《Second Dream》 Prologue - Game Start Rays of sunlight found its way through gaps in the curtains, illuminating the face of a certain youth. The boy, age of 18 years, groaned as he slowly rose out of slumber from the discomfort of the sun. He had jet black hair, complementing his pair of black pupils, with fairly tanned skin and somewhat fit body. He was as normal as one can get. He had just finished his major exams and would be waiting for his results, which would hopefully be good enough to enroll him in University of Westmoon, one of the better universities of the country. Heading to the washroom with half closed eyes, he began his usual morning routine consisting of showering, brushing teeth and other necessary daily needs. Finally coming to his senses from his mini "workout", his heart started to race with excitement. Today was the first day of delivery for the first ever virtual reality gear ZenG, along with its virtual reality game Second Dream, a pioneer of virtual reality gaming. He was fortunate enough to be one of the first 10000 to preorder this gear through constantly staring at his computer screen, competing against millions worldwide, refreshing the companies webpage to order their sets. The set had cost him $300, with the game having a monthly subscription fee of $300, it was a heavy blow to his savings which came from various part time jobs in the past 2 years as well as cutting down on daily expenses to keep the extra pocket money from his parents. He was from an average family and knowing his parents, there was no way they would pay for his gaming needs as they believed it to be a waste of time and money, the latter especially in this case. Although the savings were originally for his expenses in university, he deemed it worth since Second Dream was going to be the epitome of games for years. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Second Dream is a massively multiplayer virtual reality fantasy game, involving magic and swordplay, revolving around a world called Astus with countless mountains, continents and oceans, all of which housing various beasts and kingdoms for players to explore. Along with various races ranging from humans, elves, dwarves and orcs to vampires and other locked races. The company Kotrax had also announced that the world of Astus was completely managed by their A.I [Artificial Intelligence] to keep the game as natural as possible. As the clock ticked to 12:00pm, the doorbell rang giving the extra jolt to his already anxious heart. "Zedd go answer..". Before his mother even finished telling him to go answer the door, he had already sprung out of his room, heading to the door. Swinging the door open, he can see a middle-aged man wearing a uniform with the word Kotrax on it, undoubtedly it is the company''s delivery man, he hurriedly signed the relevant documents, bid the man farewell and brought the headgear into his room. The release of the headgear had started hours ago at 8:00am and so he was already lacking behind his peers, there was no more time to spare if he didn''t want to lose out. Plugging it to the wall, he fitted the headgear on and switched on the power, the headgear immediately released a sleep-inducing sweet scent making him drowsy and he closed his eyes, slowly entering the game as if the game truly was a second dream. "Welcome adventurer, I am your guide to start you off in the world of Astus, may I know what your name is?" "Ripple." Chapter 1 - Luck / Bad Luck ? ( ... ) - Inner thoughts " ... " - Speech/Conversation etc.. *... * - Sound effects etc... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Looking around, he could see the boundless sea spreading beyond the horizons with the endless sky above. His virtual body felt surprisingly normal as if his real body was in the game. The voice in the sky continued the questioning for his set up. "What race do you wish to become?" (I wonder how I would look like in the various races...) As if responding to my thoughts, various bodies appeared in front of me, showing off their features and builds. The human boy looked exactly the same as me, the male elf with long smooth flowing blond hair, taller stature and sharper face was indisputably more handsome than my human one, although not by a very far margin. The dwarf had a very large beard and short stature, somewhat chubby though and finally the orc was brutish, with razor sharp teeth, no hair and grey skin. (Now that is a hard question... Hmm.. According to the company''s website, humans are the most versatile race, while elves generally look better and have stronger affinity for magic... Argh... I''m still single after so many years.. Maybe if I choose the better looking elf....) "Elf." "You will not be able to change your race after you finalise your choice unless you unlock a special race, is elf your final choice?" (Hahaha I''m just choosing elves for their higher magic affinity, yes that''s right, not because it looks better...) I tried to convince myself that but it made me feel so shameless. "No, I wish to be human." "Is human your final choice?" "Yes." "Your attributes and magic affinity will be based on luck and rolled when you enter one of the beginner towns, Teris of Davrain