ã€ŠThe chronicles of Tinkerã€‹


 About the story and why?

    Like many i really enjoyed LMS. After many hours of reading all that i could i wanted more. Naturally i found the fan fic site and read through most of them.

    It was then i decided i wanted to tell my own tale. There are more than a few things in LMS that i do not like and just can''t stand. For starters i have no idea how people can be so dumb. Weed and Bard Ray are the only smart people in the story it would seem.

    I try to stay close to the source material but like all good writers i add my owns things. I am not a professional writer so it would happen more than once i get off topic or the main focus shifts from the main character to a side story. For now i do not plan to encounter any of the main people for LMS. I will reference something like when Weed builds his statue/tomb for the king. Mostly i just want to focus on my story.

    Personally i like to think that my story fits into the whole RR world. I have only read till Chapter 24. For those that have read further and know what happens in the future. Try and stay with me since i have no idea what the future holds.

    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    My story takes place a week after the launch of the game. For now most things take place in the Heaven kingdom.

    Many that read will notice familiar places and names. From things like World of Warcraft. Dota. Warhammer 40k. Eldar scrolls. The list goes on. I only use them to prevent myself from getting confused with all the places and characters. I think in time i will make a list of names of people that are players and NPC. As well as a short description of who they are and what they do.

    For now i plan on getting the first 5 chapters out. After that i will try and release them every other week. The reason for this is simple. My story only starts to pick up pace from about chapter 5.

    In conclusion i will try and read all posts and answer questions that people might have.

 Introduction

    Like most stories worth telling, this is one about a man and a woman. You may think it¡¯s the type of story that has been done to death, but let us face the facts, it is what we all want and only a few achieve it. Unfortunately that will have to take a back seat while the main focus for now it is all about the adventure.

    This is the story about a man named Presscot Miles. Presscot prefers the name Scot and is currently 15 years of age and lucky enough to be born in to a rich family. Due to his father¡¯s business he moved around a lot and never really had close friends. Currently he lives alone at the Miles manor in England while his father is all over the world making it a better place (more like making money). His mother tells people that she tags along sometimes but actually spends most of her time abroad with charities and the like (funny how most of them are in vacation spots and places where his father is not).

    He is not alone at the house; he has a few servants and maids that keep the estate in order, a full time cook and a steward that handles the funds and pretty much runs the place and makes sure everyone does what they are supposed to do.

    Scot is not like the standard rich kids that are in his private school. He is too wealthy to get picked on and does not have any weird looks or anything. You can say that he is just another average Joe that people greet and soon forget. On the academic front he is below average but that does not bother him because his great grandfather founded the school with 2 other lords, the library was donated by his grandfather en his father donated all the latest tech to run a private school and more. Teachers and tutors never said bad things about him and did their best not to kiss his ass in front of the other students. In short you can say he is not just ¡®¡¯a legacy¡¯¡¯, he is ¡®¡¯the legacy¡¯¡¯. Since he arrived half way through the school term he was given a free pass to the year and would have his own private exams that he would have to prepare for.

    You might think he has it all but his people skill are very lacking and when he arrived at the school he got the feeling every one that invited him over and talked to him, wanted to talk and invite the ¡®legacy¡¯ and not the real him. So naturally he smiled and always had creative ways to sneak away during long conversations and not really talk about himself.

    Scot was not really interested in sports. He usually spent his free time playing games on computers or the latest xbox and playstation. Everything from first person shooters to MMORPG¡¯s and real time strategy games. Whatever kept him entertained long enough, he mastered to a degree. By master I mean he was not called a noob and even received a few invites to parties and guilds. At the school he had many options to join book clubs or a lacrosse team or the very popular school editorial.

    Naturally he passed on it all and was on the prowl for a new game to play. One day at lunch break a kid Scot did not really like, started boasting how his father bought a new game from Korea which allows one to enter a virtual world where one can be a grand adventurer and explore the world within. Being very pessimistic about a new virtual world Scot chose to ignore it. He followed his own set of rules when it came to his nerd way of life.

    Later that night he was online looking at game reviews and upcoming games from his favourite gaming companies. While browsing he read an article about a person selling his Continent of Magic account for a lot of money. It was said to be the strongest character ever in the game. Scot thought back to when he played the game. He got around to level 100 or so and then quit. He was no stranger to the grinding but for him it was reaching a point where the strong rule and pk you if you don¡¯t fit in or give them what they want. At the time he recalled there was a player that the whole world formed an army to hunt and failed to get him. That was the final straw. He cursed the game makers for not balancing the game and put the game on the shelf with so many others he had accumulated over the years.

    Another game that showed promise was Space Invaders Ultimate. Where a person gets your own space ship that you modify to fit your play style and shoot invading aliens. Once a week all players on the server participate in a planet wide defence. A person is assigned a grid to defend depending on your type of ship and battle rep. He asked his father for the money and he gave it to him while laughing and said, ¡°just remember not to stay on the same spot for ever¡±. Apparently there was a game called space invader on a platform called TV games which his farther use to play before he grew up. It ran on 16 bit colour and had only few sounds or some such tragic stuff. He thought his father sure grew up in the bad ages.

    His father always wanted to know what all the money was being spent on before giving it. Since his father was probably feeling guilty for not being around most of the time he gave the money if it was not for an insane reason. Scot always told the truth and usually got what he wanted. He could still not believe he got the dirt bikes that are currently standing in the back yard gathering dust.

    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    So he decided to read up a bit more before he bought the game, but at least he had the money now. He noticed that the virtual reality multi massive online role playing game (VRMMORPG) was getting a lot of attention. Apparently some prodigy and a handful of top scientist really did make a game just like that annoying kid talked about. It was not receiving many positive reviews and criticism was overwhelming. Like most things that came from the east it must be bad for the western people. They used new tech where you get into a capsule and enter the world. How sci-fi is that. Your body stays here and your mind goes into the game. He hoped they have good layers and programming to safe guard your mind. This was interesting and could be good fun and the potential for abuse was high. But it violated the first rule on the list. ¡®¡¯The nerd way of life¡¯¡¯ was a list most gamers have in their mind.

    This list was first thought up when Scot was young and had a bad experience. A few more rules were added over the years.

    1.	Don¡¯t buy the first version of a new platform, always wait for the next. They are way less buggy and glitchy.

    2.	Play games that are balanced

    3.	Trust no one.

    4.	Be polite to others at the start before you show your true colours.

    5.	Find a strong person or guild and leech of them.

    6.	There is always something to learn or gain from losses and unexpected diversions.

    7.	When winning, or achieving greatness don¡¯t act overjoyed, just play it cool and act like you do this every day

    So he kept on looking for something new till it was time for bed.

    That Monday was the same as most. He woke up, ate, got ready for school and went. Nothing special happened that day but at lunch break that annoying kid was again talking about this game in a bit more detail.

    Kid ¡°You guys won¡¯t believe me. This game is the real deal, it is just like the real world. You breathe and walk normally, can smell and taste and even feel the sun on your skin. It¡¯s amazing. At the start it felt weird like I was in a dream but less sluggish¡¯¡¯.

    Most were in awe, but some smirked at that. As he kept on explaining a few other things Scot thought how would this capsule be able to fool a brain like that or even if it¡¯s possible to stimulate the brain in multiple ways like that¡­

    Kid ¡®¡¯AND THAT¡¯S NOT ALL you can even change your appearance, I am a 20 year old looking male human, with broad shoulders and a tanned skin, it¡¯s really awesome¡¯¡¯

    Hahaha imagine that. there will be so much chaos as pink 13 year olds run around looking like grown men. I pity those fools, he thought.

    Kid ¡®¡¯Right now I am still getting the feel for the game, I only got it on Friday and then started playing, but so far so good. In a week I am already lvl 2, I got lucky and found a lot of easy quests to do. I almost died when I forgot to eat in game and once during a struggle with a guard, but lucky for me every one is so helpful. There was a jerk that pk¡¯ed another player and he was tossed in jail. Afterwards there was a mark on his head and his name showed, so we all knew he was a pk¡¯er¡¯¡¯.

    That sounds fair, hope it lasts. Scot recalled that the game was mainly played in Korea and the kid does not seem like he spoke another language. I wonder if the western people get their own starting town, probably far away from the main action.

    Kid ¡°There is a in game translator so everyone understands everyone else, and 1 hour played is 4 hours in game, and for the first month you have to stay inside the city walls. So next week I am going to go outside and kill any monster I can see. And then¡­¡¯¡¯

    As Scot took a moment to think about it all a few thoughts crept up in his mind like, how is the 1 to 4 play ratio even possible? How much is he exaggerating? There are a lot of complex games out there, but to take that all and make a VR with it? It sounds a lot like a new world, a new way of life (sure the adverts for the game said something similar) but this sounds just too good to be true. He decided to look for more info about the subject later online at home.

    After a few days of browsing and reading forums online, he came to a conclusion. There is just so much data it¡¯s hard to list it all. The most reliable info would probably be on Unicorns home webpage; the company that made the game. After reading through a lot of topics and game info he felt a tingling sensation crawling up his spine and he whispered ¡®¡¯I need to be part of this¡¯¡¯.

    Unbeknown to Scot another group was also listening from a distance to the annoying kid. Brad ¡¯¡¯You think it¡¯s true? Sounds a bit farfetched to me¡¯¡¯.

    Steven ¡®¡¯It does, but if is the real deal it would be one hell of a game¡¯¡¯.

    Yuri ¡®¡¯A new game, is just what we need, I was getting tired of the game we playing now¡¯¡¯

    Tara ¡°I Think we can have the game by the weekend if our parents buy it for us. I just get all fired up thinking about it¡¯¡¯.

    Brad ¡®¡¯So it begins. Come to my house Thursday with what you can dig up and we will take things from there¡¯¡¯.

 Chapter 1 Getting to the new world

    It was a Thursday night, which is how he will remember this moment for the rest of his life. He read that no brains have gone missing and the few deaths that had happened where people that did not follow the instructions of maintaining a healthy diet and exercise in the real world.  According to the advertisement you buy the capsule and pay ¡®n monthly fee to play. It was a lot more expensive than other games, if you compare it to buying other games but for a VR it just makes sense I guess.

    He mailed his father how much it will cost monthly as well as his personal research on the topic. He also decided to ask for 9 more capsules than he needed. It may have seemed a bit much at the time, but his father had a lot of money and he told a small lie that maybe his friends can come over to play. They can make a weekend sleep over of it and play the game. Sure he had no friends that played the game but his father did not know that. Scot would not say he had bad luck but better to have capsules in reserve for in case his broke.

    Friday he came back from school and saw a truck and a lot of people buzzing around the entrance of the manor. His first thought was that his mother has returned with some piece of worthless art she bought at auction again. As he went closer to inspect he saw it was not his mothers new worthless art but the capsules he needed. Holding in his excitement he asked Duncan, the house steward, caretaker or the ATM as Scot sometimes calls him, when Duncan could not hear him of course.

    ¡®¡¯Master Presscot welcome home, your father sent these for you. He said you will know what it¡¯s about and added something about don¡¯t lose your mind. Whatever that means I do not know. We shall put 1 in your room and the other 9 in the west wing entertainment room.¡¯¡¯

    ¡®¡¯Thank you Duncan, are they all connected and can they be accessed at a moment¡¯s notice?¡¯¡¯

    ¡¯¡¯Of course young master it is all paid for in a year in advance, I thought it was a bit much but your father said this will be one game you won¡¯t stop soon¡¯¡¯.

    ¡±Thank you again, would you ask Cliffton to prepare a Medieval dish for dinner tomorrow if that¡¯s possible¡¯¡¯. Cliffton was the full time cook that prepared the food for everyone at the Miles manor. He also made some of the best pastries around and sold them to the local restaurants. It would be safe to say that he fits the stereo type of a well rounded chef that loves cooking. He would normally not make every dish like a master chef unless both his father and mother where home, which was not often or very long.

    ¡®¡¯I shall ask, after your request for a classic meal of a Roman emperor, I think Cliffton rather enjoys these challenges you give him¡¯¡¯.

    Scot just smiled and went to his room. In his room he quickly checked his mail and saw a message from his father. He opened it and was shocked to see his father type more than a few sentences, usually they were short and to the point.

    The email read.

    Scot I have sent you what you asked for and left the funds you will need with Duncan. On a side note there is much I feel you should know. Unicorn is a company like most others and they currently have a product that can not just make a lot of money but if my reports are correct they can change the world we live in. I won¡¯t bore you with the medical, practical and social details of it all, but you are a smart boy and as I understand in time you will see the potential of this. PLEASE don¡¯t forget to keep healthy and active in the real world, no son of mine is going to be just another statistic.

    Well that was new, his father was a man of few words, but Scot could not help but feel his father had not told him all he knew.

    Before he started to play, he first had to choose a race, gender, name and starting location.

    First he thought about what race he should be. Royal road followed the basic game rules that for example your elves had better agility and lower strength and so on. He knew the racial stereo types and since he was not sure what class he would end up choosing he decided to be a human. They where the most well rounded and he understood they are the most dominant race in the game. Besides why would he choose an elf, sure the best bowmen will most likely be an elf but why follow racial stereo types like that. It would be a bad idea to try and be the best elf warrior, but what he understood from the forums it will be possible but you will have to work a bit harder and will most likely loose against a barbarian warrior type of the same skill and level.

    Gender, male of course. He will have to remember that there will be cute girls that need strong men to help them level up. Best to avoid those, most likely they will also be men just in a woman body. Rule 3, Trust no one.

    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    Name. As every pro gamer will tell you a name is sacred and should not be chosen without reason or cause. Once you pick a name it is permanent. Only on deleting the avatar and starting over will you will be able to make a name change. Scot thought about names. He would not choose popular names of super heroes or celebrities. His own personal nerd name has changed over the years. He started off as Scotty, then Prowler, and a few to shameful to mention. He had some funny names like SirTapSumBong and so on. In the end he thought he should have a name that stands out. A name that not many would choose for themselves, a name that would strike fear in the minds of his enemies. A name that people can easily tell others about and guess one that the ladies will also like. Yeah, he will think about it some more and get back to it.

    Starting location. There were many towns and cities. All under different regions control and all located in the central part of the continent. It makes sense, the other regions north, east, west and south will be like expansion and end game locations. If Scot knew that he was going to be so wrong about that he would probably done many things different, but that was the assumption he was working under. So he decided on Heaven region, it sounded safe and any city will do for now. On the forums there were not a lot of bad things to say about the region only that it was one of the largest and many people found it acceptable. Again if he knew the shit storm that was waiting for him, he would have started at another location. Thanks to that whole saga rule 6 helped him a lot. That one learns from losses and diversions.

    Class. He decided he wanted an adventure class. Not some class that stays in cities and don¡¯t do much in battle. Like dancer or merchant or painter or sculptor. (Yes readers assumptions like that will come back and bite our hero in the ass later on). He thought that classes like these were for the old, young and cowards that don¡¯t want to do battle and want to play house. The thought of taming a mythical animal would be nice. He was not sure how that would work, will there be a resurrect function and what will prevent people from stealing his pet? The forums had no beast tamers so he did not know.

    The paladin class appealed to him, a noble warrior with good combat skills and holy magic. He read they get a faith stat and that determines how effective your holy magic is. He decided to pass, he does not go to church in the real world very often, so why would he spend time in game praying and doing those types of things. Healer class he decided to ignore because who wants to just heal and watch your party members do all the work. At that moment he realised he needs a class that he can solo play and have an important role in a party. Ranger or bowmen was not his style. The standard warrior appealed to him. He read there are many secret classes, but he did not get his hopes up.

    That only left spell casters and the sneaky class which Scot does not have much respect for. Spell casters sure are strong but as far as solo play goes you could not really do it easily alone. Why would someone choose an assassin or thief class. If you get caught you go to jail and waste time. What if you must kill somebody in a certain time but have real world obligations? The standard warrior seemed like the only logical choice. As a warrior you can wear many armour types and use many weapons and from there you can specialise into a unique class. On the other hand those that play the most and started with the launch of the game will be most powerful. Like him there will be people that started later and will need him. Maybe he will be able to join a guild and be a sort of back up tank or the one that makes sure new or hidden monsters don¡¯t attack healers. Scot could see himself in that role, not fighting to death every battle and share in the fun and loot.

    Scot was grinning and noticing now for the first time it was night time. He went to get some food before he would get in the capsule for the first time. Since it was Friday night he had the whole weekend ahead that he could play. Right before he climbed into the capsule he set the timer for 6 hours. That should be enough time to get a feel for the game and 24 hours in game to explore and start his adventure. As Scot closed his eyes he thought to himself ¡®¡¯Sure I broke rule 1, not to get the first generation of a new platform, but if this is what they say it is, I shall be a fool to wait longer, besides you only live once¡­¡¯¡¯ (YOLO Bitches)

 Chapter 2 Inside the new world

    <table><tbody><tr><td>[p=center]Connect to Royal Road

    Yes | No[/p]</td></tr></tbody></table>

    Yes¡¯¡¯

    The scan on your iris and vein has determined that you are an unregistered user. Do you want to create a new account?

    ¡®¡¯Yes¡¯¡¯

    Select name of you avatar

    ¡°um the moment of truth, Tinker¡¯¡¯

    Select your gender from male or fem¡­

    ¡°Male¡±

    Select race, there are many¡­

    ¡®¡¯Human¡¯¡¯

    You may alter your appearance.

    ¡°The way I am now but at 18 years of age¡¯¡¯

    Select a city and kingdom you want to start.

    ¡°Heaven kingdom, random City¡¯¡¯

    Welcome to Royal¡­

    ¡°Skip intro¡¯¡¯

    After a bright flash Tinker appeared in a town square, near a fountain. It took a moment to get use to this environment. It really felt like a dream, but just more smooth. It was night time so the streets were not that busy. He saw people going about normally. Some people looked his way and ignored him after that.

    Since it was night time Tinker only saw stars and lights. Not electric lights, but lights from flame torches and magic lamp posts. It was really an odd sight to see as cities in the real life are much brighter. Looking around the town square he could see different types of people, a strong looking warrior with his big blade, a skinny fellow wearing a blue robe and his name Merlin visible. Tinker thought that must be a mage and also a player, since his name was visible. Merchants trading items, all the stuff you will expect to see in a normal game. Even at night the place was alive.

    He started by getting a feel for his body and walking around. He went to the nearest town guard and asked ¡°Sir which way to the warriors guild?¡¯¡¯. The stone faced guard stood nearly 7 feet tall looked at him and said ¡°Another outlander, a lot of you these days. You see this road, follow it till you see the sign that says warrior¡¯s guild¡¯¡¯.

    Tinker ¡°Thank you kind sir, can you tell me about this city and its history?¡¯¡¯

    Stone faced guard ¡°Might as well, not much goes on at night and no thief will try his luck in our city. This is Avelon, in the heaven kingdom. By order of the ruling counsel we the guards are supposed to keep the peace and help outlanders like you.¡±

    Tinker ¡°That is interesting, how far are we from the capitol of the heaven kingdom?¡¯¡¯

    Stone face ¡°About 2-3 weeks journey. We are in the centre of the mountain range known as the Stormy peaks. We produce some of the best warriors and mages of the kingdom. We are surrounded by stronger than average level monsters so we fight harder.

    Due to the nature of the mountains we also have strong frost mages and wizards¡¯¡¯

    Tinker ¡°Wow that sure is interesting. Do you have any advice for someone like me that is just starting out?¡¯¡¯. He thought he might as well ask because stone face seems pretty informed for an NPC.

    Stone face ¡®¡¯Become a warrior or mage, you might want to be a bowman. We don¡¯t have many of those here. Besides you look like you have the spirit of adventure in you, so no supporting class, it¡¯s always best to lead the charge¡­Ah to be young and starting anew¡¯¡¯

    Ting * Familiarity with Lan increased by 150 points

    Tinker thought that he read about this, he usually assumed that one builds rep with others through quests, not just casual conversation. Might as well try and continue the conversation to see how it goes.

    Tinker¡¯¡¯ Um Lan is it? I think I will become a strong warrior like yourself, you are right I yearn for adventure¡¯¡¯.

    Lan with a frown on his face said ¡®¡¯ I don¡¯t recall telling you who I am stranger. How did you know?¡¯¡¯

    Tinker thought about it, must he tell the truth that the system revealed his name or make up some lie. Best to lie, maybe the NPC would not understand the system and talk about it. ¡®¡¯Sir I am new to the city and I heard some guards talking about how Lan is one of the strongest warriors if not the strongest warrior in the city¡¯¡¯

    Smiling Lan gave out a deep breath and said ¡®¡¯Ai its true, I was on the fast track to become the leader of all soldiers in the city when my best friend and brother in arms defeated me in the tournament a few years back. At the time I thought he bested me in battle and rightfully deserved the title of Chief Commander.  Some time ago while drunk he boasted how he weakened me with a foul potion he slipped into my energy drink. I was not there at the time but another good friend of mine was resting in the corner with his eyes closed (sounds to me like he passed out from too much drinking), heard the story and told me about it. I confronted the bastard Baal about this and he denied it outright. Afterwards he sent me on a mission.

    On this mission I was sent alone to guard the nephew of the Grand Magus Rubick. Near the highest peak there is a magical cave of sorts that only the strongest frost mages visit. I could not deny a quest from the Chief Commander. Alone I knew the mission had a low success rate, only wizards and mages that nearly mastered the art would go to the top with a party of guards. Alas, the nephew was very talented and did not want to wait and no sane Chief Commander will send men with a novice mage.¡¯¡¯

    Tinker ¡®¡¯Really, what happened next Lan?¡¯¡¯

    Lan ¡°We set off the next day and a couple of days later we nearly reached the top, then we were ambushed again. The young mage I think his name was Johnny Q, was a prodigy in the making. Although he only had rank of novice his spells were potent and deadly. Definitely a candidate to become the next Grand Magus when he grows up. We defeated many enemies on the way to the top. First we encountered Kobolds which died fast, at the base of the peak we fought trolls, after that a roaming pack of snow wolves. At the entrance of the cave we let down our guard and then the Yeti¡¯s ambushed us. Their frost resistance was so high that Johnny Q spell¡¯s had little effect and I alone could not stand my ground against a pack of them. After the young mage fell in battle I tried my best, but I had to retreat and the only open way was to the cave¡¯¡¯.

    Tinker ¡°I am sorry to hear that Lan, then what did you do alone in the cave¡¯¡¯?

    Lan ¡®¡¯Sorry I don¡¯t know you well enough to tell you the story what happened there. But I will tell you what happened when I returned, I was demoted and banned from the mages tower for life. That was not all, I confronted Baal about the potion he gave me before the battle, but with no evidence and his word against mine it did not end well. The ruling counsel saw my attempts to undermine Baal as petty and since I failed to protect the Grand Magus nephew, it seemed that nobody cared that I was sent alone to guard him. With my haste and anger I made a massive mistake¡¯¡¯.

    Tinker thought how much more would he have to suck up to him to hear what happened in that cave, but alas the story seems to be reaching its end, best to hear how it ends. In a sadden voice he asked ¡®¡¯Then what misfortune happened to you Lan?¡¯¡¯

    Lan said in an even more sad voice ¡®¡¯ I lost it all¡­. I was demoted to the lowest rank possible. Baal created a rank even lower then recruit which he said was my own personal title of shame. I¡¯ll hand it to that bastard that he is smart to make me suffer more and to make matters worse I am oath bound. So I can¡¯t just kill him or leave. I only have a Sister here that depends on me and there was a young beauty, but after my shame she broke of the engagement. But I shall rise to the top once again, I shall not make the same mistakes like the last time.¡¯¡¯ With a determined look in his eyes he added ¡®¡¯I¡¯ll have a plan to rival that of the great scholars, I shall never rush in unprepared, I shall take my time and have my revenge and regain my honour.¡¯¡¯

    Tinker just stood there for a moment and thought, ¡¯¡¯wow this is well scripted, Royal road sure did well, and no wonder people are going crazy about this game¡¯¡¯. I should probably help him out a bit, hope I don¡¯t get chased from the city or ashamed like him¡¯¡¯.

    Tinker ¡¯¡¯After I heard your story I can¡¯t help but feel obligated to help you, so what can I do for you?¡¯¡¯

    Lan ¡®¡¯Well thank you stranger, what is your name? I am not usually one to talk about myself and my problems, but no one really took the time to talk to me¡¯¡¯.

    Ting * Familiarity with Lan increased by 100 points.

    Tinker ¡®¡¯ I am Tinker, and happy to lend you a helping hand. If you don¡¯t mind me asking what is your new title?¡¯¡¯

    Ting * Familiarity with Lan decreased by 50 points.

    Tinker ¡®¡¯Oops. This is going to be harder than I thought¡¯¡¯.

    Lan ¡®¡¯ Tinker just go and help my sister for now, she runs the inn the Golden apple close to the warriors guild, go before I change my mind¡¯¡¯

    Ting*

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Help Lan¡¯s sister Morrain

    Due to Lan¡¯s current situation he no longer has a lot of time to help his sister run the inn, Go to the Golden apple and ask how you may be of assistance

    Difficulty: E

    Quest requirement: Need to listen to Lan¡¯s life story and gain familiarity with him.

    Failing to help his sister will make Lan hostile towards you</td></tr></tbody></table>

    Tinker ¡° Aww yeah, my first quest, best be off and get started on it¡¯¡¯

    During his walk on the way to the inn Tinker talked to a few other NPC¡¯s, having brief conversations and asking the basic newbie questions.  Oddly none of them gave him quests, he found it strange how in depth the characters of the NPC were. He thought that this was probably natural and that all the cities were very similar in this regard to keep things balanced. (Yes later he will regret it to be so narrow minded). He also took the time to look at his inventory, which had bread and little money. Next the stat window.

    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Status Window</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Name</td><td width="25%">Tinker</td><td width="25%">Primary Class</td><td width="25%">N/A</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Health</td><td width="25%">100</td><td width="25%">Mana</td><td width="25%">100</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Title</td><td colspan=''3''>0</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Level</td><td width="25%">1</td><td width="25%">Reputation</td><td width="25%">0</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Strength</td><td width="25%">10</td><td width="25%">Agility</td><td width="25%">10</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Wisdom</td><td width="25%">10</td><td width="25%">Intelligence</td><td width="25%">10</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Stamina</td><td width="25%">10</td><td width="25%">Luck</td><td width="25%">0</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Attack</td><td colspan=''3''>1</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Defence</td><td colspan=''3''>0</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Magic Resistance</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Fire</td><td width="25%">0%</td><td width="25%">Water</td><td width="25%">0%</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Earth</td><td width="25%">0%</td><td width="25%">Dark</td><td width="25%">0%</td></tr></tbody></table>

    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    Tinker¡¯¡¯ So this is me, pretty weak but I guess we all have to start somewhere¡¯¡¯

    Tinker approached the inn, entered and started to talk to the first person that looked like she worked their ¡°excuse me where can I find Morrain?¡¯¡¯

    Barmaid ¡®¡¯ O my, aren¡¯t you a bit young for her? She is in the kitchen yelling at the cooks again, just stand at that door in the corner and wait for the first angry lady that walks out. Would you like an ale while waiting for her, mister?¡¯¡¯

    Tinker ¡®¡¯No thanks, I don¡¯t drink¡¯¡¯. He wanted to ask how long he might have to wait but she was already walking away and looking for a customer that pays.

    Tinker stood at the door, observing the room. He saw a couple of strong looking warriors, a hooded figure sitting next to a plump man in the corner. ¡®¡¯Just people having something to eat and drink after a day. Must still be early in the night then.¡¯¡¯

    As he was pondering what to do next he could hear a woman shouting on the other side of the door, followed by the crashing of plates or pots¡­.and faintly he could hear somebody crying. What beast of a woman must Morrain be if her brother Lan is about 7 feet tall and had a face like stone. Holding his breath he lunged out of the way as the door burst open. There she was, the terror of the Golden apple herself Morrain, giving Tinker a puzzled look.

    Morrain ¡®¡¯Who are you, another warrior that wants food that can¡¯t pay? I don¡¯t hand out free stuff, so unless you can pay best be on your way stranger¡¯¡¯.

    Getting over his initial shock Tinker quickly said ¡®¡¯Your bother Lan told me to come to you and help you in whatever way I can¡¯¡¯.

    A little surprise showed in her face for an instant but she went back to her angry face right after that. ¡®¡¯Ok get in there and start cleaning, I will come talk to you later when I have time¡¯¡¯.

    So Tinker went into the kitchen while thinking how someone like her can be related to Lan. She was¡­.hot, she was taller they your average woman, had long brown hair with big round brown eyes and a fair complexion. He does not know who or what made her so angry but it had to be serious. The scene in the kitchen was interesting to say the least. A pot was lying on the floor, a female cook was hard at work while the male cook was crying. Tinker thought what could Morrain have said to make the man cry, is she maybe a man beater?

    He cleared his throat while trying not to laugh at the man ¡°Hello, I am here to help, how can I be of service to you?¡¯¡¯

    The woman cook looked over at him and then went back to work. While adding something to the other pot in the fire she started to talk. ¡®¡¯ You can start by fetching Daisy that¡¯s hiding in the pantry and then clean up the mess on the floor. I am Mistress Annan and that heap of courage over there is David, David is also Daisy¡¯s father¡¯¡¯.

    Tinker said hello to everyone and started his work. After the cleanup he was given other tasks like washing dishes, carry this, and do that. It was a new experience for him since he was rich he would never have to do these things in the real world. He stuck with it, waiting for Morrain to come back. Morrain came back while shouting orders and left soon after. This cycle repeated itself over the next few hours. As she entered for the last time she said ¡®¡¯Closing time¡¯¡¯ she looked over at Tinker and signalled him to come closer.

    Tinker walked over and dared not speak in fear of being shouted at or man handled like David.

    Morrain ¡®¡¯It seems Annan and the others did not chase you away and you don¡¯t look like your run of the mill thief. So my brother really did send you did he?

    Tinker ¡®¡¯Yes¡­Ma¡¯am¡¯¡¯

    After receiving a fierce poke on the chest that actually took away 10 hp he staggered backwards.

    Morrain ¡®¡¯Seems like you have respect for you elders boy, but if you call me Ma¡¯am again and ill punch you next time, I am Morrain. Has my brother informed you of his current situation?¡¯¡¯

    Tinker ¡®¡¯ Yes ma¡­I mean Morrain¡¯¡¯ which he nearly shouted

    Morrain ¡®¡¯ Everything? It¡¯s odd for him to open up to a stranger, even an outlander like yourself. But none the less I can use an extra hand around here during peak hours, you will receive pay and might pick up a useful skill or two.¡®¡¯

    Ting*

    <table><tbody><tr><td>A job at the Golden apple

    Work 1 month at the Golden apple. Help Morrain in whatever way you can.

    Difficulty level: E

    Quest requirements: Must be sent by Lan.

    Failing the quest will result in both Morrain and Lan being hostile towards you.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    Tinker ¡°Sure I¡¯ll help any way I can¡¯¡¯

    Quest accepted.

    Morrain ¡®¡¯Alright we done for the night so you can come back tomorrow at around lunch or dinner time. I understand you outlanders sleep for days on end or stay awake for days, and when dying you come back to life. I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s a blessing or a curse but you will find I am flexible when it comes to these matters¡¯¡¯.

    ¡®¡¯Alright I¡¯ll see you later.¡¯¡¯ Tinker went straight to the warrior¡¯s guild to sign up. It was not hard to find the guild since it was across the broad street from the Golden apple.

    He entered and went straight to sign up. The old man at the desk seemed to be in thought and not really paying attention to his surroundings.

    Tinker ¡°Hello I am here to become a warrior¡¯¡¯

    Jerking and looking a bit out of place the old man said ¡®¡¯Alright name and your 10 gold fee¡¯¡¯

    Tinker was shocked, he did not have that kind of money. He read on the forums you can sign up at most guilds but then have no extra money, thus most people quested for the first 4 weeks and got money and some levels before they started leaving the cities and deciding on a class.

    Tinker ¡®¡¯Sir I don¡¯t have that kind of money, I did not expect it to be so much, other warrior guilds are cheaper, I think you are trying to rob me.¡¯¡¯

    Old man gave a quick giggle and looked very serious towards Tinker. ¡®¡¯Young man I am no thief, We are the only warriors guild in this entire mountain region, and since you are new to us I¡¯ll tell you that the warriors from Avelon are not normal, we are stronger than others due to our harsh environment. In other cities you go out and kill rabbits, then foxes and then wolves. And after that you can face other enemies that are stronger than wolves but still relatively weak compared to us.¡¯¡¯

    Tinker wanted to apologise but was interrupted before he could.

    Old Man ¡®¡¯Here we start by killing mountain rabbits, that could rival a fox from the plains. After that there are frost wolves who are next in the food chain, whose strength is double that of normal wolves. When you are done with wolves there are trolls and Kobold¡¯s all over the mountain which are also stronger than their counter parts from the plains. We have snow wolves that roam all over the place. Last there are Yeti¡¯s that roam the mountain tops.¡¯¡¯

    Tinker ¡®¡¯Sorry I spoke to soon, I did not understand the situation and the way things work, when I have the money I shall return. Is there any other additional info I need to know or items I need before I come back?¡¯¡¯

    Old man ¡®¡¯Indeed¡­ Well once you sign up you will receive 3 meals a day here in the barracks, we will provide your armour and first weapon. We have multiple weapons but those we hand out to new members are a two handed broadsword, a long sword or short sword with a shield. A two handed axe or axe with shield is what you can receive. In addition there are the one handed hammers with shield. The weapons are from an average quality but are good enough for starting items. Your armour will be Hardened leather unless you take on the roll of tank. Then you receive plate armour. Ah yes you are new, it¡¯s hard to hunt on your own here so we form parties of 5 and send them out to hunt. Usually we have 4 warriors and 1 wizard. But sometimes the ratio gets mixed up like 3 warriors 1 wizard and a priest if you are lucky. Most parties succeed, think a couple of years ago we had an entire party just disappear. Don¡¯t worry, now only 1 out of the party of 5 die or quit. But with so many outlanders these days we have many interesting parties, but there is always a warrior ¡¯¡¯

    Tinker ¡®¡¯If I don¡¯t want to play in a party and try it on my own?¡¯¡¯

    Old man ¡®¡¯Then you are either brave or stupid. My uncle once said there is a fine line between bravery and stupidity, I think he knew what he was saying because he died to a group of Yeti¡¯s while leaving his party, he ran straight at the yeti leader with broken armour and a rock as a weapon.¡¯¡¯

    Tinker ¡®¡¯Do you get many recruits by telling them these kind of stories¡¯¡¯?

    Old man ¡®¡¯Of course we do, we boast of the strongest warriors and some might say frost mages, this is just another way to get rid of the weak and get the strong. I should mention we have a basic training hall where one can sharpen your skills. We have training sessions in the morning and afternoons for new members. Our instructor will train you in the way of the warrior and the weapon that best suits you¡¯¡¯.

    Tinker ¡°Ok I will return as soon as I can, have a nice evening further¡¯¡¯

    The old man says ¡®¡¯we will see¡¯¡¯ while grinning like an evil mastermind.

    Tinker walked out and did not expect these kind of delays and developments. He decided when he logged of a few hours from now he will go read what the forums have to say of the town of Avelon.

 Chapter 3 History of the new world

    If Tinker had to guess he would say it was just after 12 at night in Royal Road. While thinking what he needs to do next, he realised he was getting cold. It was an odd feeling because it¡¯s summer time on the continent. He decided he needed a warm place where he can do something productive and not something to taxing on his body or funds. He thought about the training hall but decided to go to the library instead.

    At the other side of the city he entered the library, which was warm enough and seemed to have a few people in. He wondered how in the real world a library would be closed for the night but in here one has permanent access. That is one point in the favour of Royal roads.

    He asked the librarian at the desk about where he could find books about the city history and warrior combat. She silently said ¡®¡¯Row A1 and F7, there are not many books about it, since most warriors don¡¯t have the skill to right down accurate details of their exploits¡¯¡¯.

    Tinker ¡¯¡¯I can see how things like that would happen, but thank you and good evening¡¯¡¯

    He gathered about 15 books. 7 on the history of the city, 5 of the history of the Heaven kingdom and 3 books on warrior¡¯s tales.

    Scot would not think of himself as a bookworm but if he finds an interesting story he would read and keep at it, until he gets bored with the story or it ends.

    He opened the first book. Founding of Avelon. It was interesting to read about the origin of the city. Long ago it had a different name called Midway when it was just a town. If you had a bird¡¯s eye view of the map of the Stormy peak mountain range. One would notice that no matter from which side you enter you will almost every time get to the town that is located in the middle. So the town formed out of necessity. You could waist weeks by going around the mountains, thus it¡¯s better to go through Midway and save a lot of time. There was a ruling lord in charge of the town until a thick mist blew in one day, a lot of nameless villagers died, but of course history books have no place for the lower class.

    During this time when the thick mist was all over, strange sounds and big monster prints were found around the village. Robin the lord at the time sent out all the riders and ravens he could with massages that they need help. At the time there was no Warriors or Mages guild.

    Only the barracks in the lords ground was there for defending the town, and they all vanished in the first mist. Fear entered Robin¡¯s thoughts and all he could think of was run and hide till aid comes to the town of Midway.

    Word reached the then capital of the heaven kingdom that also had another name at the time. The king requested for able men to go help the village of Midway. The kings younger brother Sven and his party of friends decided they would go help and earn the reward the king was giving. The king being a family man decided to send 50 men of the royal guard with his brother to keep him out of trouble. The king did not doubt his brother¡¯s skill in battle but he was eager to charge in first and think later.

    The party arrived at Midway to find the mist was gone and the town was in rune. The lord and most of the wealthy merchants were dead, half the population was either missing or dead, and the situation looked grim. They made camp for the night inside the lord¡¯s garden and set to work. The royal guards were building temporary fortifications.

    Sven called his friends closer and started to think. He knew his brother thought of him as an idiot who charges in first, but he could, because his friends were always there to help him. Sven was a warrior who wielded his larger than average broadsword, that cleaved any foe in two that stood in his way.

    Sven ¡®¡¯Drow use your ranger skills and survey the surrounding area for the enemy, report back if they decide to or attack or by sunset at the latest and take Rikky with you and tell that dammed assassin he should start attending campaign meetings and not sleep. Also tell him he is to infiltrate the enemy hideout if you guys are able to find it¡¯¡¯

    Drow ¡®¡¯At once¡¯¡¯

    Sven ¡°Rylia and Keal do you detect or sense any magic at play here¡¯¡¯?

    Keal ¡®¡¯Some frost magic, maybe combined with wind. It explains how the mist comes and goes. No fire that I can detect¡¯¡¯

    Rylia ¡°Yes, there is strong frost magic here, Keal may have affinities for frost, wind and fire but I sense strong frost magic at the top of that peak over there¡¯¡¯ She pointed to what seems to be the tallest peak visible.

    Davion ¡®¡¯Can¡¯t the great evil or spooky monster be somewhere close and not in the lowest dungeon or the highest peak?¡¯¡¯

    Sven ¡®¡¯I agree Davion, but darkness and evil will always start at places where most humans are not willing to go. Go into town and look for able body men and give them of the extra shields and swords we brought. Also show them standard formation of how they can form a unit for defence by using shield and a sword that might prevent a few less deaths¡¯¡¯

    Davion ¡®¡¯Are you sure? I can¡¯t teach them to be knights in one afternoon¡¯¡¯

    Sven ¡®¡¯I understand, but I think those that survive might learn something and feel they helped in the defence of the town.

    Sven ¡®¡¯Dazzle prepare bandages and a safe area where we can treat the wounded¡¯¡¯

    ¡®¡¯What should we do¡¯¡¯ asked the barbarian brothers Thrall and Gromm.

    Sven had nearly forgotten about those two, they were warriors that fought with dual wielding axes. They said they were developing a new skill called berserker, which was pretty much exactly that. They would charge in and just go berserk and kill all foes with their superior strength. ¡°You guys just rest and prepare for battle¡¯¡¯. Other then battle the brothers could do nothing more accept eat and brawl. Best to have them at full strength if they are needed.

    Looking at the peak Sven could not help but feel this was his moment, his once in a lifetime chance¡­ ¡®¡¯I will take this moment and no monster or evil spawn will stand in my way¡¯¡¯ he whispered.

    Sven was not a very complicated man, he lived in the shadow of his brother the king, he did not want to take the throne by force and only wanted to make a name for himself. By doing great deeds was the only way he knew how. His brother on the other hand was one of the youngest kings in recorded history, after the plague took their father. He struggled in the start but all the training and preparation from birth kicked in. He turned out a good and fair king. With his 3 sons the line of the throne secured so Sven would not have to worry that the kingdom will fall if both he and his brother died. With all this thinking Sven decided it¡¯s time for food and looking over at the brothers he could see they were hungry as well.

    Just before dark Drow returned with news. ¡°Sven there are giants, frost giants if I would have to guess, but I can¡¯t be sure since I have never seen one. Also there is 1 about 5 feet taller than the others that seems to be there leaders and using a large bone as a club¡¯¡¯

    The brothers seemed to get happy and Sven could barely keep his own eagerness in, but like a good leader he did.

    Drow ¡®¡¯ Rikky is following them back to their hideout and will return when he can I guess. Judging from the direction they were moving I would say they have a cave somewhere in that peak¡¯¡¯

    Davion chose this time for a smart remark. ¡®¡¯You see, all the bad things that will happen and that will most likely result in certain death is at that peak¡¯¡¯ pointing in the same direction.

    Drow did not understanding what¡¯s going on and wanted to ask what it is all about, but Sven quickly interjected ¡®¡¯That is how it is Davion, I don¡¯t know how someone with such a negative outlook ever got to be a knight¡¯¡¯.

    Davion only smiled and said, ¡®¡¯If I tell you, I will have to kill you¡¯¡¯

    Sven ¡®¡¯Moving on, Rylia you think that frost magic is the driving force behind this?¡¯¡¯

    Rylia ¡®¡¯ It¡¯s a good guess as any, I am more concerned about the thing casting that power full magic¡¯¡¯

    Sven had not even thought about that. It sure is good to have the right friends. ¡®¡¯Alright we will prepare for an attack, do the standard guard rotations tonight and wait for Rikky to return.

    After 2 days Rikky returned demanding a hot meal. He gave a report to Sven about the situation ¡®¡¯Those giants went all the way up the mountain and entered the highest cave up there. They are smart, always a guard but no one doing a patrol. Guess they don¡¯t need patrols because all the trolls and other monster fled the area.

    Davion ¡®Just peachy¡¯¡¯

    Rikky ¡®¡¯It¡¯s bloody cold up there and I am not sure if you want to attack or defend. I Counted 5 giants, but without going into the cave I could not get an accurate count of all of them.¡¯¡¯

    Sven ¡®¡¯Best we prepare a defence. We will kill them all and then make our attack on the cave. We will also gain battle experience before we stumble in blindly.¡¯¡¯

    5 Days later a thick mist rolled into town. Most of the remaining villagers had fled and only a handful stayed behind to help Sven and his party.

    Sven knew his comrades well, Drow was in a mini tower using his ranger skills to look further into the mist and to yell enemy position and shoot deadly shots with his bow.

    Davion was given command of the 50 royal guards and formed 3 defence lines with him right at the back. Thinking back Sven could not recall any one using the word brave and Davion in the same sentence, but when push comes to shove, Davion would leap into the mouth of a dragon to help his friends¡­he hoped¡­

    Rikky per usual was no were to be found or seen. Most likely he was covering the giant¡¯s rear and waiting for the opportune time to strike with his poisoned daggers.

    Rylia was also standing far in the rear, fearing that her frost spells won¡¯t be effective against frost giants. But she was mentally preparing ice shards for attack. They might not be strong but no one has ever enjoyed getting razor sharp ice shards in the face.

    Keal was ready to blow the mist away with his tornado spell at Sven¡¯s command. Also in his spell book he readied a few fire spells for the upcoming battle. He was part of the second defensive line.

    Dazzle after buffing up all members with holy magic also took a position at the rear near Davion, Rylia and the few armed villagers.

    Sven being the party leader stood right at the front point while being flanked by the Thrall and Gromm and 15 guards with nervous looks on their faces right behind them.

    Since it took a week for the giants to arrive they had half decent fortification built from wrecked homes. They did not bother with a trench but made a sort of mine field full of spikes. The giants where not that big only a mere 15 feet. Sven explained the battle tactics. They would avoid direct hits while Drow, Keal and Rylia aimed attacks at the faces, while the other party members would attack the legs and bring the giants down. Once the giants are no longer mobile the guards would step in and attack the vital body parts.

    Drow shouted 3 enemies are approaching from the north, no 4, the 4th seems to be coming from the north west alone.

    Sven was ready, lucky for them it would seem the 5th giant which was also the leader did not show up. The 3 Giants from the north slowly made their way closer. They did not expect to find resistance but confident in their size and power they advanced. Seeing that all 3 giants would arrive at the same time Sven ran to the north east, in hopes of pulling one giant away. It worked, the brothers on the other hand did not think so far and thought Sven was charging so they did the same. Each marked a giant as their target and howled as they charged.

    Sven cursed under his breath at the brothers and went to the forest while making sure his latest play mate followed him.

    The brothers soon realised they made an error and started their retreat back, Gromm had his arm crushed and lost an axe. Thrall was better off with only mild bruises and broken axes.

    Drow seeing it all told Davion about what was happening. He ordered the 3d line to the west along with himself to wait and see what the 4th giant does. Rylia advance to the first line with Keal. Dazzle came closer but was still too far away to cast healing magic on Gromm

    Rylia¡¯¡¯ Left or right?¡¯¡¯

    Keal ¡®¡¯I would say ladies should choose first but I will go left¡¯¡¯, and with that a big fireball was sent at the giant missing Gromm with just inches to spare. Rylia needed the giant to come closer before she used her spells. While all this was going on, Drow was firing arrows at the 2 giants at the north while keeping a close eye on the 4th. She saw Sven disappear into the woods with a giant on his heels.

    After the fireball the 4th giant suddenly started tossing rocks and anything big at the 3rd line of defence. Davion and his troops stood tight and waited for the artillery fire to stop.

    As the battle commenced the troops were looking good. The 2 giants in the north were getting fire and ice shards thrown at them while 2 barbarians were attacking the legs. In no time the giants fell and the guards finished them off. The 4th giant seeing his comrades dying decided now is the time to retreat, but Drow shot an arrow inside the left eye socket of the giant, blinding him in the eye. The giant was about to retreat when a fireball enveloped him. That gave enough time for Thrall and Gromm to close the distance and hack the injured giant to death.

    Sven walked out of the woods to behold the sight of his friends walking back to camp. He saw 2 giant corpses at the north and 1 in the distance where his friends were coming from.

    At camp Dazzle treated the wounded and started healing the bones in Gromm¡¯s shattered arm. The 3de line of defence under the command of Davion had 4 deaths and minor injuries.

    Thrall was the first to ask what happened to the giant chasing Sven. He casually replied ¡®¡¯ I used the trees and mist to hide and make an ambush. As the giant came near I chopped off the giant leg right above the knee and then chopped of his head¡¯¡¯. Sven chose not to add the part where he waited a while for the giant to bleed out and become slow before he chopped off the head.

    Davion was about to complain or make a remark of sum sorts, then Sven asked Keal to get rid of the remaining mist in the area. With the mist gone they saw Rikky coming out of the shed where they kept the food, eating some salted pork and moving towards the house with the bedrolls. Sven contained his anger and managed to speak in a firm voice. ¡°Where do you think you are going? We are not done yet, there could be more on the way.¡¯¡¯

    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Rikky calmly said, ¡®¡¯Not likely, they seem to hunt in packs of 5 and with all our injuries it would be best to attack the cave tomorrow, gives time to replenish mana and heal every one.¡¯¡¯

    Davion shouted ¡®¡¯What did you do during that battle, no giants seem to have been attacked by you, you just watched us you lazy ass¡¯¡¯.

    Rikky loosened his coat while saying ¡®¡¯That¡¯s right, you did not see me attack giants because I killed the 5th giant that was suppose to flank us from the woods¡¯¡¯. With that said he went to his bed to go sleep.

    It took a moment for everyone to comprehend that Rikky killed a giant by himself and managed to sneak past all of them during combat, an impressive feat for one lazy assassin.

    Drow saw him return but chose to keep that information to herself.

    The following day the party and all the guards from defence line 2 were marching up the mountain. I was decided since they did the least during the fight they would come along while the rest defended the town against possible attack. Drow was scouting out ahead, and following the markings that Rikky left behind. In the mist everyone just trusted Drow to lead the way.

    There were no other monsters in the area so there progress was fast even with the mist, but Rylia kept feeling that some strong frost magic was getting closer and closer. Even Keal started getting a bad feeling about it.

    Near the summit Drow halted and seemed to be staring at a rock. As the party came closer they saw Rikky sitting there. He explained that around the next corner is the cave they are looking for.

    Sven went over the plans for the attack. ¡°First we will take out the guard. Any suggestions?¡¯¡¯ Rikky replied after every one was silent for a while. ¡®¡¯Giants are not the smartest bunch, I suggest we use food, like a rabbit soaked in paralytic poison. We toss it near the entrance wounded so it can¡¯t run away. I think this giant would not share his findings with his friends, so we can wait about 20 min after he eats the rabbit and then kill him. He would not be able to sound the alarm¡¯¡¯.

    Davion ¡®¡¯Really a rabbit near the summit of a mountain, if this works we may have to right about it for future generations.¡¯¡¯ He said with a lot of sarcasm in his voice.

    Sven knew Rikky well enough to know that the rabbit is under his cloak and ready to go. ¡°After we enter we will assume a loose formation. Best not to bunch up in case the cave becomes narrow. If there are a lot of giants I shall shout the retreat, if not we attack. In the ideal world there will be only a few and the leader would be in a big room¡¯¡¯

    Davion ¡®¡¯If we can be so lucky¡¯¡¯.

    Sven ¡®¡¯ Rylia save your mana for defensive spell against the frost magic. Keal just keep doing what you do, maybe just next time try and miss your allies with more than a few inches. 1 guard will stay at the entrance once we enter to keep an eye out for late comers. The rest of you will bring up the rear and guard Dazzle at all costs. If we reach a big room half of you are permitted to from parties and attack giants, but the others will have to stay behind. Davion and I will take point while Thrall and Gromm will rotate to parties that need their help. Drow and Rikky you guys should just look for openings in the enemy and punish them for it. Anybody other then Davion have questions or comments?¡¯¡¯

    Rylia ¡®¡¯ I shall enhance you all with frost armour before I feel that frost magic is attacking us. It¡¯s a spell not commonly used, because it drains some stamina and lowers speed a bit, but in return your frost resistance becomes very high. It¡¯s said those that have this buff can survive the breath attack from a frost dragon¡¯¡¯

    Davion ¡®¡¯Is it myth or did someone really survive? Wait don¡¯t tell me, I think its best I don¡¯t know¡¯¡¯

    Surprising every one Keal said ¡®¡¯ Guys if we encounter this big leader in a big room I want to cast a new spell I have been working on. Any of you remember that wine merchant that said he was attacked by a dragon right before we left on this quest?¡¯¡¯ a few mumbles confirmed most of them heard the story and dismissed it. ¡®¡¯Well that was me, I have developed a new spell that combines fire, wind and frost into a power full attack. I call it Deafening blast.

    It temporally stuns enemies in front of me and even knocks back small monsters and humans by making a loud sound and messing up a person¡¯s balance. I don¡¯t think many of you know that your inner ear helps you to keep your balance¡­but now you do. Just make sure you are behind me when I cast this spell¡¯¡¯ The last part he added while looking at the 2 Brothers.

    Sven ¡®¡¯That¡¯s pretty impressive, Rikky release your rabbit and lets go.¡¯¡¯ At those words the whole party turned to where Rikky was sitting but he was no longer there.

    Davion started muttering curses and Drow stood up and told them to come. They rounded the corner and could not see the cave entrance, but Drow walked calmly ahead and they followed. As soon as they entered the cave they could feel the temperature drop. There sitting on a dead giant was Rikky, looking bored and ready for bed again.

    With boosted morale they assumed the battle formation and slowly advanced deeper. After about 10 min of slow walking and another drastic drop in the temperature. They noticed the cave starting to get a bit wider. At the end they heard what sounded like snoring, slowly going closer they were at the entrance of a large room. Counting 12 giants including the leader this was going to be the battle of their lives. At the back end they could see a smaller room, too small for a giant to enter, Rylia whispered ¡®¡¯that is the source of the frost magic¡¯¡¯

    Sven looked and thought that we can kill the closest 3 sleeping giants before the others wake up, then at least it would be us against 9 of them. Seemed like the best plan, he was not fond of attacking the giants on equal terms, but they are many and will have the element of surprise.

    While Sven informed the party of his plan in his whispers Rikky entered the room and disappeared into the darkness.

    Sven and a few guards would attack 1 giant, Davion and a few guards the other and the brothers get a giant of their own. The rest would hang back and prepare for the real battle.

    As soon as they felt the Blessing of Dazzle they were off. They moved as fast as they could while trying to be silent. When the first swords pierced the giant all hell broke loose.

    The brothers being true to their nature gave a war cry that woke up every giant. At least the 3 closest to the entrance were dead before they could react. After securing a sort of beachhead for them, they formed an arch with the spell casters, Dazzle and Drow behind them.

    The giants yelled and roared with anger and those closest started to charge. Keal took this chance to test his new spell. It worked very well, the giants stopped and looked dazed for a moment.

    With the tables turned Sven and most of his party attacked. They had the upper hand and were doing well, but those giants at the back were getting organised. Seeing they are under attack they grabbed tree trunks to use as clubs and the leader picked up a piece bone. Later Sven them would conclude it was a dragon bone that the leader used but at the moment they did not pay attention.

    Drow fired arrows at near blinding speed, all aimed at the face. Some hit the eyes while the others were just good head shots. At the end of the battle he would recall that he thought that 1 giant looked like he had spiky hear, but in fact it was just many arrows lodged into its head.

    Keal used his Pyroblast on a giant that was approaching from the side, he hoped that Rikky was not in the general direction. The mana cost of Pyroblast was a lot and consumed most of his remaining mana, but that giant was out of the fight. Keal only had enough mana left for a few fire balls which he was saving for the other giant¡¯s faces.

    Rikky in the mean time took down another giant as it was waking up thanks to the war cry. It was a giant sleeping in the far corner and his allies did not seem to notice him not joining the fight. Next it was the type of fighting Rikky liked the most. He came up from behind on all the attacking giants. It was around this time that the first giants that charged started dying and those giants with weapons were swinging with insane strength and unnatural speed.

    Gromm seeing the leader approaching took it upon himself to slay the giant in 1 blow. With his Berserk skill activated he was indeed strong but lacked defence. If he scored a clean blow on the giant he would one shot him.

    The Giant leader was nearly 20 feet tall. He saw some little creature running towards him, but with a longer reach he swung his bone club and he 1 shot the noisy creature. As he moved on towards the battle he saw another little creature charging at him. He grinned and lifted up his bone club and swung down with all his might. To his surprise his bone club shattered, the little creature stared towards him and jumped, that was the last image the giant leader would see, before Sven cleaved a giant part from his stomach and chest away.

    When Sven first met the brothers from the barbarian tribe he could not help but be impressed with their berserk skill. Being no stranger to battle¡¯s he saw the weakness, you take more damage because you don¡¯t really defend, you only attack. In private training sessions Sven tried to harvest the strength of berserk while still having a good defensive skill. After years of hardships and training he developed a skill where he has increased strength for a few seconds. He called the skill God¡¯s strength. He always wondered how strong he was and now he knew. Strong enough to take a 20 foot giant attack straight on. That attack shook him down to his core and after thinking about it, he came to the conclusion that he was just a little bit stronger and his sword helped the shattering of the bone club. With the force the giant was attacking and his strength in blocking, thanks to the sharp edge of the sword, he came out on top.

    There was no time to help the fallen they still had a few giants to kill. The battle was short lived after the death of the giant leader. The last giant to fall was backed into a corner and fell straight over on his ugly face, it was at this moment they saw Rikky pulling out his daggers from the back of the giant and climbing of and looking towards the small room.

    Before they want to the small room they saw Thrall running over to his brother that was defeated in 1 blow. When everyone got closer to them, they were shocked to see a smiling Gromm with too many broken bones to move. Dazzle came over and said ¡°you are welcome, when I saw you charge like an idiot I cast my spell on you that reject death for a few seconds, I call it Shallow grave. You won¡¯t die, but you will need time to heal from all the broken bones and other injuries,¡¯¡¯ she quickly tucked away a small wand with a small skull for a head and hope nobody noticed it.

    Gromm ¡®¡¯Yes I did act a bit rash, thank you¡¯¡¯

    Sven ¡®¡¯Those still able to fight follow me to that small room¡¯¡¯. Sven, Davion and Rylia walked towards the room and peeked inside. There was a crystal on a pedestal in the centre of the small room. As soon as they entered an Ice Wraith appeared. It did not attack, it seemed to be guarding the ice crystal.

    Davion ¡®¡¯Alright you all had opportunity to show off new skills and spells, it¡¯s my turn now.¡¯¡¯ He put away his shield and sword, took off his armour and then the unexpected happened. He turned into an orange dragon. His size mostly stayed the same but he had wings and a tail now. In a deep voice he asked for frost armour which Rylia casted on him without any hesitation.

    Davion flapped his wings and started towards the ice wraith. The ice wraith slowly edged forward as well. In an unexpected roar Davion used Dragon breath which was a combination of fire and green acid. The wraith seemed to take massive damage and got stunned. Davion flapped fast and leaped on top of the ice wraith. It seemed like he was performing bite attacks¡­ But wait, no..Davion was eating the wraith. Sven did not know if he must be disgusted or cheer his friend on. Rylia on the other hand wore her disgust on her face. Davion was done and turned into a blue dragon¡­Smiling and showing rows of teeth he transformed back to his old self. ¡°That is why I am known is Davion the Dragon knight, thanks to the frost armour I had a high enough resistance against frost to eat it. Now I can transform into an ice dragon if I want.¡¯¡¯

    Speechless Rylia walked over to the ice crystal. After a few moments she talked ¡®¡¯This crystal is the reason why these mountain ranges have the cold weather, when the ice wraith moved in it tainted the crystal with evil. With that change the giants came to this region and decide to make it home. It will take some time to cleanse this and reset the balance. Leave me and tell Keal he must come here when I am done. Do not worry he will know when I am done¡¯¡¯

    That said the party maid camp right in the cave, they gave 5 guards a proper funeral that had died during the combat. They should be leaving the next morning before the giant corpses start rotting. After the funeral each person told the story and his part in the battle. Only Rikky did not take part in all of this, he was as already seen sleeping. A few hours later Keal stood up and went into the small room. Another hour passed and they both left the room exhausted.

    Rylia ¡®¡¯I have talked it over with Keal, we cannot move the crystal nor leave it here unprotected that it can be tainted again.

    Before we leave in the morning Keal and I will combine magic and make a barrier that will keep out all monsters¡¯¡¯

    Sven ¡®¡¯Alright that¡¯s good¡¯¡¯

    Rylia ¡®¡¯There is more, it¡¯s also a power full magic item, that can help and strengthen any frost mage that comes here and meditates. I am going to have to stay at the town and make sure no one abuses the power, and maybe in time a wizard tower will be constructed in the village¡¯¡¯

    Sven ¡®¡¯My brother the king talked about expanding trade and his influence in this area. As most of you know this town in located near the centre of the mountain range. Most traders pass through here, and with the frost giants gone other creatures will return. With most of the towns guard dead who will defend the village of not us?¡¯¡¯

    A large cheer echoed in the cave hall.

    Thus the small town of Avelon was founded and ruled not by a lord but a counsel of strong, brave and wise companions.

 Chapter 4 Let the grinding begin

    As Tinker finished the book he received a message.

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Wisdom rises by 1 point.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    ¡®¡¯I did not think a person could gain stats from reading books¡¯¡¯ Tinker remembered reading about how when you fight with spells and swords you gain stats but this was new to him. Tinker took a look around. It was becoming morning time already. He took out another piece of bread to eat and went back to reading the next book. Its title was Avelon¡¯s written history. From what Tinker could remember it took place about 100 years after the first book he read. It was the same thickness as the other book and had a few interesting facts. He finished up right before lunch. Disappointed that he did not gain a stat he left the remaining books there and started going over to the Golden apple inn.

    Morrain was her usual angry self, he greeted her and went straight to the kitchen. Mistress Annan and David were already cutting up ingredients for a stew if he had to guess. With his best smile he stepped up to them ¡°Morning every one, what can I do today¡¯¡¯.

    Mistress Annan smiled and put down her knife ¡®¡¯ I wonder if you would come, you can take over for me here. Cut the onions in strips, other vegetables in blocks. After that go into the store room and get a sack of potatoes for the next pot that we will have ready by dinner time. David will handle the meat for today¡¯¡¯.

    Thus Tinker started his first job ever, cutting and chopping items for meals. In between all of this he was also asked to wash dishes and do other trivial duties. The up side of working was that he got a free meal, which was a welcome change from his dried bread. Daisy arrived later in the day, Tinker thought that its unfair how he gets to work and she arrives so late. She came in looking tired and pointed towards Tinker with a sadistic smile. Tinker was not sure he wanted to know what happens next, but she just asked him to help offload. During this Daisy explained to him that every couple of days they need to restock on supplies and that she usually goes around shopping with the cart. For a lady she had no problem pushing the shopping cart around town.

    After the midday rush things calmed down a bit. The other people in the kitchen started talking and telling the latest gossip, like how another cook from the Cock and Bull inn was fired for no particular reason. The conversation slowly shifted towards Tinker. He was bombarded with question of what was he doing here, what is his family situation like. Why did Lan tell him what happened to him and so forth. At first he was hesitant to answer but he told short mainly vague stories. He told the story of him wanting to become a warrior as it was.

    Morrain came and went as always. Barking orders and then leaving again. She stood and listened to Tinkers story of wanting to become a warrior, at first she grew angry and thought why anyone would follow the path of a warrior. It has only cause pain and suffering in her family. First it was her uncle that died while helping a Wizard to the summit of the peak. Soon after her aunt could not go on without her uncle. Then it was Lan¡¯s whole situation which disgraced their family name. The worst of all was that she lost the man she was engaged to, a man she believed she loved deeply. ¡° Warriors, the world are better off without them¡¯¡¯.

    Tinker hearing something about warriors from Morrain could not help but ask. ¡®¡¯What is that Morrain?¡¯¡¯

    Morrain ¡° Nothing, now get back to work, I don¡¯t pay you to stand around and do nothing¡¯¡¯ she stormed off after that.

    Tinker asked what Morrain¡¯s story was but all the workers in the kitchen had sudden work they needed to do¡­.

    As night time came closer they started with the evening meals. Mistress Annan called Tinker over. ¡®¡¯Now look here, cooking is not for the faint hearted, one can¡¯t go of on an adventure without knowing how to cook. A person only hears about how a few brave adventurers fought against countless enemies, not that they needed food three times a day. Starting tomorrow we give you your own pot and place in the fire. You will cook the meals we in the kitchen eat from now on. Do not look at me with that face young one, I shall help you in the start, I have trained a few adventures in my time¡¯¡¯

    Tinker ¡®¡¯ I¡­I thank you, will I need my own spices and stuff like that¡¯¡¯?

    Mistress Annan, ¡®¡¯ No need, we have what we need right here. You will also start working with meat tomorrow. Who heard of great men and woman who don¡¯t eat meat while exploring the world?¡±

    They worked to make the dinner meals and a while after the sun set down the alarm went off. Tinker greeted them all and logged out.

    Scot was tired. He spent a whole day in the VR. It was after 12 at night and time for bed. He went to fetch some water to drink, set his bedside alarm for 8 the next morning and went to bed.

    Scot woke up, having slept like a rock, he felt rested and ready for a long day in his new game. First he went to the kitchen and got food and something to drink. Cliffton was already there making something that smelled delicious.

    Scot¡¯¡¯ Will my Medieval dish be ready for lunch or supper Cliff?¡¯¡¯

    Cliffton¡¯¡¯ Dinner, the stuffing of the pig took longer than I expected. With the slow cook method I am using it will be ready by tonight. We will serve 12 people and we will use the main dining hall¡¯¡¯.

    Scot ¡®¡¯Sure thing, see you then¡¯¡¯. Scot thought that did he really intend to server 12 people? How big the pig is and what else does he have prepared. It was not uncommon for the servants to use the main dining hall while his father and mother was not home. It has been a while since they have done it, but the old saying holds true. When the cats are gone the rats are kings.

    Feeling ready for Royal roads he went to his room and got on the internet. He searched for any information that was about

    Avelon.

    Mostly there were bad things to say like it was remote and one of the hardest starting areas¡¯s if not the most. Also it did not accommodate well for most classes. The list of bad things went on. Mountain rabbits are twice as fast as normal, the other monsters are stronger also, best to start elsewhere and quest there when moving through the mountain range to get to the other side. It was not all bad, the warriors, bowman and frost mages said it was hard to level up at the start but after the first struggle they get stronger very quickly.

    Scot was a little disappointed in Royal roads. They had tried to screw him at the start of the game. He assumed that when you

    ask for a random starting town they would be fair and not dump you in a town or area with the least amount of players, but this could have been worse. The problem is that these forums have too much data. A person cannot read through it all and the worst is that not all the data was reliable, not to mention if it¡¯s still outdated. In the future Scot will have to keep his eyes peeled for better information sites.

    He got into the capsule and set the alarm for 1 hour before dinner that will give him enough time to freshen up before its time to eat. Scot planned on playing for about 9 hours straight. This was before the days he would play in 6 hour shifts and get enough rest. Sure there were a lot of times he would go over the time period if he was busy with an important quest or at an important moment in the game.

    Back inside Avelon it was late at night. Tinker could go to the Golden apple and get in an hour or 2 of work before closing time but he decided to go to the library instead. He had a few more books to read and maybe he can gain another stat or 2. The other books he read about Avelon and Heaven kingdom history was a good read. He secretly praised Unicorn for the depth they are going to simulate a real world. Most games tell you the basic lore or history about a race or city and that¡¯s about it. The depth of this was unparallel, a small army of workers from every walks of society, probably spent years to make this game. How feats like these are achieved was a mystery. Only many years from now Scot would hear rumours that Royal road is controlled by a super AI.

    Tinker read through the night and only took brakes to eat and drink.

    It was right around the time of lunch when he got hungry and decided to head to the Golden Apple. His wisdom only increased by 1 more stat. It would seem it does not take the same time to level the skill up. For example if you read for 6 hours and gain 1 wisdom, next you will have to read for 7 hours to gain another point and so on. Which means those that grind the most will have the most stats. It was in this moment Tinker realised that you can¡¯t waist time in game.

    There will be times when you need to rest, but while riding in a wagon to the next town it would be best to cast spells or be reading. Tinker also started thinking along the lines that levels are important. People of the same level won¡¯t have the same skills or stats. A mage that reads a lot and just kills monsters and reaches level 50 will be stronger then a mage that just quests hard and uses his spells the least amount possible. Although the weaker mages should reach level 50 faster. ¡®¡¯I shall have to keep an open mind of low level players.

    Don¡¯t want to be level 50 and get killed by a level 40 warrior that spent weeks in the training hall.¡¯¡¯ Tinker started to feel guilty because he wanted to become a warrior but he wanted to do other professions as well. He would just have the figure out a way to level up his base stats that would not require weeks in the training hall. Besides won¡¯t it be better to just kill monsters while doing quests, then your base stats should rise, like his wisdom did while reading. Why hit a dummy for 6 hours and gain 1 strength, if you can attack monsters for 6 hours, gain loot and experience and make progress with a quest and then as a bonus get 1 strength? In the end the person that plays the most and spends his time productively will be the strongest.

    A person can forgo on professions unless you can have something that compliments your main class. Say you want to be the strongest warrior, you can become a blacksmith and make strong weapons for yourself, but if you spend too much time on it, other warriors will surpass your. To make matters worse you won¡¯t be able to keep up with a person that only specialises in blacksmithing. What if that person has a strong guild backing him up and providing him with raw materials?

    ¡°I will never be able to be the strongest in anything, while solo play will just fall short of others¡¯¡¯ Tinker said while walking through the streets. ¡° I will have to join a strong guild or find a half decent party or else I will be left behind¡¯¡¯.

    Arriving at the Golden Apple he fell into his routine. Cut this, chop that, the only difference was that he did not have to wash dishes that task fell to Daisy.

    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    Mistress Annan told him they will take it slow ¡®¡¯ First the meat you use is important, you do not want to make a stew from prime grade beef. In time you will learn the difference between good meat and those that are for a stew. Stew is a basic meal that includes meat, vegetables and spices. With this you can cook most food and not die eating it, unless you add the wrong mushrooms or other poison plants.

    Tinker ¡®¡¯ Are there a lot of poison plants other then mushrooms in the world? Won¡¯t it just be easy to grill meat and eat?¡¯¡¯

    Mistress Annan stopped cutting up the beef and looked like him as if he was a man that wanted to be slapped ¡®¡¯that¡¯s just like young people¡¯¡¯ she nearly yelled. ¡®¡¯ All you think of is adventure, love and fast food. Did not your mother ever tell you to eat your greens?. A person should maintain a healthy diet.¡¯¡¯

    Tinker ¡®¡¯Not really, my mother did mention something about eating healthy¡¯¡¯ he could not tell mistress Anna that his mother probably never cooked a day in her life

    Mistress Annan ¡° That¡¯s just one of those things, and to answer your previous question. Yes there are, night shade is a plant used for poisons and the like. A few berries like the mountain cherry berry which also kills you when eaten in large quantities and looks very similar to the helping cold cherry berry. They look so alike and the plants they grow on have similar leaves and structure. Maybe if there is time I shall explain more and teach you herbalism.¡¯¡¯

    Tinker ¡®¡¯ Great, so where do we start¡¯¡¯

    Mistress Annan ¡®¡¯ Alright depending on what you have, your meat, onions and potato¡¯s go in first. They shall form your base. Later you add other vegetables, what is also core is the type of cook in sauce you want to use. The amount of water or milk that you add will depend on your other spices and the type of stew you are trying to make. For today we have an entire kitchen. Start with some oil and cut up onions and potatoes. 20 min after that add the meat, 20 min after that add the other vegetables that we will cut up as we go along.¡¯¡¯

    He did it all and was about to ask what is next, then Mistress Annan handed him a pitcher of milk. ¡®¡¯Add a quarter and go to the spice rack, taste 5 of them from the top rack and bring me the one you think will taste the best in the stew.¡¯¡¯

    Tinker walked over to the spice rack and started tasting. He only knew the most common tastes like salt, pepper and garlic. He was sure he would be able to identify more but he would not really know their names.

    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have learned Cooking skill</td></tr></tbody></table>

    As expected the food was not the best, but better then the dried bread.

    That became his routine from then on. Read when not working at the Golden apple. He gained a few more wisdom stats and was gaining stats in cooking.

    Before dinner Scot took a quick shower and put on nice clothes. At the main dinner hall he arrived and saw the guests, few servants he recognised and he assumed the rest where there + 1 for the night. Duncan was sitting at the head and chatting away with a person, while the servants that were suppose to eat were brining the plates and the refreshments they all would need later on. They did not even stop and pause for him, maybe one day he would install more fear into them but for now he was just a 16 year old boy who was nice to servants compared to some of the other stories he heard.

    He went closer and Duncan nudged his head towards the other side of the table. There he took his seat and poured a glass of juice for himself. He started listening in on a conversation of the grounds keeper when a prominent smell entered his nose and reminded him how hungry he was. Every one shifted their attention to Cliff and 2 servants trailing him and what seemed to be midsized pork.

    Cliffton stopped at the side of the table and waited for the trailing servants to place the last of the items down and take their seats. He noticed he had everyone¡¯s attention and then started.

    ¡°Evening everyone, welcome to the Miles Manor where we will be having a Medieval dinner theme as requested by the young master. Before I give a small explanation of what we are going to eat I want to say two things. There will be dessert and there will be no turkeys to eat. It¡¯s a lie that in Medieval times people ate them by the dozens and I hate those pretenders that prepare them at Renaissance fairs ¡®¡¯

    Where did that just come from Scot thought.

    ¡®¡¯I prepared Merrie Crown roast of pork, I won¡¯t bore you all with the details but here are the main points. Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Season meat with salt, pepper and a few other spices . Place baby pig in a rotisserie.

    Prepare Savoury Rice Stuffing. Fill centre of pig with stuffing; continue roasting 1?-2 hrs. longer until meat is well done. Place pig on serving plate or carving board. Garnish with Lady Apple Fruit Wreath¡¯¡¯

    ¡®¡¯Sure not a lot of details someone muttered¡¯¡¯

    Cliffton smiled and start slicing up the baby pig. Scot was confused and shocked at the same time. He thought that was a midsized pig, but in reality he has never seen the size of a real pig or baby. Like it really matters. He received the first slice with a plate full of greens, then Duncan, until every person was served and Cliffton took his seat next to Scot and started eating. The conversation was dry and boring, unlike the food which was in a class of its own. Almost everyone complimented Cliffton on a job well done and went for more, even Scot got up for seconds.

    For desert Cliffton and a servant disappeared for a while and came back with Pecan fudge pie. It also did not last long.

    After the meal Scot said his goodbyes, as the wine the grownups were drinking were taking its effect. He thanked Cliffton and said he will think of something again in the near future to challenge him with. Cliffton chuckled while rubbing is oversized belly.

    Scot relogged back into Royal road and got back to his routine. Just a few hours left before bed.

    His alarm went off that Sunday morning, after a quick trip down to the kitchen he was sad that none of last night¡¯s food remained but nothing a bowl of porridge could not make up for.

    Scot was nearing his first weak in Royal roads and could not help feel he is missing out. He needed 10 gold to join the warriors guild. He was not a thief and begging was not his style. His current plan was to work at the Golden apple and read for another week, the join the warrior¡¯s guild and work at the inn the last 2 weeks. The money or the how, would have to be revealed to him later on, for now he had gained a few more wisdom and 1 intellect that increased his mana by 10 points. What he really wanted was to increase his warrior¡¯s skill but for now this will have to do. He realised that once he joins the warrior guild his time to read will have been reduced to zero or very low.

    On this evening trip to the library he looked for more books on combat and the like. There was Mephisto¡¯s art of war, that told about how superior tactics and preparations win wars. In battle¡¯s numbers are not always the deciding factor and so on. A good book to know if you are a general and an interesting page turner.

    The week in real life progresses was slow. It was mainly go to school, read forums for additional info that may help in his free time when he could not play. At night time Scot would play royal roads. His cooking skill had slowly increased and was raised to level 3 and he acquired 2 new skills. Handicraft that was level 1 and Herbalism that reached level 2 by just listening to Mistress Annan and knowing the spice rack better then he would have thought possible. He gained another few stats in wisdom and 1 stat in vitality (guess working hard and reading late makes a person stronger).

    The message that followed up after his rise to lvl 3 cooking was interesting to say the least

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Level Up: Cooking Skill [3]

    Enhances the taste of meals.

    Increases recovery speed of stamina when served.

    Increase life when served. (+5% LIFE)</td></tr></tbody></table>

    Scot calculated that he will be able to leave the town next Friday night in the real world. That would start his journey in earnest. He was already behind schedule. After two and a half weeks at the Golden inn Lan made his first appearance. Not smiling and having a look of stone on his face he came over and talked to Scot.

    ¡®¡¯Ah Tinker, I hear from my sister that you are working hard and helping her per my request. She also explained to me that you spend your free time reading, did you change your mind on becoming a warrior?¡±

    ¡®¡¯No Lan is just that it costs a lot of gold which I don¡¯t have so I read about the warrior way of life and other interesting topics. When I have the gold I will go and still work part time here¡¯¡¯

    ¡°If that is what you wish I can loan you the money to sign up, you can consider it an advance of your reward on your quest for helping out my sister. I must warn you, you best still help her out till the time of the quest is complete or else you will fail it.¡¯¡¯

    ¡®¡¯Thank you I won¡¯t let you down. Any other news or things happen to you since last we spoke?¡¯¡¯ best to ask otherwise Lan would probably never tell and he might miss out on something.

    ¡°My hours of night guard have been reduced and now I am guarding the crypt. Not really much goes on there and it¡¯s hidden behind the council meeting hall.¡¯¡¯

    Tinker could see that Lan suddenly changed his facial expression and looked a bit surprised.

    ¡°Oops, I was not suppose to tell you that. I guess because no one is allowed there and only a hand few know of it I slipped up. I see you are still confused. Nobody has guarded the crypt in ages but due to my current circumstance I was given the ¡®honour of guarding our heritage¡¯ or some such garbage. It¡¯s just that nobody walks close by or visits it, so when I am on duty I see nobody.¡¯¡¯

    ¡®¡¯I understand I won¡¯t tell anyone. What is in the crypt?¡¯¡¯

    ¡®¡¯I do not know, as I understand the legends of old are buried there and no other villager may be buried there. Before my time thieves entered the crypt and were never seen again. I can tell you this, as I stand there at night I can hear things from the inside, and they do not sound human¡¯¡¯.

    An undiscovered dungeon Tinker thought. ¡®¡¯I will have to go take a look someday when I am strong.¡¯¡¯

    Tinker greeted every one and promised to be back when he was not busy training to become a warrior. All seemed happy for him except Morrain and Lan¡¯s stone face.

 Chapter 5 The way of the warrior

    Tinker arrived at the warrior¡¯s guild that seemed to be open at all hours. He saw that old man, behind the counter and produced the 10 gold coins

    ¡®¡¯I am here to sign up and here is the money.¡¯¡¯

    ¡®¡¯Very good¡¯¡¯ the old man said and pointed towards the door. ¡®¡¯Sign your name here and go through that door and ask for an instructor Canobi¡¯¡¯.

    Tinker walked over, opened the surprising thick door slowly and entered into what seemed to be the main training hall. There were scarecrow dummies. Weapons of most sorts and a couple of people training.

    A man in standard plate body armour walked over to him and looked down at him and smiled. ¡®¡¯Another outlander, sure many of you these days. Since you are new let¡¯s start by hearing your past weapons training and preferences.¡¯¡¯

    ¡°Um good day sir are you instructor Canobi?¡¯¡¯ he nodded a yes. Tinker spoke with more confidence after that. ¡°No formal training but I have read books on the matter and I want to wield a big sword¡¯¡¯.

    The instructor face looked a bit disappointed. ¡®¡¯Books, never heard of a troll been beaten by a book unless it was a spell. But none the less, show me your stats window. Let us see if you have the necessary strength needed for 2 handed claymore . You will start with the wooden version it.¡¯¡¯

    ¡®¡¯Mine is the same as all others sir. I do have an above average wisdom. Are there any weapons that can compliment that?¡¯¡¯

    This is going to be hard the instructor mumbled. ¡®¡¯Well I assume you have not chosen your class yet. We will not be giving you a claymore, broadsword or a shield. Maybe a standard sword  or dual wielding. I suggest those as they might help you the most. Usually we teach and recommend axes but for you 2 short swords might be more to your liking?¡¯¡¯.

    ¡®¡¯Why would you say that?¡¯¡¯

    ¡®¡¯You said yourself your strength is normal. I would say I sense that you won¡¯t like the shield and weapon of your choice to complement it. Further you mentioned you like a sword thus axes and war hammers are out. That leaves those items I mentioned first.¡±

    ¡°Ok I see that you know what you are talking about. You mind if I practice with the standard sword and dual wield short swords at the start so I can get a feel for both of them?¡¯¡¯

    ¡°Not at all only if you hit a scarecrow with both weapons for at least 3 hours each and don¡¯t forget to try out different stances or angles. Never attack them half hearted and use all your strength¡¯¡¯.

    Tinker agreed and watched the instructor disappear into and adjacent room and come back with 3 wooden swords.

    ¡°These weigh as much as the real thing and are well balanced. Go to any scarecrow and start. Come back to me once you are done. Then we will go from there and give you your other items.¡¯¡¯

    Tinker nodded and left for a scarecrow far away from any person. He only say one other person hitting a scarecrow and the rest were standing around and mainly watching the sparring matches.

    He took the standard sword first and swung with all his might. The shock rippled through him. He did not expect that it would feel like hitting a tree with a branch. He quickly gathered his strength and repeated the action.

    After an hour he took his first brake. He watched a new sparring match from a distance and noticed that they did not just swing like him, they used thrust in their attacks aswell. He did not even think about that, after his brake he spent an hour thrusting the scarecrow in the chest and the odd thrust aimed at the face.

    He took a brake again. Looking at the current sparing match he noticed the two people were moving around and not just standing still. His last hour he spent doing minor foot work and attacking from different sides. He would swing at the target while going to its left, and then follow up with a quick thrusting in its flank. He tried to simulate battle situations, but it was hard against an opponent that does not move and he had limited ¡®moves¡¯ to try out.

    He took up the 2 short swords after his brake and decided to start off with a couple of swing each then he will do all the fancy things. He went at it as best as he could. When he got tired he kept powering on, when it was time for his first brake he noticed he has nearly been busy for 2 hours. A quick brake later and he was back at it again using his momentum for double strikes or a swing to the neck while ducking low and thrusting for the stomach. He stopped only because he received a pop up that told him that his strength has risen with 1 point.

    Before he could start over the instructor came over to him.

    ¡°Well done, I was afraid that you were hopeless when you started out, but you showed me wrong. Have you decided on what weapon you would like to receive training in?¡¯¡¯

    ¡®¡¯Yes, the dual wield.¡¯¡¯

    ¡°That is good, here is your basic hardened leather chest and leg piece. They are lined with cloth so in effect you are wearing 2 layers of armour. Later you might want to upgrade to steel armour. As far as I know most dual wielders don¡¯t because it slows them down. Here take the leather cap, boots and these pair of gloves. They might not have the best stats but they provide you with more than enough basic defence and protection. Later you will get real weapons after you prove you can handle them¡±

    ¡®¡¯I have training session every morning and afternoon for new recruits. In between and after I train personally with those that need it. Some nights like tonight I hang around, judge sparring matches and accept any who would try and beat me in a duel. But it¡¯s been so long that I grow tired and fear the day someone with talent shows up. I just might be too rusty to give a half decent fight. I shall see you around and you may stay here to practise more.¡¯¡¯

    Tinker said his thanks and remembered he had school in the morning, best to be going.

    The first practice session felt a little odd to him. They showed basic sword patterns, foot stances and how to control one¡¯s breathing. They are as follow

    ?	Feet

    Your left foot will be at back on a 45 degree angle. Your right foot will be in front, facing straight ahead. Most of the weight - about 70% of it, is on the back leg. The front foot is balanced on the ball with the heel slightly raised. This is so you can move it quickly. You can pull it back in a slip. Push off the back leg into a lunge, step sideways, or whatever you want. You could also drop the weight onto the front foot and pass forward. if both feet are equally weighted in the stance, some of these movements take a little longer. This back weighted "MiChuan" stance, has a light and springy feel, as though you could instantly change the weight from one side to the other - think of a cat walking - light and springy. It is also rooted like a tree into the ground, but flexible enough to change the sense of balanced rootedness to the opposite foot, in an instant. There should be some lateral distance between the feet. We call this get-away room. You don''t want to take a step back to slip a cut while sword fighting and trip over your own back foot.

    ?	Legs

    Both legs are bent at the knee. Your hip, knee, and ankle joints will be on the same outer plane, so that nothing is straining and there is looseness in the joints. Try not to block up your body in any way. From the front, the knee of the back leg will not protrude past the toe.

    ?	Body

    The torso is turned to the same 45 degree angle as the back foot. Tailbone is tucked under to help straighten the spine. Shoulders are loosely rounded and the chest slightly hollowed. The spine is straight without being at all tense. Think of it as divided at the waist with the lower part sinking towards the ground and the upper part light, almost suspended, as though there is a puppet string attached to the crown of your head and held from above.

    ?	Arms

    Every joint in the arms is relaxed. The arms are not jammed at your sides. Neither are the elbows sticking out. There will be one line from the elbow to the tip of the sword a slightly curved line because the elbow is not locked. Hold your sword out from your body. The pommel points to the "dantian" - A word for a place inside the lower body below the naval. The tip of the sword points to the eyes of your opposite, and that''s where your eyes are focused. The angle of the sword is just across the centre line of your body, forming a barrier the opposite would have to get past to reach you.

    It is a good idea to stand with your sword using the correct grip and stance, concentrating on keeping your joints and muscles loose and unclenched. Breathe slowly and stand in this basic stance until it becomes pointless because you are stiffening up too much. Ten minutes regularly standing like that will help your sword fighting techniques more than most other things. Half an hour will change you from the inside out, but don''t try that straight away. Build up to it.

    He felt as if it was good to know all of this but he could not help but feel dual wielding was different. Right after the first session which was surprising exhausting he went over to instructor Canobi.

    ¡°Sir I mean no disgrace but wont my dual wielding be different than normal¡¯¡¯?

    ¡°That¡¯s right that is why you are going to have private lessons with me. I may not look it but I have trained intimately with them so I can show you what I learned¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s great, when can we start?¡±

    ¡®¡¯Meet me in 10 min right here¡¯¡¯

    The 10 min past by so slow but Tinker was getting his mind in order.

    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s start at the beginning when talking about dual sword techniques, only 5 of the 50 forms I teach are actually a dual stance and those forms are more designed for training your arms to use a single sword better. Thus you must master all of them and be able to use some parts of the one form, while going on halfway through another one. It¡¯s sounds hard but once you start to do battle you will combine your own techniques and use them as the battle unfolds¡±

    ¡°I will be honest with you that I do not know the 5 stances my master talked about but he said my dual wielding was of the best.

    Maybe later you can find another that can teach you this.¡±

    ¡®¡¯He said that one must maintain balance between strength and agility. Since every fight is different you never know what to expect. Some fights will require more of one stat then the other. You may think that having max agility would be best. But think about it for a moment, how does the fighting style between a warrior and assassin differ? You will take the best of both classes. You won¡¯t have the attack power of the warrior or the attack speed of the assassin, but in theory you should be able to compete with them in a way and if you are good you can maybe beat them¡¯¡¯

    ¡°I think I understand sir, currently my strength and agility are equal.¡±

    ¡°Good, then maybe you can do what I could not. Maybe in time you will come back to me one day so that we can spar en see which dual wielder is the best. In all my years I have never encountered another person with balanced stats in agility and strength, other than my master. Let¡¯s do the basics and see if you remember.¡±

    Tinker went at it, trying his best. The moment before he could crack a smile Canobi interrupted him.

    ¡°It seems you were not there for the first few days of my training. Knowing a stance or sword techniques is one thing, but you must also focus on the grip. Assume a comfortable position, this might take a while.¡¯¡¯

    1. There are different grips for different swords. I''ve heard that some who train in Kalamorian swordsmanship prefer to hold the index finger over the guard. This is easier for precision cuts but it has one very important downfall. This type of grip is very useful when your sword has a basket hilt or steel rings to protect the index finger. A Kalamorian sword does not. If you use this grip with a jian, your index finger becomes a prime target. One hit with a sharp blade is all it takes to remove the protruding finger - no more precision. So you might as well train in correct Heaven sword skills from the beginning.

    2. The jian grip takes advantage of a lozenge shaped handle. The strength of your grip will be in the thumb and middle two fingers. This gives you a firm hold of the sword while leaving your wrist flexible enough to rotate in spinning deflections. I have seen students spin the sword by un pealing and reattaching their fingers. While it is true that this action makes the spin very easy, it is quite unstable. A simple beat to the flat of your blade during sword fighting, will send it flying out of your hand.

    3. Another grip error is to place your hand with the thumb above the four fingers, or only over the index finger. This works well for a dao, but not for a jian. Different weapons, different sword skills. Be sure to practise the correct grip for the type of sword you are using even if it takes longer to get it correct.

    Tinker just nodded. So much information to absorb and he was not even sure what type of swords he will be fighting with one day. Alas there was wisdom in his words.

    This became Tinker¡¯s routine when in Royal roads. Train at the warrior¡¯s guild, learn the sword stances and the work at the Golden apple inn. As he expected the time for reading was no more.  His Cooking went up another level to 4 while herbalism and handicraft were nearing a level up as well.

    While browsing online and reading Royal road forums, Scot read about a group of people that claimed that they were part of a dojo at university and when they started playing the game they did more damage and found it easier to grind through tuff physical experiences.

    That is when Scot decided that he needs to join something at school that can help him in Royal road like fencing and the like. He can search the internet for info on the drives home and other times, but since he has to spend a lot of time at school he might as well make the most of it. Scot thought that fencing would be best, but when he looked at the training program and hours he decided to pass. There were not many other activities to do at school that would improve his skill in Royal road. So he decided to join the gym and maybe get some muscles and boost his overall fitness. He assumed that would increase his stamina in game or at least make the drain from doing tasks less.

    At the warriors guild they were finally allowed to start sparing against other new recruits. In just a couple of days they were going to be able to go outside. They were also told that they should wear all the armour they were given. It was not for safety purposes but more so that they could get a feel for them.

    Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

    There were 12 new recruits. According to custom only groups of 5 may leave the city and start basic quests together. What tinker could surmise was that only he and another were outlanders. The rest were NPC¡¯s.

    ¡°Before you go out we will hold a tournament of sorts. The winner and runner up will both receive plate armour and be the leaders of the 2 groups we send out. I have spoken to the instructor over at the mages guild and they have already decided the 2 frost mages that would be chosen. The matches will be done with wooden weapons and you may not use the real weapons you are to receive today. In turns you may come to me and collect them.¡¯¡¯

    Nearly every person jumped at him at once. But Canobi just smiled, he was very use to these events. He handed them all out and resumed his usual stance next to water fountain that gave a good view of the entire hall

    Of the group of 12 there was Aragon who trained with a big broadsword who no trainee could beat in sparring matches. 4 more favoured a big sword but not as big as his. 5 people chose shields with their weapon of choice. There was also 1 dual wielding axe user and Tinker himself that chose swords as his weapons. The other outlander went for a shield and sword composition.

    With new energy everybody was practising their stances in full battle armour and real weapons. The armour was a minor adjustment but the swords felt just like the wooden replicas. Tinker swung with fury and was really in the moment when a loud sound of ¡°oooo¡¯¡¯ went through the hall. It took a moment to see what¡¯s going on, but there Tinker saw him Aragon standing with a smug look on his face and a cleaved in 2 scare crow at his feet. It was an impressive sight to see but Tinker went back to his training. He still had a lot to do before the tournament. The up side of all this alone training is that he received a few pop ups that told him his stats were improving.

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Strength rises by 1 point.

    Agility rises by 1 point.

    Vitality rises by 1 point.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    He received that message 4 times.

    At the Golden apple inn the night before the matches Tinker told everybody about it and that he intends to leave the Golden apple inn for good once he is able to go outside the walls. He promised to stop by when he can and help in what way he could, but even he would not know his schedule in the future. Daisy said she would come spectate the matches, she mentioned that the whole city was in a buzz of a man named Aragon that showed great skill. Tinker was not afraid to face him, but if he could he would pass.

    Unbeknown to the others, Tinker took the sword and swung with all his might at the scare crow and only made a minor cut in it. Nobody was around to see his disappointed face but that is just one of those secrets he would keep for himself.

    They chatted about a few other things and Mistress Anan prepared a bundle of food for him which was supposed to be his breakfast before the match. He thankfully took it and stored it in his bag.

    That night just before closing time Lan came by again. Showing no emotion on his face as always he went to take a seat and called Tinker over.

    ¡°I hear that you are in the 3rd match tomorrow against a warrior with axe and shield as weapon. I heard you chose two swords as your weapons. Do not worry I think you can beat him¡¯¡¯.

    ¡®¡¯Thank you and how do you know all this?¡¯¡¯

    ¡®¡¯I still have a friend or 2 left in the world that informs me of these things when there is time. I must warn you, that I have never been defeated by a dual wielding warrior. In single combat they are manageable and unless they have some trick or back up they don¡¯t do well against a large warrior. Don¡¯t look at me like that, I have faith in you, when I was young I sparred against a dual wielding master of the time and we fought to a standstill. Where I was the younger and stronger he was the more experienced and agile. Thinking back now he could have won but gave me a chance to beat him instead. So that is my advice for you. If you face that Aragon the whole city is in uproar about. Do no match him in strength, use your other abilities.¡¯¡¯

    Those words were comforting in a way, but in the previous sparring matches nobody beat Aragon and tinker himself only won half of the practise sessions he was involved in.

    ¡°About the task I gave you, I have spoken with Morrain and she is pleased with the work you have done for her¡¯¡¯

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Quest Complete!

    A job at the Golden apple

    You have worked for Morrain for 1 month and were not fired.

    You have levelled up!

    You have levelled up!</td></tr></tbody></table>

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Quest Complete!

    Help Lan¡¯s sister Morrain

    You have done what Lan has asked of you, his Sister is thankful for your help

    You have levelled up!

    You have levelled up!</td></tr></tbody></table>

    Ting * Familiarity with Lan increased by 100 points

    Ting * Familiarity with Morrain increased by 75 points

    Ting * Familiarity with Golden apple workers increased by 50 points

    ¡®¡¯Take this 5 gold coins as payment for the month¡±

    Just like that he gained 4 levels and had 20 new stat points to use. He divided them up between strength and agility. These extra points will help a lot in the matches tomorrow.

    Lan said in a serious tone ¡®¡¯There will come a time in the future that I might have need of your help. Would you come to my aid when the time is right¡¯¡¯

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Ting*

    One man¡¯s desire to right many wrongs

    At an appointed time Lan will call on you for aid to help him with the last part of his plan to right all the wrongs in his life.

    Difficulty level: D

    Quest requirements: Must be a friend of Lan and be trusted by him.

    Failing the quest will result in both Morrain and Lan being hostile towards you.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    Tinker ¡°Sure I will help any way I can¡¯¡¯

    Quest accepted.

    On the day of the tournament on a small flat piece of ground, tents and people were starting to gather. Tinker would best describe it as a small festival that was in the process of starting. If he had to guess he would say there were about 250 people. Later as the matches progressed more people would arrive.

    Tinker walked over to the entrance and asked for a schedule. There he saw he was indeed in the 3rd match just like Lan had said and who his opponent was. What he also saw was that there were a lot more matches then 6. Apparently the mages guild sent over 8 recruits themselves to entertain the crowd. He opened his parcel from mistress Annan and ate some chicken stew. With his belly fully he stood in the crowd and waited for the first match to begin.

    It was a 2 handed sword wielding warrior against a warrior with a shield and mace. It was not that entertaining to watch but the sword wielding warrior seemed to leave a few openings and was on the offensive the entire time until the shield man could no longer take it and forced an attack that failed and cost him the match. Even though they did not use real weapons they fought like madmen. It took about 20 min a match to start with announcements included. The actual duel took about 2 min.

    Next match was between mages. It was not a battle but rather who could be the best at striking the most objects down from a distance with snow storm or who is the most accurate shooter of a frost bolt at 100 paces. It was very different but fun to watch none the less.

    With his match up next Tinker equipped his items and went over to starting point. The other warrior did not seem so strong but Tinker was going to be safe. At the start of the duel both just stood there, neither making a move. Tinker then realised that shield man was waiting for him to attack so that he could block and counter attack. He gave 1 step closer, and the shield man did not move, then another step with the same result. In the heat of the moment Tinker decided that his opponent did not know if he had more stats in strength or agility. Thus he was being safe. He dashed off to the right side of the shield man. He did not go closer but kept his distance.

    The shield man casually adjusted to keep is body parallel with his. Tinker walked a circle around the warrior while never breaking eye contact. Then as the crowd could feel the suspense and knew that the first strike was coming watched on in silence. Tinker with good speed lunged forward and opened with a swing from his left hand. The warrior used his axe to block and attempted to bash Tinker with his shield so that he would lose his balance. Tinker anticipated this and did not put his all into the attack and easily stepped backward to dodge the shield. He mainly wanted to see if the shield man would bring his shield across to block an attack from the right while leaving him open to the left. He did not, so Tinker new his opponent was one of the better shield men. They started with their attacks.

    The shield main was strong on defence and after more than a few blows he started becoming more aggressive and trying to catch Tinker of balance. Tinker then came up with the idea to fake him losing his balance and then chose the time to strike. He picked this up from other sparing matches he watched. When a shield man gets their opponent of balance they use their most power full swing to attack. Tinker again attacked from the left forcing the shield man to use his axe to block, as the bash from the shield came Tinker was already going backwards and turning his back to his opponent and falling to the ground. They shield man saw this and started to raise his axe high and going for the winning blow, but then Tinker leaped up from the ground, one sword held high for in case the shield man swung faster than he expected, while the other sword was going straight for his neck. The shield man did not expect this and was to slow at bringing his shield back in, the shield was wider away than usual to make the swing of the axe motion better.

    With that strike the match official called time out and declared Tinker the winner.

    The other matches progressed in similar fashion. The match with Aragon was over in a few swings, it was a sad thing to watch really.

    Tinker¡¯s next match was against the 2 handed swordsman. This match started very different from his first, the swordsman went on the attack, he seemed to try and use his superior reach to his advantage. Tinker thought in a matter of seconds that if this is how he prefers to fight then he should get up close and personal. After deflecting another attack, he leaped forward towards the man and was now the aggressive combatant. The warrior could not keep up with 2 weapons attacking him and not giving him the time to perform counter attacks. Tinker landed a few minor blows and then the final thrust into the gut ended the match with the match official yelling it¡¯s over.

    It was time for the semi finals. Tinker was against Aragon of all people and the other outlander with his shield and mace was facing off against the dual wielding axe warrior.

    There match was first and Tinker watched how skilled they were. The man with the axes had good strength and seemed to be winning when he finally ran out of stamina and lost the match. The entire time he was just defending and never once tried to counter attack until his opponent was tired. A good tactic right there, one should not forget to use.

    Tinker was not overjoyed that he had to face Aragon but he would try his all. When there matched started Aragon swung, Tinker lifted a sword up to defend and it nearly got hit out of his hand. The amount of strength behind that swing was insane. This went on a few more times until Aragon tried new tactics. He used thrusts and jabs with swings in succession. Tinker used his better agility to deflect and dodge most of the attacks. Aragon did an attack that forced Tinker to dodge and then Aragon brought the sword down vertically towards Tinker.

    He could not dodge the attack and defending against an opponent with more strength is rather brutal on the body. In the heat of the moment Tinker remembered that he once saw in a movie that the hero got attacked by a big monster. The hero crossed the swords over each other and absorbed the blow. Tinker did this and to his surprise it worked. With both weapons just used for defence the only thing left to do was kick, and he kicked Aragon with all he got. At that moment it was hard to tell who was most shocked, Tinker for kicking a man or the people who saw Aragon take a hit from an opponent. Aragon staggered back after receiving the blow. They both took a moment to gather there focus, then Aragon yelled and jumped in the air and swung down like his previous attack. Tinker new he should have dodged but alas he lost focus. He thought that since his defensive moved worked once, why won¡¯t it again.

    That was the last thing he remembered as he was woken up by instructor Canobi. Before he could talk Canobi beat him to it.

    ¡°That was a fool move you did at the end. His attack broke through both your swords and landed on your head. I am thinking if you had not wore your cap, you might have been dead after receiving a blow like that. But don¡¯t worry you have an hour to recover before the party heads out.¡¯¡¯

    ¡°It hurts, I did not think it would pain so much.¡¯¡¯ This was the first time Tinker experienced pain in Royal roads.

    ¡°It was decided that you would be in Aragon¡¯s group with 2 other warriors and 1 mage. Best of luck to you, I am sure you will do better than most at killing rabbits.¡¯¡¯

    Later Tinker would realise that Aragon had passed the beginners training and that he had a skill called Fighting Spirit that gives a person more than normal strength for a short period of time.

 Chapter 6: Hunting rabbits, how hard can it be?

    Tinker was at the main gate and standing around when a big warrior called all new party members to him. 9 people made their way to him and gathered around him. 5 wore hardened leather armour like him. Two wore mage robes and two wore plate armour, Tinker recognised Aragon with his smug face and the other outlander.

    The big warrior seemed seasoned and had many scars. ¡°Good day everyone, from this day on you are all warriors of Avelon, even the mages in a way. I have already made groups so stick with them and listen to your party leader. I will give you all advice, don¡¯t get to hasty and level up in a safe way. Not all of us are as lucky as outlanders that come back to life 4 days later. Now be gone and when you reach better levels come back to the guild and start doing quests¡±.

    A mild cheer rose and they all started walking to the gate. Tinker was singled out and called by the big warrior. ¡®¡¯You were knocked out when all the others received this, you are now an official warrior¡¯¡¯

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Class Change!

    You can convert to a Warrior. If you accept it, you can learn exclusive skills for the class.

    Do you want to convert to a Warrior?</td></tr></tbody></table>

    ¡°Hell yeah¡¯¡¯ Tinker said loudly.

    Ting* You are now able to wear all types of armour.

    Tinker saw Aragon waiting for him so he walked over so that they can start the rabbit hunting. He thought now would be a good time to look at all his stats. ¡°Stats window¡¯¡¯

    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Status Window</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Name</td><td width="25%">Tinker</td><td width="25%">Primary Class</td><td width="25%">Warrior</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Health</td><td width="25%">320</td><td width="25%">Mana</td><td width="25%">110</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Title</td><td colspan=''3''>none</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Level</td><td width="25%">5</td><td width="25%">Reputation</td><td width="25%">0</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Strength</td><td width="25%">35</td><td width="25%">Agility</td><td width="25%">35</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Wisdom</td><td width="25%">16</td><td width="25%">Intelligence</td><td width="25%">11</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Stamina</td><td width="25%">50</td><td width="25%">Luck</td><td width="25%">1</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Vitality</td><td width="25%">22</td><td width="25%">Leadership</td><td width="25%">0</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Attack</td><td colspan=''3''>Main 9-10 Offhand 9-10</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Defence</td><td colspan=''3''>12</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Magic Resistance</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Fire</td><td width="25%">0%</td><td width="25%">Water</td><td width="25%">0%</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Earth</td><td width="25%">0%</td><td width="25%">Dark</td><td width="25%">0%</td></tr></tbody></table>

    <table><tbody><tr><td>? Cooking (Lv. 4 : 13%): Enables you to make more tasty food.

    ? Herbalism (Lv. 2 : 79%): Allow for identification of plants, roots and other related herbs

    ? Handicraft (Lv. 1 : 86%): Has extra effects on various types of craft skills, and sword mastery.

    ? Sword (Lv. 1 : 98 %): Increases attack power and hit rating for swords.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    Tinker did not even know he had a sword skill, and the bonus was that he almost reached level 2. He was impressed with his stats and to see results after a month of work, reading and training. When he reached the group Aragon started talking

    ¡°Hi every one, as most of you know I am Aragon the party leader. First we will all introduce our selves and then we will talk tactics.¡¯¡¯

    Tinker was not really good with names but he remembered them as 2 shield man and 1 mage. The mage said after his introduction that ice magic did not damage creatures here as much as other places, but at least he could slow them down or cause minor distractions.

    ¡°Hello all, I am Tinker, dual wielding swordsman and cook¡± He was not sure why he said cook, but thinking back it probably had to do with Aragon beating him, standing there in his polished plate armour and lording over them like most leaders do. Thanks to that statement all the meats from the rabbits were given to him to make meals during combat breaks in the upcoming weeks.

    ¡°We will kill rabbits here outside the city for a few days and depending on our progress we will move further away and look for mountain wolves. After that we will hold another team meeting and take things from there. Just a heads up, the rabbits are fast and don¡¯t really fight back. We will surround them and attack when they try and flee. We can all take a rabbit on our own but chasing it down and killing it would waste a lot of time. If we come across a white snow wolf we will fall back and not engage it, some do come down and hunt near the city but most of them stay with the pack and hunt yeti¡¯s and trolls.¡¯¡¯

    ¡®¡¯Pardon me but how do you know so much, you are starting out just like us?¡¯¡¯

    ¡°My uncle is the supreme commander of the guard here and has given me a lot of information and advice for starting out.¡¯¡¯

    With that said Aragon¡¯s leadership and tactics were not questioned again. The other party went off to the west already, while they were still talking.

    ¡°We are going straight into the wilderness, we are not going to stick to roads, half an hour before nightfall we will head back and just after midday we will take our first brake and meal. Loot will be divided among us equally at the end of the day.

    They did not walk long before they encountered there first rabbit. Aragon told Tinker that since he has was the fastest he should circle around and cut of the retreat. He and another will go for the flank while a shield man would come from the front. The mage should cast slow once the rabbit is surrounded right before they are ready to close in on the target.

    The rabbit was surrounded and the mage cast a frost spell. Since the rabbit was slow down, now was the moment to attack. The rabbit seeing it is surrounded tried to run for a gap between Tinker and the shield man. The shield man tried to attack it but the rabbit dodged, but dodged into the direction of Tinker who swung his sword with all his might and hit the rabbit on its body. The rabbit was wounded and bleeding, so Tinker finished it off with 1 more attack of his sword.

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Level up:

    Sword Mastery [2]</td></tr></tbody></table>

    The loot dropped was a rabbit skin, 2 copper and some meat. After the looting there was a small flash and the corpse disappeared forever. The amount of blood involved and left behind was minimal. For a virtual world he assumed that rabbits don¡¯t bleed a lot and that the other games he played were blood sprayed everywhere was a bit much.

    This went on for the remainder of the morning and till just after midday when it was time for lunch. He was given the meat from the rabbits for the meal. He decided to make a stew. Another parting gift from the Golden apple was an average size cooking pot, vegetables and a few spices. He made them just as he was taught and received praises from all. Neither of them could make food like this and they knew it.

    After lunch they resumed their intense hunting. It was mainly a repeat of earlier with the odd exception of Aragon actually cleaving a rabbit in half. The loot dropped was a few more additional coppers since the skin and meat was ruined. The time came to go home and so they left. At the gate they saw the other party approach as well. They all went to the guild hall to talk and get their free meal. The other grouped seemed very impressed with them and talked how they killed so many rabbits that they managed to level up. Aragon keeping a straight face said well done and left it at that. The other grouped asked how he did and he just said a little better than them. What he did not tell them was that their grouped levelled up 3 times. It was a nice experience to kill rabbits and get loot. In addition to having a message pop up telling him that he has increased his level.

    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have levelled up.

    You have levelled up.

    You have levelled up.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    What Tinker could tell was that the other group attacked the rabbits 1 by 1. When failing to kill rabbits they started working together. But in two¡¯s and three¡¯s. No wonder they got left behind in the levels.

    Aragon told his party to be at the main gate before dawn and they should rest up because they are going to be busy all day. Tinker took this time to log out and get rest himself.

    With dawn and the sun creeping up from behind the mountains there was oddly a lot of activity at the main gate. Be it merchants setting out or guards changing shifts. With the entire party assembled they left and started the hunt. They were busy for about 3 hours when Aragon of all people called for a brake.

    ¡°Tinker do you mind making us some late morning breakfast? I did have tasteless porridge this morning and can do with a proper meal.¡± Nobody ells seemed to argue with this idea. So he took out his pot, gathered the meat and made another rabbit stew. He added different spices this time to keep things new.

    ¡®¡¯This is so good, not only does it taste good but thanks to your high lvl cooking we will regain stamina faster and receive 5% increase in life for a period of time. This is what I have in mind, because after the meal we are going deeper into the wild There we are going to look for our first wolf. We do not have a priest to heal so we will play it safe and use every advantage that we can get. We fight in a 3 man formation. 1 Shield man will taunt and take the agro while the other will keep a look out to protect us from other threats or surprises. After each wolf they will rotate so that each gets a chance to tank and be on guard. The mage will cast spells and slow the wolf down as we attack. Me and Tinker will attack from opposite sides and make sure he does not round the tank and attack the mage.

    If the wolf retreats we should just leave it. Most wolves we face are stronger than us and will only retreat once they are losing or badly wounded. Thus in our initial attack aim for the legs so it can¡¯t get away from us. Do not worry, I was planning on attacking rabbits for a few more days but we are all above average warriors and with the added bonus from cooking the time is now. Did you guys notice that we killed a lot of rabbits this morning and did not gain a level? It¡¯s because we are strong and could keep grinding here for longer but we are not going to do that. Any question before we go look for a wolf?¡¯¡¯

    ¡°Yes, what do we do if more than 1 wolf attacks us?¡±

    ¡°That is why we have 1 shield man ready to block sneak attacks and I will order a retreat if there are too many. In our current state I am confident we can handle 2 wolves easy at one time. If a pack surrounds us we will punch our way through and retreat to the main gate. They will follow us but once they cense all the humans they will stop. It is the responsibility of the two shield man to provide additional protection to the mage. Tinker and I can manage.¡°

    It did not take long for them to spot a wolf. They attacked and the wolf responded in kind. It slashed but the shield man blocked the attack. Tinker hesitated in this moment. This was his first combat against a monster that fought back and could kill him. The wolf seemed so real, he could see the anger in its eyes, the saliva dripping from its sharp yellow teeth. Aragon swung at the wolf but the wolf was faster. The shield man was great at keeping the agro of the wolf on himself and keeping up pressure.

    Tinker also took a swing at the wolf but it dodged. Thus he had to revise his tactics. He would wait for Aragon to attack right after the shield man took a swing or blocked an attack, then he would attack where the wolf would dodge to. It was near flawless. The wolf leaped out of the way as the big sword came at it, but leaped right into Tinker who extended both swords and pierced the wolf in the back leg and lower stomach. It howled with pain and was silenced by a power full blow by Aragon¡¯s sword to its head.

    The loot was a wolf skin, a few silvers and wolf meat. The standard loot it seemed. The mage was the first to speak up and to tell that his slow magic had little effect on the wolf because of its high frost resistance. In all it was a good fight and they were ready for more. Thus they were killing wolves in similar way until well after midday day. Most fights went like the first. They got better at killing the wolves and predicting their movements and thus it became easier. Only the shield men received minor wounds and were bruised a bit. Their shields were helping a lot and still had enough durability to last the day. He only received one message to tell him that his level went up

    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have levelled up.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    His sword skill level did not rise but his % in it was increasing.

    With their bellies full and feeling well rested they started all over again. They fought all afternoon and as night time was approaching they faced another wolf. This one seems a lot larger than any they faced before, but with their confidence high they attacked. After the first swing of the wolf, 4 more wolves came running out of nearby bushes howling loudly. It would seem they encountered their first pack.

    The 4 new wolves seemed to each pick a target for to make it a 5 on 5 battle. Since 1 shield man was facing, to what seemed to be the pack leader at the time, the task fell to the other shield man to keep two wolves busy. Both Tinker and Aragon disengaged from the pack leader to intercept a wolf. It was not going well for the 2 shield man, they were being overwhelmed. One by the brute strength of the alpha wolf and the other by multiple attacks. Tinker found it easy to deflect and counter the wolf he was facing and in no time he was winning and the wolf he was facing was badly bleeding and becoming slower. With a final thrust to the heart, the beast was dead.

    <table><tbody><tr><td>CRITICAL HIT!</td></tr></tbody></table>

    Aragon finished up at about the same time, he assessed the situation and went towards the alpha wolf running. Tinker managed to sneak up behind one of the wolves attacking the shield man and chop of its leg. With a few more swings he was dead and they could kill the other wolf. The other wolf tried to dodge and get distance from its 2 opponents but Tinker was familiar with patterns of the wolf by now and finished off that wolf as it leaped in hopes of dodging the shield bash attack.

