《Artificial War》 Chapter 0: Prologue This is my first FF and English was not my native language. So please bear with me and enjoy the story. _________________________________________________________________________________ Prologue "Lieutenant, what is the status of this year''s fresh recruits?" asked an old bald guy wearing a military uniform. "We have interesting recruits for this year Colonel Asano. Take for example this kid, 15 year old Rizzo, Exceptional Abilities in Computer programming, networks and communications, average physical abilities and average instantaneous reflex, I think he''ll fit well in Battle Planning division or Intelligence division." said lieutenant Kino. "hmmm okay, next" Colonel Asano said. "15 year old, Jazmae. Top of her class in their province. Ranked second in the recruitment exam, Multiple knowledge in martial arts, above average physical abilities and above average instantaneous reflex. Perfect candidate for leadership position. She''s exceptional." remarked by lt. Kino. "Yeah, groom her for leadership position" demanded Col. Asano. "15 year old, Ari..." "is he the one garnered the highest score in the recruitment exam? " asked Col. Asano "No, Colonel. I''ll get to that later." "Ok, Proceed." "Ari, Exceptional Battle Sense, Exceptional Physical Abilities, Exceptional instantaneous Reflex and Genius Martial artist, this boy is the perfect soldier, Col." "Hmmm, promising kid. he''ll do well in Battle Division" "Yeah, next is the one who had gotten the perfect score in the recruitment exam, the best score ever recorded in the history of this Academy. 14 year old, Kira." "Are you sure he didn''t cheat?" "Oh no, Col, that''s impossible, this kid is legit, but...." "But? Continue what you¡¯re saying Lt." "He is a cripple. He cannot walk and can only move his arms and head, aside from that every part of his body is useless." "What!? Who allowed him to take the exam in the first place? If he is that smart he should have applied for a government position where he can use his intelligence to help our country.¡± "I was hoping to put him in the Strategic Planning Division, Col." "I too believe he would be very valuable in the academy, if only he could at least walk. Though you may argue that he doesn''t need the faculty of his legs to be useful in virtual reality, but still I want my cadets to be on perfect shape not only in the mind but also in the body. And besides who would take care of him inside the Academy? He will be a burden to his fellow cadets. If he is that smart the government and the University will gladly accept him." "Yes, Colonel, I understand." *** At the age of 15 every individual in United Asian Nation were mandated to participate in virtual reality world called "Lost Earth". Virtual Reality had been part of the lives of every people in the New Earth. One cannot buy goods and stuff, cannot go to school and cannot buy a house without virtual currency. Barter trading is strictly prohibited by the government to ensure that every citizen will participate in the virtual reality, if one wants to survive. 20 years ago, the greed and lust for violence of mankind leads in too many wars resulting in the partial destruction of the world. The remaining factions realized their foolishness and stupidity and created the Council of Elders with a sole purpose of protecting and preserving the new Earth. Peace treaty had been signed by the different factions and vowed to never enter into another war. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. The council of elders knew that this treaty will not last and knew that mankind potential for violence is inherent in their very nature. Tasked by protecting and preserving the new earth the elders sought for a way to prevent another war. They had reached a conclusion that war is inevitable and that to prevent another devastating war they will need another war. Virtual reality had been popularized in the last two decades. Everyone knew the epic fantasy VRMMORPG "Royal Road" created by Unicorn Corporation. The remaining members of the Unicorn Corporation were also members of the Council of Elders and proposed the viability of Royal Road as a means to end future wars. The Council of Elders all agreed that this was a good idea and for it to work successfully, they needed the remaining factions to participate. They bankrupted banks, crashed the stock market and renounced the real monetary systems of the new earth for the purpose of reducing the value of paper money to zero. Thus, the new world were forced to convert their paper money to virtual currency (i.e. copper, silver, gold). They had restarted the program Royal Road and changed the name to "Lost Earth" to remind everybody what they had lost. *** Lost Earth:Derohne City - Located north of UAN territory Outside the city walls, A Russian army of fifty thousand strong was conducting a relentless assault into the city, flaming flying rocks from catapults, arrows and long range spells were constantly dwindling the City''s defense while being defended by twenty thousand users and NPC''s. Derohne City, being close to the border between the Russian territory and UAN was redesigned as a fort and a garrison. It has higher and thicker walls compared to any other city and has a strategic importance to UAN . 500 users could easily defend the city against ten thousands. Though, for some reason, the soldiers of UAN was having a hard time of repelling them back. "HQ, This is Col. Roldan A. Santino, Derohne City is under attack. We require immediate assistance, over." Col. Roldan A. Santino whispered to one of the personnel in UAN HQ. "We copy you, sir. We have dispatched the 31st and 32nd Battalion to your position. ETA 12 Hrs." "I would have to hold that long then" "Yes, sorry about that, Colonel. They were the ones closest to your position. Also Colonel, orders from the top. You must not lose the city, defend it all costs." "I understand, over and out."