Kingdom, Hails Port of the Yoldart Empire and Zenrith of the Holy Union which beginner town do you wish to go to?" (No point thinking too much about where to go, let luck decide for me!) "Random." "You will be given 1 silver, 10 loafs of bread and a 1 litre water canteen to start your adventure, all the best adventurer." "Thank you!" (Wait.. Why did I even say thanks to an A.I ) Light illuminated brightly in front of me, causing me to forcibly shut my eyes and all of a sudden I start hearing a myriad of sounds, from common folk NPCs [Non-Player Characters] advertising their wares to other human players chatting amongst themselves. With a quick turn of my head, I can see plenty others just like me, stunned at the first sight of this surrealism. System: You have arrived at Teris of Davrain Kingdom. Teris was a small square town, where one can see the town gates at both the north and south ends as long as they stood near the fountain at the center of the town. It was quite easy to distinguish the players from the NPCs considering most of us are still wearing the basic leather shirt and pants with basic boots, given that it has only been merely 3 hours since the game first started, I doubt anyone could achieve a feat fast enough to blend in with the common folk. The sight of the lines of shops filled with both players and NPCs as well as the huge forest in the distance beyond the town gates made me clench my fists in excitement, I am finally going to start my adventure! (First things first, I need to check my stats, hopefully I have enough luck to get good stats and affinity, sigh) "Status" Name: Ripple Race: Human Level: 1 Class: None Affiliation: Neutral Family: None Title: None FAME: 0 Money: 0G 1S 0C HP: 100/100 MP: 100/100 Attack: 5 Defense: 10 STR: 5 DEX: 5 LUK: 20 INT: 10 Affinity: 0% (Argh, why is my STR and DEX stat so low, does the game want me to be a weakling?...WOW my LUK is superb! ... INT is average.. EHHH!? 0% AFFINITY?!) (According to the company website, the average affinity should be 50% of a specific element with the lowest roughly at 20%, how am I breaking the lowest barrier and achieving this "glorious" feat of having 0%... Such great LUK indeed... Tsk, I spent so much money just to basically be given the middle finger by the game, without any affinity I can''t cast any spells at all, I still have to find ways to earn money too... Maybe I should auction this headgear up...) Sighing inwardly, I decided to check out the game further before doing anything rash. As I walked past the fountain at the center of the city and past a few rows of stalls, I heard a sniffle from a side valley between two rows of stalls. Seeing as it could be a quest, the curiosity and greed found the better of me as I head straight into the valley to find a young girl, roughly the age of 12, with blue hair, in tatters leaning against the wall crying. Pieces of her shirt had been torn off and her pants has multiple holes in them, with dirt and mud on her face, clothes as well as her disheveled hair. (Hmm, should I talk normally or would I need to talk politely to raise intimacy with this NPC.. Oh well..) "Hi there, do you need any help?" She looked at me with her pretty deep blue eyes and answered: "Wehh, *sniffle* Terrence and the other boys bullied me and stole my money." (Wow, NPCs going around bullying, this is even more realistic than I thought. Kind of brings up some bitter memories of the past though...) "How about I bring you back home to your parents? Are you able to walk?" "Can you really? But I can''t go home without getting groceries, I shouldn''t have tried to go buy them by myself." And with that she starts crying again. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.(I wonder how much she lost, maybe I can give her some money, though I''m not sure how much would be enough for her to buy some groceries..) "I can spare you some money and I promise to protect you the best I can, have no worries, I will return you safe and sound." (Wow, I sound like those typical white knight guys.. Makes me feel like punching myself.) I tried to give her a warm smile as I replied to help her calm down and trust in me and for some reason she blushed slightly. (Wait, no no no no.. That was not intentional, I am not a pedophile.) I tried to reassure myself. *DING* Quest: Julia''s Plight Difficulty: F- Details: Julia has been bullied in the alleyway and the money she was given to buy groceries with, you are tasked to spare her 50 coppers to buy groceries and to bring her home to seek treatment and rest. Rewards: Unknown Upon Failure: Fame -1, Intimacy with Julia -15, Intimacy with Teris Residents -10 (EHHHHHH, that''s more like my plight, what are these absurd "rewards" for failure... Oh well it shouldn''t be too hard since it is ranked F- which is the lowest possible rank. There shouldn''t be any problems bringing her home since I am in town so there aren''t any monsters around and I have 1 silver, more than enough to let her buy some groceries.) {100 coppers = 1 silver, 100silver = 1 gold} Granting a hand for her to lift herself up, she continued to blush and hurriedly brushed off the dust with her free hand and continued to grip my hand tightly as I passed her 