《FREE》 Arc 1 Freedom has its price: Chapter 1 The world as I know it and new beginnings Author''s Note: This is my first time writing a story and I''d appreciate any feedback or suggestions you are willing to give. I don''t have that detailed of a plan for this story so any ideas you have for it will be considered and if used it will be noted with credit to your username. *Italicized words are for the MC''s thoughts, spoken words will have quotations (obviously). Arc 1 Freedom has its price Chapter 1 The world as I know it and new beginnings In 2045 the first fully immersive virtual reality system was finally developed by a company contracted by the United States army. It was near indistinguishable from reality and was designed to give soldiers experiences during their training that they wouldn''t normally get without years of active combat. A consumer version of the device didn''t appear for another decade due to the tech not being released until Russia revealed their own working device, roughly 4 years after the US. The remaining 6 years were taken up adapting and changing parts of the system for civilian use as the military didn''t ask for or want a pain reduction system, easily transported modules and other such things. At the end of the year 2055 the Flow pod was officially announced by the parent corporation of the not yet formed Breeze Entertainment, Albion Limited. It understandably sold out within days of it being put on sale and generated a large amount of profit for AL despite the high price of a unit and the lack of programs for the system. A few months after the pod started selling the first virtual reality game for the unit was announced, a standard First Person Shooter type game. The game had about 60% realism but beyond that and the ability to be your character inherent in a VR game had little other to offer. Over the next decade several game companies tried unsuccessfully to provide the game experience the people craved. In all attempts amongst the different genres the highest realism rating was only 81% and the only a few games newer games managed to achieve a time dilation effect, though only at a 1:2 ratio. This wasn''t from a lack of technology necessary to achieve higher numbers but rather a lack of understanding of it. AL had released the initial software necessary to create games for the Flow pod when they announced the device. This software was severely limited and was not designed to make full use of the pod, when asked why this was the case they refused to comment. All improvements to the software were made by individual companies and the secrets to how they did so were jealously guarded. The companies that were not able to keep up with the leading developers tried to force the information from Albion through legal action however all attempts to do so failed quite badly. So instead of trying to improve the software they instead switched gears and came at the problem from the hardware side of things. These companies started releasing their own VR devices that could match up to the leading game companies that worked with the Flow pod. This led to the a big VR boom with new rigs, helmets, pods and glasses being sold on the market with an ever growing number of games to match. Until last year (2068) there has yet to any game that could fully realize the potential of the Flow pod nor any alternate device that could offer more than 86% realism or more than an a 1:3 time dilation effect. When Breeze Entrainment unveiled their new game engine FREE and the VRMMORPG announced along with it FREE World the full abilities of the Flow pod were finally properly utilized. Besides taking full advantage of the pod to provide 99% realism and a time dilation effect of 1:6 the FREE engine enables games built with it the ability to evolve thanks to the AI program embedded in it. The AI not only monitors games built with the system to prevent hacking, fix bugs and keep game balance but can also continuously generate new content based on the parameters developers give it. Each game created on it will be almost completely unique as each new game requires a base copy of FREE to be used. The AI in the base version of FREE has only a bare bones foundation at the beginning and can''t be given data from a different FREE AI. This means no AI can develop or make decisions exactly like or for the exact same reasons as another. FREE World being the first game designed on the engine is the pioneer and flag bearer for the next big wave of VR games. Despite the amount of attention being paid to this game little information about its contents is known. The only thing known about the game is the level of realism, td effect, the genre and the simple tagline "no restrictions". So far 30 million copies have been pre-ordered with a wait list of another 30 million for future copies, making it one of the best selling games for the pod in recent history. All I know is that I cant wait to try it. I preceded to walk back to my seat after giving a brief overview of VR to my class. Man that sucked, I didn''t think this professor was so strict. Yeah I fell asleep and all but I was in the back row and it was the last part of the class, he could at least give me a break this one time. At least I looked over the notes for the today''s lesson already otherwise that would have been a disaster. On the plus side at least I got to show off my awesome bull shitting skills to my professor. Who knows it might have even mitigated the bad impression he got of me. When I finally got back to her seat and sat back down the professor started talking. "A most succinct overview of today''s lesson Ms. Kiell, I''m glad you paid attention to at least the basics of what I''ve said today." I couldn''t help but call out, "I''d prefer that you call me Sandra, Mr. White." Staring at me for a bit he nods then says "Ok I''ll endeavor to remember that, if anyone else has a preference for what I call you please write it next to your name on the sign in sheet. Moving on, I know I already handed everyone the syllabus but I wanted to emphasize the importance of doing the recommended readings for next class. If you fall behind it will be hard to understanding the lesson, as today was just an introduction the class basically rehashed the readings instead of building off them. This will not be the case for future lessons. That''s the end of the class, hope you all have a good weekend." I packed up my stuff and left my intro to VR class and headed towards my apartment. Me being a Junior at UCLA meant I no longer had to live in on campus housing and not only was the apartment cheaper than a dorm room, it was bigger and closer to my classes as well. I shared the apartment with my best friend she met during her first year, Dave Hersh. We had met during orientation week at the Spectrum (the student run LGBT group at the school) mixer and became fast friends as we shared similar interests and were both computer science majors. We''ve been through good and bad times together, from Dave''s coming out to his parents (bad) to my winning a scholarship (good) so when it came time to find a roommate for the apartment is was natural that I picked him. Although at the time I didn''t realize how much he ''loved'' his boyfriend. Bastard kept me up most of the night leaving me only 3 hours of actual sleep, hence my earlier sleep escapade during class. Still it''s good to see him happy with some one who loves him, he needs it after what his parents said. Reaching the apartment I checked my mail box and found the package I''d been waiting for all week, a small brown box from Breeze Entertainment. Excited I took the stairs two at a time till I reached the 4th floor and then I dashed to my apartment,4B. Unlocking the door I yell "Hey Dave, you here?" I hears muffled cursing coming from Dave''s room. "Don''t tell me you''re still asleep, its nearly 10 am and I know you have class in half an hour" The door opens and Dave shuffles out of the room like a zombie "Yeah, yeah don''t remind me." *yawning*"God I need more sleep, and some food...and no class". You need more sleep? you''re not the one who had to wake up at 6 after being kept up till 3 by two 6 ft tall men having sex in the room next door. Of course I''m not going to mention that...for now. "We all do honey but maybe you should try going to bed earlier if you''re going to complain about being tired after nearly sleeping through your class." Whoops a bit harsher than what I wanted, I blame the sleep dep. Oh well not like he''ll really mind the tone. "What? You tired too?" "That Obvious?" "Just a bit." "Well my sleep wasn''t the best, what can you do." Blushing a bit Dave asks "Uh, we didn''t...disturb your sleep last night did we? Sorry I hadn''t seen Blake in awhile and kind of needed some.. comfort". "No, No just wasn''t very restful sleep, wasn''t your fault" Not really "Phew, that''s good, anyway you only had the one class today right? Then you could just go take a nice nap for a few hours". "I would but guess what just came in the mail, my copy of FREE World!" "Really? Damn I wouldn''t sleep either. Still can''t believe you were able to get a copy, those things sold faster than water in a desert. I''m still on the wait list, least I''m in the upper quarter, guarantees I get a copy as long as I have the money when the next batch gets sold." "Perks of working for the company in charge my friend, even if it was temporary and unpaid. Who says internships are just for padding resumes. Anyways I''m going to go set it up, get something to eat and get to class, also Blake said he''d see you at The Bite at 5." "Ok, have fun with your game, I gotta hurry." Grabbing a bagel and a bottle of water Dave runs out of the apartment leaving me alone. Now then, let''s go see what all the mystery was about shall we? Entering my room I see my drawings lining the wall my Flow pod rests against. Smiling I look at the drawing I''m most proud of, a depiction of the sea during a hurricane. Remembering the hours spent throwing away attempt after attempt until finally I was satisfied it captured the fury of a true hurricane brought a wry smile to my lips. Quickly opening my package I found a drive with the words FREE World, with the image of unattached wings on it along with a manual. Briefly skimming the manual I noticed it didn''t contain any information on the game, just the installation process and legal mumbo jumbo. Shrugging to myself I hooked up the drive and hoped into the pod and said "program start" and then my vision faded to black. My vision slowly returned and I was greeted by the sight of a strange metallic human figure. The figure I noted had no features just a vague human shape and a silver metallic color. As if noticing me examining its figure, which it probably did though it''s hard to tell as it doesn''t have eyes, it turned to face her. "Welcome to FREE World, I''m an administrative program created by the AI of this game to guide you through the character creation process. Please note that while I can only answer questions about the character creation and will no respond to other questions. Would you like to begin the character creation process?" Though a bit unnerved by the featureless...thing talking without a mouth I decide to just ignore it and respond with a simple "yes". "Very well. Unlike any other RPG or MMORPG FREE World has no set races or base template to choose from. All characters are created entirely by the player including starting stats, skills, traits, starting equipment, resource pool and appearances. You are given a limited number of points to spend in order to change this things. Note appearance starts out with how your look in reality and changes are added to that template, some changes may cost you points. There is a limit to some changers however, height cant be increased above 8 ft or below 2ft. Depending on the severity of the change points may be added or subtracted as your appearance will have an affect in game. For example a person with 10 str and is 8 ft tall will be stronger than someone with a similar str stat that is 2ft. If you give you character changes that give disadvantages that aren''t cosmetic, such as making them blind, would give you extra points to put towards something else. Note ailments, such as blindness, that give you extra points might have the potential to be fixed during your play and thus ailments that are potentially harder to fix net more points. All players start with 200 points to spend, note it is recommended that player''s design their characters in the way they wish to play as their is no class system in the game. The costs for changes in appearance will be listed near your character as you create it. Costs for stat increases, skills and traits will be appear when you click on them. Equipment costs appear as a ''price-tag'' or a plaque near the item. You may now begin creating your character, to make appearance changes just describe what you desire out loud. To purchase stats call up your status by calling out status menu. To purchase skills/traits call out skill list. To purchase equipment call out item store. Final note, it is recommended that you look over everything briefly first as the costs of certain things might shape your decisions during character creation. If you have any questions feel free to ask, I will now go on standby." This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. I was a bit stunned by the information she received. It really lives up to its slogan, no restrictions, hell there''s not even any suggestions. Still this is really fucking cool, I get to be whatever and whoever I want. No other game can compare to the amount of freedom this has. Turning to look at the copy of myself I decided to heed the final recommendation and look over the costs of the various options before diving into her creating her character. "Increase height to the maximum amount and add an additional pair of arms underneath the current set, adjusting body shape and structure to make them fully functional." Her 5ft 9 copy suddenly towered over her, its 2 pairs of arms crossed menacingly over her chest that had now increased in bulk by about 20%. It was quite impressive and looking next to my character''s head I saw the number +30 flashing. Turning to the administrator I asked "are additions like more arms, a tail or wings fully functional in game or are there limitations?" "Any additions to your character are fully functional in game as long as your adjust your character''s body to be able to accommodate the changes properly. However there is no assistance with new appendages or other such changes and the player must figure out how to control them by themselves. The level of control is entirely up the player''s aptitude, any change can be made to be 100% controlled as long as the player has the ability." Interesting, that means that a player can potentially have something like a pair of wings and learn how to fly in game or 4 more arms and use them all independently. I start to think of the many interesting possibilities this system offers, staring off into space for a few minutes. Returning back to the present I say "revert character back to initial appearance. "Status menu" Code:
Status Window
Name:???Alignment:???
Level:1Class:??
Race:??Gender:Female
Titles
??
Fame:??Infamy:??
-
Health:?? / ??Health Regen:?.? / Sec
???:?? / ?????:?.? / Sec
Stamina:?? / ??Stamina Regen:?.? / Sec
-
Strength:0Agility:0
Vitality:0
Intelligence:0Wisdom:0
Endurance:0Luck:0
-
Attack:??Defense:??