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Chapter 1: The Spectre Division Chapter 1 The Specter Division The door opened and when I looked, I saw my mother holding a package, judging from the size of the box, I knew it was a game capsule and at the same time my fate. ¡°So, the Academy had decided to reject me.¡± I said to my mother. ¡°How would you know that? You haven¡¯t read the letter.¡± ¡°If I was accepted in the academy mother, the government would not bothered us to send a game capsule since the Academy will provide each cadet their own game capsule." ¡°Ah, ah. How can you be sure It¡¯s a game capsule?¡± my mother stuttered. ¡°The timing of the delivery mother, yesterday was the announcement of the result for the admittance in the Academy and the size of the box pretty much gave it away.¡± My mother walk towards me and placed the package beside my bed. ¡°Those bastards! How can they not accept you? You aced the recruitment exam. No wonder we are losing the war." ¡°It is quite alright mother, I had expected this. Well, at least now I can log on in Lost Earth.¡± ¡°But still.... sigh. Here let me help you set it up.¡± *** ¡°Attention Cadets! My name is Colonel Asano. As of today, you are all official students of the Academy. In this Academy we will train you to be an efficient living weapon. We will provide you everything you need to have an edge in the virtual war. We had lost one of our virtual city, a huge source of income, to those communist punks, the Russian Empire. We are losing the war, but we the United Asian Nation (UAN) were not losing hope. We will defend our remaining territory no matter the cost. Hurrah!" ¡°Hurrah!¡± the cadets shouted in unison. ¡°You all are now going to your respective classrooms to be evaluated to which class/job and division you will be designated. Cadets dismissed.¡± Said Colonel Asano and now are walking away to the stage. Ari is walking in the corridor trying to find classroom 1-A when he was distracted by the sight of a woman. The woman had a long golden curly hair with porcelain-like skin and green sparkled eyes that resembled a tree under the light of the sun. She was wearing a cadet uniform that fits her perfectly like it was designed and made solely for her to bring out the best of her features. ¡°Are you designated in classroom 1-A?¡± the woman asked. ¡°ah. Uhm. Uhm.¡± Said Ari blushing. The woman stared at him, puzzled. ¡°Yes. Mam. Yes.¡± Yes, mam, yes? What the fuck am I saying? Isn¡¯t that supposed to be Mam, Yes mam? Ari thought, completely missing the point. ¡°Mam? How dare you! You were probably older than me! You pathetic worm. Can¡¯t believe I am going to share a classroom with a faggot.¡± Said the woman in a voice full of contempt. ¡°I-I¡¯m Sorry. Ms. ..¡± ¡°hmmph, you don¡¯t need to know my name.¡± Ari was completely surprised at the engagement and was completely, totally, helplessly fallen in love at first sight. The woman hastily entered the room and stared for a moment to the seat arrangement and sat down on an empty seat. Ari followed her and took the seat next to her and tried to steal a glance at the woman. After a while the room was completely full, there are 3 rows and 10 columns of chair in the room. A tall weak looking man entered the room ¡°Ahem. My name is Liuetenant Kino. I¡¯ll be your platoon leader. We are the 42nd Infantry Battalion 6th Company 1st Platoon. I suggest you remember that, but anyway I am open to any suggestions to what we should name our platoon. But first we will divide this platoon into three squads. Jazmae Ryder, Ari Reigan III and Rizzo Jean Casse please stand up. The three of you will lead each squad.¡± Lt. Kino said. So her name is Jazmae. Ari thought while looking at Jazmae smiling. Jazmae returned the gaze with a raised eyebrow. ¡°I have special permission from Colonel Asano to let you choose your own job/class in the game. Typically, we analyze your data and suggest a class/job suitable to your strengths and weaknesses and you will have no choice but to accept it. But now, you can choose whatever the hell you want.¡± Laughed Lt. Kino. ¡°Permission to speak, Sir?¡± Asked Jazmae. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Are you experimenting on this platoon, Sir?¡± ¡°haha sort of¡± said Lt. Kino while scratching his cheek. ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll let you guys take the whole day deciding your class. One more thing, please take it into a consideration that a platoon and a squad will sometimes work independently in most missions, so a squad composed only of healers will surely lose to a squad comprised of tanks, healers and damage dealers. So choose wisely please.¡± replied lt. Kino while laughing. This is troublesome. Jazmae thought. After Lt. Kino left the room. Ari stood up. ¡°Guys this is fucking awesome. We can choose any job we want. I will find the most kick ass hidden class in the game.¡± Ari said. Ari was a tall lean muscular guy with black curtained hair that parted in the middle. He had a black eyes that matched his pale face. ¡°You really are a moron.¡± Jazmae said with spiteful voice. ¡°Hidden classes were removed from the game by the Council of Elders when they had restarted the game.¡± remarked Rizzo. ¡°And I suggest we should divide our platoon into three categories, healers/supports, damage dealers and tankers.¡± continued Rizzo. Rizzo was a thin, medium height young man. He had a serious face that anyone can assume with his very short black hair and brown eyes that were visible behind his glasses. Jazmae stood up and went into the whiteboard and wrote three vertical lines dividing the writing space into three. She started writing up the three categories in each column. ¡°Guys listen, as what Lt. Kino said we can¡¯t all be tankers or mages since that would make our platoon weak and ineffective. The effective ratio for a 10-man squad would be 3 or 4 Healers/Supports, 4 or 3 damage dealers and 3 or 4 tankers. Anybody agree?¡± asked Jazmae. The gentlemen didn¡¯t understand anything Jazmae said since they were busy staring at her. While the ladies nodded in agreement. ¡°That¡¯s sounds about right.¡± Rizzo said. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.¡°So for those idiots who don¡¯t know what classes or jobs belong to each categories, let me briefly explain.¡± Jazmae said while intently looking at Ari. Why is she looking at me? Could it be she also like me? Ari thought while avoiding the stare. ¡°For those who want to support their allies, you can choose from Priest, Shaman, Druid, Bard, Dancer, Summoner and Witch Doctor. It would be ideal to have at least 1 priest per squad. For those who like to dish out damage while sacrificing defense, we have two types: Ranged DPS and Melee DPS. From Ranged DPS we have Ranger, Sniper, Illusionist, Wizard and Sorcerer. For Melee DPS we have Assassin, Rogue, Berserker, Blade Master and Swashbuckler. To those who would want to stay in the front lines, the tankers. You can choose from Knight, Paladin and Monk.¡± explained Jazmae. There were few other classes that weren''t mentioned by Jazzmae. But she thought those were weak classes that would only compromise the platoon. ¡°How about those crafting and utility class?¡± asked one of the cadets. ¡°Logistics Division provides each platoon the CBT: Chef, Blacksmith and Tailor. Sometimes a Sculptor, Painter, Architect and others depending on the difficulty and length of the mission.¡± replied Jazmae. ¡°Besides being here means you didn¡¯t apply in Logistics division, hence none of us here wants to be in a crafting class.¡± added Jazmae. Others nodded and some are quiet in deep thought carefully thinking what class will they choose. ¡°Please try to think at least two or three classes in case your primary choice are taken by others.¡± said Rizzo while walking towards the whiteboard. ¡°Think carefully and choose wise please.¡± said Jazmae. ¡°We will resume this after lunch break.¡± Damn, she is so gorgeous. Ari thought. *** ¡°Oh I think I am lost, Lt. Kino will probably scold me again.