《Of Demons and Devils》 Welcome! Hello everyone and welcome to my second project on these forums! This is actually something I''ve been working on for a while even before starting to write the tale of Green [20.gif] Soooo I''ve prepared quite a lot of material in advance. But now I finally decided I need some feedback on it. I hope you enjoy this new tale and will start uploading it shortly. The props for all the epic illustrations mixed into the story (more will come! :P ) goooo toooo my awesome friend Riza Ryuzaki! Here is his DA: http://riza23.deviantart.com/ Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. All the chapters are still under revision! So as you read it you might sometimes want to check out previous chapters for any changes that affect the storyline. I will do my best to keep everyone updated on any important changes i make, but I might forget something so dont bite me please <3 Monoka~ Volume 1 - Prologue Prologue - The new Dawn of NeoPangea
It¡¯s the century of discovery! Humanity has occupied almost half of the known world, and their numbers are still multiplying endlessly. The Angels had a premonition that at this rate, they will end up destroying their beautiful home themselves, crushing nature with their sheer numbers. Therefore they decide to set sail to find a new home! After long months of sailing with many hardships it was finally discovered, an unknown continent! As the first humans and angels set foot on it together they named it---- NeoPangea ---- the new continent they found, humanity¡¯s and Angels¡¯ new hope. However, this continent is inhabited by vicious monsters. Help the other immigrants to get settled in this new environment as you explore the mind-blowing beauty and breathtaking nature of NeoPangea, the undiscovered continent! As travelers delve deeper into the land they soon found themselves not being the only inhabitants of NeoPangea. Previously unknown to them, other intelligent races have long since settles down in this place. Slowly getting used to one another, the Elves and Lycans of NeoPangea accept the new settlers after some friction between the old and new inhabitants that were resolved by our brave adventurers. But what will happen as a new evil rises? The devils have found their way to the surface of the earth, escaping from their imprisonment in hell. Unfortunately they have accidentally destroyed the seal of an ancient evil during their escape! The races of NeoPangea are furious! Just as they had settled down and found peace, new problems arise! The Ancient Giant, the Great Cyclops, a servant of Zeheloth, driven into despair and losing his mind after millennia of imprisonment by the seal has been released and his mind is obsessed with destruction. Followed by his loyal vassals and undead minions he is again free to roam the surface of the continent and more cruel than anyone could imagine! What will happen to NeoPangea now that he was freed? Brave adventurers, to arms! Protect the peace of NeoPangea! Features added: New playable race: Devils New Hidden instances and dungeons added New Maps added to be discovered New Capital of Devils added Class system updated! Secret classes have been added. Some other changes have been applied to the skill and stat system. Some bug fixes have been applied, for further information, check here
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. This new announcement of Furan Corp had set off an avalanche. Players all over the world were looking forward to this new expansion of the Fade-In MMORPG giant, NeoPangea Online. For the last few years more than 1 billion players had started playing and enjoying themselves in the beauty of this fantastic continent, enjoying a life they otherwise could never have imagined. Therefore, the interest in the expansion was enormous. Players all over the world were waiting breathlessly as the date for the promised expansion approached. If at school or at work, voices discussing about it would be loud, exciting everyone around. [New York City, in a room in the 4th floor of a 22 story skyscraper] A girl was lying on her bad with closed eyes. Her long eyelashes were tickling her skin slightly. She had opened the windows to let the sounds and smells of the city drift in. The building she was in was facing the central park, so the oily smell of cars and technology that polluted the air was thinned out a little bit. She was breathing deeply but quietly, her chest moving slightly whenever she took in the air from outside, trying to grasp all of the millions of pieces of information her senses perceived from outside. She was listening to the sounds floating over from the window as she blended out the sounds coming from within the building, the distant roaring of car engines, even some planes and motorcycles were among them. The ringing of bicycle bells, the crackling sounds the wheels made on the park¡¯s pebbly roads. She imagined herself sitting on a park bench, watching over the buzzing of the city around her. She was imagining the birds hop from branch to branch excitedly as they tried to feed their chicks, the squirrels chatting nervously as they stared down at passing people holding snacks enviously and of course the kids playing all around the park noisily. Be it playing tag along the greeneries, splashing water at each other in the pond nearby or even pouting over not getting what they wanted. What she would give to be able to join them¡­ She smiled as she imagined that scene with herself in it, playing catch with the other kids. Then she got startled back into reality as someone knocked on her door. ------------------ Hey there, I hope you enjoyed the prologue of my new story. Please feel free to comment, criticize, remark or jut express your thoughts on what you''ve read [th_084_.gif] Volume 1 - Chapter 1 Chapter 1 - The Birth of a Demon ?The world really still is full of mysteries¡­ like, did you know there is actually a guy living in the United States who can eat anything and not feel sick at all? Even paper and metal parts¡­ you really can¡¯t fully understand nature, right Nao?¡± ¡°Hahaha, really? He sounds like a bit of a glutton. Well it¡¯s true, there are many things about earth that we don¡¯t get, like why the sunlight changes color sometimes, right? You told me about that before, I think the first time it happened was 1917? That must look really lovely¡± ¡°Oh, you still remember that? Yea, I believe it was 1917. It actually just happened again last week. I heard they are working really hard to figure out why it happens seeing as it gets more and more frequent but I heard some people caused a riot yet again, saying it¡¯s a sign that a god will be reborn or a disaster will happen¡­¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s probably going to turn out like the excavation incident the other day, right? Everyone was convinced some kind of curse had made the archaeologists vanish from the tomb but it turns out they only went out partying for a few days without telling anyone¡­¡± ¡°Good point, hahaha¡­¡± Both the man and the girl that were just discussing briskly went quiet for a while until the girl finally broke the silence. ¡°Hey, Daniel¡­¡± Nao¡¯s expression was emotionless. ¡°Yes, Nao?¡± ¡°Why are you doing this?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°You keep on coming to visit me, you even teach me and read books to me, even though it¡¯s hard for you¡­ and even though you know that it won¡¯t last much longer. So why? Why do you keep hurting yourself for someone like me? Just stop it already!¡± ¡®There she goes again¡¯ Daniel thought. ¡®She always belittles herself like this, even though she¡¯s such a nice girl¡­ ¡® ¡°¡­ Nao¡­¡± He didn¡¯t know what to say. On the one hand there was Nao whom he had known for a long time. Her family never came to visit her nor did she have any friends despite trying her hardest. She had failed every time she had tried and stayed alone without complaining. He had never seen her cry but he knew she did, when no one was around and she thought she wouldn¡¯t trouble anyone with her own problems. And then there were children who had everything handed to them from birth, their parents complaining about them non-stop, but still giving them everything they asked for. Thinking of this he unintentionally thought of his neighbors. Their son was around Nao¡¯s age and always skipping school. Just recently his mother had complained that he just kept on playing online games without caring about anything else. It got especially bad when new technology came out, she had said. Something about where your consciousness actually entered the game¡­ ¡®Wait¡­¡¯ Daniel¡¯s thoughts froze and he got up, rushing out of the room in a hurry, nearly tripping over his own feet. ¡®Why didn¡¯t I think of this sooner? I just need to verify some things but¡­ this could really be it!¡¯ Daniel rushed out of the room without a word, completely forgetting to even say his goodbyes to Nao. ¡®Did I really manage¡­ to scare even him away?¡¯ Contradictory to what she had just said Nao was really happy that Daniel kept on visiting her. He was a very kind person and she knew he genuinely cared about her, yet¡­ she had said all that to him. She quietly curled into a ball on her bed and kept herself from crying, there seemed to be a stone forming in her chest. ¡®No, this is what I wanted, so why do I feel so lonely?¡¯ ¡°Tell me, mother¡± she hugged her bunny, her mother¡¯s memento, tighter ¡°He won¡¯t come anymore now, right? I did the right thing, didn¡¯t I?¡± ¡®I keep saying things I don¡¯t mean¡­ the truth is I just don¡¯t want anyone to get hurt again¡­ for being with me. If it¡¯s just me who is hurt that¡¯s alright.¡¯ Daniel rushed down the hallway and quickly entered the old elevator, pressing the button for the ground floor. He nervously stepped from one foot to the other while watching the floor numbers count down on the display above the door. ¡®Hurry¡­¡¯ His thoughts kept flying back to the conversation he had had with his neighbour. He¡¯d have to research this a little, but if it was possible for Nao to play this then she would really be able to make some friends on her own. The elevator arrived on the ground floor and the doors slid open with a ¡®ding¡¯. As soon as there was enough room for him to pass, he ran outside, completely ignoring the stunned look on the faces of the people he passed on the way. He fumbled around for his keys in his coat and swiftly got them out as he rushed into the parking lot and quickly unlocked his car from afar, stuffing the keys back into his pocket. Why had he parked so far from the entrance today¡­ Finally reaching the black capsule-like car, he quickly opened the door and got into the front seat, bending over to the right to pick up the black bag with his laptop from below. He opened the bag and took out the keypad. It looked like the bottom part of the laptops of the previous generation, just holding a flat keyboard. He pressed a button on the side of the keypad, switching it on. He waited for a little while but then the built-in projector started working, displaying what used to be shown on a screen transparently in mid-air. Daniel skilfully manipulated the keys, signing in to his PC and accessed the internet. High speed internet access was now available worldwide, without having to use crude devices such as internet sticks or routers. He quickly accessed the website of the Fade-In technology and looked up the functions of the device. Upon system start the user would be put into a sleep-like state, all signals from and to the brain would be cut off just as they reached the brain surface, making it possible to stimulate the feeling of being in a completely different world altogether when accessing software with this technology. As this was the case, it would be possible to play the game normally even if you were disabled or bedridden, since the technology didn¡¯t rely on your own movements or body data to run. The device also featured a basic monitoring function over the body, warning the user about real bodily needs or interferences from outside. You would automatically get a message if someone got into close proximity of your body and a microphone would automatically activate, allowing you to hear what happens outside. The more he read about it, the more it sounded like the perfect solution to Nao¡¯s problems. But this was only his assumptions pieced together with bits of information. He needed to know more about this. Which meant he had to talk to someone familiar with the technology to make sure of his theory. He really didn¡¯t want to give Nao hope and then smash it again once he found out it wasn¡¯t possible for her to play... He set his car to auto-pilot while he continued operating his laptop. He had decided to go home for the day. When he arrived at home, he quickly opened the garage door, allowing the car to park itself and locked it inside. He closed the outside door and entered his house through a side door from within the garage. He looked at his watch. He still had about 30 minutes until it was time for dinner so he quickly undressed and took a shower, washing away his anxiety and the sweat of the day. When he had readied himself, his neighbours should have just about been done with dinner so he left the house, simply locking up without bothering to turn on the security system. He then walked through his front yard and up to the entrance gate of his neighbours¡¯ mansion. He reached for the doorbell and quickly pressed it. Just a short while afterwards he heard his neighbour¡¯s voice over the intercom. ¡°Who is it?¡± ¡°This is Daniel Stevens, I¡¯d like to ask you something. May I come in?¡± Daniel replied ¡°Oh, Mr. Stevens, just a moment, I¡¯ll be right there.¡± She had hung up right afterwards and a few moments later he could make out footsteps coming towards the gate. ¡°Good evening, Mrs. Rogers.¡± He greeted her when she came around the corner with her best welcoming smile. ¡°I hope I didn¡¯t disturb you during dinner?¡± ¡°Good evening! Of course you haven¡¯t. Please don¡¯t worry. I had actually just finished washing the dishes. Please come in.¡± She opened the gate for him and waved him inside, closing it again once he stepped through. She then led him through their garden to the front door and let him in. They entered the spacious living room and she motioned for him to sit down and relax, saying she¡¯d make some tea. While he waited he took a quick glance around the room. As expected from a well-off household, the room was decorated with taste, with 2 couches to relax on and several plants and cupboards that seemed to fit right into the atmosphere of the room. Both useful and stylish, there was a lot of room for storing things without it seeming overly stuffed. Even the lamps had been picked to fit the taste of the inhabitants. In addition to that the room was equipped with the latest entertainment technology, including the fade in system and several televisions and other audio systems he hadn¡¯t seen before. Just when he had finished surveying his surroundings, his neighbour came back with a tray with 2 beautiful cups and a fitting teapot, sat down across from him and put the tray on the table, pouring them both some herb tea, from the smell of it. ¡°Let me greet you again, Mr. Stevens. It¡¯s quite rare for you to visit us. How are you?¡± ¡°Yes, indeed. I have been quite busy with work lately so I haven¡¯t had much time to I¡¯m afraid.¡± She smiled slightly. ¡°I know what you mean quite well, my husband has also been able to spend less time with us lately since he had been promoted. He comes home late quite frequently now and he seems so tired every day it starts to worry me.¡± She glanced at Daniel sadly. ¡°Please promise me you don¡¯t overwork yourself, Mr. Stevens. In contrast to my husband you don¡¯t have anyone to look after you.¡± ¡°Haha, indeed. I shall try my best.¡± They continued exchanging pleasantries and small-talk for a while and then Daniel finally decided to lead the conversation to the main topic. ¡°Actually I came here today to ask you something, Mrs. Roberts. To be more precise it might be your son who will be able to help me out in this matter.¡± ¡°Oh, now I¡¯m curious. What is it you¡¯d need our advice on?¡± ¡°Actually it¡¯s about that game you¡¯ve told me about before. You said your son had started playing it and grew very fond of the virtual world there.¡± ¡°Mr. Stevens, I didn¡¯t know you were interested in such things.¡± She looked surprised and a little disappointed, reconfirming her dislike for online games. He smiled slightly, trying to pacify her. ¡°Actually I¡¯m not asking for myself. I hardly have time to be playing games due to my work. But I¡¯m asking for a friend of mine. She is a girl about the age of your son and has been depressed lately since she can¡¯t go outside. I figured maybe this game could help her a bit.¡± Relieved Mrs. Roberts sighed quietly. ¡°I should have known it was something like that. Alright then, let me go and get Julian for you.¡± She nodded and got up, leaving for her son¡¯s room. ¡°Thank you.¡± A few minutes later she came back with an annoyed looking teenager following her. The boy glances over to Daniel, nods and sits down across from him next to his mother. ¡°Good evening, Julian. Sorry for disturbing you without prior notice. Do you think you could spare me a few minutes of your time?¡± ¡°Sure, no problem. I heard you¡¯d like to ask me something.¡± ¡°Straight to the point, I see. As I thought, I came at a bad time.¡± He sighed to himself and decided to try keeping his questions short. ¡°Yes, actually I heard you¡¯re playing an online game with the fade in system. I¡¯d like to ask you about it.¡± Apparently he had caught the teenager¡¯s attention now. The annoyed look vanished from his face and a glimmer entered his eyes since the topic was about his favourite game. ¡°Really? What do you want to know about it?¡± ¡°Yes. Please tell me about the game in general. To be honest I have no idea about these things at all, that¡¯s why I decided to come here.¡± The boy then excitedly started talking about the game, NeoPangea and how it works. As in other online games you would connect to the internet and be able to play with users from all around the world. The game had a fantasy setting, it was a place without modern technology and weaponry, comparable to legends and folklore of the medieval time. The users would start as settlers or inhabitants of a newly discovered continent and were given tasks by computer controlled characters that lived there. Sometimes they were asked to find items or explore unknown territories, sometimes to clear dungeons or other areas from dangerous monsters. You would then receive rewards for your efforts. Of course you could also play without putting your character into danger by producing items and selling them. Furthermore you could ally yourself with others into parties to defeat strong foes and make friends that way. Even having pets and taming animals was possible. Julian¡¯s explanations went into depth, explaining there were proper towns, cities and kingdoms with different social standings. The players could work their way up through these standings through their efforts and achievements. If you were lucky enough you could even become a noble, although there hadn¡¯t been anyone but a handful of people that had gotten the opportunity. Developing skills was very realistic. Especially principles for production skills were very close to reality and you had to keep up practice or your skills would deteriorate. The same went for your characters strength, which came from stats. You needed to keep working on it or your character would get weak. The competition between players in the game was quite fierce as everyone tried to create a strong character. But this also meant players teamed up a lot. Adventuring was an arduous task. The monsters could evolve and get stronger themselves, but once you killed them they sometimes would never come back, making it impossible for other players to have the same experience and rewards from the kill. However, a really large amount of the continent was still unexplored, meaning even new players always had the chance to discover a hidden dungeon. To sum it up, NPO under the supervision of Furan and their central AI, was changing constantly. You would never get bored and people always looked for companions. As he listened to the explanations of his neighbour, occasionally asking questions in between, he became certain. ¡®Jackpot! This is exactly what she needs!¡¯ The boy had confirmed the system would work for Nao! Just as he had come to that conclusion Julian looked at him curiously. ¡°But Mr. Stevens¡­ why are you asking me all this? Do you want to start playing the game?¡± ¡°Actually there is someone I know whom I¡¯d like to start playing.¡± ¡°I see. From what you asked me I take it you really don¡¯t know much about the fade in system. So since that¡¯s the case I could help you set up the hardware for it if you want.¡± Surprised he looked at Julian. He hadn¡¯t expected him to be willing to help him to that degree. ¡°That would really help me out but actually I still need to ask the person herself if she wants to try it. Would you be willing to help me set up the system when she agrees?¡± ¡°Sure! I¡¯m also happy I¡¯ll get to know another player around here and it¡¯s even a girl. You know, I¡¯ve only been able to find one other guy in New York who plays NeoPangea. The game is really popular abroad but the technology for it isn¡¯t that known around here yet, it¡¯s a pity really. Just let me know once she decides and we can go get the necessary equipment.¡± ¡°Thank you for all the information you gave me, I¡¯ll go ask her tomorrow when I finish up at work.¡± ¡°No problem! I¡¯ll be waiting for her decision then!¡± Daniel got up and shook Julian¡¯s hand. He also thanked his mother for having him and excused himself for the day, going back to his own home. The next morning he left for work in a good mood and was in deep thought the whole day, causing his colleagues to speculate if he had finally found a girlfriend. He still managed to concentrate on his tasks and fulfilled his duties flawlessly making them unable to address him about it. The day stretched on as more and more work piled up in front of him but Daniel just picked up his pace without complaining and swiftly finished even the last report. He had ended up working overtime but that couldn¡¯t be helped sometimes. He quickly went to the personnel lounge and changed out of his work clothes in the adjoining changing room. He then wished his colleagues a quiet nightshift and left to visit Nao. He stood in front of her room and knocked quietly. ¡°Please enter.¡± It seems she was up. Nao turned her head, listening curiously to the footsteps of her visitor. She hadn¡¯t been expecting anyone and she had figured Daniel wouldn¡¯t visit her anymore now after what she said yesterday. ¡°Evening, Nao!¡± Daniel cheerfully greeted her. ¡°Daniel?¡± Nao said startled. Then she blushed and quickly turned her head down. ¡°What? Is it that strange I came to visit you?¡± ¡°Well no, I mean yes, I mean¡­I ¡­ I hadn¡¯t expected that you¡¯d come anymore since I said all that yesterday.¡± Her voice became quieter and quieter towards the end and he had barely managed to understand what she had said. He smiled and came over to pat her on the head lightly. ¡°Don¡¯t worry; you won¡¯t get rid of me that easily. We¡¯re friends, right? I knew you didn¡¯t actually mean what you said.¡± She could hear his gentle smile in his voice and nearly started crying again. She was really happy he hadn¡¯t stopped visiting her. ¡°Thank you.¡± Her voice was still barely audible, but he had caught it. ¡°No problem. Sorry for rushing out without a word yesterday by the way.¡± He said while scratching his cheek sheepishly. ¡°An idea just hit me and I acted without thinking.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay, I¡¯m h-h-happy y-you¡¯re back.¡± ¡°Say, Nao¡­ do you want to try making some new friends?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t we talk about this before? H-how can I make some friends here¡­¡± ¡°But if I found a way, would you want to try it?¡± ¡°¡­ yes¡± ¡°Awesome! Let me tell you about my idea then!¡± As the doctor started explaining about the game Nao listened with her mouth open. Could she really be a normal player in that game? Could she actually see again when playing it? Could she make friends and hang out with them there? ¡®Rather, would I actually manage to talk to someone? Would they want to talk to me?¡¯ She started panicking a little. Then she suddenly went rigid. ¡®Do I¡­ actually deserve to make any?¡¯ The whole story didn¡¯t really sink in, leaving her unable to answer when he asked her what she thought. He noticed how overwhelmed and conflicted she was so he just sat there patiently waiting for her reply. After a long silence Nao finally tightened the grip on her bunny plushy and managed to say ¡°I¡­ I want¡­ to try.¡± ¡®I will¡­ try being a bit selfish¡­ just this once.¡¯ The smile on his face brightened and he excitedly stood up. ¡°Then let me go and make the arrangements right away! I¡¯ll be back in a while!¡± ¡°O¡­ okay.¡± Still a bit dazed Nao just listened after him as he left the room and went to the phone booth. It was still 7 pm, so the shops should be open for 5 more hours. He¡¯d have to ring her family for permission before getting anything though. This would be the biggest hurdle. He had already written down their contact information in advance but honestly he was a little scared of Nao¡¯s grandmother. He swiftly left the building again, pulling out his mobile as he got into his car. He dialed the number of Nao¡¯s grandmother as he started the engine and set the car to auto-pilot again. After the 5th ring a female voice sounded over his phone. ¡°Good evening, you have reached the Yuki residence. How may I be of service?¡± ¡°Good evening and sorry for disturbing you after dinner. My name is Daniel Stevens. Would it be possible to talk to Mrs. Era Yuki?¡± ¡°Please hold the line for a moment, Mr. Stevens. I will see if the mistress is available.¡± ¡°Of course, thank you.¡± A soothing melody started playing on the line as he was put on hold and a slight sigh escaped him. As expected, her family was hard to get hold of. Just as he was starting to space out while looking out of the window, watching the skyscrapers pass by in a blur the same voice from before interrupted his thoughts, making him jump as he was ripped out of his daydream. ¡°Mr. Stevens?¡± ¡°Y-Yes?¡± ¡°Please excuse the long wait. The mistress is available, I shall connect you now.¡± ¡°No problem, thank you very much¡± The phone started ringing again and got picked up after the 3rd ring this time. ¡°Good evening Mr. Stevens, how may I help you?