Clicking on strength I read the description, it was fairly self explanatory it increases physical attack. Increasing it by 2 costs 1 point, after 6 increasing it by 1 costs 1 point and after 10 increasing it by 1 costs 2 points. "Skill List." In front of me appears a long list of skills with descriptions. Luckily there''s a search bar otherwise looking for a specific skill would be a hassle. Skimming through the lists I find the lowest skill cost is 5 points while the highest is 70. Quite the range isn''t there, best to only get a few skills at the beginning, I''m sure I can get more skill''s in game if I want. "Item store" Suddenly the blank white room increases in size and changes its appearance into that of a general store. A large number of items shows up, from plate armor and katanas to wheels of cheese and rope. Looking at the cheese I see the cost to be 1 point per wheel while a full set of plate armor costs 30 points, there''s also individual costs for the different parts of the armor. Briefly browsing the store I find the most expensive item to be 50 points while the least expensive being 1 point. Well know that I''ve gotten a look at the costs I think it''s time to finally start creating my character. After saying "bring up character appearance" the room returns to its original appearance with her character in the middle of the room. Hmm now what to do? I want to be something cool and unique, not a generic RPG trope. I got it! "Give character draconic scales coming from the top of the hand along the arm to 2 1/2 inches below the arm meets the shoulder. Also give Draconic scales from the top of the feet along the leg to 2inches above the knee. Have Draconic scales starting at the bottom of the neck and to 1/4 inch on the cheeks, the scales should start fading away as they reach that point starting from where the neck meets the head. Add a 3ft long proportionally sized to my body draconic tail and scales along the spine not going further out than an inch to either side of the spine. All scales should be black with a violet tint to them. Fingers and toes should end in small inch long black claws. Knees and elbows should have short 2 inch black spikes growing out of them. Change eyes to those of a dragon and make their color deep purple. Add two horns on either side of my forehead that are 4 inches long the start out going to the side then slowing curving back in then pointing straight out. Grow hair out to 2 feet, change the color to be the same as the scales and have the hair going straight down my back. Make my character be fully functional with the changes." Phew that was more in depth than I''ve ever described something before. Worth it though cause damn does my character now look like a hardcore badass. Looking at the number next to her character I was surprised by the cost. 85 fucking points are you kidding? Guess that''s the price of making my character a non-human weapon but jeez, gona need to carefully ration my remaining points now. I wonder if I could make some changes to decrease the cost that don''t affect appearance too much. "Make character unable to eat food other than meat" Looking to the points she sees the cost drop down to 80. Sweet looks like it works, although no matter however much I like meat I can''t play this game without any other food. Now that I know that this works however I can get some points back. "Undo previous change. Make character unable to eat vegetables or drink anything besides water and alcohol. Make character have half as much resistance to cold as a normal human. Give character 10% reduction in eyesight during the day." The number now flashing near my character is 70. Better, now on to stats. I decide to set everything but luck to 10 and luck to 6 , costing 45 points I also chose mana as my resource. 85 points left. Time for skills. Pondering over what to do with my character I decide that I should take advantage of my weaponized body and get a close combat skill. Next up should be something fun, so something to do with magic. Looking through the magic related skills she finds something interesting. Code:
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
Imagination is MagicBeginner10%
Imagination is a wonderful thing, some would even say it''s magical. A creative mind can be the difference between victory and defeat
Though it costs 55 points it''s definitely falls under the category of fun, it''s also potentially really good depending on how It works. Deciding to buy it I quickly search for a close combat skill and finds one for 15 points that suits my purposes. Code:
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
Martial Combatbeginner10%
Skill at using your body for combat. 10% increase in damage when using your body to fight
Finally time for equipment. Since I don''t have many points left It''s best to go for basic stuff. Calling up the item shop I decide on buying three day''s worth of basic food and water for 2 points each, a set of basic cloth clothes for 2 points, a skinning knife for 2 points, a basic backpack for 3 points, flint and steel for 1 point, a carving knife for 2 points, and a small mining pick for 2 points. "I''m done making my character" The administrator faces me once again "are you sure you wish to make this character you only get 2 character slots and you must delete your character before you may create a new one in that slot" "Yes I''m sure" "Very well, please set a name for your character" Thinking about it for a second I decide on my name "I want my character to be called Calamity". --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for reading the first chapter of my first work I know I have much to work on but I hope that you enjoyed reading this. Like I stated before I appreciate any feedback you have, just post it below and I''ll definitely read it. Thanks, Ren Waya Chapter 2 Its going to be a long game Author''s Note: Same stuff as last time, Italicized words are for the MC''s thoughts, spoken words will have quotations, feed back is appreciated, yada yada yada. Edited last chapter a bit when I looked over it and realized that some stuff like format didn''t and italics didn''t carry over from word, dumb mistake but it''s my first time posting on RR so shouldn''t happen again. Arc 1 Freedom has its price Chapter 2 It''s going to be a long game "Welcome, Calamity, to FREE World, however you are unable to access the rest of the game until 6pm when the servers go live, while you are able to stay here until the game launches it is not recommended." Oh, right, forgot about that, oh well it''ll go by faster in real. "Alright then, Logout" After I give the command a similar sequence happens to when I logged in, a fade to blackness then slowly being able to see again, only this time I ''wake up'' in my pod. Looking at the clock on my nightstand I see that''s only 10:30. Guess they weren''t lying about that time dilation effect. I have never spent so long making a character before, yet in reality only about half an hour has passed, damn nearly broke my record for fastest character creation, if you judge it by real time that is. I still have more than 5 hours before I can actually play, might as well get ahead with my school work so I don''t have to worry about making time when I want to play. Walking over to my desk I turn on my laptop and start working on my assignments, mostly readings as this was the first week of class. At around 12:30 I get myself some lunch, going back to work at 1. Continuing with my readings I start getting distracted, looking at the time I see it''s only 3:45. Damn still more than 2 hours to go, I need a break. Deciding to take a small break I head to the FREE World website and start browsing the forums. No new information, but this new thread seems like an interesting way to kill some time Clicking on a new thread called Player Characters I see a large number of posts with pictures of player characters. Looking through the posts I notice most are fairly bland, mainly a mix of elf, dwarf and barbarian types. Though a few interesting ones popped up here and there. One was a sort of lizard human hybrid but with a pair of bat wings on their back. Another was some sort of large rock golem creature with a beak for a mouth and talons on its fingers. Finishing the thread I notice I had spent half an hour on my break. Deciding that I could deal with working for the remaining time I get back to my readings. I end up finishing them by 5:50, just in time for the game. Making a quick dinner and leaving a note for Dave telling him I''ll likely be playing most of the night and to not worry about disturbing me. Heading back to my room I quickly enter my pod and say "program start" the familiar transition sequence occurs and I find myself back in the white room with Calamity standing in the middle of the room. Looking towards the wall I see a Countdown clock with 6 (in game minutes) remaining. Maybe I should have waited until the game started, going to be a long 6 minutes just standing here. Oh well not worth it to log out then back in again. Slowly the countdown ticked down until it finally reached the last few seconds. 5 4 3 2 1 When the countdown finishes I notice a new message screen hovering in front of Calamity
Would you like to play this character? yes/no
Walking over and clicking on the yes button I get enveloped in blinding white light. The light slowly starts to fade and I find myself standing in a grassy plane. Looking around I notice a couple hundred other players in the vicinity as well. Looks like I grouped up with a bunch of unoriginal people huh? The most unique character besides me looks like a dark elf. Are they all content to be boring ass humans, or are they just not that creative? Shrugging I try to take a step forward, and promptly fell backwards landing. What the? My backpack can''t be that heavy can it? Rolling over and pushing my self back up I promptly fell back down, only this time on my face.Spitting out a mouthful of grass I look around and notice a bunch of players looking at my, laughing their asses off. Keeping my temper at bay I shout out "What never seen a dragon person play in the dirt before?" I get a few chuckles out of the players. Scene over they slowly start going away, looking for some monsters to fight or a nearby town probably. Trying to roll myself over I realize I''m stuck. "Oh for the love of... I forgot I had fucking horns!" I get on my hands and knees and push my self up, freeing my horns from the ground. Damn that was embarrassing, I kind of forgot I had horns on my head. Wait...Shit I gave myself a tail too, no wonder I feel over, my balance is completely out of whack because of it. Mentally slapping myself for the stupid mistake I slowly ease myself into a sitting position, moving my tail with my hands to circle coil around me. I really need to figure out how to use this thing. It''s going to be hard to get move around with it just dragging around behind me. Putting the problem to the side for now I notice a flashing icon in the corner of my vision. Focusing on it a few messages pop up.
Please enter a name for your race.
Please enter a name for your class.
Note there is no effect from class or race, its only a personalization feature
Opening up my status screen I think about what to put down. The race is fairly easy but what should I put for my class? It''s not like I have a clear idea about what I want to be yet. Mulling over the question I decide to just go with something that has no obvious meaning, unlike a warrior or mage, that sounded cool.
Status Window
Name:CalamityAlignment:???
Level:1Class:Wandering Dragon
Race:DraconianGender:Female
Titles
??
Fame:0Infamy:0
-
Health:100 / 100Health Regen:0.2%/ Sec
Mana:100 / 100Mana Regen:0.2%/ Sec
Stamina:100 / 100Stamina Regen:0.2% / Sec
-
Strength:10Agility:10
Vitality:10
Intelligence:10Wisdom:10
Endurance:10Luck:6
-
Attack:10Defense:10
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Satisfied with my decision I close the menu and turn to the problem at hand, actually being able to move with my character. Maybe the tail wasn''t such a good idea, yeah it''s cool and all but now I''m going to need to figure out how to work it if I even want to get back up on my feet. Still it could be worse, could have gotten my tail tied up in a knot or something. First order of business it to figure out how I move this thing, then I can try to stand up and then I can finally start playing the game. Resolving myself to the task at hand I focus on trying to move my tail. At first I tried to will it to move, sort of like directing it with my mind. Needles to say that failed. Seeing that that wasn''t an option I started to focus more on the sensations the tail gave me. The sensation of the grass slowly waving against it, the feeling of warmth from the sun and other similar stimulus. The more I focused on it the easier it was to perceive them, it didn''t help me move it but it did let me know that it was as much a part of me as my arms or legs. Thinking about a method to help me start moving it I came up with the idea of trying to get it to ''twitch'' by trying to contract the muscle on my lower back. Though it was about difficult I manage after a few tries and lo and behold the tail actually bounced up a bit. Nice! Now that I know what muscles it''s connected to on my back it should be a bit easier to figure out how to move it. "Though that''s what I thought it still took me 2 hours before I made any progress" I grumble under my breath Still now that I''ve manage to move it a bit without ''twitching'' all that''s required now is practice. I''m still not quite sure how I managed that but I''m not about to complain For 2 more hours I practiced moving it before I was able to exert about as much control on it as I do with one of my toes. Confident enough to at least be able to balance myself I try to stand up. The first try ended up while my falling back down onto my butt but the second time I somehow managed to keep myself from falling by pointing my tail straight back rigidly. Finally back on my feet, now onto the final stage: moving! Before I tried taking a step I noticed another flashing icon in my vision. Deciding to take care of this before I tried moving I focused on the it and a message popped up.
Due to your actions you have earned new skills
Curious about what I obtained I opened my skill list and found I had gotten 3 new skills.
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
PerseveranceBeginner10%
When trying to solve a difficult or lengthy problem you are more likely to find a solution.
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
ConcentrationBeginner10%
When focusing wholly on a task you are able to complete it 10% faster but are unable to notice changes in your surroundings
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
Night VisionBeginner10%
Do to the unique physiology of your character you are able to see clearly in the dark as long as there is enough ambient light.
Shocked by the last skill I look around and notice that it is indeed night time and there are no longer any players near me any more. It seems like the game started at the same time as in reality, interesting but not too important. I guess having dragon eyes gives more than just a cosmetic effect. I wonder if my other chances can have hidden benefits as well. It''s fairly likely but I don''t really feel like exploring the possibly right now, I''ll come back to it later. Closing the skill list I prepare to take my first step in FREE World, as I lift my leg .. I promptly fell back down. I Sigh, "this is going to be a long night". Author''s Note: Thanks for reading, same stuff as last time: leaving corrections and suggestions in the comments. I will be putting up a post with an explanation of some basic stuff for FREE World, ill be updating it as we go along and learn more about the game. Thanks Ren Waya Basic info for FREE World Strength: Increases physical attack 1 point = 1 physical attack Agility: Increase crit chance and reaction speed 10 point = .1% crit chance Vitality: increases health pool and health regen 1 point = 10 hp, 10 points = 1 hp/s (base regen is 1 hp/s) Endurance: increases stamina and stamina regen 1 pt = 10 stamina, 10 points = .1% stam/s (base regen .1% stam/s) Wisdom: increases mana regen This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.10 points = .1% mana/s (base regen .1%/sec) Intelligence: increase mana pool 1 point = 10 mp Luck: Increases chance of good things happening and slightly increases chance to avoid attacks 10 point = .1% dodge chance Starting physical defense is 10 Regen for health doesn''t take place during combat (might change with certain skills we''ll see). Regen for the resources is half of the listed value in combat. Chapter 3 Sometimes you need to learn to run before you can walk Author''s Note If you''ve read the first 2 chapters then you know the spiel, comment suggestions, corrections and feedback below (I do read it and I do reply). Finally getting to some fun stuff this chapter and a bit more info about the game, hope you enjoy. Arc 1 Freedom has its price Chapter 3 Sometimes you need to learn to run before you can walk Getting back on my feet I once again try to take a step forward only this time I manage to do so without falling thanks to paying a bit more attention to my tail. Taking another step I stumble a bit but still end up succeeding in not falling over. Confident that I can at least start moving away from the starting zone I start walking in the same direction I saw most of the other players take. I wont call what I did walking, hell it''s barely graceful enough to be called an awkward version of waddling, but at least I''m up and moving. I''m sure by the time I run into anyone I''ll have perfected the movement enough to not embarrass myself...I hope. As I ''walk'' the terrain slowly changes from a grassy plain to a lush forest. Stepping over some thick tree roots I issue a silent pray of thanks to my Night Vision skill, otherwise walking through a forest at night would be a deadly hazard for my ankles. When I''m fully inside the wood line, the plain roughly 10 yards behind me, that I have received yet another notification. Focusing on it a system message pops up.
