that¡¯s enough, we need to focus on leveling up so when we cross path with those Holy die-hards later on, they won¡¯t be able to touch us.¡± ¡°As you wish Master.¡± As I walk away I could have sworn I heard her mumble something about succeeding in the next chance she gets, but immediately throw it into the ¡°immorality incinerator¡± in the back of my mind. Hopefully the part of the skill that says they cannot harm the master works beyond just physical attacks. She''s not gonna suck me dry right? Right? Chapter 3: Darkness Note to readers: none of this has anything to do with any religion in the real world. Also, sorry if this chapter is a bit short lol --------------------------------------------------------- After finishing the rabbit massacre I dismiss Lyra back to Hell before entering Blackthorn. Needless to say having a lusting sex heathen walking next to me in the middle of a holy loving town is asking for trouble. I make my way to a general store to sell several rabbit fur for a total of 2 silver. The money rate is simple as follows: 100 copper -> 1 silver, 100 silver -> 1 gold. Then upon exiting the store I notice a message board where bounties are pinned onto the sides and also other things such as guild recruiting papers and players searching for other players to do group quests. Group quests are quests that require at least 5 people to finish and can be difficult depending on the area in which it tells you to go to. However since this is a starting town for players there are only one or two. As a side note, most likely I will not have to worry about that until I reach a higher level. As I look them over I see one in the corner which attracts me like a moth to a light. For some reason I can¡¯t turn to walk away. Odd as it is it feels as if the game is making me look towards it. Even weirder the paper is black instead of regular white parchment. -Wanted- One of the High Priests from the Holy Order has defected from the Church due to special circumstances. By the commands of the Holy Order he must be captured alive and brought back the Church to answer for what he has done. We have reason to believe he is in the Blackfoot Mountains Reward: 20 gold Difficulty: 3 Hmm, honestly I don¡¯t want to be involved with those Holy Hooligans but it seems like I have to accept it. Besides for a low level 20 gold is a very good opportunity. Also by the sound of it this might lead to a chain quest, which sounds more interesting than doing these petty low level quests already available. The difficulty for quests go by a number system instead of letters: 1 is easy and 10 is the most difficult, usually for people above level 100 as stated on the GlobalDome forums. So a difficulty 3 is odd for a level 5 to complete. -Do you accept?- ¡°Of course.¡± Before I go out on my mini-crusade I need to get some cheap potions and food. After buying the potions and food leaving less than 20 copper left I head back to the south gate. The Blackfoot Mountains is a 3 hour trip across plains. Apparently many landmarks in the area have something to do with the word ¡°black.¡± So far it is unknown if there is a reason or history behind it. Since there isn¡¯t anything like an Ancient Knowledge or Ancient Excavation skill known yet (or at least on the internet there isn¡¯t) no one has figured out the mystery. Such skills are also hard to level up and looked down on by other players. Certainly, why would someone choose a skill that wouldn¡¯t benefit their combat or crafting skills? However that is just a prediction cooked up by the masses.[/font][/size] Anyways reaching the foot of the mountain range I realize that I have no idea where to start. There is a small animal trail leading into the woods around the base of the mountain so that is a small clue. I just hope it gets me to where I¡¯m going. I would rather not be a snack for hungry wolves. Summoning Lyra just in case, I head down the trail rather fast. After an hour of walking mixed with jogging down the trail it leads to a clearing. In the clearing is a small log house with smoke rising from a chimney and the sound of wood chopping. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°Master, there seems to be a person that values chopping things like you.¡± Lyra whispers with a smug face. ¡°Ha ha ha. Very funny, do you want to go check it out and see if he also values chopping people?¡± ¡°N-no thanks¡­¡± Well that shut her up. Anyways it¡¯s time to see what this fellow is up to. Walking up to the log house I reach the front where a large man in overalls is picking up another chunk of wood to chop. At first glance you would think it¡¯s a normal forest-dwelling hermit with a peaceful life. That is, until seeing priest clothing hanging on a clothesline next to the window. Isn¡¯t that like broadcasting to people he¡¯s a priest? Well, I guess the muscles and gruff demeanor of the man would scare of most people if they weren¡¯t here for a quest searching for him. I also just realized I have no idea what his name is, and the fact that while studying his dirty holy laundry, he has been staring at me for a while. ¡°Who the hell are you?¡± Is he really a priest? ¡°My apologies, my name is Grim and this is my companion Lyra. May is ask for your name?¡± While motioning to Lyra and me, his eyes just stare at me with indifference. ¡°Hmph, the name is Julius, ex-High Priest. What are you here for? To take me back to those old crazy bastards?¡± Ah yeah, well at least he admitted to being a priest. This makes it easier. ¡°Well that depends, I don¡¯t like those crazy old codgers either, but the reward they are offering is no joke. Unless you have something you can offer that is better?¡± ¡°Oh ho, so they sent someone with brains huh? Well I¡¯m sure you will like what I offer better than theirs. It has to do with some dark mumbo-jumbo, and I can see the black aura oozing out of you, not to mention the seductress you have standing next to you. This knowledge is what made me an enemy with the Church in the first place. Those old men are afraid of what they don¡¯t understand.¡± Suddenly the familiar ring of a quest and a screen pops up before me: -Darkness over Light- The High-Priest Julius has offered to show you the benefits of the Dark that resides in the shadow of the light. Dark has been biding its time, waiting until someone could harness its power and step out of the shadows. The first documents translated by Julius contain only a small portion of the overall power of the Dark. Should you find the rest of the documents and translate them, you will have equal footing with the Holy Order and be able to stand against their Light. Requirements: Hostile intimacy with the Holy Order. Reject the bounty of 20 gold on High-Priest Julius. Accept the offer from the High-Priest. Difficulty: unknown. -Do you accept?- Well that is a stroke of luck right there. It makes me want to believe that this was set up for my class in the first place, but that could just be arrogance on my part. Certainly like I thought this is a chain quest. Compared to the 20 gold reward from those old fogies this is like heaven and earth. Well that might not be the best choice of words. Compared to the reward it¡¯s like diamond and quartz. The chain quest is obviously the better option. ¡°Hell yes I accept!¡± Chapter 4: The Dark Truth Hello all, since the last chapter was short I decided just to do another release today. Hope you enjoy! ------------------------------------------------------ After talking to and accepting the quest Julius motions me to enter his house for the more in-depth story of his heretic shenanigans when he was still with the Holy Order. It¡¯s as follows: ¡°When we weren¡¯t keeping the noble¡¯s in line most of the day I would usually stay in the library and study old texts and documents from hundreds of years ago. However as the Church believes they are all-powerful most of their information was skewed to show the ¡°mighty¡± deeds they did for the people and kingdom. But all of the High-Priests (10 in total), including me, knew there were cruel methods employed to shift more power over to the Church to solidify its position. Those were written down in special scrolls apart from the others many centuries ago after the Church finally became supreme. Thus the old bastards kept those documents in a safe place with a magic lock on it. The lock had a seal which would only open if a special set of 10 scrolls were put together and dipped in a vat of holy water. The reason there was 10 is so each separate scroll would be kept by the 10 High-Priests. At the time it seemed like a good idea but that was just their shortsightedness, since the ¡°dark¡± documents needed to be out of sight the idea was rushed. Given more time they could have come up with a foolproof plan but didn''t want to take any chances of the kingdom catching a whiff of the corrupt religious rear-end that stank of anything but holy. Also to make sure the magic techniques would not be spread to others the previous generations of High-Priests always made the adepts learn them. Of course the adepts were more than happy to be of help to the Lord and excelled at the dark magic and when their jobs were done the High-priests would use dirty methods to keep their mouths shut. Even resorting to poisoning, that is, if the person was lucky enough to get a quick end. When I was a part of that awful group and read about those heinous crimes I couldn¡¯t just do nothing. So for many years I plotted to steal the scrolls from each of those crotchety geezers and open the seal to document room. After opening the seal I slipped into the room and took the documents before anyone could realize, then closed the door on the way out. They were none the wiser. After translating the documents and reading them for myself I realized that there was no way I could use these. Because of my decades of training in the ways of the Light the body has gotten attuned and merged with its type of mana and cannot control other elements. Only a few other in the Church that I know have reached this level. Considering Light needs faith it is much easier to use the affinity you are born with. Furthermore being born with the light attribute hasn''t been seen yet, but I digress. Those events where I stole the documents was 5 years ago. Just recently one of the High-Priests found that his scroll was missing. Damn my bad luck, I had to flee from the temple and head to this hideout to lay low. Now that I have found someone who can use the power of the Dark to give those old grouch¡¯s a run for their money I¡¯m more than happy to let you have them. However there is only a small bit of the series found. You will have to find the rest on your own.¡± Well that¡¯s the gist of his holy escapade. Still it doesn¡¯t clear up some other questions. ¡°Is there any way I can find other Adepts that might have also went AWOL like you and could help me?¡± ¡°No I¡¯m sorry, they are either dead or still alive and have their families held hostage to keep secrecy. It¡¯s best you give up on that hope.¡± ¡°Where do I look for the next pages so I can unlock more power?¡± This is one of the main issues, the other being I need to level up ASAP. No telling what kind of corrupt nobles or clergy I could meet and have their own small army try and hang me like the Salem Witch Trials. If I can¡¯t hold them off then I¡¯m afraid I won¡¯t be a Master of anything by the end of the day. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°If you keep heading south and cross the Blackfoot Mountains, you¡¯ll reach the Kingdom of Flaste. I will warn you though, do NOT take the mountains lightly. It can be hell itself.¡± Lyra behind me snorts and I stifle a laugh. Oh, if only he knew. But I must congratulate GlobalDome again for their lame names. Flaste? Did someone mix flaming toothpaste together in their mind while half-baked? I¡¯ll make a note to myself to get my father to tell me what is going on with their employees. ¡°Anyways, where do I go after that and can you hand me the documents?¡± I say, a bit impatient. ¡°Ah, of course, when you reach their capital city (Flaste Capital City) you need to look for the dungeon near there that used to be a sacred temple, called Onyx Domain. It¡¯s actually quite popular for adventurers such as yourself. The Darkness should guide you from there. Here are the documents.¡± That sounded pretty cryptic. Isn¡¯t light supposed to guide people? Well I¡¯ll cross that bridge when I come to it. Also the name Onyx Domain sounds ominous. If I take the literal meaning of the name then it means it¡¯s the territory of some honest-to-god monster (no pun intended). Julius then got up and walked out of the door to go chop some more wood. Is he planning on building a lumber business or something? ¡°Master hurry up and look at papers and see what you can do, maybe there is a special spell for the bedroom that can heighten our orgas-¡° ¡°Okay Okay, I get it just give me a second.¡± Seriously, she can say some volatile stuff around a man. Unrolling the scroll to take a look at what is there the candles in the room suddenly blow out and it takes on a whole new type of darkness I have never experienced before, sending shivers down my spine and the hair on me stand on end. Then the words appear as if smoke slowly forming distinct letters coming together to make words and finally sentences. -Darkness and light have been at odds since the dawn of time each holding equilibrium. These documents teach you how to harness the element of Dark without tipping the balance of the scale and burning all life into ashes without discrimination. Should you learn these spells be warned that the darkness can consume you, damning you to a place equal in pain to Hell. An abyss with no mercy for souls no matter how pure. Use these spells at your own discretion- Hey hey, that¡¯s one hell of a pre-game pep talk right there. Seems like Hell is a field of flowers compared to the residence of Abyss. This should be fun. The clouds of words are whisked away new ones are formed: -¡°Reap¡± the benefits (Passive, lvl: 1)- Monsters killed in dark areas give bonus stats to agility, added at the end of each level. Conversion rate: 40 monsters killed = +1 agility. It can be stacked every 40 monsters in between each player level. -Quite a sight to swallow (lvl: 1)- Target a player or monster and use darkness to swallow their eyesight for 1 second. Each skill level adds extra .2 seconds. Every 2 levels cooldown reduces by 5 seconds. Mana cost: 60 Cooldown 60 seconds. Wow 2 skills is more than I imagined for sure. One that¡¯s always active and one that is similar to a flashbang, albeit hilarious to watch as they would bump into walls. If I level up the second one it could definitely be of use on a higher level monster when there is a stalemate in the fight. Or I could use it on an enemy archer and hope for some friendly fire, hehe. Apparently that is all the scroll has to show me, because the darkness finally starts to dissipate. I almost needed a night light it was that creepy. Lyra stands there looking at me with worried eyes and ran over to hug me almost knocking me off my feet. ¡°Master I was so scared you were gone, all of a sudden the candle wicks blew out and you weren¡¯t there! What was I going to do, I was freaking out so much, so scared I thought I wouldn¡¯t be able to have your first time before you dissappea-¡° *Bonk* I karate chop her head, while I see hints of a grin appear on her face. Chapter 5: A new companion... Hey guys I''m introducing a new character, hope you like it. Don''t be afraid to comment I won''t bite... ------------------------------------ Synth In my opinion there are two types of people in this world, and they are by no means easy to discern between good and evil. Well there is no true good no true evil in the first place, since we are after all humans. As humans once we believe something it is sometimes difficult to change our beliefs. A present example of this is the new VR game Second Horizon. Most people that play previous video games before Second Horizon put NPC¡¯s into either of the two categories. Second Horizon was a game that broke the social norms set by people before the game was created. NPC¡¯s could have ulterior motives that could bite the player in the ass if one was not vigilant. Apparently the less pliant and hardheaded players get the worst of it. Certainly a seemingly nice merchant that puts to good use the phrase ¡°A wolf in sheep¡¯s clothing.