¡± It was her grandmother this time. ¡°Good evening, Mrs. Yuki, please excuse me for calling you this late. It¡¯s about Nao¡­¡± he got right to the point and explained the situation to her, but she cut him off indignantly. ¡°Mr. Stevens, I believe I have put these decisions completely into your capable hands. Please refrain from calling us regarding insignificant matters such as this from now on.¡± Without leaving room for further discussion she hung up. ¡°Woaaah¡­¡±, he stared at the phone screen dazedly. As usual, her grandmother didn¡¯t care for things involving Nao at all¡­ ¡®Oh well, I guess her reply can be taken as a yes.¡¯ He then quickly rang up his neighbors, asking if Julian was in. They had just finished dinner again and Julian was still downstairs so she quickly handed the phone to him. ¡°Good evening, Mr. Stevens¡± ¡°Good evening, Julian. Sorry for disturbing you again today.¡± ¡°No problem at all, the servers are having a long maintenance today to implement new content so it¡¯s not like I had anything to do.¡± ¡°Then that¡¯s great timing. I just talked to my friend and she really wants to try the game. Do you think you could help me with the arrangements today?¡± ¡°Whoa, you¡¯re fast! Sure, the maintenance is supposed to last for a few more hours so I¡¯m free.¡± ¡°Alright, I¡¯m on the way home now, so can I pick you up in around 20 minutes?¡± ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll just quickly confirm it with my mom, gimme a sec.¡± ¡°No problem.¡± Just a few moments later he had gotten permission from his mother. ¡°Alright, she says it shouldn¡¯t be a problem since I¡¯ll be with you. I¡¯ll be waiting out front until you¡¯re here then.¡± ¡°Sounds good, I should be there in about 10 minutes now.¡± ¡°Great. See you then!¡± They hung up and Daniel quickly checked through his papers. He had taken all the necessary documents and cards to get the equipment in Nao¡¯s name. Just as he finished organizing them and putting them back into his bag the car had arrived at his street. He turned off the auto-pilot and navigated the car to his neighbor¡¯s place. Julian was already waiting for him outside, waving as he recognized Daniel¡¯s car. He quickly got into the front passenger seat and closed the door. His mother had been waiting next to him so Daniel quickly opened the window and thanked her, telling her they would be back around 10. She nodded and saw them off as the doctor set the next destination for the auto-pilot to be the shopping mall. The mall wasn¡¯t far away, but they would need the car to transport the hardware to Nao¡¯s place. ¡°So, Mr. Stevens, what kind of person is she?¡± ¡°Hm? You mean the one we¡¯re getting these things for?¡± ¡°Yea¡± ¡°Her name is Nao, she¡¯s a year younger than you. She¡¯s a very shy and sweet girl. I¡¯m happy we can help her like this.¡± ¡°Aah, so she¡¯s 16 then, I see.¡± ¡°Yes, but sometimes she doesn¡¯t act like it.¡± Laughed the doctor ¡°Hehe, we can all be children sometimes, can¡¯t we.¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± ¡°So she never played an online game before?¡± ¡°No, never. But I think she¡¯ll like it.¡± ¡°You bet.¡± ¡°Ah, it seems we¡¯re there already.¡± The mall had come into view and Daniel quickly parked the car in the underground parking lot. They then got out of the car, locking it and entered the elevator tube. It was a small round tube, able to host two people. The gravity in the tube was reversed and they ascended quickly, holding onto a handrail on the side as they went up and swiftly exited at the right floor. The shopping mall was one of the few places that had been modernized with the eletube already, so the experience still left the doctor on edge every time. ¡°I¡¯ll be following you from here. I don¡¯t know what to get or where to get it,¡± said Daniel. For the next hour they wandered around the shopping mall, sending various hardware pieces down to the register. Finally only the game was left. They quickly sent that off as well and headed to the elevator to jump down to the ground floor, where the counter was located. ¡°I¡¯m surprised. The fade in technology actually got upgraded again since I got mine. It seems you can access it faster now, and you¡¯ll also not be logged out automatically anymore.¡± The teenager continued chatting excitedly as they reached the counter. Daniel handed over his ID to the cashier, waiting for the poor staff to pack up and calculate their purchases. He paid for everything and they loaded it onto a cart, pushing it towards the car. They quickly expanded the car¡¯s back storage and loaded in the hardware. The shopping cart then automatically drove itself back to the register. Stretching their muscles from loading in the heavy equipment after they were finally done, Daniel was exhausted. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ¡°Thank you very much once again, Julian. Without your help I truly wouldn¡¯t have been able to get all of this.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, I was able to get new information about the game as well.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good then, so let¡¯s get you home?¡± ¡°Huh, what are you talking about? Will you be able to set up the equipment yourself?¡± He hadn¡¯t thought of that. ¡°Right¡­ that might be a problem.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll come long and help you calibrate everything for your Nao then if you want.¡± Daniel thought for a moment. ¡°That would be great. She shouldn¡¯t mind if I bring you along.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s get going! I¡¯d like to be home when the maintenance is done!¡± ¡°Right, we¡¯ll hurry then! Sorry to keep you for so long, Julian.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s actually quite fun.¡± They had gotten into the car again and were now heading over to Nao¡¯s room. Julian continued his chatter about the game as they headed there, telling Daniel about the races and classes in game and how a new one would be added today and everyone was excited over it. ¡°Apparently the PvP system will be upgraded, even NPCs supposedly give PK quests now¡­ but usually if you kill someone outside of events or the arena you¡¯ll be turned into a criminal. Unless, of course, the other party attacked you first. If you¡¯re a criminal NPCs won¡¯t sell items to you or may even start attacking you until the criminal status is gone. It¡¯s so troublesome, really. But now apparently there will be quests for it, I wonder if that¡¯ll still be the case? I mean can they really penalize you for completing a quest?¡± ¡®Whoa, you can even be a criminal in games these days¡­¡¯ As he was thinking that, their destination came into view and Daniel pulled into the parking lot. ¡°Julian, we¡¯re here.¡± Julian left the car and stretched, slowly walking to the back of the car. ¡°Let¡¯s start loading out the things then.¡± ¡°Wait, let me get a cart.¡± ¡°Huh, they have carts here¡­ wait.¡± Looking at the building in front of him for the first time, Julian was stunned. ¡°Isn¡¯t this¡­¡± ¡°Yes, it is. Follow me.¡± They entered the building and got two empty carts usually used for laundry and pushed them to the car. They then loaded in all the equipment and locked the car. Pushing the carts in front of them they then entered the building again, using the elevator to go up to the 4th floor. ¡°Mr. Stevens, are you sure there¡¯s enough space in the room for all this¡­ and are you sure it¡¯s alright to even bring stuff like this here?¡± Julian cautiously asked. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, the room is pretty spacious and I got permission beforehand.¡± ¡°Ah, alright.¡± Julian was visibly relieved. Just then the elevator stopped and they pushed out their carts, Daniel leading the way to Nao¡¯s room. He knocked and soon Nao¡¯s voice could be heard. ¡°Please come in¡± He then opened the door and stepped in, leaving his cart in the hallway for now. Following his example, Julian also stepped into the room nervously. ¡°Here I am again, Nao.¡± ¡°Daniel! You came back quickly. I thought you¡¯d only be back tomorrow.¡± When she heard a second pair of footsteps she asked ¡°Oh,¡­ you brought someone with you?¡± ¡°Yes, I found myself a great helper so we already got everything you¡¯ll need. Let me introduce you, his name is Julian. He¡¯s my neighbor.¡± ¡°Good evening¡± Julian nervously said. He was looking around the room warily. He hadn¡¯t expected it but there should indeed be enough room for the equipment in here. Then he looked towards Nao and froze. ¡®Small!¡¯ was his first thought. Yes, Nao was quite small for her age which made her seem younger than she actually was. She was sitting in a wheelchair next to the bed in her hospital grown, holding onto a large pink bunny plushy. That¡¯s right. This was the hospital, Daniel¡¯s workplace. ¡°H-hello, Julian. Nice to meet you.¡± As she said that she turned the wheelchair around completely to face them, smiling shyly. She had short platinum blonde hair that was slightly messy and a very frail build. But her smile was very warm. The sight of her made him hold his breath. Her eyes! He had never seen such light blue irises before. ¡°Nice to meet you too¡±, he said, hiding his surprise. ¡°I brought him along to set up everything for you, since I¡¯m not that good with these things.¡± ¡°Oh, I see. T-thank you for doing this for me, Julian.¡± ¡°No problem at all. Then let¡¯s get started?¡± ¡°O-ok. If you need me to do something or if I can help with anything¡­¡± Nao trailed off. ¡°Then, we¡¯ll carry in everything and you can open the packages, alright? Just open where they¡¯re taped.¡± Daniel put some scissors into her hands. ¡°Can you do that?¡± ¡°Sure! Just bring them over here then.¡± When they walked out of the room to unload the carts, Julian couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Her eyes, is she¡­?¡± ¡°Yea, she is blind.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± They slowly unloaded everything, handing Nao the packages to open whenever they came in. They then sat down and unpacked everything. ¡°Well, I guess it¡¯s my turn now.¡± Julian said. He then started organizing the equipment, connected the pieces together and wired them to the socket in the corner of the room. After 30 minutes of concentrated work the equipment was set up. ¡®I could never have done this¡¯ Daniel sweated just watching. ¡°All set up!¡± Julian smiled. ¡°Now, let¡¯s get you calibrated, Nao!¡± ¡°Y-yes!¡± He picked up a bracelet and helmet and headed over to Nao, helping her put them on and explaining how the system works. ¡°Alright, firstly you put on the bracelet.When you put it on it¡¯ll expand and adapt to your body so it fits perfectly and doesn¡¯t somehow fall off, so don¡¯t be startled, ok? Over the signal it receives it can monitor your body condition and will automatically log you out when it thinks there is something wrong with you. Don¡¯t worry. It works wirelessly so you can just keep wearing it like a normal bracelet. Next is the helmet. This one is wired, so be careful you don¡¯t tangle it somewhere, I recommend putting it on when you¡¯re in bed and just putting it on the window shelf when you don¡¯t need it. The pieces over your forehead and on your neck will also adjust to your head and chin. Also there¡¯s a microphone on each side that activates if something close to you is moving, in case someone comes in while you¡¯re out. ¡° He put it on for her and showed her how to close it and what each of the buttons did. Then he took it off again, handing it to her, telling her to try it. It nearly slipped from her hands the first time but after a few moments she put on the helmet and switched it on perfectly. ¡°Great. Now, first we need to switch on the PC and create an account for you. Do you want me to do it? You can only access the game with your account with this FI Headgear so I won¡¯t be able to access it even if I know.¡± ¡°S-sure, I don¡¯t mind.¡± ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll just confirm everything with you as I go then.¡± They created her account on the newly purchased PC. The account creation for FIMMORPGs as he called them, short for Fade-In Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games, was a little different than for normal games. You actually had to upload a picture of yourself in full, then include various measurements of your body as well as a voice recording so the game could accurately recreate your body. It would be strange to move around in a body you¡¯re not used to after all. Of course minor adjustments could be made, but that was it. They finally picked her own name as an account name and set a password. She¡¯d also have to verify her log-in with a 10-digit numeric code every time she logged into the game. ¡°Alright, we¡¯re done! As long as you don¡¯t restart the PC you don¡¯t need to log in again, the system will automatically continue running in stand-by until you fade in so there shouldn¡¯t be any problems. If you do end up having to restart it just ask someone to sign you in again but you actually shouldn¡¯t have to. The PC we got you can run for over a year without problems even if you don¡¯t restart it. Not even for updates.¡± Proudly Julian stretched and eased the tension built up over the past hour. ¡°I actually also play this game so if you want, feel free to contact me in there! My name is Etoille and I¡¯m a Swordfighter in game. I¡¯ll help you out anytime.¡± ¡°T-thank you, Julian. I¡¯ll contact you once I¡¯ve created my character and find out how to do some basics. For now¡­ I heard that I can read the instruction manual while faded in so I will start off with that.¡± ¡°Good idea, then Mr. Stevens and me should get going, we told my mom we¡¯d be home around 10 but we might not make it on time if we don¡¯t leave now.¡± ¡°Please enjoy the game, Nao! And contact me if you need anything, I¡¯ll have my phone ready.¡± ¡°Thank you very much for doing all this for me, b-both of you!¡± Nao smiled brightly ¡°I never imagined I could do something like this, so I¡¯m r-really happy!¡± Her voice got quieter towards the end again and she blushed since she got embarrassed saying all that. ¡°Hehe, no problem at all! Hope to see you online!¡± ¡°Good night, Nao.¡± ¡°G-good night!¡± They walked out of the room and entered the elevator, pushing the button for the ground floor. Julian sighed. ¡°She really is a nice girl. But Mr. Stevens, you really could have warned me about this. I could have mentally prepared myself for her cuteness. And for this place¡­¡± ¡°Hahaha, straightforward, aren¡¯t you. Well, it couldn¡¯t be helped. After all it¡¯s not something to be proud of, having to live here so I don¡¯t tell others carelessly.¡± ¡°True¡­ but it¡¯s just like you to suggest something like this for her. After all she will be able to see when she uses FI gear¡­¡± ¡°Yes, that¡¯s why I think she¡¯ll love it. After all she used to be able to see, so¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to playing with her.¡± They arrived at the ground floor and headed outside for the car. ¡°If you hurt her I¡¯ll kill you.¡± He warned him. ¡°Whoa, you sound just like her father.¡± ¡°Hahaha, I¡¯m not that old yet.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I just want to have some fun online with people I actually know.¡± They now got into the car and Daniel set the auto-pilot to Julian¡¯s house. ¡°Then that¡¯s alright, lets hurry home then so you can start playing.¡± ¡°You bet! I¡¯m really looking forward to this expansion today!¡± Then he started talking about the game again and with some questions by the doctor in between they arrived at Julian¡¯s house just after 10. [Meanwhile, Nao¡¯s room] Nao had switched from her chair to the bed and tucked herself in. The short visit had exhausted her but she felt happy nonetheless. Her thoughts wandered to the helmet on her window shelf and she hesitatingly put it on, pressing the button in the center of the helmet, above her forehead to connect to the PC system. The headgear buzzed to life and expanded, covering her whole face except for her mouth. She felt her consciousness fade away and her hand dropped down from the helmet, leaving her body completely relaxed. She slowly regained her senses in a bright place. Wait¡­BRIGHT? ¡­ She hurriedly opened her eyes. She could actually really see again! Tears started welling up inside her as she quickly looked around, finding herself in a bright blue room with various pictures on the walls, representing programs and files in the PC. This was the control panel. She stared at everything, the walls, her hands and feet and then the walls again. She could see again¡­ for real! So this was the power of the fade-in system¡­ Unconsciously her mouth stood open as she stared at everything. After a long while she recalled her reason for fading in and called out to the system ¡°System! Display File 11945!¡± This should be the right file.
Opening File ¡®NeoPangea ¨C System controls¡¯
Nao read through the file with her own eyes, memorizing everything and then closed it. She didn¡¯t have a hard time to memorize anything, even back when she was still able to read she could easily remember what she¡¯d read after just one time. Her speed was a bit slower than usual since she had to get used to reading again, but after 20 minutes she had everything in her head. She then asked the system to open the game program.
Initializing Program NeoPangea Online.exe
Successfully launched program
Please enter confirmation key
¡°24********¡±
Key confirmed, initializing Fade-In redirection
After this last notice Nao¡¯s consciousness faded once again. After a few moments her consciousness slowly became clear again. Her body felt like it was floating, there was no weight on her limbs at all. ¡®So this is what the game is like?¡¯ She opened her eyes and saw that she was floating above the floor in an upright position. She could only make out her surroundings in a close proximity though, so she only noticed the floor being made out of black and white tiles respectively. Everything else was black, except for a transparent message in front of her reading
Now Loading, please wait a moment¡­
Just as she had finished her observations, watching herself make a fist and move her legs, she suddenly stopped floating and fell, landing painfully on her behind. ¡°Ouch!¡± she complained as she landed, sitting up and rubbing her throbbing backside. Even pain was recreated in the game, huh¡­ Ignoring the fact she had just been dropped from about 2 m in the air, a cheerful voice rang out and made her lift up her head. A smiling girl about her own age with two pink pigtails was greeting her. ¡°Welcome to NeoPangea! You are the very first player to log in after our maintenance! The expansion has been successfully applied and a new race has been unlocked for use!¡± While listening to the girl talk, Nao had looked around again. Apparently the loading process had finished successfully. She could now make out her surroundings. She was sitting in a large lobby with checkered floor tiles and a long red carpet that led up some stairs to a pair of massive wooden doors. The stairs seemed to continue upwards to the left and right of the door but she couldn¡¯t tell, since the stone railing was blocking her view. The girl before her was probably a program. She was wearing red transparent glasses that covered half her face, making it impossible to tell her eye-color and a pink-white school uniform of the modern age that was moving along with her excited gestures. ¡°Dear user, we couldn¡¯t find any character backup data on your hardware. Since you don¡¯t seem to have a character yet, would you like to create one now?¡± Some suppressed annoyance could be felt in the girl¡¯s words. It seemed that she hadn¡¯t asked for the first time. Nao snapped out of her daze and quickly replied ¡°Y-Yes.¡± ¡°Alright, let me explain the creation system to you then!¡± Just as the words had left her mouth 5 huge mirrors appeared and formed a circle around Nao. The girl walked over into the circle as well. ¡°There are now 5 basic races in NeoPangea that users may start as. Let me show you a sample of each of them.¡± She snapped her fingers and an image appeared in each mirror. Just as Nao was about to look at each one more closely, the girl spoke again. ¡°For now we basically took all the data from your Fadegear calibration and used it as reference to create a virtual image of yourself as each race but you may customize your body later if you wish. Although I say that, we only allow some modification so you will still resemble yourself, no matter what. This measure was taken to make the game seem as realistic as possible. That¡¯s also the reason we haven¡¯t removed the feelings of pain completely, although the pain settings have been lowered compared to in reality~ Now let me give you a brief overview of each race. Firstly the one directly in front of you is the Human race. No changes have been made to your original body for this race at all. Originally a weak race, humans have gained power through their natural craftiness and adaptability. What they lack in strength they make up for with their cunning.¡± Still listening to the girl, Nao took a closer look at the image in the mirror. A girl with short messy hair and almost white, light blue eyes curiously looked back at her. She was wearing a simple white shirt and short pants. Her body looked frail and small, but she didn¡¯t seem to mind and stretched amply. The girl moved over to the next mirror. Confused, Nao didn¡¯t notice any difference to the image in the first one, but just as she was about to ask about it, she noticed. The body looked almost the same, but her features were more delicate and elegant, her face looked more radiant and the form of her ears was different. The ears of herself in this mirror were a little stretched out, ending in a beautiful tip. The character was smiling back at her brightly. ¡°This is an image of yourself as an elf. This is a race of the forest with radiant grace and beauty, living in harmony with nature and its inhabitants. They have pointy ears as proof of their ancestry and live within trees and groves.¡± She now moved on towards the third mirror. She looked more childlike in this one, her features in general got softer and her face brighter. The character was very radiant, dancing around behind the glass like a child. As she watched herself move around, she noticed some small white wings growing out of the back of the character. The girl had started explaining again. ¡°This image displays you as an Angel. These are pure creatures with white wings sprouting from their back. They often have a childlike appearance and live on clouds. Otherwise they can¡¯t be told apart from human beings.¡± Swiftly the girl now moved to the 4th mirror, holding it from behind cheerfully and looking at Nao from above the frame. ¡°This one portrays you as a Lycan! A hybrid race between humans and animals. They often settle within forests and live secluded from humans. A wild and charismatic race. Their appearances differ depending on their ancestors¡¯ race as well as the density of animal blood so they often have a human body with only some parts resembling animals. Like additional limbs or body part substitutions. As an example you¡¯re now displayed as a Lycan Cat. We only switched your ears and eyes and added a cat tail in this example.¡± ¡®This¡­ is a bit scary¡¯ Nao thought as she watched herself claw at the mirror glass. ¡°And finally! I¡¯m proud to introduce yourself as a Devil!¡± Nao finally turned towards the last mirror and gasped. She looked very pale in this picture and had two horns on her head. Uncosciously her hand stretched out and she touched the glass. When the character in the mirror turned around two bat-like wings and a black tail could be seen growing from her back. ¡®Wow¡¯, Nao thought. ¡®This looks so real, and somehow dangerous. I bet it would be fun to try though.¡¯ ¡°Let me tell you about the devils~ They are a cunning race of evil creatures that escaped from hell. They assumed humanlike forms and live apart from other races as renegades. They can¡¯t completely hide their true forms, so as you can see they sometimes have horns, black wings or tails befitting of devils.¡± After a short pause the girl continued cheerfully. ¡°Please firstly decide which of these basic races you¡¯d like to play as!¡± ¡°Basic¡­ you mean there are more?¡± ¡°Hmmm~ well noticed. Yes! After this expansion sub-races have become available for each basic race! But they can only be unlocked and converted after character creation! Basically you have to find out how to evolve your character~ I also can¡¯t tell you what subraces there are, sooorrryyy <3¡± ¡®So mean¡­ so you¡¯re gonna tell me they exist but not what they are¡­ Oh well¡­ I guess finding out on my own is also fun?¡¯ After going over the mirrors one by one again, Nao was still pulled towards the devil. Unpleasant memories started to resurface. She finds herself back in that room with her brother and other relatives who were holding him back as he was trying to slap her again. ¡°You! It¡¯s all your fault that they died! Why did they have to visit you that day? Why?! Let go of me!!¡±, in between those cries she could hear the desperate sobs of her brother as well as the sounds of how he fought against the arms holding him back and ignored the voices trying to calm him down. ¡°It¡¯s all because of you! If you weren¡¯t here, they¡¯d still be here! You demon!!¡± His cries finally faded as he was pulled out of the room, but those last words would resound painfully in her heart for a long time. At that time she just sat there, too shocked to say or do anything. But later she had cried. She cried a lot during that time until it felt like all the tears in her body had been used up. ¡®If I had seen his face back then, I wonder what he¡¯d have looked like, Gareki¡­¡¯ Shaking her head slightly to shake off the last bits of the memory Nao smiled slightly this time. ¡°I¡¯ll be playing as a devil.¡± She quietly said. ¡®It¡¯s a fitting race for me anyhow.¡¯ The other mirrors disappeared and only the devil remained, smiling evilly at her. ¡°Alright! You have decided to become a devil! You may now customize your hair and eye color. Small customizations in your face and on your body are also allowed, so please let me know what to change and I¡¯ll apply the changes to your character!¡± Watching herself in the mirror, Nao thought quietly and then asked the girl for a couple of changes. After a few minutes Nao was satisfied and excited. ¡®I always wanted long hair!¡¯ She had given herself red eyes with slit pupils like a reptile, as well as long straight black hair that flowed down until past her waist. She had two sharp fangs in her mouth and two black horns were growing out of her temples, twisting and surrounding her pointy pale ears in a round shape, like rams¡¯ horns. Two small black leathery bat wings were growing out of her back and a tail grew out of her lower back, almost reaching the floor. Her character whipped it around nervously as she touched her horns. ¡®This is it.¡¯, Nao thought. ¡°Are you satisfied with the changes to your character?¡± the girl asked. ¡°Yea¡± A notice appeared before her.
