《The Puppeteer (dropped)》 Prologue The Rich Dreamer In recent year¡¯s technology jumped in leaps and bounds after the company Virtual Works Inc. released the first virtual reality capsule as well as the first game came out a month after that. This put them at the pinnacle of the gaming industry, since none of the others knew how to work the technology. The game is simply known as Second Life. The world was skeptical with this at first but after the first videos from the capsule recordings were released they spread like wildfire. It didn¡¯t take long for everyone to rush the stores to buy and begin, almost everyone. In the house of current richest man on the planet, the son of the CEO of Virtual Works, Malcolm Brim, sat their looking at the screen of the computer which showed chats about Second Life. Now you¡¯re wondering why isn¡¯t he playing right, well at the time the game was released he was at 16 years of age and the game was prohibited to anyone below 18 because of the dangers it would cause the younger population of the planet but after 2 or 3 months some interviews on TV and some special videos made by the AI that runs the game which showed monstrous beings like Dragons and minotaur¡¯s fighting each other in a bloody battle to the death only to have some other kind of monstrosity to finish them off, no one after that questioned the restriction except Malcolm but even so he wasn¡¯t allowed even if he snuck into one of his families capsules. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Now, after a boring 2 years reading how great the game was he finally got his wish to play, which is something rare for him to get what he wanted, most of his life he wasn¡¯t allowed and could only do what his parents wanted that was why he wanted so much to enter Second Life where he could stay far from his parents reach at least for a while. Now what did he want, if you though warrior, mage, thief, berserker or anything that involved directly rushing to your death to hunt rabbits or something like that at the start of the game then you¡¯re wrong. What he wanted ever since he was a kid was to be a puppeteer, as weird as that sounds even more so coming from someone so rich, but as life wasn¡¯t kind he wasn¡¯t allowed but here he had plans to take it a step further. As he sat in the egg like capsule the dark tinted lid closed and sealed the exit. Connect to Second Life Malcolm: Yes Chapter 1 The Puppet and the Greedy
Connect to Second Life
Malcolm: Yes
The Scan of your iris and Brain Waves have determined you are an unregistered player. Do you want to create an account?
Malcolm: yes "why else would I be here if not"
Please choose your avatars name. Please remember you only get 1 character.
Malcolm: Sting
Please choose your gender Male, Female or Neutral.
Malcolm: Male
There are currently 5 races available for players, Human, Elf, Dwarf, Orc and Demi human. Please choose your race.
Malcolm: which races are good at magic and crafting wood and metals? AI: The Elf and Demi human (squirrels, raccoon, Dragonian) Malcolm: Can you show me strengths and weaknesses of the Demi human races?
Demi Races
Squirrel Fast on their feet specialize in precise attacks. They are also known for their highly dexterous hands which as craftsman and archers. They have some knowledge of magic but it¡¯s inferior to humans.
Raccon Known for their affinity to illusion magic and great crafting ability but they suffer with strength and agility.
Dragonian Most known for their combat prowess in all forms of combat. They are the only demi race that can hide their half animal form through transforming into a complete human form. They are rarely found in cities unless something interests them there.
Malcolm: one is good with crafting but weak with magic, one is weak in strength which I will need and one doesn¡¯t mention what I need but I think it¡¯s the best. Malcolm: ill choose Dragonian Demi human Suddenly two bodies appeared in front of him one was of him normally, a young man with average build standing 180cm with black hair and dark brown eyes. The other was standing at 2 meters tall with a strong lean build on his arms and legs but to the first joint had scales and claws and on hands and feet. The ears were pointy and scaled that spread onto his forehead and down to his eyes leaving the rest humanlike. They eyes were emerald green and were snake like slits. Malcolm: the human form leave the body like this but the eyes will be sapphire, the half human form change the eyes and scales to sapphire and the hair says black. The colors suddenly changed to match his preferences. Malcolm: perfect.
Please choose your starting location.
A huge map that had ten huge continents, each one easily bigger then earth all together, appeared then shrank until only two were left. On them was one that had at least twenty kingdoms covering the whole of the continent, the Aloria continent, the other was more frontier like with only one kingdom that covered part of the southern tip closest to Aloria, this continent other one was called Emon and the only kingdom there was called Tredred. Malcolm choose that one as it was far from prying eyes on what he wanted and also his race would probably attract to much attention if it was in the middle of humans and others. Malcolm: the City of Athoria in the kingdom of Tredred
Welcome to Second Life.
A bright light suddenly surrounded me after a bit it subsided and I found myself in a large town filled with movement of many races both human but those were few but the rest were a variety of animal like animals. ??? : hey is that a human ??? : *sniff sniff* from here doesn¡¯t seem to be, smells more Dragonian I turn my head slightly and look toward ones talking, standing there were two large Dragonian men armored with thick hide armor and with great swords on their back. I look all around and luckily spot the library which is at the plaza. Sting: ¡°best learn magic for what I want first¡± I then walk inside and awe at the sight of the huge book shelves reaching easily seven meters high with what looks like 3 extra meters above it. I walk to the librarians counter. Sting: hello, would you happen to have books on magic, magic control and meditation. Librarian: oh, you startled me, yes we have books like that, please find a seat your confortable with and I¡¯ll bring it to you. I find a seat in the back of the library and take the time to check my stats.
Name: Sting Alignment: Neutral Profession: None Race: Demi Human Dragonian Title: none Level: 1 Fame: 0 Health: 300 Mana: 500 Strength: 20 Agility: 20 Vitality: 20 Wisdom: 20 Intelligence: 20 Dexterity: 20 Charisma: 10 Luck: 10
Sting: seems all normal I guess, in human form my stats are just like human ones it seems After a bit the librarian came back with a surprisingly huge pile of books numbering at least 15. Sting: w-wow I didn¡¯t think there were so many Librarian: heh well you adventures discovered many of these especially the meditation techniques, there is even one to control spirit energy which is like a form to combine your stamina and mana together to get a more powerful source of power, oh and my name is Lilith nice to meet you. Sting: Sting likewise. I look through the books and find the first book I needed ¡°Basics to Interior Mana Control¡±. It was thin about 40 pages, half were written descriptions and the other was an image show what was described. I finished it in half an hour and in another half hour gained the skill for Interior Mana Control, and then I went to meditation. More than half the books where on different kinds of meditation from the original form that was made in this world to a combat version usable during combat there were many different ones. I took the original, combat usage version and one that allowed me to use it while just normally walking and doing daily work. This, unlike the mana control one, was a bit harder, it required control of interior mana control to spread my mana around it currents in my body, which I accomplished after an hour doing the original meditation technique, the other two went quickly in under half an hour each.
You are hungry. HP/MP regeneration -50% Stamina -5 Strength -5 Agility -5 Intelligence -5 Wisdom -5 Dexterity -5
Sting: wow already¡­ it has been a while hasn¡¯t it ¡°Inventory¡±
Inventory Beginner Dagger 10x Rye Bread 2x Canteen (water) 0G 0S 1I 0C
I take a bread and eat it and drink water to help the tasteless bread go down. Ok now back to work with the three meditation skills acquired last was the most important and difficult as the forums seem to say, Exterior Mana Control. Why is it difficult, because that part is 10 times harder to do and is the reason mages walk around with wands or staffs, for me I want to get the skill but i feel doing it in here would cause trouble so I talk with Lilith. Sting: hi do you know a place I can try learning exterior mana control. She stares at me with a slightly perplexed look on her face before getting up. Lilith: this way, the library is part of the Mages Guild so we have a special room made for magic experiments. Sting: ¡°oh good to know¡± can it only be used by mages Lilith: no but it can only be used for some form of magic experiment, it can be of any kind from testing a magic enhancement to a learning a new spell¡­ well here it is. The room was large and made of polished stone that made it look like grey marble which was beautiful. Lilith: good luck I hear the door close and finally it was silent. I waste no time and sit down in the center and begin meditating until I feel at ease and have my inner mana well under control before I try harnessing the mana in the air. To start I move my own mana to my hand and try forming a ball. First try complete failure, the mana leaves my palm with no control; it just goes into the air. I start focusing more and try again and again and again. For a long time I kept retrying, after five hours I was finally starting to control it and had formed a small ball of mana which was floating over my hand. I took a break to eat and drink some water and bread. Sting: "this really is 10 times harder at least im starting to get the hang of it" After a short rest to review what i was doing i went back to it. The results, after another entire day and a half i finally gained the skill Exterior Mana Control (basic 1). A grin spread on my face then i got up and left the room. When i approached the front desk Lilith noticed me and looked up from her book. Lilith: give up already, not surprised its difficult without a staff Sting: i learned the skill. I said grinning It took her a few seconds to register what i said which caused her to almost drop her book. Lilith: y-y-y-you learned t-the skill. I just nod still grinning at her all to funny change of expressions, first surprise then shock, a bit of anger, rage, then more shock, then a sort of tired look before returning to her calm look.
You have been offered the job Mage
Sting: thank you for the offer but i have different plans that require magic skill but not a mage. I bow to her showing my thanks which she returned reluctantly and i exited the library. Outside the noise was impressive since no noise got into the library. Going to step two of my plan i head off to a carpenters shop. There were quite a few to my surprise, most worked with making bows but since i was looking for a wider variety i looked more until i found an old somewhat unpopular shop which sold more furniture then bows, though some where present, called Dalton Woodworks. I walk in and spot an elder man that looks to be in his late sixties working on a piece. Since he was very concentrated i didn¡¯t call out and wait. After about five minutes he finishes the part and turns towards me. Dalton: so what ya need kid. Sting: i want to learn carpentry. Dalton: then go to one of the other shops to learn to make your own bows. Sting: *sigh* I''ll say it again i want to learn carpentry not bow making, i don¡¯t care much for the bow at the moment. He then realizes what i mean then looks at me skeptical. Dalton: so then what DO you want to make? Sting: Marionette, a human sized one. Dalton: why? Sting: because i want to. He shrug then stares at me intensely. Dalton: it will take at least basic level five or six carpentry for you to make anything decent enough and judging by what you said, you want to use them for fighting right. I nod and remain silent. Dalton: you crazy bastard do think you¡¯re the first to try, there have been others to try but all failed not a single one knows how to make one that is combat worthy. Sting: so I''ll be the first. He just sighs and rubs his forehead while looking at me while in deep thought. Dalton: fine ill teach ya With that he began teaching me. He didn¡¯t teach me any bow making instead it was furniture and sculptures i made. It was slow going the first week since i had low dex and no carpentry skill but that quickly changed at the end of the week.
You have completed Daltons basic carpentry training. +10 dex
New skill Carpentry Carpentry The art of turning wood into any form from sculpture to building materials. +5 Dex
New skill Sculpting Sculpting The art of creating beautiful art from any raw materials found in nature. +5 Dex New Stat art +5 art
New skill Handicraft Handicraft Skill that gives support towards other craft abilities and improves performance when crafting without system control. +10 dex +10 agi
I sat blinking at each message that increased my dex my unbelievable amounts, to unbelievable which makes me suspect that father must be doing something. I shrug it off since it is helping me out, but i need to fix that sometime. After such a crazy boast im at 46 dex, 6 from working the craft so it increased with that. Dalton: alright you got your skill, you can train to level five then make the puppet or do it now for some mediocre stuff. Sting: ill try my luck it¡¯s still experimenting so mediocre stuff is still good. Dalton: ok its your time your wasting Sting: mind if i use your tools. Dalton: ya they are just gathering dust anyway. I walk over to one table and clean up before i begin making each part. It took a day¡¯s work to make a child sized puppet, and then i make a wooden cross to focus the string from with about ten hooks and begin. Focusing on one hook i move my mana their then make a thin string come from it, which is REALLY hard. But after i make about a foot of it i hear a ding
New skill mana strings Mana String A thin string of mana that can be attached to anything and control it if you have enough skill. 1 meter of string takes 20 mp to make. Current skill level allows you to make one string at a time Can control 20 strings
Stings: sweet With the skill less focus was needed and i easily attached one string at a time. With all ten attached i try making the puppet move and i get a great responses the arms move up but the my happiness turns to despair, as I see it the doll can¡¯t get up, the problem is the inner springs. For humans he can turn our wrists and arms around because the joints don¡¯t get in the way but here the springs are hooks in a fixed way that prevents free movement. I slump down on my chair and think, in the corner of my eye i see Dalton quietly giggle at my misfortune. I get up and walk outside to get some fresher air and sit on one of the seats on the street while watch others pass by. One man catches my attention, he is a mage somewhat elderly maybe late fifties dressed in a robe and in his hand was a staff and at its tip was an egg sized gem. While looking at it something in my mind clicked and i got up and walked over. Sting: hello sir can i ask a question The party looks over at me. Elder mage: depends the question Sting: could to tell me where you got that gem or at least were i could get one. Elder mage: this thing, its a low quality emerald i got it at the mages guild , we were actually going to go to the mages guild now to buy a better one. Sting: how much is that one. Elder mage: this is pretty weak now, since ive been using it for a while its not even worth a copper unless someone fills it with mana, you can have it if you like. He touches around the border around the gem and the staff, as if alive, loosens its grip and drops the gem in my hand. Sting: thank you sir Elder: hope you have luck at whatever you¡¯re doing. I thank him again and rush off back to Daltons place. When i get there I scrap the first puppet ad start on a new one. Each part was made as smooth as possible with no hook or anything holding it together just the parts, not hollow either. I used myself as a model and made the torso then carved a sphere of wood and shaped torsos shoulder to fit perfectly to it. Then i made the rest of the parts in the same manner but never hooking them together and never hollowing them to pass springs to hold them. This one took two days; at the end i had 74 pieces, 24 for each hand, 12 for joints and 13 body parts. The torso i had made a small opening, which opened and closed, that held the gem i got, it was glowing a bit since i had been dumping mana into it. Now was the moment of truth. First i took on shoulder joint piece and held it a few centimeters away from where it needed to be one the right shoulder, then concentrated on the gem and made a string leave from it and go into the sphere. I moved the mana to the center and made a small stable lump of mana there that wouldn¡¯t disperse. After i was sure it was stable i began spinning the string and making it like a spring, it took five minutes for it to get how i wanted and not unwind. When the mana spring was stable i let go of the shoulder joint and it popped into place like real spring was there. I was grinning wide as I examined the joint, I had to look close to see that there was only a millimeter away from touching each other so I was sure no friction was happening between them which would slow it down. I then popped the other shoulder into place. When I was ready I placed the first part of the arm and the elbow joint of the right arm onto the table, then held onto each joint from the shoulder I fed mana into the mana ball inside and made a string stretch out to the elbow joint and made a spring from the mana as well. It also took five minutes and when I let go the elbow popped into the arm piece and pushed it into place. What followed was an hour long placement of parts at the end all that was left was the hands which I thought would be the hardest because besides the palm I made every finger with the proper joint number so that the marionette could grip a sword properly. With the wrist already in place I place the palm piece in place and then the middle finger knuckle and connect it which makes it hold the piece a bit but not enough, only after all five finger joints are on that the palm didn¡¯t separate from the body. It took another half hour to place the remaining pieces and an hour for me to finally finish the other hand, it really was the hardest part no matter the size it takes five minutes to make and stabilize the mana springs. When I was done I had a grin on my face, I had already premade a control bar that puppeteers use to maneuver the puppets it had twenty hooks on it. I sent mana strings and attached one to each joint, except the hand since I am to low leveled for it for now. Dalton: oh you done now, this one took quite a while for you to finish even for a level one amateur you with your concentration you made the pieces nicely. Sting: its level 3 old man anyway let see if my theory was right. Dalton: haha good luck I focus and imagine seeing it sit up like a normal person then stand up. Let me just say that the face Dalton was making right now was priceless, imagine a stubborn old bear man demi human with brown/grey hair with his eyes bulging almost popping out of his head. Well anyways back on topic the marionette followed my thoughts perfectly, first it put its hands on the table and lifted its upper body then putting his legs over the side of the table he dropped on the ground and stood up, let me remind you it was quite fluid movements not robotic stuff from poorly made stuff, it was VERY human like
Congratulations you have successfully created the first Magic Marionette +1000 Fame +10 for all stats
As you are the first person the accomplish this you may name your job as no other job of this kind exists.
Magic Marionette (unnamed) The first of its kind, this special Marionette was modeled after its creator in his attempt to discover the how to make magic puppets. Somewhat good construction thanks to the makers concentration while he was still a beginner but has some visible defects but none that will hamper movements The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Level 1 Job none Exp 0% Health/Durability 300/300 Mana 200/600 Stamina Unlimited Strength 20 Agility 20 Dexterity 20 Vitality 20
Sting: hahaha it worked and not only that I got +10 to all my stats because I discovered it and I get to name my job since none exist that can do this, hmm strange Dalton: what could be even stranger then what you said already? Sting: it has a level and stats as well; it can even get a job Dalton: ah my head hurts, this is getting to weird¡­ if I had to gander a guess it must be what you specialize this specific doll to do Sting: makes sense, but I wonder why his mana is so low it¡¯s at a third of its full capacity. Dalton: I think it¡¯s the crystal you had, you said the owner said it was empty right so my guess your puppets mana pool is from the crystal. To test this I place my hand on its chest where the emerald is and put mana in and like he suspected it began rising Sting: just like you said the crystal holds its mana Dalton: so what are ya gonna do now. Sting: well for now I need to train and gain levels, I need to grind my mana strings skill to be able to use him as a weapon. Dalton: cant use him yet he¡¯s moving already Sting: I can only create and control 20 strings right now his hand by itself takes 14 strings each to control, one string per joint piece get it, his whole body takes 42 strings total to make him work at full, for now I can control his body but not his hands, which is why I ask you can I leave him here with you while I train, I need to get armor for him as well to hide him. Dalton: fine walk him into the basement; its safe there and the mages guild won¡¯t pick up on the magic he is releasing Sting: he is what Dalton: you don¡¯t know, magic items give off a feint signal of magic of magic, it was discovered about a year and a half ago one of ya adventures type. Sting: I see ill put him away, I need to get a shrink spell as well to transport these guys. Dalton: you gonna make more Sting: of course what¡¯s the point of having a single puppet when I can make many and have more versatility but I need to figure a way out for them to use magic? Dalton: that I cant help you with sorry Sting: no problem, oh before I forget I need to name my job Dalton: why not simply puppeteer Sting: to boring puppeteer just sounds like a guy that messes with normal puppets, hows about Magus Puppeteer
You have named your Job Magus Puppeteer
You are the first player to create a job +500 fame +2 to every stat
Magus Puppeteer A new job that appeared with the discovery of the first magic puppet little has been developed with this job. +5% improvement when making puppet parts and puppets
New Skill Puppet Crafting Puppet crafting (basic 1) The art of creating human like sculptures with many parts that are connected and with hooks and springs and can be controlled with strings
New Skill Magic Puppet Crafting Magic Puppet Crafting A new form of puppet crafting that doesn''t use normal springs and hooks to hold puppets but with magic, this form of puppet crafting allows for combat puppets to be made when it has a gem placed within as its heart.
Dalton: that is a dumb name makes it to suspicious Sting: it¡¯s done anyway and as if I¡¯m going to tell anyone I know how to make something like this, ill say I¡¯m a mage easy as that. Dalton: one that doesn¡¯t have any spells and is strong in close range combat Sting: there are many kinds of mages, if you take earth mages some people get that element just for the buff spells and fight close up. He things a bit a shrugs Sting: anyway I need to go now, I need to find some spells and I need to train my skills Dalton: so why ya still here I left the shop and headed towards the library, why there, books even normal ones hold spells in them and without restrictions while skill tones have job restrictions and all. Entering the library Lilith looks up and sees me Lilith: oh been a while how¡¯s it going did you get what you wanted. Sting: yes it¡¯s a special variation of a mage She makes a sort of angry face when I say that Sting: it¡¯s NOT a mage but it¡¯s a magic class She calms down regaining her composure Lilith: so what do you need? Sting: I need books about shrinking spells and returning them to normal Lilith: this involves your new job doesn¡¯t it? I nod while she stares at me. Then she gets up Lilith: grab a chair I¡¯ll be back in a bit. In a minute she returned with two books, ¡°The Magic of Shrinking¡± and ¡°Return from Shrinking¡±. Lilith: these tell you about shrinking magic, you need to read both to learn the spell since you need to learn how to do it and how to reverse it. She said it like it was easy but each book is easily more than 300 pages each. She was trying to hide a smile which showed that she was enjoying my expression when I looked at the books, damn sadist librarian. She left and I started reading ¡°The Magic of Shrinking¡±, time it took half a week, time it took for book 2 the same time, results.
New Skill Shrinking Spell: Shrinking (basic 1) The spell to shrink any object in size, the better you get the smaller you can make it. Current ability lets you shrink any object to 1/3 of its original size Note weight is relative to size, a human weighing 70 kg at normal size will weigh 15 kg at a third of his size. Stats will also be affected by the shrink status and will be reduced by how much it was shrunk. To return something to its original size says, Origin (name of object or creature).
I stretch as I get up Sting: finally done now to get mana string leveled, since the time im stuck here is over let¡¯s get hunting. I leave but since Lilith wasn¡¯t there I just leave and head outside. In the fields there were tons of players of many different Demi human species running around like idiots trying to hunt the rabbits. Because of my skill I had a different way to catch them and I would make sure to take advantage of it. Instead of going after the rabbits I wanted to test something with my mana string so I head to the fox area. Crouching a good 10 meters away I hold my cross towards it and extend a single string towards the closest fox. It didn¡¯t notice the string as it approached but when it did notice it was too late I had connected the first string to its hind leg and locked its movement and to my surprise it instantly leveled up.
Mana String leveled up (basic 2)
Mana String You have discovered a second use for mana string, by attaching mana to live creatures you can disconnect their control and take control of their bodies as your puppets, this will also make them temporary pets and if they kill something you will gain some exp. You can now control 10 more strings
I was quietly laughing to myself at the upgrade of the skill. Looking over the fox was on the ground twisting itself as if to free itself so I sent out a new string and connected it at the base of the head and cut its connection to its body. Slowly I attached more until I had control of it and made it come over to me, with the 10 extra strings I could control the jaws so biting and clawing was available so I just needed to work on control a bit. I took it over to the corner of the rabbit field and make it run a bit but the movements were a bit awkward since I didn¡¯t have any skill to help¡­ Ding!
New Skill Puppeteering Puppeteering The ability to control a puppet as you wish. When used with magic puppets or living creatures you can make more complex movements and control over their bodies becomes easier. 10% improvement to control to puppets 5% improvement to control over living animals
You have discovered a skill that functions with your job; your job doubles the effect of this skill.
The bonus wasn¡¯t for show it was able to make the fox work less awkward and it started getting better as it resisted less until I began catching rabbits. I tried as best to not damage the pet as much as possible only making it catch the rabbit and twist the head for a quick finish. I did this for a weak using different foxes, killing the one I had at the end of the day to get some exp, I knew if I let them go I would die and trouble would follow a higher than normal leveled animal. One week of doing this got me 10 levels 100 rabbit pelts and 80 rabbit meat. Going back inside I sold the pelts at a tailor and gained 75i from it and 30i from the meat. Then I bought two sets of leather armor and one mask price 1s, I still had 80i at the end because I worked for Dalton while learning from him so it was good so I headed to the black smith and bought two swords, 10i each, and unexpectedly the repair skill which was cheap 50i. Oh I forgot about money in this world the currency is gold (G), silver (S), Iron (I) and copper ? each one takes 100 of the previous to make 1 of them. Besides getting levels my skills in Mana string, puppeteering, inner and exterior mana control and meditation rose a lot.