50 coppers and asked for her to show me the way to the store for groceries.. *Ding* System: +1 Intimacy with Julia (Eh, now it just looks as if I am doing this on purpose. Hmm..Looks like it was pretty bad for her to be scared enough to hold on to me so tightly though... What kind of rascals will do such a thing to such a cute little girl..) As if reading my mind, three young boys approximately the age of 12 to 14 appeared before me and blocked the way out of the valley. "Oh still here are you? Guess we haven''t taught you well enough to stop appearing near us, filth. I will definitely beat this discipline into you today, if not, my name isn''t Terrence." Says the tallest one in the center. (Well that''s a bit clich¨¦...) The three of them all had brown hair and black eyes, with the Terrence looking like a tub of blubber where I can barely just put my arms around his waist if I tried to, the other two chubs are also pretty much what you can label as fat. "Get out of the way old man!" says Terrence. (Ugh...) That dealt a heavy mental blow to me as I was always minding my age. Something ticked inside my head and anger surged forth as veins popped out across my forehead. "Oi fatstuffs, stop picking on her. Are you sadists? Go lose some weight instead of bullying people, get your priorities straight." Calming down after thrash talking them, I was surprised by my own words, to think I would resort to verbally abusing kids. I think I hit the mark as all three start to fume mad, I could have sworn I saw steam coming out from their red faces. A weird thought struck me, I had a weird feeling that their fats were boiling inside them and could start deep-frying their insides. *Ding* System: By enjoying the sorrows of others you have gained a new attribute: Sadism. Sadism +1 (WAIT WAIT!!! WHY AM I THE SADIST NOW,SINCE WHEN DID I ENJOY THAT? BESIDES, NONE OF IT ACTUALLY HAPPENED. IS THIS GAME REALLY TRYING TO MAKE ME MAD?) Afterwards, well to say the least, the matter was handled pretty easily. The boys were much too slow given how fat they were, however it helped ease part of their pain acting like a layer of armor. They still pack quite a punch when it lands though. Still, learning that my already weak punches with my low strength were even less effective, I chose the next best form of attack, pinching. I dodge their flat flobs of meat they call arms and proceeded to pinch the living day lights out of their faces and bodies. By the end of the fight, they were begging me not to pinch them any further and apologised, agreeing never to disturb the girl ever again. I just stood there laughing as I continued pinching while they cried, before I decided that they really learnt their lesson and reluctantly stopped. *DING* System: Sadism +1 Title obtained: (Master Pincher) DEX +2 Damage +5 (when pinching) (EHHHHHH, my god, I am becoming more sadistic and why is my first title so ridiculous ... I want to cry... The game is making fun of me for sure.. Sigh, at least the damage increase is good, disregarding the name..) *DING* System: For being the third to obtain a title, FAME +1, ALL BASE STATS +5. (Wow, someone managed to get a title earlier than me? It''s only been a few hours. Oh well, the stat increase is fantastic, I wonder how much the first to obtain a title gained.) "Status" Name: Ripple Race: Human Level: 1 Class: None Affiliation: Neutral Family: None Title: Master Pincher FAME: 1 Money: 0G 0S 50C HP: 100/100 MP: 100/100 Attack: 10 (+2 when pinching) Defense: 10 STR: 5 (+5) DEX: 5 (+7) LUK: 20 (+5) INT: 10 (+5) Sadism: 2 Affinity: 0%
I have yet to learn how to use tables so currently everything will be in text, but if anyone thinks that it is messy, I will try to change it. Chapter 2 - Beauty (From the looks of things, my stats are pretty good for a level 1, heh, maybe I can even aim to be at the top of the server.) After getting the needed items from the grocer, we proceeded to a small flower shop at the corner of the street. There, we saw a blue-haired, middle-aged woman, pacing back and forth in front of the shop frantically, mumbling to herself. Upon closer inspection, I could see her distinct hairline, coupled with a few wrinkles on her otherwise sharp face. When she saw us, without hesitation she pounced and lifted Julia into her arms, refusing to let her go. Rainfall dripped from their eyes as they cried their hearts out. It was a blissful scene, to think that NPCs can exhibit such extreme emotion, I am starting to doubt my sense of reality in this game. After what seems to be ages, but was actually just 10 minutes, the two separated and the woman whom I assume to be the mother wiped the last tear off her face and turned to me. "Thank you so much young adventurer, you don''t know how much it means to me to bring back my sweetheart safe and sound. You even took the effort to teach those rascals a lesson, I don''t know how I can repay you. My name is Rosalia, may I know of your name, grand adventurer?" "It is no problem madam, I did it out of good will. There is no sane man who would leave a young child in such a state alone. You can call me Ripple." *Ding* System: Intimacy with Rosalia +5 "To think the heavens would bless our small town of Teris such a