Character appearance has been set
The girl turned around cheerfully and finally said: ¡°Then please choose a name for your character!¡± Just as the girl had uttered those words a virtual keyboard appeared in front of Nao, floating just in front of her chest. She glanced over at the character in the mirror again, who was just turning around and glanced into the glass as if looking at her own back, exposing her bat-like wings and long black tail. ¡®Name¡­? Should I just go with Nao? I don¡¯t really know what else to pick so¡­¡¯ Hesitantly she raised her arms and entered her own name. ¡°Nao¡±, the girl said, ¡°That choice is still available, are you sure you¡¯d like to take this name? Once you¡¯ve chosen a name it can¡¯t be changed anymore so think carefully before you choose. Please press enter to confirm your choice.¡± Just as she was about to confirm her choice she remembered the scene from 7 years ago once more and her fingers stopped just before pressing enter. ¡°You demon!!¡± The voice of her brother echoed through her head. ¡®Demon, huh¡­¡¯, she thought. ¡®Since I¡¯m picking a devil as my race there couldn¡¯t be anything more fitting.¡¯ She quickly erased her own name, which was floating above the virtual keys and entered ¡®Demon¡¯ in English. Luckily the name was still available for her race so the girl asked her once again if that choice was final. This time Nao pressed Enter. ¡°Your character has successfully been created. Since this is your first time playing NeoPangea, I have initiated the tutorial dungeon for you! Unless you¡¯d like to do apply any more changes, please step into the mirror to merge with your character and enter the game!¡± Hesitantly Nao stretched out her hand towards the mirror, unsure whether she¡¯d hit solid glass or not, but her hands slid through the surface, causing small waves to ripple toward the mirror¡¯s frame. It felt like touching a water surface. Slowly holding her breath and closing her eyes, Nao stepped into the world behind the mirror with her whole body. She was floating again, in bright white space when a message popped up in front of her saying
Character synchronization in progress
She closed her eyes, waiting for the feeling of zero gravity to fade. Volume 1 - Chapter 2 Chapter 2 ¨C Game Start! ¡°Whaaaaaaa!¡± When feeling returned to her body, she was falling again, this time from a greater height. This program really liked throwing her around, didn¡¯t it¡­ [A/N: No, but I do! ;D] With a loud ¡°oof.¡± She landed on her butt again and quickly got up, rubbing her painfully throbbing backside once again while looking around. She had woken up in a dark cave without any light source but she could still see well. The rough stone around her opened up into a large cave. Before moving there she decided to inspect her body. Except for the slight pain where she had landed her body felt fine. In fact it was very light. She quickly twisted around to take a look at her back and confirmed the devils tail and long black hair on her back. She reached towards her temples and also confirmed rough horns growing out of her head and surrounding two pointy ears. Her heartbeat sped up as she thought about it¡­ She was really in the game! ¡°Getting used to your new body, I see.¡± Quickly glancing around, she couldn¡¯t see anyone. ¡°Here, here, look up!¡± She raised her head and saw a small boy flying above her head, waving down. ¡°Hey there, I¡¯m Tim! Are you new here? You¡¯re pretty late in escaping, you know?¡± ¡°H-hello, yes, I¡¯m new. My name is Na- no, Demon. What do you mean escape?¡± ¡°Whoa, you mean you got out without even wanting to? It¡¯s the first time I saw a devil escape from hell without knowing it¡­¡± You could nearly see the nerves in his head twitching as he stared down at her. ¡°Well anyhow, it¡¯s my job to show newbies the ropes around here, so that includes you.¡± ¡°Thank you!¡± ¡°No problem, newbie!¡± He landed next to her. When his feet reached the ground his wings shrank to a small size comparable to hers. He looked about 11 years old and had a naughty glim in his eyes. He was wearing normal unicolor short pants and a black t-shirt. 3 short horns were growing out of his forehead, giving him a somewhat unnatural look and his eyes were pitch black. ¡°Well then, let¡¯s get started!¡± He smiled at her and came over. ¡°Ah, wait!¡± He looked at her questioningly. She hadn¡¯t even had the chance to properly look around yet. ¡°C-can I first look around a bit?¡± ¡°Ah, sure. I¡¯ll wait then.¡± Demon surveyed her surroundings. She was standing in what appeared to be a mineral cave. Looking around she confirmed several small ponds where water had been dripping down from the ceiling. Over the centuries beautiful blue stalactites and stalagmites had formed that provided the area with minimal light. There must be a special mineral in these mountains. They also contained a lot of crystal, seeing as the slight blue glow was reflected by millions of small shards in the ceiling and floor. The whole cave was sparkling. It was simply breathtaking. Demon slowly stepped forward and walked towards one of the bigger ponds. Its edges were rough and glowing light blue on the edge, growing darker and darker towards the middle, the deepest part of the pond. The water had dripped down and ran along the wall, eroding it over the years, finally forming a pond. The wall behind it was very smooth and several large crystals were embedded within. The water had uncovered them. She turned back towards Tim, who was sitting close to where she had fallen, watching her curiously. Behind him there was a large black crack in the floor cavern, running along the back wall. It looked like a meteorite had hit the place, a large crater had formed and the floor seemed charred despite being made of solid stone. It looked like a gaping mouth, ominous and greedy. A large scar within the beauty of the cavern. Frowning Demon got closer to the edge of the crack and looked down. After a few meters of rough rocky surface she could only make out a deep, creepy darkness. ¡°Don¡¯t fall back in now.¡± Tim warned her. ¡°Nnn¡­ I-I won¡¯t.¡± ¡®So that¡¯s where we ¡°escaped¡± from¡­ We ruined such a nice place¡­¡¯ Seeing as Demon just kept staring at the crack, Tim got a little impatient. ¡°Are you done?¡± ¡°Y-yes.¡± She startled out of her daze and turned towards her little guide. ¡°Okay, then let¡¯s get started.¡± He got up excitedly, his wings shivering in anticipation. ¡°First of all you¡¯ll have 2 default skills as a devil. One of them is to fly.¡± ¡°Huh, I can fly?¡± ¡°Yea.¡± He walked behind her and touched the base of her wings. ¡°Can you tell where I¡¯m touching?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± He moved her wings for her, familiarizing her with their feel. ¡°Now imagine the bones you feel there growing longer, expanding gradually... Good!¡± She closed her eyes and concentrated on the feeling in her back, imagining the bones and muscles in her wings growing and expanding. ¡°Great, that¡¯s enough!¡± She opened her eyes again, looking back only to find that her wings really did grow by a lot. The wings that had previously only reached up to her shoulders when she stretched them were now gigantic in comparison. She expanded them to their full size. She estimated them to be approximately 1,50 m long each. ¡®B-big!!¡¯ She stared at them. ¡®So I can only fly in big caverns?¡¯ she was a bit disappointed. ¡°I¡¯ll warn you now, your body will use stamina up faster while you¡¯re flying. But you will also need less wing capacity the more you practice. Meaning the better you get at flying, the less you have to grow them out to fly. They won¡¯t be in the way so much after a while, so don¡¯t look so down, ok?¡± Satisfied with her relieved nod, he continued. ¡°Now try flapping them. You¡¯ll have to learn to control them from the very beginning again. After all our bodies are very different now that we aren¡¯t in hell anymore.¡± She decided to try it and concentrated on her back again, asking her newly discovered bones and muscles to move. She recalled the birds she had watched in childhood and tried to imitate them. As she moved her wings she shot into the air like a rocket, hitting her head on the ceiling of the cave with a loud ¡®thud¡¯. ¡°Owwww!¡± she complained as she rubbed over her head. ¡°Whoa, easy there¡­ Well it seems you at least know how to use them¡± Tim said dryly ¡°Now you just need to work on your self-control.¡± Demon blushed fiercely at that. ¡°Well, you¡¯ll have plenty of room and time to practice¡­ I¡¯m surprised you learned the basics this fast to be honest, most of us had more difficulties¡­ after all you suddenly have to move within completely different dimensions that before. Anyhow, back to our topic. You¡¯ll probably have realized already but devils have night-vision. Meaning we can see even in the deepest darkness, which is really useful seeing as we are mainly active at night. Of course without any light source at all even we can¡¯t see anything, but this is a cavern complex very rich on minerals and crystals that give up a faint light naturally, so we don¡¯t have trouble even without daylight or fire. Let¡¯s land so I can explain some other important things to you.¡± They slowly drifted down to the surface of the cave again, landing and letting their wings shrink again. ¡°Okay, so we can fly and have night vision. Another huge difference from our time in hell is the time this place follows. The day-night circle is very different, so every 24 hours down there will actually amount to 5 whole days in this place. Since our mentality isn¡¯t used to that and we don¡¯t really rely on the day-night system down here, the devils will mostly stay awake 4 days straight and then just sleep for a whole day. It¡¯s up to you what you do of course. Just warning you beforehand. The other racial skill we have would be Life Absorption. Meaning we can bite people from other races or animals and drink their life force to restore our own life. But be careful, you can only use this skill when you¡¯re actually hungry or your fangs won¡¯t grow. By the way, you can check up on your skills again through your skill information window in the character screen. To call that one up just shout ¡®character window¡¯ and it¡¯ll appear. There are several other useful buffs for our race, and we also have a few weaknesses so keep paying attention now, this is important.¡± ¡°O-okay.¡± ¡°During the night or in deep darkness like down here all our attribute and skill effects will increase by 80%. Our agility will also double when we¡¯re flying. Our senses are sharpened since we¡¯re creatures of darkness after all and at the same time spells of darkness or destruction will double in effect. But for power there is a price to pay. On Holy ground or during the day all of these buffs will be ineffective and our skill and attribute or status effects will be decreased by 50%. If the sky is overclouded the weakening effect goes down to 20%. Additionally if we¡¯re exposed to sunlight directly for more than about 30 minutes our skin will start burning painfully and we¡¯ll be weakened considerably for the rest of the day. If you stay in the sun for one hour straight you¡¯re dead. So don¡¯t, seriously. If you come in contact with items made of silver or other holy objects you¡¯ll also receive heavy burns and the same weakening effect. These are the only ways we can be killed. Sunlight, silver or objects with a lot of faith penetrating the body. Otherwise we won¡¯t die, even if our heads are cut off. Of course it¡¯d be pretty hard to move while you just have a head though¡­ Anyhow, remember that and stay away from them. Did you get all that?¡± ¡°I think so. Time here goes faster than usual by 5, we¡¯re stronger during the night, but weak during the day. Stay away from sunlight, silver and holy objects, right?¡± ¡°To put it simply, yes. Now then, let¡¯s practice your flying for a bit while we look for something to practice your life absorption on.¡± They started flying again, Demon now careful to control the power output of her wings better. She asked curiously ¡°Is there a way to see my stamina and health?¡± ¡°Yea, just call ¡°Show healthbar¡± or stamina bar and they should appear in the corner of your vision. That way you don¡¯t have to look at your status window every time. Of course you can always close and disable all the options permanently crowding your vision. Too much info isn¡¯t good, is it?¡± He winked at her. ¡°R-right, thank you.¡± She called up both bars. They didn¡¯t show a numeric value, but rather just depleted gradually. She guessed she could check the numbers only when calling up the status window. She made a mental note to look at that later. ¡°Does the person or animal I drink from die?¡± ¡°No, they¡¯ll just be weakened for some time. They also won¡¯t remember that you drank their blood, unless you want them to.¡± ¡°Will it¡­ hurt them?¡± ¡°Hmm, I think someone described the first bite to hurt as much as getting stung by a bee, but then our fang¡¯s poison kicks in and numbs the pain, actually making it pleasurable for them.¡± Demon blushed. ¡°Nnn¡­ I see.¡± ¡°So you wouldn¡¯t wanna hurt someone then?¡± The boy glanced at her sharply. ¡°T-that¡¯s¡­Well, it¡¯s just good to know about your skills, right?¡± ¡°True true¡± the devil laughed. Demon sighed. ¡®Correct answer¡¯ she thought. She didn¡¯t want to offend him¡­ and since he was a devil she thought he wouldn¡¯t respond well if she openly denied it. ¡®That aside¡­ is he really a programmed character? He doesn¡¯t seem unnatural at all!¡¯ Demon was amazed. ¡°Ah, down there! It¡¯s a human. He probably got lost or something.¡± Demon followed his gaze. He was right. A scared looking human boy was sticking to the cave wall, feeling around in the darkness. He couldn¡¯t see what was in front of him and never knew when he¡¯d run into a wall or hole in the ground. He was probably looking for the way out. Once she was aware of him she could actually smell his fear in the air. It was a stingy smell, similar to sweat, but different. They approached him and landed quietly a few feet away. ¡°I-is someone there?¡± The boy had intuitively guessed someone was watching him and was terrified. ¡°Go and eat¡°, Tim¡¯s voice echoed in her head. She looked at him questioningly. How did he get into her head?!.¡°Oh, this? You can do it too, it¡¯s called whispering. You just need to know someone¡¯s name and face to do it. Concentrate on the person and think about a message you want to send them.¡± ¡°Like this?¡± She had concentrated on Tim. ¡®This even works on NPCs?¡¯ she wondered. She had read that usually only players could communicate across far distances among themselves. He nodded, then motioned for her to go drink from the boy. ¡°It only works at a short distance though. Approximately 2 km.¡±, he explained, answering her unasked question. She quietly approached the boy now, watching as he kept clinging to the wall, feeling around for hindrances. His neck was completely exposed. He whimpered. ¡°I want to go home¡­¡± ¡®So the language for the other races really isn¡¯t the same as ours?¡¯ She had figured she just didn¡¯t understand him correctly earlier, but it was really unknown words to her. Once again she was impressed by the elaborateness of the game. She kept creeping closer to the boy and stretched out her hand towards him, growing out her fangs like Tim had shown her. ¡®Wait, what am I actually doing right now¡­ I¡¯m about to bite someone and drink their blood, aren¡¯t I? How don¡¯t I feel awkward about this??¡¯ even though she thought that, she still continued until her hand almost reached the boy. Then she stopped. She gulped. ¡°Hey, Tim. As I thought, I don¡¯t want to bite him. Can I go look for another animal?¡± For a moment that human didn¡¯t seem like more than a steak to her. The thought scared her. Very much so. She didn¡¯t want to hurt anyone anymore. Not anymore. ¡°Are you showing kindness to them? Are you that naive?¡± Tim growled angrily ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Newbie. Do you know why that boy is here?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°His village is pretty close to one of the entrances to the cave labyrinth we live in, you see. And since the villagers there were scared of us they threw him down here. As a sacrifice you see.¡± ¡°???¡± Demon was shocked. ¡°So they¡­ want us to e-eat him?¡± ¡°Yea, they don¡¯t want monsters like us to harm them so they throw their children down here. To keep us from hurting them¡­ not like we usually do.¡± ¡°Something like that¡­ why¡­ ¡± Demon¡¯s hand shivered in anger for a moment and tears rolled down her face. She bit her lips. ¡°H-hey¡­¡± Tim started trying to comfort her, he didn¡¯t foresee such a reaction. But then¡­ his words got stuck in his throat. Demon took hold of the boy¡¯s arms, pressing him against the cave wall and opened her mouth, burying her fangs deep within the boy¡¯s throat, tears still running down her cheeks. Her eyes were glowing red with anger. ¡°W-what are¡­ AAAAH!¡± The boy¡¯s voice echoed through the cave, slowly dying away as she continued drinking his blood. ¡®It tastes good¡­ like dumplings.¡¯ She stopped drinking when the boy went numb, catching him in her arms. ¡°Good job¡± Tim said laudatory, raising his eyebrows. ¡°Now let¡¯s go over to the city and I¡¯ll introduce you to everyone.¡± ¡°Wait.¡± She stopped him. As he looked at her questioningly she said ¡°He won¡¯t remember I bit him, right?¡± ¡°Yea¡± ¡°Then to thank him for the meal I¡¯ll have to save this child.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°I can¡¯t?¡± ¡°You know, I keep thinking you¡¯re too friendly to actually be a devil. You might be the one we were looking for¡­¡± He whispered the last part to himself. ¡°What do you mean?¡± She picked up the boy¡¯s body and held him close. She had only partly understood the last part. ¡°I did mention how a lot of us managed to escape from hell, right? I mean it was a dreadful place. No one in their right mind would want to stay there¡­ even beings born to be evil like us. So we planned our escape. We put a lot of time and effort into it¡­ but unfortunately¡­ something went wrong. Something else escaped with us. It was something the Elves had managed to seal away with great difficulty centuries ago. So now it roams the land again and the other races obviously blame us devils for what happened, hunting us and killing us. That¡¯s why we decided to live within these caves. The labyrinth like structure and darkness protect us. We had originally planned to live peacefully with the other races of this continent, but now we see ourselves forced to fight them to survive. We even dissolved our oath to not drink their blood. I think someone like you might be the key we¡¯re missing to solve this war.¡± As he said that he turned away again, taking to the air. ¡°Then again, I¡¯m not a charity, so if you want to take him out - do it alone, I¡¯ll wait at the gate. It¡¯s still in the middle of the night so you don¡¯t have to worry about sunlight at least.¡± ¡°Thanks, I understand. But can you tell me which way leads outside?¡± ¡°¡­¡± He was already too far away to hear her question, but waved back to her as a reply to her thanks. She sighed, holding on to the boy tighter. Then she spread her wings and flew up into the cave. She closed her eyes and examined her surroundings with her other senses. They had left behind the crystal cave from before and now entered a lightly more crude part of the cavern labyrinth. She could smell dust and something was rotting away nearby. But there was another smell. It smelled aromatic¡­ the smell was faint but it smelled like needles¡­ the smell of a forest after rain. She decided to head towards that smell, memorizing the way she went as she flew over ravines and several holes in the ground. After landing several times to regain her stamina she reached an area where the caves where made out of light grey rocks and finally found an exit of the labyrinth-like caves. She shot out of the cave like a bullet and sucked in some air, eyes wide. She stayed still in the air for a while, simply looking around. She had ended up flying out of a cavern situated high in the air, within a cliff overseeing beautiful hills and only small mountains in the area. It seemed she had found the edge of the mountain range. The view was simply breathtaking. The clear night sky was glittering brightly with billions of stars, extending before her eyes. She could see hundreds of galaxies in the sky, but the most beautiful and shocking of all¡­ There were 5 moons! 3 of them were slightly overlapping each other with the biggest one in the middle being the farthest away. The other two moons were a small way apart on the upper left and lower right of the construction of the other 3. They all had different colors as well. The big middle one had a pinkish glow, while its counter pieces were light blue and white. The two smaller moons set apart from them were deep red. The surface must be made of very different minerals. She finally managed to turn away her gaze from the moons and let it wander across the night sky. Then she got her next surprise. ¡®Wait, this is a game, correct?¡¯ The land before her stretched towards the horizon. She couldn¡¯t see the sea at all. Just how vast was this continent? Even she couldn¡¯t make out the landscape in detail that far away, but she would have seen the moons¡¯ reflection on the water. But it was all land. She could make out several smaller mountains in the vicinity, then the land turned into hilly regions with forests and farmland further into the continent. She was floating above a rather big needle forest. As she turned around she saw that some of the trees had even shown enough determination to live to grow up along the cliff¡¯s surface, wherever just a little space was available for their roots to hang onto the sparse bits of meager soil. She looked up along the cliff, confirming that the mountain was at least 4 km high. She could only imagine how high the mountains deeper in the range would tower up. As she turned back towards the moons she noticed a few lights glowing warmly in the distance and headed towards them, remembering the purpose she had come here for. Then out of the corners of her eyes she noticed her Stamina bar¡­ it was blinking red. ¡®Uh oh¡­¡¯ She quickly descended, but as expected¡­ she didn¡¯t make it to the ground. ¡°Kyaaa!¡± Several meters above the treetops her stamina ran out and her wings wouldn¡¯t move anymore. They even stimulated the muscle ache she got from straining them too much¡­ not that she cared about that right now. ¡°Nnnn¡­¡± She curled up, hugging the boy to her chests tightly to protect him as they fell towards the trees below her. Then she hit the first branches. They painfully pushed themselves into her back and hit the air out of her lungs. ¡°Guh¡­.¡± They crashed and rolled down the trees, snapping several branches until they finally hit the ground, leaving Demon breathless, lying on the soft needles as she stared up at the stars. ¡®That hurt¡­¡­..¡¯ ¡°Owww¡­.¡± The boy was luckily still unconscious. She had managed to hold onto him and he was lying on top of her now, breathing quietly. She slowly got up, trying to ignore the fact her entire body was hurting and examined him. Just a few scratches. Good. She sighed, finally examining her own body. She had scratches and wounds all over. Needles and bark were tangled within her hair and had messed it up pretty badly. Luckily her wings hadn¡¯t been pierced, seeing as she had shrunk them back when they were falling. Her gaze fell on her health bar. 1/3rd of it was left. ¡®Close¡­¡¯ She stretched slightly and sat back down to recover while untangling all the different part of the trees from her body while thinking. She assumed the lights she had seen before her¡­ crash were from the village of the boy. There hadn¡¯t been any other signs of civilization close by, so that had to be it. After she recovered and looked less messy she took to the air again and crossed over the forest, a small river and some wide grain fields before she finally landed outside the village gate quietly. She remembered how Tim had warned her of the humans¡¯ hatred of devils so she didn¡¯t dare to enter the village herself. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. She placed the boy before the gate carefully and was just about to leave again when she heard the howling of wolves nearby. ¡®I can¡¯t leave him here if there are wolves that close¡­ Also¡­ right¡­ they might just throw him back in. I don¡¯t even want to think about how long he¡¯s been wandering the caves to get lost in a place that deep into it. At this rate he might die.¡¯ She sighed and decided she had to take the risk. She knocked onto the gate loudly intending to lure out the city guard, but nothing happened. So she continued knocking on the gate until she could make out heavy footsteps approaching the gate. She placed herself behind the child, eyes still glowing red and spread her wings, trying to look as intimidating as possible. Fuelled by her anger she couldn¡¯t leave quietly anymore. She watched as the unprepared guard opened the gate and fell back with a scream. ¡°Human¡± she addressed him ¡°This child¡­ you threw him into our cavern, didn¡¯t you? So we would eat him.¡± The guard tried to run without answering, but she quickly jumped above his head, landing in front of him and cutting him off. ¡°Uaaaaaa!¡± The guard screamed again. He was obviously terrified of her. ¡°Answer me. Don¡¯t worry, if you answer me I won¡¯t hurt you.¡± Demon came closer, eyes glowing dangerously. ¡°Y-yes. We thought you¡¯d leave us a-alone if we¡­¡± The man¡¯s voice failed him at this point and he unwillingly sat down, knees shaking. ¡°As you wished I sucked his blood, human. Now let me tell you, it was disgusting. Don¡¯t you ever throw down anyone again, got it?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± The guard was baffled. With those words she quickly spread her wings and flew off up without a sound, watching from the darkness as the still stunned guard slowly went and picked the unconscious boy lying in front of the gate to carry him in.