¡± It¡¯s always the slippery two-bit merchants also. That¡¯s a story for another time. Anyways back to the first topic. The two types are one who is ultimately outgoing and livens the surrounding area without even knowing it, and the other being the more taciturn or less openly conversational. Granted these are the more extremes of the two versions. My personality is the latter. I have accepted that fact, instead of trying to change it. Unlike many others who fight against it only to be brought back to Earth at the worst time. The ignorant person I speak of is exactly me from two days ago¡­ ----2 days earlier---- ¡°Hey Synth want to join our group since we found a tank?¡± ¡°Hell yeah but who is the tank?¡± (tank meaning person who keeps enemy focused on himself while the others deal damage, if you didn¡¯t already know) ¡°His name is Larkfrost, and probably the most handsome person I¡¯ve seen in the game, so keep you paws off.¡± She looks at me like I¡¯m some kind of miner that found a nugget of gold at the same time she did. Well it¡¯s fine because I¡¯m not particularly interested in hooking up with anyone through VR. I just need to be positive and support her. ¡°Calm down Jess its ok, I won¡¯t steal your treasure o¡¯ mighty dragon.¡± ¡°Okay just checking. Oh speak of the devil he¡¯s here!¡± She turns to look in the direction of the entrance to the tavern we decided to meet in, inside of Blackthorn City. As I turn my head to the door there appears a muscular male standing tall at about 6¡± 4¡¯ peering through the doorway trying to find Jess. He has blond hair cut short right above the ears, but not short enough to see his full forehead. He also has blue eyes that give off an intimidating feel at the same time a prideful aspect. The armor donned makes the person feel as if he would protect you if a wolf would try to attack. Truly a knight in shining armor. Well that is if you were looking at it through Jess¡¯s intoxicated lusting eyes and not mine. All I see is an arrogant player who chose to go through the petty qualifications for knight class just to make himself look better on the outside. Maybe his ego inflated too much because after he noticed the gaze from Jess he winked like someone from an 80¡¯s movie that makes you want vomit from ¡°clich¨¦ disease.¡± After striding over with his chested poked out like popeye with a sore back, he introduced himself just as corny as you would expect though I needed to keep positive so he wouldn¡¯t notice the obvious invisible disdain aura that covers my side of the table. Once we exchanged small talk and pleasantries it was time to pay the waitress NPC and head to the dungeon. The dungeon is located south after leaving the south gate around a den of wolves which usually scares most of the low-level players off. This is the reason no one has heard of it until Jess found it recently when she was venting her frustration on the poor wolves because her romance life was a mess. Needless to say, those wolves are dead. They thought an evil demon descended upon the mortal plane and was there to devour their souls, all the while yelling ¡°Damn that asshole, I¡¯ve been with him for 2 years and he grabs the first skank he sees during our vacation to go ¡°deep sea exploring¡± for a few hours! Well he¡¯ll be exploring the inside of his coffin for a way out when I bury him alive!¡± It was truly a frightening scene where one would pity the guy who cheated on her. The whole time I was sitting there on a boulder watching her unleash the wrath of magic on the now cowering critters that used to be apex predators of this mountain. But I digress¡­ Entering the small den-that-used-to-be and seeing the questioning look on Larkfrost¡¯s face as he looks at every corner for any sign of life, we enter the dungeon. Larkfrost is a Knight-class (human), I am a shaman healer (elf), and Jess is a mage (human). It¡¯s a small group but for these lvl 20-25¡¯s it should be easy to sweep since we are each around lvl 30. The first floor walls are brick with an unlit torch every now and then to help show the way. Jess uses a simple rank 1 fire spell to light the torches so we can see and make it easier for ¡°Sir Lancelot¡± to shield us from ambushes. Magic ranking is as follows: Beginner rank 1-10, then intermediate 1-5, advanced 1-5, and then Master and there are even rumors of a Grandmaster level. Hopefully I can make it there someday. I make sure that Larkfrost is buffed with ¡°Earth Blessing¡± that helps increase armor and decrease damage done by enemies. For Jess I apply ¡°Mother Nature¡¯s Mana Gift¡± It is quite the mouthful to say but fortunately you just have to think you want to cast it and the AI automatically does so for you. This is only possible because I finished a chain-quest which made me jump through hoops just to get ¡°Chantless Incantation¡± This skill is a game-changer as it will prove very useful under dire situations, and so far only the shamans have been able to get a quest to use it. In this game however, shamans have very few attack spells and hardly do damage so it is fairly balanced. During this whole time I have noticed Jess staring at Larkfrost like he was some god sculpted by Michelangelo. From time to time ¡°Prince Charming¡± would look back and revel in the awe that he receives, while I try not stop myself from ¡°accidentally¡± pulling more monsters and ¡°accidentally¡± stop healing him. After all even if I did I¡¯m fairly certain I can make my way out of the dungeon without dying by myself. But I need to be nice, and it¡¯s good to be social. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.Around the time I am thinking this we find a large double door with engravings on it depicting what looks like a court jester from the Renaissance Era, holding a card in each hand. It¡¯s odd because the one in his left hand is a Queen of Hearts while the one in his right hand is the King of Hearts. Then also engraved is the black Queen of Spades poking out of his chest pocket, however the card is ripped in half. Before I get the chance to keep thinking about it Larkfrost opens the old door with a creaking sound that makes any person shiver. That is, except for one who struts in there like he owns the place and one would expect he would yell ¡°Hey servant! Where the hell is the heater in here, I¡¯m not trying to make a Popsicle factory in my house!¡± Okay maybe not that much, however he did seem oblivious to his surroundings as a demented giggle permeated through the air of the decrepit room. ¡°Very interesting, 3 people have come today! 1 male and 2 females, certainly it has to be a message from god!¡± As the bonehead-knight was about to speak up he was interrupted by the voice again. ¡°Since there are 3 of you I would like to play a game with you!¡± Well if this isn¡¯t exactly like the American movie that I¡¯m thinking about, I don¡¯t know what is. However it¡¯s intriguing because it doesn¡¯t seem like any normal boss monster for sure. Taking this as my chance to gain info I speak up. ¡°Let me guess, this has to do with the door at the entrance and what the engravings depict?¡± ¡°Oh ho, you catch on quick young lady! Yes that is exactly what this is about.¡± Showing that he probably going to talk again we wait with goosebumps as to what he might have planned. Then we see the silhouette of the voice and finally the being walking into sight. He is definitely the same court jester from the door earlier. Clothes that are patterned black and red like checkerboard in some areas and stripes in the other and while he walks the miniature bells jingle creating an atmosphere causing my skin to crawl. My body seems to go to instinct fight-or-flight mode and attempts to run away from this situation and just call it a bad joke the creators of the game wanted to add in for fun. However my body won¡¯t move. It¡¯s as if shackles are tying down my muscles and ligaments not giving me any room to use. The only thing that stops the moment of intense fright is Larkfrosts annoying voice that for the first time helped. Even if all it did was ease the shock. ¡°So what is this game clown? I¡¯m pretty damn good at checkers!¡± he says with a stupid looking grin. ¡°No no no that would be too easy kid. How about we make this personal? I will quickly test your emotions against your morals! Only 2 of you will make it out of here alive. Lucky for you boy, you are already one who will live. As for the two of you¡­¡± He looks through the mask¡¯s slits, eyeholes, and I see a predator glint that would make the greatest perverts out there shiver in fear. ¡°The one who will live is the one this boy picks.¡± It¡¯s said as if it were commonplace for him. That adds another level of tension followed by despair as I see the not-so-knightly-knight pointing at Jess. Totally ignoring me. Well what did I expect? I should have known when I lay my eyes on the door. The hints were staring straight into my face like a stop sign in the middle of a desert. The symbolical ripped black Queen of Spades in the pocket of the jester. As if it were broken and thrown in the trash. Jess gives me a small glance of what could obviously be viewed as an evil grin. A grin that contradicts my earlier statement. This one was truly evil. Both then look back at the court jester after deciding and once again he lets out a cruel giggle before speaking. ¡°My my, it seems you have chosen. Very well, even though the next part is anti-climactic might as well get it over with.¡± He then takes out a shield and a staff from his little chest pocket before handing it to the two. After that with just a flick of a wrist a magic circle appears followed by a bright light. They¡¯re gone. I would have inquired to the jester in front of me about the nifty chest pocket and where I could get one if it had been any other time but now. That¡¯s because at the moment my mind is a maelstrom of different emotions completely tuning everything out. Surges of feelings such as confusion, loneliness, hopelessness, and last but not least anger! Anger that could put Hitler to shame! Resolve deep in my mind burst forth as I swore to seek revenge when I get out of this mess. Then I was brought back to reality by that demonic voice. ¡°Well how does it feel to be betrayed eh? You feel the change inside of you. The lion that wants to get out of the cage and finally feast on some prey in the coliseum? Good good, use it, let it consume you, let it take the reins while you watch the worst horrors unfold in front of you. Then you will be stronger than your enemies and quench your thirst for blood.¡± Damn, I feel something inside of me, something foreign. Something that is making me lose consciousness. Then I sit up straight as I look down at my chest feeling an acute pain because the VR takes most of the damage away. The mask wearing clown has a dagger struck into my heart. The dagger then shoots spikes from the handle into the court jester¡¯s fingers as he grunts in pain. The spikes seem like needles as some blood trickles into the menacing needles and through the dagger flowing into my heart and stops the beating. My body goes cold and I feel my teeth moving and positioning even dropping two from the front leaving room. That compact space gets replaced with fangs that should hurt but feel completely natural. Finally after the teeth were replaced I lose all consciousness but not before seeing a magic circle light up and the familiar blinding light with the court jester probably grinning under the mask. Furthermore it seems like his body is hunched and he has dropped a couple inches, not as springy and joyful as before. it looked as if he gained some years. Well I can¡¯t say that this is what I signed up for when entering the dungeon. But I know all too well what I¡¯ll do next needs strength, allies that will accept the darker part of me, and at least a couple days to sort this out¡­ ----------------------------- In the next chapter I will put her player stats and the new abilities she gained with eachother. Chapter 6: Tree Jumper Hello again, today I''m going to be doing a chapter release and also an intermission chapter which is short and show''s a bit of both Grim and Synth''s daily lives. Enjoy! --------------------------------------- After some small talk I leave the High-priest Julius house and start my journey south with Lyra at my side. I just need to cross the mountains and head to the Capital City Flaste. Following what Julius told me right before we left, he said there is a path that should lead us up towards the peak then circle around it. As I keep walking the forest gets a little eerie because of the sudden silence. Lyra notices it too and tenses up while holding her daggers. I stop and bring out my scythe, ready to slay anything that gets in my way. Well except for the bear that lumbers out of the bushes near us and roars. A Level 14 bear. *ROOOOAAAAAR* ¡°Master it looks like a bear¡­¡± she stands there shaking. ¡°That¡¯s a pretty good observation, huh? Wouldn¡¯t have noticed it you know, if it wasn¡¯t roaring at us like it thought we stole its early morning fish breakfast!¡± ¡°I¡¯m just saying.¡± While Lyra is pouting I get in a fighting stance wielding my scythe ready to attack, and Lyra snaps out it and does the same. We are both level 5 so there should be a chance if we work together. During the time from when I first summoned Lyra we have been getting better at teamwork. Usually Lyra would attack first and gain aggro while I ambushed it guerrilla style, backing up every now and then. The bear charges at the both of us and Lyra steps in front of me and runs to the bear seeming like a head-on collision. Right before he thinks he gets a tasty succubus treat, Lyra side-steps and drags both daggers across its side taking off 10% of its health. Meanwhile when the two are fighting I have already climbed a tree, I know it¡¯s kind of lame but damn good effective. I don¡¯t care about looking like an albino monkey with a scythe and losing my dignity. Because if I pull this off it will inflict serious damage. After much difficulty and slipping several times I am finally at a decent sized tree branch and scooting over to the end of it. Below me, Lyra is still using all kinds of graceful dodging while only shaving off a few % of its health, now it is at 80% while Lyra¡¯s own health is at 60%. Taking no time in enjoying the view after positioning myself I bring out the scythe from my back and jump off the tree with one of the most clich¨¦ lines ever released from my mouth. ¡°Banzaiiiiii!!!!!