ã€ŠPath to Originã€‹ 1.0 ~ PROLOGUE â€“ A New World (Rewritten) Hello there, I''m Ren and I''m new to this world of fan fiction. I''m writing because I''m inspired by some Light Novels out there (I read most of batoto recommendation and decided to write one for myself) Advice and critic are needed. Font used = Verdana Size = medium I used to write in verdana font in MS Word. The size is scaled to medium since normal size seemed small, making it a bit hard to read. Enjoy

PROLOGUE ¨C A New World It was eight o¡¯clock in the morning. You can see a lot of people bustling through the town. At first glance, this scenery looks like a normal occurrence. If you take a closer look, some people actually wear weapons like they¡¯re going to war. *Haaa..... *Huuu.... (breathing in and out) ¡°So, this is it. The town of Cross.¡± As I look around, I find a fountain nearby. I run as fast as I can and look down onto the fountain. A blue haired boy with a pair of blue eyes, long pointed ear and a slim face is reflected on the fountain surface. ¡°...Yess... definitely an Elf.¡± *I put my fist up, and bring it down doing a proper gotcha pose As soon as I confirmed my outer appearance, I open my status screen.

Character Info
Name	Ren
Race	Half Elf
Class	Novice
Level	1	0%
Physical Strength	1	0%
Magical Power	1	0%
Physical Resistance	1	0%
Magic Resistance	1	0%
Endurance	1	0%
Speed	1	0%

¡°Wha...why... WHY !!¡± Frustration hit me like a big tidal wave washing over my smiling face and replace it with a depressing look. And thus, my first day started with a horrible mood.

This is ¡°Eden Online¡±. The first MMORPG that utilize the ¡°Full Dive Simulation System¡± as its base. The year is 23 ACR short for ¡°After Cyber Revolution¡±. ACR marks the beginning of full computing and simulation system 56 years after the end of World War 3 in 2411. After the world war ended, most country representative put a meeting to avoid another world war. The conclusion come about to computing and simulating every situation (simulating every action and reaction made) so they can avoid most of the war seeds. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. All military resources is minimized and most of the resources are spent toward advancing technology. ACR or After Cyber Revolution was marked when the first simulation system introduced to the public. At first, we can only move our hands and legs in the virtual space created by the simulation system. Then, it grows until now where we can operate our full body in the ¡°Full Dive Simulation System¡±. Entertainment grows along with the technology, creating multiple devices to help humans. And now we have what you called a VRMMORPG. Eden Online was first introduced as a breakthrough for game entertainment system that allow the players to play at 4x speed which means 1 hour in the real world is 4 hours in Eden. The advertising was done very well, they only aired about 10 times in TV, no banner or any other kind of ads, but its impact was huge. Information and gossips about Eden Online spread out like a wildfire. If you find a forum network or chat, you''ll find it to be the most accessed thread / hot topic.

One week earlier. A boy with a black short hair is sitting in front of his computer. In the computer screen, "Eden Online Official Website" is typed in bold letters at the top left corner. He slide the screen using his hand. It now shows a few videos with their title written on top of it. He picked "Gameplay Sneak Peek" from the page. The screen change to full screen view. A video shows the inside of Eden Online. A warrior like character appears in the middle of the screen with his status displayed on his right. His HP and MP bars can be seen on top left corner showing 100%/100% on both bars. The character moves to the open field. A goblin appeared and start hitting the warrior. The 100%/100% on the HP bar change every time the goblin hit.

78%/100%

66%/100%

The parameter on the right side rise bit by bit. The goblin stopped and the warrior starts hitting. A small number appeared every time the warrior hit.

''Hoo, so that''s how it goes. Every parameters are like level, they rise if you take certain action. This should be interesting!'' The fire in his heart was lit. His passion for gaming can be felt from the way he looked at the video. His eyes were glittering. Little did he know that virtual reality can induce every emotions from happiness, anger, even fear.

1.1 ~ CHAPTER 1 - First Encounter Editing''s done. This is kind of hard, copying things from MS Word to this forum format. Since I''m not used to it, maybe it takes a while to edit chapter 3 and up. Chapter positioning, inspired by Aloha Zachou sensei. Enjoy

CHAPTER 1 ¨C First Encounter ¡°Finally..., today marks the start of summer vacation. It should be here soon, my dream capsule. Nee-san, you already stocked up on food, right?¡± ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re going to do a gaming marathon, right? Don¡¯t bother me unless it¡¯s important, okay? I need to study for my make-up test." ¡°Oh well, each to their own. Right now, I¡¯m waiting for my capsule.¡± *Ding... Dong... ¡°It¡¯s here! Yes, yes, yes, come in.¡± It actually took 4 people to set the capsule. 50 minutes later, it¡¯s all set up and ready to go. It looks like a cockpit for a Gundam, it even got a suit. After paying the tips for 4 people. I go to my room and start the capsule immediately. I put on the synergy suit and positioned myself as comfortable as I can, then I turn on the capsule. A whirling sound was heard, and the screen get brighter.

Starting initial process Scanning... Please wait... Please wait... Account login Connecting with server No registered character

Do you want to register a character?
Yes	No

¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± (How do you actually press it? There¡¯s no button at all!) (Hey, I can move my body. It¡¯s white... what is this. My hand looks like Doraemon) ¡°Oh, I can actually speak here. Yes¡±

Choose your build
Humanoid	Beastlike

¡°Humanoid¡± Soon after, a mirror appeared in front of me. My whole body reflected on it without any color. It¡¯s white, but my hand no longer looked like Doraemon. Multiple panel appeared with a simple description on it.

Hair Colour	Skin Colour
Eyes Colour	Height
Ear Shape	Width

¡®Hmmm, so you can actually set your hip to be extremely small. Wait a minute, how come I don¡¯t get a race choice? Is it automatically set to human? No, it shouldn¡¯t, it did say Humanoid build. Hmm... If I tweak the ear, making it a little bit pointy and then make my face smaller while keeping my normal height. There¡¯s no way it¡¯ll be registered as a human.¡¯ ¡°Done.¡±

Once applied, you can¡¯t delete your character. Are you sure?
Yes	No

¡°Yes.¡±

After initial change applied, additional change will be applied automatically depending on your initial scan. It will be applied to create a uniqueness / singularity, so there¡¯ll be no identical character.

Please name your character.

A qwerty keyboard was shown in front of me. I put ¡°Ren¡± in the blank space above the keyboard. Soon after, a theme song was played and a gate appeared in front of me. A sound can be heard. ¡°Welcome to the world of Eden. Where you put the dream into reality.¡± The gate opened. On the other side of the gate appeared a lush green scenery. It was so amazing, that I stood still for I don¡¯t know how long, before eventually snapped back into reality by the end of the theme song. It was a tutorial scene, I don¡¯t have a full control over my character. I can only follow the instruction that appear one after another. Those were basic things, like how to move your character, opening inventory, starting a dialogue with NPC (wow, you can literally start a chat just by saying hi), sorting your items, equipment screen, basic combat, etc. After going through the painful time consuming tutorial scene, I arrived in front of another gate, but this time there¡¯re guard NPCs. ¡°Greetings young traveller, welcome to the Kingdom of Cross. The one who ruled over the northern region of Calandor Continent.¡± ¡°He..Hello.¡± They opened up the gate to let me in. The scenery changed to a bustling city, filled with people. The clock in the Centre Plaza shows 8 o¡¯clock.

Why did it became Half Elf, wasn¡¯t it usually Elf. My thoughts are in turmoil, because of the race selection system. If I knew this beforehand, I¡¯d pick a nekomimi instead. The face is cute for some reason. When they mention putting a uniqueness, I never thought they¡¯d put my childish look as a singularity. Well, Elf was supposed to look young. I guess it was okay. After tip-toeing around my character info, I open up my skill window. ¡®Oh, I didn¡¯t know we have a skill for starter.¡¯

Skill Name:	Keen Eye
Skill Rank:	Beginner	Skill Type:	Passive
Skill Level:	1	0%
A great adventurer must have a good observation. This skill allowed you to get a basic information from all things you found along your journey. It will help you through your very first adventure. *This skill will be deleted when you change class.

Wait a minute, if we need this skill to identify things. What come after we change class? While pondering about what to do, I notice an old person sitting near the fountain feeding the birds. He has 3 unopened bags sit near his legs. I guess it must be breadcrumbs. Let¡¯s try asking around, see if I can get any worthy information. The fountain is located near the clock tower, so this means I¡¯m in the centre of the town. I start walking to the east (right direction of the clock tower, since I don¡¯t have a compass yet) while greeting every person I met. On the top of each person head, there¡¯s a single bar with a name and title on it. All NPCs have it, while players only have their name shown. Let¡¯s take a look at the potion shop. Some NPCs are busy opening up their shop, while the potion shop¡¯s already done its preparation. *crreeeaaakk... (wooden door) ¡°Hello.¡± ¡°Good day traveller. What do you need?¡± ¡°May I take a look around first? I haven¡¯t decided to buy anything.¡± ¡°Sure, take your time. We have a lot of potions that you can browse on the shelf on your left.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± I start browsing the potion, there¡¯re only basic potion. Health, mana, antidote, and adrenaline. Now that picks my interest. I open up my inventory to see what kind of items I have.

10x Beginner Potion 4x Small Mana Potion 2x Antidote 100 Silver Coins

A single adrenaline potion cost 20 silver, that¡¯s quite expensive. After considering my current funds, I decided to buy 2 adrenaline potions. Unexpectedly the NPC give me some information. ¡°I¡¯ll take 2 adrenaline potion, please.¡± ¡°Thank you, that¡¯ll be 40 silver.¡± ¡°Here you go.¡± ¡°Thank you for your purchase. I haven¡¯t seen you around before, are you new here?¡± ¡°Ah... (I¡¯m quite surprised to see him starting a chat with me). Yes, I just arrived today.¡± ¡°Do you know, the garrison members are recruiting adventurer to help with the wild beast extermination.¡± ¡®A quest!¡¯ ¡°Really? Do you mind telling me where they gathered?¡± ¡°The garrison members usually spotted in the centre plaza, when you see a flag with a crossed sword and shield, you¡¯ll find them.¡± ¡°Thank you very much for the info. See you next time, Mr. Duncan.¡± He smiled at me while I exit his shop. I retrace my steps back to the centre plaza where the clock tower located. Soon enough, I spot a group with a flag behind them. It seems they commissioned the quest over there. There¡¯s no queued line, so I go to take the quest. ¡°Hello, sir. I heard that you are currently recruiting ?¡± ¡°Ah, hello young traveller. Indeed we are in need of manpower. Do you mind lending us a hand?¡± *Triiiingg...

Goblins Subjugation Sir Fred, the commander of garrison unit in Cross Kingdom, has trouble with the over population of wild monsters outside the town over the recent year. The town needs help to deal with the goblins band near the city skirt. *Defeat 2 Goblin Commander (0/2) *Defeat 20 Goblin Henchmen (0/20) *Rewards : 100 Silver Coin, +60 EXP

¡°Certainly, Sir.¡± After accepting the quest, I prepared my gears, well it¡¯s actually only a short sword. Confirming my potions, I travelled out of town, exiting the town through the south gate. I¡¯m looking forward to my first battle (not counting the tutorial). After walking around for a while, I spotted a caravan getting attacked near the forest to the west of the town. It seems the caravan is under attack from bandits. I rushed over there immediately. *A screeching sound can be heard, bbzzzttt A red warning appeared one after another in front of me, slightly over my sight.

You¡¯ve been ambushed!

Critical Hit!

You¡¯ve been staggered for 2 seconds.

¡°Wha...where did it come from!¡± I frantically look around to find the enemy, but I keep stumbling, it seems I can¡¯t keep my balance. Another arrow come flying again and my health drop down to less than 50%. I try to keep my composure, once the staggered effect¡¯s gone, I prepared myself for the incoming attack. Soon enough, another arrow come flying at me, but I dodge it. ¡®Found you¡¯ I rushed over only to find the enemies is waiting for me. ¡°Shiii..¡± 3 goblins jump out on me altogether and my life ended before I finished my sentences.

When I opened my eyes again, I¡¯m standing near a crystal. It was bigger than me. So, this is the resurrection point. A cave, lies within, a single crystal and me. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

You¡¯d died. Since you are still level 1, you¡¯ll not receive any penalties.

¡°Haaaa.....(sighing)¡± I¡¯d just experienced my first death. Who¡¯d known the monster had tactical performance. 1 archer and 3 close combater, that¡¯s formidable. Do I need additional party member to complete the quest? ¡®Let¡¯s see, 1 caravan under attack by approximately 4 goblins. Another goblin group containing 1 archer and 3 close combater worked as a scout. Can I win? A single arrow shot = 17 damage. Critical hit means 2x damage. That¡¯s kind of OP (over power). Do I need to raise my level first?¡¯ As I¡¯m trying to come up with a way to counter the goblin party, a bright light flashed and I was teleported back to the fountain. There¡¯re a lot of noise coming from the clock tower. I wonder what¡¯s going on. ¡°Level 2 need party for goblin subjugation.¡± ¡°Buying rabbit pelts for 2 silver each¡± "Level 3 looking for a party." So, there¡¯re people who already advanced through that caravan quest. Technically speaking, using 6 man party, you can complete that task with brute force. ¡®Is it really that simple? Just party up and go bang...bang...bang. There¡¯d be another way around it without partying up with other players. The goblin tactical level is higher than expected, they don¡¯t act like normal mobs. Strategically speaking, I need to take out the scout and rescue the caravan, for that I have to kill the archer before the other 3 become aware.¡¯ Once again, I travelled to the south gate. There¡¯re normal mobs called Wild Rabbit outside the gate, but they¡¯re not aggressive. I ignored the rabbits and start walking to the last place I died. This time, slowly and stealthily. I observe everything within my vision range. Since my spatial ability is high in the real world, I became used to making mental image of anything I focused on and keeping a Bird Eye view. I kept my focus and camped out near the ambushed place for a whole day, waiting for the goblins movement. The sound that the wind makes when it blow, or when it swayed the grass. Every single sound made was inputted in my mental map. Everything I do now is for the sake of revenge. The next morning, another caravan was seen in the distance. From the forest, you can hear movements made by a group of people. ¡®This is it, I shall have my revenge.¡¯ What come out from the forest was a whole squadron of goblins. They¡¯re as organized as an army walking through the field with confidence. The whole squadron was composed of :

1x Goblin Commander 1x Goblin Scout 4x Goblin Warrior 2x Goblin Henchmen

They split up partway, making two party. 1 is the scout party and the other is the ravage party. The scout party is heading my way. ¡®Good, I¡¯ll track that f**kin scout till the end of hell¡¯ Rage starts to swell inside me. The scout move away from the 3 other goblins, making his/her way to a tree near the forest entrance. ¡®So that¡¯s why he/she can shoot me freely¡¯ As soon as I confirmed the scout being stationary. I made my way around it, never losing track of the scout party movement. Luckily, the goblin scout often come down the tree to check on with the party. I don¡¯t want to climb the tree, as I want to be stealthily as possible. Once the caravan arrived halfway to the gate, the ravage party block the way. Meanwhile the scout party became vigilant to their surroundings. ¡®This is the moment¡¯ Just in time with the roar from the goblin commander, I jump out on the scout who made his/her way back from party report and slashed him/her like a madman.

] You¡¯ve ambushed the Goblin Scout

Critical Hit!

Goblin Scout is staggered for 2 seconds

¡®Now, to deal with the other 3.¡¯ I pick up a stone and throw it to attract their attention. Making noise here and there, putting the scout party into confusion. ¡®Now!¡¯ Just when the goblin separated from each others, I jump on one of them and kill him/her easily. One by one, the goblin dropped dead without being able to inflict significant damage to me. I took one beginner potion and continue to make my way to the ravage party.

They¡¯re halfway to finishing their robbery, when I made my entrance. The goblins were shocked for a while, and then regained their composure with a single roar from the commander. ¡®As expected, the title commander is not for show. But I am 2 steps ahead of you.¡¯ Again, putting my timing with the commander roar as its cue, I run towards the commander as fast as I can and pierced his mouth with my sword. The roar was interrupted and the other goblins stand still for a while, before coming at me. I¡¯m outnumbered 4 to 1, but that doesn¡¯t mean I didn¡¯t come prepared. The goblin commander raised his axe and pointed it at me, the rest of the goblins come rushing at me. ¡®Now, it¡¯s time to see if their formation is trained well.¡¯ Using the caravan as a blind point, I moved towards the back of the caravan. When one goblin showed up, I do a hit and run tactic. I keep moving in circular shape around the caravan, making the goblin frustrated. ¡®Since the scout is taken out, they no longer have any range attacker. Once the commander can¡¯t give out any order by voice, they¡¯ve no choice but to come after me, even if it means doing a merry go round around the caravan.¡¯ One by one, they dropped dead, leaving the commander by himself. ¡°COME!¡± I shouted as loud as I can be. The commander didn¡¯t give me any reaction to it, instead he start charging at me like a mad bull. I did a sidestep, and tried to hit him in the back, but he was too fast. After charging, he readied his stance and seemed like he wanted to Howl. Nothing come out, his voice was sealed. All it come down to is exchanging blows, since I still had 9 beginner potion, I thought I got the upper hand. I¡¯ve never been so wrong in my life, that I forget the charging skills he just showed me. Just when I was about to drink the potion, he comes charging at me.

You¡¯ve been stunned for 1.5 seconds.

¡®Damn, I completely forget about his skill. To think he¡¯d activate his skill in this timing. This is bad, I¡¯d less than 20% health while his is still at 60%.¡¯ Suddenly an idea come to my mind. I never see him changing direction while charging. I can use the caravan! I positioned myself against the caravan, and start provoking the goblin. I don¡¯t know how to provoke (I just yelled curses at him). But hey, it worked. He start charging on my way. Once I do a sidestep, he slam onto the caravan and lost his health instead.

Charge skill backfired The Goblin Commander has been stunned for 2.5 seconds

¡®Great! Now¡¯s my chance.¡¯ I slashed at it like a madman until its health dropped to zero. And then a pleasant sound was heard, it was the level up sound.

Level Up!

================================================ From inside of the caravan, two people come out and thanked me. ¡°Thank you very much, young man. You¡¯ve saved our lives.¡± ¡°Ah, it¡¯s okay. I¡¯m so sorry that I can¡¯t save the coachman.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s a risk we have to take when we decided to be a peddler. Don¡¯t you worry about it. Once again, Thank you very much.¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad to be of help.¡±

Hidden Quest Completed Save the Peddler *You¡¯ve completed ¡°Save the peddler¡± quest alone with initial equipment and skill *Rewards : 100 silver, +200 EXP *Bonus Rewards : Focus Parameter unlocked

¡®What? Focus parameter?¡¯ I bring up my status window.

Character Info
Name	Ren
Race	Half Elf
Class	Novice
Level	2	3%
Physical Strength	2	20%
Magical Power	1	0%
Physical Resistance	2	5%
Magic Resistance	1	0%
Endurance	2	40%
Speed	2	80%
Focus	1	0%

Well, might need to ask around for this parameter info. The status window doesn¡¯t have any description on it. I helped the two peddlers pack up and escort them to the town of Cross. In front of the South Gate, once again the NPC guard greet us. ¡°Greetings young traveller, welcome to the Kingdom of Cross.¡± ¡°Greetings, sir.¡± ¡°Are you by any chance the Herb Peddler?¡± ¡°Yes, although it¡¯s a little bit late, we have brought you the pre-ordered stuff.¡± ¡°Ah, thank you very much. Would you please go directly to the castle and ask for the alchemist? I¡¯m afraid I can¡¯t leave my post.¡± ¡°That¡¯s okay, sir. We¡¯re already been saved and escorted here by this young traveller. We can at least go to the castle by ourselves.¡± ¡°Go ahead, then.¡±

¡°Well, thanks again for your help, young man. We can¡¯t expressed enough gratitude for saving our lives.¡± ¡°I.. It¡¯s okay, don¡¯t mind it.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll part ways here, may the god blessing be upon you.¡± ¡°And you two.¡± With a smile on their faces, we part ways. Thinking back on it, I still have my uncompleted quest. Since I levelled up once, I need to think about what to do with the way I fight. When I first make this character, I already aim to be a battle mage. But after seeing the goblin charge skill, I¡¯ve started to have doubts. ¡®Can I really keep up with that kind of speed?¡¯

End of chapter 1 1.2 ~ CHAPTER 2 â€“ Fated Encounter Ren here, I''ve updated to chapter 2 Chapter 3 and 4 should be done within this week. Look forward to it. Enjoy

CHAPTER 2 ¨C Fated Encounter It¡¯s my third day being Ren. My first day was marked with my first death. My second day was marked with my revenge for my first death. And today, I started to find quest inside the city. This place is not that big since the northern road lead to Cross Castle which takes up most of the spaces in the town. I already explored the road from east to west. Starting from the potion store, there¡¯re weapon and protection stores to the east. Then you find the south gate. To the west road, you¡¯ll find a fortune teller near the entrance and blacksmith at the end of the road. Near the centre plaza, you can see a tavern with an inn on its second floor and a church. The amount of NPCs I¡¯d encountered totalled to 23. It¡¯s too small for a town with a castle. So far, I haven¡¯t gone inside the castle yet. I¡¯d accumulated 3 quests at this time. Quest Info

Goblins Subjugation Sir Fred, the commander of garrison unit in Cross Kingdom, has trouble with the over population of wild monsters outside the town over the recent year. The town needs help to deal with the goblins band near the city skirt. *Defeat 2 Goblin Commander (1/2) *Defeat 20 Goblin Henchmen (2/20) *Rewards : 100 Silver Coin, +60 EXP

Supply and Demand Sir Kory, the owner of protective store requested materials for making leather armour. *Collect 10 Animal Leather (0/10) *Rewards : 30 Silver Coin, Leather Armour

Finding the Perfect Job Find the mentors spread around the Town of Cross. *Talk to the Sword Master Alan (Cleared) *Talk to the Bow Master Kyle (Cleared) *Talk to the Head Priest John (Cleared) *Talk to the Fortune Teller Cecilia *Rewards : +40 EXP

Skill Info

Skill Name:	Keen Eye
Skill Rank:	Intermediate	Skill Type:	Passive
Skill Level:	4	88%
A great adventurer must have a good observation. This skill allowed you to get a basic information from all things you found along your journey. It will help you through your very first adventure. *This skill will be deleted when you change class.

I didn¡¯t know when or why, but this skill levelled outrageously. Somehow it already reached Intermediate.

Skills Levelling Information Beginner > Intermediate > Advance > Expert > Master

Right now, I¡¯m waiting in the fountain for people who gathered to take on the Goblin Subjugating quest. As expected, when a person started to shout, another will follow. I take that as a cue and try to find a party. (I¡¯m avoiding those with dangerous faces) After a while, I¡¯ve finally joined a party. We agreed to gather in the south gate with 10 minutes preparation time. I¡¯ve done my preparations, so I go ahead and wait for them to come. While I was waiting, a shady character greets me in a most unexpected way. ¡°Yo, senpai.¡± I raised my head to see who is it. ¡® It¡¯s a pervert! This guy¡¯s definitely a pervert.¡¯ A man with a huge body appeared in front of me. He¡¯s wearing a pointy glasses. His face was calm and collected in contrast with his huge body. The most important thing is his outfit. He¡¯s wearing his underwear in the front. ¡°Wh...Who are you?¡± "It''s me, Yuu. I''m in your party too, you know." "Bu...but, you look so different from before." "What do you mean different? I just unequip my armor. It shouldn''t be that different, right?" "Haha... haha... ha... I thought it was only your armor that is big. I never imagined your body as big as ... this" "What do you mean BIG?" Anger flashed in his eyes. I guess he was a little bit sensitive with his body build. ''Oh this is bad, I need some distraction.'' "I... I mean, you look like a dependable comrade. What''s up with the senpai thing. You look older than I am." "O...o...OLD! I am still in my twenties!" ''He''s also sensitive about his age!'' *Although it''s 29*(he speaks in a small voice that''s almost impossible to hear) "What did you just say?" "No, I didn''t say anything. Senpai is senpai because you played earlier than me. I just started today." "Well, it''s just 2 days difference. You can just call me Ren." "Then please call me Yuu. I AM NOT OLD!" I can''t imagine his calm and collected face as his true face anymore. This guy''s as emotional as oneechan in her period. A while later, another person come up. This time it''s a girl. Blonde hair tied up in a ponytail, small build wearing leather armor. Her eyes were gold, she had a bow attached to her back. ''Oh, nekomimi da. Nekomimi appeared!'' "Hi, Ren. Did everybody else arrived?" "Hey there, cutie pie." Yuu called out to her. "Wh...who are you? Help, there''s a pervert over here!" Oh dang, I was busy avoiding trouble with Yuu, that I forget about his clothes. "Yuu, put on some clothes already. That appearance is intimidating." "Yuu? Th...this pervert is Yuu?" "Yo, shorty." "Don''t call me shorty!" She kicked Yuu in the guts. I''d better not get on her bad side. While Yuu put on his armor, the rest of party members come. "Hooo, looks like everybody''s here. Then let''s do some intro. I am Tatsu, axe wielding warrior." Said the guy with a very ordinary appearance. If his axe is not equipped, maybe I''ll mistake him for NPC. "Yes, yes, I''m next. I''m Lilith, archer. My favourite food is strawberry cake." The ponytail bishoujo is cheerful. ''She''s cute. With small body and that cat ears, her cuteness is overflowing.'' "Moe... Ah...ahem. I am Lily, priest." The one who just said moe was a nun. I mean she''s dressed like a nun, even holding a book in her left hand. She''s also wearing glasses. Not much can be said since the robe covers most of her body. ''Look''s like I''m next.'' Just when I was about to introduce myself, Yuu interupted. "Hey shorty, since you''re cute, want to go out with me?" Again, the shorty was harassed. "Read the atmosphere, you idiot!" Another kick find its way to Yuu guts. "Don''t mind him, Ren''s next, right. Go ahead." (Tatsu) "My name is Ren, and I''m still a novice." *Hu...hu...hu... This one is cute too. Lucky me. (Lily) "By the way, the one who got kicked earlier is Yuu. He''s a little bit of a pervert, but he doesn''t mean anything bad. So, please bear with it. "Tatsu, is Yuu an acquitance?. "Yeah, he''s my twin brother." "Heeee!? But you two look different." "It''s because of the singularity appliance, we can''t look the same. More importantly, what level are you, Ren?" I was about to comment on the body build appearance, but Tatsu just dismissed it as singularity appliance and he keeps glaring at me. ''Let it go then,'' "I''m still at lv 2." "You started 2 days ago and still at level 2?! Senpai, even I who just started today already reached lv 3." Said Yuu while flexing his bone Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit."Well, it''s not a problem. Let''s go do some goblin hunting." (Tatsu) "Oooooouuuu!" And so we head out to the forest in the west. Our formation is simple, Tatsu and Yuu in the front as tanker, me and Lily in the middle as support, Lilith as main damage dealer in the back. We proceed cautiously, in case one of the party members got ambushed. The party leader, Tatsu seem to be a good leader. He takes command when needed and proceed carefully. It seems he had a lot of experience leading a group of people. 30 minutes later, we had defeated 30 goblin henchmens, but still no sign of the goblin commander. We decided to take a rest in the clearing with Yuu on lookout duty. "Still no sign of the goblin commander. I''ve been doing this for 2 days and I haven''t manage to catch a single one. Is it in a different area?" Said Lilith while wiping her bow. "Is there no other clue? The place was marked in the map, but we''ve only encountered henchmens. Did any of you encountered a goblin commander before?" (Tatsu) "I killed one before, near the forest entrance." Suddenly they''re all staring at me. ''Wha... Did I say something wrong?'' Seeing me act all flustered, Lily''s breathe became ragged. Somehow, it''s frightening. Tatsu smile become wider when he noticed this, like some kind of wicked villain. ''Urgh, I got a bad feeling about this'' "Did you know? Goblin commander is level 6. You''re just level 2 then. Do you expect me to believe that?" I opened up my quest info, and showed them.