System Message
You have left a safe zone and are entering a combat zone. As it is your first time leaving a safe zone pain threshold has been capped at 25%. Every 50 levels the cap is increased by 10% until level 350 which is the final cap at 90%. If you wish to reduce the pain threshold you may do so 24 hours upon getting your first kill. Note the threshold may not go below 20% and reducing the threshold negatively effects quest rewards, drop chance, fame and experience gain as well as reducing probably of stat increases or skill gains from your actions.
Wow, that''s quite the system. I feel sorry for hardcore gamers aiming for the top, they''re going to have a long road of suffering ahead. Well that explains why they didn''t mean the pain setting for game along with the realism and TD*. *TD is short for time dilation for those that didn''t get it* Closing the window I continue walking, though a bit more cautious now that I realize I''m I can encounter a mob at any point now. Walking for a few minutes with nothing happening I start to relax until I hear the distant howling of a wolf. OK that doesn''t sound good, hopefully that wasn''t about me. I hear more howling in answer to the first coming from off in the distance in front of me. Deciding to change my direction to avoid potentially walking into any hungry wolves I veer off 45 degrees to the right of my original heading. Continuing on my way I continue to hear howling intermediately coming from either side of me. For now they still sound distant but sounds in a forest can be deceiving and soon enough I start hearing their calls from all directions, sounding like they are almost on top of me. Shit, please tell me my luck isn''t that bad. All I wanted was to find some other players and hopefully have them guide me to a town or at least party up with while I get used to my character. Fighting a hungry pack of wolves was definitely not my intention. Alas my luck really was that bad and soon enough I see an ever growing number of wolves dashing around the trees, in circling me. As the wolves start trickling in the circle gets tighter and tighter until they are no more than 10 yards from me. When the last wolf shows up there are 25 in the encirclement each wolf staring at me and making a low growling sound from the back of their throats. By this point I''ve stopped moving as any attempt to move forward was met with a louder growling sound the wolves hunching down reading to charge forward. Trying to swallow past the lump in my throat I focus my gaze on one of the wolves.
Pack Wolf
Level1
Health100/100Stamina150/150
Only level 1, wouldn''t be that if not for the fact that they''re 25 of them and they don''t seem like they''ll come one at a time. I''m probably going to die here but hopefully I''ll get a few hits in before I go down, who knows I might somehow manage to get away. The last thought is more of a wish than anything but resolving myself to at least try to resist I get into a basic combat stance. Luckily with my previous game experience and the self defense lessons my mother insisted on before I went to college I''m fairly confident in my ability to fight. Granted, none of that experience was with a tail but it''s better than nothing. Sighing to myself I look around trying to get the measure of the wolves surrounding me. I notice that some seemed a bit bigger but before I can focus to much on one and bring up up its info three of the apparently smallest wolves start edging forward. One of them I noted was the one whose window I brought up previously, as its name was visible above it''s head. I note that no other wolf had their name above their heads meaning either you had to identify them individually to get them to show up or that none of them were the same. Hopefully not the latter one as it probably doesn''t bode well for me if they''re not all the same. As the 3 wolves get closer I start tensing up, bracing for myself for their charge. When they finally get to within 5 yards they suddenly take off like a rocket narrowing the remaining distance in a split second. I threw a punch angled down towards them in anticipation of them getting in range by the time it ends. However, I ended up overcompensating for the punch and thanks to my awkward balance I start falling while doing a sort of half spin looking thing like a fool. Even if I hadn''t screwed up the punch it wouldn''t have connected as the wolves jumped at me before they got into punch range. I of course didn''t see this as, thanks to my screw up, I was falling down with my back towards them. Bracing myself to take some pain, I was almost disappointed when it didn''t come. Instead I felt a dull impact on my along my tail and out of the corner of my eye I see the wolves flying by, yelping in mild pain and annoyance. Taking the opportunity I quickly get back on my feet. What just happened? Did I just manage to bitch slap them with my tail on accident? I stare blankly at my tail for a bit then quickly snap out of it and focus once again on the wolves. Looking at the wolf I had identified previously I notice its health has gone down by 15 whole points. Excited by prospect of potentially winning this fight I try to bring up one of the other two wolves windows, and promptly lost any excitement.
Pack Wolf
Level2
Health135/140Stamina140/160
Well that answers one my questions. Looks like it''s a bit of both them being different and having to focus on them individually. I look at the remaining wolf''s window that''s now hovering above its head and grumble to myself about bad luck and stupid dogs.
Pack Wolf
Level2
Health145/150Stamina130/150
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Resolving myself to the shitty situation I managed to get myself into I get back into a fighting stance and watch as the wolves, now looking a bit more cautious, get ready to attack again. Using them same tactic as earlier they run charge at me and jump before the get into the range of my fist. This being my first time actually seeing them do this (as my back was turned the last time) I once again launched a punch angled down towards the leading wolf. Unlike last time I managed to throw the punch successfully only it cleanly missed all three wolves who were now sailing through the air towards my throat. Reacting in panic I throw up my remaining arm in front of my face and stumble backwards, tripping yet again. The first wolf reaches me and clamps down on my arm with its teeth dealing 5 damage. The remaining two wolves had aimed a bit lower than the first (weakest wolf and thanks combination of them jumping further away and my tripping backwards bit down on my thighs (1 per leg). These wolves did 20 damage each, bringing my total health down to 55. In the back of my mind I note the disparity that the disparity in the damage was more than what you''d expect from just one level. Of course this thought was swiftly buried as I had to focus on the battle at hand. "You fucking mangy mutts, get off me!" Understandably I was a bit peeved as even though the pain was only 1/4 of normal it was still quite uncomfortable to have 3 different sets of teeth piercing my skin. Although the feeling from my legs was worse than from my arm I noted filing that the thought away with my previous observation. Taking advantage of the fact that the wolves were stuck to me and couldn''t dodge, I quickly punched them in the head before they could start dealing more damage. Unlike when I managed to hit them with my tail I only did about half as much damage. Once again making small yelping sounds the wolves let go and back off slightly giving me room to stand back up and think. Realizing that my thoughts of winning the fight were foolish as even if I pulled off a miracle and beat these ones there were still 20 more unidentified wolves surrounding me I start thinking up a new plan. OK if winning isn''t an option my only choice is to run away, even though I can''t even walk properly yet. Still it isn''t in my nature not to try and even if I trip it''s not like I wasn''t going to die anyways. Now how do I break the encirclement long enough for me to run through? Mulling over the problem I notice out of the corner of my eye that the remaining wolves have come closer and are only about 10 feet away. Suddenly hit by an idea I return my attention to the three wolves, praying that I don''t get pounced on by the ones at my back before I''m able to try my plan. Once again the wolves gear up for their attack run only this time I know it''s coming and react accordingly. As they get near I once more throw a punch only this time it''s aiming at the proper height for when they jump. The first wolf to jump takes a hit to the fact and drops to the ground like a rock. The remaining two are undeterred however and launch themselves at my simultaneously. Quickly stepping back I manage to block one with my arm again while the other latched onto my shoulder. Grimacing due to the discomfort I punch the wolf attached to my arm in the head which, like last time, caused it to let go. Now with both my arms free I grab onto the bottom legs of the remaining wolf and shout out. "FLY YOU BASTARD!" After which, using the as much strength as I could muster, I threw the wolf towards the wolves at my back. Not bothering to wait to check the effectiveness of my plan I start to run after the crying wolf. The running was more like a faster version of my previous waddle mixed with a bit of skipping but it worked well enough for me to run through the brief gap in the encirclement. Can''t believe that actually worked, hell yeah! Now all I need to do is run through the rest of the forest and avoid running into any more monsters all the while keeping ahead of an angry wolf pack...simple. I made it only a few yards passed the encirclement before the wolves started to give chase. I wasn''t able to get much of a lead and thanks to my not very well coordinated run it was not going to last long at all. It was a matter of seconds before I could hear the low angry growls of 25 wolves coming from behind me and when I dared take a look behind me all rational thoughts of it being ''just a game'' flew out the window. Fuck it! Do or die time now, either this next trick works or I''m about to be dog food. Forgoing any thought of dignity I change my posture for running into a quasi imitation of a velociraptor by sticking my tail straight out behind me and hunching over slightly. Surprisingly it work and I started to ever so slowly put distance between me and the ravenous mobs at my back. Unfortunately it''s really hard to maintain the rigidity necessary to keep my tail straight when I have had so little experience in dealing with one. As such I only managed to run for about a minute before my tail fell and with it all semblance of balance. In what has become a common theme for me I fell. The good news is I seem to be gaining more awareness of my horns and was able to avoid landing face first and getting stuck unto them. The bad news is that the wolves caught up and promptly pounced on me. The last thing I saw before I died was the mouth of a very angry wolf. [tr]
System Message
You have died. Choose a resurrection option
Resurrect at your saved location? y/nRun back to your body? y/n
I click yes on the first option and am teleported back to the plain I started the game at. [tr]
System Message
Do to you not having an appropriate located saved for resurrection you have been sent back to the last safe area you''ve been to.
System Message
Do to you being only level one and having no experience points the death penalty did not have an effect.
Sighing I close the message windows. Well at least I didn''t stat points or something, that would have been bad. I think it would be a good idea to become properly adjusted to my new body before I try to leave again. Fortunately, or unfortunately, my last attempt at running gave me an idea on how to do move better. Good thing no one is around to see this. Finishing my thoughts a bitter smile appears on my face. Double checking to make sure no other players were around I once again start my velociraptor run. While it looks silly it''s a lot more coordinated than my walking at the moment and gives me a better feeling for where my center of balance is. As a side benefit it also helps me gives me a bit more control over my tail. Still I won''t be keeping my posture like this, I''d die from embarrassment. Once I get proper control over my body that''s the first thing I''m going to fix or my name isn''t Sandra Kiell. I run around the plains for about an hour before stopping and eating some of the food and water I bought during the character creation. As one would expect from food costing only 2 points it was very bland but it at least filled my hunger. After which I continued running about the field. Could be worse I thought, at least I can see and it''s only a matter of time before I get used to this body, hopefully soon enough that I wont run out of food. The last thought echoing in my head I look at the (in game) time and see it''s 2 am. I redouble my efforts. Author''s Note Same stuff I said at the top. Thanks for reading my latest chapter of FREE, I hope you enjoyed it. Ren Waya Chapter 4 The Rising Sun Author''s Note This chapter is bit more dialogue heavy than previous chapters, hope it works out well. Please post any feedback (good or bad) below, suggestions for the story and general writing tips are also appreciated. PS. The positive comments I''ve gotten have made the past couple of days pretty happy for me, many thanks. Arc 1 Freedom has its price Chapter 4 The rising sun I continue practicing for the rest of the night only stopping when I collapsed in exhaustion in the early morning. As I lay in the grass catching my breath I look up into the sky seeing the first rays of light peek over the horizon. Sitting up I look towards the direction of the light and watch the sun slowly rise. Briefly glancing towards the in game clock I notice the time is now 6 am. "Well guess I should get moving" I sigh out loud as I prepare to stand back up "Why? You don''t sound that excited about it" an unknown voice replies from behind me. Startled I quickly get up and spin around to face the source of the voice and find a player standing there. Unlike the generic characters the other players that logged in with me had she went with something truly unique. Standing at around 6 foot flat her skin was almost pure white but exuded a sort of yellowish light from some unknown source. Along both her arms and legs there are lines of bright red feathers that have a fire like pattern. On her face are tattoos that come up from her neck and end on her cheeks in the shape and color of fire. Her eyes look like miniature suns and her hair is fiery red like her feathers (eyebrows included) and short and spiky. Unlike me who''s wearing basic cloth shorts and a tunic she''s wearing a plain white dress. Realizing that I''ve been staring at her character for a few seconds I quickly get embarrassed, until I notice that she was doing the same thing to me. Apparently she didn''t notice my appearance as she was standing behind me. Well this situation is getting a bit awkward, time to break the ice. Faking a couch I introduce myself. "Hello my name is Calamity" Thanks to my cough she notices what she was doing and quickly shakes herself out of it. Smiling faintly she returns the greetings. "Hello Calamity my name is Salvation" "Heh, how ironic. Not only do we look like opposite but are names are opposites as well" "Really? I don''t think they''re really opposites. You can''t have light without darkness and you can''t have salvation without something to be saved from." A bit taken aback I say "Huh I didn''t think about that angle, how interesting. Anyways I wasn''t expecting another character to be here, the group I spawned with all left a long time ago. Why are you here and more importantly how long have you been there?" "Ah I was afraid of that, I got back home late due to circumstances in real life and by the time I managed to log in it was already 7:30. With the time it took my create my character I only got into the game a few minutes ago. Why is it more important to know how long I''ve been here?" "Ah...that...well..you see" Blushing a bit as I remember my training I struggle to come up with an answer. "hmmmm? Does it have anything to do with the reason why you''re still here when all the other player left?" "umm...well.." "Is it perhaps something really embarrassing? I wonder what it could be?" She says while giving me impish grin. My face gets even more red and I avert my eyes. "You see it''s not like it was something bad and I mean who wouldn''t have to do it if they were in my shoes, there''s nothing wrong with doing something embarrassing if it''s your only choice right!?!?" I hear muffled laughing and as I look up and Salvation sees my face she can no longer hold herself back and starts cracking up. "its not funny" I mumble while she continues to laugh at me. After a few more seconds she apologizes. "Sorry, sorry its just that seeing a bad ass looking black dragon human hybrid have their cheeks flush bright red in embarrassment is not something I would have thought I''d ever see." Sighing I accept her apology. "It''s fine, to be honest I would have likely done something similar in your shoes." "Haha thanks, well I think that settles it. Let''s be friends." Saying so she sends over a a friend request.