Mana String (Basic 6) Can make 2 strings at a time Can control 80 strings Puppeteering (Basic 3)(with job bonus) 21% improvement to control to puppets 11% improvement to control over living animals Inner Mana Control (Basic 2) Exterior Mana Control (Basic 4) Meditation (Basic 5)
I headed to Daltons place after buying the leather gear, when I entered his shop I found an unpleasant site. There were three mage inside; two were pointing their staffs at Dalton while the oldest was talking Elder Mage: Dalton I¡¯ve known you since we were kids so I know when you¡¯re lying now tell me were the magic item is. Dalton: I told ya already you old coots there aren¡¯t do magic items here if there are then it one of my pieces that might have gained an effect from great craftsmenship. Sting: what¡¯s going one here All four men turned around shocked to see me. Elder Mage: who are you what are you doing here, I know for a fact that Dalton doesn¡¯t get any adventurer customers so what are you here for. I got pissed at his tone, since my father has gotten so rich we have met many cocky rich bastards and this old man sounds just like one and everyone in my family hates that kind of person. Sting: its none of your business old man, but if you want to know I asked Dalton to make me something, what exactly I won¡¯t tell you, I remember you told me Dalton it would be in the basement so I¡¯ll go get it. I walk inside as I see the old man turn red in anger and I grin since its funny. Once in the basement I make sure they didn¡¯t follow and without uncovering the Marionette and shrink it and store it, just a note at normal size it weighs a surprising 100kg since it¡¯s not hollowed out but at a third of its size it weight goes down to 20kg and though heavy it is more manageable because of my recent leveling and increase in stats thanks to the training and such. Walking back up I see them staring daggers at me Dalton: you get your thing Sting: ya Dalton: so get I¡¯m busy talking with an old friend. Sting: before that may I ask who you are, I¡¯m Sting. Elder Mage: I¡¯m one of the Guild masters of the Mages Guild Alfred Count, if you¡¯re interested why we are here; we sensed a magic item here and came to retrieve it Sting: so in other word you came to steal a magic item that doesn¡¯t belong to you. Alfred: respect me boy, magic items must be researched by the guild and as decreed by the king we have right to take them if we sense them. Sting: wow legalized theft I¡¯m amazed this kingdom isn¡¯t burning to the ground, may I ask what do you do with magic items in the hands of adventurers. Alfred: by adventurers you mean those people they appear from nowhere, that specific law doesn¡¯t affect them since they need those items to fight for us. I simply smiled and left, my grin left him nervous I could clearly see that on his face. As I left I heard the voice from inside ???: hmm sir the magic signal it vanished it¡¯s not here anymore. Alfred: WHAT!!! That brat took the item. Dalton: HAHAHA!!! Serves you right like you personally said you can¡¯t take items from adventurers and he is one. My grin was ear to ear after I heard that, I then headed out of town and when I was in an empty place without players or animals, in the woods but not too deep, I pulled the puppet out and returned him to normal. He landed like a sack of potatoes but I made him stand up and after handing him the leather gear I had him equip it with the mask, from this view he looked like any other adventurer, I give him one of the swords I purchased. Then I had him imitate some move stuff I have seen but that didn¡¯t work since he has low stats. Leaving that aside I head into town and to the training hall. Instructor: hello what can I do for you two? Sting: we would like to learn sword mastery from you sir. Instructor: this way then. He took us and gave us wooden swords then taught me the proper posture for offense and defense now you¡¯re probably wondering how the puppet didn¡¯t fall right well as long as the puppet cross is attached to my body I can control them, I had created a new one which had almost 100 tiny hooks which allowed me to set the puppet to shadow my moves. It took five hours of constant training for us to gain the sword master, I say us because when I checked the skill was also under his stats. We left the hall and headed to the fields. Sting: now than before starting I need to name you so that others don¡¯t get curious¡­ since your my first prototype lets go with Proto
You have named your Marionette Proto
With that out of the way we head to the rabbit fields; I have him hunt down the rabbits which watching their movements and training myself to control Proto better. It takes a few tries since I not used to the flexibility he has but after my third try I get used to him and even have him try some acrobatics when chasing the rabbit, though that ends horribly, he doesn¡¯t have the agility and I don¡¯t have the control to perform complex movements. After picking himself up again I stayed with simple movements trying to look more human like while still doing the job. The results a level up to puppeteering, 3 levels for proto and 50 rabbit pelts, which I had butcher which gave both of us butchery skill since I had to control him, hehe awesome discovery. With the new level up to puppeteering I unlocked a new feature which is to allow the puppet to do as he pleases except kill me and other people. It was interesting to see him just blindly walk around hitting everything which made me wonder what was going on, the mask had eye hol¡­ oh I might need to carve out a face for him. I take him near the woods and have him sit and put the cloak on and then I disconnect the head, remove the mask and begin sculpting out just the basic needs, eyes nose and a shape for a mouth that it looks more natural, then I fix his head back to the puppet and try again. The change was instant, first he didn¡¯t bump into anything, second he successfully hunted, and efficiently might I add, when his sword master skill leveled I also gained the same which increased how well we handled the sword and how much damage we do. After an hour I deactivate his free roam and shrink him down before returning to town. First I freed myself of the meat and pelts before going to Dalton¡¯s place to check on him. He was happily carving away at a piece of wood. Sting: hey Dalton Dalton: oh Sting good to see you Sting: you seem strangely happy today Dalton: still happy about what old Alfred went through, really I haven¡¯t laughed that hard in years, to pay you for the good laugh you can have this old book I had forgotten I had. He handed me an old book with the title slightly eroded but still clearly readable, ¡°Mystery of the Sigil¡± Sting: what is a Sigil Dalton: if I remember correctly it¡¯s an old type of magic normally using seals or images to preform magic, its considered lost magic but it¡¯s something that won¡¯t return since the magic today has quick activation and all that stuff Alfred used to talk about. Sting: so why are you giving it to me Dalton: hehe well just like you were able to do the impossible and created a combat ready puppet I think you learning to use that will help you and it might even bring it back into use if you can use it right.
Quest Rising Sigils Dalton found an old book on an ancient form of magic that has lost its use to normal magic. He wants you to try and find a way to use it and revive the magic form. Time limit: None Difficulty E Reward: ???
Sting: wow a quest first one I¡¯ve gotten since I came here, now that I think about it I¡¯ve only been after my goal and forgot about them and to think my first one is rank E. Quests have a ranking system here going from S all the way to F. F is common jobs like hunting an animal, delivery or other jobs in town. E I mainly hunting and searching but D is where it broadens, this one varies a lot since it starts getting into long duration quests like this one and can lead to chain quests. C and above are thing you get from higher ups like special requests or if something is part of a chain quest that leads to something bigger. Quests ranking from B and up are things that start causing changes in the world, B rank does local changes while A and S can do continental or even worldwide changes both good and bad. Sting: ill accept the challenge to find some place this will work out. Dalton: good boy this don¡¯t forget to charge your puppets, I think it wastes energy as you control him. Sting: ill check on him, thanks for the book I leave the shop and enter an alley and check on him, just like Dalton said the mana dropped. So i touch the chest and fill it completely, thanks to level ups and an increase to int and wis i am near 1000 mana now. Once I finish before i could do anything i felt a chill run down my back and turn around quickly. What i find are three mages with black cloaks and Alfred leading them. Alfred: so we meet again we had been following the signal from the item you took at Daltons place waiting for a chance to catch you. Sting: i see so this is what you do to adventurers you mages are such assholes, you''re like kids if you dont get a new toy when you ask you kill for it. I could feel their anger and i saw the expression of pure rage on his face. Alfred: give it to us this instant Sting: i don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about. Alfred: the magic item!! GIVE IT TO US!!! Sting: sorry but i don¡¯t have such a thing i have just begun being an adventurer so i haven¡¯t acquired anything. Alfred: you fucking human give it to us Sting: ...human... heh i think you¡¯re mistaking something. "I hope this distracts them long enough" I use my racial skill transformation and go into my dragonian form. It has the desired effect. Mage 1: sir what do we do Mage 2: ya now it¡¯s even worst besides the law not affecting him now it works in his favor Sting: "oh whats this, interesting it seems i get a few advantages for my races, well leave that for later. While they were distracted looking at each other i send my shrink spell into proto via the mana strings, from two of them, they didn¡¯t notice the man vanish, to my surprise each string activated a separate spell so now he is 1/6 his original size and the size of an action figure. I quickly grab him and bolt off Mage 1: he''s getting away. Sting: i think it¡¯s a good time as any to get out of town. I weave through town with them running behind and when we reach he central plaza i jump into a crowd and deactivate my transformation effectively losing them.
Relations with the Mages Guild as dropped to lowest and have made them put you on their blacklist. You won¡¯t be able to purchase spells from the guild unless disgusted and you will be hunted for your magic items. You won¡¯t be able to stay within towns were the guild has a branch as they will sense your item.
Sting: just great this keeps getting better and better. Chapter 2 Puppet Jobs and Job Quests Getting out of town was difficult, the mages had placed sentries near the gate, though disgusted i could still tell. After a bit i just got annoyed, so i extended mana strings and attached it to the base of the neck of all three of them. Once immobilized i passed through the south gate and left town. I joined a caravan of merchants heading out to the nearby villages after I left, accompanied by other players acting like body guards. By now Proto was already out and walking since i didn¡¯t want some suspecting the random appearance during the trip. We traveled by carriage, i had Proto sit near the back and positioned him so it looked like he was sleeping. I sat in front of him while reading about the sigils from Dalton¡¯s book. Sigils in the game are a set of skills that can transform any skill or sense, sight, smell, etc., into a spell, an example would be if i made a healer for my puppets instead of carving a sigil for a healing spell, i make one for a repair skill which is still my skill but the sigil is the point of release for them and it uses the mana stored in each puppets gem. It¡¯s a really useful type of magic for my class and opens up my options so i can make many mage classes. After finishing the book i gained the skill and the book began to glow and change.
New Skill Sigil Magic Sigil Magic Through the study of seals you have discovered the method to make seals of the skills you possess. +5 Int +5 Wis
The book "Mystery of the Sigils" has transformed into "Sigil Encyclopedia"
Sigil Encyclopedia A special book that holds all the information for the seal to every skill you know. Job Requirements: Magus Puppeteer
You have discovered a skill that functions with your job. You can now learn any spell from both mages and priests and can learn all craft jobs to Advance.
Sting: "with each new skill this job gets better and better but i guess the price for it is just as big, how am i going to get spells from the guild, the priest spells will be easy but mage ones are hard". Warrior: hey what was that? Sting: it¡¯s something related to my job it¡¯s a mage type spell book for my specific job. Everyone here was warrior or thief, no mages, thank god, so they all just lost interest. After that i started carving wood making small sculptures of animals or people. It was a two days travel before we reached a village Relona, by then I had gotten my sculpting and carpentry to levels 4 and 5. I got off and headed my way, since i didn¡¯t want to go into large cities as it would alert them. I walk around a bit sightseeing, the village was relatively large for a village so i guess a small town would also work. The main roads of the village where many passed were stone paved roads but the rest was mainly dirt and gravel. After hiding Proto i headed to an inn and booked a room for a week, 10i and some food which came with the room. After a warm meal i left and went to a bow maker and bought my own carving knife and other tools of the trade and asked to use a worktable. After he permitted me i began making a child sized marionette like my first failure. I worked till closing time and then packed what i did and headed back to the inn and falling in bed i went to sleep and logged out. As i got up out of my capsule i look at the clock and stretch. Right now is noon so after using the bathroom i head downstairs. I find my parents and by twin sisters eating. Dad: oh you¡¯re up. Malcolm: ya its night right now and I¡¯m in an inn so i have some leeway. Dad: son can i ask what did you do to have the mages guild blacklist you? Malcolm: I¡¯m surprised you haven''t checked the video feed. I sit down next to him and get some food, how he knew I was hunted was easy to guess. I told him my name was Sting and he made sure to search for how many Stings there were and there are about 10 but none have gotten close to the mages guild except for me. Dad: i want to hear from you. I look him in the eyes. Malcolm: only in private were no employees can here. The rest of the time was just filled with the sound of eating and small talk. After we finished i headed to fathers office with him. Dad: ok we are alone. Malcolm: it¡¯s simple i discovered how to make a combat worthy puppet and it became a magic item which they are after. He just blinked at me like I was making fun of him then slumped down on his chair taking deep breaths. Dad: you became a puppeteer?! Malcolm: ya i even got to name the job but right now the job is like of under development, when i find skills that work with it, it gets better. Dad: i see, a player made job... wow not even i heard about this, anyway¡­ DIDN¡¯T I TELL YOU TO NEVER DO PUPPETEERING!!!!!!!! Malcolm: in real life you told me, and I abided by your rules but in the game you named Second Life, my second life is as a puppeteer. He nods and goes quiet for a while. I look at the time which was now 12:55; i still had time since the game runs five times faster than real life. Dad: so do you want this discovery to be released. Malcolm: as if, like i said the job is developing, i don¡¯t care if you say that there is a possible to create a job but i don¡¯t want mine out in public just yet. Dad: is it powerful? Malcolm: with the same strings i control the puppets i can control living things. Dad: then keep it a secret. Malcolm: I¡¯ll go then, if you want more info on it just watch the video feed on my capsule, oh and did you do something to make me gain skill proficiency faster. Dad: no, it wouldn¡¯t be fair to other players but you should already know that skills related to your job grow twice as fast as other skills. I nod then leave and returned to the game. When i wake up i see the suns first rays appearing the horizon. In my room Proto was sitting while facing the door, sword on his lap. I had left him on auto mode with orders to protect us against any intruders that attacked but seems nothing happened. Since i have time before i can return to the crafts shop to continue my new puppet i decide to improve Proto a bit, since he was made when i was level 1 he isn¡¯t at his best so being level 6, I leveled up again while making the new puppet, now i sit him down and begin improving his arms. By the time the streets get noisy I had improved both hands and arms which had been a bit irregular. I got a huge surprise when I checked his stats, when I leveled with him I had raised it three levels so he was level 4 but now¡­
Magic Marionette (Proto) The first of its kind, this special Marionette was modeled after its creator in his attempt to discover the how to make magic puppets. Somewhat good construction thanks to the makers concentration while he was still a beginner but has some visible defects but none that will hamper movement, thanks to improvements a few defects have been removed. Level 10 Job none Exp 36% Health/Durability 900/900 Mana 600/600 Stamina Unlimited Strength 45 Agility 37 Dexterity 31 Vitality 40 Skills Sword Mastery (basic 3) Sense Presence (basic 4) Status: mute, blind and deaf
Sting: what Mute? I get it I never give him direct vocal orders, even when I leave him in auto mode I imagine what he needs to do and he does it, so how do I fix that. Then something came to mind and I opened my Sigil book. There were only enough pages to hold skills I had so two pages. The second one held what I wanted, senses normal living creatures have. I found the one for hearing, with the book open my carving knife in my right hand and after disconnecting it Proto¡¯s head. I carved two some seals for hearing just behind his wooden ears then I looked up the one for speaking and carved in under the head where it attaches to the body and finally the seals for sight which I made in the eyes. After completing everything I attached it back on him, and then I make strings from each seal and connect it to the mana ball holding the neck and head. As I let each one go and move to the next it gives off a faint glow too little to notice unless you¡¯re up close. Done with everything and with all the seals working, I hook up my mana strings and put him on auto mode. Sting: so¡­did it work, can you hear and see me? Proto: s-s-s-see m-me? Sting ¡°ya it worked but I guess it¡¯s now like I¡¯m talking to a child¡±
Through the effects of the adding sensory Sigil magic on your Magic Marionette it has begun to acquire an Ego, through interaction with others it will grow and learn more. He was also gained the INT and WIS stats. Warning, because the seals of human traits are constant casts it will continue using mana until its empty.
Sting: an ego, isn¡¯t that special or am I lucky, no it can¡¯t be a coincidence maybe since its already a magic item by adding human traits provided it the push it needed but damn the price for it sure is steep I need better gems or he will be done for¡­ let¡¯s get some low class gems for now I can¡¯t afford mana filled ones. I deactivate the voice seal as it would be a waste for now as he can barely talk and continually feed him mana through the strings. I find a jewelry shop after a bit and walk in. The receptionist was and elderly lady that had a calming aura around her. Lady: hello kids, what can I do for you? Sting: well I¡¯m looking for low quality gems, just the gems but they need to be at least the size of a chicken¡¯s egg. Lady: oh my, that¡¯s unusual but I do have those they can barely have anything done to them because of their quality I just keep them in a box hoping to sell them. She pulls up an old box about as big as shoe box and opens it to reveal dozens of gems of different sizes and kinds, even diamonds are there none have that shine the other gems in the jewelry shop have. Sting: how much is it Lady: well since they are gems I can¡¯t just give it away but since it¡¯s all low quality and pretty much useless to me how¡¯s about 1i each there are forty gems so 40i and its yours. The coins were on the counter before she could finish and I took and stored the box with the gem. Lady: a pleasure doing business with you sweetie. Sting: likewise. I left and headed to the bow makers shop and stored Proto before entering, after turning him off since he wastes mana just sitting normally outside my inventory. In the shop I go on to finish the legs and feet which were some of the few parts left. By noon I had finished them and began on the head, I was making a small child, girl, so I thought of how to make her face. Once I got the image in my head, my twin sister¡¯s image, I start carving and make the features as close as possible. It took most of the day to finish since I wanted lots of details but I did finish as the sun was reaching the horizon. I returned to my room and carved the voice, hearing and sight seals in their correct places and began the process of making the magic marionette. I open the box with gems and drop them on the bed and sort them by type. In the pile of forty were four diamonds, 2 large and 2 half that, 10 sapphires, 3 large the rest varied, 6 emeralds 1 large, 9 rubies 3 large, opal 4 no large, 7 Amethyst 2 large. They were all cut and polished but lacked shine. I pick up one of the large diamonds and dump as much mana as I had; it started to shine just a bit so it had a monstrous mana capacity. I then sit down and meditate to regain a bit to start up, once I had 100 mana of my 1000 mana back i began connecting the puppet. I worked into the night for hours before i had the entire puppet built. The results of its stats are incredible...
Magic Marionette (Unnamed) A magic puppet made from an up-and-coming puppet maker. It was made decently and has no obvious flaws. This special marionette was modeled after the creator¡¯s younger sisters, as such as the ego it is developing will have a tendency to have a younger sister¡¯s personality but will regard her creator as master out of loyalty. Level 1 Job none Exp 0% Health/Durability 1000/1000 Mana 1000/8000 Stamina Unlimited Strength 20 Agility 60 Dexterity 48 Vitality 65 Intelligent 25 Wisdom 15 Skills None Status: normal
Sting: ...she is on par with proto who is level 10, must be because she was made at a higher level... now i need mage cloths for her then i need to thing how i will get magic spells for her. Puppet: M-m-ma-ster n-na-name... I stair her wide eyed but snap out of it when she nudges me. Sting: right then your name... how¡¯s about Magi
You have named you Marionette Magi
Magi: heh heh Sting: "guess she is happy, since I¡¯m not tired i think i should solve both their troubles of losing mana". My solution, through entire day and night of the next day i tutored them both in meditation all three versions. I knew it¡¯s solved their problem and even began charging them more then they were losing. When they had finished learning it, i would say it was about five in the evening so i shrank and packed them ate some food downstairs then headed for a tailor. It wasn¡¯t hard to find, there were two tailors one at the plaza and another a few blocks in. The one at the plaza was popular and had customers most of the time, the other didn''t. I made the obvious choice, i went to the less popular one, why because from experience i have noticed that less popular places have better craftsmen, they might have some special skill and they know how to keep their mouths shut when they learn a secret that needs to stay as such. The place was called Threads and Needles and under it in smaller letters was written Tailor. I walk in to the deserted shop which had a few dresses on mannequins but no one was around. Sting: hello is there anyone here? I hear some shuffling in the back and after a bit a young girl appears, she has dark blonde hair, stood at about 160cm and was dressed in typical tailor work cloths. She also wore a bored expression on her face. Girl: hi I¡¯m Alice what can i do for you. Sting: i need mage cloths for a child around ten years old. Alice: where is the kid? Sting: ... Alice: i need to take measurements since everyone is different even at the same age. I think a bit before pulling Magi out, deactivating her voice seal to keep her quiet and return her to normal sized, this left Alice wide eyed. Alice: what is this? Sting: I¡¯m a puppet maker i got an order to make a child sized puppet dressed in mage cloths; i can¡¯t make cloths so i need to order it. Alice: ... so... CUTE!!!!!! I stared dumbfounded as the girl examines Magi with a gleeful gaze. Then she turned to me, i could see in her eyes the flames of her determination. Alice: I''ll do it; just basic stuff should be fine but... Sting: but? Alice: well you see it¡¯s about the appearance she has a carved out face but its wood, have you thought of a mask? Sting: yes i have. She gives me a large grin; i could feel something was coming. Alice: well you see i discovered a unique tree some time ago, the sap it produces when heated it makes a material close to that of human skin when processed correctly, up until a few weeks ago i could get some and even found the way to make it but bandits moved into the area in between here and the forest to the east where they reside. Sting: you want me to go get the sap. Alice: yes there are barrels i left under it to gather it, they should be full by now and it has a strong smell so animals avoid, it can you go get it for me?
Quest Sap Collector Alice discovered a tree that produces a special sap which makes material similar to human skin but bandits prohibit her from getting to it so she has asked you. Requirement: job Magus Puppeteer Difficulty: E+ Reward: ???, Mage Cloths Time limit: none Special: if you kill all the bandits and there leader you will gain extra reward + Fame, bounty that was placed on the bandit leader.
Sting: ok I¡¯ll get the sap. "What a job quest but isn¡¯t my class new, maybe the system examined my class and real word documents and created new skills for the class"
Quest accepted
Sting: hey is there a place i can buy magic spells? Alice: well there is the guild but none are here... oh there is Miss Ginger she was once an adventurer with the class Elemental mage but she retired from both the guild and adventuring, she lives with her five grandkids now, her house is a large two story building near the east side of town. Sting: thanks ill have the sap back quickly. I packed Magi away and headed to the mages house. It wasn¡¯t hard to find it was the only two story building. I walked up and knocked a few times and waited. After about a minute i saw the door open slightly and the face of an old lady appeared. Lady: what do you want? Sting: Miss Ginger? Lady: Rosemary Ginger, that¡¯s me how do you know my name. She said in a cold tone. Sting: Alice from the Thread and Needle told me you can teach magic. Her face suddenly lit up at the mention of Alice and she opened the door completely now. She want that tall maybe 150cm and she was plump and dressed in a dark red robe that covered her entire body down to her feet. I could see behind her two young kids about 9 and 6 and hugging her leg were another three tiny ones my guess they ranged from 4 to 2 years old. Miss Ginger: please come in we can talk inside, Lily take the others upstairs while i talk this young man. The tallest kid followed her orders and took the others away while she and I sat in the living room. Miss Ginger: now you said you wanted to learn magic, why not at the guild? Sting: it¡¯s... a bit complicated Miss Ginger: is it because they blacklisted you because of the magic items you hold. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. I paled when she said that and she clearly saw that. Miss Ginger: calm down boy I¡¯m not with the guild and i sure as hell don¡¯t agree with them taking magic items from others but i am curious to see what kind of items they are. I regained a bit of composure after she said that but was very wary Miss Ginger: since you are like this, then let¡¯s do it differently, show me the items or you won¡¯t get a single spell from me. I became pale again and pulled both puppets out and sat them on a chair and returned them to normal size then sent strings to both, not the hands. I then activate them which turn the seals on. By the way activating is when i weaken or strengthen the flow of mana in their bodies; i can remove parts without breaking the link when deactivated. Magi: m-master? I looked at Miss Ginger who was awestruck at seeing the dolls Miss Ginger: w-what are these?! Sting: magic puppets, marionettes to be precise, i discovered how to make them and they become magic items when i finish them. Miss Ginger: no wonder the guild is after you, if you don¡¯t turn in a magic item they hunt you down, from how casually you walk around and how little they are searching i can presume they don¡¯t know about them. I shake my head confirming her suspension. Miss Ginger: good, we need to keep them from the guilds hands, by the way why did you want magic spells when you can make warriors. Sting: because puppets can¡¯t directly use magic without this. I pull the Sigil Encyclopedia which she takes to examine. Miss Ginger: isn¡¯t this Daltons old book? Sting: you know him; he taught me carpentry in Althoria. Suddenly she makes a wide grin Miss Ginger: you know i am starting to think you finding me isn¡¯t a coincidence, Dalton must have changed jobs after he retired but he was once known as a Sigil Mage, it was horrible for combat because he had to use seals to use his spell but no one was better at making booby traps, you seemed to have found a true use for them and he probably saw that you could do so.