¡± *Crack* *Thump* Right when I yell the Bear stops its advance and looks up. Exactly what I planned it to do. If I had just jumped while silent then it would be moving too fast and the critical hit would have been harder to execute. Landing on its back and burying my scythe deep into its skull with its eyes still in a confused state, the bear hits the ground and has 15% health left! Taking this advantage Lyra uses this chance and delivers a dual wielding final blow to the furry forest dweller. Another reason for my landing on top of it was the first skill I learned! Vertical Pin! Using this skill gave us those sweet two seconds of slaughter to put it out of its misery. Truly a tag team takedown. I¡¯ve been waiting to say that¡­ After that kill we both leveled up once, and got a bear pelt as loot. Then we hear another bush rustling. ¡°Uh, his friend might have found us.¡± Lyra says with uncertainty ¡°Maybe if we give him the pelt he¡¯ll leave us alone?¡± ¡°Nah that will probably just piss him off more.¡± Well she does have a point. However all of a sudden a person, most likely a player walks out from the bushes. That¡¯s also when my jaw drops as low as physically possible, and Lyra just smirks. It¡¯s a beautiful elf with long white immaculate hair, not a strand out of place. With a red hair braid that lay behind one of her pointy ears. Her face cannot be described with just beautiful. She has alluring silver eyes with a tinge of red in them which gives off a womanly but unyielding feel, like a beast someone can¡¯t tame. Her exquisite facial structure seems like it was crafted by the gods. If one were to just glance at her body they would think it was delicate and fragile. But when looking carefully you can tell there is definitely an underlying strength on her toned body. She also has that stone cold expression that reminds me of a certain someone. Not to mention her cleavage is exceptiona- You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Before I¡¯m able to finish my thoughts they are interrupted. ¡°Are you done ogling me?¡± Whoops, caught in the act. I must have been drooling. This time it¡¯s Lyra who answers first. ¡°What do you want filthy vampire?¡± Eh? Vampire? Also Lyra doesn¡¯t really get the right to say that¡­ ¡°Wait, Lyra, say what?¡± ¡°Master she is a vampire, I can smell it, the blood radiating throughout the air, its thick as your co-¡° ¡°Alright that¡¯s too much info, also how do you know?¡± this is getting waaaay off-topic. ¡°Because I have seen many men and I kno-¡° ¡°That¡¯s not what I was asking!! I meant how you know she is a vampire?!¡± ¡°I already told you, I can smell it. It¡¯s a succubus thing.¡± The elf walks towards us while we get out our weapons on full alert. I really don¡¯t want to be around 2 people that want to suck me dry, albeit different ways but still. ¡°Now that you know I am a Vampire and I can tell that you aren¡¯t normal either, having a succubus around, we might as well join up. I know for sure those Holy Ass-hats are probably going to come after us in the first place so we might as well work together. It will increase our chance of survival. By the way my name is Synth.¡± Even though I just met her something tells me what she says is the truth. Plus I put my faith in Lyra having my back, er, I mean looking out for me. My favorite phrase: what the hell might as well? ¡°Sure why not? Pleasure to meet you, I¡¯m Grim and this is Lyra.¡± Synth P.O.V. To make sure I get out of Blackthorn ASAP I looked at the forums and the next best place to go is the Kingdom of Flaste. Although there is a way to go the less dangerous route, that would be no fun. Also I am itching to try out my new abilities. Plus I can get my revenge on the prick and the backstabber later. And I will. Synth -Vampire Queen- Level 30 (12% to next) Health: 790 Stamina: 830 Mana: 700 Strength: 78 Agility: 94 Intelligence: 75 Luck: 7 -Bloodline aura- (Passive, lvl:1) An aura thick with blood surrounds you. As the queen of Vampires you have an added bonus of taking 1% of the enemy¡¯s health every 2 seconds and converting that amount to healing you. As you fight the skill will automatically level up and each time the smaller the 2 second cooldown by .1% -Daytime Debuff- (passive) During the day, health regeneration is decreased by 30% and movement speed by 10% -Sadistic Strikes- (lvl:1) Using your hands as claws you do 3 consecutive strikes, 2 to the torso and 1 to the neck. The order can be changed. 10% chance to inflict bleed for 5 seconds, damage equivalent to the neck strike over 5 seconds. Stamina cost: 250 -Bleeding Heart- (lvl:1) After the enemy is below 30% health you can strike their heart with your hand and crush it, causing instantaneous death. Mana Cost: 650 Cooldown: 30 minutes Well so far I only have one main attack which is Sadistic Strikes but I am sure that I will get some later on as I level up the class. Also my guess is Vampire queen has to do with the queen of spades the court jester had but I might be over-thinking this. The other thing that also bugs me is my Luck stat. I have 7 luck. This is probably because of those two bastards! While I was contemplating my skills and jogging on a path I hear someone screaming the most ridiculous line ever. ¡°Banzaiiiiii!!!!!¡± Heading over there and hiding behind bushes I spot a man with a scythe lodged in a huge bears head while a succubus is finishing it off. The man who is obviously a player wielding the black scythe has leaves and small sticks all over him for some reason. Did he wrestle a bush? Anyways it seems like he might be a player I could have as an ally. As much as I hate to put trust in someone else after what happened this is probably the best chance I¡¯ll have¡­ Chapter 6.5: Daily Lives Grim P.O.V. The part of me that isn¡¯t slaying monsters in Second Horizon goes to high school. I¡¯m a senior going to Carmichael West High. Carmichael is the name of the metropolis that started out as a normal small city just 10 years ago. Now, it¡¯s a mixing pot of, well, pot. The drug business takes over most of the major sectors of the city, but the few untouched areas are the wealthy doctors, lawyers, etc. Thankfully I don¡¯t live in the slums. This is related to my father working at GlobalDome. He is one of the higher-ups and gets a fat paycheck every month. Enough to let my mother stay at home without a care in the world, even though she has a doctorate in radiology. But I can¡¯t really complain because when I graduate from High School next month I¡¯m going full-time gaming! Convincing my parents could be a bit of a problem though. I¡¯m betting on when I get to a higher level in the game, the extra loot can help me get real money on the Auction House. For some reason my father seems to be out of the house more often and when he does come home, it seems like he has more gray hair than last time. He also mumbles incoherent words and half sentences that make my mother worry all of the time. Sometimes I pick up on random things and one of them almost made me drop my spoon on the floor during breakfast. It was that serious. Apparently there has been minor bugs in the AI that usually would have been small and insignificant by themselves but have piled up in the same area. Furthermore it is has some weird stuff that no one would believe if you weren¡¯t directly part of GlobalDome or the son of John Deveraux, the CEO. This also applies to my current situation. Some people getting hidden races/classes are affecting the physical body outside of the game. However it¡¯s not just a physical upgrade like new muscles or faster speed; no its full blown abilities transferred to the person who plays the character. Now I¡¯m fairly certain that means I¡¯m not going to be able to summon Lyra from Hell and I¡¯ll be damned if I ever do try bring that hussy over to the other side. I don¡¯t want to end up an empty husk of a life form. Also sprouting a tail seems way too ridiculous to actually happen. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Apparently they hired some of the best scientists to figure out if its true or not. The work is still inconclusive. But if what my father says is true, then this could be a world changing phenomenon that won¡¯t go unnoticed. Especially by activists and radicals that are itching to jump the gun on some big company for altering humans. Personally I¡¯m excited to see what will happen, if anything. Speaking of human rights, when I bought my capsule it was around the slums where one of my classmates said you could get one for a cheap price. I went there because I wanted to surprise my dad when it came in. Just to show him I could do something on my own, since both my father and mother baby me all of the time. The only thing he was concerned about was if the capsule still had all of the parts necessary, probably because he¡¯s paranoid about the whole AI superhuman stuff that they foresee might happen. Synth P.O.V. These past few days I have been feeling headaches when I log off and medicine has only eased the pain somewhat. It started when I was killed by that perverted medieval clown. After I logged out because of the death from his strange voodoo dagger I woke up like any other time inside my capsule. Hmmm, maybe I should call it coffin now? Sounds fitting. Anyways when you start the capsule after the 1st time start where it uses you heartbeat it then tells you to put a small sleeve on the side similar to when a doctor takes you blood pressure. Furthermore the sleeve has small needles that are hard to see unless you use a magnifying glass. However the needles don¡¯t hurt as you would think they should. Also the blood it draws is a miniscule amount. Since I live near the slums and my parents do a lot of back-breaking jobs I work to have my own money. And now it is almost all gone after I bought the capsule from a very sketchy computer parts dealer in the not so nice part of our sector. I swear if he did something nefarious I have many ideas of how to get revenge. Just need various small household items and some can-pressurized goodies hehehe. Chapter 7: Did I Summon it Correctly... Hello, Here''s the next chapter hope it''s what you guys like. Enjoy :D ----------------------------- After killing many bears, both Lyra and I have levels 15. Still, I have no idea what level Synth is. Furthermore the move she uses can really push the limits of how far gore is programmed into the game. She claws the trachea out of many PK groups we come across, making me happy she is on my side! I mean of course I cleave off heads on lucky times I get a critical hit. But when she really goes at it, I almost feel pity for those poor souls. She''s probably x10 crazier than whatever Hollywood has put in any top of the line vampire movie. Even Lyra is a bit shaken up. She strolls back to me after taking care of a wolf that was about to flank me, with a hint of a grin on her face. "You might want to watch your side or else you''ll be a snack for them." "Nah, I think they''re pretty much pups compared to you." She just shrugs then runs at superhuman speed over the chief of the wolves and strikes it twice then like the others, rips its throat like it was a paper bag. But she is not the only one who has cool moves either! Lyra has her first skill unlocked since level 10. It is another savage yet graceful way to meet your end, and the effect is somewhat similar to the finisher that Synth has, but less powerful. At least until she levels it up more. -Drop Dead Gorgeous- (lvl: 1) If the target is below 40% they will be charmed by your beauty, unable to attack for 2 seconds, followed by using a jumping reverse spinning heel kick. Using momentum while you are in the air your tail will strike the target in the face first with your heel followed behind, crashing into the skull. 1% chance to cause instantaneous death. However the stamina cost will be deducted from your master. Stamina cost: 300 Cooldown: 1 minute Well it is quite a mouthful for a skill however the concept is simple and very effective! Especially when we get to higher levels, because at the moment our fights don¡¯t last for more than a minute so the cooldown ends after the fight is already over. The fact that it siphons from my stamina is not a worry either since Lyra and the queen of everything scary and evil, Synth, are usually the ones at the frontlines most of the time. Like I said, I¡¯m usually the guerilla tactic fighter because of my class and also the strategical support. Furthermore, Since Queen Evil is with us now, I don¡¯t have to put what little dignity I have on the line to climb a tree and bombard enemies like a kamikaze pilot with a scythe. Much to Synth¡¯s chagrin though, because she really loved watching me bust my ass looking like a dog trying to climb a tree to get to a squirrel. Plus I got a skill I will probably never use anymore: -Simple Climbing- (lvl: 2) After many failed attempts at climbing trees and embarrassing yourself, you have gained the skill to help yourself better grasp areas to scale all sorts of trees. Each level the amount of slipping or failing decreases and the speed increases. Chance of failure decreased: 15% Speed: +5% I¡¯m not sure if I should laugh or cry, or maybe both. Once I told Synth of my newfound ability she laughed until she had to come up for air, which was the first time I saw her smile. Even if I had to sacrifice my miniscule amount of pride it was worth it. ¡°Master, come over here I found something.¡± Lyra¡¯s motioning me over to a small opening in the woods. ¡°Is this another attempt to get me alone so you can pounce on me and get fulfill you illegal desires?¡± ¡°No, didn¡¯t I tell you I wouldn¡¯t do that again, you already made it clear last time! This is something else entirely.¡± Ah, yeah a few days ago, that was a memorable incident. It involved a ravine, me unsuspecting, then a sack tied over my head, and some rope, followed by a rescue from the Vampire queen. I won¡¯t go into details what happened during then afterwards. But Lyra was definitely punished. Not in too evil a way but let¡¯s just say there are some bears that will have their bellies full for a week with demon meat. ¡°Oh ok, well then I¡¯ll see.