    Now they had time to see what remained of the battle. With only the alpha wolf remaining. The situation looked bad the shield man was lying on the ground and seemed to be done for, Aragon was bleeding from his arm. Tinker and the last remaining shield man sprinted to them and tried to help, he was first in range and just in time managed to dodge the swing from the wolf. The shield man bashed the wolf in the face to get its attention and was immediately driven back by the wolf¡¯s attack. Just as the situation seemed dire Aragon gave a battle cry and jumped in the air and swung down at the wolf.

    Tinker recognised this attack because it was the last thing he remembered of their fight.

    The great broadsword penetrated deep into the back of the wolf. The wolf howled and fell to the ground. With its spine snapped in half the beast could do no more. They finished him off and took the loot. The loot that dropped was the standard meat, 50 silvers and a pelt. What also dropped was a ring. They decided to get it identified and then decide what to do with it.

    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.The shield man on the ground was not dead and just had bad wounds. He would live, Aragon also had a nasty cut on his arm and would be fine. With new found courage they returned to the city to recover and tell all about their victory here today.

    First they went to a shopkeeper to identify the ring. It was not a power full item and it only increased mana regeneration by 1%. It was decided that the mage would get the ring since he used the most mana. Tinker asked the shopkeeper to teach him identify. It would be time consuming to return to town every time once you picked up an item that is unknown. Just maybe it can be a useful item that one can use immediately.

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Skill: You learned Identify Skill.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    Tinker was at the guild and only waited around to hear the other party¡¯s progress. They spent the entire day hunting more rabbits. When they heard that Aragon¡¯s party was hunting wolves and managed to kill their first wolf pack they promised that they also will hunt wolves from then on. He left the guild and made his way over to the Golden apple inn.

    He was greeted with open arms at the inn. Tinker never sat in the dining hall and made his way into the kitchen. He was there for only moment and they put him to work. Chopping and cutting was starting to become like second nature to him. So he helped all through the night. He asked Mistress Annan if she received any new spices and the like. On the off chance she did he can gain a few more points in Hebalism. She received some rare spices from a warmer region which was a lot like red pepper but just burned way more. She planned on adding it to soldier¡¯s food she did not like or were late to pay their debt.

    He knew he would not be able to join Aragon¡¯s party in the morning and he informed him so. Because he had to sleep longer in the real world. It was early Saturday morning and a descent 8 hours rest in the real world was 1 day of game play. He told them he would be back just after midday, just in time to make them lunch. When he volunteered to make lunch he won them over.

    Tinker arrived just as he said, made grilled wolf strips with a hint of garlic. They gained their increased health and stamina regeneration, and went back to hunting. They did for nearly a month. They would attack wolves and were growing stronger to the state were they actually wanted to face pack of wolves and not attack a single wolf. Due to game mechanics the lower level wolves will ignore them and the stronger wolves will come from the surrounding area to fight. In this month only a week passed in the real world and Tinker could only join hunts when we was at home and missed out on a few fights. In the free time he hanged around the inn and helped any way he could.

    It was another Friday, the last one before the exams that started. Since Tinker arrived late in the school term he was only required to give a brief speech on what he learned so far the short time he was here. With that in mind he did not really need to study and was ready for more fights. In a way it¡¯s really great how he took so well to Royal Roads as a game but deep inside he could not help but feel this game would consume his soul one day. It was that afternoon Scot climbed into his capsule and logged on.

    In the real world a week has passed and it was weekend again. The exams were halfway from done and Scot only had to go to school next week and talk about English and math. He already got tested on all other subjects he had and that was all that was left before the December holiday started. In game another month had passed. The only thing he did was kill, cook and kill some more. During this month they fought more wolves and had their first encounters with kobolds. Kobolds differed about as much as humans did, they fought with weapons and some basic tactics. The big Kobolds try and over power a person with brute force, while the smaller and low level Kobolds attack in groups and aim for your blind spots During these new fights Tinker took damage and gained more than a few injuries. It was the mage that taught them the bandage skill. Which combined with Herbalism would help more in the future then now.

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Skill: You learned Bandage Skill.

    Enables you to stop bleeding.

    Increases life of the wounded when tended</td></tr></tbody></table>

    He learned a new stat called Fighting spirit. Later Tinker would read that the endurance stat is mostly generated by warriors in the first rounds of their adventure.

    When it is developed, it reduces physical damage inflicted by the enemy, and even increases the user¡¯s life by a small amount.

    You can invest some stat bonus points from a level up in the endurance stat, but the majority chose to let it develop by receiving melee attacks. Some did it by choice but Tinker just could not dodge and parry all attacks aimed at him.

    <table><tbody><tr><td>New Stat: Fighting Spirit

    Enables bursts of extraordinary strength and cows weaker monsters.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    Points cannot be distributed into this stat. It changes as a result of a character¡¯s actions. Increases faster when fighting powerful monsters or during prolonged combat

    All his skills climbed a level except his handcraft skill climbed to the rank of 3. Thanks to the extra work he did with his hands the ability rose fast.

    You gained expertise rating in Handicraft skill.

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Level up: Handicraft Skill [3]

    Enables you to learn blacksmithing, leatherworking and tailoring skills.

    Increases attack power with melee and long range weapons. (+3% ATK)

    Increases attack power with fists. (+5% ATK)</td></tr></tbody></table>

    With this new information he would also start going to a leatherworker in the city to get the necessary tools and materials needed to repair his gear. It saved a lot on cost and he also repaired the 2 shield mans leather armour after a day¡¯s hard battle until the day came were they used their money to purchase plate armour. Aragon with his plate and the mage with the cloth armour could not benefit from his new skills. In addition he learned another new skill Repair

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Skill: You learned Repair Skill.

    Enables you to repair items.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    His Cooking went up to lvl 5 and Herbalism was at 2. His sword mastery rose to 3.

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Level Up: Sword Mastery [3]

    Increases Attack Power with a sword (+30% ATK)

    Increases Attack Speed with a sword (+9% ATK SPD)</td></tr></tbody></table>

    <table><tbody><tr><td>New skill learned: Sustenance

    You are likely to use less stamina in action. You are prohibited from distributing stat bonus points to this stat.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    With all the battles he managed to lvl up to 34 in two months. If he kept at it he could be 60 in another month. The loot from the Kobolds was much better. They received more money and started picking up items. Most items were sold and not better than their current items. It would appear the warrior¡¯s guild gave good items, no wonder the signup fee was so high.

    It was morning in the town of Avelon and it was time for another day of killing. He went to the main gate and did not see Aragon¡¯s group. He asked a guard if they passed and he replied ¡°Nope, don¡¯t think they will after the news. Whole dam city in uproar about it¡¯¡¯

    ¡°Why, what happened?

    ¡°A group of young warrior¡¯s left yesterday and none have returned¡¯¡¯

    ¡°How sure are you of this? ARRG never mind¡¯¡¯

    Tinker slept for 8 hours and missed out on an entire day. He could not go with Aragon¡¯s party yesterday and was afraid something bad might have happened. Before it registered he was running at full speed to the warrior¡¯s guild. It is strange how in this game he was worried and really concerned for NPC¡¯s.

    He arrived at the hall that was nearly as silent as the grave. There was a guard or two on duty but that really did not matter. When he entered nobody was at the front desk either. He dashed into the main hall and there it was. Almost all the members of the warrior¡¯s guild were gathered and they were all standing in silence. They were all in full warriors gear. It seemed like it was a funeral for those that have died. After 30 min of standing in silence people started moving away and others talking. Instructor Canobi was the first person Tinker recognized. He went over and just blurted it all out

    ¡°What is happening, who died? Is Aragon and the guys ok, what¡¯s going on?¡±

    ¡°Calm down lad, Aragon is fine, It is the other party that ran into trouble. It appears by the tracks that they were fighting kobolds when a group of snow wolves ambushed them just before sunset. But we will know for certain what happened when the other outlander returns in 3 days.¡¯¡¯

    ¡°Alright, what does that mean for our group? Are we done or what?¡±

    ¡°It depends on you lads. If you choose to go on just be extra careful. Fortunately your group are fighting far away from where the incident happened. It¡¯s not pretty and it¡¯s been a while since we lost an entire party of young warriors but life in Avelon goes on and we become harder.¡¯¡¯

    ¡°I understand, I will be off and looking for Aragon and the fellows¡¯¡¯

    Not much later he found Aragon them. Aragon already made the choice to keep on with their training and hunting. There were to assemble here at the hall at midday, eat and be off.

    Scot finished his last oral exam and was getting lunch at school. He went outside and sat at table in the shade. Things in Royal road were going well, It has been about 2 weeks since the other party died, but as Canobi said, life goes on. He was now officially on holiday and had about 2 months to play. That would be over a half a year in Royal road. While thinking what he will be doing in his new world a group of students came over. He had seen them around but did now know any of them.

    ¡°Hey man, you are in our spot. We will not chase you away but we really need the shade and always sit here. Don¡¯t mind us, you can keeping day dreaming, we will not interrupt your alone time¡¯¡¯

    ¡°Sure¡± Scot mumbled with a little disgust in his tone.

    Scot resumed his ¡®alone time¡¯ and could not help but overhear everything the group said.

    ¡®¡¯I am telling you guys we were not prepared for that trap and don¡¯t get me started on that other warrior we had in the party. I do all the tanking while he is supposed to do hard DPS but no¡­¡¯¡¯

    Yes he was an idiot, I had to heal him a lot more than other party members. It is hard to cast curses if I spend most of my mana and time healing him.¡¯¡¯

    ¡®¡¯Let us next time ask a few more questions, to the next person that joins our party and not just what level and class he is¡¯¡¯

    ¡°Did you guys hear the other news? I read on a forum that the Heaven kingdom was voted as the best starting location by a Korean news team¡¯¡¯.

    So they play Royal Roads and are in the Heaven kingdom as well. Wonder how far they are from me, Scott thought to himself.

    ¡®¡¯It makes us very lucky. We already have a head start on most new players that want to start there. I am more concerned about the other strong players that are leaving us behind and tanking the best farming spots and quests.¡¯¡¯

    ¡°We can¡¯t keep up with them. If I did not know better I would say that those people with no social lives play all day and think there so cool in game cause they are way higher level than us.¡¯¡¯

    ¡°Indeed let¡¯s not get to worried about this, the holidays are starting today, then we will catch up and show them.¡¯¡¯

    ¡°Now that I think about it, who will be able to play most of the holiday, Yuri your plans?¡¯¡¯ the big guy said that looked like the leader.

    ¡°I was suppose to go visit my father in Moscow but he has business and after that he and my mother are going on vacation till after new years. Think I can convince them I don¡¯t need to go, I don¡¯t have the power to spend all time with my younger brother and sister¡¯¡¯ the curly haired guy said

    Leader ¡®¡¯Hahaha don¡¯t we all need that power, and what about you 2 love birds. Zomger and Lina?¡±

    ¡®¡¯We are not love birds we are just neighbours and good friends¡¯¡¯ the girl hissed out. ¡®¡¯I told you already to call me by my real name and only Lina in the game¡± she said with a growing pout on her face

    Zomger looking like a laid back person calmly chose to talk about what really mattered. ¡°Nothing special on my to do list. Just need to spend thanks giving with the family. ¡°

    ¡®¡¯Me also¡¯¡¯ Lina added

    ¡®¡¯Then it¡¯s settled we will use this holiday to catch up and do what we do. Maybe then we can get around to making our own guild, so think of names. Unless we find a strong guild that will take us¡¯¡¯ the leader said

    Scot thought they were an odd bunch. They were three guys and a girl. Two of the guys were big and strong looking, while the guy with the curly hair looked average but well built. The girl with them was shorter than your every day girl and very fierce looking. A lot like Morrain at the inn.

    ¡°We will finish up our current quests in the town which will take about 2 weeks, then we will be heading over to the capital of the Heaven kingdom. There we will decide what to do next and where to go. They say that most cities are awesome but capitals are near breath taking and have everything. Best to go see it now before it gets overrun with beggars and the like.¡±

    Scot was not one to speak up and meddle in others affairs but it just happened. ¡°I did not hear that. I only heard they have a grand palace and a few other minor things most cities don¡¯t have¡¯¡¯.

    He had the entire group watching him now. ¡°ho ho, you play? Level and class?¡¯¡¯

    ¡°Yes, in the 30¡¯s and warrior, you guys? And which city are you guys currently in? I am also in Heaven kingdom.¡±

    ¡®¡¯What a small world. Here and in Royal roads. First let me introduce ourselves. I am Cuzen, lvl 42 paladin tank and leader of our small party. This other big fellow is Zomger, shaman lvl 41. He focuses on curses and heals us. This fine young lady is our fire mage. Lvl 40 and last but not least is Yuri over there our ranger on lvl 43. We in a town about 2 weeks away from the capital in the Fellwoods forest area¡¯¡¯

    ¡°Nice, I think I am far away from you guys. I am in the Stormy peaks mountain range. Also about 2-3 weeks away from the capital in a town called Avelon.¡¯¡¯

    ¡°We should like totally meet up some time. We have not met any people who are not Korean. We Western people should stick together, what is your name and ill add you to my friends list¡±

    ¡°Sure, I am Tinker, maybe we can meet up in the capitol. I also want to go check it out and I am also about ready to move from my starting area.¡¯¡¯

    ¡®¡¯Its holiday now and I will play a lot so I am sure there will be time to meet you, and I think my ride is here. So long guys¡¯¡¯

    They greeted him in return and Scot walked away. When he could not hear the group started their discussion of him.

    ¡°He is a loner and a warrior. I think he is not telling us everything. Players like him are either total douche bags or really good. Let us give him a try. We need a warrior and if he is in our time zone he should be most of the time online when we are.¡±

    ¡°Ok so it¡¯s agreed, we shall give him a trail run.¡¯¡¯

    ¡°We will all be logged in just after 4 pm and then we can go kill that Demon that guards the cursed ruins in Fellwood.

 Images - Yay or nay or what the fudge?

    I have a few pics, i find to help say things better when my words fall short. None of them are drawn by me and all of them are from some game, series or book. Many of you my recognise some of the pictures. I try and stay away from main stream pictures and games, and steal pics from less successful games or sources.

    I would really like to hear comments and suggestions concerning these matters. I do not have a image for each chapter. Depending on the feedback i get,that will determine if i post the images i have in the corresponding chapter. Or i make a new topic for relevant images. Or if nobody likes the idea ill not post any pictures where it gets in line with the story. Or even if the masses demand a image for each chapter i can maybe work on that. I highly doubt that will be the case but a person never really knows.

    Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    For those that do not usually post replies or remarks, please leave your thoughts as well. The more people that participate the better.

    If you people only say ''''fudge?'''' as a reply i will take it as a vote that i just keep doing what i want to do.

    For example, this is how Tinker looks like

 Chapter 7: The Stormy peaks mysterious cave.

    Tinker killed monsters for a few more days around the city. It was night time and he was at the warrior¡¯s guild when orders came in. Their party, along with more seasoned warriors were to escort a mage op the mountain top and protect him. He remembered Lan telling him about his fail quest in the mountain not so long ago. He was just shy of lvl 38. His skills were slowly levelling up as well. His swordsman skill went up 1 level. His fighting spirit gained a few stats.

    Instructor Canobi told them they would most likely face trolls, snow wolves and yeti¡¯s on their way to the mountain top. According to information the Kobolds no longer live in that specific peak anymore. Thus there are more of the other monsters. He was given a thick yeti leather coat to keep him warm and raise his frost resistance. They were to pack enough food for one week. The trip would not take any longer than that. Tinker was a bit nervous and was scared he might fail. They would leave in the morning.

    That night he went looking for Lan to ask his advice. Lan was not at the inn and so Tinker went looking for him at the Crypt behind the council meeting hall. Lan was glad to see him. ¡®¡¯Fine evening for a walk, would you not say?¡¯¡¯

    ¡®¡¯Sure, I am not really one for walking late at night.¡±

    ¡°Hahaha indeed, what can I do for you on a fine evening as this?¡±

    Lan was more cheer full then usual but Tinker had to ask questions so he did not play along. ¡°I am going on a mission tomorrow to the cave at the top of the mountain. I remembered you once told me that you went there. What more can you tell me?¡¯¡¯

    ¡°That I did, mostly have bad memories of that place. I will tell you from the start. When you leave here it should be clear all the way to the mountain. At the base there should be trolls to fight and when you start to journey up the mountain there will be more and maybe a roaming snow wolf pack or two. Near the top you will only find yeti¡¯s.¡¯¡¯

    ¡®¡¯Alright, do yeti¡¯s have special attack or what? What makes them so tuff?¡¯¡¯

    ¡°It is their ability to blend in with the snow that makes them so sneaky. It is truly magnificent how such a large creature can hide and move with stealth in the snow. Also their pelts are thick over most of its body, they have a soft part around the neck and under the arm. When you fight I suggest aim for one of those areas.¡¯¡¯

    ¡°OK, knowing this I feel more confident. Did you not also mention a cave at the top?¡±

    ¡®¡¯Yes, I did. After Johnny Q died I entered it in the hope to force the yeti¡¯s to attack from only my front and not sneak up on me from behind. You can imagine my surprise when I entered and they did not press the attack. I tended to my wounds and set out to explore this cave.¡¯¡¯

    ¡°As you can imagine I have seen and been into many caves since I grew up here in Avelon. This cave however seemed different, almost like it was made into the mountain, it was not as dark as a cave should be. It was almost like a magic of some kind gave minor visibility. Moving slowly it took me a few minutes to get to the main hall.¡¯¡¯

    ¡®¡¯At the time I knew very little about the cave, only that Frost Mages that are well trained in their art, went there once in a life time. In addition I learned that only one may go every few years.¡¯¡¯

    ¡°I saw a figure in there. I readied my sword and was about to attack when it spoke to me. After a brief talk I deduced it was not harmful and would not attack me. Normally I would leap on any enemy or foe that I encounter, but I was certain that whatever creature kept the yeti¡¯s from coming into the cave is not someone you want to mess with.¡¯¡¯

    ¡®¡¯Really, what creature was it and what did it say?¡¯¡¯

    ¡°I am not supposed to tell anyone about it, but since I trust you I will. It was ancient and blue. It told me its story and taught me a skill. A skilled called Frostmourne. I waited till I was well rested and left. Once back in town I informed every one of the situation that unfolded and was shamed further.¡¯¡¯

    Tinker left it at that. He could have pressured Lan for more information but it did not feel right. He already had Lan¡¯s trust and decided that if Lan wanted to tell more he would have. He spent another hour talking to Lan and just sitting around, but it was time to rest before their journey starts.

    The party assembled right before sunrise in front of the warrior¡¯s guild. In their group he only knew Aragon and the two shield men. There were also two veteran warriors with big swords in their shiny plate armour. Last was the middle aged man in the typical mage robe and wearing a staff. The veteran warrior with the most scars took point and announced himself as the leader of the group.

    ¡°Morning, We will escort this mage to the cave at the top of the mountain.¡¯¡¯ He was short and to the point, Tinker liked him already.

    Ting*

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Escort a mage to the Mysterious cave at the peak of the mountain

    Journey will take a week, with untold difficulties and rewards

    Difficulty level: D

    Quest requirements: Must be part of the warrior¡¯s guild in Avelon. Must have proven oneself cable of battle

    Failing the quest will result in a decrease of fame and hostility from the Mage guild towards you

    WARNING. You cannot decline this quest.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    ¡®¡¯Fine I shall do it¡±, he did not even have any fame but that did not seem to matter

    ¡®¡¯For our new members there is no need to worry about any monsters till we face yeti¡¯s. As long as we fight as a team we are fine. Let us start walking and ill answer any questions you have along the way¡±.

    They set of at a steady pace. The veteran explained that yeti¡¯s are strong and resilient. That they also intend to fight in groups, but never in fair fights.

    When they arrived at the base of the highest peak in the mountain range they encountered Trolls. Not just a pack but close to 30 of them. In Tinkers heart he thought that their journey ends here. Trolls levels differ but they range from anywhere between 50 and 120. Depending on area and how many players kill them over and over. A general rule was that the more ugly and bigger they are, the stronger they are. The veteran did not seem worried at all. He ordered the group to fall back about half a mile.

    ¡°We will attack as the sun is about to set. Trolls are average hunters and at night time they become good hunters. But during sun set and rise they don¡¯t tend to hunt because they are slightly blinded. We will use their weakness and crush them. Their numbers will not count that much in their favor. Besides they do not know how to defend. That is why snow wolves sometimes hunt them.¡±

    It was about 2 hours before the fight and they were at stream preparing for the upcoming battle. The veterans sharpened their swords. Shield man polished they armour and shield that they could reflect more light and blind better. The mage seemed to recite some spells. Tinker took this time to make food for the camp. He also double checked his gear. He could not sharpen his swords so he gave it for the veterans to do it. The damage increased a little. He was interested in how this works so he asked more questions about it. He found out that a person needs the blacksmithing skill and if you sharpen your swords or other items to much they start losing maximum durability.

    The group was standing just behind a ridge, very close to troll¡¯s location. The reason they did not make camp so close was because they feared trolls might smell them or find them by accident. As the sun was about to set they made ready for the attack.

    ¡°Do not yell and move as fast as you can and start the battle. We will form a semi circle and attack from this angle. I will run point with the 2 shield man at my side. Aragon will take the far left with Tinker and our other warrior will be on the right. The mage will be behind us and give us assistance in his own way.¡¯¡¯

    They looked over the ridge and saw the camp. Almost all the trolls were just lying about and doing nothing. They had no guards which would help a lot. The Veteran also told them that if the troll number in the 30¡¯s it should be all of them for this clan. Trolls number from a few till about 25. They do not stay in larger groups due to their selfish nature. They started running at the trolls in silence.

    Tinker was a bit nervous because he knew he was a lower level then the trolls but he knew the others were right beside him. Or so he thought, he found himself at least 10 paces in front of the others with the gap increasing. In this moment he realized he had the most agility. Even more or equal to that of a veteran warrior. What also helped that his armour was leather and added to his speed. He could have slowed down and wait for the others to catch up but Tinker was no pussy.

    The first troll he encountered managed to stand up and look dumfounded at him before he executed a quick attack and ended the beast life. It was not as spectacular as Aragon cleaving a troll in two or lobbing off limbs. He would attack fast. Use both swords and aim for vital parts of the body. His first strike went for the right shoulder to stop or slow down possible counter attacks. The other sword took out an eye of the troll. The troll now realizing what was going on tried to howl and sound the alarm but the he was pierced again, this time in the heart and throat. Tinker removed the swords at started looking for another foe. At this moment the group caught up and started the very one sided battle.

    The trolls being blinded and losing a few comrades in the opening moments of the fight did not think to run, but instead just to attack straight on. It was a slaughter. They managed to land a few punches to the Veteran and Tinker, they did not even seemed fazed by the attack. Tinker could have dodged the attack or parried it in a way with a sword. But he took the attacks of low damage directly to boost is Endurance stat. It was not much since he would stop direct attacks from clubs which some trolls used and then pierce them in the shoulder.

    With the wounds the enemy were slowed down and did not punch that hard either. Trolls were strong beasts and had a few abilities like burst which gave them momentary increase in movement or attack. The first punch tinker took was one he did not see coming and lost a decent amount of health. After that he implemented his tactics to give him the edge. The other warriors faced off against 2-3 trolls at a time and took more damage, because they could not dodge or parry all the burst attacks. The shield men were doing just fine and the mage was not even attacked.

    After the short lived combat they looked around for loot and found a few clubs that could be worth something and a locked chest. The biggest troll¡¯s corpse had a key and they unlocked the chest. Inside was a surprising amount of gold. 17 gold may not seem like much but when you have none it is a lot. He got his 2 gold coins and put a club into his back pack. Another odd item he found was troll fat. The others never collected it and did not know for what a person uses it. So he diced to keep it for now, a person never knows when he might need it. His back pack was mostly empty. It only contained the items he used for cooking and his leather working. With the odd skins he had collected over the past few weeks.

    They set up camp a short distance away, before the last of the sun disappeared. The battle was over so fast Tinker missed that he gained a level. He again maid food, repaired his armour that had minimum damage and gave his swords to the others to sharpen. The food he made for them was stew with the meat they provided with his spices. He saw some of those berries the good and the band kind close to the campfire and harvested the berries and the leaves. His herbalism was still low but better to take the items now and use them later. They went to bed with a one person on guard duty. Tinker was now on holiday and could play for long periods at a time. While the others were sleeping he would log out and go do research and look for food in the real world.

    In the kitchen he found leftover food and about a gallon of juice. He took it all back to his room with him. The juice would probably last most of the weekend and the food will be a nice to munch on, while he is browsing online.

    First online he checked to find out what was the fastest way to travel from one place to the next. They suggested a horse which was far out of his price range. Second was to travel with a wagon of merchants or third was to walk or jog all the way. He thought about it and decided it would be faster if he jogged and walked for a few days, and if he needs to sleep he can hitch a ride on a wagon that traveled. Finding a wagon that was not most reliable means and sometimes he would have to pay their fee. In the end he decided he would travel on a wagon or coach if he could find a cheap ride. This was a long time before businesses appeared that offered vacation routes and destinations with cheap and fast ways to get back and forth between them.

    The other thing he looked up was the uses for troll fat. Troll fat had a few uses. It was used for making candles and a few other production items or in alchemy. Alchemy always interested Scot. If you mix item A and B you get solution A. If you mix item A and C, you get solution B. Mix solution A an B and you get solution C. Really fun and interesting stuff with endless possibilities. The information about the precise effects of the troll fat was mixed and not very reliable. It seemed that no one really knew exactly and each piece of information was different, thus making it very unreliable. He would just later have to discover what the item did for himself.

    Scot also searched for ¡®How to get accurate and up to date information in Royal Roads¡¯. The results were many. It would appear that the Unicorn company only gave the basics to get you started and so forth, even a map of the whole continent was not released yet. Only the centre of the continent was discussed in their web page. With a very rough drawing of it that only outlined some kingdoms and so forth. In other words if you wanted a decent map a person would have to go and explore every region or gather maps of each region and give it to a master that can make a global map. It will most likely take decades or cheats to get it. It would appear that the company wanted players to discover new places and share information like in the real world. But like the real world a lot of key information would not be shared and big guilds would have a monopoly.

    Something else that caught his eye were that of a organization called the Dark gamers union. They were elite and hardcore games that did everything in game from helping you level, to selling items or giving information. For the right price a person could get almost anything you wanted if there was a Dark gamer able to provide it for you. He sent an email to their web address.

    Dear Dark Gamers Union.

    I am a Royal road player that struggles to find reliable information about almost anything. I live in England and have money. As I understand a person pays you guys then stuff happens. I am not sure do I join you guys or pay a monthly fee to access your information. If I am not pleased with your information I will not pay. At this stage in time I do not need items to better my character. But maybe in time I will most likely need items.

    Tinker

    With the message sent he could relax a little. It was not time yet to wake up and continue they quest. It was another 2 hours until it was time. He decided to read up about the capitol for 30 min since he planned on going there soon. The city had most of almost everything a person would need. From items to almost every class and type of guild in the game. He logged back in ready for another day up the mountain.

    Tinker arrived a few minutes before the others woke up. He wondered what would have happened to his body if they got attacked and he died while he was logged out. Does one body disappear like standard games or does it just stay there and is cable of being attacked? He wondered some more before thinking he would have to look it up on a forum when there is time. He started with the food. With their full bellies they were off and heading up higher into the mountain.

    The group was on guard but did not expect much action, they hiked till midday and stopped to rest for the first time. They did not make camp or a fire and started again. Higher and higher they went, Tinker remembered once they went to Africa and started climbing a mountain and then quit. This felt a lot like that. The feeling of how it would take ages to reach the top. Not to mention how taxing it was on the body, hiking in full battle gear. His body was starting to become conditioned for combat and bursts of energy. Not this enduring marching up the mountain in full armour.

    It was an about an hour before sunset and the progress they were making were very good according to the leader. They set up camp at a rock face which had a pool of fresh water. How the pool was not frozen was a mystery, but Tinker did not care at this point. The others started making camp and got a fire started. Tinker started slicing up the meat and other vegetable he would need to make a stew. He decided to make it with pepper, not too much but just enough so that you can taste it. He was stirring the pot with more than a few hungry eyes waiting for him to finish up. A howl sounded close and white blurs where charging towards them and already the warrior on guard duty was fighting a fierce wolf. Tinker¡¯s weapons were lying close by so he could switch fast between his spoon and swords. The moment he had both swords equipped he stood up and a white blur crashed into him.

    He saw it was a wolf that bit into his shoulder. His leather armour did well to take the attack but he could feel pain rip through him. He stabbed and tried to distance himself from the now visible snow wolf. He saw the wolf teeth red with blood and dropping a chunk of what mostly seemed like leather, or so he hoped. He did not have time to look at his shoulder. Best not to take one¡¯s eye off the enemy. His health dropped by a quarter but he knew he would be alright. The wolf snapped at him again with near blinding speed but Tinker was prepared this time. Quick blocks and stepping to the side gave him an opening. It helped that the wolf only had claws and a mouth to attack with. He would block with one sword, dodge the other claw and then strike were an opening presented itself. The wolf started to attack slower and Tinker new the end was close. He lost his concentration near the end and got caught by a claw to the injured arm. The wolf did not attack again after that, as his sword entered the wolf for the final time.

    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    Tinker arm was bleeding and his shoulder still hurt like hell. He looked at the others and saw every one fighting. He decided he needs to protect the mage and started running to his side.

    The mage on the other had cast a Frost Typhoon that captured 2 wolves in it. They were being carried away by the spell. The mage did not really need his help but other wolves may be lurking nearby. He kept an eye out for more enemies but none approached them. The other party members were fighting well and just about finishing up. They looted what they could and went back to normal. Tinker tried to save the stew from burning before he looked at his injury. He was the most badly injured of the group. He started to patch up his shoulder and arm. Thankfully it was not deep and would sting for a few days but it would not affect his fighting.

    The group ate and was pleased as always. They sat around the fire with weapons close and in full body armour. They would reach the cave tomorrow morning. Now they would face yetis and who knows what else. Tinker was prepared for all of this but his armour was not. He had the first guard duty while the others slept, so he took off his armour and started to repair it. It did not take long but it kept him busy.

    Guard duty was boring. All the others were asleep and he had to keep the fire going. He finished the repair that took longer than usual. It was the most damage his armour took so his repair skill gained more than usual %. The idea came to him that he did not have to wait for enemies to damage his gear before he repaired it. He could damage it himself and then repair it over and over. The only catch was that he had one pair of armour and that he wore it. He would need a backup set or newbie set he can practise on.

    He was so in thought he did not see or hear Aragon approach him. He nearly screamed and tried to keep his cool when he saw Aragon.

    ¡°All is good on the watch?¡±

    ¡°Ahh, yes it is. Nothing but cold wind and fire.¡±

    ¡°Good, I cannot really sleep in fear of being attacked again and missing out on all the action. It seemed the wolf took a good bite out of you. I was caught also but plate is just that much better then leather after all.¡±

    ¡°Indeed, but if I had plate I would be to slow. Leather has its advantages over plate and the reverse is also true.¡± Tinker was not one to really ask and beg others for help but he needed another armour set to practice on. He did not know what items and gear Aragon had in his backpack but he had seen him switch swords a few times during their weeks together.

    ¡°Aragon, do you by any chance have an extra set of leather armour here you can sell me?¡¯¡¯

    ¡°I carry a spare set of armour and 2 swords. I can give you the leather I suppose. If my plate brakes or gets damaged I have another plate armour as back up.¡±

    ¡°Alright how much will it be? Do you also use the leather from wolves we kill?¡¯¡¯

    ¡°No I just sell them in town. You can have them for free. We are brothers in arms. Even though you are an outlander you have shown great courage and fight well. I think if we did not have you in our group our progress would have been slower. We might have missed this quest and I would have had to wait for a few years before I could go. My uncle has only been to this cave once as well. You can think of it as another rite of passage for us warriors.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, you are also a good warrior. The way you cleave enemies into pieces and the like. I fear I do not have courage that you talk about. I just do what I do.¡±

    Ting * Familiarity with Aragon increased by 50 points

    ¡°No no my friend, what about how you charged first into the kobolds yesterday? It was in that moment I knew you are one of us.¡±

    Aragon handed over 2 wolf hides and his back up leather armour. It was not the strongest or best quality items, but they would work for what Tinker had in mind.

    He and Aragon would keep on speaking and Aragon told his life story to Tinker who just listened while tearing and repairing his new item. Over the weeks they spent together Tinker¡¯s opinion changed from negative to positive. Sure Aragon still had a touch of smugness on his face but he was not a bad guy. They talked till late in the night when they were relieved and went to bed. It was during this time he heard that Aragon completed basic training and that is the reason he is so strong, he also had a few levels on Tinker.

    The morning was rough. Tinker was not use to sleeping outdoors and with the added cold he could feel his bones and shoulder injury objecting to his movements. He made a simple warm porridge with added honey which the mage provided. They walked for another hour up the mountain until they reached the place where the cave was.

    The wind picked up and their visibility started to drop. They formed a circle with the mage in the middle and advanced to the entrance. Out of nowhere big figures surrounded them. The yeti¡¯s had them surrounded. Tinker did now know how it was possible that they moved so fast and unseen but this was how things are. A few seconds passed before the fight broke out. The group tried their best to keep the formation but they could not. Yeti¡¯s wielded big clubs. Tinker could not parry the attack and could only deflect and dodge attacks. Thus the first mistake in their defense line crept up. He ducked and rolled in every which way. He did everything possible not to take a direct attack. He could hear clashing of clubs on metal and curses from the other people. The Mage cursed the worse. Tinker remembers him yelling that his magic had no effect.

    The party was getting the pounding of their lives. They could only defend so long before their stamina runs out. The offensive attacks were not going well either. The yeti¡¯s had thick skin and did not allow attacks on their weak spots. The Veteran ordered the retreat after 30 minutes of fighting. They managed to kill 2 yetis but were low on stamina and health was dropping fast. They stuck to the formation and started moving away from the cave. When the cave was no longer in sight the crazy attack from the yeti¡¯s stopped and the party had their first brake since this all started. Yetis fell a small distance back and half of them disappeared into the snow while the others stood very visible for all to see.

    Aragon was the first to notice Tinker was not with them. ¡®¡¯Tinker is still in there I saw him not 5 minutes ago still fighting. We need to go help him.¡±

    ¡°We need rest first, then we can go.¡¯¡¯

    ¡°No, we are going back to Avelon. The Grand Magus was right. The Yeti¡¯s resistance to frost is very high and I am not skilled enough to harm them. I am sure with time you warriors will kill them all but I cannot help.¡±

    ¡°If that is what you wish, we will head back.¡±

    ¡°It pains me to say this but I am not worthy yet to enter the cave, let us go¡±

    ¡°Dam you all, Tinker needs us. We cannot just leave him.¡±

    ¡°Calm down lad, he is agile and cable warrior and knows his way back. We can¡¯t help him now. His fate is in his own hands and those of the Gods.¡±

    With that said Aragon agreed and followed his leader¡¯s orders. On the walk down he could not help but feel sad that he left a brother behind. They were in bad shape and licked their wounds all the way to the city.

    Tinker using his agility to the max ducked and did dive rolls over and over. Anything to avoid direct attacks. He found himself getting further away from the group. His stamina was also getting low and he could not dodge a swing aimed for him. His options were to try dodge or block the attack. He tried to block but the yeti had a lot of more strength. His arm went numb and his health dropped. To make matters worse it was the arm attacked by the wolf and his shoulder suddenly started acting up. He dodged another critical attack and pierced one yeti under the arm in its weak spot. The momentary victory was just that. Another attack came at him which he could not dodge so he blocked.

    The attack pushed him backwards and he knocked his head. He saw a cave next to him and dove into it and tried to run in deeper. He was confused after the attack and did not notice he was not followed. It took a minute or so but he gathered himself. He started patching up his head and re bandaged his shoulder and arm. He wanted to gather his weapons and make ready for an attack. This is when he realised that he only had one sword. Tinker never really thought of carrying a spare and did not want to spend money on a new half descent sword.

    He knew he dropped the sword near the entrance and would go pick it up later. He advanced further into the cave. He realised this was the cave Lan described. It had an unnatural design to it.

    He came into what seemed like the main hall.

    Ting * You are the first to discover the Mysterious cave.

    Fame increased by 50

    Experience and drop rates are doubled for one week.

    He read about this and was confused. He knew other people have been here before but he guessed he was the first outlander to come here. He did want to fight anything but he was ready none the less

    There was a big blue thing floating in the air. It had no feet, Had over sized arms and hands that did not seem attached to the body. Its face was oval shape and it eyes seemed peace full. It appeared to have some chest armour that had spikes and was blue like his entire body. He had no legs and floated in the air.

    Tinker stood still and dare not talk. Maybe the creature did not see him.

    ¡°Welcome adventurer, I am Ancient Apparition. Eternal guardian of this place.¡¯¡¯

    ¡°Hello Great Ancient one. I am Tinker.¡±

    ¡°As it was decided long ago I will teach you 1 skill that best suits you.¡±

    ¡°Thank you I am not sure what I want and just who decided this so long ago?¡±

    ¡°My creators Rylia and Keal. It took them a long time and they passed their knowledge onto me. Most that have come over the years have wanted to learn spells and skills that are Frost or Cold in nature.¡±

    ¡°I am a warrior and I am not sure I can use spells¡±

    ¡°Yes I see. You are the special kind that can change class. I can teach you a powerful blizzard, but you won¡¯t be able to use it to its full potential. How about a skill that compliments your class instead?¡±

    ¡°You have skills like that? I have read about Keal and Rylia in books before. They were a mage and wizard. How did they know skills for warriors?¡±

    ¡°Wisdom. In the many years they took to create me they had companions that they helped. Many of these were warriors and the like. A couple of years back a warrior came before me and I helped him.¡±

    Tinker knew that his choice of skill is going to be important and game changing for him. He knew to ask for the names of all the skills that could help him would be a mistake. So he thought he would make use of the Ancients ¡®wisdom¡¯.

    ¡°O Ancient one, what skill would you advise for me, a dual wielding swordsman?¡±

    ¡°You are an interesting one, I have never encountered some one that is balanced as you are in strength and agility. What are your goals and against which enemies do you struggle the most?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have a current goal. But I struggle against opponents that are stronger and faster than I.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps a skill that momentary increases one of the stats you desire.¡±

    ¡°Yes that could help.¡± Which stat would it be? ¡°I assume I can choose only one?¡±¡¯

    ¡°Correct.¡±

    Tinker was not sure which he should choose. So far he needed both agility and strength to give him the edge in fights. It was going to be tough choice.

    ¡°Wait just a moment, I am the first outlander here and thus my Experience is doubled right?. By this logic should I not learn 2 skills and not just the 1?¡±

    ¡°Hmmm, give me a moment to meditate over this.¡±

    He assumed the ancient was consulting a game master or had to process the data. He could wait, and if he played his cards right he could get both skills he wanted.

    ¡°It appears you are correct in a way, I can grant you 1 skill that is as powerful as 2. It is called Stats Morph. It will allow you to shift the points you have between strength and agility as you choose. The amount will depend on the current skill level of it. In time the stronger it gets, the more you will be able to shift. When you reach level 5, it will allow you to shift stat points from your primary stats into secondary stats.

    For example you can increase your luck or intellect. Once you reach the intermediate level you will be able to increase the amount of stats transferred. For example if you have 300 agility and transfer them all over into strength your strength will increase by 320. The more you use it the more bonus stats are added. Also in the intermediate you will gain better shift rates from your primary stats to your secondary stats.¡±

    ¡°I see you are still confused, think of it this way. If you have 300 points in strength and choose to shift them into luck, the luck stat will only go up by 50. As the power develops, the more you will gain when shifting stat points. From advance level will you be able to extend the time of the shift and also get better shift ratios. You will also be able to shift stats from one stat into 2 different stats at the same time. At master level will you be able to shift bonus stats and you will be able split points freely among multiple stats. Bonus stats are those that will appear in () next to your current stats. Bonus stats cannot be taken away and will always be in effect. For example if get polymorphed into a creature your strength will be 1, plus your bonus stats. Do you accept to learn this skill?¡±

    ¡°Yes¡±

    <table><tbody><tr><td>New skill learned: Stats Morph

    Allows player to shift stat points between stats</td></tr></tbody></table>

    ¡°Ok let us see what this bad boy is all about, Identify Stats morph¡±

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Allows user to shift 1 % of stats between primary stats

    Duration 2 minutes

    Cool down 5 minutes</td></tr></tbody></table>

    He thought of the best way to cast it or use it. At least the skill did not cost any mana when used. Since Tinker has never used a skill before. It was confusing how he must go about it. He read online that other warriors pronounce the skill they wanted to use then the game system would kick in and execute the command. In a way it was stupid and your enemy can hear what you are about to do. Best to change their activation commands to attack alpha or some other less obvious name. He decided on Morph agility and Morph strength.

    He would just have to whisper them to himself like a crazy person, but that would be the only way to keep others from learning about it or giving away his edge in battles. He tested it and could not feel any difference really. He assumed it would be one of those skills that would become better much later in the game. After checking the progress of the skill he noticed it went up only with 0.009 %. He decided right there and then the he will have to use the skill every 5 minutes from now till he stopped the game. It is going to be the only way to level it up. Later when he logged out he did the math behind it. In will take just under 2 months to raise the skill up a level.

    Back at the cave. ¡°So do you want to chat or tell me something. I can guess you get lonely here since you only get 1 visitor every few years¡±

    ¡°Not really, I do my duty and tasks, and that is all for me.¡±

    ¡°Ok. Do you mind me staying here and leaving later? I need to eat and recover.¡±

    ¡°Do as you please and walk in the light¡±

    ¡°Thank you and good bye.¡±

    Tinker started a fire to heat some of the stew he had left over. He double checked all his items and repaired his armour. During all this the Ancient one hovered all over the room and looked at Tinker every now and again. Tinker thought he might not eat, but he would offer him food.

    ¡°Would you like some?¡±

    ¡°I do not eat, but thank you.¡±

    ¡°Sure. I was wondering why do people only come to you every few years?¡±

    ¡°Long ago it was decided that I may only teach 1 skill per year to new people. It has to do with maintaining balance.¡±

    Tinker just nodded. After and hours rest he was ready to go out and try his escape. He had a plan. Get his sword and get the hell of this mountain. He stuck his head out of the cave entrance and saw nothing but a calm area that was covered in snow. He could see his swords, he whispered his Morph agility and was off. He figured an extra percentage in agility would work best.

    Picking up his sword he started into the direction they came from. If he was fast he could meet the others at the camp sight of last night. He was thinking about that when white blurs popped out around him. The yetis were sneaky for their size. Tinker decided to avoid battles and dodge and run. Not very heroic but it was what needed to be done. He was doing well and evading like a master. Things were going well until he realised that for every time he evaded in the direction he wanted to go, he had to go into another direction right after. In the end he pulled a 180 and ran the other way. Maybe he could find another way down, how hard could it be? He ran and kept well ahead of the ever persistent yetis. He got to the end of a cliff and saw he was in trouble and before he could choose a new direction to head in he was surrounded. He had no choice left to fight or jump. Since he had all his sanity, he fought.

    It did not go well. The first time he blocked a direct attack he could feel the shock wave go all the way from his sword to his feet. He lasted for about 2 minutes which was impressive at the time. Alas a swing hit him in the chest and he was falling backwards over the cliff and downwards. Tinker was not sure if he hit the bottom or died on the way down. The breath was knocked out of him and he was sure he had broken ribs. The pain was immense.

    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have died

    24 hour lock out in effect

    23.59 hours remaining</td></tr></tbody></table>

    ¡°O come on¡± he shouted as he exited his capsule. He knew he had to die for the first time, but this 24 hour lock out is for real. That is 4 days of game time gone.

 Looking for Help

    Attention all readers. I am Currently looking for a person or multiple people to help with the Fan Fic.

    Sometimes i feel i miss things. Also i want to add depth and more detail in the story to make up for my own shortcomings.

    The Help i need are things like more detailed items, tables, skills and maybe extra chapters depending on the type of feed back i get.

    I cant list all the things i want help with, and sometime i just find it useful to swap ideas with people.

    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    I have written about 24 chapters and are not running low on ideas for the main story. Currently i am finding it hard to fill the gaps.

    If there are interested people that want to get more involved in ways i did not mention or whatever. Leave you messages below.

    Chapter 8 is going to be released in 2 parts. Overdid it and made it super long. Will be out by the end of the day.

 Chapter 8: First encounter

    Part 1

    Scot spent his off day like any other. He popped into the kitchen and looked for something to eat. He stole a pop tart from Cliff which he knew would not be missed. He slept and went online to read forums on the capitol of Heaven kingdom. They pretty much said what he expected.

    He read his email and was surprised to see that the Dark Gamers Union replied so fast.

    Dear Tinker we have read your email and discussed it in depth. You are not the first to ask such a request from us. We have a proposal. You pay us a minimum monthly fee of 50 pounds to gain access to our lowest rank in the Union. The more you pay the better access to information you will get.

    Understand that even our lowest rank has a lot of accurate information compared to public forums. Those that post the information do so for the money they can earn in game as well as outside. We have been operational since the opening day and in time more members will join us and more information will get posted. We believe in take as much as you give.

    You may also post information with your access code. Your code is 890718 and the bank details will be on our page as soon as you log in.

    Good day

    The Bishop

    That was not entirely what he expected to get, but it is a start. He logged onto the page to have a look around.

    The web page was neat and there was really no confusion. It had its own search engine so that you can look for key words and was easy to navigate around.

    He read a few topics about how people suggest to level faster. He also read that the best low level swords a player can get for cheap is the sword you get from basic training. So he kept on reading. He was interested in professions as well. The information was to the point. No dark gamer would focus on just their profession. They would focus on gaining levels and looking for good hunting grounds. That was where the money was. They said they would keep an eye on it and speculated that the rewards could be great the higher your skill gets.

    He logged onto Royal Road when his lock out expired. He had much to do today. He woke up inside the small temple and was greeted by a priest.

    ¡°Welcome out lander, we have healed all your wounds. You are at the temple in Avelon, have a good day and try not to die¡±. Tinker could feel his shoulder- and head wound was fully healed and no scar remained. ¡®Seems like priests can do so much more than my bandages¡¯ he thought.

    Tinker needed to buy supplies and see if he could get passage on a wagon heading towards the Capital. Finding a merchant wagon was not so hard. He found a wagon heading towards the capital. He signed on as body guard and chef, as long as they provided the food he would cook. The wagon was leaving in 2 hours. The first stop he made was the Golden Apple. He bought supplies from Morrain at cost price. He stocked up on herbs and other items, but not meat as he was planning on hunting on the trip. He also bought a big pot, nearly 3 times the size of the one he used now. A person never knows when a big pot would come in handy. Mistress Anan added a few more spices he would need which was very kind of her. He said his goodbyes as he did not know if he would see them soon, but he promised to be back someday.

    He went over to the warrior¡¯s guild. There he found Aragon and the party leader. The leader informed him of what happened to them and that the quest had failed. With that information the quest disappeared from his personal bar and his Infamy increased by 20 and fame decreased by 20. In addition the mage guild was now hostile towards him. He was not sure, but he read that Infamy is for criminals and murderers. In the grand scheme of things it did not matter too much. The leader left while he and Aragon stood facing each other. Aragon was glad to see him.

    ¡°My friend what happened to you?¡±

    ¡°I died and came back to life. How did things go on your side?¡±

    ¡°Well. We encountered no threats on our way back to the city. Does dying hurt?¡±

    ¡°It does. The yeti¡¯s crushed my ribs and punched me off the cliff. Not the best of feelings I assure you.¡±

    ¡°I understand. It must be great to come back to life. What will you do now? Are we going to hunt some more?¡±

    ¡°No. I am leaving and not sure when ill come back, but I will. Tell the others goodbye for me. I am leaving soon.¡±

    ¡°I shall do that. Also I need to give you a parting gift.¡±

    He took out a big back pack from his pack and handed it over.

    ¡°This is a new magic imbued back pack. Its size is about 4 times larger than your current pack, as long as you have the strength to pick it up and walk with it. In here is a big piece of yeti leather. I looted 1 of those we managed to kill and got it. I thought you might be able to use it in the future.¡±

    Tinker read on the dark gamer¡¯s webpage that the amount of japtem you can carry in your backpack is only affected by your strength and stamina. Thus if you have a lot, you can carry a lot, but if you carry a lot your combat skills suffer greatly. During all of this Tinker forgot about his new skill. He has been online for nearly over an hour and forgot to use the skill. He whispered Morph Strength and thanked Aragon for the gift. He talked some more and left Aragon after a firm hand shake. He went to the front desk and saw the old man writing things down in a book.

    ¡°Sir I would like to buy the same swords and armour I was given when I joined the guild. Is that possible?¡±

    ¡°Yes, only a fool warrior would not have back up and spares of his items.¡±

    ¡°Indeed, I need 2 swords like these and the same leather armour.¡±

    ¡°Alright, that will be 5 gold and 60 silvers.¡±

    ¡°Ok, here you go.¡±

    Tinker made some gold from all the hunting and selling of the odd items, but most of the 20 gold he had left was earned from his salary at the warrior¡¯s guild itself. He took his new items and put them in his new back pack. It looked better than his previous pack. He then transferred all the other items he carried with him over as well. He stored his old back pack in the new one. What really helped was that the back pack space was like a void. You can store many shields and swords and other items into one back pack, more than a normal person can carry. At least this feature was a plus. Nobody wanted to go back to town after only picking up a few items. Thus a person can stay longer in the field or dungeon before you have to return to towns.

    ¡°Ah crap, Morph agility.¡± It was nearly 7 minutes since he last used the skill. This was going to be tough. A person can easily forget to use new skills. Tinker called forth the Settings menu for the skill. There he read he can only rename the skill. He went into his general settings and looked around at the different options. He saw an option that notified a person when a skill is activated or when it expires. He did not really need the system to tell him what skill he activates because he activates it verbally. He left that off and turned the latter on. Now every time his skill expires he will get notified and can use the skill again.

    Before he left the guild he went looking for instructor Canobi. ¡°Hello, I want to ask you about basic training.¡±

    ¡°Yes, what can I help you with¡±

    ¡°I heard that one receives a sword when one finishes basic training. How long will it take and can I get swords best suited for me?¡±

    ¡°You would receive only 1 sword. A bit shorter than the basic sword most warriors get. It will be of the same quality and do less damage. Also it will take about a month. Most finish it over a few months but the fastest take a month.¡±

    ¡°Ok, how long will I need to train a day and what other bonuses do I get from doing it?¡±

    ¡°You will need to train the entire day. You have already spent a few hours hitting the scare crow. You only have about 440 hours remaining until you pass. In addition you gain base stats and on completion you can take the next training course.¡±

    ¡°Wow that is a lot of time. I can do it over a period of a few months and at any training hall right?

    ¡°Yes¡±

    With that news Tinker left. Maybe if there is time in the future he will get around to it, but to grind day after day like that is insane. He went over to the merchant as he was ready to go to the next town. There he would find another group that was headed towards the capital and join them.

    The progress was slow. He was sure if he walked he could have gotten faster to the towns than the wagons, but he did not know the way so this worked fine for him. Most of the time he sat on the wagon breaking and repairing his leather armour. In the morning he made breakfast and at night before they camped he would make food again. He cooked for himself, the merchant and the other body guards. They said the roads were safe but the odd crime and attack by monsters do happen. On the journey they encountered no monsters or enemies. He did jump off the wagon now and again to collect plants he thought might be useful.

    Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!

    After 3 days they came out of the mountain range to a small town called Doxtan. The merchant said they would spend about 2 hours here and then head out again. They were heading for a bigger town called Reeseville. It was about 2 days¡¯ journey away. The sight after Doxtan was a pleasant one. The mountain range was slowly getting smaller in the distance while the air felt warmer and more grassy open plains were visible. The type of plants he harvested became more diverse. The extra leather armour he kept breaking and repairing was losing durability. He needed more leather to keep on repairing them. The chest armour¡¯s durability had nearly decreased by half. He focused more on breaking and repairing his leg pieces after that as he did not want to waste gold. He decided to repair less and go hunting at night when they made camp. There should be some creatures he can harvest for meat and leather.

    It happened in Reeseville. He was looking for a merchant wagon he can guard that was heading towards the capital. Most merchants wanted to charge him but he knew he would find someone that would pay him or let him go for free. So he kept on looking

    ¡°Hello tinker, are you there?¡±

    ¡°Um yes who is this?¡±

    ¡°You need to select the chat window and then reply, otherwise I can¡¯t hear you.¡±

    Tinker selected reply and started to talk. ¡°Yes, sorry about that. It is the first time somebody whispered me in game¡±

    ¡°I see. You have been playing for nearly 3 months and this is the first time somebody whispered you. That is weird but I guess you¡¯re a loner. This is Cuzen from school.¡±

    ¡°Ok, I figured that. How have you guys been?¡±

    ¡°Just busy, We have been heading towards the Capital for the past week. I tried to whisper you about a week ago when we started, but you did not reply. We are having lunch next to a lake and I decided it was a good time to try again.¡±

    ¡°Sorry about that. About a week ago I died for the first time and could not log in for 4 days. I have been heading towards to capital for the last 5 days.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I understand. It¡¯s been a while since we died. We try to avoid it ¡®cause we don¡¯t like losing points in our professions and skills. We work hard to level them and a death only slows down our progress.¡±

    ¡°I have not really checked my stats in a while. But I lost a level. I will be at the capital in about 2 weeks. My progress is slow. I am traveling with merchants and we stop every night.¡±

    ¡°I understand, We are just over a week away. We are walking and making good time. We will find stuff to do while we wait for you. Talk later if you are online. Now I have to brave Yuri¡¯s latest cooking recipe.¡±

    ¡°No problem. Talk to you later¡±

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Cuzen requested to be friends with you.

    Do you accept or decline?</td></tr></tbody></table>

    ¡°Accept¡±. Cuzen has been added to your friends list. ¡°Morph strength.¡±

    Saying it every 5 minutes till he stopped playing this game better be worth it.

    In Reeseville he encountered a player called Sam. Sam was a merchant and looked like he was about 30 years old. He came from the capital on a quest and was heading back there now with the new items he bought here. In Reeseville a strong strain of cherry fruits grew that were bigger and sweeter than the other areas¡¯ cherries. The nobleman from the capital would pay a lot for large amounts of the cherries. With them they can make good food and even better alcohol. Sam had a wagon which he told Tinker was a corner stone for every merchant. With it a person can transport a lot more items than you can normally carry in a back pack. Sam overheard him talk about the capital and decided to introduce himself. The terms were that Tinker can ride with Sam if he would act as bodyguard and drive when Sam gets tired or needs to log out. No fee was needed. Tinker agreed and they set off.

    Sam was doing most of the talking. He explained why he became a merchant and how he use to do the whole adventure and combat thing in other games, but now it¡¯s all about the money. He was level 52. Which was impressive considering he only did quests related to the merchant class. Later Tinker would read that Sam the merchant was part of an elite group that ranked as the 10 Richest people in Royal road. Sam gave him some tips on how to earn more money and said that forming relations with powerful people and those with influence help earn you money. Most merchants like to buy in bulk, so it is faster to sell in bulk to a merchant then stand around all day selling one item at a time, if you are able to sell them.

    Sam was a sharp man. They were together for an hour when Sam asked why he keeps on whispering Morph Agility and Morph Strength. Tinker explained it was a skill that he needed to cast every 5 minutes to level it up. He could see the cogs work in Sam¡¯s head, but he left it at that. When the first night arrived Sam logged out. Tinker went looking for monsters to kill. He found a fox and a pack of wolves. He took the meat and leather and went back to camp. He stuck to his routine. Break the leather piece and repair it. Mumble Morph stat every 5 minutes. Make food in the mornings and nights. The weekend was about to end in the real world and Sam said he would be online less because he had to work.

    Tinker informed him he was on holiday and planned on playing a lot. Thus Tinker would be in charge of driving the wagon from now on towards the capital. Sam would relieve him when he could. Thus a 2 week journey was reduced to just over a week. The horse did well to keep up with Tinkers pace because when Sam was offline he would push the horse hard and feed him a bit extra for the trouble.

    At night times while he was cooking Cuzen would whisper him and they would have a quick chat. He figured that Yuri was the hunter and their cook. Cuzen always mentioned what they were about to eat before he said his last goodbye.

    Tinker and Sam arrived at a huge gate. He assumed it was the main gate but later would discover he was wrong. It was only the north side gate. Sam parted ways with Tinker and went towards the market place to sell his items. He gave Tinker a big bag full of cherries as a parting gift. He whispered Cuzen and asked how far they were. He said they will be arriving tomorrow some time.

    Tinker went straight to the training hall. He had many hours still to complete his basic training. After the wagon rides he was getting a bit restless. He did not really count killing a fox and wolves as combat. He went at it for a couple of hours and then would rest. He did this for an entire day and half, well into the night until he could do no more. While he was sitting against a wall sweating like a pig a warrior approached him.

    ¡°Evening. How goes the training?¡±

    Tinker was not sure the person was talking to him, but since no one was next to him he assumed he was talking to him.

    ¡°Slow¡±

    ¡°Yes I recall when I was doing the basic training program. Took me over a month to complete it. A new guild member of ours was also here training but left some time ago. Those that train here in our guild have standing orders to keep an eye out for people also doing the basic training.¡±

    ¡°Why is that?¡±

    ¡°Well I assumed you heard we are recruiting players doing basic training here. So, do you want to join our guild? We are new like most guilds and a bit smaller than most. We prefer quality over quantity.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good¡± Tinker said slowly.

    ¡°My name is Gambit, Warrior and co founder and co leader of the Brotherhood of Steel¡±.

    ¡°I did not really plan on joining a guild and just came here to meet up with friends. Can I maybe get back to you sometime. I just started resuming basic training and will not finish soon, think I have about 430 hours remaining before I am done.¡±

    ¡°Not at all. If you plan on remaining here and resuming your training we will probably run into each other again. So long and good luck.¡±

    ¡°Cheers man¡±

    If he had to guess he would say that the warrior was a barbarian and more than a few levels above him. The problem was that barbarians looked like humans but were only bigger in size. It was hard sometimes to figure out if a person was a large human or small barbarian. Those taller than 7 feet were normally barbarians. And those shorter than 6 feet were humans. It is those that are in between 6 and 7 feet that caused the confusion.

    The others would be arriving the next morning so he logged out and took a nap.

    He was back and sitting in the training hall. He might as well get some training in while he waited. He whispered Morph agility and started his attack on the scarecrow. About an hour passed before Cuzen whispered him.

    ¡°Yo, we are heading to the palace main entrance. We all agreed it is the one place we all want to see before we go our separate ways.¡±

    ¡°Ok. I will see you guys there.¡±

 Chapter 9: As easy as 1 2 3â€¦4?

    When Tinker arrived back at Tristan¡¯s office the day was almost over. The door was open so he knocked and entered. Tristan was sitting at the desk with papers and seemed to be hard at work.

    ¡°Ah you have returned, do you have more questions?¡¯¡¯

    ¡°Not really, I am done with the task you gave me and want to know what is next¡±

    Tristan moved the stack of papers away from him and looked at Tinker. ¡°That was fast, too fast. I am a man of my word. Are you ready to become my student?¡±

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Become Tristan¡¯s student. Stage 1

    To become a student of a Master is no easy task. You have taken the first step on this road and must still prove yourself.

    Difficulty level: C

    Quest requirements: Must have gained access to palace greenhouse and know about Tristan¡¯s book.

    Reward is becoming student to a Master in alchemy and herbalism</td></tr></tbody></table>

    ¡°I accept.¡± He noticed the quest was at stage 1 and that this was his first rank C quest.

    ¡°Alright, first more information and then you can get to work. As you know alchemy is not just about the mixing of plants. Other items can be added to make better or unique potions. For example if you mange to find a unicorn horn and grind it down to a fine powder you have another substance to experiment with. Since a lot of plants are limited it is not recommended that you just add items together and hope for a good potion. This is where the book comes in. It records the uses of plants so that you know how to best use them, but you have not yet earned a book of your own.

    Also it is important that you harvest everything. Some plants have multiple parts that can be used. Most of the time you will use the roots and leafs, but sometimes seeds or the stem will be useable. The Magic book I use has all my knowledge about plants. Thus if you add the ginseng plant it will tell you that the roots are the most used for a variety of healing and fortification potions. As you can imagine I do not know everything and as time passes and your own knowledge increases you will unlock additional information through skill, experimentation and dare I say luck.¡±

    It was a lot to take in. The book is like a library that a person can expand on. Speaking of expansion, ¡°This is a lot of information. Have you asked the Grand Magus if other items as unicorn horns and the like can be added to the book?¡±

    ¡°Hmm, nope. I have written the letter and will send it after the day¡¯s end. She should get it sometime tomorrow and I will have a reply in a week. That will give us more than enough time to get you started.¡±

    ¡°Ok, started on what?¡±

    ¡°Your own book of course. The book contains the knowledge, but yours will be empty. Thus you need samples to put in. Remember once you add a sample to the book it will be destroyed forever, but the information will be forever in the book. It will happen that you add plants that will only appear as a picture of the plant and all information on it will be unknown. It will reveal its information later on as you learn more about it. Now for the hard part. You are to go to the Greenhouse and get 2 samples of every plant there. 1 sample will be for the book to consume and the other is so that you have basic samples to make your first potion.¡±

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Go the Greenhouse and collect 2 samples of every plant there.

    Do not take the last of certain plants, only take plants that are available and in abundance.

    Difficulty level: E

    Quest requirements: Must start the quest to become Tristan¡¯s Student.

    Reward is unknown

    Failure will result in your banishment from the palace grounds.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    ¡°Let¡¯s do this¡±, He thought it was a bit harsh punishment for failure. He can only imagine what the punishment must be like for killers. With the quest accepted he was happy and sad, his quest log was now full. The quest from Lan was going to be a problem if he did not call on Tinker¡¯s help soon. A person cannot really walk around for months with a quest you can¡¯t complete. What if he was to get more quests from Tristan?

    During all this Tristan stood up and went over to one of the chests in the corner. ¡°Here is a harvesting tool, vials for saps and an herbalist pouch. When you come back to me with the samples, you will get your book. Until then you can pop around any time for questions.¡±

    ¡°Before I go, I could not help but notice your brothers names are Lancelot and Gawain. With yours being Tristan, just like the story.¡±

    Tristan giggled and had a smile on his face. ¡°It is true, we were named after the story. Our mother was a romantic at heart and loved books. Think it¡¯s the reason why she married our father.¡±

    Tinker was about to leave it at that when Tristan just started talking again.

    We the Collins family have been here since the days Tiber Septim proclaimed himself king and emperor by right of conquest. Our family, like many others, helped him and thus we became Lords and received the right to a seal. We have been active and part of the capital ever since. There are many Lords here in the capital but only 9 families may vote and decide actions if the King is busy or delegates work to the senate. That Is why my brother and his family lives at the palace so that he is close for the work. Gawain lives at our city mansion with his family and goes to the market place to run the family business. Our sister Morganna and her husband lives at one of our estates outside the capital.¡±

    Tinker was not really interested in Tristan¡¯s family history but a person never knows what other information might get revealed this way. ¡°Were do you live Tristan?¡±

    ¡°Upstairs, of course. I am not married and like to stay close to my work. I do visit my siblings when I have business close to them. Other than that my life is here.¡± He said that with pride in his voice. ¡°Ah yes my farther. To make matters worse, his name was Arthur, just like the king of the story. My grandfather was then the Collins representative in the senate. My father did not want to work at the family business and had no magic affinity. He was young and yearned for adventure and thus joined the army. Since he was nobility he was promoted fast to a leadership role. He was given command of a fort near the Black marsh.

    After a 2 year tour there he cleansed the swamp of a hydra and frog like monsters that worshipped it. He did not lose many men and was very popular when he returned. That was when my mother fell for the hero of the city and they got married. After that my father moved around from place to place, always as a military man earning glory and favour of many, till my grandfather retired and my father had to take his seat in the senate. I think my mother wanted us to be great adventurers like Arthur and his knights, but we just never got around to it. Lancelot played the game of politics well and ever since he was 18 he attended the meetings and started to learn all he could. I am sure he could have been the youngest member of the senate but our father was very popular and had the support of the people behind him. He always put the interest of the people first and usually acted and voted as a military man and not a politician. He also served as one of the king¡¯s military advisors.¡± He walked over to the window and stared outside and then went on with the story.

    ¡°My other brother Gawain liked money and spent most of the time at the market place with our uncle. Our uncle handled the family business when my father was out in the world being a soldier. My uncle lost his wife and child during child birth and never remarried. He raised Gawain as his own and showed him the ins and outs of running a business. Gawain even moved out of the palace to stay at my uncle so that they can wake up before the sun rises and start a day¡¯s work. My mother did not take it well, at age 9 Gawain left her. She adapted and moved on. It is not like she never saw him, I just think she did not think he would leave the house so soon.¡±

    There was a short silence before he started again. ¡°With Gawain leaving so soon my mother became very strict with me. In her mind she probably hoped I would be like my father and go do great things and become a hero. When it was discovered I had affinity for magic I was enrolled into the mages guild when I was old enough. I learned and became a mage. After that I could do what I wanted and I did go to a few places in the kingdom. Mainly I went to the different places to collect plants and hoped I would find Ninroot. More than a few of the plants you will collect at the Greenhouse are those that I brought back from my exploits back in the day. That leaves only Morganna.

    She said back when she was girl she was going to marry a rich and handsome man. By doing that she would never have to work and can raise her 4 kids. In other words she wanted to be just like our mother. At 18 she did just that, married a rich and handsome man and had 5 kids. In time her husband lost their money through bad business choices and time makes even the most handsome man old and ugly. The 4 and 5th children were twins. She really did not work a day in her life and spent her time raising the kids. That is why she lives on our estate since her husband lost everything¡±

    That was all Tinker remembered and took in of the very one sided conversation. Tristan said a few other things but at this point he had trouble to keep up with all of it. ¡°It sounds like your family are pillars in the community. How did you find the Ninroot?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a story for another time, the sun is about to set and I need to mail these letters. When at the Greenhouse do not forget to go to all the places there.¡±

    He was not sure what that meant but he left. Stepping outside he decided to see what the party was up to. Zomger and Yuri logged out already while Cuzen was at the church with a do not disturb icon. He saw Lina was online and started to talk to her¡±

    ¡°Hey Lina, what you doing, and where are the others?¡± It took a while before she replied

    ¡°Hey, Sorry I took so long but I am in the library in the mages guild, reading about fire magic and all the other boring stuff. The others logged out and will be back some time tomorrow. They have real life stuff to do and Cuzen is busy with a day long prayer or meditation thing. Not so sure on the details, he just said he was not allowed to speak.¡±

    ¡°Sure, I¡¯m going to go to the training hall for a bit and then sleep. I¡¯ll be back in about 2 days. ¡°

    ¡°Ok, enjoy. We all should be online at 9 tomorrow morning. That is like 2 days in game time.¡±

    ¡°Ok. We will talk then. So long and good luck¡¯¡¯

    On his way to the training hall he took a closer look at the items Tristan just gave him. The harvest tool looked like a mini scythe with a sharp point and even sharper blade edge. The vials were small and that only left the pouch. He took the pouch from his bag and opened it. Inside was nothing, but the size of the pouch caught him by surprise. It was the same as his back pack. He used identify on the pouch to read more about it. This is where he read that the herbal pouch mimics half the size of your inventory. The only down side is that plants, vials and potions are the only items you can put in there. The pouch also had the nice feature of being equipped to your belt. When he did that the option to open it appeared right next to the option to open his inventory,

    At the training hall he equipped his battle gear and started his combo attacks on the scarecrow. He was not sure how long he did it, but it was well into the night when he called it quits and logged out.

    Back in the real world Scot took a shower, got some food and climbed into bed while watching a movie. It has been a while since he has done anything outside of Royal road.

    He awoke just before 9 the next morning. He fell asleep during the movie and by his estimates he slept for nearly 10 hours. He felt well rested. After a quick tour in the kitchen he went to the capsule.

    Tinker reappeared at the basic training hall. It was some time during the day but he could not tell from inside the hall. He checked the party and saw everybody was online. He heard Cuzen speaking in the party chat.

    ¡°Alright I see everybody is online, we will meet up just after dark at the same inn where we first stopped when we arrived. If you can not make it or will be late don¡¯t forget to msg.¡±

    Tinker put on his plain clothes and left the training hall. The herbal pouch was stylish in a way. A small green pouch hanging on his belt gave him a bit more character. He arrived at the palace gates and the guards did not stop him. After nodding at them he made his way over to the Greenhouse. Inside the building he went to the top and marvelled at the massive dome with all the plants. There was a young woman there, she introduced herself as Peggy. He told her that he was here for samples and was not sure how to go about it or where to start. She was eager to help, she agreed to help him only if he would tell her of his adventures and stories from outside the city. They went over to what seemed a corner in a round room.

    ¡°We will start here and work our way around the dome. If all goes well we can be done by nightfall¡±. The plan was that they will each remove 1 plant of a specimen and then move on to the next. Tinker was not sure how this would work so he watched Peggy remove the first plant. She took a small shovel and made a circle around the plant, with a pull the entire plant came out by the roots. She shook of the remaining dirt and placed it in the empty hole. Also she planted a seed of the plant she just removed.

    She looked over at Tinker with an amusing smile. ¡°We do it like this so we do not damage the roots and plant a new one so that in time the next person can just take them. Do not worry, you just shake of the dirt and ill handle the planting of a new seed. Some may need a piece of root or stem to grow a new plant.¡±

    ¡°Thank you Peggy, but what do I do with this?¡± he removed his harvesting tool. ¡°There are trees and big plants here and we will use that tool to get specific parts of them like leaves or the odd seed and sap.¡±

    ¡°OK, this is going to take a while.¡± They went to work. In the start he was slow compared to Peggy but he got the work done. He borrowed a small shovel from the greenhouse since Tristan failed to give him one. He would put the whole plant into the pouch and then the next. During all of this he would tell Peggy about the Stormy peaks, and how he fought wolves, trolls and kobolds.

    He did not have much to tell and soon found himself repeating that same story. Each time he would deal a finishing blow to the wolf different. In a way it was true. He and the others grinded a lot and repeated many of the same kills on the same type of enemies. The sun was setting low and the progress they were making was good. He started using the tool and per Peggy¡¯s instruction pierced huge plants and filled a few vials. At some plants he took only leaves, others seeds. It was an interesting experience to say the least. They took brakes now and again. As night fall approached they harvested the last plant. It was a purple flower and that¡¯s all he knew of the plant. The in game system told him the plant was a nightshade.

    He thanked Peggy and awkwardly said his goodbye. He did not understand what she meant by see you tomorrow. So he asked. She explained that this was the main part of the Greenhouse. In the basement they have many mushrooms and mosses from many different caves. On the ground floor is the aquarium that held the water based plants. This came as news to him. He never thought what other uses this building had. With magic many things are possible it would seem. What about dessert and snow based plants, do they also have their own areas in the building?

    These were just one of many new questions on his mind. He will come back tomorrow and resume the gathering of plants and specimens. He greeted Peggy again and promised to be back tomorrow, but for now he has to go. She was very interested in what he was doing and seemed she wanted to talk more. What he could deduce was that her working hours were done and she had been off work for a while now, but stayed to help him. Feeling guilty Tinker promised to make it up to her. Before he could think of a way she told him she is free tonight. He tried to explain how he was going to meet friends at an inn and he had no idea how the night was going to unfold. It did not seem to discourage her though. She asked for the inn name and added she would meet him there.

    He told her the Grey and she was off, he assumed to go home and put on new cloths, woman sure enjoyed there dress ups. He arrived at the Inn and saw everyone was there accept for Lina. Cuzen wore his armour and the others wore casual clothes. He greeted them and sat down. The others already ordered so he just asked for the meal of the day. They explained Lina was running late and should come in the next hour. He listened to the others.

    ¡°After you guys left, Yuri and I logged off, I finished reading my book last night and Yuri went to go eat out with his family. So what did we miss?¡±

    ¡°Not much, I went over to the temple and got a quest. It is a class specific quest where I pray and fast for a day to cleanse the soul and boost the faith stat. For the first hour I did well. After that things became hard. I was locked inside a room with only water and a chair. I did a bit of everything to stay awake. I had no reading materials and all my items and bag was taken from me. My communications to you guys were blocked so that left me alone with my thoughts. When I spoke I lost faith. So I was forced to stay silent. After about two hours I decided to pray. After about 3 minutes I ran out of things to pray for¡± The others started laughing and even Tinker found himself trying to suppress his smile. ¡°So I started praying for things like a lot of gold, legendary items, and stuff like that.¡±

    ¡°Did you pray for a girlfriend?¡±

    ¡°Yes, a very detailed request, Freya will have to look very hard if she decides to reward me. That kept me amused for about another hour. Then I took it on myself to count all the bricks in the room. 8 423 bricks.¡±

    ¡°Dude, how did you not go mad?¡±

    ¡°Hahaha I became mad and then had enough time to return to normal, but no. I tried to recite every song and famous movie line

    I knew but not being able to sing or hear them out loud is not the same. Thought a lot about how we are going to spend our next few months in game. How we should all get together in the real world if we want to maximize our team talking and strategies. That made me realise that we have not seen Tinker here in combat and should really do so before we incorporate him in all my plans.¡±

    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.¡°Alright what warrior would I be if a decline and opportunity to fight?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the spirit, how about after supper we duel?¡±

    ¡°Ok, I thought you would want me to fight mobs in a nearby dungeon¡±

    ¡°Nah, I don¡¯t want to walk all the way to a dungeon.¡±

    ¡°After supper it is then.¡±

    ¡°Great, being a tank I prefer to be in front and will be better able to judge your skill.¡±

    ¡°If you guys are done comparing dick sizes what did you do further to pass the time in the room?¡±

    ¡°Hahaha I made an in depth study of the settings you can access. I tampered a bit with the UI. I will hand to the folks at Unicorn industry the default setting a normal person starts with is pretty good. I miss things like mini maps and icons that show the way to our next quest but I guess they wanted that 99% realism. Compared to other games the UI is limited but there are a lot of other settings like language and even brightness. After about another few hours of tampering I just restored the default settings.¡±

    ¡°So you learned nothing helpful about it?¡±

    ¡°Yes captain obvious, it just tweaks your UI settings and you gain no other advantages. Maybe in the future they will bring out better mods. That is how my story ends. 24 hours in game locked in a small room. Guess it¡¯s a lot like those players that get tossed in jail.¡±

    ¡°What did you receive for doing the quest.¡±

    ¡°Not much, just increased my standing with the church and nearly doubled my faith stat.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s pretty impressive¡±

    ¡°What is the faith stat and what does it do?¡± Tinker asked. He had read somewhere that priests and paladins use the stat but that is about how far his information went.

    ¡°You can only get this stat if you have a job or a quest related to any church e.g. church of Freya. Some quests, items or skill required a certain amount of faith before you can acquire, use or obtain it. In short my blessings are stronger.¡±

    ¡°No wonder you want to duel. With your faith nearly double your blessings make you stronger¡±

    ¡°Not really, I would have fought you regardless. You don¡¯t seem convinced. One of my many philosophies are ¡®I tank it and you spank it¡¯.¡±

    It sounded good. Most RPG games have Tanks, healers and DPS. All heroes can be assigned one of those titles which dictates your role.

    The first of the food arrived and the conversation died down a bit. After a short time Tinkers food came and he ate fast. He wanted to duel and show these guys he¡¯s not a noob.

    ¡±So how did the search for a group quest or guild go?¡± Cuzen asked. Neither Zomger nor Yuri was fast to reply.

    Yuri spoke up after he swallowed a spoon full. ¡°Nothing on worthy guilds, most are recruiting like mad but they are the weaker guilds and none that would fit us well. Concerning quests I asked around and maybe found one for us, It is an lvl 50 quest to clear the 2nd floor of the Searing Gorge dungeon that¡¯s a few hours walk from the city¡±

    ¡°Yes the guilds that will take us no questions asked are not worth joining. Unfortunately I found no group quests for us to do.¡± Zomger added

    Tinker spoke up, he was after all part of the party and was confident he could take Cuzen in the duel. He doubted they would ask him to leave after they see him in action. ¡°A couple of days ago I was training at the training hall and was approached by a strong looking warrior. He knew what I was up to by increasing my base stats and told me they are looking for players like me. They also value quality over quantity, the name was the Brotherhood of Steel.¡±

    ¡°Good job Tinker, Glad to see you¡¯re not a leech and also know what to look for.¡±

    Tinker was not sure if it was an insult or compliment, but it was said with a smile. He figures he was starting to be accepted in the group. They ate and talked some more. After the meal Cuzen was the first to stand up and tell Tinker it¡¯s on. They settled the bill and went outside. Tinker went to the restroom to equip his battle gear and agreed to meet them outside. Yuri was the first to make a wise remark that Tinker should not DC and log in a few days from now with excuses. He just smiled and walked away. On his way out he saw that Zomger left a message in the party chat to tell Lina they are now outside.

    Outside the guys were standing on the other side of the street near one of the gate entrances to the palace. He walked over and saw Cuzen already with weapon drawn, he even had a plate helmet equipped. Tinker always whispered his Stats morph and while he changed into battle gear he decided to morph strength into agility. If this goes how he thought it would, sometime during the fight the skill effect would run out and then he will reuse it to the Stat he needed at that moment. He would have to decide in the heat of battle. He saw Yuri talking to a guard and pointing over to him. He was not sure what was going on so he just kept walking closer. Zomger came over to him.

    ¡°We just came over to the guards to tell them you guys are having a friendly duel. Seemed they are bored to hell and asked if you guys will duel close to them so that they can watch. Try not to block the gate for the other people and good luck.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, what is Yuri up to?¡±

    ¡°Telling the guards who the two combatants are and betting on the match of course.¡±

    Tinker just smiled and stepped up to Cuzen.

    ¡°Alright, We will duel till a person¡¯s health drops to under 10% or somebody surrenders. Do you agree to the match?¡±

    ¡°Yes¡±

    ¡°As do I¡±

    Cuzen¡¯s name appeared red above his head and a 10 second clock started to count down. Also a green health bar appeared to show the combatants health for the spectators and combatants duelling. Tinker drew his swords and made ready. The time expired and he leapt forward. He knew his agility would be way more than Cuzen¡¯s. He had fought a shield man before and knew that the shield can be used as a weapon. What he was not sure about was what type of blessing or other spells a paladin might have in his arsenal.

    He attacked with a thrust from his right sword, Cuzen blocked it easy and was already counter attacking with his mace. Tinker used his left hand sword and just deflected the swing of to the side. He would rate Cuzen¡¯s attack speed as medium so he decided to press the attack and attack at full speed.

    From Cuzen¡¯s view point he was attacking fast but Tinker¡¯s attack was much faster. Cuzen used his shield to block thrusts and jabs without problems, the problem came from the other weapon which Tinker wielded with uncanny speed. He tried to deflect and parry the other sword but could not keep up. He could not use his shield to block both swords because Tinker attacked from low and high at the same time.

    Tinker landed the first clean blow, the plate armour absorbed most of the damage and Cuzen health bar dropped only a little. Tinker¡¯s stamina had hardly dropped and he was prepared to stretch this fight out. The fight went on like this for a few more minutes. Tinker managed to land more shots and was slowly chipping away at Cuzen¡¯s life. The Stats morph spelled expired and Tinker leapt back and gave Cuzen a welcome break from the endless attacks.

    ¡°You sure you are only lvl 41? I feel confident I can compete with somebody 10 levels higher than me and here I am getting trolled by somebody 6 levels lower then I.¡± He heard mumbles from the people surrounding them. Tinker did not realise that a small crowd had gathered to watch the duel. The fight was not flashy and guards broke up most fights in cities very fast. A lot of people who were watching were NPC¡¯s. Seemed like they had nothing better to do and watched the fight. There were other players who also took the time out from questing and the like to watch the duel. It is not every day a there is a duel in the city that city guards don¡¯t break up or tell them to go duel in the training halls or other sanctioned locations.

    Later they would discover it was due to Cuzen being a paladin and having good standing with the church of Freya that the city guards did not chase them away.

    During the duel Lina arrived and was not really surprised to see their party was the reason everybody was gathering. She saw Zomger and went over to him and was brought up to speed about the whole situation.

    Peggy also arrived during the duel and wanted to see what all the commotion was about before she entered the Inn. The crowd was not that big yet and she could find a spot and watch. She was just in time to see Tinker land his first direct hit. She knew he was an outlander and liked to listen to his stories, and now she was treated to a live demonstration.

    Tinker used Stat Morph for strength so that his attacks did more damage. He was confident that the speed he loses would not affect him too much. Before they resumed he could see Cuzen cast a blessing on himself. For a moment he thought that Cuzen might have fought so far with no blessings, but instead he realized he was casting another blessing or just rebuffing himself.

    They clashed again. The added strength did help a bit. he scored another hit and noticed the health dropped more than previous attacks. Cuzen also noticed it and took a few steps back.

    ¡°Seems like you also have a few tricks up your sleeve.¡±

    ¡°Also?¡± Tinker remarked

    He barely had time to react because Cuzen used a skill were he charged forward with great speed with shield leading the way. He crossed his swords in a defensive way and tried to leap, but it was too late. The swords absorbed some of the damage but the force drove him to the ground. Tinker rolled and stood up. He charged and assumed Cuzen needed space to use the spell. If he was close and pressing the attack he could not use the skill again. He did not know the cool down of the spell but he assumed it was at least a minute. With new determination the battle went on. The previous attack took about 1/8 of his health away. The force he came in with combined with the weight of the armour, it felt like being hit by a car. Or he assumed it would feel like being hit by a car.

    Things were going well once again. Cuzen¡¯s life was slowly dipping again and he could not land a clean shot on Tinker. When Cuzen was at about half hp Tinker swung from wide with his right hand sword and halfway through the attack, he started a thrust with the left hand sword for the throat. Cuzen would not risk taking a direct and possible Critical hit by counter attacking with his mace. The effectiveness of the attack will be determined by how well Cuzen can use his mace to parry or deflect the oncoming attack. Or so he thought.

    In what seemed to be a act of lag a mace was heading straight down for Tinkers head, with both his weapons attacking he could not parry the attack and just tried to evade the mace. It hit his shoulder with a crack. Leather was thinner at the shoulder and this felt just like the time the Yeti hit him. It was better to get hit on the shoulder then the head. He did a duck role to get distance between himself and Cuzen. They stood about 10 paces away from each other. Tinker had to figure out just what had happened right now. He looked at his own health bar and saw it was below 25% and then he tried to replay the moments in his head. He was scared that Cuzen might charge again shield first into him so he stood ready to leap to the side.

    ¡°Calm down, it was not lag, I attacked with my sword from the right, and he blocked low, a few milliseconds after that the shield blocked the thrust for the throat. It must be a skill where a shield user can instantly block an attack. A lot of games had such skills but to see it in action was a whole other matter. Such powerful skills had to cost a lot of mana and have a long cool down.¡± With his Stats morph expiring he whispered morph agility and charged once again. He would use his superior agility and just attack nonstop until he lowers his health to fewer than 10%. It might take another 10 minutes and did not look like heroic fighting, but it worked. If Cuzen had more tricks up his sleeve he should use them or he was going to lose.

    Tinker just did what he planned, chipping away at Cuzen¡¯s health. Cuzen tried to use shield bash for the first time in the fight. Tinker was surprised it took him so long before he used this skill for the first time but Tinker did not care. The bash was a good skill to stagger and get your enemy of balance. Unfortunately the skill had to hit your enemy, but Tinker was just stepping from side to side and attacking openings that forced Cuzen to focus everything on defence.

    With a yell Cuzen leaped forward with his shield. He used the same skill that damaged Tinker for the first time. Tinker just fell to the ground and rolled out of the way. The attacked missed badly and Cuzen stood now a few paces away with his back towards Tinker. He had no idea what was coming next so Tinker wanted to press the attack. Then the unexpected happened.

    ¡°I surrender¡±. He spoke aloud and out of breath.

    The duel was over and the health bars disappeared. Cuzen was also at about 25% health remaining but he just surrendered. Tinker was dumb founded but Cuzen was already removing his helmet and put it in his bag.

    It seemed the crowed was caught off guard by the news as well, but a few cheers arose followed by hand clapping. The people started to leave and Tinker still just stood there. Cuzen came over.

    ¡°You¡¯re good, for a dancing monkey. Maybe if we fought in a closed area I would be able to beat you.¡±

    ¡°Maybe, why did you surrender?¡±

    ¡°To save face, I just used the last of my mana and now I am just about out of stamina. With no stamina you would have finished me off in a few attacks anyway.¡±

    ¡°That makes sense. You have a few interesting skills. It was a good fight. Think if you landed that attack on my head and not shoulder you would have won¡±

    ¡°Indeed, but your agility is of the charts. A few minutes into the fight it felt like you slowed down a bit and then attacked for more damage. About 5 minutes after that your speed went up again.¡±

    ¡°You not the only one with a nice skill¡±

    ¡°Yea man, we will talk about our skills and other stuff when we have time¡±

    ¡°Sure¡± they bumped fists and a new found respect formed between them

    The others came up to them and all talked at once. What Tinker could hear was, Congrats, well done, So fast and something about easy money, which made no sense.

    ¡°Geez one at a time, let us go inside and get drinks, maybe Lina wants to get food as well.¡±

    They started the walk back to the inn when Peggy came out of nowhere and grabbed Tinker by the arm.

    ¡°That was so amazing, you really do fight just like in the stories you told me. Glad to see you were telling me the truth.¡± Tinker did not know what to say and was caught off guard for the third time tonight. He was speechless and the others stopped to check out who the new person was.

    ¡°Please join us inside miss, a lovely lady is always welcome to our party¡± Zomger was quick to say before Tinker made an ass of himself.

    Inside Tinker went to change and told them he would join them soon. Even Cuzen decided it was time to get out of the armour. It was still in the early days of Royal Roads and a lot of people preferred to change in private out of habit. They both returned at about the same time. Tinker only had the one piece of plain clothing and wore it, Cuzen was sporting a brown monk robe.

    The others seemed to get along just fine. They sat down and just fell into the conversation. ¡°Yes Peggy, We have had many other adventures and have done battle against countless foes. This over here is Cuzen, our party tank and self proclaimed leader of our group.¡± They greeted and she introduced herself.

    ¡°Hello my name is Peggy and I work at the Greenhouse¡±

    ¡°I did not even know that there are Greenhouses in the world.¡±

    ¡°Dude what is up with the monk robes?¡± Yuri asked changing the topic just like that.

    ¡°It¡¯s the robe I did my day of praying and fasting in. I won¡¯t lie at some point I vowed that I would burn them but after a day it grows on you¡±

    ¡°Sure man, don¡¯t worry about drinks. I ordered when you guys changed. 2 of the sweetest and coldest juices they have. It is on me. Your duel made me a quick 10 gold coins.¡±

    ¡°Thank you and just how did you manage that?¡±

    ¡°Well I talked to the guards and manage to convince them to bet 2 gold. They had first pick. When I told them you were a paladin and your level, and that your opponent was a dual wielding warrior 6 levels lower then you. They bet on you. When they saw

    Tinker wore no plate they upped the bet to 5 gold each. Thus I won 10 gold.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s all good, are you not supposed to be my friend, why would you bet against me? I have known you since we were like 12 years old.¡±

    ¡°And since you know me that long how could my actions come as a shock?¡± They all laughed at that.

    ¡°Does that mean Tinker passed your test Cuzen?¡± Lina asked

    ¡°Indeed, his damage output is a bit low compared to most warriors but with my blessings we can make up the difference. More importantly he is a good warrior and will be an asset to our team. ¡°He winked at Tinker as he said that.

    Tinker was a bit angry that they wanted to test him, but such is the way of the world. He thought he might try and get them back by making them feel guilty.

    ¡°That so, how do I know you guys are worthy to party with me, must I not test you guys?¡±

    The others did not seem to get angry and just took it in full stride. ¡°You will find that the others here in our party have surprises like me, in their own ways. Sure you beat me in a fight but just remember I am not here to fight and kill a single target. I am all about tanking multiple targets and keeping them busy while someone like you finishes them off.¡±

    He had a point, from what he can tell these guys were on the ball. Sure they were not the strongest bunch but they were above average players.

    The drinks came and they talked a bit more. It seemed Peggy just wanted to hear what the others had done. She listened very eagerly to their tales. The others focus fell on Lina and what she was doing that kept her busy and away from the group.

    ¡°Just in the mages tower doing reading and some quests. Some are stupid like just helping this wizard or that. Nothing special at this time.¡±

    ¡°Any group quests or guilds come across your path.¡±

    ¡°Sorry no¡±

    They ordered another round of drinks which Yuri said was on him. They spent the better part of 2 hours sitting and talking. Tinker was not one to sit around and just do nothing but he found it interesting to hear what his new party members did before they came here

 Chapter 10 : Alchemy for dummies

    The stories the group told was mainly what they did together as a party. It seemed this was how they played. They would come to a new area. Get class specific quests. Do them and after that they would do things together. Or help someone that had a difficult quest.

    The story about their times in the Fellwood forest was the best. They moved to the area after finishing up in the starting zone. Their levels were then in the thirties when they arrived. They killed many monsters from cursed plants that came to life to cursed animals that a person would normally find in forests. After a few weeks they received a quest to investigate the source behind the cursed animals. It was not hard to figure out that the problems were coming from what seemed to be old ruins near the centre of the forest. That is where they started a week long cleanse of the ruins. It turned out cultists used their dark powers to summon a demon. They had to kill all the cultists in the huge ruins to weaken the demon enough to kill it.

    When they first encountered the demon they did not know that and attacked. They were just overpowered and died. Well almost all of them did. Yuri used his ranger skills and managed to escape, only to die a couple of hours later. Peggy asked how it happened before Tinker could. He only chuckled and said the forest was a dangerous place. When they awoke in the town¡¯s chapel they asked around in town and did research on how to kill the demon. They had a lot of time since they had to wait for Yuri to log back in. It was during this time they heard that the demon had to be weakened by killing all its followers. Thus they took it upon themselves to kill every follower and cursed creature they came across.

    Before they started this intense grind they stocked up on supplies and stayed in the forest. It took some time and they managed to kill everything in the ruins. They felt confident and went to face the demon. Just to get killed again. They did well this time and got the demon down to about half hp before they died. After the day lockout they came back and talked to everyone in the town again. Since Yuri cooked they did not need to go back to town. Thus they did not know that as the number of cultist died in the forest a few of the villagers went missing. They then concluded that someone who worshipped the demon was still in the village and they had to figure out who it was.

    They decided to split up. Zomger and Lina would sit at the gate and keep track of all who come and go. If the cultist wanted to sneak off during the night they would also see him. Cuzen and Yuri camped out at the demons location in case the cultist had a secret way of sneaking in and out of the village. This is how it happened. It was late at night. Cuzen was sitting in the dark looking at the stars and just taking it all in. When Yuri returned from a patrol and he held a head in his hand. He shot a cultist that was sneaking about and tried to enter the broken temple through the front door. Yuri explained how it was the best head shot anybody has ever shot. It helped that the moon and starts gave light and there was no wind. Since he was the only one there nobody could verify the distance he made the shot at.

    He claimed it was nearly 200 meters. Archers range was far but to land a shot at that distance was a hard story to believe. The next morning the town was in an uproar when they came back with the head. He was one of the wealthy merchants in town that seemed to be doing well lately. Only after this revelation did the town¡¯s people notice that those other people that went missing were some of his employers and friends. All of the missing people could be tied to this one man. They went back to the ruins to kill the demon. The demon looked different. Its dark colour seemed lighter and its sized decreased. The demon was clearly weakened after losing all its worshipers. It was an easy fight after that. The best item from the loot was a wand which Zomger was using to cast stronger curses. That is usually how a story ended. The number if items or gold were never said, only the best item was mentioned.

    In the real world it was only midday but in Royal roads it was getting late. Peggy said she had to go and sleep because she and Tinker had a busy day in the morning. After the goodbye all eyes turned on Tinker.

    ¡°Why are you guys looking at me like that?¡±

    ¡®Idiot¡¯ Lina muttered, but Zomger spoke first. ¡°You don¡¯t spend much time with ladies do you?¡±

    ¡°Not really, no.¡±

    ¡°It shows, first you choke outside and do not invite her to join us. During the last 2 hours you hardly spoke to her. Here at the end you did not even volunteer to walk her home like a gentleman should.¡±

    Cuzen en Yuri looked like grinning idiots and Zomger face was serious. Lina face showed that she was just disappointed.

    ¡°Come on guys, I met her today and she is just an npc.¡±

    ¡°It does not matter if she is real or fake. Doing the right thing and putting your best forward will get you far in life, or in this case Royal Road.¡±

    He was defeated and just agreed. ¡°What is the plan now guys?¡±

    Cuzen¡± Log off, eat lunch and come back in. After today¡¯s battle I need to spend more time in the training hall and finish up my basic training¡±

    Yuri ¡°Got some business to do and then I¡¯ll log off and be back to play tomorrow. In game time¡±

    Zomger. ¡°I am going to log of now and come back tonight.¡±

    Lina, ¡°Same here, I need to go the mall and shop¡±

    Tinker ¡±Ok then, I¡¯ll get some food in the real world and come back to train in the hall as well¡±

    They said there goodbye¡¯s and each went their separate ways.

    Tinker Logged in about half an hour later. It was midnight and he could train till the sun came up, then head over to the greenhouse and get the last of what he needed.

    At the training hall he saw Cuzen attacking the scarecrow. He walked over and watched. Cuzen wore a plain green shirt with brown pants. With mace and shield in hand he attacked. He stopped when he noticed Tinker.

    ¡°Took you long enough, grab a crow and go man.¡±

    ¡°Yes I know, why are you not wearing your plate armour?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t need to and with it my stamina drains faster, this way I can attack longer and finish the training faster.¡±

    Tinker did not know that, he took out his swords and made ready for a long night.

    Cuzen chanted a few words and told Tinker he just used blessing of fortitude on him. That will increase his life, stamina and vitality. He also explained that he had other blessing that would not help him during basic training. Cuzen took the time to explain that these blessings he cast do not get stronger the more he uses it but relies on his faith stat to get stronger.

    After a couple of hours they took their first break, Tinker took this time to ask more about the skills they used during the duel and how did he spend his stats.

    ¡°Only if you share your secrets in return.¡± Well ok.¡± You seemed to know bash and did a good job to avoid it. The first skill I used is just charge and bash in one. A handy skill to have when you have to attack first and just that much better to lead with the shield. Do not want to impale myself on a sword and do all the work for my enemy.¡± Tinker just nodded.

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Bash

    Uses a shield to knock back opponents.

    Damage and knockback varies depending on Strength and stamina.

    Shield type and size effects damage, knockback and cool down.

    Costs 150 Mana. Cool down varies. Current cool down is 6 minutes and 22 seconds.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Leap

    Covers a distance in one leap

    Distance varies depending on weight and maximum stamina.

    Cost 100 mana and 10% of maximum stamina.

    10 minute cool down.

    WARNING. Cannot leap vertically.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    ¡°Wait a moment. I thought you charged at me.¡±

    ¡°Nope, if you had time to look at my feet, you would have noticed I was airborne.¡±

    ¡°Interesting. People usually leap in an arc, why were you leaping horizontally?¡±

    ¡°Only if there is a difference in terrain I will leap like that. Leaping straight at an enemy helps make me a few milliseconds faster.¡±

    ¡°It still does not explain how you bash when you are done leaping. I thought it was one skill.¡±

    ¡°Nope, I combo the skills, just before I hit I activate bash. The added momentum really does increase my knockback potential.¡±

    ¡°That is pretty smart. What is weight? I have not seen a stat or tab that shows weight.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, I can¡¯t take all the credit. Saw another person doing it to a scarecrow back in our starting city. I am not sure about the weight. Think it just means a person in full plate won¡¯t be able to leap as far a person with no plate on, If they had identical stats. I won¡¯t lie, with my mace and shield I probably weigh a lot.

    ¡°That makes sense I guess¡±

    ¡°The other skill allows me to block any physical attack against me. I must have a shield and it must be a physical attack. It¡¯s cool down is an insane 20 minutes. I tried using it at a start of a fight so that it might be used again later on. In a way it works. But through trial and error I found it best to save it against a special attack or to create an opening like I did against you.¡±

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Blind Block

    Instantly block any 1 physical attack aimed at you in a 360 ¡ã radius. Including range attacks.

    Cost 100 mana. 20 minute cool down.

    WARNING. Must have a shield equipped.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    ¡°That is pretty legit, I myself only have 1 skill. Seemed like I need to learn another skill or two or else I will be left behind.¡±

    ¡°Indeed. But you can imagine I have got myself in a lot of trouble with that skill. I learned the 3 skills very close after one another. At a time I would leap, activate Blind Block for in case the enemy counters me, and then bash. During 1 encounter a arrow hit my from the back. My shield was there to block it, but I could not bring it back in time to bash the person I was leaping into. So I bashed to the side and impaled myself on his pike. Now there are still enemies that have their weapons out and ready, but when I bash them, my shield doubles as a block. When I am leaping and other attacks hit me, so be it.¡±

    ¡°Do you have any other skills?

    ¡°Nope, I read that some skills get unlocked as you reach a certain level and others you get from quests or training. I even read that if you repeat the same action long enough you can learn a skill like that, but those posts I read sound a bit dodgy.

    ¡°Where do you find the mana?¡±

    ¡°I have read a few books, have a ring that gives me 100 mana and did spend a few stats on intelligence when I was a low lvl. It depends on the type of books you read, Lina explained it to me. If you are a mage and you read mage related books you gain intelligence, wisdom and if you are lucky you can learn a skill. If I read the same books she does I will only gain less wisdom, because I am paladin. If you have no class and you read the same books you will gain less wisdom and intelligence than she did, and no skill.¡±

    ¡°Well I did mainly read history books at the start and the odd warriors book. But they were all like how this dude killed that one or how this nation got conquered by that one. I only managed to gain 1 intelligence and the rest were wisdom. That only increases my mana regen. Feels like those few weeks I spent was wasted.¡±

    ¡°Not wasted, just not well spent. At least now you know and can focus more on books that increase intelligence¡±. Well are you not going to tell me your skill?¡±

    Tinker would have to consult the all knowing forums or the Dark gamers union on how to raise the intelligence of a warrior. He skipped the details and most of the good parts and just told the part where an ancient apparition asked him what skill he wanted to learn. Since he was the first to discover the place he got rewarded double. He explained that if Cuzen went there now and asked for a skill like his he would only get to morph 1 stat into 1 other. Maybe later when he levelled it up he would be able to do more. He was not sure himself but he assumed that nobody would be able to do what he does

    Cuzen was impressed and could already see how this skill would become stronger and more useful later on. It also explained how the speed of Tinker increased and decreased. Tinker also explained that only 1 person can learn a skill once per year. He would like to go there and learn a skill that no other paladin knew. He would not have to worry about that for now.

    ¡°Then there are the stats, currently I am dumping all of them in strength. I do not choose agility because I want people to hit me. That leaves the faith stat which I level through quests and the like. Some might say you need agility to move faster and be a better warrior or even take a few luck points. Freya protects me and thus I do not need luck or increased agility that much. When Freya fails to protect me I have my insane strength, shield and a healer.¡±

    ¡°I just spread my stats evenly in agility and strength. That apparition explained that it is my primary stats, so for now it makes sense I spend it only in those 2. In time I will be able to morph the others stats for whatever purpose.¡±

    ¡°Tell me more about your buffs.¡±

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Blessing of Fortitude

    Increases life, vitality and stamina.

    The amount depends on casters faith stat.

    No cool down or mana cost needed.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Blessing of Attack

    Increases damage of physical attacks.

    The amount depends on casters faith stat.

    No cool down or mana cost needed.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Blessing of Brilliance

    Increases Wisdom and intelligence.

    The amount depends on casters faith stat.

    No cool down or mana cost needed.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Blessing of Salvation

    Increases defence and resistance

    The amount depends on casters faith stat and current resistance.

    No cool down or mana cost needed.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    ¡°That is pretty neat.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but they have flaws. You can only have one blessing active on you that I cast. If we had 4 other paladins you can run around with all the buffs. I heard that later on a person get¡¯s an additional buff and can cast them as AOE Spells. You can imagen I do not want to walk to every person in a raid or war situation and bless them. The AOE helps a lot. At level 50 you can set the duration to 30min or 2 hours. Think at level 100 a third of the time gets added and then again at 200. How true that is I have no idea. Have not even met or seen a level 100 paladin yet.¡±

    ¡°How does that last blessing work?¡±

    ¡°The faith stat determines the amount of defence that gets added. The resistance is complicated. You need to have resistance against things. My current amount of resistance plus my faith determines how much added resistance you get. Some races like dwarf and elves start with resistance. I have none. So if I use it, you will only gain defence. In time and with larger parties, things like these would become relevant.¡°

    They went back to hitting the scarecrow till the sun rose.

    Tinker was making ready to go to the greenhouse. Cuzen said he had a quest today. He had to spend the next few days guarding a priest that was doing charity work in the slums of the city. Most praised and adored Freya but like all people there were trouble makers and non believers that would harm a priest giving out free food.

    At the Greenhouse he met Peggy that greeted him with an eager smile and a lot of enthusiasm.

    ¡°The cave or water world? Those are the pet names that we gave to them. You can choose where we start. I suggest the cave.¡±

    ¡°So be it, will we need torches and stuff like that?¡±

    ¡°I have all we need. In the cave we have special lights that provide vision for us and do not affect the normal habitat of most of the plants there.¡±

    In the cave he could see clearly but the vision was a bit off. It looked almost like everything in the cave had a touch of yellow colour in it. The collecting went fast, they would take 2 mushrooms from a patch that looked the same. They would cut off and handful of moss and divide it again for two samples. Most of the samples collected were mushrooms. The odd plant and moss was a welcome sight. He never knew that there are so many types of different looking mushrooms. Some were plain some had spots or patches. Some had round shapes, other were puffy. Some were the size of a man¡¯s head.

    His eyes hurt when they left the cave and went to water world. It was if the outside world looked funny. The water world was not what he expected. It size was the same as the greenhouse. Instead of being on 1 level and having the odd big tree or plant. He saw pools, some going deep, others only a foot or so in depth. The water was clear in some and not so clear in others. In the middle of the room was a big pool. A person could almost not see all the way to the bottom. This time they seemed to collect only special parts of the various plants. A leaf here, and a pad there, a flower in this pond, piece of what seemed to be a root. If water plants had roots. If a person did now know what you are looking for it would take long.

    He was very thankful for Peggy helping him. He assumed that if he had the book, and put the entire plant in it, The book would tell him what parts are used for what, or so he hoped. The working of the book he will have to figure out when he gets it. At each of the pools there were deeper then arms length there were poles and other equipment that helped a person remove parts of plants. In the pool in the middle there was nothing. He and Peggy stood at the edge and looked down. There seemed to be fishes in this pool. They did not look harmful or that big, they were very colourful however.

    ¡°You see those orange things at the bottom. We call them water peaches.¡±

    ¡°No all the fishes are in the way, can¡¯t really see what¡¯s going on down there¡±

    ¡°The clown fishes always nest around water peaches. Only when the peaches break free of the plant will the fish eat them, how weird is that?¡±

    ¡°Very. How do we get them?¡±

    ¡°There is no we this time, you have to dive down and get them. You can swim right?¡±

    ¡°Yes I can. The clown fishes don¡¯t eat humans do they?¡±

    ¡°Not that I know off¡± She said with an evil grin.

    ¡°These are the last and only samples I need to get like this right?¡±

    ¡°Yes, they are the last¡­regardless.¡±

    ¡°Regardless of what?¡±

    ¡°They are the last sample you will need to collect for your quest. Or it is the last sample you will try and collect before the fishes eat you alive.¡±

    Tinker was not amused at this. Were these friendly fishes or not? Peggy did not seem like the type to send him to his doom, but then again it¡¯s Royal Road, anything and everything can happen.

    He took off his shirt and placed his pouch and back pack on the ground next to the pool. He turned around to see if Peggy had any last words to say. She looked in her element watching him like a hawk. It occurred to him as he turned back to the pool that she was checking him out, in a perverted way. His face was turning red, he decided not to turn around and show how embarrassed he was. He had taken off his shirt without thinking it was acceptable in Royal Roads culture. Since she did not scream and run off to call guards he left it at that. As a matter of fact she seemed very pleased with herself.

    His plan was to put his hand in, count to three and remove it. That way he can decide if it was safe to go in. He did it and just started counting when the fish came for him. He nearly yelled and pulled his hand out with all the speed that he could. He was so embarrassed he could not bring himself to look back to Peggy. His face was getting warmer. He assumed it was him blushing even worse. He calmed himself and went back to the edge. Just three seconds he told himself. This time he was going to close his eyes and count. Closing his eyes he put his hand in and counted aloud. One¡­.Two¡­THREE! He did not say three and three was shouted next to him by a woman voice, followed by a splash. He opened his eyes and started to panic, Peggy was in the water laughing at him.

    ¡°Some grand adventurer you are, scared of some fishes. Are you sure you fought wolves and trolls?¡±

    ¡°Of course I did¡± he nearly shouted. His face was heating up again due to a combination of rage and the fact she had fooled him. It would seem that today¡¯s humiliations will never end.

    He dove in head first to the sound of Peggy¡¯s laughter. In the water the fish surrounded him. Some left and others kept on swimming close to him. With the worst over he wanted to share his disgust with Peggy, but in the clear water he noticed that she only had a swim suit on. The robes she wore she removed before coming in. It was in this moment he realised that Peggy was attractive for an Npc. Normal height, Blond hear that came to her shoulder and a body that had all the right curves in the right places. With his face going red again he tried to make it look like he was looking to the bottom of the pool and not staring at her.

    ¡°How far to the bottom?¡±

    ¡°Not sure but a single breath will do.¡±

    He was mentally preparing himself for the dive down when he felt Peggy¡¯s embrace. Just like that she kissed him, it was not his first kiss, and he had played truth or dare a few times and dated one of the girls after that, so at least he knew what to do next. He pulled her closer with the one arm and held the edge with his other. Her lips were soft and he could feel her breath quickening, He was getting into the moment when she pushed herself away. His first instinct was to keep her close and not let her go, but she was already out of reach when he regretted his choice.

    She looked sad ¡°I am sorry Tinker, it is just that you are done here and will not likely return. You outlanders come and go all the time and soon you would run off to another city or adventure¡±

    He knew it to be true. He was at a loss for words. So he tried to say the right thing. ¡°Yes it is so. Adventuring is what we do and live for. I regret I cannot spend more time here¡±

    ¡°As do I, I hope that the man I marry at year¡¯s end is a lot like you. I have never met him, but my mother says he is handsome and my father says he is a fine soldier. And just maybe he will share my love for plants. May Freya reward me with a man like you. Now hurry and go get the water peaches.¡± She was already moving to the edge to climb out. He dove down and got 2 peaches. They broke off easy enough and the fishes came closer to eat them. When he climbed out Peggy was already in her robes again and fixing up her hair.

    Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!

    Tinker got out and sat at the edge of the pool. He had no towel and was not sure how he can dry himself. Peggy came over and extended her hand. He took it and she led him to a bench were the sun was shining in through a window. She said nothing and just clung to his arm and they sat in silence. He was long dry and started to feel the sun bake him. The moment had to end but neither of them wanted it to. Tinker stood up first, after all he was an adventurer and moving on is what he does. He tried to walk away but Peggy pulled him back, she stood on her toes and kissed him on the cheek this time.

    ¡°I¡¯ll miss you handsome¡± with a tear forming in her eye she walked out.

    Tinker went over to his gear and took his leave. He wondered if he should tell the others what happened here today, he would have to think about it. It was well past midday and time for a snack. He had wolf jerky left. He arrived at the alchemy lab and just went to room 305. Knocked and was told to enter. Inside Tristan was at the desk hard at work.

    ¡°Hello, I have done what you asked, collected 2 of every sample at the Greenhouse.¡±

    ¡°Took you only a few days, it is that kind dedication that will get you far in the world of alchemy.¡±

    Quest completed. Ask Tristan for your reward.

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Quest updated : Become Tristan¡¯s student. Stage 2</td></tr></tbody></table>

    ¡°So what is next?¡± He was pleased to see that quest went up from stage 1 to 2

    ¡°The fun stuff, here is my proud and joy.¡± He took out a big brown book that was nearly the size of a small table. ¡°Start by taking out a sample and open the book on a blank page. The last page will always be blank. After you REPLACE a sample you will have to close the book and reopen it. This book is soul bound and unique to you. Place the sample on the page and say the magic words. It costs 10 mana to use and if you add a sample that¡¯s already in the book, the sample you just added burns up into nothing.¡±

    ¡°What are the words?¡±

    ¡°Ah yes, Item Consumption¡±

    *Ting new skilled learned

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Item Consumption</td></tr></tbody></table>

    It was not a fancy spell name but simple and to the point.

    ¡°I got a message from the Grand Magus, with these 4 scrolls you can expand on the book so that other samples that are not plants can be added. You will have to go to room 301, 302, 303 and 304. Ask each of the masters to use the scrolls with this book, and all their knowledge will be transferred to the book. For example, I have no idea what fine grinded dragon horn can do in a potion, but if one of the masters know and you add it to the book the uses will appear. Again there will be many items that you will have to grind, taste and ingest to learn their effects.¡±

    ¡°This is great, I am well on my way to learning alchemy.¡±

    ¡°In a way, Alchemy takes a life time to learn and there is more. Once you finished with getting the masters to activate their scrolls we will move on to your next task.¡±

    Tinker wondered when this was going to end, this quest difficult rating was level C, but this was turning into a long quest by the looks of it.

    ¡°Each of the masters will probably ask you to perform a task before they agree to activate the scrolls. I suggest you start at room 304 and work your way backwards to 301.The guild master should be left for last, He is a very intelligent man that will answer questions you will have.¡±

    Tinker nodded and started adding more items into the book until his mana was empty. As a warrior he had a small mana pool and low mana regeneration. He would do this again later.

    ¡°You gave me the herbal pouch, harvest tool and vials but no shovel. Was I supposed to dig holes with my hand? All the items you gave seemed important in the process of getting plants or parts of plants.¡°

    ¡°Yes a shovel, I have not used one in 30 years. With earth magic I move dirt and make holes where I want. Guess I forgot you will need one.¡± He said it grinning while lifting up his shoulders and arms while making the gesture that he does not know.

    He left and walked to room 304. He knocked and a woman voice told him to enter.

    Inside the room were tables and shelves. It was the same size as Tristan¡¯s and seemed to have a stove in addition.

    ¡®¡¯Welcome, I am Suzan. Member of The alchemy council and master cook.¡±

    ¡°Hello, I am Tinker. I am in the process of doing quests for Tristan.¡± He explained about the book and what he needed from her.