Notice: Due to your actions: Infamy +250
¡°Whaaa!¡± She let out a startled sound as a transparent window popped up in front of her. ¡®Wait¡­ infamy?? Well¡­ I guess¡­ I did¡­ threaten him, didn¡¯t I¡­¡¯ She hung her head. Then she made her way back to the caves, watching a pack of wolves wander through the fields as she flew above them, continuously telling herself she had done the right thing. She entered the caves again, easily navigating her way through the labyrinth back to where Tim had left her. Then she also headed the way she had seen him leave in, leaving nothing but emptiness behind as she went. She finally discovered the city walls and couldn¡¯t stop herself anymore. She landed and collapsed. ¡°That was so¡­ scaryyyy! Waaaaaah, what have I doneeeee! Of course I didn¡¯t do the right thing!¡± Her scream echoed through the cave, luring back Tim who had waited for her sitting above the entrance gate. ¡°Hey, hey, are you okay?¡± ¡°Waaaaaah¡± Demon cried. ¡°Whoa, what happened?¡± Demon stutteringly told him what happened outside, sobbing and still crying. The NPC couldn¡¯t hold back anymore. He laughed out loudly and patted her on the back. ¡°What, from how you cried I thought they killed him or something. Doesn¡¯t that mean everything went well then?¡± ¡°B-but I¡­ was acting s-so scary. I bet those people hate me now. I even got infamy¡­¡± Demon sobbed. ¡°Hey, that was already the case before you did that you know.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°You did well. Now no one else will be sent down here, right? You know, not every devil who finds them stops drinking before they die. You saved the other humans who¡¯d have been sent you know?¡± ¡°R-really?¡± ¡°Yes, really. Now let¡¯s go in, alright? The others really want to meet you.¡± ¡°O-okay.¡± After a few moments she was still sobbing so he flew back towards her. ¡°Hey, Demon. You did the right thing.¡± He patted her on the head. ¡°So stop crying already, got it?¡± ¡°G-got it¡­ Thank you.¡± Demon smiled. He then offered his hand and pulled her to her feet. ¡®She¡¯s just like a small cub¡­¡¯ he thought with a smile. They grew out their wings and started flying again, Demon following behind him when a thought crossed her mind. ¡°Before we enter, please tell me¡­ are you really a NPC?¡± she had become suspicious. Could this much really be programmed? She didn¡¯t want to believe that Tim didn¡¯t have real feelings anymore. ¡°Huh? NPC? What¡¯s that?¡± Tim looked at her curiously. ¡°N-nothing.¡± The fact he didn¡¯t know what a NPC was confirmed it. ¡®The amount of work and effort put into this must be tremendous¡­ this¡­ it¡¯s incredible.¡¯ she thought. To cover up her weird question she quickly added ¡°S-say, those gates. W-why do we have gates if all of us can fly?¡± ¡°Oh, that? That¡¯s because some of us are uncomfortable flying. And we also allow trade with the other races. In theory anyways. Since not all of us can fly it¡¯d be a pain getting them inside otherwise, right? We also prepared some fireplaces for when they visit, but they haven¡¯t been used yet. We do prefer the darkness after all¡± ¡°I... I see.¡± Now that he mentioned it there wasn¡¯t a single light on in the entire city. ¡°Ah, the Lord wants to see you first, so let¡¯s fly to his castle. It¡¯s that black one at the back.¡± Demon nodded as a reply. As he had said she could spot a magnificent black castle towering in the center of the cavern city. They headed towards it, landing on a wide round square in front of it. No one else was around. She couldn¡¯t spot anything moving at all. It seemed like a ghost town. When she was about to point that out to Tim he spoke again ¡°Milord, I have brought the newbie Demon to our city.¡± He was bowing deeply, addressing someone behind her. She quickly turned around and followed his example. ¡°I see. Well done, Tim. You may return to the Arrival Point now.¡± ¡°Yes, milord.¡± As he was about to leave he suddenly remembered something and fixed his gaze onto the Lord. They were looking at each other for a while before the Lord finally nodded. With a final bow Tim then said his farewells to Demon and flew away, leaving her alone with what seemed to be the ruler of the devils without any clue on what to do next. ¡®I wonder¡­ did they whisper to each other?¡¯ ¡°Raise your head.¡± She did as she was told and raised her head, standing leisurely in front of the devils¡¯ Lord. He was a tall guy with cold eyes and two long horns growing out of his head. A long cloak was wrapped around his shoulders, preventing one to closely took at his figure. His purple eyes glowed dangerously in the dark and his cold stare seemed to look right through her as he observed her, piercing directly into her soul. Just as she was starting to feel afraid he averted his gaze, making her sigh lightly in relief. ¡°Devil, what is it that you seek in this city?¡± ¡°I¡­ I seek freedom.¡± The answer came from her heart. That was truly why she had started this game. ¡°Freedom, is it.¡± The Lord gazed into the distance with an unreadable expression. ¡°¡­¡± Not knowing what to say, Demon stayed quiet. They stayed quiet for a while, gazing over the quiet city. Then the Lord started again ¡°Tim has told me that you rescued one of those trying to steal that same freedom from us. Are you aware of the consequences, devil?¡± His voice sounded cold. Demon stared at him quietly, finally growing angry and saying ¡°So you suggest I should have left an innocent child there to die? Isn¡¯t it more in the interest of us devils to achieve peace with the other races rather than killing and fighting each other?¡± The Lord quietly gazed into her glowing eyes. ¡°Indeed what you have said would be the best.¡± The rage inside her got extinguished instantly and was replaced by confusion. ¡°Then why¡­¡± ¡°But as things stand now peace is impossible.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Young devil, we have tried living alongside the other races peacefully when we had escaped our confinement in hell. However, having found out we accidentally set free another evil onto the continent they have antagonized us. Without having harmed a single one of them we were hunted down for no reason, finally managing to find a place to stay underground. Here, where their bloodied swords cannot reach us. We have waited for a long time, young one, for a devil worthy of entrusting this task to. And I find myself wanting to believe in your actions despite myself.¡± ¡°Me? W-what can I possibly¡­¡± ¡°You are young and still innocent. Your heart has not yet been overtaken by darkness. Somehow you have survived living in hell without losing your sanity. Demon, what will your answer be? Will you try to achieve this impossible task I suggest to you? Will you try bringing peace to this race of darkness?¡± His eyes in that moment were filled with such sadness Demon couldn¡¯t refuse. ¡°Yes. I will try.¡± Just as she said this a notice appeared on her screen.
Racial Quest: ¡®Unity¡¯ Received
A smile spread across his face and moments later bats swarmed around them, covering their bodies and lifting them up into the air. ¡°W-whaaaa¡± Demon unknowingly let out a scream and closed her eyes. ¡°You may open your eyes, young one.¡± She slowly opened her eyes again, staring at the now bustling city below her in astonishment. The bats had set her down on the very top of the Lord¡¯s castle. ¡°Welcome, Demon. To our capital under the earth. Welcome to Firchten.¡± The devil smiled at her coldly.
First to receive Devil racial quest: Unity Reward: Fame +200 Intelligence +50 Wisdom +30 Friendship with devil Lord 10/100
¡°Congratulations on clearing the Tutorial, Demon.¡± ¡°T-thank you.¡± ¡°As you have learned about your race a little now, it is time for you to become stronger, both mentally as well as physically. I still see naivet¨¦ and childishness in your actions. You must overcome them. Otherwise you cannot possibly complete your task.¡± ¡°I understand. H-how do I get stronger t-though?¡± ¡°¡­ for now, why don¡¯t you pay the adventurer Instructor a visit? And Demon, age for devils is not necessarily reflected by your growth. Therefore I have decided to place a restriction on your body. From now on you may only leave the closer proximity of the city with my approval or once the seal on your hand decides that you are ready. Do you understand?¡± ¡°A-alright¡­ I understand. Thank you very much!¡± ¡°Farewell, young Demon. Until we meet again¡± ¡°G-goodbye¡± With those words the Lord vanished, leaving her alone atop the high castle as she was watching the city below her. The city was bigger than she had originally thought. It extended for the full length of the cave and was completely surrounded by a deep rift even she couldn¡¯t see the bottom of so she¡¯d have to be very careful when flying over it... When she scanned around the area she recalled what she had read in the game manual. ¡®That one should be the smithy, the tailor shop, alchemy shop and over there is¡­ the tavern, the restaurant and the theatre. But where are the class instructors?¡¯ As she was looking around she recalled one more thing and opened her character window. She took a look at her Character Status.
Basic Status Display: STR (Strength) 5 END (Endurance) 5 AGI (Agility) 5 INT (Intelligence) 55 WIS (Wisdom) 35 LUK (Luck) 5 STA (Stamina) 100/100 Satiety 200/200 Infamy 250 [Slot open] [Slot open] [Slot open] Unused Stat points: 30
These were her basic statistics, stats for short. The completing of the tutorial had given her additional Intelligence and Wisdom which were the most necessary stats for magic based classes. ¡®This makes the decision about that easier I guess.¡¯ She originally hadn¡¯t known what class to choose, since she wasn¡¯t that comfortable moving her body physically as of yet. But as a magic user she would mainly use spells to fight, so she wouldn¡¯t have to move around that much either. Or so she hoped. Having reached her decision Demon put her unused skill points completely into INT. Everyone had 3 open stat slots where stats could be created in. You could also delete stats from those slots if you wanted to so players could create stats useful to their class. In general you could add stat points to every stat you wanted, except for Satiety and Stamina. Those had to increase naturally. She had read the game manual thoroughly, but experiencing it for herself was different after all. ¡®I mean, I still haven¡¯t really gotten used to seeing again¡­ it might be hard.¡¯ ¡°For now, let¡¯s try going to the square to see if other players are around¡± Demon sighed. She really wasn¡¯t confident she could talk to another user even if she tried. In the first place it might prove hard to tell users apart from NPCs. Their programming was surprisingly detailed, if she took the lord and Tim for a standard example. And there were no cursors or similar in this game to indicate if you were a player or an NPC. This also meant no one would know your name. The only way for someone to find out was to ask directly as far as she knew. ¡®Speaking of users, should I whisper Julian?¡¯ she asked herself quietly. He had told her he¡¯d help out if she needed anything but¡­ ¡°O-okay, let¡¯s try it! He said his name was Etoille, right?¡± She concentrated on the name and whispered him. ¡°H-hello?¡± Nothing happened. Maybe he wasn¡¯t online after all. ¡®Oh well, I can always try another time¡­ I mean¡­ wait¡­ right¡­ I need to know his face to whisper him.¡¯ she figured and swiftly got to her feet. Now it was time to find the Adventurer Trainer. ¡®But before that, let me actually look around the city.¡¯ Just as she was about to grow out her wings she got an idea. ¡®This might be fun if it works.¡¯ With these thoughts Demon jumped off the castle and fell towards the ground. ¡°Wheeee!¡± she screamed, then grew out her wings just as she was about to hit the ground and dampened the impact to a minimum. She basically didn¡¯t make a sound when landing, but the draught from her wings had caused a strong force that made the dust on the street whirl up in a little storm, catching the attention of everyone in the area. ¡®Oops¡¯ she realized everyone was staring at her curiously ¡°S-sorry¡± with these words they went back to their business, continued their conversations or walked by in a hurry. Nao sighed in relief. She figured she had done something bad. She wasn¡¯t good with attention¡­ Suddenly an old devil walked up to her, laughing heartily and patted her on the back causing her to cough. ¡°That was quite a landing¡± he laughed. ¡°Not everehone can flah that well, ya got mah respects all right.¡± ¡°T-thanks¡± She had a bit of trouble understanding his accent. ¡°Wait, now that I take a look at ya I ¡®aven¡¯t seen ya before.¡± ¡°Y-yes, I just arrived today¡± ¡°Oooh, so ya just escaped and yar wings are alreade that strong, eh.¡± ¡°T-that¡¯s¡­¡± Nao blushed and looked away. ¡°Hahaha, sha, ain¡¯t ya! Well, let me introduce mahself first then. The name¡¯s Fido.¡± ¡°N-nice to meet you, I¡¯m Demon.¡± ¡°Welcome to Firchten, Demon.¡± ¡°Thanks!¡± ¡°HEY, EVEREHONE! WE GOT A NEW FACE ¡®ERE!¡± he suddenly shouted. ¡°Wa¡ªwaaaaah?¡± As soon as he said it a huge crowd gathered around them, curious to get to see the newbie and started throwing questions at her and wanting to shake her hand. Demon went pale. ¡®Sooo many peopleeee¡­¡¯ ¡°Welcome, newbie!¡± ¡°Whoa, she¡¯s a cute one.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t die on us, ya hear?¡± ¡°Hmmm¡­ think she¡¯ll make it?¡± People around her started babbling all together, leaving her in a daze, at a loss for what to do. Noticing her nervousness the old devil then patted her back again. ¡°Now, now everehone! Don¡¯t scare ¡®er, alright? Ahaha¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Whoa, Fido took a liking to this one huh, how rare.¡± ¡°¡­¡­¡± ¡°Now, Demon. Let me introduce ya to some pals o¡¯ mine.¡± ¡°O-okay¡­¡± Nao¡¯s voice was barely audible even to herself. ¡°This is Aido, e¡¯s our blacksmith and next to ¡®im is our tailor, Mrs. Fika.¡± He introduced her to all the merchant NPCs in town and she made a mental note for all of them, shaking their hand and trying to act as normal as possible. Finally all the introductions were over and her head was steaming and bright red. ¡°Nnnn¡­ T-that was so mean, Mr. Fido!¡± ¡°Ahaha, well t¡¯was necessary, right?. And just Fido¡¯s fine, misseh.¡± ¡°I guess¡­ o-okay.¡± She wasn¡¯t able to retort. ¡°S-so what do you do for a living, F-fido?¡± ¡°Me? I train lil newbies like you.¡± He winked at her. ¡°Ah! Y-you¡¯re the Adventurer Trainer?¡± ¡°Exactleh!¡± ¡®Noooooooo¡¯ she nearly gave up hope at that moment. There was no way she could be happy about this development. ¡°So if ya ever wanna learn some new moves or ya want a job, just come ta me!¡± ¡°Y-yes¡­¡± ¡°Ah yea, everehone of us livin¡¯ in the city ya met will be mentioned in tha map, arite? So ya can come find us even if we aint home and we¡¯ll do business with ya.¡± ¡°G-got it. The default map, right?¡± ¡°Ye, tha map¡¯ll automatically show onleh places and people ye¡¯ve met. Ye can bueh some complete maps ¡®swell but those¡¯re a helluva expensive, so ya better explore yerself I saeh.¡± ¡°I see, t-thank you.¡± ¡°Well, since I alreadeh saw ya, ye want me to give ye a job, newbie?¡± ¡°S-sure.¡± ¡°Then yer first job is ta find another adventurer like yerself an team up with ¡®em, got it?¡± ¡°Eeeeeh?¡± ¡°What, don¡¯t wan¡¯ it?¡± ¡°I-I¡¯ll take it¡­¡± ¡°Great! Come find me when ye¡¯re done.¡± With those words he left.
Quest: -Make a Party- accepted
Demon was crying inside as she stared at the system message. ¡®Why that¡­ everything but thaaat! I can¡¯t talk to people that easily, you knooow?!¡¯ *sob* She slumped over, feeling completely drained of energy and sat down squarely on the road, catching the attention of disgruntled NPCs. Her sharp ears caught restrained conversations between them ¡°Hey, look at the new girl, isn¡¯t she acting weird?¡± ¡°Yea, yea. Think she¡¯s bad for business. Should I scare her off?¡± ¡°Hmm, I don¡¯t know, she might be a customer ¡­¡± Noticing she was acting weird she quickly snapped out of it, got up and flew to the outskirts of town, sitting down on top of the city gate, sighing loudly. Just then she got another system notice
Racial Skill ¨CFly- has reached basic lvl 4
It had already leveled twice before when she transported the boy outside of the caves if she remembered correctly. She hadn¡¯t paid any attention to it though since she had been preoccupied with other thoughts. She quickly called up her skill window, recalling what she knew about skills. You could create a skill by repeating an action multiple times. If you repeated it long enough the system would notice a pattern and create a skill you could then use with assistance from the system. When the skill got created certain effects may be added to it, like increased damage or similar. But sometimes the system will add requirements to the skill use, or a certain cast or re-cast time, depending on the action. So she¡¯d have to experiment around a lot. Whenever you used a skill, Stamina will be consumed. Sometimes Health or Satiety also drop which made it impossible to continuously use them. You had to rest in between and replenish your strength. But if you wanted to level a skill you had to keep using it which meant you¡¯d take a long time to master it fully. She had had to rest 3 times while carrying the boy to the village to regain her stamina. If someone or something had attacked her then she¡¯d have been helpless. ¡®That¡¯s why I¡¯ll have to practice more to quickly gain mastery of Flying, since I don¡¯t like walking¡­¡¯ Her skill was at basic lvl 4/9 at the moment. As far as she knew there were 7 Mastery stages in total. With every lvl and stage the time you had to invest into mastering a skill would increase. So she¡¯d have to fly a lot. But the effort was worth it. With every lvl of skill mastery the skill effects got better, either decreasing requirements for use of the skill or increasing effects the skill added. It also helped that shed have to grow out her wings less, since they would probably get into the way a lot¡­ She hoped once she mastered the skill she¡¯d be able to fly continuously since it was that much fun. She looked over her other skills. Night Vision didn¡¯t have a mastery stage, so she guessed that devils were simply born with it mastered. Life Absorption was at basic lvl 1 since she only used it once. She didn¡¯t have any skills besides those three yet. As far as she knew there wasn¡¯t a limit to the amount of skills she could create through. As she was still thinking about the skills, suddenly a small group of devils flew up to her and landed on the gate next to Demon. She looked up at them curiously as they came over to her. ----------- [th_084_.gif] Volume 1 - Chapter 3 Chapter 3 - Companions ¡°Hey there!¡± The party waved over to her. ¡°H-hello¡± Demon replied ¡°Say, are you a player?¡± ¡°Huh? Ah, yes.¡± ¡°Ah I see, we guessed right then. Nice to meet you, I¡¯m Garry.¡± They looked at each other and nodded. Then the teenager ¨C Garry - who was apparently their leader said ¡°Hey, we actually came over to confirm something with you if possible.¡± ¡°Oh, s-sure.¡± Demon grew nervous now. ¡°See, we¡¯ve been playing another race until now and switched over here today. But all other races got some kind of overall goal or race quest when they started but we haven¡¯t found anything like that. We¡¯re going to report this as a bug since all races should have one but we wanted to confirm with someone else first. Did you find anything like that?¡± ¡°Uhm, a goal¡­ like¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯t tell me, you really just started the game today?¡± Demon nodded. ¡°Waaah, well welcome then!¡± They smiled at her. ¡°Let me explain then¡­ For example before this expansion the goal for Humans was to get settled and build a capital on this continent. But after this expansion they had achieved this goal and now received another one. So something like that¡­¡± At that moment Garry got a whisper from one of his party members. ¡±Hey, I know we wanted to ask around but¡­ there¡¯s no way a newbie like that would find the quest if even we can¡¯t find anything¡­¡± He quickly replied ¡°Well, that¡¯s probably true, but we already asked so let¡¯s hear her out, we don¡¯t wanna be rude, right?¡± ¡°Oh, uhm¡­¡± Demon blushed. ¡°Like... peace? W-with the other races?¡± She had remembered the quest the devil lord had given her. ¡°Yes, for example! Did you find it?¡± Demon nodded again. ¡°Wow, really? We¡¯ve been looking for hours and couldn¡¯t find even a hint regarding it. There wasn¡¯t anything on the website either! To think you actually found it¡­¡± This time the party was getting annoyed, starting to discuss in party chat. ¡°There¡¯s no way. Hey, Garry. Can¡¯t you tell she¡¯s lying for God¡¯s sake?¡± ¡°Yea, let¡¯s stop wasting our time, alright?¡± ¡°Agreed, what¡¯s with that uncertain answer.¡± ¡°Is she making fun of us?¡± ¡°Well, well, calm down, guys. We asked her first. Who knows, she might really have found it. We¡¯ll know for sure if she won¡¯t share it, right?¡± ¡°Whatever, you¡¯ll see she was just bluffing¡­¡± Garry managed to pacify them somewhat with a wry grin on his face. Demon blushed and quickly averted her gaze from the eyes staring at her. ¡°I actually hate to ask you this but¡­ do you think you could share it with us?¡± ¡°Sh-share? How?¡± ¡°See? She¡¯s getting nervous now. Trying to stall.¡± ¡°¡­ We¡¯ll invite you to our party. Then in your quest log there should be the option to share it with us. We¡¯d be really grateful if you could do that for us. Or just tell us where you found the quest and we¡¯ll try receiving it as well.¡± The guy who had just ridiculed her in party chat had spoken up. He looked at her triumphantly when she shrank away from his gaze. ¡°Final blow.¡± He bragged ¡°A-ah, when you share a quest it¡¯s not like the rewards will change for you or anything, it just means that the other player will have the same quest as you, that¡¯s all.¡± The party leader quickly said, trying to calm the situation. ¡°O-okay. I can share it.¡± ¡°Whoa, really? She¡¯d go that far for her bluff?¡± The party smiled at each other knowingly. ¡°Nothing to lose for us either way.¡± Then their leader quickly manipulated his system window, inviting her to their party. A system message popped up
Garry has invited you to join their party. Do you want to accept?
She quickly pressed yes and another system message popped up
Demon has accepted the party invitation
Completed Quest ¨CMake a Party-
¡°Demon, huh. Well, thank you for doing this!¡± ¡°N-no problem¡± She opened her character window and called up her quest log. But only the quest from the Adventurer trainer showed up on her list. ¡°Nnnn... Where do I see the race quest?¡± Embarrassed she looked at the others. They quietly sighed and exchanged a glance that said ¡®This isn¡¯t even funny anymore¡¯ clearly. ¡°There should be a separate tab for it. Like now you probably only see quests you accepted in Firchten. Try looking above the quest, you should be able to change the location to General.¡± Garry still explained patiently ¡°Ah! I found it.¡± Demon smiled. ¡®Are you serious?¡¯ The party thought in unison. She selected the quest and then after a small while found the share button on the bottom right of the window. She quickly selected it and a system message popped up in front of her.
Share Racial Quest-Unity-?