Quest Rising Sigil Complete After learn of it uses as a puppeteer you have discovered a better way to utilize the lost magic form. Reward: Continue talk with Miss Ginger but don¡¯t ask.
Miss Ginger: tell me what is your current goal? Sting: goal? Miss Ginger: goal, target whatever, what do you aim to do with what you know? Sting: i don¡¯t know, I¡¯m just becoming a puppeteer because I''ve always wanted to but my father never allowed it. Miss Ginger: then let me give you a goal hmm... for a start find apprentices and make your job stronger i think five apprentice should be fine.
Quest School of Puppeteers Miss Ginger has given you a starting point for your undecided future, find and trains five apprentices. Teach them all you know and have them help you in further develop your job. Requirements: Job Magus Puppeteer Difficulty B Reward ???
Sting: ok I¡¯ll do that for now but where will I find them?
Quest accepted
Miss Ginger: Orphans are a good place to look the churches take care of some, the ones in town as well has kids that adventurers find near here abandoned, now let my see the description on these puppets I¡¯m curious to see what they hold, "Identify". She looks at Magi when she says that then after a bit her mouth drops open. Miss Ginger: the puppets can have jobs. Sting: i think so but i don¡¯t know how to go about changing them since they are puppets. Miss Ginger: wait here a bit. She gets up a walks out the after a few minutes she appears with a book in her hand. Miss Ginger: this is a special book that will change the readers job to my old job Elemental Mage, here give it to her had have her say "Learn". I had Magi take the book and told her what to do after a bit she got it right but nothing happened. I took the book back and said Learn and got a message.
You have discovered a book to change to the Elemental mage class do you want to change Warning all skills linked to your class will be lost. Yes/No
Sting: no Ding !
You currently possess two Magic Marionettes that don¡¯t have a job would you like to give one this job. Yes/No
Sting: yes, give to Magi. Suddenly the book started to turn into light particles and went into Magi. I heard another Ding after everything was gone.
The Magic Marionette Magi has gained the job Elemental Mage Puppet +20 Int and Wis
Job skills gained Elemental magic affinity This increased the affinity to all elements by 15%. Due to the puppets core being a diamond the effect of this skill is doubled.
Magic Mastery Increases magic based damage by 5%
Sigil Magic mastery Due to her owner knowing this lost art she has gained the ability to use seals carved on her at her will.
You have gained the skill Magic Mastery from your puppet.
Sting: wow she got it and a few skills... i even learned magic mastery from her. Miss Ginger: so the owner is the one who gives the jobs... interesting, so what are you going to do now? Sting: well i did come here for magic since i can¡¯t get it from the guild. Miss Ginger: that¡¯s right let me go get some. She hurried off and came back ten minutes later with a huge pile of books and a bag holding even more, then placed them down on the ground and began organizing and an incredible pace. After she finished there where various piles each for a different element, Fire, water, air, earth, lighting, holy, dark. I lift up one from the holy pile, Healing rain, an AoE healing magic that starts at a one meter radius. I look at the other piles and find an interesting one, it doesn¡¯t have a specific element just regular skills and a few caught my attention. The Grow skill, opposite to the shrink skill, was one and seeing it I feel I could make great use of it since I would be able to carve more seals on the puppets if I can make parts larger then return to normal with small seals, so I ask how much it was. Miss Ginger: I see most basic spells for 10i those regular skill tones are the same cost. I look in my inventory and see I have a little over 2S, I separate the grow skill then get all the basic spells from each element especially cure and healing from the holy pile. The list is like this, Fireball, Fire bomb, ice spear (from water category), Air blast, Pressure Bomb, Earth Lance, Earth Wall, Earth Bomb (kind of like a shockwave from underground), Lightning bolt, Paralysis Shot, Healing, Cure, Blind, Curse, and Grow skill. This was all 1S 60I in total I it was a great purchase now I can add mage skills into combat speaking of that. Sting: you know someone trustworthy that can help me change my other puppets job to something in the fighting category. Miss Ginger: let me check him out, I have a few other job changing books for other classes I might have something interesting for him. She took a look and pondered a bit and walked out, it took her some time before she appeared with three books. Miss Ginger: well for warrior classes these are the only I have and they are also have magic mixed in. Sting: which classes are they? Miss Ginger: Elemental Swordsman, Monk and Dragoon which is a spear or lance fighter, Sting: does Monk use much mana Miss Ginger: no they are bare handed fighter most of the time but can use weapons if needed, I¡¯m sure you know stories about them but they are die hard martial artists and will continually train even after they finish their training on their monasteries, if I had to choose a good weapon it would be gauntlets they help do a lot of damage. Sting: if it takes the least amount of mana I¡¯ll take that one, I still need to change Proto¡¯s core to a better one and improve his body anyway so I¡¯ll change jobs after I do that. Miss Ginger: you¡¯re staying at the inn right. I nod and she then gives me a smile. Miss Ginger: then stay with me this way I can hide the signal these two are releasing, my house holds a few magic items so I know how to hide them, I also want to train Magi with the magic you bought. Sting: if it¡¯s fine with you but before she can use magic I need to carve the seals on her hands so magic training will be for some other time. She then led us to a guest room which had a large bed and a large table as well. I put magi away and have Proto laid down and deactivate him. I look through the gems I have, I¡¯m not putting a diamond since it is better for magic users¡­the Amethyst catches my attention so I take it and put the rest away, the open the gem compartment. The emerald is just floating there with the shine from inside pulsing like a heart. I put the Amethyst next to the emerald and add some mana the gem them make a few strings go from the emerald to the amethyst and begin pulling the mana inside to the other gem and taking the connections that exist and doing the same. It was a difficult thing to do and I had to focus tremendously not to screw up. After the emerald was empty it got easier to disconnect the strings attached and reattach to the other gem. When I finally finished I was exhausted.
You have gained +3 concentrations
I look outside and the sun is already rising and Miss Ginger is at the door with a bowl of soup and some drinks. Miss Ginger: so this is the secret to the magic puppet¡­ a mana filled gem, I can¡¯t believe this was all it took to make the puppet work and yet for so long no one thought of this. Sting: it¡¯s not just the crystal the construction is different as well. I said that and pull the shoulder joint and show here, she goes wide eyed when she sees that it isn¡¯t attached Sting: the trick is using make to hold it together as the hooks and springs Miss Ginger: you are so young yet you are doing high level things Sting: high level? What do you mean you if you learn the skill Mana Strings you can manipulate them as you like. Miss Ginger: that¡¯s the thing it¡¯s not a simple thing to do. I stood up and pulled the control bar I use to control the marionettes and held it out to her. Sting: take this for a bit She took it cautiously. Sting: now move your mana to one of the hooks Miss Ginger: I need a catalyst gem to help me with the exterior mana control. Sting: exactly that¡¯s why I can do it and you can¡¯t, learn that and you will learn to control the puppets, though I think I could something similar to a staff with the control bars. She was staring at me with narrowed eyes but curiosity was clearly seen in her eyes as she thought about what I said. I go back and finish the final touches to Proto¡¯s core and then I begin improving his body. It was easier than doing the core change and only took until noon for me to finish improving his whole body, he now had no visible defects at all and I would say he was even better than normal; I also gained a level for handicraft, puppet making and carpentry, levels 6, 5 and 7. When I was done I activated him and examined him
Magic Marionette (Proto) The first of its kind, this special Marionette was modeled after its creator in his attempt to discover the how to make magic puppets. Renovated Construction, all defects have been removed and the body has been improved. Level 18 Job none Exp 0% Health/Durability 1200/1200 Mana 700/2000 Stamina Unlimited Strength 70 Agility 55 Dexterity 49 Vitality 50 Intelligence 35 Wisdom 30 Skills Sword Mastery (basic 3) Sense Presence (basic 4) Status: Normal
Sting: wow he had a great improvement and gained 8 levels from being renovated. I then took the book for monks out and said learn.
You have discovered a book for changing to the Monk Class do you want to change? Warning all class skills will be removed. Yes/No
Sting: No
You currently possess one Magic Marionettes that don¡¯t have a job would you like to give him this job. Yes/No
Sting: Yes
The Magic Marionette Proto1 has gained the Job Monk Puppet. +20 STR +10 Int +10 Wis
Job Skills Gained Bare Fist Fighting Mastery The art of fighting without weapons Increases damage by 5% to all bare handed attacks
Monk Mindset (passive) By taking the job of the monks he will think like them and has gained a love from all forms of training in all martial arts both bare handed and weapons
Fighters Aura The spirit of a fighter manifested to its limits can create an aura around the body Cost: 10 mana to cast, 1 m/s to maintain
Knuckle drive Sprinting forward putting your weight behind your next punch as well as coating it with fighters Aura to cause great damage Cost 100 Stamina, 50 mana
Combo skill Rush strike, Drop punch Quickly rushes at the opponent and delivers a volley of punches to drop the opponent to the ground, then jumps and lands on the opponent delivering the final punch while he is down. Cost: Stamina 30[/i][/b]
Sting: wow Monk is quite an impressive class¡­ and it even set a personality trait for him. Miss Ginger: Monks are a special type of fighter that needs high stamina and intelligence as well as strength to utilize. Sting: well stamina is one thing I don¡¯t need to worry about. Miss Ginger: so what now? Sting: ill spend the rest of the day carving the seals on Magi¡¯s had so we can use them then I will be going east to complete a request for Alice, she wants me to collect some tree sap from the Havea tree, the sap is supposed to make be capable of making a material similar to human skin and I¡¯m interested in that. Miss Ginger: well I suggest you train a bit before heading out, the animals around here are between level 20-40 and those bandits are over level 50. Sting: thanks for the warning I¡¯ll do some hunting while I¡¯m out. I spend the rest of the day and some of the night carving the spells seals on her hand and had them both meditate all night to recharge their mana. I logged out to take care of myself. It was evening so I took a bath to freshen up and went downstairs to get some food. My parents and sisters were there and on TV was me working on my puppets, this caused me to freeze. Mom: oh sweetie your out, your father had your capsule video feed installed for us to watch you since your ignoring us for the game now, I must say the puppets look very complicated Dad: I have to agree there, I didn¡¯t think puppeteering would be such an advanced class; it¡¯s even more surprising that the puppets can have jobs; I need to check with the AI on this. While I was listening to my parents talk my sisters snuck up on me and jumped on me hugging me. They names were Megan and Rita they were identical except for a small mole on their faces which was on opposite sides but on the same height which I though funny. Rita: hey hey bro we saw that small doll you made it looks like us? Megan: did you make it remembering us? I blushed a bit, in the house I only got along really well with my sisters since both my parents work at the company they were never home when it mattered so I took care of them. Malcolm: n-no it¡¯s just t-that I don¡¯t know anyone else so small. They both puffed their cheeks pouting after I called them small, and they are small for their age. We had invited some of their friends and most were taller than shortest was still 4cm taller than them. I pat then on the head and it makes them blush and look down embarrassed, it¡¯s really cute. Rita: s-stop I¡¯m not a baby anymore?! Megan: ya we are too big for this!! I just laugh but continue, after a bit I stop and look at the TV, it was showing Proto¡¯s stats and skills and he was a bit shocked. I didn¡¯t want to be interrogated by dad again so I left and went to the kitchen and grabbed a bit to eat then went back in game. When I logged in the puppets were still meditating so I called it off and packed them away, it was day time already. After I had gathered my things I left after saying good bye to Miss Ginger and the kids. Outside of town was filled with movement of merchants coming and going. I go into the forest then call them both out and give Magi some cloths, since we didn¡¯t get any from Alice. I passed her a cloak which, thanks to the system, gets smaller to fit her size, and then we proceeded east towards the quest. Chapter 3 The First Apprentice The walk to the woods wasn¡¯t hard neither of my puppets complained. Oh your probably wondering how I am controlling two puppets at one time, well im not I found out while at Miss Gingers house that in auto mode I need only one string attached to the puppets for them to move, they use their own mana to move in auto mode but with more strings they waste less mana. After a few minutes we encounter our first enemy. It was a lone bear it was standing over a corpse of a deer and eating it. Sting: ok Magi lets test your magic She nods ready for anything. Sting: I want you to make a cage with the Earth lances like this I crouch down and make a tiny cage with entwined stone lances; she looks at it a bit then stands up and holds one hand up towards the bear. Magi: Earth Lance. A small glowing seal appears floating in front of her hand like you see in magic formations. Then we felt the ground shake as the lances sprang out of the ground closing off the bears escape. Through the earthen bars I could see the bear was raging inside trying to get out, its roars vibrated clearly in the forest. I call Proto close and make raise the ground below us with the Earth lance magic so we could see above the cage, I look towards Magi and nod. She lifts both arms. Magi: Blind, Curse The two spells fly out of the seals and hit the bear dead center, at that moment Proto and I move in, he jumps on the ground while I aim to land on top of the bear. I land successfully and grab the fur just before it starts to thrash around but that is stopped by Proto when he lands a clean hit in the bears gut with Knuckle drive. I take the chance and hook my strings to the bear¡¯s neck finally stopping it. It stayed up on its hind legs for a bit before dropping in a lump on the ground while roaring and trying to move. We then finished it off and collected its loot. When I checked the body I gained info about the bear, level 28 butchered produces, a LOT of meat and really large pelt. Sting: it¡¯s too slow to fight like this. Magi: but¡­ we are¡­ w-weak. Sting: I guess, this might be a good pace for now. Proto: we¡­could t-try¡­a g-game¡­ to see¡­ how fast He says this while doing pushups, why because of Monk mindset, he now searches for ways to get stronger. Magi: w-why¡­not take¡­turns hunting. Sting: I think that should work everyone hunts differently so we should do that. We head out again, first we let Magi go since she is the lowest level, though she has the highest dmg/s she quickly trapped a bear and shot a few ice spears and finished with a fire bomb, the explosion was huge, to huge I had her use it before just to see how large it was but this one was almost twice as large. I think what could have changed, and then I remember something in physic class. Its goes something like, if you heat something that is very cold rapidly it could cause a large explosion, the same would work with heating up then freezing quickly, best example would be throwing dry ice in warm water the reaction is very powerful. With that in mind I tell her about it and she seems to understand, it¡¯s a shame we only have the ice spear and fire bomb combo, since we don¡¯t have many spells available. After her was Proto''s turn, we captured another bear in a cage, larger cage this time to give him room so he could fight. His fight was...i would best describe it like one of those old martial arts movies, it went like this. First he waited for the bear to move to the far end then jumped in. He then rushed at it and gave the bear a knuckle drive punch on its side before jumping back out of range of the bears paws. When the bear finally had him in its sight it got on its hind legs and gave a roar while standing three meters tall. Proto responded by getting into a stance similar to either a boxer or a Muay Thai and was hoping from one foot to the next ready to move. When he didn¡¯t come the bear rushed him which he just jumped out of the way. When the bear stopped to turn and find him, he moved in. He struck another Knuckle drive into its side with an uppercut then began his combo skill. He started with volley of punches which stunned the bear and it fell on its side at this point he took his chance to do the finishing move of the combo. He jumped easily four meters up into the air and did a single front flip before falling head first towards the stunned bear with his right arm ready he launched the punch. When it connected it caused a small shockwave and from outside i could see the bear was in a V shape as it got closer to deaths door from the terrifying impact. He suddenly jumped away and waited as the bear got up, suddenly the bears black fur stood on its ends and became a bloody red color as it let out a terrifyingly loud roar which signaled it had gone berserk but when it looked at Proto he was already in front of him. I could feel he was determined to finish this. I had his stats open this whole time, hen i saw his mana drop by 100 i guessed he had armed both hands with knuckle drive. The first went in as a left hook to the side of the gut which made the bear drop onto its four paws and the right punch connected as an uppercut to the bears chin. As soon as it connected the sound of a snap was heard. Inside the cage the bears head was faced perfectly up in a 90 degree angle. It stood there a few moments before falling down dead. Magic Marionette Proto leveled up Bare handed mastery leveled up basic 3 Knuckle drive leveled up to 2 Combo skill Rush strike, drop punch leveled up to 2 Sting: good job Proto now lets me clean this then it my turn. One feature to this game that makes it realistic is that bodies of the dead, both animal and humanoid, don¡¯t vanish after dead and leave the drops, you need to go and get it off them yourself, which is one of the reasons this game is for 18+ players, you don¡¯t want kids having to kill bandits and have them take items from the corpses. After butchering the pelt and meat we catch another one for me. I know what your think I¡¯ll just control him and kill him. Sorry but to boring, i want to test something from one of my favorite anime. I make five strings appear from the tips of my finger and let them expand. Then, like handling a whip i motion my hind down quickly like I¡¯m clawing at something. I was extremely happy with the results, five deep claws like wounds appeared on the bear as it roared in pain. I then pulled the strings up over head and point them down over the bear and do the same downward movement. The strings go down and easily piece the bears body through heart and lungs and it falls over dead.
You have gained new skills String mastery Controlling the strings as weapons to do great damage at long distances. Only gives effects when strings come from the hands. Increases control over the strings when directly using it from your hands or holding the control bars Increases slashing damage by 5% Increases piercing damage by 5%
String Slash Using super thin string durable like whips to claw into an opponent from a great distance. 1 string damage=100 slash damage Cost 100 stamina
String pierce Moving the string straight downward towards your opponent with the points aimed at them Ignores armor up to iron but not harder materials Can only be used with the strings attached to the hand. Cost 300 stamina
Sting: wow really efficient skills...i wonder if other skills might work Magi: master...scary skill. Sting: you don¡¯t like them She shakes her head while covering her face more. Sting: it¡¯s getting late, Magi can you make a large hold over there then use earth lance to cover the top and leave an opening for us. She nods and gets to it, she finishes thanks to her magic and we go in and i have them meditate. When both were sitting i sat a bit away and began as well. In mediation i already had planned on developing a sensory skill. How? I took spiders in consideration here; they sense vibrations on their threads so for me i was planning on making max number of strings and spreading them as far as possible. It didn¡¯t take long, after i found a bear with the skill the game system recognized what i was doing.
Mana string sense Like a spider you spread your strings to hunt your enemies. Range: 70 meter with max amount of strings
After getting the skill, not job related for some reason i return to my senses. I then leave the burrow and gather up lots of rocks and go back inside before pulling out a chisel and hammer. What was i making, a scout puppet. What kind? a spider of course, i planned on using it to transmit to me the info as it walked around as I use my new skill. By morning i had all the pieces made, the three sections and the eight legs, i then used the grow spell to grow the abdomen and carved a single seal for the mana string sense, on the spot was there webs normally came from, and then i added sight and hearing to the head. The core i used was opal; none were large like Magi''s diamond but it not like i needed it to be. Connecting the parts was quick as there wasn¡¯t as many parts as human puppets but it took a fair bit of time. When i was done the sun was already out. I attached strings on it to complete the puppet.
Magic Arachnid Marionette The first of its kind as it¡¯s the first magic animal marionette. Constructed by an up and coming puppet maker this stone spider boasts its high durability thanks to the material used. Warning: just like natural spider, excluding the demi tribe of Arachne, this one does not know the concept of loyalty and will attack if not in complete control. Level 1 Job: Drone (scout) Exp 0% Health/Durability: 2000/2000 Mana: 500/500 Stamina: unlimited Strength 50 Agility 80 Dexterity 50 Vitality 90 Skills Stealth (basic 1) Ambush (basic 1) Mana string weaving (basic 1) Tracking (basic 1) Status: normal
Puppet Making leveled up to 4 Magic puppet making leveled up to 6 Sculpting leveled up to level 6
The spider was standing there since i was in full control and after reading the description i didn¡¯t plan to, at least not near me. Sting: it has a job already is it because I wanted a scout or because it¡¯s an animal? Maybe it¡¯s both, animal puppets might come with the job for what I plan to use them for. I control it and make it walk outside and go back to meditating. Since i have the mana string sense when meditating i can see my puppets if they are linked to me. I make the spider walk a good sixty meters towards the east, where bandits were supposed to be then i activate Mana string sense. From me a ball of mana, all i have, travels down the string attached to the spider¡¯s core. When it reached the core it passed through it and headed to the seal and pulled along the cores mana as well which deactivated the spider. The spider slumped down but the seal was active all the same since I was controlling it. After a few minutes I sent a bit of my regenerated mana to the spider and activated it again. Now the mana sense skill how it works is a bit complex I think. It works together with a skill it gave me, Mental mapping which appeared after the strings mapped out everything around the spider. It works like this, when the strings that float around the user touches something new it raps around it and gets a general shape, if more strings are nearby it will also rap around it getting a better image that I why this skill only works while I meditate, I can only see this image of the sense while I focus a lot and I need mana to control the spider to as it goes further from me. I had the spider move in a zig zap movement to map out a larger area to the east and I found what I wanted about 2 km away. It was a small patrol group of bandits, just grunts but its good since I can interrogate them for the main bases location. I have the spider return and after an hour it arrives and I deactivate it before packing it so it won¡¯t attack. Then I follow the mental map I created, obviously I had some sensory strings spread out for safety reasons but we reached the patrol group easily without any encounters. The group consists of about 10 grunts ranging from levels 30-38. Since they were just the weaklings of the bunch we just raid the place. Magi built the fence then began bombarding magic over them, Proto jumped into the fence dodging the incoming magic from Magi and began devastating the bandits while I used my strings to slash them up or control one or two to attach their friends. It didn¡¯t take more than five minutes to finish off the group. We then proceeded to strip them of their wares I repaired two sets of bandit armor and handed it to each of my puppets. Though it was old stuff it still improved our defense and any help would be good. I then sent out the spider again and quickly found a new group, much larger this time with 25 men and one was much higher ranked then the grunts so I had my target to get info on the bandit hideout. The raid on the second group wasn¡¯t as nice as the first, the target was a trained officer and had quite a good head on his head while he directed his men but sadly he never encountered my job before so he had devise a plan for the constant changing men that would randomly turn on their comrades saying they were being controlled, which isn¡¯t a preposterous thing seeing as there really exists brainwashing magic. When I finally got rid of a quarter of the group Proto and Magi stepped in and cleaned up the remaining ones while I captured the captain, he seems to have magic resistance so I need almost three times the number of strings to fully restrain him. Sting: we finally got him restrained. Bandit: so you¡¯re the bustards, let me go so I can strangle you!!! Magi: Master¡­interrogate She said this then makes an ice spear appear in her hand and aims it at the guy. He becomes paler then the light blue ice from the spear. Sting: hold on Magi, as you can see she means business so you better answer correctly, where is the main bandit hideout? Bandit: l-like i-i-I¡¯ll ever b-betray Tristan. Before I could say anything the ice spear pierced his leg. Sting: we can continue this all day, she knows healing spells so we can injure and heal you all we want. The next one to approach was Proto and without a word he got his point across by punching the ground and making a 2 foot wide crater. The man was ghostly white now and was covered in sweat; I gave him a menacing grin then moved in close and said in a cold tone. Sting: the thing that would make me the happiest is to let them have fun with you but if you answer our question truthfully you won¡¯t need to. Bandit: t-t-t-to the n-n-northeast in a c-c-cave¡­w-we have s-some dwarves s-slaves digging for us so the hideout is a huge underground fortress. When he finished Magi finished him off.