    ¡°Come over here and show me your skill window. Maybe I can find a use for you.¡± He went over and showed her. She started looking at the skills and closed it about as fast as she opened it.

    ¡°You have cooking, that will come in handy. The church is in the process of feeding and helping the needy of the city. I may have volunteered to make food for them, but my time is limited. You will go in my place and help them make food for a week¡±

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Complete a task for council member Suzan.

    Go cook in the place of Suzan for the church of Freya.

    Difficulty level: E

    Quest requirements: Must have the cooking profession.

    Reward is getting Suzan to use the scroll for the Alchemy book</td></tr></tbody></table>

    ¡°Sounds easy enough¡± Quest accepted

    ¡°What must I make and who is supplying the food?¡±

    ¡°It is up to you what to make, and the food is donated from around the city¡±

    He did not plan to stay logged on for the next few days so he thought he would make food now that they can hand out later.

    He arrived at the church and informed them of his situation. They sent him to the kitchen. There he came across the donations. There were a lot of meat and he decided to make a stew. It was easy to make and can be given to many people all at once. Also if they had bread it can be given with it. The church had some of the biggest pots he had ever seen. This was going to take a while and boost his stats. He started and cooked all the time to night fall. After he added everything in the first pot he would cut up the ingredients for the second pot, In the second pot he mixed it up a bit and added a few of his own spices. Later that night he logged off to get food in the real world and stretch his legs. After the he took a shower and made ready for bed

    He logged back in as the sun rose for another day. His huge pots were left to slow cook over night and be given to the hungry the next day. He was fast asleep in the real world and told the others in the kitchen to handle the rest from there on out. He started on the new pot the moment he was logged back in. This was going to be a sweet chicken stew. He had never made one before so he hoped this would work. That is how he spent the next few days, cooking away with the supplies from the donations. He chose to stay away from fish. His cooking skill was coming along well, cooking only for oneself and a few people did not help to level the skill up fast. Mass cooking on the other hand was the fastest way. Since he did not use his own meat he did not hold back.

    During his days cooking he monitored the party chat. Seemed Lina was still questing at the Mage tower. Cuzen was guarding and keeping the peace. Zomger said he finally found a quest for his class and did not want to get into the details over chat. Yuri was outside the city hunting deer and other animals. During these days he managed to add each sample he collected so far.

    He returned to room 304, Suzan was sitting at her desk. ¡°You have done what I asked?¡±

    ¡°Yes, made so many different type stews and it seemed the people enjoyed it. The monks and kitchen staff just told me to keep on making.¡±

    ¡°So it was you, I heard the slums were in an uproar. Usually they get soup and maybe a vegetable stew of some kind. For the last few days they ate like kings.¡±

    Tinker did not follow and he assumed the confusion showed on his face.

    ¡°Once a week, every third month, the church of Freya hands out free food for any who want. Mainly the poor or those less privilege make use of these free meals. And soldiers, they will never say no for a free meal. The rich and noble also do their part by donating food to receive Freya¡¯s blessing. Many believe it is the reason why the Heaven kingdom still stands strong and has not vanished like other kingdoms.¡±

    He was not sure where she was going with this so he just nodded.

    ¡°Apparently the best of meats get reserved for the church high priests, cardinals and bishops. But since they were off praying and handing out the food you made, they all just assumed it was a bountiful week and that their store rooms are safe. A couple of hours ago Bishop Ralph discovered that the cooks were using the best meat for the peasants. I assumed it happened about the time you left or your last cook pot was finishing up. He was mad to say the least and raced over to me. He found out my representative was responsible for this¡±

    Now the story started to make sense, he was in trouble. He did not know the church were bastards that kept the good meat for their store rooms and gave the scraps for the poor. Seemed this was 99% realism.

    ¡°We talked for a while and I managed to get myself out of another function I volunteered myself for. The bad news is that he is out for blood. The good news is, it is only him and not the entire church.¡±

    ¡°Does he want his pound of flesh?¡± Tinker was impressed with his merchant of Venice quote.

    ¡°In a way, in 3 days time he and a few others from the church are invited to Lord Max Maximuss estate for a feast. The church usually provides the best and biggest stag for the feast. But as you know it was already made into a stew. Thus you must buy or go hunt one 14 hours before the food is served¡±

    ¡°That does not sound too hard.¡±

    ¡°You are young and what I can tell will be just fine. If you fail you will not get tossed in jail but the Bishop Ralph will use his title and influence to make your life hell and no one will give you a quest. More good news is that you completed the other task I gave you. Hand me the scroll and book.¡±

    Quest Complete. Reward is that Suzan will pass her knowledge to your Alchemy Book.

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Quest updated: Become Tristan¡¯s student. Stage 3</td></tr></tbody></table>

    It took about 5 minutes for the transfer and the scroll used vanished into the air.

    She handed back the book with a smile. ¡°Two things before you run along. First do not forget about the stag¡±

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Making amends with Bishop Ralph.

    Due to your ignorance you are obligated to buy or hunt down a grand stag.

    Difficulty level: E

    Quest requirements: Must have offended Bishop Ralph by using or losing the church best meat.

    Reward is unknown

    Failure will result in the branding of your name as a vagabond within the capital.

    Quest cannot be cancelled or declined

    Time remaining to complete the quest is 35 hours and 24 minutes.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    ¡°Second is how cooking and alchemy comes together. A piece of mutton can be cooked and used to restore fatigue and depending on your cooking skill have many other effects. To cook items takes time. You can use that same piece of mutton to make a potion that can do the same but with a lesser effect. The type of item you use is more important. The more exotic the creature the better. If you manage to get dragon parts it all depends on the type of dragon that will determine the effect it has. The tricky part of this comes from taking useful parts from not just beast and monsters, but humanoids.¡±

    ¡°Wait, you mean like elves and us humans?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that is one part of it. I mean more in the line of goblins, lizard men and other non friendly humanoids. The type we would not eat and are punished for eating. The point I am trying to make is that you can eat almost any type of meat when faced with starvation. A tale of a lizard man can be helpful if you add it in a potion or cook it. The venom sack on the other hand a person can make a fine acid potion with. To know what parts to take come from experience and experimentation. Some parts are obvious and some not, I have done my share of dissecting many humanoids including those of the goodly races.¡±

    ¡°That means you know what effect a human heart has in potions¡­.¡±

    ¡°Or that Dwarf livers can temporary increase resistance against ingested poisons. The list goes on. I would suggest that you only add parts of humanoids where nobody can see.¡±

    This was sickening, he could turn into a Frankenstein or some such thing.

    ¡°Come now, don¡¯t look like that. Did you think Alchemy was just for nice things? We create potions to save or end lives. It is just more creative then making a sword. But the basics are the same, what you do with the knowledge is up to you, it is my duty to tell you about this ¡®dark side¡¯.¡± With that she returned to her papers and he took that as his sign to leave.

    Outside the door his legs felt weak, he was getting nauseas and he was questioning Alchemy as a profession. Just thinking of eating and chopping up an elf made it worse. With what seemed to be taking all his strength he walked over to room 305 for help. Tinker did not knock and just opened the door. It took a moment for Tristan to realise someone had entered. When he saw the state Tinker was in he jumped up and helped him to the chair. He darted over to a chest and took out a potion. Tinker tried to resist but Tristan poured the contents of the potion down his mouth and closed it with his hand. Tinker swallowed and could feel his strength returning. The sickness he felt started to fade and even the room seemed to brighten a bit.

    ¡°You scared me son, with your pale complexion I thought you might have ingested a poison. I tried talking to you and ask what is wrong but you just did nothing.¡±

    Tinker was still out of it, he could not recall if that even happened. He was starting to feel better, but the news from next door weighed heavy on him. He blurted out all that happened. Tristan sat there and just listened, when Tinker was finished he stood up and rested his hand on his shoulder. ¡°It will all be alright. A person needs shock like this to put you on the right path.¡¯¡¯

    He walked over to the window and stared outside. ¡°I ventured to the Black marsh fresh out of the Mages guild. I convinced my parents it was to go help the troops stationed there and to get plants for my herbalism. I had just started alchemy then and was still new to the world. I knew that we alchemists made poisons. I was not ignorant to that fact, but it was also us that made the antidote as well as other potions that can heal health lost. I was at the marsh for over a week and collected all the samples I would need.

    Some plants I collected more than others and started to make potions, mainly antidotes or potions that will increase the resistance to poisons for the men stationed there. It was just a normal night when a raiding party attacked the garrison. The marsh had been dormant so security was low. In the first assault we lost half our men. As the sun rose that morning we could see our losses and the fact that the enemy outnumbered us 4 to 1. The enemy were regrouping and resting up for the next attack, which gave us time to from plans. As the only living mage they looked to me for the answer or some sort miracle. I was not really a combat mage, I knew basic fire spells, with earth and waters spells. I knew this would not be enough to defeat our enemies so I turned to my alchemy. With my life in the balance I made poison potions from all the plants I had. I was close to using up all of the plants I had when they attacked. I managed to create many potions.

    The warriors coated blades and spikes with them, the few archers did the same. The attack went on and off for an entire day and we just manage to hold. We were only 9 remaining after that day¡¯s battle and in bad shape. The enemy still outnumbered us and were making camp that night. We were too scared to sleep and were on guard duty. That night the enemies did not sing or be marry at the camp fires. Oh no, the screams that came from the camp was horrible. You will not know the sound of terror in another man¡¯s voice until you hear him scream while he dies slowly from poison. The screams went on all through the night and died down by the morning when the last infected people died in what sounded like a person drowning in their own blood. With their moral broken the raiders left.

    After those screams I made a vow not to make poison potion ever again. But alas, a few years later a Lords son who was only a child ate a poisoned plant. The only cure was to make a poison from another plant that acted as a counter agent to the first poison. As the boy¡¯s life hanged in the balance I broke my vow to save him with the very stuff I hate. It is funny how plants are, to make an antidote you sometimes need the poison. To this day I would never make poison potions even if it¡¯s to kill monsters, but if it¡¯s for an antidote I would make if with no hesitation¡±

    Tinker understood what Tristan was saying, It is all about how you use what is around you and also the reason for using them. They sat there in silence for what seemed to be a long time. He thought about many things and what type of player he wanted to become. It was in this moment he thought about his reason for playing this game. At the end of the day this was a game for him, but the realism behind it made it far more intense than he expected. He logged of right then and there, not bothered if Tristan was fine with it or anything.

    Scot stepped out from the capsule and went outside in the garden. It was night time in the real world. He only came to the garden to talk with his mother if he needed something or she called for him. The garden was well lit and no one else was about. The workers were not around so that left him all alone with a fountain squirting in distance. He never really appreciated the amount of work that went into maintaining a garden of this size. He had been to a few other estates and rich people always seemed to have big gardens. Between the statues, fountains or bushes in different shapes there were much stuff to look at.

    None of the gardens rivalled those of Royal Roads. He started to look at all the plants around him, due to his questing in game he suddenly started to wonder what affects these plants in their garden can do. He did not really care for the names or the aesthetic value of the plants, just what he can do or use them for. If you want to use alchemy you can only just mix plants but a person would never be able to maximize the use of the profession. Scot was prepared to fight unicorns and other mythical beast. After the battle he would skin them and take the useful items. The cooking and eating of the meat was a bit freaky to him, but after he ate a wolf and found it was acceptable. The thought of killing an elf or dwarf to get parts to eat or make potions with really did bother him. He did not have a problem to kill them, but in Royal Roads you are there, not just controlling your avatar from your computer.

    Scot was not evil. He had killed his fair share of innocents in other games. Come to think about it he had only killed monsters and beast so far in Royal Roads. He had not killed an Npc, or pk¡¯ed some one. He had only seen elves and dwarfs in passing in the city. When killing a troll the ooze and blood poured from wounds and the howls of pain that followed hit hard. The first time he killed one he wanted to stop. The amount of realism was uncanny, but his will to survive was stronger so he attacked again and resumed the killing. The thought of going into his game settings to lower the gore setting never crossed his mind.

    Scot walked over to a part of the garden where his mother kept an exotic plant from South Africa. He recalled its name being a Protea plant, and that it requires very specific soil composition to grow. His mother told him what it was, but he was not paying attention and just remembered the name. It was in this moment that he realised that he enjoyed mysteries. Royal Roads held many plants like this Protea, the Ninroot was one of them, the uses and effects were unknown and waiting to be discovered. He wanted to be that guy, the one that does things that no one else had done. To gain an edge with a potion may not be as impressive as having a new sword or armour but anything to gain an edge is acceptable. He did not want to cut up an elf or human. On the up side he would only have to cut up one of each to record it in the book, if there are organs he can use, he would harvest them from corpses or think of something else.

    With new motivation he was walking back to the house to get back in the game to start anew. Duncan met him at the door.

    ¡°Are you alright? Think it is the first time I have seen you go to the garden out of you own.¡±

    ¡°I am fine Duncan, I just had a problem which I had to figure out¡±

    ¡°I understand sir, it is just you were outside for nearly 3 hours and you had me worried.¡±

    ¡°Ahh shoot, been wasting time, need to eat and drink and get back to the game.¡±

    ¡°Understood, I am here if you need me Presscot.¡±

    With that Scot zoomed past him to the kitchen, as always there was left over food for him and something to drink. He took soda this time and a plate of chicken pie and went to his room. Before he logged back in and while he was eating he decided to browse. At the dark gamers union website he searched their information on alchemy. All he took away from a number of posts was that alchemy was mainly monopolised by the guilds. Even if you required the skill it was hard to make a profit from it because the guilds potions were better, cheaper and more available. There was a post that claimed the guilds did not have many or that good poison potions, he theorised that the way to make a living was to provide poisons for more dedicated players and assassins. That did not matter, what mattered now was to get back in the game and go on.

    Duncan watched the young master run off to get food and then back to play his game. He had worked for the family since before Presscot was born. He did not really get involved in his growth and just focused on his duties at the Miles Manor. He watched from the side lines as he grew up. He was a good boy and would be a fine young man some day, this change in his behavior was new. He assumed it had to with the game he was playing.

    Duncan decided then and there he would use one of the extra capsules and go into this world to see what waits inside.

 Important images. HERE! + RR world map

    Ok so i found these images that better help tell my story.

    Most will be links and will have a short explanation with them. Will upload and post images that are relevant to the already released chapters. Do not want to give away spoilers from chapter 20 with one image.

    http://puu.sh/6WvWj.png</a>

    This the RR wold map. Big thanks to who ever got it and translated it into English and so forth.

    Not all images will be about players. Some will be bosses or locations.

    The following is a picture of Tinker my MC. If you have read to current chapters this is how he looks give or take. Later a new image will be added as his gear gets better.

    This is the city of Avelon where Tinker started that was high up in the mountains. This image is more the crappy part of the town. Just to give you a idea. For those that looked here and actually follow my fanfic. Soon Tinker will return here to do the quest which Lan asked help with. About 1/4 done with it.

    http://imgur.com/HCADR8S</a>

    This is Lina. The fire mage. It is dam hard to find a picture where the woman are not half naked. I wanted one that looked practical. I wanted one where if you look at it, you can believe that she raids dungeons and runs around in forests with those cloths. Sure it may not be the best. But all the other pics i found are terrible. You try and look for a fully clothed female fire mage on google

    http://imgur.com/WhNHnPm</a>

    The following is Yuri the hunter. With such a big bow and arrow you just know he is overcompensating for something.....

    http://imgur.com/XcP2l2K</a>

    This is Cuzen. The most handsome man you will ever meet and see..... The paladin. He might need to smile and get a bit of sun. But i think this is a good image to show how he looks till he gets better gear and what not

    http://imgur.com/6MhSKXl</a>

    The following is Quantum the assassin. I like to think of hm and others as like secondary support characters. where the 4 that currently hang around with Tinker are primary support characters. So yea he is the stone cold killer that will murder anyone if he can gain something from it. I introduce him at Chapter 12

    http://imgur.com/NUnB5DE</a>

    This is an image of the guild with its ranks and divisions. It may not be the best but its 4 in the morning and i need sleep. A person can see what is important. The ''special knights'' are a spoiler of what is to come. for the 1 person or 2 that actually did the effort to read this and come check out the image. This is for you. One guess where Tinker and the others are going to fit in...

    http://imgur.com/n9or5NW</a>

    This is Major. The merchant. He does look a bit smug and the rose petals may be a bit much, but what the hell. In game he is rich and can afford it. He is Leader and Co founder of the guild

    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    http://imgur.com/ag6VwQG</a>

    This is Gambit. In my mind i imagine him with a bigger sword. but this is a good image to show him hanging around in the Capital and recruiting. Co leader and founder of the guild.

    http://imgur.com/Uj5y1Lr</a>

    So this is the Mystic Forest they went to for the fairy dust and Yuri got is cool companion. These ladies may not be naked but i think it gives you guys a good idea what is going on there.

    http://imgur.com/pcGRwpO</a>

    The Dungeon of Mogul. This is the mansion where they quested and gained like 25 levels over a month or so. The dead body and spooky vibe is what i was going for. They killed a boss here.

    http://imgur.com/PICctg2</a>

    The following is how most of the guys looked before the big cavalry charge before the Battle of Tanaris. excluding Cuzen. The dude at the front is Buster. The strongest player in the BoS guild

    http://i.imgur.com/CC1a1Le.jpg</a>

    This is Antrax. The stereo type dwarf that has mining as a profession. He has mining Pic''s, but i chose this pic, cause i was lazy and i think this represents him well. The other dwarf pics, where a bit to much for me.

    http://imgur.com/cPAJdL1</a>

    This is kinda what i thought the Tower of Terok nor would look like from the outside. Remember that tha is the only part they could see, the rest is somewhere in the Realm of dreams

    http://i.imgur.com/XT7OOez.jpg</a>

    This is the Arcane mage Asmodian. In my story its like a super rare class and type of magic and he is kinda my go to guy for having awesome spells and abilities. He is made up and not based on any of my friends. Prob why I like him so much. Note the background and stuff. Remember this dude is a badass. He is one of the leaders of the guild and travels to other realms, coz the RR world is not enough for him.

    http://i.imgur.com/pxCtXrh.jpg</a>

    So this is the the Swaggernaught. He is a shaman that fights and is from this day forward, Tinkers nemesis. He is based on all the people that have ever made you mad or messed up online gaming for all of us.....

    http://i.imgur.com/Fjodlps.jpg</a>

    This is how the outpost looked when they find it. For the few them actually come and look at this. This is going to be their stronghold called Fallout. Its Kinda a very important place for the future.

    http://i.imgur.com/0GTFq8w.png</a>

 Chapter 11 : A new beginning

    When Tinker logged back in he was inside Tristan¡¯s office. It seemed the sun was in the process of rising and nobody was inside the office other than him. He opened his quest menu to view how much time was remaining 23.22 hours remaining. Outside the

    Alchemy guild he asked the first guard where he might buy a stag or deer. He said most butcheries will have and that there is one no to far from here. Tinker raced over to the building, not sure they will be open he saw light burning and movement inside the windows. The door was locked so he just knocked and yelled for service.

    A small fat man opened the door. ¡°Easy now, we are not open for business yet, we are currently slaughtering and repacking the meat.¡±

    ¡°All right I do not really care, I need to buy a grand stag or deer or something very similar to that. You people got any?¡±

    ¡°Yes we do, but that will be 80 gold at least. And you will have to lower your standard from grand to normal. The rich bought all the prize winners a few days ago.¡±

    This was bad news, Tinker did not even have that kind of money yet and they did not have what he needed. ¡°Do you know where I can get what I need for cheaper?¡±

    ¡°Well most of the rich donated the good stuff but a lot bought for themselves. Not sure you will find one cheaper, maybe you should go hunt one or ask a hunter to get one.¡±

    ¡°Sure it seems I am screwed¡± with that said he walked away. He was not sure where to find a hunter or where to go hunt on his own. Wait a moment, he knew Yuri maybe he could help him or give advice. He opened the party window. Seemed everyone was online. It was only 10 at night in the real world, not time for bed yet.

    ¡°Hey Yuri are you there and are you busy¡± a few seconds passed.

    ¡°Yo, I am here. Just finished up some business. What can I do for you?¡±

    ¡°Ok, I got myself in a pickle, I offended a bishop from the church and now I have less than 24 hours to get a grand stag or deer for him¡±

    ¡°Well I don¡¯t have any quests at the moment and I guess I can help you, only if you tell me in detail how you managed to anger the church.¡±

    ¡°Sure, so how do we do this and where do we go hunt one?¡±

    ¡°Wait, you did what to the church¡± Cuzen interjected.

    ¡°Well it happened a few hours ago.¡±

    ¡°Tell the story as you are walking to the south gate, I¡¯ll be there when I can¡±

    So he informed them of how it happened. He used food that was supposed to be for the church and not the poor people and now this bishop needs to save face by letting Tinker get a grand stag for the feast. Yuri seemed to enjoy the story and Cuzen had not much to say about it either.

    ¡°Well it makes a bit of sense now, I spoke to another player that was more involved in the hierarchy of the church and he explained that due to this week¡¯s donations from the church the moral and productivity of the people increased by about 10%.¡±

    Tinker was proud that he had a part to play in that, but it is just like fate to reward him with nothing and give him hard quests to do.

    At the south gate Yuri was already waiting. They said hello and were off. Yuri explained that they were heading to Tekkor forest about 3 hours walk away, which should give them enough time to hunt the animal they need and return.

    During the 3 hour walk Tinker got to know Yuri a whole lot better.

    He came to the school at age 12, his father is a Russian business man that owns a bit of everything. He was mainly in the steel business and was one of the biggest providers of steel in Europe and Asia. They owned a few other things as well but the one thing that caught his attention was that they owned a lake, and not just a small lake, one of the biggest in Russia. His mother on the other hand was an English woman that came from a wealthy family. She managed to convince Yuri¡¯s father to move away from the snow plains of death to a warmer place. That is the story of how he left Russia and ended up in England. His younger brother and sister also seem to attend the same school as he does.

    The story of how he ended up friends with the others was nothing special. He arrived at the start of the year and in one of the classes they a received a group assignment. Since they were already 3 they only needed a 4th and he was added. Over the weeks they became friends. Now they are great friends. Currently Yuri is also a below average student and runs track for the school. That explained how he seemed to be the best in shape of all of them in the real world.

    They kept on talking about many things and then talking about his avatar and skills came up. He wanted to be an elf to be a stronger hunter, but then we would not be able to start in the same location with his friends. So he ended up a human. He also claimed he likes to fight from a distance and prefers a bow, apparently standing in the back and chanting a few words is cheating, but shooting arrows is more manly and satisfying. He had a few different skills, multi shot, power shot, rapid fire and his personal favorite was head shot. Tinker played long enough to figure out that their names explained what they did. Yuri favored agility and dexterity stat and added spare stats in luck. He explained it as following.

    ¡°Say there are 3 hunters. A B and C. Hunter A skill is average and he shoots the target 3/5 times. Hunter B is better skilled and shoots the target 4/5 times. Player C skill is also average but he has more luck and also shoots the target 4/5 times. In time player C will also improve in his skill and be the best archer of the 3.¡±

    It sounded good, but when you think about it, it was flawed, there are so many other factors a person should take in account but Yuri seemed convinced and Tinker left it at that. His nickname came from his original name that was Yurie.

    Tinker had to guess if they both stripped down to plain clothes and run as far as they can, Yuri would win. Hunters/rangers and archers needed a lot of stamina to fire arrow¡¯s over and over. In other games Hunters were considered trolls of the battle field. As you run down on them they would retreat and shoot you with arrows. When you disengage they will run after you and shoot you with arrows. When you hide behind objects and other stuff they will circle around and shoot you with arrows. Always arrows, that¡¯s a given when facing them.

    They arrived at the forest without taking brakes. The roads were busy and they had been of the main road for about 2 hours now. The forest was huge. He could not see the end in any direction except for the side they just came from. He asked Yuri what he should do and Yuri just told him to do whatever. He would not really be much help in the hunt and should just hang around here. When Yuri gets the stag he will whisper him and they will meet at this spot and leave again. In the grand scheme of things Tinker did not even need to come with but he thought Yuri wanted the company. He glanced over at Yuri 1 last time to see him disappear into the jungle.

    Tinker decided to head into the forest kill what he can and harvest what he can. During this time he found a couple of flowers and added them all to the book, they were identified and only 1 could be used in a potion. He shifted his attention to fruits and trees instead. There were many types of berries. Those that looked purple with a faint green spot on were deadly. He focused of harvesting those more than others. He kept at it. More Berries here, plants there. Seemed most were unidentified or had no use in alchemy. He came across a small patch that was cleared and seemed to be in linked to a cave that was mostly hidden. On closer inspection the plant life around the cave seemed to be less dense. Also no birds seemed to be hanging around either. If this was a movie the dramatic music will play and our hero would go in and get trapped. He took his swords and moved to the cave.

    He went inside and nothing. He could see a cauldron in a burnt out pile of ash, a bunch of rags that seemed to be a bed was in the corner and a whole lot of bones across from that. He went closer and most of the bones looked like animal remains. So he hoped, he was not an expert in these matters. There seemed to be no further entrances or holes of some kind. It was hard to tell since he had no flash light, torch or magic that could help. He carried a basic flint to start a fire but not a torch, he would have to look into that. Lina that provided light for them every time made him lazy.

    He would go outside and look for wood to make a fire inside, so that he can get a better look of what is in there. It took about 5 minutes to gather wood. It seemed there was no dry wood nearby, seemed that whatever lived inside used all the wood that was nearby. On his return he made a fire in the fire place. He tried to move the cauldron but to his shock it had fluid in. Thus he made the fire and just heated whatever was in there. The flames gave light and he saw a hidden chest. With the thought of treasure on his mind he took the small chest and tried to open it, it needed a key or thief with lock pick skill. Saddened he left the small chest next to the fire. He was about to leave when the contents from inside the cauldron started to boil. It was way too fast to be normal so he looked to see what it was. It was dark green, and it gave of a smell of death, it seemed like a witch¡¯s pot, all the signs were there.

    He felt like an idiot that he did not pick up on all the clues. He could not help but feel he was in trouble. After he had both swords in his hands he felt safer, until he heard chanting. The hag appeared from out of nowhere. He leapt at her in hopes to interrupt her spell casting but he was too late. Both swords dropped from his hands, he could not pick them up or equip his spares. It was a disarm spell. He had 2 options run or fight. Even though he had no weapons he could still kick and punch. In his mind the hag or witch or whatever that ugly thing was must have low defences and no armour. He shouted and punched for the head, which he missed. He could feel his strength weakening thus he stat morphed strength. He tried to punch again and this time he tried a combo attack. The second punch landed.

    Seemed the witch was off balance after that punch so it was wide open. He kept punching the face and body till his fists were covered in blood. He took a moment to look if it was his or the witch. The blood was dark red and looked old thus he knew it was not his. Tinker used his flexibility to kick the witch right in the head with the back of his leather heel. Scot once watched a documentary about a guy that could kick in your scull with only his heel. He did well as he tried to replicate that attack. After his kick he looked at the corpse.

    The witch was ugly. She was about 5 foot and had pointy ears and looked like she was a hundred. The loot she dropped was a ring and a key. The ring restored 1% mana, this would be the first of 10 rings he could equip. He used the key to open the chest. Inside he found nearly 30 gold pieces and what seemed to be a blue gem and a wooden statue. The blue gem was not that big but it can be used or soled for something. While the doll on the other hand seemed odd. It looked almost like a small Aztec man with his tongue sticking out and a decapitated head in its hand. Now came the part he did not really want to do. Cutting up a body and adding it to the book.

    Tinker cut off the head. He would try his luck, maybe he can use the entire head just like that and the book would do the rest. It was big enough for head to fit on an empty page. He cast his spell and closed the book. He reopened it and went to w. He had a few samples of plants that started with w. He kept on browsing till he got to witch. Thank goodness the entire usable items were mentioned. Even the blood was usable to weaken mana regeneration and resistance to magic. The eyes of a witch could be used to increase your fortune for an hour but decreases luck for a day. That maybe had a use. The rest of the head had no value and the book just showed unknown next to the ears. He assumed he would have to figure out what it does some other time. Next he chopped off an arm and added it to the book.

    He tried to collect blood in the vials he had but it was messy. Maybe if he had a syringe or something similar he would not be that waste full. Only the nails showed it can be of use as poison. After that came a leg and nothing new was added. Only thing remaining was the torso. Since she was small he could cast the skill on the entire torso. Seemed like only the heart of a witch has a use. It decreased health and increased the mana pool. That left only an arm and a leg. He took only the nails and left the rest. Tinker stopped gathering the blood. There was more on the cave floor than in his vials but he should have enough for a few potions. He would need better equipment for eyes, blood and Freya knows what ells. Before he left he decided to take a sample of the contents of the pot. During all of this the fire nearly burnt out but the green stuff still boiled. Before he put the item in the book he identified the fluid as witch brew. After adding it to the book he looked for its uses and effects. He was not amused as he read the following.

    Each witch makes a different brew and depending on its contents the uses will differ. Thus he would have to test this specific batch and see how it goes. Since he had not actually made a potion he could not tell if this was a good or bad brew. He took samples with all of his remaining vials. He emptied out about half of the cauldron. It was time to go back to the forest and go on with his routine. It was well past midday and time for lunch. He was not hungry after cutting up his first corpse but the system told him he needed to eat. He ate bread, just plain old bread, he carried bread to eat with the stew but it has been ages since he just ate plain bread.

    ¡°Tinker are you there?¡±

    ¡°Yes, how are things going on your end.¡±

    ¡°Good news or bad news first.¡±

    ¡°Bad news always¡± Zomger said

    ¡°You are bored so you stalking us?¡±

    ¡°No, Lina and I are having lunch and what is a chat without me?¡±

    ¡°True, alright the bad news. I have not found your prize stag, good news is I have killed 11 already, most of them were female or young male. Seems the big daddy is still hiding.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s ok, we still have a couple of hours left. Would you mind taking all the meat, leather and antlers from them?¡±

    ¡°Do not worry, looted it all. Not the antlers though. Guess I can pick them up on my way back.¡±

    ¡°Thank you man, just how far have you gone into the forest?¡±

    ¡°A mile or 2, found a sort of meadow and got most of them here. Not many predators in these woods, or none that I have seen.

    Now in the midday heat they should come here for the water.¡±

    ¡°Had an encounter with a predator. Was not a bear or wolf but a witch. She used disarm on me so I used my fists and feet to beat her up. Also picked up a weird statue which I can¡¯t seem to identify.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll have a look at it when you boys get back¡±

    ¡°Ok back to hunting, chat later.¡±

    ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll be here.¡±

    Just like that Tinker was left with nothing to do. He made up his mind to go back to where he would meet up with Yuri and work on his repair. As he walked it felt like he was weaker and that his swords seemed heavy hanging from his sides. He opened the menu and looked at effects currently affecting him. He saw he had 2 curses on him. The one was about 20 minutes from expiring while the other seemed more permanent. The one about to expire lowered his strength and stamina by 40 %. Who knew that curses can be so potent for so long. Tinker figured it was his reward for letting a witch finish casting a spell on him. The other curse decreased all his stats by 10%. He did not feel that effect but he imagined during his first battle he would notice it. He sat against a tree with one weapon in arms reach. He looked at the clock. 14 hours remaining, seemed it all relied on Yuri if they were going to make it.

    He was shaken awake, he grabbed for his weapon but Yuri talked him down. ¡°Chill man, you fell asleep. Did not think you will go ape shit when I woke you up.¡±

    Tinker was confused, he had never fallen asleep in game. To make matters worse it was night time. He had no idea what time it was.

    ¡°The quest, can we still do it?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, I got the prize winning stag you wanted, not sure if we still have time to get it back.¡±

    Tinker looked. They had 4 hours left, if the leave now and don¡¯t run into trouble he can make it. He grabbed his items and started to walk. Yuri just kept up the pace. On the way back they did not run into trouble and just before the capital he could feel he needed those 10% in stats back. Yuri gave him half of the meat, half the leather and all the antlers along with his prized piece. He managed to kill another 7 before he got the big daddy as he called it.

    Along the way back they did not talk much, they traded cooking recipes. Yuri also liked to make jerky of the meat they got. With the right amount of salt and few other herbs, he can just leave them in his inventory, no need to hang them up or wait, the game will do the rest. Both their supplies were low and they would buy again when they both arrive back at the city. Seemed like Yuri did not want gold for helping out Tinker, now that they were in a party they would do things for each other, share in the spoils and secrets. The concept was not new for Tinker but he would only help out close friends or guild members. When new players in other games asked for help he would be of the last to help them, he only liked doing something if he gained a lot from it. He would have to get use to this new dynamic.

    As they arrived at the city it was early morning. It was still dark and Tinker had about 39 minutes to give in the Grand stag. He decided to go to the temple where he made the food. Yuri tagged along, he claimed he wanted to be there when things go bad or they claim that the stag he shot was not grand. The chefs were already cooking the temple meals when he arrived. A messenger left to go get the bishop.

    The time was slowly running out but he kept his cool. The bishop arrived. He was tall and skinny and looked like a likeable person. That was until he spoke. ¡°So you are the trouble maker that used our best supplies, well do you have it?¡±

    ¡°Sure¡±, he removed the Grand Stag and put it on the table. It was a magnificent beast, It had 1 hole in its head where the arrow hit it.

    ¡°Yes this will do nicely. Think it¡¯s the biggest one I have seen to date. We are done, considered yourself cleansed after wronging the church.¡± Tinker thought he wronged the bishop but that seemed to be a minor detail now.

    *Quest completed. No reward given. It was not all bad, he at least got some experience and was close to the next level.

    ¡°Excuse me, I am cursed, can you remove it for me?¡±

    ¡°One moment.¡¯¡¯ He stood and chanted a few words. ¡°You are cursed, an interesting curse by a witch to whomever killed her. I can help you but I have not the time, go to the main entrance and make a large donation, the other priests will heal you.¡±

    Tinker took it back, this was not a nice guy, and in fact he was a total tool. They left right after the bishop did.

    Yuri was the first to speak,¡± Dam right that is the biggest stag he had seen, took me a better part of a day.¡±

    ¡°Thank you again, going to get this curse removed and log out.¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll see you tomorrow, the others are also logged off and we all need our sleep in the real world.¡±

    Yuri evaporated into nothing and Tinker was alone. He went to the main entrance and was asked for a donation. He informed them of his situation and they asked for 15 gold. He did not want to give away too much so he asked can he give 5 gold and a deer as a donation. They accepted and set to work. 5 minutes later he could feel his strength returning and opened his menu to look at his status window. The curse was gone and he was a free man once more. Time to log off and sleep.

    He awoke at 7 in the morning. He noticed that the others would log in just before 9 and play most of the day till late in the night. Sometimes they would log off in the afternoon to go to town or do whatever is they do in their private time. Scot on the other hand had nowhere to go or any social obligations. He decided it has been so long since he sat at a table and had a proper meal. He slipped into the kitchen and found oats he could make. Normally the servants or Cliffton makes the food, but he found the confidence to make things after playing Royal Roads. His confidence increased from zero to a lot. Cooking in the game and real world was pretty much the same, if you can get over the fact you can take an entire cow from your inventory. Or that you can keep meat and it won¡¯t go bad. He followed the instructions on the box and was done in no time. He coated the entire bowl of his with honey. Breakfast for champions. He got juice and went to his room.

    He logged into the Dark gamers union to do some research. What he read was that the other high level players were nearly double their level. Some guilds were starting to get forts and places for themselves. It would seem Unicorn did not just want people to quest in the world, but also be part of it. Get land, maybe later control a city or something similar. He was not sure, the reports only told that the strongest guilds were starting to gain positions of leadership. He tried to read more on alchemy but no dark gamer seemed to be interested in alchemy. A new post said that there was some in game money to be had from those players that farmed healing plants.

    Since respawning times differed nobody knew where to go farm the same plants twice. It appeared that monsters in an area or dungeon would respawn after a while in the same place or location. Plants on the other hand would respawn in the general vicinity and not the precise place like monsters. Also the respawn time differed. The wolves and rabbits people hunted in the start would be back within the hour. While some dungeons would be empty for days before monsters reappeared. Scot just assumed they had people or algorithms that decided who or what needed spawning. This was before they found out a State of the art AI monitored and respawned monsters depending on the rate they were being hunted and the amount of people that wanted to kill them. Later Scot would also conclude that when he was killing monsters outside the city during the starting days of Royal Roads, they had to venture far out and look hard for wolves to kill.

    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    Over a few months they changed this that starting players could just run out of a city and not look far to kill creatures that never seemed to get less. Thus starting to play a game like this at the start had its ups and downs. Balance issues and ones that were just mentioned focus more on making it easier for starting players to level. The hardcore gamers were rewarded in their own way, and it was due to these players that the first castle and towns came under player control. In the start it seemed like it would be great, that since the town was run by a player he would help and provide all the services other players needed. In a way things got better, but over night it all came about the money. Sam the merchant was right, just like the real world it would come down to money. With money you can buy whatever you needed, including power.

    That however was not his concern for today, he had to get back to doing all the quests to become Tristan¡¯s student. This C level quest had better be worth it.

    Back in the Capital he reappeared on the steps to the church. He wondered what would happen if you log out on a mountain side while standing on a rock. While you are logged out a massive storm moves the rock away. Do you appear in mid air, or on the ground safely. If you are to appear on the ground, is at the same height as where you started or at the bottom where the rock would have been moved. It was probably not important either way, but these are but a few things on his mind when he plays. He checked to see if any others in the party were online. Seemed Zomger and Cuzen were. He asked what is on the agenda. Most of them had finished their quests.

    Cuzen announced that they got a level 50 group quest. When all are online they are going to get supplies and head to the Dungeon.  Tinker wanted to go on with his quest and hear what next task waits in 303 for him. On the other hand he is part of a party now and doing a level 50 quest would help his levels. All of them had climbed a level or 2 during their weeks in the capitol except for him. He thought to himself he might as well go hear what the task is and accept it when they get back. Apparently the Searing Gorge was a few hours walk from the capital and was a huge dungeon. It had 3 scouted levels, if there was a 4th it was hidden or not talked about yet. Level 1 had monsters between 10 and 40. Level 2 monsters went up from 40 to 65 and level 3 was 65 to 100. That is what they said or could dig up, how accurate the information was they would figure out as they get there. The dungeon had many different types of monsters but the 1 monster type that was on each level and synonymous with the dungeon were spiders.

    Tinker arrived at room 303, knocked and there was no answer. He tried again and still nothing. It was morning and there should be a person here. After the 3rd time knocking he tried to open the door but it was locked. He did not know what to do now, thus he went over to Tristan in 305. Tristan was busy as per usual with paper work but stopped what he was doing to talk to Tinker. His familiarity with Tristan had increased each time after he done quests for him.

    ¡°Good morning, I have a problem and I need your help.¡±

    ¡°Morning, what is it today. Find a plant which you don¡¯t know what to do with?¡±

    ¡°Well yes, I went to Tekkor forest and got a few new plant samples which are unidentified. And my vials are all used up, and why is the door to room 303 locked?¡±

    ¡°Sounds like you have many problems. First you need to ingest the plants that you have not identified to see if they have any effect. Second I have many more vials, what did you collect that used all your vials? Lastly you should go look in the basement to find the owner of room 303.¡±

    ¡°Alright I will do that, I collected witch brew. Found her pot in a cave and accidently boiled the brew. I took about half of it until I ran out of vials. Why is he in the basement?¡±

    ¡°Give me 5 of those vials, it has been a while since I worked with something unique as witch brew. I could tell you, but better you go see for yourself I don¡¯t want to spoil your surprise.¡±

    Tinker handed over the 5 vials without question. Tristan had really been helpful and in return Tristan handed him empty vials from his own pouch. They said their goodbye and he was off to the basement. He did not know the Alchemy guild had a basement but he just accepted it and moved on. He knocked and no answer, knocked again and still no answer came. Thus he just opened the door and entered.

    Inside was what he expected, crates and shelves with supplies, few chairs and tables. But this was just close to the door. Further in he could see tables and glass containers that contained living animals. Snakes, spiders and insects, there were more than a few animals. The basement was dark so he could now see all the way in, what he could see was light further in. He advanced into the basement and started to make his way to the light source. More animals in glass containers and steel cages were seen. They all seemed calm and some even looked at him and went back to doing nothing. As he approached the light he saw a man with an open glass case next to him on the table. He spoke up.

    ¡°Hi there, are you the person from room 303?¡±

    The person did not reply, he looked around at Tinker and then went back to work. Tinker saw what looked like a big centipede lying on the table as he came closer. It seemed like the centipede was cut open and lying on its back. Tinker was not sure what to do so he just stood and watched. The person removed what seem to be a sack of some sorts.

    ¡°Are you real?¡± the man asked. This was turning into a weird situation very fast.

    ¡°Yes I am real.¡±

    ¡°Well an illusion would claim the same, prove it.¡±

    ¡°How must I do that?¡±

    ¡°Not my problem.¡± The man said while reattaching the scales of the centipede using magic of some kind.

    ¡®¡¯Fine ill cut myself to prove it¡¯¡¯. He removed one of his swords and cut himself. To his surprise he did not bleed and instead lost health. The other person was not impressed.

    ¡°I am an outlander, look I have a skill menu and a few other things.¡±

    The man slowly came over to him and poked him on the shoulder. Then his hands lit up and Tinker felt a great calm come over him.

    ¡°Alright, since I can cast calm on you, you seem to be real. So what brings you down to my work shop?¡±

    Tinker thought that this person was a total loon and it will be best not to upset him. He told him about the book and what he needed the master to do. The master went back to his table and put the sack into what seemed to be a jar with fluids.

    ¡°Do you know what I do here at the guild?¡±

    ¡°No idea, you make potions with pieces from the stuff around us.¡±

    ¡°Close enough, I focus more on the entomology aspect of alchemy with added interests from arachnoids, reptiles and the odd amphibian.¡±

    That sounded like bugs, spiders, lizards and frogs. There might be other things but he did not know his biology that well.

    ¡°Alright what task do you have for me to do?¡¯¡¯

    ¡°You probably do not know of any rare bugs or something similar you can go and get samples of for me?¡±

    ¡°Not really, don¡¯t you need more samples of things you have already?¡±

    ¡°Well most of my samples are low, since my apprentice died I do not really get new samples. How about this, you go and get me samples I need?¡±

    ¡°I can do that, what samples did you have in mind?¡±

    ¡°I do not mind, as long as you collect many. For example any dungeon, cave or swap will do.¡±

    ¡°Me and my friends are heading down to the Searing Gorge, heard there are a lot of spiders living in the dungeon.¡±

    ¡°Yes as I recall 5 distinct spider species live there. That place has an interesting ecosystem.  Other then spiders there are goblins that eat spiders and get eaten in return. There are also rats that eat the spider eggs or get eaten by the goblins or spiders. I have no idea what happens on the 3rd floor but what I heard it has more spiders. I think the Boss monster on each level spawns at least 2 different sub spiders to perform different tasks in the colony¡±

    Tinker never really thought about it that way. He just thought there are monsters that needed killing and not the whole circle of life thing. Maybe he can go to the dungeon and do that quest and then come back with the items for the quest he will receive.

    ¡°Did you know that the venom of spiders can be sorted into 2 different types. First is the one that adventures like you prefer, the poison to paralyze your victim by attacking the nervous system, handy to have in combat situation or the odd sneak attack.  The other is the worse of the 2.

    It attacks the cells and kills you by eating you up from the inside. Unless you are skilled in healing or have the antidote you die slowly. Depending on the amount you get in the system, it takes anything from a few hours to days. So when you are far from a town or healer you are done for. Guess you haven¡¯t seen necrotic flesh peal of your body?¡±

    This dude was a sadist and a loon, all rolled into one.

    ¡°About 300 venom sacks will do¡± That did not sound too bad, until he added of each.

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Collect Spider Venom Sacks

    Collect 300 venom sacks of each of the 2 types available.

    Difficulty level: E

    Quest requirements: Must be sent by Gettafix the master of room 303

    Reward: He would use the scroll for your Alchemy book

    Failure will result in the getting of a new quest in a different location.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    ¡°I accept, is there other additional information I should know about?¡±

    ¡°Good good, I think another of my apprentices died there a few years back, be careful.¡±

    That was freaky to say the least. The faster he is done with this guy the better. He decided to go to Tristan to hear what was Gettafix¡¯s problem.

    Tristan was watering his Ninroot with his mist spell. He waited for Tristan to finish while staring at his work table. Nothing other than a tea pot was boiling. All the other equipment  was just lying there. Thinking back Tinker has not once seen any of the Alchemists he helped make one potion. He assumed there is something he does not know or maybe Tristan will reveal the hidden dark arts when he becomes his student.

    ¡°What did you think of Gettafix?¡± Tristan said with a mischievous smile.

    ¡°I think he is weird and crazy. The first thing he asked me if I was real and the whole basement is creepy in a way. Why does he work down there anyway.¡±

    ¡°He is peculiar to say the least. It¡¯s because of all the animals he keeps. He stays down there because the darkness helps them to stay more relaxed. Combine that with his Calm spell the animals seem to not mind. He does some interesting work down there. At this week¡¯s meeting he told us he was doing tests with a centipede that releases Illusion vapor when it dies. He said it has something to do with it keeping away predators while the other of its kind eats on the dead centipede.¡±

    It was not really dinner talk but the man liked his bugs. Tinker informed Tristan of his mission to the dungeon with all the spiders in them and also asked what to do about antidotes.

    ¡°Well best is to take a few antidotes and maybe a have a potion or 2 that increases resistance when you know you are about to be surrounded. Other than that most healers can deal with most poisons.¡±

    ¡°Alright, I am not too worried. It is just that our group has no full time healer. We have a shaman that rotates between casting curses and healing. Do not think he has cleanse or spells like that.¡±

    ¡°Not to worry, I have 10 antidotes for you here and 1 potion to increase your resistance by 10% if you find a boss or a mean group of spiders.¡±

    ¡°What tools or equipment would you recommend for getting fluids and the like?¡±

    ¡°Hmm, can you be more specific?¡±

    ¡°I had trouble to harvest witch blood after I killed the witch.¡±

    ¡°I see, there are 3 ways you can go about doing this. First is the method I use. I use my water magic and channel the fluids I need into vials. Next is to use a syringe. To get the most out of a specimen is to hang them up when they are still alive and cut major arteries. The blood would pump out on its own, you will just have to contain them. When they are dead it still works but not that effective.¡±

    Tinker had no cravings to hang up corpses and bleed them dry. That what he can get with a syringe would be fine for now.

    Tristan in the mean time head over to one of his chests. He came back with a syringe and tubes. He also gave a small kit that had needles and other parts that allowed a person to extend tubes or make 3 come together. With this tool kit he would be able to pierce a vein and bleed someone dry.

    He said his thanks and left the room. He opened the party chat to see if he had missed anything. Only if somebody talks he could hear them in the party chat unless he muted it. He had not needed to do it, the others seemed to only talk party matters in the chat, or his latest theory was that maybe they did not talk a lot in the party chat so that when they walked hours on quests they could catch up. He looked at the text and saw Cuzen changed the daily message of the day to ¡°Get all your supplies for 2 weeks max, we doing lvl 50 quest as soon as possible today.¡±

    He had to stop by a store that sold cooking supplies, he had more than a few spices left. He needed salt and a few others for future use and to make jerky with half of the venison he had. The price of meat was high compared to other items like vegetables. He stocked up on those as well, carrots, onions and all the other items he would need for a stew. The sale was in bulk so he had to pay a lot and would probably not have to buy any for the next 3 months at least. He spent just over half of the money he had, but it was a good investment. He did not need any leather supplies and was still well stocked on cloth for bandages.

    He sent a message to ask when and where they are to assemble. The reply was short and to the point. ¡°Now, at the warriors guild and we leaving as soon as Lina gets online.¡±

    He trotted over to the warrior¡¯s guild. The place was very busy, it was about as busy as the market places in the peak hours. What made this more impressive was the amount of people in shining armour, new players and hardened players alike. All around people walked and marched with purpose. It took him a while to scout out his party across the guild sitting in an inn by the window. Seemed they enjoyed that. They chose to sit in doors at a window and never outside or at any other place. He would have to ask why they did that. What was interesting is that they were not alone. The big warrior that approached him at the training hall was sitting there. Mug in one hand and seemed to be telling a story. Tinker stepped up and greeted the man. He forgot his name but he introduced himself again.

    ¡°How goes it? Gambit at your service.¡±

    ¡°Just fine, and the name is Tinker.¡±

    ¡°Yes I remember you, the basic training coming along?¡±

    ¡°Slowly but yes.¡±

    Cuzen spoke up. ¡°Gambit and I here had a talk after he snuck up on me at the training hall when you were not there Tinker. We talked about a few things but mainly about us joining their guild. I will tell you all the details on the road. We have a 2 hour walk ahead of us.¡±

    At that moment Lina came online and made her presence known. ¡°Guys how late am I and where are you.¡±

    ¡°Not that late, come to the warriors guild and get the quest here. You and Tinker both still need to get it.¡± Some quests could be shared and others had to be received in person.

    ¡°Sorry about that Gambit, just our last member.¡¯¡¯

    ¡°No problem, you guys are an interesting party to say the least. With no priest, shaman or druid that is a dedicated healer I wonder how you guys will do in the future.¡±

    ¡°Guess we will cross that bridge when we get there. Maybe our plan is to kill enemies with our insane high damage before they can do damage to us.¡±

    ¡°Hahaha indeed. It is still hard to really figure out what is the best in this game. Those that are doing well are keeping to themselves and unlike other games you can¡¯t see levels of other players unless they unblock it.¡±

    ¡°So how do you guys raid then?¡±

    ¡°Well I was telling them the story of when we cleared level 2 of the Searing Gorge about 2 months ago. First time we were 13.

    Took about 4 days, my runs after that were different as I helped other guys of the guild. All in all I would say it should take about a week. Longer than that means you are doing it wrong. Sure I understand people need to sleep in the real world but I mean if it takes longer than a week of hunting. Not a week of playing. Understand?¡±

    He nodded. If that means Gambit did the level 50 quest 2 months ago he had to be a high level. The urge to ask for his level was very tempting, but asking peoples level that you just met was considered rude.

    ¡°Yes my story, so we found the boss chamber. It seemed normal. The Queen was at the back of the large room. There were small spiders on either side of her. The webs were mostly on the edge with the minor webs leading to the Queen. Our plan was simple. We would charge down the middle. We assumed that once we attacked the minor webs they would know we are there and attack in return. I was to lead a few warriors and attack the left, the other melee classes would attack the spiders on the right. Our paladin with the shield would tank the boss. The mages and hunters would attack the sides that needed them most. The 2 priests were just standing around and doing what they do.¡±

    He was not a natural story teller but he tried to include all in his story. Even the healers who would never become famous since everybody only cared about the person that does the most damage.

    ¡°So our attack started. The second we cut the first web they saw us and made ready to counter attack. The queen then climbed up to the sealing. She stayed there and after we killed about half of the spiders she started releasing poison clouds. As long as you moved out of them fast you receive minimal damage. Our tank was bored, he had to wait for the queen to come down and thus he did not want to engage the spider lings. When the last spider ling fell to my blade the queen made a high pitch sound.

    She came down and started to fight. She was at least 9 feet tall and her legs were hairy and covered in webs. We had a good rotation going and took her health down about half way, until spider reinforcements arrived. They were not many but we had to dedicate people to kill them. Things were going well until the queen jumped high in the air and sprayed poison gas in the entire chamber. As she came down for the final attack it took one attack to kill her. It seems that cloud was her final parting gift to us. We looted fast and the healers were complaining that the poison did not do a lot of damage but the spells to remove it did not work. With all the loot gathered we tried to double back in the same route we came and go to the town as fast as we could. We did not have antidotes on us since we had healers to remove poison effects. That is how all of us died except 1 healer and our 1 assassin. The healer kept himself alive till he got to the town and the other person carried an antidote. After that it became just another item we recommend for all guild members to carry with them at all times.¡±

    Nice story and good advice Tinker thought. ¡°Do you guys have antidotes for our trip?¡±

    ¡°Yep, Zomger has Cleanse spell and Yuri that found this quest for us also heard about the antidotes. You will just have to get a few before we leave or at the town close to the dungeon.

    ¡°No need, I have my own I got a while back, a person told me I might need it. That reminds me, check out his sculpture.¡± He removed the little man and put it on the table. The others looked and did not seem that impressed with it.

    ¡°What does it do?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, I tried using identify on it, but it keeps failing. In normal situations I will not be bothered with it, but it did drop from a witch.¡±

    ¡°Yes it does make it worth looking at. When Lina gets here she can identify it and you guys can go get the quest inside.¡±

    ¡°Sure, I just can¡¯t accept the quest. My log is full.¡±

    ¡°With what, what is more important than this?¡±

    ¡°Well I have a quest to go help a person back in my starting town when the time is right. Guess that means when enough time has passed or I get a high level he will need me. My second quest is a C rank to become a student of an alchemy master.¡± That got their attention. Even Gambit was surprised with the news. ¡°My last quest is to collect venom sacks in Searing Gorge Dungeon.¡±

    ¡°Seemed like you guys have it all planed out. I will most likely see you guys when you get back, unless you screw up than all I can say is see you on the flip side.¡±

    He walked out and wore a black cape which Tinker now only noticed for the first time had a big sword in silver and a small scale in gold on it. Lina arrived soon after that. They gave her the sculpture to identify.

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Oguumi statue of ritual sacrifice

    Durability: 9/10

    A sculpture made to represent the extinct tribe ritual sacrifices

    Active effect is to increase Curses, Hexes, Voodoo and Ritual spells by 5% in strength for all party and raid members.

    Requirement: Must be of a class that uses Curses, Hexes, Voodoo and Ritual spells

    Only 1 statue effect can be active at a time. Unless other statues of the same series are discovered.

    The Oguumi were a primal and primitive tribe that believed in human sacrifice. It is said that after many sacrifices there Dark Lord answered them and demanded them to increase their sacrifices. So they did and received many blessings from their Dark Lord that allowed them to stack a multiple amount spells and abilities that are not normally possible.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    ¡°Well this is pretty impressive, I wonder if there are more in world.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t use it, you want it Zomger?¡±

    ¡°Of course, 5% increase in Curses will help a lot.¡±

    ¡°I read somewhere that Mages or Wizards will unlock the hex spell, how true that was I do not know.¡±

    ¡°Any who, go in the warriors guild and get the quest, we can talk more on the way.¡±

    With that they were off to the Searing Gorge

 Chapter 12 : Spiders taste like chicken

    The 2 hour walk to the Searing Gorge went by with no hick ups. Along the way Cuzen brought them up to speed with the situation concerning the guild.

    ¡°So where to start, best to start at the beginning I guess. I met him at the training hall when Tinker left. At first I was skeptical. But we had a more than in depth chat about various things. We started by talking about stats and skills and how that ties in with levels. After that we talked about classes. It seemed that they do not just want adventures. From merchants to architects they accept all, It seemed that the other co founder of the guild is merchant class. He runs the money and gets all the other information that normal adventure type classes like us do not know or focus on. He gave examples like politics, supply and demand of items or resources. But it seemed they already have so much money they are going to take over their first town. Gambit is in charge of getting the adventures types and protecting their assets after diplomacy fails.

    They focus on quality over quantity so most of members are above average players. They seem to be over 200 members strong already. Most operate here in the Heaven Kingdom and they have a chapter near the south of the continent. He said they are focusing there because according to the hardcore players the south  and east of the continent or Rosenheim Kingdom along with smaller nations will open soon as the newest starting location. They are divided into 2 main groups within the guild. They are Scribes and Knights. Scribes are under the command of Major the merchant and co founder of the guild. It¡¯s funny how the one with a military name has nothing to do with it, but that is not important.

    They have ranks in the guild, thus everyone knows where you belong and know who to take orders from or ask if you have problems. They have a talented seamstress that makes all the black coats and does the embroidery work. If we are to be accepted in the guild we must have our own black coats at all times. Lucky they only demand a person to wear them in the guild house or at meetings. O yes, they have a guild house in the capital. Not all guilds have them but like I said they know what they are doing and they could afford a house. I can almost afford a horse, and they have already bought a house for the guild. They only got it about 2 weeks ago, so it is still new and needs some work.¡±

    The others were impressed by this news, even Tinker was leaning towards joining this guild. ¡°So how do we join¡± Yuri asked before he could.

    ¡°Well think of this way, to clear the dungeon in less than a week is our test. If we manage to clear it in less than 5 days we will have more freedom in the guild. Think we should aim for that as our goal. With the freedom we won¡¯t be forced to go on mandatory level ups with the guild and will have freedom to go and do what we want until a big raid or siege happens.¡±

    ¡°What big raids and what sieges?¡±

    ¡°According to Gambit the top guilds are currently forming parties of 20 to 50 and some even a 100 to raid a dungeon and farm it all. It seems they do this when they discover a new dungeon for the increased drop rate and experience. Or when they want to kill a level 100 boss they mass in numbers and just overwhelm it. After that they brake in smaller groups since they know the tactics of the boss and farm the loot. Well the talks of war are growing, not full scale wars, for now just guild wars. There are many locations and areas That he claims will soon come under player control. In time they will want to expand their area of control and other guilds will want what others have. Gambit speculates that in about a year most of the small guilds will be disbanded or will have to leave the center continent if they wanted to operate with no outside influences.¡±

    ¡°That brings me down to the goal of their guild. They know they won¡¯t emerge the strongest guild in the Heaven Kingdom, but they would like to be part of the strongest. Sometimes some guilds consume a guild and all members come part of the new guild, or they from an alliance. Thus they keep their own names and function as a branch of the stronger guild. Only time would tell I guess. At least they do not number in the thousands and you just a number, seems they are a functional community. That reminds me, both leaders are not Korean, they are French. So the time when we are online will be similar to theirs. They do not discriminate against race and only want above average players and it is just a bonus if they fall into the same time zone.¡±

    ¡°So that means we have 5 days to kill 1600 monsters on level 2? Think we can do it. It¡¯s still early in the day and we have time, we pretty well stocked up. How will he know we are done in 5 days or that we don¡¯t just kill them today and log out for a week and then come back?¡±

    ¡°He said they had an assassin that is farming level 3 that would check up on us a few hours from now.¡±

    ¡°Then it won¡¯t be hard. 1600 monsters for us, 600 venom sacks for Tinker. Think spiders number the most so it won¡¯t be hard to collect sacks.¡±

    ¡°I need the silk though, it is used in tailoring, my skill is not high enough yet so that I can use it, but I want to stock up so that I have it when I get around to it.¡±

    ¡°It works out, as I am harvesting the meat and venom sack, Lina gets the silk. Yuri can scout the next location.¡±

    ¡°Did you say meat?¡±

    ¡°Yes, white spider meat. Can make a stew with it. When you don¡¯t have a lot of money you live off the land. Like wolf meat it will taste nice, just in real life I think they will be terrible.¡±

    ¡°Whatever, we will see how it goes. According to the information there are 2 Type of spiders on level 2. The medium to small green ones that paralyze if they manage to bite you. The bigger brown spiders just do poison damage over time. Also they hit hard with their big legs. There will also be goblins that level will be between 40 and 60. There are 3 types, Goblin shamans that cast bloodlust, cures poison and cast minor heals. 2nd are the scouts and worker goblins that are small and fast. Lastly there are the warrior goblins, big fighters that hunt and defend them. The biggest of them will be the leader for the group we encounter. If you kill him early in a fight the smaller goblins tend to retreat.¡±

    The town did not seem big but it had a stone wall with spikes inside and atop it to keep out monsters. It seemed to be busy, since all players between level 10 and 100 could quest in the dungeon. Since the capital was in walking distance it became a location a lot of players that want to grind can come. They went straight by the town to the dungeon so that they can start.

    Yuri led the way through level one, they saw other groups and encountered no enemies. The second level seemed a lot like level one but a person had to go down a huge row of steps. The Dungeon itself was darker, it seemed that low level dungeon and caves were well illuminated. Neither of them had a torch but Lina could cast a spell that attaches light to a person and gives vision to yourself and nearby allies. It turns out that mages and wizard have many spells. Most prefer to learn only combat spells for hunting, but Lina learned all that she could. She claimed that a person never knows when that one spell will come in handy that you will need once per month. It was a good lesson to learn.

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Torch light

    A magical light that attaches to a friendly user, illuminating a small area for an extended duration.

    Brightness depends on level and the skill of the caster.

    Costs 50 mana to cast and 10 mana per hour to maintain on level 1. Each level increases mana drain. Lasts 4 hours.

    WARNING. Mana drain effects the friendly user and not the caster</td></tr></tbody></table>

    As they entered level 2 a party of 8 were leaving, they seemed to be smiling and had high spirits. Yuri claimed he had the basic way to the boss memorized but he suggested that they just start killing from the left and finish the quest as fast as possible. There was a big room that arced into 4 paths, they went left. Yuri added that this path will lead to another room and that one will branch out again and that will continue all through the dungeon. That is why they were going to go left each time and see how it goes. The first room they encountered had nothing in it. The room appeared to have been cleaned out by another party. They made another left and got to another room that seemed to be empty. At the third room they finally encountered their first enemies.

    They were a group of goblins. 1 Shaman, 4 warriors with 1 seeming to be the leader and 3 scouts. They started buffing up, Cuzen explained he would lead the charge and go straight for the leader. Tinker should be close behind him and start killing the other warriors. That would leave Lina free to use aoe spells on those goblins that are not close to them. Yuri would shoot at the shaman and any goblins that try and make a run to those 3 standing at the back. Zomger will curse the shaman first to make his spells cost more mana and then he would rotate between cursing the other goblins and healing Cuzen most likely. With the plan laid out, all that remained was the attack. Tinker morphed agility, since he would face many opponents he would probably need the extra speed to evade better.

    They all took a deep breath and Cuzen charged. He did not yell and was well halfway into the room before the entire goblin pack noticed. The goblins screamed and yelled in defiance. At about 20 paces from the goblin leader a scout tried to intercept Cuzen, Tinker was speeding up to intercept the scout. He was almost close enough to engage and would do so if Cuzen would just side step and carry on with the charge. Cuzen on the other hand had other ideas. He bashed the goblin close to him and went on with the charge without even slowing down. Tinker did not know Cuzen that well but later he would discover another one of his life sayings. It went something like this. ¡®If faced with a wall in front of you, a lazy person would go around it, where a hard working person would go over and a tank would go through it.¡¯ At about 10 paces from the goblin leader the others were closing in around them.

    Cuzen used his leap and landed shield first into the raid leader, which stumbled backwards and fell over a stone. Tinker stabbed at the other 2 goblins as he ran past them to get to Cuzen back. He would cover his back side while he hits the leader and keeps the other goblins approaching from that side busy. With his rear covered Tinker could focus on those goblins in a 180¡ã field. It appeared most of the goblins came running down at them. Tinker took a few blows from a rusted sword and a spiked club, but on a whole he parried most of the attacks and was dealing damage. About 2 minutes into the fight he killed a scout that kept stabbing at him with a spear. It took about 10 more minutes to kill the remaining goblins. The fight went according to the plan.

    Only 1 goblin had the courage to charge down at 3 humans standing to the side of the fight. He did not last long. Yuri used his rapid fire on the goblin to shoot as many arrows into the goblin before he managed to close the distance. Lina used her most powerful single target fire spell called Pyroblast. The problem was that it took a while to cast. The goblin was about to attack Zomger who stood with his wooden club in 1 hand and a small wand in the other. The goblin only needed about 3 shots from the club before it fell dead to the ground. During these 3 shots Yuri got of 5 more bow shots. With the goblin dead Zomger could go back to healing and Yuri could focus on shooting the shaman. As any spell caster would tell you that it is not fun to try and cast spells when you are under attack. Lina only managed to cast one aoe spell. Now that the remaining goblins were all bunched around Cuzen and Tinker she shot fire balls instead.

    The delay for attacking the goblin was time Zomger could not heal those fighting in front. He returned his focus on healing his allies. He was able to curse about half of the goblin group before he had to focus on healing. As the goblins died around Tinker the others that were attacking Cuzen came to attack him. It seemed that Lina chose to shoot the goblins attacking him since he was the closest and Cuzen had plate armour to protect him. With no more goblins attacking, him he went to help the tank. The goblin leader and a scout remained slashing it out with Cuzen.

    Since he had the aggro of both, his main focus being on the leader he flanked the goblin and ended it with a few blows. At about the same time Cuzen hit the leader with a mighty blow and Yuri arrow hit as well. It was hard to tell who delivered the killing blow between them, but it did not matter. What mattered was that only the shaman remained off to the side. Tinker dashed towards him. The shaman was standing in a small ditch and they had just fought the leader on what seemed to be a small rise with in the cave room. He had the inspiration to leap in the air and land with his full body weight behind the thrusts of both his swords. During his brief air time an arrow and fire ball hit the shaman. Tinker delivered the killing blow, both his swords points stuck out at the end of the shamans back. Only a person that delivers the killing blow could perform an attack like this were weapons pierced all the way through the body. In normal conditions it would only pierce flesh a small distance and feel like you are stabbing a wall.

    The system was made this way to prevent warriors and other classes with a lot of hit points to fight battles with a pike or javelin in their bodies. Arrows on the other hand worked different. Most arrows that hit a target disappear on contact. Since those that hit monsters, humans or solid objects are counted as broken, they evaporate into the nothingness. Those that hit hay targets or the ground that do not take any damage can be retrieved for later use.

    With the battle over the others started looting, Tinker informed them of his book and what he needed to do. He could see the envy in all their faces as they grasped how useful a book like this can be with the added extensions he is working on. He chopped the leg and arm of the shaman and added it to the book. To his surprise nothing was usable, not even the blood, and next was the head. Nothing was usable either of the goblin. It would seem that since they are so in abundance through the kingdoms that goblins were nothing special. Before he moved on to the torso of the part something caught his eye. It would seems that the feathers that shaman use to decorate themselves in might have uses. It depended all on the type. These he got were just plain raven feathers and would do nothing for him.

    He would from now on collect feathers from other shamans they encounter. Some shamans might have a feather or 2 of a rare or even mythical beast. The torso had the same result in his book. Seemed that he would focus on shaman feathers and spiders this raid. When he was done the others had already looted the other goblins and were watching him. Lina face showed she did not approve of what he was doing. Zomger and Cuzen seemed impassive while Yuri seemed to be smiling a bit. The loot was a few silvers and a club that Zomger claimed. The rusted swords and small spears would not get much money in the market place. Best to move on and keep inventory spots open for the other items. This room that they were in would lead to another room. Yuri claimed it would be about a 50% chance to get goblins or spiders. Each group of monsters inhabited a room. As they were cleared out or wiped by players other or new monsters would move in. It was near impossible to guess who or what was in the next room since they changed daily. They were warned by Gambit that if they encounter mainly spiders they should be close to the spider boss, it seemed no goblin wanted to live near the cave of the spider queen.

    In the next 2 rooms it was the same. The amount of goblins was different but the result of the fight was the same. The loot stayed the same and although each shaman had different feathers it seemed none of them had any special effect. In the room after that they encountered the first group of spiders. Before they started attacking they had a look inside and decided that they must have a quick team talk. First up was Yuri that pointed out that they had killed about 30 goblins in the past 3 cave halls and that instead have having 30 kills to his quest completion he only had 10. He said the 10 were from the last hits he got on mobs. Cuzen looked and was on 4 while Lina was on 6.

    Zomger was oddly enough on 6. It seemed as him being a support, he had got 20% of the overall kills in a fight. Tinker was on about 7 last hits on goblins so it all added up. Since he did not have the quest it did not show, but it was not the end of the world. Tinker could probably leave the last hit for his companions but it is hard not to thrust or strike an enemy if you went through all the sword forms and techniques to create an opening. For now it was decided that they would kill and fight normal and see how the kill count looks after the day.

    Back at in the cave they counted 8 spiders. 3 big spiders and 5 small ones. The small ones used their speed to bite openings and preferred to bite above other means of attack. The big spiders would use their 8 legs as weapons for physical attack. Sometimes the spiders would screech if they have eggs in the room, then others would come help. Sometimes it would attract goblins as well looking for an easy opportunity to attack already wounded spiders. The plan was that Cuzen would run to the big spiders and try and agro all 3. Then Tinker should attack just 1.

    The smaller spiders will either attack their backs or run to the others. Yuri and Lina should focus them and Zomger will curse and heal as he best sees fit. With that they attacked. It seemed that the plan started out well. Cuzen was tanking 2 big spiders and was being bitten from behind. The remaining small spiders took it on themselves to bite Tinker while he attacked the last big spider. He focused on the big spider because it could stagger a person, the constant bites on his back and legs were just an annoyance. It then occurred to him that he should fight like the small spiders. Always be moving and look for openings. The big spider in front of him did a good job to keep up but the pesky small spiders struggled to catch Tinker blind side after that. Cuzen stood his ground and took the small bites like a champ, which was the up side of plate armour. The spiders were about as hard to kill as the goblins. They did not do as much damage as the goblins but they had poison and big hairy legs on their side.

    The battle took about 10 minutes. Then the fun part started. First he chopped of a leg and put it into the book. It had no effects and seemed to be normal. Next was the head which was pretty much a dead end as well. The body on the other hand contained the venom sack he needed. A person had to cut out the sack if you wanted it. What only remained was the meat. It was white and was not a lot, but was easy to cut out and edible. Yuri agreed to remove the meat and sacks and split the meat in half and give Tinker all the sacks for his quests. Lina used this time to harvest what silk she could. It was not much, but she claimed at the end of the quest she could make a wardrobe from all the silk they get from the next few days. She did not specify how big it would be but Tinker assumed the worse. The big venom sack he added to the book and it could be used as a poison, the type that does damage over time and kills the cells. The small venom sack could be made as poison to paralyze an enemy. They were about an hour inside and killed just over 40 monsters. If they kept this up they could finish in about 4 days.

    After about 6 hours of killing more spiders and goblins Cuzen called for a halt. It was time to eat and restore mana and shake off the fatigue. During all of this they did not need to drink a single antidote. Zomger cured them after each spider battle. It was between Yuri and Tinker to provide the meal. Yuri was not his cheerful self as he walked up to Tinker.

    ¡°Is it alright with you, that we alternate turns for meals?¡±

    ¡°Yes¡± He thought that he had never seen Yuri this serious before.

    ¡°Good, now comes the most important part, how we decide who goes first. Some people would toss a coin but we do things differently. Here in this group we fight for the right in the most gruesome way.¡±

    Tinker was dumbfounded, the way Yuri was going on it seemed they were about to stab each others with daggers. Yuri hand was already behind his back where he kept his dagger  and he stood ready to stab at a moment¡¯s notice.

    ¡°You ready he asked¡± but Tinker had no words, he stood with one foot forward and made ready to strike with his right hand sword at a moment¡¯s notice

    Someone in the back round added ¡°oooooo they are so into it¡±.

    ¡°Fine, let us do this on three.¡±

    ¡°ONE¡±

    The others stopped what they were doing to watch and Tinker still had no idea what was happening.

    ¡°TWO¡±

    Yuri still had his dagger sheathed and was starting to smile. Tinker was afraid that Yuri might punch him so he decided to catch the first with an open hand.

    ¡°THREE¡±

    Yuri moved his hand from his back and Tinker did the same. He could not see an object in his hand instead Yuri showed a fist at him. He was expecting him to lunge, but he stood still and so did Tinker.

    ¡°Awwww shit, I lose. I knew I should have played scissors.¡±

    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    Then in came to him. They just played rock, paper scissors. On some level Tinker had to see it coming. This was not a weird group that stabbed each other, instead they were a merry bunch that solved hard choices by using a children game. Why they named it the most gruesome thing possible, he did not bother to ask.

    ¡°You may have won this round but I will have my vengeance in this life or the next.¡± Yuri said it in jest and was already taking out a flat pan to cook in. Seemed like he was going to make stag burgers. He had the bread and seemed to have stock up on lettuce, tomatoes and a lot of different cheeses. Tinker did not buy cheeses because he could not afford it. He currently had just over 50 gold and was relatively poor compared to other people of the same level. Gold was another taboo subject to talk about.

    The others in his group did not mind. Lina had about 100 gold, Zomger and Cuzen had over 200 while Yuri had nearly 600. He did not mind telling how much he had, only how he came by it. Everybody had their guesses and Tinker assumed it was the black market or something similar. He could not think what people can sell on the black market that normal vendors could not. He would have to look into it and maybe get into the action as well. Tinker took this time to repair his leather. It took only minor damage but he had nothing better to do. Lina was rolling up the silk into better and more user friendly rolls for future use. Zomger took out a book to read and Cuzen seemed to be talking with himself. He was not really talking to himself but it looked like that, as a matter of fact he was talking to Gambit. It seemed that the assassin that was going to check up on them should arrive near the end of the day. It seemed he was near the boss room and would have to go from there to them.

    They went back to killing more spiders and goblins for about 8 hours. During this time they fought against 18 spiders in one room. Their health dropped low but they pulled through. It seemed as they advanced deeper into the dungeon the amount of enemies increased and so did their time in dealing with them. They still managed about just fewer than 40 kills an hour. If they keep at it, they would be done in 4 days and a bit. The assassin that was supposed to come and find them had to log out so he would look in on them in about 3 days time. It was decided that they would log out and all be back around 8 pm in the real world. That was about a 12 hour brake in the game. Tinker agreed and would log out as well. There was not much more he could do. They were in the dungeon now and to go out and come back would just not be practical. Besides they had played nearly 7 hours straight and it will be good to look after his body. With that they all logged out.

    Scot went straight to the bathroom and then the kitchen. Duncan was nowhere to be seen and Cliff was cooking up another feast by the smell of it. He raided the fridge and decided to go check out the TV. He did not have shows he followed so he watched news to catch up on local and global affairs.  Locally the English cricket team was preparing for a test series, they seem to be on a losing spree so there is a lot of pressure on them. Abroad a volcano erupted in the pacific isles. Other than that it seemed to be the same old news. Israel and Palestine were still fighting. Hollywood seemed to have it fair share of new scandals and movies. Right before he wanted to go back up to his room a quick report came up that claimed that Unicorn stock options are at a record high and still seemed to be climbing. They did not talk much about the game but more about the business side of things. It seemed the west was not interested in the game and only the money.

    He took a bath and went back to his room. He still had about 2 hours to kill before he needed to log back in. He surfed the Dark gamers union web page and saw nothing new or of interest. He decided to jump on forums and see what they had to say. He was not looking for something in particular and just read the topics that got the most hits. What caught his attention was that Unicorn was hacked for the first time. They did not release the details but only said the following at a press conference.

    ¡°It is true that our servers were compromised over the weekend. We would first like to assure the many users of the game that their financial and personal information was not leaked. The culprit only wanted to interface music from his computer to his avatar. Our techs found the anomaly as he was transferring his first song into his capsule. In less than 20 minutes the police arrested him. What he was doing was a clear violation of the terms and conditions on the contract a person signs when buying your own capsule. We at the Unicorn corporation would like to remind the public and all its users that we value security as much as fun.¡±

    It seemed no minds have gone missing yet but Scot was not too worried. It would appear that Unicorn was on the ball of things. Next he read that some television shows in Korea were going to make shows that show the strongest players and their impressive feats. He did not have the channel on his TV but the videos would be in an archive somewhere where he could watch it. He kept looking at more things to increase his knowledge about what is happening in and around the game.

    Tinker Logged back in before 8 so he was the first in the cave. He looked around in the cave and saw a couple of mushrooms. He harvested it and noticed he already had them in the Alchemy book. The Greenhouse really was a wonderful place that helped to boost the number of samples in the book. The loot they got over the last 13 hours or so was not impressive but at least he could sell a few clubs and a pair of boots. It seemed that spiders and these particular goblins were not rich in item drops but made up for it in experience given. The most note worthy item they picked up was a pair of gloves that was made for hunters, scouts, rogues and so forth. Yuri received the item.

    The others all arrived within 5 minutes of each other. They rebuffed and moved deeper in the dungeon to their next victims. After 4 hours they stopped for snacks and returned. They entered a room that seemed to be similar to all the others. This room however had 23 spiders. They had not faced these many before so they had to revise the basic plan they had been using. Instead of charging in they would fight here where they entered the room. If they were lucky not all the spiders would attack at once and if they did Cuzen and Tinker could choke them at the entrance. Yuri would shoot the nearest spider to set things in motion. As soon as the first arrow hit a high pitch sound started to echo through the entire hall and adjacent hallways. It was not a pleasant sound but it did not seem to affect them.

    About half of the spiders came charging down on them. They seemed to be more aggressive than the other spiders they had faced. They fought as best as they could. Tinker was taking more damage than usual, he could not risk dodging all the attacks and making an opening. Just as soon things were starting to become overwhelming half of the attacking spiders left and ran to another hallway. It seemed that goblins heard the sound and wanted in on the action. With half the spiders attacking they managed to kill them all and access the situation. They seemed to have killed 7 spiders. While 6 others were losing badly against the goblins. The remainder of the spiders were still standing at the back. The group did not know what to do so they waited and took the chance to heal up a bit more before they had to fight.

    The goblins killed the 6 spiders and charged towards the others at the back. A few minutes in the goblins seemed to be winning. A new group of spiders came rushing through another hallway to help out their kind. With the new reinforcements the goblins would lose. Cuzen decided it would be a good idea to attack the spiders from their side and see how it goes. He charged and leaped in shield first, bashing a spider. Tinker was close behind already 3 attacks into his rotation. Yuri was shooting away while Zomger cursed them all. Lina was not using fire to light them up, instead she was still in the process of casting her strongest aoe fire spell. It was called Flame strike. For 30 seconds the ground targeted by the spell would pulse with fire. Its weakness was that a person could just move out from the area and take no damage. The problem was both goblins and spiders did not want give up the advantage. By the time the goblins realized they were losing badly it was too late. Spiders seemed to have the ensnare skill that captures enemies in a web for 5 seconds.

    As the fire stopped pulsating only a handful of spiders remained. They were dealt with quickly and the looting of the fallen could start. They noticed a couple of eggs in the back. It was the reason why the spiders defended so fiercely and why the goblins wanted to take them. Spider¡¯s eggs were great for cooking and had many bonuses. They were divided among Yuri and Tinker for future use. Tinker added it to his book and noticed that he could fortify a lot of attributes with it.  The group went on attacking and clearing many rooms and even encountered another party. They nodded at each other and went their own ways.  They went on with this till it was time for bed. In this day they were about 25% to completing the quest and close to leveling up. It was a good day. They would meet the usual time and continue.

    The following day was the same. They encountered 3 more rooms were spiders called for backup. In the one room they counted nearly 150 corpses after the battle was over. Many reinforcements of spiders and goblins arrived and they stood in the corner and waited for the main battle to be done before moving from the good defend able position.

    About halfway during the third day a man approached them. It was odd to see a person alone in here so they assumed he was scouting for his group that was not far behind. He was about 5 foot 10 and wore a black cape with a dagger and short sword at his side. It was hard to make out facial features with his hoodi in the way.

    ¡°Greetings I am Quantum, It took me a while to get to you guys but since you keep going left it made things easier.¡±

    ¡°Hey, did Gambit send you?¡±

    ¡°That he did, he informed me about your situation. So I am here to monitor you guys here for a while and see if you are capable warriors.¡±

    ¡°Ok, so how long does it take and what are you going to do?¡±

    ¡°Anything from 5 minutes to 5 hours I guess. If you guys die now I am not going to wait around and just tell Gambit you full of shit. Other than that I will follow you guys and see how you handle battle. Just a heads up I am not going to help.¡±

    ¡°Charming fellow¡± someone said in party chat. On their way to the next chambers Tinker wanted to know more about this hooded stranger.

    ¡°You mind me asking you a few questions?¡±

    ¡°Not really, no.¡± He said short and half in thought.

    ¡°How are you able to walk around without being attacked by the monsters and what were you doing on the 3rd floor?¡±

    ¡°Well I just sneak by rooms with goblins and spiders in. Assassin class makes for some good sneaking. On the third floor I follow other parties. I fight the single monster that does not attack the party. Sometimes the party sees me, other times they don¡¯t. When they do see me one of a few things happens. They ignore me or ask me to leave. Of course I refuse to leave and that results in them trying to kill me or ignoring me. Sometimes they invite me in the party and I act like a scout and I can hold my own in battle.¡±

    ¡°Really, they try and kill you. Won¡¯t that result in them getting the murders mark?¡±

    ¡°I think so, I have not died yet and only one party tried to kill me. It was kind of funny and it happened a while back. They chased me right into a spiders nest and the lead warrior got stuck in a spiders trap. When about ? of them died trying to help out their buddy the others fell back. I was watching from the shadows and rated them as below average players. They were new to that level and could probably have won but they did start at a disadvantage and all members of the group were not there from the start. When they all left I looted the dead and found a few nice items I am going to sell when I leave here.¡±

    It was an entertaining story. They did not know much about the assassin class and just assumed that they spent time killing people and not do any real raiding. Not many people wanted a lot of assassins in a party. They were only good at disarming traps and scouting. Other than that they had no mob control and could manage 2 targets at one time if they were skilled. They wore mainly cloth and could equip light leather armour. Only those that raided equipped leather. Most of the time assassins stuck to the cloth for more speed and stealth.

    As they entered the room with spiders Quantum did what he said. He moved away from them to observe the battle. They counted 11 spiders. They would just fight how they normally do. Tinker and Cuzen would keep the big spiders busy. Zomger would curse them all and start healing those 2 in front when they start taking damage. Lina saved her aoe spells and like Yuri focused more on high single target damage. In less than ten minutes the fight was over and they looted. Walking to the next room Quantum who was just there to observe had a few questions of his own.

    ¡°Why did you spend so much time looting and what not?¡±

    ¡°Well Lina needs the silk for when she one days get her tailoring high enough to work with it. Yuri and Tinker both have cooking skills and stock up on free spider meat, which tastes a lot like chicken. Also Tinker has Alchemy and needs the sacks for his quest. He is not here on the same quest as us. He almost has enough and the rest that stay over he claims he needs later to use in alchemy to make poison potions for the shady types like you. That is if he one day learns the alchemy skill. It is a C rank quest he is busy with, just to learn the alchemy skill.¡±

    ¡°I thought of getting it, but who has the time and getting the ingredients is also a problem¡±

    ¡°I hear you man, I am a black smith and I can only repair my armour and make basic swords that rival sharp sticks.¡± They both chuckled at that.

    They went to another cave. With more spiders which numbered near 15 they started the attack. To their surprise Quantum who was observing engaged a spider that was running past Tinker and Cuzen towards the other 3. He finished it off fast and went to attack the small spiders harassing the others. After the fight there was some confusion.

    ¡°I do not know where you are from buddy but what you did now is not just observing. You are messing up our last hits and taking the loot and experience.¡±

    ¡°Well I am not doing this for the experience, these little guys do not give me much. As for the kills, even if I kill a good amount you should still reach your quota. It comes down to the loot. If I knew I would run into you guys I would have stocked up on the silk, meat and sacks for later use. The problem is that nobody at the time wanted it and nobody, not even NPC merchants were paying for it.¡±

    ¡°So you are going to sell the items back to us at high prices? That is not very nice of you.¡±

    ¡°No, you guys seem to think of me as the bad guy. I will give you the silk and even the meat for free and all I ask in return is free meals when we eat.¡±

    ¡°What about the venom sacks?¡± Tinker shouted as he walked closer to the group after finishing up his last looting.

    ¡°I think this can go two ways. Either you buy them from me or I give them to you. In return I get first picking on the poison potions you make at low cost price?¡±

    ¡°What if I say no?¡±

    ¡°I will still keep the sacks for a while. You will probably need them sometime in the future and since we going to be in the same guild the chances are good we will make a sort of arrangement.¡±

    ¡°Really and why would we join a guild with people like you in it?¡±

    ¡°For starters I am going to send a glowing recommendation to Gambit that you join. Your fighting skill is just above average and that alone will get you in. The other qualities you guys have like cooking and alchemy will only secure the guild invite. I would like to point out that I am an assassin, killing people and being a nuisance is literally in my class description. Being a noble paladin or brave knight I leave to the others.¡±

    ¡°Whatever man, let us get going. Much needs to be done today and I¡¯ll think about the sacks.¡±

    They went on and fought well. With Quantum their progress also sped up. As they stopped for their first brake they reluctantly gave Quantum his helping of spider stew. He said something about how this explained how they did so well with no dedicated healer and with the fast restoring of fatigue from the food. The increase in health also helped. They fought onwards and were nearing the end of the 3rd day. When they stopped to rest up. It was afternoon in the real world. They agreed to be back at 6 and play late into the night till this quest got done. Nobody asked Quantum but he said that works for him and he will be back that time as well.

    When all of them came back they sat down and talked. Cuzen suggested that they start working their way back to the entrance. Somewhere along the line they should finish up. All agreed and was about to move out when Quantum suggested they go back to the entrance via the boss room. The others were not convinced so he sugar coated it. He explained how it was on the way. With mostly spiders in and around the boss room, they could harvest more silk, meat, eggs and venom sacks. According to him the boss room was loaded with Eggs. They talked about it and decided to do just that. A few hours into the day they all had finished up their quest to kill monsters. Tinker had finished sometime during the previous day and had just been stocking up on venom sacks. He agreed to sell his first poison potions to Quantum for cheap. At the boss room they took a longer than usual brake.

    They had to make sure health, stamina and mana was full before they attacked. Quantum explained the tactics. Cuzen would fight the spiders on the left of the boss with the help of Lina and Yuri. He and Tinker would fight those on the right. The Queen will flee at the start of the fight to the roof. Well out of range of most attacks. When all her spider lings are dead she will come down. Then Cuzen would tank and get the agro on her. In the third and final stage spider reinforcements will come. During this stage they all will attack the Queen. Tinker will have to kite and taunt the spider reinforcements that arrive and keep them off everybody unless they attack Cuzen. He asked Quantum why he did not do it. His excuse was that Tinker can take more damage and his damage output will be needed for the boss. During this phase 2 spiders will come at the start and every 30 seconds after that another would join the fight.

    Tinker could not kill a spider in 30 seconds, thus he just needed to kite them and keep them busy while the others kill the queen. Quantum explained it will take about 2 to 3 minutes to burst the Queen down at the final stage. When the queen dies the toxin she releases kills all spider lings alive, so the fight will end with her death. Zomger was advised to focus more on healing than curses this fight. They would need it more. Tinker used his potion to increase his poison resistance. Since he would need to kite and fight many spiders. It will only help lessen the damage he was going to take.

    The battle went well. Zomger managed to keep up with the healing, nobody stood around in poison gas clouds. There was a moment in the last phase where things were looking bad. Tinker had 5 spiders on him and he was about to taunt the 6th, but it decided it wanted to attack Cuzen so he left it. He counted down the 30 seconds and was about ready to run towards the 7th spider when a gas cloud filled the room. They had done it. Tinker and Cuzen were near death and managed to survive by a few hit points. Cuzen was attacked by the boss and that is how he lost most of his health. Tinker had to dodge and evade 2 spiders.

    At the start he was even counter attacking them. When the third came the counter attacks went down to a minimum. With the fourth spider it became all about evasion. But no matter how much you block, duck, dive and roll. Spiders will get you. They drank their anti dotes and started with the loot. It was a good many eggs, silk, meat and venom sacks. Just like Quantum predicted. When it came to the loot he said he needed nothing and would gladly take what they did not want. The Queen dropped a pair of boots that allowed the user to make less noise when walking or running. Yuri claimed them. The other items were not that impressive and the gold drop was low. The amount of eggs they got would make up for the loss.

    As they left the chamber another group arrived. They seemed to have come the kill the boss. They were 14 people in total. When they saw the Queen was not in the room they wanted to know how it went and how many had they lost. When they claimed to have lost nobody the others wanted to know how it was possible and what their levels were. They explained it was due to them knowing the tactics and their average level was just above 50 at the time. They made a smart remark that levels are not everything. The other party was not amused and did not believe them. Regardless this group had cleared out the way to the entrance and they could travel without distractions. With moral high they left to go back to the capital.

    Quantum invited himself along for the journey.

 Chapter 13 : Joining of a guild

    Every member of the guild could fit somewhere into a rank accept those that were new in the guild. They were known as initiates until they were placed in one of the ranks. Junior was the lowest rank in Vanguard and Legendary the highest. The other ranks worked the same. With master the highest and novice the lowest in Rune knights. Scribes only had 3 ranks that all answered to Major. (Check out the Table i loaded into my Images topic)

    Major ordered knights around since he was Co leader of the guild but his main focus were the scribes. In time the amount of members grew that a person could not know everyone by name and class. Thus if you met someone from the guild you could just ask their rank and they would tell you. For example Elder Vanguard Knight. Would tell you the division and rank a person was in. It will also give a good idea what class he was.

    In the Scribes rank were all the non adventure classes like Merchants, Artist, sculpture, bard, engineers or any person that focused more on production of items like black smiting than killing monsters. A lot could fight but they would prefer to stay at the cities and quest.

    The Knight division housed all the adventure types under the control of Gambit. First is the rank with the most players, the Vanguard Knights. They were plate wearing players. The main classes here were warriors, knights, paladins and any other class where a person wore plate armour.

    The leader of the Vanguard Knights was Buster, a human knight who used a 2 handed sword and was the strongest player in the guild in single combat. He had been part and with the guild since day one. He never talked about anything other than the game. When normal people will talk how long they would be offline before they come back they would use real world time and game time. He only talked in game time.

    The story goes that in the beginning when Gambit spent his first month and a half completing the basic training while Major did quests and provided the money to feed him. He saw Buster in the training hall doing the same. Gambit walked over to start up a conversation during one of his breaks but Buster ignored him. When Gambit took out something other than rye bread to eat he got Buster attention. Buster did not have a friend to give him other food to eat and his money and bread supply was running low.

    He challenged Gambit to a friendly duel and the winner would get Gambit¡¯s lunch. Normally a person does not get between Gambit and his food but Gambit was eager to test his metal. He had not had the chance to fight any body and after nearly hitting a scare crow for a month it became tedious to say the least. They both were level one and only had a wooden sword with the normal starting cloths. They would duel till the first person health drops below 10 % or he surrenders. They went at it right in the training hall. Buster had more skill and technique but Gambit had the bonus stats from a week of longer grinding on his side. Buster did the first damage and scored the first clean hit. Gambit started to get the feel of his opponent and repaid him in full. At the end of it all Gambit won with 13% of his life remaining. Being a nice guy and spotting a worthy opponent he shared his lunch with Buster. They talked and Buster agreed to go hunt with Gambit when they all could leave the city. Thus they became friends and it was only natural for Buster to join the guild when they made it.

    That was also the last time Gambit manage to beat Buster. It was hard to compete with somebody with better stats and skill than you. Of course Gambit always claimed if he farmed as hard as Buster he would maybe take him, but he had a guild to run and manage the recruiting of new members. Also he had the odd task Major demanded him to do. Of course he did not always want to be sent around on errands by Major, but Major would play the card ¡®Remember when we started, I fed you day after day¡¯. Also on the up side these errands were almost always for the benefit of the guild.

    The Rune Knights were the spell casters that did damage to enemies. At first they were mainly wizards and mages. Later on they would get warlocks, shamans, druids and necromancers. The leader of the Rune Knights was Asmodian. He was an Arcane Mage that was a secret class. He was raiding with another party in a dungeon not too far away from the capital. The party he was with, was also a new guild and sometime during the dungeon they invited him to join their guild. Asmodian rated them as average players and was considering joining them and would give his answer after the dungeon. Sometime during the hunting a second party smaller than theirs in number came up behind them.

    They also seemed to be here to grind in the dungeon. The larger party did not want to join with the smaller party and thus did not invite them and chose to ignore them. They entered an area that had two groups of monsters that numbered the same. Asmodian group went left while the other group went to the right. They fought and killed the monsters in 15 minutes. They started the looting and Asmodian wanted to check up and see how the other group was doing. He was shocked to see the other group of monsters were dead and the party that killed them had already moved on. Thus he left the party he was in and raced after the other party to join with them. Gambit, Buster and a few other members of the guild were not really surprised to see people run up to them and asked to join their party. They usually declined most people request to join them but they were few in number and the dungeon would only get harder. They decided to give him a chance.

    Like always if the person did not pull his own weight he would be kicked. They were surprised to see Asmodian fight. His attacks looked different from most mages and thus he revealed to them he was an Arcane mage, a secret class. He got his guild invite after that successful dungeon raid.

    The Protection Knights were those that focus on healing the group. Priests, shamans and druids were mostly in this group. They were led by Aurora. She was a human priest that was the first healer for Gambit them and she had just been around ever since. She was not the strongest or highest level healer but was very skilled in what she did and could compete with the best. Gambit met her when he, Buster and a few others needed a healer to hunt wolves outside the city. He added her to his friends list and she joined them on many more adventures. She was also there the day when they founded the guild.

    The Precision Knights are the Hunters, Thieves and Assassin classes. Other then hunters the other two classes were more the shady type of people. Each class had its uses but Hunters seemed to be the most. Hunters had many classes to diverge into later. So it was a popular class.

    The leader of them was an elf thief by the name of Dismas. When the guild was still small and new, Dismas was in the merchant area looking for a merchant he could rob. Major seemed like an easy enough target so he watched and waited for his moment to rob him. It was broad day light but Dismas was confident he would not get caught. After three hours of watching an opportunity presented itself. He was in the process of taking the huge amount of gold when a warrior punched him from behind and grabbed him. He could not escape and was in trouble. The merchant did not see him at all and he would have gotten away with the crime if the warrior had not exited the building behind the merchant the exact same time he was doing the crime. He was prepared to go to jail or being pk¡¯ed by the warrior when the unexpected happened.

    The merchant told the warrior to wait and not kick his ass. Major complimented him on his skill and invited him to the guild instead. He was not the type that played well with others but this merchant had the most money he had ever seen on a single person. Thus he decided he would play the long con. He would be a good guild member and rob them all blind when the time was right. Or at least that was his plan. He took orders and became very wealthy under the leadership of the guild. At the start Major would tell him of high priority targets to rob. After a while he would start stealing letters and personal items for Major. He was not sure what he wanted with all the items but he assumed that it was part of the reason why he was so dam rich. Before he knew it, he would do few quests from npc¡¯s and instead he worked for Major that paid the same and even better than npc¡¯s.

    Another funny thing was that there was chaos in the thieves guild. It seemed a thief was stealing a lot in the city and nobody knew a single thing about this person. As a member of the guild he got the A rank Quest along with all the other members to hunt down this rogue thief that was giving them a bad name. Thanks to Major and his ingenuous plan they set up another thief to take the fall for all his crimes. An added bonus was that the reward for completing that A rank quest so early in the game was that he became a Master thief. A secret class with a lot of new perks. His plan was still to rob the guild until the day he was promoted to leader of the Precision Knights and he became a pillar in the guild.

    The Natural Knights were all those classes that did not fit in somewhere in the above mention ranks. Like Shamans that healed, cursed or fought with elemental''s or spirits. The odd Shaman would jump in weapons first also belonged in this class. A warrior that fights in leather. Druids that shape shifts or fights with nature magic. Most common was the monks. Their leader was Zane a human monk.

    When the BoS had about 20 members Gambit and Buster were questing by killing monsters in the Greenland¡¯s. There they encountered Zane and his party hunting the same moth like creatures. Instead of fighting in a mass free for all Zane challenged their strongest player to a duel. The loser will leave and let the winners do the quest. After he lost against Buster he healed up and agreed to leave. But before he left he wanted to duel their second strongest player. Gambit had won the match by the smallest of margins. Zane was furious about the losses. He demanded a fight against the third strongest player there but nobody stepped up to challenge him.

    After he calmed down they talked things out and they managed to convince Zane to join the guild. He would only join if all his friends could. They thought of starting their own guild but the money for it was lacking. That is how the guild numbers nearly doubled in one afternoon. Later Zane would move away from traditional monk fighting and boasted how his feet and head were as hard and fast as his hands. It was truly odd to see a monk head butt an opponent after a 6 hit combo but his crazy style worked for him and he was the strongest player in his rank.

    The party arrived back at the city. They first went to the warrior¡¯s guild to complete their quest. They all had gained 4 levels for killing spiders and handing in the quest. Tinker on the other hand only gained 3 levels in this past week. Add another 2 levels his companions gained since they arrived at the capital he was getting further behind. In a way it bothered him, but he chose to focus on his profession rather than levelling. His time to catch up would come someday.

    After the warriors guild they all went to the guild house. Quantum led the way, he claimed he notified Gambit they were coming and he would meet them there. The guild was in a big house surrounded by a combination of shops and other houses. The banners and flag flopping from the poles made it stand out. Quantum walked to the door and just opened it and walked in. The others just followed in afterwards. There were not many people inside but they all seemed to wear black cloaks. Even Quantum equipped a new black coat with the same silver sword and golden scale. They moved to an open table. The hall gave the feel of a bar or an inn, just without the service you would expect. The few people there looked at them briefly and went back to what they were doing.

    ¡°Well it seems Gambit not here yet. Guess I can start telling you people what is what. This is our main chapel. One of the rules are, that when you are here you must wear your cape. Outside you can wear what you want. We have a basement with stuff in it, I do not know what kind of stuff because I do not go down there. On the second floor are beds for those that want to sleep in game and Major office. It is probably the safest place here. We have a bad ass thief Dismas that puts in his own custom locks.

    To this date no other thief or person including myself with locking picking skill has managed to pick the lock. If you ask me I think Dismas has a secret class or some sort of engineering profession. Further there is not more I can tell and add that Gambit will not cover. He handles most of the recruiting and telling new members what goes for what. I will keep you company till he gets back. After that you probably won¡¯t see me again.¡±

    ¡°Why is that?¡±

    ¡°Well I have like 30 levels on you guys and will be raiding with the high level users and not with you guys. Maybe one day when you guys catch up you will see more of me. But again I doubt it. You guys won¡¯t even see me in the street.¡±

    ¡°Well you are short and probably sneak around from place to place.¡±

    ¡°Hahaha, not at all. I only sneak around outside cities or in the dark. Other than that I use a skill that allows me to blend into a crowd. It is very handy and called Mass Hysteria.¡±

    ¡°How does a skill like that work for an assassin?¡±

    ¡°Well after I killed somebody and guards sound the alarm I can blend into a crowd or sneak away. Both have its uses and it¡¯s good to have more than one escape plan. It has the down side of not working that well if people carry on normally. They have to be moving a lot and there needs to be a degree of hysteria or confusion which usually follows after hearing that someone important was just murdered. We once tested it out. We hired 4 people to look for me after another person was murdered. According to the guards they were to look out for an average to small human male with black hair that may be the murderer. I walked passed 2 of them and they did not stop me. Later we asked what happened and we explained the exact time that I walked past them, because they seemed to have forgotten that they saw me. The only way they could explain it was, when they looked at me in the street, they thought that guy looks normal and like he belongs, thus they immediately started looking for another person.¡±

    ¡°Wow you assassins are really skilled.¡±

    ¡°That we are and the sad part is you don¡¯t even know the half of it.¡± With that said he stood up and left. He did not say goodbye and waved halfheartedly over his shoulder to them.

    ¡°That guy thinks he is so cool¡± Lina said in a voice that was close to being a shout.

    ¡°Can you imagine being in a full time party with him? Sure he can hold his own in a fight or raid but his whole style is so solo or more dare I say selfish.¡±

    ¡°Well to each his own, like he said we won¡¯t be seeing him soon.¡±

    They were about to complain more but Gambit came down from the second floor. First he talked to those closest to where he entered the room and after stopping at each table to say hi and talk to every person he came over to them. They only waited about 2 minutes for him to get to them, but they enjoyed the show. Seeing a leader of the guild in action was a good way to tell his character.

    ¡°Hello guys, welcome to our humble guild house.¡± They greeted him in return. He sat down and took out a pitcher of juice with 6 glasses for them.

    ¡°Alright guys where do you want to start. Must I tell you all there is about us or do you prefer to ask questions and I answer them?¡±

    ¡°I think it best we ask the questions, we remember most of what you told is the other day and Quantum just told us a few things.¡±

    ¡°No problem, ask away while I pour us all drinks.¡±

    ¡°Ok when did you guys start playing and what exactly will our role and obligations be towards the guild?¡±

    If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.¡°We started on the day of the game launch. That will be about 5 months ago in game time. We started the guild about 2 months in. When you join we have a list of things from rules to guidelines and a few other nice things in your guild tab. I think most of the information posted there is self explanatory. You guys did the quest in less than 5 days. That means we won¡¯t be monitoring your progress in detail. You will have more freedom to do what you want. Only when we have massive raids or other guild related issues will we call on you guys.¡±

    ¡°Sure and what are these guild related issues and what will the guild do for us?

    ¡°For now not much. If we need your expertise and skill or we will need you to do something in the area for us you are currently in. The other issues are war. For now only minor skirmishes and battles had been fought by us players. In time we are looking at full out battles and even wars for control of regions, towns and even the future of the guild.¡±

    They did not know much about guilds. They only posts of guilds told how awesome guilds are and the other posts only complained how useless guilds are. Thus they knew very little and were not up to date with current world affairs.

    ¡°I don¡¯t like thinking in terms of what the guild can do for you. I like to think of us more as one huge ass party. I can ask you guys the reason why you played together and not just do your own things. A person has more fun in a party and a huge ass party can do and become so much more than what a single person can. When we raid we share items and gold like a good party. What we strive for is the same level of cooperation between hundreds of people across multiple levels. Currently we do not have hundreds of members but we got a good 240. Also we have high level players will go farm a dungeon for a week or more. The items we pick up get given to the people that can best use them.

    The others get brought back to the guild house. Here other members have a week to buy them at low prices before we sell them at the markets. We have many support players that make sure this process happens fast and with not to many problems. So about 2 weeks after the dungeon when you come back to our guild house you can claim your gold or even months later. We hold on to all our gold till that person claims it or gets kicked from the guild.¡±

    ¡°Ok, how do we know it won¡¯t be better if we sell the items our self?¡±

    ¡°Well you can stand around all day and try and sell them. You should make a little more money, but there is no guarantee of this and it might take a while. Best to leave it for others and move on to the next quest. Major currently has over 100 000 gold. Sure not all of it is his and a lot or our players money is part of it. But all his gold and sales are tied into the guild. He paid for this house and all the other things we need. It is safe to say this guild is part of him. We do our part by protecting him along with the guild and gaining levels. He does his part to make money and help us in whatever way he can. Not to be a total leech I give him most of my money as well and carry the bare minimum with me.

    You can say 90% of my gold I have earned since the start of the game I have given to the guild vault. I am also part of this and won¡¯t demand things from other players I am not prepared to do myself. The other members of leadership in the guild are obligated to donate 15% of their monthly earnings. It sets a good example. They do no loose the money and records are kept of all that is donated. If they need the money for an emergency they can claim it at any time. When you guys join you will have the rank of initiate and will not have to worry about any of those things.

    Currently we do not have many items for sale. The past few weeks we have been doing other things. But soon we are going to do a high level dungeon. That should keep us busy for the next month or so. We post the list of items we bring home after a raid like that in the guild tab. Under available items you can see them. You guys will maybe want to buy a level 80 item for when you catch up and can use it.¡±

    ¡°It would appear that you guys operate like a well oiled machine. Did you say he had 100 000 gold?¡±

    ¡°Yes, he truly knows what he is doing. A lot are from players in the guild that invest. But the bulk of it came from him making the right sales and investing in the right markets. Perhaps one day he would explain it to you guys but I can honestly say I don¡¯t know how he does it.¡±

    ¡°All right, we will join. Do we sign something or you just send the invite.¡±

    ¡°Ok ill send the invites. Tell me your names one at a time and your professions or unique skills. I ask because I will add an officer note to your name that explains more. It helps other members find a black smith or thief and so on. It is up to you to show your level. Most keep it blocked from others.¡±

    ¡°Cuzen, paladin of Freya. Black smith. Tank and buffs¡±

    ¡°Good we don¡¯t have many tanks. Most prefer two handed weapons and a more dps orientated role. What level is you black smith?¡±

    ¡°Like 2, do not really get time for it lately. So don¡¯t ask me for a sword¡±

    ¡°Do not worry, we have got a skilled black smith or two already, Next.¡±

    ¡°Zomger, Shaman focusing on healing and curses. Bard, fisherman, and leatherworking which I gave up on.¡±

    ¡°Ok, healing or curses the strongest? And why did you give up on it?¡±

    ¡°Curses and I don¡¯t have the time, besides we got Tinker now. At least when I fish I can work on poems and songs for the bard side.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a good combo, I will tell Major to mention or type something for the guild tabs about how to use time even more productive. Next¡±

    ¡°Lina, Mage that uses only fire. I have medium level tailoring and high identification skill.¡±

    ¡°Great, always handy to have an adventure type with to identify those rare items. Not many support classes with the skills to identify want to hang around in dungeons all day for the off chance they are needed. Next.¡±

    ¡°Yuri, Hunter. Do more single target damage than aoe. Prefer precision over speed. Got medium level cooking and medium level Herbalism.¡±

    ¡°Does the herbalism combine with track skills or does it help you navigate the woods better?¡±

    ¡°Let us go with the track thing¡± he said with a sinister smile.

    Gambit was silent and eyed him with a facial expression that showed he was sceptical it had anything to do with tracking. ¡°¡­.Next¡±

    ¡°Tinker. Warrior fighting dual wield in leather. Have medium level cooking, Medium level First aid, High level herbalism, Medium level leather working and in progress to get alchemy.¡±

    ¡°Think you have so many professions we can put you with the scribes and you will be able to do more than them. The herbalism I assume it also for tracking purposes?¡±

    ¡°No, it helps my cooking, first aid and soon my alchemy¡±

    ¡°We do not have a person dedicated solely on alchemy. The person that has it claims it costs a lot and needs a lot of items and time. According to him a person can get buffs and heals better from other players and classes than from potions. Since you have all these profession I am curious how are your battle abilities? I understand now why you so high level and only recently started with the basic training¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Guess time will tell if alchemy pays off. My fighting I rate as average. Good enough to beat a paladin 6 levels higher than me, who was also further along in the basic training program.¡±

    ¡°No need to live in the past, best to focus on the moment¡± Cuzen smartly added.

    ¡°True, at this MOMENT I am explaining how I defeated some paladin from the past, whose name can be added for accuracy¡±

    Tinker had nailed it and Cuzen had no smart reply. Gambit just laughed.

    ¡°You guys are funny and we will be keeping an eye out for you. For now take your black capes and read over the guild rules. If you have more questions ask me or pm any of the leaders. Do not forget your black capes.¡± He took out 5 and gave it to them.

    ¡°Welcome to the Brotherhood of Steel. You guys can come here whenever you want and leave when you want. In time you will get to know the people and we should totally talk more.¡±

    Before they could thank him and do anything they heard a person shout from the door.

    ¡°Drinking Apple cider again are we?¡± Someone yelled

    Gambit yelled back at the person. ¡°No just juice, maybe if you gave me more money I could afford luxuries like cider.¡±

    ¡°I have bad news for you, the guild is broke and we cannot afford to indulge your vices.¡± After this statement the entire guild burst out in laughter. The person that said it was smiling as he walked over to them. Gambit was also having a good laugh.

    ¡°Guys let me introduce this ugly excuse of a human. This is Major. Co founder and leader of the Scribes.¡± They greeted him and he greeted them in turn. He was not ugly. Just a normal looking fellow. It seems Gambit was mocking him.

    ¡°What have we got here fatty? These the new recruits you talked about?¡±

    ¡°Yes, and all of them are Knights. Tinker here has professions to rival you and you¡¯re Scribes. Check out his officer note when you have the time.¡±

    ¡°I will do it during my walk to the palace. The discussions will be starting soon.¡±

    ¡°What discussions?¡±

    ¡°The Emperor, advisers and fellow lords are going to hold public discussions of us. It seemed they are done with their secret meetings about us and now they are going to put on this show to satisfy the masses and us.¡±

    Tinker was curious to hear what the NPC¡¯s had to say about them. ¡°Can I come he asked?¡±

    ¡°Sorry but you need sigils from one of the important Lords to attend the meeting.¡±

    ¡°Will the Collins sigils get me in?¡±

    ¡°Yes, he is one of the big shots in the current political structure. Let us be off and along the way you can tell me how you came by his sigils. We do not want to be late for this.¡±

    They greeted the others and left the guild house. On the walk to the palace Tinker explained what he did to get the recommendation. Major told him he was lucky. Most of the players that wanted letters had to do a quest for about a week. Anything from public works to personal errands for the lords. As he put it not many tried to get the sigils and claimed only about 15 players would be at the meeting. Others that were able to gain letters would not attend or had already left the city for good. Along the way Major wanted to know more. He asked how long Tinker had been playing. Where his starting city was. How did he spend his first months? Tinker told him in lengthy detail all he wanted to know. It was good to put your best foot forward to the guild master and be on his good side. Tinker really wondered about that 100 000 gold they claimed he had.

    At the palace they entered with no problems and made their way to where the meeting was going to be. Weapons had to be put in bags and there were even a few guards in the middle where the important people are going to sit. They were early so the room was half way full. They talked some more. After Tinker explained his professions in more detail it was his turn to get information from Major. Gambit had said most what there is to say about the guild so Tinker wanted to know more about the player.

    Major them had started here in the capital on the game¡¯s opening day. He explained it was a mad house. New players were popping up like weeds. A lot of them chose to do a tutorial before they came so that helped them to get a head start. Major claimed he read the post on Unicorns web page of what people could expect in game. So he had his eyes set on being a merchant.

    Thus when he appeared in the world he made his way over to the market place and started questing. At the start he wanted to be that guy you see in movies or games that has and knows everything that every adventurer came and saw. In those fantasies all the elite players sold and bought items from him. At first he ran errands and a week in game he got his first job at a shop. It was a shop that sold a bit of everything a starting player would need. Rye bread, better cloths, better food, sweets, juices. The odd sword and armour for those that could afford it.

    It was in this time he chose the merchant class and made his first money and learned some skills a merchant needed. When the first month was over and people could leave cities the merchants that sold items like swords, armour or any other basic items adventurers needed popped up overnight. Major had made a more than a few gold coins and decided to give it a go. Others had the same idea unfortunately. When he negotiated with a person for the price of an item and they would settle on a price another merchant would walk up to them and offer him more money for the item. In one day he lost his cool and will to be a merchant. A person could not compete with those merchants that took customers away right in front of you. He tried to keep up and offer more money himself, but his profit margin was little to none. Some items even sold for a loss.

    Since it was the start of the game many people made bad choices and were overpaying for items or sold them well under market value. But then many adventures that killed outside the city realized they could abuse the merchants. They could sell the items themselves for high prices and players that were of the merchant class needed the sales to gain levels and better their skills were forced to buy it. Some adventurers would stand next to a merchant that would not buy their items for the price they wanted. When other players came to buy items from the merchants they would sell it to the person for less. That way they still get money and force merchant to cough up the extra money for items the next time around.

    After a few more days of struggling Major thought things over. He had three options. He could go on with this and be poor forever. Or he could focus on just doing merchant quests but a lot of them were stand here, sell that, make 50 sales in one day. They were closely related to what he had been doing. His last option was to think big and figure out a new way to make tons of money.