Goblins Subjugation Sir Fred, the commander of garrison unit in Cross Kingdom, has trouble with the over population of wild monsters outside the town over the recent year. The town needs help to deal with the goblins band near the city skirt. *Defeat 2 Goblin Commander (1/2) *Defeat 20 Goblin Henchmen (20/20) *Rewards : 100 Silver Coin, +60 EXP

"I killed it when I was still lv 1. Didn''t you guys go through the same quest?" "What quest?" "Save the Peddler." "I didn''t get that quest. From whom did you get it?¡± ¡° Is it inside the town?" ¡°Does it require specific item?¡± "Wo...woah... Slow down, guys. I didn''t get it from NPC, it''s triggered when you complete it." "What do you mean, it''s triggered?" So, I told them about my first death and then my revenge. They''re so absorbed in the story, they didn''t notice Yuu''s calling for help. "I''ll be right there, Yuu! Don''t get yourself killed." With 1 shout, everybody''s snapped back into reality. They immediately go into position. ''Heh, they react fast, but easily distracted.'' A group of koblods appeared near the clearing. The whole squadron was composed of :

2x Kobold Guard 4x Kobold Militia 1x Kobold Mage

While Yuu''s distracting them, Tatsu was taking position and issuing spread formation. It seems a mage has appeared in the enemy ranks. He asked Lilith to take out the Kobold Mage immediately. I haven''t met a mage class enemy before, so I didn''t realize how dangerous a mage can be. "Lilith, take out the mage! Yuu, maintain aggro at least 2 of them. Lily, focus on healing. Ren, focus on one enemy at a time. Spread out! But don''t get too far from each other!" When Lilith shoots about 10 arrows at the mage, the guards assumed defensive position in front of the mage tanking all the range attack. ''So another tactical enemies appeared. This should be interesting.''

[Fortress Stance] Assuming defensive position, unable to attack. Increase defense greatly. Disallow enemies to move past your guard in 1 meter radius.

"I can''t hit the mage! The guards are in the way." "Shit! Yuu, Ren, Lilith, focus on the one aggroed by Yuu. I''ll try to distract the mage." Just when I joined Yuu to attack the militia, the kobold mage had finished casting a spell. Firestorm erupted from where Yuu and I stand, damaging both of us. My HP was down to 20% in a single hit, while Yuu still has 40%. I tried to make some distance against the militia, so I can drink a potion. Yuu''s holding down his position while Lilith keep pouring arrows on the militia. Seeing me drinking a potion, Lily focused on healing Yuu. Meanwhile Tatsu''s fighting off the other 2 militia. The kobold guards didn''t move from their position, they''re being cautious. The mage prepared to cast another spell. ''We won''t last long. If the mage''s casting the same spell, we have roughly 7s before the next firestorm.'' "Tatsu and Lilith, let''s do a pincer attack on the guards. There''s only 2 of them, we can create a gap. Yuu, please aggro all the militia for a while. Lily, keep on healing Yuu." ''Here we go.'' Once Yuu got to aggro all the militia, Tatsu leaped to one of the guards and starting a staring contest.I ran ahead of Tatsu and stay in a straight line formation, while keeping my attention at the guards. Once the guards positioned their backs against each other, Tatsu and I start engaging the guards. As expected, they activated the skill, while keeping the kobold mage positioned between the guards. <> Once Lilith got a clear view, she starts pouring arrows on kobold mage. We keep the guards busy while Lilith killed the mage. The so-called three pronged attack. When the mage was killed, the guards discontinued their skills and start attacking us. "I can''t hold out any longer, Tatsu!" I shouted as my HP dropped below 10%. Tatsu''s still engaging one of the guards, while Lilith helped Yuu take out the militia. Lily already ran out of mana, so she can''t cast any healing spell. ''God damn it, what am I doing here tanking an enemy. I''m a mage wannabe for god sake.'' I might be able to take one more hit before losing all of my health. What am I supposed to do? I don''t have any combat skill. Just when I''m about to die, Lily shielded me with her body. That''s when I saw a glimpse of her face. ''It''s an elf! I found another elf.'' "What are you doing standing around! Go back and drink some pot already!" Uwah, she''s yelling at me. I back away and drink 2 beginner potion. Then I resume my duty tanking the guard together with Lily by taking turns. It''s kind of cute seeing her swinging that book around like some kind of stick. When Tatsu finished off one of the guards, he come here and help us defeat the other guard. Yuu and Lilith finished the last enemy at the same time we defeat the last guard. "Haaaaa, I''m beat. Leader-san, My arrows stock''s depleted. Compensate me!" "Ahaha, supply your own arrows, I''m not your parents. Yuu doesn''t seem to be moving. Did he get done in by the enemies?" "Nah, he''s still alive. He just doesn''t have enough energy to move." "Hey, I reached lv 5. Now I can change class." Just as I said that, everyone turn their face toward me. ''What? What now..?'' "Ah, I completely forgot that you''re still novice." (Tatsu) "That''s true, for a moment there, I thought you''re like Yuu, a meatshield." (Lilith) "Hey now, that''s not a nice thing to say! I''m a protector, one who guards the safety of his comrades." (Yuu) "Bullshit, you M. You always flirts whenever you got a chance. You love cute girls even if all they did are punching and kicking. My poor brother had turned into a machosist. " Every person in this party turned their faces towards Yuu while putting a dead eye look. "Hmph, I don''t need your pity. Someday, I''ll find a girlfriend who understands me. Mark my words." ''This guy, did he just admits that he is an M!?'' After a good laugh, we all agreed to go back to town and resupply. We agreed to meet back at the fountain plaza in 1 hour. The encounter with kobold squad was dangerous. We need to be preapared for another encounter like that. Yuu and I also need to do a class change quest.

End of chapter 2 1.3 ~ CHAPTER 3 â€“ Awakening Part 1 I split this one into 2 parts, since it seems long. Enjoy

CHAPTER 3 ¨C Awakening 1st Part I walk towards fortune teller place. As usual, there''s a line for it. I also go into queue line. 10 minutes later, my turn arrived. The place seems small and dark. There''s only enough lighting to light the table. Behind the table, a silhouette can be seen. An old woman with a crooked back and a stick in her left hand. "Welcome, young traveler. What brought you here?" ''She speaks so fast'' "My name is Ren, and I come seeking direction from a wise one." "I see, then please go inside." Even with polite speech, the NPC still react the same. About 10 steps from the table, there''s a door. Granny puts her hand on the door and start chanting something. The door opens with a flash. Granny gestured me to go in. The inside of the room is so dark, you can''t even see your own hand. A moment later, the door is closed, then a voice come out. "Welcome to the gate of trial." A gate as big as the castle gate appeared suddenly in front of me. It radiates a bright golden light. After the voice goes silent, the gate opened. A blinding light flashed and my surrounding scenery changed. I seem to be teleported to a training ground. In front of me, a lot of weapons were laid out. A big guy is walking toward me. He''s wearing a steel plate and carrying a spear. "I am Gordon, I''ll be your instructor for today." He reached out his hand. ''Handshake?'' When I reached out my hand, he grabbed it and he threw me! What a despicable bastard. "Always be vigilant. You never knew when the enemy will strike." "Yes sir!" "Pick your weapon, young one. Pick anything you like and come at me." ''He''s taunting me! Stay calm... Calm... '' Clear mirror, still water (meikyo shisui). The proverb pop out of my mind. If I want to be a mage, the best way to do this is picking staff or rod. But I want speed. Normal mage usually has slow movement, because they''re dependent on their magics. ''The more I think about it, the more unnecessary things pop out. Screw this, I''ll just copy what he used.'' Gordon is wielding a spear, and I too choose a spear. I focused all my attention watching his every movement. Every time he moved, I copied it. "Boy, don''t you underestimate me!" He sprinted and do a lunge, of course I won''t do the same. I tried to parry using my spear, but the moment his spear was deflected, he turned his body and did a spinning slash. ''Wooaahh... he''s using momentum! This bastard is skilled.'' One, two, three hits combo unleashed before he stopped. From spinning slash, he slashed one more times and ended it with a thrust. I was thrown about 2 or 3 meters across the field. "Stand up, boy! Come at me." This time, he took a defensive posture. ''Let''s see how you deal with your own skill.'' I take a deep breath. I sprinted and lunged at him. He thrust his spear in my direction, trying to force me to release my grip. Using my left foot as a centre, I do a pivot turn and do a cross slash and ended it with a stab to his chest. Then I release my breath. "Hooo, you''re quite skilled. Your base is so-so, but you executed that one perfectly." He''s smiling. He put his spear down and draw a sword from the weapon stack. He throws one near my feet and pull another one for himself. "Let''s try the sword. Pick it up." I was going to pick up the sword, but I remember his words. Always be vigilant. I pick up the sword, never losing eye contact with him. This time, he smiled and waited until I get into position before starting. A single leap is all he need to cover the distance between us. He slashed vertically downward and I block it. I dropped on one knee. His strength is overwhelming. It seems I can''t push his sword away, so I roll on the ground to the side. "If you face an enemy with greater strength, use his power against him." I do the same thing by leaping toward him and slash my sword vertically downward. He positioned his sword diagonally and block my attack with the tip of his sword. The moment our sword came into contact, his sword quickly do a 360 spin with the boost of hit. It hit me right in the grip and I lost my sword. ''Oh a counter can be done like this!'' After that, the training continues with every type of weapon. At the end of the training, Gordon speaks. "It''s rare to see someone with much passion as you are. How about becoming my disciple?"

Do you want to change class to Vanguard?
Yes	No

''Meatshield! There''s no way I''d pick this.'' "No. I don''t like to fight in the frontline." "I see, hmmm. Well, I don''t mind either you become this or that. Here''s your letter of recommendation. Bring it to the Garrison head." "Thank you." "Wait, before you go, pick one as a present." As he said that, a list of skills appeared in front of me. It''s the skills that I performed while training.

[Cross Slash+] Perform a three hits combo. 3% extra damage on 3rd strike.

[Spin Counter] Perform a spinning movement to counter enemy attack.

[Twin Fang] Shoot two arrows at the same time.

[Shield Bash] Perform a hit with equipped shield. (15% chance to stun enemy)

[Flash Thrust] Perform a dashing stab. (5% damage increase depending on your speed status)

[Swordmanship (Junior)] Allow you to link sword skill with normal attack. Damage penalty 50%

[Mimic] Use an active skill copied from your opponent with 20% reduced effect.

[Copycat (1 slot)] Copy your opponent skill and use it as your own. Unlock requirement : [Keen Eye] proficiency : 100%

''Swordmanship sounds great, but this copycat skill. What makes it different to mimic?'' There is "1 slot" written next to it. It''s hidden skill, so it should be useful. If this 1 slot means I can saved a copy skill, my future is limitless. I select the copycat button and press it. The skill registered.

Skill Name:	Copycat
Skill Rank:	Beginner	Skill Type:	Unique
Skill Level:	1	0%
Expect the unexpected. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.Copy your opponent skill and use it as your own. Empty Slot

After checking the skill, a bright light flashed. I was teleported back to the fountain. Then I checked my quest info.

I head toward the garrison camp. Sir Fred is sitting near the flag. ¡°Excuse me, sir.¡± ¡°What is it, young traveller?¡± ¡°I was asked to bring this letter to you.¡± I pulled out the letter from my inventory and gave it to him. He opened it nonchalantly and read it in about 3 seconds. ¡°So, are you here to change your class?¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± ¡°Here¡¯s your affinity report.¡± A window appeared in front of me.

Class Affinity Report
Name :	Ren	Race :	Half Elf

Assessment	Affinity
Close Combat	70%
Range Combat	60%
Offense	80%
Defense	40%
Support	95%
Physical	65%
Magic	99%
Weapon	Sword Spear Bow Orb
Extra Report	Keen Eye Proficiency : 100%
Class Recommendation	Ranger Magician Priest
Instructor Note	This guy makes excellent Scout!

¡®As expected, Ranger is the recommended class.¡¯ Just because I had a good vision, doesn¡¯t mean I wish to be a scout. I already decided to become a magician. ¡°I want to become a magician, Sir.¡± ¡°Hmmm, it¡¯s your choice. Don¡¯t regret it, young one. If you want to become a magician, go see Magister Ellen on room 203 at the inn.¡± ¡°Thank you, Sir.¡± I was about to walk away, when Sir Fred called me. ¡°Wait, give this letter along with the report to her. It will benefit you.¡± ¡°Yes sir.¡± I make my way towards the inn on the second floor of the tavern. It¡¯s noon, but the tavern is filled with townspeople drinking some liquid that looks like a beer. I ignored them and proceed toward room 203 and start knocking on the door. *Tok...tok...tok... ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Wait a minute.¡± A rustling sound can be heard from the inside. Is she cleaning her room? Is she expecting someone? A nerd lab where everything is a mess. The more I think about it, the wilder my imagination goes. A while later, the door opened. A redhead appeared, long hair and bright green eyes. Her body is slim but taller than me. Then my sight fall on two big mounts in her chest area. It¡¯s big. ¡°Yes, what can I help you with?¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± I¡¯m not expecting a big breasted beautiful redhead to be my mentor. I was starring at the twin mounts looking dumbfounded. ¡®No, no, no, no, I¡¯m not Yuu.¡¯ I¡¯m shaking my head to get that image out of my focus and look at her in the eye. ¡°Greeting, Ms. Ellen. My name is Ren and I¡¯d like to change my class.¡± ¡°A person with proper ethic. Very good. Come on in.¡± Now that I got a good look, she looks very sexy wearing a bright red dress with a deep cut. ¡®I found a perfect f*p material!¡¯ ¡°Show me your report.¡± I give her my class affinity report, along with a letter from Sir Fred. ¡°Oh, a letter of recommendation. It¡¯s quite rare to see Fred recommend someone. Let¡¯s see.¡± She took a while to read my report and the letter. And I¡¯m just sitting here immersed in my imagination thinking about tonight. *(If You Know What I Mean) ¡°Okay, let me just take my crystal ball... hmm where is it. I know I put it somewhere in here.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Oh, here it is. Now, put your hand on the crystal ball.¡± As soon as I put my hand on the crystal ball, it glows bright blue and then red. The colours stay for a while before dispersing into light particle. Suddenly a window appeared in front of me.

Choose your desired class

Sorcerer A magician adept in element manipulation. [Blessed with a high proficiency in offense magic. Some of the spells have a long casting time, but powerful effect. *You can only master one element and not allowed to learn conflicting element spells.

Elementalist A magician adept in mana manipulation. Blessed with a high proficiency in mana control. Capable of learning non-element spells, but can¡¯t learn 5th tier spells and up. *Can learn 4th tier elemental spells.

Shaman A magician adept in providing support. Blessed with a high proficiency in status buff. Most of the spells have a wide area effect, but not powerful. *Lack the means of offensive spells, but can stack his buff up to 3x.

Battle Mage A magician adept in close combat. Blessed with a wide range of spells. Most of the spells have short range, but quick casting time. *No wide area spell.

All classes are allowed to learn up to 2nd tier element spells, with the exception of Elementalist.

I pick Elementalist for 1 reason, Mana Control. With the ability of copycat, I¡¯d be able to learn Sorcerer spells. In the future, I¡¯ll be able to overpower the other mage class.

End of Chapter 3 1.4 ~ CHAPTER 4 â€“ Awakening Part 2 Hi hi, I''m back again. Quick update since I already finished this chapter before I make the thread. First arc will be finished at chapter 5. Enjoy

CHAPTER 4 ¨C Awakening Part 2 Character Info

Character Info
Name	Ren
Race	Half Elf
Class	Elementalist
Level	5	3%
Physical Strength	5	5%
Magical Power	2	10%
Physical Resistance	4	5%
Magic Resistance	2	0%
Endurance	4	5%
Speed	5	25%
Focus	3	37%

Skill Info

Skill Name:	Mana Manipulation
Skill Rank:	Beginner	Skill Type:	Passive / Skill Tree
Skill Level:	1	0%
Mana manipulation. Allowed you to control your mana output. Skill List : Minimum Power (Reduce Mana Cost)

Skill Name:	Fire Mastery
Skill Rank:	Beginner	Skill Type:	Passive / Skill Tree
Skill Level:	1	0%
Fire element mastery. Allowed you to harness fire element power with your mana. Skill List : Fireball (Single Target Offensive Spell)

Skill Name:	Ice Mastery
Skill Rank:	Beginner	Skill Type:	Passive / Skill Tree
Skill Level:	1	0%
Ice element mastery. Allowed you to harness ice element power with your mana. Skill List : Ice Shard (Single Target Offensive Spell)

Skill Name:	Wind Mastery
Skill Rank:	Beginner	Skill Type:	Passive / Skill Tree
Skill Level:	1	0%
Wind element mastery. Allowed you to harness wind element power with your mana. Skill List : Air Resistance Down (Single Target Assist Spell)

Skill Name:	Earth Mastery
Skill Rank:	Beginner	Skill Type:	Passive / Skill Tree
Skill Level:	1	0%
Earth element mastery. Allowed you to harness earth element power with your mana. Skill List : Clay Shield (Single Target Defensive Spell)

I learned all 4 element mastery (unlike sorcerer who can only learn two, I can learn all 4). After saying goodbye and checking my class, I go to the potion shop and bought several potion. I also need to change my equipment, so I drop by the weapon shop. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. When I get the copycat skills, I want to learn [Cross Slash+], but then I remember about Lily. Healing spell is the first on my priority list, so I decided to buy an orb.

Glass Orb P.Atk : 1 M.Atk : 5 Durability : 20/20 An orb made of glass, commonly used by an apprentice magician.

After preparation was done, I go to the fountain to meet up with the other party member. As usual, this place is filled with people advertising their items or party gathering. I walk towards the old man who keeps feeding bread crumbs to the birds near the fountain. "Hello, sir. Do you like birds?" "..." "Umm... Sir?" "..." He didn''t respond. I wonder if there''s some sort of trigger for it? At that time, Tatsu appeared with Lily. "Yo, Ren. How did it go?" "How did what go?" "Your class change. How did it go?" "Oh, about that. I changed to elementalist. So I''m pretty much became a mage." "Elementalist! Didn''t you know? Elementalist doesn''t have high tier spells! " "I know! Even so, I still became one." "Well, I''m not going to probe any further. Yuu and Lilith haven''t arrived yet?" Lily is a silent person, she doesn''t talk at all during Tatsu interrogation. When she shielded me before, I notice she had a pointy ear. Should I ask her? "Lily." "..." "Oiiii, Lily!" "Huh, what? Did you call me?" "What are you looking at?" She doesn''t even turn her head! This ~~guy~~ girl, she''s drooling over the sight of people queuing in front of garrison camp. I turn my gaze to follow what she''s seeing. When I take a closer look, there''re a lot of beastlike character with cat and wolf ear. "Gu he he he... She''s cute, that guy''s cute too. Ah, that one with a curled tail is also adorable. He... He he he..." She has lost it, her sanity. This is what happen when you put an animal lover inside this reality. She''s trembling with excitement, just like an addict with drugs. I turn my head towards Tatsu and he just shrugs his head. So, even for Tatsu, Lily is a hopeless case. 5 minutes later Yuu and Lilith arrived. It seems they''re arguing about something. "Like I said, your personality is rotten! To hit on every female you met is stupid." "What is so wrong about calling a cute girl cute. It is human nature to praise a beautiful things." "Human nature my ass. What kind of person speaks so bluntly in public that he loves pantyhouse!" "I''m just being honest. Isn''t honesty a good thing." "What kind of good thing comes from telling a stranger that you like her choice of underwear!?" "Oh, senpai. Did you wait long?" Yuu starts running, but Lilith caught him by the neck. "Don''t you dare! I''m not done yet!" *cough... cough... ''That looks painful.'' Yuu keeps running over here, dragging Lilith who is holding onto his neck. It looks like a cat desperately hanging on a running bear. A combination of a giant and a shorty. "Yo senpai." "Is she okay?" "It''s fine, she''s as wild as a boar or in this case a cat. She''ll regain her energy in a little while." "Yuu, how is it?" "It went okay. I became a guardian without any trouble whatsoever." "Had you change your equipment?" "Yeah, just changed my sword when I ran into shorty." "Don''t call me shorty! " She wakes up from the dizziness, but still somewhat shaky. She can''t stand straight. Lily helps her up while keep muttering something. She''s spooky. After confirming our preparation, we start heading to the south gate. On the way, we met a few other players chit-chatting in the middle of the road. ¡°F*ck that goblin commander! To think we¡¯re ambushed by a bunch of goblins.¡± ¡°I never thought I would stumble on a goblin nest just like that.¡± ¡°Tsk... Let¡¯s go get some more members to hunt that fr**kin goblins.¡± ¡°Yeah, although I¡¯m almost dead, I got the dungeon marked in my map. It¡¯s near the forest clearing.¡± Ohhh, my ears perked up when I heard the word goblin nest. To think they¡¯re discussing this kind of thing in the middle of the road. Didn¡¯t they know that goblin commander is a rare monster? I was about to asked Tatsu about that, but he¡¯s smiling wickedly when he heard them. I guess we got the same idea. ¡°Hu hu hu, those idiots. Spreading information for free. C¡¯mon guys, let¡¯s go get those goblins before those people come back with more players.¡± ¡°Is that okay? I mean, we¡¯re basically stealing their prey.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, they retreated to town. It¡¯s their own fault for being such a blabber mouth.¡± With that, we head towards the forest clearing, where we got ambushed by a bunch of kobolds. This time, there¡¯re no kobolds in the vicinity. We split up to search for the dungeon entrance (goblin nest). After a while, Lilith found a bunch of goblins gathering and followed them. She found the nest! We regrouped and start marching with Lilith leading the way. A cave soon come to vision. It¡¯s almost flat, because it leads to underground. Because of that, it¡¯s hard to find unless you crawl on the ground.

End of Chapter 4 1.5 ~ CHAPTER 5 - Unexpected Battle I''m back As promised, here''s chapter 5 Already at the end of 1st arc. I''ll upload the epilogue in a bit. Enjoy

CHAPTER 5 ¨C Unexpected Battle Inside the cave, it''s not dark even though it''s underground. A lot of torches illuminate the cave. "Okay, as planned. We start mapping from the left and go clockwise. Ren, you''re on lookout duty. Lilith will scout ahead and the rest will stick together." We start searching for enemies. We proceed slowly since we didn''t know what kind of monsters inhabit this place. It''s goblin nest, but it doesn''t mean only low level goblins are here. A few minutes later, we encountered a group of goblins who were patrolling the cave. There''re 6 goblins warrior, 1 goblin scout, and 1 goblin commander. The don''t realize we''re inside the cave. We start the ambush with Lilith art and my spell. A combo of twin fang and ice shard manage to kill the scout and 1 of the warrior. When the other goblins started moving, Tatsu block their escape path, while Yuu block their path to us. With no way around it, they¡¯ve no other choice but to engage us. Because Yuu is bigger, the goblins choose to attack Tatsu instead. ¡®You idiots! Why pick the villain path!?¡¯ Tatsu¡¯s wearing a wicked smile... again. This guy is really scary, I wonder how he¡¯ll look like if he¡¯s mad. With Tatsu and Yuu to keep aggro on the goblins, Lilith and I can freely unleash a lot of damage without care. The goblin party wiped out in a matter of seconds. This kind of battle happened 10 more times with the same enemies over and over again. During this battle, my level has risen to 9 and I learned some new spells. Seeing the amount of goblins killed, this was a good place for grinding. Skill Info

Skill Name:	Mana Manipulation
Skill Rank:	Beginner	Skill Type:	Passive / Skill Tree
Skill Level:	7	22%
Mana manipulation. Allowed you to control your mana output. Skill List : Minimum Power (Reduce Mana Cost) Piercing Spell (Toggle Support Magic, Reduce Damage for 10% Chance of Hitting Multiple Targets)

Skill Name:	Fire Mastery
Skill Rank:	Beginner	Skill Type:	Passive / Skill Tree
Skill Level:	5	77%
Fire element mastery. Allowed you to harness fire element power with your mana. Skill List : Fireball (Single Target Offensive Spell) Firewall (Area Target Defensive Spell)

Skill Name:	Ice Mastery
Skill Rank:	Beginner	Skill Type:	Passive / Skill Tree
Skill Level:	5	80%
Ice element mastery. Allowed you to harness ice element power with your mana. Skill List : Ice Shard (Single Target Offensive Spell) Ice Javelin (Single Target Offensive Spell, 10% Chance to Freeze Target)

Skill Name:	Wind Mastery
Skill Rank:	Beginner	Skill Type:	Passive / Skill Tree
Skill Level:	3	13%
Wind element mastery. Allowed you to harness wind element power with your mana. Skill List : Air Resistance Down (Single Target Assist Spell) Air Bullet (Single Target Offensive Spell)

Skill Name:	Earth Mastery
Skill Rank:	Beginner	Skill Type:	Passive / Skill Tree
Skill Level:	4	44%
Earth element mastery. Allowed you to harness earth element power with your mana. Skill List : Clay Shield (Single Target Defensive Spell) Rock Bullet (Single Target Offensive Spell)

The addition of spells is welcomed. It doesn''t really give much impact, but useful nonetheless. Especially <>, it can block the enemies escape path, so instead of Tatsu, we use my spell to block. We keep our pace until we arrived at a certain place. It was a little bit darker than other places we found so far. Inside the dimly lit room, bronze type equipment can be seen scattered around the floor. Is this a treasure room? But there¡¯re no guards, not a single goblin can be seen around the room. Lilith comes back reporting that there¡¯s no goblin at our trail. When we got close enough to pick the bronze equipment, a growling sound can be heard. *Sniff... sniff... ¡°Grrrrr....¡± ¡®A guard dog!¡¯ A silhouette that looks like a dog appeared on the wall. It¡¯s so big.