Friend Request
Player Salvation wants to be friends. Accept?yes/no
Looking at the message I shrug and click yes. "Good now where is the nearest town, do you know?" "I''m not sure, but a majority of players went in that direction and none have come back so that''s as good a direction as any" I say while pointing in the same direction I traveled last night. Curiously I note that unlike last night I can''t see the first few feet into the wood line. Guess that''s the effect of the 10% reduction in eyesight during the day I gave my character. Didn''t notice it before because I was too busy eating dirt during the last bit of daylight yesterday. "Hmmm, alright thanks. I think I''m going follow their lead then." Saying this she starts walking towards the forest. "Ah wait!" Hearing my yell she stops and turns around. "Yes what is it?" "Last night when I went through there I was attacked by a large group of wolves. I don''t know if they''ll still be there now that''s day but if they are it''s not something a single person can manage." "Oh? Then are you offering to come with me then? Correct me if I''m wrong but I was under the impression that you were occupied with something here, since you didn''t leave with the other players." "I was but I''m basically done and it''s safer for both of us if we travel together. As much as I like nature sleeping seeing civilization will be nice, if only to reassure myself that it does exist in this game." "Alright then, shall we make a party? Since you''ve had a bit of experience with the forest already why don''t you be party leader." I nod my head in agreement and send her a party invite, which she accepts. "By the way what kind of build did you go for? Or are you like me and spend a bit too much points on customizing appearance?" Laughing a bit she replies "Guilty as charged, though I''m going for a more healer/support role and was able to get very basic skills towards that end. Of course I wasn''t able to buy any item''s besides this dress but I was kind of expecting to spawn in a location where it''s easy to get supplies. What about you?" "I don''t have a specific role I''m thinking about, I only got two skills with my points and I still need to figure out how to work one of them. The one I can use gives a passive buff for melee combat so I guess I''ll act as the tank/dps if the need arises. For supplies I can share what I have if the need arises, it''s not much but it should hopefully be enough for reaching someone where can restock. Worse comes to worse I can always roast us some meat or something, I had at least enough points left to get basic supplies." "Thanks, I appreciate it." "Eh, what are friends for?" Hopefully all that training I did will at least keep me from making a fool of myself. Wishing for the best I try to walk towards her normally, using my new knowledge of my center of gravity and the improved control over my tail to the best of my ability. I don''t know if it was because of my skills or not but apparently all my work was not wasted and after the first few steps I managed to get into a normal walking rhythm. When I reach Salvation she starts walking with me and we soon enter the forest. I''m not sure if it''s because the tree canopy manages to block a lot of the sunlight or not but I can see a bit better than before. Now all I need to do is avoid walking into wolves again and I''ll be golden. We walk awhile making idle small talk, apparently Salvation is also from the states and we''re about the same age as each other. We share similar tastes in TV shows making the talking more fun as we discussed our favorite shows. Bad news is we got too engrossed in talking about the newest episode of Criminal Minds: European Union and ran into some wolves. Good news is that it was only 3 of them not an entire pack. "Ironically I think I ran those three might be from last night, of course it''s a bit hard to tell for sure." "Really? that''s kind of funny. So about how tough are they?" "Should be one level 1 and 2 level 2s." "That''s not too bad, how did you fare against them last time?" "about 10%" I mumble quietly "What was that?" "I said about 10% to three of them ok!?" "Judging by the nature of that response I take it that''s in damage dealt not percent left." "Yeah..." "Sigh, you know you don''t quite live up to your menacing appearance." "Don''t remind me." Throughout this exchange we had been running away from the wolves, barely manage to keep ahead of them. Thanks to all my practice I was able to keep going, it still looked a bit velociraptorish but I think Salvation was too busy looking where she was running to notice. Thank god for small favors. Anyways we can''t just keep running, it''ll be bad if one of us trips or even worse run into another pack of mobs. Guess the only option is to kill them Thinking this I call out to Salvation. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. "OK new plan, we''re going to have to fight them. I basically have their attack pattern memorize so with your supporting me we should be able to kill them." Although it probably wont be fast or pretty "Fine, but if we die I''m so going to laugh at you." "Do what you want." As I finish that sentence I stop running and turn to face the attacking wolves. Seeing me stop the wolves put out one last burst of speed and get into attack range of me. Instead of punching out at them I do a sweeping low kick towards the leading wolf. As I predicted the wolves jumped before my kick could reach them launching them selves at me like a furry cannonball. Hope this works. While I was running around last night I had a lot of time to think about things from last night. One of which being how my tail seemed to do more damage than my fist during the last fight. On the basis of believing I''d have to fight the wolves again I thought I''d try something out during the next encounter. With my leg still going through the kicking motion I use the momentum to roll to the side while focusing on controlling my tail. It took a lot of effort but I was able to stiffen my tail and quickly bring it up in an arc towards my head. Whether by luck or something else my plan actually works and I see the wolves go sailing past me with damage markers over their heads above their now revealed status window. -15
Pack Wolf
Level1
Health85/100Stamina140/150
-10
Pack Wolf
Level2
Health130/140Stamina140/160
-10
Pack Wolf
Level2
Health140/150Stamina130/150
Score! My plan actually worked. Also interestingly enough these really might be the ones from last night. If so it''s time for some pay back. "heeehh, I thought based on what you said you were pretty bad at fighting but it turns out you''re not that bad. Like this you might be able to avoid dying, fight-o mity!" "Thanks for the vote of confidence, and who the hell is mity" "You''re mity of course, it''s a bit annoying to call you by Calamity all the time so I came up with a nick name. " "Fine whatever, just support me properly ok?" "Alright, Alright I''ll give you a buff does that make you happy?" "Delirious" Sighing she yells out with her hand up, palm facing me "Sun''s embrace!"
You have received a buff
You have been embraced by the power of the sun! Attack increased by 10% any damage received reflects 10% of the damage back to the attacker.
That''s quite the nice buff, should make things a lot easier. Closing the message I look down and see a faint yellow light enveloping my body, similar to the one on Salvation. Unfortunately thanks to me being distracted the wolves managed to recover and attack before before I could prepare. The wolves manage to latch onto both my arms and my right leg with their teeth. I see damage numbers pop up -10 -10 -10, the weakest wolf was the one attached to my leg. Making a low growling sound in the back of my throat I swing my arms together causing the wolves attached to my arms to collide taking a light 5 damage each before letting go. Unfortunately I was a bit to slow to get the one on my leg off and it managed to thrash its head a bit with its teeth still embedded in my leg causing an additional 10 damage to me. "Get the fuck off me!" Due to my anger and rush to get it off me I forgot to make a fist when I hit it instead smacking it with my hand. This turned out to be in my benefit however as I had forgotten that I had claws and when they raked the wolf in the head I managed to do 20 whole damage in addition to causing it to let go. Thanks to the damage reflection the level 1 wolf is now down by a third of it''s hp. "That won''t do mity, you really need to avoid those hits. I can heal you but thanks to that buff I only have half my mana left so I can only cast my heal three times" Saying so she calls out "Celestial heal" while once again facing her palm towards me. " "Well 2 now." Despite the flashy name it only heals more for 15 hp, leaving me at with 1/4 of my health still missing. By this time I''ve gotten back into a fighting stance and the wolves are gearing up for another attack. Thanks to my last attack reminding me of my natural weapons I have a new plan of attack that will make things easier. As long as my hits land this fight should be over soon. Right as I finish the thought the wolves launch themselves at me yet again. This time Instead of punching towards them I launch my hand straight out like a spear towards the leading wolf while sidestepping the other two. When my hand impacts the wolf I feel I slimy sensation as my fingers penetrate the beast''s face. I see a damage number pop up and I''m shocked. 50 whole damage! Jeez, that''s just too brutal. Of course my claws are lodged inside of it''s face, if it weren''t for this being a game it would normally be dead as it is it barely has more than 20 hp left so close enough. Unfortunately while I managed to land the hit and dodge one of the wolves the other still managed to latch itself onto my leg dealing 20 damage. However instead of punching to make it let go I bring up my leg while striking down with my elbow which handily enough has a spike protruding from it. Just like the hit to the other wolf this cause an enormousness amount of damage at 45 hp. Maybe because of the spike hitting it in the brain but it appeared to enter a dazed stat after I hit it and landed on the ground at my feet. Not one to pass on a good opportunity I quickly finish it off with three quick strikes from my finger talons. Seeing this the remaining wolves growl angrily and quickly being their next attack. "Good job mity! You probably wont need it but just in case I''ll use my remaining heals on you." Saying this she quickly casts her heal skill twice in a row on me bringing my health back up 85 "Thanks, this should be over quickly." Once again the wolves throw themselves at me. I use the same attack as last time and manage to finish off the weakest wolf. I don''t bother dodging the remaining wolf and instead block it with my arm causing a 10 damage. Ignoring the hit I grab onto the wolf and proceed to quickly strike at its head with my other arm. After a few hits it dies and I''m greeted with a message.
Level Up
You have been rewarded 10 stat points, you can spend them in your status menu.