¡± Cautiously I walk over to Lyra after yelling to Synth to also come and take a look. In the opening of the woods which can be considered as a clearing but not as big, there is a covered wagon and tiger. Which would be totally normal if the tiger was alive and the wagon was not smashed to bits like Dorothy¡¯s house in the Wizard of Oz. Making my way over to the wagon wreckage there is a body next to where the slat lay (plank the driver sits on). However something seems odd about the driver¡¯s clothes and the tiger. Both are black and obviously top quality. The tiger, even though laying down you can tell is not a regular sized steed. It is one of the largest I have ever seen in the game at blackthorn city zoo and in real life. The man¡¯s clothing is black with intricate designs that gives the impression of a noble and a wizard of some sort. Now I¡¯m no crime scene expert but something huge would have to be able to shatter a wagon to pieces like this. Also there is no tracks in the ground or fine cuts in the boards that would indicate swords. The man, let¡¯s call wizard, doesn¡¯t have any cuts on him either. It looks like a car was dropped on top of the wagon and the tiger too. Except they didn¡¯t go splat so that rules out anything colossal in weight heading down at high speed, such as a large weapon or object. It seems like they were just stepped on by something big. Furthermore they were not kicked because the trajectory of the wood lying around is in a somewhat tight circular radius from the middle of the wagon. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Looking closer I can see the objects he was hauling skewed among the wreckage. Things such as herbs, broken vials, many different ingredients one would use to make potions or poisons. Also scrolls that are kept unwritten, probably to document things related to spells or recipes. After looking around at the luggage, I search the old wizard himself. He doesn¡¯t strike me as unique, just another grandfather you would see at a family reunion or a hospital for the elderly. It¡¯s odd though, how I don¡¯t feel any remorse for him, probably because he is an NPC and a means to finding what happened here. Anyways, it seems like he has a book on him. Definitely an old book because it seems like it will fall apart if I turn one single page of it. Looking at the cover it¡¯s written in a different language but soon translates to where I can read it. Gotta love the AI. -Undead Creations and Rituals- Hesitating to open the book, I look inside at the table of contents: -How to transfer the soul of a dead person into an animal- -Zombie Basics 101- -Bring an animal to life to serve you and become its Master- -Fuse the undead animal with your mind to create telepathic link- -Summon a famous person from the past to take over the animal¡¯s mind- -Different persona¡¯s to plant into the mind of the animal- -Side-effects of persona-implants- Oh wow this is definitely interesting. After scanning that page I already have a plan in mind and it¡¯s not hard to figure out what that is. Something every person in a game needs. A mount. Reading through everything in the book except Zombie Basics 101 took an hour. After closing the book with the instructions in my mind and the objects needed I start to search the wreckage for what I need. Thankfully and oddly, everything needed is there, more or less in a condition I can use. Now that I have everything I need, I get started on spreading a couple horrible smelling spices shaped as a pentagram while Synth and Lyra look at me curiously. Placing the other sacrificial offerings for the summoning took a while, and no it wasn¡¯t anything like humans. But there are a few wolves that won¡¯t be coming back to their pack tonight. Last but not least I call over my other two party members to help me pick up the gargantuan black tiger to set on top of the pentagram, making sure the spices forming the pentagram aren¡¯t scattered, making the summoning impossible. Or worse, I could end up summoning the Devil himself accidentally. The book said the spices had to be perfectly set for what I¡¯m about to bring out and into the tiger. Now that it is all set up the book stated that there needed to be three people standing at equal distance around the circle. Well not exactly equal distance but as exact as possible. Pretty much like a pie chart that reads each 3 of us with 33% equal amount between us making 99% out of 100% accurate. Or something like that, if that helps describe it. After going over the lines once more in my head, I also have to emphasize the letters and focus my mana at the tiger. Thus it¡¯s easier to close your eyes and recite, rather than read from the book itself. Reciting all sorts of weird mumbo-jumbo mixed with the occasional Latin, the circle lights up then engulfs both the pentagram and the tiger in fire. ¡°Ah a human has summoned me, it has been a while since I have stepped on earth again. The last time I was here it was rather hard to relax. What with all those superstitious holy bastards thinking we are Dark shapeshifting witches in disguise. A rather ¡®black¡¯ memory if I do say so myself, ho ho ho.¡± Eh? Is this really the Relix the book talks about? The king of all things evil? The companion and steed of the Dark Lord Demius? ¡°Ah hello Mr. Relix I summoned you so you could be my mount.¡± Well I probably could have phrased that one better. Not my finest moment. ¡°HAH! IS THAT HOW YOU SPEAK TO YOUR ELDER, BOY?!¡± He releases killing intent that makes me immediately drop to my knees quivering in fear. Lyra and Synth are in the same state as me, too. ¡°N-n-no s-sir, I d-didn¡¯t m-mean to. S-sorry.¡± Shit this might have been a bad idea. ¡°Haha just kidding kid, you should have seen the look on your face, and your body was wobbling like drunken sailor hopping into a canoe! Ah that reminds me of a time when Demius had just massacred a barbarian sea-tribe then chunked their bodies into the sea while having a late-night party. Everyone dared each other to jump from boat to boat without falling in and joining the barbarians in the shark-infested waters to be a midnight snack. Of course I was inside one of the larger boats, feline animals don¡¯t do well around oceans.¡± That¡¯s quite a colorful picture there. Seems like an easy going old cat after all. ¡°So about the mount idea?¡± I try to get back to the matter at hand. ¡°Ah yes, as long as I get to be fed fish by that lovely succubus over there I won¡¯t kill you and run off.¡± Sorry Lyra but you¡¯re going to have to take one for the team. ¡°What kind of fish exactly?¡± ¡°Tuna.¡± Chapter 8: Habits Cant Be Broken Hello everybody, I am putting this chapter up today because I am not sure if I will be able to post one tomorrow. Wednesday''s are a tough day because its got most of my college classes. Also I am going to try and help the chapters go along with the poll that I placed, so bear with me. That''s all, hope you enjoy! :D ----------------------------- After finishing the last of bargaining between my new noble yet irritable mount about times and dates for fish feeding-yes I¡¯m sorry Lyra-I began to ask him about the situation surrounding the even that brought us here in the first place. To this he said: ¡°I inherit the last memories of the host right before he/she dies. Even though I say this, in this instance it is not much help to you. Before my host died, he heard the incoming animal before the old man but couldn¡¯t react. The old wizard didn¡¯t even get the chance to see what happened, instant death for both of them. Only a noise similar to wings soaring through the air and a large shadow in the shape of an avian-type creature. However there aren¡¯t any creatures/monsters here of that size, unless it was a dragon. Although dragons haven¡¯t been even when I roamed the lands. Furthermore a dragon wouldn¡¯t waste their time outside of their lair and even attack a wizard. Still, it begs the question of what it could be if not a dragon.¡± A dragon could be a serious problem if I stumbled upon it, even though it probably would ignore me if I didn¡¯t wander into its lair and try to steal its massive fortune that would have so many jewels, weapons, gol-no no no I need to stay away. It would be suicidal and we aren¡¯t a high enough level right now. ¡°How dangerous is a dragon Mr. Relix?¡± ¡°Hmmm, according to legends they can topple mountains and kingdoms alike. You would have to have be as stupid as a rock and ignorant as a fish that lived in an aquarium its whole life to challenge those monsters, ah wait, fish? Oh that sounds really goo-¡° ¡°Okay thank you for the information, I think we should hurry up and be on our way. After all, we need to gain enough power to be able to sweep through onyx domain as fast as a house servant working for the Devil on his way back from vacation.¡± ¡°Master, last time I saw the Devil all of his servants were dead because they left a speck of dirt on the broom after cleaning up all day¡­you seem really into it huh?¡± ¡°Eh? The broom? Isn¡¯t that what¡¯s supposed collect the dirt? Who would care if there¡¯s a speck of dust on the broom?¡± ¡°Apparently he has a habit of giving the people even a minuscule reason to feel despair before he tortures them instead of just getting it over with¡­definitely a sadist¡­oh wait, of course he¡¯s a sadist.¡± Synth speaks. "Well is isn''t it great we didn''t mess up the magic circle and accidentally summon him instead. Personally I don''t want to be slave to his desires." Everyone shudders then nods -even Relix- in silent agreement. Until Lyra speaks up. "Yes that would be unfortunate, however I am fine as long as I am a slave to master''s desir-" "Yes yes, I understand Lyra and we''ll talk about that later make sure this is solved, in a civilized fashion." "Che, it was worth a try." After that with no lead whatsoever on the culprit who gave the ''grandpa'' wizard his quick end, we make our way further south. However it is only until later when I get the answers... Fighting through the dense forest and jumping, slicing, shredding made Lyra and I are now level 20 and synth is probably around 34 even though she still won¡¯t tell me. Am I that hard to trust? Then again, my disposition is a bit ¡®dark.¡¯ I probably wouldn¡¯t trust me either. During our fights Relix just finds a spot near us where the sun shines through the trees and lays there licking his fur. Truly a cat-like habit. He just ignores me ask whether he wants to help or not. Well so far all of the monster¡¯s we have come across have been pretty normal. With the exception of some PK¡¯ers that think we are easy prey. We didn¡¯t become the prey, they did. In these skirmishes, or more like massacres, Relix would finally get off his sunbathing spot to play around with them. Think of a cat and mouse. Then imagine that cat is bigger than a horse, and the mouse is players who would wet themselves if the VR would let them. And remember that cat¡¯s don¡¯t like to instantly kill their prey. Even no matter how much the ¡®mouse¡¯ squeals. It seems we have another bloodthirsty fiend in our party. Synth is the only one that is looking at it and not showing any reaction. Normally this wouldn¡¯t faze me as much as it does now. But when the cat can talk and is yelling: ¡°Ho ho ho you puny youngins are too slow! Show me a good time! A barbarian wench with one leg is faster than you! HEY! You over there, why aren¡¯t you running?! You at least have stubs for legs, so waddle away! It¡¯s no fun if you just sit on your ass. Tell ya what, I¡¯ll give you a headstart of 10 seconds! 1¡­2¡­3¡­You idiots did you think I would do that, come on be my dinner mwahahaha.¡± Well that was the least profane one out of all of it. Just where did the wise steed Relix go? Was he even there in the first place? This continued for what seemed like forever while I was looking in the in-game help forums for a way to mute summoned animals or pets¡­ Using Relix as our trusty steed we made record time crossing the rest of the mountain. He is large enough for all three of us to ride. If he was a normal tiger as a mount then no doubt we would have fallen off, however apparently he¡¯s already mastered bareback riding during the days of war with Dark Lord Demius. Every time he jumped he would balance us out-don¡¯t ask me how, but it was impressive-and we would be safe on the landing. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Since the three of us were riding Synth would be in the front and Lyra in the back with me in the middle. There is two reasons for this. One, I don¡¯t trust a bloodsucking Queen of the nightsucker¡¯s to suck my blood from my neck like I¡¯m a mobile blood bag. Did I say suck enough? It feels like I didn¡¯t. Two, who doesn¡¯t want two women sandwiched between you while riding through the forest on top of a tiger? Genghis Khan didn¡¯t even get this kind of feast back in his day. I will admit it¡¯s kind of creepy and perverted, however who doesn¡¯t want the opposite gender to surround you while riding on the back of a tiger like Tarzan. If Tarzan rode a tiger, I don¡¯t remember. It took me fantasizing in my mind several scenario¡¯s before I remembered I am riding with a vengeance-seeking-nightwalking-sinister-blood-sucking-vampire and an easy woman from hell that would suck me dry if I wasn¡¯t her master, succubus. On top of that, the mount I have is a schizophrenic feline fish loving old cat that would probably be a serial killer if he didn¡¯t have the cat-like tendencies to attend to. Maybe I should take a screen shot of what Relix leaves behind after his ¡®supper¡¯ and send it to a hospital to submit it as one of those ink blotch pages. ¡°Well now jimmy what do see when you look at this?¡± ¡°I see a bunch of water left over after the rain, making puddles everywhere.¡± Anyways now that we left the mountain and the forest surrounding the base, there are plains all around. Mostly scattered farmland rather than an untouched sea of grass. We make our way on one of the roads-well, paths of dirt-and after about 30 minutes riding with 30 RPM¡¯s (Relix-per-minute) we find a small village in the distance. Finally! Civilization! I never thought I would utter that in such desperation. The sight of the three of us riding to the village on Relix stirred up some commotion. Then he flashes his teeth and growls to let people know who¡¯s the boss and to leave, unless they have tuna, I should add. It¡¯s the same with almost all feline and canine, if you got the right food they will eat all! ¡°Grim we should probably sell all of those pelts. They will get us a fair amount of money.¡± Synth suggested. ¡°Hopefully, pretty sure the wolves and bears would be an endangered species if this wasn¡¯t a game.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll go with master.¡± That was pretty much going to happen no matter what I say. ¡°Alright, tomorrow I will be on and meet you two in the inn across the street.¡± Synth points to an inn that could double as a barn if I didn¡¯t know better. ¡°Sounds good.¡± I look around and Relix is gone. He¡¯s probably gone somewhere to rest in the sun. We have a telepathic link so I¡¯ll know if anything happens, such as a fight. Believe me the reason I would go to him is not to back him up in a fight, it¡¯s to stop him from slaughtering half the place. We don¡¯t need him to stir up trouble. Before I log off I check my Status Window:
-Grim-Level 20Strength45
Health530Agility41
Stamina550Intelligence61
650650Luck11
Number of servants available: 1 -Skills:
-Vertical Pin- (lvl:5) Thrust downwards from overhead, pinning the target to the ground for 2 seconds. After two seconds, scythe will automatically remove itself. During the 2 seconds target will bleed for half the damage of the attack. Cost: 40 stamina
-Dexterous Hands- (Passive, lvl:5) The more you use your scythe the easier it will be to maneuver it and hit the intended target.