You¡¯ve been stricken with Terror. Movement speed reduced by 30%. Damage will be reduced by 30% if the target is Hellhound.

My heartbeat rises considerably because of the surprise. My body becomes stiff. My breathing became ragged. I never thought moving could be so hard, it feels like I¡¯m drowned in a river, my movement''s slowing.

Your party has entered a Boss Area This area is now closed. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.No other players or monster can enter this area within 20 minutes. Rare item drop chance has been raised to 100% since your party is the first to engage.

The boss slowly comes out of its sleeping place. The growl becomes louder and louder, then it becomes silent when it sees us. The boss looks like a hellhound with a spiked collar. It was big, its height is probably around 3 to 4 meters. Fire was lit in its eyes and mouth. There¡¯s some kind of horns on top of its head and the fur¡¯s sticking out like a spike on its back. It¡¯s truly the image of terror. Then suddenly it roars and starts attacking us.

Terror Howl Send out a loud roar, sending fear into your opponent.

¡°Holy shit!¡±

You¡¯ve been stricken with Fear. Every skill will have 20% chance to fail. Defence reduced by 20%

Tatsu immediately takes the role of tanker, since Yuu¡¯s slow to respond. *scratch... A single strike from its claw takes about 25% of Tatsu HP bar. Its damage output is high! Fortunately, I already copied heal spell from Lily, so we got 2 active healer in this party. <> < > Lily starts buffing, and I keep healing Tatsu. Yuu¡¯s now in position and ready to tank, while Lilith keep pouring arrow on the boss. We¡¯re good, our healing output is on par with the boss damage. We got the upper hand since Lily¡¯s keeping up her dps. I tried to use <>, but it heals the boss instead of damages it. I tried all my element spells, and Ice deals the most damage. We have Tatsu and Yuu switching role of tanker whenever one of them drop below 50% HP. I also go into offensive role by throwing <> whenever I can. When the boss HP drops to 70%, it starts to use a skill. It takes a deep breath in and breath out fire.

Fire Breath Deal fire damage in a cone shape in front of you.

The skill takes out 50% of our HP bar regardless of defence (Tatsu and I lose 50% HP bar all the same even though Tatsu def is higher). It¡¯s %HP attack! Since we¡¯re all on full HP, it didn¡¯t make much impact. I start counting in my mind, I need to measure the cooldown time of fire breath. I also take the role of full support, since we have no info on the <>, I need to keep everybody HP above 60%. I saw the fear status debuff is still lingering, but nobody in this party ever failed when casting skill or spell. That¡¯s weird, my defence status is definitely lowered, but I never failed at casting spells, neither do any of them. ¡®Is it bugged? 20% is not low at all, it should occur at least once.¡¯ We keep our pace, while Yuu and Tatsu are taking turns for the tank role. After 180 seconds (my mind counting), it starts taking a breath in and use the fire breath skill. ¡°<> incoming! 180s cooldown!¡± No, no, that¡¯s not me. It¡¯s Lily who shouted the 180s cooldown. I¡¯m lucky to be in this party, they¡¯re fulfilling their role perfectly. Even the support knew what she needs to do. Now that we know the cooldown for <>, I go into offensive role once again. We keep our pace until the boss HP drop to 30%. It starts growling and shaking its head. The spike in its back stands up and the boss starts charging at Lily. It takes us by surprise, but Yuu reacts to it by using fortress stance. They are truly awesome party members. I almost cried. When Tatsu HP bar drops to 30%, he shouted. ¡°Ren, give me a jump boost! I¡¯m going on a rampage!¡± I cast <> on Tatsu. Tatsu leaps onto its back and unleash his skill. <>

Berserker Rage : Carnage 2nd Tier skill of berserker rage skill tree. For each HP lost, inflict the same amount as bonus damage. Ignore debuff for a short duration.

The lower his HP, the higher the damage output. A fearsome skill has been shown. Since the boss can¡¯t keep up with our damage output, soon enough it drops dead.

Level Up!

I reached level 10. The boss drops some equipment.

Orb of Flame P.Atk : 5 M.Atk : 25 Durability : 22/25 Special Effect : +10% damage to fire spells This orb was forged in hell¡¯s fire by an unknown blacksmith.

Bone Gauntlet P.Def : 10 M.Def : 8 Durability : 14/30 A gauntlet made of monster bones. Its durability is top notch.

Phoenix Crest A crest belonging to Gary Maxwell. It¡¯s forged in the Callandor continent. This crest is a symbol of Passion. One of Maxwell¡¯s Chronicle Treasures.

Awesome! The drops are amazing. We decided to split the drops according to class restriction. Lilith and Lily started to pout, because they don¡¯t get shares. It¡¯s decided that I got the orb, while Yuu got the gauntlet and Tatsu take the crest. ¡°Finally it ends. I keep running around and shooting arrows, but the boss didn¡¯t even acknowledge me! Argh, it makes me mad!¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t it a good thing. It means Yuu is taking his role properly as a meatshield.¡± (Tatsu) ¡°Arrrgh, even so, to be ignored by the boss, it¡¯s a humiliation!¡± ¡°Hahaha, don¡¯t you worry shorty. I got you protected.¡± Yuu shows his gentleman smile doing a thumbs up pose. Veins appeared on Lilith¡¯s head and her face becomes red. *Whaack... she kicks Yuu in the face. ¡°Say, do you guys want to register in my friend list? I like you guys too much, that I want to recruit you in my guild if I create one.¡± (Tatsu) ¡°Sure, me too.¡± (Ren) ¡°Yes, yes, I also want to register as a friend with Tatsu and Ren and Lily too, but not Yuu!¡± *she sticks her tongue out ¡°Heh he he, me too please. Especially Lilith and Ren. I¡¯d love to be friends with you two.¡± (Lily) *her breathing became ragged... This girl spooks me out, she acts like a creep. I know she¡¯s a girl, but she behaves like a pervert, even more than Yuu. We start registering each other, when Yuu starts speaking. ¡°Oii, what about me? Are you going to ignore me? Seriously?¡± *he starts sobbing... We all laugh together, and then suddenly a party of six appeared at the room entrance. ¡°Wha... What the f*ck! I thought we¡¯re the first one to find this dungeon.¡± Said the man with a beard on his face.

End of Chapter 5 1.6 ~ EPILOGUE I''m back And here''s the end of 1st arc. I actually want to put a little bit more info dump on that boss battle, but I''m afraid it''ll take away the suspense. So, bear with it. If my writing skill level up, I''ll add more depth in future chapters. Enjoy

Epilogue "Who... no. How did you find this place?" Said the man with a crooked smile, holding a scimitar. ''Ah, he''s the one who is almost dead finding this dungeon.'' "We found it by accident. My friend here, the one with the cat ears is the one who found it." (Tatsu) ''Well, that''s not wrong.'' "Screw you! Seeing you act so relaxed, means you already killed the boss, didn''t you?" "Grrraaahh, let''s just kill them all!" As he said that, we take our position with Yuu and Tatsu in front, I''m in the middle and Lily in the back. If you''re trying to find Lilith, she''s on the wall near the room entrance. This girls''s quick on her feet, just like a cat. The enemy party consist of : 1 Archer, 3 Warrior, 1 Priest, 1 Magician. This is just a general layout considering their weapon choice since I don''t know their class. If they''re killed so easily by goblins ambush, why did they think they stand a chance against us. Lilith starts hopping from wall to wall while shooting arrows, targeting the weak priest and mage. I block their escape path with <>. Yuu and Tatus already engage the 3 warriors. Lily can''t be seen from enemy point of view since I''m standing between them. They''re still not targeting Lily. ''What a bunch of fools. You resort to PK and you didn''t target the healer? IDIOTS!'' With 2 active healer in our party, the enemy can''t really do much damage. Especially when Lilith already taken out their priest and mage so easily. The PvP ended in just a matter of minutes. They don''t really stand a chance, they formation is broken, their teamwork is a mess, they don''t even have a proper plan. "Haaa.... (sighing) I''m tired, shall we end this?" (Tatsu) <> Once the skill activates, the enemies drop dead one by one until there''s only 1 person left. "So, what should we do with him?" (Yuu) Lily suddenly comes out and starts punching and kicking the poor warrior, while Yuu''s holding him. "You f**ker, you dare to attack these cute existence! They should be worshiped, they are the embodiment of MOE!" ''Ah, it''s hopeless. Once she goes like that, there''s no stopping it.'' We all watched the poor bastard tortured since the punch and kick do no damage. I guess Tatsu took pity on him and ended his life. That ended our adventure for today.

At R/R Tech laboratory. A man wearing a white lab coat can be seen talking to his colleagues near the big display screen. The screen shows a character info and some kind of status bar can be seen besides it. "These measurements are amazing." "That''s right! I was surprised the first time I saw his character info." "Did he rea... really attained a 100% proficiency in his skill?" "Yeah, this Ethan guy actually performed 10 hits combo in his trial." "10 hits! Did he defeat the instructor?" "Nah, he achieved brain burst when he performed that combo. After that, it goes lower for a while and then return to normal. Result doesn''t matter much." "The process he takes is more important. Isn''t that right, doctor?" Another man in a black suit walk towards the doctor and said that. He looks handsome enough to pass as a model. His shoulders are wide, yet he didn''t look bulky. "Well well, if it isn''t young master. What brought you to this boring place." You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. "You don''t have to be so modest, doc. We all know you guys are the core members of Eve Project. So, did you find something interesting?" "If you put it that way, then yes. We found a dozen people who achieved brain burst. The results? Not so great as it didn''t have enough influence to the game system." The doctor gestured his assistant to leave him and young master alone. The assistant make a bow and leave. "Brain burst, hmm. Then surely the first objective is completed?" "About that, it''s only been a week, so it''s hard to tell. I guess we still don''t have enough material or information to move to the next phase." "I see." Young master look at the screen and see Ethan character info. "Show me all the candidates character info." "Shion! Put them on the big screen." The screen changed. It now shows all the candidates info. Among the 12 people whose info was shown on the screen, the name Ren and Ethan were marked with a star. "What about those two?" "Ah, they were the only people capable of maintaining brain burst above 5 seconds." "Is that so?" He keeps staring at the screen for unknown reasons. "Did you find something interesting?" "This Ethan guy, isn''t he the one with the highest level currently?" "That''s right, in contrast, Ren is currently the lowest among all candidates." "Interesting! Doc, keep me up to date with those 2 progress." "Roger that." Young master leaves the lab with a grin plastered on his face.

1st Report

Brain Burst A condition achieved when the brain processing information faster than expected. This is rarely occurred since using even 30% of your brain can put your body under a lot of stress and a possibility of health deterioration. The brain accelerates faster than the mind. Answers come before thinking. Most people call this instinct, while it''s actually the brain perceives a lot of information and provides the answer before the mind can keep up with reasoning. It is unknown either high concentration or clear mind are needed to trigger brain burst.

Marked Subject

Subject Name : Ethan

First Brain Burst occurred at Trial Gate. Reason : The subject already perceived the "Free Action Rule" applied at the beginning of Trial Gate. Result : The subject unleashed a 10 hits combo at the instructor. Second Brain Burst occurred on his first PvP Reason : The subject stole a boss monster kill from a party. The party resort to PK. Result : Entire party obliterated without being able to hit the subject (100% evasion rate).

Subject Name : Ren

First Brain Burst occurred at the Hidden Quest - Save the Peddler. Reason : The subject was killed by a Goblin Scout and go for revenge. Result : Finely tuned hearing perception and a wide range of vision. Second Brain Burst occurred at the Trial Gate. Reason : High brain activity? Reasons unknown. Result : Perfect Skill Copy.

End of Volume 1 Authors Note Ren''s here I will put some general information that you might miss out. ================================================================ Warning : Possible Spoilers Game System Outlay

HP and MP bars are indicated by percentage, there''s no number and the only way to find out your HP number is getting hit and counting the damage.
All status are level based, they have experience bar and rise according to action taken.
Status level can''t be higher than Character level. The only way around this is to change to specific class.
The percentage shown on skill window is proficiency and not experience. (This will be made known on 2nd arc)

Character Intro

Ren (Main Character) Simple intro : A young boy without ambition and a hobby of gaming. Avatar : Blue haired "Half Elf" with a child face and blue eys. Personality : This guy thinks too much about many things even the trivial ones. When push comes to shove, he reacted calm just like an A type Blood.

Lilith Simple Intro : A young and short girl with wild attitude. She''s quick on her feet. Avatar : blonde haired, tied up in a ponytail "Nekomata" with golden eyes. Personality : She acts like a child from time to time. Her emotions were shown very clearly in her actions. Probably incapable of hiding her emotion.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Tatsu Simple Intro : A person you should not mess with. Dangerous is written all over his face when he smiled. He look like a normal NPC if he just stand still. Avatar : Black haired, slender build "Human" with very ordinary face. Personality : A strong leader. High confidence and rational mind. Evil was shown and it''s deep rooted.

Yuu Simple Intro : An easy going person and an open pervert. Avatar : Short brown hair, big body build "Human" Personality : He''s a lonely person, seeking attention by going pervert all over the place. Also a machosist.

Lily Simple Intro : A nun with a pervert ambition. She loves to stroke Lilith''s hair and ear. Avatar : Silver long hair hidden inside the robe, slim body build "Elf" Personality : A true pervert who worships MOE culture and cute things. A bit temperamental if you disturb her hobby.

================================================================== And that marks the end of 1st arc... or not. I still have 1 more chapter (Side Story of Ethan). Stay tuned. SIDE STORY - Ethan the White Flash I''m back with the cookies... Or not... Here''s a chapter dedicated to all penguins. Follow Ethan''s exploits in his journey. Enjoy ============================================================== SIDE STORY - Ethan the White Flash All new players were gathered in one place and that is Cross Kingdom. There''re no exception. Every newbie was put through Tutorial Scene before arriving at Cross Kingdom. It was the 2nd day in Eden Online. A young boy with a white hair was seen running through the center plaza. He has average height and a slim body. If a stranger sees the way he moved, they''ll think he was new to this VR environment. His movement was stiff like a mechanical doll. His body keeps moving in an absurd manner. ''Argh, this is harder than I thought.'' He''s trying to make his body move the way he wants, but it seems there''re certain restriction applied in this VR environment. And then he gave up. It seems he can''t make his body bend the way it''s not supposed to be (such as bending your leg / arm without regard to the joint). He check his equipment and character info.

Character Info
Name	Ethan
Race	Half Devil
Class	Novice
Level	1	0%
Physical Strength	1	0%
Magical Power	1	0%
Physical Resistance	1	0%
Magic Resistance	1	0%
Endurance	1	0%
Speed	1	0%

Short Sword P.Atk : 12 M.Atk : 0 Durability : 10/10 A sword made to be handled by every age.

"Hmmm. Short sword. Not good enough." He said that while trying to slash his sword near the fountain. As if he got bored, he started to walk toward the south gate. Outside the gate, there''re quite a lot of newbies hunting wild rabbits. He stood still for a while, and then he hit one rabbit.

The rabbit starts to retaliate by jumping and kicking him, but he avoids most of its attacks. He keeps doing sidestep without attacking the rabbit. ''I need to test the movement limit.'' The gap becomes closer, as he tried to evade with a paper-thin difference. After 20 minutes passed, he finally started to swing his sword at the rabbit, but he didn''t killed the rabbit. Every slash was aimed with a paper-thin difference. It seems he tried to measure his accuracy. *Author''s Note : he''s actually reading the rabbit reaction to his attack, looking for a blank spot. Another 20 minutes passed, he finally killed the rabbit. As he looks around, he find something similar to wooden carriage in a distant. When he takes a closer look, the carriage is under attack by goblins. He moves slowly toward the carriage. Suddenly he stopped in his track and started to observe his surrounding. ''The atmosphere is different, my skin feels the air vibrates.'' Soon enough, he found something shiny in a distant tree. ''A mirror? No, more like iron. Archer!'' He steps back and duck. ''I''m not the target?'' No arrow''s coming to his direction. It seems, he''s out of the archer range. He crawled on the ground, trying to reach the archer. On the way, he found 3 other goblins hiding in the bush. ''Hmmm, ambush party and an archer. Pretty good for low intelligence monster.'' He crawled past the hiding goblins and make his way toward the tree. When he reached the base of the tree, he hides behind the roots. 10 seconds later, the archer comes down, but got ambushed by the white haired boy.

You¡¯ve ambushed the Goblin Scout

Critical Hit!

Goblin Scout is staggered for 2 seconds

''It''s a scout, so the other 3 will be vanguard. Its health is not that high, I should be able to kill the other 3 easily.'' He assumed the goblin scout movement and ambushed the 3 goblins who are hiding in the bush.

You¡¯ve ambushed the Goblin Party

Critical Hit!

Goblin Party is thrown into confusion for 2 seconds

He killed the other three easily and proceed toward the carriage. He saw 1 Goblin Commander, 2 Goblins Warrior, and 1 Goblin Henchmen. He waited until two goblins go inside the carriage and make his move. He targeted the easiest prey between the two who are standing guard outside the carriage. His movement''s fast and he keeps aiming at his enemy blank spot. To his opponent, it looks like a person suddenly appear to his left/right. The commander''s standing still incapable to react against the boy''s movement. In a matter of seconds, the goblin warrior drop dead. The boy then moves toward the commander. The commander seems confused because the boy keeps appearing from his blank spot. When the commander HP bar drops to 60%, he starts to charge at the boy, but keeps missing every time. The boy moves like a professional assassin. He keeps striking at vital spot, but the system message didn''t show any damage differences. Just when the two goblins come out of the carriage, the commander drop dead. The boy immediately makes himself hidden beside the carriage. When the goblins approached the commander''s body, the boy appeared behind them and start attacking. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Being taken by surprise, the goblins were thrown into confusion. Watching the way he fights was like watching somebody dancing with the monsters. His movement''s smooth as if he can read his opponent mind. Soon enough the two goblins followed their commander footstep and drop dead.

Level Up!

''Now that''s more like it.'' The boy leaves without checking the carriage. He''s walking toward the forest. He keeps hunting the monsters inside the forest without rest. When he reached level 5, his exp bar stuck at 99%. ''Is there some kind of quest to progress past level 5?'' With that in mind, the boy starts walking back to the south gate. Once he reached the town, he noticed the quest info updated.

Finding the Perfect Job Find the mentors spread around the Town of Cross. *Talk to the Sword Master Alan *Talk to the Bow Master Kyle *Talk to the Head Priest John *Talk to the Fortune Teller Cecilia *Rewards : +40 EXP

''So I need to change class to advance past level 5.'' The boy starts to follow the quest direction and talk with the NPCs. =============================================================== At the Gate of Trial. When the boy''s teleported, he feels the air vibrate against his skin. ''Another change in the atmosphere. What now?'' The boy''s getting cautious, but no sign of danger. A person with a small build appeared near the weapon stack. He wears a chainmail. On his back, a sword bigger than his body can be seen. "My name is Orga, and I''ll be your instructor." "..." The boy''s eyes followed Orga''s movement. He''s like a wild animal observing his prey. "What an inconsiderate person. You should at least show a little bit respect." Saying that, Orga dashed toward the boy. The boy leaped back and prepared his sword. ''Something''s different, my body''s moving they way I want it to.'' "Oh ho, you have a good reflex. I praise you for that." Orga smiled and took a defensive posture. "Let''s see what you got, boy!" The boy ignored the instructor and kept moving his body in an absurd manner. ''Ohhh, I can do this. This place doesn''t seem to have movement restriction." Taking a deep breath, the boy leaped toward the instructor. He starts slashing when he saw a gap in his opponent defense. "Kuuh, are you really an amateur?" "..." "Shit, to be pushed by nobody. I won''t allow this!" The instructor prepared his stance. ''An opening!'' The boy rushed toward the instructor and kept hitting rapidly. The instructor was forced to take defensive posture. Every time the instructor show movement, he slashed it in check. ''This should be enough.'' The boy abruptly ended his combo and leaped back. The instructor doesn''t seem to be moving, but he''s clearly conscious. The instructor mouth opened wide, but no words come out.

Focus Parameter Unlocked!

Please Choose One Skill as a Present

[Ultimate Combo] Perform a ten hits combo. (5% damage increase depending on your speed status)

[Shadow Step] Perform a back-step without any stance.

[Heightened Sense] Increase your touch, smell, sight, and hearing sensitivity.

[Swordsmanship] Allow you to link sword skill with normal attack.

[Accelerate] Increase your speed output by using mana. Unlock requirement : [Keen Eye] proficiency : 100%

The boy picked accelerate from the list and the skill registered.

Skill Name:	Accelerate
Skill Rank:	Beginner	Skill Type:	Toggle Support Magic
Skill Level:	1	0%
Improves your speed output by using your mana. *Consume 2% mana per second.

================================================================= 4th day in Eden. The white haired boy can no longer be seen inside the town, although there are rumors about white ghost appearing in the forest. No one really knows that it was Ethan. "Kyaaaaaaaa......... " "Wha... What is it?" "A.. a ghost... there''s a white ghost over there!" "Ghost? There''re only goblins and kobolds inside the forest.Is it a boss monster? Guys, check it out." "You''re gonna follow it?!" "Of course, this is a game world. There''s no ghost here, there''s only mob to hunt." The party consist of 2 warriors, 1 archer and 1 priest. They''re trying to track the white ghost movement. The priest seemed reluctant, but the other members kept moving. She had no choice but to follow. A few meters near the beach.

Your party has entered a Boss Area This area is now closed. No other players or monster can enter this area within 20 minutes. Rare item drop chance has been raised to 100% since your party is the first to engage.

"Jackpot! Be careful guys!" A horse with fire coating its whole body appeared. A light is shining in what supposed to be eye socket. Every time the horse breaths, fire comes out. The one with the loudest mouth seems to be their leader, he takes the role of a tanker. Looking at his HP bar, he''s high leveled, since the boss attack didn''t do much damage. "Ha, this is easy!" With 1 tanker, 1 focused healer and 2 damage dealers, the boss HP was cut bit by bit. When it reached 20%, it started to dash leaving behind a fire trail on the ground. ''Fool!'' <> The boss skill was locked with <>. When the boss HP drops to 5%, a white flash appeared behind the boss. It started to hit the boss while moving here and there. "What the?!" The boss died and the items dropped soon disappeared. "Who... Who is it!" ''I thought no other players can go inside the boss are if we''re currently engaging.'' "I was here the entire time. You guys are the rude one! To think you tried to steal my prey." "Bu... but the system message!" "There''s nothing wrong with the system, I entered the area at the same time you entered." "Grrraaahh, give us the items dropped by the boss or else...!" "Or what? You wanna try?" "So be it! We''ll just take it by force! Go get him, guys!" <> The white haired boy moves like he teleports around the area. The party members tried to hit him, but they always missed him. Whenever the party members tried to make a stance or use a skill, the white flash suddenly appeared next to them and canceled their skill with a two hits combo. The priest looks at the battlefield with a horror look on her face. She tried to heal her teammates, but whenever she picked a target, the white flash appeared next to her target. Her party members were being killed one by one without being able to track the ghost movement. Soon enough, her turn come and black color filled her vision. ========================================================================

Editing''s done, not much difference though. I realize this side-story is lacking depth, but I''ll try to be better on future chapters. 2.0 ~ PROLOGUE - Crisis in Eden Online I''m back online Here''s the 2nd arc Enjoy

VOLUME 2 PROLOGUE - Crisis in Eden Online It''s been a week since I started playing Eden Online. I hunted together with Lily, while the others go on their own business. Lilith was last seen yesterday, she said she will be offline for a while. Tatsu and Yuu kept on playing, they''re currently travelling to the second town. Lily approached me who is sitting in the fountain. "Ren." "Hmm?" "I have some business in RL, so I''ll be off for a while." "Ah, okay. I''m also going offline, I need to check my house." "When will you be online?" "Let''s see, I just need to check on my sister and nothing else. So, I''ll probably back by 30 minutes or so." "30 minutes eh, I think I won''t be back by that time. I guess, we part ways here." "Well, I''ll stick around in this town for a while. If you''re back, send me a message." "Of course!" She put on such a sad face. My heart aches just seeing her. When we''re done with the goodbye, a system notice appeared.

A week to update. That''s fast, did they encounter some kind of bugs? I guess I''ll just hunt until the server shutdown.