    He managed to get the deed of a silver mine in a town near the city. How he did it he did not explain, but as far as he knew no other player owned a mine. Because all mines close to major cities were owned by Npc¡¯s and if you wanted to buy them you needed thousands of gold. It was not all smooth sailing from there. The mine was infested with goblins and a few beast monsters. He asked his friends to help him out. They did not want to at first, since it was not a game quest but Major promised free food for a week. It took them a few days but they cleared the mine. With that done Major could hire Npc work force to start mining. Since a lot of the mines in the area were overrun the workers did not work and needed jobs bad. With one mine cleared they jumped at the chance to work for low wages.

    Major saw an opportunity. With the silver mine cleared of monsters he started to see the first income after a week when they resumed mining. He focused on this area in the following weeks. He still did merchant quests to past the time in between everything. So it happened he acquired more deeds and mining rights to mines in the area. From coal mines to copper and gold.

    Like last time he did not mention the way he did it so Tinker assumed there was an easy way which he wanted to keep secret or Major was a good merchant.  After that he focused more on other things and markets. He would pre buy harvests, renting out land for farming or grazing. Not all of the things he sold and bought were on large scale but it was odd things that people did not focus on. At the start people all focused on items and the resources needed to make them. Major focused again on the other stuff like what a society needs and the basics of an economy. Most of his dealings had always been with Npc¡¯s. In time his money and influence grew in each direction from the capital.

    Tinker wanted to know more but the meeting was about to start.

 Glossary

    In game names come first followed by real world names. All this is made up. Unless I use a name and say the person is real. Only some elements of them are real , but most of them are not.

    As time goes on I will add a few notes, skills, classes and titles.

    WARNING! Only read this if you are up to date with where the FF is posted

    Adam - Npc worker at the Maximuss mercantile group.

    Aidern Kingdom - A Kingdom in the center and south of the Versailles continent.

    Amun - Enemy merchant of the Pharaohs

    Ancient Apparition ¨C Eternal guardian of the Mysterious cave. Teaches unique skills.

    Annan ¨C Npc cook in the Golden apple.

    Antrax - Secondary support character. Dwarf that has mining professions and tanks.

    Anubis - Enemy warrior of the Pharaohs

    Aragon ¨C Npc warrior who led Tinker¡¯s starting group from Avelon. Nephew of Baal

    Arthur Collins ¨C Previous patriarch of the Collins family. Deceased.

    Asmodian ¨C Secondary support character. Arcane mage and leader of the Rune knights in the Bos

    Aurora ¨C Secondary support character. Healing priest of Freya and leader of the Protection knights in the BoS

    Avelon ¨C Starting city of Tinker in Heaven kingdom. In the north in the middle of the Stormy peak mountain range.

    Aztec - Ancient race that lived in South America.

    Baal ¨C High ranking Npc warrior in the city of Avelon. Lan¡¯s nemeses.  Aragon¡¯s uncle

    Barry - NPC Banker located in Heaven Kingdom capitol. Does the legal and not so legal transactions of the BoS

    Beby - Player, part of Stan''s group

    Black marsh ¨C Tristan fought and barely won a battle there when he was young.

    Bremen - A kingdom to the west of the north part of Heaven kingdom.

    Brotherhood of Steel(BoS) ¨C A guild in game that most of the people of the FF belong to.

    Buster ¨C Secondary support character. Knight and leader of the Vanguard knights in the BoS. Strongest player in the guild.s

    Canobi ¨C Npc instructor at the training hall in Avelon

    Cliffton(Cliff) ¨C Real world cook.

    Clover - Fairy that lives in the Mystic Forest

    Cock and bull ¨C Another inn in Avelon

    Cuzen  Brad ¨C Support character. Based on me. Paladin of Freya. Self proclaimed leader of the group. Did I mention handsome?

    Dark gamers union ¨C A group that sells information and items to paying players for real world money.

    Daisy ¨C Npc servant woman at the Golden apple. Daughter of David.

    David ¨C Npc male worker at the Golden apple.

    Davion¨C Npc dragon knight of old that helped the group that founded Avelon

    Dazzle ¨C Npc healer of old that helped the group that founded Avelon

    Dazine Wares - Business run by Jim''s family

    Dismas ¨C Secondary support character. Elf thief and leader of the Precision knights in the BoS. Bad ass theif.

    Doxtan ¨C A small town at the base of the Stormy peaks. Between the capital and Avelon

    Drow ¨C Npc ranger of old. Helped the group that founded Avelon.

    Duncan ¨C Real world steward to Scot.

    Elder Circle - What the leaders of the BoS call themselves. They have meetings to decide the fate of the guild

    Eric - Player part of Stan''s group.

    Fellwood ¨C A forest area where the group defeated a demon. Not far from the groups starting city.

    Freya ¨C A god in RR. Most popular religion.

    Frostmourne ¨C A unique skill that Lan knows.

    Gambit ¨C Secondary support character. Warrior and co leader of the Brotherhood of Steel guild. Based on a friend

    Gawain Collins ¨C Npc merchant of the Collins mercantile group. Brother to Tristan and Lancelot.

    Gettafix ¨C Npc  master alchemist. Focus on creepy insects and animals. Looses apprentices by the dozen.

    Golden apple ¨C Inn that belongs to Morrain in Avelon.

    Greenland¡¯s ¨C Area where Buster and Gambit met Zane for the first time.

    Gromm ¨C Npc barbarian warrior of old that helped the group that founded Avelon

    Heaven Kingdom ¨C Large Kingdom in center of the continent. Starting location for most of the characters.

    Horus - Enemy archer of the Pharaohs.

    Hudson Mountain range - Mountain range in the south of Heaven Kingdom.

    Isis - Enemy Lightning wizzard. Member of the Pharaohs

    Jason - Npc who guarded an armory in Tanaris.

    Jim - Npc master alchemist. Focus on people related potions.

    Joey - Npc worker at the Maximuss mercantile group

    Johnny Q ¨C Young Npc mage that died close the Mysterious cave.  Nephew of Rubick.

    John Smith - The fake uncle of Othello

    Judy Maximuss - Npc Merchant head of the Maximuss merchantile group

    Kallamore ¨C A Kingdom to the west of the Heaven kingdom. Famed for having the best knights.

    Keal ¨C Npc  wizard of old that helped the group that founded Avelon.

    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Kenny - Player, part of Stan''s group.

    Kyle - Player, part of Stan''s group.

    Lan ¨C Npc Guard in Avelon.  Troubled and good warrior. Brother to Morrain.

    Lancelot Collins ¨C Npc lord, leader of the Collins family. Skilled politician. Brother to Tristan and Gawain.

    Lina  Tara ¨C Support character.  Fire mage.

    Maggie ¨C Npc waiter at The Grey

    Major ¨C Secondary support player. Co founder and leader of the Brotherhood of Steel guild. Merchant that funds and buys anything

    the others might need. Based on a friend

    Max Maximuss ¨C Npc lord, leader of the Maximuss family. Ruthless politician. Brother to Judy

    Merlin ¨C Random mage player Tinker once saw.

    Midway ¨C The ancient name of Avelon before it was changed.

    Mogul - Dungeon a few hours walk from the capital in Heaven kingdom

    Morrain ¨C Owner of the Golden apple inn. Sister of Lan

    Mysterious cave ¨C Location where a person can learn a unique skill one per year. Ancient Apparition lives here. Near the city of

    Avelon.

    Mystic forest - Place where fairy''s live

    Ned - Npc that works and lives at the alchemy guild.

    Oguumi ¨C Primal and primitive tribe of ages long past.

    Osiris - Enemy Priest of the Pharaohs

    Othello - False name Tinker gave when doing a quest for Jim

    Panthers - An allied guild who owns the town of Tanaris

    Pharaohs - An enemy guild that tried to claim the town of Tanaris

    Peggy ¨C Npc woman worker at the Greenhouse of the capital

    Quantum ¨C Secondary support character. Assassin that kills with speed and from the darkness. Based on a friend

    Ra - Enemy knight. Leader of the Pharaohs guild

    Ralph ¨C Npc Bishop of Freya. Sends Tinker on a time sensitive quest.

    Razor Inn - A three story size inn, located in the town at the South side of the Razor mountains

    Razor Mountains - A mountain rage in the Heaven Kingdom, close the the Village of Tanaris

    Red Redge Mountain range - A mountain range in the Heaven Kingdom

    Reeseville ¨C A town know for its sweet cherries and located in the Heaven kingdom.

    Rikky ¨C Npc assassin of old that helped the group that founded Avelon

    Robin ¨C The ancient ruling lord of Midway before he died

    Rob - Fairy before he became Yuri''s companion.

    Rosenheim kingdom ¨C Starting kingdom of Weed.

    Royal Road ¨C The game in which they play and adventure.

    Rubick ¨C Npc Grand Magus of the mage guild in Avelon

    Rylia ¨C Npc ice mage of old that helped the group that founded Avelon.

    Sam ¨C Payer that is a merchant.

    Searing Gorge ¨C A dungeon where the group does a quest and meet Quantum. Has a lot of spiders and queen spider as a boss  on

    level two.

    Sheanar - A region where a Npc lord staged a coo. The BoS sent men to protect him

    Solmonster - Secondary support character. High ranking human warrior in charge of the BoS chapter house in Aidern Kingdom. Based on a real person

    Stan - Player,class knight, the group saved from player killers.

    Stats Morph ¨C Allows Tinker to shift stat points between stats.

    Stormy peaks mountain range ¨C Mountain range in the north of the Heaven kingdom with the city of Avelon in its middle

    Sven ¨C Npc warrior of old. Leader of the group that founded Avelon.

    Suzan ¨C Npc woman, master alchemist that specialises in food.

    Tanaris - Town where the BoS fought their first large battle

    Tekkor Forest ¨C Forest near Heaven kingdom capital where Tinker and Yuri did a quest.

    The Grey ¨C A inn located in the capital of the Heaven kingdom.

    Thrall ¨C Npc barbarian warrior of old that helped the group that founded Avelon

    Tinker  Presscot Miles Scot¨C The main character. 15 year old boy from England. Warrior class with dual wielding swords.

    Tinkerbell - Queen of the fairy''s

    Tristan Collins ¨C Npc alchemy master in herbalism. Mentor to Tinker and brother to Lancelot and Gawain.

    Unicorn Industry ¨C The gaming company that made the RR game.

    Walter - Merchant player in the BoS south chapter house in Aidern Kingdom. Is the second richest person in the BoS

    Wendy - Player, Part of Stan''s group.

    Wiliam - Npc Grand master of enchanting in the mages guild

    Versailles continent ¨C The Continent on which they start and spend most of their time.

    Van Cleef - Mysterious Npc boss of some kind?

    Yamato - Player. High ranked Hunter in the BoS

    Yuri  Yurie ¨C Support character. Based on my friend. Hunter and the dodgy one in the group.

    Zane ¨C Secondary  support character. Monk and leader of the Natural knights in the BoS

    Zomger  Steven ¨C Support character. Based on my friend. Shaman that heals and casts curses.

 Chapter 14 : Friend or Foe?

    The guards blew trumpets to sound the coming of the king. The hall fell silent and people rose. The king came in followed by many other people. He sat down on the chair which seemed to be the highest and at the head of the other chairs. The lords and advisers took their seats. A lot of them had to sit in the front rows which were reserved for them. The more prominent Lords sat on the chairs close to the king.

    The chairs were in the shape of an Oval. The king would sit at the head and the moderator on the other side. Major explained that the show will start and play out like 2 sides arguing and discussing the issue at hand. Those against it will be on the one side and those that speak for it will be on the other. Each side had a prominent spokes person to argue for them and would do most of the talking. That person sits in the middle of their side. It makes it more dramatic as he can look around him and get the others Lords supports. An added bonus of sitting in the middle helps you glare at all the others sitting on the other side. A true show for the people. Major also said it will take less than two sentences to figure out which side supported what.

    The king was not a big and fierce looking person. He seemed to be of average build and had a golden crown on his head. He also had Royal Robes which helped him being better identified. A lot of the Lords were also clothed in lavish robes. Not as impressive as the king but it showed the world they were Lords. Only a few Lords wore the less formal cloths. One lord however wore a plain robe that a lot of Npc¡¯s wore. Tinker recognised him as Lancelot Collins. After the king sat down the other Lords took in their seats. Lancelot seemed to sit in the center of the side nearest to Tinker them. As best he would say they sat about 5 rows from the front. The Lord that was the best dressed sat opposite him. Major told him that was Lord Max Maximuss. As the last lord sat down all those that came for the meeting including Tinker them could sit down.

    The moderator started first with the formalities. He announced the Kings name and titles. Next was the name and titles of the lords sitting on the chairs. With all that done they could finally start. The moderator started first. He named the date and the topic of this discussion. He asked for the opening arguments of each spokesperson.

    Max was up first. ¡°The outlanders that came to our lands about 5 months ago are bad for us, we should chase all of them away and send them back where they came from.¡±

    Lancelot spoke next.¡±My fellow citizens and Lords, the gods themselves have sent these outlanders here to help us and usher in a new dawn for the Versailles Continent.¡±

    After openings statements it was clear who were for players and who was against. Major complimented Lancelot on playing the game of politics well. Tinker was not sure what he meant so Major explained.

    ¡°Listen to what he said. He addressed the Lords as equals and planted the idea that he is part of the commoners and mentioned them first before the Lords. Since this is a show it will not really influence the hate or love between the Lords. But most of the people here think this is the real deal and they want their voices to be heard. Lancelot will be their voice. You also see that he is wearing common robes? Those that most Npc¡¯s own? In addition to just saying he is part of the common man, he is also wearing the cloths they can identify too. I have never seen him in common robes, he usually wears well made and plain cut robes. It seems he is pulling out all the stops and should convince many people that we are the good guys. Right now I can tell you he is going to win. What I want to hear is what the king has to say.

    ¡°These outlanders appeared out of nowhere. They cause trouble where they go and they cannot die. It is not right and natural.¡±

    ¡°We all know where they came from. The Gods had sent them to us. Some claimed it was long ago prophesied that they would come. If they were here to do us harm the Gods would have stopped them. Yes they cause trouble but many more of them help us and do tasks which we need doing. Is it not a blessing that they can die and return to us?¡±

    ¡°What will we do if they form armies to kill us all? We may win every battle but in the end they will win the war. The only other thing that dies and come back alive are the Undead. Even if you claim that the Gods had sent them, why do they not know any of them or following the teachings?¡±

    ¡°We do not know that they are here to kill us all. So far they kill beasts and monsters that have been plaguing our lands for generations. Even if you class them with the undead they still do more good than harm. It is our task to teach them and educate them in our ways. Most of them that come obey our laws from the start.¡±

    ¡°Just how do we punish them? They keep unholy hours, they cannot die. How do we control them?¡±

    ¡°We keep punishing them as we always had. By fines and jail time. Even the Gods that bring them back to life, brings them back weaker with less items and gold. There have been a few outlanders that do not seem to learn from their mistakes and they are banished from cities and towns. They get tossed back into the wild the moment they try enter cities. It has also been proven that these outlanders that had been punished are less likely to do crimes again. The hours they stay awake and sleep are just the way the gods created them. A person cannot truly control them and they are like any person or wild beast. You just need to manage them and live along side them.¡±

    ¡°Just how are we to protect ourselves from them if they decide to murder us? I single out the Assassin class and even the thieves that rob us every chance they get. There are other classes that murder our people but these two classes receive the most complaints.¡±

    ¡°As you recall there was a time when they killed many of us for the items and gold we dropped. But by the Gods grace they got punished and are only able to pick up the bare minimum amount of gold and items. For every person they kill their infamy increases and when it reaches a certain point they are arrested by guards who know them to be murderers even though they had never seen or heard of the person before they arrest them. Also our own people are warned by the Gods not to give these people with high infamy quests to do. As we all know they murder each other and red marks appear on their foreheads. Unless we witness the said murder we cannot take action against them, but they have their own ways to deal with the murders. They can lose the mark by either killing monsters in the wild or get killed by other outlanders in areas they call non safe zones. It may not be the justice we are use to but in death the Gods weaken them and reward those that punish the guilty.¡±

    He took a deep breath and went on.

    ¡°As for Assassins and thieves we all know their actions are banned. If a person is caught killing or robbing others we punish them. It is only because of their long service to us that we have not shut them down. Assassins killing high priority targets in war are praised. Thieves stealing battle plans and other vital items during war are considered heroes. The problem with them comes what they do in the times of peace to stay sharp. We cannot shut down their guilds because we need them for wars of the future. Also it is illegal for even the King himself to hire them to plague our enemies across the border of the Heaven Kingdom. We all know they still do jobs that are deemed illegal but they are so good at their jobs we cannot seem to catch them or find evidence that indicates them. Those that we catch seem to operate on their own and are punished.

    ¡°How do you suggest we stop their lust for war and their endless pursuit of gold and items?¡±

    ¡°I am sorry, are you sure you are describing them and not just us? Name one Kingdom that has lived in peace and did not need gold or stronger items to secure their borders before the outlanders had come? I agree their eagerness for war is more than ours, it is that lust and determination for gold that keeps them pushing onwards and killing monsters. The Gods grant those rewards and we even pay them gold to kill monsters for us. They will sometimes kill all the monsters a dungeon. Wait for the dark Gods to respawn them and kill them over and over again. All we do is send our soldiers in to get strong or fight a pack or group that is getting out of hand. After that they train for wars and killing other monsters.¡±

    Arguments like this went back and forth for the better part of an hour. For every complaint Max had, Lancelot had a reply ready. These replies were all put in a way to put players in a good light and not make us look like warmongers. Tinker enjoyed the remark Lancelot gave when Max complained about outlanders corrupting the kids and defiling virgins. It seems Max job was to complain about everything bad that happens, from crops failing to people bumping their toes. Somehow he found it all traced back to players.

    What was a good tell that the discussion was about to end was when Max took a long time to make his latest statement.

    ¡°What do we do about the outlanders that want land and control of towns?¡± Tinker was no expert but he knew nobles did not like giving away their lands and titles to others. Be they players or Npc¡¯s.

    ¡°It is said in the prophesies that there will come a day again, that an Emperor will rule the entire continent of Versailles. Just like it was in the days of old. We do not know if it is an outlander or what race he or she will be from. We also do not know when it will happen. If one of these outlanders were destined to be Emperor do you really want to deny them land and provoke them into a war that we will eventually lose?¡± Tinker remembered something that he read on why the game was named Royal Roads. It turned out Unicorn claimed a person can be and become anything in the world. From a hardcore player to just a tourist who wants to take in all the sites. A person can even strive to be Emperor.

    ¡°So you say we must give way for them and make them our kings?¡±

    ¡°No it is just that if one of them becomes the Emperor we will not all be killed. A good Emperor will incorporate his new subjects into his kingdom. The continent is huge and he will need Lords and other people to help him govern all the kingdoms he controls. Thus I believe if this is the time of the Emperor it will usher in a new dawn for us and by the Gods will and our own strength we will be part of it and be better off than we are right now.¡±

    ¡°That may be, but how do we justify giving some of them lands and others not. We cannot give each one of them a town or land. We all know that they have started to take control of forts and garrisons all over the region.¡±

    ¡°I propose we set aside lands and villages that are not doing well. Either the outlanders will ruin the places further or make it more prosperous for himself and the people that live there. If the worse happens new outlanders will try and at the end of it all it is not a major loss for us if things go bad. They too have hierarchies and form guilds. At the end of it all only the guild master controls the town or region. He can give control of certain parts to his underlings to delegate work and responsibility. If other outlanders want lands they should leave or take them from their fellow outlanders. All reports state that they act a lot like us and most of them only have their own interest at heart. I have personally talked to them and asked them if they have an emperor that controls everything in their world. All of them claimed that many have tried to be emperor of all the lands but none have succeeded. They also claim to be more diverse than us and have more kingdoms each with their own kings. How can they truly unite our diverse lands if they cannot even unite their own? I to have heard the same reports you have. I would just like to mention that it is happening all over the continent and not just by us.¡±

    ¡°This is how it starts, they first get fort¡¯s and garrisons than they want more, than we give them more. Where does it stop?¡±

    ¡°That only the future can tell. We can speculate on best and worst case scenarios but for now we should not think too much of the future.¡±

    ¡°What about those outlanders that take control of regions that are not set aside for them. I have it on good authority that there is an outlander that has ownership, deeds and mineral rights to mines here close to our very own city. This person has already pre bought crops from farmers so that he can create a shortage and sell his stored supplies for high amounts when the supplies start to run low.¡±

    There was a silence. Lancelot was usually fast to reply but now here was, speechless. For a moment it seemed all the Lords, advisers and King was looking at Tinker. It took a few seconds for him to notice that he was wrong. They were looking at Major. Tinker looked at the man who had the best poker face he had ever seen. He caught Major attention and the man just winked at him while keeping the perfect poker face. The stares did not last long and people seemed to be focusing on the meeting again. He could hear Major breathing out a sigh of relief.

    ¡°As far as I know the mines were overrun with monsters or no longer in working order for people to mine in safely. Are you going to complain that this person has given jobs for many of our people while at the same time increasing production and supplies we need? Now that we are mining again from those mines we spend less on import taxes and become more self efficient. If war breaks out with our enemies at the borders and trade routes are closed, the added silver, iron and gold we get in local lands will only help. Buying crops from farmers before they are harvested are not illegal and choosing not to sell them as soon as they are harvested is also not illegal. To wait for supplies of said product to run low and then flood the market with new supplies at high prices is not illegal. Personally I think it is not honorable, but from a business point of view it is good way to make money. You of all people should know the means your sister uses to run a big and successful merchant company. Maybe the King has more to add on this subject. Moderator I rest my case.¡±

    ¡°Lord Max, Your closing words?¡±

    ¡°All new outlanders to our lands rely on us to provide them with a class. Maybe we should make them all farmers or civil workers. That way they won¡¯t kill and murder us without fearing our trained army of knights and warriors.¡±

    The moderator asked the king if he was ready to speak. He nodded and started.

    ¡°That plan would work for a short while. But what will prevent our enemies from across the borders to assign warrior classes to all the new outlanders and those we reject? I believe this will provoke them faster and lead to our certain demise. As for the claims of this outlander that already possesses land and deeds. (He was looking straight at Major at this point) Despite the rumors of him stealing, bribing, extorting or blackmailing people to acquiring his wealth. None have been proven and no single person has come forward with evidence. By all rights he got his wealth through legal and legitimate ways. Since he had done nothing wrong he can keep what he owns and strive to further in rich not just himself but those he does business with. As for the other matter I decree that lands infested with the worse of monsters and struggling villages be made available for outlanders to control if they so choose too."

    The moderator thanked all that were present and declared the meeting to be over. The king stood up to leave followed by his entourage and all the others after him. Major and Tinker hanged back to wait for the bulk of the people to leave. The king did not look over to Major again as he strode out. While they waited for the others to leave they did not say a word to each other. It seemed Major stayed quiet on purpose where Tinker was at a loss for words. He just joined this guild that seemed to have strong players in dungeons. Now this revelation was revealed to show that their merchants were as vicious and skilled as the fighters on their field of battle, the market place. The scale of what Major was doing, Tinker could not even begin to comprehend how big it was.

    They left the meeting hall and started their way back to the guild house. With nobody close by Major broke the silence.

    ¡°That went well, for a moment I thought they would toss me in jail again. It seemed I am safe for now.¡±

    ¡°Did you really do all those shady things they talked about and what do you mean by again?¡±

    Major laughed while saying ¡°You heard the king, no evidence. Tinker you are brand new in the guild do not worry too much about what I do or not do. Know I put the guilds needs above my own and that everything I do is for the guild. I think you are part of a few to see this side of what I do, but this allows us to operate and do things that other guilds cannot.¡±

    Tinker understood, it is just that in his mind merchants were those people that stood in shops or at stalls and traded. When he met Sam his understanding of merchants increased. Sam had a wagon and claimed to buy things in bulk. He had transported rare items as well. Now Major comes along and introduces a whole new aspect of the merchant class.

    He was not sure what he wanted to do. He needed to hand in his quest but on the other hand he wanted to tell his party members the news of how the meeting went and how Major kept a poker face while the most powerful man in Heaven kingdom said things like blackmail, bribes or extortion. There was a 4th thing but Tinker could not think of it right now. He opened the party chat.

    ¡°Guys where are you and what you doing?¡±

    ¡°We at an inn close to the guild house, enjoying drinks and food. What was the verdict of the meeting?¡±

    ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll catch you guys later, heading over to the Alchemy guild now. The king declared the ruined villages and lands full of monsters become available to players.¡±

    ¡°Sounds harsh, but guess it¡¯s a start. Chat later man.¡±

    Tinker also thought so. He asked Major what was his thoughts about it.

    ¡°First I was wondering if lands and towns would be made available. But think of this like a huge patch 5 months in after a game launch. I am going to assume that similar talks are going on in every Kingdom and the verdict will be the same. Here is some food for thought, did the game masters decide now is a good time or was it predetermined to wait over 5 months before they make lands and towns available? If they did predetermine it when did they test it? I have not read one single post of any person claiming to be a beta tester. Did the beta testers sign a contract to not talk about the game or what? Even if that was the case someone always talks. There is a group that claims that we are playing the beta of the game ourselves. Just think about the amount of money you spent so far on this game and it¡¯s just a beta.

    But back the patch thing. The lands with all the monsters are going to be a problem. Sure it might make for good hunting grounds, but then what. A person can only farm a place so many times before the benefits are not counted as worth it any more. Since a lot of these lands are new there is no saying what will happen if you kill most of the monsters on the land. Do they respawn? If they do respawn is it in hours or days? When you kill monsters do others stronger or weaker monsters come to the area? Until you kill them and invest time and effort in it you will not know. On the up side you will most likely discover new dungeons you and your allies can raid. The towns are also tricky. Since they are already failing it will take a high amount of capitol to get it up and running. Even if you invest there is no way of guaranteeing that the village would transform into a running and worthwhile place. The upkeep is going to be a bitch as well¡±

    ¡°Upkeep?¡±

    ¡°Well think of it this way. Those run down villages will not have guards you are so accustomed to seeing here at the capital or pretty much every village and city that is doing well. So after you and your guild manage to capture a town or defeat the bandit group controlling it, you cannot leave the town. The guild will have to defend the town, keep the peace and collect the taxes. Also if you want a town to sustain itself it needs a source of income, be it mining or farming or whatever. Then you will have to divert forces to clear out the locations and protect against monsters. While all that goes on you will also have to defend against other players that want to take your village. If a person can get a fast Npc¡¯s work force and militia going. You can leave your town and farm surrounding areas. But do you have any idea how long it takes to train Npc¡¯s? Add that to the unknown factors like attacks from monsters and enemies? It will be hard and some guilds will succeed and others will crash and burn.¡±

    This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

    ¡°I see, will you take over a village?¡±

    ¡°Nope. Not worth it. We will be able to defend the place and do all the things I just mentioned that need doing. But to what end? Npc¡¯s cannot defend against all enemies. I cannot ask and expect all the knights of the guild to farm and hang around the village for months on end. If they stay behind they will become weaker and get behind in levels. Add the fun fact we have no idea if the village we occupy will wield a high income it just seems to risky. A person would want a town for money and power. But to get money from a town like that you will most likely have to spend a lot of money first. In time you will be able to recruit Npc¡¯s from the village to fight for you. So in the long run you will get power. All that still depends on if you can hold the village and not lose all your new guards, soldiers and any other Npc¡¯s in a battle or enemy raid. As far as our guild goes we got money and our power is well above average. We won¡¯t be taking over any towns soon. But I do see opportunity in places like this. Say you know the land is fertile or the village has a few mines that are run down. I can provide the capitol to a strong guild to make it worth their while to attack. As part of the deal I will gain ownership of said mines or fertile lands. While they are still playing Sims in their village and doing whatever is they do. I¡¯ll be busy making money.¡±

    ¡°What is preventing them from taking said mines from you?¡±

    ¡°Well there are a number of things. First they won¡¯t get a single coin until I have the mines under my command tab. This will only happen once they have control of the town and the person that gets the town issues all the rights of the mine to my command. Then I send my own npc force to start mining. When they start I will be able to tell how rich the mine is and what to do next. If it a low yielding mines I will move the workforce to the next. If it is medium I let them stay, and if it is a high yield mine I would invest. Since I control the mines I can put in deeper shafts or rail way tacks with 1 click of a button. Or construct a smelter in one second there. Sure they can take all the stuff I mine, but then I will just tell my Npc work force to stop working. They could send in their own workers but if they wanted deeper shafts they would have to dig and that takes weeks or months and about the same money I spent in an instant. That is why I prefer doing business with people I know. It makes these sorts of moves where they betray you less likely. To avoid taxes or tempting them to take the mine from me. I would only send the minimum amount of ore and supplies via traders and transports. For the people running the town it would seem my output matched the tax I pay. If they do the hard math behind how much it is and current market value they would come up with numbers that claim I make low amounts of profits or even losses a few times.

    I like to mix things up like that. Best not to let them see I am making loads of money and encourage them to take the mines for their own greed. If all that fails I can always just sell the mine back to them. I wonder if I should tell you but my last resort is to collapse the said mine. I can do that from my command tab. It is a bit pricy to get it open again and if the enemies want to reopen the mine they have to do it the old fashion way which takes months. ¡°

    ¡°Sounds like there are not many guarantees in some of your business deals. Guess that means the 99% realism is doing its thing.¡±

    ¡°Indeed, I have wondered about that 99% realism statement. I guess in a world where magic is possible a lot of the things we do are made possible. I have seen some of our Knights fight. The skills they use would never be practical in real world. But alas a person can think of this as a game or a new world. I like to think of them as both but I lean more to the latter.¡±

    Tinker has also thought about this. Although this was a game. He could not help but feel and start thinking of it as a new world. He was in thought when Major stopped.

    ¡°I just remembered something. I am not going back to the guild house. This is where we part ways.¡±

    ¡°Yes, it is ok. I just decided I am going over to the Alchemy guild to hand in my quest. I will see you later.¡±

    ¡°Well this is awkward. I am heading to that part of the city so we might as well walk their together.¡±

    ¡°Cool beans.¡± They talked a bit more about the guild and its rules before they parted ways.

    The guild tab was a new tab that became available right after he joined the guild. It was next to his party tab. He opened it up to view what was inside. There was a list of player¡¯s name. Fist a message popped up to ask does he want to sort them by rank or name. He selected rank. The next message asked if he wanted to view the name of the offline users as well. He selected to show offline users. An offline players name would be darker and an online member name would be bright and all lit up. Before he started looking at the names he could see the number of guild members. The Brotherhood of Steel currently had 247 members.

    He looked at the names and saw Major name was at the top. He selected it and was able to see nothing other than his location, Heaven Kingdom. It seemed he had turned off his level and all the other privacy settings. The only thing that appeared was the officer note. That read Head Scribe. Skills  - Making money. Next he looked at Gambit who also had all his personal info turned off. His note read Head Knight. Skills ¨C Raiding and recruitment. He continued to read the names that followed. He concluded that Asmodian, Aurora, Buster, Dismas and Zane where all the same rank but they were in Alphabetic order. After that there was a guy named Solmonster that was all alone before the next rank and person that named started with A. Later he would discover that Solmonster lead the chapel in the south, in the Aidern Kingdom. There were 6 ranks after him where all the other members fell into. The Legendary Vanguard Knight was in the same rank as the Master Rune Knights and so on. Only if you read the officer note could you tell who belonged to what division and also what their skills were. The 3 different Scribes fell in rank 1 3 and 5. The last or 6th rank belonged to the Initiates. Tinker and his party were here. After looking at his own name he turned off all his personal information that showed his level, personal note and class. A person could always go change the setting and information later.

    Next he browsed over the Rules. It was a lot of information. He read through it all and tried to remember the important bits. A person must always wear your black coat in the guild house. Later he asked why they did it and Gambit explained it had to do with security. A person could make a duplicate of their black cloak but they wanted to make it hard as possible for thieves or assassins to surprise them. Gambit also explained later that any person that enters the guild and does not have a black cloak on or is not escorted by some someone with a cloak is under suspicion. It also explains why Quantum went with them to the guild house and left as soon as he could. This person or people get asked who they are and what they doing here. Some claim they are exploring, others came to join the guild and many other reasons. If they have no escort or active member with them, they are asked to leave and if they don¡¯t they are escorted out. Those that won¡¯t or come back are killed.

    It turns out that Major had discovered a loophole of some sort. Where he classified the guild under the same class as a church or embassy. Thus they had full immunity of kingdom laws concerning the activities that happened inside the guild house. If they killed a person that trespassed on guild ground they get no murderers mark or harassment from the Guards. They did however gain infamy and the odd loot. If they were in a forgiving mood they would hand the person his items back when he came looking for them. More than a few people lodged complaints at the city guards but nothing ever came of it.

    The other important rule he would have to follow is the code of conduct. The guild was proud and did not encourage people using the name while boasting about raids and items. The guild policies concerning these things were ¡°that our deeds and action do the talking so that we don¡¯t have to¡±. The only time details or heroic feats were mentioned were between guild members or when they were recruiting members. Of course not all people stuck to this and were punished in a way. That all went on till one guild member was caught boasting about the guild while drunk. When asked what is his defence he just claimed he was talking to strong level people that were possible candidates to join the guild. Since it took too much time to investigate if he was telling the truth most members caught boasting used that defence. Since it was hard to figure out who was lying and who was not, all the accused got away with it.

    Gambit explained that they did this as a sort of way to control information. If other players heard the dungeon name and type of items that drop there they would go farm and hinder the BoS. To have the edge and power over others, information like this needed to be kept secret. Like in all games there are those players that believe in equality and sharing all the information. As soon as those players posted a dungeon location online you can forget to quest or farm in said dungeon. The masses would descend on the place. Thus a lot of the top guilds were not talking and all their activities they kept secret. As Tinker discovered those secrets included things like finding out your guild master is accused of blackmailing. He wondered how long he would have to stay in the guild before he heard the truth and rumors of what was really going on. Gambit also gave the example of when they first joined the guild. At the time he only told them that he was going to raid for the next few weeks. He never mentioned the location, level or items that could expect to get. The extra items would be made available well after the raid then a person could figure out the average level of the dungeon. In addition he also explained that as initiates he can only see the Kingdom a person is located in and not exact location. As he climbs in the ranks he would see the name of the specific city or dungeon you are in or closest to.

    People exploiting the system would head into the wilds. They would leave from a town found in zone A and go into the wilds. The system would tell them they are in location A. They would just keep on monitoring the guild tab till a new location is revealed. As they enter the zone where dungeon B is located they would set out looking for it. If they are unlucky and keep walking in the wrong direction the system would tell them they are now in zone C. This way they would know they missed the dungeon and could head back looking for it. The same held true if they managed to walk in a circle and get back to zone A. A few days after the first posts online of how to use this system to cheat, it got fixed. Now the system would show the city or dungeon you are in. If you leave from city A to city B. The System would show you are in city A till the moment you first set foot in city B. When it came to dungeons the name would only appear once you enter the dungeon. So if somebody was tracking you via the guild tab they would only see you in are in the last city or town until the second you enter the dungeon. It made tracking through the wilds harder but the game was already well under way. Hunters had skills and abilities to help them track through the wilds. Other people would learn to travel via the stars and sun. Some bought compasses to help them along. After one patch to the game they were back to navigating like ancient humans did before GPS was invented.

    Another rule that caught his attention was the activity. If a person does not log on for 3 months without telling a high ranking person they get kicked. If your progress or skills are not up to standards you are kicked. The standards were decided by the high ranking players. They understood that not all would level the same pace. But what you had to prove that you were better than other players of the same level and class. Tinker was not too worried about that. He could fight and once he finished basic training he would only be stronger. The rules went on and Tinker was not too worried he would break them. The only other rule that he would do well to remember is not to start fights or declare war on another guild.

    There were more sub sections in the guild tab. One showed the items available. It seemed that there were a few sub sections under here as well. The name was that of the person handling the trade and his location. Tinker was surprised to see that it was not Major name alongside that of the Capital, after a quick look he saw the person was a merchant. It stands to reason that Major was not the only merchant and it seemed he did not have the time to sell items. Next was Walter, with the name of the city which the south chapter was located in. More names and places he did not know were on the list. It seemed they were some distance from the capital. The guild members did not all hang around the capital, they were spread all over. He browsed over the item list and saw a sword he wanted badly. It was at the south chapter so he was not going all the way there to buy it. The few items on the list from the person in the capital he could not use, he was not eager to buy a level 80 leg piece since it is still a long way off.

    A new subsection was a list of things the guild recommends for all players. Some he knew and other were new news to him. A list of things he knew was that they recommended you carry spare weapons and gear. To carry the odd healing potion for emergencies. To carry food for a month with you. To keep an antidote potion and common cloths with you. They suggested that you do not wear your battle gear in town in fear of it being stolen or you murdered for them. Also it helped from beggars and low level people following you all day asking for handouts. They suggested you give items to the merchant classes to sell and not just those from mass raids. This way you can go back to raiding while they sell your goods. Of course sometimes you get less or more money than what the item is worth. Most of the merchants knew what they were doing. Also this way other members of the guild have a chance to buy the items to increase their power. In return the merchants you give the items for gain faster levels and thus become better merchants. When he asked Major why he did not do it he claimed he had done it long ago for Gambit and their friends. But as the guild grew and other merchants joined he passed on the responsibilities because he needed more time to focus on his growing enterprises.

    They also suggested that you do not carry all your gold with you. It turns out when you died, the amount of gold you drop is not just influenced by your level but also by the amount of gold you are carrying with you. If you know your friends are going to loot your corpse it is fine, but bad people and monsters are all around and a person must make ready for the worse case. There were small chests people could keep their gold in, back at their guild house or place of residence. These chests could only be added to you inventory if they were empty and belonged to you. Once they had money inside they were out in the world for all to rob and see. Not many people chose this and took their chances but for some people it worked out better.

    The other suggestion was to put the money in the bank. They only suggest doing this if you have more than 500 gold and know you are going to stay in the area for a long time. There was not a branch of banks so you could not deposit money at one bank and withdraw it from another. In addition the message said that in the capital of the Heaven Kingdom any person with any amount of gold can go to the bank and open an account and store their money. As long as you talk to Barry at the bank. It sounded dodgy and here is why.

    Major needed a NPC to help manage the huge amount of money he had. Barry was ambitious and when the big piles of gold started coming in, he became best of friends with Major. He claimed that Barry might have betrayed them in the start or accept bribes, but now he is pretty much one of them. He earns a salary with a bonus at the end of the month. The bonus varies from the amount of gold that came in that month. He was needed to set up dummy accounts with the names of other people so that Major name does not appear in all the sales. If a person was to follow the paper trail or money it would show that mister Johnson paid for the mine or that mister Smith bought the farm land. If you go look at the deeds and titles names you will see the real person Major was the owner. Barry¡¯s bosses were pleased with him. He had many rich clients with more every month. He got promoted to his own office in the bank and now he was on the fast track to the top with all these clients of his. More than 90% of the clients he saw daily were from the BoS. The gold he managed was more towards 98% and just the BoS accounts. Most of that were Major¡¯s dummy accounts, but everybody was pleased. When the bosses would look at his books it will check out and not seem like there is one person doing all the sales.

    Tinker did not even know there were banks, it turns out they are only in prominent cities and capitals. One of the down sides to putting your money in bank was that you gained no interest. You also had to pay a monthly fee to keep your account open, add that to a once off fee for opening an account. The up side was that they could not be robbed. Even if you march a small army into a bank vault, magic will kill you if not the guards who escort any trouble makers from the bank.

    So the list of things went onwards. They even suggested the best raid composition. A healer. 2 range fighters and the rest any other melee type fighter. Assassins and thieves should not be over looked as raid members especially in dungeons that have a lot of traps and secret passage ways. Among the melee fighters they suggested a person or 2 to focus more on defence than attack. This was still early on in game and even tanks could keep up with the damage but from level 100 they would not be able to keep up in damage and should lose sloppy duels they had against a warrior, knight or paladin that focuses on damage output.

    As for professions, they only suggested you do not ignore it completely.  Only later on it became mandatory for the plate wearing classes that where on the front line to take up the fishing profession for the increased vitality and for all warrior related classes to complete basic training. The spell casters also had similar basic training to complete at mages guilds and towers. From what Lina told them it was more like school where they test your knowledge and intelligence. It seemed the only thing this training and that of the warriors had in common was that you needed time and determination to get through it.

 Chapter 15 : Half way there

    The alchemy guild seemed peaceful and not busy at all, so it was just a normal day. He made his way to the basement. He did not knock and just went in. The basement was dark and gloomy as usual. He made his way over to Gettafix who was hard at work at the bench.

    He made his approach slowly in fear or bumping against something or startling all the animals. He walked up till right behind Gettafix and looked what the man was doing. It seemed he had two frogs on the work bench with him and a suction tube in his hand. He was about to talk when Gettafix beat him to it.

    ¡°Are you real?¡± Not this again Tinker thought to himself

    ¡°Yes, same as the last time you asked me¡±

    ¡°No need to be cute about it. I ask to make sure if you are really here in the flesh and not to haunt me, like the others.¡±

    Others, does that mean there was more than one? ¡°No I am here because I am done with the quest you sent me on.¡±

    ¡°That is good. I send many out for quests but so little return. Remind me what task I gave you again?¡± Tinker now knew this person was crazy and who ever put him in charge was clearly bribed or blackmailed to do so.

    ¡°You sent me to get venom sacks, I brought them back for you.¡± Tinker walked to him and handed it over.

    Quest Complete. Reward is that Gettafix will pass his knowledge to your Alchemy Book.

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Quest updated: Become Tristan¡¯s student. Stage 4</td></tr></tbody></table>

    ¡°Ah yes, now I remember. Hand me over that scroll and book so I can do it. Have you decided what you wanted to do in the future? I can use a student like you that gets the work done and does not die at the first sign of danger.¡±

    *Ting*

    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have received a job offer!

    If you accept it, you will take a role on as Student for the alchemist Gettafix. You will become a member of the alchemy guild and receive a monthly salary. In addition you will be able to use and make use of all the services provided by the alchemy guild. Will you accept his job offer?</td></tr></tbody></table>

    ¡°O HELL no, there is now way I am going to work for a man that goes through students like I do toilet paper.¡±

    ¡°That saddens me, if you change your mind or come across a rare creature, come and see me.¡±

    Tinker never agreed to that and was all too happy to leave once Gettafix was done with his book. He went up the stairs to room 305. He decided best to check up on Tristan before he ventures over to room 302. He knocked and was told to enter. There Tristan sat at his deck busy with papers, Tinker could not help but feel most of these alchemist never make potions instead they are busy with papers or frogs or whatever all day long. He took a seat across Tristan waiting for him to finish.

    ¡°Ahh Tinker, how are things?¡±

    ¡°Good Tristan, I have returned from the Searing gorge with a lot of extra venom sacks and Gettafix has used the scroll on my book. Can you believe he offered me a job right after telling me he sees ghosts and loses students by the dozen.¡±

    ¡°Yes, he is definitely not the most popular of people around here but the man knows his alchemy. Think it has been a decade now since the ghost of a student of his came and haunt him.¡±

    ¡°Really, you are kidding me right? Ghosts do not exist.¡±

    ¡°Well ghosts are like spirits and there are many different types of spirits in our world. Think the term ghost refers to the spirit of a human and is usually associated with revenge. Not sure of that, maybe someone else knows.¡±

    ¡°How do things like this happen?¡±

    ¡°Not sure, maybe a curse or the person that dies feels there are still things to do and stays behind to complete the task. In the case of the ghost that came for Gettafix, it seemed like he wanted revenge or peace of some kind.¡±

    ¡°Maybe you should start this story from the beginning.¡±

    ¡°All right, I cannot remember the man¡¯s name, but like so many before him Gettafix sent him to collect samples. Eager to please he left. He was to collect cockroaches in a cemetery. As I remember there were many Crypts over there so he had his pick of where he wanted to look for them. Like so many other students that will start to follow this trend he never returned. Life went on for a few months till Gettafix started to complain that there are noises and disturbances down in the basement where he works.

    We all assumed he inhaled something to give the illusion. Maybe the animals and little monsters he keeps finally got to him. After a few more weeks of complaining we finally had enough and went down to the basement to investigate. At first glance we found nothing, heard nothing out of the ordinary. We were about to stop when Gettafix came down to the basement to ask how things are coming along. When he entered there was rattling of cages, books fell from shelves and a host of other spooky things. We tried following the noises and happenings but no success. We set traps, drank potions to enhance our senses, illuminated the entire room but still no results. Than I had the idea to use magic to cast a detect spell I learned ages ago. After that it all made sense, I detected a spirit and could see it. It was the man sent to the cemetery. We tried talking to it but we had no success.

    After a few more hours we came to a few conclusions. That the spirit only seems to see Gettafix and that it cannot talk. It turns out a person needs air in lungs or magic to talk. It seemed the ghost had neither. The little magic he did posses he used to shake items about and that¡¯s it. Gettafix tried casting his calm spell on it to no effect and after that he tried talking to it. It was odd to behold, whenever he spoke the ghost would stop what he is doing and look at him. But the look was more along the line of that a baby gives when you make noise. It seems like he is listening but he cannot talk back and his mind does not understand what you are saying. Since we could not get anything done after that we in listed the help of the mages guild. They sent a couple of mages and wizards over. They had 3 suggestions, kill the ghost, trap it in a soul gem or communicate with it. Since we knew the fellow we did not want to kill it or trap it forever in a soul gem. That only left communication. Naturally none of them knew how too and left us. They said they would send someone over from the mages guild the moment they figure out to talk with it.

    The next few days we all left Gettafix and his ghost friend alone in the basement. Gettafix reached the point where he would just keep on talking so that the ghost would not wonder and mess up his lab. At night he would drink a custom made potion that puts him to sleep for 8 hours and resume the endless talking the following day. The Mages guild finally sent a person and we thought our problem would be solved. It turns out is extremely hard to communicate to a lost spirit or one of low magic properties. The first spell the wizard used was a spell that allows communication like we are doing. But instead of talking through our mouths we use our minds. The range is limited but it was not a problem then. We still got the same result. We each tried talking to it with no success only Gettafix had some success. The problem seemed that the ghost did not want to talk back. Our last resort was telepathy. The problem with that is that people think it is a lot like talking but in reality it is more than just sending words. It is about sending images and feelings. You may think it is an easy task but we have been talking all our lives. And we think faster than we are able to talk.

    Here is a test for you, try and describe a battle for me between you and another warrior. You will start talking but in your mind you will let the images of said battle progress further, or let it stop, or lose focus and think of other images and then go back to the battle. It really is hard and that is even without the feelings added in. Those experienced in telepathy can limit and regulate what they send, but we would have no limits and as the images are thought up by the ghost, Gettafix would receive it. It was decided Gettafix should go first while the rest of us leave so that we cannot distract him.

    Later he told me what happened. At first he was overwhelmed with images and feelings. The images were only there for an instant before they were replaced by others. Fortunately the images were not from his entire life, but from what Gettafix could deduce there were 4 major stories. At the start he did not know anything but after an hour or so he managed to put most of the images in these 4 stories. It seemed one story was the times he spent with his girl friend. Another was all the times he was seated at a table and his mother would bring food to him. The other images were at the cemetery where he was supposed to get the samples and the most of his images were of all the times he spent in the basement with Gettafix. He tried to focus more on the images from the cemetery to try and paint a picture of what happened. What he managed to put together was that he entered the crypt. Killed roaches and collected many samples.

    Until he saw a standing skeleton with glowing green eyes. He tried to retreat but was surrounded by more skeletons. He tried to fight but was brought down fast. The skeletons did not kill him, only wounded him to the point where he could not run and was slowly bleeding to death. The last image showed was where he was lying on his back and a skeleton looking like a mage of some sorts killed him. Gettafix claimed the emotions and feelings of dying were so vivid he cried and screamed from the pain.

    We contacted the warrior¡¯s guild, church and mages guild to tell them of a possible undead army multiplying in a nearby location. It took them a better part of a month to kill the thousands of undead and to cleanse all the dead bodies, grounds and bones. Sometime during that month the ghost disappeared, the only explanation was that his remains had been cleansed. Gettafix was locked up in his room here on the 3rd floor. After that the man changed, he became more distant from students and all of us. I think on some level he feels responsible for this. He could not for see the hordes of undead at the cemetery and after he experienced dying in the truest of sense he stopped caring about everything accept his work. Only recently is he showing signs of improvement.¡±

    Tinker had died before and assumed the real thing will be so much worse and more painful, but to experience such things and live can truly change a person. After hearing the story a lot more of Gettafix as a person started to become clear for him.

    Tinker needed a distraction of this sad story so he left Tristan and made his way over to room 302. He knocked and was told to enter. The man sitting at his desk was young compared to the other people he had met. If he would guess he would think the person was 45 years of age. After introductions and Tinker telling him of the book and what he needed from him the man, he took a moment to think.

    ¡°Alright I have a task for you. It is not something I would normally ask of someone but maybe a fresh face is what I need. I need you to go and investigate how Judy Maximuss is making my product, who is supplying it to her and you need to put an end to it.¡±

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Complete a task for council member Jim.

    Go investigate the decreases to his business, he claims the Maximuss mercantile company are to blame.

    Difficulty level: E

    Quest requirements: Must be someone new to the capital of the Heaven Kingdom

    Reward is getting Jim to use the scroll for the Alchemy book

    Failure will result in Jim rejecting your request.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    ¡°Yes I will look into it, is there more you can tell me?¡± Tinker thought that he needed more information because if he fails this quest he will also not be able to become Tristan student.

    ¡°First what you need to know is what I do here, with my alchemy skills I create more people oriented potions, powders, slaves or solutions and even the odd elixir. My area is more specific and it is for the people that magic cannot help. For example if a person needs a salve to help strengthen the skin, fight aging or help hair growth I am the guy you come and see. Most popular item I sell is a potion that helps men achieve erections. Many of the rich and Lords need them for their personal life. It is mostly those with multiple mistresses or that really have trouble down there that buy. I do not have a big sign that tells people I sell them, I work discreetly and my cousin sells it at his shop so that those that want to keep it secret and not make others suspicious.

    The name of the shop is Dazine Wares. He sells a bit of everything that people would need that¡¯s not useable in battle. As you can imagine the amount of money people would pay for a great sex life it good. I won¡¯t be able to retire of all the money I make but it helps to have gold for rainy days or exotic items. I am not going to give you a list of the specific ingredients, then with some luck and time you will also become my rival. I can mention one plant they would need. It is called Berberidaceae or the street name is rowdy lamb herb. Now go and find out what is going on, once you know who is to blame come back to me with a solution, that we can discuss our next plan of action.¡±

    ¡°Yes sir, a last question. Is there a time limit involved?¡±

    ¡°Not really no, I am still making money, just not as much as I use to. So until I stop making money you have time to figure it out.¡±

    With that said he was off. Outside the room he took his book to look if there was a Berberidaceae in it. It was no shock there was nothing. He went over to Tristan to ask what he might know of the plant. At first Tristan did not recognize the name and asked for more details. When he added the street name for it Tristan actually laughed for a brief second.

    ¡°Ah yes, the rowdy lamb herb. Funny story it is not an herb but a weed according to classifications. Guess the local people that used it long ago thought of it as an herb, since it¡¯s helpful. They grow in high altitudes in warmer places. So think along the lines of your Stormy peaks but just lower and warmer. There are places like that all over the Kingdom and most of them have the plants. It is hard to cultivate them and they just don¡¯t have the same potent effect if you grow them in the green houses. Thus all those that are used are those that grow in the wild and get harvested by people climbing mountains.¡±

    He was not sure if that information would prove useful but it was a start. He left and opened his party chat to hear their opinions. To his surprise all of them were offline so he was flying solo on this. After asking for directions to the Maximuss building he arrived. The building looked like it had a medium store room and a shop to the side where you can go do your business. If they did not have magic bags to put items in he assumed the store room would have been 5 times the size. He stood outside in the streets to watch the building. He kept an eye mostly on the store room doors. After about 3 hours only 2 merchant wagons arrived and left again. Since items in wagons and inventory could not be seen he was unable to see anything. He moved closer in the hope he might be able to get a glimpse of what was going on inside but no success. It occurred to him that not all merchants use wagons. Only those that sell in bulk would use wagons. Further any person that entered the side store could be the person that was transporting the plant. Thanks to magic a person can carry a lot of things and it will only look like your backpack is of normal size.

    This approach was getting him nowhere. He would need to rethink his approach. He left to get some food and think. In cities they rarely made food. They either stopped at inns or made excess when they were in dungeons for later use. While eating lamb with a nice side of creamy potatoes he thought of possible plans. His last plan would be to walk into the store and ask them about the plants and potions but that will most likely back fire. He could hang around more at the building and hope something happens but he was not confident that would work. The other plan he thought might work was to follow any old rich looking Lords that leave the building. But if he does that he would have to wait for the night time to see if they use the potion. Also in this plan he would have to sneak on estates and dodge guards and hope the person drinks a questionable potion in the light by a window.

    Another plan that won¡¯t work, he thought he could maybe talk or bribe the workers in the store room.  The problem was that there were not many workers. A person can transfer items from one inventory to another if both parties agree to the trade and there is enough space to accept the items. Thus a merchant can come and dump items over to the store room bags. From there they can be removed or resorted to other bags. You will only need one or two strong men for the odd big item that needs transporting once it out of the bags. His best bet would be to talk to the person in charge of the store room records.

    It took the better part of an hour to ask who had records of the store room that was not lady Judy, he tried to ask is so it does not seem suspicious and only asked people that did not work there. Sorting out who the people that worked there, took the bulk of his time. It turned out the Lady Judy kept a copy of the records and also a man named Adam. An employee described Adam so Tinker waited for him to leave the business before he made his approach. Adam was about 2 blocks away before Tinker walked up to him to talk.

    ¡°Good day, are you Adam?¡±

    ¡°Yes, who is asking?¡±

    ¡°I am Othello, It seemed I had just mist you back at the trading company. They told me you are the man I need to talk to if I want something specific.¡±

    ¡°That is true, the Lady Judy as at the store right now, she will be able to help you, as you can see I am off duty.¡±

    He had to think fast. In his mind he played out the conversation between them, everything went smooth from the fake name till the end part where he gave him the information Tinker wanted.

    ¡°Um yes, she was busy with a private meeting that was going to take long, so someone suggested I ask you, but you had just left.¡±

    ¡°All right, are you a new client or do you have an account with us?¡±

    ¡°My uncle has an account but I am new.¡±

    ¡°Very well, what is his name and what do you want?¡±

    ¡°The name is John Smith and I want to ask about a certain item.¡±

    ¡°I do not recall that name, but then again I focus on the store room and others handle the accounts. Well speak up about the item.¡±

    ¡°I am looking for a plant by the name of Berberidaceae or rowdy lamb herb. Do you have any in supply?¡±

    ¡°It does not sound familiar. I can maybe look in the books when I am back, but that will only be later tonight. Best go ask the Lady Judy to help you out.¡±

    ¡°No I think I will wait for you. I am already late for another appointment so I will see you later.¡± They shook hands and Tinker was off. He was close to the guild house so he decided to head over there. Upon arrival he put on his coat and took a seat at the table in the corner. The guild did not seem busy, as a matter of fact it seemed nearly empty. There were only 3 other people. At his corner table he took out his leather tool kit, extra leather and his leather armour. He started braking and repairing it. He was so focused he did not notice a person walked right up to him and started to talk.

    ¡°Tinker buddy, what are you doing?¡±

    ¡°O Sorry Major, just working on my leather working while I wait for night fall.¡±

    ¡°It is already night fall. You busy with a quest?¡±

    ¡°Still not late enough I am afraid and yes, working on a quest which is right up you ally as a matter of fact.¡±

    ¡°Really do tell.¡± He took a seat at the table.

    ¡°Well I need to obtain information or evidence that the Maximuss trading company are making a certain product. The only clue I have is one of the ingredients they use. I tried casing the joint but that did not work. So after a while I managed to set up a meeting with the store room master sometime tonight when the boss is not around.¡±

    Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!¡°Sounds like you got everything under control.¡±

    ¡°Not really, that was the easy part. The ingredient I am looking for is rare and will not be in large amounts. Also there is the chance that he does not know of it, or the other chance he knows and does not want to tell me. I am not sure how to approach this.¡±

    ¡°Yes things like there are tricky to say the least. There are 3 ways you can go about this. Ask the person and hope they are in a talkative mood. Of course I would not suggest this because merchants value their intelligence and privacy. The other is to convince him to tell you. That can be done with a bribe, blackmail or forcing them to tell you. The last resort is tricking them into telling you. For example you force them to boast or give other relative innocent information. The other example I can think of is take those sweet cherries you got from Reeseville. If you were tracking them and want to go about it discreetly. You can instead ask the store room master about his shipments and where they recently had come from.¡±

    ¡°So you are saying I must know where the plants come from and ask about shipments from that area?¡±

    ¡°Well that is one way of doing it. That is why the person can unknowingly tell you if the plants are there or not. There is always the risk that there are a lot of other things coming from those areas that are not your supplies, but you will have to sort through the information.¡±

    ¡°I think that can work. The plant get¡¯s harvested high in warm mountains. I do not know what other items they will send to the capital but it can¡¯t be much.¡±

    ¡°Good luck. One more thing, remember merchants like money above all else. So have your bribe ready and word your questions right. Ask them if they know of said plant or shipment from the town and rather not show me your books and log from said town or shipment. You want them to feel they are doing little wrong and not betraying the boss and loosing the company money.¡±

    ¡°All right, thanks for the advice.¡±

    ¡°No problem, and one more thing, when you mislead someone with information I find the best way is to make it as close to the truth but not the whole truth. Best to not to tell them everything and let them fill in the blanks and little pieces. If you dealing with a merchant type and the information is sensitive, it is best you make him put the pieces together. Since he worked hard to piece all the information together, he believes it that much more. Let me know how it goes.¡±

    He agreed to do just that and was packing up his items and putting them back when a man stepped up from nowhere and took a seat. He did not speak and was clearly waiting for Tinker to leave. As he was walking away he heard Major speaking. ¡°It went well Dismas?¡±

    Outside it was not late at night and Tinker knew the only man he could get the information he needed from, was Tristan. He remembered Tristan once told him he lived at the alchemy guild. He would go and pay him a late night visit. Over at the Alchemy guild he was not surprised to see it open. Since players played any time, most important places were open 24 hours a day. The Npc had to sleep so the master¡¯s offices of the third floor were all closed till the morning. He approached the front desk and spoke to the woman on duty.

    ¡°Evening I am looking for Tristan¡¯s room, where can I find it?¡±

    ¡°Sorry young man, the master¡¯s room are off limits, come and see him again in the morning.¡±

    ¡°No you don¡¯t understand I am training to become his student and need his guidance.¡±

    ¡°Yes and I am the queen of the Heaven Kingdom, can you prove it?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± He showed her his quest for becoming Tristan student.

    ¡°My apologies, the masters do not like when we give personal information out on them. As for you I did not know who you were. You understand right?¡±

    Funny how she went from the queen to a very apologetic and humble person all of a sudden. ¡± Yes I understand, you were only doing your job. Now can you tell me where I can find his room?¡±

    ¡°Room 402, again my apologies.¡±

    He just left her and made his way up to the room. He could tell the room was lit by seeing the light come through the door. He knocked and heard Tristan voice telling him to enter. The room was not very big, it had a bed, book shelf, cupboard, cooking place, table and a few chairs. It was surprising neat and well kept, could have used a woman touch but that was not important.

    ¡°Tinker, what brings you here to my house?¡±

    ¡°Not much, I was hoping to ask you a few questions again.¡±

    ¡°Certainly.¡±

    ¡°Can you tell me more about the region and the names of the places where the largest amount of rowdy lamb herb grows?¡±

    ¡°That again, well there are 2 places in the Heaven Kingdom I know of that has more of the weed than other places. At our south border there is a big mountain range called the Hudson mountain range, and closer by about 1 week from here are the Red Ridge mountains. The soil there is red and the entire mountain range looks red. In addition the red soil is fertile and more than a few different plants strive there. Not much more I can tell you I am afraid. Want to stay for dinner, was about to start.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, think I know all I need to know right now. You have done so much for me, let me return the favor and make you dinner, have you ever had Spider stew? It tastes like chicken¡­¡±

    He left Tristan late that night, they talked and ate and shared tails till he had to go sleep. He judged it late at night enough for Adam to be on duty. After arriving at the shop only Adam and another was there. Tinker had time to think how he wanted to play this, he had his bribe money but out of fear that the person would reject it or know nothing he would only use it as a last resort. He did not want to lead by asking directly about the plant for in case Adam was part of it and then he would never tell. Some people take loyalty way to serious and if he gets on Adam¡¯s bad side he could fail the quest. His plan was to make contact, butter up to Adam. Find out if there are caravans or wagons going from here to Red Ridge mountains and Hudson mountains. Ask if there is a person working here who can use plants. After that things will be made clear or he will use plan b, b as in bribe.

    As he entered Adam stopped what he was doing. ¡°Well met mister Othello, your other appointments went well I assume?¡±

    ¡°Extremely. You guys do not seem very busy. Slow night?¡±

    ¡°The nights are usually quiet, only the odd caravan arrives or few clients stop by. With the outlanders here that stay awake for days and run around at all hours we stay open for.¡±

    ¡°Yes, just the other day my uncle and I were talking how they keep unnatural hours. Good for business on the one had but too much time to make trouble in.¡±

    ¡°Hahaha, I agree.¡±

    *Ting familiarity with Adam increased

    ¡°Now let us get down to business.¡±

    ¡°A yes, my uncle has interest in two parts and we like to know how frequent do your caravans go to the regions. As we understand your shipment routes are vast and the safest.¡±

    ¡°That is true, we guarantee delivery of goods, now tell me what type of business are we talking about and which are the two regions?¡±

    ¡°I fill say this, the product can only be used by a select few and they are on the rare side. The places are Red Ridge and Hudson mountains.¡±

    ¡°The Hudson mountains are far away, we do not have caravans that far away but it can be arranged. As for Red Ridge we have caravans that cycle through there every 3 weeks.¡±

    ¡°Very good, have you recently received a shipment Red Ridge?¡±

    ¡°No, but in a few days time it will arrive. Do you wish to import from Red Ridge or export to it as well?¡±

    ¡°Both, I have concerns that others might jump on this opportunity and if our sources are correct some might already have.¡±

    ¡°Really. Red Ridge, fertile soil. Good weather. Must be fruit your uncle wants to plant and export or herbs.¡±

    Tinker tried to show surprise on his face. ¡°Well you did not hear that from me. A lot of money these days in plants. All the outlanders want potions to give them the edge and they will pay a lot for it. So you can imagine we want to have full market control. Do you know if plants from that region are already coming in?¡±

    ¡°Afraid I do not know, the only other people that might have interests there are the Collins mercantile group. Of course after us they are the second largest merchant group here.¡±

    ¡°Yes second, that is why I am here and not there. Are you sure the records do not have logs about plants coming from there?¡±

    ¡°Sir I cannot violate the privacy of our clients by sharing such information with you.¡±

    It was now or never, he had to use the money for a bribe but how to word it that he will take the bribe.

    ¡°Mister Adam, I am not asking for all the records, I just want you to check the books and see if a plant by the name of Berberidaceae has been coming in. I need to know if we have competition. According to my uncle if we have full market control we can look at profits around 500 gold a week, after taxes. But that can only be achieved with full market control and a merchant group that can secure on time delivery of our supplies.¡± As he said the last part he gave a bag with 50 gold in it to Adam.

    He could see the shock on his face. He did not seem to except so much. He could see that Adam was having conflicting emotions after that. This was going to be the moment of truth.

    ¡°Well I can have a look, but just this once.¡±

    ¡°Very well, we can keep this between us I assume?¡±

    He nodded and left to a closet looking room. 5 minutes later he returned. ¡°Sorry, no plants by that name. There are two others.¡± He read the names but it was not what he was looking for.

    ¡°Do you people have somebody that works with the plants? Our negotiations with the Alchemy guild is going bad¡± he tried to say with a tone that sounded like frustration. ¡°They are difficult and want a minimum of 75% on all potions sold.

    ¡°No we don¡¯t have I am sorry. But now that you mention the alchemy guild I have been seeing one of their young members here lately. He is friends with Joey, he works here and helps with the storeroom. Joey is not here right now.¡±

    ¡°No matter, our first harvest will most likely be in 1 month. I will keep you updated on our progress and we can discuss our beneficial business later on as we progress.¡±

    ¡°Very well, hope to be hearing from you soon.¡±

    He walked out and after he rounded the first corner he logged out.

    That night in bed Scot thought of what his next plan of action should be. He did not think the bribe will yield no results. At least Adam would not betray him or notify the wrong people any time soon. His best bet now was to talk to Joey and maybe spy on the next shipment that comes in from Red Ridge. He was back to being nearly broke. That 50 gold bribe took a lot out of him, best to figure out a way to make money tomorrow.

    He logged back in and calculated the shipment will be coming in tonight. He was offline for the better part of 2 days. It seemed the others were not online yet. They would most likely log on in the next 8 hours or so. They would catch the sunny morning while he needs to go sneak about in the night.

    He stood in the dark a good distance away from the storeroom. He waited for the caravan to come. After a good 2 hours he saw the caravan arrive. Once it entered the storeroom he went closer and tried to look into the window. Before he could a shifty looking fellow walked up to the door and knocked. He was looking about to make sure not anybody saw him. Unfortunately he made eye contact with Tinker. Tinker at this time tried to pretend he did not notice and walked onwards around the corner. He gave a good 3 second count and peaked back around the corner. The man was no longer there and went in.

    Tinker was still thinking should he go peak in the window or wait for said shifty person to come out. He reluctantly went from his hiding place to peek inside the window. After a few seconds the door swung open, he barely had time to hit the ground and become one with the shadow next to him. The person that came out did not see him and was hastily making a b line away from the store room. Tinker decided to follow him. The person went back to the Alchemy guild, once there he made his way up to the second floor and that is where Tinker lost him. At least now he knew the person was here. He went to the lobby of the alchemist guild and worked on leatherworking during the night. He was sitting in the corner and hoped the person would reveal himself. He could not see the person well in the night but he remembered him to be tallish, skinny, eyes wide part and a long stride in his walk. He hoped that would be enough to identify the person.

    During the morning many people came down the stairs and there might have been a person that fit his description but that person seemed to be broader in the shoulders. Finally the person he was looking for came down. He seemed normal enough. Talked to a few people and stepped out. He talked to the same lady he did a few nights ago. It seemed she is working the morning shift now. He waited a minute before walking to her.

    ¡°Morning, in what room does that fellow you just talked to live?¡±

    ¡°Do you mean Ned? The skinny one?¡±

    ¡°Yes thank you, I forgot his name.¡±

    ¡°Room 209, must I leave a message for him or tell him you are looking for him? You had just missed him.¡±

    ¡°No need, I will talk to him later, he is expecting me.¡±

    Now knowing what to expect, he went to the room. The room was locked and he did not want to break it down. He could wait and confront Ned or he could go talk to Jim. He thought it best to tell Jim what he knows. After explaining all the details to Jim he just took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair.

    ¡°Well I did stop using the Maximuss trading company to import the ingredients and now the Collins company are doing it. Not sure how this Joey person picked up on it, but if Ned put him up to it, it made more sense and it adds up. We need evidence though. Let us go to his room and have a look.¡±

    ¡°I have tried, it is locked.¡±

    ¡°Like it should be, all masters have a master key that opens all locks on level 2 and lower.¡±

    They went to the room and entered. Nobody seemed to mind them going in or noticed them really. Inside Jim looked around and made his way over to the small work table. After a brief search he stopped.

    ¡°By my living tree sack, it is him. I detect the smell of a finished potion and there is residue left over from where he worked. Ned was a student of mine and he always did not clean his equipment after he was done. He must have seen me make it or figured out how I did it by taking my ingredients. None the less. Put a stop to this.¡±

    ¡°Why must I do it?¡±

    ¡°Well I am a master here and cannot get him kicked for making illegal potions which he learned from me. Neither can I murder him. So you figure it out and if this gets back to me I will deny everything, naturally.¡±

    ¡°Fine¡±

    Tinker sat in the room thinking up a plan.

    Later Ned came back to his room and was a bit surprised that his door was unlocked. He entered and he saw a man sitting in his chair with two swords on his lap. He was fully clothed for battle in his leather armour.

    ¡°Shut the door¡± Tinker always wanted to say that in a demanding bad ass voice.

    Ned complied. He was not looking eager or pleased with his current situation. ¡°Who are you and what do you want.¡±

    ¡°Who I am, is not important, what is important is that your side business ends today.¡±

    ¡°I have no idea what you are talking about¡±

    ¡°Really, then why do you sneak over to the Maximuss storeroom whenever a caravan arrives for Red Ridge, why does your work bench smell like you just made a potion with the Berberidaceae. Lastly why don¡¯t you clean said plant and others properly from your equipment when you are done?¡±

    Ned glanced over to his work bench. ¡°Don¡¯t worry I cleaned it for you while you were gone.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t bully me to try and make me stop my business. I won¡¯t give in to fear.¡±

    ¡°Really, then why can I barely hear you over your trembling voice?¡±

    ¡°If you report me I will take master Jim with me, If you kill me they would kick you out of the guild. I have seen you, I know you are trying to become master Tristan¡¯s student and maybe they would toss him out once they hear his favorite did all these bad things.¡± Ned was starting to gain confidence and decided to bluff his way out of this. ¡°And do not forget about my Father he will¡­¡±

    That was about as far as he got before Tinker killed him with a fast and deadly strike. Tinker looked over the dead corpse. He did not want to do it and was hoping his bluff of being a bad ass would convince Ned to give up his side business. It just showed that no matter how well you plan things, it can go bad at anytime.

    In the time he waited for Ned he thought that this might happen, he did not plan for it but here he was. He took out some poison plants he got and grind them up and boiled water. After that he mixed the water with tea in the room along with the poison. He then drank of the poisoned tee himself and put in neatly down next to him. He waited till his health dropped a good amount before he drank his multipurpose antidote. He first took most of the plants from Ned inventory which he did not recognize along with the Berberidaceae. Now would come the hard part.

    He burst out of the room yelling murderer. As people came rushing they saw him in the hall with common cloths and swords in hand. When enough people and a few masters arrived he started to explain what had happened. He claimed that Ned tried to poison him and right before Tinker had killed him he said things along the line of Tinker not being worthy to become a member of the guild and so on. As people arrived on the scene it looked like Tinker killed Ned and his word was his only defence. The guild however started to investigate the room. The tee was still warm, it was in fact poisoned. Tinker had lost a good portion of health. The work bench had said poison left over in it. Most seemed to fit but all they needed was motive. Tinker supplied that.

    They were not truly convinced but Tinker said he met Ned and that he asked him over a few days ago. He told him to meet him at his room. He assumed it was for a quest or something so he came when he could. He asked a lady in the lobby for the room number so he could go see him when he gets back. Their conversation at the start was about how Tinker is enjoying the guild and how his tasks are going. He claimed that when he noticed his health was dropping he attacked Ned and drank and antidote as soon as possible. Before that Ned tone changed and it became harsher. His last words were that he was not worthy to be here.

    In the end his story checked out. They could not find evidence that Tinker was the reason for hostility and that all his actions were in self defence. They concluded it was Ned that tried to kill him with poison but he failed only because he underestimated the health pool of Tinker. As for the exact reason, it died with him.

    Tinker was not arrested and would do no jail time. His infamy increased but that was worth it. He made his way over to Jim¡¯s room.

    ¡°The deed is done, his business is shut down¡±

    ¡°Indeed it is, good job with the fake murder scene. If I did not know, what I do, I would have been fooled like the others. Hand me over the Scroll and let us be done with our business.¡±

    Quest Complete. Reward is that Jim will pass his knowledge to your Alchemy Book.

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Quest updated: Become Tristan¡¯s student. Stage 5</td></tr></tbody></table>

    ¡°Now the only problem is what do I tell the others if they ask what I did for you to complete a task?¡±

    ¡°Make something up, you are a smart boy.¡±

    ¡°Maybe I am, but not smart enough to fool Tristan when he asks¡±

    ¡°I think Tristan is well aware of what I use my plants for. When it comes to plants a person cannot get anything by him. Just tell him you got plants for me and spent time grinding, sorting and so on.¡±

    ¡°All right, guess that will have to do.¡±

 Chapter 16: Fairies and spirits

    He was standing at the front of room 301, the last room before he can complete his quest. He hoped that his resent actions did not compromise everything he worked for so far. He may have been cleared of murder but people hold grudges. It was not the guild master that talked to him but a guard. Thus he had not spoken to the guild master and had only seen him at Ned¡¯s room.

    He could feel the butterflies in his stomach. Murder he was fine with if it was to complete a quest, but to look others in the eye and lie about it made him nervous. He knocked and made his way into the room. The man sitting at the table was old, his beard was long and the room seemed to be in chaos. Potions lying everywhere, stacks of books and papers all around. The only place that seemed to be normal was the workbench. He assumed the guild master wanted a clean and orderly workbench.

    ¡°Hello guild master, I am Tinker. Can I have a moment of your time?

    ¡°Yes come in Tinker, I knew that one day you would walk through my doors. It is just a shame it has to be after that nasty incident. I never knew Ned would overreact so much towards a new student. Maybe it was because you are an outlander and jealousy makes even sane men do crazy things.¡±

    ¡°Yes sir, he seemed like a nice guy when I met him and even our conversation was pleasant for the most part.¡±

    ¡°Indeed, now you are here for the book or to talk about Ned?¡±

    ¡°I do not know if there is more to say about Ned, but I am here for the book.¡±

    ¡°I understand, Tristan has been talking a lot of you lately and the other masters seemed pleased for doing the tasks they asked of you. After a long deal of thought I know what you can do for me. You must go to a fairy grove and collect a good portion of fairy dust. The grove is about a week¡¯s walk from here in the Mystic forest. Take this potion and drink it the moment you enter the forest. It will help you from getting lost in there forever and the fairies will know that a friendly person has come. They will make contact with you. Be polite, do not violate their laws and they would assign you a task to complete. As a reward they would give you fairy dust. Their dust can be used to double magic effects for a brief period, depending on the amount you use. From healing to harmful spells and even summoning gain advantages this way.¡±

    ¡°All right, am I not supposed to get the quest to send me on my way?¡±

    ¡°No your quest from me will start once you get back from the forest.¡±

    ¡°Very good, do I have a time limit or is there anything else I need to know?¡±

    ¡°No limit. Just try and get it done before I retire. You would have to do a quest for them, many men had tried stealing from them and they all had gone missing. Even armies of men have tried to attack the forest to learn its secrets. If fairies feel threatened they will just teleport away with forest and all. One last thing, do not lose that potion and drink it before you enter.¡±

    He left the room, and thought he might as well stop by Tristan. Best not to start acting suspicious. As per usual Tristan was hard at work so Tinker sat on the chair and waited for him to finish what he was doing.

    ¡°Tinker my boy, you made a nasty scene today. How are you holding up?¡±

    ¡°Oddly good, I have died before and every time I step outside a city there are monsters that are trying to kill me, a person is new, but such is life.¡±

    ¡°You are handling it better than I would have thought. Nasty business that of today. Did not think Ned would be the one to act out, there are others in the guild that have been more outspoken against your kind. But alas, life is full of mystery. Have you done your task for Jim yet?¡±

    ¡°That I have, he made me collect certain plants, then grind them up for him and so on.¡±

    ¡°I see, when you came here asking about the plant I knew Jim was the one who told you to get the plant. I assumed you were going to travel to Red Ridge and collect them yourself.¡±

    ¡°No need, I found a good supply here and paid a good amount for it. It saved me a lot of time.¡±

    ¡°Ah yes, did Jim tell you what he uses them for?¡±

    Tinker had lied about getting the supplies and it would be better to fake what he knew, which included effects of the plant. It was best to make it seem he is just working and following others command. ¡°No, but he told me not tell other people about the plants he is using but I assume it is poison or some other potion that is illegal.¡±

    ¡°I am glad you feel you can confide in me, do you have any sample left?¡±

    Tinker did not enjoy lying to Tristan, the man had only been good to him and this is how he is repaying him, by lying to his face.¡± Yes I still got a few, will add them to the book on the road.¡±

    ¡°Yes, then you can see the effect of the plants for yourself. I personally do not endorse Jim illegal activities but a lot of people really are better off when they use his products. What does the future hold for you now?

    ¡°The master is sending me to the Mystic forest¡±

    ¡°What are you to do at the forest? I had always wanted to go but the fairies are touchy when it comes to people tampering with the forest.¡±

    ¡°That I heard. I must go gain fairy dust. Once I return with it he will tell me what quest lies before me.¡±

    ¡°Very well, curious that he wants some. When you are done do pop by and let me know how it goes and maybe it can be over dinner, I did so enjoy the food¡±

    ¡°Sure, maybe this time we can eat something else. I will see what I can find.¡±

    Outside Tinker decided to look what was going on in the party chat. It seemed there was not much talking going on. What he could tell was that the most of the people were busy with quests of their own. Tinker talked so that all could hear him.

    ¡°How have you guys been? I have a quest you guys might be interested in.¡±

    ¡°We busy with our own quests. After the Searing gorge it is nice to quest were the sun shines.¡±

    ¡°What is this quest and level of it?¡±

    ¡°I do not know the level of it, I get the quest once I arrive at the Mystic forest. I do know that the reward will be fairy dust, which doubles magic power for a duration.¡±

    All were interested in that accept Yuri. But the solution would be that they would take his dust since he could not use it. It seemed Lina was working on her tailoring and could leave at a moment¡¯s notice. Cuzen was at the training hall so he could leave any time. Yuri said he would be done some time tonight with his quest and Zomger claimed he would only finish up tomorrow sometime. They would have to wait for him. That would give Tinker enough time to ask around where the forest is and get a few hours training in. Also during this time he added the plants he had taken from Ned. In the book it clearly stated the effect of rowdy lamb herb only for men. It increased vitality by 10%, increases stamina by 10% for an hour and gave erections for men. For players it did not give erections and increased their libido and lowered wisdom by 10 %. It was a strong potion for warrior on the front lines of a battle to have.

    The following day they left just before midday. They would travel nearly a week to the forest.

    As they reached the forest they stopped to make food. Along the way Tinker warned them that fairies do not like people doing stuff to the forest. Thus they agreed not to kill, harvest or make any fires in the woods. This is why they stopped just on the forest edge to make food. Yuri made burgers while Tinker took a variety of meats and put them on sticks and cooked them. With their bellies full and enough food for a week they made ready for going into the forest. They each took a sip of the potion and entered the forest.

    They had a standard formation they kept. Cuzen in front, followed by Tinker, followed by Lina or Zomger and Yuri bringing up the rear. This day however Tinker was chosen to walk in front. Since this was his quest and he knew what to do. In truth he had no idea what he was doing or even if the others will be able to get a quest. They walked even deeper inside the dense forest. After about a minute of slow walking Yuri called for a halt.

    ¡°Guys, we got a problem.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°We are trapped, I would rate we have walked no less than 50 meters into this forest, if we turn around now and make for the exit it will not be there. I do not know if the forest moved or we did, what I can tell is how much trouble we are in.¡±

    ¡°I would just like to point out if we die that this is totally Tinkers fault.¡± Lina added.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be like that guys, going into new places is always a risk, besides all is going according to plan.¡±

    ¡°Really and what plan is that, the one where we walk around the forest for a month lost and eating through our supplies?¡±

    ¡°Sort of, we need to get lost more that the fairies can find us. I would rate that if they do not make contact in the next hour we should start panicking and blaming Yuri.¡±

    ¡°Why blame me, how would that help, this will be your fault.¡±

    ¡°No, I blame the hunter that cannot find his way out of the forest. Who has ever heard of a hunter that fails so hard he cannot use his class specific skills to find his way?¡±

    ¡°O no no no, I am seeing what you are trying to do here, don¡¯t blame me that the hunters guide had never mentioned how to get out of a magical and mysterious forest.¡± As he finished that statement an unnatural fog appeared all around them.

    ¡°Add spooky forest¡± Cuzen yelled to stack on Lina who was that moment in the middle of their line into the forest. The vision became so bad that they could not see more than 2 feet in front of them. Lina was the first to yell that nobody has come to her yet. She kept talking to make it easier for the others to find her. Tinker was shocked to say the least as he turned around and gave 3 steps and walked into Yuri. Something similar happened to Cuzen and Zomger. They could hear each other clearly and pinpoint each person location on sound. But as soon as they think they are walking to Lina. She shifts or they shift. Cuzen called for them all to stand still.

    ¡°Ok, let us talk about what had just happened. I took a few steps and so did Zomger and we walked right into each other. The same happened for Tinker and Yuri. Lina has been standing still the entire time and even if we are two in a group we can¡¯t find Lina or the other group. Suggestions?¡±

    ¡°Maybe Lina should move and try to find us while we talk.¡±

    She tried that and it failed. It seemed no matter how much she walked the others were always just a few steps away. She gave up after a while. The next plan was that they all walk and hope they find each other. They tried that for about 5 minutes and gave up on that. Their next plan was to say nothing and walk. After 30 seconds they broke the silence and came to the conclusion that this was not working and it almost felt that they were back where they started. Their last plan was to split up to 5 single people again and walk in every direction and hope they find each other. Before they could start Lina sounded panicked.

    ¡°Guys, someone big is here, I know it is not you people because it is moving and you guys are not, I am going shoot a ¡­¡± and nothing. It went silent. They called and yelled but no reply came. They tried to walk in the direction she was last heard while yelling and hoping she would reply. With no reply and no results they stopped to talk.

    ¡°I am really starting to hate this place. You guys think she is dead?¡±

    ¡°I think if she had died the system would have notified us. What is odd that she has not talked via party chat. Guess it is serious then. Suggestions?¡±

    ¡°Well she was the only person alone so we might as well split up and hope we get taken to her or join her in the afterlife.¡±

    ¡°Good so who wants to go first? I think is should be Tinker and Yuri since Tinker brought us here and Yuri got us lost.¡±

    ¡°Fine you cowards¡± Yuri let go of Tinker and started sprinting in a random direction which he figured was heading away from them. ¡°With my last breath I curse you Tink¡­..¡± and silence followed. The others laughed, Tinker was not in the mood for laughter since he would likely disappear next.¡± Guys it is coming for me, it is big and ¡­.¡±

    ¡°Guess there goes Tinker, so are we going to stop holding hands now Cuzen or wait a while?¡±

    ¡°Might as well say a few words before we go our separate ways.¡±

    ¡°Works for me. So what you think got them?¡±

    ¡°I am hoping fairies or a big pet of theirs. I bet you 5 gold I get taken before you.¡±

    ¡°You are on, what are you basing this on?¡±

    Cuzen leapt away and yelled to Zomger ¡°Because you are so dam ugly and your mother¡­¡± he was gone.

    Zomger was left alone. The big thing did not take long before it came for him. As a last act of defiance he tried to curse the thing, but it failed because he did not have a lock on the target.

    There was a bright white light. The all awoke at the same time. They were not dead. They awoke to a beautiful scene from a fantasy tale. Lushes woods, sunshine, naked fairies¡­

    They were all shocked, they did not expect fairies to be full grown woman and naked as well.

    ¡°Cover up now before I torch you all to hell.¡± The fairies seemed hurt by that statement but plants started to rap around them and cover up all the exposed areas. The leaves and flowers were all different patterns and colors and they seemed to mimic Lina clothing style.

    ¡°That was a total buzz kill¡± someone mumbled. Lina looked over to see who talked but she was just too late.

    ¡°Now tell me why in the name of all that is sacred are you naked?¡±

    ¡°Those that have come before you have told us they prefer it when we are in humanoid form and not clothed. Think our last visitor words are that we are more beautiful than the flowers we keep.¡±

    ¡°Do you not know modesty and what are your natural forms?¡±

    ¡°Do you see any modesty in nature? We are part of nature are we not?¡± After she said that they all shrunk down to the size of the more traditional fairy. Zomger chose this time to speak up

    ¡°Why are there only three of you here and more importantly how did we get here?¡±

    ¡°The others brought you here. We are about 50. Men and woman. The men spend most of the time at our borders protecting us and overseeing things there. We woman stay in the middle and look after the forest. There are more around you but the other fairies are shy and there are some who just do not like your kind. The boys at the forest edge are the trouble makers. We knew you were sent by friends and they could have just brought you, but instead they play tricks.¡±

    ¡°Yes they got us pretty good. We were told to come to you, to collect fairy dust.¡±

    ¡°Most of our visitors do, usually we give out normal tasks for 1 sample of fairy dust. But since you are a group, maybe we can make the task more difficult for 5 samples each? You have a choice. The easy task or the hard task.¡± It was really a no choice at all, they wanted many samples so they agreed to take the group quest.

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Complete a task for the fairies of the Mystic Forest.

    Recently there have been strange occurrences in the forest. Animals are dead, patches of forest are dying and one fairy had gone missing. Investigate and help the fairies in whatever way possible.

    Difficulty level: D

    Quest requirements: Must be sent by friends of the fairies and be in a group

    Reward is getting 5 pieces of fairy dust each</td></tr></tbody></table>

    ¡°Ok, where do we start?¡±

    ¡°Clover will go with you. We have tried to solve the problem ourselves but to no avail. She will help you navigate and find the troubled areas and answer any further questions you have. Good luck and stand strong.¡±

    With that 2 of them disappeared and left one remaining.

    ¡°Hello guys and girl. I am Clover, tell me your names while we walk to the first location of trouble.

    ¡°Hi, I am Zomger, this is Cuzen, that is Yuri, him over there is Tinker and last is Lina.

    ¡°Good, now it started a while back. We felt a disturbance in the balance of the forest. We sent fairies over to investigate but we found nothing. A small time later another disturbance was felt at a different location in the forest. At one location death of an animal or 2, at the other the plants were dead and the trees were sick. This was the first time we noticed that one of our own was missing and had not reported in yet. So the disturbances continued always two incidents at a time. Dead animals at the first site and dead plants at the second site. The distances between them vary every time. In addition every time we arrive on scene, who ever had caused the problems was long gone. No definitive trails are left behind and only slight traces of magic, nothing to track by.

    They kept on walking dazzled by the beauty of the place. The ponds were clear as crystal. Exotic fishes and other aquatic life were living in them. The plant and tree life seemed as diverse as they come. The animals and insects were just watching them and going on with their daily lives. They did not run away like normal animals do. Even the rocks seemed to be unique and one grouping looked like a mini version of the Stonehenge. The birds we singing and a faint sound of laughter could be heard in the wind.

    ¡°Does anyone else hear laughter or am I going mad?¡±

    ¡°No Yuri I hear it too.¡±

    ¡°It is the others¡± Clover explained. ¡°They are laughing at Tinker.¡±

    ¡°Wait what?¡±

    ¡°They ask why do you have a girl¡¯s name when you are a boy.¡±

    ¡°My name is not really a boys or a girl¡¯s name. It is more a name to describe someone than name them. Where we come from most people that tinker with things are men.¡±

    ¡°What do you tinker with then?¡±

    ¡°Well anything really, that I can get my hands on.¡± He took out plants, seeds, vials, potions and anything else out of his herb bag and showed it to her and put it back.¡± That is just what I have in my herbal pouch, my back pack is bigger and has many more and different things.¡±

    ¡°I see¡± she giggled and he could hear others giggling also.

    ¡°Why are they still laughing at me?¡±

    ¡°Well they still think you have a girl¡¯s name and one asked do you tinker with the ladies also?¡±

    His face was reddening and his friends also started to giggle. ¡°That is not important, is Tinker a common girls name among the fairies?¡± He tried his best to change the subject.

    ¡°In a way, each fairy has a unique name and when we die the name comes available for a new fairy when he or she is born. The queen of the fairies name is Tinkerbell, her 2 daughters name are Tinker and Bella. All through the ages those that have been named Tinker were woman fairies.¡±

    ¡°As I said in our lands Tinker is usually used by men. Do you fairies live only here or are you spread all over the continent?¡±

    ¡°We are alone here. The others live all over. Our place is like a small camp compared to the grand forest where the queen lives¡±

    ¡°Interesting, I am curious we are not the first outlanders to come here?¡±

    ¡°No, we have had 3 so far here in the inner grove. They were all sent by friends and came for the dust like you. There had been many more of your kind that wondered into our woods but we have dealt with them. The people of the Versailles Continent that are not friends have also tried to enter our forest¡±

    ¡°Really, how did you do that, I always assumed that fairies are peaceful and not the killing type?

    ¡°That is right, there is killing in nature but that is only to eat what you kill or protect your own kind. We do not kill, we use our magic to knock out our enemies, then we teleport them to a dragon cave where they get eaten. They do not feel pain and die, those like you come back 4 days later. The dragon get¡¯s food and riches so he is also happy. It has happened more than a few times that those players that die and come back return to the forest, we repeat the process and they seem to learn after that they are not welcome.¡±

    ¡°What do you do to your own, if they break the rules?¡±

    ¡°A decade of imprisonment will change a person and make sure you stay on the straight and narrow.¡±

    ¡°That is a bit harsh, how old do fairies get?¡±

    ¡°Old, it is considered rude to tell your age. In your human years we get very old.¡±

    ¡°Sorry we did not mean to offend, are we allowed to pick flowers or fish in the ponds and stuff?¡±

    ¡°No, we try and keep the balance and we weep when you step on an insect or destroy grass with spells. So we do not want people messing up the balance and we look past your small infractions since you are helping us.¡± After that they all walked as best they can in fear they step on a lady bug or something.

    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    They eventually reached a location were the grass was dead, it seemed as if life itself was absent in the zone. The area had a bad feeling about it.

    ¡°This was the most resent place, as per usual we arrived and found nothing, maybe you guys can figure out what had happened.¡± With that she just glided about trying to mend the plants on the edge of death.

    ¡°All right, split up, look for something suspicious and we will get back here in 5 minutes to compare our findings.¡±

    The area was about 40 meters in diameter. The affected area was not an exact shape and seemed random. Tinker went to the middle and walked a spiral pattern outwards in hoping of finding anything. He met up with them 5 minutes later. Cuzen went first. ¡°I found jack. The only thing I can tell is that there is no shape in the burnings and even the tallest tree in the area was dead.¡±

    Next was Tinker, since Cuzen mentioned the shape part he had nothing more to add, he missed the part where the trees were dead all the way to the top. ¡°Well I can only tell you that it was not a fire that killed them. It seems more along the line of a poison or curse.¡±

    Zomger said ¡°pass¡± which either meant he had nothing or nothing new to add¡±

    ¡°Well I used detect magic spell and detected a lot in the area and a small trail leaving away. I suggest we follow that trail.

    ¡°I found very faint tracks of something big that was here in the dead patch or right before, but it walked a small distance and then it disappeared. It only left behind 2 deep marks. In my opinion it took flight or jumped. I surveyed possible places it could have jumped to and found nothing. Judging by how deep and big the indents are it is one huge ass bird if it can fly.¡±

    ¡°So our only lead is following the magic trail. Let us do that. Clover do you not detect said trail?¡±

    ¡°No, I can only tell that magic was used here.¡±

    ¡°Hang around with Lina and tell us if you see anything else. I am also curious what is the biggest animal that lives here in the forest? Is that dragon you mentioned earlier here?¡±

    ¡°No, biggest animal is a bear. The dragon lives someplace else. I do not understand how Lina is able to detect the magic and we are not.¡±

    ¡°Guess we will figure that out when we find the end of that trail, let us move as stealthy as possible.¡±

    The magic trail went all through the forest, there seemed to be no logical pattern. Yuri confirmed they were following someone because there were a few broken branches and other signs only he could detect with his hunter skills. They caught their first definitive foot prints at a pond in the mud. The prints were small and not deep. Yuri claimed it to be female elf or human. Smaller than Lina and possible wearing a dress. There are signs that some clothes are brushing on the ground. Clover claimed it impossible that a person would be able to enter the forest without their knowledge. They all readied their weapons and followed the magic trail further. After a good ten minute walk in silence Yuri whispered stop and crouched. He was walking along side Lina so he could see any threat.

    ¡°There is someone in black through the trees over there,¡± he said in a soft whisper. They looked in the direction he pointed and saw nothing. They believed Yuri and would move out soon to attack after they buffed up. Even Clover used buffs, Zomger and Lina got their mana pools increased, Yuri and Tinker got increased damage, Cuzen received more life.

    ¡°We will move closer as sneaky as we can. As soon as you have visual Yuri tell us who or what it is, as soon as we know, we will know if we talk to it or just straight up kill it.¡± As they approached the others could start seeing the target.

    ¡°I can see her, it is an old human lady. A witch I rate. I recommend you guys sneak about 15 meters closer and on my mark you guys pounce on her while I use headshot on her. It does more damage if I manage to fire undetected. If you guys attack before me she might move and I might miss. If all goes well she won¡¯t be able to cast her strongest spells¡±

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Headshot

    A powerful attack aimed to hit targets in the head.

    Sneak attacks double the damage.

    Critical strike bonus effected by luck and type of shot.

    Cool down is 5 minutes.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    ¡°Good, on your mark then.¡± All of them assumed positions of attack and waited on Yuri. He took his time and the moment he released the arrow he whispered in party chat that they should attack now.

    The arrow hit and the witch fell from the impact, by the time she stood up and looked in the direction from where the arrow came, it was too late. Cuzen did his leap and bashed her. She fell back down again. As she stood up Tinker was behind her stabbing and slicing her back. At this point Zomger and Lina curses and fire spells were already hitting her.

    The fight was very one sided and took a while to kill her. She had a lot of health for a witch. After she died they noticed the huge amount of experience they got. Even the loot was impressive. Not a lot of gold but she had two level 60 rings and a wand. Lina got the rings and Zomger took the wand. They guessed she was about level 65 or even higher. She was strong, but she was alone.

    That is the main problem with spell casters. Up close and personal they are weak. If you manage to interrupt their spells they become like scare crows. The witch was constantly interrupted and attacked every second by somebody. She did manage to cast spells and curses, but they were all relative weak and were instant cast spells. On the few times she was not interrupted the constant attacks extended her casting time. She tried to run but was pinned between Cuzen and Tinker. Even if she was 15 levels higher she was helpless, that is why spell casters almost never play solo and hang around at the back in all team fights and battles.

    They were all full of health after the loot was divided. They all took minimum damage and the curses were already fading from them. A mighty roar echoed through the forest, it sounded like a wild beast that was very angry. They all got a small fright and Yuri was the first to tell them that the thing that just did it was on the move. A few seconds later he confirmed the beast was coming their way. They took defence positions. They had fought the witch in a clearing so they had about 30 meters view in most directions of what was coming. The trees were cracking and birds were flying away and even a rabbit came running out of the woods and dove into its hole. A huge black figure came leaping out from atop the trees. It leaped out and traveled 30 meters in the air to land before Cuzen and hit him. Yuri did manage to hit it with an arrow while it jumped in the air and Zomger did manage to cast a curse. Lina hesitated and would start attacking late.

    It was odd to see Cuzen being hit backwards and falling flat on his back. He did manage to block with his shield but the damage was done. Tinker had enabled the option which allowed a person to see party member¡¯s health bars without looking at them. In small parties it did not take up a lot of space in your view. In Tinker¡¯s view it was just in the corner. Small enough not to impair his vision and big enough so that he can monitor their health. The hit took about ? of Cuzen health away. Tinker guessed that he will most likely survive one attack and be dead after that. Thus he would focus on dodging and not doing damage till Cuzen came back to tank. He could clearly see the enemy now, it was a huge and strong gorilla. It was about 7 feet tall and twice as broad as him.

    The arms were big and powerful but the speed was lacking. Tinker morphed into agility and prayed the extra boost will help him dodge better. After he dodged the third attack Cuzen was back in action. His leap skill was still on cool down so he had to run back. Zomger and Clover went over to focus on healing him. With the gorilla being kept busy Tinker took his position behind the gorilla. After 6 shots from the gorilla Cuzen yelled that he must fall back and Tinker would have to keep him busy. On the 8 shot Cuzen leapt back, he was one shot away from death and needed to wait for the healing to increase his remaining life. Tinker saw Cuzen leaping away and was ready for the gorilla that swung around right arm first. He just ducked and did not commit to an attack. His job now was to keep him busy and stay alive. The left arm was punching for his mid section. He dodged to his right and stabbed the arm to keep the gorilla¡¯s attention. Attacking his arm did minor damage but it was just to provoke the beast.

    That went on for a while and the gorilla almost got him when he punched with both arms at the same time. Tinker leapt in the air and twisted his body that both punches missed. The down side from doing this, is that he fell on the ground and was no longer on his feet. Thank goodness Cuzen came back with nearly full health and taking agro back from the beast. Tinker rose and attacked the unprotected back. This was how they fought. Cuzen could not really dodge and took the shots as best as he could. After tanking 7 or 8 shots he would yell Tinkers name and leap back so that the others could heal him. Then Tinker would take over until Cuzen could return. During all this Zomger did recast the odd curse, Yuri was firing arrows like a machine gun. Lina herself was not holding back and using the more powerful fire spells in her arsenal.

    Poor Clover could only heal and buff. She was not a fighting fairy and as far as battle goes that was all she could have done to be of use. Nobody could see her mana but she was doing better than Zomger. 20 minutes into the battle Lina was out of mana, Zomger was running low, only Clover and Yuri were still at 100% effectiveness. Cuzen shield was broken and he was already using his spare. He had taken the odd punch and his armour was holding. Tinker stamina was also starting to run low, and when it is empty his damage output and dodging capacity would decrease. Lina fell back a distance and so did Zomger. Cuzen now only took 5 hits before he was forced to retreat. They did not talk and just acted on instinct. Cuzen was standing back and healing and Tinker could dodge no more. He started running and the gorilla did not chase after him. Instead it focused on the person attacking him. Cuzen was closer but he just stood there. The beast charged down on Yuri, Yuri started running, not into the woods but on the edges of the clearing, while he did so he still manages to shoot the odd arrow to keep the beast attention.

    At some point the gorilla got close but Tinker would jab the gorilla in the leg to get its attention. Then he would run again and the gorilla would try and attack him until Yuri arrows annoyed him enough to chase after him again. Every now and again Cuzen would join in on the rotation. When he was tanking Lina would fire and use the last of her mana. Yuri would shoot more precise and not focus on spamming the gorilla. Tinker would aim for vital parts like neck and arm pits. After that is was back to running and keeping the gorilla busy. Tinker first aid could not help much or any. The blows of the gorilla caused no bleeding that he could stop and there was not really time to wrap up Cuzen chest or broken ribs during the battle. The gorilla caused attacks that crushed bone and none of their limbs had been hit so far, they made special care not to be disabled.

    Another 15 minutes passed before they were able to bring the gorilla down. Zomger and Lina lost count how many times they ran out off mana. Cuzen second shield was nearly broken along with his armour. Yuri almost died when he just got clipped by the gorilla, it only happened because he ran out of stamina. Tinker also came close to death a few times, he took one shot directly and survived and after that it was also only nicks that did damage to him. He also ran out of stamina and that is when he received his direct punch. They managed cheers and yells of joy when they finally realised they were done. They were all out of breath so the cheers and yells were pathetic to say the least. By now they knew food helped regenerate faster and Tinker was already taking out food. The others came walking closer to look at the loot and get the food. Yuri was the first to notice and told the others that he almost leveled up. The others checked their experience bars. It seemed the witch and gorilla were both somewhere in level 60 and the exp they got was a lot.

    Nearly half a bar for each of them. A lot of what had happened was starting to make sense for them. The witch would curse one place while the gorilla would kill at another location. The gorilla was high above in the trees so that is why they could not find tracks or signs, since nobody was looking there. After seeing him jump into combat it also explained why he was able to move fast and make the one deep track they did find. Cuzen asked Clover what animal was the biggest after a bear, and she told him the gorillas that live in the forest are second largest after the bears. While eating they talked about the most epic battle they had just fought. Their team work was flawless, Tinker had been fighting in a team since the moment he left Avelon. The others did the same. They have only been together for a few weeks but after the Searing gorge dungeon they were synced. In the start Lina did graze Tinker now and again while he was using his fast speed to move and attack but that rarely happened now. Zomger said he wished they could have saved this battle to view it later. They finally got around to looting the gorilla. He dropped a few items and gold. The items were all low level stuff that nobody could use. Tinker claimed the gorilla leather for himself and they split the gold. Tinker wanted to harvest what he could for his book but then the unexpected happened.

    The corpse vanished and a fairy appeared but it seemed to be a spirit.

    ¡°Rob, what happened to you?¡± Clover shouted

    ¡°O hey Clover, it seemed like a got myself in a bit of trouble.¡±

    ¡°That is an understatement, where is your physical body?¡±

    ¡°Dead and gone I presume. Think that witch took care of that. She got me good Clover. I am sorry guys, I could not control the gorilla but I saw everything I did through its eyes. I am so glad you defeated it, who knows how long I would have been trapped in there.¡±

    ¡°Forget about that, how did the witch get you?¡±

    ¡°Hehehe, well you know how we are not allowed to leave the forest? I did that. You also know how we are not allowed to eat candy? That was the reason why. I was on patrol at the forest edge when I saw an old lady walking, somehow I could smell the candy she had and I knew she would give me some, so I went over and asked for candy. She seemed nice and gave me some. We talked for a bit and I started to become sleepy and fell asleep soon after. Next I awoke I was looking through the eyes of that gorilla you just killed. I had no control over it and saw what I did to all the poor animals. It seemed that by trapping me in the gorilla made it undetectable to the other fairies. I assume she consumed or did something to my body which allowed her the same skill so that you could not find her. Thank goodness our new friends here could track her.¡±

    ¡°You are in so much trouble, I always knew that one day you would get yourself in so much trouble that they will imprison you.¡±

    ¡°Yes that is going to be a problem. As long as I stay in the forest I can live even without a body, but for my crimes they will probably imprison me for the next 50 years. It is a good thing I have a plan.¡±

    ¡°O really, what are you going to do to avoid prison time?¡±

    ¡°Leave the forest of course¡±

    ¡°You cannot, you will die within days and it¡¯s forbidden.¡±

    ¡°That may be but I have found a loop hole to get out of here and go see the world outside our fairy territories.¡±

    ¡°Just how are you going to do that?¡±

    ¡°To stay here will not be living anyway, but watch this.¡±

    The party was watching all this unfold and was up to date with what was going on.

    Yuri received a message.

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Rob wishes to become you companion. You may only have one companion at a time. Companions share in experience gained and depending on the type provide their own unique skills and abilities.

    Do you accept?</td></tr></tbody></table>

    ¡°Sure, this should be interesting to say the least¡±

    *Rob has become you new companion.

    ¡°Good, before we make this final there are a lot of things I must tell you. This will be the last time we are able to talk, one day when I am a very high level I will be able to talk again. Also I am not going with you in my fairy from. I will become a level 1 hawk. At level one I will only have one skill which allows you to look through my eyes and give you a bird¡¯s eye view from what I am seeing for a short time. As I level, more skills will come available to you. In time I will be able to make sounds, do minor damage and even interact with physical things and many more. I will understand you fully, my mind will not be lost and we will share telepathy so that you can tell me where you want me to go from a great distance. What makes me unique is that I will be a spirit. So only other spirits or magic users will be able to see me if they cast detect magic or other similar spells. No physical attacks can harm me unless they are imbued with magic, magic is very deadly to me. When I die I will come here and you will have to wait 24 hours before you can summon me back again. The size you see me on level one is the size I will stay forever unless we discover skills or spells later on. As I level I will also get increased stats like health and stuff like that. I do not eat and will not obey your every order.¡±

    ¡°Ok, it sounds like you will make an awesome companion. Why choose me, there are 4 other people here?¡±

    ¡°I recognize a fellow trouble maker when I see one, we are going to have a grand time exploring this world and having fun along the way.¡±

    ¡°You are correct about that.¡±

    ¡°You can access me any time I am alive. There you can view my current status and skills, also you can make changes. Clover tell my mother this is the life I choose and one day I will return to her, maybe she can come and see me when I die, I will be at the pond where she first told me what happened to my father. So long.¡± With a mischievous laugh he was gone.

    Yuri stuck out his arm so that the Spirit hawk could land on his hand. He looked at in detail before he spoke. ¡°Guys how cool is this?¡±

    ¡°We cannot see him, guess he likes only you. But well done none the less. Now if we get lost or you can¡¯t track something we know that you are truly the worse hunter ever.¡±

    Yuri chuckled and opened a new tab in his menu. Inside the tab he could see the stats of the spirit hawk and the skill. The skill name was Spirit eye which allows him to view through the spirit hawk for 30 seconds. Only one eye or half of his screen would show what the hawk sees. That way he will still be able to fight or look around him. It will be confusing and overwhelming at first but he would adapt. At the settings he noticed he could make the spirit hawk visible to party members. He enabled that feature so that the others could see. They were all ogling his new spirit hawk.

    Clover suggested they go back to the grove to tell the others what had happened. The spirit hawk flew up and away, he was not going with them to the other fairies. Back at the grove they completed the quest and got their fairy dust. They divided Yuri¡¯s dust between them and Tinker got the extra one since he needed them for his quest. What shocked them all was that they gained 4 levels for completing the quest. The fairies asked for the bottle Tinker came with and filled it back up and gave him another. They told him to return the one he got and now he could also come visit them, they were all the fairies friends now. They warned that only one skilled or that had the talent for alchemy can use the potion or allow his friends to benefit from its effect.

    In short you will need an alchemist and the potion in your party if you want to return here.

 Chapter 17: 6 months later

    They had just come out of the forest and were talking about what they were going to do next. The original plan was to go to the forest do the quest and then on their way back to the capital they would do quests on the way. The 5 to 6 day travel did not yield much in the way of experience. They had fought against the odd monsters on the way but the roads were safe and they had to go a distance off the road to find monsters to kill.

    They did not think they would gain so many levels from just doing a single D rank quest. With gaining 4 levels and being so close to a level up, more and different quests will be made available at the capital for them. Thus the new plan was to go back to the capital right after they stop at the first village to repair, buy and sell a few things.

    At the village Cuzen went to find a blacksmith to repair his broken shield. While the blacksmith was busy with the badly broken shield he would repair his own armour and damaged second shield. After he heard how long it would take, the others would know their time window to shop and do things before they can move on. He told the others he would need the rest of the day and they will leave just before night time. A good blacksmith can repair durability of an item to about 90% more or less. A master blacksmith can repair items to 100% and even work with items much higher level than him. Cuzen how ever could only repair his shield by 75% and the armour he got up to just over 80%.

    The others kept busy, they sold and bought items and supplies. Yuri left soon after and waited outside the village too wait for them. He was testing and getting the feel for the spirit hawk. Zomger went to go fish in a nearby dam, Lina was at a shop that sold some kind of patterns she wanted for tailoring and also some other things she needed. Tinker took out his cooking pot and was making an entire lamb leg with all the extras. He used the in between time to repair the minor damage his armour took in the battle. He still got goose bumps thinking back on how that battle went.

    It was late at night and they were walking, it was a half moon and cloudless night. The air was cool and the roads were quiet. Most Npc¡¯s did not want to travel and night because monsters were stronger then. Thus if you encountered people late at night outside a city or village they were most likely a players. Zomger was reciting his latest poem he had wrote. Tinker honestly was not listening and still thinking back on the battle, he would admit, he was jealous of Yuri and his companion. He was still in thought when Yuri said fight ahead. They took out their weapons and jogged to the top of the hill ahead to see who was fighting.

    Atop the hill they saw players fighting each other. In all their travels they had not seen players fight each other. They had seen duels but this was new. It was hard to make out who was who, but 7 players had the red murderer mark and 4 had not. During the cursing it was hard to make out who was to blame and who not. ¡°Let us kill those with the murder mark, we will figure out later who is to blame.¡±

    They charged and moved silent as possible. The fight was a small distance away and on the run towards it a player who did not have the mark died. Tinker was faster than Cuzen and was already putting more distance between them. As he came closer he had a better view of the battle. It seems a priest was standing with his back towards Tinker and healing. He hoped it was one with a murder mark because he attacked with everything he got. He scored 3 critical strikes in a row which was a new personal best. The priest started to yell for help. A cloth wearing player was fast to respond and was heading straight for Tinker. Tinker saw the person approach but he did not care. Just a few more attacks at vital points and this priest would be dead, he can try and run if he manages to stand up.

    He dealt the killing blow and turned to face the new enemy who was already leaping, dagger out for an attack. Cuzen hit him in mid air and sent him to the ground hard, a good 5 meters away from where he hit him. Tinker went to the big bunch. It seemed another player was dead and 3 players came straight for him. He was ducking, diving, rolling all over the place. He liked to refer to it as dancing with the blades. He danced back and forth, he got of good shots, and even took a few himself. Zomger was already healing him so he knew he was going to be ok. After 10 minutes the last person with a red murderer mark was killed. Cuzen, Tinker, Yuri and the last remaining person attacks landed at the same time. Tinker got the last hit for the kill.

    Fortunately one person remained that did not have a murderer mark. They did not put away their weapons and pointed it to the person.

    ¡°What happened here, and do not lie to us.¡±

    ¡°Thanks a million guys, they attacked us. We did not see it coming, those assholes got what they deserved. We met them over in the next village. Our healer could not play and we needed a healer to hunt a nearby place. They said they were also heading this way and we should team up. We do not usually join large parties but they said those that get the last hit would get the loot.

    Since we were level 80 and they were only 65 we agreed. We were confident we would come out top. We were 5 and they are 7 so we did not think they would kill us. Think they wanted our good items and instead of farming them they targeted us. They got our mage first and kept us from getting to their healer. Second to die was our hunter. I think you guys joined the fight sometime after that. I did not see it all and I barely made it myself. If you did not come and help us we all would be dead. Please take all their loot, I only ask if I can take my friends items and gold they dropped.¡±

    ¡°Sure, no problem.¡± They took everything. They killed a priest, monk, assassin, 3 warriors and one paladin. A lot of the items they picked up they could use and were better than what they were using. Cuzen complained that if he knew he was going to get a new breast plate he would not have bothered to try and repair his.

    ¡°Just a shame we to low level to use the good items¡± Zomger complained

    ¡°I am sorry did I hear you correctly, I know it is rude but what is your average level?¡±

    ¡°Just above 50.¡±

    ¡°Did you know that they were about level 65?¡±

    ¡°Nope, just saw the murderer mark and you guys were losing so we came in to kill murderers and get rewarded for it. Getting 2 levels for just killing scum is worth it.¡±

    ¡°Wow you guys are hardcore, not only are you like 10 levels lower than them but you fought better than them. Are you guys in a guild or something?¡±

    ¡°Yes, joined a guild about 2 weeks ago, so sorry we are not for hire.¡±

    ¡°No I was more thinking along the line we should join you guys. Is your guild recruiting by any chance and do they all fight like you?¡±

    ¡°I think they are, but we not involved it all those things. To my knowledge the strongest are like level 100 and play like we do. We focus on quality over quantity.¡± He was just quoting Gambit.¡±

    ¡°I think we are good players. If they did not catch us off guard this fight, it would have gone different. Not to mention if our healer was here.¡±

    ¡°Well dude I don¡¯t know what to say, when you guys are in the capital look me up and we can maybe talk to our leaders and hear what they have to say.¡±

    ¡°Thank you again, when we all revive I think we should head straight there. Are you guys going there now?¡±

    ¡°That we are, just finished a quest and going back. We have gained 6 levels in 1 day, so we not going to do quests here and just go straight back to home base.¡±

    ¡°We got other quests that need doing¡± Tinker added

    ¡°Hardcore, I am Stan. Add me to your friend list and I will let you know when we back in the capital.¡±

    ¡°Ok, be safe and see you around.¡± With that said they left. On the way back to the capital nothing interesting happened, they killed a few dear looking monsters and replenished their meat supply.