Quickly opening my status screen I put 5 each in strength and vitality bringing up my physical attack to 15 and hp to 150. Of course I noted physical attack doesn''t always equate to damage dealt still more strength means higher damage potential right? "Good job mity, and congratulations." "Thanks sal, did you level up too?" "Yup, and wait who the hell is sal?" "You of course." "Me!? Do I look like a buff biker guy to you?" "No but you gave me a nickname so I just gave one to you, and Salvation only really lends itself to being turned into sal don''t you think." Salvation hangs her head and sighs "Whatever, do as you wish." We quickly check for loot on the ground but only see a few copper pieces, which we split between us, being continuing our walk. As a we leave the area we fought in suddenly Salvation looks toward me with a malevolent look in her eyes and asks me a question. "Sooo, what was up with the way you run? You role playing a dinosaur?" "NOOOOOOOO!!!" I scream as she starts cracking up. "Why of all things did you have to notice that!?" I ask with tears gathering in my eyes. "Sorry, but I happened to look back once as we were running and noticed." "I''m just not using to this body is all, I''m definitely not doing it because I want to." "ok ok whatever you say." "It''s true!" Continuing to protest my innocence she keeps replying with a placating tone as we walk deeper into the forest. Author''s Note Thanks for reading Chapter 4 of Free, hope you liked it and you didn''t mind all the dialogue. I had fun coming up with Salvation and developing the beginning of her relationship with Calamity so expect more in the future. Leave any suggestions, tips, critiques or ideas in a comment and I will read and reply to it. Once again thanks for reading, Ren Waya Chapter 5 A skill unmatched Author''s Note: I''m back and writing again. Was having with the site and it wasn''t letting me add chapters, it fixed a couple days ago but it made me lose my desire to write for awhile (I was on a writing streak but it kind of derailed the train and it took awhile to get it back on the tracks). Anyways shout out to Idle Editor for pointing out some potential problems with how I had set up certain things for the game world. Your post gave me some good ideas for later on in the story in regards to how leveling, stats and skills will work so I hope you look forward to it. I have made small changes to things in my other chapters and updated the basic info post (new descriptions for stat effects and some other stuff). If anyone else has feedback, suggestions or tips please let me now in the comments (or message me if you''re not comfortable) I will take it into consideration and I will respond. Now enough of this I hope you enjoy the chapter. Arc 1 Freedom has its price Chapter 5 A skill unmatched "Hey mity." "Yes sal?" "Are you sure we''ve been walking straight the entire time?" "Of course I''ve been walking towards the sun the entire time, why?" "No reason, just that I''m pretty sure I''ve seen that tree before." "We''re walking through a forest inside of a VRMMO, the trees would look similar in a regular forest let alone one inside a game." "Hmm, are you sure?" "Yes, I''m sure." "Then why do I get the feeling you''re acting defensive." "...You''re just imagining things." "AH! What was that pause there for!?" "....Nothing." "There it was again, tell me the truth are we lost?" "We''re not lost! ....At least I don''t think so." "So we are lost then! I thought you knew where we going, and now we''re going to be stuck inside this forest forever. *sob* I can''t live in a forest forever, I''ll die if I can only live off roasted squirrel for the rest of my life." "Stop being so dramatic, it''s just a game, worse comes to worse you can just make a new character right? Besides it''s not like we''re definitely lost, it''s only a possibility." "Then why have we been walking for 30 minutes straight with no sign of the exit?" "The forest is pretty big?" "....I''m going to take a break now" Saying this Salvation promptly dropped herself onto to the ground while sighing. Deciding to join her I lowered myself to the ground, taking a seat next to her with my back resting against a tree. Looking over at me Salvation stares at me with a curious expression on her face. "Do you ever take off that backpack? It seems like it''d be uncomfortable if you wore it all the time, you didn''t even take it off while you were fighting." Startled I crane my neck over my should and notice that I was still wearing my backpack which startled me. "I had completely forgot about it, I probably wouldn''t have remembered it if you didn''t point it out." "Really? Can you not feel it or something?" "Yeah, maybe it''s part of the game system or something but I don''t notice it at all and it doesn''t encumber my movements either. How convenient." "It''s strange how they store money in a digital inventory but not other items when they make it so that you don''t even notice you''re carrying something anyways." I shrug "Who knows, but I''m not going to complain." Salvation nods in agreement after which we sit in silence for a couple minutes before she asks me another question. "Hey mity, do you have a map or something similar? I tried looking through the different screens and didn''t find one." "Unfortunately I don''t otherwise we wouldn''t be potentially lost." "Oh? Still so stubborn I see" she teases "Starting to pick up on that eh sal?" Sighing a bit she asks "Are you really going to keep calling me by the name of some hair bouncer?" "Of course, as long as you keep calling me mity that it.'' Making a pouting face she says "But I can''t stop calling you that, mity is mity after all." "Then I hope you can get used to sal, eventually the entire game will hear the name of sal the healer and picture in their mind a 6ft 5 mountain of meat with large hairy arms and a bald head." She cries out "You''re going to spread that to other people too!?!?" "Of course! Sal is sal after all." Whimpering slightly she looks at me with puppy dog eyes and asks "Can you please at least not call me sal in front of other players?" Damn that''s just not fair how does a sun/bird/human hybrid thing manage to look so cute. "*sigh* Fine I promise, but if we adventure or party together with other people I make no guarantees that it wont slip out." "Deal! Thanks mity! Despite how you look you''re actually pretty nice huh?" "What''s that supposed to mean!?" "You do realize that you kind of look like a demon right?" "Oh right, sometimes I forgot I''m playing my character sometimes. That 99% realism sure is impressive." "Yup! So back to the problem at hand, you really have nothing to help us out in this situation?" "Yeah why?" "You just seem like the kind of person to prepare for anything is all." "Well that''s not wrong but I thought we''d spawn close to a town or something plus I had a very small number of points after making selecting my skills." "That''s right you said you got two of them, you said that one was for close combat what does the other one do?" "I don''t really know I haven''t tried to use it yet and its description is pretty vague." "Oh? Can you show it to me?" Shrugging I bring up the skill and show it to her. She takes stares at the skill screen for a few seconds before lifting her head back up and looking at me. "That''s pretty interesting and you''re right it''s really vague, how many points did it cost you?" "55 points." "55!? That''s crazy even my buff only cost 35 points. This skill is definitely not normal." "I realized that but I don''t have a clue about how it''s supposed to work though, my other skill is fairly straightforward and gives me a passive damage increase but this..." "Well have you tried saying the skill name? That''s what I do to activate my heal and buff." "I did mention that I haven''t tried to use it yet, so no I haven''t but it''s something I''ll definitely try." "Why not try it now? Not like having the break last longer will make a difference if we''re lost." "We''re not lost! ...Probably." "Ok, ok we''re not lost but even still a few minutes spent here wont hurt. Humor me?" "Fine, I''ll try to figure it out, but it''s not like I''m doing it for you or anything I just want to figure it out as well." "Sure, sure. Tsundere mity is so cute." "Who the hell is Tsundere!?" Salvation just chuckles slightly. "*sigh* Whatever I don''t care anymore." I stand up and walk a few steps away from where Salvation was sitting. Pulling the skill back up I double check the name before calling out "Imagination is Magic". I wait for a bit but nothing happens, looking down at my body and then at my surroundings I don''t see any changes. Nothing? I wasn''t really expecting any physical changes but I guess I sort of expected a white light to. Before I could finish the thought a blinding white light drops down on me and envelops the surroundings. After it extends a few feet it stops then slowly fades away leaving me and Salvation rubbing our stinging eyes. "Ow my eyes, what did you do mity?" "Nothing I just called out my skill and nothing happened, a few seconds later then that light appeared." Although that looked exactly like what I imagined would happen. I wonder why it looked like that and not similar to the light from leveling up though? After thinking this I recall the image of me being encompassed by light after leveling up for my first time. As soon as I bring up the image in my head the same image appears in the game. "Huh? Did you just level up mity? How?" "I don''t think so, let me check my stats real quick though." Bringing up my status menu I see that I''m still the same level but before I close the menu I see my mana out of the corner of my eye.
Status Window
Name:CalamityAlignment:???
Level:1Class:Wandering Dragon
Race:DraconianGender:Female
Titles
??
Fame:0Infamy:0
-
Health:150 / 150Health Regen:0.2%/ Sec
Mana:5 / 100Mana Regen:0.2%/ Sec
Stamina:100 / 100Stamina Regen:0.2% / Sec
-
Strength:15Agility:10
Vitality:15
Intelligence:10Wisdom:10
Endurance:10Luck:6
-
Attack:15Defense:10
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Almost all my mana was gone. What the hell happened? I''m guessing my skill used it but what did it do, those lights I assume but how and why? Immersing myself deep in though I forgot about answering Salvation and focus on trying to figure out what happened. Probably because of my skill Concentration but I didn''t hear Salvation yelling at me or her walking up to me, I only noticed her presence after she shook me. Startled I exit it my thoughts and look at her. Apparently my surprise at her being this close to me was evident on my face because she asked me. "What, did you really not her me yelling at you or notice me walking right in front of you?" A bit embarrassed I reply with "Ah, yeah I didn''t notice, it''s because of a skill I obtained not because I was ignoring you I swear." "Hmmmm? Well whatever I''ll take your word for it. I just asked you again if you had leveled up." "What? Oh no I didn''t I think it was caused by my skill but I don''t know how which was what I was thinking about when shook me out of my thoughts." "Why do you think it was from you skill?" "Well for one thing almost all my mana is now gone and for another there was no visible cause for it nearby and it had no actual effect on either of us besides some burning eyes." "Interesting but since it looks like it might take awhile I''m going to go take a nap. Wake me up when you''re done. I''ll want to know what you found out when you do." "Ok, have a good nap sal." "Ah! Now I''m going to dream of large hairy men how could you!" I laugh a bit before returning my focus towards figuring out how my skill works. So nothing happened after I called out the skill name but after a few seconds a blinding light showed up, a bit after it disappeared another light exactly like the one that showed up when I leveled appeared. What did I do leading up these events that might have caused them? After nothing happened when I called out the skill I was disappoint and thought about what I imagined it would have looked like. When it disappeared I was thinking about why I didn''t look like the leveling light and I had brought up the image of that event in my head. Is that it? The skill is called Imagination is Magic so it would make sense if it was linked to my imagination. Let''s test it out. Looking at my mana I note that it is now full, keeping the display open (health and mana don''t display on the screen unless you''re in combat) I prepare to test out my theory. Closing my eyes as it helps me visualize things I think about a ball of fire appearing in my hand. The ball is about 4 1/2 inches in diameter, round on the bottom and with the actual fire visual appearing on the ''top'' of the ball. The fire is orange in color with a faint trace of red appearing on the tips of the flame. Opening my eyes I see the same fireball I had imagined resting in my hand. Looking at my display I see all my mana had disappeared once more. I also note how the fire doesn''t feel hot in my hand at all. Dang this skill really sucks up my mana but it looks like my theory was correct. Now all I need to do is run a few more tests, like how long it will last, what other things can I create, if I can effect other things with the skill directly, ect. I start to experiment with the fireball I created, tossing it back in forth between my hands, tossing it up into the air, trying to increase and decrease the size and then finally throwing it at the ground. The last one nearly caused a forest fire but I was able to stomp it out before it reached any trees. After which I continue with testing out the full extent of my skill all while keeping an eye on my mana and the costs and effects my tests had on it and my regeneration rate. What I found was that that changing something I had already formed costs additional mana relative to the scope of the changes made. Creating something smaller costs less points than something big in general, this changes if the small creation has more to it than the big thing. For example a small fireball costs less than a medium fireball unless the temperature of the smaller one is hotter than the medium one, or other similar changes. All creations cost mana to maintain, this is taken by cutting my mana regen not by taking mana from my pool unless the cost exceeds my regen rate after which the creation disappears. Any creations lasts indefinitely as long as it is in contact with my body and I have the ability to meet its upkeep requirements. Anything that leaves my body will disappear after a few seconds but it''s effects on the surroundings wont, i.e the fire caused by the fireball or a scratch caused by a thrown rock. If I try to make something that I don''t have the mana for the largest possible version of it shows up instead. For example when I tried imagining an ocean a small puddle showed up instead that cost me all my mana. When I tried imagining a sword a dagger in the shape of a sword appeared instead, the damage from the summoned weapon isn''t different from my normal hits (I had found a level 1 bunny to test this on). I can''t directly change or interfere with an existing object (I can''t make a patch of grass burst into flame or change the shape of a branch I pick up. Some creations cost less mana than others such as a flash of light like the one I created earlier costs less than something like the fireball. This might be due to the potential to inflict damage as when I tried to create a laser (same element as the light) it cost all my mana and was only about the same level as a laser point and only lasted a couple of seconds. More tests are required in the future. The skill is toggle-able and when it''s on any time I think about something hard enough or visualize something the skill is used, turning it off the effect is gone (this is done by calling out the skill name). Lastly I can''t make physical changes to myself like growing wings or changing my looks ''permanent'', they only last for a couple of seconds. This is likely due to extremely high upkeep costs but it''s not possible to find out at this time. After two and a half hours of constant testing those were the results that I had found. Looking at the skill I see that it has leveled up once from all the testing I did but nothing has changed with it. Shrugging to myself I go and wake up Salvation. Shaking her awake she slowly gets up with a vacant look in her eyes and some truly wild bed head, all in all fairly cute. "Huh? Did you finish mity?" "Yeah, you''ve been asleep for about 2-2 1/2 hours" "Ah....Did you figure out how it works?" "Yup! I think I even found out a way to get us out of the forest thanks to my skill." Hearing this she instantly loses her sleepy expression and loudly says "Really? That''s great, now I don''t have to brush up on my Tarzan impersonation." Laughing slightly I close my eyes and imagine a mini map screen like the one from the previous VRMMO I played. Good news it worked, bad news is that it showed me what I imagined, the map depicted was the city I lived in from the previous game. So much for that plan, well all we really need to do is continue in the same direction as the other players assuming of course that they continued in the same direction after they entered the forest. Oh well that was what I was going on before so might as well continue with that. Since a map wont work what about a compass? Switching gears I visualize a compass and this time my plan is a complete success, smaller that what I had imagined but apparently fully functional. Looking at the compass I start walking East with Salvation following close behind. "So mity, I thought you said you didn''t have a compass." "I didn''t" "There''s no need to be embarrassed because you forgot about it, it happens to people all the time." "I''m not embarrassed! I made it using my skill." "There''s no need to blush mity, I don''t judge you for it. It''s kind of cute that you''re a bit of a scatterbrain." "I''m not blushing! and whose a scatterbrain! stupid sal!" "Yes, yes you''re definitely not blushing or forgetful. Don''t worry I wont tell anyone, you''re secret is safe with me." Pouting a bit I sigh and say "I can''t win against you, do whatever you want." Salvation comes up behind me and starts patting my head "You''re such a good girl mity." "Do you think I''m a dog!" "Hmmm" "You have to think about it!?" "More like a puppy mixed with a pet lizard." "Whose a puppy!?" "Maybe one of those small dog breeds, like a terrier." "Listen to me!" Once more we continue our journey through the forest while arguing, though it''s a bit more one sided this time. Author''s note Got most of what I wanted to say written above. This should be the last chapter of them in the forest, expect the story to pick up a bit in the following chapters. Give me your thoughts, ideas, critiques or what ever below. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter of FREE, Ren Waya Chapter 6 The Grind Authors Note Here''s Chapter 6, leave comments, suggestions, tips and tricks below. I''ve been getting back into drawing lately (though my skills aren''t what I''d consider good at this point) and plan on drawing my characters from FREE when I start feeling more comfortable with my skill level. Don''t know when it''ll happen but at some point I''ll have drawings of Calamity and Salvation linked. On that note if you want to display your own drawings of anything from my story let me know and I''ll figure out how to do that (even if it''s just a link or something). Now on to the chapter! Arc 1 Freedom has its price Chapter 6 The Grind "YAY! We''re finally free of that forest. I had my doubts mity but you sure pulled through in the end, even if you did manage to get us lost again." "Who got us lost! We had to take a detour that just happened to take a long time because someone had to avoid killing bunnies." "But they were so cute, it wouldn''t be good for my heart to see you gut a bunny with your claws again, therefore it''s still your fault." "How was I supposed to know that this game would have that much detail when it comes to combat? All I wanted was to end the fight quickly by dealing as much damage as possible, or would you have rather me pummeled it to death instead? It''s your fault for being weak towards cute things." "Neither, and it might be virtual but it''s still 99% realistic so it''s basically the same as seeing it in real life. So it''s your fault for being so heartless, I didn''t make you immune to cuteness." Walking out of the forest the same way we walked through it (arguing) we saw a dirt road a few yards passed the wood line. We decided to follow the road west for no particular reason and continued on our way. As we continued to walk the conversation switched from the previous argument to discussing a bit more about ourselves. No important things like real names or phone numbers where discussed but we did talk about our hobbies and likes/dislikes. Turns out we are both avid readers and prefer physical copies to digital ones and we also both hate running but love biking. After an hour of walking we decide to take a break for a quick lunch as it''s passed noon. Since I''m the only one with food I split some of my rations with Salvation and we take turns drinking from one of the canteens of water I had. "Hey mity." "Yes sal?" "Think we''re going the right way?" "I don''t think there is a ''right'' way as either direction likely leads to some sort of town, village or city but as for if this is the quickest way or not I have no idea." "Hm, well I hope we get there soon, much as I like your ''food'' I''d prefer to get my own sooner rather than later. Maybe even get some beer or something while I''m at it." "Yeah? With what money? I doubt that the few copper we''ve gained so far is enough to get you brown water let alone beer." "Then we can just go hunting in the towns surrounding area, that way I don''t have to worry about you getting us lost." "...." "Well that''s enough break time for me, let''s go mity! You can''t sit around mopping forever." "...." Standing back up we resume our walk down the road. We continue to walk for another hour before seeing the outline of a city in the distance. About medium in size the only specific buildings we could see over the walls were a clock tower, the keep and what looked like a cathedral. Excited by the prospect of finally reaching our destination we pick up the pace as we continue along the path. As we get closer to the walls we see what we assume to be a large number of players running about in the surrounding field fighting against what appeared to be the army of a Disney princess. "See, I told you I''d get you to the nearest town/city sal. We might have had a few difficulties along the way but you have to expect those when you''re on an adventure." "What adventure? Getting lost in the woods because you have a bad sense of direction isn''t an adventure. It''s slightly funny and very time consuming but an adventure it is not. Still it had its highlights so thanks for the help mity." "You''re welcome, and who has a bad sense of direction!?" "Hahaha." "*sigh* Whatever, so what''s your plan? You going to go explore the city or hunt some monsters for money first? Do you want to keep partying or go our separate ways?" "Hmm, for now I want to go explore the city first. As for the party, sorry mity but I want to go solo for awhile to get used to the game. You won''t hate me right?" "Huh? Of course not we''re still friends and we''ll have other opportunities to party together later on as well. Well have fun exploring the city, I''m going to hunt for awhile and test out a few things." "Ok then, see you around mity!" "See ya sal." "Oh and could pretty please think of a different nickname?" "To quote an old animated movie ''the physical appearance of the please makes no difference''. Sorry but I can''t do that sal is sal after all." "Nooo, you''re so mean." "Despicable." "Did you just?" "Bye sal!" "*sigh* Whatever, have fun mity." Salvation leaves the party and starts walking towards the gate of the city. Watching her walk away for a bit I smile slightly. Such an interesting person, shame she didn''t want to party together some more but what can you do? Hopefully she''ll want to party together later. Now let''s see how well this my skill works in combat shall we? Walking off the road into the field I search for a suitable target, finding a nice level 1 bunny to practice against I activate my skill Imagination is Magic. Imagining a large icicle in my hands I open my eye once I feel the sensation of it resting in my palm. Satisfied I walk towards the bunny and enter its aggro range and my resource bars appear in the corner of my eyes. I briefly note that my mana had all been used, which was the plan as I had wanted to make an icicle as big as possible. Focusing on the now charging bunny, which despite my argument with Salvation I did think was cute, I heft the icicle and chuck it like a javelin towards the angry rabbit. Surprisingly I had pretty good aim as it hit it square in the face also thanks to the strength behind the throw the icicle was impaled into the ground. Checking the damage I see the flashing number 50 next to the bunny''s now visible status screen. So half it''s health for using all my mana huh? Judging from my brief observations of those mage like characters I saw fighting the damage is likely comparable to mage spells of similar output. I can''t be certain but since two fireballs some of those mages cast that were about the same size as the one I created before were able to kill bunnies I think it''s correct. I think the only downside to my skill is the amount of concentration required to create a useable ''spell'' still I think I might have a way to fix that but that''s more of a long term goal. For now let''s just focus on leveling up and getting some money. Finishing my thoughts I turn my attention back to the struggling bunny which was frantically trying to free itself from the icicle impaled into the ground. Walking up to it I quickly stab it a couple of times with my claws to finish it off. Collecting the few pieces of copper on the ground I start searching for a new enemy. I find a wild dog that was level 2 but the fight was anticlimactic as its attack patterns for the same as those wolves I had killed before. I continue hunting in the surrounding area using my magic whenever I had full mana, I kept myself from using fireballs as I was in a part of the field with thicker grass. After killing 4 more wild dogs and another bunny I got to level three. As I was mainly killing things with my physical attacks I dumped half my points into strength and the remaining points into vitality again. After another couple of levels pumping up strength and vit I''ll switch to working on int and wisdom, killing things with my bare hands is fun but the possibilities my magic has is quite interesting. I think I''ll power level for awhile then go into the city to explore a bit, I think I''ll steal sal''s idea and get myself a bear and some decent food if I can afford it. I resume farming mobs in the surrounding area for a while longer before changing locations as nothing strong than a wild dog appeared in the area I was in. During my trip with Salvation I managed to become almost completely used to my new body and no longer walked awkwardly nor ran like a velociraptor. Which reminds me, I should try working with my tail a bit more. If I can master it, it''ll prove quite useful in a fight. During my next fight against the common enemy in the area, a level 3 skunk, I tried working my tail into my fighting. Most of my attempts failed and caused me to take some damage here and there but I managed to successfully whip and ''stab'' it with my tail once each. Due to my training the fight took longer than usual and I ended it with about half hp. During my quick break to gain back my health I practiced the motions of attacking with my tail some more. When my health was full I fought another skunk this time having a few more successes and ending the fight with only 80 damage taken. Practicing while regaining my health once again I had an interesting thought. Deciding to try it my next fight I got up and looked for my next target. Finding yet another skunk this time, before I got into its aggro range, I decided to use my magic. Instead of creating an icicle in my hand however I tried imagining a ice cone surrounding the tip of my tail. Opening my eyes and looking at my tail I see a slightly smaller version of the cone I imagined enveloping the tip of my tail. Pleased with my success I enter the skunks aggro range and proceed to fight it. This time when I stab it with my tail it actually gets penetrated. Where as before it only dealt about 30 damage thanks to the ice cone it now did 50 damage. Another plus was that when I withdrew my tail the ice was still one it. Seems like another idea paid off huh. Still I doubt doing this for my hands would actually improve my damage thanks to my claws but it certainly works for my tail and it opens up other possibilities when I gain more mana. Continuing the fight I finish off the skunk after another few stabs of my tail and stabs with my claws. Not all the attacks with my tail hit but the degree of control and accuracy is improving. I continue on my killing spree and when I reach level 4 I moved on from skunks to level 5 badgers (there was no sight of any level 4 monsters). Unfortunately for me this was not a pleasant transition. Where as the previous monsters I had fought had simple patterns, launch an attack and retreat if you take a hit afterwards, the badgers were much more aggressive. No matter how badly I damaged them they just continued to attack me, if it wasn''t for a fluke where I dazed it when I hit it with my tail I would have died. Guess it''s true what they say, honey badgers really don''t give a fuck. At least it got me a nice level up, one more and I think I''ll head into the city. Learning from my last fight, this time when I battled I skunk I started it by impaling it with an icicle much like what I did to the first bunny and a few of my other kills. Like the bunny it was stuck and I used the opportunity to get some nasty hits in, nearly gouging out an eyeball and turning a leg into shredded meat past. Unfortunately unlike the bunny it was able to free itself after a couple of seconds catching me off guard. Before I managed to bat it away it took out 1/3 of my health and left my short an eye(luckily from what I''ve seen things like that count as status ailments and return a couple of minutes after the fight, although limbs require a spell to recover). It hurt like fucking hell, 25% pain or not, and it made me quite mad causing me to launch myself at the unfortunate badger like a mad dog. Luckily thanks to my previous barrage of hits it was close to dying and after a few my attacks from my claws and tail it died, leaving me with half health and an ugly face for a couple of minutes. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Well it might be a good thing that sal decided to party with me, I doubt she would like to see my face like this. Hell I''m glad that I can''t see my own face right now. Oh well now I know what to expect a similar situation shouldn''t happen again. After recovering I continue to fight badgers taking care to back off before they broke free of the icicle. After awhile I level up, this time I dump all my points into wisdom to get more mana regen. I decide to look through my skill screen while after I''m done.
Status Window
Name:CalamityAlignment:???
Level:1Class:Wandering Dragon
Race:DraconianGender:Female
Titles
??
Fame:0Infamy:0
-
Health:250 / 250Health Regen:0.3%/ Sec
Mana:5 / 100Mana Regen:0.3%/ Sec
Stamina:100 / 100Stamina Regen:0.2% / Sec
-
Strength:25Agility:10
Vitality:25
Intelligence:10Wisdom:20
Endurance:10Luck:6
-
Attack:25Defense:10
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
ConcentrationBeginner20%
When focusing wholly on a task you are able to complete it 11% faster but are unable to notice changes in your surroundings.
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
Imagination is MagicBeginner254%
Imagination is a wonderful thing, some would even say it''s magical. A creative mind can be the difference between victory and defeat.
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
Martial CombatBeginner273%
Skill at using your body for combat. 11% increase in damage when using your body to fight.
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
Night VisionBeginner315%
Do to the unique physiology of your character you are able to see clearly in the dark as long as there is enough ambient light.
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
PerseveranceBeginner20%
When trying to solve a difficult or lengthy problem you are more likely to find a solution.