At R/R Office Building Top Floor Inside a room, there''s an oval table big enough to fit 20 persons. There''re 6 men dressed in a black suit, 1 man in a white lab coat, 1 woman in a white lab coat, 6 women dressed in a red suit, and 1 man wearing hawaii t-shirt. "Is everybody here?" Said the person with the hawaii t-shirt. "Mr. Edgar hasn''t arrived yet." "Ignore him, he''s still on the lab working on the updates." "Let''s begin the meeting then." A hologram screen was shown in the middle of the table. On each person table, a transparent graphic with complicated interface was laid out. When each person confirmed their own TG and nod their heads, the person in Hawaii t-shirt starts operating his TG. "1st problem, there''re a lot of martial artist inside Eden Online. The movement restriction we put worked against their favor." "Isn''t that a given? We can''t have them using their technique inside Eden. It won''t be fair!" (Male Scientist) "No, no. What are you saying? They moved like a pro, dodging weapon with a paper-thin difference. How is it stated that it worked against them?" (Woman 1) "Exactly how many people can do that kind of evasion technique?" (Boss) "According to our reports so far, there''s only 1 person with high evasion rate. It''s a character named Ethan." (Female Scientist) She starts operating her TG. Ethan info are shown in the midde screen. "Only 1." (Boss) ''Hmmm. If it''s only 1 person, it won''t matter much.'' "What about the others?" (Boss) "According to our reports, we have a few shaolin monk and their movement was dulled. They''re capable of dodging, but only a little bit above average." (Man 2) "I also found a few swordsman. Their movement''s above average, they can''t use their technique, but make it up with their solid basic foundation." (Man 3) "Here''s the evasion statistic when you compared an experienced martial artist with normal players and Ethan." (Female 2) She operates her TG and a diagram appeared in the middle screen. "The highest evasion rate belong to Ethan with 100%. Average martial artist on 23%. The experienced one on 35%. Normal players on 12%." (Female 2) "That settles it. We won''t change the movement restriction. Can''t have them using kame-hame-ha inside Eden, can we?" (Boss) "Yeah. If I can use my "Soaring Dragon" combo inside Eden, hell, even boss won''t be able to touch me." (Female 3) "Ha! You wish." (Female 2) "Stop! We have more important matters to discuss. Stop the useless chatter. Let''s move on to 2nd problem, combat style." (Boss) "Here''s a video showing Ethan battle with other players." (Female scientist) A video was shown in the middle screen. Ethan''s moving throughout the field with a speed so fast, that most of the people in the room rub their eyes. "I can''t see him clearly, slow it down please." (Boss) The female scientist operates her TG. The video was now shown with half speed. "Here. This part. See the point of his sword. He attack only by scratching his enemies." (Man 4) "He barely goes into the inside. It''s like watching an outside boxer. He attack with minimum risk and steadily keep his distance." (Man 3) "He''s truly exploiting our system flaw." (Female 4) "In accordance to this video, Mr. Edgar is working with Full Body Mapping to be applied after maintenance." (Male Scientist) If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. "Problem no 2 solved." (Female Scientist) "3rd problem. PK complaints." (Boss) "We''re not expecting PK to occur this fast. They''re still low leveled players, but they''re already have the nerve of high leveled players." (Female 5) "Should we punished them severely?" (Male 5) "PK is natural. It''ll happen sooner or later. But in this case, lv 3 trying to pick a fight with lv 7? What a joke. There''re too much arrogant players." (Man 3) "We have a few options. One, marking the PKer with a red name and high chance of equip drop. Two, teleport them to jail for a period of time." (Female Scientist) "That''s just the same with every classic online RPG. Don''t you have anything more original?" (Boss) "How about adding karma points?" (Male 5) "Explain." (Boss) "Every PKer will obtain karma points for each player he killed. The higher the karma, the lower his status goes." (Male 5) "What about unavoidable PK? Not every PKer is bad. There''s also a scenario in which a player is forced to do PK." (Female 5) "No matter what, killing other players is considered a bad thing. How do you justify a PK?" (Male 5) "Example, your friend is in trouble, because other players tried to PK him. You know he''s innocent and you try to help him, but other party didn''t want to hear explanation. The only choices are kill or be killed." (Female 5) "I see." (Male 5) "Let''s combine the karma point with red name system." (Boss) "How?" (Male 2) "Let''s set the karma as debuff, so it''ll disappear after a while. Put the PKer on red name, so he''ll drop his equip if he die." (Boss) "What effect does the karma have?" (Male scientist) "Any suggestion? Don''t lower status. A permanent status loss is outside the question." (Boss) "Lowering their status is fine, right? Since it''s debuff, the status will go back to normal after a while." (Male 2) "It''s not severe enough." (Male 5) "Freeze their status!" (Female 6) "What do you mean freeze? Elaborate." (Boss) "Freeze their exp gain for a while, not with a time duration. But with a certain amount of monster kill." (Female 6) "In that case, the red name will have a negative impact on the innocent." (Female 5) "Rather than red name, how about bounty?" (Female 3) "Whose pocket will pay for the rewards?" (Male 1) "Your pocket!" (Female 1) The entire room laughs at that remark. "Of course the rewards will be from the PKer. If not, some people might abuse this to gain money." (Female Scientist) "NPCs will not after the bounty. A player only bounty system. Hmm, that''s pretty good." (Boss) "Then, we''ll settle with this for now. Let''s continue." (Female Scientist) "4th problem, percentage system." (Boss) "Here''s a video of a boss battle." (Male Scientist) He operates his TG. A video was shown in the middle screen. "This is Hellhond, a dungeon boss. All the players were inflicted with fear debuff. 20% chance of failing their skill/spell." (Male Scientist) The video keeps playing until the boss is defeated. "As you can see, the fear have no effect." (Male Scientist) "Is it a bug?" (Male 2) "No, we confirmed it with other players. Some people failed, while some others don''t." (Female Scientist) "So, they''re lucky?" (Female 2) "It seems people with high concentration is capable to override our debuff system." (Female Scientist) "Hooo, so a debuff on avatar physic is 100% chance, while a debuff on avatar mental is not 100%." (Boss) "That''s right. People with high concentration have higher mental resistance to confusion and such." (Male Scientist) "How do we go about this?" (Boss) "Do we need to rework our debuff system?" (Female 1) "No, if we raise the mental burden, it might impact their health." (Male 4) "Erase the percentage system?" (Male 3) "And replaced it with what?" (Female 2) "I don''t know. Maybe charged numbers?" (Male 3) "Oh, that''s a good one." (Boss) "What? Charged numbers?" (Female 2) "Yeah yeah, we erase the percentage system that is involved with mental debuff and replaced it with a charged numbers." (Boss) "Explain charged numbers please." (Female 4) "Example, 20% chance of failing action will be replaced with 5th action will failed. In this case, we can force the player action to fail using the game system, rather than through the player''s mental." (Male 3) "We also need to adjust our items attributes. Quite a lot weapons have debuff chance." (Female Scientist) "Great! Let''s inform the other crew." (Boss) "4th problem, checked." (Female Scientist) "This is the last one. I want us to move to second phase within 1 month." (Boss) "But, we need to apply these updates. After this, who knows what kind of bug will appear?" (Male Scientist) "We already have a dozen candidates, you only need a few others information. We have the core already." (Boss) "True, but..." (Female Scientist) "No more buts. Use all of your resources, if you have to. We need results. Dismissed!"

Beginning of 2nd arc 2.1 ~ CHAPTER 1 - Character Reassessment Editing''s done. Enjoy

Volume 2 Chapter 1 - Character Reassessment Today is Monday, but school is closed. I''m currently sitting in the living room watching some TV show. My sister''s shutting herself inside her room, so I''m all alone. Why am I not playing? You''ll see. The current media is broadcasting its interview with one of the developer of Eden Online. "Good afternoon, dear audiences and viewers. Today, we have a guest from the recently popular online game Eden Online. He was involved in its development. Let''s welcome him, Mr. Robert Travesty." The camera follows the movement of a person who is coming from the audience seat. He wear a black suit and a bright red tie. His hair is short and combed neatly to the back. After a handshake, the MC starts the conversation. "Greetings, Mr. Robert." "Hello." "Before we start the interview, do you mind telling us a bit about yourself?" "Absolutely not. My name is Robert Travesty as introduced before, and I''m the current project head working inside R/R Tech lab." "What kind of projects are you leading?" "I and my team are currently trying to improve the AI of Eden Online." "Is that so? Our sources told us that Eden Online was under maintenance since 2 hours ago." "That''s right, we already broadcast a system notice about 1 hour before maintenance." "Do you mind telling us what the maintenance is for?" "The current Eden Online is being upgraded to version 1.2. I brought here with me, the v1.2 changelog." "Ohhh, do you mind telling us about it?" "That was the reason for this interview. I''ll tell you what change will occur when the server goes online." The screen shows "Full Body Mapping" on the top. The camera turned to the left. It shows an open space room with floor mats. On the left, there''s a control panel displaying some graphic image from Eden Online. Robert goes to the left edge of floor mat, while a scientist operates the control panel. A while later, a simulated humanoid body appeared in the middle of the floor mat. "We are now connected." (Scientist) "We will show you the demonstration of full body mapping." (Robert) The scientist operates the control panel quickly. A short sword was simulated inside the floor mat. Every things simulated inside the floor mat were blue in colour. Robert picked up the sword and prepared his stance. "This is a short sword, as everybody knows, it''s the weapon equipped to your avatar in the beginning of Eden Online, and its damage output is 12." Robert does a diagonal slash to the humanoid body in its chest area. A number popped out of its chest showing the amount of damage it received. It shows 12, the normal damage of a short sword. "Next, we''ll show you what changed." Robert makes a stab towards the humanoid body. It grazed the upper arm. Another number popped out, it''s 2. Robert unleashed another slash grazing its leg. The same number popped out. "A graze on any part of the body will deal about 10% to 15% damage." Robert moves behind the humanoid body and slashes its neck. Number 18 popped out, a crossed mouth symbol appeared above the humanoid body. "Some of you might knew this already. If you manage to cut certain areas which are mouth, neck, and tongue, you can put a silent debuff on your opponent. It lasted about 15 seconds, but after updates are applied, it''ll be reduced." Robert then gestured something at the scientist. The scientist operates the panel, and humanoid body is now wearing armour. It¡¯s equipped with cloth bandana providing 2 def power, steel armour providing 10 def power, and leg guard providing 2 def power. ¡°Along with the Full Body Mapping system, we reworked the damage calculation.¡± Robert swings his sword at humanoid body, it slashed trough the steel armour. Number 2 popped out showing the amount of damage it received. Next he slash its head, and number 10 pop out. ¡°Each defence armour you wear will only protect its covered area. Body armour only calculated def against any attack that target the body. Headwear only calculated def against any attack that target the head area. So on and on. You get the gist of it.¡± The MC is now back on screen. ¡°Thank you very much, Mr. Robert. I¡¯m sure with the new updates, the adventure inside Eden Online will get more interesting and fun.¡± ¡°I assure you, our team worked hard to bring you a satisfying experience. Enjoy your adventure.¡± I turn off the TV and start browsing my computer. I¡¯m opening Eden Online official webpage, trying to find more information about the new update. They had the update changelog uploaded on their website. It contains a numbered list and some videos.

Eden Online v1.2 Changelog [list=7] [*]Appliance of Full Body Mapping system. [*]Adding weak points to players and monsters body. [*]Rework damage calculation. [*]Introducing Karma System Any PK action will trigger karma status. All of your status and skills will be frozen during this state. Your name will be put on a bounty, if there¡¯re other players within 10 meters range, your position will be shown on their map. NPC will not go after the bounty. You will drop 1 item with the most rarity if you¡¯re killed by a neutral player. [*]Rewritten some items and skills to correspond with Full Body Mapping. [*]NPC AI improvement. [*]Adding more quests.

Each numbers got their own videos showing a little bit of demonstration. There¡¯s also a video of Robert¡¯s demonstration which aired on TV just now. My body is trembling with anger. I know about silent debuff when I fought the goblin commander. To think they announce it to public. ¡®WHY would they do that?¡¯ With silent debuff being known, I can¡¯t gain advantage if I were to face other people in PvP. Inflicting silence was supposed to be my advantage, now I fear of being silenced by my opponent. I almost slammed my computer screen. ''Karma system, there''d be less PK when the server is up.'' I''m currently watching the demonstration videos one by one when an image appeared in my mind. It''s the image of an old man feeding bread crumbs to the birds near the fountain in Eden Online. I start searching for information regarding the old man''s behavior. ''The way he sit there doing nothing but feeding, is like screaming "I got a quest!". But how? How do I trigger it?'' His appearance''s eye catching. Every player who spawned in the fountain would take notice of the old man. There should be some kind of info. 15 minutes later. None. I found no information about him. There''s a discussion thread in the forum, but no solid info whatsoever. Some people can chat up to 2 sentences before they got ignored again. ''Well, screw this!'' This is a bad habit. I can''t really handle stress in a good way. When too much stress accumulated, I go into do or die mode. I mean, what can be worse than death? I just need to enjoy it as much as I can. Now, I''m just sitting here clearing my mind from negative thoughts. ''Come to think of it. I got a skill with 10% piercing chance. How will they change it?''

2 hours later. "Yeeeaaahhh. I''m finally back." Maintenance for Eden Online is finished. I log back in immediately when I read the news on their official website. ''Skill info, skill info. Need to check on my skills.'' Skill Info

Skill Name:	Mana Manipulation
Skill Rank:	Beginner	Skill Type:	Passive / Skill Tree
Skill Level:	9	20%
Mana manipulation. Allowed you to control your mana output. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.Skill List : Minimum Power (Reduce Mana Cost) Piercing Spell (Toggle Support Magic, Reduce Damage by 20% to add piercing effect to your spell)

Skill Name:	Fire Mastery
Skill Rank:	Beginner	Skill Type:	Passive / Skill Tree
Skill Level:	7	83%
Fire element mastery. Allowed you to harness fire element power with your mana. Skill List : Fireball (Single Target Offensive Spell) Firewall (Area Target Defensive Spell)

Skill Name:	Ice Mastery
Skill Rank:	Beginner	Skill Type:	Passive / Skill Tree
Skill Level:	7	84%
Ice element mastery. Allowed you to harness ice element power with your mana. Skill List : Ice Shard (Single Target Offensive Spell) Ice Javelin (Single Target Offensive Spell, 10% Chance to Freeze Target)

Skill Name:	Wind Mastery
Skill Rank:	Beginner	Skill Type:	Passive / Skill Tree
Skill Level:	5	45%
Wind element mastery. Allowed you to harness wind element power with your mana. Skill List : Air Resistance Down (Single Target Assist Spell) Air Bullet (Single Target Offensive Spell)

Skill Name:	Earth Mastery
Skill Rank:	Beginner	Skill Type:	Passive / Skill Tree
Skill Level:	5	13%
Earth element mastery. Allowed you to harness earth element power with your mana. Skill List : Clay Shield (Single Target Defensive Spell) Rock Bullet (Single Target Offensive Spell)

''A little bit more and I''d reach Intermediate.''

Character Info
Name	Ren
Race	Half Elf
Class	Elementalist
Level	12	48%
Physical Strength	6	37%
Magical Power	9	77%
Physical Resistance	5	85%
Magic Resistance	5	22%
Endurance	7	8%
Speed	7	68%
Focus	8	75%

My status growth is terrible. I became too dependent on healing spells. My piercing spell activation rate changed from 10% to 100%. I check my friend list, it seems everybody is online except Lily. I try to message Tatsu. "What''s up, Ren?" "Just checking. How is it going?" "So far, it''s good. The Full Body Mapping system is making it easier to hunt." "That''s good to hear. How is Yuu?" "He''s... fine. Still flirting whenever he can." ''He''s hesitating. Some kind of trouble?'' "Are you sure?" "He''s going to be fine. Just a little bit heart broken." "He never changed eh..." "What about you?" "Haha, I gained exp very fast, so my status can''t keep up." "I see. In here, grinding for status''s also important. How about your skill level?" "I''m about to enter immediate." "Oh! That''s fast. Oops, I gotta go. Come find me when you reached Adel Town." "Sure." With that, we ended the chat. No goodbye whatsoever. I need to grind my status, so I should hunt alone. ''Should I copy another skill?''

Skill Name:	Copycat
Skill Rank:	Beginner	Skill Type:	Unique
Skill Level:	8	74%
Expect the unexpected. Copy your opponent skill and use it as your own. Heal (Single Target Recovery Spell)

I assessed my skills once more. My usual hunting pattern is <> - <> - <>. It''s just a repeat of this 3 skills with occasional usage of <>. Even with <>, my mana consumption rate is high. ''Is there no other way to restore mana beside potion?'' I start wandering around the town. Since they added more quests, I should try to find some more.

Done. After reading this, you should have a rough estimation on what to expect on the next chapter. 2.2 ~ CHAPTER 2 - The Irony of Virtual Reality Chapter 2 done. Chapter 3 will be uploaded in 4 or 5 days. Enjoy

CHAPTER 2 - The Irony of Virtual Reality I start to walk towards the south forest, since the monsters around the Cross Town are low leveled. The dungeon we found were located near the west forest clearing, that makes the area goblin oriented. The east side is mainly composed wild rabbit and low level goblins. On the north we got a road leading to the second town Adel. So all that''s left to venture is the south part. On my way towards the south forest, I encountered a few goblin scouts. Just a single <> was enough to kill one. ''Not even 0.1%!'' I checked my character status and my exp bar didn''t increase even though I already killed more than a dozen goblins. My magic power status increased just a bit. ''No point in killing anymore goblins.'' I move towards the south forest again, this time ignoring the pesky goblins on the way.

South forest, all the eyes can see was trees. It seemed there''s a beach towards the south. A few minutes later, I encountered my first enemy. It''s a tree! The tree branches were twisted and mangled like a ~~hand~~ claw reaching out to grab you. Its trunk was rotted and dark red liquid can be seen running down on it. The bark that covered it was misplaced like a tattered robe. With a few leaves hanging on its twig, its appearance was scary. A bright red light was shining through what appears to be eye sockets. A creaking sound was heard when it opened its mouth. "Grrrrrraaaaaa........." "What the hell...!" ''So big!'' Its size was comparable with the Boss Hellhound. I didn''t receive any boss warning, so it''s not a boss? I looked at its name.

Corrupted Deadwood Lv 25

''Oh my god! It''s twice my own level!'' I immediately leap back and cast a <> in front me. I''m trying to run away when a cracking sound can be heard from below. I turn my head and look down. ''Huh?'' A bunch of root come out of the ground and start entwining itself against me. I was glued to the ground. I don''t know what kind of face I made, but one thing for sure, I''m frightened. *ssrrrrkkkk......ssrrrkkkk..... The fear grows larger when I heard the sound it makes when it drags its body towards me. My body start shaking, and my breathing become shorter. I start imagining a lot of things that can happen to me. Getting butchered by the boss-like monster, having my limbs tore apart, having my body crushed or eaten alive. *crusshhh.... My <> destroyed in a single hit. Its eyes glow brighter and it started to go down. ''Down?'' It''s not the monster that''s going down, it''s my body that is being lifted by its arms. It bring me closer to its mouth and... This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.*Crruuncch...

I stepped out of my dream capsule. ''Holy shit! It ate me!'' The sensation of being eaten was still lingering in my body. My heart beats faster and faster. Just thinking about it makes my body tremble. "Hhhh....." I walk to the corner of my bedroom, sitting there, waiting for my heart to calm down. I close my eyes and curl up my body. ''What kind of game is this? This should be a fun RPG, instead it feels like a horror genre.'' Listening to your own heartbeat is a good way to focus your mind. Once my heartbeat goes back to normal, I take a deep breathe and release it. ''Yosh, let''s sort it out. Eden is a game. Ren is my avatar. This is not a horror game, this is RPG. The realism degree is the point, that sensation earlier...'' I try to recall what it felt like and my body shuddered. ''This feels too real. My mind is affected too much.'' Is this no good? People like me (a person with high imagination), can they really play Eden? Or is it only me whose mind is f**ked up? While I was immersed in my own thinking, an image of Lily pop out of nowhere. ''Lily...'' I start thinking back to that event where Lily saved me from death. I start reminiscing my day with Tatsu and friends. ''I want to see Lily.'' Thinking about Lily make my heart warm. At this point, I don''t really care about that fear anymore. Since I can''t suppress my imagination, I''ll just need to add an image powerful enough to overwhelm my fear. ''Right. Grandfather used to say "Running away from fear is not a solution", I need to overcome this.'' My passion for gaming will not be defeated that easily. Strangely, my body start getting hot, it seems when you get worked up, your body heat will rise. ''I need to defeat that ominous tree.'' *kruuuuuukkkk..... ''Well, why not? Stress eating is also fine. I need the energy.''

"Huuuu.... Haaaa.... "(Breathing in and out) I''m back at the fountain. This time, I''m determined to beat that scary tree. I check my status to see what penalty I received. It seems all my status dropped by one level my character level also dropped by one. I''ll just need to bring it back up. I noticed a weird symbol below my HP bar.

Death Penalty - Lack of Experience Decrease level experience gain by 50% for 1 hour. Increase status experience gain by 50% for 1 hour.

Oh, unexpectedly this is a good bonus. I don''t really need to raise my level, instead I need to raise my status. I go to Potion Store and purchase a large amount of small mana potion. ''Lack of experience it is. I don''t really pay much attention to my skills. I need to figure out a ~~battle~~ combat style that suited my need.'' I head towards the forest clearing. I searched for some goblins to be my practice partner. This way I can accumulate enough combat experience to actually cope up with my combat knowledge.

End of Chapter 2 2.3 ~ CHAPTER 3 - Combat Style and Trump Card I''m back again. The release will be late since we''re nearing the end of the month. [Second busiest day for a finance staff / my current job] Enjoy

CHAPTER 3 - Combat Style and Trump Card It''s been 20 hours since I start the mock battle with goblins. I got a new skill that change my whole combat situation. Skill Info

Skill Name:	Mana Manipulation
Skill Rank:	Intermediate	Skill Type:	Passive / Skill Tree
Skill Level:	2	45%
Mana manipulation. Allowed you to control your mana output. Skill List : Minimum Power (Reduce Mana Cost) Piercing Spell (Toggle Support Magic, Reduce Damage by 20% to add piercing effect to your spell) Charged Spell (Delay Your Magic Activation)

<> allows me to keep one spell after finishing its cast. It looks like I''m holding a ball of light in my hand. All mages can''t move while casting their magic, this is an iron rule. Even battle mage can''t move while casting their magic but since their casting time was almost instant, it''s regarded as the most prominent mage class. This <> allows me to move while keeping one magic charged in my hand. In other words, I''m capable of moving while shooting fireball. ''Uhu hu hu hu hu, this is the biggest jackpot!'' Let''s see if it also work with my copycat skill. I start casting heal, and hold it in my hand. ''Oh! It worked!'' Once I confirmed that it worked great with my copycat, I resumed my training with the goblins. They respawn pretty fast and got low HP, the perfect status grinding place. Another 5 hours passed since I start implementing the <> into my training.

Character Info
Name	Ren
Race	Half Elf
Class	Elementalist
Level	12	1%
Physical Strength	5	21%
Magical Power	11	56%
Physical Resistance	8	15%
Magic Resistance	7	48%
Endurance	8	88%
Speed	10	1%
Focus	10	97%

It seems when I used magic, my M.Res status also grow along with my M.Pow although it''s got low exp rate. My character level is stuck at 12 without being able to gain any exp from killing goblins. ''This time, I will defeat that tree!'' I go back to Cross Town to resupply.

There are a lot of noises in the center plaza, a lot of players are gathering. ''Why is it so crowded?'' A man in steel armour is standing in the middle of the crowd accompanied by two beautiful girls. The man looks pretty old with that bearded face and there''s a single line scar on his face. "Come and join us. We are the Legion. We are the first guild. Find the benefit of joining a guild right at this moment." (Man) "The only requirement is battle evaluation rank above B" (Girl 1) "Those of you who want to join, go get your evaluation from Natalie." (Man) The girl on his right step forward and pull out some kind of crystal ball. It''s different from the one used by Ellen. This one didn''t glow blue or red. Every time a person come forward and get inspected, the crystal ball glows green and some text pop out. Somehow the only person who can read its text is the girl holding the crystal ball. ''That''s a handy device. I wonder how they calculated the battle evaluation rank?'' I still haven''t decided whether to participate in it or not. Somebody tap my shoulder. I turn my head to find out who. It''s Lilith. She gestured me to follow her. We arrived on the back alley of potion shop. "Ren, do you want to join the Legion?" "No. I was just... interested in that battle evaluation rank." "Good. Let me tell you something good. The crystal ball is not capable to determine a person ability in combat." "What do you mean?" "It''s an exclusive item for a certain class. I only know that much. Tatsu said you can only create a guild in the second town. The leader must be at least lv 30." "Lv 30!" "Tatsu''s currently lv 26. He said he''ll definitely make a guild and want us to join. How about it, Ren?" "Sure, that''s my intention. I''m just curious about that crystal ball." "Look here, Ren. Think about it a little. A convenient item to evaluate your combat ability just by touching it. See how weird that explanation is?" ''That''s a smart comment.'' "You just think of something rude, huh?" ''Sharp!'' "Just... don''t put your hand on the crystal ball, okay?" "Got it." "I''m going to hunt a little more, what are you going to do, Ren?" I was about to say corrupted deadwood when I heard something. *tap... It''s a footstep! I turn my head. "Shit!" I caught a glimpse of a person shadow as he''s running away. "Spy?" ''Who''s the one being stalked? "Oh, they''re here." "Who''re they?" "Remember that time when we fight a group after Hellhound?" "Ah, the crooked smile." "Yeah, that''s the one. It seemed they still hold a grudge about it, so they send someone to spy on us." "Well well, shall we teach them a lesson?" "Now that''s what I''m talking about. So what''s the plan?" Lilith and I discussed some way to get their spy captured. We got into a few arguments fight, but in the end we decided to go with plan A. I''ll be the bait. I wander around the town, waiting for the spy to follow me. Once I confirmed his movement, I send a message to Lilith. "I got him." I continue to move towards the south gate. It seems the spy is hesitant whether to follow me or not. ''If I stop moving, he''ll get suspicious." I continue to make my way towards the forest clearing. When I encountered a goblin warrior, I killed it with a single cast of <>, and after that I cast <> and hold it as charged spell. I arrived in the forest clearing. I take a brief scan around the area, once I confirmed there are no other monster in the vicinity, I try to find the spy. I do the same thing when I first observed the goblin scout. I focus on my hearing . "..." "..." I heard something strange at my 10 o''clock direction. The sound of wind swaying some grass with the sound of the grass rustling didn''t match. ''Found him.'' I started searching for Lilith. She said she''ll be here when I message her, but I can''t seem to find her. ''Shall I deal with him myself?'' When I was about to move, I heard a screeching from behind. I quickly do a side step. An arrow grazed my upper arm.

''Did the spy make his move?'' Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. He was located in my 10 o''clock, but the arrow come from behind me. This guy had already called for allies? I immediately cast my <> on the spy location. "Wh... what the...!" ''Good. He didn''t move.'' I need more information. What kind of enemies am I facing? The spy is probably an assassin or scout and there''s one archer nearby. I cast <> to increase my speed. I put <> between my position and the archer. I charged my hand with <>. ''Where is the archer?'' I was waiting for another screeching sound, instead I got hit with a <>.