She confirmed and heard surprised sounds from her party members. ¡°Whoa, she actually found it.¡± ¡°To be honest from her reaction I really thought she was lying¡­¡± ¡°H-heyy! I-I can hear you!¡± Demon blushed and complained. ¡°Haha¡­ Sorry, Demon.¡± ¡°Yea, sorry. We shouldn¡¯t have doubted you. And thank you.¡± ¡°¡­¡± She was still moping, putting them at a loss ¡°H-hey, I know! Demon, why don¡¯t you come along with us? We¡¯ll show you around a bit since we¡¯ve played NPO before¡­ as an apology, okay?¡± Surprised she looked at him, her mouth open. But misunderstanding her reaction another team member quickly added ¡°H-hey, Garry. There¡¯s no way she¡¯d wanna do that, right? After how we were so suspicious and all.¡± Hearing this, Demon quickly snapped out of her daze and stuttered ¡°I-I w-want to.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Y-yes, please let me join.¡± Her voice had trailed off and she was blushing again, silently cursing herself. ¡®Damn! I bet they didn¡¯t even hear that¡­¡¯ ¡®Somehow she seems way too happy¡¯ The party thought again. Then they shrugged and cheered. ¡°Alright! We found a new member!¡± Nao smiled at them happily as well. ¡°So since we¡¯re all set, let¡¯s start questing!¡± ¡°Yess!!¡± ¡°Demon, did you already accept any normal quests?¡± They were looking at her again, so she blushed and nodded. ¡°One¡± ¡°Which one?¡± ¡°T-the party quest from the Adventurer trainer¡­¡± ¡°Whoa, you actually found the trainer as well¡­ we¡¯ve been looking around but we haven¡¯t found him yet. But we accepted 2 other quests from the blacksmith and alchemist NPCs. Let¡¯s share them as well.¡± ¡°S-sure.¡± ¡°Ah, yea. Not trying to boast but we¡¯re kind of senior players in here so we might do things you don¡¯t know about naturally. But don¡¯t hesitate to ask us anything, alright?¡± ¡°Okay. T-thank you.¡± They smiled at each other again, then took out an item, looking at her expectantly. ¡°Let¡¯s fly!¡± ¡°Uhm¡­ what¡¯s that item you¡¯re holding?¡± ¡°This? You don¡¯t have one? It¡¯s for flying.¡± Garry showed her the item he was holding with a surprised look on his face. It was a controller similar to the bottom part of an old Nintendo system. She often used to play with the old system her dad had from childhood so she knew about it. But instead of a screen it had 2 additional buttons for gliding and floating in one place. Its color was red and it seemed like all of them were using that to control their wings. ¡®Weird¡­¡¯ Demon thought ¡®Tim hasn¡¯t told me about that at all.¡¯ She called up her inventory for the first time, checking the contents. But there was only a Basic guide book, a Map and some bread in it. ¡°U-uhm, I don¡¯t have one¡­¡± ¡°Weird, every devil should start out with one, even if you skip the tutorial like us.¡± ¡°I did the tutorial properly though... this is my first online game after all, so¡­¡± ¡°Whoa, so we got hold of really fresh meat then, huh¡± The party looked at her hungrily for a moment and then burst out laughing at her scared face. Embarrassed Demon coughed and quickly changed the topic. ¡°A-anyhow, I don¡¯t need something like that. We can just fly normally, right?¡± ¡°What do you mean normally¡­ controlling your wings is much easier this way, you know?¡± ¡°N-no one told be about that¡­¡± ¡°Huh, then how did you get up here?¡± ¡°I... flew without that¡­ thing.¡± ¡°Ooooh, so you can fly without a controller, that¡¯s unexpected!¡± They laughed. ¡°Well anyhow, let¡¯s get started then.¡± They closed their eyes, concentrating hard on something and their wings slowly started to grow. Nao was watching them closely wondering what they were doing. Then their wings were fully grown and they opened their eyes, ready to use the controller to fly. ¡°Hey, Demon. Get ready.¡± ¡°Oh, um, right. Let¡¯s go then! Wait, w-where are we going?¡± Nao got up now, stretching her shoulders. ¡°Let¡¯s look for the Adventurer Trainer first then, since that quest is done already. Could you lead the way for us? We¡¯ve never met him after all.¡± ¡°Ah, s-sure. T-then are you ready?¡± ¡°All set, just waiting for you.¡± ¡°S-sorry.¡± Embarrassed again Demon swiftly jumped off the gate, growing out her wings during the fall and opened her mini map as she flew towards the city again. Then she noticed no one was flying behind her and turned around. Her party was still standing at the same spot, frozen in place while staring at her. Then one of them quietly said ¡°Somehow¡­ I get the feeling we just found an awesome newbie.¡± They all nodded, still amazed. She hesitatingly flew back towards them, hovering in the air next to the gate and said unsurely ¡°D-did I do something¡­?¡± Her scared statement finally snapped them out of their daze and they looked at each other, exchanging whispers. ¡°Hey, Garry. I get the feeling we¡¯ve hit jackpot with this one.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t she just acting the newbie part, look at how she¡¯s flying around like that¡­¡± ¡°But she really does look like a newbie, right? Maybe she just got lucky. Let¡¯s just have fun together¡± The team members then shrugged and started flying. ¡°Sorry, we forgot to make sure of something. Please lead the way.¡± ¡°O-okay.¡± Nao then happily flew off, making sure that her party doesn¡¯t stay behind while checking the map every now and then since Fido kept moving. ¡®She¡¯s fast¡­¡¯ the party thought and had trouble keeping up. They had to stop to rest 3 times on the way and Garry ended up explaining her how to use the different chats ingame during one of the breaks. But then Demon spotted Fido, shouting ¡°There you are!¡± Surprised the NPC turned around at the sound of her voice cheerfully waving up to her. ¡°Demon, huh? Ya sure came back fast, eh? Those yer parteh ya bring along?¡± ¡°Whoa, does he always talk like that?¡± Nao just nodded towards them with a depressed gaze, shrugging her shoulders and landed next to the still grinning NPC. ¡°H-hey there, Fido. Y-yea, I found some companions.¡± ¡°Nice going, nice going. I see ye alreadeh shared yer quest with ¡®em, nice thinkin¡¯.¡± He started patting her on the back again, making her cough and addressed her Party. ¡°Nice ta meet ya¡¯ll. Am Fido, tha adventurer trainer. A¡¯ll be takin¡¯ care of ya¡¯ll for a lil while, eh?¡± ¡°H-hi.¡± The party said alienatedly. Then Fido walked over to each of them, handing them a large bag. ¡°Here ya go, yer rewards like A promised.¡± ¡°T-thank you, Fido.¡± Demon said as she received the bag. The others thanked him as well and took the reward bag. ¡°Go on, open et, ¡®tis something ya¡¯ll need for tha next job I got fer ya.¡± ¡°O-okay.¡± Nao took a peek inside the bag and found a wooden club. ¡°Whoa, are you serious¡­ what¡¯s with that geezer¡­¡± Nao quickly forced a smile and said ¡°W-what would you like us to do with this club, Fido?¡± ¡°Well, don¡¯t ya¡¯ll look like there¡¯s no tomorrow, ¡®tleast it¡¯s a weapon made o¡¯ good wood, eh.¡± Fido said mopingly. Then he sighed and added. ¡°Actualle there¡¯s another favor I need o¡¯ ya¡¯ll. The citeh¡¯s been getting too small fer all tha devils that¡¯s been comin ¡®ere lateleh, so tha lord had us scout out new caves ta expand. But theres been trouble, ya see.¡± ¡°Trouble?¡± ¡°Ye, tha goblins sometahmes go there ya, see ¡®nd they just don¡¯t want ta let us build there in peace, eh? Reason won¡¯t help with those folks ¡®t all. So could ya¡¯ll scare them a lil fer us? Knocking out ¡®bout 50 of ¡®em should do fer now.¡± ¡°What the¡­ is this geezer crazy? Sending us out against goblins at lvl 1¡­ and 50 at that.¡± The party was panicking visibly, unsure whether to accept the quest or not. ¡°C-can¡¯t we always do it later?¡± Nao finally voiced her view, making the others unable to retort. ¡°True¡­¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s just accept for now¡± Garry said with a smile. They all accepted the quest and the trainer added: ¡°Be careful ya¡¯ll. Don¡¯t cha die on me ¡®ere, ya hear!¡± ¡®Then stop giving us dangerous missions like this.¡¯ They couldn¡¯t help but think. ¡°W-we¡¯ll be careful.¡± ¡°Good. Off ya go!¡± They waved their farewells and turned towards each other, saying ¡°Well, we found him at least.¡± ¡°Yea.¡± ¡°H-hey¡­¡± ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± ¡°Why can¡¯t we kill Goblins yet?¡± ¡°Ah. Goblins are generally lvl 15 so it¡¯s impossible for us, even with 5 people¡­¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± ¡°Uhm anyhow, let¡¯s start with the other quests first, alright?¡± ¡°S-sure. But¡­ before that¡­ where do I put this?¡± Demon held up her wooden club. ¡°Right, you don¡¯t know yet. Just call up your equipment window¡­ it¡¯s in the same window as your stats. Then take the club and hold it over the window, like this.¡± Garry called up the window and held the club next to it, then confirmed a system message and the club vanished, having been equipped successfully. Nao imitated him. ¡°T-then how do we get them out again¡­ like when we have to fight¡­¡± ¡°We call them. Just imagine the feeling of it in your hand and call for it.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Nao closed her eyes and recalled the weight and shape of the club in her hands and was just about to call the weapon name out, but she already felt the weight of it in her hands. So she opened her eyes again, looking at the club in surprise. ¡°I¡­ didn¡¯t call yet?¡± ¡°Well, if you¡¯re familiar enough with the weapon you can summon it just like that¡­ ¡° ¡°Hey¡­ are you sure this is your first time playing?¡± ¡°Y-yes, I just got the hardware today¡­ so¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Well anyhow¡± Garry coughed ¡°since you already equipped it it will vanish again if you let go.¡± Demon quickly let go of the club and as he said it vanished. ¡°Back to topic. The Quest we got from the blacksmith is closest. We¡¯re supposed to collect stones with a high portion of metal or similar in them. The problem with this one is we didn¡¯t get any identification tools so I have no idea how to distinguish the quest stones from normal ones¡­¡± Garry explained ¡°Yea, it¡¯s possible to buy those kits but we don¡¯t have enough money for that and it¡¯s not really worth it¡± Added another member. They silently thought about it for a while and just as they were about to suggest skipping the quest, Demon said ¡°Uhm¡­ t-there¡¯s a quest area written there. So m-maybe if we go there we¡¯ll¡­ figure it out¡­¡± Her voice got quieter till the end again, but her comrades knew what she meant. ¡°Well, I guess trying it out won¡¯t hurt us, at worst we spent some time getting used to our wings, huh?¡± Garry said and they all agreed, patting Demon on the head. ¡°Good thinking, newbie!¡± ¡°Let¡¯s fly then!¡± ¡°Yush!¡± They headed towards the area described in the quest description, landing and resting 6 times on the way. Nao¡¯s Flying skill was now Basic lvl 7, so she could fly a little longer than before now. But it seemed as though flying with the controller doesn¡¯t make you mastery go up at all, since they were still moving at the same pace as before. But Demon was too shy to ask about it so she just adjusted her pace to her party, happily humming as they went. ¡°Hey, Garry¡­ is it just me, or is she getting faster?¡± ¡°S-scary¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± he didn¡¯t answer. They finally reached the destination and landed with some difficulty, stretching their tense muscles. ¡°Made it!¡± they sighed. They took a look around the area, piercing through the shadows with their night vision and quickly confirmed their fears. ¡°After all¡­ everything here looks normal¡­ the floor and walls don¡¯t look any different from the other caves around here¡­¡± The others nodded, visibly disheartened. ¡°Seems like we did come for nothing after all¡­¡± ¡°H-hey¡­¡± ¡°Hm?¡± ¡°Would they really¡­ give a quest that can¡¯t be solved?¡± ¡°Well, it does happen sometimes¡­ either you don¡¯t get a key item or the quest is bugged, but I wouldn¡¯t have expected a starting quest to be bugged already¡­¡± ¡°Yea, maybe it was a bad move to recreate our characters for this, Garry¡­¡± Nao panicked and blurted out ¡°D-don¡¯t say that! Isn¡¯t being a devil fun?¡± She had just found a team, she wouldn¡¯t wanna lose them again right away. ¡°Well yea, but what¡¯s the point if we can¡¯t move on at all¡­ I mean it¡¯s been hours and we still haven¡¯t lvled at all.¡± ¡°Eh¡­¡± she didn¡¯t know what to say to that. Then she noticed a sound, quickly looking up towards it, letting out an ¡®ah¡¯ sound and froze The others quickly followed her line of vision, becoming even more depressed. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. ¡°Isn¡¯t that¡­¡± ¡°Yea¡­¡± ¡°Looks like¡­ cocoons¡­?¡± one of the others nearly fainted at the sight of several big monsters looking like cocoons crawling across the ceiling like slugs, leaving a trail of slime behind. They were covered in what looked like white sticky threads, the only sparse parts of the body looking out were a leathery black color, they looked like insects captured by a spiders thread. ¡°Uwaaa¡­ gross¡­¡± They had all gone pale at the sight. ¡°W-what are those?¡± ¡°No idea¡­¡± ¡°Think we can beat them¡­?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think we have a choice but trying¡­ lucky they didn¡¯t notice us till now¡­¡± The whole party gulped hard. ¡°L-let¡¯s try.. luring them one by one¡­ somehow?¡± ¡°Y-yea.¡± They kept staring at the unknown creatures for a while. ¡®But how¡­¡¯ ¡°D-do you¡­ see any eyes¡­ on those?¡± ¡®Now that she mentions it¡­ I don¡¯t see any¡­¡¯ They all shake their heads. Garry then finally reached a decision, catching his breath he said ¡°Hey, Demon¡­ you¡¯re the best flyer among us, so do you think you can try throwing a rock at one? If it fails they¡¯ll all attack, but if we just fly out they might notice us as well¡­ either way, please try it.¡± ¡°O-okay.¡± She slowly picked up a nearby stone, silently spread her wings and carefully drew closer to the cocoons, trying not to make any noise. Her hands started sweating and she noticed herself getting nervous. ¡®Calm down, calm down. It¡¯s only a game¡­ only¡­ a game¡­ nothing bad¡­ will happen¡­¡¯continuously telling herself this, she forced her body to comply and continue, nearly jumping out of her skin whenever she made a noise. As the cocoons entered her throwing range, her eyes, sharpened since she concentrated on every move of the creatures, ready to bolt away, suddenly caught something behind under the weird creatures. ¡°G-guys¡­ I think I¡­ found them¡­ the stones¡­¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°For the quest¡­¡± ¡°That¡­ we don¡¯t really care about that at the moment, please be careful.¡± The others were also getting nervous and really couldn¡¯t understand how she calmly looked for the quest items right now. ¡°O-okay¡­¡± Demon slowly drew in her breath, then closed her eyes tightly and threw the stone with all her might. As soon as the stone left her hand she bolted backwards as fast as she could, only stopping when she nearly hit the ground besides her party who were still looking up surprisedly. Then she looked back. Towards the cocoon she had hit. ¡°¡­¡± Nothing happened to it. It wasn¡¯t falling down, neither was it attacking or showing any other kind of reaction whatsoever. ¡°¡­ ¡­¡± ¡°¡­ You said you found the quest items, right?¡± Without a word the party had unanimously decided to just ignore the creatures. Demon was still staring at the cocoon alienatedly, starting to shake with anger because she was actually scared of them before and didn¡¯t listen. ¡®Something like that... I actually panicked¡­ because of that¡­¡¯ As Garry lightly tapped her shoulder she snapped out of her daze and looked at her party, still carrying an angry stare. ¡°Uwaa¡­ that¡¯s quite the glare alright¡­¡± Garry coughed. Demon blushed deeply and quickly fixed her expression. ¡°What were you saying¡­ about the stones?¡± ¡°R-right.¡± Demon quickly averted her gaze and added ¡°W-when I was close to them I saw some blue stones on the ceiling. They¡­ were eating them but I thought maybe¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± The party members imagined killing one of them to get what¡¯s inside their stomach and went pale. ¡®Luckily we don¡¯t actually have to look for the drops on the monster¡­¡¯they all thought. ¡®That would be more realistic but¡­ really gross.¡¯ ¡°We could try looking for a spot where the stones aren¡¯t being¡­ eaten. But I don¡¯t know if we¡¯ll get attacked when we steal their food. So I think beating a lone one of them would be the easiest way.¡± Garry decided. ¡°Roger.¡± The party went along with him. ¡°Somehow¡­ Those things really creep me out though¡± ¡°Yea¡­¡± Demon was staring at them gloomily and didn¡¯t say anything. ¡°Even if I say that¡­ it¡¯s actually already past 7 am over here, I really have to get going.¡± Garry said apologetically. ¡°Whaaat? It¡¯s already that late? I OVERSLEPT!!¡± another party member named Merlin screamed. He had also checked their local time, and one logged out immediately. Demon laughed slightly. ¡°It¡¯s okay.¡± ¡°Thanks for the fun we¡¯ve had, Demon! We¡¯ll be back later today! We should all be able to fade in in around 8 hours real time¡­ so 40 hours in game or so. B-but that doesn¡¯t mean you have to wait or anything if you can still play¡­¡± Garry trailed off. ¡°I also want to post on the forums that the race quest works fine before everyone else starts sending bug reports about it¡­¡± ¡°N-no. I want to wait. I like this party and I understand you have work or so¡­¡± After hearing that he blushed slightly and said ¡°I¡¯m glad to hear that. We¡¯ll hurry back!¡± ¡°Yea, I¡¯ll be waiting¡± Demon said. The rest of her party quietly waved at her and then they logged off, leaving her alone in the cave full of Cocoons. ¡®Is it just me¡­ or was I abandoned.¡¯ Quickly shaking off that thought, Demon thought about what to do now She also confirmed her local time. She still had plenty of time before even breakfast. She had checked earlier as well and confirmed that the time in game really was 5 times faster than outside of it. Which meant it ran at the same pace as in ¡®hell¡¯. The irony made her smile a little. You didn¡¯t have to sleep when you played the game, since your body was resting in reality. But they still advised you to take some breaks now and then and sleep for real to rest your mind as well. She looked at her watch again and quickly did the math. She had 4 hours until she usually got up so she decided to fade out as well. She left the game and went back to the control panel room, calling up her browser. She could now read up things by herself using the fade in technology she had gotten so she wouldn¡¯t have to be bored alone in the empty room anymore. ¡®I need to find something to do while the others are gone. I don¡¯t really want to lvl without them, since I like playing with them a lot¡­¡¯ with this thought in mind she decided to do some research on the game first. She accessed the official website of the game and skimmed through the content there, but as expected only the basic controls were listed here. That¡¯s why she looked for the most popular NPO forums and browsed through them, looking for interesting topics. The first thread she accessed was about the devil race quest. ¡®Whoaaaa¡­ so many replies.¡¯ Someone had started the thread after looking for the devils¡¯ race quest for a few hours without luck and wanted to report it as a bug, similar to her party members. Many others soon had the same problem and soon complained on the same thread as well. ¡®Should I describe how I got the quest¡­?¡¯ She browsed through the replies, finding no one else had said anything regarding it. Some of the Game staff even promised to check if it was indeed a bug. ¡®Whoa¡­ is that quest really so hard to get?¡¯ She decided to make a forum account and quickly went back to the thread, carefully writing an answer. She actually just wrote that she had created a character and received the quest normally, figuring the staff members would sort out the issue later. She then went on and accessed some other threads. She soon found what she was looking for. ¡®This is it!¡¯ Someone wrote about how he had trained his skills through repeatedly hitting objects that don¡¯t give any experience points. Your stats could also improve by doing that and you could experiment with new moves, even creating new skills. ¡®Why didn¡¯t I think of that¡­¡¯ She excitedly wanted to close the browser when her first private message (PM) came in on the forums with a loud ¡®ding!¡¯ and stopped her. Curious why someone would message her, she opened the message. Just when she started reading, new messages came in in fast succession, leaving her perplexed about the whole situation. ¡®Maybe I did something wrong?¡¯ She quickly skimmed through the messages. Basically all of them had the same content. They were asking her about the race quest and asking if she could tell them how to get it or share it with them. Then of course there were the ones asking her to stop lying and calm down. She just ignored the latter. ¡®What do I do¡­ I don¡¯t want everyone to know my character¡­¡¯ She decided to contact one of the staff members. In the first place she wasn¡¯t even sure it¡¯s allowed to post about this so she¡¯d rather play it safe just in case. She told them about the situation and asked them if she should tell them about it. The reply came soon after.
Dear user, Thank you very much for contacting us about this matter. Since the difficulty of obtaining this quest seems to be higher than we first expected we¡¯d actually like to ask you if you agree to Furan Corp putting together a promotional video about this quest. We¡¯d just require the video file containing the quest acquisition and we¡¯d cut it to the right length, replacing the face of your character so you wouldn¡¯t be recognized. We would really welcome your cooperation in the matter, Best regards, Your NeoPangea Online Team
¡°¡­¡± Nao was speechless for a moment. Then she wrote back
Good morning, Sorry about this but I don¡¯t even know where to find the video files and such¡­ could you try asking someone else who got the quest? Regards, Demon
She had decided to use her character name to sign after some thought. After all her forum account also ran under that name. She really didn¡¯t know about this¡­ after she behaved that shamefully during the quest as well¡­ she¡¯d rather they ask someone else about it. After taking a few minutes to calm down she remembered Julian. He had even helped her set up everything and yet she hadn¡¯t contacted him at all¡­ she wanted to thank him again. While browsing through the forums she had learned you could send offline messages to players if you knew their name, so she accessed the NPO website again, leaving Julian a message.