¡± said a slender young woman with a wavy short haircut. The young woman has average height with eyes as black as ink and a skin as white as milk. She was walking on a village road when she saw a villager. ¡°Hey Mister!¡± shouted the woman. ¡°Yes little Miss.¡± replied the villager. ¡°Is this the Shiroe Village?¡± ¡°Oh my, yes young miss.¡± ¡°Mister, where are the Kurosawa residence?¡± ¡°May I ask who you are looking for?¡± ¡°Kira Kurosawa, mister.¡± ¡°Ah, the crippled boy. Yes you go straight here and when you see a small and somewhat unique house, that¡¯s the Kurosawa residence, it is not easy to miss¡± ¡°Thank you, Mister.¡± The woman ran constantly looking left and right. She stopped at the gate of Kurosawa residence. Mister was right, it is very conspicuous. The woman thought. The house was small covered with dark gray paint. The house gives off an aura the same as an abandoned house. She rang the bell twice and a muscular bearded man opened the door. ¡°Ah uhm¡­¡± The woman startled by the man with his gloomy dark aura. ¡°Mr. Kurosawa? I am looking for Kira Kurosawa.¡± said the woman. ¡°Who are you?¡± asked the guy with a distinct bass voice. ¡°I am from the government. Can I talk to Mr. Kira Kurosawa?¡± ¡°Honey, who is it? Are you threatening the guests gain?¡± another woman asked in a distant place inside the house with a cheery and mellow voice. The man opened the door suggesting the guest to enter the house. The young woman entered and was offered a seat by Mr. Kurosawa who then went to her wife in the kitchen. Mrs. Kurosawa with an apron approached the living room and stared at the guest. ¡°I am Mrs. Kurosawa, you can call me Lin.¡± said Lin with a sharp voice and stared hard at the guest. The atmosphere was heavy and so tense that a single sound might trigger the house to break. ¡°Umhh. Mrs. Lin, I am from the Government can I talk to your son, Kira?¡± asked the guest anxiously. ¡°Why? What do you want?¡± ¡°Pardon me, Mrs. Lin. I am not really at liberty to disclose it to others, only to your son. After that your son, may or may not, choose to discuss it with you and your husband.¡± Kira¡¯s mother stared at the guest. ¡°Follow me.¡± The guest stood up and followed Mrs. Lin in a room. ¡°Kira, you have a guest.¡± ¡°Uhm. Mrs. Lin can we be alone for a moment?¡± Mrs. Lin glanced at his son and Kira nodded back. Mrs. Lin stepped outside and closed the door. ¡°My name is Jeehan. Technically, I am from the government. But I am actually from the ¨C¡° ¡°Academy.¡± interjected by Kira. ¡°H-How did you know that?¡± Kira stared at her belt and and Jeehan followed his stare. Oh crap, I forgot to changed my academy issued belt. When did he noticed that? Jeehan thought. ¡°So a letter of Rejection wasn¡¯t enough and the academy needs someone to personally sprinkle salt to my wound.¡± Kira said. Jeehan shrugged. ¡°Ah no. I am here personally to give the UAN a chance to use your talents and skills effectively, Mr. Kira.¡± Jeehan said with a hint of sarcasm. ¡°I am from a Secret Division in the Academy. We worked independently alongside the academy in protecting our country. I can¡¯t reveal any more than that and I can¡¯t also tell you what we do or what we have trained to do unless you join us first.¡± Kira stared hard to the guest. ¡°You want me to dive first in a shark infested sea and then count how many sharks are there and report back.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Jeehan said with serious tone. ¡°What say you, Mr. Kira?¡± Kira stared hard at the guest. ¡°What¡¯s it called?¡± Kira asked. ¡°The Specter Division.¡±
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Chapter 2: A Chance Meeting Chapter 2 A Chance Meeting I am standing in the middle of the road. It has been two days since that visit from the Specter Division. It has also been two days when I started using the game capsule and entered in the game. I am still standing in the middle of the road. I have become quite famous for the past two days which was 6 days in Lost Earth¡¯s time. A group of players ran towards me in the middle of the road and can¡¯t help but talked and asked about me. ¡°Look at him. He was on the exact same spot yesterday too, doing nothing just standing there.¡± said one of the players. ¡°Yeah you were right, I noticed that too.¡± ¡°Maybe he is on a quest, a quest to waste time. We shouldn¡¯t disturb him.¡± A very attractive girl said. Some people approached me and asked why I am not moving. Of course, I ignored them. I chose Kingdom of Mercia, one of the territory of UAN. Most of us in Shiroe village chose this city and my parent¡¯s shop are here and it is also a good City for beginners to start their adventures. Most of our neighbors didn¡¯t recognized me in the game and probably in real life too since I rarely go out. Some of them do, only when my mother brought me some food. My satiety level after three days in virtual time has dropped to 15%. ¡°Kira, here¡¯s some food.¡± my mother said. ¡°Thank you mother.¡± I answered. Seeing the worried look from my mother which she tried so hard to conceal, I said ¡°I¡¯ll be fine mother, I can sense some movement in my feet when I tried to move them, probably I might be able to walk soon.¡± That¡¯s not true of course, I still can¡¯t sense anything in my feet. My mother and I did not expected that this will happen in the game. For me to be a cripple in real life and in virtual reality must have been too much for her. If only my disability happened during my childhood years, my mind and body could¡¯ve remembered how to move my feet and walk, but alas, I was born so damn lucky. Imagine a baby just recently born, flapping, crying, flailing, wriggling and fidgeting like crazy, now imagine the baby doing those things with only with his arms and head while both of his legs lying straight parallel to each other on the bed unmoving. Yeah, that pathetic baby was me. In short, I am practically useless. All my life, all I ever do is study and read countless books, both printed and electronic, I can''t help in household chores and can''t even wipe my own sorry ass properly. All crippled people shared the dream of one day to be able to run with the wind, swim in the vastness of the oceans and jump until the laws of gravity broke down and I was no exception. I thought that Lost Earth will be the fulfillment of that dream. But, when I logged on for the first time in the game.
WELCOME TO LOST EARTH
Choose your name.
Cripple
Choose your race.
Human
Choose your starting city.
Kingdom of Mercia
Choose to enhance appearance (Yes/No)?
It was not possible anymore to fully alter your appearance, only an enhancement is allowed. And a mirror appeared in front of me and something was gradually forming up that looked exactly like my head. When the torso and the arms were finished and it was now starting to form the legs. I admit I panicked for a second. A minute has passed and the 3D rendering was finished. It looked exactly like me and I wondered how the game capsule did do that without scanning my body. Does the game capsule has access to our memories or to the image processing center of our brain? I dismissed the notion because I was brimming with excitement to start playing the game. ¡°No.¡± I said. While it was loading, I kept saying to myself, this is it. I can even hear my heart beating so fast and loud. And then a light flashed before me and forced my eyes to close instinctively and when I opened it, a city overflowing with the rays of the sun flooded before my eyes. A lot of players shouting with each other, passing by and some are running. There are a lot of stalls and the majority of the house in the city was built in gray and white stones with crimson roof. At the center was a fountain. It was shining with a blue light and a statue of a beautiful woman clad with heavy armor holding a shield on its left hand and a sword on its right. The statue was erected in the middle of the fountain.
You have witnessed the statue of goddess Freya and gained temporary blessings for a day.