good-willed man like you, as you can see, my humble abode is but a small shop selling flowers, I am unable to provide you any money thus I hope you can accept this flower, it is one of my prized possessions." "I am much obliged to receive it madam, alas I must take my leave now and so I bid you farewell." *Ding* System: Intimacy with Julia +10 Intimacy with Rosalia +10 Intimacy with Teris Residents +5 Affinity -> Good +5 Obtained: RoseGlory Flower (Yes! Finally finished my first quest, that took longer than expected. Hmm... Oh wow it is still 12.40pm, only 40 minutes in real time, took me 2 hours in game to finish this since time flows 3 times faster in the game. Hmm, let''s see with no affinity I have absolutely no control over magic I cast so being a Magician is definitely out of the question and since I have such low base STR and DEX, being a Warrior, Thief or Archer is going to be hard...but with my Title I might have a fighting chance... Sigh, is the game telling me to go be a farmer or something? No use brooding over this, let me identify this flower first and than figure out my next move.) System: RoseGlory Flower: Quality - Unique Details: A flower that only blooms during a full moon, must be under direct moonlight for effects to show. When it blooms, it emits a sacred scent that strongly attracts magic beasts and plants. (Wow, a unique item on such a low difficulty quest, guess my high LUK finally came into play. This flower sounds very dangerous though, full moon huh, wonder when there would be a full moon in Astus.) While i was looking at identification window, a cloaked figure was swiftly moving towards me. The cloaked figure seeing that I was about to return the flower to my inventory and head off, released a burst of speed and activated the skill, snatching away the flower and dashing into the crowds. I was flabbergasted, astonished, shocked, almost any other related word you could think of I was feeling it. It took me half a minute to regain my senses and I quickly darted off after the thief. Ever tried to chase someone when they had a head start? Now, think of the eternally long queue of people in front of the famous Apple store the day before the release of their newest product. Shape that queue into a crowd and have that someone you are chasing run into the crowd. This was what was happening to me as I chased the thief into the mass of people at the town square. I lost sight of that ruthless, scheming, prick the moment I blinked. Clenching my fists, I walked to fountain in the middle of the square to take a break, giving up on the chase. "My first unique item, damn it, didn''t think there would be someone so despicable around!" venting my anger and frustration out, I had not noticed that I was exclaiming everything out loud. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. "Excuse me, are you okay? Want to share with me what happened? It helps to let out some steam and calm your emotions when you talk to someone." I could not concentrate properly as I was still fuming with rage but somehow those words were soothing to my ears, calming to my soul as I listened. I slowly tilted my head up to locate the owner of such charming voice. "An angel?" I accidentally blurted out such embarrassing words, being mesmerised by the embodiment of beauty that descended from the heavens in front of me. She had luscious smooth flowing black hair contrasting her snow white skin tone which seemed to reaffirm her elegance, her flawless face had long eyelashes that bring out the beauty of her bright blue eyes and her pink supple lips coupled with that angelic voice of hers made her simply irresistible. Even her pale blue robe which was glued to her voluptuous body at all the right parts, showing off her great assets and smooth curves was tempting me, if not for my anger I would have pounced on her right on the spot and gotten jailed by the city guards. According to Kotrax official game site, being jailed was one of the worst things to happen to a player as they had no way of escaping during the whole duration, usually ranging from 24 hours to weeks of game time, and logging out would cause the timer to freeze until one reconnected. Of course I wasn''t so slow as to not know what I had just did and was in a fluster struggling to find an excuse, I followed up saying " My humblest apologies mademoiselle, I was taken by surprise by your charm, I hope you can forgive me for such a blunder. My name is Ripple, you are the epitome of beauty and perfection, it would do me great honour if I could be graced with the name of a goddess such as yourself." *Ding* System: For such extravagant display of flirting and smooth talking, you have gained a new attribute - Charm. Charm +1 (OH MY GOD, DAMN I AM SMOOOOOTH, EVEN THE GAME THINKS SO AND I DON''T EVEN KNOW HOW I CAME OUT WITH THOSE WORDS.) I was beyond embarrassed by my own open display of flirting that my heart threatened to pound right out of my chest but I had to keep a calm and cool look if not I would have been even more of an embarrassment. The female player blushed red as a tomato, vigorously shaking her head and waving her arms in front of her left and right replying "No no! I am not really that pretty! I