Seems like my skill have level up a bit that''s nice, although only Concentration and Martial Combat clearly show any benefit from leveling them. Looking at the time I notice that it''s now almost 4 pm. Looks like I''ve been hunting awhile, barely even notice the time going by. Let''s see I have 6 silver and 52 copper at the moment, probably enough for some cheap beer and food. Time to go into the city, maybe I should ask someone what the name is. *Authors Note: Standard exchange rate, 100 copper to 1 silver, 100 silver to 1 gold, 100 gold to 1 platinum.* Shrugging I head towards the nearby gate and enter into town. Although there was a tax required to enter the city it was only 50 copper so I didn''t complain as even though this was a lot to me it was actually a small amount if you look at things objectively. It appears as though the road coming in from the gate acts as a sort of main street as there was a huge number of shops and stalls along the path, which made sense. Stopping at a nearby stall selling some sort of skewered meat I purchase a small stick for 50 copper and ask the merchant for directions to a cheap tavern. "A new adventure huh? The place you want to go to is The Muddy Mug and it''s just further down this road. You shouldn''t miss it, it has a sign of a brown mug hanging out from it." "Thanks" "No problem, make sure you come back again with more money, the bigger skewers have better quality meat." "I might do that, see you around." Continuing down the main avenue I quietly munch on the skewer. It''s surprisingly good for a mysterious meat that I likely don''t want to know where it came from. Hm? Is this the tavern? Stopping outside what I think is The Muddy Mug I quickly look it over. About what you''d expect from a cheaply priced tavern I guess, a bit run down and dirty but doesn''t appear to want to fall over at any second. Oh well I''m craving a drink and this is probably the cheapest place to get one. Shrugging to myself (which seems to have become a habit of mine) I push open the door and am greeted by a familiar voice. "and there we were faced with a group of wild wolves when without even waiting for me s she hunched over and started running like a velociraptor, she had her arms tucked up and everything." Following the ending of what must have been a fairly humorous story (for them) the tavern starting cracking up with laughter. A few people look a bit confused but they were probably NPCS and not players. The story was not however amusing to me and noticing a familiar person standing in the middle of the tavern my expression cramped up and turned ugly. "Oh? If it isn''t Sal! Didn''t expect you to be here!" I say with an evil smile forming on my lips. "EEEP! o..o.oh if it isn''t mity...what are you doing here." "Nothing special, just wanted to get a beer or two. But if luck would have it I was able to hear quite the funny story as I came in and I just knew that it couldn''t be anyone other than you. I mean who else could tell such a funny story?" "Y..y..you heard that?" "Oh just the ending, but I would love to here it from the beginning if you wouldn''t mind Sal." Some random player asks me "Who is sal?" "He is of course, sal is a friend in real life. He''s absolutely massive in real life and works as a bouncer so we call him Big Sal. I don''t know how many points he had to spend to make his character like that but I am impressed to his dedication. You see we made a bet before we started the game that he couldn''t manage to make his character look so much like a girl that even NPCs would be fooled. He obviously won." "Who are you calling a guy!?" "No need to be embarrassed Sal, it''s quite impressive really." "Is that why his name is Salvation, because the name sal is in it?" (random guy #2). "You guessed it, not the most original guy when it comes to names but he can tell a good story so we love him anyways." *Sobbing slightly* "Mity! You''re so mean." "I don''t know what you''re talking about. Your second cheapest beer please." "Waaahh! Don''t ignore me." Author''s Note Hope you enjoyed the latest chapter of FREE. Any feedback, tips, tricks, suggestions and cheat codes are welcome. Leave anything of that nature in a comment and I will read and respond to it (message me if you''re not comfortable doing so for whatever reason). Maybe I should rename the story to The Adventures of Sal and Mity. Thanks for reading, Ren Waya Chapter 7 Shadows Gather and a Price is Paid Author''s Note Nothing much to say for this chapter is longer than usual mostly because it took awhile to find a good stopping point (in my opinion). Anyways, usual spiel about feedback and stuff I guess. Oh and if you want to leave a rating that''s fine but I''d like to get context for your reasoning if possible (message me if you don''t want to leave a review). If you don''t want to that''s fine but for those that don''t mind I''d appreciate it. Minor side note: coming up with chapter names is sometimes harder than the actual chapter content. Arc 1 Freedom has its Price Chapter 7 Shadows Gather and a Price is Paid I spend the next hour or so drinking in the tavern and harassing Salvation. A side of effect of this our antics were the center of attention for the entire tavern, though this suited my purposes just fine plus I even got a free beer out of it. Finishing up my latest beer I decided that she has suffered enough for now and instead of continuing our back and forth I switch gears . "So have you been in here the whole time I''ve been hunting? Doesn''t seem like the few hours I was hunting would be enough to let you explore this place that well." "Huh? Oh right, I told you I was going to tour the city. Well that was originally the plan as I didn''t have any money but as luck would have it within the first half our of my aimless wandering I found a a small pouch lying on the ground. When I picked it up to look inside I found it was full of money! It''s like the game was telling me I should take a break and just drink for awhile you know? I walked to the nearest tavern I could find and this was where I''ve been ever since." "...You...You just found money lying around? How is that possible? Money isn''t stored in a physical container you shouldn''t be able to find money just lying around in a city." "Oohh? You don''t know? That''s only the case for players, NPCs don''t have a convenient inventory system to work with." "What? Really?" "Of course, you don''t believe me? The information comes from all the players in here you know." "No, I believe you. It''s just that, you basically just took a pouch full of money that belonged to an NPC and didn''t even hesitate to start spending it. How much was in there anyways?" "Hmmm, I think around 40 gold give or take, I don''t really remember the exact amount." "40 gold!? You found 40 gold lying on the ground and you didn''t think that just maybe someone would be looking for that much money? How much do you have left?" Salvation gets embarrassed and laughs shyly "haha, well you see...I have about 20 silver left." "20 silver!!!?!?" My outburst instantly causes the tavern to turn quiet as all the patrons turn to look at us. Embarrassed I smile awkwardly and wave at them, after waiting a bit for things to go back to normal I turn back towards Salvation. "How did you manage to spend nearly 40 gold in a matter of ours? Is that even possible?" "Well money should be spent right? and since the money wasn''t really earned by me I thought I should share the wealth and had been buying everyone drinks before you got here. There cheap stuff tastes like shit and it would have been stingy to buy it for people so I opted for the expensive stuff. A few rounds of that plus food and the money just kind of dwindled to its current amount." "You...You''re really something you know that?" "he he thanks mity." "Oh well what''s done is done, buy me a drink would you? A good one, please." "Sure, no problem." Salvation pulls out what I assume to be the pouch she found and takes out 10 silver. Handing it over to the owner she orders me the most expensive beer this place has. Curious about why she still had the pouch I asked her about it. "Why do you still have the pouch? Wouldn''t it have been easier to just keep the money and throw it away?" "I tried to do that at first but for some reason it didn''t act like normal money drops. Since I didn''t feel like carrying a bunch of money in my hands I decided to keep it." "Don''t think that''s a bit suspic..." Before I could finish my sentence a group of guards (all average looking humans) burst through the doors of the tavern, stopping all conversations and focusing attention towards the entrance. Please tell me this isn''t some cliche scenario like the one I think it is. Unfortunately the game didn''t deign to answer my silent plea as shortly after someone (also human) who appeared to be in charge of the soldiers entered the tavern he said. "Some of you might not be aware but there has recently been a theft of the royal treasury. The thieves made off with more than half of the wealth stored inside before fleeing the city. Now you may be wondering what this has to do with you so let me tell you. The city guard has received a tip that someone has been throwing around money in this establishment and that the money has been coming from a pouch embroidered with the royal seal. We would you ask for your cooperation with identifying this person." Groaning internally I, along with everyone else in the tavern, look towards Salvation who currently looked to be in a panic. The man in charge naturally notices us all staring at the same person and promptly orders his men to surround her (and me by extension as we''re sitting at the same table). When the encirclement is complete the man in charge walks up to Salvation and pulls out a rolled up piece of paper. "By order of his majesty King Wallach III you are to be thrown into the dungeon for the crime of stealing from the crown. You shall remain there until such a time that your compatriots are caught where upon you will all be sentenced to death." Wow it really was as cliche as I thought it would be. Why does she look so scared? She''ll just respawn if she dies and she can just wait out the time her character is imprisoned in real or even make another character in the mean time. Salvation starts crying which surprises me "Mity! It says that my death will be permanent and that I can''t log out or play another character during torture. That can''t be real right? They can''t torture me right? Right!? I mean I didn''t even do anything, all I did was find some money!" Hearing this I''m too shocked to respond and before I can shake myself out of it Salvation is roughly grabbed by two of the guards, her expression shows more pain than one would expect from 1/4 normal. Realizing that if I wanted to help her I needed to act now I called out to the man in charge of the guards. "Wait! She''s innocent! She couldn''t have helped rob the treasury she''s been here the whole time!" "Oh? Then why does she have a pouch embroidered with the royal crest full of gold on her person?" "She found it lying on the ground outside!" "So she just so happened to find it on the ground and she just so happened to not notice that the pouch had the royal crest on it?" "We just came to this city today we didn''t even know there was a royal family let alone what their crest looked like!" "You, are you this girl''s companion?" Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. "That''s ri-" "MITY!! Enough don''t let them take you in too." "But you really couldn''t have done it, we only came to this city less than 4 hours ago." "The treasury was robbed 3 1/2 hours ago, so it''s extremely likely that she was indeed one of the culprits and seeing as how you just said you came to this city with her you must be one of her companions. There for I must take you to the dungeon as well." "Mity separated from when we got here, we just met back up an hour ago." "Can you prove this somehow?" "I was out hunting in the fields until I came here you can ask anyone who was out there or the gate guards." "We shall do that, but in the meantime you''re going to have to wait with me until we can confirm your story." Turning towards Salvation he asks "I don''t suppose you have an alibi as well?" "No, I was wondering the back alleys and streets when I found the pouch then I came here but-" "I see then the sentence stands, take her away!" "Noooo! Mity! Help me! Please!" "Wait, please stop! I''ll prove her innocence, get your money back, anything!" "I''m sorry orders are orders, besides everything I''ve heard so far points towards her guilt. Now then take her away!" "Mittyyy!" "Damn it! Sal!!" I tried running to her but was stopped by the man in charge who pinned me to the ground. Unable to move I could only watch helplessly as she was dragged off by the guards, she couldn''t even log out as she had been gagged by one of the guards. It all seemed a bit too dramatic for a game but the message she received and her expression of pain when the guards grabbed her had made me really uneasy about the situation. When all but 2 guards and the guy pinning me remained I was finally released. I wasn''t able to run after her because very quickly the remaining guards took control of me and guided me out of the tavern. We ended up walking for awhile until we got to what I assumed to be the guard barracks due to the high number of armed people training next to it. Entering the barracks I was then ushered into a small room, the office of the man in charge I guessed because he quickly made himself at home behind the desk. I tried asking about the situation but was harshly told to be quiet by one of the 2 guards. After another 15-20 minutes of just sitting there a different guard came into the room, walked up the man in charge and whispered into his ear. He nods slightly then says, "She''s vetted, you men are dismissed." Saluting him they leave the room, closing the door behind them." "Now then my name is Knight-Commander Steel, I''m in command of the guards here as you''ve no doubt guessed. Who are you?" "...Calamity." "Not a name that instills trust or confidence in your character I must say." "..." "Still I do have a proposition for you that might enable you to save your friend." Startled by this I cautiously ask. "Why are you offering this to me now, why offer this before when I pleaded with you?" "I have my reasons that you do not need to know and shouldn''t ask about again if you want to keep the offer." "And what would this offer entail. "You finding the group that did this, killing them, and bringing back the money they stole or an equivalent amount back to me." "I''m not naive enough to think it''s that simple, what''s the catch." "Good you''re not stupid. The catch is one you will have to pay in order to keep your friend from being tortured until she is eventually killed. Since I do not know or trust you will have to enter a slave pact with me to insure you don''t betray me or stray from your task. Also since I don''t really care whether your friend is tortured or not you have to remain under my control for as long as desire whether or not you complete your task. If this is not acceptable to you, you may leave now. There will be no second offer." I hesitate a bit before accepting. That''s quite the catch but she is my friend and I won''t abandon her. Besides I can always find a away out from his control or worse comes to worse not play Calamity for awhile. "I accept."
Special Quest Accepted
You have accepted a special quest to save your friend.
Due to the nature of this quest there is no reward beyond saving your friend.
Due to the nature of this quest you are unable to abandon this quest.
Due to the nature of this quest you are unable to play another character while you have this quest.
Quest Objectives: Eliminate all members of the thief group. Retrieve the stolen money or an equivalent amount (15000 gold).
System Warning
You have agreed to a slave pact with Knight-Commander Steel. While this pact is active you are unable to disobey orders from your master nor are you able to bring harm to him. This pact can only be broken by the death of your master or through his voluntary revoking of the pact. While this pact is active you are unable to delete this character or play as a different character. All wounds punishments or damages dealt by your master are felt at the maximum pain setting.