You have destroyed a bandit raiding party. +100 fame 1500 exp Level up 3x Mari level up 6x Proto level up 2x
Sting: ¡°that¡¯s a nice parting gift he left us, With our training we did, Magi is level 14 now, I¡¯m level 22 and Proto is 25¡± (I¡¯ll put all three stat tables at the end of the chapter) We then proceeded to loot their gear, i was happy the armor in this group is much betters then the first groups. I gave Proto the bandit captain''s armor which consists of a chainmail shirt, leather pants, chest plates, iron gauntlets, and metal boots. For me i settled with a better bandits gear for now until I can have a good look at the loot. The more valuable stuff, money jewelry, higher grade weapons, i stored in my inventory and the rest i dumped into a carriages the bandits were pulling. Not surprising it was a merchants cart and to make me happier it held fabric material and gems, lots of gems though all uncut. After strapping up a pair of horses to the carriage, there were twenty in total which I took all thanks to my strings, we returned to Relona. Why? To get rich off the cart full of merchant goods and loot and the twenty horses the bandit were riding. *** Bandit leader Tristan POV In the wood about a half hour walk north east of Stings position was the bandits cave city. It was made like a dwarf¡¯s city, which is in layers on over the other. The boss¡¯s room was located on the second floor while the third was the current working place of the dwarven slaves. Inside Tristan was sharpening an exquisite blade when one of his officer''s entered. Officer: sir... we have a small problem. Tristan: if its small then why are telling me then? His voice was as cold as ice just like his stare. Officer: i-it¡¯s about Captain Leo and his raiding party... their dead sir. Tristan stared blankly at the man and slowly got up. Tristan: dead...you know what you¡¯re saying boy?! Officer: yes sir, they were later for arrive so we sent out a search party and found the party dead and strips of all their belongings, all the horses and the merchant carts, which were three in total, they raided today were also gone, sir. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.Tristan: DAMN IT!!! He grabbed his sword and tossed it straight past the man head to the left and lodging it in the wall behind him. The officer was sweating all over and trembling in fear. Tristan: who did it?! Officer: w-w-w-we d-don¡¯t know, we s-sent out several s-search groups after we found Captain Leo. Tristan: send some men to all the surrounding villages, with so many horses he will have to sell them, search in all places you can that sell horses, stables, ranches whatever i want these guys found and brought to me alive. The officer ran out of the room to do as ordered, even from far he could her Tristan¡¯s yelling. *** Sting POV The ride was very eventful, i was in one of the three carts, which held three large bags of uncut gems. Why was it eventful? Well because i found the mother of all diamonds. It was easily as big as a basketball and feeling inside i could sense it was half filled with mana, but the quantity of mana inside is something that would take weeks with Magi, Proto and me to fill to this point. In all three bags were a guessed total of at least 200 gems. I sorted through them all by type and put each in a separate pile while keeping the large ones. Diamonds 20, 5 large, Ruby 50, 3 large, sapphire 30, 6 large, topaz 60, 10 large, Opal 10, 7 large, Emerald 20, 8 large. The rest i put back in the bags to sell. Getting over my exciting discovery, which i will never sell since it¡¯s to useful to recharge our mana reserves in dire situations, there were other stuff we acquired. First from the fabric goods, there is a cart full of both silk and leather, both at extremely high quality and the leather was from powerful animals. Then comes loot from the bandits, most had leather armor with some really high quality iron pieces, the swords and daggers were also great most even had a restriction for level 30, must be stuff made by dwarves. The armor took a bit of sorting through but i was able to make a full set of iron armor which i wore, as for Magi and Proto. Proto had gained the captains armor which was mostly iron with leather pants, while i gave magi full leather armor. The last bit of loot we gained were horses, twenty in total. Though i won¡¯t be selling the six pulling the cart the other fourteen will. I heard from father that a healthy horse normally sells for at least 20g each, so right now with all this stuff I¡¯m sitting in a gold mine. When we reached Relona we had quite a few people staring at us, though i can¡¯t complain, i would stare as well if i saw three large merchant carts leading a pack of horses. When we reached the gate we were blocked because of the number of horses. Guard 1: halt we can¡¯t allow you to enter with so many animals. Sting: I''ve come to sell them can you indicate someone. Guard 2: really, I''ll take him to the stable manager. The guard let us pass and we were led inside following the cities walls until we reached a fenced area with a few horses. Guard 2: hey old man, you have a customer Quickly an elder man followed by a young one appeared from a small hut near the fence. Old rancher: what¡¯s this ''bout a customer? Guard 2: boy here want to sell horses. Old rancher: really let me see ¡®em. He jumped the fence then began checking them. After a good ten minutes of checking all of them, he came over. Old Rancher: boy, were in god¡¯s name did you get these horses. Sting: some bandits attacked, the horses survived their riders didn''t. Old rancher: that explains the slight bruises on them but over all they are pretty health, how does 12G a head sound? Sting: 18 "13" "16" Old rancher: 14 final offer. Sting: done Hey told the boy to get the money while he led the horses into small corrals. In total 196G i earned. I thank the men and head in towards the plaza and towards Alice¡¯s shop next. When i enter i see her look over, then she jumps out with a happy smile. Alice: did you get it? Sting: not yet bandits are in the way. Alice: just ignore them. Sting: i would if i hadn''t heard they had dwarven slaves in their base. Alice¡¯s face get serious now after hearing that. Alice: dwarves, it¡¯s illegal to enslave them, along with dragonians, dwarves and elves are strictly forbidden to enslave. Sting: i understand dwarves and elves since they are skilled but why dragonians as well. Alice: dragonians are called the noble demi tribe because of their incredible power in strength and magic, it¡¯s said that if someone tries to steal from one of they can get a penalty as bad as death. You have gaimed information on your race +2 to ever stat You have gained the title "Noble Demi-human" This title will make conversation with royalties easier as you will be viewed as one. When title is equipped you will be seen as a noble by all around you. Sting: "troublesome title, it will attract TO MUCH attention that i don¡¯t want now." Sting: anyway Alice i brought some goods you might be interested in. I led her to the cart with fabric goods. When she saw it her mouth dropped. Alice: where did you get all this, you can only find it in huge cities. Sting: a bandit raiding party Alice: ...bandit¡­as in the ones to the east? I nod and she looks from me to the goods before looking back. Alice: you know i don¡¯t have money for this kind of stuff. Sting: can you work with this stuff. Alice: ya my mom taught me everything she knew. Sting: then make a few goods with this stuff ill help you get customers. She looked a bit skeptical but then picked up some pieces of silk and leather and went inside. After a bit she returned holding a lavished leather vest adored with silk that had intricate patterns sewn on it.
Silk leather vest This beautiful vest was made by tge seamstress Alice. The hide used is comparable in strength to heavy iron armor while the silk gives it its beauty. The intricate patterns give a special effect to the vest. Defense: 45 Level restrictions: 50 Special effect: Decreases damage received from magic attacks.
Sting: wow this is great, but is this the best you can do or did you hold back. She looked down at her feet to advert her eyes. Alice: i held back, mom told me to only use my full potential to give armor to someone i felt deserves it. Sting: can i see a sample of your full potential. She nodded and led me inside; i left my puppets to guard the carts. Inside she took me into the back room she normally come out of. It was fully loaded with all sorts of armor of many different materials. I picked up a black leather vest to examine it.
Black Leviathans Leather Vest Made by the genius Alice Heldon, this vest can be considered an art piece thanks to the craftsmanship that was poured onto it during its making. The sewn patterns are a representation of Alice¡¯s thanks to the water spirits that guarded the beast that the leather came from until it reached he. Defense: 230 Level restrictions: 370 Special effects: With the complete set you can breathe underwater and won¡¯t feel water resistance when submerged. 80% resistance to all water based attacks.
I stood there in a daze after reading the description of the item. I snapped back to reality when Alice nervously shook me and took the item from my hands. Sting: that¡¯s one of yours? She nervously nodded, i could see fear in her eyes, something must have happened for her to be like this so i asked about it. Alice: i-i-I''m just n-nervous because i o-once showed my work to someone and they came and stole everything and killed my parents. She began crying now so i patted her head like i did when my sisters are sad, it calms them down. Luckily it works for her as well. Sting: so you¡¯re living alone now? Alice: yes...i can survive with the sales i make. Sting: then why don¡¯t you travel with me? She looked at me surprised then narrowed her eyes Alice: you just want my tailor skills Sting: no I don¡¯t, you see Miss Ginger gave me a starting goal, she wants me to get myself five apprentices to teach them my job, since you¡¯re all alone why not come with me. She sat down and pondered deeply on it, I could see she was wavering as she looked all around at her things Alice: what will I do about my items here I don¡¯t want to sell them from my shop since it will attract a lot of attention. Sting: want me to auction it off, us adventures have a safe auction area that can get us rich with the right items, your stuff can attract a lot of attention but the auctions from my connections doesn¡¯t say where it comes from. Alice: if it¡¯s like that then ok but you need to see them in sets since the items main effects are set bonuses.
Quest Auction sales Alice has lived alone for a while after her family was killed and her things stolen, you have offered her a chance to leave this small town and travel the world but you need to sell all the tailored armor before she agrees. Difficulty F Reward: Alice as your first apprentice.
Sting: ok then let¡¯s get the sets ready so that I can put them to auction.
Quest accepted
She runs around picking up and sorting different pieces into matching sets. When I got to twenty sets my inventory was full so I told her to continue sorting while I go put them up. I log off and quickly hook up my computer to the capsule and open up the Second life Auction site. The site allows you to sell items for either game money or real money; I choose game money since I don¡¯t need real ones. On the page of each separate item there is a base price of the material cost, I increase that price about 20% more than link all the items to sell as a set and put it up for auction for 2 days. I do this to all twenty before I log back in to find a whole bunch more ready. In total I put up seventy sets up, to everyone who always searches the auctions im sure they are quite shocked at this stock of OP items. As I sit there looking I open on set which is the Black Leviathans Leather set and ready the comments AniCat: dude is this for real; there is no way for someone to get this many high level stuff in one go. Greatmind: sorry to say it¡¯s real, I have experience checking out pictures to see if they have suffered photoshop and not a single one of these sets have, they are all genuine items. The comments followed like this, after a few more specialists checked out the auction and confirmed the authenticity of the item, the bidding war got into full gear. After a few minutes my father rushed into my room. Dad: son what is the meaning of this, where did you get such high grade items so. I didn¡¯t respond but walked over to the capsule and messed with the external monitor and pulled up the conversation of with Alice. I let him watch it while I go back to the computer and read watch the war before turning the TV on only to see the anchor men talking about the amazing series of OP sets being auctioned off at the moment. My guess is that the true bidding war between guilds will begin after the auctions reach the past 10000G, at that point no normal player would have this kind of capital unless he is the lord of a very successful city or he is a guild master that takes money to allow people to join. I walk over to my capsule, which my dad is still looking at with a tired expression. He looks at me with eyes filled with both pride and worry. I could guess what he was thinking, the media would hunt down the owner of the account, with no success if my dad had anything to say about it, and try and get interviews or anything just to see how I got the items. I don¡¯t worry about it and just log on again. When I log in I find Alice sitting in the empty room just staring at the space. Alice: you know, with this space clean now, I feel like I can finally move on past my parent¡¯s death. I¡¯ve only been doing tailoring because my parents were passionate about it and I didn¡¯t want to disappoint them. Sting: a parent will always be proud of their children no matter what they do as long as they follow what they want. Alice: I guess you¡¯re right, your carts are in the back, I had your friends take it back there to hide them and keep prying eyes from trying to steal them, im ready to go when you are.
Quest Auction sales complete You have placed all Alices things for sale and have taken a burden off her back, she will follow you and learn from you as your loyal student. Reward: Alice as your first apprentice.
Sting: thanks we should go th¡­ DING!!! DONG!!! DING!!! DONG!!! Sting: what¡¯s that?? Alice: the church bells, they only ring for special sermons or if there is large scale trouble. Sting: let¡¯s go check it out. Outside was a lot of confusion, many people looked worried as they look at the churches bell ring; suddenly a small window appeared in front of everyone.
Warning the army of Bandits controlled by the wanted Dragonian criminal Tristan the Red Claw is preparing to raid Relona, all adventurers are required to help with the defending the city anyone who doesn¡¯t will gain 1000 infamy. All citizens are requested to head to the barracks to leave the city from an underground passage. Bandit army: 600 Relona Guards: 200 Adventurers: 500
Sting: Alice go with the citizens, I have to help out Alice: but I said I would come with you and be your apprentice Sting: yes but you haven¡¯t learned a thing yet you are my apprentice but one that doesn¡¯t know how to fight yet so please go to safety. She reluctantly goes along with the others. After she leaves Magi and Proto appear behind me. Magi: she will¡­be safe with¡­them. Sting: I know, we should get ready as well, this is going to be a large scale siege since they have dwarves working for them. Proto: i¡¯m excited¡­to fight, they¡­are a powerful¡­foe that¡­we shall crush. Sting: ya lets get going them. Like promised these are the stats of the Sting and the puppets Name: Sting Alignment: Neutral Profession: None Race: Demi Human Dragonian Title: Noble Demi Human Level: 22 Fame: 1600 Health: 1500 Mana: 1300 Strength: 76 Agility: 85 Vitality: 75 Wisdom: 55 Intelligence: 60 Dexterity: 46 Charisma: 30 Luck: 30 Skills Sword Mastery (basic 1) Sting Mastery (basic 6) Meditation (basic 9) Mana String (basic 9) Mana String Sense (basic 3) Internal Mana Control (basic 9) External Mana Control (Intermediate 1) Carpentry (basic 8) Sculpting (basic 7) Puppet making (basic 6) Magic Puppet making (basic 4) Handicraft (basic 7) Puppeteering (basic 6) Sigil Magic (basic 5) Repair (basic 4) Spells Fire Ball (basic 2) Fire Bomb (basic 4) Ice Lance (basic 4) Pressure bomb (basic 1) Earth Lance (basic 6) Earth Bomb (basic 1) Lightning Bolt (basic 1) Paralysis shot (basic 1) Healing (basic 3) Cure (basic 1) Blind (basic 2) Curse (basic 3) Shrink (basic 4) Grow (basic 1) Magic Marionette (Proto1) The first of its kind, this special Marionette was modeled after its creator in his attempt to discover the how to make magic puppets. Renovated Construction, all defects have been removed and the body has been improved. Level 25 Job Monk Puppet Exp 72% Health/Durability 1500/1500 Mana 2000/2000 Stamina Unlimited Strength 100 Agility 70 Dexterity 65 Vitality 60 Intelligence 55 Wisdom 50 Skills Sword Mastery (basic 3) Sense Presence (basic 4) Fist Fighting Mastery (basic 4) Monk Mindset (passive) Fighters Aura (basic 3) Knuckle Drive (basic 3 Rush Strike, Drop Punch (basic 2) Magic Marionette (Magi) A magic puppet made from an up-and-coming puppet maker. It was made decently and has no obvious flaws. This special marionette was modeled after the creator¡¯s younger sisters, as such as the ego it is developing will have a tendency to have a younger sister¡¯s personality but will regard her creator as master out of loyalty. Level 14 Job Elemental Mage Puppet Exp 26% Health/Durability 1400/1400 Mana 8000/8000 Stamina Unlimited Strength 40 Agility 80 Dexterity 48 Vitality 75 Intelligent 70 Wisdom 65 Skills Sigil Magic Mastery Magic Mastery Elemental Magic Affinity Delayed Casting (basic 2) Sigil Spells Fire Ball (basic 2) Fire Bomb (basic 4) Ice Lance (basic 4) Pressure bomb (basic 1) Earth Lance (basic 6) Earth Bomb (basic 1) Lightning Bolt (basic 1) Paralysis shot (basic 1) Healing (basic 3) Cure (basic 1) Blind (basic 2) Curse (basic 3) Chapter 4 The Bandit Raid
Event: Relona Bandit raid The bandits led by the Dragonian criminal Tristan ¡°The Red Claw¡± are planning to invade the town all players inside the town have been drafted to help protect the town. It is important that they are repelled because the city is placed on an important trade route between the capital and other main citys. Contribution: 0 points
I run to the plaza that is filled with players. At the end was a man that looked in his late forties and next to him a similar man but much more muscular and armored in full plated armor, a kite shield on his left arm and a long sword on his waist. The normal man, most likely the city lord, walks up and addresses the crowd. ??? : please quiet down, we would like to thank you for joining us in protecting our town from these bandits, they are currently outside to the east setting up siege weapons, we have time before they begin we would like to take names of you who will be participating. The knight walked up and began directing them. It moved quickly warrior classes were sent to the barracks. Archers and mages went on the wall and towers. I allowed Proto to go to with the knight but told him to not speak with anyone if possible and keep his mask on, while I took Magi with me and headed onto the wall. I stayed half way between the east gate tower and the next one so I had full view of the clearing. I prepared myself sending out half the amount of strings I can control, at (basic 9) I can create 3 strings at a time and control 150 strings as long as I have mana, so I sit and meditate while I let the strings out further and further, including 10 strings from my finger tips to use to attack. All my strings are nearly invisible but if someone is powerful enough they can feel the mana used to make them so I had one or two NPC mages looking at me in amazement. When I was satisfied I got up from my meditating and just stood there waiting, I could see from far away the catapults and ballista being built. I look down towards the plaza and see it had emptied and everyone was buzzing around like bees getting ready. I then walk up to one of the NPC captains Sting: sir how much time before we will begin the fight. NPC: well we normally wait for them to start since they are under cover of the trees. Sting: if I could damage them would there be a problem. NPC: not at all, if it raises the moral of out solders then be my guest. I nodded then walked to Magi while having some people star at me strangely. Magi: do you have¡­a plan master? Sting: yes, get ready to use magic to attack ready as many spells as you can. I then pull the huge diamond while hiding it in my cloak then make a link from it to my and one directly to Magi¡¯s core. Sting: there now you can access the large amount of mana in here go all out. She nods then I walk up to the walls edge and pull one hand back with my hands open as if about to claw something. In a quick swipe of my hand on the air I whip the five strings in a long horizontal arc. The players next to me begin to giggle looking at me as a weirdo but after exactly 10 seconds the strings reach their intended targets. The entire tree line is cut as if something clawed it. The trees collapse onto the bandits and the strings also cut into the siege weapons. The players and NPC stared wide eyed at the attack, it was something they had never seen or heard about and as many were mages they want to know. Tristan POV Tristan: so how are the preparations going? Bandit officer: quite well, the siege weapons should be finished in another two hours we already have the ammunition and since we are under the trees we don¡¯t have to worry about possible atta¡­ *Crack!!!* *Bang!!!* *Bomb!!!* The sudden sounds of something breaking drew the attention of the bandit leader and he left his tent only to find disarray. He grabbed one of the bandits that were working on the catapults Tristan: what happened here?! Bandit: we don¡¯t know one second everything was calms the next the trees and catapults were cut by something around 30 of our men were also cut and injured and about 8 died; we don¡¯t know what did it. He let the man go; rage was boiling up inside him at the inconvenience, now they were exposed to attacks as well as having no siege weapons. Officer: sir this looks like something we spotted at the area your brother was found in, I think it might be an attack from the same person that killed him. Tristan made a menacing grin that was filled with malice. Tristan: so this is what he is capable of, no wonder my brother couldn¡¯t handle him, for him to be able to do so much¡­ ready the men we are advancing without the siege weapons cut down logs to make rams we will push our way in, mages get ready we will be under heavy fire from magic and arrows. All the bandits began scurring around and picking up the largest logs from what remained from the catapults and the trees that were cut. While the mages put up barriers along the line to keep out attacks until they needed to advance. Sting POV I was watching the bandits as they scurried around and picked up the logs, when the barriers rose up I had already guessed they were making time to get ready for the raid. Behind me many players were cheering the destruction of the siege weapons and some laughed at the bandits who were hiding behind the barriers. The NPC captain near me approached and thanked me for helping out.
For clearing out the siege weapons before damage could be done you have gained 1200 contribution points. (All actions done by your puppets during the battle will be considered you¡¯re doing both good and bad and you will be rewarded the points)
I grinned when I looked the message; it was a wonderful message that shouted ¡°siege battles are made for puppeteers.¡± After the NPC left, a few mages approached me and asked what I did but I didn¡¯t give them an answer I just said I have a hidden mage class; this kept me from answering more questions. I then sat next to Magi and to rest since there was time before the bandits attack. Sting: how many spells have you prepared? Magi: I have 20¡­ice spears spells¡­ready, 10 Fire¡­ bombs done as¡­well, that is my¡­ limit. I pat her on the head for her good job. Then I begin meditating and send my strings out over to the bandit area to see what¡¯s up, with 1/3 of my strings I can expand up to 300m and easily scout the area. After a bit I find them making the rams and ladders much deeper in the trees, which was a good call on the bandit leaders call, with so many bandits they would have normally gotten to the city walls though that would be if there weren¡¯t any players here. I had heard some talk that a group of level 100+ players are currently here and with that I could tell this would be an unfair advantage to the bandits. After a half hour of waiting we hear one of the archers shouts that they are coming so I get up. The archers were already in place waiting for the barriers to drop so they could bombard the bandits but much to their dismay the bandits pass through the barrier, its most likely a kind that blocks enemies while allowing allies free passage. I don¡¯t worry me much, why? Sting: Magi please get rid of the barrier. Magi: sure thing¡­ master. She holds her hand out and several of her prepared ice spear spells appear around her hand. Then in front of her a large number of ice spears form and rain down on the barrier covering it in ice. To finish up she activates two fire bomb spells and throws then onto the shield which causes a humongous explosion three times the normal size of a fire bomb. Seeing this, mages around me press me for questioning, so I just tell them about physics of heating a very cold object. One of them seems smarter than the others and understands the concept and calls the rest over and explains. Back to the fight, the place the explosion happened was clear of both the barrier and of bandits, they were all blown away and were laying on the ground either dead or knocked out.
Due to your puppets impressive display of power and taking out part of the barrier guarding the bandits you gain 200 contribution points.