330

''Wha...!'' He got stealth! My HP dropped to 29%. I retaliate by throwing my <>, the assassin looks surprised. The<> hit the assassin in the leg, he was frozen. ''Chance!'' I cast <>, at the same time a screeching sound came from behind me. The arrow hit my left shoulder. My HP dropped to 19%. I killed the assassin, but it''s just a matter of time before I die in the archer hands. ''This sneaky bastard!'' I cast <> on myself, at the same time another arrow was released from behind. My HP raised to 40% and then dropped again to 29% since the arrow hit my upper arm. ''His accuracy is low, but his positioning and timing are superb.'' That''s the third time he shoot arrow at me from my blind spot. ''How far?'' Shall I just throw my <> blindly? An idea comes to mind. I charged <>, and once again an arrow was released towards me. ''Twin Arrow!'' My HP dropped to 5%! I start running towards the direction where the arrow come from. This time I was close enough to hear the sound he made when he nocked his arrow. ''He''s close!'' I activate my <> immediately. It blocked the arrow. I hide behind the <> and charged another one. I focused my hearing, trying to find his footstep sound. "..." "..." It''s silent. This guy must have a good hearing. To be able to capture my movement and timed his action perfectly, this guy must be a pro IRL. Note : if you don''t know, IRL stands for "In Real Life" Just like this, we come into a stand still. Both sides didn''t make a single sound, no movement either. ''Stressful!'' I wonder how the opposite feels right now. Under this kind of pressure, my stress level probably rise bit by bit until I go into "Do or Die" condition. ''F*ck this! The worst thing that can happen is death to my character." My buff already ran out of time since 10 seconds ago. In my hand, I still got one <> ready to be deployed. My mana pool is over 60%. So far, I never hit him and he only used one skill. ''To think I have to use my trump card this early.'' I decided to cast my <> after I moved a few steps. This time, I can hear him pulling his bowstring. The shield block his arrow, I cast <>>, my HP rise to 25%. I crawl on the ground, charging <>. < > I tried to do a feint by doing a zig zag movement around my shield. The archer nocked another arrow, it missed. I throw my javelin towards the source of the sound right through my shield. It hit the shield and pass through it. After that I cast <> on the javelin. The javelin speed up and it surprised the archer. The archer surprised by my action that he stumbled and got hit by my javelin. It just grazed his leg, but enough to damage him quite a bit. I ran after him. When I''m close enough, I cast <> aimed at his head. It knocked him down and then I cast <> for the highest damage output. I take look last look to see what his character name is.

Wind Runner Lv 11

''I''ll remember this name.''

In the mean time. Lilith point of view. When I got the message from Ren, I ran immediately to the forest clearing. On my way through the south gate, some people block my way. "Woah woah, slow down missy." Said the person holding a scimitar. "What do you want?" Unconsciously, I growl at him. "We have some business with you. This will take a while." ''Are they trying to keep me from leaving?'' I prepared my bow and run past the three people who stood in my way. Once I jump outside the gate and roll down a few times, I aimed my bow at those three. "Come out, you cowards!" The three of them look undecided whether to chase after or stay inside the safe zone. I left them. I run towards the forest clearing. A few moments later, a <> come from behind.

''Tsk!'' I keep heading towards the forest. ''As long as I can reach the trees, it''s my win.'' Once I climb a tree, I try to see my enemies info.

Barbaros Lv 14

True Mage Lv 10

STRONG Lv 12

The one holding a scimitar named Barbaros is probably their leader. I jumped from a tree to another while shooting my arrows. Their mage can''t even aim at me. I nocked one arrow at the mage.

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It hits the mage in his chest, probably around the heart area. It took out over 50% of his health. The mage immediately drank a potion. <> I fired three arrows in succession towards the mage. ''This is what you get when you mess with the wrong people.'' One down, two to go. The other two are warrior based, so they can''t really chase me in the trees. They still lingering around the trees. ''You''re just like a practice target.'' I shoot another arrow, but it was parried by the one with the scimitar. ''Hmm?'' I kept shooting, but my damage is low against them. It takes about 20 minutes before I manage to kill the last of them. When all''s done, I slumped my body against the tree. "I''m tired!" I drank some potion to recover my mana. A few moments later, Ren comes out of the forest.

"You..!" "Hiya Ren." "What do you mean hi! I''m almost dead!" "Errr... actually I was about to go there, but I got ambushed by some people." "Really? The way I see it, I think you''re about to take a nap." "How rude! Even if I''m tired, there''s no way I''d sleep in a place like this." "How many?" "Three, two warriors and a mage. Pretty much became targets practice." "I got two. This should teach them a lesson not to mess with us." "Yeah yeah. Whatever you say. I do enjoy killing those people" ''We got S over here!'' After that, we part ways again. I continue with my first intention, finding the corrupted deadwood.

End of Chapter 3 2.4 ~ CHAPTER 4 - The Vanished Old Man Here we go. Chapter 4 updated. Enjoy

CHAPTER 4 - The Vanished Old Man It''s been two days since the Legion recruitment in center plaza. The place now returned to its usual gathering activity. The amount of players gathering around the fountain is smaller compared to the first day. ''So they''re already moving towards the second town. I guess it''s about time for me to move as well.'' My search in the past two days bore no result. I didn''t find the deadwood, instead I hunted around the beach area. Maybe someone else already beat it. Since the Legion appeared in this place, it''s possible they already hunted it. Since I already restocked my potion, I wander around the fountain for a bit. I was spying around to see if there''s any quest I haven''t take yet. "Goblin Subjugation party here, we need damage dealer." "Buying animal leather 2 silver each." "Kobold hunting party, we need tanker." It''s the usual newbie progress. People with leather armor everywhere, party finder and people who is selling low level material. Some people sent me a party invite, but I refused it. "Sorry, I''m waiting for a friend." I''m watching people passing by, selling their items, looking for party until my eyes locked onto the fountain. To be exact, the old man is gone. ''Where is he?'' The old man who always feeding the birds is gone. I look around, but he''s nowhere to be found. Then I noticed something. The breadcrumbs, they''re scattered on the road. I take a look at it closely. It seems there''s a pattern. I follow the trail made by scattered breadcrumbs. The trail is a simple straight line until I got out of center plaza. ''It splits up!'' The breadcrumbs were spread out in three places. I recall his image in my mind. ''Hmm, the only thing he had was breadcrumbs.'' I''m thinking hard while keeping a lookout for another clue. ''Was there anything else? Splitting road probably means there''s a time limit, otherwise I can just go through all three.'' While I still pondering about it, I heard something. ''It sounds like something scratching? No. It''s something soft... hairy... furry?'' I closed my eyes and focused my hearing. *flap... *flap... ''It sounds far and rhythmic?... Up?'' I turn my head to look up. There''s a bird circling on the sky! ''Bird! That''s right. The old man fed the birds.'' The breadcrumbs were spread out on the road. Naturally I will only search for things that entered my vision and that would be the ground. ''A simple misdirection, but effective!'' I''m amazed at the story developer. Simple idea yet powerful. If my hearing wasn''t good, I probably won''t notice the birds. I take the road which has a bird circling around it in the sky. I continue following the trails and birds, whenever I met a fork, I will take the way that has birds flying above it. I kept following the trail until I arrived near the castle. ''The trail ends here.'' I take a look around to see if there''s anything strange or out of place. I''m standing in the middle of the road. ''Strange, it shouldn''t end so abruptly. Is there another marker?'' There are no birds around the area and I ran out of clues. I was just wandering around searching for clues about the old man when a little kid bumped into me. "Ouch! Stupid traveller! Why are you doing standing in the middle of the road!?" ''This little...'' I was about to teach him a lesson, but something caught my attention. ''It''s the old man breadcrumbs bag! So he''s the next clue!'' I need to be careful here, can''t have him run away from me. "I''m sorry, are you alright?" I offered my hand. He slapped it away. "Heh! Sorry my ass. Look here, I''m hurt. Pay me some money for medical bills." I almost laugh hearing that remark. It''s like a scene from an old high school movie, bully and the nerd. After thinking about it, I decided to pay. "I can give you some money, but I want something valuable in return." "What are you talking about. Can''t you see what I''m wearing? I''m poor as hell!" "How about that bag?" "This one? It belongs to Mr. Grimm. I can''t give it to you." ''Grimm? Breadcrumbs? Birds?'' I try to sort out my thought. Grimm, breadcrumbs and birds. What about the boy? The clothes he wore is worn out. It looks like an old farmer''s clothes. There''s dirt all over his body and some wood flakes can be seen. ''Grimm, breadcrumbs, birds, worn out clothes, wood flakes? ... ... It''s Hansel and Gretel! That means witch and gingerbread house!'' I try to come up with a good method to find out the witch cabin / gingerbread house. ''How should I ask him?'' "Hey mister. Are you going to pay or not?" "Ah. I''m sorry, since I''m hungry, I keep spacing out." "Listen up mister, you''re lucky to meet me. Let me tell you something good, in the south forest, opposite of the beach direction, there''s a house with abundant sweets a little bit far from the main road." ''Huh?! Jackpot!'' "Well, thank you. Here''s some coin for the information." I gave him 20 silver coins. He immediately ran after receiving the money. My quest info updated when the boy is out of my vision.

Tale of the Old Story Requirement :

More than 1 week playing time
Haven''t go to another town
Not in a party

Progress :

Follow the trails of breadcrumbs. (Cleared)
Find the house in the woods.

*This is a solo quest. If you join a party, this quest will be counted as failure.

My brain put the information together and reach some conclusion. ''Fight the boss witch? Damn! I need to solo the boss?'' The quest indicates I can''t join a party while doing this quest. The probability of fighting the witch is high. Excitement starts building inside me.

30 minutes later. I finally found the gingerbread house. It''s truly built from sweets. An intersection of chocolate and ginger colored tiles in the wall. A window made of clear sugar. Candy canes acting as a gate to the house. The roof was made of bread covered in cakes. There''re glitters on the roof spot where the sun shines on it. I kept staring at the magnificent view before me without realizing my drool is coming out. *Gulp... ''Looking at it like this makes me hungry. Can I eat it?'' I take a deep breath. Sweet scents are overflowing the area. My face become relaxed. "Aaahhh..." My mind goes numb, my body is moving towards the house slowly. All I can think about is trying a piece of that house. "... St.... ! Do... g... th...." Some kind of noise is filling the air. My sight is focused on the chocolate tile. Some kind of white clothes are flying around, but I pay no heed to it. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.Something hit me in the head. "Ouch! Hmm?!" I keep blinking my eyes and shaking my head. My gaze turn towards the object that was used to hit me. It''s a pebble. Somebody threw a pebble at me, then I noticed some kind of heart symbol below my HP bar.

Charmed Increase P.Attack by 50% Reduce Defense to 0 Character will be uncontrollable until you take damage

''Wh... WHAT!'' The charmed status soon disappear. I breathe a sigh of relief. "Grraaa... just a little bit more and I got him. Stupid ghosts!" A high pitched voice was heard from inside the house. The door to the house opened up revealing an old woman with a black robe and a wooden cane. She got a long pointy nose and pimples all over her face. Her long white hair swayed every time she moved. "I''ll just cook you here!" <> A bundle of fire was thrown my way.

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A single hit from her <> takes away 21% of my HP. ''Her damage is not high.'' I rolled on the ground and start running. I run towards the forest and hide myself behind a tree. I cast <> on myself and look at her info.

Rosalina Lv 22

Suddenly a lot of windows pop out.

You''ve been inflicted with Life Curse

You''ve been inflicted with Mana Curse

You''ve been inflicted with Life Drain

You''ve been inflicted with Physical Drain

''Woah...!''

Life Curse Unable to regenerate health

Mana Curse Unable to regenerate mana

Life Drain Linked with Rosalina Drain your HP by 2% every 10s

Physical Drain Linked with Rosalina Drain your Physical Strength by 1% every 10s

''Isn''t this kind of bad?'' Luckily I''m a mage, < > doesn''t really affect me much. If it comes to this, I''ll rather kill her fast. <> Once I finished my buff, I charged <> and search for her. She''s still lurking outside her house. She didn''t chase after me to the forest. "Taste this!" I run out of my hiding place towards her. She tried to cast some spell, but I activate my <>.

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It took out 1.4% of her HP. ''Whoo, her HP is that high?!'' She finished casting her magic and threw another <> towards me. I roll on the ground and start casting <>. I put the <> between us. The white clothes are back disturbing the witch. "Petty ghosts! Want me to burn you?!" She cast another spell, while I keep throwing <> at her. <> She''s enveloped by flame. I threw another <>.

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''It healed her!'' Fire magic is now healing her instead of damaging her. ''I still got ICE.'' I cast <>.

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''Whoo, so there''s a side effect to it!'' It seems <> allow her to be healed when hit by fire magic and lowered her resistance to ice magic. Steady but slowly, I reduce her HP bit by bit. When her HP dropped past 50%, she start charging towards me. ''Shit! I can avoid her <>, but getting hit would be devastating.'' She swings her cane and it graze me near the leg.

''Just a graze cost me almost 10% HP! A direct hit would be fatal!'' I leap back and keep some distance. I keep throwing <> at her, but she''s not getting freeze at all. My mana pool dropped to 23% and my HP bar indicates 57% while her HP is still 37%. ''I can''t keep this up!'' Her mana pool is endless, she keeps throwing <> like crazy. ''Is it the end? Can''t I win?'' I can''t restore mana using potion since I got curse. I can''t restore health either. We''re on a ball throwing competition with her having unlimited ball and me limited. The white clothes keep flying and disturbing the witch, but they didn''t deal any damage. "You''ve got to cut her power off!" A creepy voice coming from the white clothes. "How!" "The necklace! Use the necklace." "What necklace?" "My mother''s necklace! It''s inside the house." I need to go inside the house, but the white clothes can''t really help me pull her away from the house. ''Since I can''t drink the potion, let''s just use them for my spell.'' I threw the potion near the witch. It creates a puddle. "Take this!" I cast <> towards her leg near the puddle. She froze.

End of Chapter 4 2.5 ~ CHAPTER 5 - The Witch and Gingerbread House I''m back again. This time it takes longer than expected since I''m quite busy with real life. Please enjoy the continuation of the cliffhanger.

Chapter 5 - The Witch and Gingerbread House I rush to the house and open the door. *crumble... The door was made of cookies. The knob crumbled as I closed the door. The interior had a horror feel to it. It was decorated with bones and skulls. There were traces of blood on the floor. A giant cauldron can be seen near an oven. ''Did she make the cookies in here?'' A sweet scent is lingering in the air. "It smells good." "Really?" "Woah!" I was surprised to see a young boy walking beside me... or not. He got no legs, I mean no foot. He looks transparent from head to thigh. ''A ghost NPC. Really?'' "Who are you?" "Who am I?" "..." "I... don''t know." His expression changed to a bitter one. His sight glued to the ground. He didn''t stop walking. Each step he took felt heavy like it was chained to something. "..." "..." Silence continued until we arrived at the witch''s cauldron. The ghost points at the shelf. "The necklace should be somewhere around here." I nod and proceed to check the shelf looking for his mother''s necklace. "What does it made of?" "It''s made from wood. Father made it for mother''s birthday present." ''A wooden necklace. Not enough info.'' "What does it looks like?" "It was... a bird." ''If only I had that keen eye skill.'' I keep checking every item on the shelf. My HP dropped to 49%. The curses still work even if I''m separated from the witch. I start picking up my pace. ''Faster, faster. I can''t waste too much time.'' I search the shelf in a hurry. *Klak... ''Hmmm?'' It seems I knocked over something. I look at the ground and find a dusty object. It is a round object covered with spider threads and dust. It feels squishy and elastic. I peel off the threads and wipe it with some rag that I found at the shelf. After the cleaning was done, a red colour emanated from the object. The round object cracked open revealing a bird-like figure within it. Its beak pointed to the sky, its wing shaped like a bird was flying, its tail was split into two. ''A swallow?'' I don''t really know much about birds, but this one seems familiar to the drinking ads. When I take it out of the red ball, a chain comes out tied up to the bird''s body.

You''ve obtained Rosalina''s Necklace

Rosalina''s Necklace *Reduce elemental damage taken by 5%. A necklace made with nearly perfect precision. You can feel the maker''s affection from it.

''How is this going to help me?'' "How do I use this?" "Wear it." I registered the necklace in my equipment screen. The ghost is running towards me. It flew inside the necklace. A bright light emanates from the necklace. I notice all my curses are gone. Out of curiosity, I check the necklace again.

Rosalina''s Necklace (Unsealed) *Reduce elemental damage taken by 5% *Allow you to use "Purification" once every 2 hours *Restore your mana by 50% once per day A necklace made with nearly perfect precision. A gift from Rosalina''s husband and passed down to her children. It contains the maker''s affection and Rosalina''s blessing.

Immediately I cast <> to bring up my health. ''The necklace belongs to the witch, but passed down to her children. The ghosts are her children? I''m going to read this hansel and gratel story later on.'' Okay, my first objective is not completed yet. To cut off the source of her power, I need to find the source first. I inspect the cauldron, but it''s empty. The shelf is filled with bones and skulls. ''She didn''t chase after me to the forest, so her power source should be close. Is it the house?'' I cast <> to the roof. Suddenly the door slammed open. "You little brat! You dare to burn my house!" She throws a <> at me. I dodge and let it burn her floor. ''Taste your own medicine!'' I cast <> in the shelf. The witch keeps throwing <> towards me, so I keep running in a circle around her and let her burn her own house. After a while, we go out of the house since the house has been burnt to a crisp. "Nooo! My house! You''ll pay for this!" She casts <> and starts charging towards me. ''No more fireball?'' My speed is higher than the witch and dodging her attack is quite easy. I just keep my distance and throw <> at her. She didn''t throw a single <> ever since she activates her <>, maybe she ran out of mana since her house has been burnt. After a while, the witch drops down. A boy comes out of nowhere and stars walking towards me. ''He''s the one who bumped into me in town!'' "Thank you, mister. My colleagues are suffering because the witch bound their souls to her. Now that you had defeated the witch, they can rest in peace." "What about you?" "I''m going to be alright." As he said that, a light enveloped his body. What comes out of the light is the old man from the fountain. At the same time, a ghost coming out of the light flies towards the witch¡¯s body. "Amazing!¡± "Thank you, young traveller. I offer you my gratitude for releasing the young children souls from suffering. My name is Grimm. I hope we meet again.¡± *Triiiinggg.... A sound indicating a complete quest was heard.

Quest Completed Tale of the Old Story You¡¯d found Grimm the ¡°Story Teller¡± and participate in banishing the witch and the gingerbread house. The witch feeds upon young children and bind their souls to her resulting in a curfew restriction on Cross Town. If you brought the proof of witch extermination to the Castle Lord, the curfew restriction will be lifted. Quest Rewards :

3,200 Silver Coins
25,000 Experience
Rosalina¡¯s Necklace (Unsealed)
Relationship with Grimm established

*Report your finding to the castle to receive additional rewards.

Level Up!

The Missing Children A curfew restriction was put in Cross Town, because a lot of children were reported missing. Help the Castle Lord find the missing children. Update : *You¡¯ve found the missing children, but they¡¯re no longer alive. *You¡¯ve found the witch who kidnapped and ate young child. *You¡¯ve banished the witch and release the children souls. Report the findings to the Castle Lord to help ease the tension among the residents.

The ghosts are swarming around the witch¡¯s body and they ascend together to the sky in a trail of light. ''Well, that''s a lot of ghosts.'' Some items were left on the ground. I walk towards it to check it.

Crystal Memory (Quest Item) A crystal filled with the memory of Rosalina. You can bring this to the Castle Lord as a proof of the witch¡¯s deeds.

Mantle of Salamander Fire Resistance: 20% A coat made from salamander skins. It has a flying swallow logo embed in the back. Wearing this will improve your resistance to fire magic.

¡®Oho, necklace and mantle. I¡¯m so lucky to actually earned two accessories items this early.¡¯

Game Information Helmet = 1 slot Shoulder Armor = 1 slot Upper Armor = 1 slot Lower Armor = 1 slot Glove = 1 slot Shoes = 1 slot Main Weapon = 1 slot Offset Weapon = 1 slot Accessories = 10 slot (Ring, necklace, bracelet, earring, mantle, coat, head ornament)

The gingerbread house has been burnt to a crisp. I walk towards it to see if I can find some useful items among the rubbish.

Voodoo Straw Doll (Quest Item) The doll made by the children kidnapped from Cross Town. It resembles the kidnapper figure. A name Rosalina was pasted in the middle with blood.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. ¡®Voodoo? Children making voodoo doll?¡¯ I wonder whose child it is to be able to make a voodoo doll after being kidnapped. Since it¡¯s a quest item, this should trigger something if I bring it to a certain person. ¡®Too bad it doesn¡¯t drop weapon.¡¯ I check my character information.

Character Info
Name	Ren
Race	Half Elf
Class	Elementalist
Level	19	11%
Physical Strength	5	84%
Magical Power	17	96%
Physical Resistance	12	32%
Magic Resistance	14	4%
Endurance	14	88%
Speed	17	74%
Focus	17	47%

¡®One more level to the next class promotion.¡¯ In Eden Online, you can upgrade your class when you reach lv 20 and 40. Although this information was stated in the official website, they didn¡¯t put any other information about promotion after lv 40. After searching for a while, I see there are no more items in the vicinity. I decided to go back to town and report my quest.

Back in the Cross Town, I check my friend list, everybody¡¯s online. ¡®I should contact the others after reporting the quest.¡¯ I go straight to the castle. In front of the castle gate, two guard NPCs are blocking my way. ¡°What business brought you here, traveller?¡± ¡°I¡¯m here to report the missing children progress.¡± ¡°You found them?!¡± The voice was a bit louder than usual, but it showed they¡¯re concerned about the missing children. ¡°I found what remains of them. I¡¯m sorry.¡± The guards face look sad and depressed. ¡°It¡¯s still a progress. Okay, you can pass through.¡± The gate opened and they returned back to their position. Inside the gate, another two guards appeared. It seems they¡¯re guarding the castle gate very tightly. A few steps from the gate, I was met by an old man. He got less hair than your average old man, a handlebar moustache but no beard, all in white colour. His height is slightly smaller than me whose height is 173 cm. ¡°Hello traveller. I received a report stating you have information regarding the missing children. Is this true?¡± ¡°Yes sir. I brought something to prove my information.¡± ¡°Keep it. We¡¯ll continue this in the Great Hall. You two, go inform Derek and Ernest to keep guest away from the castle.¡± ¡°Yes sir.¡± The two guards immediately go towards the gate. The old man lead my way to the Great Hall. Inside the Great Hall, the Castle Lord is sitting in his throne. There are five attendants on the left, six attendants on the right. The old man who brought me here stop in front of the Castle Lord and kneel. I copied his posture and kneel down behind him. ¡°Greetings, My Lord. I ask for this urgent meeting since we have new information regarding the missing children.¡± ¡°You can rise. Continue with the report.¡± ¡°This young traveller brought something related to the kidnapping incident. Go and state your information to the Lord.¡± ¡°Greetings, My Lord. My name is Ren. I stumbled upon this information when I went to search Mr. Grimm.¡± ¡°Oh, you knew Grimm?¡± I open my inventory and take out the crystal memory. The old man bow to the Lord and proceed to extract information from the crystal. He asked one of the attendants on the left to bring some kind of projector from his room. A while later the attendant comes back with a bright green box. He gives it to the old man beside me. The old man put the crystal memory inside the box and cast something. ¡°...¡± The box reacts and shines brightly. The lights gathered inside the box and from the top of the box, images were projected. It was like looking at a 3D video running in open space. The video start when Rosalina was baking some cookies in her oven. The house doesn¡¯t look like the gingerbread house that I saw in the woods. It is neat and rich coloured. There are two children in there, a boy and a girl running around happily while sneaking a taste from the cookies batch. It gave off a warm feeling, seeing this scene played out in front of me. Without realizing it, tears roll down on my cheek. The scene changed, the room is no longer neat and everything was scrambled on the floor. A person who looks like her husband can be seen yelling at her. The two children can¡¯t be found inside the scene. The husband keeps yelling at her when suddenly the two children appeared in the front door. Both of them look surprised by the children sudden appearance. The scene changed again. It seems only certain memories can be recalled from the crystal. ¡®Perhaps they can only recall memory with strongest feeling or impression. The first is happiness, the second is maybe sadness?¡¯ The third scene played out with the husband carrying the children away from the house. Rosalina looks depressed; almost every thing from the first scene is gone. The house only has table and chair, no cooking ware though the oven is still there. Rosalina was facing the mirror and her eyes were red and bloodshot, her hair dishevelled, her figure was thin from lack of eating. If you take a close enough look, you can actually see rage in her eyes. The fourth scene played out with her on the gingerbread house. The shelf contained animal bones and skulls. A giant cauldron can be seen near the oven. She looks towards the window and discovered two children eating her house. Her reflection on the window shows a wicked smile. She invites the children to come in and gives them some cookies. The children who gnaw at the cookies immediately fall asleep. She moves the children to the cauldron and start boiling them. *Gasp! A lot of people are gasping at the scene before them. The witch is boiling the children alive. Bubbles can be seen on the cauldron showing the current temperature is very hot. The children are screaming but no voice can be heard. ¡°Stop it!¡± The Lord can¡¯t seem to handle it anymore. The old man reacts very quickly and turns off the projector. ¡°This kind of thing is happening on our watch. We... How do we explain this to the townspeople?¡± ¡°I think we should tell them the truth, sire. We always uphold truth as our base foundation, we shouldn¡¯t tell lies even if it was this cruel.¡± (Old man) ¡°I know what you mean, but this... this blasphemy will certainly cause the townspeople to lose moral and trust, not to mention the panic it will cause.¡± ¡°Ah, but the witch is already dead, sire. So there¡¯s no reason for the townspeople to panic over it.¡± (Ren) ¡°Did you kill her?¡± ¡°I did. I, myself almost caught in her trap and become food. Luckily the spirits of the children help me defeat the witch.¡± ¡°What proof do you have?¡± ¡°The crystal memory can only be harvested from a dead person with strong mana. I assume the witch is dead since the crystal is here.¡± (Old man) ¡°That¡¯s right. The crystal should be able to proof it.¡± ¡°Hmm, I see. Noel, reward him sufficiently and lift up the curfew. We have to raise the townspeople¡¯s moral.¡± ¡°Thank you, sir.¡± ¡°Follow me, traveller.¡± The old man was named Noel. He bowed to the Lord and left the Hall with me. He walks beside me and start a conversation with me. ¡°You are young enough to be my grandson and yet you already accomplished a very difficult task. For this, I thank you. You have saved us from a very difficult situation.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay. It¡¯s by accident that I stumbled upon the witch. She tried to eat me so I retaliate.¡± We arrived at the underground dungeon. Passing through a secret door behind the prison wall, we make our way towards the treasure room. ¡°Fu fu fu, don¡¯t be so modest. Come, this is the treasure room. You can pick one treasure as a reward.¡± Inside the room, a lot of treasures are placed neatly. Weapons on the right, armor to the left, further along you can see a shelf containing a lot of books. I try to see the info on each weapon, but only a bit description can be read. ¡®Shit! If only I still had that Keen Eye skill.¡¯

Golden Sword

Dragon Spear

Frozen Heart

It seems I can only read half of the weapons name. This way, I can¡¯t really sure with what I picked. I left the weaponry and proceed towards the shelf. ¡®I¡¯ll just pick a skill book.¡¯

Alchemy

Herbology

Skinning

I skimmed through all of the books in the shelf. I''m trying to find one that suit my needs. ''I don''t think I need to copy <> since I already got purification. I might need something connected to mana.'' I keep searching until I found a book with Mana on its title. ''Oh a mana title, but there''re more than one word in its title. Damn! Shall I risk it?''