am Ecila, please don''t tease me and I was just looking to see why you were so angry." After that brief introduction, I instantly felt a chill shoot down my spine and finally noticed the crowd standing around us, staring at me with piercing gazes, trying to kill me with their stares alone. I could have sworn I even heard one of them mutter "die", but because the rest of the town square was quite rowdy I dismissed it as my imagination. Feeling the gazes growing intense every second, I could not hold still any longer and bolted off into the massive crowd a distance away and turned at various corners, finally ending at a deserted alley. I heaved a sigh of relief as the group I assume as her fan club didn''t manage to chase me this far and flopped to the ground to rest only to feel something tugging back my hand. "Umm, can you release my hand now?" Turning my head, I found myself holding the hand of the now flustered Ecila. "SORRY!" I blushed from head to toes, instantaneously releasing her hand and bowed while apologising. To think I had panicked and actually pulled her along with me as I escaped. "HAHAHAHA." I raised my head and smiled as I watched the angel clutch her sides squealing with laughter. How I wished I could just save this moment of bliss forever. She gradually calmed down and wiped off the last traces of her tears from her laughter and turned to face me. "I had thought you were a playboy when you proclaimed my beauty so confidently and wanted to play around with you more before accusing you of rape and leaving you in jail, but here you are blushing like a strawberry, haha, so cute, so this is the real you isn''t it, kind of makes me want to take a bite off you." My face froze when she revealed her true self, she may have had an appearance of an angel but she was no doubt a devil. Chapter 3 - New Skills Trying out colours to differentiate text better! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Looking at my dumbfounded face, Ecila could not help but chuckle aloud. She walked over to me and hung her arms around my neck, bringing her face closer to mine with every breath. I felt intoxicated by the sweet scent of her sweat and breath as her face closed in within inches of mine. (Damn, even though she is evil... why must she be so beautiful.) Closing my eyes, my heart thumped stronger than an iron hammer at a steel forge, I stood there awaiting the first kiss of my miserable love life, but it never came. I looked around frantically for her but to no avail, only to hear her words resound throughout the alley "If you can guess my real name, the next time we meet, I will leave you breathless. Oh and thank you for the flower!" I clenched my teeth hard, causing a series of cracking sounds to reverberate in the quiet alley. Was she the one who stole my flower? Even though I knew it was wrong, my heart ached for her presence, yearned for her affection and I needed to know the truth, which lead to her departure leaving my heart in turmoil. Walking out of the alley, I overheard a certain interesting conversation between two players. Player 1: "Hey, have you heard about the training hall? If you train hard enough you can get the sword mastery and fighting spirit skills along with some stat increases!" Player 2:" Eh, I did, but apparently it is not easy though, you need to train for long hours to get those skills, but I also heard if you train hard enough the instructor will give you a free sword!" Of course, since there was a golden opportunity to gain free skills, stats as well as vent my frustration, I jumped at the chance. The training hall was a dome shaped building with a bright red roof, it stood out among the sea of brown in its vicinity. Inside, I could see more than 30 users already engaging in combat with various arms, swinging their swords at thin air to practice their forms and footwork or swinging at bamboo posts to train their endurance and strength. Walking up to the mass of muscle people call instructor, I bowed respectfully " Sir, I would like to practice sword combat!" "Oh, another greenhorn eh? Hmm, your muscles aren''t too bad and your attitude is good, very well! Go ahead to the rear and grab a training sword and practice against any post you wish." "Thank you, sir." I swung the training sword with all my might, like demon-possessed, trying to rid any lingering thoughts of Ecila from my mind. Even as my muscles groaned from the constant stress, far from relenting, I applied even more force into my strokes using my stolen flower as my motivation. Eventually, after hours of hard work and swinging my training sword like a mindless bloodthirsty ghoul, I was rewarded with a clear ring to inform me of my achievement. *Ding* System: For continual long hours of dedication to the way of the sword you have gained - , Endurance, Strength, Dexterity. (Passive) - Basic Lv.1, 1% Proficiency Endurance +2 STR +2 DEX +2 For swinging with such vigor and blood thirst instead of fighting spirit, you have gained a unique skill - . - Basic Lv.1, 1% Proficiency "Info - " (Passive) - The expertise of using a sword, the more one masters the use of the sword, the greater expertise one can use it with, enabling one to strike faster and stronger. Speed