After I read the message I hear a large amount of battle crys. When I look I see the army of bandits rush out. As they get near, the mages and archers bombard them with arrows and magic spells. At this point I hear the gates open and a large amount of warrior class players and NPC knights rush out. Thanks to my mana string sense, I quickly found Proto as he left the gate and ran towards the incoming bandits, when he reached the first one he sent if flying with a punch to the gut before having to dodge the incoming swords from the others near him. As more grouped up, the players began backing him up and they started to push back a bit at least until the bandit mages began attacking which caused us to be pushed back. The mages retaliated with their own spells to counter the spell which caused the fight to reach a stand still. During this i was just watching the fight getting a feel of the bandits ranks. I searched through them to find the officers and captains. My search found 80 officers and 10 captains, i found them thanks to the better armor. Officers had leather armor with iron chest plates, iron gauntlets and iron boots, similar to the first set of armor i gave Proto, while captains look like knights in full iron armor which chain mail underneath. After ten minutes Magi began poking me. Magi: you''re not going... to fight master? She tilted her head innocently, after a few seconds she turned her attention back to the battle. The reason was because my puppets are linked to me so they knew were my strings were, knowing that she felt 100 of my strings fly out in to the field. After a few minutes the bandits began to be pushed back. I was grinning for each kill that happened because i was assisting in over 100 battles by stopping the movement of the bandits and was gaining some contribution points for the assists. As the fight continued the bandits were on the defense now while they tried to protect themselves and their allies that froze up when they were trying to dodge. Their numbers that started at 600 were now at a bit over 450 while our numbers that started at 700 with npc and players had only dropped to 600 and none of the npc has fallen. Suddenly I hear something coming from the forest and when I look a large flaming rocks where flying towards us. Sting: GET DOWN!!!! I push down an archer next to me and when the strings on my hands I swipe both hands diagonally drawing an X. When the strings connect with the rock it turns into small rocks and hits the walls. The damage was widespread but since the rocks were cut down the damage wasn¡¯t as extensive as what it would have been but some players were hit by the smaller rocks. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ljr2vh-WBSQ at 1:42 you can see what I¡¯m trying to explain)
New Skill Spiders Web Spider Web (basic 1) Using the strings on her hand you make a net similar to a spiders web form them. A smaller version can be done by simply crossing both of your hands in an X to make a smaller net. Can cut anything below iron in hardness at this level. Cost 150 MP
Sting: Magi go heal the injured, it¡¯s going to get busy now and they will need more help. Magi: yes master. I was looking at the spot that the rock came from. I sent a few strings to check it out what I find doesn¡¯t make me happy. In the spot instead of a catapult stood a dragonian, two and a half meters tall with a muscular build, he was holding the boulder in one hand like it was nothing, next to him were a few mages, preparing fire magic to light the boulder. Just for fun I took control of the mage and had him fire at the dragonian then let him go. Watching from the sense I saw that the man picked up the mage but dropped him when another bandit came up and said something to him. Sting: ¡°heh seems he got saved by a hairs breath.¡± I watch as he finishes preparing and throws the rock but it was too late I had already sent my strings to cut the rock up. After it flies about five meters up in the air the rock gets destroyed and falls all over the bandits. I was laughing as the dragonian stomps on the ground in anger and yells at the others around him as they bring another rock. This one I send, with great accuracy, a single string downward which slices the rock in half before it could even be thrown. He smashes the rock and begins running towards the town. I drop my sense and call the captain. Sting: prepare for the bandits boss he is coming. NPC: how do you know? Sting: I can see him from here. I point right at the spot he was going to appear, the captain looks that way but doesn¡¯t see anything, he looks back at me conflicted I had done some incredible stuff and he didn¡¯t know if he should believe. Sting: Sir, please send the message he isn¡¯t a normal opponent we need to be ready for him. He just nods and walks off to send a messenger. *** Tristan POV Anger boiled inside him. After seeing the rock get spliced up after he threw it and the second that he couldn¡¯t even grab, his anger made the air around him bend as if heat waves were being released. Right now he was in his Dragonian form, as a warrior this form helped a lot because of the racial skills, Dragon¡¯s strength, Dragon¡¯s scales and Dragons claws. These three skills are what made him so powerful and what rallied so many men but now even with his strength he was being toyed with by some unknown fighter, he was nearing his limit of patience and decided to take things into his own hands. When he finally appeared onto the battlefield all he saw was chaos. He saw two or three bandits group up and some noobs and when they were about to deal a blow they would stop and get hit instead. A few bandits were yelling to get away from them while they attacked their own allies. Tristan¡¯s patience reached its end after seeing this he took a deep breath before shouting. Tristan: YOU WORTHLESS IDIOTS!!! GET YOUR HEADS OUT OF YOUR ASSES AND FIGHT BACK!! *** Sting POV Even before he appeared my eyes were fixed on the Dragonian that ran towards the battle. When he appeared he looked over the battle and a few seconds later he shouted out. Tristan: YOU WORTHLESS IDIOTS!!! GET YOUR HEADS OUT OF YOUR ASSES AND FIGHT BACK!! Sting: ¡°Well he sure has a way with words¡­hmm I can¡¯t control them as well¡­ wait did he just do something¡± DING!!
The Dragonian Tristan has activated unknown skill. All allies are protected from all forms of manipulation magic of any form. This can only be countered if another Dragonian activates the same skill. Thanks to the appearance of him in his Dragonian form moral of Relona¡¯s army has dropped significantly.
the effects were instantaneous, I lost control of the bandits and with the lowered moral they began pushing us back towards the town. Sting: ¡°unknown skill¡­could it be a racial skill¡­come to think of it I never did look at my racial skills¡±
Racial Skills [window] Dragons Strength In your Demi human form this skills will increase strength and agility by a third of its original power.
Dragons Scales The scales of a dragon, known to be the one of the hardest materials in the world few attacks can penetrate this natural armor.
Dragons Claw The claws of the greatest hunters, this is one of the few weapons that can damage a dragons scales. Cost 20 stamina
Dragons Will The will of a dragon, when displayed in battle it can prevent your allies from being manipulated by an enemy mage. This skill can also be used to dispel the same if used by your enemy. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Cost 500 MP
Sting: ¡°large cost for a large effect I guess¡± I take a deep breath as I revert to my Dragonian form, which startles some of the people near me. Now standing a bit over two meters tall with sapphire scales gleaming the same way the blood red scales on Tristan¡¯s did. I activate Dragons will and begin thinking of what to say. Sting: MEN DON¡¯T FALTER!!! THEY ARE ON THERE LAST LEG EVEN THEIR LEADER HAD TO APPEAR JUST TO GET THEM TO FIGHT!! WE WHO HAVE FOUGHT FROM THE START SERIOUSLY DON¡¯T NEED TO WORRY ABOUT SUCH AN ENEMY!!! My voice echos through the battle field, many people look my way to see me standing on the wall watching over them just like Tristan was doing for the bandits.
You have used Dragons Will, thanks to the respect the Dragonian species holds you have raised moral and dispelled the effect which prevent manipulation magic. Moral of your allies has risen while enemies have dropped. You are now seen as the city leader by the bandit and they will target you more.
Almost instantly arrows began flying my way from the rear of the bandit army. I started chopping all of them up with my strings which greatly amazed the players and NPC alike. At the same time Tristan rushed into the battle and started doing impressive maneuvers as he fought the players and knight. A common though had passed through all the players¡¯ minds at the moment, ¡°are all Dragonians this overpowering¡±. I didn¡¯t blame them for thinking so, considering the strength Tristan was showing and my skill at manipulating my strings, which the skill for String mastery was now 9 and mana strings itself has gone to Intermediate 2 already thanks to how much I¡¯ve been using them. After a bit I got bored of cutting up arrows and looked towards the archers, once I found them I quickly took control of them and had them fire at the officers and captains, it was a really great result to drop the organization of their army I was able to take out 10 officers and 2 captains before the archers where pinned down to stop them. I grinned as the army was still in disarray and turn towards Tristan in the middle of battle. Though he was fighting a player he was looking at me with disgust and rage like looking at a bug. The look pissed me off so with on string I shot it at him and hit him below the eye where there weren¡¯t any scales. The opening allowed for several players to get a hit in on him dropping his massive health pool to 70% but since they also go to close, when he regained he sense he destroyed all of them in his rage. I saw Proto about twenty meters away and sent him a mental image to get away from the boss as he was to strong. He follows my orders and heads towards the western side of the battle away from the center where Tristan currently stood. As he stared at me he began shouting¡­ Tristan: come down here you bastard and fight me like a real Dragonian, I know it was you who killed my brother. Sting: ¡­I don¡¯t know who your brother is and don¡¯t care, also if you want to kill me come here and do it, I¡¯m of a mage class and it would be stupid of me to fight close up. I tried sounding a bit arrogant as if I¡¯m looking down on him. Veins pop up on his head and his red scales reflect his anger clearly. In his anger he didn¡¯t notice when suddenly a barrage of ice spears hit him and around him followed by two large fire bombs. After the explosion cleared he looked up and saw Magi who stood next to me while she prepares the next barrage of spells. The last attack took a tremendous amount of his health and he was now at 40%. When the smoke and dust cleared he was at the center and was bleeding but the air around him was like it was on fire. Tristan: THAT DOES IT!!! He turned towards the forest and walked about half way. Tristan: MEN RELEASE THE BEASTS!!! I felt a sense of despair fall over the men. On the wall I started to feel the walls vibrate. After a bit I started to see trees falling. A little bit later I found out what it was when they ran into my strings and burst out into the open. What stopped at the edge of the forest was a large stone covered boar, it was easily 4-5 meters tall and 10 meters long and looked extremely powerful but nothing I couldn¡¯t cut but when I looked at the npc mage next to me he was pale. NPC: my god¡­they tamed Stone Hide Boars¡­where did they find them near here. Sting: what are those things exactly? NPC: you¡¯ve never seen one, they are called Stone Hide Boars but in truth it feels more like Mithril or something as strong as that, they live underground in complex caves, dwarves can normally breed some of them but there aren¡¯t any large dwarves cities around here. I turned a little pale, but to test out I tried cutting into one of them while they stood still. It was terrible it didn¡¯t scratch the hide at all; my mind began racing trying to think of something so I took control of two of them as they began charging towards the city. That was successful so I had them ram into the other boars and with its amazing strength I damaged the hide of the others. I suddenly got an idea and found Proto and led one of them to him. I then sent instructions to him. Proto POV As I was fighting I noticed the destructive animals that appeared I felt fear seeing those things I could tell it was much more powerful than anything I would face in a long time. Suddenly I got instructions from master and a few seconds later one of the boars stopped in front of me. Sting: use this animal to clear the others out, its important to keep them from reaching the wall. I hoped onto the beast that had lost its rider thanks to master and took control of the reins as master let go of his strings from the beast. They seem to be trained to follow the rider not a specific person. Proto: KILL THE¡­RIDERS AND YOU¡­ CAN USE THE BEASTS¡­ AS YOUR OWN. With that i rushed of and slammed onto the side of the closest boar cracking the hide. After seeing me ride the beast so easily the lost moral reappeared as mages and archers fired at the riders trying to kill them or knock them off. As I continue my battle with one of the boars I spot another one running towards the town. On it I see a person similar to master in appearance but he looked like he had lost his composure. With my opponent stunned and on the ground I steer my boar towards the other one and tried hitting him to divert the direction of the beast. I was able to draw his attention from the gate to me and we began our fight. Sting POV Sting: Seems Proto was able to stop him, damn that crazy bastard, I wonder what other things he is hiding?! As Proto began fighting Tristan who had a mad man¡¯s look on his face I tried helping him. This proved disastrous because out of nowhere another of the huge boars rammed into the tower to my left and I fell a good 6 meters from the wall. I was able to twist around and land on my feet though painfully I lost 20% of my health from that fall. Now in the middle of the melee fight I couldn¡¯t concentrate so well on controlling the numerous strings I had so I retracted a large number of them and armed myself with 20 meter long strings on my hands to fight with. From my position I started clawing into the bandits and killing them off trying to protect the hole that had been made. Luckily some players had jumped on top of the boar and were attacking the rider so the boar wasn¡¯t moving much. i look around and find where the other boars are some were near the back to provide cover for the mages, there were 7 in total in the battle, 1 was with Proto, 1 with the bandit leader, 1 was being fought over, and the other 4 were guarding the mages. I get in between some NPC knights and as them to cover me and proceed to take control of one of the backup boars and make it rush into Tristan¡¯s boar knocking it down and be trampled my Proto. I took this chance to direct everyone over there to try and kill the leader. Basic tactic is best followed, take off the head and the body will be useless, with that I lead about 20 players to the boar crash site. Proto was still making his boar stomp onto the other one to make sure it died. On the ground Tristan was dazed and was getting up with many bandits guarding them. I clear a part of them with a few swings of my strings leaving them with claw marks all over their bodies. When I stop about 20 meters from Tristan he looks at me. Tristan: So you decided to come down and play Sting: not much I could do when that giant pig you brought slammed into the walls. Tristan: good pets aren¡¯t they; those dwarves we caught sure know how to train these bastards well. The players shuffled around a bit when they heard about the dwarves. Its common logic that main races can¡¯t be enslaved, even Demi humans, thanks to a special treaty between all races that players have access to play with. When he said that with a smug grin on his face which pissed me off so i gathered a bit of magic at the tip of my finger and pointed at him. I concentrated on making numerous strings, just the tips then launched the small mana ball out as strings. It hit him like a bullet piercing his stomach which makes him knee coughing blood.
String Bullet (basic 1) By condensing mana at your fingertips while making small strings appear then releasing at once, you can make small densely packed string fly out like a bullet. Ignores defense up to iron armor at this level Cost 100 mana
Sting: ¡°so this works as well¡±, so what will you do bandit, as you saw I can control the beasts you came with and we even captured a few for ourselves. Tristan: heh, I guess it¡¯s my end, it¡¯s like they said it takes a dragon to kill one. I wasn¡¯t convinced in his sudden surrender, I saw in his eyes determination to kill. That kind of look isn¡¯t something easy to hide, so not take chances I swiftly slash him with Spider web, the small version since I don¡¯t know yet how to the real thing, that something I need to learn from using the system guidance first. His torso was cut with need claw marks but his arms and legs come out unscratched thanks to the scales. As he staggered I could see he got annoyed again at me doing that his current health 25%. Seems my attacks are very effective against him, no surprise in many fantasy games and stories mage users are always the bane of warrior class. He jumps towards me while holding a sword and swings horizontally. I duck to dodge and go give him a cheap shot in between his legs. He crumbles after getting hit and I could see all men, both allies and bandits flinch when they see that. Effectively stunned I do something different instead of killing him. i connect as many strings to him and capture him, even though he is much higher leveled then me in his weakened state it works if I add a lot of strings. I order the players to go kill the bandits and I take him to the nearest captain. Sting: hello sir, I captured the boss, do you want him dead or alive. I grinned and so does he, it was clear that this battle was over and the players were now decimating the bandits after having captured the second boar. Tristan: your weak boy, can¡¯t even finish me off properly Sting: I think it¡¯s better to have you jailed, you lost your right for a proper death as a warrior when you became a petty bandit. He just laughs a bit while the captain shackles him with special anti-magic chains, once the first was one his form changed to human form. After he did so I did the same but I held onto him, as a leader he must be powerful I didn¡¯t trust the NPC to be able to contain him. We headed inside as the bandits desperately tried to fight back but only ended up getting beaten. After about 10 minutes the bandits signaled for retreat, but the players weren¡¯t so forgiving and chased them. Not many got for enough but mages and such were able to get away.
Event: Relona Bandit raid complete after a long battle your army has repelled the bandits without letting much damage happen to the town the citizens will be most grateful to all who participated in the event to protect them
In town there was celebration for the victory, the captain I walked with came up to me with all of Tristans gear and handed it to me saying I get them since I captured him and handed me a small back with 70G which was his bounty. After about an hour the regular citizens began appearing, I waited for Alice to appear. This took about an hour she was glad we didn¡¯t get hurt. We walked back to her shop and gathered then carts and horses and began to leave when I solder appeared before me. Solder: you are Sting correct, you are asked to attend the awarding ceremony as you contributed the greatest during battle. Sting: sorry I don¡¯t want attention to come to me. Solder: sorry but we aren¡¯t allowed to let you leave town until you come. Sting: fine but I will go in my other form. I walk into the plaza in my dragonian form, without my puppets or Alice to keep them safe. The ceremony was to award the players, for me I ended up with an astonishing 7460 points. Thanks to destroying the catapults, helping with the fights and capturing the leader of the bandits. I was given a bag with 200G, a title and a unique sword. This sent murmurs through the players but the NPC cheered and clapped at their biggest benefactor.
New Title Relona¡¯s Hero With your great power you lead the army to success and kept the casualty to a minimum and even spared the leader of the bandits to be trailed by the kingdom. The truest act of a hero is thinking of giving an enemy a chance to pay his debts without his death. The people of Relona can recognize you in either forms but players will only know of your Demi human due to your greatest actions being in this form.
Ark Blade A unique blade, unlike normal magic blades this one was made for the use of a mage. Its remarkable craftsmanship shows the care that was done to make this weapon. It is adorned with many different gems though none have mana the owner can use the sword to store it as reserve. Damage: 50-70 Restrictions: Be the top contributor in any event that requires you to protect Relona, Mage class, Level 50
I thanked them for the items and left on my way. I return to Alice, Magi and Proto who are ready with the carts. We leave towards the east towards the bandit¡¯s hideout. Alice: I hope you haven¡¯t forgotten about the sap I want. Sting: as if ill forget something I¡¯m interested in. *** Inside Relona Prision In one of the cells, with both arms and legs chained with large heavy shacks that prevented magic from being used, sat on the floor the beat up Dragonian Tristan. With his head hung down and his body bruised from the beating he had received when they tried to make him tell the location of the hideout he sat there in a silent rage. As time passed he suddenly hears footsteps. It¡¯s not the normal footsteps of armored knights it was different, light steps normally someone of nobility would have. As he looked up he sees a man clad in a black robe and holding a staff in his right hand walk up to his cage, his hood blocked all light from reaching his face so it wasn¡¯t possible to see. ??? : good afternoon Mr. Tristan. Tristan: what do you want, you here to interrogate me as well?! ??? : as fun as that sounds no, im here to offer you a proposal Tristan: for what exactly? ??? : I free you but from today you work for me, you see I¡¯m after the man that placed you in here, he holds some valuable¡­items I¡¯m interested in and I need someone capable and that has no ties to me to do the job. Tristan: you want me to kill that brat *grin* why didn¡¯t you say so I want revenge and I would even accept the devils offer if he came to me with it if I could get revenge. ??? : Good to hear but for safe measures I will make a blood contract, this will prevent you from hurting or even attack me while you hunt down that man. Tristan: fine now get me out of here. With a swipe of his staff all the locks of the shackles and door unlocked and Tristan walked out. Tristan: it¡¯s good to be free, now let¡¯s go ¡°Boss¡± ??? : Yes, lets. The two vanished from the place like shadows and the alarm was only signaled after it was too late to find them. Chapter 5 The Dwarf Apprentice It was a peaceful day on the roads east of Relona. You could hear the birds and bugs sing and the screams of terror coming from the remaining bandits that had fled the battle. Why were they running? I has given orders for Proto to go kill them off, heh heh. With him are two brand new combat spiders and the original scout. I was controlling all three spiders from the cart as we slowly progressed towards the hideout. On my lap was my sigil encyclopedia, which i had turned back into the original book and was making a copy for Alice. Alice on the other hand was in the second cart being trained by Magi on the meditation techniques and the inner and exterior mana control. Your probably wondering how I¡¯m controlling the spiders while writing. Well it¡¯s thanks to a new sense sigil that appeared after it ranked up to 5, it¡¯s called shared senses. I had placed it on the spider scout and was using him as the controller for the other spiders, all i needed to do is close one eye and i would see and hear what was happening around the spider. With this I¡¯m having the very powerful stone spiders, which are twice the size of the scout, help Proto "clean up" the forest of bandits. Oh, one other thing the scout did that became useful was it developing a spider web skill, not like mine, mine is an attack skill, his is more like a real spider, it is a sticky and tangible mana strings that are good for rapping around things, I¡¯m technically using the spider as both a scout and a carrier of the loot we get. As we are nearing the hideout, the number of bandits did increase a lot, but thanks to the battle our levels have increased exponentially. I¡¯m currently level 32, Proto 33 and magi 28. The fighting spiders have gotten to levels 12 and 13 thanks to fighting with Proto. When we started meeting up with groups of 10 or more bandits i had Proto return to us since we were almost arriving. When we neared the large cave entrance we saw large carts with cages on it leaving, hey were covered my normal ones but i could see the cages behind the drivers. Inside, dwarves all shackled and gagged. The bandits were leaving the hideout after the lost in the battle. While i look at the cages i feel rage welling up in me. I put away a few things and step down off the carriage. Magi: master...what are you going...to do? Sting: watch and you will see. When the third cart left the cave i slashed my strings. I cut up the wheels and the ropes holding the horses. The sudden collapse of the carts scared the horses who ran away. With each new cart i cut it up until about seven were outside and stuck blocking the exit. With the exit blocked the bandits started coming out and shouting. It was clear that the stress of losing the battle plus the broken chain of command was eating away at the bandits. Though i didn¡¯t particularly care, when forty of them came out i took control of them, it¡¯s been easier controlling living beings i learned that i can send my own signals to control them with only 1 string though i normally use two for better control. I then made the bandits kill all who were leaving the place. It was chaos but i was smiling as i stand controlling this trash as they kill each other. In the cages the dwarves just sat their wide eyes at the scene. Soon enough after the fighting started some of the remaining captains appeared which spelled the doom of the bandit because as soon as i saw them i took control of them and with their superior skills they decimated the bandits. When all enemy bandits where dead, i froze my captives and called for our carriage to come out as i walk out as well. The bandits were shocked when they saw me, as NPC they knew me since i had the Relona''s hero title equipped. Sting: hello this is quite unexpected; you bandits sure are running with you tails in between your legs and rather quickly. Bandit: y-you followed us?! Sting: not really, i got this info from some raiding party captain. Bandit: SO IT WAS YOU WHO KILLED CAPTAIN LEO!!! Sting: was that his name, not that i care anyways you guys sure are some sick bastards making slaves out of these dwarves. I cut up one of the bandits after a say this. The bandits turn pale seeing this. Sting: now could you please tell me how many carriages were able to leave before i got here. Bandit captain: t-these are the first to leave. I walk to one of the carriages and cut up the shackles and cages. Sting: can you guys confirm what he said are these carriages are the first ones leaving here? A short, bulky dwarf about 4 feet tall, with dark brown hair and a large beard, walked up after leaving the cage. (A.N. I tried to make a Scottish accent similar to the kind you see in movies with dwarves, never met anyone that spoke like it) Dwarf: aye we''re th'' first unes ''em bastards we''re taken. Sting: how many dwarves an in there and bandits? Dwarf: Hmm us dwarfs number a good 400, ''em bastards meybe 100, efter th'' wee game ye got ''em ta play, maybe less. String: not many left then, let¡¯s get your friends out and armed, we''ve been collecting bandit gear since we arrived in the forest there should be plenty around for each of you. You can have fun with these guys it might help with the stress you built up. A menacing grin appeared on the face of all the dwarves as they looked at their prey. Without even grabbing a sword they beat up the bandits. I had Magi heal them as much as possible to let the dwarves vent more but soon stopped and let them die off. After the job was done the dwarves stretched as if a weight was lifted, the same that talked to me came up. Dwarf: Mighty kind a ye ta come save us, names Topaz Smiths, I''m une a th'' head smiths befur ''em bastards caught us. Sting: I''m sting my job is mage. Topaz: hm really, ya look like some''en else, them string thingy ya messed wit, is strange. Sting: you can see them?! Topaz: Yep but it might jist be me, i''ve a larger mana well ''en normal dwarves, sae what¡¯s yer real job? Sting: Magus Puppeteer. Topaz: never heard of it. Sting: not surprised I''m still developing the job and I¡¯m keeping it a secret, I¡¯m currently looking for apprentices to teach and help me better this job. Topaz: min¡¯ if i see yer puppets. Sting: sure. I call Magi and proto, when they arrive i ask them to remove their masks. Topaz eyes got wide after seeing the faces. Topaz: by th¡¯ gods, i know i heard ¡®em talkin¡¯ but they''re puppets. Magi: yes master made us and taught us magic and fighting . He sits down a bit while looking at them as they move around. Topaz: if i din¡¯t see it wit me own eyes i would a laughed at ye if ye told me about ¡¯em. Sting: you know, besides saving the dwarves i had another objective here, i want to find a dwarf that would like to learn my job and help me. Topaz: why a dwarf, nuthin¡¯ special ¡®bout us. Sting: those puppets are made out of wood, i have a few made out of stone, and I needed to learn carpentry and scripting to make them. Like something click he finally begins to understand what I¡¯m after. Topaz: ye want blacksmiths fur metal puppets. I sent him a grin when he finally said that. Truthfully i was hoping he would join because of his larger than normal mana well, it would help. Topaz: hm from de name a yer job seems to be a mage class. Sting: crafting and mage. Topaz: might be hard ta find a dwarf ¡®at would join ye, not many can use magic, though we still ¡®ave mages. Sting: you seem like you can... Topaz: ... He just stares at me then sighs before lifting his hand and making a small ball of mana appear. Topaz: i was born wit de high affinity te magic in general umm de thing ye mage type call mana control. Made me sorta an outcast ¡®til i started blacksmithen i learned ta use it during da process to make high quality goods. See this here; it¡¯s a junk item i made. What he was holding was one of the bandits swords, specifically the same kind Proto used that was really good.