End of Chapter 5 Estimated time of the next chapter update is one week. 2.6 ~ CHAPTER 6 - False Arrest I''m back. Faster than expected, here''s chapter 6 Enjoy

Chapter 6 - False Arrest It''s dark. I am sitting on top of a bed made of stone. In front of me is a row of iron bars. Neither window nor lighting exists in this cramped space. How did I end up here? Let''s take a look at what I did 2 hours ago.

I was still at the treasure room trying to choose one item as a reward when an idea came to my mind. ''There''re a lot of books in the shelf from basic history until secret medicine. Although I can''t read the title clearly, there should be a dictionary or encyclopedia in here. I should be able to identify some things with the help of it.'' I spend about half hour to find the so-called encyclopedia. The first one was plant encyclopedia; the next one I found was leather encyclopedia. Because I can only read encyclopedia on the title, I found lots of book such as plant, leather, animal, even country encyclopedia. I found the skill encyclopedia at the twenty second try. The content was filled with a lot of pictures. ''Ha ha, aren''t I smart.'' I take a glance towards the entrance. It seemed Noel is still waiting for me. I don''t hear any complain from him. ''I''ll take my time then.'' I start matching the picture in the encyclopedia with the skill book. Herbology contains a lot of plants picture starting from leaf, root and fruit. Alchemy also contains a lot of leaf pictures. ''Not good. I can''t differentiate between these two. No other choice but to skip it.'' I start stacking up the books that I can''t identify on my left side. I skip a lot of basic crafting books since I can''t differentiate it with its related gathering skill, for example herbology and alchemist, skinning and leather sewing. The book tower keeps growing until I was left with 8 books. ''Antiques, history, map, mana 1, mana 2, nature, body, monster.'' Among these books, monster probably contains information about the mobs around Cross Town, history contains a lot of texts which I can''t read, body probably contains a skill related to strengthening psychical power, map contains pictures of the Kalandor continent, antiques is the one I was interested in since it contains some pictures with a brief explanation. ''This antiques book probably contain skill related to appraisal.'' The rest are mana 1 which contains picture of human body with some kind of mark around the body, mana 2 which contains picture of meditation, and nature which probably relates to nature magic. ''Mana 2 is out of question since it''s probably meditation skill to boost mana regeneration. Mana 1 is probably about mana circulation inside human body so I don''t think it is what I need.'' I was left with 2 choices between antiques or nature. Suddenly Noel appears besides me. "Are you done yet?" I was surprised by his voice that I lose my footing and fall on my butt. "Oomph!" "You are taking too much time. It has been exactly one and a half hour, I still got works to do." "I''m sorry." "You even make a mess of this place. CLEAN IT UP!" "Yes sir!" I immediately start putting the books from the tower back to the shelf. I left antiques and nature separated from the other books. Noel picks up one of the books. "Harmony with nature. Hmm. Not a bad choice." ''Harmony? It''s not about nature magic?'' He picks up the other one. "How to recognize an antique. Hmph. I need to remind you that you can only pick one as a reward." "What do I need to do for the other one? I need those two books." "You greedy bastard! Although you had brought enormous help for the town, I can''t comply with your request." "You don''t have any request for me?" "I don''t! Now take this and leave." He hands me the nature book and forces me out of the treasure room. After that, the 2 guards from castle gate escort me out. ''So much for interaction.'' I open my skill screen and register the book.

Do you want to learn ''Harmony with Nature''?
Yes	No

I pressed yes. A warning sound was heard. The window shakes and glows red.

Error!

Level requirement is not met

I am half happy and half sad. The good part is the warning means this skill book is actually above average since it has restriction. The bad part is I can''t learn it right away. I proceed with my next quest, the voodoo doll. Since it belongs to the kidnapped children, I should find his/her family. I start asking around about the voodoo doll. ''Just like an old time RPG, chat with all NPC is a must before leaving town.'' I start from the potion store and keep going clockwise. Halfway to the fortune teller booth, I was grabbed in the shoulder by a garrison member. "Are you the one who keep asking about voodoo doll around the town?" "Yes. Do you know anything about it?" "Please follow me."

And that''s how I ended up in here. I wonder what I did to result in me being arrested and put in jail. 10 minutes passed and there is still no sign of anything. No people come, not even a guard. I decided to search for information in the forum.

Meanwhile at second town. "Tatsu-san!" "Oh Lilith. You¡¯re finally here. How is it?" "Again with it. You need to be direct. Someone dense like Ren wouldn''t be able to understand you if you keep asking how is it, how is it, how is it." "Okay okay. So how is it?" She brings her palm to her face and does the so-called facepalm. "I got it. Here, it took longer than expected." She opened her inventory and handed out an orange colored object. It was triangle shaped; its size was 4 cm x 7 cm. Tatsu take the item and check its info.

Orange Crystal Piece A crystallization of creativity. This crystal piece is a part of seven colored tablet of authority.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. "Great. This is it. All that''s left is violet piece." "How does this relate to guild creation?" "To create a guild, one must presents a tablet of authority to the guild master NPC. You can only meet him from 6 pm until 10 pm in the tavern. The tricky part is, you don''t get to know where to obtain the said tablet and he won''t give you the quest." "Then how do you know we have to undergo a trial to get the tablet? Moreover, it''s just a piece of seven." He keeps silent for a while. "..." "..." "Do you really want to know?" She looks at him and sees the wicked smile plastered on his face. "Forget it. Tell me how you intend to make the tablet." "You already saw the descriptions of the yellow piece, didn''t you?" "And?" "Oh come on. It stated seven colored tablet of authority. See." "What''s wrong with seven colored? It just means there¡¯re seven pieces although I do know seven seas." "Argh. You are a girl for god sake. How come you don''t know the famous seven colors." "Well, I''m sorry if I''m not your average normal girl." ''And here I thought she was a spoiled ojousama.'' "Look here. Seven colors refer to rainbow. ROYGBIV, Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain. Does it ring any bell?" "Who is Richard? Is it a NPC who gives out crystal pieces?" "No, he¡¯s not. Forget Richard. The trial you just take can only be done once. Each person will get a crystal piece that can be used to make a tablet of authority." "You can''t get it anywhere else?" "So far, this is the only way. That means to create a guild; we need 7 crystal pieces with different colors. Right now I have red, orange, yellow, blue and indigo. Yuu is taking the trial now and I assure you, he will definitely get green." "Then we can just buy the violet piece." "I told you before; the crystal piece can only be obtained once per person at this time. Do you really think they will sell it so easily? Just so you know violet piece is the rarest among them. " "How come?" *sigh... ''Oh man. Here I am, lecturing a girl inside an online game. How come I still have to work on my vacation time.¡¯ "Fine. I shall educate you on the rainbow." "Please." "A rainbow is an optical and meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicolored arc.The major colors that we can see are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, all in that order." "I see. So that¡¯s why it was called Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain." "Correct. Now I shall teach you the characteristic of each color. Red is passion, orange is creativity, yellow is wisdom, green is health, blue is spirituality, indigo is self awareness, violet is imagination." "I''m just curious, but what color is your crystal piece?" "Do you even have to ask? It''s red obviously." *beep... beep... "What kind of sound is that?" "Ha ha, it''s a pager sound. Oh, it''s a message from Ren. What is it, Ren?" "Tatsu, can you help me?" "Of course. What do you need, Ren?" "I''m stuck in Cross Town Prison. Can you get me out of here?" "Prison! What have you done?" "I don''t really understand why I got arrested. The guard doesn''t respond to me. I need somebody else to intervene." "Wait for me. I''ll go right now." Tatsu asks Lilith to wait for his brother. He says he wants to go back to Cross Town and help Ren. Lilith says she also wants to go, but Tatsu persuade her to stay.

Back in the prison. I tried calling the guards a few times, but nobody is responding to it. The forum didn¡¯t have any info about prison inside Cross Town. I guess I¡¯m the first person to get arrested. I decided to ask Tatsu for help. Well, he¡¯s the first person who responds when I send a message. "I hope Tatsu comes quickly." Sitting inside a prison and doing nothing will dull your senses. I read about that somewhere. So I decided to play around with my magic. This way I can grind my skills and not waste my time. I cast <> and <> a few times. I want to try casting <> towards the iron bars, but I''m afraid the guards will come and punish me for trying to run. The room is full with me, a stone bed and three <> barely leaving any space to move around. I do a practice target with the <> using <>. It¡¯s about to reach intermediate so I need to grind it as soon as I can. 30 minutes later, I heard a footstep coming from the left. ¡®Finally!¡¯ I cancel out the remaining <> and sit on top of the bed. A guard arrived in front of my cell. ¡°You. Come out. Duke Noel would like to have a word with you.¡± ¡®Eh? It¡¯s not Tatsu?¡¯ The guard walks beside me with his spear pointed at me. ¡°Keep going. Don¡¯t do anything rash.¡± We keep moving in a straight line. ¡®This place seems familiar.¡¯ After 5 minutes walking in a straight line, we arrived at the basement entrance. ¡®Oh. This place is located near the treasure room.¡¯ He brings me upstairs and proceeds to the room with iron door. ¡®Am I going to be interrogated?¡¯ ¡°Go inside and wait for the Duke. He¡¯ll be here shortly.¡± The room size is bigger than my previous cell. It has a wide table and two chairs which give of a chilly feeling. I knock on it and touch the surface to make sure. ¡®Yup, it¡¯s iron and cold indeed.¡¯ *clack... The door opened and a big man entered the room. He wears a black coat and a classic mafia hat. He¡¯s tall, maybe more than 2 meters tall. The figure is so imposing that I forgot to breathe. I am staring at the man, watching him moving from the door until he sits on a chair. The whole scene played like a slow motion video in my head. ¡®Who is this guy?¡¯

End of Chapter 6 Spoiler : Rainbow Note : Red - passion and enthusiasm Orange - creativity and control Yellow - wisdom and energy Green - growth and health Blue - spirituality and divinity Indigo - self awareness and intuition Violet - imagination By the way - Ethan''s crystal color is Indigo while Lily''s color is Blue 2.7 ~ CHAPTER 7 - Class Promotion I''m back with the update. Here''s chapter 7. The 2nd volume will end after 4 or 5 more chapters. Enjoy

Chapter 7 - Class Promotion "Please take a sit." I proceed to take a sit in front of him. "Let me make things clear first. We received a lot reports stating a young traveller is running amok in the city. A few people said there''s a witch apprentice in the city. Some other people said a young man carrying a voodoo doll is cursing people around the city." ''Well, that''s...'' I''m speechless. Now that he mentioned it, I am indeed the young man carrying the voodoo doll. But cursing people? Witch apprentice? "How should I address you?" He looked at me. "Ren." "Okay, Ren. May I see the mentioned voodoo doll?" I open my inventory and took out the voodoo doll. Upon receiving it, he inspects the item closely. "Hmmm. Where did you this?" "I found it from the remnant of the witch house." "I see. You can have it back." He returned the voodoo doll to me. "I''m going to be honest with you, Ren. Our town is small compared to the others, but we have a close relationship with all the residents. Your action had caused unrest among the people but since it didn''t inflict any harm, we decided to let you go with a warning. Please do not reveal that voodoo doll inside the town." ''Just like that?'' "Of course if you decide to go against the warning, we will act accordingly." That sentence was said with a deep voice. His eyes locked onto mine with a deep cold gaze. He proceeds to go out of the room. Not a single greeting. I guess NPC won''t show respect for criminal, although I am not one. I also leave the room. As soon as I open the door, I saw a glimpse of the previous big guy. He''s moving his hand as if he''s opening a game menu. ''Wha...!'' The guy in black vanishes into thin air. I am dumbfounded. I stand still in front of the door with my mouth open wide. A little while later, Noel arrived in front of the door. "What are you doing standing in front of the door? Hurry up and go inside." "Yes?" I was confused, but I still follow his direction. "Listen, Ren. I know you didn''t mean harm but going around town showing voodoo doll is not a good way to interact. No matter how you look at it, voodoo doll is considered a bad thing. Please refrain from showing the voodoo doll in the future." "I''m sorry." I only said what he wants to hear. I won''t rebuke him, I don''t want this to end up the same way as what happened in the treasure room earlier. "Good. Consider this as a warning; I hope I won¡¯t meet you again in here. You are free to go." A guard come in and escort me out of the castle. As soon as I''m out of sight, I check the voodoo doll.

Voodoo Doll The doll made by the children kidnapped from Cross Town and finished by a mysterious man. There¡¯re traces of blood in its limbs and the head is twisted 180?. This bizarre doll is made of woven straws.

¡®It changed! How?¡¯ He just inspected it in open space. I didn¡¯t see him switching it or doing anything elaborate, but it changed. What¡¯s more, he¡¯s capable of vanishing into thin air. Is this how the quest progress? ¡®Better keep it before anyone else sees it. Who knows if anyone will report me again?¡¯ I should contact Tatsu. *Beep... beep... ¡°Yo, Ren. I¡¯m almost there. Just wait.¡± ¡°No. About that. I have been freed. So we can meet up near the fountain.¡± ¡°Hee? Tell me more about it later. ETA is 1 minutes maybe, I already arrived near the South Gate.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± 2 minutes later Tatsu arrived at the fountain. ¡°Yo, Ren. How is it?¡± ¡°Ah. It¡¯s not so bad. I suppose it¡¯s good to experience a lot of things.¡± ¡°Tell me how you get out of the prison.¡± ¡°I was captured because I keep showing a bizarre item around the town. I didn¡¯t realize that NPC will report me to the garrison.¡± ¡°What kind of bizarre item? Underwear?¡± ¡°Pfft. I¡¯m not Yuu. It¡¯s a quest item.¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a voodoo doll.¡± ¡°Ahahahaha. No wonder you get caught.¡± ¡°But... It¡¯s a quest item. Aren¡¯t we supposed to gather information by asking people about the item?¡± ¡°Oh come on, Ren. You can¡¯t expect to use common sense when you don¡¯t even know the current situation of the town. Listen, our common sense doesn¡¯t necessarily apply in this virtual world. For all we know, each kingdom has its own background story and law.¡± ¡°Right. When in Rome, do as the Romans do.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. You are a smart guy. Try to use your head a little more, eh.¡± *sigh ¡°To be mocked by you of all people. How low can I be?¡± He hit my back repeatedly. ¡°That¡¯s alright. Everything¡¯s alright. What are you going to do after this?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have any more quests, so I was thinking of going to second town. What about you?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go together then.¡± ¡°Sure.¡±

We depart from Cross Town immediately. The north road is paved. The mobs around here are mainly composed of kobolds and goblins. It takes about 30 minutes until we reach Adel Town. Most of the mobs are one hit killed with my <>. We ignore those that are not aggressive and only kill those that come towards us. Adel Town is located north of Cross. It is surrounded by wooden fence while Cross Town is surrounded by stone wall. The size of this town is smaller since it didn''t have a castle, but the amount of NPC is significantly higher than Cross. The entrance to the town is guarded by two NPCs. They''re dressed like the garrison member from Cross. We entered the town without exchanging greetings with the guards. "Yuu should be done with his trial by now." "What trial?" "You also need to take it. It''s to collect a crystal needed for guild creation." "Is it a quest? Where do I get it?" "It''s not a quest. You can take the trial if you meet a certain criteria." "And that is?" "Having one of your parameter levels surpasses your character level." "In other words, I need to do class promotion before I can take this trial." "Yeah. Your class is elementalist so you need to grind that M.Power parameter after you do class promotion." ¡®Oh well.¡¯ The town is lively. There¡¯s a paved road leading all the way around the town in a zigzag shape. Almost all houses we passed by have a blue roof with the exception of the inn. We arrived at the inn. The building is bigger than the other. It is a 3-storey building. We go towards the room 203. *knock knock ¡°Yuu, it¡¯s me.¡± *Braakk... brukkk... ¡®What a noisy room. What is he doing inside?¡¯ Tatsu put that wicked smile again and then he suddenly opens the door with a force strong enough to break the door. Inside the room, there is Yuu who lay on his back on the floor with Lilith sitting on top of his stomach. The bed is turned upside down, the pillows are scattered on the floor and the blanket covered Yuu¡¯s upper body. Lily can be seen sitting in the corner reading a book. ¡®What a bizarre situation.¡¯ ¡°I see nothing, I hear nothing.¡± ¡°Wua ha ha ha ha ha. My oh my. I never thought that Lilith would be so aggressive.¡± ¡°Nnn...noooo! No! No! No! No! You got that wrong.¡± She stuttered and her face blushed. I notice Lily¡¯s breath is getting shorter and her gaze is fixed on Lilith. ¡°Oh really? The way I see it, it looks like you¡¯re attacking my brother.¡± ¡°I...I...It¡¯s not like that. I... I... I... I was just...¡± ¡°Mmmmm... Mmmmpppp.... mmmppppp¡± A mumbling sound can be heard from the blanket. Lilith pulls the blanket away. ¡°Puuuaaahhh. I thought I was going to die.¡± Yuu¡¯s face is so red almost like a boiling crab. With his eyes half closed, he scans the room and locks his gaze on me. I was holding my stomach and my mouth trying so hard not to laugh. ¡®I can¡¯t hold it anymore!¡¯ ¡°Buhhh. Bha ha ha ha ha ha. Yuu, your face is so red. You look like you¡¯ve been cooked for too long.¡± Everyone start laughing one after another.

¡°Let¡¯s hunt wolves. The wolves in the eastern side spawn fast. It should be a perfect place to grind.¡± ¡°But I¡¯m still lv 19. I need one more level to do class promotion.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay, let¡¯s all hunt wolves for a while. After you level up, we will go to another place while you take your class promotion quest.¡± ¡°Sure.¡± We make a party with the usual members, me, Tatsu, Yuu, Lilith and Lily. Yuu¡¯s equipment is shining brightly under the sun. He has upper body armor, leg guard, gauntlet, shield and sword. Most of his equipment is magic items. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Game Information Normal Item (White Colored) < Magic Item (Blue Colored) < Rare Item (Orange Colored) < Unique Item (Gold Colored) Separated from them: Legendary Item (Rainbow Colored) and Demonic Item (Dark Red Colored)

¡®Come to think of it, I only have Orb of Flame and Cloth Armor plus two accessories.¡¯ I need to gauge the mobs attack power around this area. Tatsu and Lilith already changed their weapons to a rare item. Lily also had a rare book as her weapon. The only person who hasn¡¯t changed their equipment is me, but so far I¡¯m the only with accessories. ¡°By the way, Yuu. How come Lilith is sitting on top of you when we entered the room.¡± Recalling the previous scene, both Yuu and Lilith blushed. ¡°Ah. That was because this shorty actually tried testing her paralytic arrow on me. My whole body went numb and she got excited. You know the rest.¡± ¡°Excited my ass. You¡¯re too defenseless against woman so I have to make sure you stay cautious. That accident was also because you¡¯re squirming around. If only you didn¡¯t move.¡± ¡°What do you mean MY FAULT? Isn¡¯t it obvious it¡¯s YOUR FAULT?¡± ¡°No! It¡¯s your fault!¡± ¡°YOURS!¡± ¡°YOURS!¡± That speech battle continues for a whole 10 minutes. To other people, we might seem like an absurd party with its members fighting against each other. For me, this is a proof that we are as close as a family.

Right now, I¡¯m in the north part of the town waiting for my instructor to show up. A few minutes ago I took a class promotion quest from the Mage NPC in the southern part of the town. He asked me to meet an instructor in the northern part of the town with no weapons equipped. *wooosshhh¡ woooosshhh¡ The wind blows very gently around here. The temperature is cool and the wind makes it more peaceful. I¡¯m sure I looked serene from other people view, leaning against a tree and letting my hair swayed by the winds. ¡°Did you wait long?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t mind. This place is calm and the wind blows gently.¡± ¡°Indeed. Come, follow me.¡± The instructor looks very thin. He has a short hair with bunny ears protruding on top of his head. He wears a tuxedo and holds a wooden staff on his left hand. ¡®Too bad it¡¯s not a woman. Imagine if it was a bunny girl¡ he he he.¡¯ We spend 10 minutes walking to the northern area outside the town. We arrive at a building that looks like an abandoned warehouse. It is a 2-storey building with a few planks acting as a bridge between each area on the 2nd floor. The 2nd floor is visible from below. ¡°Can you see the target located in the middle room?¡± ¡°That arrow target practice?¡± ¡°Correct. There are a total of thirteen targets excluding the middle one scattered around the warehouse. Find them and hit them with one of your magic. I¡¯ll wait for you at the entrance.¡± I cast my <> towards the middle target and proceed to charge <> while looking for the other targets. After hitting two more targets located on the second floor, I start thinking. ¡®Which one is faster? Confirming location and destroy or destroy as I move?¡¯ Considering the building layout and targets positioning, I choose to locate all targets first. <> I make a mental map of the place and the targets that are scattered around. I found 4 targets on the 1st floor, 1 near the entrance, 1 near the ladder, 2 facing each other with only a slight visible part. On the 2nd floor, I found 4 targets, 1 on the ceiling, 1 near the tinted window and 2 targets located exactly the opposite of each other in the corner building. ¡®That¡¯s 10 already. Where¡¯re the others?¡¯ I took a ladder to the roof. There¡¯s 1 on the roof. I marked its location on my mental map. Confirming there¡¯re no other targets on the roof, I go back on 2nd floor. ¡®Wait a minute. From the roof, there should be a space under that lamp.¡¯ I take a closer look and find out it was a room with a wall so black that It looks like a dead end. Upon further inspection, I found another 2 targets inside the room. ¡®I see. Since the lamp is not turned on, there¡¯d be no way you can perceive the room with naked eye.¡± Once I confirmed all the position, I start casting <> with < >. The one on the roof is located directly below the one on the ceiling. I can use piercing ice javelin to get those two at the same time. I do the same thing for 2 targets inside the darkened room. I can proudly say that I do everything efficiently. With minimum movement, I fire my spells making my way towards the entrance. Every target was hit in a matter of seconds. ¡°Instructor, I¡¯m finished.¡± ¡°That was fast. Let me check.¡± He operates his hand and a report appears in front of me.

Class Proficiency Report
Name :	Ren	Race :	Half Elf

Assessment	Proficiency
Magic Control	90%
Accuracy	100%
Speed	97%
Rank	3rd

¡°3rd rank?¡± ¡°It means you are the third person who complete the whole set in the fastest time.¡± ¡°So there are two people faster than me?¡± ¡°Correct. This is your reward.¡±

Choose your desired skill

Void Mastery Allow you to produce non-elemental magic with your mana.

Adaptability Your ability to adapt to any situation has been proven. This skill will allow you to accelerate your growth. *Requirement: Mana Manipulation on 100% proficiency.

¡®Oh, another hidden skill. It¡¯s tempting, but if I don¡¯t pick void mastery, I¡¯ll be stuck with just the basic spells.¡¯ These two choices make me stressful. If I pick void, I¡¯ll walk the path of normal elementalist, but the hidden skill reward is obviously tempting. It¡¯s a hidden skill that¡¯ll only be triggered if my basic elementalist skill reach 100% proficiency. After a hard thinking, I decided to pick the hidden skill.

Skill Name:	Adaptability
Skill Rank:	Beginner	Skill Type:	Passive / Skill Tree
Skill Level:	1	0%
This skill will help boost your growth rate. Skill Boost (Boost all your extra skill by 1)

¡®Heeee? Is this corresponding with my copycat?¡¯

Skill Name:	Copycat
Skill Rank:	Beginner	Skill Type:	Unique
Skill Level:	8	50%
Expect the unexpected. Copy your opponent skill and use it as your own. Heal (Single Target Recovery Spell) Empty Slot

End of Chapter 7 2.8 ~ CHAPTER 8 - Crossing Path Ren''s here and I''m back with Chapter 8. I will try to keep up the pace with 1 chapters / 4 days. I am busy with works and only have time to write on night. Hopefully I can keep the pace that is going now. Without further ado, enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 8 - Crossing Path After completing my class promotion, I go towards the eastern area because I need to grind my status before leveling up. The wolf mobs are spread out evenly. There is a good amount of players hunting in this area with the majority belonging to close combat class.

Wild Wolf Lv 18

Wild Wolf Lv 20

I''m trying to find a wolf who is located far away from the pack. I don''t have the confidence to fight against two wolves at the same time. <> I put one between me and the wolf. <>

243

It took out 15% of its HP. As expected, my damage is low. When I party up with Tatsu and the others, the wolf pack was easily killed. The bizarre difference between goblins and wolves is the level. While goblin is leveled below 10, the wolf can reach up to lv 20 with its HP over 7x goblin''s HP. ''Hmm. I should change my weapon.'' The wolf runs towards me. It is jumping over the <>. *slash

708

its claw slashed at my torso and took out over 50% of my HP in a single hit. Considering I''m still wearing beginner cloth armor, I was guessing the wolf attack would be around 30% at most, but its damage was higher than my expectation. ''Not good. If I take two hits, I will definitely die.'' I run as hard as I can to the town entrance. On the way, I got scratched by its claw once again. My HP dropped to 39%. ''Thank God, it was only a scratch.'' *huff huff Near the entrance, the guard NPC immediately kills the wolf in a single strike. The guards attack power is so high. Even Tatsu need 3 hits to kill a single wolf. I cast <> on myself. It only recovers my HP by 12%. Since I don''t have the passive skill of a priest, the recovery amount is lower compared to a Priest.