-Summon Hell Servant- (lvl:3) Use your demonic energy to bring forth a being from Hell. During your summoning, if the demon dies it will be sent back to the underworld where it cannot be called for 4 hours. At this level you can summon an imp, or a succubus. The servant cannot harm the master and must listen to all commands given. Cost: 120 mana
[Author note: I got rid of the Defense stat since in the near future I¡¯m going to start adding armor for Grim, so IMO it¡¯s not needed] Chapter 9: Ridiculous inn Hey everybody and I''m sorry for not posting another chapter yesterday! I try to keep one chapter everyday but Astronomy class lasted longer than it should have and other classes are tightly time-packed together. Oh and when I posted the poll and said Character Development, I probably should have explained it better cuz my lack of understanding applied a ''confuse hex'' for 30 seconds to myself as I was trying to figure out whether I meant: ''Skill leveling'' or ''emotions/relationships'' so can you guys give me some help plz in the comments on where I might have been trying to go on that? I''m like a metaphorical fish out of water here lol. Anyways here is the chap albeit small. sorreh lol, I''ll make it up to you guys this weekend teehee ---------------------------- Logging back into Second Horizon the village comes into view. It reminds me of those medieval pictures shown in history textbooks. Not the glorified Hollywood version, the actual version of what they looked like. For example the NPC¡¯s are poking their heads out of the second floor buildings then chucking their nasty garbage onto the street. Lovely. It¡¯s not very fun especially when I player I see right now just walked under it then looked up to hear the lady yelling ¡°look out below!¡± Too late. If there was a way to kill village NPC¡¯s without major consequences then that guy would have already ¡®trashed¡¯ her place! Before I start having to dodge and weave like a warzone, entering the inn would be the best bet. The inn is called The Dragons Underbelly. And by the way the village we are in is called Geddi. The only thing I can see that is similar to the name is the people inside. And that is because some are so fat you could probably fit a dragon under their belly. I mean, fat isn¡¯t bad to a certain extent. But if you go up and try to explain it to them they will probably say: ¡°what¡¯s this word ¡®extent¡¯?¡± or ¡°Gotta have enough fat to last me the winter!¡± They probably have an IQ equivalent to the mule they pack their items with. Furthermore, grab any dentist you can think of-even the best-and once they lay their eyes on those pork chop grinders they will quit their profession and become monks looking for a spiritual guide for the path to reality. Hell, even grab a gold miner and you can bet he¡¯ll be spiking their food with JuJu beans and wait until they¡¯re knocked out to make a small fortune on the gold teeth. If they are farmers, how do they get the money for this stuff and live a lavish lifestyle? With questions unanswered I gaze around and finally spot my elfen friend sitting in a seat at the corner of the room. It seems I¡¯m not the only one either. Adventurers and also the bloated NPC¡¯s are sneaking peeks but don¡¯t dare walk over. It¡¯s most likely the queen-like aura she subconsciously emits, giving anyone who walks near the chills. Except for yours truly. Mostly outsiders get the idea that she has a sort of ¡®Ice Queen¡¯ persona, well ¡®Blood Queen¡¯ sounds more befitting. Anyways, she has told me what happened and how she got her unusual hidden race/class. However on the inside I can see she just has a hard time trusting people and tends to close herself off to others whether or not she realizes she is doing so. Thus it is my mini-goal to try and be her friend. Don¡¯t get me wrong, I¡¯m not planning to be some psychologist and directly talk it out. That would be the last thing I would do for fear of becoming an eternal blood-bag. I also don¡¯t want to be some self-sacrificing goody-two-shoes to make her feel better. Just being with her and seeing her laugh every now and then sounds good enough. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°You going to sit down?¡± Synth¡¯s voice snaps me out of my random happy go lucky vision and back to reality. At the same time I notice I haven¡¯t moved from the side of the table. ¡°Ah yeah, sorry I forgot where I was for a second.¡± ¡°Mhmm you had a wide shit-eating grin on your face for a while.¡± We both chuckle as I sit down across from her, once again admiring her beauty and very much aware of the scary stares penetrating me. If glares from people could materialize into a misty aura, the air would be as dense as a sauna inside a volcano. Synth broke the eerie silence for us ¡°So you said you have a quest to do that involves getting those special documents? Where do we head to?¡± She whispers as low as possible making it so only we can hear. Somehow I don¡¯t think she understands we can just message each other or she forgets so I just play along. ¡°The old man Julius said it¡¯s a dungeon called Onyx Domain and told me that it¡¯s near the Capital City Flaste. He also mentioned that it¡¯s already a well-known spot for adventurers, which makes me uneasy. There is sure to be some trouble surrounding the place such as some PK groups.¡± ¡°Hmmm¡­I don¡¯t see why we should care, there is 4 of us if you include Relix. Plus from all of that hunting we have done so far I¡¯m a high level compared to others.¡± Synth states in an indifferent tone. ¡°Just what level are you? Since this game just came out the highest players stated by others on the forum is 33 to even a few at 40!¡± She looks uneasy at me for a few moments before finally giving in. Yay +1 trust stat, just kidding. ¡°¡­level 36¡­¡± I seem to lose control of my jaw as it hangs there like the belly of the fattest NPC in the room. That is pretty shocking but also understandable, considering she was snapping necks like twigs since I¡¯ve been in fights with her. Usually for most games level 36 isn¡¯t anything special but again, Second Horizon doesn¡¯t do things like others. The levels take longer to gain experience and the gameplay focuses more on dealing with the enemy without solely relying on your level and instead using skills and an assortment of other qualities similar to real life. ¡°Alright so now that I know you can swat most other players like flies, we should start heading to the dungeon from here. Although Julius advised me to go to the capital city there is a faster way. Since NPC¡¯s don¡¯t have ability to go on the internet they haven¡¯t seen the user-made maps uploaded to the forums.¡± Even though they are not perfect, it¡¯s still pretty accurate because most players chose to start out in the capital city since it has mostly everything a starter character needs. Really anything from noob items all the way to higher-level crafts and stores are there too. ¡°But when we get there how will you know where to go in the dungeon?¡± I was waiting for her to ask that question but also hoped it never would. ¡°Julius told me the Dark will lead me¡­¡± I mutter with a look as if I had announced to everyone that 2 + 2 = 5 ¡°Pft, hahahaha!¡± Synth doubles over laughing. ¡°Mu, it¡¯s not that funny.¡± Hmph, oh well I¡¯ll let it slide. Time to summon Relix and Lyra and conquer a dungeon! Chapter 10: New Knowledge So here is the next chapter and I''m trying to incorporate the VR theme into the story more. Hope you like it! ------------------------ Now that we have where we are going settled and after gaining the money from selling those pelts before, I finally have enough coins to buy a proper gift for Relix. He¡¯s not going to like it though. I make my way over to the oversized tiger in an attempt to give him his gift. An oversized saddle with small bags that can hold half the amount of a player¡¯s inventory. It took all of my money to buy it and if he doesn¡¯t use it I am going to make him use it one way or another. ¡°Ah, Mr. Relix I have something to give you that might interest you.¡± Holding the equipment up and grinning, he looks at me like I¡¯ve lost my mind. ¡°What the hell, kid? You want me looking like some domesticated horse?! Even Demius didn¡¯t stoop as low to saddle me! You gotta be kidding me punk why shoul-¡° ¡°I¡¯ll raise the amount of tuna you will be fed.¡± ¡°Deal.¡± No matter how wise he is it¡¯s still hard to fight instincts hehehe. Right as we finished Synth logged in and I went ahead and summoned Lyra too. We gathered at the gate and hopped-well more like climbed-on top of Relix and put the town of Geddi and their mysteriously rich farmers behind us. On our way to Onyx domain it was very different from the surrounding area of Blackthorn City that was next to the mountains. Here instead of large trees and scattered forests are rolling hills and untouched by human(oid) hands. This is something you would have trouble finding in real life. The breeze is fresh and other than the constant grumblings from Relix about the itchy saddle it was quite a nice ride. After a few hours of riding and me constantly checking my map through the in-game menu directly linked to GlobalDome¡¯s forum, we finally near Onyx Domain. The surroundings start to drop in temperature and it gets a little chilly. Also the grass starts to lose color, slowly losing life. It feels eerie and I would have expected to hear a ghost cackling or howling if it weren¡¯t for the buildings up ahead. Entering the village it has many players milling around trying to sell various potions for the groups heading into the dungeon. Also there are other players selling armor and weapons, all of them at an exorbitant price no doubt. Furthermore none of them are selling scythe¡¯s; go figure. The village is known as Onyx Village, named after the dungeon itself. Many buildings look like they prosper rather than the feeling you get when you enter this cold climate and ominous area. Without anything to do since I have no money for healing potions or mana potions I send an invite to join my party to Synth.
Send Invite to: Synth
Since Lyra and Relix are my summons then they automatically join the party labeled as ¡®pets¡¯. Lyra, Relix, and I are currently at level 20, while Synth is 36. My thoughts are interrupted by Relix who apparently can see the party screen too, which is weird because I didn¡¯t know they could do that since pets cannot. Apparently he and Lyra both are sentient summon NPC¡¯s that have similar player privileges to a certain extent. ¡°You are level 20? Then you can make a Lesser Hell Covenant right? You have the class Hell¡¯s Collector and also have Dark attribute powers so you should be able to.¡± ¡°Huh? What¡¯s that?¡± This is news to me, usually something like this pops up when you level or you gain it through a quest. ¡°A Lesser Hell Covenant is when you make covenant with a being from Hell. However it is different than a summoned servant like that young lady.¡± He points to Lyra who is totally not listening to the conversation, instead holding my arm in a position that makes it seem like I¡¯m her lover. ¡°Then how is it different?¡± ¡°One, the Hell dweller-let¡¯s call it that for now-must want to live again. If he/she/it doesn¡¯t wish to leave then it will not work. That pretty much is the majority of Hell anyways. Two, the Hell dweller can choose whether or not to sign the covenant and fight alongside you when they see you, or go back to that infernal shit hole. Unlike the servant summoning where you are stuck with what you summon. Three, the two who signed cannot harm each other and others put on the ¡®no-injury¡¯ section. Note that you can bring the covenant up at any time to add or remove people from the list. With both agreeing confirmation of course. Four, since it is not a servant/master relationship you cannot command each other to do something. Yes you are probably wondering ¡®what the hell do I do if they go on a rampage killing all the NPC¡¯s in sight!?¡¯ Well there is a failsafe for such situations. The Hell dweller covenant member can only attack ¡®monster¡¯ and ¡®aggressive player¡¯ types. Aggressive players are those who target you for an attack or target the other covenant member. Even if they target someone on the ¡®no-injury¡¯ list, the Hell-dweller can attack if they want to. Lastly, since you can only do Lesser Hell Covenant instead of Greater, then the being you summon will start out at half your level and stats. Which would be level 10. I myself was in a Greater Hell Covenant with Dark Lord Demius when he was alive. That was a good old ass-kicking, village burning, barbarian torturing time.¡± This information puts me on edge. It sounds like a straightforward deal, but there has to be a loophole that the scheming demon I bring back from the ¡®underground body burner¡¯ could take advantage of. Although the ¡®thing¡¯ would be only level 10, who knows what freaky voodoo shit they could do to others. I look to Synth and see what she thinks. ¡°I think that whatever you bring out of that ¡®hell hole¡¯ is going to be deceptive and cunning, but if you put it on a tight leash you¡¯ll be able to keep it in line.¡± That¡¯s quite surprising. She is usually indifferent about this sort of stuff. Well I might as well try it! ¡°Alright how do I do this? I¡¯ve gotten pretty good at drawing my pentagram magic circles!¡± ¡°I see, good choice. The covenant requires you to do a normal magic circle that can even be drawn with a stick in the dirt.¡± That was anti-climactic. I was hoping for something like last time. A sprinkle of this and a dab of that on top of a witch-looking drawing. ¡°Aaaand? Anything else?¡± I ask promptly. ¡°Yes, just feel your mana flow in your body and will it to move onto the magic circle. It¡¯s not as hard as it sounds. Also remember to close your eyes and visualize a link, like a tunnel to hell, looking from our side to theirs. Just don¡¯t ¡®step¡¯ through that tunnel unless you want your soul to be devoured by the hungry restless souls populated there. After establishing the tunnel think about wanting to find a partner that will wage war or battles alongside you and fight to the bitter end. Someone will ¡®walk¡¯ through that tunnel and appear before you on top of the magic circle. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Then if you and the Hell-dweller find each other suitable, the contract will appear and you will sign your names and of the others you wish to add to the ¡®no-injury¡¯ list. Also while she is being summoned to inspect you she cannot leave the magic formation or hurt you.¡± Now that the explanation is over I went and used my fingers instead of looking for a stick and drew a magic circle. It took less than a minute and I am standing behind it facing towards the center with my eyes closed and target my mana on the circle in the ground. I chant the name of the spell: ¡°Lesser Hell Covenant.¡±
-Establish link with Hell?- WARNING: Do NOT enter the tunnel or your player¡¯s level and stats will reset to zero and you will be teleported to your initial starting area.