    Back at the capital they all parted ways. Tinker wanted to go see the Guild master and the others were going to see what new quests were now available for them. Sometime Thursday the guild message had changed, It said in 4 days time all guild members that can make it should be at the guild house at sunset for a party. Attendance was optional, food and drink would be provided.

    Later he would ask someone what it was all about. He went over to the Alchemist guild and went to room 301. The master was sitting and reading a book by the looks of it. He wondered if it was for pleasure or research.

    ¡°You were successful I take it?¡±

    ¡°That I was, you never told me that they would be full size woman and naked when I met them.¡±

    ¡°I have no Idea what you are talking about.¡± He said while trying to do a fake cough. Tinker did not imagine that he was a closet pervert but at the end of the day that was not important.

    ¡°To more important matters at hand, do you have at least 2 dust samples?¡±

    ¡°That I do, what do I do now?¡±

    ¡°Now you go to the mages guild and look for a grand master by the name of William. When you find him, you will hand him the 2 dust sample and give him your Alchemy book. He will make a duplicate which you are to bring back to me.¡±

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Complete a task for the Alchemy guild master.

    The guild master likes the book Tristan had made and intends to have one of his own. His book will not be soul bound. His knowledge along with that of the book will be past down to the next guild master and all those after him. Take it to Grand master William at the mages guild for duplication

    Difficulty level: E

    Quest requirements: Must have 2 samples of fairy dust. Must possess Tristan¡¯s book. Must have knowledge of all other Alchemy masters in the book already. Must be in good standing with the Alchemy Guild.

    Reward is getting the guild master to use the scroll on your alchemy book.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    Tinker has never seen so many requirements for a quest before. He praised the person at Unicorn who made this quest chain. It was truly a work of genius. After greeting the guild master he took his leave.

    He had never been to the mages guild or any mage guild since he never needed to go and was banned from the mages guild in Avelon. He arrived at the mages guild. It was a big round building that went as high in the air as the palace if he would have to guess. He had seen and noticed the tower since the first day in the capital. That was how he always knew exactly where he was in the city. He would use the palace and mage guild tower as his points of reference. The security was tight compared to the warrior guild. They both had guards but any person could walk into the warrior guild. At the mages guild the guards wanted to know who he was and what business did he have. He told them and they let him enter. Inside the lobby was huge, clean and well lit. The place seemed busy. A lot of the mages were hanging about and talking. He stood in line to one of the tables. He finally got in front after a good wait. While in line he kept looking at all the different people. He could see new players. Others that looked like Lina and those with higher level items. The place looked really different compared to a warriors guild where mostly big men in plate armour hung out.

    ¡°Next, welcome to the mages guild. You can sign up the moment you have enough funds. If you do have enough funds fill in the yellow form. If you do not have the appointed amount fill in the blue form. She handed him both.¡±

    ¡°Sorry miss, I am not here to sign up, I am here on a quest to find Grand master William. Can you tell me how I get to him?¡±

    ¡°Yes I can, but my job is to handle new recruits and trainees. You see that long row at that desk over there?¡± She pointed to the longest of the 4 lines in the lobby.¡±They will help you and take you where you want to go. Next.¡±

    He was not pleased he had stood so long in the wrong line. If only these dam mages used signs to tell people. The progress of the long line moved along even slower than the other one. He now had a lot of time to look at all the different people that want to become, mages, warlocks and wizards. All races and genders were present and going about their business. They seemed a lot more divers than warriors. During the looking he saw Lina, he waved at her but she did not see him. So he whispered her.

    ¡°Hey, I just greeted you and you did not greet back.¡± He could see that she stopped and looked around the room till she saw him. She came over to him

    ¡°I did not imagine I would see you until it was time for the party in 4 days. Are you going?¡±

    ¡°Hell yea, if Major is a paying for food and drink I would not miss it for the world. Funny running into you here.¡±

    ¡°Not really, I do the bulk of my quest in and around the tower. What brings you here?¡¯¡¯

    ¡°Here to see a Grand master William.¡±

    ¡°Wow, really, I am a mage and I myself have only met one of the Grand masters. I have seen the Grand Magus but not had the honour of talking to her yet.¡±

    ¡°How does the mages rank system work?¡±

    ¡°At the top is the Grand magus, under her are the Grand masters. When she dies one of the Grand masters will replace her. There are a few more ranks under that, but these two are the most important. Each Grand Master represents a school of magic. Like fire, ice, water, earth and so on. The warlocks have their own Grand master. Summoning is a very unique magic.¡± She kept explaining a few others things for him about the mages guild. When he complained about the guild not having signs anywhere, Lina cast a spell on him. He could see all the signs after that. They were floating in the air in all the colors of the rainbow. The mages guild used magic so that only their members could read and navigate the place. Others like him would be stuck and at the guilds mercy.

    He came to the front of the line. ¡°Hello sir, here to see Grand Master William.¡±

    ¡°You have an appointment?¡±

    ¡°No, the alchemy guild master sent me to see him.¡±

    ¡°You will be assigned a number and wait till we have someone free to help you.¡±

    Lina interjected. ¡°That won¡¯t be necessary. I will take him.¡±

    ¡°Miss you know how the Grand Masters get when they are interrupted for trivial things.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I will take all the blame and this is not trivial, the Master of another guild sent him to us.¡±

    ¡°True, you may continue and welcome to the mages guild¡±

    They walked away and up stairs to the second floor. ¡°We will have to walk all the way up to the second last floor. I am not allowed to use the lift and they frown upon hitch hikers.¡±

    ¡°Well let¡¯s do this¡±. It took a while for them to get to the second last floor. Lina claimed she had never been up this high before but she walked around like she owned the place. At the floor they walked past a few doors till they reached a door with the name of Grand Master William in light blue on it. They knocked and were told to enter.

    ¡°Yes, who wants something now or who did something they should not have?¡±

    ¡°Sir, this young man was sent by the Master of the Alchemy guild to see you.¡±

    ¡°Very well, what does my old friend have to say?¡±

    ¡°He told me to come over here with Fairy dust and a book for you to duplicate.¡±

    ¡°Ah yes, he did mention it a while back, did just not think he would act so soon or send someone else to get the dust. Miss, what are you still doing here, don¡¯t you have other tasks to do?¡±

    ¡°I am actually done for the day sir and this man is my friend¡±

    ¡°Very well, you may stay. How did you enjoy the forest and the fairies?¡±

    ¡°It was good sir, we had one hell of a battle there but we came out on top.¡±

    ¡°So you took others with you? I still do not understand why a person needs an alchemist with you. The few times we had been there we did minor task for them to get the dust, what did you do?¡±

    My party of 4 and I went there. We fought a witch and her gorilla pet, it turned out there was a trapped fairy inside a gorilla body. That was all we did, we received 5 dust each for bringing peace to the forest.¡±

    ¡°By the divine, five you say? Will you or any of your party members be willing to part with the dust?¡±

    ¡°I doubt it sir, as you know it has strong effects we are saving for a rainy day. Maybe Lina here can tell you if the others are willing to sell but I am not.¡±

    ¡°That right miss Lina? Are you going to keep the dust?¡±

    ¡°I am sorry but the others and I are also saving it.¡±

    ¡°Shame, I had a theory which I wanted to test out. But back to the things at hand. Give me that book and the dust and let me do my thing.¡±

    Tinker handed it over and watched the master at work. He consumed the dust and started to chant a spell. The best Tinker could tell he chanted for a minute and then a burst of power radiated from him. He had never felt power like this before and assumed he would not have if it was not for the spell Lina casted on him which allowed him to sense magic. It took the better part of ten minutes before the master was done. On the desk there were now two books. He fell back into his chair exhausted. The master was catching his breath and the other two just stood and watched.

    ¡°Wow, that was intense. I had no idea this book was so strong in the magical power. I nearly failed here at the end. I was the one who taught the spell to the Grand Magus herself a few years back. She came to me and asked if it was possible to make a book like this. Normally I would have said no, but I was in the library a few months before that, busy looking for something else when I came across the spell. I knew she had used the spell to make a book a few years back but I never heard anything about that till my old friend told me about it. Normally I can duplicate the magic but I need to match it in magic power. Since the Grand Magus herself made your book, I needed the fairy dust to make my magic power greater than hers so that I can duplicate the book. By the divine I knew the Grand Magus was strong but this level of magic is off the charts.¡±

    Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

    ¡°Why did you need two fairy dust sample? Aren¡¯t the effects of the first sample you took still active?¡±

    ¡°That it is, the second is payment. I plan on using it later on when I have everything for my experiment. You can take the books and be on your way.¡±

    He walked over to the books and picked them up to take them

    ¡°Miss Lina, what was your percentage and area of development?¡±

    ¡°Top 5 % and fire with identification.¡±

    ¡°Good so no enchanting?¡±

    ¡°None sir¡±

    ¡°How would you like to be part of my experiment, you will most likely have to use a dust sample or two but if this works you will become an enchanter but skip the first 5 levels and the years of training needed to master the skill?¡±

    ¡°I would be honoured sir.¡±

    He looked over at Tinker and told him he could leave. ¡°Now let me start at the beginning, enchanting is the art¡­.¡±

    That was all Tinker heard before he left. He made his way down the miles of stairs. He went as fast as he could back to the guild. The guild master had a person with him so Tinker had to wait his turn. He handed over the books with the scroll for the master to use.

    Quest Complete. Reward is that the Guild master will pass his knowledge to your Alchemy Book.

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Quest updated: Become Tristan¡¯s student. Stage 6</td></tr></tbody></table>

    This was great he can now go talk to Tristan and hear if he is done or if there is more. He parted from the guild master and made his way over to room 305.

    ¡°Tristan I am done, I have gotten all the masters knowledge in my book. What is next?¡±

    ¡°Well done, there is no next, you are done.¡±

    Quest Complete. Reward is that you are now Tristan¡¯s student. You may become a member of the Alchemy guild now. All other bonuses of being a student of a master are now active.

    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have leveled up</td></tr></tbody></table>

    He saw that message 3 times.

    <table><tbody><tr><td>New skill learned: Alchemy

    You are now able to mix ingredients to form basic potions</td></tr></tbody></table>

    <table><tbody><tr><td>New skill learned: Zoology

    Allows for identification and better harvesting of all animal, monster and other living entities</td></tr></tbody></table>

    <table><tbody><tr><td>New skill learned: Scavenger

    A passive skill which increases the chances of finding something of worth from others loot. It also allows you to take the loot others have left behind.

    Warning: Others that see you may retaliate against you</td></tr></tbody></table>

    It took them a while to figure out exactly how the Scavenger skill worked. It only worked on left over loot that other people outside the part or raid group made. For instances, if someone else kills a deer. They will loot 4 parts of meat and 1 large piece of leather. If Tinker Loots it after they have. There is a chance he may get 1 part of meat or 1 piece of leather. If they just killed the deer and left it, Tinker could have looted everything plus his small bonus. In the start his bonus was small to none. Most people took the good things that dropped, but the odd piece or item of worth was found. In most cases the loot would have disappeared from the world for ever, before Tinker and his group arrived. In crowded dungeons and farming areas he was in his element. Every loot was a potential treasure, at least that was what Tinker told himself after he looted the 1000 corpse and found nothing. It was only much later that this skill increased before he realized Luck what also a factor.

    <table><tbody><tr><td>New skill learned: Weapon specialist

    You can now change and use different weapon types without receiving penalties

    Unlocks when you reach level 50 for warrior, knight and paladin classes</td></tr></tbody></table>

    ¡°Tristan what are these bonuses of being your student?

    ¡°Well you will receive your training under me and not from those on the second floor. Your quests will be harder and you will be rewarded more¡±

    ¡°Wait are you telling me I could have learned alchemy from them as well?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it would have probably taken you a few days to learn it from them. But instead you came to me. Learning alchemy from us only happens when you become the student of a master.¡±

    Tinker had spent nearly all his time in the capital doing things related to his alchemy quest and now he learns he could have finished this in a few days. He was not amused.

    ¡°What advantages are there from learning alchemy from you and not those people on the second floor?¡±

    ¡°You potions will be more effective, last longer, and it will yield more.¡±

    ¡°Alright when do we start my training?¡±

    ¡°As soon as you are ready.¡±

    ¡°Now works for me, does it work for you?¡±

    ¡°Yes, let us step over to my work bench. You are just starting out so you would not need to know how everything works. For now all you do is mix two or three ingredients. You see this potion bottle? All the items you will make will fit in here. Some ingredients are too big and will have to be grinded to a fine powder. For example if you get a unicorn horn you can grind it to a powder and it will take up just under half of your potion. That leaves room for other items and the little bit of fluid that will make the entire potion a fluid. Say you get a huge dragon horn and grind it up. It will be divided into 4 or 5 usable samples. That why you will know how much to use and not have a potion with too much or too little powder. Plants on the other hand are easy, they take up small amount of place in the potions usually and you just fill the difference up with water. At your current level you can only mix two different items. As your skills increase, so will the amount of different items you can use in one potion. Later on I will show you titration and how to boil items to let the bits we want to separate. Also later on you will learn fermentation and a lot of new things.

    For now, take your samples and just make potions. Look at the second page of your book. Listed here are all the known effects I know ingredients can cause. I have listed them the best I could. Look, the first are all about health. Fortify health, increase health, damage health, restore health and so the list goes on for not only health but pretty much every stat and thing a person could have, defence, two handed damage, magic or even faith or resisting fire.¡± It all was there. With a small page number next to it. Thus if you wanted to make a potion to resist frost and you had 4 different samples whose effects are know their page numbers would appear and you can just flip to the page. Read the item name and double check the effect and remove that item from your inventory. Once all the samples are used the name would still appear in the book but it will be darkened. That¡¯s when you will know you are out of the certain sample, and if you go to the page you can see the name of the item and just buy it or look for it. Once you have the book it really helps to show what items you need and what was available to you.

    The only thing a person would have to do is mix and gather the samples, the book does the rest. Some pages would appear more than once, because a lot of ingredients have more than one effect. Thus when you mix three or more ingredients you can create potions with more than one effect. The same holds true for mixing two items and making a potion with two or more effects can happen.¡±

    ¡°For now create potions you can use, since you are just starting out you won¡¯t get a lot or any money for your potions you make. Best to use them and not be wasteful.¡±

    Tinker set to work, he mostly made potions he or others in the party could benefit from. He never realised how much water he was going to need. Tristan suggested clean water or drinking water would be the best. He had to leave the office a few times to go fetch more water. Tinker was still hard at work when Tristan announced the day was over and he was going to his room.

    Tinker asked if he could stay behind and work some more than he would come to Tristan and make him dinner. That night he made them lamb shanks or the monster equivalent to it. During this time Tristan told him a great more things and told him to stop by sometime tomorrow to get his own mortar and pestle.

    As he was leaving the alchemy guild he stopped. At the front desk he paid his free and became a member of the Alchemy guild.

    Tinker was about ready to log out and sleep. Tomorrow will be another day and sometime tomorrow afternoon the party at the guild house is going to happen. He assumed it was chosen as Friday in the real world so that most players could be online. Those in east Asia like Korea will have an early morning while the others like him in west Europe will be able to attend since it will be a Friday night. Those in America would have to miss out. He assumed their guild did not have many American members.

    Tinker was back nearly two days later. He slept a good 8 hours and did some personal things that kept him busy. The party was 8 hours away or 32 hours in game. He decided he would spend this time working on his alchemy and log out again to eat and be back just before the party started. During this time he had used over 95% of his samples to make things. He still had witch brew and all the rest of his Fairy dust left and the odd samples. On his way he opened his tab to see how things are going. He was finally above level 50 and it took 5 months. Compared to other people that have played since the launch of the game and were over level 100 he was doing badly. But as he understood those that had high levels had no additional professions.

    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Status Window</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Name</td><td width="25%">Tinker</td><td width="25%">Primary Class</td><td width="25%">Warrior</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Health</td><td width="25%">3250</td><td width="25%">Mana</td><td width="25%">110</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Title</td><td colspan=''3''>none</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Level</td><td width="25%">51</td><td width="25%">Infamy</td><td width="25%">80</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Strength</td><td width="25%">240</td><td width="25%">Agility</td><td width="25%">185</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Health regen</td><td width="25%">1.4</td><td width="25%">Mana regen</td><td width="25%">0.2</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Wisdom</td><td width="25%">16</td><td width="25%">Intelligence</td><td width="25%">11</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Stamina</td><td width="25%">102</td><td width="25%">Luck</td><td width="25%">3</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Vitality</td><td width="25%">85</td><td width="25%">Leadership</td><td width="25%">5</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Attack</td><td colspan=''3''>Main 58-64 Offhand 47-53</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Defence</td><td colspan=''3''>120</td></tr>]<tr><td width="25%">Fame</td><td colspan=''3''>50</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Magic Resistance</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Fire</td><td width="25%">0%</td><td width="25%">Water</td><td width="25%">0%</td></tr><tr><td width="25%">Poison</td><td width="25%">1%</td><td width="25%">Dark</td><td width="25%">0%</td></tr></tbody></table>

    <table><tbody><tr><td>? Cooking (Lv. 6 : 13%): Enables you to make more tasty food.

    ? Herbalism (Lv. 7 : 89%): Allow for identification of plants, roots and other related herbs

    ? Handicraft (Lv. 5 : 12%): Has extra effects on various types of craft skills, and sword mastery.

    ? Sword (Lv. 5 : 36 %): Increases attack power and hit rating for swords.

    ? Skill morph (Lv. 3 : 74 %): Allows user to shift points between stats

    ? Leatherworking (Lv. 4 : 5 %): Allows user to repair and make basic leather items

    ? First aid (Lv. 5 : 67 %): Allows user to apply bandages that stop bleeding

    ? Alchemy (Lv. 2 : 63 %): Allows user to create potions

    ? Zoology (Lv. 1 : 78 %): Allows user to  better identify and harvest monsters, animals and other living entities

    ? Scavenger (Lv. 1 : 0 %): Allows user to gain more and loot others kills.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    A few things surprised him. He did not know he had gained 5 points in leadership and he read that thanks to his alchemy he had gained 1% poison resistance. He had always tried to keep his strength and agility the same. The hard part came from items he could use mainly increased the strength stat, since 99% of warriors wanted and needed the stat. He compromised by using his 5 bonus stats to invest in agility. All went well until he reached sword master level 5.

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Level up: Sword Mastery [5]

    +50% STR

    +15% Agility</td></tr></tbody></table>

    He never read online about this happening. But in his defence the last time he had read about the sword mastery nobody had obtained level 5 and none of the effects were posted online. Now he spent all his bonus stats in agility to make up for the difference. Since then he never really bothered to read what more they had to say about it.

    Thanks to weapon mastery, the moment he equipped an axe or any other weapon his % in sword skill would stay the same. The skill would change to whatever weapon he had equipped. It did not work for bows, stave''s, wands and oddly enough daggers.

    Later they would discover that more unique weapons like claws and knuckle busters would also not stay the same. With this mechanic a person could easily use a new powerful item that you picked up. The problem came that if a person was use to fighting with swords, you struggle with the others. If you hit a scarecrow your damage should stay the same, but in real combat situations you will most likely suffer more thanks to your sudden weapon change. Like most things a few weeks of training will help you improve. Until you master your new weapon and pick up a different, but better weapon. That is why most will fight with a weaker sword, even if they picked up strong maces or axes. There were always those few that thought better weapons means more damage. Little did they know how wrong they were.

    Tinker first went back to Tristan to get his items. All the time he had taken Tristan potion bottles. He still wanted to ask where he could buy them. Tristan took him over to room 306.

    ¡°Long ago another master called this home but we use it as a store room now. This is more the personal room for us masters. Ever since Gettafix annexed the basement we just come here.¡± He took many items from the shelves and a lot of empty potion bottles. Tinker thanked the man and he was told that if he runs low on supplies he should stop by at any time. Before he could leave Tristan stopped him.

    ¡°Tomorrow at midday my family and I are going to have lunch in the Kings garden. It is a site to behold, beautiful flowers, fountains to keep you cool and a table that can seat 50, all within walking distance from the palace kitchen. I would like you to join me. Those that I usually ask cannot come and I would like to show all of my family my promising student who is also an outlander.¡±

    ¡°Thank you Tristan I won¡¯t miss it for the world. Will the king be there?¡±

    ¡°No he won¡¯t, he does not use the garden table often, so the high lords have a system where they each take turns to make use of it. Think another reason for it is the free food that master cooks make and servants bring for you. Bring your friends with, those that you fought with in the spider caves, there is enough space and the more the better. Also try and wear your best cloths. You are perhaps a warrior but the no need to wear your armour to the lunch.

    Tinker made his way to the training hall and attacked the scare crow for a few hours. He ate a light meal and logged out. He would be back 2 hours before the party started.

    He arrived at the guild house. The place seemed busy, many people wore the black capes of the guild. He equipped his cloak and entered the guild. The first person he recognised was Major standing close to the door talking to someone. It sounded like he was giving orders.

    ¡°Take half of the tables to the bottom, leave the chairs and bring in more chairs. Tape off the corner for the band. Come and get me when you are done or the others arrive.¡±

    ¡°Hello Major, what is going on, is it your birthday?¡±

    ¡°Hey Tinker, no it is not. We are going to celebrate Royal Roads being online for 6 months!¡±

 Chapter 18 : Party hard with lunch after

    ¡°How many people can be expected for the party?¡±

    ¡°I would say sadly only 80 people or so. The others are far away, some are offline and some just won¡¯t come because they are busy. All will fit and that is what matters. But sorry I will talk to you later. Many things need doing before the party and as you can see I cannot rely on Gambit.¡± He watched Major walking away to go talk to a new group.

    He looked over at Gambit, he seemed to be talking to other people. He made a quick scan of the room before he would ask the others where they are. In the corner he saw Cuzen, he did not recognize him with the black cape on, but those broad shoulders he would identify in a line up.

    He made his way over and saw he was talking to 6 other people. He recognized Stan the knight from a week or so back. He did not wait to be asked to sit down and took a chair at the table.

    ¡°Tinker, you remember Stan right, these are his friends. Those we could not save. They are Kyle, Eric, Kenny, Wendy and Beby.¡± He greeted them all in turn.

    ¡°So you guys came all the way to the city to join the guild?¡±

    ¡°Yes I have been talking with Cuzen here and he managed to get us an interview with your leader. We are waiting for him now to discuss what our initiation test is going to be.¡±

    ¡°Nice, Seems like he is on his way here at least. What have you guys been up to Cuzen?¡±

    ¡°I have been questing at the church. Yuri and his spirit hawk were questing about an hour¡¯s walk from the capital, Zomger is doing a quest where he is trying to increase his healing. From what I heard you already know what Lina is up to. She is going to be late tonight¡±

    ¡°Yes, I wonder if she will be able to learn level 5 enchanting from the get go, that Grand Master William seems odd to say the least.¡±

    ¡°I would not know, you met the man after all. So what have you been up to?¡±

    ¡°Just came from the training hall, Learnt Alchemy, Zoology and Scavenger, made potions, finished my dam book, got invited to the Palace for lunch tomorrow and gained 3 levels so now I am above 50.¡±

    ¡°Well done my man. How do you like Weapon specialist?¡± They fist bumped.¡± Was it the C rank quest you completed that gave you the levels?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡±

    Stan talked for the first time, he and his friends had been quiet since he and Cuzen started talking. ¡°See guys, spirit hawks, learning skills by starting from level 5. One man completing a C rank quest on his own and having lunch at the palace. I told you this is a guild is hardcore and worth joining.¡±

    ¡°It better be, I don¡¯t want the same thing happening like the last guild.¡±

    ¡°What happened at your last guild?¡±

    ¡°We were about 10 levels or so behind the strongest raiding party. If we played with them, they would claim the best loot and never want us to attack with them. They wanted Wendy now and again to heal them and the rest of us they did not really want for the nice raids. So we left.¡±

    ¡°Yea that is bull shit. I don¡¯t know if things like that happen here, since we are allowed to roam around on our own. But what I can tell our guild numbers are still increasing and nobody is complaining in the guild chat.¡±

    Gambit arrived, they made the introductions and he sat down.

    ¡°We are always eager for new blood but our standards are rough. Have any of you completed basic training in magic or weapons?¡± Only the mage had.

    ¡°Not to worry, your levels are counting in your favour. Do you guys have other professions or unique skills?¡± It seemed they did not.

    ¡°Well do not worry, it is not all bad. By all rational standards you guys are average. How you handle combat and your willingness to better yourselves will determine if you guys get in. Have you been to the dungeon of Mogul?¡± They had not.

    ¡°Good, you are strong enough to start level 3. The average monsters there are between 80 and 90. Not the biggest of dungeons but it comes with a handy quest and the experience gained is good. Items on the other hand, I would not hope for something new but those you sell will get you some gold.¡±

    ¡°The place is a few hours walk from here but it is relatively hidden and not well known. I had already selected the person who

    would go with you and monitor your party and fight. He will show you the way and answer questions you might have, he around the same level as you guys. He has never been there and will also do the quest. We understand that not all people can play this game all day long so he will hang around for a while and wait for you guys. Do not worry about him, he can handle himself and will be farming the dungeon solo while he waits for you. The down side is, he is staying for the party, and after that he is going to sleep. So in about 40 hours from now he will be at the dungeon. You can wait for him at the town close to the dungeon. It is up to you guys if you accept our terms. He will give you more details once you start?¡± They agreed to the terms and left.

    ¡°So are you guys ready for the party? I was almost scared we would not make it. But the dungeon we were in we cleared fast. For a level 100 dungeon we went fast and farmed it pretty thorough. All of us in leader ship roles are going to be here. Ugly has been keeping the details secret.¡±

    ¡°Yes we don¡¯t know much either and will have to see what happens later on.¡±

    The night of the party was finally here. Most of the guild floor had been cleared. There was a place in the corner where an Npc band was playing music. There were 3 Npc¡¯s walking around from person to person asking what they wanted to drink. They had 4 different juices, tee and water. Apparently the alcohol will be served later after the meals and speeches. Before the food people had the opportunity to mingle and get to know each other. Lina joined them 2 hours into the party and was just in time to get blindsided, until then Tinker, Cuzen, Yuri and Zomger were talking to a group of people right next to them. The guild had just over 250 members and only 80 were at the party. The guild house first floor was packed and you could see there were many people from all races attending. Most were humans but that was understandable. All wore their black coats so it was easy to spot the npc caterers or band members.

    Our group of heroes did not have to move from people to people. Yuri went and changed his spirit hawk settings that guild members could see it as well. Thus interested members came over to them. They would first introduce themselves. Tell their rank in the guild and then ask about his spirit hawk. They told all the members what had happened. At the start Yuri did all the talking. Gradually feeling left out the others wanted to talk as well. Zomger would tell the part of the story of the mist and naked fairies. Cuzen would tell the part of the battle and quest. Tinker would explain the part of how an alchemist was needed to go there and what the dust was for. Then only was Yuri allowed to tell his part. They had probably met about half of the people when someone yelled for silence.

    There were 7 players in the middle of the room, all the others moved off to their sides. They started singing and dancing. It seemed they were Scribes. The big golden scale and small silver sword in their black coats gave them away. There was 1 woman dancing like a belly dancer. A man and woman that seemed like they were on that show strictly come dancing. They were twirling and really dancing like professionals. 3 Others were singing and playing music. Even the Npc band joined in providing a sort of background music for them for added effect. The music they were playing sounded oddly familiar. Tinker started to recognize the songs.

    They were songs that were popular about 3 months ago in the real world. It was on all the radio stations and top of the charts for a while. It seemed since all their members came from over the world it was best to play and sing music that was popular all over the world. Lastly there was a man that quoted poetry. Tinker did not understand half of it, but the female guild members were eating it up. Even Zomger said the guy was good. His second poem he sort of sung and performed. Lina arrived sometime during that performance.

    When he was done Major and Gambit walked to the middle of the room.

    G ¡±Ladies and gentleman¡± M ¡°Knights and Scribes¡±.

    G ¡°Welcome to the BoS Guild house¡± M ¡°To celebrate 6 months of Royal Roads.¡±

    G ¡°We quest and level hard¡± M ¡°So a break and party was needed to reward ourselves.¡±

    G ¡°Food and drink will be served soon¡± M ¡°That our own cooks had prepared.¡±

    G ¡°First we will have speeches from our different leaders and then ugly and I would say a few words.¡±

    M ¡°I would like to request that Yuri and his friends come after the rank leaders to tell the story about how they got the spirit hawk. It seemed like it is all the buzz in the guild tonight¡±

    The group nodded that they would do it. Lina was not amused. She had just arrived and now she was suppose to tell the story. They told her to just smile and be pretty, they would handle the story.

    First to talk was human female. She was tall and had long blond hair. Tinker would have said she seemed pretty enough. It was hard to see if she was a priest because she had clothes on and not a priest robe.

    ¡°Hello everybody. I am Aurora, leader of the Protection Knights. I am glad that I ended up with the guild and never regret that first day Gambit and the others asked me to be the healer for them while they attacked wolves. A lot of the dungeons after that were hell and I never imagined that I would keep up with their fast and reckless pace. But alas, we had many fun times and I was honored when I was asked to join the guild and be part of the ten that signed the original charter.¡±

    Cheers erupted with clapping of hands.

    Next up was a tallish fellow that looked normal enough and wore a mage robe. ¡°Hey, I am Asmodian, Arcane mage that leads the Rune Knights. I knew the moment I first saw you guys clear mobs I wanted to be part of your group. Not sure how I managed to be a leader but since I still am, I guess I am doing something right. To Gambit and Major for giving us a home away from home¡±

    Louder cheers and shouts of joy followed.

    Next was one of most well built men Tinker them had ever seen. He was not to big like a body builder but all his muscles showed. He was a true specimen of male perfection. His face could have used work but with a body like that who needed an attractive face. ¡°Zane, I am a monk and leader of the Natural Knights. My friends and I were looking for a guild and even had thoughts of starting our own until I fought Buster and Gambit. That was when I knew they were the best around. After that we all became friends and together we are the best around.¡± He did a back flip and twirled around a few times by only using his hands and arms to support his weight. Rumors placed him as second or third strongest in the guild after Buster.

    He did not say much but he got cheers for his little show at the end.

    Next was an elf. He wore a hood that covered most of his head and a mask that hid his face. Tinker could not help notice how he glided over the floor. He would recognize training like that in a second. ¡°The name is Dismas and thieving is the game. I do not raid a lot with most of the guild and as far as leaders go I am probably the lowest of levels. I am in charge of the Precision Knights and spend most of my time questing and doing tasks that go unnoticed for most of you and the world. Do not worry I don¡¯t steal from guild members and I never lie.¡±

    He took out a bag and tossed it to Gambit. It sounded like coins. Gambit opened his inventory to add the gold. ¡°You bastard when did you steal all my gold? I have not seen you close to me once tonight?¡±

    ¡°I would have robbed Major but I do not have the inventory space to carry all the gold he has.¡± Few of the guild members were not sure how to act and what to do. Most laughed and Tinker had a good idea what was going on. This thief claimed to be lower level than the other leaders but by taking Gambit¡¯s money without him realizing it, was impressive. He was making a statement to the guild that he was not to be messed with.

    Next was a big warrior in full battle gear. He was the only person dressed for battle. It seemed he did not catch the memo it was a party.¡± Buster, I lead the Vanguard Knights. To the BoS and Royal Roads.¡± He lifted up his cup and waited for the majority to mimic him and he sipped and so did the others.

    As he walked away Major asked Yuri and the others to go tell the story. They were a bit nervous and tried their best to tell it all. Zomger being a natural story teller made for a good opening scene. He could nearly make people believe they were caught in the fog, instead of them. Cuzen even talked about the part where they kited the Gorilla in the fight of their lives. Tinker and Yuri stuck to what they have been saying all night so far. At the end of the story Lina made a big fire ball and shot it to the ceiling corner, before it impacted it split in 8 smaller fire balls that zigzagged all over the room on the way back to her where they disappeared again. They did not do any damage to anyone. They asked her what she did that for and Lina only explained they all had good parts of the story to tell and she did not want to be left out so she dazzled them with a fire show.

    After that Major and Gambit were in the centre again. Gambit spoke first.

    ¡°Guys, when we stated this game 6 months ago we did not know what to expect and like all of you we were wowed out of our minds. When we started the guild 4 months ago we had but a few friends and look at us now. So many people are part of the guild and in time I hope I can make all of you my friends. I would like to think Major and I are doing the best possible to lead the guild and thanks to those others that help us make this not only a guild we can all call home but a place we can share everything we do.¡±

    ¡°Well I think fatty had stolen my speech so I do not have much more to add and say. I look forward to what the future holds and now it is time for the booze and food!!!¡±

    Naturally that got the most cheers and claps. The Npc caterers brought food and another would bring the alcohol. On the menu were two types of cider, wine and ale. The other drinks served earlier were also still on the menu. Since Tinker them were under age they stuck to the earlier drinks. Yuri asked for cider but in the end it tasted like water. The band kept playing music the entire time. After the food there were minor complaints that Major did not provide desert. They got over it. The alcohol was taking effect. Most people were dancing and singing along to songs. In general most were terrible and in normal circumstances Tinker would say they should be shot on site but he was also dancing and being part of the moment. Zomger and the others were also dancing and making total fools of themselves.

    80 People singing and dancing with music drew a lot of attention. Npc and players came to the guild house to look what festival or party was going on. Naturally many wanted to enter and be part of it. Buster was at the door and acted as bouncer with a mug of ale and big sword in hand. The first person that said the others can¡¯t make him leave was killed the second he entered the guild.

    Those watching were so shocked to see him killed so fast by a single person, and to make matters worse the person that did the killing did not get the murderer mark. After that they hung back a bit and stood around in the street. Hearing popular music from the real world assured that a crowd formed in the street. Many danced and sang with the music. A lot of them stood at the door and sneaked peaks inside. The door and high placed windows were open for circulation. Many more tried to enter but Buster made sure nobody that was not a member came in.

    Sometime during the night Major came around to Tinker them. Lina was dancing with some dude, Yuri and Asmodian seemed to be busy with an in depth discussion. Zomger was talking to the bard that did the solo poem. Cuzen seemed to be talking to some people he did not know.

    ¡°Tinker how are you enjoying the party so far?¡±

    ¡°It is awesome dude. Must have cost a fortune?¡±

    ¡°Not really. Only the alcohol is costing a lot. The food was made by our cooks. The meat was donated and hunted recently by members. Npc band and the others are not that expensive for a night. Our own members that are singing and playing music are also doing it for free, since it is their profession they really don¡¯t mind. In fact the bigger the crowd the more their experience gain is.¡±

    ¡°That is pretty good. These cooks have better skills than me, I can taste they know what they are doing. Also the stats they give are way more than mine.¡±

    ¡°Yes, they truly are magnificent. A lot of them have part time jobs at the best restaurants and one even helps out at the palace.¡±

    ¡°Really is he working there tomorrow?¡±

    ¡°Not so far as I know. Why you ask?¡±

    ¡°Just wondering if I am going to taste his food again. I have a lunch appointment at the Royal gardens tomorrow¡±

    ¡°O really, just who did you bribe to get in?¡±

    ¡°I was invited by Tristan Collins, he is my alchemy teacher and said I can bring a few friends. Pardon me for one moment, I forgot to ask the others if they wanted to come with. It will be 1 in the morning so not sure they are going to be awake and willing to go¡±

    He used the party chat and sent and urgent message that all of them got with a nice sound too notify them.

    Lina ¡°Sorry I am going to be well asleep then. I need to rest, Grand Master William is really pushing me to the edge.¡±

    Cuzen ¡°Sure I want to see the palace and might as well stay awake till one to see it.¡±

    Zomger ¡°You did say the food was free right, I am in.¡±

    Yuri, ¡°All right you guys are forcing me to go, I will concede to group pressure and come.¡±

    ¡°Nobody is forcing you to do anything, Tinker merely asked and now you talking nonsense.¡±

    ¡°Whatever man, maybe there is another spirit that needs a companion, best that the expert be there.¡±

    ¡°Tell yourself whatever you need to, enjoy it while it lasts, because the moment one of us gets something new and unique you will have to put up with us.¡±

    ¡°I know, until then, I got a Spirit hawk bitches¡­..¡±

    ¡°Sorry Major, we just needed to figure out who will be going. Unfortunately Lina won¡¯t be able to make it.¡±

    ¡°A pity, you mind if I take her place¡±

    ¡°Not really no, not sure they would have a problem with it and why do you want to go?¡±

    ¡°Well it is a once in a life time thing so I don¡¯t want to miss out on it. If I can talk to Gawain Collins about business, even better.¡±

    That was the actual reason he wanted to go, Tinker did not really mind, as long as they don¡¯t get chased away from the palace.

    The only other person he recognized at the party was Quantum. He considered walking over to talk with the guy but he really had nothing important to say and instead went looking for one of the cooks that made the best roast duck he had ever tasted.

    At some point it seemed the party would last forever. Another highlight of the evening was when 7 people tried to enter the guild with force. They were quickly dispatched of. Zomger complained he got no experience and only gained infamy. It seemed he cursed a few of them in hopes of getting some experience but it did not work out like that. Outside in the street the guards were in great numbers for in case a riot or fight brakes out. If they would guess they would say there were about a minimum of 400 people in the street having a mini party of their own thanks to the music from the BoS guild house. As the evening went on more and more people started to log out to sleep, not all of them did. Some had just woken up for the party and would play once most have left.

    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Asmodian came over to Tinker to ask if he could borrow the potion needed to enter the fairy forest. It seemed he wanted the dust bad and if he could get a spirit Imp or something of his own he would not mind. He also added that he is taking some players with him and that one of them had alchemy skill. Tinker agreed to give him the bottle since he did not plan on going there soon anyway. Asmodian agreed to leave the potion at the guild house when they return and that he would also owe him a favor.

    After the party the number of people that wanted to join the guild increased. For the next week Gambit had his hands full and had interviews with each person. He claimed that about 90% of those were idiots, about 7 % of them would fail the trails and about 3 % will join the ranks.

    With about half of the members logged out or lying intoxicated on the floor Tinker also logged out

    He went online to check posts and see what is new on the dark gamer web page. He even posted how he had gotten into the forest of fairies. Since there seemed to be not many with the alchemist skill and none with the potion they needed to get in. He was not worried they would abuse the information to much

    He logged back just before the lunch started. He was starting to feel tired and knew he would last through a lunch if it was not to boring. He met the other 3 at the palace main gate. All three of them were wearing better clothes than Tinker had, so he asked for an extra shirt, if Yuri had one. Cuzen and Zomger were a bit too large and the shirt would look funny. Major arrived a bit late and apologized. He claimed it was 3 in the morning where he lived. He was among the first to log out so that he could sleep a bit before his alarm went off. He claimed he barely made it because he stopped by Gambit room to wake him up and annoy him. They asked him why he did it, and all he said was that Gambit had it coming. Major wore something that most nobles did, a blue suit that looked expensive.

    They entered the palace with no problems, they asked a servant to take them to the Royal garden for lunch. He seemed skeptical they were actually invited. He agreed to take them close to the garden and then he would hear if they were invited. After everything was sorted out they were allowed to enter.

    It was really a site to behold. There was a massive stone table which could seat 50 people easy and it was covered to provide shade against the harsh afternoon sun. The garden was covered with beautiful flowers and impressive water fountains. There were small places people can sit and gather all through the gardens. It seemed that a lot of people were present. Tinker was not expecting so many people. He recognized Tristan and Lancelot and the servant left them as soon as they started walking to the people.

    ¡°Tinker, for a moment I thought you would not come, we have been ready for a while now and have been waiting, I will introduce you to everyone and after that we can take our seats.¡±

    ¡°Sorry we are late, we had a delay on our side.¡±

    They were introduced to most of the people there. It seemed Lancelot had three children and two of them were married with their own kids, Gawain had 2 kids and both of them had their own kids already. There were way too many faces and names to remember but Tinker had a general idea who was whose child and who married into the family. They moved to the table to get seated. It seemed they had a system. Lancelot at the head with his family next to him, next came Gawain¡¯s family. At the end of it all they sat along with Tristan. Tinker and Tristan went on as normal and really talked mainly to each other. He was saddened to hear Lina was not there but he enjoyed meeting Major. After Tinker explained Major was one of the leaders of the guild he was in, Tristan understood more of why he was here and why Tinker had not really talked about him yet.

    Tristan was being polite and asked the others where they stared and what they have been up to. The others explained and Tristan did enjoy the story of how they stopped cultist and a demon in Fell woods. Major just said he was a merchant and dodged the questions well of what he did, it seemed Tristan did not know of Major¡¯s reputation. Tinker told him about the party they had last night and how it went.

    They did not have to talk long before the food was served. The main dish was creamy fish with sweet potatoes, pumpkins and peas. They did not have a lot of fish because Zomger would release most of the fish he caught and Yuri prepared the fishes. He had shown Tinker how to gut them and cook them and so forth, but neither jumped at the opportunity to prepare fish. Deer and other meats were easy. For desert they had an option between 3 different pies. Servants brought the food and removed plates, others made sure that glasses were never empty. It sure was nice being royalty. They could get use to this.

    When the last plate was removed the children ran way to play in the garden, the women went to a place where they can sit in the shade and keep an eye on the children. The men went to as small placement which had a table and about ten chairs. Tristan motioned them to follow and they each brought their own cups with. They took a seat at the table. It was round so nobody sat at the head. There was a moment of silence before Tristan broke the ice. He told the others how Tinker was the only out lander that showed a true passion for alchemy and how he had the insight to expand on the book to further his own needs. He also added that perhaps one day Tinker will most likely become one of the best alchemists in the land if he stuck to it and played war less. Tinker had no desire to become a full time alchemist, all the things he was doing now was so that later on he can become one of the best warriors in the game.

    The conversation was stale to say the least. What do people of the land have to talk about with out landers? Only Tinker and Tristan were talking normally and the others were trying. There was an uneasy tension between Lancelot and Major. After about an hour of light conversation things were starting to heat up. Major started talking to Gawain asking how his business was doing.

    ¡°Business is good, with the influx of you out landers and more that come every day our sales are up, need for goods are increasing, more lost loot from monsters are returned to us. What about you? You say you are a merchant what products are you selling? Because I have not seen your shop and hear only rumors.¡±

    ¡°I like to think I sell and buy a bit of everything like your company does. It is true I do not have a stall but most of my business I conduct from our guild house. Unless you tell me what the rumors are I cannot really comment on them.¡±

    ¡°Just the usual of how you amassed a fortune in such a short time, how you use illegal means to do business and so on.¡±

    ¡°I like to think of myself a good merchant and are they only saying bad things about me?¡±

    ¡°Not at all, miners and farmers are singing your praises, your revolutionary way of doing business will change the way we have been doing it for thousands of years.¡±

    ¡°Glad to hear they do not all call for my head. If you are interested I would like to make use of your merchant wagons. Currently mine are full. As I understand you do have more than a few wagons heading to the various Kingdoms. ¡°

    ¡°Maybe you should stop by tomorrow or when you have time than we can maybe work something out. Best not to pass on a good business opportunity, and if the rumors are true on the amount of supplies you ship each week you will need a big mercantile company behind you.¡±

    ¡°My thoughts exactly, I have been thinking either you or the Maximuss group. Seems fate had brought us here together. As I understand both your companies are about the same size only the amount of wagons differ as you send them out to different areas.¡±

    ¡°If by fate you mean Tinker.¡± Tristan added

    ¡°You are right, seems you have been doing you research Mister Major.¡±

    ¡°Yes, as I said I have been keeping an eye on you guys and it is about time I expand¡±

    ¡°Excuse me Mister Major.¡± Lancelot interjected. ¡°Is it true you have a title?¡±

    ¡°That I do, it is not really one I use often because I fear many people get the wrong idea.¡±

    ¡°Really what is it and how did you come by it?¡±

    ¡°It is Boss. I received it when I had more than 100 of the people of the land working for me.¡±

    ¡°Major the Boss, it does sound rather intimidating. I had no idea you had so many workers. Many on the council have tried to find out what exactly it is you do, but it seems all those that send men to follow you end up dead or go missing.¡±

    ¡°Really, I can assure you that I have not killed or kidnapped any one myself. As a matter of fact I have not even killed one single monster since I came to this world. Business keeps me busy.¡± Later they would discover that Major really did not kill anyone, it was the other people in the guild that killed Npc¡¯s that followed him, per his instruction of course.

    ¡°It seems we have a spy here today as well. You see that person standing there in the garden¡± Lancelot pointed and ever body looked. The spy saw everybody was looking and started to walk away.¡±I think he was trying to be a gardener but with no tools he stands out. If he tried pretending to look at the flowers it might have taken longer for me to notice him. At the end of it all it does not matter I guess.¡±

    ¡°What bothers me is the one hiding that tree¡± Yuri pointed to it. They saw nothing. He took at his bow and shot into it. He then yelled. ¡°The next one is going to hit your head.¡±

    A man suddenly emerged from the tree and made a hasty retreat.

    ¡°Who do you think he works for?¡±

    ¡°If I would have to guess Lord Max or any of the other lords that hold grudges towards you. He does enjoy talented spies.¡±

    ¡°Can a person get no privacy?¡±

    ¡°As I understand a lot of the lords who don¡¯t like Major have given his description to the guards and servants. So whenever he is on palace grounds the spies come out and others go tell the lords he is here. They are so scared he makes a deal with another lord and undermines somebody. They just want to be kept in the loop and not blindsided by a business deal or whatever.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t seem too worried?¡±

    ¡°I am not. I would have gotten the same message any lord would get if he enters the grounds. Whatever business Gawain wants to do I am not going to tell the others about it. If they think Major and I are plotting something I will inform them, that he came to lunch with Tristan¡¯s new student. It may seem worse than it is. In the game of politics some things get blown out of proportion where small things get looked over. I can guess for the next week it will be the talk all over the palace that Major came to my midday lunch. If Major and Gawain start business I think the other lords will hate me more but after a month or so a new issue will arise and these things will be forgotten.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like you are use to it.¡±

    ¡°That I am. Since I was a young man I went with my father to meetings and after 30 years it I safe to say I know all the ins and outs of politics in our fine city.¡±

    ¡°Is Major not entitled to privacy and things like that?¡±

    ¡°Of course he is. So far as I know it is not illegal to follow a person and keep an eye on them. As long as you do not threaten or trespass on their lands it is fine. Becoming famous or infamous has its highs and lows you understand?¡±

    ¡°We do, is it common for spies to follow people around?¡±

    ¡°It is. Those expected of wrong doings or trouble makers get followed all the time. I am not saying Major is one of them of course. He is a unique case to say the least. With him being an out lander and amassing riches so fast how can the others not be interested in how he does it. I assume you are not willing to tell us here at the table how you do what you do?¡±

    ¡°Hahaha I am afraid a good business man does not reveal trade secrets.¡±

    ¡°Very well, on a other subject what do you think the future holds for you out landers here on our continent?¡±

    Cuzen¡± Well I think we are going to explore every corner and place in your world. Where we come from we had people reaching all corners in our world. From the highest mountain tops to deep under the sea. I think that is one of the main reasons we had come here. It is a new world for us to explore and we do like our exploration.¡±

    ¡°I have noticed how you out landers seem to scatter and run all over the place with no fear of monsters or boarders to confine you.

    Zomger¡± I like to think we focus more on exchange of culture and ideas. I like talking to the people and learning more about you and your culture. By listening to you songs and tales I can understand you more as a people. When you hear my poems and songs I like to think you understand us more.¡±

    ¡°I must admit I have heard some of your peoples songs and words and a lot I do not understand. I do understand the themes like love and struggle if that is the message of the song, but as a whole I am lost.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, even most of us don¡¯t understand half of the time what the songs and poems mean and we are from the same world.¡±

    Yuri ¡±Well I just came here for the ladies¡­..and to have a good time. Those that do come here, come here for their own reasons. Nobody is forced to be here and all have a choice before they come¡±

    Tinker ¡°I came here to be the very best. One whose name will be known by all. I want to be the first to explore everything place in your world, I want to be the strongest warrior that slays the biggest beast. I want to do things that now other out lander or person of the land has ever done. I can name so many other things I want to do but then we will all be sitting here till late tonight.¡±

    ¡°After you finished the first task I gave you I knew you had a lot of determination and what you are trying to accomplish is a good goal to have. Once you reach the top and all the land knows your name make sure you to tell them that I, Tristan Collins helped you along your journey.¡±

    ¡°Of course I will, at my Castle you will have a room for yourself and a garden full of the rare plants I discover.¡±

    They all laughed at that. Major was still to say what he thinks the future holds.

    ¡°War¡± he said somewhat grimly. ¡°Mark my words many things come and go, but war never changes. We will fight and many will die, but war makes sure many advances in skills, spells and knowledge will happen. I do not know if there will be piece one day but I can tell you this. There will be blood, new things that will wow you the moment you see or hear of it. That is why I am a merchant, in peace or war time there is money to be made.¡±

    ¡°You think so? Endless wars all over the lands?¡±

    ¡°Maybe one day. It helps a lot that there are always new monsters to kill and other things to keep us busy or distracted with.¡±

    Lancelot ¡°With the new laws that the king passed are you going to acquire a village or two of your own Major?¡±

    ¡°No not at all, I think I will wait and see how things go for now. There are many other places that need my attention.¡±

    Major tried to change the topic of conversation. ¡°How is the peace negotiations going with the Kallamorian¡¯s, there haven¡¯t been any new border disputes with them?¡±

    ¡°There is always a dispute of some kind between us and them. Last I heard they raided a small village and left again. I was not aware you took interest in matters like that?¡±

    ¡°Normally I do not much care what raids are going on, but I think it is helpful to have knowledge of the kingdom and its standing. If there is one thing I have learned, is that there is always someone making money for every battle or war that get¡¯s fought.¡±

    ¡°I see, so you want to be that person. It has been many years since we had a full out war with the Kallamorian¡¯s. We may have the bigger army and lands but their knights are of the best in all of the continent. I think they still hold grudges of the old days.¡±

    ¡°Really what happened between your kingdoms that they hate you guys?¡±

    ¡°I am not sure, long ago the Kallamorian kingdom lands spread far and wide, but after many battles they had to fall back and forfeit many lands. Now that I think about it that village they raided was long ago part of the Kallamorian kingdom. It is not only us they test. But I can¡¯t see us going to war with them any time soon.¡±

    ¡°Enough of politics, tell us about the monsters you have faced. I have been living all my life in the city and a lot of people complain that we that live here in the capital have no idea what is going on in the outside world. I think Tristan is the only one that has seen monsters and experienced wars.¡±

    ¡°Well we fight any monster really, the more we kill the stronger we get. When we are done here we are thinking of leaving for a month or two to go kill more. We are not afraid of monsters and if they kill us we repay them back in kind. The quests and other rewards we get from killing monsters keep us going back for more.¡±

    ¡°What do you others do when you are not killing monsters and fighting in battles? I know Tinker picked up alchemy but surely Cuzen that is a paladin of Freya has other responsibilities?¡±

    ¡°We do a bit of everything. Some things to help us survive longer when we leave cities like cooking, others to make us stronger like training, and other stuff to past the time like singing and fishing. Most of what we do tracks back some way to our play style and interests.¡±

    ¡°I would have liked to live like you guys for some time. But responsibility to our house and country keep us busy.¡±

    ¡°Why have none of you joined the army? Surely you do not have to stay in the cities all the time, you can also go out in the world and kill monsters?¡±

    ¡°To what end? People die when they are always fighting. The work we all do here in the city is important and it helps us raise families and being part of the community. Those not fortunate enough to be born into wealth are usually those that join armies or the guards. Some of them live long but most do not, we are lucky and blessed to be safe behind our huge walls and titles.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps, each to his own I guess.¡±

    They kept talking for the better part of an hour but they were starting to get tired and needed to sleep. They said their goodbyes and parted ways. All of them logged off and went to bed for tomorrow will be another day.

 Chapter 19 : The dungeon of Mogul

    Tinker was the last to log back on. He logged back on at about 11 in the morning. That gave him more than enough time to sleep, eat and shower. On his return he asked what the others were up to. Cuzen claimed to be a few days away from finishing his basic training so he was going to power through until he was done. Zomger was doing a quest where he was participating in a fishing tournament a small distance away from the capital. Yuri it seems was hunting game in a plain about 4 hours walk away. Lina was still in the mage tower busy with Grand master William learning enchanting. She claimed that she did not know when she would be done but it would not be soon.

    Tinker made his way over to the training hall to join Cuzen. He enjoyed having someone to talk during his rest. He would be honest, ever since he did basic training with Cuzen he would rest more and take longer time to recover. It also fell to them to notify Gambit if they saw other people do basic training.

    It was not hard to spot those that wanted to test out new weapons or skills. They would be done in less than 30 min. Those with basic training will hit scarecrows for longer. They kept their eyes open but it seemed not many were busy with it. It was still not well known it seemed, that if you wanted to be a warrior, paladin or knight that doing basic training will help you out more.

    Tinker however messed up his order. It was good to finish basic training before level 20 to reap most of the benefits sooner. He asked the instructor if it was possible to receive a shortened version of the basic sword. He needed it to be shorter otherwise he would not be able to attack that efficient with dual swords. The first few hours they practiced they did not notice any person busy with basic training. It seems a lot would start but after 30 min they would be off. 8 hours in during one of their breaks they saw one person in starting cloths which they decided to go talk to. They were not equipped in their battle gear and only wore their black cloaks in the guild house. For now they trained in normal cloths. Beggars and female looking players were always on the lookout for strong warriors to help them. They discovered it work best to blend in with the masses. Wearing your best gear also makes you a pray for theft or player killers. In big cities the last mentioned rarely happened.

    ¡°Hi there, how is the training coming along?¡±

    ¡°I am not interested in whatever you are selling. Go bother other people.¡±

    ¡°Come on Cuzen, let us leave him be, he clearly does not want to be disturbed.¡±

    ¡°No Tinker, we are now part of the guild and this is one of those things we have to do. If he asks us to leave after we had our say we will.¡±

    ¡°Fine, you can do the talking, I am going to refill my water. Good luck.¡±

    ¡°Ok, take my drinking bottle and extra container with you please.¡±

    ¡°Geez you lazy piece of meat, want me to get snacks while I am at it?¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t mind, now be off before I give you my shopping list¡±

    ¡°Somebody is full of humor today aren¡¯t they?¡±

    ¡°After 8 hours of just hitting are you not getting tired and want to do something new?¡±

    Tinker walked off and Cuzen focused on the new person. ¡°Hello I am Cuzen, may I please have a few minutes of your time?¡±

    ¡°You will leave me alone after you had your say right?¡±

    ¡°Yes, unless you give me reason to stay longer.¡±

    He stopped what he was doing and put down his wooden sword and focused his attention on Cuzen.

    ¡°Ok, this is my first time doing this so just bare with me. Do you know why you are busy with basic training?¡±

    ¡°Yes, for the increased stats, so that when my first month passes I can go out stronger as those of the same level as me.¡±

    ¡°Great since you know that it helps, I don¡¯t have to tell you these things. So long story short we focus on recruiting players like you that know a bit more. Think the recruitment motto is something like, we prefer quality over quantity.¡±

    ¡°So far I have only bad experiences with people. Why would I join a guild?¡±

    ¡°We are not like others guilds. My friends and I past our initiation test very well so we have freedom to farm where we want, when we want. We don¡¯t force our ways on others. There are some things we demand but rest of the time we want people to do their own thing. We do not want bad or even average players. We want the best.¡±

    ¡°This pro guild of yours has room for little old me and just what makes you guys so pro?¡±

    ¡°I did not use the word pro, just above average. Well we have above level 100 players. One of our guild masters have over 100 000 gold, some have secret classes and the list goes on. Do not get me wrong friend. Our guild does not need you, we only want you. Right now you can¡¯t do much, but later on you will be so much stronger and other new recruits can work well with someone like you.¡±

    ¡°It sounds too good to be true. What is the catch?¡±

    ¡°You need to pass the initiation test, follow the guild rules and always be an above average player. If you are not, you are let go or you don¡¯t get to join.¡±

    ¡°Fine, what is the test and how many members you have already?¡± It seemed he was starting to gain an interest.

    ¡°I have no idea. I am still relatively new in the guild and we got about 250. Gambit will decide a task for you to do. He handles that part, we scout out possible recruits. It won¡¯t be an impossible task but don¡¯t expect it to be a walk in the park either.¡±

    ¡°When will I meet this Gambit?¡±

    ¡°I will tell him we found someone new. He comes around here every now and again. Can I assume you are going to be around here for the next few days?¡±

    ¡°Yes¡±

    ¡°Great my buddy and I will be close by if you got more questions. I am Cuzen by the way who are you?¡±

    ¡°The name is Mark¡±.

    Tinker returned with the water and no snacks. They ate some jerky to restore their fatigue before they started attacking again. Gambit said he would arrive within the hour to talk to Mark.

    As they were each attacking their own target a person could see the divergence in their style. Cuzen stood like a tree and attacked each shot with all his power. Tinker would flow and move around the target, sometimes he would stab or slice. Other times he would thrust or perform sweeps with all his might but he was always on the move. He was worried that the system would not pick this up as doing basic training because most of those that do training just stand still and attack like Cuzen does. But his stats did increase so he was doing something right. Mark on the other hand did look at them now and again but he seemed to be focusing on his own dummy.

    ¡°Yo Tinker, want to try a combo attack?¡±

    ¡°What did you have in mind?¡±

    ¡°You attack from the rear. With one blade you chop for the neck and the other you keep low and thrust for the spine. I leap and bash the target backwards from the front. So you need to wait for me to leap, and while I am bashing him backwards you must be attacking already.¡±

    ¡°I understand, by now I have a good idea how fast you travel in the air so it should work. Wonder if we will be able to kill a cloth wearing person in one go. I have noticed I do more damage to the monsters that run into my blade than those I attack.¡±

    ¡°Right on, since my leap has such a long cool down let us try and get it right the first time.¡±

    They got into positions. Cuzen even equipped his plate armour so that the bash could be stronger and push the scarecrow further.

    Tinker did not bother because the leather would give some minor damage increase but his speed would be slower. This was a test to see if the attack works and if the timing was possible.

    ¡°Hey Mark check this out.¡± Cuzen shouted to him. Naturally every other person in the training hall stopped to look at what was about to happen. Tinker wondered if any other person name was Mark or maybe they were just bored and would welcome something different. If he would guess he would say about 30 people were watching. He took a deep breath and made ready. He was about 1 meter behind the scare crow. On three Cuzen would leap and that would give him the time to move forward and start his attack. He decided to thrust low in the back with his left hand sword and chop with a back hand with the other sword. That way he could move forward and to the right and not get crushed by Cuzen and keep most of his momentum forward.

    ¡°One¡± Tinker hoped that Cuzen would go for the middle and not over shoot a bit to the left and hit him

    ¡°Two¡± And why did he need to call Mark and get the whole hall watching them? If they mess it up they would get laughed at

    ¡°Three¡± He was off, he did not check if Cuzen went, he just focused on his two points of attack. Both his swords seem to hit their mark but out of nowhere something hard hit him in the face. As he was moving forward and to the right of the dummy, he lost the grip on his left hand sword. It seemed to have gotten stuck. After losing one weapon he instinctively performed a duck roll so that he could stand up and face the scarecrow. A quick scan of the immediate area revealed that there were no new threats and so he did not have to dodge any new attacks. During his role he thought that a third player might have started attacking him. Because he knew Cuzen did not hit him by accident because he only used his shield after the leap. He saw a head still moving on the floor close to the scare crow. The scarecrow was lying on his back with no head and a sword sticking out of its stomach. Cuzen stood at its feet grinning like an idiot.

    ¡°Well I did not think this would happen.¡±

    ¡°No shit, at least you did not take a decapitated head to the face. It did not hurt but unfortunately I did not a see it coming.¡±

    ¡°Hahaha most shots to the face usually do hit when you least expect it.

    ¡°That it does¡± A man said while laughing. They turned to see who it was and they saw Gambit walking closer.

    ¡°I thought you guys are training, imagine my shock when I walk in here and seeing you guys are the center of attention. It seems it is happening a lot lately. But epic combo attack there, do you guys have a name for it¡±

    ¡°Thanks, we do not usually hog the attention and it just seems to happen to us. We wanted to show Mark over there how we do what we do. I think we should name the combo attack the sandwich.¡±

    ¡°I like it, not only does it remind me of food, but it describes the attack pretty well. On a sad note if you use the attack on a woman you should be ready for critical remarks from others.¡±

    ¡°I have not even thought that far yet, does it happen a lot?¡±

    ¡°Yes, all the time. When I use my skill whirling death they call me the ballerina dancer. Just one of those things I guess.¡±

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Whirling Death

    User spins fast for a short duration of time. Deals damage in a 360¡ã area around the user.

    Damage done is equal to your normal attack. A minimum of 1 attack per second is allowed.

    Costs 200 mana. 1 hour cool down.

    Duration depends on current fatigue level.

    WARNING, once user starts, he cannot stop until the skill is over or he dies.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    ¡°What is fatigue?¡±

    ¡°People mention it and I have read something about it. But I have never seen the bar or stat for it.¡±

    It shares the same bar as your stamina. The more stamina you have, the less is your fatigue. Thus if you are running low on stamina your fatigue is high.¡±

    ¡°Maybe one day we can see you in action. Mark is that dude over there so you can go right ahead and talk to him. Tinker and I are going to fetch a new scarecrow.¡±

    A few days later Cuzen finished up his training and left Tinker behind while he went and sold his sword. Since nobody in the party could use it other than Tinker. He of course did not want to use it so it was useless for them. When Cuzen started the game he decided he would not be like most that only use swords. The guild would not sell it to a guild member because any one that wanted the sword needed to go and earn it. Cuzen left the training hall to go do a quest for the church. Lina was still at the mages guild. Yuri started a new quest in the region he was in and Zomger was still fishing in the tournament. He would be finishing up soon. Zomger used the time since the start of the tournament to bid on the item he found online.

    A dark gamer was raiding in a cave with his guild somewhere close to the north and discovered the mysterious statue. Nobody else in the party wanted it and he took it to skilled person to get identified. When he read what it could do he knew he could sell it to a shaman or some similar class that can use it. Tinker only stumbled across it because it was listed under unique at the dark games union site. He recognized the name Oguumi and noticed it was different than the one he had discovered. It was already on auction. The time remaining was 1 week. Tinker told Zomger who took an interest in the statue. He joined the bidding war and had won. He bought the item for 80 pounds. Normally he would not spend that much money on items but the text told them that more bonuses will be revealed if the other sculptures from the same series are brought together.

    The person traveled all the way to Zomger to deliver the item himself. He was clearly a Korean and tried to sell Zomger a wand to compliment his new statue. Zomger liked that wand but after he spent all that money on the sculpture he was not in the mood. The wand the person was selling was better than the one he was using but alas the money was a bit too much. The sculpture was unique and what was most important. It was the same looking Aztec man with tongue sticking out. But this man was kneeling with hand stretched up and outwards with what seemed to be human entrails in its hands

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Oguumi statue of dark offerings

    Durability: 8/10

    A sculpture made to represent the extinct tribe offerings

    Active effect is to increase Curses, Hexes, Voodoo and Ritual spells by 5% in strength for all party and raid members.

    Requirement: Must be of a class that uses Curses, Hexes, Voodoo and Ritual spells

    Only 1 statue effect can be active at a time. Unless other statues of the same series are discovered.

    The Oguumi were a primal and primitive tribe that believed in dark offerings. It is said that after many offerings their Dark Lord answered them and demanded them to increase their offerings. So they did and received many blessings from their Dark Lord that allowed them to stack a multiple amount spells and abilities that are not normally possible.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    The moment Zomger had both sculptures a new message appeared under the text that explained that the Oguumi were a primal people.

    Two or more Oguumi statues are in close proximity to each other. Both statue effects are active and in full effect. As a bonus the effects are increased by an additional 10% for having 2 statues.

    This was good and now his curses were 20% stronger. It also confirmed their suspicion that there are more statues in the world. The person delivered the statue right after the fishing tournament. Zomger came in 4th with the biggest black bass he had ever caught. He won a fish bone necklace. The stats were not good but they increased vitality and chances that fishes will bite are increased by 5%. First place won a fishing pole that subbed as a weapon. Second place won a tool kit with hooks and lore¡¯s in. Third place was a rare gold fish whose exact stats would be revealed once it grows up. At the end of it all he would rate it as a good fishing week and was pleased with his new item. He made his way back to the city to see what his friends were up to

    Back at the city life went on. Tinker was at the training hall. Cuzen was at the guild house gathering intel for a possible dungeon they could go farm. Yuri and Zomger had made their way back and Lina was still busy in the mage tower. Cuzen found out of a nearby dungeon they could go farm intensely, the only problem was that Lina was not ready to go. She told them she would be finished soon so they should go on without her. They agreed to leave and start the farming without her. They stocked up on supplies and headed towards the dungeon.

    It turns out Cuzen asked around in the guild and they suggested that it would be a good place to go farm. The dungeon was in the shape of a huge mansion with a creepy long wall around it. The place was relatively well hidden. It was not near a major road. There was a small overgrown path leading from the nearby village to the mansion. It would appear that most of the villagers chose to ignore the existence of the place and did not want to talk about it. To get the quest you have to go to the small chapel were you respawn after you died. There was only one priest there and if you did not ask or mention the mansion in some way you would not get a quest. In addition the quest could not be shared so each person had to get it.

    According to the information they got the dungeon of Mogul could have been divided into three levels. The first was the entire outside of the huge mansion. Estimates put it around one square mile. At the outer perimeters were roaming satanic hounds. Inside there were numerous different enemies to fight. There where gardeners that fought with a shovel. They may have worn cloth and have no real weapons but they were alone and as strong as a single pack of hounds. There was also a single sentry that walked around all over the grounds with two bigger satanic hounds. Small pavilions in the grounds held groups of cultist. They consisted of two men armed with swords, one healer, one spell caster and the fifth person always seemed to be a random fighter. They seemed to be sitting and enjoying each other companies until they notice you. The most disturbing were the little children. They would come out of nowhere and stab you with daggers a few times and jump into the nearest bush or duck behind a tree and disappear. While doing all this they would giggle and laugh like little children do. There were sheds and other outhouse buildings that each held its own surprises. The average level of the monsters was between 50 and 65,

    The second level was the entire mansion. There were many rooms close to each other and multiple floors. Some rooms were big and others were like a hotel. At least 20 small rooms in one hallway. Each of the two wings had its own boss. The countess was in the east wing and the head servant in the other. In the mansions own kitchen was the third boss the huge chef that fought with meat slicers. After you kill him you can go into the cellar. The average level of the monsters was between 65 and 80.

    In the cellar was the third level. A massive cellar with multiple levels stretching in each direction. The cellar it seemed was not only a store place but a prison, place of sacrifice and all other things that were nasty. In the cellar there were two bosses. The leader of the satanic hell hounds in the kennel portion of the cellar. Last in the deepest corner of the last room was Count Mogul himself. Upon his death a magic pathway opens that takes you out of the cellar and puts you a good distance from the grounds. The trip is one way so you want to make sure you are not left behind. Otherwise you have to fight your way out. The average level of the monsters was between 80 and 100.

    During the walk to the town Zomger showed them all his new statue and told them about his fishing tournament. There were well over a thousand participants. It was mostly Npc¡¯s that participated. They fished in a lake which was the major source of water for the capital. Many rivers from around the area flowed to the lake so the fish life was numerous and divers.

    Yuri was busy for over week by hunting migrating birds. They were enormous birds that needed to be killed. If they are too many when mating season starts they ravish an entire regions plant and small animal life. In addition the birds had a good portion of meat that tasted like chicken. After that he got a quest where they needed to hunt buffalo. He did not kill the biggest beast but those that were sickly and tainted by chaos. They had to do it to protect the herd. He got only gold and experience for the buffalo¡¯s because nothing of the animal could be used thanks to the exposure to chaos. Tinker would have like to have some meat tainted by chaos, but alas he missed on the opportunity to add it to his book.

    The town they arrived at was not busy and gave of a slight vibe of misery. No wonder nobody ever came to the town. Others told them that there were not many quests in the village to do and who would think of going to talk to the priest at the chapel to hear about the mansion. The BoS only discovered the quest by accident. They found the mansion and were farming it and died when fighting the chef. They all died in quick succession and talked about what happened once they were all alive again. The priest on duty heard them and gave them the quest to kill 200 enemies. A person could get the quest 3 times, to kill enemies on each level.

    They followed the overgrown path till they reached a gate with a huge wall going as far as the eye could see. The mansion was also visible but it looked like a small building from the gate. It did not take long before they encountered their first pack of hounds. They were fast but they all started attacking the person closest to them. Only when another person attacks them will they change targets. At the start of the fight all five dogs attacked Cuzen. Tinker rounded the pack and was attacking the hound that Cuzen was flogging with his mace. Zomger had his hands full with healing him and casting the odd curse in between.

    Yuri did miss a shot on the hound Cuzen was attacking and thus he had a new dog that came racing after him. He started running away from the battle with the hound in pursuit. No matter how much speed or stamina you have you cannot outrun a hound. Yuri made it to a tree just in time and climbed up high enough so that the dog could not get him. From there he just shot arrows at the dog that tried jumping and clawing his way up the tree to no success. The others had their work cut out for them. Cuzen could only block one hound with his shield and keep another busy with his mace. That left two free to attack him from the sides or his back. Sometime during the fight a hound climbed upon his back and bit into his shoulder. He was the last to be killed.

    After their first battle they had to talk tactics. Cuzen claimed that 5 hounds were too much damage for him and he could only manage 4 at a time. If they encounter bigger packs Tinker will take on a hound on his own and try not to take too much damage. If they fight six Yuri would have to agro one. If the encountered more they would not engage. The problem was that if they start the fight and see they are outnumbered the dogs would chase them all the way back to the gates.

    During this strategy talk Tinker was adding the different parts of the hound to his alchemy book. Only their stomach could be used to increase resistance to poisons and allows the user to ingest food, water or other things that would normally hurt or kill them. For example a person needs to eat and drink. If you are in a swamp and all there is to eat is rotten flesh and still standing water you will die when you consume it. With a potion made of the stomach of the hounds a person could eat and drink the things from the swamp and gain nutrition from them and survive a few more days. The effects seemed only to last for a short time and a warning message told him that a person could not use the potion for more than a week before the body refuses to ingest more rotten food.

    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    They were walking around and looking for their next group of hounds to find, they had killed 4 groups so far without too much problems. Yuri claimed to see hounds a good distance away, they wanted to move stealthy behind bushes to get a better look. You can imagine their shock when a gardener stood up straight not 5 meters from them. At first they did not know if they should attack, but the gardener charged them. They were warned that gardener¡¯s strength and skill matched that of 5 hounds. They did not see how it was possible until they started fighting him. After a slight delay they fell into their standard formation. Cuzen would keep him busy while Tinker would come from the side or back and attack. Tinker jabbed fast two times and as his was preparing a full power swing when a shovel hit him in the face.

    Normally the beast or monster would turn around before they start attacking him but this gardener swung without looking and continued its attack. He shook the hit off like a champ and attacked again. A few attacks later the gardener tried it again but Tinker managed to block the first attack and even dodge the second. The gardener changed tactics after that. He started to move like Tinker does when he is under attack by multiple opponents. Tinker could not get behind his opponent again. Yuri yelled for them to stop chasing him and just fight him from the front shoulder to shoulder. Because the gardener kept diving and rolling all over the place a lot of arrow shots missed. As Tinker and Cuzen started fighting shoulder to shoulder the gardener took this time to run straight down on Yuri. Normally Yuri would run and save himself but he could not this time. He managed a few shots till the gardener was on him. He took his dagger and blocked the first blow from the shovel with his bow. He performed a duck role in the direction of his friends in the hopes of getting far away but he too got a shovel to the back of the head.

    They stabilized a bit after that. They noticed that the gardener would prefer to attack Tinker, it seemed he picked up that Cuzen does not take much or any damage behind his iron armour. Sometime during the fight the gardener again stopped attacking and ran down on Zomger. Even with the other 3 people attacking him, the gardener would not stop attacking Zomger. Lucky for them Zomger was a shaman in leather gear and could take a few blows. He even attacked the Gardener with his Club. The fight was over soon after that and again they took the time to evaluate and learn from the battle. Tinker took the shovel claiming he might need it someday. He had a shovel but this particular shovel had bonus stats and if your life depended on it, it can be used as a weapon.

    Their encounter with the second gardener started off well. Tinker would start the attack while Cuzen provided support. The other two would stand behind them. By doing this both Tinker and Cuzen could stop the gardener from just running past. I did happen once or twice where the gardener would just run far around Cuzen who could not keep up. Cuzen made up for it by leaping to the aid of others. Zomger and Yuri would just keep attacking or casting spells while they walked behind the other two. Again the gardeners surprised them by running in circles to tire them out and dodge attacks from range. Cuzen jumped on the back of a gardener the one time it came to close. This slowed it down enough for Tinker to catch up and do good damage. Yuri however had to stop shooting, instead he came in close with dagger in one hand and an arrow in the other for some melee combat. The second gardener died faster than the first but the fight was still sloppy.

    The fight against the third gardener went well until he ran away and stood with a tree to his back. Thus preventing the others to get a surround on him. He also kept moving around so that Yuri never had a clear shot. They decided to just surround him and all four of them came close to attack it at melee range. At the end of it all they concluded that the gardeners were too unpredictable. Thus the other fights against them also went sloppy.

    The sentry with two bigger hounds was easy enough. He would release both of them and Cuzen would keep both busy. Tinker would attack the sentry. The damaged Tinker did against the sentry was not the best but he kept his target busy. He sometimes sustained a fair amount of damage and fought until his friends came to help him. They managed to kill the two hounds before he was done with the sentry. The sentry had a leather chest piece and carried a rapier so his attacks were fast. On some level it felt like a duel for Tinker. Just he and the sentry. Sure Zomger cursed him, but other than that it was a 1 on 1 fight.

    For the time being they only fought the three different type of enemies. Those assembled at pavilions and buildings on the ground they bypassed. While moving along a row of bushes Zomger suddenly yelled out. The others turned around to see what the problem was. A little girl was running away with dagger in hand laughing at them. Yuri tried to shoot but she dove into a bush. As he went closer to the bush she was gone. This happened a few times more. So after a while they would keep looking behind them for in case she sneaks up on them. The plan was that if she reappeared Yuri would not attack and run after her. That seemed to work well as she ran to a tree and hid behind it. Yuri rounded the tree ready to pay her back for the stab he received but she was gone.

    They concluded that whenever they lose sight of her she teleports or ghosts out. After many chases they finally managed to keep eyes on the girl and she could not teleport away. She did not even try and run away because she appeared to be out of breath. It seemed being a child takes its toll on a person. They hesitated at first because nobody really wanted to kill a child but she did not look like a normal child. From behind she looked like just any other child normally would. But she had a dagger, her skin was pale and the eyes were not right. They seemed evil and satanic to say the least. The up side was she died quickly.

    They continued this for about two days before Lina came to join them. Only once she was with them did they feel confident enough to attack the five cultists. The fight was tough to say the least but they emerged victorious every time. They struggled the most when the fifth person was a knight in thick iron armour but he died just like the others in the end.

    They even entered the stables and sheds. The sheds had two gardeners in, but the confined space of the shed helped our group of friends more than the gardeners. In one of the stables they encountered a horse. It was in a stall and could not charge them but he put up a good fight. The hooves of the front feet felt like 2 hammers hitting. Cuzen had a shield to block but Tinker took a hoof to the chest and after that the odd hoof to the arms. The horse turned around to kick with his hind legs, Tinker evaded like a trained warrior but Cuzen was unmoving like a tree. When the stronger legs hit him he was kicked backwards a good five meters and made contact with the floor.

    Tinker used the time in between to gather samples for his book. Most of the plants he got was for poisons or would weaken something important. He took all the red vines he could lay his hands on. It did high amounts of poison damage.

    All the cultists seem to be human. He chopped one up and added it to his book. It seemed humans were a lot like goblins. Since they were in such abundance all over the continent nothing of them could be used. Satanic horses heart could be used to increase maximum stamina by 250% but in addition it increases your stamina drain by 25%. They did not get many horses, and it seemed the meat could have been eaten. The problem was that 80% of the normal nutrition you receive is lost, due to it being tainted.

    Unfortunately it seemed meat tainted by evil could not be used in alchemy. Only later did he discover when his alchemy reached the appropriate level that the meat can be used. There was no time for using professions. They only repaired what they needed and took what they could for later use. All they did was fight and take small braeks to recover.

    After a week they stopped. In just over a week they leveled up 3 times and one more for handing in the quest. They decided to get the quest and spend the next month in the mansion. Tinker was about 10 levels behind and the others about 5 but they felt confident that they could fight in the mansion. The average level was between 65 and 80 but they were not average players.

    Inside the mansion there were servants in well dressed cloths and trays that were sharp as swords. In some of the rooms they would find more cultists and people to kill. During some fights reinforcements came from adjacent rooms. All they would do is retreat in a corner and fight like their lives dependent on it. Many times they came close to death but a bandage here and a potion there proved to be what they needed to power on.

    They pulled out all the stops. Yuri even used his spirit hawk to run interference. He would turn the vision on for all the world to see and send it to attack people. Out of reaction they would swing weapons at it to stop it, but all physical attacks did nothing to the spirit hawk. Unfortunately the Spirit hawk could do nothing to the attackers either. Its only job was to keep them busy and distracted for a few seconds. During a lot of their fights those few seconds was the difference between life and death. The stupid monsters like hounds would keep chasing and biting the hawk to no effect. The humans however adapted fast and were not fooled twice.

    So far in the mansion they encountered no hounds and only fought humans. A lot were servants but the most seemed like guests or fellow cult members. They were not robed in cultist cloths and instead wore fancy cloths. The up side was they dropped good money, but the items were lacking to say the least. Each of them got a nice suit for if they ever get invited to a ball or some other rich and fancy event. Lina on the other hand looted nearly every new dress and other cloths for her tailoring.

    They encountered a normal looking door and opened it ready to fight whoever was inside. They cannot remember who was more shocked. Them for walking in on about 40 cultists eating in a huge dining hall or 40 cultists who were interrupted by outsiders. There was no retreat and they stood their ground at the door. It was not the big double door to the hall room but a servant entry if they would have to guess. Cuzen stood like a tree in the door frame preventing any from passing. Tinker would stab and poke through the sides at any of the 8 people trying to get past Cuzen. Yuri was just shooting arrows into the masses, he was not aiming at any one specific and just tried not to hit his friends. Zomger would curse those in front and shift back to healing. There was no need to curse those at the back. By the time they would reach the front the curses effect would have disappeared.

    Lina was the star of the show this time. Normally when spell casters cast a spell like fire ball, you can see the fire ball forming by the caster and fly through the air to its target. The Flame strike spell of Lina did not work like that and all she needed was time and line of sight to the ground she was going to cast the spell. Sure she could not see pass the masses of people to the ground where she casting the spell but according to the system she had line of sight. She did not hold back and used all her mana to cast flame strike just outside the door frame. Those cultist in the back were out of the damage zone and kept pushing their allies forward. Those in the middle and front that took the full amount of damage were trapped and could not escape.

    The weakness of Flame strike was that a person could just walk or move out of its area of effect and take minimal damage. At the end of it all she probably got over 30 of the 40 kills in the hall. They were lucky that those packed inside did not go out through the main door and come attacking from different hallways. It seemed they all thought that they would overrun and overpower the new threat fast.

    It took a week for the people they had just killed to respawn. They could try and clear every room but after a week they would have to start over. Their plan was to work towards the countess. They were told that she was on the top floor in the room at the end of the corridor. They did not feel confident enough to fight her so they stuck to clearing the rooms between her and them.

    After the battle in the hallway they changed up their tactics. They would clear out a room and send Yuri far ahead to agro enemies. On his retreat back to them Tinker would also find a group and both of them would fall back. Thus it happened that 20 to 30 people would stand in the hallway trying to get past Cuzen who blocked the door way. Lina burned them all and after most of them died to the flames. Tinker would slip pass Cuzen and fight to his full potential. In truth he would beat Lina in a duel but when it came to doing massive damage in an area nobody could compete with mages and wizards. With their new tactics farming became much faster.

    Every week they would return to the hall and kill all those in the same way. They only fought like this when Lina had the mana. Otherwise they would just clear a single room and she would only help in a minor way to regenerate mana for the big battles. Tinker had many potions and gave all those that increase mana regeneration of fortified the intelligence stat to her. His alchemy stat was still low and his potions only increased intelligence by 1 %. Every little thing helped at this point

    They only encountered two other enemies that were not human. It was long hallway on the third floor that had stone gargoyles statues on the one side and knights armour on the other side. When they passed the last knight, they came to life. They were caught off guard but manage to stabilize during the fight. This was also their first encounter against armoured men with pikes and halberds. Lina took the most damage but she managed to pull through while the others evaded and Cuzen true to his nature was unmoving as ever. With the three dead they killed the remaining three that came to life short after that. They were about to loot and complain when all 6 gargoyles came to life simultaneously. Someone shouted to retreat and they fell back to the last room they had just cleared. Cuzen stood firm to give his allies time to retreat.  He was however needed to stand in the door frame at the room they retreated too. He used his leap in an effort to get ahead but one managed to get inside.

    Tinker fought him in single combat and had his long awaited duel. During this duel the others were given time to focus on the 5 gargoyles that did not make it inside. Gargoyles had wings so they hovered a small distance in the air. Most of the time the scratched and tried to bite their enemies. Their legs were weak so they did not use them to fight. Their tails however were like short spears that could attack from any side. Tinker was caught more than once by a quick jab but he would stab the creature back each time. After that battle they became weary of every statue they passed and Yuri would even shoot some of them to provoke a reaction. It seemed some statues came to life while others did not. The shooting of the arrow did not seem to work. Only once you walk pass or directly stand in front of a statue or piece of armour would it come alive.

    Towards the end of their month Yuri complained that he thinks someone is watching them. After facing little children that disappear they did not want to take chances. They set a few traps and later if they went back a few traps were not touched and others were disabled. One night soon after another trap was disabled they just exited a room they cleared Yuri used his tracking to watch down the hallways to make sure no surprises were waiting.

    ¡°Guys I think I just saw Quantum in the direction we came from.¡±

    ¡°What would he be doing here all alone this time of night?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I overheard Gambit tell Stan them that he is sending a member of the guild to do the dungeon with them. It could have been him. He is high enough level to enter the third level of the dungeon.¡±

    ¡°According to the guild info he is online and somewhere in the Heaven Kingdom.¡±

    ¡°Well that is about as useful as an ice cream toaster.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll message him and ask where he is. Hello Quantum it¡¯s Cuzen here, this may be weird but where are you now?¡±

    ¡°Behind you guys of course.¡±

    They turned around to look for him but saw nothing. Cuzen actually laughed at how they just got trolled. ¡°No man I am serious where are you?¡±

    The reply never came and they did not ask him again. They decided to just go on and not set any more traps. If he was there with them he clearly did not want to make contact and if he was somewhere else he did not want to be disturbed.

    They were slowly making their way to the countess. She was a spell caster and while fighting her only the odd servant would come help and she summoned a fire elemental. Normally they would not try and fight a boss type monster that had ten levels on them but upon reaching level 50 mages and wizards learn a shield spell to protect against the magic type they had the strongest affinity towards. Thus Lina could cast fire shield. Those spell casters which used more than one type could only cast a shield of the magic which they were the strongest in. She had two type of shields the first was one that increased their fire resistance for 5 minutes by 5 %. The other one increased fire resistance by 75 % for 5 seconds. It was best to cast that during an enemy attack or a small time before hand.

    After spending over a month in the mansion they finally decided to go face the countess. She was a level 85 boss monster and they were only about 75. The others in the guild informed them of the countess attacks and abilities. The plan would be to kill the fire elemental she summoned. It seemed once you kill it you have a five minute window before she could summon it again. At The start of the second phase a servant would arrive and every 5 minutes after that another would arrive till the end of the fight. Best estimates for killing the fire elemental and servants were at about 1 min each so that would leave between 3 and 4 minutes they could attack the countess.

    Before they started the ceremonial buffing commenced. Tinker had potion that increased magic resistance for 1 % for an hour so they all drank one. They joked how they hoped the fight would not last and hour. He did not have a potion for something specific as fire resistance, yet. He gave potions that fortify stamina by 2 % to each of them. They entered the room charging. Lina cast the 5 second shield on Cuzen as the Countess was releasing her first spell. Apparently the first spell she cast was a lava lash aimed to destroy the armour of the nearest plate wearing person. It still did good damage to the durability of Cuzen¡¯s armour but he powered on.

    The next spell was to summon her fire elemental. Lina did not even to bother to attack it because it is said fire elementals live in the earth core and had a 99% resistance to fire. She focused instead on the countess. The others dealt quickly with the elemental.  The countess did not do so well with all the enemies attacking her but she put on a good fight. She fared much better than the witch a while back from the Mystic forest. With the start of phase two, servants came and after their death she would shoot a Pyroblast at a random person. Lina needed time to cast her shield and she did not want to guess who to give the strong shield too, so they came up with a compromise. As soon as the servant died they would all stand in a straight line and Tinker or Cuzen who ever was in front would get the shield. That way the person with the shield will get hit every time and the others would be ok. It all worked well till one time the countess shot a Pyroblast off to the side and destroyed the Spirit hawk who was hanging far back. This was the first time it died but at least he would be back in 24 hours.

    In the third and final phase the countess would cast flame strikes of her own but the others would just move out of the burning areas. With their mana starting to run low the countess died. As a last goodbye present, upon her death she released a wave of fire that did 10% damage to each person. If you had less than 10% life remaining you would die instantly. If you survive the attack you immediately get third degree burns and slowly loose health over time. Zomger was not a priest so he could not heal the burns and only heal the damage it caused. But running low on mana he would not be able to heal each person. They knew this would happen so Tinker prepared bandages for them to apply. It helped to stop the damage they were taking over time. It was a good enough fix to keep them alive until a priest could heal them

    The loot was a sort of battle dress. It was red and black and not big as a ball room dress. It was comfortable to run and travel in while looking good. The stats was all for a spell caster. Later they would notice that whenever Lina would cast spells during battle the parts of the red in the dress would start becoming brighter, mimicking the colours of the fire spell she just cast. For the next few months while they all received better gear Lina would still wear this battle dress even if its stats was not as good as others.

    The others would tease her later on how she had sentimental value and could not let it go, although nobody could deny how well the red and black battle dress looked on her especially at night time. Unfortunately many others notice her fine dress and many strong looking men walked up to her and would vow to protect her if she joined them in quests. She already had 4 men protecting her full time so she declined all the kind offers in the best way possible. By shooting them all with Fire balls if they would not leave after the first no. Later when her tailoring skill was high enough level and she no longer worked off patterns she would make many battle dresses based on this one style.

    Ever since they entered the mansion they did not leave and decided now would be a good time. Their food was running low and they needed a priest to heal the burns. On the way out they fought the odd gardener and hounds. Another creepy girl sneak attacked them with her dagger but they just left her and made their way to the village. In the village they first went to the chapel to get healed of the burns and hand in the quest. After it was all said and done Tinker was level 76 and the others were 80. It took them a month and a half to advance 25 levels. Others told them they should have gained about 13 levels maybe 18 max if they pushed themselves.

    Not only did they push themselves day after day, hour after hour in the mansion their tactics of getting huge groups to attack at the same time made a huge difference. In addition normally a person would wait till you are level 65 before you enter a dungeon where the average level is between 65 and 80. They went in early and the extra increases in experience only helped. After sales of new supplies they each were about 350 gold richer. Yuri had to buy arrows so his end profit was less. Arrows are not expensive but to fill his magical quiver with thousands of arrows cost a bit. They were still debating if they wanted to go back for the third level of the dungeon or go to a new place. The problem was that now they only wanted to enter dungeons about 10 levels higher than their average levels.

    But before they could come to a final agreement the Guild Tab pinged to show an urgent message.

 Chapter 20 : The battle of Tanaris

    The message came through in the guild chat. It was in red so it was hard to miss it. Also a warning message made a sound to notify people that they need to read this as soon as possible and would keep on pinging every minute until you read it. It read as followed.

    ¡°We are going into battle in 3 days time. Those of you that can make it back to the capital in that time are obligated to do so. Those that cannot, have 8 days to get to the small town of Tanaris to the west in Heaven kingdom. Those combat classes that cannot make it and do not give a good reason why will be punished. More information will be given before we set out from the capital.¡±

    This was an interesting development. The continent only recently started to experience large scale battle where guilds fought for control in regions. It seemed only a matter of time before the Brotherhood of Steel got involved. They were not sure if they were going to attack another guild or they will be defending, but all will be explained. The 3 days passed quickly. They used this time to go back to the capital from the dungeon of Mogul. Tinker went to the green house to collect samples for new potions.

    Fortunately another worker helped him and not Peggy. It took him a day to stop at all three the places and after that he spent most of his time at Tristan¡¯s office at his workbench. Tristan did no help make potions and just watched now and again when he was not working. He claimed he did not mind Tinker making potions here as long as he gave 1 of each different potion he made. Tinker did not mind, sure he would be losing money but the knowledge and Alchemy book Tristan had given him was worth far more. He focused mainly on making 3 types of potions. Those that Fortify stats, health and mana regeneration and poisons. He did not see much of the group, the others kept busy and made their own preparations for war.

    At the start of the third day it was Saturday morning in the real world. So a lot of people were logged on. Major had planned it like this. With almost all the members gathered in the guild hall he stood up and started to speak.

    ¡°Greetings everybody as all of you know we are going to battle. The why and how I will get to in a moment. First of all normally it takes about a week to get to Tanaris from here, but I have rented horses so that all of you can ride their and arrive as soon as possible. The journey to Tanaris would take 4 days and on the 5th you will attack. It will be Sunday for most of you in the real world so time would not be a problem. Now the reason we are attacking. Our allies the Panthers owned Tanaris and the surrounding area. They are not a strong guild and focus more on production of goods and sales than raiding. The Pharaohs are a normal raiding guild that claimed the area through right of conquest for the extra money income.

    We do not have an accurate count of their numbers but a good estimate is about 300 fighters. When I heard the news and accepted the request I sent an assassin to infiltrate the town and two hunters to keep an eye on the area surrounding the village so that if they get reinforcements we will not be blindsided. When the campaign ends 75% of the gold we are being paid will be divided evenly among all those that fought. 20 % will come to the guild treasury and 5 % will be given to the person that Gambit decides fought the best. Gambit will be the commander on site and come up with the battle plan. With all that said I wish you well¡±

    He turned and made for the 2nd floor of the guild house where his office was. There was no talking as everybody awaited the next orders.

    ¡°Let us go to the western gate stables. Our horses are waiting there and keep on your black coats. We are a military group and will be dressed for battle. Once we step out of this house you are not to speak to any person until we are on the open road¡±

    With that just over 70 people left the guild house and made their way to the stables. It was a site to behold. Walking in the streets were 70 players. Not saying a word with black coats flapping in the breeze. All the other players and NPC took notice. A well armoured warrior walked up to them and asked if he could join them but he was ignored. By the time they reached the stables they had about 300 people following them to see what this group of people were up to. Along the way many asked what they were doing and who they were but all they got was silence. At the stables were more than enough horses.

    They had their pick, Gambit chose the biggest stallion for himself. Cuzen wanted a white horse and got a big white stallion of his own. The others were not bothered and just took horses that seemed to be friendly. Most of the people here had never ridden a horse but Gambit explained it would be easy.  Just sit in the saddle and go with the motion. The game system makes it easier than the real world so they will catch on quickly. They also noticed 6 men that stood and watched them. They did not seem to be in a hurry. Gambit walked over to them and handed then 6 black initiate capes. They equipped it and mounted horses that were already saddled. With every person on a horse Gambit signaled them to move out. The pace was a nice gallop and they had 4 days of travel ahead of them. Tinker noticed how they seemed to be taking 30 horses with them. There were not pack horses and assumed it was for the people who would join them at the town before the attack.

    They traveled well into midday before Gambit called for a halt. They would rest twice a day so that beast and man can regain their strength. Midday and at night was the only times they would stop. When it was close to becoming night time they stopped at a farmers land and rented out his barn for the night. Gambit asked who had the highest cooking level present. It turned out Tinker was it. He was asked to make food and use whatever people he needed, so naturally he volunteered Yuri to help him out. They would save the best food for the day before the battle to get the best buffs from it. It was during the second day that information started to come through. First was from Major back at head quarters. He did some more digging on the Pharaohs guild.

    Turns out their guild master is named Ra and was a knight. The other people of leadership in the guild all had Egyptian God names. There was Isis, Lightning Wizard and leader of the spell casters.  Anubis leader of the melee combat classes and also the strongest warrior in the guild that wielded a huge two handed axe. Osiris a priest and leader of the support classes like priests and shamans. Horus leader of the archers and rouges. The left over classes that fight with odd weapons reported to him. They also had a man named Amun that was a merchant and leader of the new production and mercantile part of the guild. He was most likely the person who suggested they attack the town and settle this area.

    Later in the day the first reports came in from the hunters near the town. It would appear that the gate has been repaired and many of the warriors are still in the town. Some went off to hunt or farm. They would have more information later in the day. They could not tell the exact numbers but the 300 estimate seemed accurate. The assassin would sneak into the town tonight. At the end of their second day the hunters reported that all the parties that left seemed to have returned after a day of hunting.

    They did not have a lot of sentries on duty so the assassin should be able to sneak in with little problems. The 3rd day while on the road Gambit informed them that the assassin had infiltrated the town and was busy counting the amount of enemies. He should be done some time tomorrow. The 4th day they made camp at the base of a hill as night fall was approaching. The town was just over the hill and here they should be safe. There would be no huge fires and no loud talking. Tinker and Yuri made dinner and would make the best breakfast they could to boost stats. Armour was repaired. Weapons were sharpened and last minute preparations were made.

    Gambit would only tell them the battle plan in the morning before the attack. According to the hunters no real reinforcements had arrived during the past few days. The assassin that infiltrated the town turned out to be Quantum. He put the enemy numbers at about 300 players and 200 NPC. Normally there would be more NPC but it seemed the Pharaohs killed a lot when they took the town. Thus those that were there now, were those that fled or that are not very skilled. According to Quantum the enemy was preparing for defence. It turned out the enemy knew a counter attack would come and was ready for it. This night the amount of sentries was doubled, they knew the Brotherhood of Steel was out there and could attack any moment. With the added men at the walls there were less to defend those places of interest inside the town. Quantum was given the go to assassinate high level targets. Most players logged out and did not sleep in game thus he had to target the leaders of the NPC.

    First to die was the new mayor who replaced the old mayor when the Pharaohs took control of the town. He was just a puppet put into power that slept alone so nobody would notice him dead till well in the morning. Next on the hit list was the quartermaster, the man responsible for the logistics of the town. He made sure that the town guard got what they needed from the people and merchants. If the guards ran out of arrows and their armoury was empty the quartermaster would make sure they get more. He was asleep in his bed with his wife so Quantum killed them both. Best to do it this way lest she wakes up and notifies other people.

    Next on the list was the captain of the guard and his two sergeants. The previous captain and his two sergeants died when the pharaohs took the town. The problem was that all three of them bunked inside the barracks. Quantum thought of himself as skilled but not that skilled where he could go into a barracks of armed men. After about 30 minutes of watching and planning he came up with an idea. He was going to take them out one at a time while doing more damage to their supplies. The town had two armouries. One was next to the barracks and the other was on the far side of the town near a watch tower. He would go to the armoury and remove most of what he could and hide it nearby so that he can get it later and sell it. There was a guard fast asleep and was dead before he even woke up. It took nearly an hour to clear out the armoury and to find a place to store the items in. Now came the tricky part of the plan, he walked straight up to a guard close to the watch tower and started talking to him.

    ¡°You there, I need you to go back to the barracks and fetch the sergeant for me. I have papers from the Quartermaster that requests moving of a few items from this armoury to the other and I need the signature of the sergeant.¡±

    ¡°Jason is on guard duty, why don¡¯t you just send him¡± That was a good idea, before Quantum murdered him.

    ¡°If I send him there will be no one left guarding the armoury.¡±

    ¡°True, which sergeant do you want. Both of them will not like it to be woken up this time of night.¡±

    ¡°It does not matter, now step on it and get it done. I¡¯ll be waiting for him at the armoury.¡±

    With that the guard was off. Quantum went back to the armoury and prepared for the upcoming murder. He was waiting outside when a middle aged man approached which he assumed was a sergeant.

    ¡°You the sergeant?¡± Quantum asked

    The man nodded and was still wiping sleep from his eyes.

    ¡°Jason is inside packing what I need, do you mind to look and sign the papers¡±

    The man nodded again and walked into the armoury. The room was poorly lit, only one lamp was shining in the far corner near a figure sitting up straight against the wall that seemed not to move. This did not make a lot of sense but it was late and the sergeant had many things to do. He wanted to turn around and sign the papers and be off to bed, when an odd sensation was felt in his lower back. That odd sensation started turning into pain, an unbearable amount of pain. As he tried to scream no sound came out, his throat was already cut. It all happened so fast, he looked down and saw a point of a sword sticking out of his body.

    He sagged down and died in a pool of his own blood. Quantum was not sure if it was a cut to the throat or the sword he rammed through his spine and gut that killed him first. He cleaned his blades and set off to the other armoury.

    Here was another guard fast asleep. It seemed only guards on the wall did not sleep but these inside the safe town slept as much as possible. Making sure nobody saw him he killed the guard in a fast and silent manner and entered the armoury. There would not be time to move all the items but the most valuable he put into his bag and set the next plan of his in motion. He entered the barracks and asked the nearest soldier to go fetch the sergeant. The man that came down the stair a few moments later did not seem pleased. He was not even halfway to the door before he started shouting.

    ¡°Why the hell would you wake me up this time of night. It better be good or I will kill you myself and 4 days from now when you revive I will kill you again.¡±

    Quantum did not expect this type of reaction but he played it cool.

    ¡°Orders from the top, need to move items and I need your signature.¡±

    ¡°Yes you do, dam all you outlanders and the unholy hours you keep.¡±

    At this point he was standing right before Quantum with a facial expression that said ¡°I hate you.¡¯¡¯

    ¡°Well where are the papers let I can sign them and be off.¡±

    ¡°No, first you are going to see we take what is needed then you sign the papers.¡±

    ¡°Figures, a man can only truly sleep when you are dead.¡±

    Quantum did like the irony of what the man had just said, he would have to take that phrase and make it his own someday.

    The Sergeant entered first and the armoury had another light in the corner with a person sitting close by.

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand¡­.¡± Was as far as the sergeant got before the sword got pierced through his body and his throat was cut in near identical way as the other. This one took a while to die and he even managed to make a faint sound as the last of the air left his body.

    Now all that remained was the captain. His plan was to also lore out the man. He thought the best place would be the first armoury. He walked until he found a soldier to talk to.

    ¡°Soldier I have a request of great importance for you. Commander Ra needs to talk with the captain of the guard at the second armoury. He needs to get there fast as possible and discreetly as he can. I would go but I most go find another for the secret meeting¡± He emphasized the word discreetly so that the soldier could understand that this was a secret and he was now part of it. At first the soldier seemed sceptical but at the mention of Ra¡¯s name he would do what was asked of him. After the word secret was used he seemed even eager to deliver the message.

    The soldier nearly ran back to the barracks to tell his captain the news. Quantum went back to the armoury to prepare it. He added the second body to the other one. As a person entered you could see people but not if they were alive or dead.

    The captain arrived in due time. He was in his full battle gear. It seemed he was a prime example of a loyal soldier. Always wearing full battle gear when on duty or seeing his commander. This was going to make things harder but Quantum could still take him. He arrived and Quantum told him they are waiting inside for him. He even opened the door with a smile for the man. The man entered and saw two figures. He drew his sword and turned around to face Quantum. Quantum was already striking with his dagger for the throat but the old man stepped back and only took a bad cut on the neck.

    ¡°How did you know?¡± Quantum asked with some amusement.

    ¡°This room is much too dark and no matter how well you clean up blood the smell remains behind for a while.¡±

    That is true. Quantum cleaned up the blood but the smell was something he had not thought about.

    ¡°So Ra has not got the stones to kill me himself and sends one of his lackeys to do the dirty work.¡±

    ¡°In a way, you have to die old man. Why don¡¯t you scream for help?¡±

    ¡°I assume all the guards are stationed far from here and those that are close are well bribed to ignore a scream. Besides you will find that this old man is not that easy to kill¡±

    It seemed luck was on his side this night. With new found confidence he attacked. The old man put up a good fight and his plate armour helped make a 20 second fight a good 2 minutes long. The darkness favoured Quantum but the captain was a veteran and worked his rotations well until Quantum¡¯s dagger was firmly lodged in his head. Looting the corpse he found a ring that increases health by 500. The rest he would sell, for now he had to go hide. It will be dawn in the next hour and the battle would start in about two hour¡¯s time.

    All the Brotherhood of Steel members were online as the sun rose. They would attack in the next hour. First was breakfast that boosted stats then the battle plan. Yuri and Tinker used their spider eggs and any other item that added more bonuses. After that they all assemble by Gambit who was standing on a rock to elevate him. They were 107 people. The others joined them at the town and arrived during the night. The guild had over 350 active guild members but the other 250 were either offline, to low level, a production class or at their branch in the south and too far away to come.

    The plan was simple. They would use the horses to cover the distance as fast as possible to the town gate and enter the town. There they would fight in streets or beside walls or pretty much any place where the enemy¡¯s numbers would not count in their favour. If the enemies bunch at the gate entrance they would charge through with the horses and trample them. The town had 3 places to make a good defence, and it was in the form of a triangle. At one corner was the gate with basic fortifications. At another point was a high watchtower and the last corner was the small fort. The enemy would make their last stand there unless they are reckless enough to charge out. The other problem seemed to be the gate in their way but Gambit explained that it would not be a problem. The standing orders were to kill any person that wielded a weapon or chanted a spell.

    When it is all said and done the message would appear in the raid chat along with any other change in plan. They mounted up and waited. One archer ran up the hill and down the other side. His job was to shoot arrows with small amount of dynamite at the town gate. He used a long bow which was known for their distance. They were not the most accurate of weapons but if you are aiming at a big town gate it was not that hard to hit. After he fired the 3 shots the archers on the wall started shooting back.

    The arrows fell short and the archer just kept on shooting. The enemies did not see this as a threat. They did not sound the alarm and assumed one archer could not bring down the gate. When the 50th arrow hit the gate he stopped firing. He missed about 10 shots but 50 arrows lodged in the gate would do. He fell back to the others. All that remained now was for a wizard to detonate all the pieces at the same time. That would happen once they are in range and had their charge well under way. Some person yelled speech and so Gambit cleared his throat.

    ¡°I am not known for my legendary speeches but here it goes. What we do in live echoes through eternity.¡± Someone yelled that was the line from the movie Gladiator. He tried again ¡°Losers complain how they tried their best when they fail, where winners go home and fuck the prom queen.¡± Another person yelled that was the line from the move The Rock.¡± He chuckled to himself and spoke from the heart this time.

    ¡°I can tell you guys that even if we are outnumbered 5 to 1 we will still win this day. Many of us will die but the enemy are already weakened. The NPC¡¯s lost their chain of command during the night and what I heard the Pharaohs are bad players. They rely on numbers and not skill to best opponents. Now let¡¯s go and take back this town before lunch.¡±

    Cuzen chose this time to interject. ¡°Gambit will you be leading the charge?¡±

    ¡°Yes¡± he said with confidence.

    ¡°What happens when you go down in battle? Should you not hang back and direct the attacks from there? I am sure only in movies generals charge at the head of the army. Rest of the time they hang back and make winning strategies.¡±

    ¡°I guess, are you volunteering to run point and die most likely before you reach the gate¡±

    ¡°Volunteering to run point yes, but I bet you 5 gold I will be alive and the first to enter the city.¡±

    ¡°Fine by me, just remember that all the wizards and archers are going to shoot at you thinking that you are the leader.¡±

    ¡°I will have it no other way.¡±

    Yuri¡¯s spirit hawk was flying high and giving him a good bird¡¯s eye view of what was going on. What he can tell only about 2/5 of the people were at the main gate and about 1/5 was still running about. It seemed that not all of their players were online and ready yet.

    They nodded at each other and all the horses started to climb the hill. Cuzen whispered in his party chat to his friends that they should not ride next to him and keep their distance. At the summit of the hill they could see the town in the distance. The archer who shot the arrows was almost all the way back to them. The alarm bells started to sound in the town. That was their time to attack. The 6 men that came along had drums and started beating them. They would also be part of the charge and beat the drums of war. It increases morale, added minor damage increases and also reduces damaged taken by 1 %. It was not much but for just beating drums it was worth it. They started the gallop forward. At about half a kilometer from the wall they changed to a full on charge. Everybody could feel goose bumps.

    This was the first time they were assaulting a town of players and NPC. Not only that they were charging forward on horses. Not many people owned horses in the game so far and they could only imagine the fear inside the other people. Cuzen was so deep into the moment he removed his mace and raised it high just like in the movies and yelled. He was surprised that all the others did the same. All had their swords and staffs raised in the air and yelling like mad people. The Drums pace picked up as they sped closer to the town gate. When they were at 300 meters the enemy fired all they had. It was not a lot, all the defenders were not at the wall yet. The first volley was bad, it did minor damage and most missed. It seemed only the experienced spell caster and hunters took the speed of horses into consideration. At 175 meters the next volley was on the way. Just short of 100 meters it hit hard. Those that missed the first time adapted quickly. The healers started healing and Asmodian detonated the charges to blow up the gate.

    At less than 50 meters from the gate another volley hit home and the smoke cleared from the town gate. It was badly broken and had many holes in it but it still stood strong. Cuzen was not going to stop instead decided they were going to ram the gate. All the knights were at his side. They only seemed to have lost Buster so far whose horse got killed. He should have been fine and would join the fight once he stands up and runs the rest of the way to the town. The others around Cuzen seemed to know what he was planning and came closer so that they could hit with more force. He was about to close his eyes before the big hit, but a red spell hit his body. He was dazed and trying to process what just happened but it was too late. He slammed into the gate and fell off his horse.

    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    Most the knights were down and off their horses at this time. They broke down the door and would go on with the fight as soon as they were able to stand. That made way for the warriors and other plate wearing classes to come charging in. What few guardsmen that were in the way were crushed and the warriors went in different directions looking for a fight. The others came in as well and split up in groups and started attacking. A lot of the players seemed to be retreating to the only fort in the town.

    That left the rest of those that could not, easy pick offs. Gambit ordered to go through the town room by room and leave the fort for last. When the NPC¡¯s saw the players retreating a lot of them tossed away their weapons and surrendered. This would be the 2nd time in 2 weeks that they were attacked and they wanted no more part of it.

    Cuzen had passed out because the next thing he remembered was that the archers who shot at the gate did a poor job. He stood up and saw not many people were around him other than the corpses of people and horses. He lost about 90% of his health and his armour was shot. The only explanation was that the red spell that hit him was Lava lash. A fire spell made to destroy heavy armour. The hp he had lost could be traced back to running full speed into a huge gate and been trampled by his allies.

    The fighting was well under way and his group said they were going to go to the middle of town and then move left from there. That left the fort to the far right. He picked up his weapon and went down to the middle. He whispered into the party chat to find out where the guys were, turned out they were making their way to the watch tower to the far left of the town. He estimated he was out for between 20 and 40 minutes. None were shocked that he was not dead. When a person died in a party or raid group a notification messages tells you the bad news.

    They were just surprised to see him up and running so soon. He caught up with them as they were leaving a house. They were waiting for another group to catch up that had been moving parallel to the wall so that they could attack the tower. There only seemed to be 8 guards or so but it would be best to wait and clear more houses. No need to die before they assaulted the fort and any number of guards could be in hiding behind the stone. They took some time to regenerate and heal Cuzen. As they were sitting around Quantum appeared from an ally way. He caught them of guard but they settled down when they saw a friendly face.

    ¡°Hey guys, long time no see.¡±

    ¡°Not really, we know you were following us about 2 weeks ago. Yuri detected you with his tracking skill.¡±

    ¡°I wondered if his skill was high enough, guess it was. His traps need a bit of work though. So let us attack this watch tower and be done with it.¡±

    ¡°We do not know how many are hiding in there.¡±

    ¡°Seven at the top that rotate and five hiding inside. I have been keeping an eye on them. Seems their orders are to stand here and defend the tower at all cost. They have to die to buy time for the others retreating to the fort.¡±

    Tinker was eager for a good battle. Since they rode in on the horses all the fights have been very one sided and attacking a fleeing opponent was not really that hard. Cuzen took out his spare armour and made ready for the attack. Naturally it fell on him to go in first. Either the archers were out of arrows or they were already ordered to the gate and would be dead by now. After about a minute of beating the door to the base of the tower it caved in. Cuzen went in first followed by Tinker and then Quantum. The others filled in after them.

    On the first ground level they met no resistance. They beat in the 2nd floor door and went in. Still no enemies were around. The same happened on the 3rd floor. When they entered the 4th floor the enemies were waiting. Cuzen used his leap and shield bash to create chaos and an opening for the others to enter. Tinker and Quantum ducked and rolled into the room to be as fast as possible and not be slashed. Lina came in after and she was ready to torch any foe in her way. The battle was over fast and 9 bodies lay on the floor. The door to the 5th floor was open and when they entered 3 people stood top with no weapons in their hands. They surrendered. With the tower in their control they now held one of the two vantage points for the town. It was a good strategic point to capture to give control and vision of this part of town. They looted what they could and went on their way.

    When they got to the bottom another group caught up with them. The standing orders still stood. Clear each house and kill any who resist. In less than 2 hours they took out about 2/5 of the enemies and only lost 17 people. Most of them were the warriors and knights that charged in first. All the houses had been checked and been marked with a piece of chalk so that another team did not have to enter. The only place remaining was the fort. It seemed these past 2 hours was enough time for them to muster a defence and contact all their players in the real world and tell them to log in as soon as possible.

    They stood well out of archer or spell range when they regrouped and waited to make their final attack on the fort. First they would rebuff and talk about the plan. Quantum shared his Intel. There were about 300 people in the fort with 2/3 being players and the rest of what remained of the NPC force. Most of their archers died at the gate so they only had a few at the fort and most of their spell casters. He also added this was going to be the hard fight of the day. The odds were now 3 against 1. The archer that shot at the town gate was already firing at the fort gate. The enemies knew now what that meant and wasted many arrows and mana to try and damage him, but he was just out of range every time. The odd lightning bolt did hit but with a priest to heal him the archer powered through. Isis was truly a strong Lighting Wizard to be able to land attacks at this distance.