and Strength of sword strikes increases as skill level rises. Attack Speed (with sword): +1% Damage (with sword): +1% Current level: Basic Lv.1, 1% Proficiency "Info - " - The user emits his blood thirst to surroundings, exerting his savage viciousness instead to instill fear into beings in the vicinity. Possibility of dominance over enemies. The area of effect, possibility of fear and possibility of dominance grows with skill level as well as Blood Thirst gauge. Weaker beings will be more easily influenced. Feared beings have lower attack and movement speeds, dominated beings will seize to attack and may even be controlled while duration of blood thirst lasts. Area of Effect: 5m around user Possibility of Fear: 5% Possibility of Dominance: 1% Skill Cost: 5MP per second Current level: Basic Lv.1, 1% Proficiency This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. (SWEET! Although it was a unique skill, I was afraid it was weaker than fighting spirit, thank god it lives up to its name! Blood Thirst gauge eh? Oh it should be this gauge below my MP [Mana Points], currently 0/100, probably because I have no blood thirst at the moment.) Seeing as I have completed the my strenuous training, the instructor comes over and gives me a pat on my back, congratulating me. "Good job boy, I have seen how hard you trained, although it is strange how you swung with such ferociousness, you are now a member of us honourable swordsmen, take this iron sword as a reward for passing your training." "Thank you honourable instructor." *Ding* System: Obtained: Iron Sword "Info - Iron Sword" Iron Sword - A basic double-edged sword made out of iron. It is more durable than a wooden sword. Quality: Common Attack: 3 - 5 Durability: 20 (Wow, looks like common items don''t give much damage, at least it''s better than pinching though.) "Status" Name: Ripple Race: Human Level: 1 Class: None Affiliation: Good +5 Family: None Title: Master Pincher FAME: 1 Money: 0G 0S 50C HP: 120/120 MP: 100/100 Attack: 12 (+2 when pinching, +3-5 when wielding sword) Defense: 10 STR: 7 (+5) DEX: 7 (+7) INT: 10 (+5) LUK: 20 (+5) Sadism: 2 Charm: 1 Endurance: 2 Affinity: 0% (Finally, my stats are on par or rather slightly better than the average user, of course not taking into account my absurd LUK stat. Hmm, so STR increases my damage in a 1:1 ratio and allows me to wield heavier weapons and armor the higher it is, DEX increases my accuracy and attack speed and INT increases my magic damage but not MP. Although my LUK stat serves no combat purpose, it helps me get better chances of good drops and possibly also get good rewards from quests. I have no idea what sadism does... and I guess charm is to raise intimacy with NPCs, Endurance raises my HP in a 1:10 ratio and *sigh* my affinity is still 0%. Apart from telling us that only our STR, DEX and INT rise when we level up and that we do not have skill points to increase our attribute like other games, why doesn''t Kotrax give us any other information about stats at all..) (Now that I got myself a good weapon and worthwhile stats, it is time to do some good old grinding. Fighting mobs in Second Dream should prove much more challenge than the mundane games of the old generation.) I needed to get to level 10 so that I can finally choose my first class and start off on a proper adventure. With my body more or less used to swinging a sword as well as gaining sword mastery, there was without doubt that the Warrior class was the one for me. As I was heading out of the gate towards the woods, the town guards came over to stop me. "Hey, I heard about you from Rosalia, thanks for helping us take care of those scoundrels, are you heading out to the Teris Woods? Why don''t you help us clear some of the wild dogs in the area, they are giving us guards much trouble because of their sheer numbers, I will give you 1 silver for clearing 20 of them." Quest: Wild Dog Massacre Difficulty: F Details: The wild dogs in the Teris Woods area are breeding much too fast and are getting out of control, help the town guards kill 20 of them to get the situation back under control. Reward: 1 Silver, Intimacy with Town Guards +5, Intimacy with Teris Residents +5 Upon Rejection: Intimacy with Town Guards -10 (Nice, looks like my high intimacy helped gain the guards trust, getting me a new quest. Since I was going to kill some dogs to level up anyway, this is killing two birds with one stone.) "I will gladly help keep the dogs in check for you honourable guards who protect our great town of Teris." Reaching the woods, I spot various groups fighting large dogs in various clearings. Some of these parties have quite decent equipment such as chainmails and hard leather, compared to my basic leather equipment, perhaps that is why they choose to ignore me as I walked. I was starting to doubt my own capabilities since everyone around me fought in groups and was about to turn and head back to get a party when a dog the length of 1.2m pounced out from behind a tree, growling and baring its vicious fangs at me. Its eyes were black with hints of grey hue and its fur a glossy grey. "Info - Wild Dog" Wild Dog - A wild dog that breeds and hunts in the woods of Teris. They are hostile to strangers