- Increased HP/MP regeneration by 5%
- Increased Maximum HP/MP by 200/50
- Increased all stats by 2
Not bad, I thought. There was quite a distance between me and the fountain, awed by the scenery in front of me, I tried to move closer to the fountain. And that¡¯s where it hit me, very hard. I have no freaking idea how to walk. I looked into my right feet and ordered it in my mind to move it, but nothing happened. I tried to move my arms and it seems to be working perfectly fine. My head and neck seems to be functioning too. I tried ordering my left leg to raise itself but it didn¡¯t work. I touched my right thigh with my right hand and felt something but the feeling was only on my hands. I was and am still standing in the middle of the road. According to my research the game technology access the brain¡¯s neural network to transmit real time data into the game. Since I have not used my legs since birth my brain didn¡¯t developed and formed the necessary neural path from my brain to my legs. Even If I want to move so badly, the signals have no path for it to travel. I refused to accept my fate and believed there is a way to trick the brain from moving my virtual body. I believe there is a chance and the fact that I am standing straight in the middle of the damn road without collapsing seems to prove that. ¡°Uhm. Ari, maybe we should draw lots to determine the order of choosing the class.¡± suggested by an attractive petite woman with fully matured body and a pony tailed crimson hair that hides her ears. The girl has wide hazel eyes and rosy cheeks. ¡°Good idea!¡± exclaimed Ari. ¡°You are¡­.¡± ¡°Mary, I am a member of your squad.¡± ¡°Ok, Ms. Mary, let¡¯s do that.¡± Ari said while patting Mary¡¯s head. Ari has a little sister the same height as Mary and he loves to pat her sister¡¯s head whenever she did something remarkable. Mary was surprised and her rich rosy cheeks turned red. ¡°I am so sorry.¡± Ari said apologetically while jerking his hands away. ¡°It¡¯s okay.¡± said Mary blushing. Ari¡¯s squad started to choose their class. Ari was fourth to pick. ¡°John, what will be your job?¡± asked Ari looking to John who is a lean muscular guy, taller than him, dark hair medium cut and slightly darker skin. ¡°Knight.¡± said John with a clear low voice. ¡°John the Knight. Kenneth?¡± ¡°I want to be a Ranger, since my family own an Archery dojo.¡± Kenneth is skinny but his toned muscles can be seen from his arms, he has sharp eyes and a fair complexion. ¡°Ranger Ken. Zath?¡± ¡°Assasin.¡± Zath hissed. he has medium height, light build, small face and narrow eyes. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Assasin Zath. I¡¯m the fourth.¡± said Ari. ¡°Blade Master, the best Blade Master this academy will ever see. You guys can call me Master of the Blades Ari.¡± shouted Ari while raising one of his arm showing a gesture of triumph. Some of his squad member face palmed after hearing Ari¡¯s remark and thought. Oh, great! Our Squad Leader is an idiot. But Mary was staring at Ari with her gooey eyes and cat-like face. ¡°Next, Ms. Joan.¡± A skinny woman stood up and has an average height. She has dark and silky smooth hair, short enough to cover her nape. She has this bored look in her sharp and narrow black eyes. Her skin is pale with a small breast to compliment her thin waist. ¡°Paladin and please don''t say Paladin Joan or Joan the Paladin.¡± Joan said with an intelligible voice. ¡°Oh okay. Ms. Mary, what job do you want?¡± asked Ari in pleasing voice. Mary was standing beside Ari. I must support him. Mary thought looking at Ari. So I need to make sure he doesn¡¯t die in our missions. ¡°Uhm. I want to be Priestess Mary.¡± said Mary with a rich high tone voice. ¡°Okay, nice choice Ms. Mary.¡± Ari almost patted Mary in the head but fought the urge to do so. Mary braced herself waiting for a pat and was disappointed when she didn¡¯t receive one. ¡°Next is Ron.¡± ¡°I think, I¡¯ll go for a Wizard, squad leader.¡± Ron said smiling. Among the previous cadets, Ron is the most cheerful since he is always smiling. He was like a bamboo, thin and tall. He has a long face and a short hair. ¡°I want to be a Druid, Mr. Squad leader since its my turn.¡± said a beautiful young woman with an uncanny similarity to Ron. Slender and tall. Her face has a pleasant feeling while looking at it and she also smiles a lot. Her smile and Ron¡¯s smile are eerily similar, a smile that hides their eyes. ¡°She¡¯s my twin, Squad leader. Her name is Rin.¡± Ron said smiling. Ari stared at the twins and can''t help but smile as well. ¡°Wizard Ron and Druid Rin. Next Ms. Erica.¡± ¡°There are only two choices left, tanker and a support, since I don¡¯t want to be a tanker I¡¯ll choose Witch Doctor.¡± Erica said. She was wearing a glasses and a long black hair with bangs that covers most of her forehead. She is average height with a slim figure. Ari nodded in agreement. "And also, don''t call me Witch Doctor Erica, Witch Erica is fine." Erica added. Ari shrugged. "Okay, Next Van" ¡°Heads, you decide, tails you decide.¡± Van said with a sinister smile while showing the coin to Ari. He has spiky hair and triangular shaped face that gives off an arrogant and delinquent vibe. Van tossed it and caught it and slammed it in the table. He removed his hand. ¡°Oh its Tail, squad leader. You decide.¡± Van demanded. ¡°Van the Monk, it is.¡± Ari said. Van regretted his decision but refused to show it. He either disliked the job or the title his squad leader given.
Ari¡¯s Squad
AriBlade master
JohnKnight
KennethRanger
ZathAssasin
JoanPaladin
MaryPriestess
RonWizard
RinDruid
EricaWitch Doctor
VanMonk
Jazmae¡¯s and Rizzo¡¯s squad also finished selecting their jobs and thus, the 42nd Infantry Division, 6th Company 1st Platoon succesfully completed their first mission.
Rizzo¡¯s SquadJazmae''s Squad
1. Sniper (Rizzo)1. Knight (Jazmae)
2. Paladin2. Knight
3. Paladin3. Paladin
4. Knight4. Priest
5. Priest5. Bard
6. Dancer6. Shaman
7. Shaman7. Ranger
8. Lancer8. Wizard
9. Wizard9. Wizard
10. Illusionist10. Sorcerer
¡°Since we are finished let¡¯s try to log-in into the game.¡± Rizzo suggested. ¡°We can visit the training center to improve our stats¡± Ari exclaimed. Lt. Kino''s platoon went into their seats and used the pre-installed game capsule in it. Minutes passed and every one of them have entered the game. They visited the training center which offers basic training, which was divided into two sections, the strengthening section, where players hit the scarecrow to increase their strength, agility and dexterity. The mind sharpening section, where there are mini games and quizzes to increase intelligence, which is suitable for mages and support classes. The combat classes also tried the mind sharpening section, for the reason of increasing their Mana pool. On the second day while on their way to the training center, Ari noticed something in the town square and ran towards it. Intrigued by his actions, Jazmae and Rizzo followed after him while the rest of the platoon remained at the front of the training center. ¡°Hey, worm! Where are you going?¡± asked Jazmae while running trying to catch up with Ari. Ari stopped near the fountain. ¡°Look at him. He was on the same spot yesterday too, doing nothing just standing there.¡± Ari said while pointing at the young man. The young man is a bit shorter and slimmer than Ari, with a golden brown side-swept hair, blue piercing eyes, diamond shape face and an air of defiance around him. ¡°Yeah you were right, I noticed that too.¡± Rizzo said. ¡°Maybe he is on a quest, a quest to waste time. We shouldn¡¯t disturb him.¡± Jazmae added sarcastically. The three of them stared at the young man and the young man stared hard back at them. ¡°Hey, why are you not moving?¡± asked Ari enthusiastically. The young man didn¡¯t answered. ¡°Let¡¯s head back, we have work to do.¡± Rizzo suggested as he turned around. Rizzo and Jazmae walked away and Ari was left behind having a staring contest with the young man.