    The 6 men started to beat the drums to get things going. It was decided that the remaining warriors that wore plate and any volunteer could mount a horse to charge into the fort. Tinker was the only non plate wearer to volunteer. It seemed the others valued their lives. With last second preparation those had to charge mounted any horse they could find. The others that would follow after them were already moving closer to the gates and using houses as cover. The enemy saw this and rang their alarm bells. Cuzen found himself to be leading this charge. Only one knight remained alive that crashed into the town gate with him. He recognized Stan as the knight. They had talked briefly 2 months ago and that was all they all he knew of the man, other than that he and his friends passed the initiation test. He seemed ready for what ever happened next.

    They waited for the signal. The gate would explode as they charged towards it. Gambit gave them the go and they were off. They were about 30 mounted soldiers with the most being of the warrior class. With a few paladins in the mix and 1 knight. Again they started to walk forward and they sped up to a slow gallop. The streets were wide so that they formed 3 rows of 10 riders. The drums paced picked up and so the pace of the charge increased as well. The gates exploded and no enemy fire came.

    Cuzen lifted his mace like he did the last time to yell the charge. It was taken up by the others following him and all seemed well. Well until they were a few meters from the gate when the arrows and spells struck. Another Lave lash hit him squire in the body and nearly destroying his armour. Inside the walls the few guards were run over and that¡¯s when the big spells landed. Cuzen saw what seemed to be blue/yellow bolts of something come his way. The next thing he saw after that was that he died and can relog back in 24 hours.

    With Cuzen dying the others were sad but went onwards. In the spirit of friendship it was their motto to leave the fallen behind. The front row got instantly wiped by a shit storm of different spells the second row of warriors charged onward at the enemies ahead. The third row had orders to brake right and work their way up to the keep from there. Tinker enjoyed attacking from horseback. The added momentum to his strikes really helped. He was nearly near the end of the wall when he dismounted and used the stairs to go to the top of the wall. Only few archers and one mage were there. They only truly noticed him when he killed an archer and was in the air making ready to kill the mage.

    In less than an hour they claimed the outer wall. The last remaining members were in the keep. More than half the Brotherhood of Steel members had died. But the enemy were down to their last 100 men. Now the odds were 2 against 1. Only Ra, Anubis and Amun remained inside the keep. Gambit being one of the last remaining plate armour users said he would lead the final charge inside and he would challenge Ra to single combat. With health pools full and mana mostly recharged they went at it.

    Gambit yelled his challenge to Ra for in case he was there but no replay came it was their 46 Brotherhood of steel members against a hundred of them. It turned into a mostly melee skirmish. They fought shoulder to shoulder and pressed the enemy from the entrance all the way back into the hall until the last person fell. They lost another 20 members with Lina and Quantum dying among the people they knew. They entered the throne room. There 2 men sat talking. One on the throne and another right next to him. Ra and Anubis. Gambit stood tall and issued his challenge to Ra. Ra laughed and stood up.

    ¡°You have fought well Gambit of the Brotherhood of Steel. What makes you think you are worthy to face me?¡±

    ¡°We numbered in the 100 and you in the 500 and here we stand. 24 of us and only 2 of you. We beat you, either face me in single combat or be attacked by all of us.¡±

    ¡°We are 3 actually. Amun is hiding somewhere in the fort. Alright I will accept only if you agree to 1 term of mine.¡±

    ¡°If it is to save your items or allow you to walk if you beat me you can forget about it.¡±

    ¡°No nothing like that, your strongest warrior against mine. Think of it as a pre show for our final show down.¡±

    ¡°Well our strongest warrior died during the attack and I am the second strongest. The others after me also died.¡± He turned around and looked at his group. Only Boris and Tinker remained that were of the warrior class. Boris seemed to be a higher level and the logical choice but it did not feel right to order him to fight a match he is supposed to lose. Gambit was sad that Zane had died also. Even if he was a monk he would man fight any warrior and use his iron hands to block critical attacks.

    ¡°Boris, Tinker step forward. You guys are the only other combat class then me that have a chance against him. I do not want to order any of you to fight a person that has at least 15 levels on you Boris and 20 on you Tinker.¡± When he said that they could hear Ra and Anubis laughing. ¡°So I need one of you to volunteer.¡±

    Boris and Tinker looked at each other. Boris did not seem eager and Tinker himself did not feel the confidence to face him. But alas if he does not they would stand here till who knows what happens and he might as well get this started. ¡°I¡¯ll face him.¡±

    Tinker stepped forward while saying that. He could see the relief in Boris face. Gambit nodded at him and gave him a fist bump for encouragement.

    Anubis on the other hand did not seem worried. ¡°You give me this rogue or make believe warrior to fight, if he truly is 20 levels lower than I am, you people mock me.¡±

    Tinker was not one to gloat or insult but this tool thought he was not worthy to do battle against. He responded by not really thinking before he talked. ¡°When I thrust my blade into you and before you die, know that we live to mock you¡±

    Anubis did not enjoy that remark and was swinging his huge axe. Tinker Morphed agility and opened his inventory. He has a few potions he was saving for rainy days. Potions to increase health, fortify stats and even increase his damage and speed. The problem was that they had a few nasty side effects and in about an hour he would not be even able to fight a level 15 wolf. He downed the potions one by one and kept his eyes on his opponent. He was clothed in full plate armour accept for his arms. Tinker assumed it was to lessen the friction of his swings. The only thing that remained was to coat his swords in poison. He decided to coat the left hand sword with the paralytic and the slow poison on the other. If his plan works he could numb and even paralyze the right arm of Anubis if he managed to land enough strikes.

    Tinker was ready and Anubis was nice enough to wait for him to finish all the pre battle preparations. Anubis stood waiting on him. Tinker knew speed and the fact the opponent thinking he was a weak warrior would count for him. He decided to attack fast and stay close, that his opponent does not have time to attack. To his surprise Anubis did not move and let Tinker attack him. Tinker landed 6 strikes and was aiming for his neck next but Anubis was swinging his axe down at Tinker who left himself open on purpose. With the incoming attack Tinker used the other sword to deflect the axe blow while at the same time twirling his body so that the sword in his right hand did a full 360¡ã swing and landed with full force in the neck of Anubis.

    It was a critical strike. Tinker was off balance after his fast twirl and retreated to gain distance and regain his footing. Anubis seemed amused, ¡°You sure bite hard for a small insect. Now that my health is below halfway the real battle can start.¡± Tinker was not scared but he suspected that Anubis was a warrior that changed into the Berserker class. The lower their hp pools the stronger and faster they became. This was going to be interesting to say the least. Anubis sprang at him swinging faster than his previous attacks. The chance to dodge was low with those fast attack speeds. He could only block and parry the attacks. This went on for a full minute.

    Tinker was on the defensive and waited for his openings that never came. Another minute passed and he did not seem to be slowing down. The berserker class did not let a small thing like stamina or fatigue stop them from attacking on and on. Anubis still had not manage to land a blow and Tinker knew what he had to do, he would have to take a direct hit and that will make an opening for him. He hoped he would survive a direct hit to his body if it was not a critical shot. As Anubis swung his axe from his left side Tinker jumped forward and stabbed him under the right arm pit and scored a critical hit and stabbed his neck with the other sword. Half of the axe blade was lodged into Tinker Leather armour and his life went down by nearly 70%.

    That was bull shit, how could one strike be that strong. Anubis lifted his leg and semi kicked Tinker in an effort to remove his axe from his side. The extra cutting of the axe blade while he was falling backwards did another 10% of damage. He was fatally wounded and would bleed out. This type of wound can only be cured by healers or stopped by a good bandage. Anubis was very familiar with this type of wound and raised his axe above his head. He was walking past Tinker who was lying on the ground loosing the last of his hit points. Tinker tried his best to get a bandage to stop his bleeding and possibly save his life. He applied the bandage and saw he only had 4% life remaining and it was not dropping further.

    It appeared that his bandage coated with the right herb stopped the bleeding cold. Lucky for him he had the fighting spirit stat which gives the user temporary boost of inhuman power when close to death. Anubis had his back turned and was yelling who was next, he did not see Tinker rise with weapons ready for a last attack. Ra on the other hand saw it coming and yelled for his friend to watch out. Anubis turned around with a winning smile on his face to see what his friend was yelling about until the moment Tinker decapitated him. Tinker was still taking in the moment when Ra yelled and jumped forward to kill Tinker.

    Gambit stepped up to save him. Ra and Gambit fought for about 5 minutes until Gambit managed to disarm the knight and finish him off. Tinker was sitting and watching the fight and was thanking the priest that healed him. He was sad that his poison was not effective against a berserker but other classes would not be so lucky.

    With Ra dead Gambit messaged everyone in the guild to share the news. Congrats rolled in along with request for details on the battle. The Brotherhood of Steel had won and done what they had set out to do.

    4 days later they were all assembled in the repaired keep feasting. Tinker did not have to cook and the ncp¡¯s took care of them. Every Brotherhood of Steel member that fought was online. Even the 6 drummers had not returned and stayed for free drink and food.

    First the loot of the fallen members was returned to them. Next came the picking of items according to rank. Each person could pick one item and if they wanted more they had to buy it for cheap before it was sold. At the end of it all Tinker walked away with a new leather helmet, a ring that gives minor movement speed increase and a new pair of chest armour. Cuzen got a shield and 2 new sets of armour. His previous sets were both destroyed by the Lava lash spells. Zomger got a ring for reducing spell cast time and a new wand. Lina got 4 rings and an amulet all to increase her spell casting capabilities. Yuri managed to get a bow and new set of boots. Quantum took a dagger and a pair of boots as well. Gambit took all the items that dropped from Ra. The man had a good sword and armour that complimented any warrior class.

    Next was the awards for whom gets the 5%. Gambit was trying to make it into a sort of Oscar nominations. He even stood up with a beer in his hand to talk.

    ¡°First up is Quantum our Assassin who infiltrated the city 3 days before we attacked and took care of the Mayor, quartermaster, Captain of the guard and his 2 underlings. During the battle he claimed many more lives and helped claim the Watch tower. He died when we assaulted the keep.¡± Cheers erupted all around. Quantum never boasted about his own deeds until you asked him what he had done then he will till you in great detail how great it was. Since nobody really asked him what part he played they were all stunned to hear what he did, he probably had most of the kills on Npc¡¯s this battle.

    ¡°Second is Cuzen who volunteered to lead the charge and take the full force of the enemy attacks in the face. He also galloped full speed into a broken town gate to make way for the rest of us. Then his group along with another took the Watch tower. After that he led the second charge into the fort and died in a storm of spells.¡± More cheers erupted. Cuzen and his friends were of the newer members in the guild and they did not spend the bulk of their time with the guild so the guild knew pretty little of them.

    ¡°Third is Asmodian, our arcane mage who detonated the dynamite of both the town gate and fort gate. He killed most of the enemy spell casters in the forts lookout tower along with Isis the strong wizard. He died while doing so.¡± More cheers for him, 1 spell caster killing a dozen on his own was truly amazing.

    ¡°Fourth nomination is Yuri, The hunter that helped take the Watchtower, who shot the killing shot on Horus who was retreating to the keep. Also for killing Osiris before she could retreat into the keep. He was also part of the final attack into the keep and lived to tell his tale¡± Cheers erupted for him. He could not take all the credit, he only delivered the killing shot to already damaged people before they could heal up and become a problem again. Regardless in the heat of battle it is hard to take out key targets.

    ¡°Last but not least is Tinker. He was part of team to take the Watchtower, He joined the remaining plate wearing combatants to charge the fort. In the town and fort he amassed an impressive kill count. He fought shoulder to shoulder with me in the keep to rid the last of the enemies. Inside the throne room he volunteered to face Anubis the strongest warrior of the enemies in single combat, not only was he 21 levels lower than his opponent he also managed to win the fight alone with no help from us¡± The cheers erupted and were louder than any before. The truth was he actually lost the fight but Anubis thought himself the winner and did not bother to finish him off. Only the people that were there knew the exact details of the fight. When they asked Tinker he just said he fought and won.

    ¡°Now before I announce the winner 2 new pieces of information.¡± The crowed nearly started booing and tossing items at Gambit. He had built up the suspense and now he did not announce the winner.

    ¡°We found Anun hiding in a basement unable to log out, we helped him with that. Also Ra died by my hands and thus we defeated the entire Pharaohs guild and all their leaders.¡± More cheers for Gambit and themselves this time.

    ¡°I have talked it over with Major and we had decided to add another member to the elder counsel. (They were the leaders in the guild under Major and Gambit who voted and had a say in guild affairs.) We proudly name Cuzen to the counsel and his group of companions will be known as the Special Force Unit of the guild to become another rank of the Knights division.¡± The Knights were Gambits group that had all the combat classes. There were many different ranks and now the Special Force Unit was added. The other class were the Scribes that Major controlled and classes like merchants, bards and engineers belonged to this group. ¡°For those of you that doubt them and think they are still new to the guild, they are good people and 3 of them were candidates for the award.¡± That would shut up any public complaints.

    ¡°And now the winner of the 5% is Tinker! Congrats and you can claim your money when you get back to the guild house. The rest of you will receive 70 gold for this battle. The money looted and those we gain from selling the loot after our other guild members have a chance to buy will be made available to you at a later time. With that I would like to end by saying how awesome we are and that tomorrow the first people may leave this place and return home¡±

    Tinker did not know that he had just won 500 gold. That he would only discover when they were back at the guild house.

 Chapter 21 : Dwarves are crazy

    With the battle over they left the town of Tanaris. They were in no hurry to get back to the capital. Thus they decided to quest in the neighboring region. To quest now in the town would be a waste. Only low level quests would be available for them.

    They ventured north east to another town where they were told a few quests would be available for them. It seemed after their promotion more than a few people were extremely friendly to them. They departed the morning most others did. More than a few people wanted to travel with them. It seems that in the guild chat there was gossip as well. After the useful information was shared it was time for gossip. The gossip was mainly about unique things that happened. Anything from a secret quest or class was talked about. Naturally the whole episode of Yuri and his spirit hawk was also talked about. It has been nearly 3 months since it all happened so people were not talking about it anymore. The battle would be talk for the next week or two. Most of the time they only glanced at the guild chat. When they were sitting and doing nothing they would monitor the guild chat out of the corner of their eyes.

    They found a group quest to protect a noble man for a few days from bandits while he was in town to collect huge amounts of money from those that owed him. Most of his old body guard had died during the previous collection and he needed time to recruit new guards. The quest would last 5 days and they expected trouble on the last day when the noble man would go around town to collect the money. They were forced to spend their time in the yard of the lords house. They worked out rotations. Two would stay and watch while 3 others could go walk in the town and spend their time how they wanted.

    Cuzen and Yuri got the first shift. 6 hours from now they would be replaced. The town was about the same size as the Tanaris. This town however had no keep and had 3 watchtowers. The best looking house was that of the mayor and the second best was the one they were protecting. Those that went to town went mainly looking for new quests and to stock up on the odd supplies they needed. Before the 6 hours were up they all were back in the yard of the noble man.

    ¡°Well since you all are here I have good news and bad news.¡± Cuzen said

    ¡°Bad news first.¡±

    ¡°We are stuck here for the next 4 days at least. I talked it over with those that suggested this quest for us. According to them one person in the party has to stay here in the yard until the 5th day. So for the next 5 days we are trapped here until we are done. The good news is that this quest has a high experience reward and gold for 4 days of sitting here. There will be a brief battle on the 5th day. They told me that on the 5th day a group of bandits will attempt to kill us and take the money. The number of bandits and their level varies to that of the group guarding the noble man.¡±

    ¡°That seems not too bad. You are sure they will not attack here at the house?¡±

    ¡°Yebo yes. It seems this is a fixed quest. Whenever a party takes the quest from the steward of the house the current guards all magically disappear and thus the need for us is made. After the 5th day those guards that had disappeared will be back. If you fail the quest the noble man would be replaced by a son, brother or uncle. According to others the first noble man was an old man. The one we see now is a son of some sorts. When the current noble dies the system replaces him with somebody we have never seen before but the town knows him and so the next party can do the quest. The bandits we are going to face are 3 levels higher than us. They will also outnumber us. There should be 7 of them if the guys are correct. Other than that there is not much more I know.¡±

    ¡°Must say this amount of detail for a quest we are doing is something new. Wonder how long it would last.¡±

    ¡°Do not jinx it for us, let us use these 4 days to sleep and work on our professions¡±

    ¡°Ok, so be it. Who knows, maybe something exiting will happen to us.¡±

    Nothing exciting happened to them. Tinker was still braking and repairing leather items, Zomger could not fish so he scribbled down a few poems and songs. Yuri left them there and said he was going out hunting for meat. They would have complained but he was the best hunter and they never bought meat. The prices were crazy to say the least. Cuzen also used this time to leave and claimed he needed a forge to go work at. He could have afforded his own little smelter and anvil by now but blacksmithing was not high on his to do list. Lina stayed behind and was making slippers. It was not cold enough and they never really had time to wear slippers but yet she was making a pair for each of them. She claimed they needed it for a cold winter and when they were not running around in the wild. She apparently thought that they would find a place to call home where they could relax and take it easy when they were not running around. It seemed that the guild house of the BoS was giving her odd ideas.

    The most interesting thing to happen was that Cuzen would attend his first Elder Circle meeting. It was just a conference call of all the leaders in the guild. Not all of the leaders were online. Buster and Zane were offline. Thus the others would just go on without them.

    Major was the first to speak.¡±Evening all, we do not have much to discuss so it won¡¯t take long. First order of business is to welcome Cuzen to our rank.¡± All congratulated him and he thanked them all in turn. ¡°Just a friendly reminder that we will expect your monthly payments now that you are one of us. I suggest you keep track of your money.¡±

    ¡°I did not think you guys were serious about that. 10 % of my monthly earnings?¡±

    ¡°15%, it is all there in the guild tab. Back to things that matter. Gambit you are up first.¡±

    ¡°Ok. Recruitment is coming along fine. Few more people are currently being monitored. 3 people left the guild after we refused to lend them 1 000 gold for whatever it was they wanted it for. Sorry I forgot what they wanted the money for. Raiding is coming along fine. We have reports of a new dungeon close to the sea that has been found. It is a bit out of the way but for those in the area it should be a good place to farm. Asmodian?¡±

    ¡°Nothing to report on my side. Maybe when I get back to the city I will do my rounds at the mages guild and wise sage house. Aurora?¡±

    I will look at the church of Freya for new recruits. As per usual not much more from the others in my division to report. Where you others go we healers have to follow. It is getting harder to find healers. It seems most new players want to do battle or even choose warrior classes if they just intend to take in the sites. Most players that delete their old characters and make new ones choose to leave the healing class and take something else. I will have to think of a new way or something great to find more healers. It seems those that choose the healing class are already in full parties and not all their members are good enough to join our ranks. Those few solo players who are healers are not interested in joining a guild so soon. Dismas?¡±

    ¡°Crime is down in the capital, seems harsher punishments are being implemented. Maybe this will help to get the weak caught and the strong might be convinced to join the guild. One of my underlings spends a great deal at the thieves guild and has his eye on a few possible candidates. Not much is happening over at the assassins guild and it seems the hunter guilds are busy as ever. Yamato is the person that goes around there for recruitment and he had stopped doing it. He claims there are too many idiots and it is too early to rate how well a player is. He will think about other means and ways of finding good hunters. He claims that the good hunters all join parties with random people or friends. As you know we cannot look and monitor all these groups. The solo players are running in the wilds and rarely come to cities, thus we have no idea who they are either. Cuzen?

    ¡°Wait what? I have been stuck in a satanic mansion for the past few months and had no time for recruitment.¡± He was not sure what was going on so he assumed that they wanted to talk about recruitment.

    ¡°No need to get all defensive. It is just how our meetings go. We all get a change to report and usually Zane goes after Dismas but since he is not here you are next. After each person delivers their report we talk. Depending on the talks we vote and implement new things and give out orders.

    ¡°Good to know. Not much to report I am afraid. Not sure what is report worthy.¡±

    ¡°We are currently focusing on recruitment and expansion. So unless you have something to add or valuable information to reveal you do not have to mention it. If you are not sure about some information you may pester Gambit with all your information.¡±

    ¡°Hey, why me?¡±

    ¡°Other than the usual reasons? Because he would have fallen under your division if we did not put them in a special class.¡±

    ¡°Fine. Cuzen any more questions or things you want to add before we move on to Major¡¯s report?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Why did you create the special class? Can you give me examples of valuable information?¡±

    ¡°We created the special class for those that do not really fit into our current ranking system. It is for those that have unique skills and classes. We wanted to make Asmodian leader of this group since as far as we know he is the only Arcane mage around but then your group shined in battle and we all still remember Yuri and his Spirit hawk. It seems you guys are doing things that normal players do not. Who had ever heard of a warrior with the highest level of alchemy in the guild? The rate you guys are moving we can only hope more interesting things are to come. As for the information it is things like how you guys entered the fairy forest and lived to tell the tail. I do not expect you to help in trades and things like that but if a plague or war broke out in a area, do tell. We do not expect details.

    Again take Asmodian. We all know he has the secret class but not how he got it. He told us of a powerful sage whose magic power rivals that of the mages guild Grand Magus back in the capital. We had sent a few other mages and wizards over to him but none had returned with a secret class. It us up to you how much you are willing to share but the more the better. New dungeons and their locations are a must to be reported.¡±

    ¡°Ok I think I understand more now. Maybe in time our special group can be like heavy hitters that can surprise our enemies.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s cute, heavy hitters. But yes that is kind of what we are going for. Only time would tell I guess.¡±

    Major spoke next. ¡°With that sorted out it is my turn. Talks and negotiates with friends and allies are ongoing as ever. I need a group of knights to go clear out mines in Falmer. According to my NPC foreman at the mines, three of my mines in that area have been overrun by goblins. There level is between 30 and 50 so we do not need the best to go. These mines however are very productive so the sooner the better.¡±

    Gambit said that he would send a group or two that are nearby to clear them.

    ¡°Also I need a group of knights to protect a lord for a week or two while he takes control of the Sheanar region. He is staging a sort of coo and the other lords will send and hire thugs or assassins to get him. We have interest there and we need him to not die. The group you send will only protect the lord and not attack his rivals unless they are threatening the lord¡¯s life. Best that we are not directly involved in the killing of his enemies.¡±

    ¡°A task of this magnitude will require compensation. How much money will you give for the group that is to protect him?¡±

    ¡°500 gold. Spoils and items they earn while doing this is theirs.¡±

    ¡°That will make things easier. I¡¯ll send a group that are high in levels.¡±

    ¡°Good. Send the best if they are willing to go. I have received reports from my minions at the Razor mountains that there is a man that is mining in the region. Apparently he is a player and I want someone to go to him and listen to his story. If he shows potential, recruit him.¡±

    Asmodian spoke. ¡°The Razor mountains are close to Cuzen, maybe he should be sent to investigate. This would be a good time for him to test his leadership skills.¡±

    The others agreed and thus he was given the task. Cuzen explained he could not leave right away since he was currently busy with a quest. As soon as he could, he would go.

    ¡°Alright I am sending a huge caravan down to our southern chapter. Spread the word for those that want to travel with it and those that go can double as body guards.¡± Major was still reporting

    ¡°Currently we are still looking for a place to buy or build us a ship. The Sea is vast and many places are eager. Here in the heaven kingdom seems to be the best place so far. I have asked other players in other kingdoms who are questing around sea cities and large towns to keep their eyes open. As for now we are still waiting before we act. Think so long of names for three ships. No Star Trek or Star Wars names will be accepted. Cuzen we had spoken of this and voted to get ships or build new ones. Currently a transport ship, a battle ship and a smaller fast ship has been approved. So if the names you think of can reflect that it would be good. We do not want our battle ship to be called Flower Power.¡±

    ¡°Our allies are pleased with the result of Tanaris. They requested that a few warriors stay behind to protect them for in case they are attacked again. I could not promise that but I told them that many of our knights are going to quest in the surrounding area and should help ward off the enemies. I doubt the Pharaohs will attack but a person never truly knows. It has been a while and it seems two other guilds joined them in the attack for promised riches. After the defeat they left so all should be well.¡±

    ¡°In closing I do not have much more to add. Recruitment of new scribes are low. It seems many choose to take battle classes. I have noticed that most scribes we have recently recruited are friends or party members of the other recruits Gambit had found. So if anyone has something more to add or say were are done.¡± It seemed nobody had more to say and the meeting was over. He was not sure what to expect but this meeting turned our normal. A few things were new to him but that was not so important.

    The others wanted to know what happened in the meeting and what was talked about. He told them it was mainly about recruitment. He added the part of a strong sage that lives in the capital. How they will have ships soon and how he had a task to do when they were done with this quest.

    At the morning of the 5th day the lord came into the yard to get them. Today will be the day the bandits strike. They did not know when and where so they had to be vigilant. The Lord had many stops to make before he returns. They left the house, per usual Cuzen was walking in front with his helmet visor open. He would close it just before the battle starts. Lina walked arm in arm with the lord. She did not mind, she claimed the lord was rather handsome. They hoped that would catch the bandits of guard until she toasted them with a fire spell. She wore her dress for battle. For the casual observer it would seem like just a lord with a new young thing on his arm. Little do they know the temper and damage output from Lina was high.

    On a single scarecrow or many Lina did the most damage. During battle she had to move and cast spells that are mana efficient, otherwise she burns out too quickly. Zomger was just behind them in full bards uniform. Again they hoped the enemies would ignore him while he curses and heals them. In combat healers and spell casters are the first to be targeted. Zomger was under orders to take a dagger in the place of the lord. He did not really want to, but for the good of the mission he would do it.

    Tinker would bring up the rear a small distance away. If the party walks on the left side of the street he would be on the right side. His instructions were to blend in and just look like another person. Thus he wore his leather armour under a coat. The heat was killing him but this way he seemed like just a random traveler. Yuri was on the roof tops flanking them. His spirit hawk was on the other side watching the blind spots Yuri could not.

    Everything went fine, until they came to the last stop. It was an antique shop of sorts. In addition of having old furniture they had staves, wands and the odd crystal ball. Lina was in heaven and took the time to look at each item. With her identification skill she quickly sorted out through all the items in hopes of finding something good. There was a staff that was powerful, but she did not want it because it did not match her outfit.

    As they left the store it all happened so fast. Hooded figures that seemed to have appeared out of the wood work all had weapons in hand. Yuri already had his bow out and made ready to fire from the roof across the street when he got stabbed in the back. Tinker was the second to react, he saw men making a move on his party that just came from the shop. Before his weapons were drawn, he too got stabbed in the back. Three hooded figures attacked Cuzen. With his plate armour on, the damage he suffered was minimal. He tried attacking but they just dodged and kept poking at him with their weapons.

    Zomger and Lina on the other hand, had little time to react. Zomger did actually dive in front of a dagger aimed for the lords back. He got stabbed and grabbed his opponent. His strength did not match up with those of combat classes but he could hang on to his enemy until others could help. The other hooded figure stabbed the lord and took the purse with all the money in. He was making his retreat and whistled. His allies seemed to take that for the retreat signal. Most of them escaped.

    Lina burnt the person Zomger was holding on to. Tinker managed to reverse the tables on the person that stabbed him. His thicker leather saved him from mortal injury. The enemy tried to use his speed to get away but Tinker ended his life quickly.

    When things settled down they could finally figure out what had happened. Zomger was healing the lord. His personal injury was not fatal, but the same could not be said about the lord. If the attacker from behind landed his attack, it all would have been over. Tinker came closer while Cuzen was returning after a short sprint in an attempt to catch the criminals. He lost them after the first corner.

    ¡°Guys, bad news. Some pussy assassin got me from behind. My hawk is following them, he will return once he finds their hide out. Get the gold then and salvage the quest.¡±

    ¡°Wait I can heal you, I just need to get to the roof or have direct line of sight.¡±

    ¡°No time, save the lord. I am going to the movies and maybe get some take out...¡±

    ¡°Haha, what a man to the very end.¡±

    Yuri has died

    ¡°Will the lord live?¡±

    ¡°Yes, he will probably be awake soon.¡±

    ¡°How in the seven hells did they sneak up on us like that? I barely had time to cast a fire spell before they were running away.¡±

    ¡°All seven of them were assassins it would seem. Three to distract Cuzen. Two to rob the lord and kill him and two others to disable me and Yuri.¡±

    ¡°It was smart of them. I really thought we did a good job of blending in. It seems they were one step ahead of us all the time. I think they might have scouted us at the house. Since Lina and I wore no armour or used no class related skills, they probably just thought you were eye candy and I was a handsome bard.¡±

    ¡°That does not really comfort me. When the hawk gets back, those bastards will pay. Ill burn their entire hideout to rubble.¡±

    ¡°Indeed, first let us get the lord back the house and leave this place.¡±

    The NPC¡¯s just looked on and went back to their normal lives. It seemed they did not really care about the lord and these kind of things happened frequently.

    Back at the Lord¡¯s house he finally woke up. ¡°The pain, bring me wine for the pain.¡± A servant ran away to get some.

    ¡°My lord, 7 assassins attacked us. We lost one of our own and killed two of theirs. If it was not for Zomger here that used his body as a shield against one of the attackers, I fear the worst might have happened to you.¡±

    ¡°I am thankful. What of the gold?¡±

    Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.¡°They took it, but do not worry. Soon we are leaving to the hideout of the bandits to get your gold.¡±

    ¡°Good, I was about to say you fail the quest. Bring back my purse and all would be fine.¡±

    ¡°That is the plan my lord, you rest now and enjoy the wine. We will be back when we are done.¡±

    When the hawk returned they followed it to the rundown part of town. He landed at the steps of a door and vanished. They assumed he went back to the fairy forest to visit. All of them had their battle gear equipped. With weapons drawn and a fire ball floating in front of Lina, ready to hit the first unlucky target. They busted down the door with no real battle plan in mind. For now they were going to kill any who stood in their way.

    Five men sat at a table with each a drink in the hand. They did not have much time to react before Cuzen leaped into one of them and bashed him into the opposite wall. Tinker dodge a dagger aimed for his head and went into his rotations. He attacked two opponents at the same time. The fellow that was trying to stand up after his encounter with the wall got a massive fire ball that burnt him to a pile of loot. One person darted to the next room and left his friends behind. The battle was short. All that remained was 3 corpses and one burnt pile that would have been a corpse if Lina did not waste all her mana. During all the ruckus the table was overturned. Lying on the ground they found the purse along with a small lock box. They searched the house that had nothing else of value. It would seem the 5th person left his friends behind.

    ¡°What the hell, I can¡¯t put the lock box into my inventory.¡±

    ¡°Yes, that is because it is owned. It prevents people from putting others chests into their inventory. They could however carry them out, but then they would be seen.¡±

    ¡°We need somebody with good lock picking.

    ¡°Let us just bust it open.¡±

    ¡°No can do. When you break a chest or lock box open, you damage the contents inside.¡±

    ¡°How can you damage gold?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. It is just the way the system works. I read somewhere that is how it works. I do not really want to test it out.¡±

    ¡°Guess that is one way of getting people to play thief and assassin classes. On the other hand it¡¯s just another reason to keep them around.¡±

    ¡°Great so do we bring the lock box or leave it here?¡±

    ¡°Bring it of course. There should be someone in this crummy town who can open it.¡±

    ¡°Until then I need to walk around with it in my hands?¡±

    ¡°Yes, you are a dual wielding swordsman, sure you can handle a small box until we are rid of it.¡±

    The loot they got was mainly cloth. Lina claimed them all for her profession. Even if it was not good quality, she could still use them. They found a person to open the lock box. He asked for 2 gold coins, 5 if it was not theirs. He opened it and found a handful of gold coins from different kingdoms. Along with a note.

    The lord will go on his rounds soon. Make sure you rob him after he collects all the money. Currently we can only confirm he has hired outside aid. Best to investigate before you strike.

    Van Cleef expects his cut of the profit

    Nobody had any idea who this Van Cleef fellow was. They asked the lock smith, who claimed he had no idea. They noticed he was lying. His personality changed and he seemed to be very nervous all of a sudden. He quickly added that for an additional gold piece he would take the lockbox off their hands. He got his gold and they were off. Best not to get to involved in this. They wanted to leave the area soon.

    Back at the lords house they gave him his gold. None seemed to have gone missing. He was pleased to say the least. The empty wine bottles alongside his bed was a good indication of how he was feeling. With the quest completed they decided to head toward the Razor mountains. Yuri would just have to catch up once he logged back in. It was unfortunate that he missed out on the experience gained from the quest. What was even worse was that all the money they got from the quest was lost, so no reward for him. A bag full of gold divides better 4 ways than 5.

    During their walk they talked. They used this time to catch up on each others personal activities.

    ¡°So Lina. Whatever happened to you and the level 5 enchanting?¡±

    ¡°I failed. It is dam hard to learn something from level 5 if you do not know level 1 through 4.¡±

    ¡°Sorry to hear that.¡±

    ¡°No worries. Master William claims that I needed more levels and affinity to fire. He said on level 100 I should know what he is talking about.¡±

    ¡°That makes no sense. You are a fire mage. Don¡¯t you have an affinity for it already?¡±

    ¡°It would seem no. It unlocks at level 100, so than I will know what is going for what. That reminds me. Cuzen you mind to give me your fairy dust?¡±

    ¡°A bit. Why?¡±

    ¡°I will need it when I try again. I spent all of mine.¡±

    ¡°Sure. Not like I have major magic and mana intensive spells or abilities.¡±

    ¡°What more can you tell us of enchanting.¡±

    ¡°I guess I can tell you the basics. Enchanting is not what I thought it would be. The type of magic you use and class you are. Dictates the type of enchantment I can make. For example, I could only give fire resistance to armour or add fire damage if I put it on weapons. There are a few other fire related things I can do, but that is the basics of it. Stats that gives strength and so forth comes from warriors that learn the skill and more importantly the materials the item is made from. But since it is so hard, I doubt you will find warriors and other classes with low intel to be enchanters. Also you need expensive materials.¡±

    ¡°Of course you do.¡±

    ¡°Between level 1 and 4. You use arcane dust. Which sells for between 100 and 500 gold depending on the purity. The more pure it is, the better.¡±

    ¡°Just how many enchants can a person make with one batch that costs say 400?¡±

    ¡°One¡± She said in a tone which gave them all shivers down their spines.

    ¡°How does that work?¡±

    ¡°Not sure, but just the way it is. But on the up side. Enchanting is faster to level up then say blacksmithing, if you have the mats. The % it climbs after each use is determined by the purity of the dust and the better the purity, the better the enchantment will be. On level 5 you start using arcane dust and arcane sulphur.¡± She took a deep breath and spoke again.

    ¡°Again take blacksmithing, at the start you use iron, then when you get better you will use bronze and maybe silver and later you use only steel to make the best armour and weapons. What we are told is that Mithral is the next ore that will be used to make better gear, and who knows what comes after that. But in enchanting. You don¡¯t get a new powder. You add to the next. So from level 5 I need arcane sulphur that costs currently between 400 and 1000 gold per pop in addition to the arcane dust. It really becomes expensive.¡±

    ¡°How is a person supposed to level it up, if it is so expensive?¡±

    ¡°You can lick me if I know. I think the prices will maybe go down. Or when the time is right. Massive mines and supplies will appear or be found. If that does not happen. Not sure how I am going to level it up.¡±

    ¡°Maybe it will become easier when the time is right or the overlords at Unicorn industry decides the time is right.¡±

    ¡°What made me mad, is that on level 1. You can only enchant things that do not have bonus stats or any item of worth. So those crappy swords and iron rod that helps no one. Is the only things you can enchant. Not sure why people would pick this up as a profession. It is madness. I can however confirm that from level 5, a person can enchant something relevant. Like say our current items we using. But still only one enchantment per item.There is more to be said about it, but since I did not learn the skill. There is much I still do not know and will only find out myself later.¡±

    ¡°Well, keep us informed and up to date if you get it and Shot gun.¡±

    ¡°Shot gun on what?¡±

    ¡°If you do get the mats and learn the enchanting skills. I call shot gun that you enchant my items first.¡±

    ¡°How about I torch you first instead?¡± A quick fire ball hit Zomger

    That was the last they would hear of Lina and her enchanting until she could go back to Master William and learn the ability.

    The Razor mountains were named because all the mountains and peaks facing north looked like spikes. According to a local it was the harsh weather from the north that carved out the spikes during the centuries. The town was located in the middle of the mountain range on the south slopes. It did not take long for them to find a person who knew what they were looking for. They were told to go to the only three story inn, in town.

    ¡°Evening adventures. Welcome to the Razor Inn. You will find no better place for rest and meals while you are visiting.¡±

    ¡°Thank you sir. We are looking for a man that is mining in the surrounding area. We were told that you may be able to help us.¡±

    ¡°That depends, is the person in trouble?¡±

    ¡°Not really no, we are here to talk to him and ask him a few questions.¡±

    ¡°Very well, you do not seem like bounty hunters. The man you are looking for is actually a dwarf.¡±

    ¡°Really, now I feel racist for look for a dwarf that loves mining.¡±

    ¡°Please tell us more. Is he here right now?¡±

    ¡°No, he only comes when he wants a hot meal and to flirt with the ladies¡±

    ¡°He sounds like an interesting fellow¡±

    ¡°That he is. When he first came here a few weeks back he payed with a giant jewel. He said he wanted food and drink every time he comes here, until he leaves or the jewel does not cover his tab. He left yesterday, so he will not be back soon.¡±

    ¡°Do you by any chance know where he mines in the mountain range?¡±

    ¡°No, there is only one active mine here that stretches through the entire mountain range. He could be mining at any of the caves, shafts or holes in the mountain. Maybe the foreman of the mine can help you.¡±

    ¡°Aw hell. That is about a few miles of area we will need to cover and search if nobody knows where he is.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go to the foreman and get this started then.¡±

    ¡°Follow the main road towards the mountain. The last building is where the foreman and workers off load their goods after a days work. From that point there are also caves and smaller paths leading all over the mountain.¡±

    The building was easy enough to find. There were two guards sitting outside playing cards. They asked for the foreman. They were told he would be back before days end.

    ¡°So we are going to take a break and log back in later?¡±

    ¡°Sure might as well¡±

    ¡°Great see you all later¡±

    Scot climbed out of his capsule. He had a few hours to kill before they were going to resume the quest. On their way to the to the Razor Mountains he wondered what move Yuri was going to watch. He got on the internet to watch what movies were showing these days. He would not have time to watch anything today but soon he will have some free time to go. He was craving popcorn.

    For a change Tinker was the last to log back in. He saw the others already talking to a man. He joined them as soon as he could.

    ¡°Yes yes, a real troublemaker. I took the case to the local magistrate. He refused to send guards to arrest him. He said the mineral rights Major owns are specific for copper. Since he mines Jewels and leaves the copper he is not breaking the law. The only charge he is guilty of is trespassing. We almost got him arrested for that but he was mining from a cave into the mountain.

    Since he was not using existing tunnels that we own, he was not trespassing. There is nothing we can do to him. He had mined into a copper vain and has ruined it, so that we cannot mine out the entire vain safely. That was when I sent message to Major to ask for help¡±

    ¡°Yes that is why we are here. Where can we find this person?¡±

    ¡°In a cave near the eastern side. About an hour¡¯s hike from here. I will send a man with to guide you. He may not be there anymore, but that was the last area we saw him in.¡±

    ¡°Right, let us be off. Tinker is here and Yuri is still locked out for 3 days.¡±

    Their guide seemed not to impressed that he was told to lead them. It was getting dark fast. He removed 3 lamps. He would walk in front with one. The other is for the person in the back and middle. The others asked Lina to use her magic but the guide told them not too.

    ¡°People that use magic here at night have a tendency to disappear¡±. They wanted to object and know more. The guide refused to talk more about it, or lead them further, until they stopped the magic. The progress was slow to say the least but they powered onwards. The guide talked about how he could navigate these paths in the dark. It was the few paths on the north slope a person should fear. Every one giggled when he slipped and fell a few seconds after that remark. He did well not to let the lamp break.

    From the way he fell and protected the lamp a person could tell he was protecting the lamp at all cost. Each of them tripped on stones or lost their footing now and again. They were not skilled explorers and Cuzen in his full plate armour seemed to be struggling the most. Nobody shed a tear for him, he was an idiot for almost always wearing battle armour.

    ¡°Are we there yet? I am sure it has been an hour already.¡±

    ¡°We are well over half way now. The night slows things down.¡±

    As Zomger was walking he stared at the stars to take in the beauty of it all. One miss step and he well face first, crushing the lamp he was carrying.

    ¡°I am ok guys, the path suddenly moved, so I fell.¡±

    ¡°Sure it did. Awesome use of your face to break the fall.¡±

    ¡°Those in the middle will just have to walk in the dark. Use the last lamp at the back¡±

    ¡°Why do you use lamps and not torches?¡±

    ¡°We do not want open flame when we are mining for in case we come across a gas pockets. In addition no mountain fires will start by accident. Lamps also last longer and their brightness can be adjusted. No mage will work in a mine unless he was hard pressed for work or being punished.¡±

    ¡°Are there any monsters here?¡±

    ¡°Not that I have seen. Some snakes and the odd eagle lives here. The eagle¡¯s are the ones you should look out for during the day. A few years back goblins moved in but we got rid of them.¡±

    ¡°How can a eagle be a problem?¡±

    ¡°They are big and strong enough to grab a child and fly away with them. We should be safe. They like the smaller animals. I have seen a hungry eagle try and kidnapped a young man when there was a tough winter.¡±

    ¡®¡¯So the thing in the night that does not like magic is not a monster?¡±

    The guide ignored them and kept on walking. A few minutes had passed.

    ¡±The cave is up ahead. Best if one of you take the lead. I¡¯ll just hang at the back and be ready to take you back at a moment¡¯s notice.

    They set off to find this interesting dwarf that would rather mine in the dirt all day then explore the grand world of RR

    As they entered the cave they could hear tapping sounds in the distance. They followed the sound. It did not take long to find him. As soon as their light started to illuminate the tunnel he stopped mining. They could see how he swapped a pick for an axe.

    ¡°Who goes there?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. We not here to attack you, just to talk.¡±

    ¡°The last group of players that wanted to talk, tried to rob me.¡±

    ¡°We are not them, and how do you know we are players?¡±

    ¡°No woman as attractive as her will come here unless she was a player.¡±

    It was odd, they were badly illuminated and could barely see the dwarf. But he could see them just fine.

    ¡°How sure are you she is not a man with just a female avatar?¡±

    ¡°In the way she stands. As soon as she starts talking and walking it will be confirmed.¡±

    ¡°I told you guys that is how you spot real woman and not guys¡±

    ¡°O please Zomger now is not the time show off.¡±

    ¡°Anyway, back to the matter at hand. You mind if we come closer and get a better look at you?¡±

    ¡°Yes I do, I can see you just fine from here. Not my fault you don¡¯t have night vision.¡±

    ¡°Really, what level is your night vision?¡±

    ¡°That is none of your business.¡± He said firmly.

    ¡°Ok. We are going off topic again. Mister Dwarf, do you mind telling us who you are and what you are doing here?

    ¡°I do, tell me what is it to you?¡±

    ¡°As I said, we just here to talk and investigate. Our guild master owns this mine and he had reports that there was trouble. Thus we are here.¡±

    ¡°Ok, I have been over it with those annoying NPC¡¯s. Now I am mining here in this natural cave and the jewels belong to no one.¡±

    ¡°Yes we know all that, we here to listen to your story.¡±

    Their eyes were still adjusting to the dark but they could see his body language changed and he gave a few steps forward. They still could not see his face but it was clear he had no hair on his head and a beard to the middle of his body. A pick was resting over his one shoulder and the outlines of an axe could be seen in his other hand.

    ¡°I will tell you my story. If the pretty lady agrees to give me a kiss¡±

    There was silence. Nobody would dare to ask Lina to do most anything, let alone give a kiss to a stranger.

    ¡°All right, I will give you a kiss..¡±. All of them were shocked, Lina did not even tolerate men talking with her if she did not like them. She started walking closer, when she was in front her hands lit up. "....The Kiss of FIRE!¡± She shot fire balls into his face.

    Most warriors would charge and fight, but he just stood there.¡±Definitely a women¡±. He said while laughing.

    ¡°I have heard many replies but this was the first kiss of fire, a deal is a deal.¡±

    ¡°Good, so name, class and life story. The works.¡±

    ¡°As you can see I am a dwarf. I started out over in Bremen. Picked up mining profession, mined a lot of stuff. Noticed the real money was in jewels and rare ore. So I got jewel crafting as well. Currently I am looking for a specific gem. Lastly the name is Antrax.¡±

    It was a short description, just like he was.¡± Ok Antrax, did you say your profession is mining?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°How did that happen?¡±

    ¡°Easy I mine a lot and I like it. It is very rewarding.¡±

    ¡°Makes sense I guess. Earth full of minerals and ore. Don¡¯t you get bored or lonely?¡±

    ¡°Yes I do, that is why I go to towns and when I trade what I need, I meet some new people.¡±

    ¡°Why would you mine, there is a whole world full of adventure and monsters out there?¡±

    ¡°The same could be said about mining. I have seen things in caves that not many people have.¡±

    ¡°Like what?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll skip the usual rats, bats and goblins. I accidentally found a mole city, accidentally mined into magma. And then there was the whole thing with the earth elemental.¡±

    ¡°Wait wait wait. Did you say mole city?¡±

    ¡°Yes, humanoid moles living in a city. One of the many races in our world. Got a nice bit of fame for it.¡±

    ¡°How was it?¡±

    ¡°Bad, they are very slow and of average intelligence. They don¡¯t like outsiders but I won them over. And the ironic thing is they taught me Night vision.¡±

    ¡°How is that ironic?¡±

    ¡°Moles have terrible eye site¡±

    ¡°Oh, my bad¡±

    ¡°So what thing happened to the earth elemental¡±

    ¡°The usual, was mining and accidentally mined into a huge sleeping earth elemental. I could not get away.¡±

    ¡°Could you not escape it in the caves?¡±

    ¡°That was the plan, but as he woke up he collapsed most of the surrounding caves and a large part of the mountain. Not nice to die of a mixture of dehydration and suffocation, I assure you.¡±

    ¡°Could you not just mine your way out?¡±

    ¡°Of course I can mine myself out of any situation, if I have room to move in. I was trapped. 4 days later came the fun part of mining back into said mountain and get my dropped items.¡±

    ¡°That seems a bit extreme.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but for the loot I drop, it was worth it.¡±

    ¡°So now comes the awkward part. I have to ask you to stop mining here and not disturb the others.¡±

    ¡°Normally I would just ignore the threat or comply, but now I cannot.¡±

    ¡°Fine, tell us why.¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t believe me¡±

    ¡°You will find we are a very understand group.¡±

 Chapter 22: The Tower of Terok Nor part I

    "Let''s see, gona skip the start and jump to the end. I am looking for a topaz about the size of my fist" Antrax said

    "Why and what is a topaz

    "Topaz is a yellow gem. Most people know a ruby.  That is a red gem. You follow?" they nodded. "Now the why. I think it unlocks a huge invisible tower over in Bremen."

    There was a short silence. "Ok, saw we believe you, and we let you mine your topaz. Mind if we come along to this invisible tower?"

    "Maybe, I don''t really know you guys. So far you seem respectable. How about we talk over some food? I can use a break."

    He finally stepped into the light. He seemed normal enough, for a dwarf. They led the way back to the cave entrance. The dwarf walked behind. Just before they sat down Lina yelped. They all drew their weapons ready to face whatever threat presented itself. She yelled something which sounded a mixture between pervert and bastard. When her first fire ball hit Antrax they relaxed. He took a few more before Lina stopped.

    ¡°Pinch me again and ill use my strongest spells on you and wear my murders mark proudly.¡±

    ¡°Hahaha just testing the waters, that¡¯s all. Good to see your body guards did not join.¡±

    ¡°Lina does not need our protection, that much.¡± If she ever used all her mana on 1 fire spell she can one shot a player her own level. But if she misses she would be out of mana and have a very mad player that wanted to kill her.

    They ate and told their stories to Antrax. The tension between them faded the more they talked and ate. They did not tell all their secrets but just the main points. It seemed Antrax held nothing back, maybe it was because he is lonely.

    ¡°So when you get this topaz you are going back?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I only came here because I heard there might be topaz¡¯s here. My information was correct.¡±

    ¡°How long will it take to get it?¡±

    ¡°Anything from 5 minutes to 5 weeks. The particular size of this one makes it rather unique.¡±

    ¡°Fine, just try and not mine into the other veins and stuff here.¡±

    ¡°I guess, the one I am working on seems promising. My previous attempts were failures. I have however got many topaz¡¯s and the odd ember but still not the one I need¡±

    ¡°Ok, we will keep busy around here. You have a few days till we move on or chase you away.¡±

    ¡°With the food increasing my stats and restoring fatigue it will go faster¡±

    ¡°Well I am going to explore the caves, maybe I can find things to put in my book.¡± Tinker said, right before he chose a random direction to explore.

    ¡°The rest of us are going to log out, real world obligations and all that.¡±

    They were all back a few days later. The guide had left them and Antrax had found his topaz. Before they left to go to Bremen, Tinker suggested they stay and use magic to see what happens. Cuzen, Lina and Yuri voted no. Only Zomger was on Tinker¡¯s side. Antrax vote did not count. He voted yes for the use of magic.

    ¡°You can see who has not died recently. I don¡¯t want to take the chance of a dragon or space monkey coming to fight us.¡±

    ¡°I second that, let us just go to Bremen. None of us have left Heaven Kingdom yet.¡±

    ¡°Fine, let¡¯s do this.¡±

    On the walk towards Bremen they each asked Antrax more questions. It seemed he did not know much about anything but commented on everything. He had a sharp eye for ladies, gems and details.

    ¡°Ok, so from the top, why do you think this will work?¡±

    ¡°I was walking to the next area. Along the way I was crossing a large plain. With nothing out of the ordinary. I like to travel the back roads and bypass main roads, because there are no mines and places to mine in main roads. So I was walking, thinking when a large building suddenly appeared close to me. It was a huge tower. It was about 100 meters in diameter very tall. It had the shape of an oval.

    An old man was sitting next to what seemed to be the entrance. I walked over to him. He told me about the tower and so forth. He did mention that to get inside you have to solve a riddle or puzzle. He said. ¡®Look to the past, to face the future¡¯.¡±

    ¡°At first it made no sense, I walked over to the door to study it. On the door was a huge serpent of some kind, in the place where his eye was, was a hole. I put my hand inside and felt around. I may not have engineering but I could feel it needed a key or mechanism of some kind to open it.

    ¡°I tried to cut a key out of wood but nothing. Then I used metal. After a lot of bending and effort I had another key to try out, but that too failed.¡±

    ¡°How sure are you the door is a puzzle and not a riddle?¡±

    ¡°I could stand there all day and say ¡®open-says-a-me¡¯, but deep down I know it to be a puzzle.¡±

    ¡°So how do you think a topaz will work?¡±

    ¡°Since I started in Bremen I know a bit of its past. The history of Bremen is that a huge serpent terrorised the land. The men of the land finally killed it, the way it looked was green with the glow of yellow in its eye. There are a few gems that look yellow but I think topaz was a good place to start. What further lets me think I am on the right path. Is that the king of Bremen men have green armour and clothes with yellow helmets. I am no commando but that is not the best of camouflage and there is some historic reason they wear it like that. I asked a few men, but they had no idea and I was not going back to civilisation to hear what was the reason for it.¡±

    ¡°So what happens if you are wrong?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll try ember and even some copper to make a key. When that fails I think it¡¯s time to move on.¡±

    ¡°So just like that. You will walk away?¡±

    ¡°Yes, my angle of approach is all I can think of, if it is a puzzle. I am not one to go look in the library to find the name of the beast that they slew and don¡¯t even get me started on deeper meaning or hidden meanings.¡±

    ¡°So you are going to make an eye for the beast. In the form of what is needed?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Well he did mention something about face the future? The eye is part of the face, and maybe we need an eye to ¡®face¡¯ what is in there, our future.¡± Yuri said

    ¡°My head hurts, how can you possible make such huge assumptions if we still don¡¯t know it¡¯s a puzzle or riddle?¡± asked Tinker

    ¡°I will tell you what, I need to feel in what form I need to cut the gem in. You will have a few hours to solve the riddle while I am busy.¡±

    ¡°In an ideal world we will travel to a city with a library, but so far we only got small towns and farms.¡±

    ¡°This old dude that sits next to it, he say other things?¡±

    ¡°No, just the normal mystic greeting.¡±

    ¡°Figures, I assume he will still be there when we arrive.¡±

    It all happened so fast, they were still talking and someone was nagging Antrax to know how far it was, when it suddenly appeared close to them. Antrax claimed that a person can only see the tower if you are within 50 meters of it. The tower was pure white and truly was marvellous. If you did not walk on the back road a person would never see it, unless you were lucky enough to track through hills and walk into it.

    The old man greeted them and repeated his words. Other than that he did not talk to them. Antrax started to fiddle in the eye to get the shape right and started to cut the gem soon after that. Zomger tried a few words and phrases in the hopes to open it. The others sat around. Tinker said he was going to log out, raid the kitchen and see what the all knowing internet has to say about the tower.

    He found nothing. The others were not really shocked that he did. They were still arguing about the meaning of history when the door made a click sound and the old man stood up.

    ¡°Congratulations adventures, you have gained access to the Tower of Terok Nor. The tower was made long ago so that all who wish to strengthen their mind and body may do so. The tower is not bound to one nation but it is a unique place for the few that are worthy.¡±

    He paused and seemed to look at them. ¡°I must advise you. The tower is complex and dangerous if you treat it likely. It is best you gather the maximum amount of people allowed to enter before you go. Choose wisely. You will only have one chance to select your companions and one week to complete the towers 20 levels before the tower moves to a new location.¡±

    ¡°What is the maximum amount of people that we may take with?¡±

    ¡°20¡±

    ¡°Does our week start now or when we first enter?¡±

    ¡°When you first enter.¡±

    ¡°We have opened the door, and will have to wait for the others before we go. Can other adventures that are not with us, that walk past here, enter the Tower now?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°How can we prevent them from doing so?¡±

    ¡°Negotiation, battle, lying or just lock the door again.¡±

    Antrax locked the door.

    ¡°What kind of things can we expect in the tower?¡±

    ¡°Test of strength and mind. First levels are easy and each level after that it becomes harder. At the top is a boss.¡±

    ¡°If we die are we thrown out?¡±

    ¡°No, you instantly respawn on the level you are currently in. Once a level is cleared it does not get repeated.¡±

    ¡°So no death penalty log out for 4 days?¡±

    ¡°No, once your week is done all penalties suffered and gains will be applied.¡±

    ¡°What type of rewards are we looking at?¡±

    ¡°For each level complete you gain a level and possible items. Items vary and there is potential to learn new skills.¡±

    ¡°So if we die 50 times and complete the 20 levels, we will be weaker when we leave, compared to now?¡±

    ¡°Correct.¡±

    ¡°Talk about high risk and high reward¡±

    ¡°Indeed, guess we ask in the guild chat who can rush over. I am itching to get in there.¡±

    ¡°But we will need the big shots, and we will need a time that works for 20 people, and we will have to stay awake for about 42 hours in the real world if we want to maximise our time spent inside.¡±

    ¡°I think a day and half in the real world is enough. We need to look after our real bodies and not all will be able to stay online. We need to eat, have bathroom breaks and the works. But I think we can press hard and far if the levels are not too hard.¡±

    ¡°

    Ok. So what date and time works for most of us? Saturday morning 5 am GMT seems like a good time as any, it¡¯s a more than a few days away and will give time for the others to get here.¡±[/size]

    ¡°Works for me guys¡± Antrax said.

    Cuzen got to work, he send his detailed message of what they needed in the guild chat. Many people were eager but not all could reach the place in time and a lot could not play for a day and half none stop. It was a good thing it was holiday across most of the world. Many students played the game.

    After all was said and done they calculated that about 30-40 people met their requirements. Thus another message was sent, those 14 that are first to arrive will be taken.

    Many were unhappy to hear that but it would be unfair to always choose base on rank and who you like. A few seconds after that message Asmodian appeared next to them.

    ¡°Hey guys,¡±

    ¡°Holy shit man, how did you get here?¡±

    ¡°I teleported myself to you guys. Have I not mentioned I can do that?¡±

    ¡°No¡±

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Atral projection

    Allows user to teleport anywhere

    User max mana decreases by 50% for on day. Other spells cost 50% more for one day

    WARNING. Not all locations and places can get teleported to.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    ¡°So you can go where you want?¡±

    ¡°Not really. Only places I have been to and remember in detail. Or if I have an item that belongs to someone I can teleport to that person as well.¡±

    ¡°Wow, you still have my potion that allows a person to enter the fairy forest?¡±

    ¡°Yes, we went there by the way and did the group quest and no spirit companion. Turns out since you guys were the first to do a group quest there, only you got the best reward.¡±

    ¡°Sorry man. So why did you teleport here now. We are only going in a few days from now.¡±

    ¡°I need time to recover. I am really weak after my spell, and did not want to be late. I am lucky number seven it seems.¡±

    ¡°Indeed, let us spend our time here and wait.¡±

    ¡°I saw some beasts a while ago around that hill in the distance.¡±

    ¡°Ok, so we stay here and wait for the others.¡±

    The next view days passed slowly. It seemed there was not much else in the area other than the Tower.

    Whenever a person or two arrived they will announce in the guild chat that the available numbers are decreasing. During the wait the others kept their spirits up. There was at least some entertainment. Antrax tried his best to chat up all female players that arrived. Lina almost did manage to kill him the one time after a remark he made about how soft her behind was.

    The last seven people to arrive were all members the group had previously encountered. First was Quantum. It turned out he did not want to miss out on the action. The last six were Stan and his friends.

    They notified the guild chat that they were full. More than a few curses were said. Many dropped what they were doing and raced over to Bremen. They still had a few days left before they would enter.

    During this time they had to talk tactics, check on all the players and decide who will be in charge. Asmodian was the highest ranked in the guild but he said Cuzen could lead since he found the place and ranked second.

    Next they counted how many of each class they had. They were 4 hunters, 3 mages, 4 warriors, 2 knights, 2 paladins, 1 thief, 1 shaman, 1 assassin, 1 priest and 1 miner.

    It turns out that Antrax claimed to be a good tank. He showed his stats and he had impressive strength stat for his low level. What made it more impressive was that he had never done the basic training. All the hours he spent mining was paying off. He removed his small round shield to show he was serious. It turns out he fights with one of his picks and axe on the offense. On defence he uses the same axe and a shield.

    The others were as standard as they came. The remaining plate wearing classes all used 2 handed swords. They would have liked 3 different type of mages but the 2 fire mages and 1 arcane mage would have to do.

    They ran a few battle simulations. Cuzen and Antrax will act as main tanks and if need be dire Stan claimed he could help. The others were not idiots and if you wore cloth you knew you must stay behind the others.

    They all logged out to go to bed early. They would need the sleep for the upcoming hours of grinding.

    Scot alarm went off, he almost hit the snooze button. He could not remember the last time he woke up this early. He stumbled and fumbled all over his room. It was times like these he regretted he never put anything where it belongs. But he never had to, since the house servants would do it for him. Scot went to the bathroom, followed by the trip to the kitchen. He was use to walking late at night alone in the house. But so early with no one around was spooky. On some level he was afraid that if a zombie apocalypse were to break out he would be of the last to find out. Most of his free time he spends in doors and lately all of it was in RR.

    He was more than I bit surprised as he walked into the kitchen.

    ¡°Cliff, what are you doing here?¡± He said with a great big yawn.

    ¡°Young Scot, just baking treats for my orders. Why are you up so early?¡±

    ¡°For my game, me and 19 people are going to attack a tower.¡±

    ¡°Good luck.¡±

    ¡°Same with your baking. What is there to eat around here. Is there still leftovers of last night?¡±

    ¡°None I am afraid. We have the usual cereals in the cupboard.¡±

    He took some coco pops and made his way back to his room. He had about 10 minutes before he would log in. Time to go online and see what the Dark gamers union have to say about the Tower. He could have looked last night before he went to bed, but he knew how it goes. At first he will search for useful information and after that he will read a bit of everything. Before he knew it many hours would have been gone and he needed to sleep.

    He was shocked to say the least when he read the post of the Tower. It seemed that someone and 13 others had enter the tower before when it appeared in Harpen kingdom. They claimed to have solved the riddle of the door. And in their week they only managed to clear 11 levels. After they had died a few times, they had stopped. By all accounts it is a worthwhile place to go if you don¡¯t die. The details were lacking but it seemed they fought monsters and after that it was a puzzle. In short a test of strength and mind.

    He logged back in. All of them assembled and not much talking was going on. It may have been 5 AM in England but it was a bit later for the others. Everyone double checked their items. They were 22 people. It seemed nr 21 and 22 arrived and hoped someone of the first 20 could not make it.

    Tinker shared his info he got. It only made others and himself more eager to enter the tower.

    Antrax inserted the topaz and opened the tower door. They marched inside and the old man outside gave a sinister laugh.

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Notice:

    You are the first adventurers to enter the Tower of Terok Nor in Bremen

    Benefits:

    Fame increased by 500.

    No double experience and no 2x item drop rate

    The first monster killed will not drop the best quality item it can drop

    Look in the chest after each level for your rewards.

    WARNING: All rules and laws of the Tower are now in effect</td></tr></tbody></table>

    The door shut behind them and there was complete silence.

    ¡°O crap, I hope that 500 fame does not mean this is a level 500 place¡±

    ¡°I doubt it¡±

    ¡°This is a very unique place if I had to guess.¡±

    ¡°More problems, I was talking to my buddy. We are cut off from the outside world.¡±

    ¡°That is not all bad, I guess it¡¯s a failsafe to prevent asking outside help with puzzle¡¯s or riddle¡¯s.¡±

    Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!

    "I can''t use my night vision and there is no light. Can somebody remedy the situation?"

    ¡°Lina lights.¡± It did not matter which mage used their spell but Cuzen just said it out of habit.

    As the room became illuminated they could see. The entire 100 meters diameter of the hall was visible. It seemed to be all made out of dark grey stone. The room was about 5 meters high. A closer look revealed that the flat floor was not smooth and many holes and bricks were missing. A message appeared.

    *Defeat as many enemies as you can in 30 minutes.

    Just like that the entire other side of the room seemed to fill with goblins. Cuzen had two choices, run out to meet them or stay and defend. He was not sure what level the goblins were so he decided to play it safe.

    "Stand with your back to the door, defensive line on me. Rest of you know what to do." As soon as they started the goblins on the other side yelled and ran at them. There was no corners in which to make a final stand.

    font=Arial]There was enough time to form a line. Half of the goblins had long spears and the others any large weapon. [/font]

    ¡°About 60 of em, no bowmen.¡± Someone said

    As they came closer the range fighters attacked. Many goblins fell and a few even died. As the first goblins crashed into shield and sword more died. There were not a disciplined fighting  unit. In less than 5 minutes all of them were dead. It was concluded that the goblins were of low level, around 65. The group suffered no loses and minimum damage.

    ¡°More goblins, about 100.¡±

    ¡°Same weapon composition. Coming in fast.¡±

    ¡°Hold fast and repeat what we just did¡±

    Again the goblin wave hit, but they broke like water on rock. They did more damage but still nothing serious. It was hard to keep track of time but as soon as all the goblins died more spawned on the other side.

    ¡°Just under 200. Same weapons¡±

    ¡°Time to use some big aoe spells or abilities if you guys have some.¡±

    Asmodian used some interesting abilities. Normally he shot arcane missiles. But this time it seemed at least 50 different missiles flew through the air and hit random targets. Lina preferred her Flame strike on the ground right in front of their party. The other fire mage seemed to use a spell called Macro fire. It did huge amount of fire damage in a line about 10 meters long and 3 meters wide. Those caught in the blast suffered severe damage and those stupid enough to stand in the radius of the fire spell after the initial blast suffered damage as well. Macro fire left a combination of lava and fire behind on the ground. It was hard not to miss it.

    Hunters had their usual split shot, multi shot or arrow barrage where they shoot one arrow and it splits into 10 different arrows. The damage is reduced by 75% of the original arrow fired but for an advancing horde it worked well. The accuracy of the ability was so bad it could only work against advancing enemies with numbers.

    Again when the last of the goblins died more spawned on the other side. It was reaching the point where the numbers of the enemy started to count in their favour. They still did not bring anybody close to death, but those landed hits were disrupting.

    ¡°About 400 hundred. Same weapons¡±

    ¡°What is the time?¡±

    ¡°Think about 5 minutes left, maybe less.¡±

    ¡°Figures, Stand fast, we got this.¡±

    They went through the same motions. Many Goblins died before they reached the party. Everybody was still in the process of attacking before all of the goblins disappeared. It happened none too soon, because they were starting to be overwhelmed.

    *Level one cleared. The path to the next level is now open. Rewards are in the chest.

    A big chest that was illuminated at the end of the hall appeared. It was about the same place where the goblins spawned. An opening appeared with stairs leading upwards.

    ¡°Check for traps as we advance. I don¡¯t trust it just because they say the level is cleared.¡±

    They all walked to the chest, the thief inspected it and said it was not even locked. Before he opened it Cuzen told him to wait.

    ¡°I am just playing it safe, we will move a small distance off and let someone open it. Any volunteers?¡±

    The thief that was about to open it said he would. As soon as the box was open they all gained a level with stats to spend. The loot was just an assortment of armour. It mimicked those that the goblins had worn, but these were better and only a few sets available.

    ¡°Ok, let¡¯s head to level two. How does the mana look?¡±

    ¡°We will need a couple of minutes to be at max again. I think it¡¯s safe to advance¡±

    ¡°Does nobody want to talk about how we just levelled for doing some fighting with lowly goblins?¡±

    ¡°Not really no. As the man said outside. Lower levels are easy, compared for what is to come.¡±

    ¡°I just don¡¯t want to die for nothing.¡±

    ¡°You think we can do a couple of levels and stop?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but we are stuck here for a week so we might as well push and try¡±

    ¡°We will see how it goes, loot everything we will divide it later. Let us go up to level two.

    Level two looked like level one. The floor this time was smooth and 20 chairs of stone stood in the middle. It seemed to be in a circle around the middle platform. They walked closer to investigate. Some sat on chairs and others stood on the platform. After about 10 minutes people were starting to get restless.

    ¡°No door or secret way out. I have scanned the entire room.¡±

    ¡°This must be a test of the mind, but what could it be?¡±

    ¡°Nothing is happening when we sit on chairs or stand on the platform in the middle.¡±

    ¡°Maybe we all must sit.¡±

    ¡°Not like we have other options. All take a seat.¡±

    The moment the last person sat down. The old man that stood at the gate now appeared on the platform in front of them.

    ¡°What two things can you never eat for breakfast?¡± He said in a clear voice for all to hear

    Nobody spoke up in fear of the wrong answer will kill them. Someone stood up and the old man vanished

    ¡°Sit down again, I think we all must be seated or he won¡¯t appear.¡±

    With the old man back Asmodian spoke up. ¡°What happens if we answer incorrectly?¡±

    ¡°That is incorrect, please try again.¡±

    Again nobody dare speak.

    ¡°Steak and chocolate¡±

    ¡°That is incorrect, please try again.¡±

    ¡°It seems there is no punishment for incorrect answers¡±

    ¡°That is incorrect, please try again.¡±

    ¡°This is lame, I think if we can¡¯t solve the riddle, we will be stuck here for a week¡±

    ¡°That is incorrect, please try again.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s hard, it sounds easy enough¡±

    ¡°That is incorrect, please try again.¡±

    Someone stood up again. ¡°That is so annoying. Can¡¯t we talk and try and figure this out without him nagging us?¡±

    ¡°I think its best we discuss and swap ideas between each other, when he is around for in case someone gets lucky.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s bad enough that if we are wrong we must listen to him, now after each of us finish a sentence he will talk.¡±

    ¡°I agree it¡¯s annoying but if someone does know the answer, now would be a good time to raise your hand and speak up.¡±

    Nobody did. ¡°Fine, sit down, let us try and see how it goes¡±

    At the start a few people said intelligent things. Some thought out of the box and were way off.

    Tinker was sitting and thinking. It was hard to focus because a clear and firm voice kept saying ¡°That is incorrect, please try again.¡± He remembered that Tristan had once mentioned a plant, that was poisons in the morning but later in the day it released spores that no longer made it deadly. He could not remember the name, it was colly something or whatever.

    ¡°Your Mother and Father!¡± A unhappy party member yelled.

    ¡°That is incorrect, please try again.¡±

    After some more thought Tinker was thinking that his plant could be a one of the things but what will the other be. Maybe a animal of some sort? His knowledge was lacking and Zoology was low to say the least.

    ¡°That is incorrect, please try again.¡±

    Maybe some sort of slug, it just sounded right the more he thought about it. A nice Kallamorian slug or maybe a tiger beetle¡­..

    ¡°Lunch and Dinner¡±

    ¡°That is correct. You may advance to the next level¡±

    Some laughed and others just sat there.

    ¡°Are you serious? It was lunch and dinner?¡±

    ¡°It would seem so.¡±

    ¡°How did it take about 30 minutes before someone figured it out?¡±

    ¡°Whoever it was, cheers man¡±

    ¡°It was so simple, how did me miss it?¡±

    ¡°We can talk more about it on our way to level three.¡±

    Cuzen cleared his throat.¡± If anyone in the guild asked what was the riddle. We say they asked the meaning of life and it was Love¡±

    It was unanimous. Nobody wanted to suffer humiliation of this riddle a 10 year old could solve.

    Again a chest appeared with stairs heading up at the end of the room. They opened the chest and gained a level up. They were disappointed that there was no loot but the level up helped ease the pain.

    When the last person entered the third floor a message appeared

    *Attacking a fortified opponent.

    ¡°The good news is it seems night vision is working here in the darkness¡±

    ¡°Well, tell us what you see.¡±

    ¡°It seems a lot like level one. No smooth floor. At the end there is a wall with people on top of it.¡±

    ¡°The wall about 2 and a half meters tall. No door visible.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, can someone illuminate the area on that side for a short duration?¡±

    A spell that looked like a flare went over there and revealed it all. It was not just a wall. It seemed to be a small garrison. The shine of armour glinted before it all went dark again.

    ¡°Ok, So suggestions?¡±

    ¡°There does not seem to be a time limit. And as the message would suggest we must attack them.¡±

    ¡°Let us scout them first.¡±

    ¡°Yuri send in your spirit hawk, when it¡¯s in position we will shoot another flare. Tell us what is going on inside there.¡±

    ¡°OK, just hope they don¡¯t have magic attacks.¡±

    A short while later a flare illuminated the hall again.

    ¡°Ok, it seems like 10 elven archers at the top, with 10 more hiding behind the wall with 5 elven warriors¡±

    ¡°They will wait till we are close and shoot the crap out of us.¡±

    ¡°Have you seen any other things like a door or something?¡±

    ¡°I think I saw a rope at the back. Other than that, the place seems like a small fortress.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll go check it out¡± Quantum said. He disappeared into the darkness. Most could not see him but the hunters and thief could follow him mostly.

    Soon Yuri spoke.¡± They shot at him. Seemed like they stopped.¡±

    ¡°Ok. Now what is he doing?¡±

    ¡°It seems he is testing them. It seems that whenever he comes within a certain distance of the garrison they shoot.¡±

    ¡°Ok, he taking heavy damage or what?¡±

    ¡°It seems not, the first one got him, but after that he has been careful.¡±

    ¡°He is walking to the side of the hall¡­.. His now walking alongside the wall¡­¡­Now he is on the other side.¡±

    ¡°Guys, there is a hang ladder here. Convenient way to enter the garrison¡± Quantum said in party chat

    ¡°Is there and elf that seems he wants to lift it up?¡±

    ¡°No, only one that is ready to shoot at me if I come within range again.¡±

    ¡°So we might as well attack them from behind and use the ladder¡±

    ¡°I am scared when we attack they lift the ladder.¡±

    ¡°Maybe they won¡¯t, this is level 3 after all.¡±

    ¡°If they do it¡¯s not going to change anything. We need to attack. Be it from the front or behind.¡±

    ¡°I have a theory I want to test. Can 10 people move to 30 meters from the wall. Do not go one step closer.¡± Quantum said

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°I want to see if the others that are hidden take up places on the wall, or those on the wall rotate.¡±

    ¡°Ok, 10 are moving now.¡±

    The 10 of them moved into position. Soon after that Quantum told them to fall back.

    ¡°I saw 11 of them. Seems we can expect all of them to shoot us. I suggest when we attack, we commit in full.¡±

    ¡°Sounds as good as plan as any. Do we attack in the dark or with light?¡±

    ¡°We can test that. Shoot a flare again.¡±

    The flare got shot and they could see an elf on the tower shoot backwards.

    According to health bars Quantum was being shot. When the light was gone he spoke

    ¡°I am not doing that again. What is weird only one shot me.¡±

    ¡°Are you ok?¡±

    ¡°Mostly. I think it¡¯s safe to say the light gives them more range to shoot. And only one is going to shoot each of us.¡±

    ¡°Fine, head to the side wall, walk next to it till we meet Quantum, then we will attack.¡±

    They were all in position. The plan was to attack. As soon as the first plate wearing warrior was at the wall, they would illuminate the place. Fighting in the dark would help the elves more than it will help them.

    Stan was the first at the wall and made his way up the ladder. It seemed they did not pull up the ladder. When all of them ran down to the garrison all the elves made an appearance. each one of them had an elf shooting at them.

    After the third person climbed the ladder things started going downhill for the elves. Their bowmen were strong but in confined places and melee that skill meant nothing. I did not take long before all of them were killed.

    The garrison disappeared and the chest appeared along with the stair case.

    Nobody died but more than a few people took heavy damage from the bowmen. The elven warriors were fast but their damage output was lacking.

    In the chest was only bows and the level up. The hunters were pleased. They could use the bows right away, and as any archer will tell you, good bows are hard to come by.

    On the fourth floor was a single table in the large hall. They walked over to the table.

    The following message appeared ¡°Arrange 9 numerals - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 - (using each numeral just once) above and below a division line, to create a fraction equalling to 1/3 (one third)? Warning wrong answer will result in the death of a random party member.

    On the table 9 stone tablets appeared each with one of the numbers on it. In the middle of a table were two areas with a clear line dividing them.

    ¡°I guess this means it¡¯s a puzzle level.¡±

    ¡°Indeed, who brought their calculators with?¡±

    ¡°So far I know only merchants have access to one of them¡±

    ¡°Figures. So pen and paper anyone?¡±

    A few people had something to write on. Those that wanted papers each got one and something to write with. Now came the hard part.

    Tinker found himself working next to someone that was doing some impressive math. He on the other hand was not so good with math. On his other side Yuri was drawing pictures on his piece of paper.

    ¡°Really?¡± he asked him.

    ¡°If my life depended on it I would work on the solution, but this is way too hard with no calculator. Besides look how hot this girl is I am drawing¡±

    Tinker just giggled, his admiration for Yuri¡¯s stick drawing of what he could make out to be mostly a human, did not last long. He went back to the problem. He figured out that the numbers at the top would have to be 3 times less than those at the bottom but the order was important. He was busy with his 4<sup>th</sup>combination before someone said they have it.

    Others double checked the numbers and they arranged the stone tablets. 5832 at the top and 17496 at the bottom.

    The chest appeared along with the stairs. Again they all gained a level and nothing else.

    <hr />

    Well i am back, want to post some new chapters. Dono why It wants to make my text super small and all that. I tried to make them bigger, but they dont want to. LoL. I have been away so long,  seems many things have changed. I Will try and fix this before i post my next chapter.

    Does anyone know why they want to change my text so small? Like always I type my things in word and just copy and paste it over. Why would it not work now?

    <hr />

    Tomorrow some time if i have not figures out a fast way to make my text bigger. Ill come and retype my chapter. Guess that is one way of doing a final check. Plz if any one out there knows why I can no longer just copy and past my sentences from word into this things. Feel free to tell me.

    IN this edit box i see an option to increase or decrease font size, right next to font name. But it does not want to make it better.  Sorry for the guys that are having trouble with the small text. I will try and fix it later on.

    I have like 15 new chapters and there is no way in hell i am going to type all of them over again into this thing just to post them. That is why we have copy and past technologies

 Chapter 23: The Tower of Terok Nor part II

    On level 5

    When the last person entered the new level a message appeared.

    *Defending of a fortified position.

    The entire room was dark. It seemed to be an occurring theme.

    ¡°What do those with night vision see?¡±

    ¡°Same garrison we saw on level three. It is on our side, with a rope ladder.¡±

    ¡°Same terrain and everything else it seems.¡±

    ¡°I think when all 20 of us are in the garrison the fight starts.¡±

    ¡°Indeed, those that want to lay traps and scout, go do so now. The rest of us will climb the ladder and prepare the best we can.¡±

    Only one hunter had an assortment of traps to lay down. Yuri and the others needed a forest or better terrain. Solid stone needed a lot of time and very unique type of traps to work.

    Traps are unique and diverse as they come. Some dungeons and places were full of them. Most traps are designed to kill, slow, damage or disable an unfortunate victim. In the start of RR many people were expecting traps you see in the movies like Indiana Jones. They were not disappointed. The other traps did catch them with their pants down. They were magic and monster types.

    The magic traps involved anything from a small ball of fire to raging storms, back to shadow AOE pulses. Any type of magic and form was in a dungeon. It was usually to the theme of the dungeon. Dark magic would be in places that had a lot of undead.

    Some dungeons traps were designed to protect against intruders. These were the more traditional types. Some traps involved the floor breaking up, spikes and/or weapons magically appearing out of the ground or walls. Not many had a big giant ball rolling after them, but there was a few big spikes or logs that could damage a armoured vehicle or in this case a warrior in full plate.

    It was not uncommon for a trip wire or lever that got stepped on to open a hidden room in a wall full of monsters eager to attack. Most of the rooms were small and cramped. Some of them held rewards and others not. After you kill the monsters or die to them the wall will close and it would be like the entire incident never happened. It was understandable if the monsters where mechanised machines or undead. But how do monsters breathe and eat in the small rooms? This is where that 99% realism fails to explain.

    Most would evade traps and others would choose to disarm. Depending on the type of trap, dictates the response. A trip wire or pressure plate could be bypassed. A magic crystal shooting magic can be removed. Automated machines could be figured out and safely navigated.

    Disarming of traps were complicated. If it was something like a bear trap, a simple stick with enough force can activate it.

    The problem was that those types of traps were well hidden. Only after you stepped on them, would you notice, but by then it was too late.

    Most hunters could make a basic trap of a dagger tied to a sapling, connected to a trip wire. Most chose not to. It was just better for hunters to shoot. But many played around and developed the skill. The problem came that there was no guarantee that traps would work or do the damage you wanted. Another way to look at it was that if you spend 8 hours making a trap and waiting for your target to trip it. It could be spent killing and shooting others.

    Bear traps and other similar traps were large pieces of metal. They were not cheap. It was only cheap if you made them yourself from iron ore and scrap metal. It was cheaper to buy a dozen swords than a decent trap. Since most players cleared and hunted at one place for a short while before they moved on, it was not used a lot. Most hunters, thieves and assassins that made use of them were solo players, or those that could go collect them again after they were triggered.

    The problem with basic traps players made, was that they could not kill anyone of the same level or higher. Unless it was a pitfall or a three ton stone. Traps like those took a long time to make and get in the right position.

    It has happened from time to time that Tinker and the others stepped or triggered basic traps left by players in open plains, alley ways or even resting places next to roads. None of them came close to killing them and were clearly left behind by players just testing the skills out.

    Traps designed by players, be they complex or basic damage, varied a great deal. To determine the damage of a trap was another complicated affair. The type of trap, skill of the players traps and the level of the player itself. Add to that the extra damage if a player activates the trap by accident. Add the bonus damage if the trap hits a vital organ or body part. The victims armour may reduce the damage. Cloth would be minimal, leather more and plate the most.

    At the start the first traps involved snare traps to catch animals. As their skill progressed it became daggers connected to saplings. Sharp sticks that appear out of the ground and more sticks or the odd piece of sharp metal rod to impale victims. They were usually activated by trip wire or a pressure plate of some kind. Most people can tell you it is not nice to walk normally and feel the earth disappear under your feet just to get replaced by spikes. Some were in the ground and a person fell into the spikes.

    Others were designed for people to run into. Using their momentum and basic mechanics to spring a spike wall into place. Only later bear traps became popular. Many could be set at the same time and are easy retrievable. Thin razor sharp wire set about the length of the neck also became popular later on. But since the world was full of different races and players of all different lengths. A skilled player made it work for them.

    Much later a person could take the magic crystals and make your own magic taps. Since these crystals were uncommon and expensive to make they were usually used on single targets and plans to retrieve them later was a must.

    That is why many traps were places in forest so that the added brush could be used to conceal them. Others were in dark spots and places for the added damage and surprise factor.

    Yuri did not have bear traps but he could make basic traps and given enough time he could create a big pit fall. There was one hunter with them that favoured using traps along with his bow and arrow. He left to go plant a few of them. He could not make a trap hole in the brick surface of the tower. A strategic placed bear trap here and a magic crystal there was all he could do. The chances of killing an enemy was low but every small thing helped.

    Quantum also used traps but he preferred using daggers which does added bonus thanks to his assassin related skills with daggers. Later on he would incorporate the razor wire and a few other things into his arsenal.

    ¡°So who you guys think we are going to face?¡±

    ¡°Maybe elves, but in this tower it could be anything.¡±

    The remaining people returned to the garrison. Before the last person climbed in the hunter with the traps suggested they leave the rope ladder in place. He wanted to place his last trap at the rope. It was a bear trap designed to maim, slow or trap an enemy. This way they could shoot one of them if they managed to catch one. The bulk of the traps were placed to catch enemies at 40 meters. This was a good distance for their hunters and spell casters to shoot at enemies. They would assign a person to the rope, as soon as a enemy stepped on a trap they would lift the rope and someone would kill the enemy from the top. It would be a free kill for one trap and a few seconds of attack from a range player.

    As the last person climbed into the garrison enemies appeared at the far side of the room.

    ¡°It looks like elves¡±

    ¡°How many?¡±

    ¡°70 or so archers. 20 warriors and about 10 priests.¡±

    ¡°Do they have siege weapons or ladders?¡±

    ¡°None that I can see.¡±

    ¡°Do we illuminate the room or fight in the dark?¡±

    ¡°For now shoot flares. When they are at the wall we will illuminate this area.¡±

    ¡°It seems they are on the move. Currently 80 meters and coming closer.¡±

    ¡°Now 70 and they are standing still and preparing to fire.¡±

    ¡°Hug the wall, try not to get hit by arrows. Do not fire back¡±

    Cuzen stood at the rear. One hand on the ladder rope to lift it at a moment¡¯s notice and the other on his shield to protect against the incoming arrows. Antrax stood close by with his shield blocking as well. All the others hid behind the walls and it seemed none were getting hit by arrows. After 30 minutes of constant arrow attacks it stopped.

    ¡°It seems they moving again. 60 meters.¡±

    ¡°Stopped again and seemed make ready to fire again.¡±

    More arrows rained down on them. There were a bit more accurate but they still did minimal to no damage. Sometime during all this they could hear the trap at the back trigger. Cuzen lift the rope ladder and saw a victim trapped within. He called Yuri over to shoot him while he and Antrax provided some protection with their shields for him.

    ¡°Odd, it is clearly and elf but I don¡¯t recognise his type.¡± Yuri said after he fired the first arrow.

    ¡°How so?¡±

    ¡°He has no armour or weapons. He seemed to be full of tattoo¡¯s. Maybe an elf Monk of some type.¡±

    ¡°Well whatever he is, kill it.¡±

    As the last arrow killed it the elf exploded. It did not do damage to the wall but it knocked Yuri off his feet and he fell down towards the inside of their garrison. He did not take much damage and his pride was more hurt then his health.

    ¡°Keep your eyes open for monk elves. If they get inside we will take heavy damage.¡±

    ¡°Sorry. I was not looking backwards. I have no idea how that one got so close without us seeing him.¡±

    ¡°Should we illuminate the room now?¡±

    ¡°No, not yet. Only once we all counter attack. Elves may not suffer major visibility losses in the night but in the day they are still better bowmen then most.¡±

    ¡°Fine, we stand fast. Be ready to counter attack soon range fighters.¡±

    Again the arrows stopped and the elves moved forward.

    Half way through the arrow barrage. 5 monk elves appeared out of nowhere and ran to the garrison. They all had hooks with ropes in their hands.

    ¡°Bring them down!¡±

    ¡°Shoot them¡±

    They took some damage as they shot the enemies. One made it half way up the wall before he got killed and exploded. Minor damage was inflicted.

    The elves moved closer again. This time 10 monk elves came running at them. Three of them managed to climb the wall. When they exploded they disrupted everything. People fell from the rafters. Attacks were interrupted. Along with the arrows raining down it was starting to become chaotic.

    They stabilised soon after. Explosions in confined places were really potent.

    They were starting to pick up on the tactics. The elves would move 10 meters closer. Shoot for about 15 minutes, followed by monk elves attacking. Followed by the remaining 15 minutes of archers firing. What concerned the more seasoned players that the elven warriors were doing nothing yet and that the archers did not seem to be running low on arrows.

    The elves moved closer once more.

    ¡°Range players attack!¡±

    After a few minutes. ¡°It is useless, those priests heal all the damage we do.¡±

    ¡°All of you target the same person and burst him down.¡±

    They tried that and manage to kill 2 enemies before 10 monks attacked. They were not evenly placed on the garrison and those monks that came from behind could easily come to the wall and climb it. 5 of the monks made it up. As soon as they were inside they would explode. The melee warriors tried their best to use their own bodies as shields to protect the others but 5 exploding monks were just too much.

    All took heavy damage. 1 of them even fell off the wall thanks to the shock wave that hit them. When all the monks are dead the rope would be lowered for him to climb back. It seemed that having only one and a half healers was taking its toll. Tinker did his part by handing out his weak healing potions he made and was applying his bandages. Not much he could do, till the elven warriors or new monks came.

    They stabilised somewhat after that again. The elves moved closer. Some of them stepped into traps.

    ¡°Burst those down in traps. Before they can get healed.¡±

    ¡°Stop after 13 minutes of firing. We need to target those monks and kill them fast. Rather do no damage at all for a while before we let those monks climb up.¡±

    ¡°Melee fighters. Don¡¯t attack those monks that climb up to do max damage. Rather use attacks to knock them back down.¡±

    When the monks came this time all of them focused on their tasks.

    Tinker cut the hook and rope of the monk right in front of him as it was about half way up. He fell down, moved a small distance back and ran towards the wall. By now they know that if you cut the rope they run and jump up. He took both of his swords and plunged them into the monks shoulders. By now he knew that if your sword penetrates deep into an opponent it means it is the killing blow. He tried his best to hide behind the wall but one sword was stuck. The explosion did minor damage to him and his sword fell on the ground. He would have to get his sword later. It was time like these he was glad he had a backups of everything.

    Since everyone knew to focus the monks they no longer suffered a lot of damage. When the elves moved to 30 meters from the garrison the warrior elves attacked. Each magically had a hook and rope. It seemed they spread around and not all of them attacked the same part of the wall.

    ¡°Focus on the rope, don¡¯t let them climb up.¡±

    ¡°Full illumination¡±

    They did just that. In the end not 1 elf warrior made it up. There was some more back and forth between the range fighters. The others stood around waiting for the monks. When the monks came they burst them down and again cut all the ropes and hooks. 2 monks did manage to make it up and exploded but the damage was average.

    ¡°Stop what you are doing. Hide behind the walls. Do not take damage.¡±

    They did just that. All of them took cover and no more arrows could hit them.

    ¡°All right. We melee fighters are going to climb down at the back of the garrison. That way their archers can¡¯t hit us and we can kill some warriors. It seems our range fighters are struggling.¡±

    ¡°We have about a 20-25 min window before more monks appear.¡±

    ¡°Healers how are things looking?¡±

    ¡°Mana holding but if the monks hit, we struggle.¡±

    ¡°Yea, we needed more healers.¡±

    ¡°Whatever. Let us head to the back. Once we all down, Yuri lift the rope.¡±

    All the melee fighters went down. Cuzen went first followed by all the others. With no archers shooting them and no elven priests healing the warriors, due to having no direct line of sight, they fell quick and hard.

    ¡°How long till the next monk wave hits?¡±

    ¡°About 10 minutes.¡±

    ¡°So these left are supposed to move another 10 meters forward?¡±

    ¡°Maybe, but I won¡¯t bet on it. They are in optimum firing range now.¡±

    ¡°Fine. Lets attack!¡±

    They ran down on the archers. They all got shot up pretty good but as soon as they collided with them, the elven archers switched to melee fighting. Tinker, Quantum and the thief slipped by to go kill priests. Only idiots will leave priests and spellcasters for last. They were about 60 archers left but they fell one by one. The priests did not even bother to run away and just died.

    The garrison disappeared and the chest along with a new stair way appeared on the far side of the room. They gathered the traps and those like Tinker that lost an item or 2 went to go pick it up again.

    ¡°That was one hell of a fight¡±

    ¡°If we only knew of those monks, we could have placed traps at the wall and not in the middle of advancing army.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think they were monks. More like YOLO Bombers.¡±

    ¡°You only live once bombers. Sounds look as good description as any.¡±

    ¡°We got lucky, those elven warriors needed rope to climb the walls. If they could have climbed like the Yolo bombers we would have been in trouble.¡±

    ¡°I was never worried¡±

    ¡°Of course you weren¡¯t, coz none of them ever exploded in your face.¡±

    They opened the chest. They got their level up. Along with 5 magical quivers that doubles the storing capacity of arrows for archers. A few elven swords. A few daggers and even one complete elven set of armour.

    Tinker took one of the swords. Elven swords were not big and more a tool of precision rather than intimidation. All the hunters took a magical quiver. Quantum said he really wanted all the daggers. But they were good daggers, the hunters got one and even the thief. In the end he had to settle for only 2 daggers. The armour and extra quiver would be added to the list of things that will be divided later between every one, once the raid is over.

    On level 6

    When the last person entered the new level a message appeared

    *There are 100 coins scattered in this dark room. 90 have heads facing up and 10 are facing tails up. You cannot tell which coins are which. How do you sort the coins into two piles that contain the same number of tail up coins?

    ¡°Damm it, I can¡¯t see a thing.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t use magic. I can¡¯t make light.¡±

    ¡°Torches working?¡±

    ¡°Nope.¡±

    ¡°Night vision?¡±

    ¡°Not working either.¡±

    ¡°Ok. So we can only see the stair case behind us. The rest of the room is all dark.¡±

    ¡°Does anyone know how this riddle works?¡±

    No one spoke up.

    ¡°I guess we start by collecting the coins. Then we will figure out how it works.¡±

    ¡°This room is huge. It will take a while to get all the coins.¡±

    ¡°I suggest we do a good job when we look for coins. I don¡¯t want to walk over and over the room again looking for a coin.¡±

    ¡°Ok, when we get coins we will come and put them here down by the door. This is going to take a while so be diligent and stand fast.¡±

    They got on all fours and started to feel/look for coins. 6 hours later they called for a stop. There had been curses. People bumping into each other and the wall. At the start their spirits were high but the longer it went on, the more silent the party became. It was also during this time that most people logged out to take care of their real bodies. Those that were lazy stayed away for a long time, but Cuzen could not blame them. He too did not rush back when he logged out for a while

    ¡°How many are we short?¡±

    ¡°Three¡±

    ¡°Shit¡±

    ¡°I suggest we all go over to the exact opposite side of the stair case, from there we start our search again.¡±

    ¡°OK, why?¡±

    ¡°When we started we were pretty thorough. It is safe to assume the coins we missed are those in that side of the room.¡±

    They went over there and resumed the search.

    In just under 3 hours the last coins were found.

    ¡°Come to the door, has any one gave some thought about how to solve the riddle?¡±

    ¡°Yes, when I was logged out I went online and looked for the answer.¡±

    ¡°Why have we not thought of this before?¡±

    *-1 level for all players, no log outs are permitted during tests of mind

    ¡°O come on.¡±

    ¡°Who knew that a failsafe like this existed?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not all bad, let us go on, we are still levels ahead.¡±

    ¡°Ok so how do we solve the coin thing?¡±

    ¡°The piles don''t need to be the same size, so make a pile of 10 coins and a pile of 90 coins, flip all of the ten coins and it is guaranteed that the piles have the same number of tails.¡±

    They did it and the chest appeared along with the stair case.

    ¡°Hmmm cute.¡±

    In the chest was 100 gold coins and their level up as reward.

    Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.On level 7

    It was completely different. The room was illuminated. There was water in most of the room. In the middle of the room was a wall that stretched the entire width of it. In the water, near the edge were boats. They made their way over. A message appeared

    *Navel battle. Defeat all you opponents ships. Do you wish to know more?

    ¡°Yes¡±

    *All 20 members participate in this battle. There are 7 boats. 1 with room for one passenger and one attack. 1 with room for two passengers and two attacks. 3 with room for three passengers and three attacks. 2 with room for four passengers and four attacks. Do you wish to know more?¡±

    ¡°Of course¡±

    *Each boat comes with a control panel for each passenger and weapon to attack with. First, second and third commander must be decided for a boat. When the battle starts there will first be deployment, decided by the first commander. (As that message was sent the entire water turned into a grid with numbers and letters). The field of battle consists of grid A to Z on the vertical and 1 to 26 on the horizontal. (The wall in front of them lit up with an identical grid). Would you like to know more?

    ¡°Yes, just tell us everything¡±

    *After deployment the turn based battle begins. First the ship with one passenger fires and may choose to move left, right, up or down. Then the results of the shot fire is relayed. Then the opponents 1 passenger boat fires and moves. Next is the boat with 2 passengers, followed by three, and at the end of it all are the last boats. Those boats with multiple attacks fire each of their attacks, before the results are given. Would you like to start or would you like to know more?

    ¡°Tell us more.¡±

    *Are you sure you do not want to start the battle?

    ¡°I do not want to start the battle, I want to know more.¡±

    *When a part of a ship gets hit, the passenger in the grid is killed and will stand at the shore till the game is won or lost. All losses for being killed are applied. If the commander is killed. The option to move will be passed to the second. A boat will only sink once all passengers are hit. Once a ship is lost the enemies are notified. The first side to lose all their ships are defeated.

    ¡°So this is a lot like that game battle ships. Just a bit more complicated.¡±

    ¡°Yes, you can move a ship if it¡¯s that ship turn and multiple shots are going to own.¡±

    ¡°Well if we hit someone or something we should focus it down before we move on to the next.¡±

    ¡°Agreed, We should also make sure that those in the same boat not shoot double at the same spot on a grid.¡±

    ¡°Ok so how we going to divide?¡±

    ¡°Shotgun!¡±

    ¡°Calm down. Quantum gets the single passenger boat coz he called shotgun first. I¡¯ll take the second with whoever and the rest of you just take boats. Those that rank the highest in the guild will be commander of their boat and so on.¡±

    Antrax climbed in with Cuzen. Tinker, Yuri, Zomger and Lina took the four passenger boat that was in the shape of a cube. Stan and the others took the other boat that was 4 grid places long.

    ¡°Ok, those in the 3 man ships, some stay straight and some change to face sideways. Captains navigate to open grids. Try not to bunch.¡±

    When they were all in positions a message appeared.

    *Would you like to start the battle?

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Quantum spoke up. ¡°My panel indicated I start. J 7. Stay here.¡± Quantum decided to go and position himself on A 2. What could be best described as a firework left his boat and vanished into the wall in front of them.

    ¡°Miss¡± a voice said. It sounded a lot like the voice of the old mad they have been seeing.

    Now the moment of truth. Another colourful attack that looked like a firework came out of the wall and landed on their J 7. It missed. It was close, and those that nearly got hit, held their breaths.

    They decided to maximise their attack areas so Cuzen Fired to B 22 and Antrax aimed over to W 1. They decided to stay and not move either. This went on for a while.

    It was not till their second 3 passenger boat landed a hit, then did the excitement pick up. F 17

    ¡°Focus on that area.¡±

    They fired another 3 shots and 1 of the three hit. E 17

    ¡°Ok, it¡¯s not sunk. Do you think he has moved it yet or its one of those that already fired?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe if he fires now and only one shot comes or two we know it to be a three or four passenger boat.

    ¡°If the attacks are three or more let us work under the assumption it already moved and it is now screwed.¡±

    3 attacks came back. ¡°Ok, we have 4 shots. Are we going for greedy plays or the safe plays?¡±

    ¡°Explain.¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t know if he has a three of four passenger boat. If we shoot at D 17 G 17 we sink a three passenger boat. If we lucky we sink the four passenger boat. If we spend our other two shots on C 17 and H 17 we will sink the four passenger boat.¡±

    ¡°Remember if we do not go for the safe shot, and if it¡¯s the four passenger boat turn now. He can move left, right, up or down. That means we will have to spend shots to find him and he can move to a grid where we have hit him before. So we have to shoot the same area again.¡±

    ¡°Ok. I heard enough. Stan, divide the shots in your boat. We playing it safe and sinking that ship.¡±

    The shots went and they sank a four passenger boat. ¡°You sunk my long ship¡±

    It did not take long for the enemy to score a hit on a three passenger boat. It was the one that moved last so it could not evade and died 2 turns later after the first hit. The raid group got lucky and sank the 1 passenger boat on a random shot to S 3.

    After two hours the enemy was on its last 3 man boat. The BoS were doing well. They had only lost the four man boat with Stan them and two, three man passenger boats. The enemy wasted many shots on the last three man ship it shot. They got lucky and after it got hit they could have moved. So the captain of the three man ship moved one passenger(Himself) to the grid spot that just got hit. So the enemy kept firing around him. They lost the third passenger eventually, but the captain stayed alive and wasted at least 5 more enemy turns on him before he went down.

    As they were shooting the final ship an attack came through the wall, it went straight for Tinker and at the last second it seemed to hit Lina that was sitting right behind him. It was truly awful watching an attack come at you, that you know you can¡¯t dodge and will kill you. Lucky for him this time he was saved.

    With the game over. All the water disappeared and the chest appeared on the far side.

    On the walk they talked and relived the battle they had just had. It was very different to what they were use to, but fun none the less. Those that died did not think it was fun.

    ¡°Those of us that have died have lost no % in professions or levels. Guess that means once we leave here, we will get our surprise.¡±

    ¡°Indeed.¡± I wonder what loot a person get¡¯s for a battle like this.

    Inside the chest was their level up and a stack of papers.

    Some of the papers contained songs, poems and a treasure map. It was unclear what country or place the map represented, but that they would worry about later. They almost missed the paper that had a schematic of a ship on it.

    ¡°Identify¡±

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Schematic for a battle ship

    The ancient Vorta¡¯s were masters of the sea and dominated the waters of the deep. Their empire was the sea and no kingdom or country could have stood against their navy. This was the last ship built of a vast navy, before they vanished into myth.

    Take this paper to a skilled shipyard to be constructed. On completion, fame and a quest would be made available.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    On level 8

    They entered the room. This one was well illuminated. On the far side of the room were 3 piles and a door. They walked over. The old man appeared.

    ¡°In front of you are 3 piles of keys. One gold, one bronze and one silver. Each pile contains 20 000 keys. One pile has 1 correct key to open the door, one pile has 5 and the last pile has 10. You may choose which one pile you want to get rid of.¡±

    ¡°We choose the pile with the 1 correct key.¡±

    The pile of gold keys vanished.

    ¡°Now I ask you a riddle. Then you decide which pile disappears next.¡±

    ¡°Sure, what is it¡±

    ¡°If 10 is more than 5 and silver is more than bronze. Which pile will you like to get rid of?¡±

    They talked it over. Most of them agreed that it sounds like the silver pile had the 10 keys in. Some people did not agree and argued against that logic. In the end Cuzen had the final say.

    ¡°Ok, remove the bronze pile¡±

    With that the bronze pile and the old man disappeared.

    ¡°Ok, let us form a line between our silver pile and the door.¡±

    After a few hours they were on the last keys. Many people complained and said they chose the wrong pile. Someone did mention that the chances of the last 10 keys or 5 if they got it wrong to be chosen, are low to none. When the 10<sup>th</sup>last key did not open the door, those few that thought the bronze pile was the right one could not shut up. When the 5th last key was tried and it did not work they all shut up. When the last key was put in the door opened.

    The old man appeared. He gave good chuckle as he talked. ¡°No matter which pile you chose the last key will always open the door. In this test the lesson to learn is that you should not trust what people say and that if you power on and do not give up hope you can succeed.¡±

    With that said the old man was gone.

    ¡°O vote we kill that old man when we are done in this tower¡±

    ¡°We will see, he is starting to annoy me¡±

    ¡°At least we are done. And thanks to this being a mind test we could not log out.¡±

    ¡°Open the chest and let us take a 40 min break or 10 min brake in the real world¡±

    ¡°Please, I need a smoke after this.¡±

    In the chest was their level up and a key.

    ¡°Identify¡±

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Limited Skeleton key (10 uses)

    A skeleton key that can open doors, chests or other places

    If the key is used on a place that it cannot open, a charge will not be lost.

    WARNING: Not all doors and other places could be opened with this key.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    On level 9

    The room was flat. With seats all around the cage in the middle. Only the cage and the surrounding seats were lit.

    When the last person came up the stairs a message appeared.

    *Mortal combat.

    They walked over to the cage. When they all were close that old man made an appearance again.

    ¡°Welcome to the cage. 9 Battles will be fought here. Each will have a turn. No outside help is permitted once a fight starts.

    Only one combatant from your side may enter. The side with the most wins after 9 battles wins. You may do this challenge multiple times till you succeed. After each attempt the enemies will become weaker. No time limits and the victor is declared once the other is dead. You may only fight once¡±

    ¡°Peechy.¡±

    The cage was big. About 20 meters wide and went as tall as the roof itself. It had spikes and two gates. The first opponent seemed to be a giant. It was about 3 Meters tall and big. It would have to be around level 90 or so. In this tower it was hard to get an accurate level of an opponent. The giant appeared out of a black portal which closed right after he left it.

    ¡°Ok, so who thinks they can solo kill that thing?¡±

    Stan stood forward.¡±I¡¯ll take it¡±

    No one objected. He made his way over to the cage. Before he entered he was told to stop.

    ¡°Wait. The old dude said we may not help once he entered. He said nothing about buffs and heals over time.¡±

    ¡°True. I know priests have a heal they can cast on someone that heals them for a big amount, then over time it heals them for the same amount again.¡±

    ¡°Yes we have a skill like that.¡±

    ¡°Ok, cast that on him right before he enters. Most heals will be a waste but everything helps. The rest of you, cast buffs or do whatever it is you can, to help him.¡±

    Stan entered the arena¡¯s. He was glad to see his buffs did not vanish once the doors shut. His fight with the giant started well. Giants were strong but their speed was lacking. Stan was no master swordsman but he was on the front lines for his party and knew what to do.

    The giant had no weapons and armour. His fists and long arms was all he needed.

    First he wanted to test the speed of his opponent and then test his reactions. A poke here, and a slice there. When the giant health went below 20 % he enraged. His attack speed and damage increased. It did catch Stan and he was flung backwards against a nice spike. He took a big deal of damage but he continued. Right before the end the giant got another good hit on Stan but, it could not save the giant from his demise.

    Next was a troll. It was a big troll. It had a club and no armour.

    ¡°So, volunteers?¡±

    Tinker was the first to say I. He had fought trolls before. Their attack speed was slow and one of this size will hit hard. He had a way to deal with them.

    When the fight started Tinker had a plan ready. He would just dodge or deflect the attack from the club and use is other sword to attack. It was not flashy fighting but this way he always had one sword chipping away at the trolls life. With the other ready to parry or deflect attacks. About half way thought the fight he had taken no damage yet and the troll started to swing and become mad. This only helped Tinker more and hastened the death of the troll.

    Some people were impressed. Tinker fought the entire time without taking damage. For a lot of them it was a new way of fighting. Instead of having 2 men with big swords hacking away at each other this took longer and needed way more speed to execute.

    Only Quantum expression said he was not impressed.

    Next was a 2 headed hound. It was big compared to most hounds. But in arenas like this you don¡¯t need that much speed.

    Before Cuzen asked for volunteers he himself went to go fight.

    With his shield and weapon in the way the hound could not do that much damage. His shield could not protect against both heads and sharp paws. He never once suffered major damage and they would just chip away against each other. It was not a flashy fight and just consisted of attacking and blocking and some moving. When the hound died Cuzen was on about 60 % life remaining. He only used his shield bash and did not bother with his other skills. He was saving them for in case the hound had a trick.

    The fourth opponent was a harpy. She stood and had a devilish smile. She had wings so many people were wondering will she be able to fly. The other problem was what you do, once she flies and she does not land again. They needed someone that could attack from range. To their surprise the hunter with the traps said he will fight her. No one objected and he went.

    Just before the fight started he hung his bow over his shoulders. He removed a trap and dagger. When the fight started both of them stood still. It was clear the hunter was waiting for the harpy and the harpy was smart enough to wait and see what he does.

    The hunter tossed the dagger and the harpy dodged and immediately leaped for him. She thought an opponent with no weapon would make for an easy target. How wrong she was. The hunter tossed his trap at her and dove to the side. During his dive role he got a tail attack to the back. The harpy was ready to pounce once more for him, but she was stuck. A bear trap was stuck to her leg. It was connected with a chain that was firmly connected to a piece of metal in the bricks. Nobody ever saw or notice the hunter putting in that piece of metal. They assumed it was a skill of the hunter. The hunter did not stand around and take in the moment. He removed his bow and started shooting her. He was no more than a meter away from her but there was nothing the harpy could do. How she howled and screamed before she died¡­

    The 5<sup>th</sup>opponents were actually two. There were about 3 feet tall imps. One had a helmet with a spike on and a flail in its hand. The other wore a wizard hat and had a book in its hand.

    Nobody came forward to fight. It was understandable. Most people would only choose to fight a single target, let alone a pair that can cast spells and attack normally. After a second call for a volunteer Quantum manned up.

    He fought with his 2 daggers and leather armour. Most of the time he would attack from the shadows or from behind, but he clearly was working with a plan.

    The plan was to use his speed in the arena to keep the melee fighter between himself and the spell caster. When the time is right he would go for the spell caster. He did just that, he could keep up with the melee imp and even stabbed him a couple of time. The shadow bolts fired by the other imp were not the most accurate. For every one that hit Quantum one hit his ally. In an impressive feat of acrobatics. Quantum did a cart wheel over the one imp. Stabbed him while twirling in the air and jumped on the other imp that was clearly not expecting him. After he killed the weaker imp, all that remained was the other one.

    The Sixth opponent was a centaur. The other paladin volunteered to face him. The fight was even for the most part, but the centaur backed into a corner, from there he charged out and right after the opponent dodge that, he kicked. After that powerful kick the centaur did not give up and the paladin had no time to recover. The centaur had better reach and clearly would not allow his opponent to stand up after he was knocked down.

    The seventh and eighth match was very similar. It seemed to be even and then about half way through the players lost and died thanks to a powerful attack from an enemy. Opponent number 7 was a skeleton knight of some kind. Number 8 was a lizard man of some kind.

    The last fighter was a huge earth elemental. Even bigger than the giant they faced in the start. It could barely get past the gate to the arena.

    Nobody wanted to fight it.

    Antrax calmly placed his shield and axe in his inventory and removed his pickaxe¡¯s

    It was odd to see the smallest and lowest level member of the raid group off to go fight the largest enemy. He did not seem worried and was ready to attack.

    When the fight started the earth elemental swung his big arm to attack that running dwarf. Antrax just ran behind the enemy and started attacking his legs. The earth elemental was starting to move, but Antrax just moved with him. After another attempt to move around, the earth elemental fell. It seemed it¡¯s lower leg was missing. Antrax dodged the falling enemy and just kept on attacking. He seemed to be attacking limbs. After the leg he went for an arm. After the arm was gone he just went for the head. When the head crumbled into nothing the fight was over.

    ¡°That was very anticlimactic¡±

    ¡°If it was stone it would have taken longer, but nothing can stand against me and my diamond tipped mining equipment.¡±

    ¡°Geez man. For such a small guy you sure can hit like a rock¡±

    ¡°Thank you¡±

    ¡°For a moment I was glad we already had 5 wins, because I did not think you would win.¡±

    ¡°Ok, the chest is in the middle of the arena¡¯s. Let us loot it and be gone.¡±

    In the chest was their level up and one item from each of the enemies they had faced. The giant left a huge piece of good leather. The troll left his club. The hounds left a collar that was a neck piece or used in place of an amulet. The harpy left a ring. The Imps left the wizard hat. The centaur left his axe, the Skeleton night left his boots. The Lizard man left bracers behind and the earth elemental left a pile of dirt. After identifying the dirt it was revealed that any plant, seed or other growing item could be planted in the dirt and it will germinate. After that the normal factors like water, sun and whatever was applied. Tinker was the only one that wanted if for personal use. The others saw the potential and possible gold for selling an item like that, but the guild rules were clear. You get items you can use, the others are sold.

 Chapter 24: The Tower of Terok Nor part III

    On level 10

    The old man was there again. He stood on the far side on the hall. The stairs where there already. They walked to him and he spoke.

    ¡°Before you lies two paths. The easy and the hard way. If you choose the hard way. Walk now to the next level. If you choose the easy way, stay here and listen.¡±

    Since nobody walked to the stairs the old man talked again.

    ¡°If you choose the easy way, all twenty of you must remove one item and place it in the chest. That item is permanently lost and cannot be replaced.¡±

    ¡°O hell, I can¡¯t open my inventory.¡±

    ¡°I guess, that is his way of making sure we don¡¯t take items from our inventory.¡±

    ¡°Shit, I can¡¯t take out an arrow¡±

    ¡°That would be cheating if one arrow could be used by a hunter¡±

    ¡°Old man. If I place my weapon inside. Will I be able to replace it with my backup once we leave this level?¡±

    ¡°No, once an item is removed, you won¡¯t be able to replace it, till you leave the tower.¡±

    ¡°Why would we want to lose an item for the rest of the tower?¡±

    ¡°To make the challenges up ahead easier.¡±

    ¡°And how do we know you are not lying to us and it will just be the same.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t. You would just have to trust me. If you choose not to, proceed onwards.¡±

    ¡°Ok guys, I say we put something in. Rings seems to be the obvious item for me. The rest of you will just have to put something in you won¡¯t need that much¡±

    ¡°That may be easy for you to say, not all of us have 10 rings yet and all the things we have equipped now, are important to us.¡±

    ¡°Either choose something, or I will choose for you.¡±

    With a few unsatisfied grumbles people started removing items. Most of them gave rings. One person gave bracers.