Heal Recover target''s HP by 20%. If the target''s level is over 20, effect will be reduced by 40%.

There are two ways to copy an active skill. The methods are getting hit by the skill or copy your target''s movement and spend mana until you get it right. I copied Lily''s <> by using the first method. ''Is there any mage class around with mid-tier element spells?¡¯ I check my skills. Looking at my skill screen, my expression quickly changed from happy to sad.

Skill Name:	Mana Manipulation
Skill Rank:	Intermediate	Skill Type:	Passive / Skill Tree
Skill Level:	3	100%
Mana manipulation. Allowed you to control your mana output. Skill List : Minimum Power (Reduce Mana Cost) Piercing Spell (Toggle Support Magic, reduce damage by 20% to add piercing effect to your spell) Condensed Magic+ ( Toggle Support Magic, increase damage from your spell)

The <> is the ultimate skill derived from my mana manipulation skill tree. I guess I got it when my proficiency reached 100%. It got a + sign after the skill name. ¡®Did my < affect this too?¡¯ I guess the ultimate skill was counted as extra skill. You can¡¯t believe how happy I am to actually capable of learning an ultimate skill while still being at intermediate level.

Skill Name:	Fire Mastery
Skill Rank:	Intermediate	Skill Type:	Passive / Skill Tree
Skill Level:	1	87%
Fire element mastery. Allowed you to harness fire element power with your mana. Skill List : Fireball (Single Target Offensive Spell) Firewall (Area Target Defensive Spell) ~~Firestorm~~ (Area Target Offensive Spell)

Skill Name:	Ice Mastery
Skill Rank:	Intermediate	Skill Type:	Passive / Skill Tree
Skill Level:	1	88%
Ice element mastery. Allowed you to harness ice element power with your mana. Skill List : Ice Shard (Single Target Offensive Spell) Ice Javelin (Single Target Offensive Spell, 10% Chance to Freeze Target) ~~Hail Storm~~ (Area Target Offensive Spell)

Skill Name:	Wind Mastery
Skill Rank:	Beginner	Skill Type:	Passive / Skill Tree
Skill Level:	8	47%
Wind element mastery. Allowed you to harness wind element power with your mana. Skill List : Air Resistance Down (Single Target Assist Spell) Air Bullet (Single Target Offensive Spell)

Skill Name:	Earth Mastery
Skill Rank:	Beginner	Skill Type:	Passive / Skill Tree
Skill Level:	8	33%
Earth element mastery. Allowed you to harness earth element power with your mana. Skill List : Clay Shield (Single Target Defensive Spell) Rock Bullet (Single Target Offensive Spell)

The next one is the elemental mastery skill tree. The 5th tier spells are crossed. I become gloomy. I can¡¯t even learn <>. ¡®I knew this, but still¡¡¯ I knew that when I chose to become an elementalist, I won¡¯t get to learn higher tier spells. I thought I was prepared for this, but the impact it caused was certainly big. It felt like having cold water splashed on your face. You are prepared for the impact caused by the water, but the coldness will still be felt no matter what. I keep scrolling through my skill list.

Skill Name:	Copycat
Skill Rank:	Beginner	Skill Type:	Unique
Skill Level:	8	50%
Expect the unexpected. Copy your opponent skill and use it as your own. Heal (Single Target Recovery Spell) Empty Slot

Skill Name:	Adaptability
Skill Rank:	Beginner	Skill Type:	Passive / Skill Tree
Skill Level:	1	1%
This skill will help boost your growth rate. Skill Boost (Boost all your extra skill by 1)

My copycat has two skill slots now. The <> passive effect was superb. If I didn¡¯t reach 100% proficiency on any of my skills or I didn¡¯t learn the <>, this <> will be useless. After probing around my skill screen, I decided to go back to town to change my gears. After this, I should locate another mage and copy his/her skill. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Near the inn, a lot of players can be seen selling their items. The players stay on the right side of the zigzag road. A white haired boy can be seen strolling around the road while sometimes glancing over the items being sold at the stalls. ¡®There are barely any accessories being sold. How am I supposed to raise my resistance against magic?¡¯ He keeps strolling until he reached a certain stall. The owner of the stall has a beastlike appearance of a bull. Two tiny horns can be seen on top of his head. He put up a few mantles for sale in his stall.

Leather Cape Magic Resistance +0.1% A cape made from animal leather. It was made by an average craftman.

Fur Coat Ice Resistance: 5% A coat made from animal fur. It can guard against the cold in winter. Wearing this will keep you warm in the winter.

¡®Fu fu fu. Unexpectedly, I found something in the corner of the town.¡¯ All the items for sale are unidentified. This is a rare case since you can¡¯t really sell item without any info on it. What kind of idiot would buy an unidentified item from a stranger? ¡°Excuse me. How much for the Fur Coat?¡± ¡°Hrm? Which one?¡± The white haired boy takes the Fur Coat out from the stack of Leather Cape. ¡°Oho. I see that you have identification skill.¡± ¡°Yes. How much for the Fur Coat?¡± ¡°7,000 Silver Coins.¡± ¡®7,000! It got the same price as magic tier weapon.¡¯ ¡°Too expensive. Lower it a bit more.¡± ¡°No can do. The materials are a bit hard to find. I won¡¯t sell it for less than 7,000. Take it or leave it.¡± The white haired boy stands still for a while. He was preoccupied with the thought weighing the pros and cons of the Fur Coat. He was so engrossed in it that the stall owner keeps yelling at him. ¡°Hey!¡± ¡°Oi!¡± ¡°Earth to alien.¡± ¡°Ah. You finally respond. So, you want it or not?¡± ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll take it.¡± ¡°Thanks for your business.¡± The boy registers the Fur Coat on his equipment screen and he walks back to the town entrance.

At R/R Tech Laboratory. The meeting room is filled with ten people wearing a white lab coat. Each of them is carrying a portable terminal. ¡°It has been a week since the last update was applied. How is the current progress?¡± ¡°Not good. The amount of data is too little. We can¡¯t really proceed to the next phase with just these.¡± A lot of holographic information floats in the middle of the meeting table when the scientist operates his portable terminal. ¡°Since we applied the Karma System, the frequency of PK occurring is getting lesser. It¡¯s a good thing for the game. But the impact is no lesser than a gigantic hammer. The 12 candidates rarely engage in PK after the update.¡± ¡°The amount of data we can gather from PvE is not enough. We need the data from PvP too.¡± ¡°Also, we really need to test these two candidates.¡± She operates her terminal. Ethan and Ren information were shown in the middle of the table replacing the previous holographic information. ¡°Candidate Ethan has surprisingly high reaction time. This measurement is not normal even for an expert at martial artist. We have seen his adventure on Eden including a few boss fights. His reaction time could be considered as the best in the whole world.¡± ¡°Candidate Ren has surprisingly fast adaptation rate. This measurement is not normal even for a war veteran. We have seen his adventure on Eden, but his progress is slower compared to the other candidates. In a few cases, he shows a high aptitude towards scout characteristic such as hearing sensitivity, ability to locate things from sounds only and wide vision range.¡± ¡°These two are the candidates that young master had interest in. How did he do that?¡± ¡°You people might not know this, but young master has a deep insight towards certain things.¡± ¡°Deep insight?¡± ¡°No more, enough about the young master. How should we solve the lack of data?¡± ¡°Maybe we need to administer an event? That way we can gather more data.¡± ¡°What if they don¡¯t participate?¡± ¡°Err¡¡± ¡°Shall we use our avatar? We can persuade them directly inside Eden.¡± ¡°Hmm. Do it discreetly. Make sure they don¡¯t find out.¡± ¡°Then we¡¯ll use Goliath, Juggernaut, SickMan, and Peridot.¡± The four names mentioned by the female scientist are the avatar names owned by her team. They were mainly used to collect data from Eden and rarely interact with other players. ¡°Let¡¯s meet up for planning on Adel Town. Meet me in the inn, room 201.¡±

Back to Ren. I walk towards the zigzag road since there¡¯re a lot of players opening private stall. On the way, I bumped into a gorilla. No kidding. His face is full of wrinkles and his arms are thicker than his legs. Thick eyebrow and disordered hairstyle, this guy is the embodiment of delinquent.

Goliath Lv 38

His level is no joke. He was two levels short to the second promotion. ¡°Watch your steps, kid!¡± It is in my nature to avoid conflict. I don¡¯t really like conflict, especially a conflict coming from a stranger. Unless he tries to bring me harm, I won¡¯t react viciously. ¡°Sorry about that.¡± After apologizing, I start browsing the stall. I need to replace my weapon and cloth armor. After walking for a while, I found a stall selling embedded gloves. It¡¯s not that I dislike the orb, but it hinders my movement. Carrying an orb in one hand while the other hand directs my magic, it does actually look ugly in my opinion. Looking around the stall, I found a few items worthy to be used.

Frozen Glove of Nifleheim P.Atk : 15 M.Atk : 57 Durability : 35/35 Special Effect : +10% Damage to Ice Spells A pair of gloves made by Dietrich. It has a high durability with muse symbols embed in its surface. Specialized Weapon for Mage Class.

Fiery Glove of Sol P.Atk : 15 M.Atk : 62 Durability : 35/35 Special Effect : +10% Damage to Fire Spells A pair of gloves made by Dietrich. It has a high durability with sol symbols embed in its surface. Specialized Weapon for Mage Class.

¡®This sense of naming. The creator is undoubtedly a chuunibyou.¡¯ ¡°How much for the gloves?¡± ¡°Which one?¡± ¡°The frozen and the fiery.¡± ¡°The frozen cost 5,000 Silver and the fiery cost 6,000 Silver.¡± ¡°Expensive!¡± ¡°What do you expect? This is a good weapon for mage class. It even has a 10% damage boost for respective element. This is a high class item.¡± ¡°These are specialized weapon and it cost me 1 weapon slot and 1 glove slot. You can¡¯t expect me to buy this on a normal weapon price.¡± ¡°Damn! I guess you¡¯re not clueless. Fine, 4,000 Silver for each.¡± ¡°I''ll take the frozen.¡± Negotiate? Nah, when dealing with other player, it is in your best interest to go at it with honesty. Pay the price if you think it was good enough. There¡¯s no such thing as overpriced item, there are only people with good analysis and people with poor judgment. There are no stalls that sell cloth armor. I really need the armor, so I go towards the NPC Armor Store. It is located not far from the inn. I bought a generic cloth armor and leg guards.

Cotton Robe P.Def : 20 Durability : 20/20 A robe made from cotton materials.

Fabric Leg Guard P.Def : 10 Durability : 20/20 A leg guard made from generic fabric.

The cloth armor has def power 2x my previous cloth. With this, I can stand my ground against the wolf. I walk towards the town entrance. ¡®There are a lot of people here. Is there an event or something?¡¯ In front of the entrance, a lot of people are gathered making a circle. There are two players dueling inside the circle.

Juggernaut Lv 30

Peridot Lv 27

Juggernaut wields a longsword while Peridot wears an embedded glove. Juggernaut dashes forward with a stab. Peridot casually steps to the right avoiding the sword. The sword suddenly changes its trajectory and slashes horizontally at Peridot. She rolls on the ground and leap behind him. *Boom She cast <> and sweeps his leg. He drops to the ground and rolls to the side avoiding a heel drop from Peridot. He prepares his stance and does a cross slash. Peridot arches her back making the first hit miss, but still got hit by three more hits. Peridot¡¯s HP bar shows 34% while Juggernaut¡¯s HP bar shows 57%. Unexpectedly Peridot¡¯s defense is quite high. Juggernaut was a level 30 swordsman making him a formidable close combater, but this Peridot was a level 27 battle mage with hand to hand skill actually able to stand her ground after being hit by a <> with <>. Once again, Juggernaut dashes forward. Peridot also dashes forward. When they are close enough, Peridot immediately puts her hand up. A light shines from her hand for a brief period. Juggernaut was stunned for a brief moment with his sword used to guard his chest. It was <>, a skill from battle mage that was used to blind her opponent. It was activated at close range making it hard to read. In that brief moment, she hits Juggernaut with three hits combo and finishes him with a <>. ¡®Amazing. No wonder battle mage class was praised so highly.¡¯ The level 27 battle mage just defeated a level 30 swordsman in a duel. That Peridot must be an experienced fighter. ¡°Who else want to try the Duel Ring?¡± Now. That piqued my interest.

End of Chapter 8 2.9 ~ CHAPTER 9 - Gorilla! I''m back with the update. It''s late because of internet connection is down for two full days. I''ll try to update the next chapter in 2 or 3 days since it''s halfway done. Enjoy the hilarious moment that you will read in this chapter.

Chapter 9 - Gorilla! The duel continues with different people. They fight one on one with only one rule, last man standing. No items can be used inside the duel ring unless it was a consumable item for skill that is automatically used when the skill is triggered. You can buff yourself before starting the match. It seems there is a price for the winner. A tall man with a paper bag covering his head is acting as MC.

SickMan Lv 23

"Those who wants to test the duel ring will need to register here." Across the ring, I saw a white haired boy arguing with a very bulky man. It''s the gorilla who bumped into me earlier. The man seems to be yelling at the boy, but the boy ignores him. I walk towards them hoping I can get a closer look on what is going on between them. ¡°¡ stinky brat! Why don¡¯t you fight me one on one on the duel ring. I¡¯m not scared of you.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t regret it!¡± When I take a closer look, I can see that the lv 38 gorilla is arguing with a lv 39. ¡®Holy shit, the white haired boy¡¯s level is actually higher than the gorilla.¡¯ They walk towards the MC and register for the next duel. At a glance, the boy equipment doesn¡¯t look good. A leather armor covered with a furry coat along with a pair of leather shoes and bandana, your typical light combat class that focus on speed. The gorilla is wearing a steel armor and carrying an oversized sword with a pair of steel boots and steel gauntlet. This gorilla seems more intimidating than the white haired boy. ¡®Now this is a rare sight. Duel between high leveled characters. I¡¯m not going to miss it. It will be better if I can copy one of their skills.¡¯ Currently on the ring, there are an archer and a mage fighting against each other. The archer is using a longbow. Longbow is a specialized weapon for archer class, usually used by sniper class. The mage is using a two-handed staff. Two-handed staff is a general weapon where every class can use it.

Game Information There are two types of weapons in Eden Online. General Weapons : Can be used by any class. Most of them are weaker than specialized weapon. Specialized Weapons : Can only be used by specific class, stronger than most general weapons.

The archer starts the preemptive attack by dashing towards the mage. ¡®A longbow user initiating close combat?¡¯ Longbow advantages are range and damage. It provides shooting range farther than normal bow and high damage output. The archer actions can be considered weird even if the opponent is a mage. The mage prepared his staff and cast <> around his body. The archer immediately retreats while throwing something on the ring. Seeing the archer retreats, the mage cast another spell <> towards the archer. The archer rolls on the ground and jumps to the corner ring. He draws his bowstring and activates his skill <>. The mage immediately cast <> to block his arrow, but his arrow is faster. *bbbzzzzttt The arrow sticks to the mage¡¯s right leg. The mage hides behind the clay shield and start casting <>. It is the fourth spell derived from <> that deal continuous damage in an area. I think it was an 8th tier spell. Since the mage hides behind the clay shield, the archer activates his skill <> at the things he threw when he retreat earlier. *boooooomm Four explosions triggered behind the clay shield, depleting the mage entire HP bar. ¡®A trapper with a sniper skill, formidable indeed.¡¯ Trap skills belong to ranger class while snipe skills belong to sniper class, but this archer is actually capable to use trap skill and snipe skill together. I wonder what his class is. The duel ended with the archer as victor. Gorilla and white haired boy proceed to go next. The white haired boy was named Ethan while the gorilla was named Goliath. ¡°I¡¯m going to kick your ass!¡± ¡°Oooh scary.¡± This Ethan boy actually acts so carefree. Is he really that confident? With just one level difference, there shouldn¡¯t be many differences. Ethan starts preparing his equipment. The leather armor is now switched with a dark colored overcoat and black boots. Looking at this scene, a look of horror can be seen on Goliath¡¯s face. ¡®That equipment! It couldn¡¯t be!¡¯ (Goliath) When Ethan brings out his sword, Goliath¡¯s face immediately turns pale. The sword has a dark purple aura emanating from it. It really gives me a chill when I look at Ethan¡¯s appearance. Even before the battle starts, Goliath seems to be cowering in fear. ¡®What is so special about Ethan¡¯s equipments to make that gorilla freak out?¡¯ As soon as the battle starts, Ethan dashes towards Goliath with a speed faster than anyone I ever met. <> Ethan activates his skill. A light traces can be seen emanating from his foot. Like a trail of diamond dust, every time he moves, it leaves behind a trail of white glows. Goliath also activates his skill <>. The oversized sword is covered in flames. It''s a skill from magic swordsman class, but as far as I know, magic swordsman shouldn''t be able to use oversized sword or even wear heavy armor. Contrast to his bulky appearance, the way he moves his sword is fast. Just watching him from here, I can feel the air vibrates every time he swings his sword. Ethan doesn''t seem to be bothered by it. *Clang Clang Clang Every time Ethan swings his sword, Goliath blocked it with his oversized sword that is clad in flames. Every time Goliath tries to attack, it only grazes some part of Ethan¡¯s body. If you look closely, you can see that Ethan is moving in a circular movement around Goliath. Ethan attack speed is slightly faster than Goliath. When Ethan''s sword hit Goliath shoulder, a panic look went over his face. The shoulder part of steel armor is turning into a purple color, the same color as Ethan¡¯s sword aura. ¡®I won¡¯t last any longer. No other choice then!¡¯ (Goliath) If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Goliath changes his skill to <>. He¡¯s charging some kind of skill for 1 second and stabs his sword to the ground. <> Multiple earth spikes burst forth from the ground covering the entire duel ring. He thought he had killed Ethan, but Ethan was nowhere to be found. A purple colored aura can be seen on the sky directly above Goliath. Ethan had jump when he saw Goliath charge his skill. ¡°Your fate has been decided!¡± (Ethan) <> A single stab from the sky towards the ground splitting Goliath¡¯s armor right in the middle. <> Three hits combo unleashed towards Goliath. His armor is now covered with purple color and start decaying. When I take a look at it, I saw Ethan¡¯s HP bar still at 87% while Goliath¡¯s HP bar is at 1%. Ethan waits until Goliath¡¯s armor destroyed and then he kills him with a single stab towards the heart. ¡°Blame your own weakness.¡± (Ethan) Ethan puts away his sword and goes out of the ring. ¡°So cool!¡± It was like watching a superhero movie where the main character defeat the villain and say some catchy phrase. The way Ethan spoke just now is very similar with my childhood friend. He also likes to mimic the superhero movies and say catchy phrase like that. ¡®I wonder what he¡¯s doing now.¡¯ The duel ended with Ethan as the victor, while Goliath had his armor destroyed. Goliath is frustrated inside the duel ring and start scanning the area. At this moment, his eyes met with mine. ¡®Uh Oh! Trouble!¡¯ When I was about to run away, he leap from the ring and stand in front of me. ¡°You! You¡¯re the one who bumped into me in the town earlier. I still have to pay you back for it.¡± He dragged me to the MC and registers our duel. Do I really have a choice? My strength is puny no matter how you look at it. Being dragged like a garbage plastic bag, I no longer have any way out. ¡®Let¡¯s do some reassessments. He is a level 38 magic swordsman with an oversized sword as a weapon. Did he have any spare armor?¡¯ I take a look at him, but he is still holding onto my robe. Did he think I would run away? ¡®I guess he won¡¯t bother putting a new armor.¡¯ If only I can put this to my advantage. Too bad I¡¯m not a physical attacker; otherwise I can exploit his lack of armor. Let¡¯s check what I can do inside the rings. I can¡¯t throw potion since items can¡¯t be used. I guess this means I can¡¯t do 100% freeze on him. I tried to simulate some strategies to fight against the gorilla. A while later he drags me to the ring. ¡®Aaaahh. How bad can it be to fight against this gorilla?¡¯ A level 20 elementalist versus a level 38 magic swordsman. The difference is so high. I can only rely on luck and fate. If fate allows it, maybe I can win. *Huuuuu Haaaa I take a deep breath and cast <>. The gorilla is waving his sword in front of me. He tried to provoke me. ¡°Show me what you can do, boy. Who knows? Maybe I¡¯ll change my mind.¡± He stands still in the opposite side of the ring waiting for me to make my move. ¡®Okay, let¡¯s try the first strategy.¡¯ I cast <> directly beneath him. *Woooshhh wooooshh The damage is so little. Even with him standing inside the <>, his HP bar only goes down by 3%. Fire wall supposed to be my most damaging spell. ¡®Plan B then.¡¯ <> I charge multiple <> and run towards the gorilla. Watching my absurd movement, he swings his sword at me. I dodge the sword by ducking and punch him in the throat. Seeing my punch coming, he takes a step back and activates his skill. <> I immediately throw my <> towards his sword. My current skill of condensed magic allowed me to cast multiple spells in a single form like a layered magic. My current <> contained 8 layers of <>. *Peng! A burst of broken sound was heard. The sword now has a crack in it. It indicates the sword currently on the verge of losing its durability. ¡®Condensed Magic?!¡¯ (Goliath) Anger flashed in his eyes. He raised his sword and does <>. My life ended in an instant and at the same time, his sword is broken to pieces. All of this is possible since he didn¡¯t change his weapon after his fight with Ethan. From what I saw earlier, Ethan¡¯s purple blade actually has destructive capability, in other words it significantly diminishes his opponent equipment¡¯s durability with each strike. I died, but I destroyed his equipment. Dying is a sure thing since I can¡¯t even damage him, but making him lose his equipment is a different thing. A wonderful feeling, a sense of accomplishment comes over me. I died with a wide grin plastered on my face. As soon as I resurrected on the spot, I run as fast as I can while he stands there looking dumbfounded. He¡¯ll surely hold a grudge against me, but that look on his face is worth it. That single moment when he saw his sword break into pieces, that look on his face is priceless.

Two hours later. I am now grinding my status in the eastern side of the town. Fighting against the wolves become easy since I can use condensed magic although it took a toll on my mana cost. The gorilla doesn¡¯t seem to mind me since he didn¡¯t look for me. I¡¯m free from a possible nightmare. Three hours later. ¡®I¡¯m finally finished grinding my status.¡¯

Character Info
Name	Ren
Race	Half Elf
Class	Elementalist
Level	21	31%
Physical Strength	6	7%
Magical Power	22	74%
Physical Resistance	14	2%
Magic Resistance	14	94%
Endurance	16	38%
Speed	22	2%
Focus	23	7%

''That should do.'' I need to take the trial for the guild tablet pieces so I walk back to the town and contact Tatsu.

End of Chapter 9 2.10 ~ CHAPTER 10 - Crystal Trial Part 1 I can''t keep up the schedule 4days/chapter It seems I''m overestimating my ability. I''ll try to be more humble next time.