Oh shit what have I gotten myself into. If I knew it was going to be like this friend or not I wouldn''t have accepted his damned offer. I Just royally fucked myself and my only option now is to ride it out until completion. Steel briefly displays a sinister smile, quick enough that I''m unsure if I imagined it or not, before saying. "Good, now then I won''t help you in anyway beyond using my power to keep your friend from being tortured. However I will only do so for two months as any longer would not benefit me. That is your time limit I suggest you get started. Oh wait, I''ll give you one freebee. The group that robbed the treasury is Unquenchable, quite notorious I assure you. Now get out of my barracks, now!" Unable to control myself I get out of his office as quickly as I can, not stopping until I''m far away from the barracks. Resolving myself to the shit I just got myself into I head towards main street. I need to prepare. Author''s Note That''s the end of this chapter, took me awhile to write it as I was struggling a bit with how I wanted things to go. Still I managed to finish it and I''m fairly happy with how it turned out. Leave any critiques, suggestions, tips, tricks and hat flips in a comment below or message me if you''re not comfortable. If anyone feels comfortable with the idea and thinks my story is far enough along to do so I would appreciate a review of my story (good or bad). Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. Ren Waya Chapter 8 A Night of Hunting Author''s Note Nothing new to say about general stuff, just all the usual. For this chapter I tried to add more details into my writing so I hope it turned out well. I will be trying to do this more now as Idle Editor''s comment last chapter made a lot of sense to me and I feel it is something that will improve both my writing and this story. That being said this chapter was more combat orientated than I had intended originally but I thought it worked better than the rough idea I had while I was writing chapter 7. Expect more details about Salvation and Calamity''s situations next chapter along with more world building and plot building. Now enough rambling, on to the chapter. Arc 1 Freedom has its Price Chapter 8 A Night of Hunting After walking for a few minutes I stop after finally realizing something important, the situation that both Salvation and I found ourselves in was not something one would expect from any game. That being the case opening a support ticket with the company explaining the situation should resolve most of the problems, as they surely wouldn''t have intended for things to be like this. Still it wasn''t like my actions were meaningless as I likely just kept Salvation from being tortured in the time I took for them to fix things. I try various commands and search through some menus but it seems like they didn''t add an in-game support function leaving me no other option open when on their website. Logging out I get out of my pod and walk over to my desk where my laptop was still sitting. Opening up the game''s website I click on the Support link and create a ticket with the current situation described in detail. While I wait for a reply I take care of some personal maintenance issues (using the bathroom, getting a snack, brushing teeth ect). After I''m done half an hour has passed and I go back to my room and check for a reply. Surprisingly my ticket was already responded to, however the content left much to be desired. A brief summary was that everything I listed was a feature of the game and when I bought the game I had given consent to the possibility of these types of situations occurring. Lesson learned, always read the terms and conditions before agreeing to something. There was one small piece of good news in the response in that there would be a small update that would make the log out function not require a verbal command, restrictions to when you could log out were still the same though. "God damn corporate bastards, what the hell are they thinking? It''s like they don''t even care about their customers. If you want to play the legal angle that''s fine but don''t expect me to not fight back! One of my friends is the son of an chief editor for LA Times and I''m sure he''d be more than willing to pass along this information to his father." Of course no one responded as I was basically just venting to the room, I was still going to pass along the story though. Sighing I proceed to write an email to my friend all while grumbling to myself about corporate bastards. Sending the email I hope back into the pod. Since the company won''t fix the problem I''m Salvation''s only chance of playing again at the moment and I have only 10 real days to do so. Naturally not being able to play the game isn''t the end of the world but I like playing with her and it would be a shame if she quit. Even if I fail eventually she could just make a new character once they kill her, not ideal but again not the end of the world. My situation is arguably much worse but since I can''t do anything about it at the moment might as well try. Plus if I free her she''ll owes it to me to get me out of my shitty ass situation. I log back in and find myself on the street I had logged out on. Night had fallen while I was logged out so the amount of traffic had fallen considerably as people went home or to their favorite tavern. This put a bit of a cramp in my plans as I couldn''t buy any supplies or gather information easily, as most of my people I could ask would be drunk, unavailable or unwilling at this hour. With nothing better to do I decide to leave the city and grind some levels as it would be the best use of my time. Since this is a game the gate was actually allowing people to come and go, unlike what one would expect from a medieval castle town. It seems it was only some players that could do so however as when I asked one of the guards about it he told me they have magic tools that can determine who was a player. Another rule was that players with chaotic alignment couldn''t come or go without special circumstances, I took this to mean bribery. After exiting through the gate I was startled by how different the grassy plain looked at night. The once lush green plane was now brown and withered, like the life had been drained from the land. The earth was cracked and dry looking like it belonged more in a desert than a prairie. Gone were the cute Disney princess wild animals the only evidence of their existence skulls and bones from the various creatures. What replaced them were the dark denizens of the night, giant hairy spiders more than 2 feet long stalked the grass while half starved wolves only slightly small than tigers gathered in groups to hunt for food. In between them were things I can only describe as a mix between a large bat and a centipede who seemed to just sit in their respective locations, daring anyone to attack them. This was apparently normal as both the players I saw coming out of the city and the guards near the gate had indifferent expressions as they looked towards the plain. Unlike during the day there were no solo hunters so even if they weren''t surprised by the scenery and monsters they weren''t used to them. That or they are stronger than the mobs during the day, which seems more likely to be honest. Deciding against what was likely to be common sense I didn''t look for a party to join. My main reasons being that being in a party reduces individual experience gain and I don''t like grouping up with random strangers if I can help it. Besides solo play is fun and avoids all the hassle of splitting loot, although the only things I''ve seen drop is money. I decide to focus on the spiders for now, although the sight of them really disturbed me, since they appeared to be the weaker than the Batepedes and weren''t traveling in groups like the wolves. I go to an area that appears to have the lowest number of players so as to avoid potential conflicts and have more mobs available to myself. The low number of players here was likely due to the fact that it was on the opposite side of the city from the gate and as a result had both less light and was further from help/safety. Looking for my first target I spot a spider that was closer to the wall than others, thus making it further from other mobs. I walk up to the spider slowly, invoking Imagination is Magic and generating an icicle on my way. Focusing on the spider I was able to see it''s window before I entered its aggro range it and it made me pause.
Death Tarantula
Level9
Health400/400Stamina200/200
That''s a big ass spider. I really don''t want to have to touch it, why did I not give myself a weapon? why? I sigh, resolving myself to the awful fate of beating a giant hairy spider to death with my bare hands. Hefting my icicle I take aim at the spider outside it''s aggro range, about 15 or so yards (which seems to be the norm for earlier mobs at least). I cock back the icicle like a javalin, steady my breathing and then throw it with all the strength my character had. Although I had aimed for it''s head my aim wasn''t as good (or lucky) as previous throws and I hit one of it''s many legs instead. Fortunately like previous throws the icicle impaled itself into the ground pinning the spider''s leg in place. Unfortunately and rather terrifyingly it didn''t last long as the spider gave a nerve wracking screeching noise before ripping off its own leg before running towards me, its eyes turning a deep crimson red. I, like the badass dragon warrior lady I am, promptly ran from the angry giant spider spurred even more when I saw the disappointingly low number -20 hovering next to the creature. Cursing this game for being so evil I try to think of a new plan (since the old one of taking advantage of it getting immobilized didn''t work) while desperately trying to keep ahead of the enraged spider. Unfortunately my plans all involved my having to get close to the spider so I decided to use the one that seemed the most promising. I kept running while my mana slowly refilled and when it was full generated yet another icicle, of course having to close my eyes for this nearly caused me to trip but I managed to avoid that bad end. Here goes nothing, and if I die by being eaten by a spider I''m never going out at night again. This time instead of throwing the icicle I grab it with both hands, face the spider, and brace it firmly against the ground. Fortunately for me but unfortunately for the spider it had remained closely behind me throughout the chase and thus was unable to slow itself down in time when I stopped running, impaling itself face first onto the icicle. This time the damage was more like what I expected, dealing 40 damage, coupled with the loss of one of its eyes (which sprayed me with spider gunk by the way) caused it release a shriek of pain as it struggled to free itself. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Seeing it struggle I had no doubt that ,much like the badger, it would free itself shortly so I got to work. Turning my fists into spear hands I start launching thrust after thrust as fast as I can into its face. I aimed each strike towards one of its many eyes so every time I did damage my hands would feel the mushiness of the spider''s insides while my arms were coated in cold spider blood making. Despite the scales the sensation of both those combined caused my to gag especially after the stench of the gunk hit me. Still it was worth it at as I managed to destroy the majority of its eye while taking it down to half health in the process. I hadn''t used this brutal tactic on the other mobs because they were cute but for this demonic hell spawn I had no such reservations. More than half blind and crazy from the pain the spider, now free from the icicle, started raining blows down on me like an angry Asura. Which it sort of was in a spidery sort of way as it was able to balance itself on its back 4 legs with the front 3 stabbing down repeatedly. I managed to avoid most of the blows by diving to the side, taking care to smack the beast with my tail on way of course. Most does not mean all however as I took two hits from the spider, one stabbed into my arm and the other into my stomach. The damage was fairly monstrous as after taking them I was left with a little bit less than 100 hp. All my hits combined only did slightly more 200 hp yet only two hits from the spider did a comparable amount of damage. I really need to work on my dodging, or my defense, or both. This amount of damage is really not a joke and I still have to burn through almost 200 hp before it dies. Well not like I can really do anything but try, I doubt I could build up enough speed to run before it kills me now. Thinking this I once more dive out of the way of its hits, thankfully causing them all to miss this time. Instead of managing to hit its body with my tail I hit a leg instead which, despite the lower damage, proved quite fortuitous. When my tail smacked into its leg a large cracking sound occurred and fractures appeared along the damaged leg. Thank god for my night vision, were it not for it I wouldn''t have noticed the fractures. It pays to be a dragon lady it seems. Time for my new, new plan of attack! Continuing to dive out of the way of the spider''s attacks I focused my counter attacks against its back legs. After another two hits to the previously injured leg it finally snapped and became useless. This caused the spider to lower one of its front legs to maintain its balance. In exchange for my last attack though I had taken another hit from the spider, this time it pierced through my side. With my health down to 50 I was in a critical state where any additional hits would likely kill me. Luckily the spider now only two legs with which to attack me now otherwise I doubt I''d be lucky enough to survive this fight. I keep up the hit and run tactics aiming for it''s remaining legs. While the hits didn''t actually do a large amount of damage by the time I broke the third leg the spider was down to 100 hp. Unfortunately its back most legs were generally out of my attack range so I couldn''t cause it to topple over and be unable to lift itself (its front legs were thicker than the back ones for some reason and I couldn''t break them). While I couldn''t cause the effect I really wanted I was able to force it to be unable to use its front legs to attack. With it unable to attack with its legs to attack it naturally turned to its only remaining weapon, it''s mandibles and mouth. Needless to say when I saw it do that I almost peed myself, the open mouth of a giant spider was the stuff of nightmares. "I didn''t know spiders had fucking mouths, let alone that they looked like a teeth filled portal to hell! What the fuck is this demon spawn and why was I dumb enough to fight it!?" The spider naturally took my yelling as a provocation and promptly charged at me, mouth wide open and mandibles clacking together crazily. This sight was not good for my hearth but I managed to get out of the way, taking the liberty to bitch slap the demon spider with my tail once more. Once I was out of the way I charged towards the spider for some hand to spider action. With the decrease in legs came not only a decrease in speed but a decrease in turn rate so the spider''s side was still wide open by the time I got within striking distance. I repeatedly stabbed the spider with my hands not stopping for a full minute at which point I finally realized it was dead. All my stabbing had caused a large hole to appear in its abdomen from which leaked out all sorts of unrecognizable spider organs. Of course since I had been stabbing the spider with my hands lots of those were on my hands. I slowly backed away from the vanquished spider, the feeling of victory and relief causing me to feel nauseous. Or was that the feeling of spiders guts on my arms and their accompanying smell? Either way I promptly threw up. Interesting fact, throwing up in the game felt exactly like throwing up in real life. After emptying contents of my stomach, or something (not sure if that''s how it works in the game or not), I wipe my mouth and proceed to gather my loot. The loot, again, consisted of only money, this time totaling about 50 copper. I''m starting to think that there''s some part of this looting system that I''m not getting. Usually not matter what the mob you kill is you''d at least get some kind of japtem. Maybe it had to be manually gathered? Something to look into tomorrow when I''m done hunting. After gathering the money I walk towards the wall as it was monsters didn''t voluntarily get close, making it a good place to recover health. A few minutes go passed as I recover (both resource wise and mentally) during which I watched some of the small handful of players in the area fight against one of the batepedes. It proved rather bland as they were generic looking and fought just as bland, (i.e letting the guy with the shield get hammered while everyone else attacked wildly. Having finished my short break I get up in search of my next victim. I hunted spiders for the rest of the night, each kill becoming more and more cruel and violent as my hatred for the foul things only grew stronger. My last kill before the sun rose and I headed back to the city was particularly gruesome. Thanks to the high level of the spiders and my constant farming I had reached level ten, pumping up my wisdom by another 10 points while pouring the rest into Int. On a side note another contributing factor to my anger was a title that had showed up on my status, Slave of Steel. Thanks to the increase in mana I was able to use Imagination is Magic better, allowing for the creation of more magic type attacks. Unfortunately for the last spider that meant a super big (and long) icicle running through its entire body pinning it to the ground. Because I hadn''t want to deal with another angry spiders I quickly proceeded to rip off the majority of its legs before it could extricate itself. After pulling off its legs I proceed to beat its face into a pulp, without using my claws. It must have painted quite the terrifying picture as when I looked up I saw the only remaining group of players looking pale as they slowly backed away from me. Kind of silly if you ask me as they were over 30 yards away but whatever. Collecting the money it dropped I head into the city, it was time to get supplies, information and hopefully some answers. Author''s Note That''s the end of chapter 8 hope you didn''t mind the extra long battle description. Those won''t be common and will only rarely show up fore difficult fight, potentially pvp and boss fights. Again next chapter will have details regarding what I happened last chapter. This may or may not be a spoiler I don''t know how you people judge these things but since I don''t know how to do that spoiler window, click-able tab thing other writers do It will be further down in its own separate text block. Now I highly doubt it is a spoiler but better safe than sorry right? Anyways tell me what you thought of this chapter down below. Thanks for reading Ren Waya Potential spoiler but king of not really: Next chapter I will be trying a different POV, in which I''ll be showing things from Salvation''s perspective. This is done in order to more smoothly give details surrounding the whole imprisonment incident. This was be more first time writing from a different characters POV, I doubt it will be too hard but none the less I welcome suggestions and tips if you have them.