Iron sword A basic iron sword crafted by a dwarven smith. Durability 45/60 Damage 17-25
Sting: ... you call this junk... any beginner traveller would look in awe at this. Topaz: i guess em weaklings would, not blamen em though, ye travelers appear wit knives meant fur cooken and use it ta hunt. Sting: so you interested in trying out my profession. Topaz: ...it has peaked me interest... but ye need ta do somethin¡¯ fur me. Sting: sure i need a good smith for what I¡¯m planning. Topaz: good, its simple, kill all de bandits in the woods an¡¯ in the cave an¡¯ save me people, ¡®en I''ll join ya.
Quest Bandit clean up Topaz has asked you to save his people and kill all stragglers from the bandit army, then he would join you on your adventure. Difficulty F Requirements: job Magus Puppeteer Reward: Topaz as your second apprentice, Familiarity with Dwarves, ???.
Sting: Magi, Proto get ready to hunt; you two are to hunt all bandits in the woods, no mercy.
Quest accepted.
Topaz: heh heh, glad ta see yer excited. Magi: what about master? Sting: I¡¯ll be doing cleaning the cave, here take them to help. I pull out the three spiders and start controlling them. Topaz: well now these ¡®re some nice pieces, they strong. Proto: the big ones are...the small one master uses to control them. Sting: animals like spiders don¡¯t have loyalty so you need total control so they don¡¯t attack. Topaz: mighty complex puppets fur sure. For i bit i prepared my puppets then let them head out while i headed in with a group of dwarves leading the way. The first floor was relatively empty, except for the small group of up to five, which i finished off without batting an eye, it was uneventful. The second floor the same it was even emptier then the first which probably meant they were all guarding the dwarves on the final floors. Just as i guessed, as soon as we entered the third floor we found a group of twenty bandits, to the dwarves dismay, they help a small group of children hostage. Bandit: oh goody out merchandise returned to us like good pets, you human stay were you are we will deal with you. I looked at them with a blank face, obviously i was burning in rage inside and quickly took action a controlled the bastard and made them drop the kids. Sting: kids come over here, everyone behind me, i can¡¯t forgive them and I''ll finish them myself. No one complained besides the bandits. I walk up a few steps. Sting: "Spiders Web" I activate the system guidance to see how it preformed. I first put up both hands together; Kamehameha styles, then strings from my fingers make a small spider webs on my hand. Finally as if shooting a shockwave, the strings then launches out towards them increasing in mass and size thanks to the mana it absorbs. When it hit them it went straight through them and hit the wall making the spider web design on it. The bandits all fell over dead and completely cut up. Everyone in the room was quiet while looking at the massacres. Suddenly a single laugh escaped in the group, Topaz obviously, he saw what happened and liked it. Sting: let¡¯s go we have more dwarves to save. For the next hour is went the same down in the cave, some idiot had a hostage and i would destroy them, after every group we would find a large group of dwarves and soon i had a large herd behind me. By now every dwarf looked at me with respect for my power no one but Topaz and young kids actually tried approaching me though. In the final chamber of the cave we were surprised to find the bandits on Stone hide boar, i actually got worried since these guys are difficult to control thanks to their outrageous level advantage being 150+. But that worry was put to rest by Topaz, he just walks up and gave an order to play dead. Like good pets all the boars fell to the side or on their backs and either injuring or killing their riders. Topaz: heh heh heh, i jist love how obedient em boars are ta dwarves. Sting: how do you breed and train those things? Topaz: We don¡¯t, all we do is give ¡®em a place te live an'' they protect us in return. After a few generations they got ta liken us and we ¡®aven¡¯t separated since that, ta ¡®em dwarf orders are like boss orders even when they got a rider on. With the final group rescued I finished my part of the quest. Sting: guess that¡¯s everyone then right? Topaz: aye, that be all of us¡­ though we ¡®ont know wat ta do now that we are safe. Sting: ¡­ why not make this place a dwarven city, its already carved out all it need is to be populated. Then all looked skeptical at me it seems they didn¡¯t want to remain but I could see they didn¡¯t have many options. Topaz: if it¡¯s like ¡®at then I suggest somethin¡¯, all in favor o¡¯ Sting our savior te be lord of this town say aye. ¡°AYE!!!!!!!¡± The roar of the dwarves felt like it shook the entire cave all the way to the top.
Quest Bandit Clean up complete You have cleaned the woods and Cave of all remaining bandits and made the area safe. Without any place to return to the dwarves have decided to turn the hideout into a dwarf city. Reward: Topaz is now your Apprentice, Familiarity with dwarves and Ownership of new town.
You have been chosen as the lord of a new town, you have the honor of naming the city. Sting: so what should I name this city¡­the name I have chosen for this place will be Hevea.
You have founded the village Hevea All town info can be accessed at any time by saying ¡°City Status Window¡± for regional info say Region Status Window¡± for any internal affairs options you need to a house/palace/mansion so that you can access such options, (current location bandit leaders house).
You have gained a title Lord of Hevea This title belongs to lord ruling over the village of Hevea. Villagers have a tendency to imitate the lord¡¯s job if they know it you class will promote magic and crafting jobs.
All of a sudden the dwarves began to celebrate, loudly, it lasted a bit before the dwarves all dispersed and headed in different ways. Few remained and it was to fix up the area around the room. Topaz was the only one that stayed to talk with me. Sting: so my new apprentice, ready for a long journey of building this place up from bandit hideout to flourishing underground city. Topaz: HAHAHA, aye it be a long journey indeed, dwarves towns are hard ta maintained, ya gonna need humans and such comin¡¯, though I think after we get th¡¯ place more fixed up. Sting: where are the old bandit leader¡¯s house and the storage they used to hoard their money? He lead me to the second floor, all around the dwarves were swinging pickaxes into the tunnel walls widening them at an amazing speed, what else would you expect from them. At the second floor Topaz led me into a door after a bit, inside was filled with many pelts of animals and other luxury¡¯s. On the second floor it was the opposite and was completely empty except for a table and chair near the center of the room.
You have entered the lord¡¯s management room. Here you can control and improve the city and change taxes from here, for improvements you will need money. Current balance in treasury (3274G) To open the internal affairs options just say ¡°Open Internal Affairs¡±
Sting: ¡°Open Internal Affairs¡± At once large screens appeared around the rooms surrounding the desk, one showed the growth of the population, one the economy, one was a detailed map with all the layers of the city showing, one was options for constructions and the last was a summary of the town. I look at the summary first as that holds the most details I need.
Region of Hevea A bandit cave that was taken from them, this new town is still hidden from public eyes and holds no political power until it is found and integrated into a kingdom or creates one itself. Military: 0 Economic Power: 0 Culture: 5 Technology: 30 Religious Influence: 0 Local Politics: 0 Influence on the surrounding area: 0% Urban Development: 10% Hygiene: 0 Public Security: 100% Special Products: iron, iron works Territorial Population: 421 Monthly Revenue: 0 Gold Village operating expense: Military force 0%, Economic evolution 0%, Cultural investment 0%, Monster request and subjugation 0%, Village maintenance 0%
I scratch my head looking at the numbers; there is little to work with and so much to do. Sting: this is a pain in the ass¡­I guess the best thing to do for now is invest in what we can do, invest 500 gold in mining operations and build three medium sized smithies at these three locations. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. The costs for the buildings were 200G each the area I pointed was on the second floor the smithies were placed near the entrance the third floor. As we watched from there we saw the cave walls around there open up into a plaza like chamber leaving only the smithies in the chamber. Sting: now build three weapon and armor stores here. I pointed near the center of the first floor, this time it cost less and totaled 500G for 6 shops that formed in a large plaza that would most likely be turned into a marketplace. Sting: ok invest 40% into economic evolution, 20% village maintenance and the rest is random. Topaz: that¡¯s it? Sting: not much we can do with a little over 3000G. Topaz: true, was hopen fur a tavern but we aint got no beer anyway. Sting: we need wheat for it anyway so we need to clear the forest outside for that. Topaz: good chance te get carpentry shops up an runnin¡¯. I give him a smile and see him holding an axe in his hand. Sting: you can put that axe away; both you and Alice will be getting your first lessons on making string and how to cut with them. I gave him a grin that showed I wouldn¡¯t back down. 1 month later Well it was one eventful month, the first week was mostly dwarves digging away at the caves making them wider and reinforcing them, obviously with wood beams us three cut. As for my apprentices Topaz picked it up quickly, same with the meditation stuff and since he was already born with both mana control skills he took up the mana string training quickly. Alice had gained the meditation skills while we traveled but it took her the first week to get the external control down and another 3 days before she could gain the mana string skill. After that it went rather quickly, most of the training was done to increase their proficiency with the skill, at the end of the month topaz was at the impressive basic 9 and Alice basic 7 at mana string and basic 6 both of them for mana slash. Me? I was at intermediate 5 for mana string and intermediate 1 for mana slash; I can now cut things weaker the reinforced steel, this class is slowly getting to be OP. I¡¯m sure at advanced ill already be able to cut or at least damage mithril. We also cleared a large patch of trees during the training as well as removed the stomps leaving empty grass lands, which attracted weaker creatures found in beginner towns. It was obvious that at this point someone would notice but strangely no one did. Second eventful thing of the month, we went and picked up the Hevea tree sap, there were a good twenty full barrels and one excited Alice roaring to start up the process. It took her a bit over two hours to make the first batch of synthetic skin, making it was simple just heat it until it boils and keep turning the sap in a slow pace. Then we had a specific part of the puppet dipped into it. Best example would be the arm, I took Proto¡¯s shoulder down to his hand without disconnecting any of the other parts, and it was just a separate arm and poured the hot rubbery liquid onto the arm and let it cool. After it was cooled we cut it and pulled the arm out and made a removable skin. I also took the time to carve the sense seal for touch on the skin and placed it on Proto again and attached his mana. One thing that surprised me was that the strings inside the puppets evolved from a regular string in his body to a complex nerves system like circuit. When I attached the mana to the skin and touched it he naturally felt the touch on the skin like a normal human. We continued until he was completely covered. Now what of his eyes and mouth, to our surprise they moved naturally after we made a single slit separating them, the eyes blinked like normal and when he talked his mouth moved in sync. At this success all three of us gained a skill.
New Skill Alchemy Alchemy The art of changing one substance to another through simple reactions or complex magic formulas
New skill Rubber making Rubber making Taking nature¡¯s bounty you have discovered a substance that has elastic like quality¡¯s that mimic human skin when processed right, with further use you can discover more uses for it.
With this done I also finish Alice¡¯s original request, also the skin seems to have integrated itself in the puppet and it works as a disguise piece that even hides the magic signature that they have which makes me think that the closer they becoming human the more we work on them. At the end of the month we the cave had undergone a large change, the dark damp cave had been widened to 6 meters wide with 5 meters in height all around with only few smaller tunnels. From the small plaza that held the stores, the dwarves used that as a starting place and expanded and made a large dome like area that was a whopping 15 meters high, don¡¯t ask me how they got up there, and with a radius of at least 3 kilometers. Within this area new shops had been made, by hand not internal affairs, and on the second floor using the smithy plaza it was expanded in a similar manner. The second floor near the door to the third floor had turned into an industrial zone while near the exit to the first floor had become residential area, all over the place had stone buildings. All these domes were held up from falling by stone pillars that were left to hold the roof. All this was possible thanks to the donation of over 50000 gold on Alices and my part because of her OP armor being auctioned off for ridiculous prices since we invested a lot in mining operations . With the town infrastructure mostly done now I got worried when no one appeared and decided to go to Relona to see what had happened. What I find is very irritating, on the road near the town was a large number of knights and mages, I asked what was up and they said the main guilds were investigating how the criminal Tristan the Red Claw escaped from jail. I got a headache as I thought of him, I had Alice and Topaz go into town and spread the word about the town, as they weren¡¯t known by the guild it was easy to enter and leave for them, as for me I returned to my town. After two days they returned¡­ with a herd of beggar looking people. Sting: ...why does everyone look so worn out? ??? : Because the damn guilds are making Relona go into ruin. I looked at the source of the voice that came from an old cart and find Miss Ginger there with her grandkids. Sting: what exactly is going on over there? Miss Ginger: just as I''ve said, all the guilds are making the town go into ruin, they took armor and weapons from shops saying it was required for arming the solders took food saying the fucking army needed to be fed and even put limits like curfew and things like that. After Alice came and told me about this little town you made i instantly packed up all my things and helped out the kids spread the word. Alice: she was a great help most of the shop keepers abandoned Relona now and have come with us, now we have tons of different crafts men here. Sting: it¡¯s been on my mind for a while now, how many guilds are there. Miss Ginger: besides the guilds you travelers make there is the mages guild, the warrior guild, the thieves¡¯ guild, the merchant guild and then the lesser guilds which consist of normally craft guild. The four main guilds are a plague to the world, they try and control the kingdoms from within and can ruin one as easily as they can sponsor a new one. Sting: another set of reasons why i hate those guilds...why don¡¯t we make our own guilds or schools. Alice: our own, what do you mean? Sting: well we have a great mage like Miss Ginger she can defiantly teach magic we have many craftsman that can make craft guilds, it would take time but we can make a merchant guild. Topaz: what ''bout de warrior guild? ??? : I can probably help with that. Pushing his way through was the knight that had helped the lord of Relona to register the players who would join the battle against the bandits. Miss Gingar: ah commander Grant nice to see you are well. Grant: same to you... my name is Julius Grant i was the commander of Relona''s Guards before the guilds sent it into ruin, they even ransacked the town¡¯s armory and took the guards armor for themselves. Sting: if you¡¯re the commander then would you like the positions here as well i haven¡¯t had time to hire anyone because of the low population and need for it. Grant: no thanks i think I''ll retire to just be guild head and train the young, if you want i could still train the town guards though. Sting: i can live with that... now the last thing to address before we can go inside. Is there anyone here with experience in farming? After a bit some people moved up, about seven families came up they averaged about 5 family members each. Sting: more than i though there would be, Topaz lead them to the storage and give them tools and the horse drawn plow, also teach them how to use it like i showed you. Topaz: aye sir, ya farmers follow me. He led them inside and entered into a side tunnel before vanishing. Sting: the rest of you can go inside; the dwarves are friendly and can help you make shops and homes. Mr. Grant, Miss Ginger, can you to come with me it¡¯s about the arrangements for the guilds. Grant: lead the way. I led them to my room while the rest of the humans headed all over the plave to start up their lives again. *** Mages Guild Athoria Branch In the council office of the mages guild there is currently a heated discussion between the mages and Alfred Count the guild master of the mage guild in Athoria Council member 1: what have you been doing Alfred, this man that was being hunted still isn¡¯t caught and now the guilds member are starting to question the reason we are hunting him. Alfred: sir I''ve been personally searching for the magic signals of whatever item he owns, he was able to escape the town and started to move which made hunting him harder. Before the battle of Relona and the bandits i finally picked up the signal and also discovered two new signals coming from him. Council member 2: new signals did he go into a dungeon or get it from some noble. Alfred: no, nobles now a days don¡¯t have magic items we obtained all of theirs except heirlooms that can only be used by that families bloodline. I believe he is creating new magic items. As soon as he said that, everyone began shouting retorts like its impossible or only master ranks can make that. Alfred just kept his composure and let them shout their angry out. When they calmed down a bit he finally talked again. Alfred: it¡¯s only a speculation but who know, i believe that this made is studying the art for puppeteering. Everyone was quiet which left a dead silence in the room. Many of the men in the room have taken, at least a few years in their life to study a bit to attempt this art. Council member 1: what makes you so certain?! Alfred: I¡¯m not certain but it¡¯s from listening to travelers (players) and adventurers (npc) saying he possesses strange abilities that he uses to control the bodies of his enemies. My first thought was mind-bending magic but that was taken out because he took control of hundreds of enemies quickly and in succession it takes massive amounts of mana to do the same so he must have something else that takes hold of the body that is when this idea came up. Council member 3: it is very farfetched for sure but as you said this man has many strange abilities, not to mention he asked about meditation and mana control books in the library then went to learn carpentry which is an unlikely combination. Head council man: i see your interest Alfred i think it is worth more keeping a watch on him instead of trying to capture him; it would do far greater harm if we kept doing the same thing we did to Relona just because that man was there. With the heads command it was final everyone agreed on keeping a spy watching him because it would help them more if he developed his job to a greater extent. Virtual Works board office The same as the mages the board of director¡¯s art Virtual works were also checking the info on the game; Malcolm¡¯s father, Jonas Brim, was obviously there as required. Board member 1: so Miss Catharine you may begin with the current affairs going on within the game. Catharine: yes sire, well as you can see here, most of the Aloria continent is in a stable period but from recent reviews of the quests from the players that have become kings or nobles it shows that war will soon appear throughout the continent. Jonas: and the Emon Continent Catharine: yes this one is much less stable as the guilds are trying to make their mark permanent here as there are fewer players to interrupt them¡­there is one other thing though, it¡¯s a player that goes by the name of Sting. Jonas perked up after hearing his sons user name appear. Catharine: for some reason his class is uncategorized, it doesn''t fall under either craft or mage or anything just floating in the dead center like it incorporate all of them. Board member 2: what is the name? Catharine: ah let¡¯s see¡­Magus Puppeteer. There were whispers all around but Jonas was calm on the outside, though inside he was panicking wondering what would happen. Board member 3: how did he come about this job? Catharine: hmm let me check. She flipped there half a dozen papers before she stopped on one Catharine: ah here it is, the AI said that this was a player created class that came about with the creation of the first Magic marionette. The room was dead silent; Jonas had seen his son make it from the video feed and was impressed by the complex process that took to make the puppets. The simple process of making the puppet needed a job on its own not to mention effectively using the loyal puppets in combat, which also would need to be trained before using. Board member 2: Jonas I¡¯ve wondered something you have been tense ever since we touched this subject did you know of this? Jonas: of course, but it¡¯s not my place to go telling the world whenever something like this happens. Board member 1: do you know who it is? Jonas: as I¡¯ve said I do and I have talked with him and he says he will prefer to keep this a secret and it WILL be kept as such until he gives us the call to let it be known. Board member 4: Miss Catharine is there anything else about his young man that is of interest? Catharine: yes he is currently the lord for a newly founded dwarf town and is the man the mages guild is hunting for as he possesses magic items. Board member 1: ¡­ Board member 2: ¡­ Board member 3: ¡­ Board member 4: he is that man that is causing so much trouble to find for the guild?! Jonas: ¡°trouble maker, should have guessed it was him considering his job¡± Board member 2: we need to talk with this man I want an interview on TV with him as he tells us about his job and its workings, miss Catharine please tell us this young man¡¯s real name. Though discreetly she turned her gaze to Jonas he just slightly shook his head. Jonas: I¡¯m sorry men but that job will be for me to do, thank you for your help Catharine you may go. She gives a small bow and leaves the room, the board members stare at Jonas intensely Board member 3: what are you planning Jonas, you¡¯re not taking favorites are you?! Jonas: of course not it¡¯s just that you won¡¯t be allowed into his house that is all? Board member 1: and why not exactly Jonas: because it¡¯s my house and my son will be asked by me. Without saying another word Jonas stood up and walked out leaving the board members slack jawed. Like he said he asked Malcolm about it after getting home. Malcolm: so they want me to tell about my job in a tv interview¡­I can go and reveal it I can take the chance to tell about my town, I¡¯m thinking about making a puppeteer guild and setting up sellable puppet for players. Jonas: what really but what about the guilds if they get their hands on them then what then. Malcolm: that come with the job I guess, I¡¯ll keep the secret of how to make the puppet and since puppets are more companions then just a tool it shouldn¡¯t matter, I¡¯ll just set up fire bomb spells inside the puppets so that if they are taken from their partners they will blow up if they aren¡¯t in the inventory or connected to their partner for to long. Jonas: as a job what are you going to teach them? Malcolm: hmm ill set it that mana strings come with the class¡­ requirements for the class will be having mediation skill and inner and external mana control and at level 10. Jonas: external mana control is very hard skill to acquire you know that right. Malcolm: of course I know that way it will deter many muscle heads and keep mages that work for their job but can you made this interview for 2 weeks, I¡¯m going to start making metal puppets and I need lots of time to do this, with my blacksmithing level at 7 right now I need to train more to make decent puppets that will serve the guards of the town. Jonas: sure thing so in two weeks you then no backing down now. Malcolm: I know I should get going to work as of now time is precious. I return to my room and hope into the game while dad calls Catharine to make the appointments and to invite other hidden class players that will be willing to tell about their class. *** I know this chapter is a little boring next chapter I will introduce what Giant marionettes, 5 meters tall and very high combat power, also the job goes live and I set up a tiers of the job. Feedback would be nice as well as some ideas, I¡¯ve been running low on some and its taking longer to write because of that Chapter 6 Public Release The talk with Miss Ginger and Mr Grant wasn¡¯t as easy as I though, though I had given the idea of guilds they were against it since everyone hated guilds so I changed the name to Union and instead of making separate guilds it would be one huge Union of guilds, the Hevea Union. They seemed to like the idea, with less guilds it would make for easier control, I then went on to talk about the buildings, the first was a school for mages. Yes a school, I find the leaving it to mages to learn all on their own was kind of unproductive and with a school we could set up grades and teach basics and advanced methods separately which would help me, when I release puppeteering to the public. With this method I can create lower tier puppeteer jobs since I can teach them only a few techniques that are needed. They both readily agreed and Miss Ginger would be the head while Mr Grant would be in charge of physical class. I then ordered the construction, mining of, the school on the second floor near the residential area I made the plan for it to be a 4 story building so that it would reach all the way to the ceiling of the cave. The next bit of business was to set up a few factories; I needed large amounts of puppet quickly, so I also had a new large carpenters shop made which was named the puppet house. I went and hired some carpenters that were from Relona and taught them how to make the puppets pieces and made sure it was basic undetailed pieces. (the result would be like the cover page I have) Once all the pieces were made I brought out many boxes, each was for one piece of the puppet and they were to make the parts and put them there. Once the boxes were full they would be transported to the school where miss ginger was. I had already taught her what was needed and had her do it a few times. He commented on how I needed to charge a huge amounts on them but it just replied that I would leave the mana at the minimum lowering the price of the puppet enough for travelers to buy them. Now for the remaining week I had before the interview I spend with Alice and topaz in the smithy. The goal was to make a giant guardian puppet to help with the defenses in town. Topaz was already in advanced level in blacksmithing and with him guiding us we had gotten to level intermediate 1, this was the result from training since we gained the city not in the last week. Once we both were skilled enough we began my plan was to taken from an old anime, I wanted to make the guardian similar in shape to it. (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HDKn3rTinC0/TnXvAJSCsxI/AAAAAAAAAAc/b4_V3H4PFdM/s1600/%255Banimepaper.net%255Dpicture-standard-anime-yu-gi-oh-elemental-hero-clayman-104603-aphmau-preview-cd3b377c.jpg) We worked all day to get most of it done, all thanks to Topaz¡¯s amazing speed. We were able to finish the giant on the second day since he had less than a normal human puppet. After shrinking the parts it took them outside and made them get back to normal size I faced the torso upright and the others put the parts in place. It was like a jigsaw puzzle but once all the right parts were in their correct part I pulled out a large diamond and began the process of making the puppet. Thanks to the recent increase in puppets I made to supply the beginners that might appear I have gotten to intermediate in magic puppet making and it decreases the time I needed to make the puppet because I can attach several parts at the same time though it still took the same 30 minutes to stabilize the strings. Taking only 2 hours to finish the connecting it was time to stand him up and complete him, yes connecting and waking him up is part of the completion process. I attach string and make him stand up.