Good morning Julian, Sorry for taking so long to contact you, I only just found out about these messages. I wanted to thank you again for setting up all this hardware for me and even offering your help in the game. I was really happy. I actually tried whispering you a few times but somehow it didn¡¯t go through so I figured you were offline and just decided to write you here. Hope to see you around soon! Nao
She hesitated a long time before sending it. ¡®This¡­ should be alright¡­ I hope?¡¯ but finally pressed the send button. Then she returned to the forums, finding another load of messages had arrived for her. She just ignored all normal messages for now, already guessing the content, silently apologizing to the other users about it and looked through her mailbox if a reply from the staff had come already. It had. She quickly opened it
Dear Demon, Thank you for your fast reply. The FI system automatically records a copy of your gameplay in the temporary files of NPO. This was implemented as a safety measure for the users to make it possible to record bugs or scams in the game. You should be able to find it here: [Click to Copy Data Path] Unfortunately there has only been one player to successfully obtain the quest without sharing until now, so we¡¯d really like for you to share your footage with us. As a compensation for any trouble this may cause you we¡¯d like to offer you a completely free access to NPO with a premium membership for 6 months starting today. This will grant you initial access to all public areas of libraries in game for this amount of time as well as some other benefits, please look up additional information here. Please let us know about your decision and we apologize for the trouble this may cause you. Best regards, Your NeoPangea Online Team
¡®How can I decline now!¡¯ Nao silently complained. ¡®Wait¡­ how come nobody else has found the quest yet¡­ am I that weird?¡¯ Nao sighed audibly. Well, if she was the only one to have received the quest then she really didn¡¯t have a choice. She didn¡¯t really care for the reward, but she still wrote a short confirmation as a reply and enclosed a copied version of the video file she found when following the data path in the message. She clicked send and finally closed her browser again, still depressed. Then she went back into the game to look for a good place to train. She found herself back in the cave with the cocoons and decided to just ignore them and fly out. As predicted they didn¡¯t pay any attention to her at all and just continued eating blue stones. She decided to improve her stats first, seeing as she couldn¡¯t use magic yet. Therefore creating skills wouldn¡¯t prove useful yet. Determined she made her way back to Firchten and asked around for the library. She had read in the message that she should have access to most areas now, so at least this she could use. After all reading should make you smarter¡­ right? A nice elderly devil finally guided her to a plain looking entrance leading underground. She thanked her and made her way downstairs. Since the steps seemed to continue for a while she flew down. The stairway was wide enough anyways. After a few moments she found herself inside a huge underground dome, measuring about 500 meters in diameter. It also went about 200 meters high, giving the whole hall a magnificent touch. And every inch of the walls and floor was stuffed with books. They had placed bookshelves in every possible place, making the hallways cramped, but it just didn¡¯t seem to be enough space for all the books the devils had gathered. Beholding this view Demon unwillingly let out a sound of astonishment. ¡®I thought us devils had escaped from hell not long ago¡­ to think I was worried there wouldn¡¯t be enough books¡­¡¯ She smiled. The library was a public place so she could come here whenever she wanted. Overflowing with enthusiasm Nao flew to the bookshelf labeled with ¡®Magic history¡¯ and started devouring book after book about this game¡¯s magic. Her head filled up with spells and how to use them, with history and legends about great magicians and about devils in general. Since she had completely forgotten the time, she was happy she had set an alarm in advance earlier. After reading 3 whole books her intelligence went up by 10 and her wisdom by 30. Even her stamina had increased some, since she had held out reading for over 5 game hours straight. Swiftly she finished reading the current paragraph and faded out. It was breakfast time. [Meanwhile on the NeoPangea Online Forums] Nao¡¯s post had started an avalanche of questions and excited posts about the race quest. She hadn¡¯t been precise and just posted that she had the quest so the staff members had been kept really busy with replies to their messages and verifying if the quest really worked. They had accessed the game logs and found out that really only a single player had been able to find and accept the quest by themselves. ¡°Are you kidding me?¡± The staff member who had noticed it said ¡°Come on, the quest is working since someone obviously accepted it, all this trouble over nothing¡­¡± ¡°Yea, well the dev. might have overestimated the players¡­ only one of them found the race quest¡­ guess we¡¯ll either have to ask them to come up with another one or just give the players some info on how to accept it¡­ personally I think the 2nd option is best, we can get working on that right away.¡± The director agreed. The only question now was how to get the info out flashy enough to catch the players¡¯ attention. That was when Nao herself contacted them. ¡°Director, we got a message from the player about the issue. They¡¯re asking if it¡¯s alright to tell them how they got the quest.¡± ¡°Right, the player! Reply to them right now! Request the video footage of the incident. We¡¯ll cut it together and put a nice promo video on our website. No one¡¯ll be able to miss that. Get the team on standby right away.¡± The director made the decision to grant the player 6 months of premium membership of NPO as a reward and was overjoyed when they agreed. The whole staff had been waiting impatiently and were now watching the footage together. ¡°¡­¡± They were speechless. Depending on the actual perquisites of the quest it was a miracle someone had actually been able to find it at all. ¡°Director¡­¡± ¡°Yes, cut it together! And replace the player¡¯s face. Get done asap!¡± ¡°Yes sir!¡± Two hours later they had finished the clip and posted it on their website, giving credits to the player for letting them use their footage for it. The users were in turmoil to say the least. ------------------------ Alright, thats it for today, I''m moving tomorrow and still need to do loads of things so... [th_0tive.gif] I hope you enjoyed the new chapter :hi: Volume 1 - Chapter 4 Chapter 4 ¨C The Goblin King Having finished her ample meal for the day Nao had faded back into the game right away and continued reading, completely forgetting the time in the process. She only stopped to eat some basic bread whenever her character got hungry. Then a breathless voice could be heard over the party chat. ¡°S-sorry I¡¯m late¡­ huh?¡± Demon smiled and replied ¡°Welcome back, Garry!¡± ¡°¡­¡± After a short break when he apparently checked the party information he sighed. ¡°Seems like I¡¯m the first one back, huh. I figured you guys would be waiting for me by now.¡± ¡°N-no. Don¡¯t worry, no one else came yet.¡± She quickly checked the time. It was past noon already. She had read for about 8 hours. Her gaze wandered over to the small mountain of books next to her. She had finished about 15 of them while waiting for her party members. She stretched and quickly picked up the books, flying over to the shelf to put them back. Flying had nearly become a habit of hers now. ¡°Should I come back now?¡± ¡°Huh? Did you go somewhere else?¡± ¡°Yea, just the city a little.¡± ¡°Oh, you must have waited long, sorry¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t worry about it, I had fun while waiting¡­¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s good then¡± he sighed¡± Wait. How did you leave the cave? Didn¡¯t those cocoons attack you?¡± ¡°N-no. I figured if I can¡¯t get their attention when hitting them with a stone they wouldn¡¯t attack me if I just left¡­ so I flew out.¡± ¡°¡­ well, as long as you didn¡¯t die.¡± ¡°Y-yea. By the way, Garry?¡± Demon had taken up all her courage and decided to ask. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°C-can I ask¡­ w-what lvl is your flying skill?¡± she managed to stutter out her question. ¡°Lvl? Still basic lvl 1¡­ as far as I know the flying skill cant lvl, Demon¡± he hesitatingly said. ¡°I-I see¡­ but¡­¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°¡­ My flying skill¡­ is at B-beginner lvl 2 now¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± Demon was embarrassed. ¡°Are you serious?¡± ¡°¡­ yes¡± ¡°That¡¯s not poss-¡­ wait¡­ What changed in the skill description?¡± He excitedly asked ¡°Uhm¡­ Stamina consumption is less, and speed is a bit faster I think¡± Demon had checked the skill description and told him. ¡°I see, that¡¯s great! Demon, you found one of the unannounced changes of the extension I think! It was definitely not possible to lvl the flying skill before.¡± ¡°O-oh.¡± ¡®I guess you can¡¯t lvl it if you fly with the controller.¡¯ Demon thought. ¡°Well, anyhow. I think the others should come back soon, so you could start heading back here if you want.¡± ¡°O-okay.¡± Demon had finished sorting the books back in and flew out of the library, heading back towards the Cocoon cave. She got carefree on the way and started executing various flips and somersaults in the air as she went, thoroughly enjoying herself. Suddenly a system message popped up in front of her
Created Passive skill ¨CAerial Dodge- Skill has been added to the skill window.¡ª Skill Information: Evasion rate increases by 10% while in the Air. Skill mastery will increase with successful dodging attempts.
Created Stat -EVA (Evasion)- Stat has been added to the character window.¡ª Stat information: Increases the chance of Enemy attacks missing the target.
¡°Whoa, I guess I should stop playing around¡­ ¡° Nao then headed straight towards the cave but she decided to keep those two for now. A few moments later she could hear two other voices over the party chat, excusing themselves cause they were late. ¡°Sorry, sorry, we got held up helping our dad¡­¡± ¡°Y-you two are siblings?¡± ¡°Yea.¡± ¡°To be honest, us 5 all know each other through school¡± Garry explained. ¡°Ah¡­¡± Demon was dejected. She was the only one who didn¡¯t really belong to the group. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it though, Demon. You¡¯re already part of our team, right?¡± ¡°O-okay.¡± But she wasn¡¯t convinced. After all they were much closer to each other, being able to hang out in school and in their free time. She unwillingly became sad. ¡°I think the other two should be here soon, how long till you get here, Demon?¡± Garry asked. ¡°10 minutes or so.¡± ¡°That was fast!¡± ¡°Hey guys! We checked out the website earlier. Did you see it? That video was so awesome.¡± With those words the last two of the party had logged in. ¡°Hey, you two!¡± Garry greeted them. ¡°What video do you mean?¡± ¡°The one about the race quest.¡± ¡°Nope, haven¡¯t seen it.¡± The other 3 said. ¡°Apparently there really weren¡¯t many people who found it¡­ so Furan Corp made a clip showing how one of them found the quest. It was intense I tell you, we¡¯d never have found it.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°That¡­ you should watch it.¡± ¡°Oh, really? Let¡¯s go check it out. Demon still isn¡¯t here, so¡­¡± The other 3 members faded out to look at the clip. ¡°But I figured Demon would already be waiting for us¡­ to think she wasn¡¯t here yet.¡± ¡°I-I¡¯m here. I¡¯m on the way¡± Demon strained her wings to fly faster. ¡°Ah, so that¡¯s how it was. You just went somewhere.¡± ¡°Y-yea, I had a few hours so I went to the city.¡± ¡°Ah I see. Then did you see the clip yet?¡± ¡°S-something like that.¡± Nao was too embarrassed to tell them it was her footage. ¡°Hehe, I can¡¯t wait for them to come back so we can talk about it.¡± ¡°Y-yea.¡± Demon couldn¡¯t think of a way to switch topics now that they were this excited about the clip. As she was still nervously thinking of a way to avoid talking about the video she finally arrived at the cave still deep in thought and nearly forgot to land. In the last moment she noticed the two party members waving up at her and quickly decided to dive down, landing on the floor with a loud bang causing a huge cloud of dust to whirl into the air. The movement force still caused her to slide along the floor for a few meters until she could finally stop. ¡°S-sorry, emergency break.¡± She stammered towards the two alienated party members. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­ D-don¡¯t worry about it.¡± They worriedly raised their heads up to look at the cocoons but as expected the ruckus had been completely ignored. For a few moments they didn¡¯t say anything then one of them started ¡°But seriously, Demon. I can¡¯t believe you actually found that quest. I mean we don¡¯t know what exactly you have to do to really get it, but how that devil got it¡­ it¡¯s really unlikely for someone to find out about that method¡­ especially out of those not skipping the tutorial¡­¡± ¡°A-ah¡­ I guess I was lucky.¡± She didn¡¯t have the courage to tell them the footage was provided by her. While they were talking the other 3 had faded back in. ¡°Whoa. There you are, Nao.¡± ¡°H-hi, everyone!¡± ¡°Hey! But really, that clip was great! Did you see it too?¡± ¡°Y-yea I guess.¡± Nao blushed ¡°To think someone would come up with that. But oh well, they showed us a way to accept it now so I guess we can forgive them, huh.¡± ¡°Yea, but seriously, that clip was well taken. Are you sure it¡¯s from a user?¡± ¡°Yea, that¡¯s what was said on the forums.¡± ¡°Hmmm, well anyways. Shall we start?¡± After a while Garry snapped out of it and suggested ¡°Huh? Ah, right!¡± ¡°I¡¯ve thought about it and figured we should just try attacking the first one from the exit directly to see how the others will react. If they agro on us we can just run off. The question is how we get that thing to the floor so we can fight it.¡± ¡°Nice idea¡­ what if we hit it with stones until it falls?¡± ¡®I don¡¯t think that¡¯ll work¡¯ everyone thought. ¡°Uhm¡­ can¡¯t we fight¡­ in the air?¡± ¡°Hm? No, since we all use the controller¡­ right!¡± Garry turned towards Demon. ¡°Demon. You think you can teach us how to fly without?¡± The other party members looked at him confusedly. ¡°You sure this is the time?¡± ¡°Yea, apparently you can lvl the flying skill now but it doesn¡¯t seem to work if you use a controller¡­ we¡¯d eventually need to lvl it either way. Plus now there might really be quests that need us to fight while flying to complete them¡­ and we can¡¯t do that with a controller in our hands.¡± ¡°You can? Seriously?¡± ¡°Yea, Nao¡¯s Flying lvled up so we figured it out that way.¡± ¡°Aaah, right. Then please teach us!¡± ¡°Yea, please!¡± ¡°Ah, uhm. I¡¯ll try.¡± Then Nao recalled what the NPC Tim had told her and tried coaching her party how to fly. After about an hour 3 of her party members managed to do it normally but the other two still forgot to flap their wings sometimes. All in all their movements seemed very inelegant and weren¡¯t balanced well, discouraging the party visibly. Finally Garry sighed and decided ¡°Well, this¡¯ll have to do. We can always practice more later, so for now let¡¯s see if we can beat one of these.¡± ¡°Yes!¡± everyone cheered. Everyone summoned their clubs and we started flying towards the cocoon closest to the exit and surrounded it. Then Garry gave us a sign and we rushed onto it, hitting it with all our strength. The cocoon quivered and slowly moved towards Garry but its speed was so slow they could easily avoid the attacks. The other cocoons in the surrounding area didn¡¯t react to their fight, making it possible to easily defeat one of them within a few minutes. Demon¡¯s movements were uncertain. She didn¡¯t really know how to handle the club well and was hesitated to kill a living being with her own hands. ¡®Wait¡­ can a cocoon be called an animal?¡¯ she finally thought. ¡®I don¡¯t think so¡­¡¯ After these thoughts her movements held a new determination. When they had finally destroyed it its shell cracked and many blue stones fell out of it body towards the ground. Reflexively Demon flew beyond the cracked shell and collected some stones before they could hit the ground and shatter.
Quest item ¡®Sapphire Ore¡¯ acquired
Quest has been completed
¡°They¡¯re the right ones.¡± She said toward her party members who had landed again to rest. ¡°Alright! We did it!¡± they were wheezing from flying for so long, not used to handling their wings yet. ¡°Damn. This is really hard.¡± One of them complained. ¡°Well, but it feels great, doesn¡¯t it? To have done it with our own power.¡± Garry countered. ¡°True, true.¡± Demon smiled and flew over to them, handing them the stones she had collected. ¡®This is really fun! Playing with everyone like this!¡¯ No words could describe what she felt right now. Her heart felt warm and she just couldn¡¯t stop smiling. It was indescribable and she wouldn¡¯t forget this scene for the rest of her life. ¡°Well, let¡¯s go do the next quest!¡± The party had rested up and was ready to go to their next adventure. With Garry leading the way the team soon managed to complete several quests and over the span of 2 days they had reached lvl 9. Whenever her party wasn¡¯t around Demon would undoubtedly be found in Firchten¡¯s library, reading another book to train her stats or she would fly around an area infested with weaker goblins she had found, trying to dodge their attacks to lvl her passive skill. She nearly died several times while attempting it but barely managed to escape every time. Soon she found a pattern in their movements and it got easier to evade them after a few hours. She had found out a lot about her party members over the long hours they had played together. One of them was a real klutz. He always managed to get tangled on something or fall over his own feet. Another one would always directly say what was on his mind bluntly but he¡¯d still follow Garry¡¯s decision in the end. And the siblings were inseparable, always knowing what the other was thinking without saying anything. Then there was Garry. He was really great at solving conflicts and good at making decisions and very reliable which was why the other 4 had asked him to be their party leader. They had originally played different races which made it hard for them to advance together. Just when they had been stuck the expansion was announced and they had decided to restart the game together. Demon really envied them but at the same time started feeling at home within their group. They were soon inseparable and their teamwork steadily improved. They had also practiced flying and could now fight in the air without trouble. But they were still using their starting equipment which was very plain. It consisted of only simple trousers and shirts for male devils and a shirt and skirt of female ones. They were able to pick the color, but it really wasn¡¯t fancy and it didn¡¯t grant them any bonuses. Therefore the party was looking forward to lvl 10. They would be able to undergo their first job advancement and chose one of the 3 Basic classes of the game, enabling them to get better equipment and weapons. They were still using the club the adventurer trainer Fido had given them. ¡®Thinking of Fido¡­¡¯ since the party was just discussing what to do next Demon said ¡°Guys? Wouldn¡¯t it be appropriate for us to do Fido¡¯s task now? Since we nearly outlvled the club he gave us¡­¡± ¡°True, there was that quest as well. I suppose we¡¯re close enough in lvl to give it a try now.¡± ¡°Then it¡¯s decided, let¡¯s go for it!¡± ¡°Yep!¡± they all raised their glasses and toasted. Actually they were taking a small break in the tavern right now and had chatted casually for a while. But now they quickly emptied their cups, paid and went outside. They stretched their shoulders and grew out their wings to start flying. Everyone was following Garry as they left the town flying towards the natural hallway leading into the inner parts of the cavern labyrinth. They hadn¡¯t been here before since this place was flooded with goblins and even some aggressive bats. As soon as they flew past the city gates they got into battle formation. The monsters here were aggressive towards players and you never knew when you might have missed one and it assaulted you from behind. They also advanced slower, sharpening their senses and keeping their eyes open for enemy movement. The first group of goblins came into view. There were 3 of them. Wordlessly the party landed and split up into two groups. Garry and Demon went ahead to agro the monsters while the other 4 were waiting for them at a safe distance. One of the goblins ran towards Garry while Demon had dragged two of them. She nimbly lead them away from Garry and the others who were now fighting the first goblin and drew a circle around the group, keeping the other two goblins at bay with occasional hits and kicks as she was flying low above the ground to not lose their attention while the party killed the first one. They had come up with this strategy beforehand, seeing as Nao was the most agile amongst them in the air she was the best choice for playing the bait. The goblins couldn¡¯t match up to her speed but she sometimes let them come close to make sure they wouldn¡¯t suddenly turn to her companions. Meanwhile the party was fighting fiercely. The wooden club they had was quite a crude weapon and so the best strategy they could come up with was this: The one who got attacked would concentrate on blocking or dodging the attacks while the other 4 would try to inflict as much damage as possible. They had to be careful not to hit each other since they were fighting in a small space around the short creature. But eventually the goblin collapsed with a last grunt, leaving only a few items behind on the ground.
59 exp has been gained
Garry quickly picked up the drops and motioned for Demon to come lure the group towards them. She nodded and headed over to her party. When she was in reach they quickly attacked one of her followers and cut off its way, forcing it to change target. Demon then lured away the last goblin, still showering it with kicks and hits from her club as she went. This way they slowly fought their way through the area, sometimes resting in between the battles and finally completed Fido¡¯s quest. ¡°Are we really done?¡± Sweat was running down all their skins and they were resting on top of a cliff, out of the reach of any more goblins and relaxed. ¡°That took a while.¡± ¡°Yea.¡± ¡°Say, Demon. How can you dodge them like that?¡± ¡°Yes? Uhm, I practiced I guess. But I¡¯m bad on my legs though.¡± ¡°Wow, how¡¯s it possible to be better at flying than walking. Are you an alien?¡± They joked ¡°Eeehh, no way! How did you find out?¡± Demon went along and everyone laughed. ¡°Well, let¡¯s go on then~¡± Garry said after a while. ¡°We still need to hand in but¡­ I think once we do we¡¯ll finally be lvl 10!¡± ¡°Whoaa, you¡¯re right! Though saying that¡­ somehow it took really a lot more effort to get lvl 10 here than when I played an Elf¡­¡± ¡°Same here¡­ I was lvl 10 the first day¡­¡± ¡°R-really? That¡¯s weird¡­¡± ¡°Well, it may be harder. But it¡¯s a lot more fun so I don¡¯t mind.¡± ¡°True that, since we¡¯re together now everything seems a lot brighter than when I did it alone.¡± Another party member agreed. Since they were immersed in their conversation they didn¡¯t notice the intimidating shadow appearing behind their backs. The shadow stretched and slowly got up, revealing its might. It turned towards the group of unsuspecting adventurers with an evil smile on its ugly face. Then it crept closer to them, lifted its axe and let it swing down on the closest one with all its might, letting out a crazy laugh as it did. The adventurers reacted promptly but it was too late. As they were getting up and summoning their weapons one of them had already collapsed with a pained sound, blood running down the back of his head. Seconds later his body started disintegrating into white light, sending him back to Firchten, dead. As the party hurriedly tried to regroup the shadow had already targeted the next one of them, heading closer with huge steps. ¡°G-Goblin King?¡± one of them realized, raising his weapon in a protective gesture as the monster headed towards him quickly, raised its axe, still giggling maniacally and smashed it into his head ignoring the club in his hands completely and turning him into light in a second. The goblin king raised its claws in a victory gesture, his howl echoed through the cave, sending shivers down their spine. Then he jumped towards the remaining three of them, grabbing hold of one of their heads as he was attempting to get behind him and smashing the axe squarely into Demon¡¯s weapon, making her lose her footing and catapulting her right into Garry. Both of them got thrown into the wall of the cave and collapsed dizzily just as the goblin king squashed their comrade¡¯s head like he would a tomato. ¡°AAaaaahhh¡± his scream was still echoing in the cave when he had disappeared in white light. Demon and Garry had quickly snapped out of their daze and got up but they weren¡¯t fast enough. Just as they were trying to regain their balance the goblin king appeared before them, bringing down his axe on their throats with an evil grin and sending them back to the city in seconds, the echoes of their struggle slowly fading. Demon¡¯s mind went black as soon as she had realized the axe had hit her. A numbing pain spread throughout her body from her throat and she couldn¡¯t breathe. A sickening sensation spread through her body as she reintegrated and suddenly felt her body again. With a loud ¡®eww¡¯ Demon came to, carefully rubbing her throat and sat up. She felt sick to her stomach. ¡®This is what it¡¯s like to die¡­¡¯She never wanted to experience it again. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. She held her protesting stomach and looked around. Garry was sitting next to her with a green face, grimacing as he tried to get rid of the lingering feeling death had caused but shortly after he said ¡°S-sorry, I¡¯ll be right back.¡± and faded out. Unsure what to do next Demon swallowed down the urge to throw up and got to her feet, moving her limbs as if to test out everything was still where it belonged after she had died. They had woken up in front of the lord¡¯s palace in Firchten, in the center of the city but away from the devils¡¯ attention. Then she checked the system message that had popped up as soon as she had regained her senses.
You have died.
Character¡¯s lvl decreased by 1 All skill masteries decreased by 15% Debuff ¡®Death¡¯s Touch¡¯- All stats, skill effects reduced by 50% for 1 hour- Has been applied Some items carried by the character have been dropped. Equipped items lost 10% durability.