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It was my first time using tables. It was tiring but fun. Happy New Year guys and btw I accept gift in form of criticisms, so keep them coming. Chapter 3: The Thirteenth Member Chapter 3 Thirteenth Member ¡°Lt. Kino, he refused to join us.¡± Jeehan said while standing in the middle of the room. ¡°Did you gave him the card?¡± asked Lt. Kino sitting in his office chair, elbows placed on the table and hands interlocking each other pressed his chin. ¡°Yes sir. Do you really believe he could be the one, sir?¡± ¡°¡®It is only when you fall that you learn whether you can fly¡¯, my dear Jeehan, and young Kira has been falling since the day he was born, don¡¯t you think?¡± said Lt. Kino with a grin. ¡°I don¡¯t get your meaning, sir.¡± ¡°Fret not, my dear. He will join us and succeed where others failed.¡± Jeehan frowned. It was the middle of the night when I left the game and still no closer to being able to walk. There must have been cases similar to my dilemma, there should be, or so I thought. I can¡¯t be the only cripple in the world, can I? Surely there are others like me, my brethren. Then, I realized that probably majority of them were crippled in some sort of nasty accidents or diseases and was not born a cripple like me. I could talk to a specialist but they are overly expensive. My father is a blacksmith in the game, a good one at that, but having difficulty in selling his wares since the competition was very tough and my mother is a chef. Our family cannot afford a specialist especially at this point of time, taxes in the Kingdom of Mercia have increased by 6% and I bet all of the city under UAN territory have done the same. The tax increase was justified and deemed necessary if the UAN wants to preserve their remaining territory. I¡¯ll try again tomorrow, I thought. When I reached the desk lamp beside my bed to turn it off, I noticed the card that was left behind by the lady in the Spectre Division. Hmm, Spectre Division huh. I tried to reach it but there was quite a distance between my reaching hand and the card. Damn that bloody woman. I shifted my body closer to the edge of the bed which took me a lot of time and pain to accomplish and finally succeed. The card on one of its side has a white background with a floating, faceless and hooded ghost-like figure holding a lantern by its chain on its left hand. Creepy, but classy. I flipped the card but saw only a black surface with a white archaic text printed in the middle. It says ¡°Still can¡¯t walk?¡± Those sneaky bastards, could it be they have predicted what happened to me in the game? If they did, they are good. I may need to ask for their help, right now my sole priority is to be able to walk in Lost Earth and I have significantly lost a lot of time already. I tried to locate the contact number from the card but there seems to be none. Oh, those mysterious pricks, they sure do love to play games, whoever is the head of this Spectre division is a sick bastard. ¡°I see you have refused our offer to join. If ever something came up and changed your mind.¡± Jeehan said while putting the card in the desk. ¡°Try to contact us.¡± Jeehan added with a challenging voice. That¡¯s why I felt being challenged at that time by that charming, yet devious lady. So this is what she meant. Well, bring it on, Spectre division. ¡°You have chosen your desired class and have already entered the game.¡± Addressed Lt. Kino to his platoon. ¡°Now let us talk about the different division in this Academy since you will be visiting them soon. The Logistics Division is in charge of the management of the flow of goods and supplies. In Lost Earth and real life, they are responsible for the provision of necessary goods and supplies to complete the mission and they also send personnel with crafting class, depending on the length and difficulty of the mission. In Battle Division, they train your mind and body how to fight efficiently and when I say efficiently, I mean they will give you one hell of a training to master every fiber in your body. In Strategic Planning Division, they will teach you bunch of stuff and it would do you good to remember them. They will teach you stuff like spell casting and spell cool downs, siege and dungeon warfare, proper usage of terrain and the importance of positioning in a battle. On a side note, if the Strategic Planning Division Head asked you about Dirty Tactics, just say ¡®There is no such thing as dirty tactics, only good ones and bad ones.¡¯ or something along those lines. The Intelligence Division is responsible for information gathering, I can¡¯t stress enough the importance of the function of Intelligence Division but let me tell you what a wise man once said: ''If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.'' ¡°In order for this Academy to function at its best, those division of task is essential. So as a platoon, you also need to divvy up the task. For example, I think Rizzo¡¯s squad can be in charge of our platoon¡¯s Intelligence Division and Jazmae''s squad in Strategic Planning. This division of task will save you a lot of time and trouble in critical missions.¡± Added Lt. Kino. After giving his lecture to his platoon, Lt. Kino was on his way to his office. Before he can even sit, his cellular phone rang. He looked at his cellphone and an unknown caller ID was displayed. ¡°Hello, who is this?¡± answered Lt. Kino smiling. Somehow, he seems to have an idea about the identity of the caller. ¡°The cripple.¡± the caller answered. ¡°Oh, so you have changed your mind.¡± ¡°Do you think you can help me?¡± ¡°Yes. But you have to come here. Jeehan will come and get you, you do remember her, right Mr. Kira?¡± ¡°Yes. -----------.¡± And the call ended. It was early afternoon, when Jeehan and I entered Lt. Kino¡¯s office. ¡°Aha. It is nice to finally meet you Kira Kurosawa.¡± Lt. Kino said in a cheerful way as he approached me sitting in a wheelchair with a blanket that covers my legs. He offered his hands and said ¡°I am 1st Lieutenant Kino Masaru, Head of the Spectre Division and this lovely girl is Park Jeehan.¡± Oh, so you are the sick bastard. ¡°May I ask if you have any difficulty contacting us?¡± Lt. Kino asked while smiling. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Ah yes. I realized there is a hidden message in the card. The ghost holding a lantern, a source of light and the black background on the other side gave it away. I concluded that I might need a black light to reveal what was hidden and that¡¯s where the challenge gets very difficult. After all, It was very hard to find an equipment that produce black light in the middle of the night. " "But on the next day, when I asked my father, out of boredom, if he has one. Surprisingly and conveniently, he went out to his room and gave me a brand new black light lamp. Which is very funny since my father, albeit kind in nature, is uneducated and wouldn¡¯t know a thing or two about black light. It was you, wasn¡¯t it?¡± I said while intently looking to Jeehan. Jeehan avoided my gaze and looked away but her red cheeks due to her pale complexion failed to hide her embarrassment. My heart skip a beat while looking at her and that¡¯s where I realized, which I refused to admit the first time we met, the fact that she was very beautiful. She was standing beside me with her interlocked arms placed on her back that puts emphasis on her breasts without her knowing. The sunlight coming from the window shone on her and for a moment which felt like a lifetime to me, she has stopped being a human and rose to the ranks of the goddesses. Lt. Kino burst into laughter. ¡°Amazing, Mr. Kira. It was in fact Jeehan gave the black light to your father. Explaining that we are trying to recruit you and only to give you the black light if you ever need one.¡± ¡°Did you predicted that I wouldn''t be able to walk in virtual reality?¡± I inquired. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°You said you can help me. But what do you want?¡± ¡°Yes, we can help you. I want you.¡± ¡°So I just need to join your division?¡± Lt. Kino turned around and walked towards his table. He opened his drawer and took something in it. ¡°Why did you apply in the Academy, Mr. Kira?¡± asked Lt. Kino. The question caught me off guard. I shrugged. ¡°An Academy cadet receives a huge stipend every month upon admittance. I don¡¯t want to live with my parent¡¯s mercy for the rest of my pathetic life. I thought of being a dark gamer, but it doesn¡¯t guarantee a stable source of income and needs a lot of time to be a successful one, which is a luxury my family cannot afford, especially at this time of difficulty brought out by the territorial war.¡± ¡°So it was all for the money?¡± ¡°Yes, and also the fact that the academy does not gain ownership of the items we get on the missions.¡± I didn¡¯t tell him the truth completely because I believe he wouldn¡¯t understand it. How can he possibly understand me when I can¡¯t even understand myself. ¡°What do you think will happen when the Empire of Russia take over the virtual territory of UAN?¡± ¡°They will gained a massive amount of money.¡± ¡°Yes, where do you think that money will come from?¡± ¡°From our people. They will squeeze our people for every penny we¡¯ve got. ¡± ¡°And?¡± asked Lt. Kino. All of a sudden, a frightening realization came to me. It can¡¯t be, I thought. ¡°Our people will be forced to sell our natural resources to them. Are you telling me that they are preparing for a war? Not virtual but a real one? But the peace treaty¡­.¡± ¡°Oh, so nice to be young and naive. The Empire of Russia is currently divided into two factions, the Pacifista, who are content the way things are and the Pro-Russians, who are still hell-bent in world domination. The Pro-Russians are the ones behind on the attack and takeover of our virtual city and they will not stop. To them Lost Earth is just another world to dominate. ¡°If that was their plan, how come the Allied Forces are not helping us?¡± ¡°They are helping us by sharing their intel to us and besides they have their hands full trying to defend their virtual territories from the constant onslaught of the Islamic Caliphate from the south.¡± ¡°Why are you telling me this?¡± ¡°Ah, right now, the UAN needs every sword, shield, staff, bow and spear it can get to defend its territory. But to truly change the tides of war, we need something and I believe that''s where you come in?¡± ¡°Eh? I am just a cripple in both realities. What can I possibly do?¡± ¡°Ah, but this.¡± Lt. Kino pointing at the rectangular box he took from his drawer. ¡°Can change your fate in one of those realities.¡± ¡°What is that?¡± I asked. ¡°It is an experimental drug. The reason you can¡¯t move your legs in virtual reality is because your brain lack the necessary neural network. But this drug will greatly help you force your brains to create those necessary connections.¡± ¡°That sounds too good to be true.¡± ¡°Yes, this drug costs me a fortune you know. And no, this drug cannot cure you of your disability in real life, in case you are wondering. ¡± I felt a throb in my heart when he said that. At least this drug can help me walk in Virtual reality. ¡°What do you want for the drug? You are not just going to give it to me out of your goodwill, will you? ¡± ¡°Haha.¡± Laughed Lt. Kino. ¡°Join us in the Spectre Division and half of your future debt will be paid.¡± ¡°And the other half?¡± Lt. Kino got serious suddenly. ¡°I want you to take on a quest. If you are successful, consider your future debt paid in full.¡± ¡°That must have been a very important quest to be that expensive. I bet no one has ever completed the quest.¡± I said while looking into the window. I felt a sudden chill in the back of my neck and when I turned to look at Jeehan. She was staring so hard to me, like she want to beat me up. ¡°Yes. No one has ever completed the quest.¡± Said Lt. Kino smiling in a forceful way. ¡°What is it about?¡± Lt. Kino stared at me and said ¡°I am not at liberty to say that to a civilian. So, what say you, Mr. Kira? Do you accept my terms?¡± ¡°Yes. I¡¯ll join your Division." I paused. "Sir." ¡°Perfect! Welcome Kira Kurosawa, thirteenth member of the Spectre Division.¡± Said Lt. Kino in a welcoming voice and gesture. ¡°Wait what? Thirteen? You guys are just a twelve-man division?¡± I asked quickly. ¡°No, of course not. We are now thirteen.¡± And Lt. Kino burst into another laughter.
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Happy New Year. Chapter 4: The Secret Class Chapter 4 The Secret Class I am walking in the middle of the road. It has been two days since Lt. Kino injected me the drug and after two agonizing and distressing days of constantly trying to walk. I am now walking in the middle of the road. I walked towards the fountain and drank some of its water. So far, I have successfully walk and bend my knees for the first time while trying to scoop some water. I burst into tears, laughing and crying at the same time. This is it. This was instantly the best moment of my life, followed only by discovering the existence of Virtual Reality that gave me so much hope and now I am living the dream. My mother dropped the lunch he prepared for me when she saw me walking for the first time. ¡°K-Kira¡­, y-you can walk.¡± My mother stuttered since she was crying. I turned around and walked towards her and hugged her tight. Even though we both knew that this was only virtual reality, we can¡¯t help but be very happy. ¡°Yes Mother, I can walk.¡± I said. ¡°Your father needs to know this, let¡¯s go get him.¡± I walked alongside my mother and she was very excited. We have reached my father¡¯s shop, it was small and old. My mother barged ahead of me into the door. ¡°Dear, I have good news.¡± She said while pointing at the door. I opened the door and walked inside. My father dropped his hammer and approached me slowly. ¡°Dad, I am not a cripple anymore, or at least in this world.¡± My father wrapped me with his big arms, crying and snorting like a baby. My mother joined the fray. I realized. This is what I want to protect the most, my family. I want to repay them for their kindness and loving heart and for not abandoning and throwing me out of their life. Most people discard useless thing without second thought and I am lucky they are not most people. We talked and laugh for a while. Ting¡­
Yunjee: Hey, we need to start your training. Meet me at the front of training center.
Yunjee was Jeehan''s in-game name. ¡°Mother, father, duty calls. They need me to start training now.¡± ¡°Yes, dear. We understand. Oh, please invite the beautiful young lady and your boss to our house.¡± I told my parents about the deal I made and that I need to work with them to repay what they have done to me. ¡°Who? Jeehan and Lt. Kino?¡± ¡°Yes. We want to say our thanks.¡± I reluctantly nodded and said. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll try.¡± I met YunJee at the front of the training center. She was wearing simple clothes, perhaps trying not to stand out too much, nevertheless, she looked good. ¡°Are you ready?¡± she asked. ¡°I am.¡± We entered the training center and there was a bunch of young players hitting the scarecrow and in the other corner some are busy doing something.
Yunjee: They are Lt. Kino¡¯s Platoon from the Academy. Try to ignore them. This will be our form of communication from this point. Grab a wooden stick and start hitting the scarecrow.
I followed her orders and started hitting the scarecrow. She immediately went to me and corrected my stance and posture.
You have increased your Strength by 1
You have increased your Agility by 1
You have increased your Dexterity by 1
I have gained some stats and continued hitting the scarecrow. Every time I messed up my posture Yunjee will whisper to me.
Yunjee: Square your shoulders. Your breathing is messed up.