¡°Yes.¡± Yikes, I¡¯ll keep that in mind. No entering, no problem. I feel like I am teleported to some sort of tunnel that resembles the ones used for highways going under mountains. However through the end of it I can see fire and a red background although it¡¯s too far away to see anything else. Then a silhouette appears and a second later streaks towards me right as everything goes black and I open my eyes to see the magic circle and 30 meters around the ground fried to nothing and Lyra yelling while trying to put out the rest of the mini-fires. I¡¯m glad Smokey the Bear isn¡¯t this game¡¯s AI or else I would have been banned for life. Getting back on topic, in front of me is the most adorable thing that has probably come out of Hell and ever will. A Red panda. The red fur and the black eyes with a striped tail is sizing me up while looking with a demeanor that doesn¡¯t fit its animal persona. It looks as though it has an intellect rivaling humans. http://www.knoxville-zoo.org/sites/www/Uploads/images/Exhibits/panda1_709041545401.png Suddenly a whirlwind envelopes the creature and a second later it stops, and almost my heart too! There is a stunning 5¡¯ 9¡± red haired woman that rivals the beauty of Synth. However she has almost the same predatory gaze as Lyra that makes me want to shiver, turn tail and log out. I¡¯m still stunned as to how she transformed. Curiosity got the best of me so I focused on her avatar:
[Shapeshifting Magi ¡®Rose¡¯ lvl: ???]
The only thing I could do was gulp. And what really stopped any words from forming was the level! When it shows ??? that means something at least x3 levels or more of my current. Based on the surprised and small bit of fear on Synth¡¯s face I¡¯m sure she read the same thing. But Relix is just sitting there whistling and trying not to make eye contact like it has nothing to do with him. Is he positive that my kindergarden dirt drawing can hold a bad-ass like that?! Better get this done fast before she gets the same idea. ¡°Umm, Hello, My name is Grim and you obviously know why you are here. So I¡¯ll get straight to the point, do you want to sign a covenant and team up with me?¡± At least it was better than last time and not something like ¡®Yo, wanna bust some heads with me?¡¯ ¡°It sounds interesting, and life away from those demon perverts is a good deal. The fact that you have a succubus and not a normal cat will make it more entertaining. But why should I go with you other than that?¡± she asks with a tone that seems like she is testing me. I guess I can¡¯t give her fish, huh. Ah! I got something. ¡°Because I am most likely going to end up in fights with the Holy Order since I am, you know, the collector of hell and have a lusting demon succubus along with a former animal companion of a Dark Lord. I¡¯m sure you would have fun here.¡± ¡°Hahahaha, you make a good point child! Yes, those holy twats did think I was someone following the Dark. They killed my family and hunted me just like the witches. Even though I shapeshifted they could still sense the mana in me which I cannot hide or modify no matter what form I take on.¡± At that last part her eyes looked solemn as she gazed towards the ground. Time to cheer her up! ¡°Wow, it seems like we have a common enemy. Those holy sacks of crap and bones won¡¯t know what¡¯s coming. Then shall I show you the contract so we can sign?¡±
-Lesser Hell Covenant- A mutual binding that allows an entity from Hell to join the player in their adventures. The Greater Hell Covenant spell cannot be automatically used and will take a quest to complete. The quest will be given at a much higher level. Here are the details of the rules¡­
The explanation goes on and tells the same thing Relix already explained. ¡°Great, it should be entertaining to follow you on your journeys, and nice to meet you I my name is Rose.¡±
Rose has accepted and signed the covenant. She will now have her stats and level set to a default base of level 10
After she accepts I take the time to input Synth, Lyra, and Relix names in the ¡®no injury¡¯ list just to make sure. Although I do not think she would betray them, it¡¯s better safe than sorry. She suddenly starts a whirlwind signaling she is going to transform and then turns back into the red panda and scurries over to me and climbs up to my shoulder. I pet her soft fur and she nudges my head in approval and delight. Then I guess it¡¯s time to plunder the dungeon! Chapter 11: Fury of the Fur Flurry Hallo guys, hope you all enjoy! ------------------------ Location: Entrance of Onyx Domain ¡°Master there are a bunch of horndogs watching me everywhere, you¡¯ll protect me right? Almost like they are already screwing me in their mind! It¡¯s making me a little hot actually, we should go over to that building and relea-¡° ¡°Maybe if you do well at killing monsters in the dungeon we¡¯ll see about it later.¡± ¡°Really?!¡± Lyra is gazes at me with I swear what looks like stars in her eyes. ¡°Maybe.¡± No probably not. Probably... Relationship with Synth sounds like a better moral route to take. But hell, who needs morals am I right? The game does allow interactive ¡®emotional activities¡¯ whether it be NPC or Player. I haven¡¯t tried it because it never really struck my mind since I¡¯m really just trying to make a legion of demons. However if I make a legion of demons isn¡¯t the whole ¡®morality¡¯ act void? Do I really need to live by standard ethics of today? Fuck, I¡¯m a Demon Master not a Paladin or some healer. For some reason I get a chill and tremble slightly. A glare from Synth is all it takes to tell me I might have stepped on the proverbial land mine that finds its way on your path of self-education towards others feelings. Pulling me out of my near-death explosive situation is the entrance to the dungeon which looks awfully big for double-doors. Imagine the Temple of Zeus, Olympia but doors on the front! That¡¯s how big these doors are and intimidating to say the least. If someone lived or lives in here I would fear any delivery boy knocking on this stone behemoth. ¡°Hah this is nothing compared to what I used to have. This is looks it would be like a doggy-door of the castle Demius used to own. A very dusty doggy-door at that!¡± Relix spits on the door with disdain while the rest of us look at him baffled and even Rose tilts her adorable panda head sideways. ¡°We might as well go in before other players get any more ideas on how to kidnap Lyra.¡± Synth suggests with an icy tone, most likely because she is getting the same stares from others. ¡°Ah yeah that¡¯s probably a good idea.¡± So I walk forwards pushing the double-doors entering slowly. The doors on the outside are surrounded by hills, sort of like the Hobbits homes in J. R. R. Tolkien¡¯s fictions. However think of this many, many, times larger on the scale. Truly massive.
-Entering Onyx Domain- Upon death you will be transported to the beginning of each floor you are at. Currently you are on Floor 1.
I can¡¯t help but wonder how many floors this place has. The forums say only the first two floors have been discovered. The boss monster on each floor gradually gets more difficult. No one has met the 2nd floors boss monster either. Anyways once we enter the hall is huge but slowly tapers off into a tunnel less refined. It reminds me of a mineshaft. The tunnel is larger than a mineshaft though, and looks like you could stack it in a 4 x 4 square looking at it from the entrance. After walking across the quiet eerie hall we arrive at the tunnel. As soon as I step on foot into the tunnel everything goes black. The very familiar black which is darker than you would ever encounter. The clouds of smoke slowly form distinct letters coming together to make words and finally sentences. Hehe finally, time for my next step to success. Or so I thought.
-Darkness Over Light II- You have made it to the Onyx Domain to seek the lost pages pertaining to the Darkness that will help you gain strength. Unfortunately, monsters inhabit the depths of this former temple blocking the flow of mana that should be connected with the underground altar to the entrance hall. The entrance hall doors were the strength of the magnificent building and displayed the power and authority it held. The monsters have been feeding off of the mana for centuries and gaining powers. Once you disrupt the hierarchy and balance of their forces you will also break them from their rulers and they will scatter. After that the altar should direct you to the pages hidden in the dungeon. Note that the altar is guarded by a foe not to be underestimated. Proceed at your own discretion.
After the lengthy paragraph the similar surroundings of the tunnel come back to me with everyone-except for Lyra-blinking with surprise at my sudden disappearance. Now its Synth who hugs me, not crying like Lyra did but still worry on her face. An expression that makes her even cuter! Self-quest: try to find new ways to make her act cute! ¡®Quest difficulty: XOXO¡¯ hahaha If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Rose, now back in human-vixen-smoking-hot mode asks ¡°What was that you just left right as we were following you? It got both of us worried.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a quest I have to do, sorry.¡± ¡°Oh well ¡®shift¡¯ happens.¡± The shapeshifting magi replies. ¡°Pft-hahahahaha!¡± Obviously I¡¯m the only one in the group that appreciates these jokes because everyone is just staring at me, execpt Synth. Oh lord I think I might be in love with Rose if I didn¡¯t already view her as a cute and cuddly panda. Speaking of, she transforms then jumps to my shoulders then on top of my head and lays down. I look kind of like Davy Crockett with his coon skin cap. {auth note if you don¡¯t know what I mean lol http://www.chichesterinc.com/images/343.jpg } Now that we have a goal made and Mr. Darkness quest AI has told me what to do, it is time to kill some shit. And what better time to do it than now when there is a monster just around a turn up ahead while we are walking? Each player is given an ¡®Identify¡¯ skill, to make it easier. Although it doesn¡¯t show the stats of the target it does say the name/type. And in front of us is a typical monster you would find in a dungeon:
[Skeleton lvl: 19]
The skeleton is holding a sword that is extremely rusted and thank God, er, thank Darkness the game doesn¡¯t go as far as having someone get tetanus. The skelly sees us and immediately attacks me since I was leading the group, being the first to get in his range and line of sight. It goes for a fast lunge towards my chest, unlike the other random strikes I thought it would use. Narrowly side-stepping and turning I use the momentum to sweep my scythe in an attempt to get a critical hit on its head. That¡¯s where I messed up. I didn¡¯t calculate the time right after the lunge and waited too long. By the time my scythe was coming towards its head, the skeleton had already recovered from the lunge. Its head was already pulled back right where my scythe just landed, passing through air. It didn¡¯t lose this chance and with my side exposed it slashed upwards diagonally from my knee to my shoulder blade and inflicting enough damage to drop my health down by 25% and also:
[Bleed effect Tetanus: Lose 1% of health every 2 seconds until enemy is dead]
What?! Did I just jinx myself? Releasing my bad mood I step back and motion to Lyra and she nods, understanding what I mean. She uses ¨CDrop Dead Gorgeous- on the bone monster. Oh man there are so many dirty jokes I could make but it would probably get her horny rather than a laugh. Anyways the skelly gets distracted for a couple seconds while I use ¨CVertical Pin- on its head dropping it to the ground. And for some reason Rose takes this as a chance to prove her worth by jumping off of me and using Lyra¡¯s well-endowed chest as a springboard, shooting straight towards the skeleton in a ¡®fur flurry¡¯ similar to the Tazmanian Devil. She starts chipping away at the health very quickly bringing the skeleton down to 75%. It¡¯s amazing because this all happens in the span of my Vertical Pin effect. Once she¡¯s done I hear a threating: ¡°GRRrrrrrr¡­¡± However I can¡¯t take it seriously at all, because she is just sitting on top of it like royalty who just found a throne. Lyra who decides she wants to get a piece of the action attacks the skeleton as it starts to stand up (Rose scurried over to grab onto my neck and hang behind me like a backpack because it doesn¡¯t really hinder me) and uses her twin daggers to help cause damage making it easier to attack. I¡¯d rather not let this carry on any longer since I have the ¡®Tetanus¡¯ effect still applied to myself. Now that the skeleton is focused on Lyra¡¯s barrage of attacks, I sneak around behind it to try and cleave off its head again. *SWISH* *Crack!*
[Double critical hit!]