    ¡°Old man, I have my BoS cape on. It gives me no stats, can I put it in?¡±

    ¡°Yes, you won¡¯t be able to equip a new cloak or cape until this instance is over.¡±

    ¡°That works for me.¡±

    Only three people present raided with their capes on. The others found it to be in the way and someone like Quantum needed a dark cape, not one with a huge silver sword on and smaller golden scale.

    ¡°Score, those with capes get a free pass¡±

    ¡°While the others of us suffer.¡±

    With all the items placed in the chest the old man disappeared.

    They opened the chest and got their level ups. All their items were gone

    ¡°I hope this pays off¡±

    ¡°Think of it as an investment for later.¡±

    ¡°How long we been in this tower?¡±

    ¡°It has been just over 24 hours.¡±

    ¡°1 day and 10 levels cleared. We can do this.¡±

    ¡°What scares me, is what lies ahead.¡±

    On level 11.

    *Range fighting

    After the message the old man appeared next to them

    ¡°On this level we are going to test your accuracy and precision over varied distances. There will be 11 tests. Depending on how many you hit here, will determine how difficult the next level will be¡±

    ¡°Ok, so we can¡¯t fail this level¡±

    ¡°That is correct, if you chose the hard path, you will have needed more than 6 wins to pass. But since you chose the easy path, you will pass this level no matter what the results are. I must warn you, not to lose focus.¡±

    ¡°We won¡¯t.¡±

    Tell us of the test.

    ¡°Test one is where you stand 10 meters from a target and need to hit its head with the sharp point of the dagger.¡±

    ¡°Test two is to hit a moving target with a dagger in the head at 10 meters.¡±

    ¡°Test three is to hit a full body with an axe at 20 meters.¡±

    ¡°Test four is to hit a full body with a sword at 20 meters.¡±

    ¡°Test five is to hit 5 targets the size of a head with one attack at 30 meters.¡±

    ¡°Test six is to hit a fast moving target the size of a head at 50 meters.¡±

    ¡°Test seven is to hit a target behind a fortified position at 50 meters.¡±

    ¡°Test eight is to hit a target with random behaviour at 60 meters.¡±

    ¡°Test nine is to hit a target in the head at 70 meters behind a glass.¡±

    ¡°Test ten is to hit a target in the head that are between others at 80 meters.¡±

    ¡°Test eleven is to hit a target at 90 meters the size of a cup.¡±

    ¡°It would seem the last seven tests are designed that any of our range fighters can do them.¡±

    ¡°Yes, let us first figure out who will do the close test before we move on to the next.¡±

    ¡°So Quantum you up for test two?¡±

    He nodded.

    ¡°Will our thief handle the other test?¡±

    He nodded

    ¡°Who wants to do test three, how about you Antrax? You seem to be the only one that plays with axes here.¡±

    ¡°I must warn you, I am more into the hitting then the throwing, but I¡¯ll try.¡±

    ¡°That leaves the test to throw the sword. Any takers?¡±

    Another warrior volunteered.

    Ok, let us do these before the others start. The thief tossed his dagger and pierced the dummy on the forehead. Quantum did the same and hit the target on the chin.

    Antrax stepped up and was given a tomahawk axe. He aimed and hit the target, but with the handle and not the metal part. A lightning bolt struck him. He died and respwaned at the door to the level.

    ¡°Did I forget to mention that if you do no succeed, you die?¡± The way the old man said it was so cavalier. No evil or hate behind it.

    ¡°No, you missed that part¡±

    Antrax cursed him in full when he joined them again.

    The warrior was given a big 2 handed sword. He tried and he missed his target by the smallest of margins. He died and came back to life.

    ¡°So who of our range fighters wants to do what?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll do the 5 targets¡±. Lina said. The others were relieved. 5 targets was hard. 2 or 3 was average. She stepped up to the line. She took some time and 5 balls of fire appeared before her. In an instant they all left and hit the targets. The others actually applaud. It seemed to be more a trick shot than something else.

    The next test a hunter said he will do. Arrows move a bit faster than spells. It took him a while to get his timing right. When he felt the time was right he shot and hit his target. He made it seem easy.

    Asmodian said he will handle the fortified shot. The target was just a humanoid behind a wall. Every now and again he would stick out his head. The others were still trying to time his pattern when an arcane beam fell from the ceiling and hit him. It happened fast and Asmodian just grinned and said they should move on to the next test.

    The other mage got the target with the random behaviour. The target was a humanoid. He stayed 60 meters away. He would jump. Walk, run, bend over. He even did some sort of dance for a while. The mage shot and missed badly. He died for his error.

    The hunter shot the target behind the glass. He said it was a combination of strength and angle. The power was the most important.

    The other hunter that had to shoot a target in a group of humanoids, also made his shot. He needed some time but he got it.

    Yuri was up last. He claimed he focused more on precision than rapid fire. It took him a while and as the arrow flew through the air he held his breath. The arrow clipped the target but it was good enough for it to break it.

    ¡°That was close¡±

    ¡°Too close¡±

    ¡°Ok, our chest is there, and that old fart is gone.¡±

    Inside the chest was their level up. The axe and a piece of multi coloured glass.

    The glass gave no stats but the message said that if they choose to use it in a building or donate it to a church they will get to see it purpose or get a reward.

    The throwing axe had the ability to magically return to your hand after you threw it. Antrax said he should get it, since he is the only person proficient with axes

    On level 12

    This room seemed different. Inside was a small open area and a huge wall with a larger entry. From their they could see 5 paths leading off.

    *The random maze

    The old man stood at the entrance. They walked to him. He did not speak, so they talked to him.

    ¡°What is this.¡±

    ¡°This is the random maze. It changes every 30 seconds and resets every 5 minutes. It stretches from here, over most of the room, all the way to the other side. Once one of you make it through, it will disappear.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean it resets?¡±

    ¡°After 5 minutes the entire maze disappears and another appears.¡±

    ¡°What happens if we are inside?¡±

    ¡°You die¡±

    ¡°Ok, so since we are on the easy path, how is this better from the hard part?¡±

    ¡°I told you of the changes and reset. If I was not here, you would have to figure it out on your own.¡± He disappeared after that.

    ¡°So have to kill that guy.¡±

    Aloud sound and rumble came from the maze. Even one of the paths disappeared.

    ¡°Wow, it is gone. How we doing this?¡±

    ¡°Do we all go in and hope that someone finds the exit?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so, Think we send in our hunters, thief and assassin.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°They move the fastest and will have the best chance to avoid traps and so on.¡±

    ¡°How must we navigate a maze that changes?¡±

    ¡°Not sure. You guys have time till the reset to figure it out.¡±

    ¡°Why do we 6 have to go? I don¡¯t want to die over and over.¡±

    ¡°This is what we do. You 6 try now. It you guys fail, we will all go after the next reset¡­if we fail after that. We will think of a new plan.¡±

    ¡°Fine, so hate doing this.¡±

    ¡°Try being a plate wearing fighter. First in and last out. We all have our roles to play.¡±

    The six stood at the entrance waiting for almost 5 min. As soon as the reset happened they went in. Each had his own idea and plan to navigate the maze. Yuri plan was to go left and after that right, and left again whenever he faced with a choice. Always an alternate way than his previous choice. If there was an option to go straight he will do that.

    The maze had minor traps. Most were activated by pressure plates. Those inside navigated and evaded the traps the best they could. The first change annoyed them more than damage them.

    Soon a hunter walked up behind them. ¡°Hey guys, fell into a trap.¡±

    ¡°How is it inside?¡±

    ¡°Confusing. At the start I could keep my general direction but after that it became harder. I was dodging a blade from the wall and fell right into a pit fall¡±

    ¡°How you think the others are doing?¡±

    ¡°Not that awesome. It is really a hell of a place. I can understand why they don¡¯t talk with us¡±

    About a minute later Quantum came right after a change.

    ¡°And?¡±

    ¡°I hate this place, I was dodging a huge blade from the left, then the change happened. After the change the wall to my left was now behind me, and the huge blade was firmly in my back.¡±

    ¡°Sounds bad.¡±

    ¡°How far did you get?¡±

    ¡°Over half way, if I had to guess. Hard to pinpoint your location.¡±

    Another person soon made his appearance. His story was the same as the others.

    Soon after the last change, before the reset, the maze disappeared. One person stood at the end while another was not far away. Yuri was standing near the start of the maze. He took his insults like a champ. He did manage to survive the traps. He claimed that he knew he was close to an exit, all be it the wrong exit.

    ¡°Let us not do this again. I am just so glad that right after the last change I could see the exit to my right. I might not have gotten it.¡± The other two thanked him. Because they would have died soon after that.

    Inside the chest was the level up and a ball of something.

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Ball of endless yarn

    Place this ball of yarn at the entrance of a maze or in any dungeon. The ball will roll and find the fastest way through the location to the nearest exit. It only works if a instance does not change. Monsters and traps will not be activated by the rolling ball of yarn.

    WARNING : Cannot be used in tailoring or for anything thing else.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    On level 13

    When they all entered the level they could see a table in the middle of the room. On the table was a golden scale and in a bag near it was 8 marbles.

    The old man appeared between all of them and started to speak with no regard to those around him.

    ¡°In this challenge there are 8 marbles. Each of them weighs 1 ounce and one of the marbles weigh 1.1 ounce. You must figure out, which marble weighs 1.1 ounce. You may only use the balance scale twice. For each wrong answer a random party member will die. Your one minute time limit starts now.¡±

    ¡°O crap, does anyone know this trick?¡±

    ¡°I think we weigh all 8. 4 in each side. After that we take the 4 that weigh the most and split them in half. After that is a 50/50 chance to guess which is the right one.¡±

    ¡°Does anyone have a better suggestion?¡±

    Nobody spoke up. That seemed to be the best way. They did it like that and guessed. They guessed wrong and Kenny was instantly killed. Their guess after that was right, and their chest appeared.

    ¡°Hey old man, what is the difference between the easy and the hard way here?¡±

    ¡°In the hard way, you would have had 30 seconds to figure it out.¡±

    ¡°So what was the correct way?¡±

    ¡°Think about it, I will see you on the next level.¡±

    Just before they opened the chest someone spoke up. ¡°I got it. You want to put 3 marbles in each scale. If they are even you use the last 2 marbles to figure out which is which. If one of the three is heavier. You take 2 from there and weigh them. Then you will know which one of the three is the 1.1 ounce marble.¡±

    ¡°That is kinda easy. Damm time limit got us.¡±

    ¡°Yes, it seems even an easy riddle with a time limit, is not that easy after all.¡±

    Inside the chest was the level up and the golden scale that was on the table.

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Golden scale of balance

    A very unique item that allows the user to balance weights and/or compare different items worth to each other. Worth will be calculated by the current market value of the items and by the region the scale is located in.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    This was a very unique item. Later they would figure out how it worked exactly. If you take a bag of silver. You can put the gold coin equivalent in the other side to make sure you get a fair price. Or you could trade a gem for a bag of equipment. The scale will do all the calculations for you. Many merchants did not like the scale but the none merchant types would prefer this way, because most merchants will overprice or give too little money for a item so that they can turn a profit.

    Thanks to magic bags any item could be bartered this way. At the start the scale was not used to its full potential, but once Major got his hands on it, the item became somewhat legendary in the Heaven kingdom capital and synonymous with the BoS guild. What helped that the banner of the BoS had the silver sword and golden scale on

    On level 14

    At the far side of the room the old man was sitting in one of the 20 chairs near the doorway, that was clearly the way to the next level. They went over to hear what test he has planned for them now.

    ¡°Many people underestimate the power of books. They tend to focus more on swords or powerful abilities. In this test you will read.¡± He closed the book he was reading and rows of bookshelves appeared.

    ¡°This is but a small part of our grand library. One of these books contain a phrase of a few words that will open the door. Your group must read till the correct words are spoken aloud.¡±

    ¡°There are a lot of books here. How long will it take to read them all?¡±

    ¡°If you have bad luck. You will finish just before your 1 week expires. If good, you will find it soon.¡±

    ¡°Why are some books glowing green and some purple?¡±

    ¡°If you read green books, you gain stats, if you read purple books, you learn a skill. After you read a green or purple book, it will disappear. To make things a bit interesting I gave a uneven amount of green books, but there is one purple book for each of you.¡±

    ¡°Why would you do that?¡±

    ¡°There are 4 hunters. And 14 books that increase their stats. You will have to decide. Who gets more books. You can even decide that one person gets all the books. But I doubt they will have time to read them all. I see some of you are confused.¡± He took a deep breath and started again.

    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.¡°The coloured books that you see, are only those that will help you. Thus a warrior can¡¯t learn a skill of a mage, or gain stats from their books. Since you chose the easy way, the phrase you are looking for are not in the coloured books.¡±

    ¡°By my estimates it will take about a day and a half to read through the books for bonuses.¡±

    ¡°That leaves us with a few more days for the others, and the other levels.¡±

    ¡°At all depends on when we get the phrase.¡±

    ¡°We also have no idea how long, the other levels will last.¡±

    ¡°Well they can¡¯t be that long, otherwise we would not get such a level as this.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t agree with that, he said luck was a major part of this.¡±

    ¡°I have made up my mind. We are going to divide the books evenly and first read those that give stats. After that we will start with the masses.¡± After Cuzen said that all of them stopped their talking and arguing.

    Now the hard part would come. How would they divide who gets more books than the others. Some suggested it be by guild rank, where others wanted to be, according who had died the most so far, get the most. The problem only effected those that had the same class as the others. Those that were the only class, could read their glowing books with no problems. In the end Cuzen chose to use the most gruesome of ways to decide¡­.Rock, paper and scissors. Those that won, got 1 more green book than the others of the same class. The losers of the same class could however have the first pick of a purple book.

    The old man was standing in front of a book shelf and seemed to be looking for a specific book ¡°Hey old man, how will we know what skills are in the purple books?¡± Tinker asked him

    ¡°I can see why you chose the warrior class, not very bright are you? Books have titles, those titles tell you what are inside the book.¡± He went back to what he was doing.

    Tinker was starting to feel humiliated. Not only did he loose against all the other warriors, now the NPC was insulting him. He could however pick first. The titles of the purple books where the following.

    ¡®The Crusher of skulls¡¯. That sounded like something a person with a big blunt weapon could use.

    ¡®Attacks from a blind spot¡¯. Tinker thought that one sounded good, he did however already try and attack people from their blind spots, like if an enemy used a shield to block and they lost sight of his free hand. He would punish them with a stab or slice from that sword.

    ¡®Pressing the advantage¡¯. He thought this sounded a bit vague, but it appealed to him. He did not have an impressive skill yet other that stat morph. If he could make an opening a skill that capitalise on that could only help him.

    ¡®The Defensive Warrior¡¯. He immediately put that book back, no need to bother with it.

    After some thought he chose the third book. He took it, with his three other books and walked a distance away. He did not want to sit on a chair and he liked to read in private. When he was far enough he sat down with his back to the wall. He double checked to make sure no one was close to him. He decided to read one green book and then the purple book.

    The First green book seemed to be a bunch of short stories, all of different type of warriors and their achievements. When he completed his book 5 hours later, he gained 4 intelligence, 2 wisdom and 1 stat in leadership.

    After that he decided to log out for a short while.

    He came back about 30 minutes later. He saw most of the people. Some sitting in chairs and others like him sitting a small distance away. He assumed the others he could not see, were logged out and taking a break.

    Now for the skill book. On the first page, the first sentence of the book clearly stated. That you must read the entire book, look at all the pictures and then only will you learn the skill. How the system knew if you did it that way, Tinker could never really figure out how it worked. He assumed it had to do with the data transferring from the capsule to you and the other way around. But the way the 1¡¯s and the 0¡¯s worked, were beyond him.

    The book said a lot about creating openings or to kick your opponent when they are lying down. The usual warrior related stuff. The book was not hard to understand. It was simple to say the least. Thinking that, he could not help remember how the NPC said he was not bright just because he was a warrior. Judging by this book, he could understand why. The pictures where bad and he even picked up on a few spelling errors. This book was written by warriors for warriors.

    At the end of the book a message popped up. *You have learned a new skill

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Fury Swipes

    Allows the user to attack 1000% faster for 5 seconds or until 5 attacks have been swung

    Costs 500 mana.

    WARNING: Due to your current specialising you may use the skill for each weapon you are currently wielding.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    That meant he could use fury swipe with both his swords in succession or at the same time. The problem was that he did not have the mana for it. His current potions would not give him nearly enough mana. He would have to figure out how to do that.

    Before he started with a new book he went over to the others to hear how things are going. All of them chose their skill book first.

    Lina learned a new spell called fire wall

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Fire Wall

    Allows the user to make a wall of fire

    Lasts for 2 min.

    No cool down and no double stacking of the spell is allowed

    WARNING: Must be used in certain areas.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    It means she could only make the wall of fire in small places. Like door frames. Small rooms, Narrow passageways and so forth. On an open field or even the room they were in now, it could not be used. It¡¯s damage was high, the problem was that a person can only get damage by it once. It took them some time to use the wall to its full potential.

    Yuri learned a new skill called Artillery Shot

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Artillery shot

    Allows user to shoot an arrow 500 meters far

    Arrow will be affected by wind and external factors, including the users skills and stats.

    10 min cool down.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    You may wonder how such a shot can be useful. Hunters could combine shots. Using this with a skill that splits an arrow in 10 or whatever number the hunters skill is on. So an arrow that may hit at 500 meters suddenly turns into a small barrage of arrows. It is most effective against advancing armies or hordes of enemies. Since the group did not encounter many of these so early on, you would think he did not use the skill a lot.

    Wrong, sometimes when Yuri was bored or up to no good, he would fire his shot into the air, over a city. Then use his barrage, which rains downs arrows all over the place. So the next time when you are hit, while walking in a safe city and minding your own business. Know it was not the Gods in heaven that shot you or anyone close by, it was Yuri. The amount of trouble he got into with that skill¡­.

    Zomger learned a new healing spell called Instant recovery

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Instant recover

    Heals the friendly target for the same amount of damage suffered in the last 2 seconds, before the spell was cast

    30 min cool down.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    A person needed to have good reactions and a mind to monitor everyone¡¯s health pool of a large group. A strong healing spell as this can save and/or keep an important player alive. There would be times that Zomger failed hard with the spell, but those times he did not, he seemed like a pro.

    Cuzen gained something called a judgment.

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Judgement of Strength

    Judge any person/monster in a 10 meter radius.

    1 min cool down

    WARNING: Only one type of judgement may be cast every 5 min.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    Judgements where like spells for paladins. It allowed them to do damage from a distance. The damage was calculated by your faith and the type of judgement you use. Most paladins used the strength, but there were those that had agility or intelligence as their main stat. It looked like a large fist that would fall from the heavens on the target.

    Quantum learned a skill called Shadow dagger

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Shadow Dagger

    When user tosses a dagger from a concealed position and remains hidden. The dagger will do 2 times normal damage. If the shot is a critical hit, it would do 5 times the normal damage.

    WARNING: Only works for daggers.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    This skill fit his play style well, he did not have any strong range attacks and now he finally had one. It had no cool down and as long as he had the mana and a dagger to throw, he can use the skill. Finding a dark corner or hidden position was like second nature to him.

    Antrax skill was probably the most powerful skill.

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Power kick

    Kicks a user on the shin.

    When target is kicked, the target will bend over and hold its kicked leg for 5 seconds. If target is busy casting a spell or skill it will count as being interrupted. Active skills and abilities are still in effect.

    One day cool down.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    Be it a level one player or level 500 dragon. Nothing would be safe from him. Monsters that had no legs, were not affected by a spell. Monsters with 8 legs or more, just made it easy for him. A person would think that he would have got a skill related to mining, But it seemed more like he got a skill for fighting that was closely tied to his dwarven race and insane strength.

    It seemed almost every person had two or three more green stat books to read, before they have to read the others. Tinker took his books and left again.

    The next book he read was all about weapons. They did mention the different heroes that wielded them and the why. Some weapons he could see were leather things. Others made no sense now matter how he looked at it. It seemed that anything sharp that could kill was counted as a weapon. Then however you get weapons that looked like smelted metal pieces that would inflict more damage to you then your opponent.

    What caught his eye where the parts that claimed how these odd looking items where good counters to the more traditional weapons he knew of. He once remember watching how Ninjas in the real world, would use things like these to gain an advantage. They did out of necessity. Because they needed none weapon looking items that were easy to come by. These weapons also needed to be good against those weapons used by the enemies.

    Tinker had seen some players walking around with weird things, but there was a reason why most used swords. Because they worked. The stats he got from this book was strength, dexterity and intelligence. At this point he wanted to badly increase his mana pool.

    The third book was a war story of some sorts. It was written from a captains view point. It started the day the king told them that war was imminent. How meetings went and what plans where decided on, was mentioned in great detail. What preparations the captain and the men under him did were also mentioned. For a warrior he did a good job to mention the detail and to keep a person interested to know more. He died 5 years later at the final battle where his side lost the war. He gained wisdom, charisma and a surprising amount of leadership

    When he returned to the group at the chairs, a few were already reading the normal books. He decided to log out for a bit and then tackle his task.

    Sometime during their second day on the level the door opened.

    On level 15

    On this level the centre was well illuminated. They could see dark and white cubes. The old man was already sitting in a chair waiting for them.

    ¡°On this level we will play chess, 16 players must be used. If you lose, you may try again. After each loss the difficulty decreases. The person who is the King must choose all the commands that the others follow. Once you are in a cube, you will be unable to leave it, until the king has spoken or you die.¡±

    ¡°Shoot, who here knows how to play chess?¡±

    Two people said they could. What shocked most of them, was that Yuri was one of those that spoke up.

    ¡°How we decide who takes command?¡±

    ¡°Each of you tells us your credentials. Yuri, you are up first.¡±

    ¡°Ok, back in Russia before I moved to England, we where house friends with a grand master in chess. Me and his snot faced son played a lot. He beat me most of the time, but you pick up a few things along the way.¡±

    ¡°Really, such as?¡±

    ¡°Patients and thinking 10 moves ahead is still not enough.¡±

    The other person that had his hand up claimed he was only good against the computer. Yuri should handle this one. It seems the mention of a grand master at chess made him realise he was not as good as he thought.

    ¡°Great how we decide which 4 people get a break?¡±

    ¡°Shot gun¡±

    ¡°O no no no. That is not going to work this time. This time those 4 with the most deaths so far, get a free pass here.¡± Cuzen¡¯s popularity went down after saying that.

    ¡°How we decide, who takes in what positions.¡±

    ¡°Shot gun the queen¡±

    ¡°That is still not going to work. I decide who goes where. We the plate wearing classes and melee classes will be the peons in front. The rest of you take a spot that is open. The first to a spot other then the King takes it.¡±

    In what seemed to be a stampede of some kind. Every one ran to get a good spot. Most knew that queens and castle¡¯s would be good choice. The melee players also went and stood in corners in hopes that their peon will survive this game.

    More than a few people were not satisfied with their positions. Cuzen was the last to take up his place. They left him the space open in the middle. When all of them where in a cube their counter parts spawned.

    They where human looking statues, with black coating. They had weapons, gear and items mimicking their corresponding functions. Knights had big swords. Peons had a small shield and sword. The Castle had a huge shield and the bishops looked like they were real bishops. The king and queen had their crowns on. The queen was the only female looking statue, so it was easy to distinguish between them.

    ¡°Are you ready to start?¡± Asked the old man.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°You have the first move.¡±He vanished after that.

    ¡°Yuri, do not play favourites. Do not think of us as friends. Just play to win. Even if 90% of us die, just win.¡±

    ¡°I know, already have a few moves planned out and I am more than willing to sacrifice you guys for the cause.¡±

    ¡°That is oddly comforting to hear.¡±

    ¡°Cuzen go forward two spaces.¡± With that said the game was underway.

    At the start people were talking. Yuri demanded silence. Most were not pleased but then someone had the bright idea of sitting in your cube until you are moved. Soon after other people started spending their time more productively. Tinker worked on his leatherworking. Zomger was writing a bards tale of their exploits in the tower. It seemed nobody took the time to read a book. After over a day of constant reading, nobody wanted to read more.

    It was sometime during the second hour Yuri spoke more than a few words. ¡°I think I got him.¡±

    ¡°Really. It seems about even.¡±

    ¡°You do have one knight and a peon more than him.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t let that fool you, tactic wise I got him. I can end it in 5 moves or play longer and chip away at him. I don¡¯t think I can loose from here, but a person never knows.¡±

    ¡°Great, let¡¯s do this.¡±

    ¡°It will require me taking some loses.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care, I am tired of standing here and want to log out.¡±

    ¡°Fine, don¡¯t say I did not warn you. Zomger kill that peon and go die my faithful bishop.¡±

    The game ended shortly thereafter. 11 of the 16 had died. First was Cuzen, followed by the others.

    In the chest was the level and a bonus 20 intelligence to Yuri, who was the king and made the winning moves.

    How Tinker wished he got that intelligence. He could not really have blamed Yuri for killing him. He took down a knight after their knight bated him out. But such is the nature of chess.

    <hr />

    Ok, so the levels of the tower are getting less.

    Some of the Items that drop i kinda need as setup for later chapters. Others are just cool stuff i thought would be nice to have lying around.

    Also some skills were long over due. My poor MC only has one skill that is Stat morph. Now he has two. Sure he only got mana for the one, but that is what you get for choosing a mainstream class.

    There are still two more chapters about this tower before its done. The last is almost finished.  Ill post chapter 25 maybe tomorrow and see if i cant finish up chapter 26 this weekend. At least about 1/4 of the way with chapter 27. After that I think i can finally post three chapters i wrote about 6 months ago, By then then story would have caught up and not mess up my time line.

    As always are comments and suggestions are welcome. Like the one where someone complained 10 chapters ago that my MC needs more skills. C he got one now

 Chapter 25: The Tower of Terok Nor part IV

    On level 16

    As they came into the room, the old man was already waiting for them. He stood by what seemed a window that gave him a view of most of the room. The others took up places and looked inside. Inside was nothing but darkness.

    ¡°Good, you are all here. We call this the laboratory. Of our more eccentric people use to make some interesting things here. From this spot, you can view what happens inside.¡±

    ¡°Ok, so what is going to happen inside there now?¡±

    ¡°Great things. There will be four tests. 5 of you will participate each time. The same five may not compete again. The winner of each of the tests gets 20 stats to spend. Those that die, die. Those that do not win and do not die, will get their level up at the end.¡±

    ¡°Ok so what are the 4 things?¡±

    ¡°I cannot tell you. You will choose three people and I will choose two. Those 5 will compete in the four different tests. Part of not knowing what test it is, is the fun part.¡±

    ¡°Easy for you to say, you don¡¯t have to go through the tests.¡±

    ¡°I did, how do you think I became guardian of the tower? I passed all 10 000 levels and made a few modifications myself.¡±

    ¡°That can¡¯t be, we saw the tower from the outside. It does not have 10 000 levels.¡±

    ¡°You saw, what we wanted you to see, now choose your three and let us get the first test underway. The others of you can stay here and watch. I will come for you later.¡±

    ¡°Well. Since we don¡¯t know what lies ahead. Let us make a well rounded team.¡±

    ¡°Agreed, I¡¯ll go and take Zomger and Lina with me. If my math is correct we should get a random hunter and another plate fighter.¡± Cuzen said

    In what could only be described as a flash of light, 5 of them appeared inside. It seemed to be a small track. Not large, it covered about 4/5 of the tower floor.

    ¡°Welcome, this is going to be as speed test.¡± A voice said. It was clearly the old man, but the way he said it, it sounded like they were lab rats and he was talking via an intercom connection.

    ¡°You are currently standing at the start point, to your left and on the other side, you will see a dark cloud. In that dark cloud is a demon of sorts. He is hungry and you will find that no attacks work on him. Thus you must keep running counter clock wise until the 30 min time is up. After each lap the speed of the demon would increase. You will not be able to dodge or evade it. Your only hope is to stay ahead and do not try and overtake it, he does not like that. First place or the last to get eaten will get 20 bonus stats.¡±

    ¡°O crap, only our hunter here is made for running, the others of us are screwed.¡±

    ¡°Not to worry, let us just remove our battle gear and slip into something better.¡±

    ¡°What the hell, I can¡¯t remove any gear.¡±

    ¡°Did I forget to mention that the gear and items you start the tests with, are those that you must complete the test in?¡±

    ¡°We so got to kill this guy¡­¡±

    A horn sounded and the cloud started moving.

    ¡°I guess here we go.¡±

    The pace started as a medium pace jog. At the start it all seemed ok. It did not take long to complete a lap. They started to notice the slight speed increase after each lap completed. After about 15 minutes Cuzen was running at nearly full speed. Thanks to game mechanics he could do so for a long time, until his stamina ran out. It was times like these he hated wearing plate. Great for combat, but the worst for running. As a last act of defiance Cuzen turned around and leaped into the cloud. He activated his blind block in hopes of it working. The problem was, how do you block a large mouth eating you?

    The random warrior that was drafted with them, died about 2 minutes later. Zomger was doing well, considering he was in full heavy leather. It was sometimes odd to see him. He was as large as any warrior. As a matter of fact he was larger than your average player. It seemed he too tried to hex or curse the demon right before he died.

    That only left Lina and a random hunter. She was not a stranger to running, but she did not enjoy it. Running for your life however did give her a greater motivation to keep at it. Since the early days, she would always wear cloths that were comfortable, stylish and made for roughing it out in the wild. She sometimes wanted to burn all those shameless harlots that walk in town with the minimum amount of cloths on. There was about two minutes left before it ended when the demon got her.

    The winner and last man standing, who the demon could not catch was the random hunter.

    All of them were back behind the glass and the room beyond it, was dark.

    *Choose three, two will be taken.

    Stan volunteered himself and two friends. Since they had no idea what the test was going to be, it would be illogical to try and make good groups. It seemed these tests were made to let one person win.

    The second test was a test or memory. All seven colours of the rainbow were used. Each of them would flash in an order. Then you would have to repeat what you have just seen. The message stated that the first two losers will be killed. The winner gets 20 bonus stats and the 2 others get to live.

    At the start it was easy. When the amount and speed picked up, it became hard. Some people just focused and used their memories. Some mimicked the pattern as it appeared, in an attempt to get it right. The priest won with an impressive 42 coloured sequence

    It was during the third test that Tinker found himself standing on a pillar hundreds of meters high. Yuri and three other people stood about 10 meters away on similar pillars. There was no room to move and the surface area he stood on was about 1 foot long by 1 foot across.

    *Test of endurance. Stay on for 1 hour, if you fall off, you die. Last man standing gets 20 bonus stats. You may not use your hands to grab onto the pillar, if you do so, you will be disqualified.

    ¡°O joy, now we have to stand here for an hour.¡±

    ¡°It could have been worse?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t jinx it.¡±

    ¡°I was just about to mention that this could have been like the chess game, where you forced us to stand in silence.¡±

    ¡°I needed to think and you people talk a lot of rubbish.¡±

    ¡°Whatever man. How far down you think it is?¡±

    ¡°Hmmm, about 200 meters if I had to guess.¡±

    ¡°This test is not so bad, at least we did not have to run or remember flashing colours.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t help but think, this is not everything.¡± As that was said the wind picked up.

    After about 10 minutes the wind died down. There were a few close calls but everyone kept their balance. The conversation died down as they all focused on the task at hand.

    ¡°That was interesting. I wonder what is next.¡±

    Clouds suddenly formed above them and the first drops of rain started to fall. The drops where small and slow, as time went on they became bigger and faster. What made things worse is that the rain did not fall directly from the top, but it fell in with a angle. With winds picking up people were forced to lean into it. They lost their first person this way.

    The rain turned into hail. The hail did not do damage but it was annoying. It was right about the time when thunder started they lost another person. Tinker was surprised with himself, he held his balance well. It seemed that his fighting style was started to pay off. Instead of forcing things, he would flow. He turned his body, that his side faced in the direction of the wind. This way he would not have to lean so far into the wind.

    Yuri on the other side adopted a different approach. He made himself into a ball. That seemed hard and Tinker was not sure how he kept his balance like that, since he could not use his hands.

    After multiple thunder shots the dark clouds disappeared and the sun shone. A timer appeared to show that there was still 15 minutes left.

    ¡°That sucked.¡±

    ¡°The hail was the worse.¡±

    ¡°What are those black things there to my left?¡±

    ¡°It looks like, like birds heading our way.¡±

    ¡°Ah shit, I only have swords. How am I supposed to fight off birds?¡±

    ¡°That as they say Tinker, is your problem.¡± Yuri removed his bow and made ready to fire.

    The other person left was the thief. He removed his daggers and made ready.

    At first the birds flew around them, keeping their distance. Without warning 1 bird flew straight at each of the remaining people. It was not hard to defend and kill it. Tinker did lose some of his balance, but after a couple of swings he got use to it. He glanced over at the others and they seemed to be just fine.

    Next two birds came for them, and after that three. After the fifth, all hell broke loose. What could be best describes as swarms of birds flew at them. The birds did not do much damage, but each bird that flew into someone, flew with the force of a light punch. The light punches started to intensify. Tinker heard the scream of someone falling, he did not know who it was, but at this point he did not care. He was fighting for his life from birds that seemed to kamikaze into him. The clock showed that there was 10 seconds remaining. A nice countdown started.

    Tinker was into it now. No matter how many birds hit him, he stood strong. Being a warrior helped against the smallest of knocks or hits that would tip you over. The clock was on 5 and it seemed the birds where coming in for a final strike. Something hard hit him in the side of the head and he lost his footing. As he was falling he could see Yuri lying atop of his pillar. His legs where hanging off the one side and his arms were holding on the other. The bulk of  his weight was on his stomach. He could see that the hands where not used to hold on but all the other parts of Yuri¡¯s body was busy. He could not help think that was an ingenious solution to prevent yourself from falling off.

    Back in the room others asked him if he was alright. He just said yes and knew he died before the clock ran out. Soon after Yuri appeared and instead of the usual congratulations the others yelled at him.

    ¡°How could you have shot Tinker in the head?¡±

    ¡°Just to win you would make him loose a level?¡±

    ¡°Shame on you, he is supposed to be your friend.¡±

    ¡°Well someone has to win the 20 stats. Since Tinker never saw me fire an arrow, my story is that a bird caught his blind side.¡±

    Tinker was not amused. Yuri was the trouble maker in the group, but this was a new low.

    ¡°Did you shoot me with an arrow in the head Yuri?¡± He asked him with a firm and calm expression.

    There was complete silence. All the focus was on Yuri now. Yuri scratched the back of his head. With his best boyish grin he said. ¡°How can you expect me to answer that with a straight face?¡± Those that new Yuri laughed, most did not know him well and how to respond.

    Tinker could not help but crack a smile. He was still pissed, but he and Yuri have been through a lot. He tried a fake laugh to show things were good between them and even went as far as to say, things are fine between them. Deep down inside operation ¡®get Yuri back¡¯ was being planned.

    The fourth test, was a test of pure strength. The person with the most won, which was a plated warrior. Quantum said he would wait till the end of the tower before he attacks the old man that keeps putting them in these awkward situations.

    They got their level up and a ring

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Ring of Clear vision

    Allows the user to see threw or detect low, medium and some advance levels of Illusionary magic .

    Ring must be equipped to be used.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    On level 17

    They decided it was time to log out and sleep in the real world. They had been playing for nearly 4 days in game and thus none of them have slept in about 20 hours in the real world. They were given 9 hours before they would resume. As Cuzen bluntly put it. ¡°That gives you 8 hours to sleep and 1 for personal use. Those of you that have church or family obligations are reminded that you who came, agreed to commit for this. See you all in 9 hours and those not back will get kicked from the guild.¡± He did not even know if he had the power to do that, but it was just some extra motivation for the guys to come back.

    Tinker logged back in about 30 min before the time and decided he would make some food for the masses. They each where living off their own pre made meals or food packets. He surprised them with kebab. Once people saw what he was doing, those back early offered their meat and the first hunter back was friendly obligated to give arrow shafts for the sticks on which they would be grilled.

    As time was running out, Asmodian was the last to arrive. ¡°Sorry guys, I went to the store to get some smokes. Ran into a buddy, and almost did not make it.¡±

    ¡°Its fine. Now people. We have just under 3 days in game time to complete the last 4 levels. We may finish some time tonight if we lucky. But if we don¡¯t I hope many of you don¡¯t have major plans for early Monday. Coz that is about the time we will be finishing.¡±

    ¡°I have work. But if I can get in a few hours sleep. I¡¯ll be fine. Let¡¯s finish this soon. We may have started 5GMT time, but some of us live well ahead of that and it¡¯s already late Sunday afternoon here.¡±

    ¡°I hear you. We will try our best.¡±

    ¡°Before we start, I actually talked to one of my friends in the guild. It seems it¡¯s all the talk and buzz. I did tell them briefly what has happened to us thus far. So they know things are going well and Gambit demands a full report posted in the guild tab by either Asmodian or Cuzen when this is all done.¡±

    Asmodian talked before Cuzen could. ¡°I think you should make one. Since you are the leader for this party it may be best if it came from you.¡± Cuzen could think of no good reply to get out of the work, so he just nodded.

    ¡°Further the guild wishes us all luck and says that you guys should offer Antrax an invite to the guild regardless of how this ends.¡± On some level people knew why. Without him the 19 guild members would have never been able to come here.

    ¡°So your guild has a lot of single ladies I hope, otherwise I would have to decline¡± Antrax said cheerfully

    ¡°I donno how many are single but there will be more than enough for you to try your luck on.¡±

    He nodded and accepted the invite to the BoS guild. Since he was a miner he was asked does he want to be added into the Scribe division with the others or the special division. He claimed he wanted to be in the special division which would make him a special knight and keep him close to Lina. She did not think it was funny.

    With morale at an all time high they tackled the next level.

    In the room was a large round table with a ridge all around it and the old man was standing next to it.

    They approached and saw the table was empty.

    ¡°Hey old man. I still wanted to ask. In the previous level. What would the hard way have been?¡±

    ¡°The hard way, would have to be that there could have been only one surviving participant and no bonus stats. Are you ready for what is next?¡±

    ¡°Sure, before you disappear could you tell us the difference between the easy and the hard way for the following test?¡±

    ¡°As you wish. The following test is all about luck. Each of you will roll a dice once. The number of that role will be remembered. At the end of it all. The numbers that were rolled the most and least will not be killed. Since you chose the easy way. If say the number 2 and 5 are rolled the most or the least. Both groups of people will pass and not die. Thus it is possible that all six different roles can mean you live. But the most likely odds are 2/3 that you will die. To make things more dramatic you will all role one after the other. I find it¡¯s more satisfying for the reality of the situation to sink in one roll after the other.¡± He said that with an evil smile

    There were murmurs and more than a few curses. Its times like these Tinker wished he had more luck stat points or even just the ability to morph some stats into luck. Dam the unholy speed his Morph skill was levelling up.

    Yuri spoke up first.¡± Let me role last. I have the highest luck here.¡±

    ¡°O really¡± Antrax interjected.

    They compared luck stats and Yuri claimed he would role 2<sup>nd</sup>last. It seemed Antrax was dumping all his stats in strength and luck. He did claim that mining the earth was partially about knowledge, for mining the right thing in the right area. The rest came down to skill and luck.

    ¡°Well shit, I think most of our luck is so low it won¡¯t really matter what order the rest of us role in. Thus we plate wearing players will roll first.¡± There were objections from said plate wearing players. ¡°Be quiet guys, if I said it once, I have said it a million times. We plate wearers are first in and last out.¡± After Cuzen said that he extended an open hand to the old man and asked for the dice.

    Magically it appeared in his hand. He took a deep breath and rather aggressively tossed the dice. He could see why the table had a ridge to prevent the dice from falling off. He rolled a 1. Some people actually giggled, but once they remembered it was not really about how high you role but, how much other people roll your amount. . .  The evil old man gave a wicked cackle and asked who was next.

    So onwards they went. Tinker rolled a 3. Zomger rolled a 4. Lina rolled a 6. Quantum rolled a 4. Close to the end Yuri stepped up. He did a quick recount in his head. Three people rolled 1, three rolled 2. Four rolled 3. Three rolled 4. One rolled 5 and five rolled 6. If he rolled a 6 he would be fine. Or if he rolled a 5 he would be fine. Even if Antrax rolls a 5 after him. It would still be fine. Because then those that have 1¡¯s an 2¡¯s and 4¡¯s will be fine. But the odds of him and Antrax both getting a 5 is low. Sure those from the other groups will be happy that more don¡¯t get to die but he was in this for himself.

    He rolled and nearly squeaked when it was a 5.

    ¡°You know what this means right Antrax?¡± Yuri asked him with what seemed to be the start of a smile forming on his face.

    ¡°Yes, role a 5 and only the 3¡¯s die. Role a 6 and I don¡¯t die. Role a 3, I make sure we and the 6¡¯s don¡¯t die. Role a 1,2 or 4 and I die with said group.¡±

    ¡®No pressure¡± someone half heartedly laughed.¡±

    ¡°By Moridin¡¯s Bronzebeard, give me a 5¡± Antrax yelled. There was absolute silence as the dice rolled and bounced over the table. It slowly looked like it was going to be 5, but as it fell backwards it revealed his throw to be a 4. Those with 5 and 6¡¯s yelled in joy while the others bodies evaporated into small bits and they spawned back at the stairs.

    ¡°Sorry guys. Maybe if you were all dwarves Mordin would have been more helpful.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s ok man, your luck almost came through for us.¡±

    ¡°Yea, at the end I could almost swore I saw it working as it looked I was going to get that 5.¡±

    The old man vanished and on the table was the smallest chest they have seen so far. Inside was there level up and a pair of dice

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Loaded Dice

    The owner of the pair of dice can determine what each dice value should be before they are tossed by using the magical key words.

    WARNING: Extensive use my result in your reputation to increase or decrease. Skilled individuals or Strong magic spells may reveal your deception</td></tr></tbody></table>

    It was clear who the more shady type of players were. They all wanted the dice and each could give 20 reasons why they needed it.

    At the end Qauntum, Yuri, the thief and a hunter played rock paper scissors for it. Yuri beat Quantum in the finals to get the loaded dice. Quantum just said something about how killing people, was better than fooling them with dice anyway.

    On level 18

    The old man was standing near the entrance. From there a person could see 3 places. A cage about 15 meters wide and long and as tall as the ceiling. Next was an open, slightly elevated stage. About 20 meters by 20 meters. Next was a 30 by 30 meter area with various size rocks all over it. A closer inspection revealed there was some water pools as well.

    ¡°In this test of strength you will be fighting your duplicate. As you stand before me now. Your current stats will be duplicated into an exact replica of you. All the skills and techniques you have displayed through the tower till this point will be used by said duplicate. No help will be allowed during your section and all positive and negative buffs will be set to zero once the fight starts. Since you chose the easy path, you may advance to the last level and not win at least 10 of your 20 battles. In addition you may choose on which of the three stages you want to fight. The fight will end when either you or your duplicate dies. You may surrender verbally during your fight. That will instantly result in your death.¡±

    ¡°Ok you sadist. Is there a time limit¡±?

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°May we have more than 1 battle at a time?¡±

    ¡°Yes, there are three stages for battle. I can watch all three at the same time and judge over the battle.¡±

    ¡°Well guys we got 2 days and some hours left. I say we try and do 3 battles at a time.¡±

    ¡°Indeed, some of us will have to fight for a long time if we want to win, I was once in a 1hour and 40 min long dual with someone.¡± Stan added.

    ¡°But what of us that have used all our skills at some point in the tower and don¡¯t have enough mana to use the new skill we learned?¡± Tinker asked

    More than a few people agreed to that. To make matters worse, almost everybody that got a new skill in a book and could use it, had tried it when they got a free moment. After asking around they realised about 10 of them had not yet used all their skills and only about 5 people were confident they can beat their duplicates with their unused skills. Oddly enough none of them were Tinker or his usual party. It seemed most people used their best skills at some point.

    ¡°What about me and the priest?¡± Zomger asked more for the old man than the group.

    ¡°You two have the option of healing against your duplicates. You both will get a fake ally that takes the same damage. The target that has the most health at the end of 30 min wins. Or if your fake ally dies, you lose and die as well.¡±

    ¡°That sounds surprisingly fair.¡± Considering all the priest did was healing and all Zomger could effectively do was curse and heal. Sure he could attack with his club, but after months of playing he favoured either healing or cursing.

    ¡°So who wants to go first?¡±

    ¡°I want the open stage if you guys don¡¯t mind¡± Asmodian said

    ¡°Sure, any more volunteers to the other stages?¡±

    Cuzen said he might as well take the cage if no one wanted it. The hunter with the traps said he will take the other stage. The only comforting thought was that both Asmodian and this hunter were part of the 5 people that said they could beat there duplicates.

    ¡°Just remember guys. Once the battle starts you lose all positive buffs. Those of you that have buffs make sure you apply them to yourself once it starts.¡±

    The three of them moved to their own stage. As they moved. On the other side of it 3 scare crows appeared. One moment they looked to be the same old dummies you can find at any place of training and the next it looked like the person it was going to fight.

    ¡°Once you step onto the stage. Just say start when you are ready and the fight will begin.¡±

    ¡°Guys¡± Asmodian said when he was on stage, loud enough for the other two to hear him. ¡°I don¡¯t want to show off or anything or make you guys feel insecure, but before you begin, check out my fight.¡±

    There were not any objections.

    With all eyes on him. Asmodian said start. If you blinked you would have missed it. In an instant the attack Asmodian used to hit to person behind the wall, struck him from the ceiling. When they looked over to his duplicate it was gone. A message appeared that said Asmodian had won.

    People were confused and to shocked to cheer him. The question on every one¡¯s mind was how he had done it.

    Asmodian walked down to the others and admired how a few jaws were open with awe.

    ¡°What was that?¡± How did you do it?¡± ¡°You been keeping a skill like that hidden?¡± ¡°Just WTF is an arcane mage?¡±. He was assaulted by all the questions at once. ¡°Geez guys, chill. You know how all spell casters have a spell, where they channel all their mana into said one spell to make it super strong? I just did that and used all my mana on one attack. In addition I used one fairy dust sample¡± He said that and nodded to Tinker. It was because of him that Asmodian was able to get some.

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.¡°But still man, we saw no attack and it was so fast.¡±

    ¡°Well, take our fire mage friends here. They each have some or other fire related spell that works the same as mine. Each spell caster has one spell that works on this mechanic. Being awesome and all that I have more than one. But I chose a spell that has a long casting time and instantly hits my opponent. Zero animation or fly time of my spell.¡±

    ¡°Hold on, you said you used a spell with a long casting spell time, and you killed him super fast?¡±

    ¡°Did I not mention that I have an ability where I can reduce the spell casting of one spell to 0.001 seconds, once a day? I have used it before, that is why my duplicate managed to instantly hit me.¡±

    ¡°Still dude, that was off the charts.¡±

    ¡°Well I probably would have nearly killed him if not for the fairy dust. Ask Tinker if you want to know more about the dust and how it works. His book can explain it better. With that said, I am going to log out now and take a well deserved smoke.¡±

    Before anyone could object or ask more he was gone. Tinker took the time to show the other people that wanted to know what fairy dust does. It was only natural they ask does he have things they can use during combat. Like said dust or a combat potion. The best he could do is give them of his weak potions that heal or fortify stats for a limited duration. He warned them that they won¡¯t really have time to drink it during battle, so best to drink it right after the battle starts and your opponent is still a distance away. Just like that he was giving away potions that fortify something and the odd poison to those that felt they could apply it to their weapons before the combat starts. It was not much but every bit helps. Only when the last person walked away with something did he realise he should have charged them money or at least take an I owe you.

    Each member at least had his own healing potion, per guild rules. But some of them still took of his, claiming to be running low or near empty. It would have been useless to take some of his first aid bandages because no one would probably have the time to apply it.

    With morale high Cuzen and the hunter when back to the stages and Lina said she wants the middle stage next.

    The others did not start their fight yet and were watching Lina. She was not one of the originals that claimed she could defeat her duplicate. Tinker them knew she had many skills she had not used yet. They even mocked her once that for every useful spell she learns, she learns 10 useless spells.

    She just stood there. Said start, without drinking any potions and chanted her first spell. Her opponent sent a fire ball her way and Lina used her skill where she applies a fire shield to herself. At first she used the one that increases her fire resistance by 5% for 5 min. Then she used the other fire shield that increases her fire resistance by 75% for 5 sec. Thus the enemy fire ball attacked hit for 80% less effectiveness. Lina in turn sent a fire ball to her enemy that hit. A person could clearly see the difference in their health bars. At some point the enemy used flame strike on the ground and tried to run and evade Lina¡¯s attacks. Lina would move out of the flame strike each time, and calmly attack and never miss the enemy.

    Mages were slow and did not like running and moving on a field of battle for good reason.

    The others just watched in silence. In one of Zomger¡¯s short stories about the Tower he described it as watching two people play rock paper and scissors. The only difference was that Lina kept using rock and the opponent stuck to scissors.

    Sometime during the fight the other two started. Cuzen¡¯s fight was boring to watch. Again Zomger described it as two giant trees trying to outgrow each other. It was an apt description to explain how boring and long the fight took. Now the hunter fight was at least interesting. With bow shots and traps being flung towards an opponent hiding behind objects. He won with a about 20% life remaining.

    The other fire mage saw what Lina did and did the same. It seems none of the spell casters used their shield block spells and thus had it easy. The fights went on. As soon as one guy was finished the next would take his place. Or at least that was happening on the stages where the fights ended fast. Cuzen was well into his second hour of duelling his enemy when Quantum went to fight. He wanted the stage with rocks. As any sane person could guess his fight was even, fast paced and a combination of in your face fighting and then retreating and running like a mad man. He got the edge by bouncing a couple dagger throws off rocks and hitting the enemy as he stood behind a rock.

    Zomger walked up to the open stage to start his heal battle when the previous person finished. The priest told him he could go first. 3 dummies came forward. One looked like him and the other look like any typical NPC city guard. Things started and Zomger went to healing. He had no tricks up his sleeve, because all his healing spells he had used at some point or the other. It seemed both he and his enemy were saving the big new one he got from the books. It occurred to him, that he could cast curses on the enemy healer to slow down his casting time and even increase his mana cost. He was not sure it would work. But as things looked now, he was going to lose. A person can¡¯t compete against the precision timing of a computer. Human error finds a way to creep in and to be major factor. He won after his 30 min were up. His target was on 42% and the enemy was on 36%.

    The old man said. ¡°I don¡¯t count that as cheating because I did not say you may not curse your opponent. I did not encourage it either. Like a true combatant you thought beyond the parameters set and came out on top. Well done by

    showing initiative and thinking outside the norm.¡± The old man went back to watching the matches.

    Soon after Cuzen finished his match and stumbled from the cage with 3% life remaining. 3 hours and 20 min later he was so exhausted. He did not say much, smiled and logged out for a bit.

    Tinker was thinking what stage would work best for him. He eventually concluded the cage or the open stage would work best. He was not use to fighting with rocks to your back and so on. He was scared the AI would surprise him with something weird. On the other stages it would be a straight up fight. Or mostly anyway. He would use his potions to gain the edge on his enemy. He entered the cage Cuzen left and made ready. He coated one sword with a paralytic and the other with his most potent poison. About 10 minutes into the fight he was losing by a small %, but he landed a few shots and could notice his opponent slowing down.

    What did catch him by surprise was that here toward the end his enemy speed increased. Tinker was fighting with agility morph and his enemy with strength which he switched near the end to score a clean hit that was almost a critical. Another lesson learned. Save the speed morph till your opponent does not expect it. Tinker suspected he would have done better if he fought more duel wielding fighters. Most preferred the big two handed weapon approach or shield with weapon.

    Antrax fought after Tinker and won his battle. It was odd. His dummy fought with shield and axe where Antrax went in with axe and one of his mining picks. When Antrax landed his shin kick move he had 5 seconds where he attacked repeatedly at his opponent¡¯s neck scoring consecutive critical hits as it was bent over holding its leg. The fight was soon over after that.

    Yuri lost his match. He tried getting up close to the enemy hunter to attacking him in melee combat. Because he knew most hunters were weak against in your face opponents. The enemy dummy even had a spirit hawk of his own. During the whole fight they flew around and at some point they seemed to be dancing while their masters were fighting to the their death. They were not bothered in the least and seemed to do their own thing and finding each other rather amusing.

    At the end of it all 16 out of the 20 won. Those that lost. Lost by the smallest of margins. In some cases it literally came down to one or two hits, or wrong moves during battle.

    When the chest opened they got their level up and a book. They identified the book. The book would teach a skill where you can replicate any single humanoid enemy. The only down side was it cost the caster a level and the replicate can only attack the person it¡¯s based on. The up side was you can buff said replicate or heal him, once he was summoned. It would also remain as long as the enemy it¡¯s based on is alive. So at least there was that. Another requirement was a massive mana pool and to be level 200. This was an item, that would go to the guild and be saved for a rainy day or sold.

    On level 19

    This was the largest room they had seen. It was the normal size in width, but instead of having a normal 5 meter high ceiling, it was about twice the height of the navel battle room. The old man was at the stairs.

    ¡°You are near the end. Are you ready for the some unconventional battle?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean by that?¡±

    ¡°One of our members devoted a good portion of his life and time to study how most of the greatest and most powerful people in the continents history had died. He found mostly what you would expect. Stronger opponents, betrayal and the list goes on. Very few it seems had died of old age, many were beaten well after their prime, but that is to be expected. He then put forth the theory that the greatest factor was not how powerful you were but how well you react to a previous unknown elements. Be they a new type of magic, weapon or fighting style. It is that element of being put in a situation you have not been before and making the wrong choices or decisions. Thus this room was created. The idea was put forward by another of our members and to the best of our knowledge he was the only person to have ever fought and won in these conditions.¡±

    With a snap of his finger they were all standing on a large multisided rock in the centre of the room. They were in the middle room and looked up and down to the roof and ceiling which now held spikes. There were other rocks in different  locations. All smaller than the huge one in the middle.

    ¡°Welcome to zero gravity. The aim of this test it to escape and evade the opponent that will try and catch you. All the rocks with different shapes and sizes can¡¯t move. The only things that move are you and him. You cannot defeat it. Your only chance is to last until the time runs out. Which is two hours. All of you must participate and since this is an easy version you can each choose your starting location. In the places where the walls, roof and floor normally are, are now spikes.

    Touch them with any part of your body or weapons and you die. As you can feel. The rocks each have some gravity. Thus it allows you to walk around on them.¡±

    As he said that he walked to what seem the edge of the rock. ¡°Follow me¡± he said as he stepped down the side of the rock. The others reluctantly followed. They found themselves standing at the bottom of the rock looking over a different part of the room.

    ¡°Jumping will propel you off any rock. Once you do, your momentum will carry you towards the area you jumped to. Thus make sure with how much power you jump and in which direction. I have seen more than a few people miss their targets or just simply die of the impact. The bigger the rock, the stronger the gravity. You have one minute to talk and choose your starting locations. If you are not done by then, I¡¯ll put you at random locations.¡±

    ¡°What happens if we all die before the time is up?¡±

    ¡°You may choose to start the level over.¡±

    ¡°What happens if our enemy touches a spike?¡±

    The old man just smiled and said nothing.

    ¡°Awww heck guys, I think I have seen a movie like this before. Best don¡¯t think in terms of bottom or top. Think of yourself as the centre point and all other places are just a small hop away.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be reckless. I think once you are off and floating around your chances to survive goes down.¡±

    ¡°Also don¡¯t panic and push off your friends.¡±

    ¡°If you figure out something important. Share it over our party chat. Since we won¡¯t always have line of sight of each other.¡±

    ¡°Try and jump to close rocks. The further you try, the harder it gets. If you in a dire situation and need to make an emergency jump. Aim for the middle.¡±

    People started choosing rocks. Tinker chose a small rock which he could barely see, on the other side of the room. With all in position the test started. Quantum was the only person that chose the large centre rock. Even before they could clearly see the enemy which spawned on the same rock he jumped. It looked like he was jumping in slow motion. He landed hard on a rock and immediately reported to the others.

    ¡°Guys, I just jumped at about half strength and landed hard. Lost some Hp. Don¡¯t panic and jump under half power if possible.¡±

    During all this they had a chance to see their enemy. It looked like a humanoid tiger of some sort. It had a large upper body compared to its legs. It was wielding a scythe with a chain on its end. An archer, most likely Yuri, fired a shot at the beast. It passed right through him. Tinker saw it and nearly shouted his disgust. It seemed this was a sadistic game of tag.

    The first to die was a warrior who the tiger jumped at from the centre rock. In true fashion he jumped with all his power and in a slightly wrong direction. He missed the rock by about half a meter. As he was slowly drifting towards a spike, he told them about how far he missed it and apologised for his mistake.

    The tiger did not seem in a hurry and seemed to jump for the nearest player. Once it landed it would jump after the nearest other player. As time went on, they reported how his speed increased. Tinker¡¯s own heart might have missed a beat as he jumped away for the first time for a rock and landed with an unexpected force. In addition someone reported the gravity of the rocks only start taking effect when you are about 1 foot away.

    As time went on they lost two players. Another one mistimed his jump drifted into a spike. The other person was taking too long and as he jumped and floated away a scythe floated into him. Again it was bad to watch because it seemed to happen in slow motion. The person got pulled towards the tiger and he tossed them to the nearest spike once he removed his weapon from them.

    During this time, those that were not close were hatching and discussing plans to kill the tiger. One plan was to let someone drift very slowly towards a spike and hope the tiger jumps after them and kills himself in the act. After they saw him throw the weapon about 90 % of the plans looked stupid and would not work. Someone made the suggestion to jump with a weapon in hand and deflect the blow. When they saw that it worked it became a standard action to jump and try to deflect the weapon. The down side was that you landed harder or badly. But if you compare that to certain death it was a small price to pay.

    They lost another two who could not deflect the scythe properly. It seems that even if you block the weapon with your shield it did not change your direction much. Otherwise they would have been in trouble.

    30 minutes in the tiger became more aggressive. He would follow people for more than one hop and his speed increased. They lost another 4 before the 30 minutes where at an end. Lina being one of them.

    An hour into the test the real problems started. Not only did the tiger become faster. He would toss his scythe to the rock you are jumping towards. In a sort of reverse hook, he would be pulled speedily towards said rock. If he arrived before you, he would catch you and squeeze you to death. When he arrived soon after you, he would toss his scythe after you and jump in your direction. At first the jumping after a player was about the same speed. As more time slowly went by. They noticed that unless you jump nearly at full power, he would gain on you. This is how they lost Tinker and Asmodian. Towards the end of 30 min Cuzen and 5 more died.

    It seemed those that died were teleported to the centre of the large middle rock and had a front row seat to the test. From Tinker¡¯s vantage point it seemed that Antrax jumped to a small rock near the corner for no reason and he was hammering said rock. It took a while before the Tiger gave up on Quantum and decided to go after the dwarf.

    The tiger jumped and very early Antrax jumped towards a far rock. The Tiger threw his scythe towards said rock. They have seen this move a thousand times. Then Antrax did the unexpected. He tossed his two picks towards the rock he just left.

    Now they only noticed the rope tide to each pick and the end to his belt. Both struck home and one pick actually penetrated the surface. He yanked hard on that rope and was returning towards the rock he jumped from. At this point the Tiger had two options. Either continue on its present course and maybe meet up with Antrax or reverse hook towards where his scythe had landed.

    Antrax arrived on the rock and jumped towards the nearest rock. The tiger landed moments later and before he could pursue the rock broke and the tiger was falling towards the spikes. The speed he fell with was much slower than his initial speed. When the Tiger decided to head towards the same rock as Antrax he was already pulling back his weapon and thus had no place to anchor towards. As Antrax was still floating over to the rock, the tiger had his weapon in hand and tossed it towards the rock he was heading. Antrax actually tossed both his picks towards the scythe. He only needed to divert it 1 foot away from the rock. Antrax purposely chose this place. Close to spikes and of the smallest rocks present. The first pick missed by the smallest of margins and when his second pick hit, he instantly felt his luck at work. He whispered a thanks to Moradin as he watched the scythe miss the rock.

    The tiger yelled and drifted into the spikes. When he touched he died and vanished. A large clock appeared above the centre rock and 5 minutes stared counting down.

    ¡°Ah dam, I thought with him dead, we would have won¡±

    ¡°Yea, good job Antrax. How did you know the rock won¡¯t break when you jumped back?¡±

    ¡°Please, I am a miner. Be it a space rock or solid granite. I know what I am doing and what pressure and finesse is needed to break rocks.¡± Antrax was gleaming with joy.

    ¡°So now what? We wait till he gets back?¡±

    ¡°What else do you suggest? When he gets back, we should have about 15 min left before we are done.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I suggest you guys use this time to prepare or drink a potion or whatever.

    Yuri tied a rope to his thickest arrow. Quantum it seemed had tied at least 5 different daggers to what seem to be fine metal wire.

    The tiger came back and seemed to be mad. He immediately looked for Antrax and jumped towards that general area. Antrax jumped towards a rock. The Tiger tossed his weapon to that rock, and in response Antrax tossed a pick to a different rock. From out of thin air a second scythe formed in the tiger hand¡¯s. He tossed the new weapon towards the rock Antrax pick was heading. Antrax tossed his seconded pick towards another rock. By the time his first pick hit, his course was already changing. When his second pick hit he was heading in that general direction but due to his initial momentum he was heading well to the side of that rock.

    The tiger was not idle during all of this. He too was performing some fancy space manoeuvres. But what made it unfair was that he could reverse hook towards any of his new weapons at fast speeds. About the time Antrax was sailing past his rock the tiger landed and tossed a weapon towards Antrax. He used his shield to divert the attack. What he failed to notice was that the Tiger had cut the rope of his second pick.  Antrax was still waiting for his first pick to return. With nothing to anchor him and not having anything to use he casually drifted into spikes.

    The Tiger managed to kill the other hunter right before the clock stopped. Quantum and Yuri yelled in triumph. Even with the

    clock gone the tiger still remained.

    ¡°As I said, unknown elements.¡± The old man¡¯s voice echoed through the room

    The room¡¯s rocks started moving. Those close to spikes would disappear and pop out at other areas in the room.

    ¡°Ah shit, a moving battle field.¡±

    ¡°Did you notice there is no clock to show how long the two of us must last?¡±

    ¡°Stop talking, he coming at you Yuri¡±

    With the moving rocks and seeming random move patterns things got complicated. The 18 dead players were glad they did not have to try and navigate those rocks, let alone dodge the tiger. The 2 remaining had a hard time at the start but you could see that they were there because of skill.

    After about 10 min Yuri found himself floating awkwardly to nothing. The arrow and rope he was pulling himself towards got sucked into the spike and was no more. In addition he had no more rope. It¡¯s not like he carried miles of rope with him. He shot a few arrows to a couple of rocks. Right before he died he said over party chat. ¡°Marked 3 stones with arrows ranging from 1 to 3. There seems to be a pattern from when they vanishing into the wall, to when and where then appear again.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, I noticed there is some pattern but it¡¯s hard figure it out.¡±

    ¡°Yea, if only this tiger would give us a break. My spirit hawk is sticking to a 4<sup>th</sup>stone. Good luck man¡±

    Just like that Quantum was alone. Yuri was kind enough to leave some help but it was still hectic. The only thing he had going for him was that he had 5 daggers that acted as anchors or means to navigate and the tiger only 2. He had seen how the tiger was cutting rope and he had even lost two wires. He had extra but he could not really afford to lose more. Thus as he was floating he would tug said dagger free and change his direction as well. A person might wonder how he was able to reel in 4 or 5 wires at the same time, but he had quick hands and high agility. Since he was alone now, there was no time to rest or quickly make plans.

    His movements was a combination of thought and instinct. He could not really determine how much a dagger into a rock would affect his forward momentum. But he had a system. Small rocks for minor turns. Medium rocks for larger turns and the odd extreme direction change. Large rocks to pull yourself towards or extreme direction changes.

    The tiger would change tactics sometimes and toss a scythe. It was ineffective because Quantum was use to dodging and deflecting attacks. Being an assassin came with being attacked by multiple enemies after you killed someone important and needed to make your escape.

    The game of tag was extreme and surprisingly entertaining to watch. After about 30 min it seemed Quantum was going to die. He was floating towards spikes with 4 of his 5 anchors already used and he was pulling them in. The tiger was also reeling in both weapons and was floating after Quantum and was gaining on him.

    The players could already see how they would have to repeat this test. As doom approached they saw Quantum tossing his last dagger toward the spikes. Right before it hit the spikes a large rock with a spirit hawk riding it, started to appear from the spikes. The Tiger seeing Quantum¡¯s plan stated howling with rage. What only could be described as cheating did one of his scythes appear in his hand, instead of taking the time to be reeled in. He tossed it at the same rock as Quantum. In response Quantum tossed 12 daggers to divert its direction, what made it more impressive was that the first 10 daggers hit the scythe in consecutive order.

    The Tiger¡¯s momentum was too much and he hit the spikes as his second scythe was heading towards the nearest rock.

    Just like that the room returned to normal and all of them stood at a chest in the centre of the room with the old man there.

    Quantum was congratulated and there was no doubt that he was the hero of this level. He just calmly said he had a good idea on how and what the pattern was. When they asked him to explain what it was he just said ¡°It¡¯s kinda hard to explain¡±.

    ¡°Well done¡± the old man said. ¡°As with the theme of this level, unknown factors and elements occurred and you guys came out on top. Originally you thought you would win in two hours, the rocks won¡¯t move and you can¡¯t defeat the tiger. After two hours it all changed and to make things worse you had no idea how much time would need to pass or that you can now defeat the tiger. You have adapted well and I feel I can say with certainty you will do well in most combat situations as long as you trust yourself and those allies around you.¡±

    He vanished into nothing and the party opened their chest. Inside was their level up and what could be best described as a 10 small gnomish grenades.

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Gnomish Zero G device (10)

    The device can be used to negate all gravity in large rooms, halls, caves or any other large enclosed locations for 5 minutes.

    WARNING: 10 sec timer after device is activated before effect takes place. Device disintegrates after the allocated time expires.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    People could already see and think of multiple ways how a small group can turn the odds on a larger group or how such a device could be used to delay people. Cuzen said he wanted to talk it over with the others in the guild to decide how will they divide these devices. Since there were only 10, they were valuable recourses.

    ¡°Guys, how are we looking on time?¡±

    ¡°Just over a day. Or 7 hours in the real world.¡±

    ¡°Wait, should it not be more?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but some of us have things to do on Monday and need at least a few hours of sleep¡±

    ¡°Fine, we will take a 20 min break. Go eat something and use the bathroom, when you all back we will tackle the last level.¡±

 Chapter 26: The Tower of Terok Nor part V

    On level 20

    The old mad was waiting for them right as they came through the door.

    ¡°Welcome to your final test, the boss battle. What makes this fight interesting is that you will be able to choose the skills of your opponent. Since you chose the easy path, you may re pick his skills if you all died and wish to try again.¡±

    ¡°Ok, what type of boss monster is it and is there a time limit?¡±

    ¡°He will be a humanoid fighter/spell caster. You will choose 20 skills for your enemy. Each of you displayed skills throughout the tower. Each of your three strongest skills will be there, and you will build an enemy for yourself. For those of you that have not used 3 or more skills, don¡¯t worry, that one skill will be added or you will choose one of the two you used. Also no time limit. Once you start a fight, it either ends with you all dead or him.¡±

    After nearly an hour of talking and strategic planning they finally decided on skills. They assumed that the boss would rotate between weapons, otherwise it would have been wasteful to give it shield bash, power shot and a nasty power strike with a 2 handed weapon. In the end they decided to not give it any of the fire mages shields. Someone claimed that having 2 fire mages doing 5 % less damages is worse, than have having a boss with an ability to do random fire damage. The basic thought was that the boss would represent the 20 players. Since they were primarily melee fighters with low mana pools they were working under the assumption the boss would be a relative weak spell user.

    They also decided to give it no aoe spells. Only the priest had good aoe healing spells. The hardest choice was which skill of Asmodian to give for the boss. They eliminated the multiple magic missiles that would target all 20 of them. Next was the spell where he burns up all his mana to hit with one shot. Thus they gave the boss the skill where he can instantly cast any spell he has. During the hour they asked the old man that if they use an ability with a long cool down and die, would the ability be useable for the next fight or will it still be on cool down? The old man said that all abilities would be set to zero and all positive and negative buff would be as well.

    The entire floor seemed to be their battle ground. There were some trees to the one side. Large rocks in the other. Water about 2 meters deep on another side. The middle was plain stone and the last corner seemed to be a small hill off stone with some dirt on it. They decided that the most likely spawning point would be the centre for the boss. They would position themselves around that area. The fighters spread in a 360¡ã around the centre.

    The plan was that Cuzen would be the main tank and Antrax off tank. When his health reaches 20% he would swap with Antrax and when he can, he would take over again. Antrax would save his kick for an appropriate time and would work in sync with Cuzen. Stan would handle a second minion or any unseen problem. If said problem does not occur and the tanks are in trouble he would adopt a defensive stance and take over.

    The current problem was that they were too many melee fighters and not all of them would be able to attack at once. They divided into two groups. If the call comes, all the melee dps will disengage and let group two take over. Until then they would stay close to the boss and replace any other player whose health dropped to 25 %. They decided to make it that high, because they had little healers and could afford to let people rotate out faster. The front of the boss was for the tanks. The back were reserved for the assassin and thief. The rest would just take the sides.

    Tinker found himself in group two. Those that would wait and rotate in. Generally it was the weaker guys in group two. The only strong person in group two was Stan. He needed to wait and see what happens once the fight starts. The range players all would just keep on attacking. After the buffs and blessings were casted they started.

    One second after they started they heard the other fire mage calling. The 4 seconds it took the party to respond and run partially up the hill to their friend was all the time needed for a 9 foot plated warrior with a massive sword and shield to kill the mage. Spellcasters did not have the nick name glass cannons for nothing. They do great damage and just a little force can kill them. Cuzen leapt at the boss and tried to shield bass him. For his efforts he got struck with the huge sword and was rolling back down the hill. Antrax would have to start the fight off for them.

    It was rather funny that the huge boss monster was attacking the smallest person in their party but it was just one of those things. The boss monster did however swing and bash the other fighters at frequently random times. They soon stabilised after the death of their mage. It was hard losing one of the highest damage doing players they had, but it was just one of those things. The hunters had a large target they could shoot, the mages could use the big spells. Lina opened with a nice Lava lash spell. Plate armours worse enemy. Asmodian had no special spell for plated opponents.

    Zomger casted all his curses and could help the priest out with the healing after that. As always the healers were the unsung heroes of the battle grounds. It was not necessary for the entire group two to switch in. They just took the spots of those that took a lot of damage from the boss. They noticed that his random attacks always seemed to be good clean hits on unsuspecting melee fighters. Some bosses would attack a tank the entire fight. Others would take turns attacking opponents. Bosses like this one would just sometimes attack others when the opportunity arises.

    When the boss was at about 75%, things were going well. Right up to the point where he healed up instantly to 80%. After that whenever they did 10% damage he would heal himself for 5%. At about 50% hp the boss suddenly stopped attacking the melee fighters and ran towards Asmodian. The melee fighters could do nothing to stop the boss. Only Antrax had a skill, but he was to slow to react. Asmodian tried to run away and got to the bottom of the hill before the boss decapitated him with a grand and powerful swing.

    After that he boss monster removed a massive crossbow from his back and put his shield in its place. With sword in one hand and crossbow in the other he faced the enemies. Normally a person would need to manually reload your crossbow. But every 3 seconds this crossbow would magically have a bolt loaded and ready to fire. The crossbow also had a sharp point so that he could stab and he was using it as sort of shield to block. At point blank no one could really dodge the bolt. To make matters worse he used the skills from the hunters in combination with that one shot. So instead of 1 bolt hitting you, 10 struck home. Some came close to dying but they kept on going. What also helped that 10 bolts struck with the same power, and as the person was knocked away, someone could just replace him.

    When the boss was at about 25% the healers were out of mana. Gradually they stared dying one by one. They died rather fast when both tanks were killed. Retreating players were shot, and the others that did not run were just sliced to bits. Tinker did manage to doge the swing from the sword, but the crossbow stabbed him and fired a bolt in the area of his heart. A critical hit, he had no chance. The boss was left on 19% when the last person died.

    Those that died where there in ghost form and could watch the fight until the end. When the last player died, they all suddenly returned to normal and the boss vanished.

    ¡°We¡¯ll shoot. He got us.¡±

    ¡°No shit, before you guys get your panties in a bunch. Time for some team talk.¡± Asmodian said. They all came closer.

    ¡°So first of all. We were screwed since the get go. We lost our third strongest dps.¡±

    ¡°Sorry¡± the fire mage said

    ¡°It was not entirely your fault. It spawned behind you. We thought wrong about where it should have started. When we do this again I suggest we stand there in the rock area. From there we can head out.

    ¡°Second is that melee attackers are taking too much damage. Thus it forces our one and a half healers to spend more mana on them, Cuzen maybe you can talk or have a suggestion on how to remedy this situation.¡± Asmodian added

    ¡°Yes, Instead of just focusing on doing the max amount of damage. Be ready for that counter attack. He seems to attack at random intervals whoever is the most vulnerable. Sure this way the fight will last longer, but so should we. He does not seem to heal health other than that 5 % thing.¡±

    ¡°About that.¡± The priest said. ¡°That was not my healing spell or even that of Zomger. He did not even use my healing spell. I am not sure if that means he can¡¯t or if he was saving it.¡±

    ¡°Yes, he also did not seem to use any of our mage spells either.¡± Lina added.

    ¡°So who else here is not sure the boss had not used their skill?¡±

    It seemed only the mages and healers were sure the boss had not used their skill. Quantum and the thief thought he might have used their skills when he managed to attack some people from behind at the start or here at the end.

    ¡°How did his mana look through most of the fight?¡±

    ¡°Only minor decreases when he used his sword or shots with the crossbow.¡±

    ¡°So any theories why he has not used spells for damage or healing?¡±

    ¡°I got a few theories. Either his spell capacity is low, or he can do more damage with his time by physically attacking and shooting us. Or both can be true.¡±

    ¡°But still. We got him to about 20%, why has not healed himself?¡±

    ¡°20% is still a lot. If we get him to about 10 or 5%, he will most likely pop a few heals.¡±

    ¡°Remind me again what heals we gave him?¡±

    ¡°We gave the spell holy light from the priest. Because it takes like 3 seconds to cast and costs a lot of mana. Sure he heals a lot from it but we decided it was better than the other two that were available. From the shaman we gave that instant recovery spell. We decided it would be better than giving it curses.¡±

    ¡°Ok, on the up side we can at least interrupt one of the heals and extend the casting time of all the other heals if we constantly attack him.¡±

    ¡°Yes, and when he was on 50% health. He stopped what he was doing to attack the player who was doing the most damage to it, since the start of the fight. Does anyone think they were doing more damage than me?¡± Asmodian asked. ¡°I thought so, that is why he came for me.¡±

    ¡°Do you want me to use my kick skill on him at that point?¡± Antrax asked

    ¡°No, I will handle it. He just got. This time he won¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Ok, so do no disarm or cutting of the crossbow wires or something work?¡±

    ¡°No, some boss monsters you just can¡¯t disarm and it seems his crossbow is not breaking. We might have lowered it¡¯s durability a bit. Personally I think it is not worth it, to focus on. Highly doubt we can break it, and if we focus on breaking it, we gonna get punished.¡±

    ¡°Ok, so none of that. Other suggestions or comments from you guys?¡± Cuzen asked the party.

    ¡°Maybe Tinker with his first aid and coated bandages could become a medic full time. If he can stop cuts from bleeding and slowly heal the melee fighters. We don¡¯t have to spend so much mana on healing them. I have been playing long enough with him, to know he can stop most if not all the bleeding and do minor healing. It is kinda pointless if I heal one of you guys and you lose all that health because of nasty cut from earlier.¡±

    ¡°Ok, I think we can afford to lose the damage he was doing. This is not a sprint, but a marathon after all.¡±

    ¡°Maybe we can change some of the hunter skills the boss got?¡± We gave him split and multi shot, because we were not going to bunch and decided best to spread the damage he does.¡±

    ¡°Well we screwed. We hunters have no to low cool down on skills and abilities. If we got an arrow, a bow and some mana we can do anything. Give us many arrows and a large mana pool and we can shoot every shot with a skill. I think this is what this boss is doing. Every shot is a skill shot and not just a normal shot.¡±

    ¡°I agree. I counted 3 seconds before a new bolt appears and it magically is ready to fire again and about 1-3 seconds after that time he needs to aim and shoot someone.¡±

    ¡°Well bad news then. I kept an eye on his mana. He won¡¯t be running out of mana or bolts soon it appears.¡± Lina interjected

    ¡°So any other pieces of information or things anyone?¡±

    ¡°That shield screwed the thief and I, when he swapped it with his bow. My damage dropped nearly by half when the shield was in place.¡± Quantum said.

    ¡°So what do you suggest? Rotating the two of you away from his back, when he puts the shield there?¡±

    ¡°Maybe, even if he has that huge shield. He still got a few open spots we can attack from the back. I was thinking more along the line of preventing him from putting his shield on his back.¡±

    ¡°We talked about this not 1 minute ago, we can¡¯t disarm the boss.¡±

    ¡°Yes, we can¡¯t make him drop his weapons or shield. But maybe we can delay him putting back his shield or somehow to interrupt him. I once heard of guys that fought a boss. It had a massive  two handed axe of some kind. When it got down to 25 % it would enrage. When this happens it would throw his two axes at enemies and then remove the big one. The guys jumped the boss and used their own bodies to prevent the boss from removing his weapon. Thus the boss had no weapons and kept trying to remove his weapon. The boss pulled and punched at the players but they held on and some even tied themselves to the boss. That left many other players free to attacks said boss while he was trying to get his weapon out.¡±

    ¡°That sounds cheesy. This boss has a sword and crossbow to prevent people from doing something like that.¡±

    ¡°You thinking about it all wrong. The boss hands are already full with a sword and crossbow. What is he going to use to prevent something from blocking where the shield goes?¡±

    ¡°I would think his huge ass sword or a few bolts to the person trying to block it.¡±

    ¡°Again you thinking about it all wrong. I was thinking we block or jam something into the mechanism where his shield and crossbow clip in.¡±

    ¡°O, I did not see any mechanism.¡±

    ¡°It is built into his armour and the little clips are on his shield and crossbow. They are not very big, but I think we can maybe prevent it from clipping in.¡±

    ¡°Why exactly is it so important we guys prevent the shield from going back?¡± some random person asked.

    ¡°Ok, I am going to explain this as simple as possible¡± Quantum said in that condescending tone he used. ¡°If I attack you with my dagger and that said attack does 100 damage. You do not take that full 100 damage. If you are wearing your cloth shirt with plate boots and helm. You take about 90 damage. Because we all have a defence value that determines what % of physical damage reduction we take. Now the boss already has plate armour so his defence value is high. Now he equips the shield and that increases his overall defence value. Thus all melee attacks do less damage. To make matters worse. That shield also adds another layer of plate to his back, so now he also takes reduce damage from behind. Add to that, that shields are designed to be tougher than plate.¡±

    There was silence. ¡°Ok so imagine that 100 damage I do, is now reduced down to 20 if I am attacking the boss. With the shield in the way, the damage I would normally do goes down by over half. So now I am doing 8 damage. The numbers are not accurate, I am just trying to make a point. There are other factors at work as well, but that is the jest of it.¡±

    ¡°No wonder plated fighters are so hard to kill. It seems only spells or huge ass weapons do any damage to them. ¡°

    ¡°Ok, what will you need to stop the shield form clipping in?¡±

    ¡°An opportunity and a dagger that I won¡¯t miss. I and maybe the thief have a skill where you can jam something into a lock, door or any kind of mechanism to ruin it or delay other people. If you use a dagger, the dagger is destroyed and in perfect RR logic, most things a dagger can stop or ruin. Sometimes it just a small piece of the blade, other times it is the entire dagger, hilt included.¡±

    ¡°I do have a skill like that, I would be lying if I said I have used it more than a few times.¡±

    ¡°Same here. I only use it when I am being pursued, but since I have gotten better, that does not happen much anymore.¡±

    ¡°Yea, and you don¡¯t want to jam a door you might be needing in a hurry. To just use the skill on random targets eats up daggers something fierce.¡±

    ¡°Great so one of you will try and use that skill when he swaps them. He did it around 50 % right?¡±

    ¡°Yes, after he killed Asmodian. Now unless Amodian does not do the most damage we will know who he will run too and when.¡±

    ¡°Great, any other plans or suggestions?¡±

    ¡°Nope. It seems we covered everything thing. Maybe have some food before we start. Double check our potions and get the party started again.¡±

    They took their positions scattered all over the rocky area. It seems only once the fight starts, then only will their skills reset. That also meant that buffing and using blessings beforehand would be pointless, since that will also disappear.

    The boss spawned about halfway up the hill and did not move. They used this for the buffs and things.

    ¡°Ok, remember to spread and let¡¯s do this.¡±

    The fight started. Tinker found himself on first aid duty. He stood a small distance off and every time a melee fighter swapped out due to being low hp or taking a bad blow, they would come to him. They seemed to be doing about the same damage as the previous fight. The healers still had large mana pools so there was nothing to fear it seems. At 75% the boss started healing incrementally. The real chaos started once he was on 50%.

    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    This time the boss jumped over and away from the melee fighters. He went straight for Asmodian. Again Asmodian tried to run away and only manage a few steps before he was decapitated in similar fashion. Tinker¡¯s heart sank deeper into his chest as he saw that, the only comforting thing was that Quantum was right behind the boss. As the boss switched weapons rather fast, Quantum acted faster. A person could see him jump and looked like he broke both his daggers into the mechanisms of the armour. The shield dropped to the ground and the boss tried hit Quantum with the sword which he dodged wonderfully. The bolts on the other hand got him pretty good.

    Tinker was wrapping Quantum¡¯s face, because he just took 9 arrows directly. Number 10 it seemed hit his helm and bounced away. After that Tinker was looking for the latest person that needed healing. To his surprise Asmodian was standing not too far away attacking. He was not sure how that was possible, but come to think of it, when his head got cut off, no notification came up to tell him and the others in the party that he has died. Sneaky Asmodian.

    After the fight they would learn that he used a spell to make a mirror image of himself, while he went temporarily invisible.

    Not only did it fool the boss, it fooled the other players as well. Asmodian used this mirror image spell in combination with the spell which allows him to instantly cast a spell.

    They had a few close calls from melee fighters that took a nasty blow, that forced them to rotate out, then they were shot by the crossbow. The priest and Zomger were again the only reason why there were not just corpses lying around. Sure Tinker helped them out, but pure heals had no equal.

    The boss Hp went lower and lower. At 10% he healed for the first time. He healed back up to over 40%.

    ¡°He just spent about a third of his mana, He should only have another two, maybe three of those heals max.¡± A mage informed the party.

    The problem was still, that for every 10% of damage they do, the boss heals for 5%. So the fight went onwards.

    ¡°His mana regen is terrible, he only has two of those heals left guys.¡± The same mage yelled about 5 minutes later.

    With new vigour they went at it. There healers mana pools were well below half but stopping and giving up was not a option. The mana situation of the healers were looking grim. The boss was on about 15 % hp and he still had two heals left.

    ¡°Antrax, when he tries and heals again. Interrupt it. For that 5 seconds try and do only critical shots guys.¡± Cuzen yelled.

    ¡°I am out of mana.¡± The priest said

    ¡°Stick with it guys, he on 11%, be ready with that interrupt.¡±

    The boss hp dropped to 10% and he started casting the healing spell. Antrax used his skill to kick the boss on the ankle and he successfully interrupted the spell. That meant the boss had just wasted all that mana on a heal he did not receive. In the 5 seconds the boss could not attack many things happened.

    They party managed to do an impressive 12 % of damage to the boss. A person would think it would have been enough to kill him, wrong. When the boss hp was on 5%, he regained another 5%, thus when the effect was over. He was on 3 % life and the others hoped they could delay or kill him before he managed to cast his last healing spell. Unfortunately the boss instantly healed and spent the last of his mana and would not be able to heal again. It seemed he to used Asmodian skill in combination with another spell for instant effect.

    Tinker was standing to the side and witnessed it all. He felt defeated when the boss instantly healed and was back to just under 40% health. They came so close, but now the boss had hp and their priest was out of mana. As he looked at the priest, the priest current hp and mana value appeared for Tinker to see. He double checked to make sure his eyes were not playing tricks for him. The priest had 30 % mana remaining. Asmodian was standing next to him and he was at 0% mana.

    It was a spell Asmodian got along with his secret class a long time ago. It allows him to transfer his mana to an ally he is touching. Since he always did most damage in the party he never really used the spell and had actually forgotten about it.

    What self respecting mage would go from the highest damage dealing member to dealing no to low damage in near heartbeats? The others did not seem to notice what he just did. They focused on the boss and the heals kept coming.

    When the boss finally died there were cheers and tears of joy. The fight lasted for 3 hours. In what only can be described as tactical genius they did not lose one player on the second attempt at the boss. The old man appeared over the corpse of the boss.

    ¡°Well done travellers. I had my doubts but you proved me wrong. I award you your level and 3 items from this boss. He gave the sword, the crossbow and an amulet. The sword was two handed, although the boss used it as single handed sword.

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Sword of Cleaving:

    Durability: 199/200

    Damage: 50-70

    A sword whose full potential unlocks as you cleave enemies into pieces. Chances to cleave off body parts increased by 25%.

    When performing a decapitation of an enemy. Chances to cleave off body parts increased to 50% and double damage for 5 minutes

    Equip:

    +100 STR

    Requirement:

    STR 200+

    VIT 175+</td></tr></tbody></table>

    Stan got the sword. He was maybe not the highest ranked but he had the weakest two handed sword of the party but managed to be doing the most damage of the melee fighters. After Quantum and the thief of course. Most seem satisfied with him getting the item. Stan was the type of guy to put his body on the line for the greater good. He had done so in the tower and would do so again in the future.

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Crossbow of Self loading:

    Durability: 100/100

    Damage: 40-56

    A magical crossbow that reloads itself. User can set which type of bolts and how many must be magically reloaded before hand

    An enemy shot within one seconds after a melee attack is made with this weapon, takes double damage

    Equip:

    +30 STR

    +30 AGIL

    +30 DEX

    Requirement:

    AGIL 120+

    DEX  105+</td></tr></tbody></table>

    It was a major disappointment when they saw it was not a huge two handed crossbow but a small one handed. That meant its damage was nearly halved but it was still pretty strong. Almost all the melee fighters had their eyes on this crossbow, now it seemed only those that are dual wielders would be able to make maximum use of it. After rock, paper and scissors between Tinker, Qauntum, Antrax and the thief, Tinker won and was the proud new owner of said crossbow.

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Amulet of resourcefulness :

    Durability: 10/10

    The user of this amulet will have many stats increased

    Equip:

    +20 to all stats

    +2 hp and mana regen

    +1% magic resistance

    Requirement:

    Level 100</td></tr></tbody></table>

    Everyone wanted this. Cuzen decided to take a bag, and write down all the names of the raid members on a piece of paper and put it inside. To make things fair, each person would write his own name and put it into said bag. Also the priest will draw the name from the bag. Since she was most likely one to not have any sleight of hand tricks like hunters or thieves. She drew one of the other hunters name. He took his prize while 19 jealous people tried to hide their disappointment.

    ¡°You are now free to go back to the world. Once you leave this tower all losses and gains from this Tower will be active and the Tower will move to the next Kingdom. Do you wish to leave now or do you want to talk?¡±

    They had some time left and more than a few people wanted to log out and be done with this. Asmodian warned that he was going to talk first to this man and then teleport himself and whoever of the party that wants to come with him, back the Heaven kingdoms capital. All 19 said they wanted to return. Bremen was a bit out of the way and with their new levels, other quests would be available in familiar territories.

    ¡°Ok, so just who are you exactly?¡± Cuzen asked

    ¡°I am the care taker of this tower. The others help me by guarding it, repairing and so forth. We are the last remnants of the Alliance.¡±

    ¡°Ok, the Alliance of what?¡±

    ¡°Just the Alliance. Our order was founded 63 465 years by humans, elves, dwarves, orcs, gnomes from all over the continent with the same ideals.¡±

    ¡°Which was?¡±

    ¡°That order, justice and the right thing is better than the chaos that is in the world. The Alliance had no other name, its mission was to gather knowledge and follow its charter. Whenever the innocent suffered, chaos reigned or the unjust ruled, we would be there to challenge them. We did our best and ushered a new age for the continent. Back then the mages guild and warrior guild was in ruin.¡±

    They magically appeared into a large room that had rows and levels of different books.

    ¡°The books you see around here are all just our laws and rules regarding our code of conduct. We had rules and procedures for nearly every scenario, faction or situation you could think of. Over our long history we made mistakes and strove to better ourselves and those around us. From hostage negotiation with enemies to dealing with a farmer who has lost some of his livestock, back to what is the proper way to act if a continental war broke out.¡±

    ¡°Wow, it sounds like you guys were strong.¡±

    ¡°We were. We acted as overseers if two powerful nations had to make peace after a long a bloody war. Things like that do not just happen. We helped them and act as enforces if one kingdom breaks the peace treaty. We also set many laws and guidelines to help the races of the continent. We introduced the system of monitoring trade. We encourage trade with all races, no matter the history between them. We implemented that no person under 18 be allowed to join the military. That prisoners not be killed and mistreated like they did in the past. And so forth. Many of the laws are still in effect. Others have become traditions and others are forgotten.¡±

    ¡°Have you been outside lately? Traders overcharge all the time. Prisoners get tortured and killed. The list goes on.¡±

    ¡°I know, but our time of acting as the guardians for the kingdoms are over. Now we pass our knowledge on to others and for fill a minor role in the continent.¡±

    ¡°So where did it all go wrong?¡±

    ¡°About 10 000 years ago, we lost all the orcs in the order. Those orcs that survived decided to live like the old ways with a primitive tribe. After one generation they all became like savages again and currently live in isolation in the east of the continent. About 6 000 years ago we had a civil war. Two factions fought for power. Those that wanted to keep the current ways and those that wanted us to become the rulers of the entire continent.¡±

    The old man looked a bit sad and his tone reflected it. ¡°We that wanted to rule everyone had won. But the death toll was over 98% of the order. With the leaders of both sides dead the order fell in ruin, now we last few that are still around know that a darkness with an unholy compulsion drove us to this madness. With the leaders of this madness dead we came to our senses. In over a year we went from the strongest and driving force for good to another failed organisation.¡±

    ¡°Wait, you over 6000 years old?¡±

    ¡°In a way. My physical body is long gone, but my essence still lives here. In the dream world I should be around for another 6000 years at least if I do not get killed.¡±

    ¡°Wait. We in the dream world?¡±

    ¡°Yes, our greatest feat of engineering was this 10 000 level tower and stronghold which we built physically in the dream world. It is rather tricky to interact physically in the dream world but we managed. Most of our other inventions and buildings are long gone. When our order fell, the last few left everything to come here. Entire cities all left behind to any with the will and power to take it. We wanted to rebuild the order but we last few decided it was best we for fill the role that we do now. You and yours from your world are the new driving force for this world. Will it be for good or evil, we do not know.¡±

    ¡°You said most of you cities and stuff are gone, you still got things left behind?¡±

    ¡°That we do, A hidden floating fortress. Many relics and artefacts that your kind have a hard time to understand was once ours. We also lost a few cities and other strongholds. Some are gone and some are still standing strong and are in good working order.¡±

    ¡®Do you mind telling us where some of these things are?¡±

    ¡°That I do, you are adventurers, go forth and adventure. I told the last visitors where they might find the floating fortress. For you I will tell that our grandest city that is missing is somewhere missing under water.¡±

    ¡°That is still a big place to search.¡±

    ¡°Not really. It may be closer that you think. Now, I have a request to make of you arcane mage, will you travel to another realm for us and make a delivery of some ancient scrolls and items that were taken from our travels?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t see why not. What do you know of realm travelling?¡±

    ¡°Much, for the sake of your group members I will try and explain it in a simple way. Imagine that our world is a leaf on branch, that is connected to a tree. Each leaf on the tree is a realm. Those leafs on the same branch are the realms that are easy traverse when compared to going from here to an entire different branch. The little twig that connects our leaf to our branch is the pathway to another place. We are close to many realms and you may have heard of them. Each prominent God has a realm on our branch, where her or his loyal souls go. Then there are other realms like this dream world or realm. The realms of death and oblivion are also still close. It is easy to get into the realm of dreams compared to that of a oblivion or death. They have rather good security and most of the time it is one way trip to them.¡±

    ¡°Ok, so far I am with you, to which realm do you want me to go?¡±

    ¡°The one where you learned your arcane magic. After you drop off some items there, they should help you deeper and further along the branch to the other places.¡±

    ¡°Ok, so just how far has your order explored along this tree?¡±

    ¡°Many places on our branch and a few places along another branches. But as always we pushed rather too far and after near cataclysm, travelling was deemed illegal. Some people still do it and the Gods bend the rules all the time. But the Gods are the enforces for their realms and universe as a whole. Think of the tree trunk as the place where the Gods live. We can¡¯t exist there where they live, we can only exist in the leafs that they make for us. That means we can¡¯t challenge them or anything really.¡±

    ¡°So why do you need me to do it?¡±

    ¡°We are stuck in the dream realm forever and no longer have the means and capabilities to give back things that are not ours.¡±

    ¡°Ok, I will do it.¡±

    ¡°Good, be careful. New realms are formed constantly and old ones get destroyed. Good luck.¡±

    Asmodian got his quest. Someone asked if there was time for one more question.

    ¡°Just one.¡± the old man said.

    ¡°Will we ever be able to talk with you again?¡±

    ¡°There is always the possibility. Find the tower in another kingdom or find some of the other things we left behind. The libraries of out lost cities contain much information and will offer you limited interaction with the Tower of Terok nor. Now go and walk in the light.¡±

    They thanked the old man and all held hands as Asmodian used his astral projection to teleport all of them to the guild house in the capital of Heaven Kingdom.

    <hr />

    Ok, so this chap a bit shorter than my previous 4.  The tower is at an end. Some nice loot and levels as you can see. Also some made up history of RR. It still falls under the frame world of the actual RR history.

    The items stats are about 5 times stronger than the basic sword weed got for completing his basic training which he used for like 100 levels or what ever.

    It seems I will be back posting chapters weekly. Already finished the next two and working on the third.

    I am aiming for 2000 average views. Thanks for all those that read my ff and enjoy it. Tell a friend or an enemy guys. LoL

    <hr />

    Ok, so this chap a bit shorter than my previous 4.  The tower is at an end. Some nice loot and levels as you can see. Also some made up history of RR. It still falls under the frame world of the actual RR history.

    The items stats are about 5 times stronger than the basic sword weed got for completing his basic training which he used for like 100 levels or what ever.

    It seems I will be back posting chapters weekly. Already finished the next two and working on the third.

    I am aiming for 2000 average views. Thanks for all those that read my ff and enjoy it. Tell a friend or an enemy guys. LoL

 Chapter 27 : Orphans call

    With the epic adventure that was the Tower of Terok Nor behind them, it was time for something new. Christmas was two days away. The guild posted a message that said. During the time from right before Christmas till new years, the guild would not engage in any battles or contracts. Those that could play should do some power leveling, because when they start again in the new year it is going to be busy.

    The group decided to each go and do their own thing. By the sound of it. Cuzen and Yuri were going away on holiday and won¡¯t be able to play for about a month. Lina would also be absent for most of the month and that only left Zomger. Who would most likely head to the nearest fishing place and not be seen or heard of for the next month.

    Scot got a call from his parents, he could fly like last year to join them at some unknown country in Africa. But he did that last year and he was not very motivated to sit around in the hot sun and look at nature. So with a few kind words and some lies he managed to get himself out of going. What helped was that Duncan was not going to visit his sister, so he could stay at the Miles manor and look after Scot. So now he could play for a month in game and not worry too much about what is going on in the outside world.

    Antrax and Quantum were the only other people which he had formed a party with. He did not know them well enough to know what they were going to do next or if they would be able to play. He counted Stan and his friends more as Cuzen¡¯s friends and Asmodian had his own quest to do, which the guardian of the Tower gave him.

    That left him alone. He was now level 102. It the last three months he climbed 50 levels. It took him the 5 months before that to level 50 times. The highest level players were currently  at about level 150. The bulk of the large pack was about at 125. Buster who was the highest level in the BoS was on 142. For 8 months of playing Tinker thought he was doing well. Those at the top have only been playing a month longer than him.

    His professions were coming along well, all things considering. He lost a level in alchemy, herbalism and leather working, after the death and gains of the Tower were calculated. The rest of his abilities were close to going down a level. He would have to work on getting them up again.

    He decided to first go to Tristan. Tell him of his latest adventures and maybe score some free vials and potions. It can get expensive when you had to pay for your own things.

    Tristan actually had a person in his office. They were talking when Tinker walked it. If the door was closed he would have knocked, but since it was open, he just went in. Tristan stopped his conversation to say hi.

    ¡°Welcome Tinker, I will be with you in a moment. I am just telling another outlander here about my book which seems every person wants lately. I think 1 out of every four people that come are from your guild. What about you young lady? Are you part of his guild?¡±

    ¡°No master Tristan, I just love herbs and flowers. When I came to the capital, I heard about you and the wondrous work you do here.¡± She said.

    Tinker wondered if he also sounded so obvious when he was trying to suck up to someone?

    ¡°Ah yes, wondrous work indeed.¡± Tinker could see that Tristan was eating it up. Sad how old man are so gullible to young and pretty girls. Tinker had some time to look her over. She was some kind of elf and she was attractive. She was tall, had mostly blond hair and seemed to be about 20 or so.

    Every time he saw an attractive player he could not help but wonder is she based it on her real looks or made the ultimate fantasy body. He was still in thought about all these things when he heard his name.

    ¡°¡­.Tinker here is my most promising student so far, perhaps you can learn a thing or 5 from him. He was the first to further my book into a more complete alchemy book. To my knowledge he also managed to complete the tasks of the other masters in the shortest time.¡±

    She looked him over and seemed skeptical. Tinker did not like to be in the spot light so he opened his inventory to remove things so that he could not look at them.

    ¡°Perhaps I can learn a few things from him. Now what is the task you will ask of me to get your book?¡±

    ¡°To go to the green house and collect two samples of each plant there. You will need permission from the grounds keeper and a lord to enter. I suggest you go ask my brother Lancelot. Come back with the samples when you are done.¡±

    It all sounded too familiar to Tinker.

    ¡°It shall be as you request sir.¡± She stood up and walked over to Tinker.

    ¡°Pardon me, may I please have a few moments of your time?¡± she asked in that cute girl kind of way.

    ¡°Um, I don¡¯t really have a lot of time. I am here to see Tristan.¡± He was lying about not having a lot of time. He knew all too well how this story goes. Pretty girl asks strong man for help. She uses him till she gets what she wants. Then she leaves.

    ¡°I am very busy with paper work¡± Tristan said. ¡°Try and come back later when I am done.¡±

    He glanced over to Tristan desk and saw no stacks of paper. He looked to Tristan who was grinning like a father looking at his son, who just got a date for the very first time. The bastard was trying to play match maker. He looked back at the girl. She was still smiling. No wonder mighty men fell for woman.

    ¡°I guess I can spare an hour.¡± He reluctantly agreed.

    ¡°Great¡± she said. ¡°I saw an inn not on my way here. I¡¯ll buy the first round.¡±

    They left, Tinker had a good look at her. She had the curves in all the right places and was a bit taller than him. It did not take long before they found said in and went in. They ordered a drink, she got wine and he settled for some tangy juice.

    ¡°Hi, I am Trixy by the way. You are Tinker right?¡±

    ¡°Yep, and hi.¡±

    ¡°You have to tell me all about yourself.¡±

    ¡°Not much to say I am afraid. Started in a city called Avelon. Been questing and adventuring ever since.¡±

    She looked at him. Like she was expecting him to talk about his greatest feats and moments. That is right you harpy in disguise, I won¡¯t be fooled by you. He thought

    ¡°Come now, there had to be some interesting things to come along your way?¡±

    ¡°Some, most of the good stuff are secret and the rest of the things are normal. Some items here, and loot there. Met some interesting people along the way, and then killed them. You know, normal adventuring stuff.¡±

    ¡°Really? You can¡¯t tell a girl you have secrets, and then you don¡¯t share. Perhaps if I tell you some of mine, you will tell me some of yours?¡± She said why a sly smile.

    ¡°Tempting, but no. I am rather a shy fellow. What type of elf are you?¡±

    ¡°A shame, I have secrets that would make you blush. I am a high elf.¡±

    ¡°Still tempting, but no. I don¡¯t really know how to distinguish between you elves.¡±

    ¡°Well, we high elves are the tallest kind around, we live in cities and so on. Wood elves are the shortest and live in the woods and value nature above all else. Snow elves have paler skins and live in isolated regions and adopt a more nomadic life style. Dark elves look way different apparently and have no idea where or how they live. There are not many more elves out there.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, you are the first elf I talked to, who actually knows a bit about their history. What class are you?¡±

    ¡°Archer, but I spend most of my time wondering around. I am not very fond of going into dark dungeons or caves and killing blindly. I prefer the great outdoors and beauty of things.¡±

    ¡°That is understandable. It explains how you got to Tristan.¡±

    ¡°Yes, my love for plants. How did you come to him?¡±

    ¡°If I think about it, it was more an accident than anything else. I wanted to learn alchemy. I like figuring out what things do and then mixing them together. At the time I only thought plants and legendary items like dragon meat en phoenix tears could be used. So when I got here I asked to talk to someone about plants and who can teach me the alchemy skill. Since Tristan was the leading expert in plants we got talking. Then the book came up, and I asked him if it could be used for other things that are not plants.¡±

    ¡°Really? You thought of it all by yourself?¡±

    ¡°Yep, I was more thinking, would it not be convenient to have a book that could also store all the information of other things so that I would not have to remember it all. After some thought we figured out a way.¡±

    ¡°Do you mind if I look at the book?¡±

    ¡°Not at all.¡± He took it out and placed it on the table. It was a big book and occupied most of the table. She opened it up. Looked at a few pages.

    ¡°Impressive, you seem to have been busy. Here are a lot of things in here. I am not sure I want a book that can record everything. Did you struggle to get all the other masters to agree?¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t say I struggled, but it was no walk in the park either.¡±

    ¡°What did you do for them?¡±

    ¡°Well, I donated some plants to the greenhouse, that pleased the grounds keeper. I got some sweet cherries for Lord Lancelot a week before the season started. Cooked for the master in room 4 for the needy. Helped Jim with a personal errand. Went and collected samples in a spider cave for Gettafix. Traveled to a forest and collected fairy dust for the guild master.¡±

    ¡°Wow, you did all that. I guess I need to start soon if I want a book of my own.¡±

    Just like that their conversation was over. Their drinks were about done and she got all the information she wanted from him. They said their good bye and Tinker whispered under his breath. ¡°So long you dreadful witch.¡±

    ¡°What is that?¡± she asked. Dam elves and their pointy ears. ¡°I said, hope your journey goes off without a hitch.¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡± She gave him a smile and wink as she left.

    On his way back to the alchemy guild he knew he did the right thing. Players like her are not interested in guys. Their looks and evil smiles are just tools. You use tools to achieve your goals.

    Back in Tristan office they were finally alone.

    ¡°And?¡± Tristan asked rather cheerfully.

    ¡°And what?¡± Tinker asked.

    ¡°She seemed rather nice. You can¡¯t be a single man forever.¡±

    ¡°Why not? You seem to be doing just fine?¡±

    ¡°Is that how it seems? I am married to my work. Now I am old, and like all old men I have regrets. Not finding a wife is one of them.¡±

    ¡°Come now Tristan. You still got some time left.¡±

    ¡°I do, I have made my choices and now must live with them, you on the other hand are still young and just starting out. Now stop trying to change the topic. How did the drinks go?¡±

    ¡°Not good, once I told her what I did and how I got the masters to agree, she left.¡±

    ¡°A pity, I wanted to say you were back rather fast.¡±

    ¡°Maybe you should stick to alchemy and stay away from trying to play Cupid?¡±

    Tristan looked at him strangely. ¡°What is a Cupid?¡±

    ¡°It is a man baby that goes around and shoots people with love arrows. He matches you up and makes someone fall in love with you.¡±

    ¡°That sounds ridicules. You can¡¯t force love and I don¡¯t think a man baby can be that good an archer.

    Your world has some strange beliefs.¡±

    ¡°Have you looked around lately? Your world is the one that is strange. If there are demons, dragons and dozen Gods. Why can¡¯t there be one man baby that does that?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps, have you seen this Cupid before?¡±

    ¡°No, but I have seen his work. Have you never wondered why the most odd couples and worst matched people end up together?¡±

    ¡°Yes, circumstance and opportunity. All rational explanations. The love that forms between such people is beyond me.¡±

    ¡°You are ever the practical man. It is that love factor that people can¡¯t explain that they say Cupid has control over.¡±

    ¡°Well, if you put it like that. Why can¡¯t there be a God in charge of the complicated emotions that are love?¡±

    ¡°He is not a God, he is just a guy. I think there once was a culture that regarded him as a God, now we just use him as an excuse, for when a nice girl you are after likes your friend, instead of you.¡±

    ¡°Marvelous. I would like to visit your world and study it. Some days you outlanders sound intellectual, until I hear things like this, and can¡¯t help but wonder how you form a functioning society.¡±

    ¡°Sure. Now what is new around here?¡±

    ¡°Not much, live goes on. More people have come for my book. A lot got it and more than a few have managed to make a book like yours. How are things with you?¡±

    ¡°Busy and ongoing as ever. My alchemy skill is coming along. I did find something you might be interested in?¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Tristan seemed like a 5 year old about to receive a gift. Tinker took out the dirt he got from the Tower.

    ¡°This dirt allows a person to grow near any plant in it. What I understand is that any seed or whatever you use, will start growing, after that normal factors like sun, water and space take an effect.¡±

    Tristan took it, he seemed to chant a spell or two. ¡°Truly magnificent, do you mind if I keep it for a while to study it? If I can learn what exactly the composition is, and how much of each item is inside I can maybe replicate it and that way I can germinate any seed and start growing rare plants.¡±

    ¡°Sure, I was not planning to use it now anyway. We got it after we killed an Earth Golem.¡±

    ¡°Good, maybe when you come back in a few days I will be done with it and tell you what I have learned.¡±

    ¡°Ok, you don¡¯t know of any good quests with high rewards that takes about a month to complete?¡±

    ¡°There are none in the guild. My brother Lancelot did mention he was looking for outlanders to solve a problem he had not so long ago. Maybe go talk to him.¡±

    ¡°Thanks. Mind if I stock up on bottles again?¡±

    ¡°Not at all, here is the key. Go take what you need and bring it back or send it back once you leave. I am glad to see that you have not forgotten about your alchemy. It is encouraging that you are using so many potions.¡±

    ¡°Thanks again. Currently I am using a lot but gave away a many to my fellow party members.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps when there is time you can come and tell me of your latest adventure. You seem to be in a hurry and I am rather eager to start my analysis on this dirt.¡±

    They parted ways. Tinker went to the room at the end of the hallway and nearly emptied it again. He only took things he used and needed. And then he took a few more things he might need later, after that he took the last things that looked expensive. Those type of things were odd shaped bottles or the more larger containers. A person could easily put 5 liters of fluid into some of the larger bottles.

    His herbal pouch was almost full for the first time.

    He was about to return to Tristan with the key when a young apprentice walked by.

    ¡°Hey you. Give this key to Master Tristan and tell who ever fills this store room, they should do so again.¡±

    He nodded and took the key. Tinker left feeling partially guilty. Tristan told him to take what he needed and he mostly took what he needed, or might need.

    Before he walked to the palace he stopped at a couple of vendors. Got some new needle and string. Food supplies from another. The items he got from the Tower he planned on using. He did go buy some bolts. He bought steel tipped. It was the second best type the shop had. He even equipped his new 1 handed crossbow to his side. It was not that big and he thought it looked rather nice. Now he had two sword sheaths, an herbal pouch and now a crossbow that hanged down to almost his knee.

    He had time to look over the crossbow. A person could set which type of bolts you want to fire first if you had more than one type. It did not bother him. But he thought that maybe he could poison some of his bolts. Due to the game or world mechanics a person could just coat or dip the item into poison and it will be 100% effective. If you have a sword and jump in a river, it will lose its coating of poison. Same held true for rain. It will work 100% until it decided it has gotten to wet and then all the poison would be gone. Since the bolts would be in his back pack he would fine.

    He arrived at the palace. It was truly the gem of the Heaven kingdom. He still had the Collins sigil and after he showed it to a guard he was left alone to go where he wanted. Upon arrival at the house/office of the Lord Collins he lost hope as he saw how busy it was. At least 15 people were sitting around waiting a turn. He saw someone waving.

    Of course it had to be Trixy. He gave her a half wave back and went to the old lady at the front to get an appointment. There was an open space right next to her table so he sat down there. He removed some poisons and started coating bolt tips. He did not even have the archery skill. Yuri told him that he must just start shooting and it will come eventually. What made level 1 archery simple was that it did not take much to learn it.

    It was much like swinging a sword or attacking with it. Repeat it long enough and you can learn it. If that does not happen he should pay an Npc to do it. The up side of just shooting on your own was, that when enough time has passed and you magically learn the skill. You don¡¯t start on 0% of level 1. All the practice and training before then, gets added to your level.

    At some point Trixy came over and sat next to him, after the person that was sitting there was called to enter.

    ¡°Hi there stranger. What ya doing?¡±

    ¡°Hello. Coating some bolts with poison. Plan on learning the archery skill soon.¡±

    She actually laughed at him. ¡°Using a bow is much better. Only lazy people use those.¡±

    Tinker could not argue against that. That time he in the tower when he was defending the fortified position, he was just standing around and hoping someone would come to them. With this crossbow his range attacks went from zero to something. He could already see himself engaging or retreating with one sword and crossbow in the other hand.

    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    ¡°Well, at least let me admire your equipment.¡± He removed the crossbow from his side and gave it to her. The way she said it sounded like she might be serious.

    In near moments. ¡°Wow, this pretty good. Definitely rare item rank. I thought it would be way weaker. Where did you find this?¡±

    ¡°Hahaha, one of those many secrets we talked about earlier.¡± She did not like that reply.

    ¡°Fine, keep them. If that was a big two handed crossbow I think you could have made a small fortune.¡±

    ¡°Indeed. Not sure how I am going to use this in my current play style exactly. Sure a person can shoot and use it to stab and even block.¡±

    ¡°Yes, so what brings you to Lord Collins?¡±

    ¡°A possible quest. Just came to hear what it is all about. What brings you around, done with the grounds keeper already?¡±

    ¡°Ah and no. After I heard what you did, I think I will be able to get access the same way. I got a few rare plant specimens from my travels I could donate. If this guy gives a hard quest I might go ask another lord for a different quest.¡±

    ¡°That seems smart.¡±

    ¡°I doubt, I will be as lucky and fast as you, but a girl never knows.¡±

    ¡°Sure¡± was all Tinker said. There was an awkward silence, lucky it was broken by the old receptionist saying.