After hitting the scarecrow a hundred times she stopped whispering at me which indicates I am not messing up anymore. I do not enjoy hitting the scarecrow but I do enjoy moving my body. She told me to stop for a while and head to other section, the Mind Sharpening section. I did puzzles, mind games and quizzes.
You have increased your Intelligence by 1.
You have increased your Intelligence by 1.
You have increased your Intelligence by 1.
¡°Woah! He is finishing those puzzles so fast.¡± Said one of the bystander ¡°At that rate, he¡¯ll finished this section in a week.¡± The other said. This was boring. The puzzles are too easy and the mini games are so simple. But the intelligence I gain from completing them is not so bad. YunJee called me after an hour doing the puzzles to resume hitting the scarecrow. ¡°Hey, the guy in the fountain. That was you, right?¡± said one of the young man with unruly curtained hair. Oh, I remembered this guy. I ignored him and continue hitting. ¡°Are you from the other platoon?¡± Tell him you are not from the academy. YunJee whispered. ¡°I am not in the Academy.¡± ¡°Oh, really. So you are here for the stats? Such a waste that you are not in the Academy.¡± He said. ¡°Why is that?¡± I asked ¡°Your form and posture is good, you must be a martial arts practitioner. Anyway, my name is Ari. What¡¯s yours?¡± ¡°Cripple. The name is Cripple.¡± ¡°Interesting name. See you later, Cripple.¡± He said as he left. I continued hitting the scarecrow for another thousand times and Yunjee whispered to me again to go to the Mind sharpening section. Basically, what I do is hit, rest and think. A balanced training if you asked me. When I finished my fifth puzzle. A skinny, average guy approached me holding a chess board. ¡°Hi, My name is Rizzo. Can I interest you in this game?¡± he asked. Whoa, a chessboard. Where did he get that? I thought. Since I was so bored doing easy puzzles, I accepted his offer. We set up the chessboard and its pieces and we started playing. Some of the players who saw us started to come and watch our game. Oh damn, he is good. He was concentrating on his offense and carefully avoiding my traps. People with decent knowledge of the game would think I was losing. But I am sure he is sweating very hard in real life right now.
You have increased your Intelligence by 1.
We exchanged pieces and he continued his offense. I moved one of my piece to prepare for an attack which would win me the game in about 6 moves. ¡°I lost.¡± He said and admitted defeat. ¡°Oh, what happened?¡± asked one of the people at the back. ¡°Rizzo surrendered.¡± The others replied. "I thought he was winning." We played for three more games and I won every single one of them. He stood up, bowed to me and offered his hand. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Thank you for the game.¡± I shook his hand and went to hit the scarecrows.
You have increased your Strength by 1.
You have increased your Agility by 1.
You have increased your Dexterity by 1.
I just have to do all of this for another two weeks. After that, I can now venture outside the confines of this city. A week has passed in Lost Earth and Yunjee left me at my own devices. All I ever do now is hit and rest for I have reached the maximum possible increase in intelligence the training center can offer. When I finished my fourth week staying inside the city. YunJee whispered to me.
YunJee: Come and meet me at the west gate. Cripple: Do I have to come now? YunJee: I am your superior and you are not a civilian anymore, so yes.
I rushed towards the west gate and saw Yunjee waiting for me. ¡°Here, A present from Lt. Kino.¡± She handed me a rusty sword.
Copper Sword Durability: 5/10 Damage: 2-3 Weight: 20 Description: A sword suitable for starting adventurers.
This is crap, I thought. "Let''s go." she said. "Where to?" "Outside, of course." We went outside and walked towards the Birek mountain range. ¡°You haven¡¯t told me anything about the quest.¡± I said while walking. ¡°mam.¡± I added. ¡°YunJee. Call me YunJee. We will tell you about it when you¡¯re ready.¡± ¡°No need. I think I have already grasped the nature of the quest." She turned her head to look at me and said. ¡°I doubt that.¡± ¡°Hmm. Let¡¯s see, the quest has no definite form and ever changing, it doesn¡¯t allow second takes and it is about a class.¡± She stopped walking and faced me. ¡°H-How did you know all of that? ¡°Ah Hah! So I was right that it was about a class? I was a bit sure of the nature of the quest but I didn¡¯t know its objectives and you just have told me.¡± Her cheeks turned red and it looked like she was about to cry. Wow, she¡¯s so beautiful even when she about to cry. I looked away to avoid her stare because it is making me nervous and anxious. ¡°How did you know the quest is ever changing? she asked. ¡°Because you are not telling me anything about it. A good preparation and sufficient information is needed to succeed in any undertaking. Sure, you guys are training me but you are withholding a vital information. It¡¯s either you guys don¡¯t trust me or you also have no idea." ¡°How did you figure it out the quest can only be taken once?¡± ¡°If the quest can be taken without limitation, I am sure one of the twelve members of the Spectre Division would have solved it already.¡± ¡°If the quest is constantly changing, then it is equally as hard as the first time you took it.¡± She said. ¡°That is true. But I was under the assumption that the quest could be a game changer in the war, or at least that¡¯s what Lt. Kino¡¯s sales pitch was, when he recruited me. The more people taking on the quest the higher the chance the enemy will get wind of it. Lt. Kino was carefully selecting his members, hence the small member count. If twelve people keep on trying the quest, then you guys don¡¯t need me, especially a cripple like me.¡± ¡°Or Lt. Kino is just getting impatient for the lack of result of those twelve people.¡± ¡°I have consider that and that is why I baited you. I also thought that the quest¡¯s objective is about a secret spell or some special sword. I was just teasing you when I said that it was about a class, because hidden classes are removed from the game, but now I am not so sure anymore.¡± I said. She turned around and started walking again. ¡°Was the quest really hard?¡± I asked while following her. ¡°Why are you asking me?¡± ¡°Because you are the twelfth member, are you not?¡± I asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Why don¡¯t you tell me, since you seem to know everything.¡± she said in contempt. Oh great, now she hates my guts. I better stop pissing her off. Lt. Kino was sitting on his office, leisurely drinking his coffee when Jeehan entered his room. ¡°So how¡¯s our thirteenth member?¡± asked Lt. Kino. ¡°I think, he is too smart for his own good, sir.¡± Jeehan answered. ¡°Oh ho, I smell something. What happened?¡± ¡°He had fully grasped the nature of the quest with so little information.¡± ¡°So he is that good, very well, I sure hope he might be the one.¡± ¡°But I am not here about that, sir.¡± ¡°Then what is it.¡± ¡°About his training, sir.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°He seems to be too quick on learning everything I am teaching him. I taught and showed him an advance side stepping technique to test his potential and he learned it after a few tries. Even the most talented practitioner in our dojo would take three weeks or a month to learn that.¡± ¡°How long it took you to learn it?¡± ¡°Uhm. T-Two weeks, sir.¡± Jeehan stuttered. ¡°So even Jeehan, a martial arts prodigy took two weeks to learn a single move and young Kira learned it in a matter of hours?¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± ¡°I expected as much.¡± ¡°What do you mean sir? Was that an effect of the drug, sir?¡± ¡°The drug? You mean the one I injected to Young Kira? That drug was concoction of saline solution, vitamins and nutrients. The only thing it probably does to young Kira¡¯s body was to prevent some nasty colds.¡± Laughed lt. Kino. ¡°You tricked him, sir?¡± Jeehan said while smiling. Somehow she felt being avenged by Lt. Kino. ¡°Oh my yes, the drug was a placebo. Young Kira doesn¡¯t need any drug, what he needs is a little push, a nudge to the right direction. Why are you smiling? Are you that happy I tricked him?¡± ¡°Oh no, sir. I am not like that. Then, how did he do that, sir?¡± ¡°You know what they say about babies? They say a baby¡¯s brain is like a sponge, soaking up every information and knowledge around them. Young Kira is like that. He has no real concept on how to move his body, you can say his 15 years in real world was like him being on his mother¡¯s womb and entering the virtual reality was his birth. He was reborn on Lost Earth and he needs guidance for his development more than ever. He needs you, Jeehan.¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± Lt. Kino was laughing and said "Also, Do not tell him I that I tricked him."