¡®Whoa¡­ that are some harsh penalties. Is the dev of this game a sadist or something?¡¯ Demon thought as she read through them and finally sighed audibly. ¡®Well, cant help it, we¡¯ll regain them eventually.¡¯ ¡°Guys?¡± Demon finally asked through the party channel. There was no reply. ¡®What do I do now¡­¡¯ Demon wondered. ¡®They probably all faded out after dying.¡¯ She swiftly grew out her wings and headed to the library, seeing as she had nothing to do until her comrades returned. She sat down in her usual spot on top of the book shelf for now and started reading. After about 30 minutes Garry came back and talked through the party channel ¡°Demon? Are you still there?¡± ¡°Yea.¡± ¡°Sorry about that, I can¡¯t handle the feeling after death well¡­ I usually end up throwing up from it¡­¡± ¡°T-that¡¯s alright. I also felt sick from that¡­¡± ¡°Hehe, it¡¯s nothing to be proud of though.¡± ¡°Haha¡­¡± ¡°Yea, I just came back to apologize actually. The others contacted me per mail earlier and said they also had to throw up and can¡¯t fade back in for today. So we¡¯ll be continuing tomorrow.¡± ¡°I see¡± Demon sounded disappointed ¡°Well, it¡¯ll be Friday tomorrow so we¡¯ll have loads of time!¡± ¡°Ah! Right!¡± Demon remembered that they had to go to school. Obviously they¡¯d have more time on weekends and she cheered up. Garry noticed she felt better after hearing that and smiled to himself. ¡°So, now that we can¡¯t continue lvling what are you up to, Demon?¡± ¡°You aren¡¯t leaving?¡± Demon was surprised. He usually always faded out when the others had to go. ¡°You want me to?¡± He curiously asked ¡°Of course not! I was just surprised¡­ ¡° ¡°Haha, yea, I can stay a bit since school doesn¡¯t start for another hour.¡± ¡®Right, they did always leave together because of school¡­¡¯ ¡°Uhm I was planning to read up on some things in the library, but if you¡¯re here¡­ w-would you like to do some dodging training?¡± ¡°Oh, I didn¡¯t want to keep you from reading, Demon¡± ¡°N-no, I was going to practice later anyways, so ¡­¡± ¡°Alright then, sounds like a good idea¡± They met up in front of the library and headed out towards the goblin area again, Demon leading the way. ¡°By the way, did you decide on a class yet?¡± ¡°Yea, I¡¯ll become a magician since I¡¯m bad with moving my body. So I want to fight from afar.¡± ¡°Ooooh? That sounds great. Then I¡¯ll be in charge of protecting you then. I want to be a Swordfighter and later a HolyKnight.¡± ¡°What other classes are there after the Magician?¡± ¡°Hmm, you¡¯re going for a damage type, right?¡± ¡°Yea¡± ¡°Then first you¡¯d want to go for a Spellmaster at lvl 50. After that you can decide between a pure damage class, the Sorcerer or the Illusionist who manipulates shadows to create hallucinations at lvl 150. There¡¯s a last job advancement at lvl 300, where you can choose between Elementalist who specializes on dealing damage with elemental attributes or Shaman who harms the soul of things directly. Let me think¡­ for Illusionist I believe you can choose between a Shadow who can turn invisible and confuse enemies and a Necromancer who can raise the dead and make them their servants. Necromancer is the only class able to learn a revival spell for players, although you¡¯ll look like an undead for a few hours afterwards, hehe." ¡°Whoa, you know so much about it¡­¡± ¡°Haha, not really. I¡¯ve been a Spellmaster before so I do know a bit though.¡± ¡°Wow, then I¡¯ll know who to ask if I get stuck on something!¡± ¡°Feel free, I¡¯ll try my best to advise you if I can.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll definitely keep it in mind! But lvl 300¡­ that¡¯s still so far away. It¡¯ll probably take a lot of work to get there¡­¡± Garry smiled heartily. ¡°Yea, there¡¯s only a handful players close to lvl 300 at the moment¡­ we¡¯ll probably never get there though.¡± ¡°Why do you say that?¡± Demon was disappointed. ¡°Because of school. There will be exams soon and we only have a few hours to play every day¡­ we also need to hang out with our family once in a while, or they get worried¡­ we just can¡¯t invest enough time to get there.¡± ¡°Aww, I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll reach it eventually. We just can¡¯t be negative about it.¡± ¡°That may be true¡­ we¡¯ll see!¡± ¡°Yea. Ah, we¡¯re nearly there. I always train over at that field.¡± Nao pointed towards an area surrounded by a small fence. It was nearly completely filled with goblins. The sight caused Garry to pale visibly. ¡°A-are you sure¡­¡± ¡°Yea, as long as we can concentrate only on dodging it¡¯s a pretty good training ground.¡± Demon flew over to the field without a care. ¡°I¡¯m really not sure this is a good idea¡­¡± Garry started getting scared, visualizing various gruesome deaths like getting stomped to death or having his throat ripped out. ¡°To be honest I don¡¯t want to die again today¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Garry. I¡¯ll follow you and if you can¡¯t dodge something I¡¯ll definitely get you out.¡± ¡°¡­¡± somewhat reassured he nodded, but still had a bad feeling about this. ¡°So what do I do?¡± ¡°Uhm well basically it¡¯s a race. Try flying one round around the fenced in area while dodging their attacks. I¡¯ll be right behind you so don¡¯t be scared.¡± ¡°Alright. Here I go then¡­!¡± Garry took a deep breath, grew out his wings and flew into the field. After 5 seconds he was surrounded by a horde of goblins unable to dodge them and Demon had to drag him out again, flying to a rock in a save distance. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Uhm, don¡¯t stop. Concentrate. Look for a route and then take it. Like a hurdle race? Just you don¡¯t see the hurdles before they¡¯re right in front of you¡± ¡°¡­ I see.¡± ¡°Try again?¡± ¡°C-can I watch you do it once?¡± ¡°O-okay¡± Demon said embarrassedly and got ready. She stood in front of the gate and watched the goblins¡¯ movements for a moment, wings raised tensely and got to her knees like a sprinter waiting for the starting signal. Then she kicked off the ground forcefully, catapulting herself into the compact knot of goblins. She was relying on all her senses, listening closely to the goblins footsteps while performing long jumps through the field, using her wings as a medium to move in mid-air, somersaulting over goblin weapons one time and rolling below them another time. In just 3 minutes she rounded the field. She had been grazed by their weapons a few times, but all in all her HP hadn¡¯t dropped for more than 1/5th. After completing one round around the field she flew up higher and described a long curve, flying back towards Garry who had been staring at her wide-eyed and with his mouth hanging open. ¡°T-the important thing is to not let your speed drop while dodging¡­ k-keep looking at your surroundings even while evading so you know what¡¯ll come next.¡± Demon got quieter as she noticed Garry was looking at her with an unreadable look on his face. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°T-their movements are pretty limited since they have crude weaponry and think simply¡­ so predicting what they¡¯ll do next isn¡¯t that hard¡­¡± Demon drifted off and stopped talking, blushing under Garry¡¯s gaze. ¡®Are you kidding me? Is she Bruce Lee¡¯s daughter or something?¡¯ he thought alienated. ¡®Am I watching a movie? How did she even come up with a crazy training method like that? Is this an action movie or something?¡¯ ¡°G-garry? D-did something¡­?¡± ¡°Ah, uhm no.¡± Garry snapped out of it but still gave her a strange look. ¡°Though I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be able to do that¡­¡± ¡°Ah¡­ alright¡± Demon said sadly. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Then¡­ what do we do?¡± Trying to overcome his surprise he checked his watch again. There were still 30 minutes left until he had to get up. ¡°For now let¡¯s find a normal group of goblins to train on, not an army¡± he sighed ¡°O-okay.¡± They flew over to the place they had quested in earlier and Garry started training there with Nao. Of course they didn¡¯t gain any exp since they wanted to lvl with their comrades. Then Garry had to go and Nao was left alone again, picking up her usual training menu. She continued dodging the attacks of the goblins until her stamina got low, then she flew out and rested. She repeated this until her passive flight evasion skill lvled up. Her Flying nearly reached beginner lvl 9 now as well. Happily she then went on to the library to read while waiting for her companions to return. A few hours later they enthusiastically faded back in, calling her up over the party chat ¡°Demon?¡± ¡°Yea, I¡¯m here.¡± ¡°Whoa, you¡¯re really around a lot, aren¡¯t you.¡± ¡°No, I just came back as well.¡± She had had to fade out since she had gotten visitors earlier and really just returned 10 minutes ago. ¡°Ah, I see.¡± ¡°Is everyone here?¡± Garry asked ¡°Yea.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s go hand in that quest at least.¡± ¡°Alright, meet you all there.¡± Demon finished her paragraph and quickly cleaned up the books she had read, then departed towards Fido to meet up with her party. Since she had been in the city already she was the first to arrive at the cheerful devil¡¯s place. He seemed to be drunk today and hadn¡¯t noticed her as he was talking exaggeratingly excited with another NPC. She didn¡¯t pay any attention to what they were saying though. That was private. She didn¡¯t have to wait long before her party arrived and so they all went over to the old trainer together and greeted him ¡°Hey, Fido. It¡¯s been a while!¡± ¡°Oh! Ya¡¯ll! Ye¡¯re still alive!¡± ¡°Whoa, that¡¯s so cold. Of course we would be.¡± ¡°Hahaha, I didn¡¯t mean¡¯t like that. So how¡¯d it go?¡± ¡°Yea, we got rid of those goblins for you, Fido.¡± ¡°Hah, thanks a lot, folks! Here¡¯s yer rewards.¡± Fido opened a bag that was standing beside him and rummaged through it. Then he took out 6 pouches as big as his fist, handing one to each of them. ¡°Thanks!¡± They opened the pouch, taking out several health potions and some bottles of milk. Since milk could restore stamina the reward was pretty good. The party smiled at each other. ¡°Bah the waeh, ye folks. Did ye run into some trouble down there?¡± This time they exchanged worried glances and finally Garry spoke ¡°Actually¡­¡± he explained the situation accurately to the old devil. ¡®Better to be honest here¡¯ ¡°I see¡­ To be frank there¡¯s been several reports regarding that basterd killin devils down there¡­ ¡®was hopin ye all could take care of ¡®em for me. Whatcha say? I¡¯ll write up a recommendation fer tha next trainers if ya can manage it. Then I won¡¯t have anehthing left ta teach ya.¡± ¡°N-no way¡­¡± ¡°Really?¡± The party sounded discouraged as they were shouting in party chat. ¡°¡­¡± Garry didn¡¯t flinch and his thoughts were racing. The reward was really tempting. If you had the adventurer trainer¡¯s recommendation you wouldn¡¯t need to work as hard to convince the secondary class trainer to take you as an apprentice. He really wanted to accept the quest but the risk was just too high. They just got completely wiped out yesterday. Then a thought crossed his mind. ¡®Maybe¡­¡¯ He whispered Demon. ¡°Demon, do you think you can dodge its attacks? You¡¯d need to keep his attention away from us. Our reactions aren¡¯t fast enough yet. Can you do it?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Demon didn¡¯t answer for a moment, overwhelmed by the request. ¡®If it fails it¡¯d be my fault we died¡­ but¡­ I want to try¡­ I want to be helpful to them¡­¡¯ Patiently the party waited for Garry¡¯s decision who was looking at Demon expectantly, his eyes showing he trusted her to do it. This faith in her person scared her. No one had believed in her before¡­ But it also made her really happy. She decided to try it and nodded at him, determination in her eyes. ¡®I have to do this! I want us to get lvl 10 and all have fun together again!¡¯ she had noticed how the motivation of the team had dropped after their deaths. She didn¡¯t want the atmosphere to change though. She really liked her party. So this was the least she could do for them. A smile spread across Garry¡¯s face and he turned to look at the others simply saying ¡°Let¡¯s do this.¡± Stunned the party didn¡¯t react at all for a while. Then one of them finally managed to ask ¡°A-are you serious? It just killed us you know¡­¡± ¡°We weren¡¯t prepared that time. We¡¯ll come up with a strategy now.¡± ¡°Is this really gonna be alright?¡± Although they sounded uncertain they still accepted his decision and the party took the quest. They then headed towards a quiet cave on the way to the goblin king and held a stopped there to rest and come up with a strategy against the bloodthirsty king of goblins. ¡°This is my plan¡­¡± Garry elaborated what he had thought about leaving the party silently listening. Then one of them snapped ¡°Are you seriously a guy? How can you expect a girl do something like that!¡± ¡°Garry, this is far too crazy, even for us.¡± ¡°Eh¡­¡± Demon didn¡¯t even know what to say. ¡°Guys, calm down. I¡¯m confident she can do this. Out of all of us there isn¡¯t anyone else who has a chance of doing it. This has nothing to do with gender.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°If we fail now we can just lvl some more before trying again, but I really want to finish it now. We¡¯re lvl 9 again and if we finish this quest we¡¯ll most likely be lvl 10. I think it¡¯s worth a shot.¡± No one could retort. ¡°U-uhm, since I¡¯ll be the one who has his attention, you guys should fly away if I get killed. I can easily catch up again once you have to leave.¡± Demon suggested ¡°Seriously¡­ how could we do something like that.¡± They said while painfully rubbing her head. ¡°Don¡¯t even think about saying something like that again.¡± ¡°Of course we wouldn¡¯t leave.¡± ¡°Owowow, yes!¡± Demon complained but was actually happy. After joking around like this for a while and laughing they decided to leave for the goblin king. They flew over to it and landed at the edge of the cliff they had been killed on. Surveying the area for a while they found him. He was sitting leisurely on a throne of bones, watching them with alert eyes, his axe right beside him. When they walked closer it let out a loud snicker and picked up his weapon, and stretched his neck. Demon went up front and took out her club, getting into battle pose. She had only tried doing this with a club once before, but if something unexpected happened she could always drop it and only rely only on kicks and punches like before. The question was if she¡¯d be able to keep agro then. ¡°Remember, as soon as any of us get the agro you fly off. Got it?¡± Garry reminded them quietly in partychat. ¡°Got it¡­¡± The Goblin King then came over, leaving them no further time to reconfirm their strategy and Demon intercepted it, squarely hitting its knee from the side with her club, causing the already raised axe to miss. She now completely concentrated on evading his continuous attacks, also keeping in mind he would try grabbing her with his other hand like he did to one of them before. It was very hard and required her full concentration. Meanwhile her party members had approached the monster from behind and started hitting it with all their might. Worried about the others getting agro Demon quickly revised her strategy and relied mostly on destabilizing its stance with hits and dodged as little as possible. This was her own damage output would be higher and the chance for it to turn to her team mates was less. She had his full attention. The goblin king soon worked itself into a blind rage, forgetting the other attackers and mindlessly only went after Demon. She noticed the subtle change in his movements resulting from his rage and adapted to it, bouncing around the area like a female ninja while kicking and hitting him as much as possible. One time he nearly managed to grab her but with the help of her wings she performed a backflip, kicking it right into the jaw with her raised feet and escaping his grasp by an inch. Her narrow escapes caused her team to gasp worriedly several times but soon they soon gained faith in her skill as they watched her repeatedly escape the Goblin King¡¯s assault and attacked with new determination. Thoughts like ¡®Impossible¡­ are we actually beating it?¡¯ or ¡¯Whoa, this is awesome¡¯ flashed across their minds and soon they seriously admired Demon for her concentration. ¡®It¡¯s been more than 20 minutes and she¡¯s still holding up this well¡­ but we have to kill it soon.¡¯ A thin layer of sweat had formed on Demons forehead and her concentration was starting to slip, as expected. ¡®To think we fought for this long already¡­¡¯ However, she wouldn¡¯t give up like this. She took together her determination and kept her senses sharp. But it eventually slipped. Demon was inattentive for a second and before she knew it his fist wan in front of her face. With a restricted shout she turned her body right away. But it was too late. The fist had grazed her head and the force of his attack caused her health to drop significantly, leaving her stunned for just a second. She only managed to dodge his next attack narrowly and felt dazed. Sensing her predicament the Goblin King¡¯s attacks intensified, making her panic. ¡°Demon!¡± The worried shout from her party made her snap out of it. Her mind cleared up in a flash and she attacked with new vigor. Two minutes later the monster finally fell, disappearing with an incredulous grunt and defiant eyes.
Quest has been completed
The party dropped to the floor, completely exhausted. Demon just lay there motionlessly, breathing hard and staring at the ceiling of the cave blankly while catching her breath. Then they all started laughing. This victory truly felt great. ¡°That¡­ was so AWESOME.¡± ¡°Yea.¡± Demon¡¯s breathing still hadn¡¯t stabilized do she just lay there, regaining her energy. She closed her eyes. After some moments of silently resting again she heard her party members sit up and turned her head, opening her eyes again. They were looking at her. ¡°Hey, Demon?¡± ¡°Yea?¡± ¡°Thanks¡­ that was all thanks to you.¡± ¡°Yea, without you it¡¯d have been impossible.¡± Demon was stunned for a moment and stared at her companions dumbly, not knowing what to say. Volume 1 - Chapter 5 Chapter 5 ¨C Amelie¡¯s Apprentices ¡°A-ah, uhm¡­¡± She stammered and didn¡¯t know what exactly she tried to say. She blushed deeply and turned her face away again. The others started laughing again and slumped back onto the floor. ¡°It¡¯s true, when we played the other races it was really much easier to lvl and the quests weren¡¯t as impossible as here.¡± One suddenly said, giving Demon a bad feeling. ¡°But you know¡­ I personally really prefer it here, right now.¡± The others quietly agreed and a warm feeling spread through all of their chests and they smiled at each other. Then Garry got up, stretched and decided ¡°Well, let¡¯s go hand in!¡± ¡°Yup¡± They all got up and flew back to the city, reporting their progress to the astonished Fido. ¡°Ya saeh ye all did it alreadeh? Ya trahen ta make a fool ¡®o me? Eh?¡± ¡°No, here¡­ we got his axe as proof¡± Garry held out the axe the Goblin King had dropped. ¡°Holeh cow, that¡¯s realleh et¡­ Ya impress me, ya forlks. ¡®tis tha first taim someone did a job A gave them this fast¡­¡° The devil had inspected the axe carefully. ¡°Haha¡­ thanks.¡± ¡°Here¡¯s yer rewards as promised. And since I like ye all A¡¯ll throw in something else. After ye¡¯ve got yer new traina come back ta me and A¡¯ll give ye a present.¡± He handed them a small pouch and a letter. ¡°Whoa, that¡¯s very nice of you, we¡¯ll return soon!¡± ¡°Hahahahaha, A¡¯ll be waitin.¡± With these words he dismissed them and turned back to the table in front of him, starting to write something. The party members grinned at each other. Then they shouted ¡°We did it!!!¡± and jumped in the air joyfully, giving each other a hug. ¡°Demon, High-five!¡± One of them shouted. ¡°Huh? What?¡± Demon was confused. ¡°Could it be... you don¡¯t know what a High-five is?¡± ¡°N-no¡­¡± ¡°Raise your hand like this. Right.¡± She imitated him and he lightly hit her hand with his. ¡°High-five~¡± Demon smiled and then exchanged High-fives with the party happily. ¡°Now let¡¯s go get our secondary trainer!¡± ¡°YES!¡± They shouted cheerfully. The experience from the quest had made them lvl to lvl 10! ¡°I¡¯m going to the Swordfighter trainer, so anyone who doesn¡¯t want to be a Swordfighter, we should split up now.¡± ¡°Okay. I¡¯m going to the Magician one¡± said Demon ¡°Really, Demon? I figured you¡¯d go for Swordfighter since you can dodge so well.¡± ¡°No thanks¡­ I¡¯m more comfortable like this.¡± Demon shyly said. ¡°Well, I¡¯m going too.¡± Another party member came over to her. ¡°I¡¯m going for Scholar¡­¡± A third party member said and they split up. ¡°I know what a magician and swordfighter does, but what about a scholar?¡± Demon curiously asked the other guy while they were heading to their future trainer¡¯s place. ¡°A production class. You can write books and read faster as a scholar. After you lvl you can change to more useful classes like Bard or Blacksmith. It¡¯s quite useful but hard to progress on when you play alone.¡± ¡°I see, sounds like fun though.¡± ¡°Yea, it is. I actually was a Tailor before.¡± ¡°Oh? Then why did you decide to be a mage now?¡± ¡°Cause I honestly got a bit fed up with it, so I want to try fighting for a change.¡± ¡°Ah, I see.¡± Still deep in conversation they had found the Magician Trainer. It was a young devil with long white hair braided tightly starting from each of her small horns and ending in two long braids reaching to her chest who was sitting on a fence to a field of alone. She had bright yellow eyes that were already greeting them from afar and her wings were a dark red. She didn¡¯t have a tail or it wasn¡¯t visible under her short robe. She wore a white blouse with a dark red vest over it along with pair of red short baggy trousers. Over that she wore a black short cloak that reached to her knees and a crow was sitting on her shoulder, blinking balefully. Demon and her companion stopped a few feet away from her and greeted her. ¡°Hello! Might you be the Magician, Amelie?¡± The girl simply nodded at them, visibly reluctant to talk and just surveyed them from where she sat. ¡°We¡¯re very sorry for the suddenness of this request but please take us in as your apprentices!¡± Her team mate said. ¡°¡­¡± Amelie showed and expression on her face for the first time, staring at them disdainfully and the crow on her shoulder let out an intimidating ¡®caw¡¯ as if to scare them away. ¡°A-actually we were sent here by Fido¡­ he said you¡¯d be a very capable master and we¡¯re sure to learn a great deal from you, Amelie.¡± ¡°Y-yes, he said you¡¯re a very wise person, so we want to learn from you by all means.¡± ¡°¡­ Fido did?¡± the girl blushed slightly ¡°Yes. He also gave us a letter for you.¡± ¡°F-for Amelie??¡± The girl¡¯s blush intensified and she seemed very excited all of a sudden. ¡°Please show me.¡± She pleaded. ¡°¡­¡± Demon was speechless. Did this girl¡­ no¡­ impossible¡­ she couldn¡¯t be in love¡­ with Fido¡­ right? Plus, why was she calling herself in third person? Her team mate was trying hard not to laugh. The devil¡¯s creepiness had completely disappeared. They walked over and handed her their letters and she excitedly read them. Her eyes were shining. ¡°Aaaaah, you guys are grandpa Fido¡¯s apprentices. He says you guys were the ones who defeated the Goblin King who was scaring the other devils that much¡­ Amelie was actually on her way to get rid of him. So someone this talented has appeared¡­¡± The last sentence was directed more to herself than to them.¡± ¡®Grandpa?! I see! So that¡¯s why she seemed interested when we mentioned him.¡¯ Demon thought Amelie stayed silent for a while and closed her eyes, thinking intently over something. Then her eyes suddenly snapped open and she jumped off the fence, causing the crow on her shoulder to flap its wings frantically to keep its balance and was now standing in front of them with a sharp and clear gaze. ¡°Yikes!¡± Demon¡¯s teammate got startled by her sudden movement. She mustered their faces again for a while and finally said ¡°Amelie has decided. You two will be Amelie¡¯s new apprentices.¡± A sadistic smile crept onto her face. ¡°Don¡¯t be mistaken. Amelie only accepted you because gramps recommended you two and you seem interesting enough. Amelie definitely won¡¯t go easy on you, so prepare yourselves. You¡¯ll be Amelie¡¯s slaves starting today, little puppies!¡±
Primary class has been changed to Magician!