    ¡°Those from Lord Lancelot¡¯s brother my enter now.¡±

    They both stood up and went in. On the inside sat Lord Lancelot at his table. He seemed to have gone completely gray now. The last time Tinker saw him, he still had a few non grey hairs left. He told Trixy that she can talk to him first.

    ¡°My Lord, I come from your brother Master Tristan, in the hopes of receiving your sigil that I may gain access to the greenhouse.¡±

    ¡°Another? I swear ever since the word spread about his dam book, I have more outlanders in here than citizens. I am reaching the point where I am running out of tasks to ask. So tell me young lady. Any particular skills that you have?¡±

    ¡°I am a hunter and tracker sir, with a high skill in alchemy.¡±

    ¡°Well then. I might send you on the same task I sent the previous three. What about you young man? You also here for me, or are you with her?¡±

    ¡°Here on a different matter sir. Tristan told me that you have been having a problem which needed some looking into.¡±

    ¡°He did now? Why do you look so familiar?¡±

    ¡°I am Tinker, we once had a meal at the palace together.¡±

    ¡°Ah yes, the one my brother never shuts up about. No matter how many new outlanders come to him, he always compares and rates them against you. Don¡¯t tell him I said that though. Now it just so happens I do have a task for you. I want both of you to go to a town with the name of Tear. It is about 2 hours travel from here. Once there I want you to investigate why there are so few orphans.¡±

    ¡°Ok, is there any more information?¡± Trixy asked

    ¡°Yes, Tear is the place where we send orphans or troubled children. Now normally I do not care what happens. But lately if have been receiving disturbing reports. These reports are just rumors and hear say. Many of the kids have gone missing. Again I would not care, because they are a drain on the kingdom, but these kids are not appearing around in neighboring cities and towns. A general asked me to investigate. For years they have recruited many young men and woman for the military once they reach the age of 18, but the past year or so, his numbers have been decreasing drastically. To give you an idea. If a hundred kids get sent there every month. Only about 10 of them are currently ending up in the military. Where are the usual 70 others and what about the other kids?¡±

    ¡°Sounds very suspicious. Who is in charge of this town?¡±

    ¡°A lord by the name of Lopen. I did request to see his paper work for the kids and disguised it as a routine check up for budget purposes. I don¡¯t think, that he knows I am on to him. His paper work checks out. Each gold coin is accounted for and each child that has left the town, did so at an appropriate age and are now at our borders or other kingdoms, working.¡±

    ¡°It sounds too good to be true.¡±

    ¡°It does, I don¡¯t have to tell you to be as discreetly about it as possible, my name should not be mentioned at all. Do you accept the quest?¡±

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Orphans call:

    Investigate the situation in Tear regarding the possible reduced numbers of orphans.

    Quest level D

    Reward: Trixy will gain the Collins sigil.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    ¡°My lord, I respectfully have to decline. As much as it pains me to hear of the orphans, I am looking for a quest with more rewards.¡± Tinker spoke for the first time

    ¡°Of course you are. I was getting to that. The king has something planned two weeks from now. The other notable Lords of rank must each choose a champion that is an outlander. If you complete this task for me, I will name you my champion for whatever the king has got planned. You will have to succeed and be done with the quest within two weeks.¡±

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Orphans call:

    Investigate the situation in Tear regarding the possible reduced numbers of orphans.

    Quest level D

    Reward: Trixy will gain the Collins sigil. Tinker will be given another quest with unknown rewards </td></tr></tbody></table>

    ¡°I accept and will do my best.¡±

    ¡°Yes, try and impress me half as much as you had my brother.¡±

    ¡°Excuse me my lord, I see that this is a group quest. Him and I are not in a party.¡±

    ¡°O, I just assumed you were dating or something. The others I had sent to investigate have not returned. Maybe it best that you go together, that way you have someone watching your back.¡±

    ¡°As you wish sir, I hope to report back to you soon.¡±

    ¡°Now if there is nothing else?¡±

    ¡°Yes sir, do you have an idea what the kings had planned and how many other champions will be there?¡±

    ¡°I do have an idea, don¡¯t worry about it. Focus on your task at hand, if I choose you, I will tell you all I know.¡±

    They said their goodbyes and left.

    ¡°I guess that makes us temporary partners. You are going to invite me to a party or should I do the honors?¡±

    ¡°You might as well. Just give me a few seconds to tell my current party I am leaving them for a while.¡±

    He decided not to tell them he was going with a female elf. He told her he needed to make one more stop before he left. She said she was ready to go and would tag along with him. They went over to the guild house. He removed his BoS cape and put it on. He entered and she followed him.

    ¡°Hey you, were you not one of the guys in the tower of Terok Nor?¡± A random guild member asked that was sitting with a group of others.

    ¡°Yes I was.¡± Tinker said and started walking to Major¡¯s office.

    ¡°How was it man? We just heard about the awesome items and how you guys got like 15 levels for one week of play which is sick by the way.¡±

    ¡°Yes it was. If you would not mind. I am here to see Major.¡±

    ¡°He is out. Come sit, bring your lady friend. Come tell us all about your adventure.¡±

    ¡°Sorry guys, I got the next adventure to go on, and she over here is not a member of the guild so watch what you say around her.¡±

    ¡°O sorry. We just assumed she was with you. You special knights seem to be busy with rather unique things.¡±

    ¡°No problem. Who else can I talk to, to get my money from the battle of Tanaris?¡±

    ¡°You just go over to Barry at the bank and he will help you out.¡±

    ¡°Thanks. So long guys. Maybe next time I will tell you what happened¡±

    They left the guild house. He removed his cape and told Trixy the bank would be his last stop.

    ¡°I heard. So you really are a member of the BoS guild and a special knight of some kind?¡±

    ¡°Yep and yep. All those secrets you know.¡±

    ¡°Yes¡± was all she said as she looked him over as if they were meeting for the first time.

    The bank was a large building. Thick stone walls, the normal looking type of place. Inside it was not very busy. A quick chat told him that Barry¡¯s office was on the third floor and he had a small waiting area. When they got there, the door was open so he knocked and went it. Trixy invited herself along.

    ¡°Good day sir. I am Barry, what may I do for you today?¡±

    ¡°Hi, I am Tinker from the BoS. I hear you the guy that has the money.¡±

    ¡°Yes I am. More accurately I am the guy that makes sure you get the money. The actual money is kept below in the vaults. Now are you here to collect, borrow or deposit.¡±

    ¡°Collect.¡±

    ¡°One moment please.¡± He took out two books from his draw desk and got to work. In about 30 seconds he spoke again.

    ¡°Ah yes. Tinker. The guild has money which it owes you. How much do you want?¡±

    ¡°All of it.¡±

    ¡°Very well. You earned 70 gold for your participation in the battle of Tanaris. You have 375 gold earned, which the guild took. Before you get over exited, let me tell you some things, since this is your first time here. The loot from gold, items and other valuables obtained during the battle had been collected and sold by now. That 375 gold is not yours, but you helped earn it. If you ever want to borrow money we will use this value to determine how much you will be getting. The more you earn the better the chances are of me approving your loan. Do you understand?¡±

    ¡°Yes I do, so I will never see that money and if I want it, I can get it, but need to pay it back.¡±

    ¡°Yes, also I see that you earned 500 gold for being the champion of the battle. Congratulations sir. What I was told they outnumbered you lot 5 to 1. You must have done something spectacular to be named the best of the best.¡±

    ¡°Something like that. Did you say 500? Here I thought it would be like 200 gold or something¡±

    ¡°Yes sir, 500. I further see that you have no other money that is related to the guild. Would you be interested to store money in the bank?¡±

    ¡°You say store. Do I get interest or something for it?¡±

    ¡°No sir. It is just a place to store your money. As you know the world is full of thieves and the more gold you carry, the more drops on your death. As I am led to understand, that many times you and your friends are unable to gather the things lost. This way you minimize the amount you lose.¡±

    ¡°How much will this cost me?¡±

    ¡°10 gold sign fee and after that a hundred gold each year. If you want you may store items and such things also, once you are a member.¡±

    ¡°Ok, will I be able to draw money from any bank out of my account?¡±

    ¡°I am afraid not sir. The banks are independent. You can only take money from the bank where you left it.¡±

    ¡°Well I think I will have to pass. I don¡¯t plan on dying soon again and coming here each time for my money can become a bit much.¡±

    ¡°Very well sir. Know I am here for all your banking needs and if you take this paper down to a clerk he or she will get you your gold.¡±

    They parted ways and Tinker got his 570 gold. He felt rich. His money pretty much doubled. He may not have been as rich as the others but now he felt less like the poor friend. He doubted he needed the money now, but you never know what expenses are in the future.

    He and Trixy left the city, they set a fast pace towards Tear.

    Along the way they got talking again. Or more like Trixy kept asking questions and Tinker was doing his best not to give honest and complete answers.

    ¡°Tell me more about this battle you were the champion of? How did you join the BoS? Is it true that the BoS is the strongest guild in the Heaven Kingdom? Why do you hide the fact you a member by not wearing your cape? What did you do exactly to earn that 500 gold? What else are you hiding?¡±

    At some point he realized that she would never stop and she reluctantly accepted his answers. He went on the offensive and asked her a bunch of questions instead.

    She was from Tullen. The High elves had a city there. The city was on par with the capital of Tullen and more than a few people said the high elves city was grander. Around the city was a forest with 4 large paved roads leading in and out. Inside the forest were your standard paths and so forth. It had everything an elf would need to become the best archer or hunter he can be. The city boasted with temples to all the major elven Gods and even had a few human temples.

    By the sound of it Trixy started about a month in game time after Tinker and have been busy in the Tullen Kingdom until now. She seemed to be you¡¯re a typical hunter and she enjoyed doing quests more than going to clear out dungeons repeatedly. She was reaching the point in her alchemy skill where it just became too much paper work to write down all the effects of her plants. Thus she jumped on the internet and researched the topic.

    That was where she found a post about this magical alchemy book, that a master in the Heaven kingdom had. The topic was posted by some random person, but more than a few replies confirmed the existence of such a book. She did some more research on the book and capital itself. It was here that she read the dominant or strongest guild in the capital was a guild called the Brotherhood of Steel.

    The information on them was not accurate. Some claimed they were just thugs and cheats. Other claimed them to be fighters of great skill and some even claimed them to be the best. The one thing she could figure out, that none of the posts seemed to confirm anything concrete. She concluded herself that this guild had to be strong and maybe the best. Because no other guild was talked about so much in and around the capital.

    ¡°So how does a human city differ from the elves city?¡±

    ¡°The architecture for one. The Elves have more public buildings and parks than human buildings instead of rich lords manors and estates. The crime is low and there is less violence. They also have a rich and poor parts in the city. It is mainly the other races that live in the poor part of the city. The high elves are rather racist.¡±

    ¡°Really? Here I thought they are all tree loving people?¡±

    ¡°Not so, the high elves look down at all the other races. Especially the hybrids of high elves that had children with the lesser races.¡±

    ¡°That sounds like a normal race problem that we in the real world can relate to. So why do the high elves hate the hybrids more than others?¡±

    ¡°The high elves view themselves as the pure elven race. So mixing with the lesser races is bad for them. It all comes down to the history of elves.¡±

    ¡°Which is?¡±

    ¡°Ok, so millions and billions of years ago as the 4 major races were created, there was only one elf race. Over the millenniums the other elf races formed. Since high elves are more susceptible to magic, it makes sense that most of the races are a divergent of elves. I see you are confused, let me explain more.¡±

    ¡°You know that there are different type of elves right? So a long time ago some elves started worshiping other Gods and creatures. They moved away from the high elves and after some time a new race appeared. Like the wood elves got shorter and got brown hair. Dark elves decided to worship dark gods and thus they physically changed the most. It seems that the elves changed into something resembling the new Gods they worshipped.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like a bit much.¡±

    ¡°What other explanation you have for all the different races running about? Goblins do look a lot like ugly elves. Mole people look a lot like stupid and ugly humans. Think back to all the races you have seen. I am sure all of them can trace their linage back to the 4 first races. The one race I have problem placing are the gnomes. Where they elves or dwarves before their transformation?¡±

    ¡°Maybe they were the hybrids between the two races.¡±

    ¡°Now you thinking along the right lines. There are three distinct human races you know? You are the common one. The huge barbarians are one and then there are the Halflings. At first I thought Halflings and Gnomes are the same. But they are not. Gnomes are smaller if you will believe it and have more of an elf complexion.¡±

    ¡°Now that you mention it. I am not sure if I have ever met n Halfling. I just assumed all the small guys were gnomes. So which elven race are the most common?¡±

    ¡°We high elves. I do not know the exact numbers. I don¡¯t really care either way.¡±

    ¡°I am trying to think. What races are from dwarves?¡±

    ¡°None come to mind nor that have crossed my path. Dwarves have that whole stubborn thing and the most natural resistance against magic. Probably why they have not changed their ways in so long.¡±

    <hr />

    Hey, This chap was a bit late. got busy and all that. So this is just like some random info. Some of the tower. Some what Tinker has been doing till now and some about elves. The part where there are 4 original races is not made up and Accurate LMS history which i read somewhere.

    Going to post a pic or two in my important images here topic.

    As always feel free to ask or comment. I Will be here....silently waiting....writing....planning world domination and so on.

    Next week some time you guys can expect the next chapter.

    Chapter 28 : Orphans blessing

 Chapter 28 :Orphans blessing

    ¡°Ok, so time to talk about what our plan of approach is for the quest?¡± Tinker asked

    ¡°I think we must pretend to be travelers. It would give us the excuse to talk to many people and ask questions. I am not sure how bright you are, but I will assume you won¡¯t be obvious in your questions.¡±

    ¡°No, I will ask the usual stuff and try not to be too obvious. So we each going to go ask our own questions?¡±

    ¡°Yes, divide and conquer. Besides I do the best of my gathering alone.¡±

    Tinker could just imagine how that went. She faking interest in what a person has to say. Laughing at all your jokes, hanging on your every word. He got the shivers when he thought what evil intentions hid behind that pretty face.

    ¡°We also need a backup plan.¡± Trixy said.

    ¡°Ok, what did you have in mind?¡±

    ¡°We pretend we are a couple and want to adopt.¡±

    Tinker actually missed a step. ¡°What now? Will they buy that?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t see why not. We young, I am a High elf. Better to adopt then to have a half breed baby and all that. Also we are players so adoption is pretty much our only option if you get what I am saying?¡±

    ¡°I do, it¡¯s just that I don¡¯t see myself as the married type. What if they ask more questions or want proof?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I doubt they will ask for our marriage certificate or something. We can fake and act the part of a married couple. If they want the proof, we will post pone and buy time while we look at our options for adoption.¡±

    ¡°Ah ok, so should we not think and work a bit on our back story.¡±

    ¡°Yep, It was love at first sight. Me, the jewel of the High elves, you a warrior of great renown. We met weeks ago in the palace gardens. I was there for my love of plants and nature. You were there for the simplicity and to focus your thoughts before your next battle. You were sitting at the best spot in the gardens, I came over and you offered me your seat without hesitation. From there the rest is history.¡±

    ¡°Hmmm, sounds bit farfetched but stranger things have happened.¡±

    ¡°O really, like what?¡±

    ¡°I donno, just seemed like the thing to say. So after I gave you my seat then what happened?¡±

    ¡°We talked of course, we talked for two days without pause while wondering the entire grounds. After the two days you proposed on the spot. I accepted and we got married about a week later. Now we have been happy ever since.¡±

    Tinker just nodded. It did not sound at all like him, but best he just went with her story. That way it was easier to remember and he could always use the line ¡°You tell them the story honey, you tell it so much better than I.¡±

    ¡°You happy and fine with the story?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s ok I guess. So what type of child we looking to adopt?¡±

    ¡°A girl, young, maybe about 7 years or so. One that will become a great beauty one day, like her mother.¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± Tinker said while giggling.

    They swapped more ideas back and forth on their way to Tear. Trixy would talk mostly to men and the lord in charge of the place. That would leave the woman and children for him.

    Not long after they arrived at the town. It was larger than Tinker thought it would be. It was also well fortified. He could not help but wonder was it to keep something out or the orphans in? They passed into the town easy enough and saw what you would suspect to see in a normal town. People going about their day. It did not seem like there was many kids running around though. They parted ways and agreed to hook up later.

    Tinker walked over to the nearest guard and asked if there was a warriors guild here.

    ¡°No warriors guild. The garrison acts as the muscle around here.¡±

    ¡°Is there anything special about this garrison? I am pretty sure every town that has a warriors guild also has a garrison.¡±

    ¡°That they do. Ours is rather large. Instead of a military camp, we have one of the largest garrisons around with training ground and facilities.¡±

    ¡°Ok. That explains the heavy fortifications. Are there like any monsters or beasts that threaten the town?¡±

    ¡°Not really no. People just get stationed here for a while before they are redeployed elsewhere. We train about 1000 soldiers every 6 months here. They all come from somewhere and after basic training they get sent away and a new bunch come and take their place.¡±

    ¡°Ah, so are you one of the 1000?¡±

    ¡°No, I live here now, moved here about 5 years ago. Got myself a wife when I was a doing my training here.¡±

    ¡°Congratulations. So where do those go and work that join the training from Tear?¡±

    ¡°Some stay and others leave to see the world. I don¡¯t know if you know this. But Tear has the largest facilities for orphaned and troubled kids in the province. Those from all the neighboring regions send their unwanted to us.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t seem to mind.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t, my wife is an orphan and came here from some city. There she lived on the street and sometimes went days without eating, at least here they get food and have things to do.¡±

    ¡°Really, I can¡¯t imagine kids listening to you lot.¡±

    ¡°There are enough guards around the town to prevent them from running off. We have a simple system here. If you don¡¯t do what you are told, you don¡¯t eat. Don¡¯t get me wrong friend, we don¡¯t treat them like slaves. It is better than the alternative of beating them. At one stage or another all these children were beaten, where they come from. This way and method we get the best results.¡±

    ¡°I see yes, so are there any quests or things that need doing around here?¡± Tinker thought best not to press the issue, he got his first lead.

    ¡°Not that I know off. Between us and the children almost everything gets done. The few things we can¡¯t, the rest of the town does or the Lord Lopen gets someone to do it.¡±

    ¡°Very good, I might go and ask him if I have the time. Can you tell me the way to an Inn?¡±

    Tinker found himself at one of the inns. It seemed good enough. Not the best, but it would do. He ordered a drink and when asked what he wants to eat, he asked to speak with the cook. The waiter was not happy. The cook was not either. After some back and forth between Tinker and the cook it became clear that the cook was losing her patients. The inns owner came to the table to hear what all the fuss was about.

    Tinker claimed to have a very delicate stomach and needed to give precise instructions for his meal. Since he knew a thing or two about cooking it came naturally. After some more arguing he finally said he would go into the kitchen and supervise the cook personally. The owner did not mind, he wanted the money. The cook did not seem happy, but what can she do when the boss gives an order.

    Tinker had his glass and started giving orders. First he told the cook to cut his meat with the grain, to cut the vegetable in equal blocks and not strips. Between the orders he asked a few questions. All of them were about cooking and food in general. Here towards the end of his meal he casually asked do they have theft problems from troubled orphans.

    ¡°We did, almost every day some years back , they would try something funny. But as of late they do not come anymore.¡±

    ¡°Really, why is that?¡±

    ¡°I think lord Lopen finally got of his noble behind and started doing his job. Now that you mention it. Less and less of them have been causing trouble and running around in town. I don¡¯t believe that it is the guards doing a good job. They keep them from running off and only do light patrol work in town.¡±

    ¡°Sounds to me, that things are going well. Are there many people adopting these days?¡±

    ¡°I doubt it, most of the time orphans get taking in by an aunt of grandparents. I am not sure where and how they find all these kids, but they do.¡±

    Tinker had just gotten about all the information he was going to get from her. He thanked her for the food, settled the bill and left. Outside he was thinking of who to talk to next. Maybe a child of some kind. It took him the remainder of the day to find a child that was alone. The child went into an alley. Tinker followed.

    As he came in said alleyway it was a dead end. There were three doors and not any places to hide. He went from door to door to try and open them. All three were locked. He highly doubted the child would have unlocked a door, go in and close it again, unless she had a key. His options were to wait or break down a door. In fear of causing a scene he did not kick down the nearest door.

    After about five minutes his eye saw something wooden in a dark corner, caused by the shadows of setting son. He missed it the first time, but as his eyes adjusted to the dark he could see it. He went over and saw it was a type of cellar door. As stealthy as he could be he opened it and entered. His eyes needed some time to adjust to the complete darkness. He was in no hurry and waited. He heard no sounds and when he could see as well as he thought he would in complete darkness he went forward.

    There were some barrels and other junk in the hallway leading away from the entrance. In the distance he could hear voices faintly. He followed the sound ever deeper. As he came closer he could clearly hear it were children voices. He crouched down by a door, which was the room the sounds came from.

    ¡°What about old man Pearson?¡±

    ¡°He already gave us food three days ago.¡±

    ¡°Then we have no more options. What you brought today will not last long. I will go out tonight and try and steal what I can.¡±

    ¡°But Hans, Gretal went out two days ago, she has not come back and she is not at the institute.¡±

    ¡°Maybe you just missed her.¡±

    ¡°She, like the others have all gone missing.¡±

    ¡°I heard that that Tomtom got a letter from his half brother that was adopted a while ago.¡± A third voice said.

    ¡°I don¡¯t trust it. As soon as the others start talking about how those that leave never contact us again, some random letters arrive. I just find it hard to believe.¡±

    ¡°We were seven two weeks ago. Now only the three of us remain.¡±

    ¡°What else can we do?¡±

    There was crying and someone tried to calm down the little girl. Tinker waited another 10 minutes but it seems they were done talking. At least the crying stopped. To him it sounded like these kids were in trouble. Now he had to come up with a plan. If he just walked into the room, they might run away. He had no idea if there were other routes in and out of the room. Running in with a sword would probably not be the best approach. He decided to use food.

    He took some out and stood at the entrance. ¡°Evening, I have some free food for you guys. I am here to help.¡±

    ¡°Run!¡± was all he heard. Tinker lit his torch. The room was small and seemed to have a small fire place and rags that looked like beds. In various places he could see three people trying to hide.

    ¡°I can see you. Come now, if I wanted to harm you guys I would have done so already.¡±

    The little girl started crying again.

    ¡°I was sent here to investigate why so many of you have gone missing.¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t believe you.¡±

    ¡°Believe what you will. Here take this food and tell me what is going on. The sooner you do, the sooner I can help.¡±

    After about 15 minutes of sweet talk and arguments they came to get the food and sit down. They were not very talkative and Tinker did most of the talking. After some time he realized that something was terribly wrong here and no one could really be trusted. It sounded like these children all got adopted and then they never get heard from again. In a conspiracy of this size it was hard to tell how many and who all were involved. He could only say with certainty that Lord Lopen was involved.

    He told the children to wait here. It was about time to hook up with Trixy and hear what she has found. He left some more food behind and left them. Trixy sent him a pm and said she needed another hour or two. That left him some time to go scout the house of this Lord Lopen. He highly doubted he would see anything, but the way things looked now he would need to go in that house to snoop around. He marked possible places to enter, the number of guards and so forth.

    Two hours later Trixy met him. ¡°I have found some things, what did you learn.¡± Tinker asked

    ¡°That Lord Lopen and more than a dozen guards are selling children in groups to cults and the shady type of people that need little children. They have been at it for years. But since Lord Lopen became the leader or a high up in a cult that moved here recently the number of kids that have gone missing increased greatly. I don¡¯t think the commander of garrison here is one of them, but the second in command is definitely involved. What did you learn?¡±

    ¡°About the same¡± Tinker had no idea how she managed to get that all in just a few hours without being chased away. He should definitely be wary of her. ¡°I found a hide out with some kids in them. They also seem to notice that their friends have gone missing and that something is off.¡±

    ¡°Ok, so now what do we do?¡±

    ¡°We need proof, how much of what you just told me can you prove?¡±

    ¡°Nothing, all just talk and hear say. I don¡¯t think I can persuade any of them to confess.¡±

    ¡°Then we need to catch them in the act or find damming evidence.¡±

    ¡°How does this Lord¡¯s house security look?¡±

    ¡°Easy enough I guess. How is your lock picking skills?¡±

    ¡°Fair to good.¡±

    ¡°Ok, then maybe you should go in there and have a look around.¡±

    ¡°Ok, what will you be doing?¡±

    ¡°I am going back to ask those children where are possible places where cult stuff can be happening in town and also going to ask a guild member to go over to Lord Collins and ask him what type of evidence we need to get, so that he can take action or people can believe us.¡±

    ¡°Ok, guess we will meet just before sunrise.¡±

    ¡°Works for me.¡±

    He went back to talk to the children. They were sleeping but at least they helped. It turns out there are more than a few places. They suggested the most likely place was the institute. It was the largest building where all the orphans slept and ate. Underground were the cells for the trouble makers and the rest of the rooms underground were off limits.

    Trixy found a hidden room. It seemed more of small study to the occult than an occult ritual area. In her opinion it was not damming to have those kind of things, merely embarrassing. It is clear from that study that no funny things are happening in there. The rest of the house was clean and normal looking. She could not get into the safe of the Lord, but she doubted there would be anything damming in there. The safe was located in the real study, not the hidden one. She said she would go scout out this institute and see what she can find.

    Tinker sent a guild mate over to Lord Collins as early as they could. After some back and forth with their intermediary Lord Collins said he would send a dozen or so men that can be trusted to make the arrests if they could prove that there was a cult there. Until that point there was not much else he could do. He did say that they needed witnesses or probable cause before he could send the men. You can¡¯t just arrest the Lord, conduct a search of his premises, if you then find bad things, it is all dismissible in his trail.

    If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    That night they broke into the institute. It was not that hard, Trixy did all the hard work and Tinker just followed. They had a few close calls from people walking about or a child or two that saw them from the cells. After about an hour of searching the lower or underground levels they finally found a room. The room was not even hidden. It was a large room with an iron door. It was locked and had no window so a person could not see what is going on inside.

    Trixy used her hunter skills to determine that there was no one inside and she picked the lock. Inside the room smelled of blood, had skulls of children of various ages stacked in a corner. The place had an alter in front a statue of some demon looking monster. Even the weapons used for the rituals along with all other manner of equipment were just lying around. They hit the jackpot. They left the place without disturbing anything. They successfully left the institute.

    Now that they found the ritual place, they needed a witness or someone that would turn on the cult.

    ¡°I think the second in command of the garrison is our man. I learnt most of the things I know from him. He does not seem to be in the cult, only doing it for the money.¡±

    ¡°So do we bribe him or what?¡±

    ¡°I think we need to make a deal with Lord Collins that this guy, if he turns, will not be prosecuted with the others.¡±

    ¡°Sounds good, I will tell someone to relay all that info.¡±

    The information was sent first thing in the morning and Lord Collins said he would send the men and that if the person gave names and testified, he would not be harshly punished.

    Now came the awkward part of making sure the guilty guards won¡¯t run off. Tinker decided to go visit the garrison and asked to see those in charge. Normally a request like that would be denied, but he flashed his Collins sigil and it gone done. After breakfast the commander of the garrison and about 10 men were in an office with Tinker.

    ¡°Now, tell us what is dam important that you assembled all of us here. Some of us work for a living you know.¡±

    ¡°Very well commander. This is an important matter I assure you. It has got the making of a twisted story. It is about betrayal, corruption, money and murder of children.¡±

    ¡°Leave the story telling for those that care, get to your point.¡±

    ¡°I was sent here, to investigate why there are so few children left in Tear.¡±

    ¡°Easy, we and Lord Lopen have been doing a good job.¡± The guilty guard spoke.

    ¡°Yes, on paper it seems things are going well. The reality is far from the truth. Listen good and listen well. There are people heading this way with the intention of arresting people involved in the sacrifice of children.¡±

    ¡°That is absurd, if things like that were happening here it would have come up.¡± The commander said

    ¡°Not if Lord Lopen and people close to you are guilty commander. Lord Lopen will soon answer for his crimes and so will the guilty. I need you to help arrest your guards that are guilty. Leave Lord Lopen to me.¡±

    ¡°What proof do you have stranger?¡±

    ¡°I do have some. I also feel obligated to tell that I have an offer, which lasts until I walk out this door. The offer is that the first person to come forward and confess their crimes and role in the conspiracy afoot, he or she.¡± Tinker looked to the guilty guard.¡± Most likely a he, would not receive harsh punishment or be executed like the others.¡±

    ¡°Really you can¡¯t expect a thing like this?¡± The commander said, he too was no looking at the guard that was guilty. He started to notice that he was pail as death. ¡°You!¡±. Was as far as the commander got before the guilty guard blurted out he would take the deal.

    ¡°Good, now we need the names of your fellow guards that are guilty.¡±

    ¡°All right.¡± He started naming names. After about 20 or so he stopped.

    ¡°Commander can I trust you will arrest these men and the traitor here in a discreetly manner as possible?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I will call them here a few at a time. Take thus scum down to the jail.¡± The commander actually punched him in the face. ¡°You are the worse, not only do you do evil things, you betray those that put their trust in you.¡±

    Tinker walked with the traitor down to his cell. While they were waiting for the other guilty to arrive

    Tinker did some interrogation of his own. More than a few names other than the guilty guards were mentioned.

    Well before midday a carriage and some mean looking guards arrived. They went over to Lord Lopen house, they escorted him to the carriage. After that it went to the institute. There Tinker and Trixy joined up and led the way down to the room. Tinker just hoped that they did not move the things like they do in the movies. As soon as the door opened everything will be gone. He held his breath as Trixy picked the lock. The door opened and thank goodness the room still looked the same.

    An official of the king was along with the guards and when he saw the room he told the guards to chain Lord Lopen. He took it rather well and said something in demonic tongue which no one understood. Some guards stayed behind and the rest went back.

    ¡°We are heading back to the capital so that the king may pass judgment. Where is the one witness?¡±

    ¡°He is in the cells at the garrison, along with 20 others or so.¡±

    ¡°Good, we will take him and the Lord with us. The rest will stay here until judgment is passed. Do you wish to accompany us back?¡±

    ¡°Yes please.¡±

    They arrived sometime in the afternoon back at the capital. A speedy trial was held. Lord Lopen was found guilty and he was promptly executed on charges of demonic worship and the murder of untold number of children. It was hard to estimate exactly how many he had a hand in killing.

    The traitor told the king he and the other men would escort groups at a time to ¡®families¡¯ awaiting them abroad. In truth they were taking them to the different cultists and other shady characters. But the bulk of the children were slain and sacrificed in the town. They also had the job of rounding up trouble makers and making sure the secret does not get out.

    At the end of it all, this traitor was demoted and sent to one of the worse postings in the Heaven kingdom. The other guards all got killed. An investigation would be launched into finding fellow cult members of Lord Lopen. At the end of it all, it was declared he was the leader and very few others were found. The official word was that it was a small cult, but very active and that those 20 or so guards that also got executed were the main members. The matter was soon forgotten.

    Unofficially a lot happened behind the scenes. The traitor that spoke, named many names of powerful lords and ladies that were involved in this scandal. Lord Collins deemed it would be too great a disaster if all the names came out and could destabilize many regions in the Heaven Kingdom. He said he would take care of the matter. Months later Tinker would hear that Lord Collins was blackmailing many lords and ladies to get them to do things that he wanted to further his political plans.

    Lord Collins seemed to be one of the good guys, but if he was blackmailing others to further his goals, just what were the bad guys doing to further their agenda¡¯s?

    Some of the names of Lords and Ladies Tinker remembered and he passed them on to Major. He knew Major would do things with the info. At first Tinker did not plan to do any of this, but since none of the names were mentioned at the trail he was not sure what was going on. After Lord Collins told him, he would take care of the matter, then did he only decide to give the names to Major. After all was he not the one known for blackmailing, extortion and who knows what else? Major, with the help of Dismas made good use of the information and increased the guild influence and wealth greatly.

    Before Tinker and Trixy left Tear, they went to go fetch the children that were hiding. It turned out there were more than a few groups of children hiding. Once word got out, all was made right again. An intern was sent to run the institute until a proper replacement could be found. Once the word of Lord Lopen death and reason for it reached the town of Tear, more than a few employees at the institute went missing.

    Some small and young girl that neither of them had ever seen walked up to them after they freed those down in the cells.

    ¡°Thank you for all your help. You have stopped a great tragedy. For that you will receive my blessing and be blessed from this day onwards.¡±

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Orphans Blessing

    A passive skill that increases your stats by 15 % when you are alone or more than 1 mile away from your nearest party and/or raid member. At night time the effect will increase to 30%.

    Information gathered from children will be more accurate and truthful.

    If you visit and pay tribute at a temple, shrine or any other holy site of the Goddess of Night, your blessing will double in strength for one week.

    WARNING : Harming innocent children will result in the Goddess removing your blessing.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    The little girls eyes seemed to change and she looked around for a moment all confused before she ran towards a group of others.

    They figured that the Goddess of Night had just spoken through her. Later after some research they would learn the Goddess of Night was a patron for assassins, thieves and the orphaned children. It seemed she was ok with killing for money, as long as you don¡¯t kill children. Which made sense considering the best thieves and assassins were mostly orphaned children that had a rough childhood.

    Tinker was pleased with this new passive skill. Unfortunately in raids or big battles it won¡¯t mean anything. But if he is on his own, like now, it was a major boost to his abilities.

    They completed the quest. Trixy got her sigil and went to the garden to try and gain access. She departed by giving Tinker a kiss on the cheek and adding him to her friends list. He did the same. He could not deny how easy and fast she made this last quest. Without her he would probably still been looking for the problem.

    ¡°Now, about that other quest you were talking about?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it seems it starts in just over a week. We are not really permitted to know what is going on. What I do know and can tell you, is that there is going to be a challenge or two, maybe three. We, the 12 prominent Lords and ladies are going to each send our champion for the test. I think the winner gets a title along with land and the favor of the king.¡±

    Now that interested Tinker. He could do with a title. The land did not appeal to him though. It was probably going to be some barren wasteland or something ridiculous. With his new blessing he felt confident he could take on a level 130 player. He doubted that the big boys around 150 will compete.

    But the problem was that it started in a week and he had to keep busy until then. He decided to go focus on one of his skills that was the closest to going down a level. When he checked, to his surprise it was a skill he only noticed now. Called mounted combat. He had no idea where that came from but since it was on level 1 and at 0%. He checked and saw his scavenger skill was on level 3 and 4%, a death will easily let it go back to level 2. Thus he found his skill that he would work on.

    But first he logged out to see what the all knowing internet had to say. Scot first went to the dark games union web site. He found that the information here was more what he was looking for. On other sites there was just too much info and a lot was just made up. The guys here were at least serious.

    For the sake of learning something new he fist looked what they had to say about this mounted combat skill. It is a skill as the name would suggest that helps your fighting from a mount. Knights got the skill with their class. Paladins and rangers get it on level 50. Warriors and a few other classes got it on level 100. They speculated that other classes like mages and so on would get it on level 150 or 200.

    The skill involved two things. First was that you do your normal damage and bonus damage depending on type of situation. For example if you charge on your horse and hit an enemy they take the normal damage plus the extra bit. In time that extra bit became rather a lot. Second was that the skill reduced your chances from falling off your mount and also the stamina drain. As you can imagine being struck by an arrow may not be enough to knock you of a horse but a javelin or weapon blow might just. But the higher the skill, the lower the chances.

    While he was looking and reading about the topic his saw what other things got unlocked when you are a warrior at level 100. One thing was that it became much easier to specialize into a specific sub class of warrior. For example shield man, berserker, pike man, cavalry man, infantry man or duelist. The list goes on. A person could have become one of these classes beforehand if you found a trainer or did the right quest. The other thing was that paladins and knights could also specialize in to the above mention sub classes. As a whole they all belonged to the plated melee fighters class or group.

    Some classes had specific things only to them. Like you can only go from a paladin class to a crusader class. Knights had something called a champion class. Those with more exotic classes were keeping it a secret. So far they knew spell swords were out there, but not what you have to do, to become one or which is the best or only class from to specialize into it.

    Scot did not mind still being a warrior. He tried looking for suggestions on a more specific class for him, but it seems the only other dual wielding warriors chose berserker class. He did not see himself as a berserker. He did not enjoy being hit and the fear of only getting stronger the lower you hp gets, was too much of a risk. He was sure his unique class was still out there.

    He actually read what it meant to be a duelist. It turns out you only become super strong in controlled, organize showman fighting. Dueling sounded more like a gentleman¡¯s sport. There were a bunch of rules to follow. Procedures to undertake before you may duel. While you duel you needed witnesses and a recognized official. The only up side of choosing this class was that you and every other person from the class join a global ranking system which you can watch and monitor at all time.

    Like any list of this type. Those at the top enjoyed the fame and status that came with it. Years down the line the number one ranked duelist started a school. He made a small fortune teaching and giving lessons for princes and lord lings from all over the continent.

    He decided to post something on his Tower of Terok nor in Bremen experience. He left out major details and just mentioned the loot in general. He made sure to say that he and his 19 companions completed the towers 20 levels.

    Next was what they had to say about his scavenger skill. He had a good idea what the skill did and to this point he had not seen it give him major rewards yet. According to the skill he is getting extra things from loot and he has found a few gold pieces here or some pieces of leather over there from others corpses. What caught his eyes was that a person claimed there was two ways of leveling the skill.

    The first was the way he had been doing. Going over corpses and loot from others kills and checking for things. Checking one¡¯s own kills also helped to increase the skill in this way. Since he needed to skin, harvest and just check most of their kills in general the skill level went up. The second way was digging up corpses, or grave robbing for short.

    The person making the post made the suggestion to stay away from common graves. It is the rich and famous graves a person would want to loot. He also said to make sure you do not get caught. People rather hated those who disturb the dead. To make matters worse they would fine and punish you for the theft, trespassing and digging up the dead. He jokingly added the punishment was less for killing a person than it was for digging them up.

    <hr />

    Ok. so here is the latest chapter and ends the whole Orphans calls and blessing. I wanted to make it only one chapter long and it ended up being two. Guess the name of next chapter is going to give away allot what is going to happen.

    So the classes i named like deulist, crusader, champion, pike man and so on. Not sure they exist in LMS but they do in my story. Also no where do they mention the goddess of night, I made her up as well to justify giving a strong blessing like that and even the dodgy guys like thieves and assassins deserve a goddess or patron that looks out for their interest.

    Feel free to ask and leave any and all comments.

    Next week chapter should be on time.

    Chapter 29 : Late night activities.

 Chapter 29 : Late night activities

    Scot logged back in. He had some time to think how he wanted to do this. He did not want to dig up anyone really, because of the time it would take. Braking into a small tomb or mausoleum on the other hand seemed it would be faster and yield higher rewards. After some covert information gathering he was told the dead get buried at 5 places mainly.

    The first was the normal grave yard, where the common people mostly got buried. He was not far from said graveyard so he went to have a look. It was inside the city wall and it was small. He had rode past grave yards in the real world and could tell you they needed a lot of space for a city of this size. A quick conversation revealed that the reason why it was so small, was because they needed the space. When it was full. They would start in a corner and burry the new dead, on top of the old dead. By the time they got around to it, the old body would have become part of the earth and the tombstone or whatever was used, gets thrown away and replaced by the new persons. In pure RR logic, this was a normal thing to do.

    The second was where the kings and royalty got buried. It was some place hidden under the palace or a grand burial structure, close to the third place. The third place was where the champions or people that have done the greatest service to the kingdom got buried. It was rumored that this place and the second had constant guards. The new and those guards in trouble usually found themselves on these shifts during working hours.

    The fourth was the private graves from the Lords and families that have been around for a long time. Tinker knew these were most likely the place or places he would target. They are on grounds and lands privately owned. The only problem was how he will know who to target.

    The fifth and last place was the mass graves dug right after battles or wars. But they intended not to have high amount of loot, because all the things of worth get taken from the dead for the next person that can make use of it.

    He would need some help with this, so he decided to message Antrax, he was a miner and had high luck. Maybe he could do most of the work and they share in the spoils. A quick glance in the guild tab revealed him to be in the capital and online.

    ¡°Hi Antrax, are you busy?¡±

    ¡°Not really no, here at an inn. The ladies are playing hard to get. What can I do for you?¡±

    ¡°What do you say to some digging?¡±

    ¡°

    Sounds nice. Where, when and what for?¡±

    ¡°Here, tonight and for some variable loot.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t follow.¡±

    ¡°There is no easy way to say it, I want to do some grave robbing, just to boost my scavenger skill.¡±

    ¡°O, you know they don¡¯t like it when people do it right?¡±

    ¡°I know, that is why I need someone with mining experience so that it can go fast.¡±

    ¡°Yea, ok. So what type of loot we looking at?¡±

    ¡°I am not sure. We first have to find a good place. Currently I am thinking of targeting a lords private family graveyard.¡±

    ¡°Hmmm, I think we need a third person. Someone to help with the scouting and to be a look out.¡±

    ¡°You got someone in mind?¡±

    ¡°No, I just joined the guild remember.¡±

    ¡°Ok, let us ask Quantum. He seems to be online and in the capital as well.¡±

    Thus the three way call was started.

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°Hi Quantum, you busy?¡±

    ¡°In a way yes.¡±

    ¡°O, we are looking for a person to act as a scout and lookout while do some things at night. Can you help us out or suggest someone who can?¡±

    ¡°That depends on what compensation you guys are going to give. How long it is going to take and where it all is going to take place.¡±

    They brought him up to speed and he agreed. For a 1/3 of all profits. It was a bit steep considering they were going to take all the risk, but Quantum said for that price he will kill people that got to close, instead of reporting and saving his own behind by disappearing into the night.

    Now came the hard part of who they are going to rob. Quantum actually suggested that they go to the library. Apparently families like the Collins have a duplicate book of their family history in the public library. It was still day so Tinker had some time to go look. He was surprised at the amount of family books that were there for all the world to read. He did not plan to rob the Collins so he took a book from someone else.

    After the second book he noticed that all the books did not follow the same format. Later he learned that it was the families who the books were based on responsibility to maintain and write down new and relative information. Some books were over glorified and each family member had a page dedicated to them. Others just had names and mentioned their greatest achievement.

    Tinker preferred the books that only had about a paragraph or two dedicated to them. He did not read in detail. Only read key words. At the end of it all, he did not know who of them were overselling their families history and who was accurate. He decided to then focus on the most prominent lords in the current political structure with long family history.

    He found three names. Two of them were in the city and the other was just outside the city. He asked Quantum to go scout the closest two places. Antrax told them, they should just notify him when and where he must meet up with them.

    Since he had his three locations Tinker took the Collins book. It seemed their family line went further than the current kings. It appeared each person got a paragraph. Woman had their names in the book, as soon as they got married and got a new name it would be recorded along with the name of her children and date of death. It seems once your last name was no longer Collins they did not really care what happened to you. The names of those woman that married into the family also got the bare minimum of attention. At least their greatest achievement or highest position of rank was recorded.

    Tinker was surprised to see that Tristan¡¯s farther, Arthur was buried in the hall of champions. He just thought the old man was a general but it seems he was one of the best and earned his spot. He noticed that they did not mention what items or other things of worth were buried with them. So either there would be nothing or at least something for when they go.

    He noticed in most of the books there were many peoples, whose name were just recorded and they died of an old age and there was nothing noteworthy written. He assumed that these people either lived very plain lives or were the black sheep of their family. Just goes to show that even nobles are just like normal people.

    While Tinker was the library he went and asked a person what books he must read to increase his intelligence. He now knew only books related to his profession will help him. The problem was that there were not many books for warriors. He did not have time to start read a new one so he borrowed 3 books for now. There were about 7 more, which he will leave for a later day.

    He and Antrax met Quantum at Lord Houser estate. It was about 11 at night and all seemed peaceful.

    ¡°Ok, no dogs or things like that. There is a guard at the gate, it seems none on patrol and the thing we are looking for is there in the back yard, you can¡¯t miss it.¡±

    ¡°Cool, Antrax you got your tools?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°I got my shovel, lead the way Quantum¡±

    They stuck to the shadows. The rich part of the city was quite during this time of night, not much traffic. There first challenge was the wall, where they needed to lower a rope for Antrax. Tinker could have climbed the wall but their dwarven friend needed all the help he could get. After some huff and puff they were on the estate grounds and making their way to what seemed like a small building.

    Quantum picked the lock. He slowly pushed the door open. It squeaked some, but they were down wind at least so the sound carried away. Quantum led the way inside looking for traps. There was a small room with stairs leading down. Once at the bottom it spread in different directions.

    ¡°Well, there don¡¯t seem to be traps. I¡¯ll stick around for the first coffin or tomb or whatever these things are. Then I¡¯ll be outside.¡±

    They opened the first and nearest coffin. It was not booby trapped and inside they got their first items. Mainly rusted gear which was useless but there was a ring. They went to the next coffin.

    Outside Quantum kept to the shadows and ventured a small distance towards the house. He could hear no sounds. The others were silent. He kept busy while the others were busy. He had no idea how long they would be and was rather bored himself. He was tasked to kill a fellow assassin that was also a player. The one that successfully kills the other on his own will get the chance to do a B rank quest.

    Back in the mausoleum Tinker them were very busy. For each one that Tinker opened Antrax opened three. By the time they had had cleared the western side about an hour had passed.

    ¡°Tinker buddy. In the north are more coffins. They seem to be the more resent. In the east are small tombs. I¡¯ll will have to mine into them and break some granite and marble. Damm shame really. Some of them are well decorated.¡±

    ¡°Ok. So I¡¯ll go clear those in the north and you take the east. We about done with the two other sides.¡±

    As Tinker was desecrating more coffins he could hear the hitting sounds of Antrax. It was loud and he hoped those on the surface could not really hear it. Another hour passed and they left. Quantum gave the all clear and they disappeared into the night.

    ¡°So do we hit the next spot or call it a night?¡± Tinker asked

    ¡°Go to the next. Once news of this spreads all tombs will get guards for a while.¡± Quantum added

    ¡°Works for me.¡± Antrax said.

    Next on the hit list was Lord Giller. This place was somewhat smaller but had much of the same. In just over an hour they were done. It was about 4 in the morning.

    ¡°Well guys. Some good hunting. Disappointed we got no gold, but we got many items. The crappy and rusted ones we left behind but we got some good stuff.¡±

    ¡°Good, I say we take what we can use and then give the rest for the guild.¡±

    ¡°Really Quantum, why would we give the rest of it to the guild?¡±

    ¡°I was not finished explaining. Normally we give items to the scribes that want to level up merchant skill or class or whatever it is. Now stolen loot works a bit different. Only certain people engage in these activities. It just so happen we have a guy that will sell stolen stuff.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t see how big a difference it can make?¡±

    ¡°Well, there are many factors a person needs to take into account. But also stealing family heirlooms and items like we got, will boost this merchant reputation and skill. He takes the risk of being caught and if he gets caught and talks, he loses % in his skill. If he does not talk and does the time. Not only does his % in skill rise. But so does his reputation.¡±

    ¡°OK, sounds good. How much money we looking at?¡±

    ¡°I guess about 50%. We will get more if we sell it ourselves but as I said. Dealing in stolen merchandise is tricky business. The up side is, that if he gets caught, they won¡¯t confiscate all our stolen goods, because this guy caries the bare minimum on him. He has a system where he tells you what he has, and only brings items to a deal. I have scouted and helped him out a few nights.¡±

    ¡°This is a good as plan as any. So we done?¡±

    ¡°Did you not say the other place outside the city?¡± Antrax asked.

    ¡°Yep.¡±

    ¡°I think we should go and rob it. After the word gets out of what we did, things are going to get hard.¡±

    ¡°Fine, let¡¯s go.¡±

    After about 30 min they arrived at a large estate with a few more houses on the premises that most likely belong to servants. It did not take long to find what they were looking for. Antrax and Tinker went to work. They were nearly finished when Quantum sent a pm in their party chat.

    ¡°Grab the last things and come, the place is waking up.¡±

    ¡°On it.¡±

    They exited the door as was waved over by Quantum. When they got to him two people were lying on the ground tied up. They hastily made their way off and started on their way back to the city.

    ¡°Why did you not kill them, they seemed to still be alive?¡±

    ¡°Yea, left them. A few months ago a major patch or update happened that gives a person more severe punishments for killing NPC¡¯s. Since then I only kill people that have it coming or are part of a quest.¡±

    ¡°You know that makes you seem less like a badass.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care. I can¡¯t get my infamy to low. According to reliable info once you become hated, a homeless person you have never seen before will spot you or whoever and go call guards. It makes for walking and getting around rather tough.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you like stick to shadows and darkness?¡±

    ¡°Sometimes, other times I hide in plain sight. Since half a day is in light, a person needs to be able to move freely in light and darkness. Will you be able to knock out or stop random NPC¡¯s from calling for help?¡±

    ¡°No, I have not tried yet and don¡¯t have the skills for it.¡±

    ¡°That is right, you don¡¯t have the skills. . . . ¡° Quantum said in that condescending tone of his.

    Tinker got a new suit and a pair of bracers. Antrax got a rather small shield with impressive stats and a walking stick. It was too long for him, but he could cut it down to the size he needed.

    Quantum got the most items he could use. A cloak as dark as night that repels light from it and a customized dagger that looked like it could have belonged to a king. It had jewels and other elaborate decorations. The sad part waa that the stats of said dagger was more impressive than its looks.

    At the end of all this, Tinker counted it as a success. The gold of the sales will be added to the bank for him to go and collect at a later date. His scavenger skill went up an entire level and then some.

    Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.With the rising sun they parted ways. Tinker decided he would go to the training hall. Instead of going to hit the dummy to finish basic training he decided to test out his new crossbow. The archery rage was large and was located in a building next to the familiar training hall.

    There were your standard scarecrow dummies made from straw and the round targets. They were arranged at different lengths. Tinker had never been to a firing range before but he could figure out that you stand at the red line and shoot towards your targets.

    Top of Form

    Bottom of Form

    Tinker took a spot not too far away from 3 other people with their bows. He watched them shoot. He concluded that two of them were relatively new. They would focus, aim and fire. The other guy had better gear and used less time to aim. His arrow speed and rate of fire were also on another level. At one point it seemed he shot right through the scare crow. He most likely used a power shot of some kind.

    Tinker decided to shoot at the more traditional round target. He took the one handed crossbow with both hands and fired. He barely struck the target. The others laughed at him. He did not pay much attention to them and readied for another shot. The instant the bolt magically loaded itself he fired again. This time the bolt missed to the left.

    Those that laughed at him, actually stopped. They knew a awesome weapon when they saw it. Even though it was a small crossbow that could be wielded with one hand, its ability to reload itself made a huge difference. That is right you turds, marvel at my equipment, Tinker thought.

    He kept at it. Once he was hitting the target closer to the bulls eye, he felt it was time to shoot it with one hand. The crossbow did not feel heavy at all and he hit the target in the outer circle. He tried a few more shots that mostly hit and swapped hands. His accuracy stayed about the same.

    After about an hour of shooting he stopped. He concluded that for accuracy a person should use both hands and that it did not really matter with which hand he shot. Thus he decided to move the crossbow to his right side. It was just behind his sword hilt. That way he can draw it with his left hand and use sword in the other.

    He was a little disappointed that he did not magically learn the archery skill yet so he decided to ask an instructor what is going on.

    ¡°So let me get this straight. You shoot your little crossbow for an hour and expect to become a renowned archer?¡± The instructor said with a tone of sarcasm.

    ¡°Well, no. I just want to learn the skill so that I can do more damage and improve my accuracy. Who knows, maybe in the future I can learn a skill or two.¡±

    ¡°Maybe if you had no profession and the gift to shoot. But you are a warrior and you are using a crossbow. Real hunters use a bow. I will say that you have a fine weapon, but that will only get you so far.¡±

    ¡°So how do I get the archery skill?¡± Tinker asked rather seriously

    ¡°How do you think?¡± The instructor answered seriously in return.

    ¡°By shooting some more?¡±

    ¡°A lot more. If you here at the end of the day. We will talk.¡±

    The instructor left after that. It was about 8 in the morning so Tinker would have a long day ahead of him. He kept on shooting. It seems every hour firing in the training hall is stopped to go and collect arrows and replace possible targets. Since he was the only person with a crossbow, all the bolts there were his. He wondered how the others knew which arrows were theirs and whose not. It seemed like a good place for a level one person to come steal arrows.

    He also noticed he did not retrieve all his bolts. He hoped no one stole them. Vaguely he once remembered Yuri explain how the arrow mechanic works. Arrows will be disintegrated upon hard contact. Thus preventing players that are tanks to look like porcupines or have to fight with arrows sticking out all over there body. You get about a 25 ¨C 50 % return from arrows from creatures or monsters. It all depends on what drops. They magically appear neatly in a stack as part of the normal loot you get.

    Tinker has looted his fare share of arrows over the cause of their adventure, which he always gave back to Yuri. It was just another one of those items and things they would swap between each other when the party was not fighting. It was more time efficient that one person loot the corpse then each person having a go. Items like the arrows any party member could pick up. More specific things like meat for eating and parts for alchemy, only Yuri and Tinker could harvest well.

    The day went on. More people came. Tinker got 3 offers for his girly crossbow as one player bluntly put it. He declined them all. At some point he had a crowd watching him. They all have never seen a crossbow that reloads itself. Since he was a terrible shot and after you seen the crossbow reload a few times the hype of the moment quickly passes. They would leave and let him go back to his shooting.

    He noticed that he could hit the target effectively at 50 meters. After that gravity starts to take its effect and a person needs to adjust your aim. Since they were in doors the wind had no effect. Tinker suddenly started to feel a new found respect for archers hitting targets and some of the distances he had seen. Some were even accurate to a 100 meters.

    He moved over to shooting the scarecrow. His head shots were all over the place but more than a few hit. He noticed that his small crossbow had remarkable penetration power. He would not shoot through plate armour, but when you get shot by his one handed crossbow, you will feel it. He made a mental note to ask Yuri about how exactly penetration works and how it factors into your damage and tactics. He knew Yuri had mentioned it before, but to be honest he did not listen.

    After lunch Tinker was back at it. He was fooling around and trying to hit the targets at the back of the range. They were 100 meters away. He was doing rather well compared to the other guys and girls shooting at that distance who were also starting out. A person using a bow needs to position and keep their body the right way. Pull the string the right distance and then shoot. All Tinker did was aim somewhere above the target, point and shoot. Almost like a gun. He could see the jealousy on the other beginners faces.

    If it was so easy he wondered why not all warriors had a crossbow which they could shoot with.

    That answer came at the end of the day. He collected the last of his bolts when that instructor came back.

    ¡°How do you think you did?¡± The instructor asked

    ¡°Well. I started with barely hitting the target at 50 meters. Currently I hit nine out of ten targets at 100 meters.¡±

    ¡°Yes, crossbows do give the illusion of talent. Regardless, you stuck with it and now I feel confident you have some skill for archery.¡±

    <table><tbody><tr><td>*New skill learned archery.

    Damage and accuracy increases with bow or crossbow.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    It was currently still level one and on 86%. He thought he remembered that the archery skill worked a lot like sword mastery. The higher your levels get, the more damage and other things unlock.

    He took the time to look at his damage. It was low. Not as low as a normal warrior, but low none the less. It seemed that your damage with a crossbow or normal bow was calculated, by using your agility as your main stat. Although Tinker has high agility for a warrior. It was still low compared to assassins and hunters. In addition his level was only level 1. Maybe on level 4 or so would he gain more damage and extra % in agility.

    The wheels in his head were already working. Sword mastery gave for example 45% increase to strength stat and 15 % to agility. Thus his efforts to keep the two stats close together was futile. Currently with a level up he was dumping his bonus stats into agility, to help make up the difference, but it was still not enough. Only when he used his skill morph, did he come close to making them the same. Another problem was most if not all his items would also give about double to triple the amount of strength when compared to agility.

    He would have to go look online the exact stats a person receives at what level of the archery skill. The game has been out long enough so that a person should get most of the information. He highly doubted that his archery would ever surpass his sword skill, because he spends most of his time attacking with them, but the extra agility would be welcome.

    In addition he noticed that his offhand did more damage with the crossbow than his main hand. It made a little sense to him. For his swords, his main hand damage was based on his strength and offhand for agility.

    It was time to log out and do real world things. He would be back about a day before he needed to report back to Lord Collins.

    He arrived back at the training hall. He had a few hours to kill so he went back to shooting at targets. His archery skill became level 2, feeling pleased with himself he left.

    He went through the same pain staking process of sitting and waiting for his turn. That was a down side of any big city. The waiting in line for your turn. He once read online or heard that the average person spends two and a half years of their lifetime, waiting in lines. He remembered the first time he heard it, he was like ¡°Now that can¡¯t be right.¡±

    The more he thought about it, the more is seemed plausible. Lines at the bank, for food, at cash registers, post office. He did not have a license or car yet, but what he understood from the process it did not go fast either. More situations started popping in and out of his thoughts of locations and places where people waited for their turn. That also left trips to museums, festivals and the list it seems goes on and on. Two years did not seem that far now if you consider an average life span is about 65 years.

    As he entered Lord Collins office, he noticed that he was dressed a bit more formal than usual.

    ¡°Ah young Tinker, it is about time. Are you ready?¡±

    ¡°Indeed I am.¡±

    ¡°Good, let us get going. We are late as it is.¡±

    ¡°Sorry, I was not aware we were.¡±

    ¡°Do not worry. I intend to arrive a bit late. Not too late to offend the King, but late enough to miss trash talk.¡±

    ¡°Ah I see.¡± Tinker did not really but it seemed like the thing to say.

    ¡°Truth be told some of them have been busy for a few hours now. The real things start about now.¡±

    Tinker had no idea what was going on and been giving vague descriptions was also not helping him.

    ¡°Have you heard the latest news from your fellow outlanders?¡±

    ¡°Probably not, sir.¡± He should remember to be polite and respectful. This man after all was one of the most powerful in the current political structure of the Heaven kingdom.

    ¡°That your kind have defiled and desecrated our ancestors burial places.¡±

    ¡°This is the first I am hearing of it sir.¡± Which was truthful in a way.

    ¡°Sad what this world is coming to, I myself had to hire mercenaries to watch my own families tombs. The nerve on some of your kind.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Was all Tinker really could say. He hoped his face was not showing his guilt.

    It did not take long for them arrive at the large room where Tinker and Major sat down, to hear what the king had to say about outlanders. The room only had about 50 people in it. He assumed most of them were lords or people involved in the current political structure. He did notice a few mean looking characters. He assumed it was the champions of the other lords.

    ¡°Tinker my boy. Don¡¯t tell them anything they want to know. You only answer to me. You understand?¡±

    Tinker nodded.

    ¡°Now walk with me and try and look intimidating.¡±

    He was not sure what then meant so he did not smile and rested he hands close to his sword pommels.

    Lord Collins went from group to group and greeted them all. He would share a few polite words or sometimes not so polite words. The other lords or people of interest only looked at Tinker and none of them tried to engage him in any way. It seems his plan was working.

    After the last group lord Collins and he walked off to the side and sat by their selves.

    ¡°It seems the king will not be coming. He is sending his top ranked general to conduct the affairs. It seems everyone is here. Now we wait for the general. How does your competition look?¡±

    ¡°I see 7 plated players and 4 spell types. Should I be in my battle uniform as well?¡±

    ¡°No need. We want them to be confused and not really know what you are all about. It seems Lord Maximuss is coming for us.¡±

    Tinker looked and saw the biggest warrior type standing in the shadow of lord Maximuss. He was just over 7 foot tall and had a big, thick sword strapped on his back. Tinker just sighed inwardly. Of course it was just his luck that Lord Collins personal rival had to have the biggest and most nasty looking champion of them all.

    ¡°No matter what happens, just don¡¯t lose to him.¡±

    ¡°I will try sir. Can you tell me more of what to expect today?¡±

    ¡°I have theories, but knowing the general who will conduct this, anything might go. Name the evil and it will appear, look here he is now.¡±

    A grizzly looking veteran with an entourage came walking to the center of the room. The conversations died down one by one and all the people actually left the middle of the room to take seats. The general stood in the middle. Cleared his thought and started talking.

    ¡°The kings sends his apologies and sent me in his stead. I was to conduct the second stage of the event, but now I will do the first as well. As you know. The king in his infinite wisdom decided to give a strategic military position to an outlander to see how they handle the situation. The problem we have is how do we decide which. No matter what outlander the king chose, there would be outrage from you sorry lot. So instead he has asked the leaders of the senate to gather champions to compete for the honor.¡±

    <hr />

    Hi.  So this chapter is like a week late, Sry about that. Real wold obligations and all that. In this chapter I talk about some grave robbing and Tinkers quest to better his archery skill. I talk and cover a few more things, but this is the gest of it.

    Here at the end is all a setup for my next chapter

    Chapter 30 : A nemesis is born. Thinking of posting a pic with that one.

    Ill try and post it a week from now.

    As always thanks for reading and leave your comments and replies here for me and I will get to them.

 Chapter 30 : A nemesis is born

    ¡°First each lord will introduce his champion for everyone here, then I will announce the details of the first stage. I brought these men with to make sure there is no cheating or braking of the rules. First is Lord Maximuss. Would you come forth and introduce your champion?¡±

    They did just that. It turns out that Og the barbarian was a knight and level 123. The introduction did not end there. Og had to show his stats window and they announced his class and level. It seems this was more than an introduction. Lord Maximuss also named the most impressive feat that Og had accomplished. He apparently cleared an entire dungeon on his own. Since the level of the dungeon was not mentioned, Tinker could not help but wonder did the go clear a level 10 dungeon when he was level 100? His plate seemed a good quality and his huge sword was his most memorable feature.

    ¡°Tinker, what is your greatest accomplishment to date?¡± Lord Collins whispered to him

    ¡°Um, I don¡¯t know. Most of the good things I have done were in a party. We could mention some of those things.¡± He replied

    ¡°No no no. I think we stick with our theme of casting doubt for the others.¡±

    Again he just nodded. He was not sure what plans and tactics one should use in these situations.

    Does one oversell your champion? Do you say the bare minimum so that an air of mystery surrounded him. It does not really matter, since they look at your stats to confirm your status.

    ¡°Next Lord Collins.¡±

    They walked to the center. ¡°This is Tinker, Warrior of level 102.¡± Tinker was not sure of how his level compared to the others. So far he was 21 levels behind Og. Only at the end will he know how his level holds up compared to the rest. ¡°His greatest achievement is being my brothers most promising alchemy student.¡± The crowd and Tinker did not expect that. A person would think they would talk and boast about military or some similar achievement, but he did not. As they walked from the stage to their seats there were more than a few mumbles from other people.

    The introductions went on the other 6 plate wearing players were a mix of warriors, paladins and knights. There was one spear woman that stood out and a shaman named Swaggernaught. Sure he might have been the only shaman here in full plate but the name of the guy was what really stood out. He only had 6 levels on Tinker. The 4 magic users where one mage, 2 wizards and one warlock.

    At the end of it all nearly an hour has passed. Tinker was the second lowest level. The highest was Og. Now the general spoke up again. ¡°Now that you all know who the combatants are and who they represent. I hope this will influence your choices. The first round is single elimination. A fight to the death in glorious combat. I want to start stage 2 with only 6 combatants.¡±

    Tinker had a feeling that something like this might happen. He pitied the 4 spells users. Normally they would lose a normal duel with a plated warrior. On a field of battle or other situations like if said magic user is on a wall and the plated warrior is down below with no way up. The plated warrior would lose.

    ¡°I know the outlanders come back to life, so a fight to the death for them should be fine, but if there is any outlander that does not want to do it, he or she can forfeit now and be gone from my sight.¡±

    No one took that offer. Tinker had dueled to the death before at Tanaris, which he technically lost. Now he was a better fighter and with his new stats he felt confident he could be on equal footing with any of them

    ¡°Good, now instead of drawing the names or picking them at random. You will bid various things. The winner will decide who his opponent will be, they will fight right here and now. When an outlander is dead. We will start a new bid. It starts in about 5 minutes. That gives you some time to plan.¡±

    ¡°Just so that there is no confusion Tinker. I highly doubt I will be bidding for you. I have a nasty feeling that the winners of the bids will target us as their opponents. I do not care either way, as long as you don¡¯t lose against that Og fellow.¡±

    ¡°All right sir. Is this a normal way to conduct affairs?¡±

    ¡°Not at all. But you outlanders are not normal and this is not a normal situation. The king like any person needs money and certain things. What better way than to let the Lords overpay by using their own reputation and greed against them?¡±

    ¡°That is smart if you look at it like that. So they will be using something other than gold to bid?¡±

    ¡°O yes, they will name the currency at the start of each bid. I think that one of the magic users lords will most likely win the first round of betting. That way they can choose their opponent for a duel.¡±

    The time ran out and the general spoke again.

    ¡°First round bid. Gold. Do I have 10 000?¡±

    A lord raised her hand.

    ¡°Any one for 15 000?¡±

    The process went on and on. Tinker just watched the spectacle unfold before him. True to his word Lord Collins just sat calmly watching his fellow lords. Tinker tried his best to remain calm but he could not help feel that Lord Maximuss and Og were coming for them.

    When all was said and done, the final total was a ridiculous 63 000 gold. The Lord and his chosen warlock champion chose one of the wizards as his opponent. As Tinker remember she was the lowest level of the 4 spell casters.

    The general and his companions moved from the center stage and announced the fight will take place here and now. They each had about 2 minutes to prepare.

    The fight started. As best as Tinker could tell it was a fire mage against a warlock that used some shadow magic. Only later will he discover that all warlocks actually use some sort of shadow magic.

    The fight seemed even enough. It did not take long before the warlock seemed to activate a turbo switch and decimate his opponent. The fire wizard died with a dreadful scream of pain.

    The losing lord hung his head down in shame and Tinker was rather disgusted at how the other Lords felt nothing for the death of an outlander. True he did not feel much either because all of them were potential enemies, but still. Something about the situation did not feel right.

    ¡°Good the next bid is service in days in the kings court.¡±

    The king had his own court. If there were 2 farmers that had dispute over land they would come to the king to get the dispute resulted. The less pressing matters the king did not reside over. For example if the same 2 farmers had a dispute over a goat. The king could not be bothered and the current intern for the king would pass judgment over the matter. Tinker did not know this. In addition he also did not know that the Lords and Ladies looked down on this task and would not want to waste their time and day on this service.

    ¡°We start at one week.¡±

    There was a hand. Lord Collins giggled. ¡°This just shows how desperate he is, if Lord Giller is betting his time and service. It seems the magic users know that they are in trouble now.¡±

    The betting went on and when no one could better 23 days of service, it ended. The Lord Giller won and his mage challenged the other Wizard. It was a fire mage against a frost wizard.

    The fight was a bit more exiting then the previous match. These two combatants were more evenly matched and the age old feud of fire vs ice continued. The fire mage did something unexpected and used a massive aoe spell on the ground. He injured himself and his enemy. He took far less damage than his opponent and that tilted the fight into his favor. The ice wizard died and his left over¡¯s slowly burned with no smoke.

    ¡°Next, the person that raises his or hers hand first wins. We need a new ambassador to the Kallamore kingdom.¡±

    No one moved. Tinker was well aware of the strife between Kallamore and Heaven. It seems no one wanted the job. The general laughed.

    ¡°It was worth a try. Instead of yourself going. How about a family member be sent?¡±

    There was silence. After about 5 seconds one lord raised his hand. Later Tinker would learn that the ambassador with Kallamore was career suicide and all the fallout comes back to the person. This particular Lord would gladly offer a family member for the greater good. His champion was that spear woman. She looked average but had a trident for a weapon.

    ¡°Very good. Who do you pick as you opponent?¡±

    She pointed that trident at Tinker. On some level he knew that they would target him because of his low level. He stood up and started changing into his battle gear. He had fought goblins before that had weapons very similar to pitch forks. He remembered that the goblins used rather nasty tactics.

    They would let you strike them, then they would make sure your weapon is caught in their pitch fork. With sudden and fierce turn, they would disarm you. He could see another reason why she chose him. Disarming a two handed swordsman of his weapons is much harder then disarming a dual swords man. It will be the power of his one hand versus her two hands.

    With his gear and items set he made ready. His blades were coated with the normal combination. His Strength morph was still active. He would keep it that way until he needs the speed. The thought of using his new crossbow did not even enter his mind.

    As he stood he looked again at the trident. It was as long as a spear but those three blades could be a problem. Something was off about those three blades. He blinked and looked again. Still nothing.

    He squinted his eyes and as he was about to look away he saw it. A lightning charge. It was briefly visible, but he saw it. Now that he knew what he was looking for he noticed that this trident was like a huge and dangerous shock stick.

    His opponent noticed, that he noticed, that her weapons and skills were not normal.

    ¡°You lucky I did not know you would fight in leather.¡± She told him

    ¡°Ah yes, I can see now that no matter where you strike your plated opponent you would do damage, because the metal conducts the lightning all over.¡±

    She nodded. Tinker thanked which ever God was listening for his good fortune. He double checked his weapons. His hilts were in good condition, so if she uses lighting attacks on his swords it should not hurt him.

    The general announced that the fight could begin. She opened with consecutive thrusts, which Tinker parried. He made sure not to let his sword get caught in the trident. Soon she noticed she was getting nowhere and gave a step back.

    Now that Tinker was on the attack he had to decide how he was going to do this. She had the range and was clearly waiting for a setup of some kind. His instincts told him, that she would want to keep him a good distance away. That would force him to lounge and thrust which would all be a good setup for her, to disarm him. He needed to get close and all up in her face.

    Tinker went for it. He did not lead weapon first and masterfully evaded a thrust which skimmed his side. When he was this close it only went downhill for the spear woman. Tinker was relentless. He would chop and slash, give her no room to maneuver or to gain her footing. At one point he knocked her down, she was trying to twirl in an attempt to get away. From Tinkers perspective she was just a slow plated warrior with a sharp stick whose point never really struck Tinker.

    He killed her and received a level up for killing an enemy of a higher level. He had lost only 12 % life. The damage he took was from the odd nicks and scratches she managed to land. Not once did she land a clean blow. Normally scratches do not do so much damage, but these were made with a lighting infused weapon. Thus most of the health lost was of the secondary lighting attack.

    Tinker went back to his seat.

    ¡°Rather impressive. I am not be a military man but I could clearly see you were the better. I was afraid your level would count against you.¡±

    ¡°Level helped, but as you well saw, it is not everything. If I was wearing plate it would have been one hell of a fight. With slower movement and attack speeds, add to that, that any part of me could conduct lighting to a place of flesh touching the metal. She would be a tough opponent.¡±

    ¡°I see. Well done. It seems we can focus on stage 2 now.¡±

    The bidding and battles went forward. Some interesting things arose during this time. There was a bid for who can restore and repair the most public buildings in the city. Another was to do an inspection and audit for a province. The battles were somewhat entertaining. Og won his match in convincing fashion. The shaman with the ridiculous name of Swaggernaught won. Tinker kept an eye on the guy. He seemed to be hiding some skills or something. The same could probably be said about him.

    ¡°That was the last of them. Where there was 12, now there are 6. Stage 2 will begin in the morning but we depart tonight. Meet me in 1 hour at the teleporter room. The remaining Lords and Ladies are welcome to attend, but no special arrangement will be made, for we are going into the wild. Just a reminder to those that lost and that had won auctions, the sooner you pay, the better.¡±

    All the people left.

    ¡°This was a good day and stage. The king gets what he wants. Some Lords and Ladies feuds are worse than ever. All that remains is stage 2 for you. I will not be going, as I am busy.¡±

    ¡°I understand sir. Do you have any idea where in the wilds we will be going?¡±

    ¡°Not the faintest. Probably some forsaken piece of land. I wish you well. Come contact me once you return. Depending on the manner in which you will return. Will determine what reward I give you.¡±

    Tinker left him. He had about half an hour to kill before he was to assemble at the teleporter

    He was of the last to arrive. Everyone was silent and that suited him fine. It also seemed that none of the Lords came with their champions. When the last player arrived they walked to the teleporter and it soft hum indicated it was about to be used.

    They arrived at the entrance of a dungeon that was clearly into the side of the mountain.

    ¡°Before you is the dungeon of Underbark. There is an entrance here and a entrance on the other side of the mountain. On the other side is a abandoned outpost. You must enter here, traverse the dungeon and they go to the outpost. Once there you must loot the most valuable item possible. My group and I are going to make camp here for the night and venture through the dungeon tomorrow.

    We should arrive some time late afternoon.¡±

    The general gave a moment pause before speaking again. ¡°At sunset tomorrow you will bring me the most valuable item you can find. Also do not bring me 20 things and let me chose the most valuable. You can loot whatever and how much you want. At the end of it all you may only show me one item. I will be just outside the outpost waiting for you. Any questions?¡±

    ¡°How will you know the loot comes from the outpost? What is preventing someone from giving an existing item from their inventory?¡±

    ¡°We will know. This is not my first time here.¡±

    ¡°Why are we here at this time of night? Why did we not come in the morning when you said the next stage is starting?¡±

    ¡°Well, stage 2 starts for me in the morning.¡±

    There was silence and the Warlock ran to the entrance of the dungeon. The others stood not sure what was going on. Someone asked. ¡°So does that mean we can go now and increase the time we have to look for loot and getting through the dungeon?¡±

    The general grinned and shook his head. He looked each of them over before he turned around to go stand at the fire, one of his men made while they were talking. As one the remaining 5 sprinted for the entrance.

    Tinker was first to enter and that was when it happened. He was no more than 10 meters into the dungeon before he fell into a hole and started sliding downwards. His eyes had not had enough time to adjust to the dark and he grunted on his downwards, involuntary decent into Underbark.

    Once he stopped, he took a moment to take in the surroundings. He had no idea how much time had passed. 5 seconds or 30? It was completely dark and there was no sound. That meant no one else was stupid enough to fall in the same hole he did. His experience told him not to panic. Remain calm and do not light a torch yet. Sometimes in dark dungeons like these your light would act like a beacon for all monsters nearby.

    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    He took the time to open his menu while his eyes were adjusting to the dark. Sometimes in dungeons you can open your location to see what level you are on. He was currently on level 5. It came to him, that he did not receive a notification, telling him that he was the first player on this level. He took some comfort in the fact that someone else had also fallen into the same hole he did.

    He sent a message in the guild chat. ¡°Hi, I am currently in a dungeon called the Underbark. How many levels are there and has anyone else been here before?¡±  After about 20 seconds a person replied with the information he was looking for.

    ¡°Hey to you. I was there a while back. Big dungeon. Strong single type monsters. Many traps and 3 levels.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, I am currently on level 5 and need to find my way back.¡±

    ¡°Level 5 you say?¡±

    ¡°Yes, as I came in, I fell into a hole.¡±

    ¡°O yes, I remember that hole. My party and I wondered what type of idiot would fall into an obvious trap like that. Guess we have our answer, no offence of course.¡±

    ¡°Of course¡± Tinker replied

    ¡°So if you want to get out, Ill say head upwards. Did you know that there are 2 ways in and out of there?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I need to find the other exit. The one that hopefully does not have a hole near the entrance.¡±

    ¡°Ah I see. It is on level two.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure?¡±

    ¡°Yes, we cleared the entire level 2 and found it about half way through. When you start fighting large cat like creatures you are close.¡±

    ¡°Thanks. Anything else I need to know?¡±

    ¡°Yep. Dodge the many traps and avoid a lot of light. If you need light, try glowing stick or rock, wrapped in a cloak. What you doing there anyway if I can ask?¡±

    ¡°A quest, I need to get to an outpost on the other side.¡±

    ¡°Ah yes, the outpost. Full of annoying dead ghosts.¡±

    ¡°Really, you were there as well?¡±

    ¡°Yes, when we found that exit, we walked outside and there the outpost was. It looked all ruined like and was small so we decided to investigate. About 30 minutes later we went back to Underbark.¡±

    ¡°Wow, what type of loot did you guys get?¡±

    ¡°Not much. Some gold and mostly ancient stuff, not worth a lot. Turns out that a couple of hundred years ago that outpost belonged to the Kallamorians. Heaven took it from them along with the territory. Some years later the Kallamorians did a raid and killed everyone and then just went back home, without claiming back lost land. You about a day ride from the Kallamore border by the way.¡±

    ¡°Thanks for the information. One last thing. If you were tasked to get one valuable item from this outpost for a general. What will you be looking for?¡±

    ¡°Hmmm, the obvious is a like a super nice sword or piece of armour. On the other hand maybe a tapestry or books will be what he is after. Maybe an old standard or banner maybe... It is hard to tell since we were in the outpost a short while.¡±

    ¡°OK thanks. I think I will see what there is, if I get there. So long.¡±

    With the call ended it was time to move. His health was near full. He only took minimum damage on his way down. The only light source he had was his torch. Until now dungeons were well enough illuminated or Lina would provide light with her magic. It did not take long before he nearly fell into another pit. He navigated around it and stuck with his general direction of heading south west and upwards.

    Tinker prided himself on his sense of direction. Whenever they entered a dungeon he knew the general way of getting back out again. The problem was that after his little fall, he was working on instinct. After about 30 minutes he could see poorly in the dark but could at least navigate the tunnels. So far he encountered no enemies and was wondering what type and level he could expect.

    When he entered a large cavern he stopped. There were three paths leading away. He decided it was time to light a torch to better look at the paths. He lit the torch and quickly look at all three passage ways. The one on the right seemed to head mildly upwards so he decided to take that path. Before he continued he put out his torch and hid near a wall.

    He was curious to see if something would come and he needed the time for his eyes to adjust to the darkness again. He saw nothing. As he was about to move onwards. Two monsters starting attacking each other right next to him. By the sound and smell it was one bloody fight. Tinker decided it best to leave and fight another day. He took his passage as quietly as humanly possible.

    The sound of the fight faded into nothing, soon after a load roar echoed through the caves as the victor of the fight declared his triumph.

    The creature sounded big. Tinker was not scared of course. It is just, he did not want to fight an enemy he could not see that well nor one that managed to sneak into a cavern where he was expecting it.

    Some point later Tinker was walking along a cavern when something bit his neck and would not let go. He had one of his swords in his hand and started stabbing the creature. After some more stabs the creature let go and was dead. Tinker lost 53 % of his health. The creature was about the size of a medium sized dog but looked like something out of a movie. It was black and had large teeth when compared to the rest of its body. It had 4 legs and two wings that looked more like fins from a fish.

    He saw that he was currently effected by a debuff. His physical capabilities (Strength and Agility) were down by 25% and it would last 2 hours. He decided to cut up the creature and add it to his book. Everything was unknown to him. Now came the part he hated the most. Ingesting it. It could make his condition worse, better or not change it any at all. He ate some of the meat raw. He carried pepper spice that burned so bad it negates most of the foul taste of any food. Once he swallowed it he looked in his book again.

    The meat could be used to see better in the dark and also reduce the effects of its poison. He could see no improvement in his eye sight nor his status. He assumed he would have to eat more. After 20 pain staking minutes he ate the last of the creature.  His mouth was burning, he tried to ease the pain with water, which was not really helping. His eyes were watering, his entire body was feeling warm. It was a horrible self inflicting experience for him

    When he checked his stats again the debuff effect was down to 15 %. His vision was somewhat better, but it was still on the poor side. He ventured onwards.

    Now the obvious traps like pitfalls were easier to dodge but he did still manage to step on a pressure plate. He immediately stopped to see what the effects were. Off to his side, a part of the wall opened to a room full of 5 of those monsters with the big teeth. He slowly removed his other sword while standing still. The moment he took up a defensive stance they came for him.

    The monsters seems to go for open flesh. That meant his neck and face. The rest of his body was covered in armour of some kind. After the short big vicious battle he was down to 24% life and the debuff held steady at 15%. He patched himself up the best he could with his first aid and went onwards. It was way more convenient to have Zomger healing him.

    Soon after he stepped into a room where a large bear like creature was feasting on an enemy. Tinker moved swiftly to engage the bear and managed 5 clean hits before the bear could defend itself. After that Tinker used his superior agility and swords to make short work of the bear. The bear did manage to land more than a few swipes and scratches. It was hard to dodge and parry the fast moving arms that were as black as the abyss it self. All his bites and attempts to pin Tinker down failed.

    This went on for about 5 hours or so. Again Tinker could not really be sure of the time that passed. He killed different monsters and added each to his book. He had the time after each battle to do so. Because he needed that time to restore his health. His loot was mainly meat and alchemy related things. There was no gold or items for human use here. He did manage to increase his eye sight from poor to fair. That meant his speed and progress became much faster.

    He walked upwards along another tunnel when he received a message.

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Notice:

    You are the first adventurer to enter this level of Underbark.

    Benefits:

    Fame increased by 150.

    Double experience, 2x item drop rate.

    The first monster killed will drop the best quality item it can drop.</td></tr></tbody></table>

    ¡°What?¡± Tinker thought. That would explain his gaining 2 levels in the past 5 hours.  This also meant that the other people that came to level 5 did not manage to get out. He was doing better than them.

    His experience told him. That if level 4 has level 150 monsters and higher. Level 5 minimum level should be around 180. He could see that. If more than one of these creatures came for him, he would lose. It seemed the law in the Underbark was that you are a lone predator. Unless you have big teeth and wings like fins, then it is ok to gang up on an enemy. He had encountered more of those nasty creatures.

    Level 4 was very similar to level 5. Only the monsters were different. Tinker noticed they were also weaker. They still fought with all they got, but it was to no avail. He received another level up. He was sticking with his plan of heading upwards when ever faced with a choice.

    Tinker was walking along a rather narrow cave when he saw light up ahead. He readied for battle.

    He looked around the corner and saw luminescent mushrooms. It seemed a bit out of place so he waited and watched. He saw no creatures and after a while he went closer to investigate. When at the mushrooms he could see a sort of slow moving fungus that seemed to be attacking the mushrooms. The mushrooms in response were shinning bright in an attempt to ward it off.

    As marvelous as it was to see plants attacking one another in this dungeon, he did not have the time. He took a part of glowing mushroom and added it to his book. It seemed it was a rare mushroom that improved vision at night, or it could be used in a recipe to make a sort of glow in the dark stick. It seemed that his awesome book only knew the use of it, but not the exact details behind the recipe. The book also told him that the mushrooms light up when threatened or when they want to spread.

    Tinker took about a handful of the fungus and added it. The book recognized it and classified it as a ooze. The name and the specifics were unknown. It was times like this he was thankful he stole/took a lot of different containers from the alchemy guild. He took one of the largest containers he had and started collecting the ooze. When he got most of the ooze, the mushrooms went dark, so he harvested all of them as well.

    Many hours later. He emerged from level 4 to level 3. He got another level and harvested almost everything he could get his hands on along the way. He would have like to spent more time there to maximize the time and farm a person could get for discovering a new place. But alas he had other obligations.

    If he had to guess it was early morning and he still had most of the day. After about three hours on level three he ascended another passageway. He thought he might be on level two. When he checked he saw he was back on level 4. Now this did not seem right. It was rather uncommon for a level to have more than one entrance but it seems the Underbark did not conform to the normal type.

    Tinker took the time to reflect. Since he was underground it might be possible that a part of level 4 was higher than level 3. Nowhere did it say that all of the dungeons were built like normal buildings with one level exactly atop of another. He decided to double back for a short distance and then chose a new direction.

    30 minutes before sunset Tinker emerged from an exit on level 2. The general and his party were there already. Judging by some of the men¡¯s gear they did not take the scenic route.

    ¡°Tinker was it?¡±

    ¡°Yes, general.¡±

    ¡°How are you now only arriving lad? You have 30 minutes left to get an item.¡±

    ¡°I fell down to level 5 sir. It took me all this time to get back.¡±

    ¡°Level 5 you say? Rather impressive. Now off with you.¡±

    He thanked the man and left for the outpost. At the entrance stood Swaggernaught. He was smirking. Tinker thought it rather suited him. The man looked rather pleased with himself for some reason.

    ¡°You are the third person to arrive. Me and that Og fellow have been over every inch of this dump for the past 8 hours.¡±

    ¡°O really. I still got some time to look for stuff. Are there ghosts here?¡±

    ¡°Nope, I killed some and the rest are currently not choosing to reveal themselves.¡±

    ¡°Ok, what happened to the others?¡±

    ¡°Underbark and I think Og claimed them. Keep an eye out for that one.¡±

    ¡°I will thanks.¡± Tinker started to walk past him into the outpost.

    ¡°Why are you so late?¡±

    ¡°Fell down to level 5.¡± Tinker answered over his shoulder.

    The outpost was pretty much what he expected it to be. A rundown place that was literally falling apart. It was hard to tell which parts were damaged by neglect, battle or years of erosion. Tinker went from room to room. The place seemed to have been cleared out of most things. After about 10 minutes he found himself at the top of the tower. There was a rather big hole in the wall and near it was a book shelf. He went over to the shelf to see if there may be a book he could salvage.

    He was deep in thought, while he was gently removing another book to read its title and see what condition it was in. The sound of metal on stone pounded softly in his mind. He turned to see Og with his sword no more that 3 meters behind him. In an instant the sword came for him and Tinker dove to the side. His Morph skill was always active and he currently had agility morphed in the hopes of speeding up his search of the outpost.

    As Tinker was crouched and about to stand up, Og leaped sword leading for Tinker. Og was aiming for where Tinker was going to be as soon as he stood up. Tinker gave a crouched step forward. Grabbed the two front arms of Og that were above his head. He then pulled with all his might and while performing a backwards role his feet found their way under Og and he used the momentum of the pull and the power in his legs to kick Og away from him.

    Og went through the hole in the wall and plummeted to his death. On the way down he did yell. It was more a yell of anger then fear of dying. Tinker stood at the edge and could see the loot pile that was once Og, laying on the ground. He took a few breaths. It all happened so fast for him. He did not even think, he just acted.

    ¡°Rather well done for someone who is garbage.¡±

    Tinker turned and saw Swaggernaught behind him. A bright flash occurred right before his eyes that

    completely blinded Tinker. That was followed by a thump on the chest and after that he felt the all too familiar feeling of free falling to his death. This was going to be his third death by falling.

    In his blindness and brief fall, he received a message from Swaggernaught titled Garbage.

    <hr />

    So here it is. My 30th chapter....so many words and levels later.

    In this chapter I am pretty much setting up Tinker''s nemesis. All the great ppl have a nemesis. Superman has lex, Batman, the joker and humanity has justin bieber....

    The whole thing was Og was just to keep you focus and attention on him while an Asshole gets you from behind when you least expect it. Rather proud of the name Swaggernaught, he sounds like a character you cant help but hate. There will be more info, detail and stuff on him in later chapters.

    Next week chapter is already written. I am just going to add a page or two to it, to conclude todays chapter.

    Chapter 31 : A potential diamond in the rough.

    Ill post a pic of Swaggernaugh now in my Important Images folder. Until then. Leave comments and questions for me.

 Chapter 31 : A potential diamond in the rough

    Scott climbed out of his capsule. The hairs on his neck were upright. He could not remember the last time he felt this furious for another person. He has experienced nerd rage before, but rage on this level were rare.

    ¡°I will make that Swaggernaught asshole eat a dick¡± He shouted in anger. Immediately he regretted his decision and looked to his room door. This was usually the time his mother or someone would stand there to hear him. It came to him, that he and Duncan were alone at the mansion. He punched his bed and uttered a few more curse words, these were done somewhat softer than his first outburst.

    After about 30 seconds he started thinking clearly again. His first order of business was to let the world know how bad a person Swaggernaught was. He went to the most popular RR website to post his report. He typed about a page of how the incident occurred and what a bad person he was. Satisfied with his work he searched for the name Swaggernaught in the search engine.

    According to the results there where over 5000 posts with that name in it. The first 20 results all had his name in the topic. He then added the word asshole and then pressed enter again. This time just under 4000 results. That confirmed that they were all talking about the same guy. He scanned the most prominent topics. It was no shock that nothing good was said about him.

    The story seems to be the same. He would act like a good guy and then betray you. What came as a shock that many people speculated that he was really strong and skilled player, despite his other flaws of being a total dick. They also compared his skills and abilities similar to that of a spellsword but he was a shaman. That meant his melee fighting skills was on par with any good warrior and he had spells in reserve better then paladins.

    His bright light was like a disable ability which he seemed to be his opening move off betrayal. Those that manage to track him down after the betrayal seem to have a problem of taking their revenge. One player said that he and his 3 friends managed to find Swaggernaught. They were all about the same level and the fight that in sued was normal as far as they could say. They clearly held the advantage but by using an assortment of spells and skill he managed to kill all 4 of them. They did not track him down after that again.

    In his mind he just made Swaggernaught his nemesis and vowed that he will get his revenge someday. It may be soon in the future or months from now. He would not forget this day.

    Now Scot had 24 hours before he could log back in again. In the next few days all the other friends and regulars were going to be logged back in as well. He would hear what all of them would want to do.

    It was discovered by a group of three. The Norton kingdom was the new region. It was a regular to below average starting place for new players. The more seasoned players could test their metal. What made this a place of opportunity was because the strongest guilds still had the entire centre continent to explore and fight over. The only strong players that came to the south were those with bad experiences in centre or those looking to start something in the south and become big shots in the region. A lot of the strong players did not want to come since there were still many places to farm and level up in the centre of the continent where as the entire southern region had still to be explored. A lot of medium to high level players went south and started to explore in each direction.

    The BoS chapel in the south was in the Aidern kingdom near it¡¯s the borders in the south west. They did not move all the way to the capital. Instead they made a home in a large city near the border. It was not the most direct route from the capital to the Heaven kingdom but if you are willing to take a few days detour you can still get to where you want to go. Unless you wanted to go to the western regions then you will have to go through the city. Thus those from the south and west that wanted to head to the new Kingdom of Rosenheim, had to come through this city. Nobody wanted to go through the unexplored dessert and naval routes were not yet available.

    Norton was a small kingdom compared to others. It had two large mountain ranges. The third was the border they shared with Thor kingdom. They were not an economical power house and just did a bit of everything. Norton could be divided into three provinces. The north part was controlled by the king. The south was the Snow¡¯s and a small part in the middle was controlled by the Hemming¡¯s.

    The kings province was in the north. Bordering to Thor, Dale and Nest. The Hemming¡¯s area of control spread from the sea all the way to Dale. Their seat of power was at the largest river mouth into the ocean in a city called Riften.

    From the middle all the way to the south belonged the Snow¡¯s. There were not many mines in the area and they only had the border with Dale. The rest around them was ocean and they did not really count the Hemming¡¯s as enemies. The bulk of their farmland was to the north of the only mountain range in their territory. It stretched for leagues. Their seat of power was in a City to the West of the mountain Range.

    There were no paths or trails over the mountains. If you wanted to go from the one side to the other, you would have to go all the way around to the west. There were not any boats to transport people around the East of the mountain range. The city also dubbed as a place to funnel all the beasts and monsters that want to leave the south and hurt the rest of the Norton kingdom.

    The city name was Overwolf. The ruling lord Snow, with a few minor lords lived there. It had a huge thick white wall and battle towers facing south. The huge wall that stretched all the way from the sea to the mountains. Thousands of years ago the monsters became so bad they had killed and pushed all the way to the City. It is here the humans made their stand and defeated them. The years after that, people gradually started heading south and repopulated the area.

    In other and normal kingdoms you can almost walk every time to the nearest town or city within minutes to hours. Most villages and towns in the south were spaced a day or days from each other. Each was well fortified but none had great giant walls like castles or forts. The average town here had a much larger population, than a person could expect in others places. The bulk of the region was wilderness with towns scattered all around. The people were hard as the land and the bulk of the NPC¡¯s were soldiers, rangers, woodsman or shady merchants. According to information this region was in peace.

    The only threat was those from monsters. Thus the soldiers and rangers had plenty to keep them busy with. The standing army of the region was 20 000 men.  The rangers would serve in 4 month cycles and spend the rest of the year serving as archers, hunters and trackers in the towns and places they came from. The last estimates put them at about 7000. The 5000 infantry men were those NPC guards all around the region in the cities and villages that stood around all day and kept the peace. The bulk of the cavalry was serving at the borders of the Dale Kingdom, not the entire borders, just those that fell under the control of Lord Snow.

    The kingdom was not at war with its neighbors but they believed in security and being prepared for the worse. Those cavalry on the borders numbered about 6000 while the other 2000 were close to the city of Overwolf. Lord Snow was neither the favorite lord nor the most hated by the king. He did not have family ties to the king nor had influence at the king¡¯s court. He was just a loyal lord that ruled fairly and came to his king if summoned.

    The Snow¡¯s had ruled this region for as long as anybody could remember and boasted of a lineage as long as the king of Norton himself. Their territory was the largest in Norton. Not many other lords wanted to claim their grounds because it was wild and even the Snow¡¯s could not have tamed it all. They found a way to thrive in the land. The current Lord Snow was well into his late forties and had a son and two daughters with a forth on the way. He was the eldest of 5 children himself and only had a brother and sister left. He lost a brother and sister to flu in one harsh winter when they were all still kids.

    The Snow¡¯s had a long tradition where the men of the family joined the military at age 18 and served in it for 7 years. Most of them had chosen to join the cavalry but the odd Snow had served as a ranger in the past. The current lord Snow served an additional 5 years and might have signed up for another 5 if his father was not ill. He became lord of the region at age 33 and finally got around to marriage and starting a family of his own. With all the recent changes in the world and these outlanders that came out of nowhere he was not pleased, but like always they would adapt and survive.

    The Norton kingdom had barely been open for a day before three people left the city of Overwolf going south. They were the hunter Tibbs, Assassin Chuck and the Thief Fee. They generally headed south and stopped to survey areas and towns. They were not part of a guild and discovered more than a few dungeons in the center of the continent. After they had sold the location of their second dungeon and gained a reputation as reliable and could get more money. With the opening of the continent¡¯s most southern region they went racing to the area. They decided not to look around the capital for dungeons, they had to cross the city of Overwolf to head to the south. The ideal would be looking for a big city on a major road.

    From Overwolf to the unexplored towns they at least had second rate roads. It had something to do with having cavalry that needed good roads to get from place A to B. The journey started a bit shaky at the first town they entered. It seemed they were not the first players to discover the town. Things like this happened often in their line of work. They continued south to the next village. They were the first at that village and the others they discovered after that. The fame they earned was not a lot but it gave them an edge and made the journey easier. It also allowed them to talk to most of the villagers and ask questions of the surrounding areas.

    They had a system of who to ask and what to ask. Most of the time it was easy. If you are the first in a town you should just ask every villager and one or two would have a quest to clear out a dungeon or to kill an amount of monsters in said dungeon. The mayor, captain of the guard and local healer were the first three people a person wanted to talk to. Sometimes things did not go as smooth and you first had to do other quests before they would give you the location or quest for the said dungeon you are looking for.

    The first village had a quest to go kill huge centipedes in an enormous cave that was located inside a dense forest not an hour¡¯s walk from the town. After they talked to every villager and declined every quest given, they concluded they could not get any more information and should move on.

    First they would head to the cave and not enter it. Mark the location and write down how to get there. After that they would head south again to the next village. This continued for nearly 2 weeks until they reached the sea in the south.

    There at a small fishing village that yielded no results they turned east down the coast. They would head to another fishing village and from there work their way back to the city of Overwolf. From there they would head east alone the south slope of the large mountain range till they reached the sea. From there they would head south till the corner of Norton. Then they would go back to Overwolf again.  It was best to scout out locations and then sell the information before others found the same as you. Being 2 weeks on the road already was a bit risky but since this is a new area and most of the strong players that would pay or make use of the information were around the capital, Riften or in Overwolf.

    There was always the chance that no strong player would buy their information but a weaker player or new guild would find the information very valuable for later use. On the way back they encountered 2 more villages that yielded no promising results. They were off the roads and tracking through the wild. Tibbs used his hunter skill to scout out any threats and could blend into the land at a moment¡¯s notice. Chuck and Fee had similar skills to help them not get sighted or targeted. They wanted to travel across the plains because it was the most direct route back to the city of Overwolf.

    Normal groups would waste a lot of time tracking through the wild. But since this group evaded fights with monsters they moved fast and did not die. They were a skilled bunch and could evade most threats. They nearly died as a pack of roaming Kodo beasts almost trampled them and they also nearly died when alligator type monsters ambushed them when they stopped for water.

    Their best estimates put them about 5 days away for the city of Overwolf and 1 day west from the village called Nipton. They knew of the town called Nipton and chose to bypass it this time, because it would add a day to their journey at least. They came across a mountain and joked how it looked a lot like the Lonely mountain from Lord of the Rings. Around the mountain mostly open and lush plains were visible. Many roaming beasts were visible. They would walk right past the mountain on their way to Overwolf. There was also a lake a good distance away but the amount of Kodo beast packs hanging around it forced them to stick close to the mountain.

    It was nearing night time so they pressed onwards into the night. They were well past the mountain sometime during the night before they had to log out. They were not big on camping in the wilds and would just log out and come back in if they were ready to move on. It did not matter for them, night or day they were skilled and could navigate almost any place during any time of day. When they were all logged back in, it was around midday and they wanted to continue onwards.

    Tibbs used a hunter skill to survey the surrounding area which allowed him to spot distant moving targets. Nothing seemed out of place until he looked upon the mountain. At the top there was slight movement and what seemed to be a building of sorts. It was not big and could easily be missed because it seemed to be built into the rock and rather not on it.

    From this angle a tower was visible that is how they could have missed it the first time they looked upon the mountain. The other times they looked at the mountains were during the night and whoever was up there did not light fires or use illuminate magic to provide light. It interested them and after they all agreed they double back to the mountain to investigate what was moving atop the mountain. As they came closer to the base of the mountain they could see a few paths leading up.

    Only half of the mountain had paths or places where attempts could be made. The other half was rock and looked jagged and could not be climbed. They chose the nearest path and started upwards. The progress was fast, the paths up were not broad and seemed to cross each other and make new paths. Some were dead ends but most seemed to be paths upwards.

    Near the top a lot of bones were visible around the paths. What made it more disturbing was that they seemed to be mostly humanoid bones. Near the top they saw the building they were looking for, but still no sign on what had moved up here. They decided to go closer because maybe they could see better if they stood on the bridge leading into the building. As they approached the earth shook a bit and then sounds could be heard. At first it sounded like sticks clicking together and that of weapons hitting stones.

    The bones around them started to take shape and form into full blown skeletons. Some had few bones missing but most of them looked ready for action. The three tried to fight and manage to kill the first wave of skeletons, but skeletons like to overwhelm their enemies. In the end all three died. Chuck did well and manage to almost make it part way down the mountain before arrows killed him.

    They awoke back at the town of Nipton. They did not die often but were use to it.

    Exploring new places always had the risk of death. That is why they wore their second best gear and items. Thus when they died and could not go back to where their loot had dropped they could move on. When a person dies you drop a percentage of your gold and between 2 and 5 items. Off course these numbers were higher if a skilled enemy thief or merchant was in the party or close by when you died. According to Fee a master thief could also take a specific item from your equipped items or inventory when you died.

    Only one thief can do this to a corpse, thus preventing an army of thieves picking a person clean. To their knowledge there were not many master thieves because it was a secret class. The three companions asked around in the village if anybody knew something about the building atop the mountain. They were about to give up when they received word that an old retired ranger might know something. They tracked him down to a small farm just outside the village. The old cripple man was not very talkative but a few gold coins changed his mind.

    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    According to the man when he was young he and his fellow ranger buddies were crossing that region. Everybody knew of the mountain and lake. It was a good place to get your bearings and head into the right direction. The single tower was not that visible and they also only saw it by accident. They sent a couple of men up to scout. They assumed it was just an ancient outpost.

    When the scouts did not return they all went up. The old man did not go with and stayed at the base of the mountain. He was bitten by a snake and needed to rest. The following day nobody returned from the mountain. It will take about an hour or less to reach the top and there was no reason why nobody would come back. Not wanting to get killed the old man made his way back to the village of Nipton. It took him few days of waiting and regaining his strength to report what had happened.

    Another group of scouts were sent to investigate. When they did not return weeks later a third group of rangers were sent. After they did not return the orders came that no ranger should climb the mountain and should just move through that region as fast of possible. At the time there were battles with monsters and the threat of war with Dale was imminent. Thus extra men could not be spared to investigate and soon the outpost atop the mountain was forgotten.

    On the road back to Overwolf they could discuss all that had happened. It had been a while since all three of them had died. Usually one of them would get away and live to mock the others. Before they left Nipton they made sure no group of players had arrived in the town. It seemed they were the only players to come south by this road. At the first town they had scouted, things were different.

    Players were already in caves killing huge Centipedes. Thus the information they had on this town was near useless. The money they make will have to be from selling the information of places more to the south.

    Each had his own theory about the outpost atop the mountain. Fee thought that it will not be worth it to attack and clear the outpost. It seemed small and with the amount of man power a person would have to commit to clear it, it would not be counted as worth it. Since the reward was unknown she would not advise against assaulting the place. Chuck was neutral about all of it. His thoughts were that there might be a chain quest connected to the place but it would not be an important one. Only Tibbs thought the place was a small gold mine.

    Sure the outpost seemed small, but who knows how deep it goes into the mountain. The amount of dead skeletons was a good sign that whatever was inside needed a lot of security. When they reached the city they sold most of the information for good prices. There was a dungeon close to the sea which nobody wanted to buy information off, probably because it was so far out of the way. The other was that nobody wanted to pay the amount of gold they were asking for an ancient outpost whose exact size was unknown.

    This was about the exact time the borders of the large Rosenheim kingdom opened to players. Their plan to explore more of the place close to the mountains went up in flames after that. Now they wanted to head to Rosenheim and start anew. The gold they made from Norton was not good compared to their previous findings.

    They crossed Dale and just entered Aidern territory. In Dale they mostly went through small towns. Here however they were in a big city. They would ask around and try their luck, a person never knows what players would be interested in the information they had. They were on the verge of leaving and heading onward, when a man stopped them.

    ¡°Yo, heard you are the fellows that headed south in Norton as far as the sea and have information to sell.¡±

    ¡°Yes, We only have 2 key pieces left, the others all sold like hot cakes.¡±

    ¡°Alright let me hear your sales pitch.¡± He said grinning

    ¡°The first is a dungeon close to a sea fishing village a long way from here.¡±

    ¡°Ahh, I can see how nobody paid for that, it is far out of the way and no group would head out there now at least. So the other piece?¡±

    Tibbs was doing the talking and had time to observe the person in front of him. He seemed to be a warrior with good armour. The only other defining trait was him wearing a black coat with a big silver sword and small golden scale on it. This person would most likely have the money to pay what they were asking for but he would have to give more information

    ¡°I can see you are a man that knows a lot. We have been telling others about an ancient outpost we found. Not big in size but exact size unknown since we could not scout it all without entering the outpost. Just for you I will add the additional information that there were a lot of skeletons guarding the place. That we a Hunter, Assassin and Thief of high skill got surprised by and could not escape.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, that is interesting. All right I want to know the location, 100 gold was it?¡±

    ¡°Nope, The price is 200.¡± He managed to say with a straight face.

    ¡°A business man. According to my friends you were asking others only 100 gold, but since I seem to be the only one interested the price has doubled.¡±

    ¡°Well yes, but you are the first to hear about the skeletons. If you pay the 200 gold as a bonus I will add more information to what you heard along with its coordinates.¡±

    ¡°What guarantee can you give me?¡±

    ¡°Only that the place is legit and that the skeletons are not easy prey.¡±

    ¡°Here is what we will do. I will give you an additional 50 gold if you tell me everything that had happened in detail along with any other relevant information about the location.¡±

    This sounded too good to be true. Before he could agree the warrior spoke up again.

    ¡°Along with that I would also like you three fellows to show me your names. For in case you lied and it will help the bounty hunters we send after you to track you faster.¡±

    Tibbs, Chuck and Fee talked it over in their private party chat window. ¡°The gold we make from this will be massive. It alone is as much worth as all the other places we looked at these past weeks. We are honest gamers and I don¡¯t think they will send people after us even if they find nothing there. So far we been honest and need to be moving soon. If they want our real names to spam us we can just mute them all to hell.¡±

    ¡°So be it, we will go through with this deal, it will be the fastest 250 gold we had ever made.¡±

    ¡°Alright, we accept if you show us your real name in return.¡±

    ¡°Works for me. Let us not do this in public and come with me to our chapel.¡±

    The three were a bit confused but they followed the man none the less. They arrived at a building that was not a chapel but just a medium size house in a not so busy part of the city. It did not have banners or flags it did however have a small plaque that said Brotherhood of Steel South Chapel.

    They entered the house and made their way over to the closest available table. There were not a lot of people but all of them wore the same black cape. It took them a while to notice that some black capes had a big golden scale with a small silver sword on it. The person sat at the head of the table and started to talk.

    ¡°Ok, my name is SolMonster and I run the chapel here down in Aidern. I am part of the Brotherhood of Steel based out of the Heaven Kingdom. Now first here is the 250 gold.¡± He put a bag on the table in front of him. ¡°Which you guys get once you tell me more and show me your names.¡± They showed him their names and told him all they knew. From the location to a more detailed account from the battle. Tibbs added the part where before he died he noticed many skeletons coming from the outpost.

    He also added the part where he theorised that all the skeletons at the outpost are that of humanoids from the major races a player could pick. They could tell SolMonster was intrigued. He thanked them and gave them the gold. They thanked the man and stood up to leave before he stopped them.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know where you guys are going next but if you find more dungeons, come straight to me and I will most likely buy the location. We are looking for dungeons not close to major cities but not those obvious low level stuff you guys sold to the other people.

    The trio left the guild house and made their way to Rosenheim.

    SolMonster did not spend his own money but that of this chapter treasury. Major had sent a nice amount when they started here. They did not need it, they were making more money than spending it. But Major claimed it was needed for emergencies or for investments. Walter was the second highest earner for the guild with the rank of Graduate Scribe. He was also a merchant and close friends to Major and Gambit. Major taught him a lot and helped him out in the start. He was not nearly as rich as Major but it was safe to say he was second richest in the guild. He bought mines and invested in other projects to earn money.

    For now they will send a scout to see if the outpost was there. For the next few days they are going to focus on a dungeon close to them. This will give enough time for others to finish up and make ready to head over to this outpost.

    Solmonster scheduled the exploring of the ancient outpost for two weeks from now. They would leave in a week and a half time so that they could gather in Overwolf. The main thing was to wait for the people coming from Nest and one dwarf from Thor. They did not find any high level dungeons or secrets. Just a low to medium zone to level up and quest.

    With the party assembled they left Overwolf heading south east. There was a bad road that kept the general direction south east. When the road ended a person could see the Lonely mountain. From so far away it seemed so tiny. They were warned about beasts in the area. The Kodo beast herds should avoid them. They where nearly a party of 30. These 30 here and the few that would catch up were considered the main force of the southern chapter house. They had additional members. Some were too far away, while most did not have the levels to come along.

    In front of the mountain they had a near encounter with a herd of Kodo beasts. They came stampeding over the plains. Calmly they formed a small group with plate wearing players in front and the rest behind. Each warrior brought a pole arm which they equipped and pointed towards the upcoming beasts. The beasts may have been mindless but they knew trouble when they say it. They ran close by and made their way to the lake.

    If the beasts had charged into them both sides would have struggled. No matter how thick your plate armour is, but if a massive Kodo beast that weighs half a ton runs full speed into you, there will be damage. Healers and mages would most likely die in the initial hit. That is why cavalry has a place on the battle field for flanking or creating an opening for others.

    The alligators they were warned about lived in the water. Since they walked a small distance pass the lake they had nothing to fear. Tibbs who told them of the alligators was a bit vague on their full capabilities. Later they would discover that these alligators where more like fish and almost never left the water. The lake was huge and with Kodo beasts coming to the lake daily for drinks, they had no shortages of food.

    They arrived at about 4 pm. That left them with about 3 hours of good light. It was decided they would continue and not wait till the following day. It took just less than an hour to walk all the way to the top. The paths were easy enough to follow. With weapons ready they slowly started to make their way towards the bridge. According to the explorer¡¯s they had been attacked on approaching the bridge. With nothing happening they advanced forward. The range players where in the middle with all the melee classes in a circle around them.

    The formation slowly moved forward. Nobody made a sound. All of them were expecting the skeletons by now and none of them came. With approximately 2 hours of light left they moved further. The bridge was narrow and only wide enough for a cart and one person beside it.

    Solmonster was a bit worried. The bridge was a good choke point where a small force could stop a large force. Due to the angle one came from, only skilled archers will be able to fire into enemies making a stand on the bridge. Another potential danger was that enemies from the outpost can fire down with spells and archers into an attacking force.

    Tactically it was bad to move out and advance, but if they did not go, nothing was going to happen. He ordered half of them to stay behind while the rest move to the entrance. Once there they will enter and access the situation. If they need reinforcements the others are a bridge walk away. Solmonster took point alongside the best tank they had in the south. They were about half way when the sounds of cracking bones started.

    ¡°Weapons ready! Cast combat buffs. Defensive formation.¡±

    4 days later all of them were logged back in. Each and every one of them had died. Solmonster was one of the last to have died in the battle. He knew what to expect, but still they were killed. Thinking back to the moment there was not much he could have done different.

    The enemies came from the front and rear. At the start they were not afraid. The range attacks easily killed the first wave. When the first skeleton warriors came in range of the defensive line they too were killed fast. It took about 10 minutes before they started to realize that even if you kill a skeleton, it comes back to life. Only much later in the fight did they realize that short from crushing bones, nothing else would stop the skeletons. Even if you managed to destroy half the bones, the bones would combine with a different fallen skeleton to form a new enemy that is ready to attack.

    The only thing going in their favour was that a few skeletons were firing arrows from the outpost.

    With the light fading the squad at the back started losing ground. When they divided the party the stronger half would go in first and the weaker group would be the backup. The weaker party was falling back wards on the bridge. By doing so the area from which skeletons could attack was reduced. The down side was, that their escape route was completely cut off.

    Thanks to the narrow bridge the melee fighters could fight in shifts. This worked well till everybody was running low on mana, health and stamina. Even the bowman started to complain that arrows were in short supply. Nobody kept track of the time but they had fought nonstop till late at night.

    The moon was high in the air. That and the occasional spell was the only source of light they had.

    One by one they fell. He guessed nearly 8 hours had passed since the battle started. He fell down after he got impaled by a sword. His armour was broken, with his last seconds of life he thought how things could have gone so bad. They were of the strongest players in the area and they could not even reach the entrance¡­

    Solmonster needed help. He would try and be online for the weekly Elder meeting to hear what the BoS have to say.

    <hr />

    So here is the new chapter. so there may be some confusion so let me explain. The story follows Tinker until he died an log out. Then I tell a story that took place at about the same time of my previous 2-3 chapters. Thus next week the two stories are going to come togethar in the the next chap. Thinks of this chap as back round and setup for the next.

    I am not sure what I am want to name the next chapter. I am thinking of breaking up the 2 chapters of this sage into thee or four chapters...so yea. The name will be posted with the chap.

    I find it helps if you have the RR map open when i explain the kingdom names, mountains and rivers. Its under my Important images folder along with a pic of how the outpost things looked when it was first found. Go check it out.

    As always leave all comments and questions for me and I will try and get to them