Magic puppet completion failed The current core is too weak to support the puppet
Topaz: hmm some¡¯em wrong? Sting: the core is too weak to make the puppet work. Alice: what it¡¯s too weak, but aren¡¯t you using a large diamond as the core. Sting: yes but it¡¯s still too weak¡­maybe it uses more mana then a normal puppet so a normal core can¡¯t hold mana long enough for it. Topaz: what we gonna do then? ??? : use more gems We looked at the source of the voice and saw miss ginger there with her grandkids. In her hand was floating three gems, a diamond at the center and two other floating around it. Sting: miss ginger, what is that? Miss Ginger: ever since you taught me the way you make gems into cores ive studied how to make them stronger and this is what I came up with, a main core and smaller ones that capture mana and sends it to the main core. But I can¡¯t make it more than two since I need greater control of the strings to do it. Sting: may I see those gems. She hands it over and it continues floating over my hand. Thanks to my experience it sensing mana I could see as the two outer gems revolve around the main one small mana strings come out of it into the center one.
You have discovered a method to make stronger gem cores for your puppets +10 Int
Sting: I think I understand your method now¡­ mind if I use these gems. She nods, the gems she had were a sapphire, topaz and emerald, and I also pull out a ruby and head to the giant. I hold the sapphire in my hand and then put it near the diamond then stretch a string from the sapphires supply into the diamond. As I let go the mana inside the sapphire lets out tiny hair like strings and begins rotating and revolving around the diamond. I do the same to the ruby. The topaz and emerald I put above and below the diamond which made the ruby and sapphire revolve horizontally and the topaz and emerald revolve vertically. After that I close the top and get off the giant and attach the strings and order it to stand. As it started getting up it caused the area to shack a bit as it got up and stood at 4 and a half meters tall it was also 3 meters wide.
You have created the first Giant Magic Marionette +200 fame +2 every stat
Giant Magic Marionette A huge Iron Giant made by with the combined effort of the Magus Puppeteer and his apprentices. This puppet which has a special mana infused iron body can easily suppress the power of a low class boss monster With its size comes its great power in strength but it doesn¡¯t lose out in speed even with it size thanks to its excess amount of mana from its core. These puppets are based off human giants, they hold great loyalty for their master even though they aren¡¯t smart, they are capable of learning many tactics as well and can be left in auto mode without risk. Level 1 Job Iron Guardian Exp 0% Health/Durability 20,000/20,000 Mana 25000/25000 Stamina Unlimited Strength 150 Agility 90 Dexterity 60 Vitality 400 Endurance 160 Skills Mana Infusion (basic 1) Because of excess mana in its body it releases the excess into its metal body then into the air which makes its body much more powerful Great charge (basic 1) Iron Guard (basic 1) Status: normal
Sting: wow it¡¯s amazing though it doesn¡¯t have intelligence and wisdom it can still learn and it even has endurance it their place as well as a skill that increases his base durability as well as an attack and defense skill. Miss ginger: it¡¯s because he has excess mana in his body, must have put to man gems on his core. Sting: I think that¡¯s a good thing, it will help with him being a guardian like I wanted. If I make one to travel with me it would make for the best tanks. Miss ginger: so now what how will you make them it takes lot of recourses to make an a lot of time Topaz: it aint nothen a dwarf can¡¯t handle. Sting: Topaz could you set up a factory like I did for the wood puppets, I need at least ten of these by the end of the week. Ill also need to teach the squad captains mana strings so that can control the giants. Miss ginger: already done that, I find that skill something good for suppressing thieves and capturing without injuring. Sting: you¡¯re a life saver Miss Ginger. Miss Ginger: nothing to it, I do what I must but really this guy is impressive but I can see that the mana consumption on him will be monstrous especially when fighting its possible he might deactivate during combat if the fight drags on. Alice: I think with a bit of training he will become too powerful for the fight to drag on too long and we could always pull him back and send a rested one. Sting: true something like this is useful only if you know how to use them well. Miss ginger: you kids are right, well I should get going you kids need to work and I so do i. We all separated then, I had Alice go work at the wood puppets factory while Topaz set up the Metal puppet factory. Me I returned to the forge and made human sized metal parts, it didn¡¯t take as long as the giant only 5 hours to make two puppet worth of pieces and another 2 hours work the carve the spells I had on one of them, at this point I called Proto and Magi. Magi: you summoned us master Sting: yes, you see we just completed a metal puppet and I was wondering if you two would like me to upgrade you to metal puppets? Proto: really that would be great to get more powerful but if our whole body changes we will begin again at level 1. Magi: as long as our cores don¡¯t change it won¡¯t matter brother. Sting: so you two want me to do it. They both nodded and began removed there things which I stored away, including the synthetic skins. What remained was the bare wooden puppets I originally made. I had proto lay down first and magi could wait. First I removed his core, it was a pain in the ass for sure thanks to it evolving into a nervous system but after a bit of tampering the mana dispersed leaving the body and the parts disconnecting permanently You have taken apart the Magic Marionette Proto 1 All his skills and his Ego is stored within his core placing it inside a new body will place them within integrate them to it but it will reset their level to 1 and their combat skills will drop some levels due to the difference the body has. I pick up the Amethyst gem which was his core and shrink and pack away his parts before pulling out new iron parts which were the same size and shape as the original. I place the parts all in the correct place and then put his core in its place. 3 hours later I finished the complex part which was even more complex because when I start on the next part the strings began spreading and making the nerves like before so I had to hold them off while I attached the body. When I try to wake him I get the same failure message as the giant. Sting: seems metal puppets have a higher cost to work let¡¯s add two more since he is smaller than the giant. I add a topaz and his original emerald.
Magic Metel Marionette (Proto) The first of its kind, this special Marionette was modeled after its creator in his attempt to discover the how to make magic puppets. With its core placed in a new body it still holds the rank of first as it is now the first human sized metal marionette. A well-crafted body by the Magus Puppeteer Sting, the powerful body increases the strength to great degrees. With a new Metal body its abilities increase by half its old body even though it a new body. Level 1 Job Monk Puppet Exp 0% Health/Durability 15000/15000 Mana 10000/10000 Stamina Unlimited Strength 170 Agility 150 Dexterity 138 Vitality 200 Intelligence 110 Wisdom 100 Skills Sword Mastery (basic 1 50%) Sense Presence (basic 4) Fist Fighting Mastery (basic 2) Monk Mindset (passive) Fighters Aura (basic 3) Knuckle Drive (basic 2) Rush Strike, Drop Punch (basic 1) Mana Infusion (basic 1) Mana Strike (basic 1) Mediation (basic 6) Iron Guard (basic 1)
Sting: now this is great, so Proto how do you feel. Proto: Stronger¡­much Stronger Sting: here are your things; I made this body as close to your size as possible so your things wills still fit. He gave me a small bow and took his things and got dressed. In full armor it¡¯s impossible to tell that he is a puppet especially now with the skin. Proto: going to train¡­to get used to¡­my new body. Sting: go right ahead, Magi your next. I did the same to magi but it was much harder, because of her higher mana pool in the diamond her nervous system was much more complex she took a whopping 4 hours to remove just the core and 6 hours to attach the core to the entire body. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Due to doing complicated tasks with great concentration +6 concentrations
Sting: so she is that hard to put together huh. I the take a ruby and a sapphire and add them to her core to power her up.
Magic Metal Marionette (Magi) A magic puppet made from the Magus Puppeteer Sting. Its new metal body was made with great concentration and gained much greater quality then its old body. This special marionette was modeled after the creator¡¯s younger sisters, as such as the ego it is developing will have a tendency to have a younger sister¡¯s personality but will regard her creator as master out of loyalty. Because of the new body its power increases to double its old bodies even though it¡¯s still new Level 1 Job Elemental Mage Puppet Exp 0% Health/Durability 18000/18000 Mana 25000/25000 Stamina Unlimited Strength 120 Agility 200 Dexterity 180 Vitality 170 Intelligent 230 Wisdom 210 Skills Sigil Magic Mastery (basic 5) Magic Mastery (basic 8?) Elemental Magic Affinity Delayed Casting (intermediate 2) Sigil Spells Fire Ball (basic 6) Fire Bomb (basic 8) Ice Lance (basic 7) Pressure bomb (basic 5) Earth Lance (basic 9) Earth Bomb (basic 4) Lightning Bolt (basic 6) Paralysis shot (basic 4) Healing (basic 9) Cure (basic 7) Blind (basic 6) Curse (basic 5)
Sting: truly I do love this job, metal puppet have more upkeep but they compensate it by so much, I can¡¯t wait to show the info of these three puppets in public, I will attract so many people to this place¡­can¡¯t forget to set up an anti-theft mechanism¡­maybe a bomb to the core for the other puppets, mine can take care of themselves but I feel that other players will fuck things up badly with the mages guild. The rest of the week (real life, 1 month in game) went pretty well, within two in game weeks we had 10 iron guardians ready and had them, magi, proto and a large platoon of solders (the ones from Relona that came to Hevea) train in the forest to increase the solders control of the giants and to increase their levels and make sure they are as strong as high level players. The ten giants reached level 30-35 by the end of the month and magi and proto got to 15 and 18 during that time, since the giants were tanking they got more exp. Out in the real world the two weeks had passed and on the Saturday of the second week dad and I were in VR New waiting for the time to be called, the host was already presenting the show which was supposed to release several hidden classes to the world and like that there were 5 others besides me here that were willing to do is. Host: and today we bring you 6 young kids that were personally called by Virtual works to talk about their classes and guess what they are hidden classes, that¡¯s right everyone they have agreed to disclose the class they discovered. Also with us is the CEO himself coming he has brought some info from each such as job info and buffs that the players themselves want to show. Please welcome him Jonan Brim and our six guesses. We all walk out with dad in the lead and me behind him; I could see the sneer on one of the guys face behind me since I wasn¡¯t letting him sit next to dad. Host: it¡¯s a please to have you Mr Brim and guests, we are all anxious to see the classes. Jonas: im sure you will like them all, miss you may start. The girl furthest from the host was called and she stood up and bowed to everyone, her name was Mika Talien her class was Siren Bard. It¡¯s a unique version of the bard class that you can only get by charming a siren or mermaid with your singing which pretty much means that if your singing isn¡¯t up to par with theirs you can¡¯t get it. Bard jobs can normally give AoE buffs though they aren¡¯t that effective like other jobs but it¡¯s the AoE effect that keeps the job alive, but her job allows her voice to give buffs as strong as any priest or whatever and it can charm enemies and make them freeze up in the fight. (can¡¯t think of many jobs so I will skip to the cocky bastard which is just before Malcolm) The second guy had a crafting job, the third was a unique mage class, four was a thief job. The fifth was the guy that was staring at me, his name was Jonas Ridley, his job was Flame knight, it¡¯s a unique class because normally knights don¡¯t use magic, and to gain this class you need high affinity for fire and be at least intermediate in fire magic mastery to gain it. Host: now for the final player that has come today mr Malcolm¡­Brim There are a lot of people that start murmuring in the crowd and Jonas has a big grin and a proud look on his face. Malcolm: hello I¡¯m Malcolm Brim, my class in Second life is Magus Puppeteer, it¡¯s a magic and crafting base class which uses puppets to tank while control rest on me, there are also some skills that use the strings to attack. There are a lot of people who were talking but with a few calls from the host they quieted down. Host: um Malcolm you said you use puppets right¡­it¡¯s a known fact that combat puppets are impossible to make even the arch mages have tried and failed. I look to my dad and give a little nod. Malcolm: I knew it would be like this that is why I asked my father to help me get the video feed from my capsule, just know what is show is my puppets already build i defiantly won¡¯t stay how I make them. Suddenly the video on the large screen at the end of the stage changes to show proto just as I was making him stand. Then the message showing his stats and the talking starts again. Malcolm: this was my first puppet I made at beginner level, the skill level I make him in makes for different stats the same goes for the shape and size I make him into. The video then shifts to magi standing up and her stats appearing. Malcolm: this one I made at level 6 carpentry and 5 puppet making as you can see it is much stronger then the initial one at beginner level also they have the unique ability to gain jobs like us. As I said that the video shows me using the books to change their jobs. Malcolm: it is possible to change their bodys into a better one which I also recently did. Host: wow this is amazing though have you thought of making larger puppet as well or metal ones. Malcolm: of course I have and I have them done already. The video changes to show the first giant puppet getting up and the stats showing up. As soon as they read the stats the crowd goes up in an uproar. It takes a few minutes to calm them down. Host: um Malcolm im curious why are you showing such an OP class why not keep it for yourself. Malcolm: because I want to spread this class The crowd goes again in an uproar with many sending messages to watch the show. Malcolm: I recently founded a town with some dwarves that were held captive from the bandits led by Tristan the red claw and made his hideout into a town, its east of Relona a town in the kingdom of Tredred in the Emon continent. In there I made a school to teach puppeteering, as well as magic and fighting classes but just a warning it¡¯s not Magus Puppeteer that is the final tier class I¡¯m going to make lower class ones starting with the basic puppeteer. Before he could ask Jonas poked him and with a gesture to end it the host finished his show. That night the show was spread worldwide and the prospect of the job like this cause hundreds of thousands to go to the town. The first to arrive were those near the town, they were newbies that haven¡¯t gotten their job changed yet so they worked together to pool their money and hired mercenaries to travel with them to my town. The first group was around 100 players +20 mercenaries NPC. I was waiting at the front along with one of the giants. The looks on their faces when they saw the giant was priceless. I led them tow school and told them that besides puppeteering the school can train you to be other classes and that it was equivalent to a guild. In my mind I had my doubts that many would make it to get the beginner tier job. The second that came was a guild that wanted the class, some higher level players came with some recruits that were interested I was cautious around the high levels because they could cause trouble he was over level 100 but I had a feeling he would have a hell of a fight against my giants, I had tested their strength against the stone hide boars and he was able to stop its mad rush at it after being pushed back some 10 meters¡­at level 1. Currently level 30-35 they could take high level players probably up to level 200 if they didn¡¯t train regularly their skills. By the time a huge influxe of people arrived the first group of players has gotten the job, of the 100 only 12 had the talent and patience to bet the requirements for puppeteering, inner and exterior mana control, meditation and mana string. They were given a basic puppet to start up and told they can be upgraded at the school if you buy the parts for them.
Magic Marionette (unnamed) A basic model of magic puppets given to beginners in the art of puppeteering. There are no defects but no buffs are given either for the design is simple. Level 1 Job none Exp 0% Health/Durability 500/500 Mana 1000/1000 Stamina Unlimited Strength 20 Agility 20 Dexterity 20 Vitality 20 Intelligent 10 Wisdom 10 Skills None Status normal
The others gained mage or warrior based classes and surprisingly the warriors were better than normal, Mr Grant must have put stat requirements for his job change as well. I was very happy about so many people coming, with the increase in players we began having money enter our pockets and thanks to the dwarves we had a sizable amount of higher level players coming for high grade weapons and armor. Heh heh current revenue from players 950G p/day, with the number still rising, my job and my town will increase the number of players on Emon and it will increase exploration and fame of my job. After the first week I had the pleasure to also see someone that was trying to steal and was ignorant enough to fight against my giant. I heard that they guy was a level 127 thief class player but that didn¡¯t amount to much after the giant caught him and smashed him to the ground before giving him a few stomps that left him in the red zone for his health and was taken to jail. The video of this quickly spread and the slightly rising crime rate vanished almost as quickly as it began to rise. Every few days¡¯ two new giants are sent to patrol until we had around 50 giants so the rest was mainly backup if needed for a raid or something. I took one for perianal use if I ever needed it against large bosses or other monsters. It everything going so well I got bored quickly. Sting: I¡¯m so bored¡­ I think I¡¯m going exploring for some time and leave the town to Miss Ginger to take care Alice: but doesn¡¯t she have the union to take are of? Sting: she only teaches an hour a day and she only take care of the school the union is made of a council of her Mr. Grant and a few other people with craft jobs. Topaz: were would ya go. Sting: WE would go north and explore the uncharted area, we can go to Feldon to the east first before heading up north Alice: that nice¡­wait ¡°we¡± as in me, you, and topaz?! Sting: yep as my apprentices you still have much to learn and there are some things I haven¡¯t taught or discovered and you guys can help me with that, that¡¯s one of the reasons I am looking for apprentices. Topaz: ah see now, wit help ya can make more wit the help of yer apprentice¡¯s skills. Sting: exactly just like the giant metal puppets were made with Topaz¡¯s help one of you might think up of something else that I wouldn¡¯t normally think of. They both nod with a smile, we discuss a bit about what we will be doing and how to go about it then we split up to by supplies. I go and get potions and food while alice goes and gets materials for repairs for cloths as well as to prepare the carriages and Topaz goes get materials for repairs, for weapons armor and puppets. We meet up at noon and head off after telling Miss Ginger we were leaving and asking her to manage until I returned. She gladly accepted and said she was amazed I stayed here so long instead of going off somewhere. We leave the town after giving orders to protect it at all cost, in the carts I had many weapons and armor the dwarves made I was planning on selling them at high prices at the next town since they were all great quality, I also hope to get info on some dungeons or get some quests, I¡¯ve been playing a long time and haven¡¯t been in one. Chapter 7 Minotaur vs Goliath During the long ride towards Feldon was¡­eventful. I finished making two new copies of ¡°Mystery of the Sigils¡± for both of my apprentices, yes I left a copy at the school to make copies for the puppeteers. I also had them make their first puppets on their own, out of wood of course. Topaz wasn¡¯t too happy but seeing as he needed to start practicing somewhere he accepted the challenge. Alice, who had trained in carpentry while we were in Hevea had gained quite a few levels thanks to her high dexterity same for Topaz. Alice made a male puppet around 185cm with a lead muscles build carved out, when I asked what kind of job she wanted him to have I got a reply that I never expected. Alice: what job he will have¡­I think a combat butler will be just right, a gentleman that will always protect me and still take care of me. As soon as she said that both Topaz and I fell on the floor of the carriages holding our sides laughing. Even though we laughed at it, I could easily see a young man butler causing destructive damage in combat like in some anime. Topaz went a different route, he opted for instead for something along the lines of a war hammer wielding dwarf (don¡¯t asked the class name since I haven¡¯t found someone who did dwarf warriors FF it¡¯s kind of unknown at least to me), and he even premade a war hammer for the puppet beforehand. He also planned to make a metal body for him as soon as he can reach a forge and then teach the fellow blacksmithing, Alice on the other hand planned to send her¡­butler to learn cooking, repairing, alchemy, and she would teach him tailoring, she also said that she would eventually have him learn other craft but these were the essential, she also asked if Topaz could make her a reaper for her puppet. It was an interesting that she had fencing in mind for him to learn, it would defiantly finish the butler look. Using her extensive knowledge in tailoring she also outfitted him with a clean tux that gave him the look but she didn¡¯t make skin for him since all the supplies for that was in Hevea so we could only do that there. When they finished the stats they showed were almost scary to see, because of the monstrous dexterity these two have from their crafting jobs they were able to make their wooden puppets as strong as metal magi and proto. I would be lying if I say I wasn¡¯t scared of their skills even with less skill in carpentry they both make that up with their daft hands, also I wasn¡¯t stupid, I knew my job would rely heavily on dexterity as such with all the levels I¡¯ve gotten I¡®ve added a large amount to dexterity and some to other stats, as well to make up for this I exercise regularly. Even with this catching up to master and advanced rank NPC isn¡¯t an easy thing since they have techniques behind the skill that will allows give them the edge. This is my current stats just¡­
Name: Sting Alignment: Neutral Profession: Magus Puppeteer Race: Demi Human Dragonian Title: Noble Demi Human Level: 35 Fame: 1600 Health: 3500 Mana: 1700 Strength: 95 Agility: 85 Vitality: 90 Wisdom: 85 Intelligence: 100 Dexterity: 150 Charisma: 60 Luck: 30 Skills Sword Mastery (basic 1) Sting Mastery (Intermediate 5) Meditation (Intermediate 2) Mana String (intermediate 1) Mana String Sense (basic 8) Internal Mana Control (intermediate 2) External Mana Control (Intermediate 4) Carpentry (intermediate 2) Sculpting (basic 9) Puppet making (intermediate 2) Magic Puppet making (basic 8) Handicraft (intermediate 1) Puppeteering (basic 9) Sigil Magic (basic 7) Repair (basic 6) Blacksmith (intermediate 1) Spells Fire Ball (basic 6) Fire Bomb (basic 8) Ice Lance (basic 7) Pressure bomb (basic 5) Earth Lance (basic 9) Earth Bomb (basic 4) Lightning Bolt (basic 6) Paralysis shot (basic 4) Healing (basic 9) Cure (basic 7) Blind (basic 6) Curse (basic 5) Shrink (basic 4) Grow (basic 3)
Sting: ¡°looking at my skills relative to my stats it feels like I am much stronger then someone my level should be, probably am.¡± It wasn¡¯t long before we reached Feldon it was pretty large the town itself it had large 20 meter high walls that were 9 meter wide that stretched for miles all around. I got kind of nervous since I was entering a large city it would most likely have a guilds that might search us out. Though I say that I still had time since they need to search for the items so I think a week at best I don¡¯t think moving objects are easy to track so I think it will work out. Now to business, we take our cart to the trade district and find a spot that could fit the three carts and faced them with the backs towards the street as we set up our wares. The stuff we had ranged from low beginner weapons to high quality stuff, this included leather armor as well that was made along the way by me and Alice. We had the puppets guard the other side since the wares are in bulk so we didn¡¯t want anything happening. Gregory, Alices butler, was a big help, it seems that with the thought of making a butler it made the personality go that way so he is VERY efficient in organization and categorizing goods. Once we open shop we already had tons of players ready to buy stuff and our goods sold like hot cakes many beginners were charmed by the quality low level leather gear while high level players scanned the weapons Topaz made. The result of the profit from a cart full of weapons and armor both iron and leather, 743 gold. I was happily counting my cash when a large man wearing heavy knight armor came up. Knight: by any chance are you Sting. Sting: that¡¯s me is there anything you need. Knight: yes you see we have heard of your endeavor from Relona how the famous draconian cause single handed changed the tide of the battle. When he said that there was a murmur and unfortunately I also heard an unfortunate comment. ??? : wait Sting, doesn¡¯t that mean he is the Magus Puppeteer!!! At this comment I ordered everyone to pack up immediately. Knight: wait where are you going the lord requests your presence after he heard you had arrived in the town. Sting: then come in we need to leave fast can¡¯t you see the agitated crowd. There were many people all around looking with greedy stars thinking of the job or maybe the reward from the guild. The knight jumped in and we ran off towards the castle trying to lose the players. We did lose most of them but there were some annoyingly fast assassin classed person that could keep up with us by running on the roofs of the buildings. We arrived at the castle quickly but the player was waiting there as well. Sting: damn leave me alone already ???: why should I, even more so when I¡¯m being paid to follow you. I examine the assassin and saw that interestingly enough it was an NPC and not player, not only that a dark elf, she was wearing very tight black cloths and had a cover over her mouth and nose and gave an image of a ninja. Sting: let me guess the mage guild sent out. ??? : ¡­tch Sting: damn those old bastards. I was seriously pissed off by those bastards. Sting: sir let¡¯s head inside I¡¯m getting annoyed staying here. Knight: yes please, open the gates these are guests, the one in black cloths isn¡¯t. Ninja: i don¡¯t mind, since you already about me i don¡¯t need to hide now, I''ll just wait out here. Sting: huh you¡¯re still going to follow us even after you were found, on these occasions don¡¯t you fail your job? Ninja: only if it was some sort of assassination but I¡¯m just ordered to spy they never said i needed to remain hidden. Sting: *sigh* do whatever you want, sir we can go. I point at all the puppets. Sting: all of you stay here and protect the carriages. They bowed confirming they heard my orders. Then Alice, Topaz and I went inside. We walked for about a minute before entering a large chamber that looked a mix of a throne room and a council hall. There was a large table with a huge map and around many other documents. The table was surrounded by chairs that would probably seat the generals or council members. At the end of the table was a much more luxurious seat most likely for the cities lord. As we entered we saw someone seated on the chair. He was a short man with light brown hair, a bit fat and dressed in somewhat plain but noble clothing. He stood and came over, the best feeling i could get from him was disgust like looking at a walking pig. I could see him eyeing Alice and she seemed to notice as well since she was trying to hide behind me discreetly. Knight: i present you the lord of Feldon lord Marcello Storm II, this young man, my lord, is the hero of Relona. Marcello: hm the hero, you mean that traveler that stepped all over the bandits. He seems weak in my eyes. My blood began to boil hearing him talk like this but i reined in my emotions. Marcello: not like i care, my best knight says you could be of use so i don¡¯t care. I could see something sinister in his eyes like he was planning something. Marcello: well let¡¯s get down to business, i want to commission you and your group to clear a new dungeon that was recently discovered, i had sent several groups of knights and until i commissioned the first travelers to find out what was killing them we didn¡¯t know. Sting: so what was killing them? Knight: the cave are inhabited by a large number of goblins, hobgoblins and Ogre all being led by a Minotaur. He is extremely powerful we know this because we sent various groups of 100 level 150 knights and priests to fight it and none returned. Topaz: ah sorry ta interrupt but how ''id a Minotaur become a boss in a goblin dungeon. Knights: Minotaur thought to be a rare evolution in the goblin family they are far stronger then ogre so we believe it might be an evolution after the ogre but they much more instinctive at least most are. Alice: so this one is smarter. Knight: that is what the travelers that returned said they said he could see were the most dangerous people were and took care to smash them first. Sting: um sirs how do you expect us to do this when a company of level 150 knights couldn¡¯t, we are all below level 40. Marcello: you took down the level 110 draconian bandit Tristan without much trouble at a lower level so i will still commission your group.