and like to use their sharp fangs to attack, occasionally slashing with their claws as well. Level: 2 Rarity: Common HP: 120 MP: 100 Attack: 20 Defense: 10 (Since I''ve come this far, no point running back to town, let me see how well I fare against this stupid mutt. At long last it is time for some real PvE [Player versus Environment] combat.) Chapter 4 - New Friend Drawing my Iron sword, I positioned it in front of me, wielding it with both hands. Moving my right foot a step beyond my left foot, I activate and stare at the Wild Dog, awaiting its next move. Perhaps because I held no enmity towards the dog, I could only conjure up enough blood thirst to reach 1% of the gauge and since it was also higher level than me, it was barely affected. Turning my off, I was distracted for a moment and in that instant, the dog bent its body and pounced straight towards my neck for a bite, I managed to hastily dodge to my left and tried to swing at it but due to my lack of balance, I was unable to put any force into my stroke, causing my sword to just brush past its glossy fur. It landed a distance away to my right, snarls loudly and pounced yet again. This time however, I slipped on a stupid rock and its claws found its way to my chest, digging parts of my flesh, the pain causing me to reflexively howl. (My GOD! No wonder everyone else is teaming up, it hits like a truck! How is this a beginner''s mob?) Just one slash and it dealt 10 damage, 12 of that and I would be lying on the floor and I hadn''t even accounted for critical hits, not to mention I had to endure the pain every time that stupid dog hits me, this was much more than I bargained for. Due to safety regulations, the game was not allowed to let us feel the actual pain that would have been dealt to us, instead, it generates a shock to us which is toned down to a maximum of 50% of the pain our minds can tolerate, anything beyond causes us to go entirely numb. Still, the shock generated from the slash at my chest was far enough for me to cringe.*Shiver* Anger and for some reason bloodthirst as well started to surge inside me thanks to the pain inflicted on me by my adversary, I wanted to tear its limbs and feast on its flesh. From the corner of my eyes, I could see the gauge slowly fill up to 20%, hoping it was enough, I reactivated just as it tried to take a bite off my arm. My sudden empowered caused the stupid mutt to waver for a moment as its instincts of fear suddenly kicked in. That short window of opportunity was enough for me to take a good jab at the dog''s eyes and it let lose a bloodcurdling scream. A big red-coloured 30 appeared above the dog''s head, contrary to the usual yellow, signifying a critical hit had occurred. Too bad for me, having one eye stabbed was enough for it to be even more cautious and so I could not find any more openings. Thankfully, its attack and movement speed was slowed due to fear, I made use of that to unleash a torrent of blows onto its face and body, more-so its face of course. Even if I could not cripple its other eye as well, I figured hitting the face was always more painful and that was proven true by how I dealt 7 dmg to its body while its face suffered 10 dmg from every strike. The reduced speed of the dog did not put it at too much of a disadvantage though as it fought hard with its life on the line, trying to as much as possible return my every slash with a bite or slash of its own. With great effort in a back and forth slug fest, though with swords, claws and teeth, I was able to finally terminate its life, barely surviving by 10HP. With a golden glow, 10 copper coins appeared next to its corpse, along with a dog pelt and some dog meat. I considered it good loot for my first hunt as I had expected just 3 copper coins or so from the drop. My EXP bar had also climbed to 45%, the Wild Dog was truly a generous adversary considering how much trouble it gave me. "Status" *Ding*
Status
Name:RippleRace:Human
Level:1Class:None
AflliationNoneFamilyNone
TitleMaster PincherFame:1
Money:0G 0S 60C
HP:120/120MP:100/100
Attack:12 (+2 when pinching, +3-5 when wielding sword)Defense:10
STR:7 (+5)DEX7 (+7)
INT:10 (+5)LUK:20 (+5)
Sadism:2Charm:1
Endurance:2Affinity:0%
"Show Skills"
Skill Name:Skill Rarity:Skill Level:Skill Proficiency:
Blood ThirstUnique160%
The user emits his blood thirst to surroundings, exerting his savage viciousness instead to instill fear into beings in the vicinity. Possibility of dominance over enemies. The area of effect, possibility of fear and possibility of dominance grows with skill level as well as Blood Thirst gauge. Weaker beings will be more easily influenced. Feared beings have lower attack and movement speeds, dominated beings will seize to attack and may even be controlled while duration of blood thirst lasts.
Skill Effect:Area of Effect: 5m around user Possibility of Fear: 5% Possibility of Dominance: 1% Skill Cost: 5MP per second
Skill Name:Skill Rarity:Skill Level:Skill Proficiency:
Sword MasteryCommon180%
The expertise of using a sword, the more one masters the use of the sword, the greater expertise one can use it with, enabling one to strike faster and stronger. Speed and Strength of sword strikes increases as skill level rises.