*Crash!*
[item: Bone (alchemy)]
The skeleton falls into a heap of bones and drops a bone¡­a bone...completely useless for me. Oh well, at least it gave some EXP. The whole time Synth was standing there, probably because we didn¡¯t need her really. We are only going to need her for the harder fights later on. Also Relix was chilling on the sidelines content with eating food. Now that we have killed a skeleton and got a rough understanding of what to do the next ones should be easier. Heading further into the tunnel preparing to take on anything we continue¡­ Chapter 11.5: extra (Lyra) hey guys I made the small extra chapter according to the poll. Lyra and her chapter hehe. Anyways this chapter is Mature for sure so if you don''t like this stuff just carry on. I''ll try and post the regular chapter today but not sure. I have a road trip to drive and its looong. Oh and btw, if you want me to continue making this at a similar level of maturity just post it in the comments. For example: gore, language, adult scenes, etc :D WARNING: MATURE! ---------------------------------------- Work as usual is satisfying to say the least. I¡¯m on my 100th victim and riding him like a bike. For a succubus we drown in the pleasure of satisfying the lust of humans. The emotions our victims feel are multiplied and added to our own. Similar to how to victim of a vampire would feel like he/she would think it¡¯s the best orgasm they ever had. Except for it¡¯s the other way around. At first it might feel like the human is feeling on top of the world, maybe that¡¯s not the best simile to use here. Like they are on top of the demon that will suck their life force out. Also that¡¯s not the only thing that¡¯s going to be sucked if you know what I mean. Anyways while he¡¯s plundering me without end and unaware of the consequences I am totally not listening to the cries of pain after 36 hours on end. My mind is elsewhere. Where you might ask? The competition that started 1 year ago, announced in hell by our demon lord that sends us whores to deliver punishment regularly to humans. ----1 year ago---- ¡°ALL RIGHT YOU SLOPPY SKANKS AND BONER BANGERS, THE DEMON EMPIRE HAS SENT ME ORDERS TO OBSERVE WHO DOES THEIR MOST HUMAN HUMPING IN THE NEXT YEAR!¡± That¡¯s our boss the demon lord Kaelius. Or you could call him a Hell Pimp of some sorts. A loud pimp for sure. He gathered all of the succubae servants in his stone mansion to tell us about a competition that would decide our fate. ¡°DEPENDING ON THE AMOUNT OF HUMAN VERMIN YOU DRAIN EACH MONTH YOU WILL BE AWARDED WITH ¡®SLUT OF THE MONTH¡¯. BY THE END OF THE YEAR WHOEVER FUCKED LIKE RABBITS AND GOT THE ¡®SLUT OF THE MONTH¡¯ AWARD THE MOST TIMES WILL GET TO BE SUMMONED TO THE ONLY HELL¡¯S COLLECTOR THAT WILL BE BORN AT THE END OF THE YEAR! NOW ALL OF YOU NEED TO GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE AND SPREAD YOUR LEGS LIKE WINGS AND FLY TO THE PECKERS OF THOSE HUMAN INSECTS!¡± Then the ¡®megaphone-pimp¡¯ left the room after giving each of us our assigned humans. Mine are all either filthy con-men or married and corrupt nobles. Each sheet has their name and face. They all look like they have small jon-jon¡¯s too. Oh well, I¡¯m used to it. Exiting the mildly-hot mansion and back into the infernal desert, I see a couple of my co-workers trading ¡®notes¡¯ with each other in a passionate way. Obviously they don¡¯t care about being summoned by the first Collector the world has seen. Rather, they look like they would want to collect fluids instead. Sort of disgusted but wet at the same time I make my way to the portal in the courtyard-if you can even call it that. The portal is what separates Hell from the mortal plane and there are many of these. Each demon lord is assigned with one of these when they get promoted along with a mansion too. The reason why there are no Incubus (male succubus) participating in the competition is simple really. The incubus are few compared to the succubus and also have more freedom to do as they wish since they hold more power than the succubus. This is how it has always been. Exiting the portal on the other side I look over my papers, fake background and identity before I head off to start my cock-crusade. ----1 year later---- Finished with my 100th victim who looks like a dried and shriveled tomato I go to the bathroom and take a bath to freshen up. Since he was a noble he could afford such a luxury. Watering down my body and masterbat¡ªcleaning myself is the best part when I¡¯m done with each job. It helps because I imagine what my new master will do to me when I get summoned. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Damn, I¡¯m wet again and covered in liquids definitely not water. Time to take another bath. Over the past year I have 11 awards out of 12 for the ¡®Slut of the Month¡¯. It¡¯s the last day of the competition and I¡¯m so pumped to be able to pump the new master that will summon me! Ah! I need to stop thinking about it or I might get carried away right now. Ugh, too late. Dammit! Anyways I finally made it out of the mansion clean and ready after many attempts. I was in too much of a rush to care about whether or not the maids of that guy¡¯s house saw his pruned dead body or not. Doesn¡¯t matter anyway. He was a bastard that raped anything with ovaries. Drawing the magic circle and enchanting it with my new filled pool of mana that is surging through me-now that I have just finished off a fresh victim it helps boost power- I enter the portal and make my way up the steps and through the front door. Just in time, too. Everyone is gathered and talking about the last human life the plucked and sizes and all that, but I totally tune them out because I¡¯m too excited. Then Kaelius strolls in high and mighty inspecting all of us before his gaze sets on me. I swear I saw a flicker of pride on his face, before it turned back into demon-drill-sergeant-mode. Maybe it¡¯s just me though. ¡°ALRIGHT ALL YOU TITTY TOSSING COCK GOBBLERS, THE END OF THE YEAR HAS FINALLY COME AND WE HAVE THE COMPETITION RESULTS. COME ON UP, YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE! CONGRATU-FUCKIN-LATIONS!¡± He gives me a halfhearted clap while my co-workers give me an applause and shout some comments that stimulate my nether region. The moment I¡¯ve been waiting for! Take that bitches! Walking up to Kaelius he gives me a pat on the back that would break a humans bones for sure. Then he suddenly moves to the side and shoves me over a magic circle that engulfs me in fire. In the next instant I am standing outside in front of a young male who seems to be about 17-18 years old with black hair and brown eyes. He¡¯s obviously staring at my rack, but that¡¯s usually what happens every time someone sees me. Well he does have one thing in common, we are both well-endowed just by looking. Don¡¯t ask me how I know, it¡¯s just a sex sens-uh, sixth sense I have acquired over the years. While speaking with him it seems like this could be fun. He has that innocent look about him. Although after fighting with him I can see that the innocent part is just his outside appearance. He¡¯s cunning on the inside and will most likely throw all morals out the window to get something done. I think I can use this since he still won¡¯t let me screw him. Even though he salivates every time I give him some cleavage action. I¡¯m going to make sure Master and I have some fun someday. That time when we were talking to the pudgy pedophile looking priest in his cabin I realized that I have grown attached to him. When he vanished after opening the scrolls it was like my heart was sliced in half. Even though I know that what people call ¡®Players¡¯ can leave and come back, this felt different. So after he appeared again I kind of lost it and almost ripped his clothes off and raped him. But I decided not to push it that far. I might later on though, fufufu. However when that vampire bitch came along I could already see him look like he was about to jump on her and taste the elven delicacy. It infuriated me when he looked at her in that manner. She¡¯s just a bloodsucking flat-chested wench. That¡¯s when I decided I would kidnap Master with some rope and do naughty acts. Until queen-suck-shmuck rescued him and I became a meal for the monsters in the woods more times than I can remember¡­ It¡¯s rather odd that I have come to like Master in a way that defies my natural instincts of a succubus like wanting to drain him until he dies. I guess I¡¯ll just have to bid my time until Master ¡®conquers my towers¡¯ fufufufu. Chapter 12: Go crazy Hello guys hope you like this chapter! --------------- After advancing through the skeletons we are starting to see less and less. Must be a new enemy ahead. Lyra and I are level 23 now, and Rose is level 14. The tunnel is pretty straightforward. There are twists but not any turns so you can¡¯t get lost. Suddenly we hear some voices up ahead¡­ ¡°Why do we have to always stay in this damn temple when it¡¯s been so many years since its fall?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, but we just need to keep looking out for people to kill.¡± ¡°Aye.¡± From the sound of it there are 3 men, but there might be more. I poke my head out to see and there are 3 monsters-I guess you could call them human monsters. Taking a closer look I use ¡®identify¡¯
Fallen Temple Knight lvl: 25
Hmmm, 3 of them isn¡¯t too much. I think we can kill them if we work together. Motioning towards the others to attack, we run over to the trio. Since we don¡¯t have stealth skills they automatically see us when entering their aggro range. I¡¯m the first one to make it there because those damn skeletons were too nimble so knights should be more interesting and evened out. However right as I get to them I feel lighter for some reason. My doubts are cleared in the next 2 seconds. ¡°Ahahaha look at those freaks, did the circus hire whores too?¡± He points to Lyra. That¡¯s when I notice my back is empty without my trusty cute red critter. Where did she g- ¡°KIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!¡± I look over at the sound and see Rose flailing in the air at high speed towards the rude knight¡¯s face. It was Lyra. She grabbed Rose from my back and threw her away like a dirty rag. Looking at Lyra, she has a smug face with revenge written all over it. Apparently its payback for using her tits as a diving board. Bet she wouldn¡¯t mind if I used her as a div- shit, her horny-pheromones have invaded my mind! *scratch scratch scratch scratch!!!* Rose is going apeshit ballistic on that knight¡¯s face. Taking that as a chance I go for one of the other knights while Lyra attacks the last one. The knight is wearing chainmail and wields a sword and shield. Pft, like a shield is going to help against a scythe. I run towards him before he notices me because he is watching Rose¡¯s scratchfest. Forming an impromptu plan in my mind I jump up and kick him on his chest but closer to his side on purpose so he stumbles while turning. Not giving him a chance to recover, I use one of the first spells I got from the Dark documents:
-Quite a sight to swallow (lvl: 1)- Target a player or monster and use darkness to swallow their eyesight for 1 second. Each skill level adds extra .2 seconds. Every 2 levels cooldown reduces by 5 seconds. Mana cost: 60 Cooldown: 60 seconds.
Now that he is blind I run between him and his other comrade who is fighting Lyra and yell: ¡°Oi, you shiny blind fucker, if you can hit me I¡¯ll let you screw my succubus!¡± That got his attention, and listening to my voice he brings his sword down full-force. However I have already moved away, along with a pissed off sex-demon. In the process he cuts down his friend, leaving just 2 knights left. Even though the skill had a duration of 1 second, we were fighting close quarters so I could move and yell in time before he could get his wits back. Lyra is yelling all sorts of derogatory terms and sentences at me. Damn, need to shut her up. So I grabbed her by the waist and brought her into a deep tongue wrestling kiss that went on during the middle of the battle. I just made out with an NPC. Oh well, I don¡¯t really care anymore, she was hella good at it. Getting back on topic, once we finally let go of each other we looked over at the other knight who is standing over his fellow sword buddy with a bitter face. It would almost make me pity him if I didn¡¯t see him as walking EXP and a cock-blocker who interrupted the vibe me and Lyra had going. By the way I didn¡¯t realize that Synth was right next to us the whole time¡­ She turned into a red flash and slaughtered the sad knight without mercy. Yeah she¡¯s pissed. I¡¯ll take care of that later though, because there is still one more knight left now. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. At least that was what I thought. I turned to see Relix standing on top of the knight with his paw where the skull used to be. Rose is still in her panda form and sitting on top of Relix¡¯s head with her critter arms folded on her chest. She just glares here cute beady eyes at Lyra. ¡°Us furry ones gotta stick together right rose? Ho ho ho¡± ¡°kihihihihi¡± AWWW kawaii!!! I hold my arms out and she jumps into them. That fur ball makes me revert to an innocent mood every time. Now that tempers aren¡¯t intense anymore we continue on throughout the tunnel running into more knights along the way. Synth has also cooled down since the display of affection, but Lyra seems almost more outgoing¡­ Then we arrive at an entrance with a double-door made out of black metal instead of stone. The insignia on both sides is a moon. Pretty simple but it gives off an aura that can¡¯t really be described, I guess the closest would be ¡®terrifying¡¯. Making sure everyone is ready I open the doors and enter. It¡¯s a huge hall just like the beginning however the stone pillars are black. Maybe they are metal just like the door? Everything is black and dark except for the torches. Standing in the center of the hall is a man with jet black armor. He also has a black sword unsheathed and at the ready. Using identify I found out more.
Sir Mikael Lvl: 31
He¡¯s not a pushover for sure. We get close enough and he sees us, so he starts walking relaxed like we are insects to him. That just annoys me when people do that, even if it is an NPC. Then the torches flicker and finally lose flame. Pitch black darkness. I can¡¯t see anything. Everyone else can because of racial features, even Rose. ¡°Grim jump left!¡± Lyra¡¯s voice yells out. Taking no time to think about it, I instinctively move left, however not in time.
-290HP
Shit! I don¡¯t even have any attacks that are useful! ------Synth P.O.V.------- When the room went dark I immediately knew Grim would be in a very bad position. The NPC boss knew it too. Lyra was the first to call out but she couldn¡¯t yell in time to help him much. Even though I am still annoyed at him for what he and Lyra did, that means nothing right now. I have to protect him. Maybe that will get him to have more affection towards me. It sounds like a bitchy thing to think of right now. I know I should just do it for his well-being, but I¡¯m not that much of a saint. I could be someday but right now, no. Using my speed I rush towards the boss and form my claws, ready to strike. Surprisingly, he notices me and blocks me with his sword. Using the momentum from his sword I flip backwards and land on my feet. This is my first tough opponent. His reaction time is just as good as mine or even better. Now that I have his attention Grim is no longer in danger. However there is a feeling inside of me that starts swelling. Anger. Pissed of because that piece of shit NPC took so much health off of Grim while he couldn¡¯t fight back. This is just like the time back in the dungeon where I was betrayed. Unable to control it, and ready to unleash it, I go berserk.