Quest Mino Rampage The lord of Feldon has asked you to help clear a recently discovered dungeon which is guarded by a Minotaur. Difficultly B Reward: ??? Time limit: none This quest cannot be rejected
Quest accepted
Sting: *sigh* alright we will do it but not immediately, if this is all sirs i will be going to prepare. We bowed and left. I could see a frown on the pigs face as i leave. Outside we find the carriages waiting inside the castle gate with the puppets guarding them and the annoying ninja sleeping in one of them. With a strong flick to her forehead i wake her up. Ninja: ahh damn it what was that for, it hurt like hell. Sting: get out we are leaving to train. Ninja: what¡¯s the point in me leaving I¡¯ll just follow you anyway. Without saying anything i sit in the driver¡¯s seat as the guards open the gate with the other horses in tow. We leave and after a few hundred meters i hook the ninja with half a dozen strings and have her stand up. Ninja: h-hey what are you doing?! Get this stuff off me NOW!! Sting: you can see the string...of course you can elves have high magic affinity well it easy to answer I¡¯m getting you off my carriages. Without giving her time to argue i have her jump off and land in the middle of the road and stay there. As we leave i hear her yelling. Ninja: if that¡¯s how you want it fine. I didn¡¯t really care what she was doing at least until i felt my strings burn off her body. When i looked back i found her laying down just like how she was originally in my carriage. Sting: you¡¯re annoying you know that and what the hell did you do to get the strings off. Ninja: heh heh you like that right, it¡¯s called mana emission it removes any kind of magic that is holding directly on the users body. I stare at the annoying ninja; i could feel the magic surrounding her body. Sting: *sigh* fine do what you want we need to train to kill a Minotaur anyway so you come if you want. He eyes snapped open at the mention of the Minotaur. Ninja: wait you mean the Level 280 Minotaur in the Drugar caves. I look back wide eyes when i heard the level, cold sweat was starting to run down my forehead and back, the same could be said for the puppets and my apprentices. Sting: that¡¯s a joke right, cause it¡¯s far from being funny. Ninja: i wouldn¡¯t lie about a monster i saw with my own eyes, i was paid to scout the cave and get the level range of the place, goblins level 50-80, hobgoblin, 80-130, ogre 130-190, Minotaur...280. The dungeon has six floors filled with thousands of them Gob kin, if they wanted to they could easily storm this town. No one made a sound as we listened and rode out of town. We continued for another half hour before i stop all the carriages some distance away from the road. I then pull out all the puppets in my inventory including Goliath (metal giant) and return them all too normal size and the giant I made him a 2 meter tall golem. Sting: Magi, Proto take all the puppets and train until everyone is level 50 or more if anyone asks say that Goliath is a golem not a puppet, Alice, Topaz we are hunting us three. I pull out a bow and arrow and hand it to Alice she seems to understand after i pick up a sword. Sting: we will train different methods to use our job mixing with others, figure out your own way using a weapon. For me i put a thin string along all the edges to make the cut much better. Topaz looks stumped for a bit so he goes to the carriages and returns with a back of throwing knives and two large maces and does the same as me with the strings. Alice isn¡¯t far behind and sharpens the arrows with her strings. Ninja: hey are you really going to train to fight that thing. Sting: we don¡¯t have a choice, if we died we can¡¯t change that but we will at least train to fight back. Ninja: why not group up with other travelers. Alice: the town¡¯s lord has already done that and they failed miserably. Ninja: and what makes you think you will win Sting: could you shut up you asked us so much and when we asked you anything you just laugh it off, if you don¡¯t have anything better to do then scram you lazy ninja. We left her without saying a word. For the next month we stayed inside the forest north of Feldon hunting down Elk 30-35, Dire wolves 50-60 and black bears 70-90 that inhabited the forests all to get our levels to 50. For Alice, Topaz and i we reached it quickly by hunting down higher level creatures. We developed a new skill as well called string weapons. It¡¯s as the name says we shape hand strings into weapons we want. Alice got really good at making arrows and can even use regular archer skills to cause deadlier damage thanks to the strings. Topaz, like any good dwarf, took up hammers and throwing axes, the hammers are normally twice his size and had spikes at the end for piercing damage which is better then blunt damage. I enjoyed my time with a whip blade, a very fun weapon to use i must say, it can easily kill animals if they are to slow to dodge but they are incredibly difficult to use. It took me three weeks to reach intermediate in both sword mastery and whip mastery for them to combine for me to gain whip blade mastery. As for our levels, me 74, Topaz 62, Alice 60, our stats gained a nice boast a bit less then doubling. Now for the puppets it¡¯s another story. It seems that puppets have a harder time getting exp but easier skill proficiency and stats from training. Thanks to magi almost all my attack spells have passed into intermediate ranks the same goes for my repair skill which she used a lot while hunting. Their current levels, Magi 67, Proto 70, Gregory 54, Boris 56 (Topaz''s puppet) Goliath 50, Fighter spiders 59 and 57, scout spider 50. I was happy that we were able to reach the level requirement i set up for them in a month. I was even happier when i checked all of the puppets stats. I thought they were OP before, now i wouldn''t be exaggerating anything in saying that, all normal human puppets doubled their stats, the spiders almost tripled theirs and Goliath...he quadrupled his endurance and strength and doubled the others. I had no doubt in my mind that he would be a key player during the fight against the Minotaur. His life increased tremendously thanks to endurance and vitality now it¡¯s at 200,000, ten times his original amount. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Sadly the freeloader ninja is still around and just as annoying as always and trying to get us to give up the quest. Ninja: come on you will all die in there, what¡¯s the point in going just to get killed do you expect to gain something from all this. Sting: of course, with us slowly progressing we show reach the Minotaur¡¯s chamber at around level 150 that should give us the edge if we use Goliath to take most of the heavy attacks. Alice: we should go to town and get a few months¡¯ worth of supplies we don¡¯t know how long it will take to go slowly down while training in there. Topaz: can¡¯t furget materials for repairs, I can¡¯t wait te get ma hands on some Minotaur horns, them things are as good for blacksmith as any other ore. The elf ninja was just holding her head in her hands as we reached the town and went to buy supplies. After about an hour I was already done shopping and was waiting outside of town. I spot my two carriages coming out of the city and over here. Alice: already to go, and you guys? Topaz: I got me self some nice ore for equips and a portable forge ta make some gear on de go. Sting: I bought the stuff for potions and healing salves if we ever need them if we are ever out of mana that I can¡¯t use the spells for. Topaz: alright time fur some good gob hunten. Ninja: how can you guys be so calm and even happy to go to your death? Sting: you can scam if you don¡¯t want to come freeloader we won¡¯t miss you. We set off to the dungeons which were a day¡¯s ride away. We were met with constant complaints from the annoying elf to the point that I wanted to stuff a gag in her mouth and tie her up leave her to her fate on the side of the road. After full days of riding with the annoying elf we were all frustrated when we reached the cave. The cave was wide¡­very wide 7 meters tall and 5 wide, I could even have Goliath it full size and he would comfortably walk around in there, though fighting is hard. With all the pent up rage we rushed in and decimated any goblin groups we encountered, she also followed us for some reason, she had a map of the place so we knew were larger rooms were and headed there to vent. In the first room we were met with easily 100+ goblins ready and armed. I pull out all my puppets as do Alice and Topaz. As soon as Goliath was at full size the goblins shrank and were trembling in fear but we only had eyes to vent our frustrations and we did just that. Killing all of them in a quick ten minutes we stretched ourselves after the warm up. Sting: ah I feel lighter now that I vented some of the frustration I built up listening to the whining elf. Ninja: hey im still here. Sting: ya I was wondering about that as well, why are you here, you lazy bum? Ninja: stop insulting me, I came because I know the cave and have a map. Alice: hm that all? Ninja: what¡¯s that supposed to mean girl. Alice: nothing really. She said that and turned to look the other way laughing which made the dark elf blush though it went unnoticed because of the face cover. We spend two days cleaning out the first floor and gaining 3 levels each while puppets gained 1 and a certain ninja was left in the dust. Moving to the second floor it became harder quickly. The goblins here had better weapons armor and a few hobs to lead them in coordinated attacks. Those hobs were tricky and smart bastards¡­smarter I guess then a goblin though still very simple minded. This floor had lots of rooms unlike the other that had one ever so often. This meant that we cleared a room we need to rest a bit before continuing this floor took 4 days to clear and a grand total of 5 levels for puppeteers and 3 for puppets. Third and fourth floors were full of just hobs 10 levels for everyone fifth floor were Ogres. Things got interesting here, unlike what you would think of ogres they actually have brains and they use the really well especially when they are in command of an army of hobs it gets worst when you need to fight the army being led by many ogres. This floor we took lots of damage so we slowed down our current pace and redid our formations and such. With Goliath in front and Alice and Magi in the back while the rest of us guarded the left and right we kept them from harm while the hobs and ogres just kept coming. Because of the intensity of the army we took nearly two weeks to get through this room gaining a whopping 15 levels all around. We took a rest at the room where the stairs were for the Minotaur. Ninja: ¡­ive been wonder what are you guys made of, to reach this far into a dungeon with your levels and with so few people as well as that weird thing over there what are you guys? Sting: didn¡¯t your employers tell you anything. Ninja: they told me to find out about your guys, something about what magic items you have and how to use them¡­what job you have. Sting: well we are puppeteers everyone but us three are puppets made from metal or wood. He eyes were wide after hearing that, not surprising puppeteering is only know to players and they are probably still training to get better puppets even after all this time. Chances are that at player guilds have them but NPC that have it only in Hevea. Ninja: how is that possible Magi and Proto look human they even move their lips and blink and everything. Sting: have you ever seen them eat. After a moment she noticed as well and shook her head. Sting: as you can see how well your spying is im sure that only after a while will the Mages guild notice all the puppets coming from my city. Alice: is it ok to tell her this, she is hired by them. Sting: I don¡¯t mind, I already let other travelers have access to it so that it would flourish enough to have influence where it counts in the traveler guilds. My city is the only place that knows how to produce them and we hold the techniques to do so it will take years before the mages guild can learn what is needed. Ninja: you shouldn¡¯t underestimate them they are like one of the world powers and have some of the strongest mages around. Sting: if they were that strong they would have taken care of this Minotaur already. At my retort she just slumped down, seems she agrees on that part. After an hours rest for repairs and to restore mana and stamina we head into the final floor were the Minotaur is. It was a long winding stair way before we say the light at the end of the tunnel where the room was. As we walk through we spot a huge creature sitting at the other end of the room. I notices us and looks our way. Minotaur: huh more humans have come¡­wait 4 humans but what are the other things. He stands up using his large battle axe as a support to get up. We were stunned by hearing him talk. Minotaur: humans speak now what are those things next to you. I look back to my puppets. Sting: they are magic puppets, I am a puppeteer and these two are my apprentices. After I say that he gives a wide menacing grin. Minotaur: so someone finally made them good, great I can finally do my job I was given by master robin. Sting: who is this master robin? Minotaur: he raised me and my clan and was a wise master who studied those things, he wasn¡¯t able to make them like yours but he discovered a different type of puppet but told me to guard them from humans who don¡¯t have puppets and to test those who have to see if they are worth of having his research. Hehehahaha, now come humans let¡¯s see if your worth. He suddenly starts rushing with his head low to slam into us head on. Just as quickly as he started rushing Goliath ran head on at him and when they reached each other he grabbed the Minotaur¡¯s horns and planted his feet down to hold him back. Goliath was pushed back almost 10 meters before stopping. Controlling him I make him start turning the head of the Minotaur¡¯s head until he fell sideways and then giving him a powerful punch. The punch reveals the health of the Minotaur which was 500,000 Sting: get going start attacking we don¡¯t have all day. With goliath at level 79 his current life is 207,500 and his strength is clearly show to easily match a boss class monster. I didn¡¯t want to take chances on that though, Minotaur are said to be some of the higher tier monsters and I wasn¡¯t going to risk being over confident just because I could topple him once. Mino: hehe nice humans now let¡¯s see if you can handle a real fight. He suddenly grabbed Goliaths right arm and moved it to get up and then began to spin him and throwing him to the side and into the wall leaving a large crater in the wall. Lots of rocks brake off from the wall and Goliath gets up without taking much damage Mino: MAHAHAHA that¡¯s what I¡¯m talking about this is a puppet worth of a challenge. As he finished taking a large number of runes appeared around him, he then turns around and sees Magi who has a large light blue run under here glowing intensely Magi: Ice Spear Hailstorm This was one of Magi own creations, it¡¯s not a new spell but just regular Ice Spears that have been charged with delayed casting to make them more powerful and make large numbers of them cast at the same time, she currently has twenty runes all aimed at him. The name isn¡¯t for show it¡¯s like a real hailstorm and it is one of the strongest combos she makes because of the piercing power of the intermediate level Ice spears. After casting the spell it all rains down on the minotaur at the same time Proto and Gregory move in to close range. Gregory after much fighting and training his crafts had actually gained combat butler as a job and after so much fighting his fencing abilities were on par with some high class fighters. One the other hand Proto has taken monk to the next level, with his metal body he trained hard and is one of the fastest puppets I have and his strength isn¡¯t something to laugh at how do I know because a single punch could send a 300kg black bear flying 10 meters away. With all the skills they trained during the fighting and training in the forest Proto and Gregory deal heavy damage to the mino while constantly dodging the hailstorm not getting hit once by the ice. With this great combo between the puppets the mino begins to get annoyed after his health dropped 10%. Mino: annoying pests get away and let me fight the real contender. When he shifted his attention to proto and went for the punch, I had Goliath pick up one of the broken rocks near him and chuck it at the minotaur which hits dead center and topples him. I quickly make him run over, all this time Magi prepares several fire bombs and throws them as Gregory and Proto retreats. Magi throws the bombs just as the mino was getting up and Goliath reaches him and lands a heavy punch to his snout. Soon after the explosion follows that fills the air with smoke. I had string sense active so I could see without having to open my eyes. What I saw was troubling the mino had retreated back to where he started and was waiting there for the smoke to clear. When it all cleared we saw his health it was at 88% which meant fire attacks were weak to him. Magi: no fire attacks he is strong against them. Ninja: you know I feel the giant could move faster for the stats he has. Sting: if your not going to fight stay out of it. I was annoyed because of the lack of damage the hits had done. On the other side of the room the Minotaur was frowning as he looked over. He then picked up his large battle axe he had dropped to rush at us at the beginning. I have Goliath retreat close while pulling out a great sword and using grow magic on it to fit Goliaths size. Now properly armed the two giants stood at opposite ends. Slowly the Minotaur started walking forward and began to jog before getting into a full out run. I had Goliath do the same and once the two reached the center of the room they both swung their weapons which clashed with the screeching sound of steel hitting steel and with the force they hit it sent a shockwave out. With the clash the weapons bounced back and were continually brought together in a torrent of giant weapon clashes. During this the others moved in, Alice began firing off her arrows while all the others moved in close from behind and began thrashing the minotaur. I was forced into controlling Goliath while holding both control bars that is how hard it was to fight the minotaur. Ninja: like I though, you controlling him with those things is slower then what he could achieve. Sting: what are you talking about freeloader. Ninja: what I mean is that he is probably faster in auto mode get it. Sting: he barely reacts in auto mode he doesn¡¯t have a personality like the others. Ninja: ¡­I see that¡¯s why you always control him¡­why not use your own body to make him shadow your movements. When she said that I looked at her losing my focus and the minotaur say the pause and struck down hard throwing Goliath to the ground hard taking 8% if his life leaving him at 73% while the Mino was at 81%. Sting: damn it look what happened. I make Goliath stand as quickly as possible and block the Minotaur¡¯s vertical swing with the blade. Ninja: come on try, wrap your body with your strings and connect it to the giant. Sting: your too damn annoying, fine I¡¯ll do it, but you need to keep the damn beast occupied so get busy. She smiles and vanishes like a shadow and appears on the minotaurs back after a few seconds and stabs his eye. He begins the thrash around while she holds own, it was like watching a fantasy style rodeo. I quickly push that out of my head and stand Goliath up and begin. Starting from the finger tips I pass the string through each joint in my body and into the proper place. I was able to do this quickly and I hear a Ding for a noticication but I brush it aside. As I finished I found myself stumbling and falling just like Goliath, after a bit I stop and focus on Goliaths vision close my own off and get up. I could feel the power behind Goliaths body, the speed, power, the mana every bit of his body felt like it was my own. i leave the great sword I he was using and go with fists. The first hit I slammed it was like a blur there was so much speed and strength behind it I couldn¡¯t believe it was the same puppet that was having a hard time fight. As I though this I suddenly felt weaker, when I checked I saw a huge amount of magic was gone. Sting: damn what happened¡­did I use mana to hit him along with the punch. When I looked my health was had also dropped a bit the same could be said about the minotaur. That single punch that took more than half my mana had shaved off a huge 40% off his life and 20% from Goliath leaving him with 41% wills I had 63% Warning you have used Great Impact, you have taken heavy damage. If used again the damage to yourself will be greater as it will use your HP to power the punch. Sting: ¡°That explains the punch and were such a punch came from great damage for a great price I guess¡±. Mino: he hehehaHAHAHAHAHAHA, that was *cough* a great punch *cough* I see its just like that ability¡­well let¡¯s see whose body is stronger huh human. Suddenly his body begins to emit a dark red aura that looks like a flame and steam begins to rise from his body. Ninja: LOOK OUT!!! THIS IS A SPECIAL ABILITY FEW HIGH TEIR MONSTERS HAVE, ITS CALLED GREAT IMPACT!!! Sting: really Goliath used that ability to send him flying just now Ninja: HE WHAT!!! Mino: are you going to sit around or fight, I want to see how strong you really are. Sting: lets finish it them. As I say that I activate the Great Impact as well, I open one of my real eyes to see how it looks. Unlike the Minotaur who has dark red aura around him, Goliath as a bluish aura buring like fire around his body. Just like the clash with swords the two begin slowly and begin running. As the near each other the aura begins to get smaller and concentrates on the right arm. On the last to steps the two pull back their arm and launch it forward with all their might as my vision goes dark and I feel a huge shockwave slam against my body. (I couldn¡¯t find a better picture but imagine a Minotaur on one side and a large Metal golem on the other doing this. T-T If I could draw well I would have made my own picture of them colliding http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs47/i/2009/203/d/3/When_Bioweapons_Collide_by_tbone111.jpg http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20141222183601/onepiece/images/2/2b/Luffy_vs._Chinjao.png) ***** feed back on how i can improve as well as ideas for something interesting i might not have though of is greatly appriciated Idea/Suggestion thread well for the puppeteer im kind of in a slump i know what i want to do for the draw back to the punch from Goliath and what the research of the mage is but i cant think of anything for it after that The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. i was hoping for just some ideas if i find it interesting it would help a lot to continue the story