Skill Effect:Attack Speed (with sword): +1% The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.Damage (with sword): +1%
(Just a bit more to level up myself and my skills. I need to use my more often to level it up, a high level will allow me to solo mobs easily.) Perhaps due to the adrenaline rush from engaging in a close life and death battle, I had been fully focused on the fight and paid little detail to the damage of my body and the pain that follows. Now that the fight had ended, the surge of pain repeatedly struck throughout my body like ocean waves pounding relentlessly against the shores. I restlessly dragged my body back to a safe area near the town gate and found myself a nice tree to lie against. Slumping down, I found that my satiety was reaching 30%, the fight had dragged out far too long. Taking out my water canteen and taking a few gulps full of cool refreshing water, I began to "feast" on my stash of rock hard bread. The dull and bland taste left a numb feeling to my tongue , yet as horrible tasting as it may be, it was my only lifeline at the moment, so I pinched my nose and downed it. If my satiety were to fall below 30% my movement speed and attack speed would drop by 50%, considering that my previous fight was far too close for comfort, I was not willing to risk death over some bad-tasting food. Finishing my quick meal, I closed my eyes to ease my tensed mind and body while letting my HP and MP continue to recover. A cool breeze brushed past my face and I slowly found myself struggling to stay awake, deciding that a quick nap would not hurt, I let my already drooping eyelids fully enclose my eyes from the afternoon sun. Resting for what seems to be half an hour, I felt a slight disturbance and was woken up to a heart-pounding sight, literally heart-pounding. A big burly beastman was squatting down at my side, leaning in for a kiss with his thick and massive lips. He had fuzzy black hair with similarly black cat ears mounted on his head instead of human ears, a big bushy black furrowed unibrow, big black slanted eyes, a square nose with two big nostrils. His mighty muscular frame was clothed in beginner leather and he held an axe at his side. I screamed for help as I crawled backwards away from this monstrosity, though truth be told his appearance was not that bad but the situation I was in did not allow me to think rationally. My actions shocked him greatly as he jumped back with wide open eyes, seemingly looking teary-eyed and shrinking his body afterwards. "Wwh...wwha...WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" I screamed at him. "I''m really sorry! Please forgive me! I had thought you fainted and wanted to do CPR [Cardiopulmonary resuscitation] ." The mere thought of being kissed and furthermore having my first kiss to be stolen by him sent goosebumps crawling all over body and I hunched over with a hand covering my mouth, fighting to hold back from barfing out my meal. I secretly cursed, wishing to have been woken by Ecila than this fiend. Nearly having be defiled sent a mental note to my brain to stay clear of this man as he was dangerous, very dangerous. "Are you crazy? Couldn''t you tell whether I was breathing?" "Hiiihh! I''m really sorry, please don''t be angry. I really couldn''t tell. Your chest didn''t seem like it was moving." *Sigh* A wave of nostalgia hit me. His actions replicated my childhood friend Linda, well ex-childhood friend. She was a quiet girl who was quick to misunderstand, always making mistakes and always apologising. Her timid aura made me feel like petting and taking care of her, and perhaps that was why we got along well, at least we used to get along well. She would always for some reason find herself in trouble and I would always get bruised up in her antics. The first time I met her, was exactly the same situation as this, of course removing the macho man and inserting a cute girl with a blonde ponytail. The 7 year old me, was taking a nice nap under an oak tree in the nearby park. The 7 year old her, who for some reason knew what CPR was though I doubt she knew the proper process, dashed right to me upon seeing me lying under the tree and came to the conclusion that I was unconscious. Maybe my chest really doesn''t rise and fall as distinctively as others. In any case, she discarded any other possibilities and solutions and immediately leaned in for some mouth blowing action. Since I was and still am a relatively light sleeper, I was easily awoken by the disturbance and noise she made in moving. Opening my eyes to see soft supple lips nearly enclosing mine, I jumped back, causing her to narrowly miss. Seeing me staring wide-eyed at her, she immediately bowed her head and with teary eyes apologised "I''m really sorry! Please forgive me! I had thought you fainted and thought of doing CPR." Thinking back, it was a good chance for me to get a cute girlfriend and have my first kiss, but of course the young me was naturally air-headed and innocent. "HUH? I was obviously breathing, can''t you tell if you look at my chest moving?" "Hiihh! I didn''t know, I couldn''t see your chest moving, I''m sorry, please don''t be angry." Even the young me could not help but shrug back and console the girl, she meant no harm after all and I had been quite mean to her too. I stretched out my hand and did my signature clockwise hair ruffling followed by a few pets on her head. *Sigh* "I''m sorry too, I didn''t mean to be so loud and angry." And that marked the start of our friendship. We met almost everyday at the park and would play around. One day, it all came crashing down. She told me we could not be friends anymore and just disappeared. I did not understand what happened and felt sad, perhaps even heartbroken. Since that day, I never came into contact with her ever again and since I was still young and experiencing many things, I gradually moved on, forgetting about her. Unconsciously, while reminiscing these past thoughts, I had stretched my hand out, carrying out my signature clockwise hair ruffling followed by a few pats of the beastmans head while saying "I apologise for being so overbearing, please try to pay more attention next time." For an instant, the beastman''s eyes widened in surprise but I was too preoccupied to notice. Immediately retracting my hand when I noticed what an awkward and disgusting thing I just commited to a big burly beastman, I bowed and apologised "I am really sorry, I was lost in thoughts and did not mean to do that." The beastman waved his hands frantically "No no, I don''t mind at all, it actually feels good, AH! I mean I''m sorry as well!" I unconsciously took a step back, hearing that dangerous reply of his. The beastman scratched the left of his head with an anxious look, throwing out a sudden bomb "Please be friends with me!".