Chapter 10 - Crystal Trial Part 1 It¡¯s 9 o''clock in the morning. I am currently eating spicy fried noodle with meatballs. My sister is sitting across me and eating her own fried noodle. "Ren. Help me buy some groceries after this." "Didn''t we already stock some?" "You only stocked up on instant noodle. It''s not healthy!" "Instant noodle is delicious and easy to make. It''s the epitome of food." "Ppffftt. I need eggs, celeries, tomatoes and potatoes." "You''re not listening to me at all." I furrow my eyebrow in response because of dissatisfaction. "I heard you. Go wash up and buy me those things." "Yea yeah." She''s always like this. She only cooks when she wants to. If she''s not outside, all errands will be put on me. She''s kind of pushy, but the food she makes is delicious so I don''t have any complaint. I finished my noodle and washed the dishes. Afterwards, I took a quick bath and wear black shirt and jean pants. "What do you want to cook tonight?" "A simple teriyaki will do, buy me some chicken meat too." "Yes yes." Why am I not online? Tatsu said the crystal trial can be taken on 10 o''clock until 11 o''clock, so I decided to go offline and eat. The distance from my house to the food market is not too far. It took me 10minutes on my yellow bicycle. As usual, the market is crowded. I wonder why there is two or more stalls selling the same items. The market is a square shaped building with spices on the outer side vendors, vegetable and meat on the inside stalls. It''s like a kitchen show where they put the products on a long table made of ceramics. There''s also a few stalls selling readymade food such as pancakes and breads. I make my trip from egg vendor towards vegetable and then meat. Since my sister said she want to make teriyaki, I pick boneless meat and some breast fillet. When I''m done, I walk towards the parking area. Then I noticed a good smell lingering in the air. I breathe it in. *Shuuu "Aahh, what a nice smell." It''s coming from my left side. I turn to look towards the source of this heavenly aroma. "Ah the cute looking boy over there, come and try my croquettes. It is still fresh." A plump looking auntie called out to me. She got a round face with a never ending smile. She wears an apron with flowers pattern. "Oh. I¡¯ll take one please.¡± Its price is 1$ for two pieces, quite expensive considering it was sold on food market. The moments I take a bite, the cream sauce inside immediately gushed out and flood my mouth. That crisp skin combined with bacon and boiled egg inside it plus sweet and sour cream sauce makes a perfect mix. The sweet taste from the sauce empowers the bacon and the sour taste rises up my appetite. This is probably the most delicious croquette I¡¯ve ever had. I eat the rest within 3 more bites. I can¡¯t believe I just ate a croquette this fast. My sister will surely love this. I proceed to buy 4 more croquettes to enjoy at home. Once I get back, I search for my sister. She¡¯s nowhere to be seen. Then I hear a blower sound from upstairs. It seems she¡¯s drying her hair with a blower. ¡®I guess she¡¯s done showering.¡¯ I take out the food I brought before and place today¡¯s dinner inside the fridge. While I am putting the eggs, my sister comes down from the stairs. ¡°I smell something good. Did you buy something?¡± ¡°Nee-san, I brought some croquettes on the market. It¡¯s super delicious. Come and try it.¡± She take one croquette and bite it in a huge size. ¡°Oh. It¡¯s unexpectedly delicious. I see there are bacon, egg, and chicken meat. Too bad I can¡¯t reproduce the sauce.¡± ¡°Haha. Too bad indeed. I don¡¯t mind eating these croquettes for a whole day.¡± ¡°Damn you snotty brat. I just told you to eat healthy and you want to eat junk food for a whole day? Not going to happen. I¡¯ll cook dinner tonight, make sure you get off your butt on dinner time¡± ¡°Yea yeah.¡±

I log back into Eden as soon as I can. ¡®Come to think of it, I still got that skill book sitting in my inventory.¡¯ I take out the nature skill book which I can¡¯t learn earlier. I try to register it once again. ¡®Oh!¡¯

Skill Name:	Harmony with Nature
Skill Rank:	Beginner	Skill Type:	Passive / Skill Tree
Skill Level:	1	0%
Nature is a mysterious thing. It can provide protection to those who need it. It can also bring destruction to those who harm it. Learn to become one with nature to unlock its mysterious potential. Camouflage (Toggle Support Magic)

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡®Well well, look at me. A mage with stealth! Hu hu hu hu.¡¯ Imagine a mage with the capability of assassin but higher damage output. If I can grind my speed status to the top, I¡¯ll be able to PK other player easily as long as their level is not higher than mine. Looking at the time in my menu, it shows 7:45 PM. It¡¯s almost past the time to get the crystal trial. I hurry back to find the Guild Master NPC in the tavern. The tavern is located near the zigzag road. It is next to the potion store. Even outside the tavern door, I can hear a lot of noises. ¡®What am I expecting? It is a tavern after all.¡¯ Although I dislike noisy places, it¡¯s not enough to turn me away from a quest. According to Tatsu¡¯s information, the NPC should be an old man in his 40s with a muscular build and thick moustache. He is also bald and that makes it easy to find him. I spot a group of 4 people sharing a single table near the corner. One of them is bald and meets most of the criteria except he doesn¡¯t look like a 40s. The guy on the left has long braided hair and a feminine build. I can¡¯t look at his face, but he is dressed like a man with tuxedo and all. The woman on the right has slightly big build; thinner than the auntie I met earlier today but still plump enough to be called big. Her face is refreshing to look at with that smile plastered on it. The last person is sitting with his back facing me so I can¡¯t get a good look at him/her. I walk towards them and ask the bald man. ¡°Hello sir, I am here to take the trial.¡± ¡°¡¡± ¡°¡¡± Am I being ignored? They keep talking among themselves, even laughing in the process. I walk closer towards the bald man and lock my eyes on him. ¡°Good evening, sir. Are you the guild mater?¡± ¡°Huh? Guild Master? Oh you¡¯re talking about Roy. Hey Roy, do you know this cute guy?¡± The man who sits across the bald man looks at me and says ¡°Nah, never met him.¡± Then he proceeds to continue drinking. ¡®He¡¯s not bald!¡¯ Did Tatsu give me wrong information? Looking at his body build, I can¡¯t tell whether he¡¯s muscular or not. ¡°I am here to take the Crystal Trial.¡± ¡°Ah, another one of those people. Fine, follow me.¡± We left the tavern and walk towards the northern part of the town. We arrived at the place where I wait for the instructor for class promotion. ¡®The breeze. This is truly a great place.¡¯ He casts something towards the tree and strikes his palm against a magic diagram that appeared after the chant. Suddenly a black hole formed in the tree and starts to suck me in. ¡°Wha¡!¡± He waves his hand and says ¡°Have a safe trip.¡±

Have you ever tried sucking your hand with a vacuum cleaner? That black hole feels a lot like it except you get sucked in every part of your body. I wish they have a better method instead of using rough method like that. I landed on something concrete. My butt hurts and my left upper arm is numb. It seems I landed in a wrong position. ¡®Damn that NPC. You could have told me before initiating the transfer!¡¯ I take a look around. It¡¯s a wide flatland with a few trees growing on it. I don¡¯t see any other life form beside the trees. ¡®What next?¡¯ I wait for further instruction, but no one is coming. What am I supposed to do in this plain? I wait for another 5 minutes. No sign of anything. ¡®Well, I shall play with my skill then.¡¯ Since I learned <>, I need to test it before using it on anything else. I walk towards the nearest tree and activate my skill. <> My entire body is covered by a faint green light. I take a look at my hands and legs. ¡®Hmm, no stealth. Do I need to be closer?¡¯ I walk until I can lean on the tree. My hands and legs become transparent. ¡®Hooo. Amazing.¡¯ I try to move my hand out of my current position to measure the distance needed to ensure the activation of the <> skill. Bit by bit, I move my hand out of the tree¡¯s shadow. When a light shines upon my hand, the <> is deactivated only on the hand area while my whole body is still invisible. ¡®That¡¯s pretty good.¡¯ Immersing myself into playing with this skill, I didn¡¯t notice there is a person approaching me from behind. ¡°Boo!¡± My eyes open wide, my heart feels like it would jump out of my body. ¡°Hey! That¡¯s not nice!¡± ¡°Ha ha ha ha, can¡¯t help it. Seeing a cute face like yours, it¡¯s impossible not to tease it.¡± ¡°So¡¡± I take a look at her name. ¡°Ms. Sherly, what am I supposed to do in this trial?¡± ¡°It¡¯s simple. You can do anything you want. If you want to end it, you can speak to me again.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± She vanished after saying that. ¡®Do anything I want? Okay, think. What is strange from the last scene?¡¯ I recall the images from when I landed here until she vanished. The sky, land and trees. Nothing is out of ordinary. ¡®Except!¡¯ I recalled the image when she surprises me by shouting boo. Wasn¡¯t I on stealth? Without realizing it, my stealth has come undone. I look at my skill and camouflage is turned off. ¡®Since when?¡¯

Next chapter is about the trial. I can¡¯t make it inside this chapter since I don¡¯t have time anymore until the promised time. Please bear with this for a while until I update the next chapter. Notice Notice Bad News : My ipad was broken last sunday. I''ll be busy with it for a few days. Chapter update will be postponed Good News : Only 1 chapter inside my ipad and it''s chapter 11 This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.I got chapter 12 on my google drive so it''s saved Fixing this old ipad maybe takes a week or so Promise to update as soon as I can get the file out of it 2.11 ~ CHAPTER 11 - Crystal Trial Part 2 I''m back with the update I''m sad because my ipad is broken. Hardware failure... Well, it''s an old stuff anyway. Enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 11 ¨C Crystal Trial Part 2 <> ¡°¡¡± ¡°¡¡± <> I¡¯ve been trying a lot of things since the young lady left me alone. It seems <> has a time limit and can be cancelled by certain action. Since nobody is here except me, I can¡¯t really test what action actually cancels my stealth other than that ¡°Boo!¡± from earlier. <> allows me to hide in the shadows, but I don¡¯t really know the restriction other than this. Tree¡¯s shadow is the only thing I can find in this place. I also notice certain thing. It seems mana consumption in this place is reduced. I cast <> over and over, but my mana pool is still over 90%. I also tried <> and <> and my mana pool is still so high. Since there¡¯s no target, it seems casting random magic won¡¯t raise my skill level, even the self-target spell doesn¡¯t get any experience after continuous casting. ¡®Too bad. This should be a perfect place for grinding if I can gain experience on my skill.¡¯ Considering the situation, I decided to use <> and try to learn some other skill. <> I¡¯m using the second method to copy skill; that is to produce the same movement by spending mana over and over again until I can get it right. My mana will be consumed when <> is active and the amount of mana consumed is tremendous. I check my mana pool. Indeed, the mana consumption rate is significantly reduced in this plae. This should allow me more time to copy another skill. I start imaging the scene of Peridot versus Juggernaut. I replay their movement in my head and start moving my body according to it. The first move is leg sweeping. I lowered my body and stick out my right leg. I quickly spin my right leg clockwise making a sweep movement on the ground. No notice. It seems the leg sweep is not a skill or I¡¯m doing it the wrong way. ¡®Let¡¯s do another one then.¡¯ I continue to do leg sweep about one hundred times before I finally give up on it. ¡®So it¡¯s not a skill. Damn! I just wasted a lot of time for that.¡¯ Replaying the image again in my head, I realized that every time a skill is activated, the skill name can be seen briefly above the person who uses it. ¡®Ah. I didn¡¯t notice that.¡¯ I proceed to do another movement. The next thing I try to copy is <>. This is when I find out the negative side of <>. The movement of <> is simple. Stick out your palm and a light will burst forth from it. Even if I repeat this stupid movement a thousand times, there¡¯s no way I can do <>. I recall the way I used to cast spell. One hand holding an orb and one hand to shoot out projectile magic. ¡®Oh my god! This¡ this stupid flaw!¡¯ How am I supposed to copy a magic if the only thing I can see is a wave of hand. No incantation and no spell formula. Only casting bar can be seen if a person cast some magic. I replay the image of <> spell that was used in a duel earlier. It is true there is only a casting bar and the mage doesn¡¯t chant anything else. ¡®Holy shit! I¡ I didn¡¯t notice this.¡¯ If it was like this, then I can¡¯t copy another magic. I feel like I am going to cry over this. Then I realize, I can still copy a magic if it is used against me. *sigh ¡®Haaa¡ in the end, I still need to get hit.¡¯ My brain went into full throttle looking for a way around this. I try to copy a mage movement when they cast magic, but no result. Then I figure out something, Ethan¡¯s skill. <>, that was the name of his skill. Different from other skill, I can see a trail of white light coming from each of his step. It¡¯s either a passive skill or toggle magic since he didn¡¯t cast anything. ¡®Passive skill. Hmm. I also can¡¯t copy that. Goliath also has <>.¡¯ Even <> can¡¯t be copied. My dream of using compressed high-tier magic is being trampled by the limitation of <>. ¡®Grrraaahhhhhh! The more I think of it, the worse it becomes. Forget copycat, I need to find out what to do in this place.¡¯ I need to focus on my current assignment, crystal piece for guild creation. From what I know, the trial has nothing specific. Tatsu said ¡°you just need to do what you want.¡± Since I can¡¯t copy another person magic unless I got hit, I decided to test what kind of skill I can copy right now. I keep moving my body and testing what kind of skill I can copy. From the easiest <> towards <>. All of them tested using my initial equipment short sword. I try replaying all the movement of a swordsman whose video was uploaded in the official website. Three hits combo <> and then higher level skill < >. There is also <>, the three hits combo from hand-to-hand skill tree; a fast one-two and ended with a spinning kick. I can¡¯t reproduce <> with my current equipment. <> requires a spear equipped. This skill does a fast stab on three different places with a quick speed. It briefly stuns the opponent when used correctly. I just redo the same things over and over again. When it prompted to save <> or <>, I refused it all. I¡¯m going to find a mage after this trial and ask him/her to cast high-tier magic on me. If he/she refused, I will force him/her to PK. It¡¯s that simple. ¡°Phew¡ That should do, it¡¯s time to find that young lady.¡± Now that I think of it, I didn''t see her anywhere on the place when I trained earlier. She just scared me and then vanished. Is it possible that she also possess stealth skill? From my experiment with <>, I found out that focused attention can break a half-assed job at doing stealth. How did I find that out? Of course from the moment that young lady screamed at me, my <> actually got cancelled. ¡®Let¡¯s see how you like being surprised.¡¯ I walk slowly and carefully not to make any noise. I scan the area trying to find something out of ordinary. I was hoping for a trail of white light just like Ethan¡¯s. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. A long time passes and I still can¡¯t find her. ¡®Damn! Where is she hiding?¡¯ I spend some more time trying to find traces of light. At first I was skeptical, but now I have some hope. I found a little bit trail of green light, the same green light as my <>. It was hard to detect since the trail is covered in grass with same color. I keep focusing my eyes on the flickering light until I get used to it. Once I confirmed the existence of green light, I know it just a matter of time until I can find her. The only thing on my mind is how am I going to approach her? I start planning on what kind of tricks that I can pull off. ¡®Hmm, maybe I should do the same thing? Scare her a little.¡¯ I was thinking of screaming at her ear, but I can¡¯t really tell where her ear would be if I do find her. Let¡¯s just focus on finding her first. Following the trail of green light, I arrive at a place that looks like grassland. There are three trees placed exactly like a triangle formation, one at the top and two at the bottom corner. The trail points to the center of the formation. ¡®Now, this is interesting.¡¯ The situation is strange. The place looks like it is inviting me to come in. This whole situation reeks of danger, but it also provides stimulation for my adventuring soul. My hand start twitching and I grow excited. ¡®Fine then, if there are monsters around here, I need to setup proper defense.¡¯ I take out a few potions and throw them around the triangle formation. I make sure the puddles are scattered evenly. Even while doing this, I never take my attention off the green light trail. ¡®Let¡¯s see.¡¯ I charge <> and walk around the formation. The thing pointed by the trail doesn¡¯t show any indication of moving. I throw my <> towards it. The <> breaks and the figure that was invisible, now become visible. At this time, a window shows up.

Do you want to learn ¡°Keen Eye¡±?
Yes	No

I forgot the recording is still on. Keen Eye then registered on my skill list. ¡°Grrooowwlllll¡.¡± In the middle of triangle formation, a tiger beast appeared. Its skin is green colored and it has wings. Two sharp fangs protruded from its mouth and drool starts dropping from it. Even with just a glance, you can feel the sharpness of its fangs. Mo body shivered, but I quickly regain my composure. My memories when I was facing the corrupted deadwood are flashing on my mind. The red eyes that keep flashing, the sound it makes when it drags its body, the crunching sound effect when it eats me. ¡®Relax, relax. Keep your cool, Ren.¡¯ At the corner of my eye, I see the tiger starts moving. I steeled my heart and start fighting the tiger.

Wind Tiger Lv 23

< > <> Now that I take a look at it, my mana pool already dropped to 40%. I forgot to turn off the recording. ¡®Well, it doesn¡¯t look like it will disturb my battle. I still have the Rosalia Pendant.¡¯ I leave the recording on. Who knows? Maybe I¡¯ll get another skill. I cast <> towards the tiger who is moving inside the triangle formation. *Wooshh The javelin pierces its leg and hits a puddle. The puddle immediately freeze when hit by the javelin. The frozen area spread out and stops halfway on the tiger¡¯s leg. The tiger stumbles when it tried to move its leg. I run around the triangle formation and keep throwing <> towards its leg. ¡°Huahahahaha, I am a magician. You can¡¯t kill a magician who is prepared before battle.¡± With three of its legs frozen stiff, it lets out a roar. When its HP bar drops to 60%, the wings on its back start to move. They flap faster and faster as if the tiger is trying to fly. But I was mistaken, it wasn¡¯t trying to fly, but conjures a strong wind. A spiraling wind can be seen formed behind the tiger. Its frozen legs break free when the wind blows away the frozen ground. ¡°Shit!¡± A blade made of wind come charging towards me. It is visible but too fast to dodge. *Swish It cuts deep into my shoulder. If it was aimed a little bit to the right, I¡¯m sure my neck would be chopped off. My HP bar drops to 84%. ¡®Good. Although the visual looks like it hurts so much, the damage it caused is not that high thanks to the Rosalia¡¯s Necklace.¡¯ Indeed the Rosalia¡¯s Necklace provides me with 5% reduction from elemental damage. Visually the windblade looks like it will cut apart anything it touch in two, but looking at my HP bar, I smiled. ¡°Yosh, let¡¯s see how you deal with fire.¡± < > <> Just about 0.5 second passes before my flame burnout. The wind it conjured is strong enough to suppress my flame. ¡®Bad choice. <> and <> probably not going to survive in this wind.¡¯ My only choice is to keep using ice magic to kill the tiger. I keep throwing <> when I see an opening. It can¡¯t conjure strong wind continuously and need to recharge about 4 seconds before conjuring another wind. When its HP bar dropped to 14%, its eyes become darker. Its whole body trembles and generates wind pulse. ¡®Damn!¡¯ It was an AoE attack, every time I am hit by the pulse, my HP bar is cut by 11%. Although the tiger doesn¡¯t seem to be able to move away from the triangle formation, it has a lot of long range attack. <> Although it doesn¡¯t recover much of my HP, it still helps to keep up when my potion is on cooldown. The pulse lasts for 8 seconds and generates 6 pulses before cooling down. ¡®Chance!¡¯ <> With condensed magic, I cast multiple layered firewall beneath the tiger. Soon enough, the tiger drops dead with my HP bar showing 13%. ¡®That was insanely dangerous!¡¯ I am about to relax when I realize the green light trail moves. ¡®What the¡¡¯

End of Chapter 11 Nearing the end of volume 2 2.12 ~ CHAPTER 12 - Advancing to 2nd Phase I''m back with an update. Without further ado, Enjoy

Chapter 12 ¨C Advancing to 2nd Phase R/R Research Lab A lot of noises come from a closed room on the second floor. Inside the room there are videos playing on the big screen. The screen is big enough to cover the room from left to right. ¡°Did you see that?¡± Said the young master who is wearing a black suit with a crimson colored tie. ¡°He actually copied a passive skill.¡± Said an old man who wears glasses and white lab coat. ¡°How is the brain reading?¡± ¡°Amazing, it shows he went into a brain burst state for 30 seconds.¡± ¡°30 seconds! Imagine what he can do with a full data bank.¡± ¡°In my opinion, we really should pick him. By far, he can adapt to an environment faster than anyone. See that scene where he found the green trail.¡± The video on the left screen goes into fast forward mode and stops when the mentioned scene comes up. It is the scene where Ren uncovered the existence of Wind Tiger. ¡°Look at this.¡± The screen zoomed on a certain part of Ren¡¯s body. ¡°Let me play it on slow motion.¡± The video starts playing with 0.2 play speed. ¡°Look at that. His body is actually twitching inside Eden. I assure you that this reaction proves how fast his body reacts to an anomaly. This kind of information feeds is not something a normal person can do.¡± ¡°I say let¡¯s just pick him up and prepare him for the second phase.¡± ¡°But, can you really ignore this Ethan guy? Look at him, his reaction time is inhuman. If we send him, I¡¯m sure his survival rate is higher than Ren.¡± ¡°No, what are you talking about? Faster reaction time doesn¡¯t mean he can adapt to any situation. In this case, Ren is the one with higher survival rate if we send him.¡± ¡°No way, look at Ethan. Have you ever seen him got ambushed? No. I¡¯m sure he is a veteran or some sort, probably a trained assassin.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you already have their data? Why guess his occupation?¡± ¡°He¡¯s plain. When we went to install the capsule, he looks very ordinary. We even scanned his body, although his body was fit and buffed, it didn¡¯t come close to an expert.¡± ¡°How do you explain that reaction time?¡± ¡°I suppose we have to measure it directly.¡± ¡°What about Ren?¡± ¡°From the simulation, if we send Ren with our data banks, his survival rate is 11%.¡± ¡°11%! That was way too low. It¡¯s the same as suicide.¡± ¡°We can¡¯t help it. The simulation system can¡¯t really simulate his adaptation rate or brain calculation ability. Even if we can read that his brain has high activity, we don¡¯t know what is being calculated inside.¡± ¡°What about Ethan?¡± ¡°If we send Ethan, the survival rate is 18%.¡± ¡°With his reaction time, isn¡¯t it kind of low?¡± ¡°His ability to make decision in a matter of seconds and his nature is hard to calculate. He¡¯s probably the most random personality we ever met.¡± ¡°Random personality?¡± ¡°His decisions inside Eden didn¡¯t fit into any personality so far. We can safely assume he did it in a spur of moment.¡± ¡°Really? The way I see it, this guy is actually very crafty.¡± ¡°What do you mean, young master?¡± ¡°If we assume that he is a hardcore gamer, his duel with Goliath should be avoided. Why take the long road to a duel ring if he can just kill him in that single moment? Why break his armor before killing him? Trained assassin? More like a childish prank.¡± ¡°But his ability to handle sword is by no mean inferior to an expert. How do you explain that?¡± ¡°Well, that is what gets me confused. No matter how you train, a peculiar habit will be formed the moment you pick up martial arts. This guy doesn¡¯t fit any categories at all. Swordsman, assassin, grappler, street fighting, karate, or anything you can find. He¡¯s basically a mixed style.¡± ¡°Forget about fighting arts. If he need self defense, we can teach it. It doesn¡¯t matter whether the candidate has any experience on it or not. We need someone who is capable of applying knowledge into practical situation.¡± ¡°How about this one?¡± The scientist operates his terminal and a statistic bar along with picture of an avatar appears on the right screen. It shows a young girl with a dark grey hair. Her ear looks like a wolf ear. Her body is what you call a model body; moderate bust, slim waist, curvy hip. ¡°Beatrix. She showed some promises during the trial gate, but after that she shows no signs of entering brain burst state.¡± ¡°Her reaction time is above average and her ability to judge people is considered top class. If you want someone to scout people, she is your ~~guy~~, I meant your girl.¡± ¡°She has a good pair of eyes so to speak. But, that is not enough.¡± ¡°Omit the rest candidates; we shall proceed to second phase with Ren and Ethan. You have no complaint, right?¡± ¡°Yes sir.¡± The scientist goes out of the room and starts screaming. Beneath the room, a lot of people wearing white lab coat can be seen sitting in an orderly manner. They are waiting for the meeting to conclude. ¡°The young master decided to use candidate 1 and 2 for the next phase. Prepare for it immediately. You are dismissed!¡± On the corner of the room, a shock look can be seen on the woman¡¯s face. She is one of the team leaders whose avatar named Peridot. ¡® Why! Why didn¡¯t they pick her?¡± Sorrow, sadness, anger, multiple emotions passed by her face making it looks like a distorted face. She grabs her hair and looks down. Most of the scientists already start preparing their files and equipments, but she hasn¡¯t start doing anything yet. One of her colleagues approaches her. ¡°Hey Stella. What are you doing sitting there?¡± Her face immediately goes back to a smiling face. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I dozed off a little.¡± She gives out a wry smile and starts moving towards her desk. If only you can look inside a person¡¯s heart, this woman¡¯s heart will surely be colored black. Just by looking at her, you can sense her anger.

Back at Ren The trail of green light stops in front of me. I¡¯m already tired from fighting that Wind Tiger and now I have to face another. This trial is ridiculous. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. I still focus my attention on the green light, but then I heard somebody screaming at my ear. ¡°BOO!!¡± ¡®Ah!¡¯ I was shocked. I was paying attention, but she appeared out of nowhere besides me. My legs seem to lose their strength and I am falling. *Splaatt Yeah, I fall face down. But this time, I hang on to her so we fall down together. ¡°Aha ha ha ha ha. I never thought you will react this way.¡± Said the young lady who fell down together with me. ¡°You sneaky lady. How come you appeared out of nowhere when the trail of green light stopped in front of me?¡± *Snort ¡°And what does the green light represent?¡± ¡®Huh?¡¯ ¡°The green light shows up when you use your stealth skill, doesn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°I followed the trail to find you.¡± ¡°Result?¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I want to know! How did you appear from out of nowhere when the green light stays in front of me?¡± ¡°Hmm. Too bad your knowledge is still shallow.¡± She muttered that sentence in a low voice and starts casting something. ¡®Uh Oh!¡¯ I remember that time when that stupid Guild Master NPC sent me here. He was also doing something like this without warning. ¡°Stop!¡± I stretch out my hand trying to grab her, but she already done casting and pressed her palm against the earth. A shockwave emitted from her body and my vision goes black. ¡°¡¡± ¡°¡¡± I don¡¯t know how long the darkness stays. Even though I tried to blink repeatedly, there¡¯s no light to be seen. ¡®Is this an event?¡¯ I have a feeling I can move my body, but I can¡¯t see my hand or my leg. Noticing I don¡¯t have any light with me, I try to cast <>. A trail of pure white light starts forming a spiral in the middle of my body, a little bit above my stomach. ¡®What is this?¡¯ It looks like the universe with multiple stars forming a galaxy. From the spiral, a red light starts to flow towards the direction of my hand. Although the light is visible, I can¡¯t see any silhouette of my body. The red light keeps flowing towards my palm. As soon as it reaches the end of my palm, it starts stacking and fills my palm like a river flowing into a lake. At this point, a sparks can be seen on the edge of the lake. The red light that stacks on my palm starts pouring out in a form of a ball. *Whooshh A ball launched from my hand in the form of a dense red light. A splitting pain assaults me, but I keep watching the ball flies. Suddenly everything went dark and somehow I am back at Adel Town. I blink a few times to adjust my vision. I realize I was leaning back on the tree which was used to send me through the portal. ¡®I¡¯m back.¡¯ The splitting pain is still lingering a bit in my head. When I try to move my body, a window appeared in front of me.

Trial Completed Reward(s): Violet Crystal Piece A crystallization of imagination. This crystal piece is a part of seven colored tablet of authority.

¡®I should inform Tatsu.¡¯ I check my friend list, but nobody is online. ¡®Weird, Tatsu and Lilith usually online 24/7. How come both of them offline at the same time.¡¯ I wonder how much time had passed. I check my menu, the clock shows 7.55 PM. ¡®What! 10 minutes?¡¯ There¡¯s no way I spent 10 minutes in that trial. The amount of time I used when I practice the leg sweeping probably close to 40 minutes. Why did Tatsu pick this time to go offline? Damn him, I wish I know his phone number. Since there¡¯s no use pondering about it without any information, I decided to go back to town. Strangely the sky is darker than usual and I don¡¯t meet any NPC along the way to the inn. *Ruumble A lightning appears in the sky. Multiple flashes of thunderbolt can be seen. ¡®Oooh! What a great sound effect!¡¯ It feels so close yet it seems so far. The sound it made was big enough to make my body tremble by reflex, but the thunderbolt visual seems to be happening on a far place.

Dear Players, Eden Online will go into maintenance in 4 hours. Your characters will be forced to log out 30 minutes before the server shutdown. Updates will be implemented when the server goes back online. Estimated time will be posted on our official website. Thank you for your attention. Player Celcius has unlocked the seal of Vulcan. Be ready to face the challenge of undead minions who will try to take over the city. More information about Vulcan event will be posted on our official website.

¡®A player triggered an event? Now, that¡¯s cool! So that¡¯s why I hadn¡¯t met any NPC. I better log out too.¡¯ When I push the log out button, my vision go into some kind of static for a few seconds before I can finally log out. Waking up from the dream capsule, I take look around. The sky is dark too; it seems I log out just in time to eat dinner. ¡°Nee-san, have you finished cooking?¡± I said that as I was going down the stairs. ¡°¡¡± No response. ¡®Where is she?¡¯ I take a look at the kitchen. *Gasp My sister is lying on the floor. Her face is covered by her hair and there are traces of red liquid on her shirt. Her right hand is holding a knife, her left hand is placed on top of her chest. ¡°Nee-san!¡±

End of Chapter 12 1 more chapter to the end of Volume 2