¡®Uwaaaa¡­ that personality swap was way too fast.¡¯ At first the cold inapproachable aura that had given them goosebumps changed to a shy and cute granddaughter and finally a sadistic master mage who sent shivers down their spine¡­ The teammates looked at each other with the same thoughts. ¡®Have we really made the right decision?¡¯ ¡°¡­¡± Demon slowly backed off but her movements were caught by Amelie who suddenly appeared in front of her with a mischievous grin on her face. ¡°You¡¯re not getting away, you¡¯re Amelie¡¯s cute little slave!~¡± She grabbed hold of Demon¡¯s right horn before she could dodge and pulled her along with her, picking up the shocked party member in the process and headed off to an unknown goal. Demon noticed an ominous smile playing around her mouth out of the corner of her eyes and gulped. ¡°W-where are¡­ we going?¡± They had to meet up with their other teammates again, but she couldn¡¯t get out of the devil¡¯s grip so she hesitatingly went along with her, left with little other choice. During the next few days they were kept prisoner in Amelie¡¯s home who made them do various strange things for her own amusement. It was a gruesome time. So much so that the author is unwilling to elaborate what exactly had happened during their predicament. Let us just give you one of the milder examples. Amelie made them balance on an egg they weren¡¯t allowed to break while dodging attacks from a swarm of crows that were assaulting them, trying to pick their eyes. Should they fall they would land in a pool of Holy Water which would inevitably kill them. In addition it was one of the most painful deaths you could experience in the game. They couldn¡¯t communicate with the outside while in her home and had repeatedly tried to escape their tormenter but to no avail. If anything their escape attempts had only enraged Amelie, increasing the difficulty of the tasks she gave them. Finally her teammate had told their party about their dilemma in reality, at least easing their worry about that matter for now. In fact their other party members were in a similar situation. They finally accepted the reality of the fact they had to finish this ¡®training¡¯ as Amelie called it successfully to return. Demon and her companion were scared, but they underwent their tasks with new determination from that moment on. Finally after 8 days Amelie had approached them at dusk after her rest and had looked at them with a grin on her face, causing shivers to go down their spines and said ¡°Good day, lovely apprentices <3~¡± ¡°¡­ good day.¡± The grin on her face was far too bright and innocent¡­ Too suspicious, way too suspicious. They both gulped. Amelie closed her eyes cheerfully and cleared her throat. ¡°Amelie has veeery good and veeery sad news for you, dears.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡®As we thought¡­¡¯ ¡°The good news is that¡­ you guys have really impressed Amelie over the last couple of days, Amelie is so proud <3¡± with these words she clung to both of them, nearly choking them in her hug. Then she loosened her grip tightly and added ¡°The sad news is that¡­ after this last task Amelie won¡¯t have to let you go for now¡­ the plan was to teach you the basics of being a magician for now but to be honest you two far succeeded Amelie¡¯s expectations¡­¡± The devil¡¯s posture revealed a hint of loneliness as she said those words. She really had grown fond of these two within the few days they had been together. But the two players were crying out joyfully within their hearts. They would finally be released! ¡°Amelie¡­¡± ¡°Master¡­¡± they were trying to sound as sad as possible. ¡°May we ask, what is the task you have chosen for us?¡± ¡°Yea, we want to be acknowledged as Magicians, please tell us.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Amelie let go of the two and silently wiped away some tears from her eyes. Indeed, as the master of these two she had to be strong. She had to let them go. For now. So she closed her eyes and caught her breath. Then she said ¡°Your last task is¡­ to awaken your magic. That¡¯s all.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve learned everything you need for it through the last few days. But you have to awaken your power yourself. I¡¯ve confirmed both of you have exceptional affinity for magic so it should be possible if it¡¯s you two. But in this task Amelie can¡¯t help you.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°H-how do we know when it has been awakened?¡± ¡°You¡¯ll know. When your power awakens your perception of the world will change. Let me explain it like this¡­ there is magic everywhere in the world. It¡¯s a part of the air and your surroundings. Once your powers awaken you will be able to sense it - the energy called magic. With training you will feel the magical changes and fluctuations in your surroundings and I¡¯ve heard true masters of magic will be able to find people based on the unique magic they emit or sense someone approaching from more than a mile away. Although I haven¡¯t met anyone close to such mastery. The two players were speechless. They looked at one another helplessly and ambitiously at the same time, trying to figure out how to solve the task before them. As if sensing their unrest Amelie got up now, looking at them from above. ¡°The process of awakening is different for everyone. Take as much time as you need to find your path.¡± With these words she left. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Now what¡­?¡± ¡°I guess¡­ we¡¯ll have to think of something.¡± She said they had learned everything they needed to awaken their powers by themselves but¡­ Demon shivered. She really couldn¡¯t connect all those things together into one picture. What could she do to awaken her magic? Amelie had even told them the process was different for everyone. When Amelie stepped outside Fido was already waiting for her there. ¡°Amelie, that was vereh mean of ye. There is a waeh to awaken their magic yerself, ain¡¯t there?¡± ¡°Gramps!¡± She hugged onto him tightly ¡°So you heard what Amelie said to them¡­ but gramps, you sent some very nice people this time. Amelie had lots of fun playing with them!¡± Her smile became sinister for a moment and even Fido became goosebumps. ¡°Regarding the magic, grandpa¡­ Yes, there is an easy way to awaken it but that just won¡¯t do for these two. They challenged even the most impossible challenges Amelie gave them and overcame them. Amelie thinks if it¡¯s them they can definitely awaken it themselves¡­ Amelie doesn¡¯t want to awaken their power. The degree of magic affinity Amelie senses inside them is really high. They can definitely manage. If Amelie awakens it for them their affinity would weaken and their potential would become less. Also this way is more fun for Amelie! But then again they will learn faster if they awaken their magic themselves and Amelie will have less time to play with them¡­ waaaah, what should Amelie doooo?!¡± She bounced around excitedly. Fido had patiently listened to her rambling, thinking to himself that girl had finally found some friends. He didn¡¯t know if he should feel happy for her or sorry for them through¡­ ¡°Well, A see ye¡¯re takin good care o¡¯ ma forma students. But can¡¯t ya give them a lil hint, Ame? Seem kinda lost, those fellas.¡± ¡°Nooo, grandpa doesn¡¯t understaaaand.~ Unless they find out themselves there¡¯s no meaning.¡± Amelie pouted. ¡°Alright, alright, A get et.¡± Fido sighed. ¡®Good luck, ye lot. A tried at least, eh¡­¡¯ he thought to himself. ¡°Well than, Ame. A have ta go. Lemme know once them fellas finish. A wanna prepare somethin¡¯ for ¡®em.¡± ¡°Aww, you¡¯re leaving already, gramps?¡± She sounded lonely. After a small pause she added ¡±I¡¯ll send him over to you when they leave.¡± She cast down her eyes and slightly stroked her crow¡¯s chest feathers while she spoke, staring at the floor sadly as she listened to him leave, biting her lips lightly. At the same time Demon and her companion were wrecking their brains, trying to figure out the meaning of Amelie¡¯s words. After a small while her party member let out a frustrated shout and excused himself. He then faded out to do research on the internet. He was starting to get fed up. The first job advancement wasn¡¯t supposed to be this hard, was it?! While he was browsing the internet Demon was sitting down in the basement next to the small spring that emerged from the wall naturally, softly dabbling onto the floor and cheerfully finding its way to the other side of the room and into a small natural pond. She quietly watched the flow of water as she organized her thoughts. She thought back to the various challenges Amelie had given them. Was there something, anything that seemed familiar between them all? They had all felt impossible at the start. They had all required a high deal of determination and craftiness to complete and¡­ wait! Demon suddenly sat up and had an idea. Which of them were it¡­ which¡­. She picked out the challenges that she thought about and analyzed them more thoroughly. ¡°That¡¯s it!¡± She shouted unconsciously. She¡¯d have to try it to confirm her thoughts. Silently she closed her eyes and concentrated. Her own personal magic¡­ she had to picture it clearly in her mind¡­ Herself. Right, her magic was already inside of her, helping her when she was in a pitch, she just hadn¡¯t realized it consciously until now, but those challenges, some of them had been weird. In some of them she did things that should logically have not been possible with her current capabilities and it was wrong to just blame adrenaline or luck for it as she had until now. There was no such thing as a coincidence in a game. So she concentrated and recalled those situations. Regaining her balance from an unnatural angle,¡­ she went through all of them and finally found it. That feeling, it had been the same for all of them. There was a feeling of an unnatural power in her body that had helped her save herself every time. But it had been so unnoticeable and well-hidden from her consciousness she hadn¡¯t noticed it. The feeling was very similar to what we refer to as self-preserving urges of humans in reality, in fact the difference was so minimal that it was obvious no one would notice it under normal circumstances. Unless you actively searched for it that is. So Demon concentrated even harder. She recalled the feeling and analyzed it. She let it flow through her mind and tried retrieving it into herself, completely ignoring the sounds and impressions flooding her normal senses from her surroundings. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.After a long while she felt as if her consciousness had linked out of her body, her consciousness was floating in the complete darkness of her mind. She noticed thoughts racing past her like a invisible roll of film but she ignored them. She kept searching around for the feeling, finally noticing a faint similarity to it within her mind and moved towards it. The feeling grew stronger and clearer until she could finally reach out and allude it, letting it engulf her completely. Suddenly her mind unpreventable exploded with impressions. She didn¡¯t look with her eyes not did she hear, yet somehow she could ¡®feel what her surroundings were like. She could tell apart objects and shapes from the denseness of the energy she felt. The flowing water held a high denseness. Compared to it the air seemed almost transparent but she noticed some faint lines running through it, fading ever so slightly as time passed. She noticed people moving around outside. Their density seemed higher when they were emotional or active. She was fascinated by this new sense she had acquired. Could this be what Amelie had meant? She didn¡¯t want to let go of this experience but she wanted to confirm if it was what she had been looking for. She decided to let the feeling fade somewhat and slowly felt her other senses return, concentrating not to let the feeling fade completely. It was possible! Excitedly Demon was looking around and listening to the quiet noises in the room. Her senses had merged automatically, working together to display the world before her. She almost lost her composure and let the feeling fade completely, but quickly stabilized it again when she noticed it. Then a system notice appeared
Learned Skill: Meditation
Mediatation - Basic Lvl 1 ¨C (15%) Concentrate on your body, completely shutting out all outside impressions. Effect: Increases Stamina and HP restoration speed by 50%
Learned Passive skill: Magical understanding Effect: Enables you to sense and analyze magical fluctuation in your surroundings.
Created stat MAG (Magic effect) Increases the effect of magic used.
Excitedly Demon let out a happy cry. She did it! She enjoyed the feeling of accomplishment for a moment but then a thought crossed her mind ¡®But¡­ would I be able to keep up my concentration? I don¡¯t want to let my new sense fade¡­ Oh well, for now I¡¯ll try keeping it up for as long as possible.¡¯ She looked around the room, concentrating mostly on the magic she sensed in it. There was a high density of magic in the air around the spring¡­ She slowly got up and walked over to it, stretching her hand towards the area with dense magic. When her hand reached inside her skin tingled lightly but the magic didn¡¯t reject her, the magic even followed her hands when she moved them slightly now. Fascinated she started playing with it completely neglecting her surroundings. She hadn¡¯t even realized her party member had faded back in and walked up behind her, watching her strangely as she moved her hands around in the air aimlessly with a fascinated expression. ¡®Has she finally lost it?¡¯ He felt very alone at that moment. His thoughts flew back to what he had found out on the internet¡­ which was nothing. There was no information on how to awaken your magic yourself. When he had asked on the forums the other users had ridiculed him. ¡®The trainer will obviously awaken it for you¡¯ or ¡®Are you an idiot? Your magic will awaken automatically once you convert to magician¡¯¡­ Well, it didn¡¯t. He sighed helplessly. At that moment Demon turned around. She had somewhat gotten back to reality and noticed he had come back. ¡°Welcome back¡± ¡°Thanks¡­¡± ¡°Find out anything?¡± ¡°Not really¡­ by the way¡­ what were you doing with the¡­air?¡± ¡°I-I¡­¡± she stammered, blushing heavily when she realized how crazy she must have looked, playing around with air. ¡°I was¡­ playing.¡± ¡°¡­¡± He gave her a strange look. ¡°With the m-magic in the area¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± His look became unbelieving ¡°You actually managed it?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure¡­¡± ¡°¡­I see¡± He sighed. ¡°A-are you okay?¡± ¡°¡­You¡­¡± Before he could continue his sentence he stopped himself. Even if he asked her how she awakened it, he¡¯d still have to manage himself. Amelie did say the process was different depending on the person. ¡°Nothing. I¡¯ll probably take some time to figure it out as well, so until then¡­ would you wait for me?¡± ¡°Of course¡± Demon said with a bright smile. ¡°I wanted to experiment around with this a little more too.¡± ¡°I see, we still have some time, none of the others are done yet either¡­ They wrote me a mail so¡­ I thought I should tell you.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Speaking of mails, Julian still hadn¡¯t answered her. ¡®I wonder if I offended him somehow¡­¡¯ she thought to herself. Of course she couldn¡¯t know that messages between enemy races wouldn¡¯t go through so Julian as an Elf wouldn¡¯t have gotten her message at all. ¡°Good luck then.¡± Returning back to reality she wished him luck and went back to the spring and started playing with the magic again, trying to form it. Then she suddenly thought of something. She kept her hand in the magically densely packed air and familiarized herself with the tingling sensation she felt. She then retracted her hand and concentrated, calling up that feeling in her hands again with closed eyes. When she opened them again and looked down at her hand she was shocked. The air around her hand had become dense with magic fluctuation! Overcoming her astonishment an excited smile spread across her face. She played around with that feeling now, testing what would happen if she intensified the tingling feeling around her hand or when she only concentrated it on her fingertip. By this point her mind had become exhausted. She had kept up her magic perception as she had named it for too long. She sat down and rested for a bit, holding her hands into the cool water. Or that¡¯s what she had intended to do. Still having dense magic wrapped around her hands the water dispersed, avoiding her hand and splashed into all directions, completely drenching her. She looked at her hand stupidly. ¡®What just¡­¡¯ Her teammate who had been watching from a distance while thinking about what to do burst out laughing. ¡°Oh god, Demon¡­ hahahaha¡­ that¡¯s the first time I saw that look on your face¡­¡± He held his belly and couldn¡¯t stop laughing. He soon had difficulties catching his breath and gasped for air. Demon turned bright red and pouted, sweeping her wet hair out of her face. Then something inside her snapped and she got up. ¡°IDIOT!¡± she shouted loudly and flew out of the room, still drenched and upstairs to where Amelie was waiting with a smile, leaving behind a dumbfounded teammate. ¡°Uh oh¡­ that might have been bad¡­ But, I¡¯ve never seen her shout like that before¡± a slight smile still played around his face, then he went back to thinking about the task at hand. When Demon reached the floor above tears had started forming in the corner of her eyes and she held back a sob, biting her lower lip. ¡°Hey, hey, what¡¯s wrong, cute little Demon?¡± Amelie came over anxiously. ¡°I¡­ got drenched¡± Is all she got for a reply. ¡°Did you fall into the pond or something?¡± She asked lightly but then she worriedly then took a closer look at her apprentice and she was indeed wet to the bone. Noticing something was off she examined her closer. ¡®This child¡­ she has already managed to awaken her magic?!¡¯ Amelie was stunned for a while but then, recalling the tears in Demons eyes she turned around with a sad glimmer on her face. ¡°Follow¡± she simply said over her shoulder, leading Demon to another room. It was a bathroom. ¡°Amelie will get some towels and some dry clothes so go warm up for now.¡± She said. ¡°Let¡¯s talk afterwards.¡± Demon could feel the warmth in her voice and nodded lightly. ¡°Thanks¡± ¡°No problem, Amelie will put them over there.¡± She motioned to a small chair standing close to the door. Then she quickly left. ¡°Okay¡­¡± Demon said after her. Leaving Demon to warm up Amelie felt happy and sad at the same time. Her first ever apprentice had learned the basics. She would leave her soon and go on dangerous adventures to harness her powers and gain strength to protect her allies. ¡®I have to make preparations.¡¯ She thought to herself and vanished into an adjoining room, looking for the things she wanted to give to Demon to support her journey. Demon had soaked in the bath for a long time, calming her feelings and relaxing a bit. Her mental fatigue from holding up the magic perception for so long vanished. She heard Amelie come in after a while to place the towels and clothes onto the chair, luckily the curtain hid her from her eyes though. She still wasn¡¯t ready to get out and talk or see someone. She had to calm down completely or her feelings would resurface and she would cry. And she didn¡¯t want to cry anymore. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, diving under the water surface for a moment to shake off the last bit of embarrassment. The suddenly she felt something slimy move up her leg. ¡®What¡­?¡¯ She teared open her eyes again and looked at her leg, surfacing with a loud scream and jumped out of the bath in panic. She slipped on the wet floor, landing squarely on her back, frantically trying to get that thing off her leg. ¡®So gross, so gross, SO GROSS!¡¯ Attracted by the fuss Amelie quickly came running to see what was going on, a spell ready should Demon be in danger but she stopped dead in her tracks when she reached her. That was... a blob fish¡­? Demon had panicked to the point of shaking uncontrollably with tears in her eyes cause she couldn¡¯t get the slippery blob fish off her leg. ¡°¡­¡± Amelie was frozen. Then she alienated moved over to Demon, kneeled down and swiftly pulled the blob fish off her leg, staring at the glibbery creature in her hand. ¡°¡­¡­¡± Was her apprentice truly ready to leave her house? She got scared that much by a harmless fish¡­ She had started having doubt about her decision but quickly cleared her mind. She had to let them go at some point. She then headed over to the bathtub to throw the fish back in and back to the chair, handing the towel to the trembling devil in front of her. ¡°Are you okay now?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Demon nodded while taking deep breaths to calm herself ¡°Then get dressed, Amelie¡¯ll be right outside.¡± She nodded again, not trusting her own voice yet. Then she gazed after the leaving Amelie and unsteadily got to her feet. ¡®That was so scary¡­ and embarrassing.¡¯ She sighed and dried herself with one of the towels and wrapped her hair up with a second one. Then she put on the clothes Amelie had given her. Right, she was about the same height as Amelie, so her clothes should fit her well. Along with simple underwear there was a short black creased skirt with two long straps. She decided to let the straps hang down loosely, otherwise the skirt would sit too high. Next there was a short sleeved black baggy sweater with two slits on the back for the wings to pass through and finally a black leather jacket. ¡®It¡¯s all black.¡¯ But Demon didn¡¯t mind the colors of what she wore as long as it was warm. Comfortably she snuggled into the clothes and put on the last pieces of clothing Amelie had given her. Black long stockings and a pair of leather boots. Then she quickly walked out of the bathroom. Normally she¡¯d have cleaned it right away but¡­ only thinking about that weird fish made her shiver. She left the bathroom and found Amelie sitting comfortably in her arm chair next to the fireside and feeding her crow. She motioned her to sit down across from her so Demon sat down in the second arm chair. ¡°Thank you very much for borrowing these to me.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t sweat it. By the way, you can keep those, Amelie burned your old ones since they were ragged <3¡± ¡°Huh¡­ w-what??¡± ¡°They suit you well~¡± ¡°B-but¡­¡± ¡°Is there a problem?¡± Amelie glanced at her mischievously. ¡°¡­¡± She really didn¡¯t want to accept these, they looked so expensive¡­ but Amelie wasn¡¯t planning on letting her reject. She admitted her loss and just kept silent. ¡°Good.¡± The other had felt her resignation and got to the point. ¡°Demon.¡± ¡°Y-yes?¡± ¡°You have managed it, haven¡¯t you? You can feel the magic around you.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Then show Amelie results from it. Cast some magic.¡± Amelie had a cheeky grin on her face. She knew well Demon didn¡¯t know any spells at all. In fact it was impressive how fast she had picked up the magical perception at all. As expected Demon was at a loss. She didn¡¯t know any spells of the kind and was just about to admit she couldn¡¯t when¡­ ¡®Wait¡­ what exactly happened back then¡­ did I repel the water? Was that a shield spell or...was that air?¡¯ she recalled how the water had been blown away, splashing into every direction. She made up her mind. ¡®I ll try doing that again.¡¯ She quickly opened her mind to the magic around her and concentrated on the tingling she remembered in one of her fingers. Then she intensified the feeling, wrapping magic tightly around it and looked around. She stood up and headed to the fireplace. She stretched out her hand and hesitatingly poked a red glowing ember. As her finger made contract a loud explosion could be heard and a strong breeze blew through the room, spreading ashes everywhere. The fire had completely disappeared. ¡°¡­¡± ¡®Ops.¡¯ Demon helplessly thought ¡°¡­¡± Perplexed, Amelie didn¡¯t say anything for a while and then started laughing ¡°Hahahahahahaha, Demon, you¡¯re too much.¡± Demon herself was surprised about what she had just done so she didn¡¯t know how to answer. Amelie got up and calmed the fidgety crow on her shoulder. The she quickly murmured a spell and something fell down onto Demon, her vision going black. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡®Did she blind me cause I messed up her house?¡¯ She unconsciously reached up when she felt something touching her head and found a piece of cloth hand landed on it, covering her face. Relieved Demon pulled off the cloth and looked at it questioningly. It was a red and black long robe with intricate golden patterns sewn on it. Confused she looked at Amelie in front of her. ¡°Congrats, cute apprentice. You have passed Amelie¡¯s basic training. That robe is proof of your membership of the magicians guild, take good care of it.¡± Her master said with a hint of sadness in her voice. Silently Demon¡¯s grip around the cloak tightened and she suddenly hugged Amelie tightly, surprising herself and the other devil. ¡°Thank you, master!¡± She was happy. Accepting her hug for a while Amelie finally said ¡°Put on that robe whenever you need to. It¡¯s proof of your identity as a Magician and if you lose it you won¡¯t be able to enter our guild anymore.¡± Demon let go of her and nodded. ¡°I understand. I will wear it proudly and will take care of it carefully.¡± ¡°Good answer.¡± Amelie smiled proudly and patted her on the head. Then her smile deepened and she said ¡°Now¡­ until your comrade has awakened his powers¡­ how about we play a bit?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°With magic.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Demon had a bad feeling about this. -------------------------- Hello guys, thank you for reading as always. And I also have to apologize. I''ve been very busy since november started and dont have much time to write right now. So my releases might be late and irregular, but please bear with me *bows* I also welcome any pointers regarding spelling etc. since I didnt have the chance to look over this chapter again yet. Thanks and see you next time! <3 Rewrite. Hello there, everyone. It''s been a while! It has been very busy around here, so unfortunately I havent had the time to write or post a lot. But they say ideas come even if or especially when you take some time off your work and review it again after a while. After careful consideration and re-readng of my own work I have therefore decided it would be better if I started over from the beginning again and change a few things. As it is now it would simply take too long to get to the main point of the story. I hope you''ll follow me in that new project as well and sorry for keeping you waiting for so long. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Considering the timeline the rewrite will take place after this so you could consider this to be somewhat of a background story of the new one. I will post a link for you guys as soon as I have the first chapter ready for you to enjoy and it''s been approved :P Best regards, Monoka~ Edit: Check out the prologue of the rewrite~ http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=16190