WARNING: Prefrontal Cortex malfunctioning, oxytocin levels abnormally low. You need to log out and call GlobalDome for help fixing your capsule!
Ignoring the capsule system alert I continue rushing with total health abandonment. Almost as if I¡¯m high on PCP I go into a headfirst rage using my Sadistic Strikes on the arm joints and the neck over and over again and finally use Bleeding Heart, my instant kill that can be used once the target is below 30%. The last thing I see before the capsule forcibly logs me out is everyone but Grim (who can¡¯t see) staring at me with eyes like saucers. It¡¯s a good thing it logged me out because I still couldn¡¯t tell friend from foe. I woke up after it logged me out 2 days later. The capsules aren¡¯t allowed to do any medical treatments to wake me up so I slept for those 2 days and needless to say I was hungry when I woke up. How am I going to explain this to Grim? Chapter 13: Cold as Ice. Hello peeps, sorry for the late arrival, i finished it yesterday but didn''t have time to upload it until this morning. Hope you all enjoy reading! --------------- To get more light in the room, Lyra walks over to the entrance to prop the doors open so I can see the boss. Well, the remains of the boss. ¡°Um guys, where did Synth go? You didn¡¯t eat her right?¡± I stare accusingly at Relix, inspecting to see if his stomach is larger than normal¡­ ¡°Hmph, watch your mouth boy. Besides I don¡¯t have a taste for vampires. Food from the sea, is the only kind for me~¡± It sounded kind of weird for him to sing the rhyme on that last part. Letting it go I turn towards Lyra to get answers. ¡°Master, when she saw you get attacked while helpless, she lost control and killed the boss. Then she disappeared, what you call a ¡®log out¡¯.¡± So what should we do is the real question. She is already a higher level than us, so if we go to the second floor (since this was the first floor boss) we might be able to close the level gap. It kind of feels bad to leave her here, but who knows how long it will take for her to come back? First I need to grab whatever that boss dropped! Walking over to his body I see a couple items. We also get some silver from killing him.
Boots of Dusk Durability 45/45These leather boots are imbued with an enchantment created by a priest of the Onyx Temple. If one is lucky it will affect the outcome significantly.Agility: +4
Requirements: lvl 20 and able to wear light armor10% chance for boots to automatically move/face you in the direction of your enemy while you are blinded.Strength: +1
The other is:
Sir Mikael¡¯s greaves Durability 65/65Worn by Sir Mikael as he absorbed mana over the years has affected the greaves, giving it a minor enchantment.Total Health +50
Requirements: lvl 20 and able to wear heavy armorMagic resistance +1%Strength: +1
The first one is only useful for me. And I wonder if blinded is an effect which doesn¡¯t coincide with not being able to see in the dark? Maybe it won¡¯t help in the dark. As for the second item I can just auction that off and get some gold to store for a rainy day. Now that I have that done: ¡°I think we should go ahead and enter the second floor. All in favor?¡± ¡°I will follow you wherever Master.¡± ¡°Kii!¡± ¡°As long as my fish feeder doesn¡¯t die.¡± Relix points his paw to Lyra, who makes a sour expression. If only I knew how much floors until the altar. Now with Rose firmly nested on top of my hair and the other two members are ready we make our way to the other side of the room that has a small door open. Supposedly leading to the staircase since we killed this floor¡¯s boss. As we descend the staircase the temperature drops several degrees causing my teeth to chatter. So I quickly grab Rose and wear her across my neck like those fancy people with fox coats. It doesn¡¯t help much but it¡¯s better than nothing. Rose seems to appreciate sharing her warmth since she is just as cold. ¡°Brrrrrr, it¡¯s colder than santa claus¡¯ nipples!!¡± Blurting that out doesn¡¯t help the situation but relieves some of the tension. Except for the others who have no idea who Santa Claus is. I¡¯m not surprise either. Even if Santa Claus did exist in the game¡¯s history, he sure as shit wouldn¡¯t be taking visits to Hell and climbing down a Demon Lord chimney. He¡¯d run out of coal and make his little elves into slaves without sleep working in coal mines. The Vietnamese sweatshops would look like a heaven compared to them. Anyways, the surrounding walls have even started to ice over and there are also icicles forming in some parts of the ceiling. How the hell is someone doing this or something doing this? Just as I¡¯m racking my brain on this mystery our first monster runs over to us from the other end of the tunnel. Maybe I should say ¡®flies¡¯ towards us. It is a huge humanoid ice sculpture with a gnarly looking icicle poised to attack. He only has small indentions for his eyes and no other facial features. It reminds me of a fake model put on display in shopping malls to show dresses and such. However this one is creepy and menacing and sure as hell isn¡¯t wearing a skirt. I use ¡®Identify¡¯ to learn more:
Ice Lancer lvl: 28
He is a higher level than us but there is only one of him, and I am confident in our team work. Quickly giving Relix motivation by promising extra fish, he agrees let me ride on top of him like a knight lancer from Hell. The ice lancer doesn¡¯t have a mount, and right when we are getting close Lyra strikes then dodges, avoiding one of his piercing attacks. She did this to get the shiny-frozen-sculpture dude¡¯s attention while I ride up like Sir ¡®Lance¡¯lot back from the grave with a scythe and a hungry fish-craving tiger making my move. He doesn¡¯t even see it coming.
Double crit! X2 damage
Now that his health is down to about 60% give or take, Relix and I make our lap back with Rose on my head itching for a fight. Giving in to her scary panda bloodlust I throw her like Lyra did-more carefully though- and she sails over to the ice lancer and lands on his back. Unfortunately I didn¡¯t really think that through. Before she had a chance to get her grip on the ice, she slid down to the ground on her butt. The Ice lancer, seeing the new furry arrival, and totally unfazed by the cute eyes watering up about to cry-unfortunately it only works on me, or people that have a heart-gets ready to attack. Urging Relix to hurry up we make it in time to jump off of Relix and use ¡®Vertical Pin¡¯. Pinned to the ground everyone joins in and tramples the ice man, taking his health down and eventually ending in his body shattering. Followed by a good amount of EXP, but sadly nothing else. Rose jumps on my shoulder, clutching her butt as we continue through the tunnels killing more Ice Lancers along the way. -----Rose P.O.V.------ It¡¯s fun playing with these kids instead of what I used to do. I still don¡¯t appreciate being thrown at an enemy a lot. It¡¯s like I¡¯m some kind of rock that attacks when you lob me across the tunnel. I think that Grim is starting to understand though. I just want to help out but not in that way. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. ------Grim P.O.V.------ We have been fighting my Ice Lancers since the first one and every now and then there would be more than one at a time. Lyra is getting better at being a tank even though she doesn¡¯t have a shield it still works somewhat. This took a good amount of time and I just hope that those damn documents have something worthwhile! It¡¯s even gotten colder and colder the farther we go. Making our way after fighting so many of these guys which seem to be the only type of monsters on this level, we finally arrive at the door for the floor boss. The door has an engraving of a saber tooth tiger and its two fangs act as the door handles to open it. We decided to go ahead and try the boss without Synth here helping us. *creeeeeaaaakkk* Opening the door causes a gust of cold air to wash over our bodies and shiver. Inside is an ice cavern, with stalagmites and stalactites covered in a thin layer of ice and the walls also covered in ice. In the middle is a saber tooth tiger sleeping on the ground. The tiger is bigger than Relix and just like the surroundings has a layer of ice on it. Most likely acting as armor against its foes. I use ¡®Identify¡¯
Ice Saber lvl: 33
Maybe it wasn¡¯t such a smart idea to leave Synth behind. Thinking I can get out of this and wait, I slowly tip-toe back to the entrance along with everyone else-except for Rose of course. And just like an 80¡¯s thriller movie, one of us makes noise on accident. The ice cracks under Relix¡¯s weight, causing the boss to stir. Relix stops moving as if he just stepped on a land mine. I try to make gestures to tell him ¡®sorry good luck, maybe since you guys are both tigers, you can swap fish stories or something¡¯. Of course it didn¡¯t work and Relix just got impatient and carefully moved forward again, resulting in the same accident, thus causing the sleeping tiger to wake up. ¡°GRRrrrrr¡± ¡°Shi-¡± Before I get the chance to finish my curse, the tiger then roars and starts charging at me. I get my weapon ready and Rose goes into ¡®backpack mode¡¯. Right when he is about to attack, I dodge to the right and try to slash his side. I thought I had gotten the jump on him but when I least expected him, he kicked me with his hind legs to stop the slash.
-140HP + Stun effect: 4 seconds
I¡¯m kicked and skid across the cold icy floor straight into a stalagmite. Out of commission at the beginning of a boss fight again. In the blurriness of my vision I can see Rose on my lap waiting for me to recover. Thankfully before I hit the stalagmite she jumped off of my back safely. After 4 seconds I stand up and look around to see how the fight is going. Lyra is at 70% health while the tiger is at 90% health. I run over to Lyra to help. ¡°Lyra I¡¯ll get his attention while you try and jump/climb on top of his back! Take Rose with you too and try to shave his HP down as much as you can!¡± After Lyra gives an ¡®affirmative¡¯ nod, I take her place and using ¡®Quite a Sight to Swallow¡¯ blind him giving Lyra a chance to basically disappear to get into position behind him while I attack gaining aggro. Relix also went with them so he can act as a sort of stepping stone to help Lyra & Rose to jump on the saber tooth¡¯s back. Once the tiger gets his eyesight back my scythe is already coming down on his skull allowing a portion of his health to drop, now making it 80%. Now that I have his attention it¡¯s a back and forth game of blows, usually with me trying to keep him still so the other two can jump on his back. Now that they are both slowly inching towards his head from the top of him, I do a desperate attacks towards his face, which he blocks with his fangs. But that¡¯s all that was needed, because Lyra unleashes a flurry of attacks while Rose uses the opportunity to jump on the tigers face and scratch at its eyes. Shocked at first the tiger roars in pain, however recovers quickly, bucking up and down throwing Lyra off and Rose too. With 50% health left and pissed off to the extreme he turns to Lyra and uses a spell that shoots icicles from his coat of ice-fur. Relix who was the closest, rammed into the boss making the icicles land right next to Lyra. I come in and attack its flank dealing a good amount of damage while Lyra recovers from the fall and Relix faces off with the tiger. Relix is having a hard time keeping up though, because the saber tooth is much larger in comparison. But all he needs to do is keep him distracted. With Lyra on the other side of the tigers flank, both of us start attacking, me slashing with my scythe and Lyra with her daggers. Rose also joins in the fun by jumping on my shoulders then bouncing on top of the tigers back. After a little while the animal is down to 15% with all of us tired and weary. As a last ditch effort the tiger uses the ice on his body to stand up like a porcupine and shoot the needles out in all directions. Seeing what is about to happen I yell: ¡°Everybody try to slide under him!!!¡± We all stop our attacks and haul ass and slide under-even Relix-causing us to only receive grazing attacks that whittle our heath down to the 10% zone.
-20HP
-20HP
-20HP
I got many of those, and finally as it stopped I slid out from under it and delivered the final blow right between the eyes before it knew what was happening.
Double crit! X2 damage
Everyone seeing what was going to happen if they didn¡¯t get out from under it, evaded the huge animals fall. And with a collective sigh, we plop on our rear ends and start laughing at our ridiculous victory¡­ ------------ Grim is lvl 26 now btw. and here is his info
-Grim-Level 26Strength54
Health610Agility51
Stamina580Intelligence72
Mana750Luck12
Hiatus (read please) I want to start off first with "I''m sorry." Thinking I could do two web novels at a time was ludicrous. I could blame it on my ADD/ADHD or my busy college life, but those would just be excuses. Trust me this IS a hiatus, so you will see the continuation. As for when, well, probably right after thanksgiving I will release several chapters in one day. This is because of the school break given and I will type like no tomorrow during that time off. The same goes for my Christmas break. I want to try and make it up to you guys by doing this. Cuz it is a dick move to make like 12 chapters then drop the mic and exit the building if you know what I mean. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. I understand my followers list is probably going to go *poof* after this, but if you have even read this far in my asshole monologue then I commend you for your patience. If I were you I would already be like "Huh, what''s Second Horizon? Is that a nursing home to help patients start a new life?" So yeah I have pretty much ''Vertical Pin''d (lvl: 100) this web novel for now. My other novel i will be working on from now on is Martial Morpher. Once again, sorry for doing this to you guys. Here''s the link: http://royalroadl.com/fiction/3639