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Hello again. Thank you for reading. You guys are the reason I am still writing. Chapter 5: The Mind Killer Chapter 5 The Mind Killer ¡°Why don¡¯t you let me fight some monsters, Yunjee?¡± I asked while kicking in the air. ¡°You think you are ready?¡± she asked back. ¡°Well, the thing is you can never really tell when you¡¯re truly ready. Unless I try, we wouldn¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Okay. Let¡¯s go find some monsters then.¡± We lurked in the forest for a while and two small green creature came before us. Two of their yellowish sharp teeth were visible even though their mouths were closed. They were smaller compared to us and very thin, they have no clothes in their upper sections and only rags to cover everything in waist down. They also wear pointy red hats to cover the top of their head. Yunjee rushed to one of the foul gnomes and immediately struck the heart of one of the gnome. Yunjee quickly went back to my side. All of that happened so quick that the other gnome almost didn¡¯t noticed that his friend was dead. ¡°Okay your turn, kill the other one.¡± Yunjee ordered. I walked in front of Yunjee while drawing my copper sword. The other foul gnome rushed towards with his hand raised upward holding a dagger. A normal novice player wouldn¡¯t stand a chance against a foul gnome, they¡¯re level 12 after all, but the fact that Yunjee brought me here means she believed I can take it down somehow. When the foul gnome rushed towards me with all of its ferocity, I felt my body go numb, both of my knees failed me and I collapse on the ground. While in my kneeled state the monster didn¡¯t stop charging towards me. I tried to stand using my sword as a cane, but failed. My body was shaking so hard. Yunjee hit the foul gnome with her knife and it fell down. ¡°What¡¯s the problem? With your training you can kill these things easily.¡± asked Yunjee. ¡°I don¡¯t know what happened.¡± I said while standing up slowly. ¡°Maybe your rational mind is telling you that the foul gnomes were lvl 12 and impossible to be defeated by a lvl 1 like you. And that¡¯s what got you scared.¡± ¡°My rational mind is telling me they were only bunch of 1¡¯s and 0¡¯s and nothing to be scared of.¡± I said angrily. ¡°Then what happened?¡± ¡°I do not know. Please let me try again.¡± I said. What happened to me? Is it fear? What am I so scared of? No, no way. Could it be a part of me, no, a greater part of me desiring this virtual reality to be real? Well, why not? This world is perfect, my family is also here and for the first time I am not a burden to them. I can walk, run, jump and even kick the ever loving shit of someone who pisses me off. I faced greater fears. Fear of having my life will not amount to anything and fear of having to live alone. And now I am afraid of dying in this reality and reverting back to my old self. I should not let this happen. I have spent fifteen years of my life in a bed and in a wheelchair and now the thought of spending another day in those things scared the hell out of me? Pathetic. I must not forget who I am. I named myself Cripple for that singular purpose, a reminder, but it seems it wasn¡¯t enough. When we found a lone foul gnome and I tried to approach it YunJee stopped me. ¡°Wait.¡± She said while looking around to our surroundings. ¡°Okay go, it seems to be alone.¡± I approached it slowly while drawing my sword. I must not fear. The distance was closing and the foul gnome hasn¡¯t noticed me yet. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I stepped into something and the foul gnome heard it. It turned its attention towards me. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. We exchanged stares for a while, I can feel its blood lust as it lunged in my direction. And when the fear is gone, there will be nothing. I ran towards it shouting and when we were at the range of hitting each other, I deliberately dropped my sword. Yunjee was surprised and tried to ran to me and help me but I know it will be too late. The foul gnome struck my chest with his dagger and I fell down. Only I will remain. I used the last ounce of my strength to gaze at Yunjee but her sorrowful face appeared before me. Don''t be sad. I wanted to say that to her but my vision turned black and a message appeared.
YOU HAVE DIED. You must wait 23 : 59 : 54s before entering Lost Earth.
I removed the capsule from my head and can feel the sweat pouring down on my neck. I was lying on my bed and I was back to being a cripple again. I needed to die to overcome my fear, to remind myself of who I am and what I am. Being engrossed with the game and forgetting what I am will only bring me a lot of pain in the future or even cost me my life. "Ari, my mana is too low. I can''t heal anymore." warned Mari.
Character Info (Mary)
NAMEMari
Level25
ClassPriest
HP MP440/440 50/950Physical Attack Magical Attack5-10 18-23
Stamina62/100Defense16
Attributes
Strength25Intelligence75+20
Agility25Dexterity25
Vitality13+9Wisdom19+15
*Note: Every Character starting Attribute are 5. The Training Center can give +20 to Str, Agi, Dex and Int.. 1 point of Vit is 20Hp and 1 point for Int is 10 Mp. "Sit down for a while and take cover Mari-chan. Nature''s Blessings." Rin cast her spell.
Nature''s Blessings Your affinity with nature allows you to affect the creation of life. Party''s Health Regeneration increased by 7%. Party''s Armors were imbued by nature magic, Party''s Defenses increased by 3%.
Character Info (Rin)
NAMERinne
Level25
ClassDruid
HP MP490/500 200/900Physical Attack Magical Attack6-8 22-26
Stamina61/100Defense14
Attributes
Strength25Intelligence72+18
Agility25Dexterity25
Vitality15+10Wisdom20+16
Valen rushed to the giant monster while bumping both of his fists with each other. Both of his fists were armed with heavy knuckles . "Come on, you fucking overgrown cow! Nail Punch!" His right arm clad with a big gauntlet and a knuckle started to emit a blue aura. The aura started to gather around his fist and a sharp and pointed figure was formed. When the punch connected, the monster wasn''t stunned but turned his attention to Valen.
Nail Punch After a harsh training, your fist became as sharp as spear and as heavy as axe. Threat generation: 50% Stun chance: 5% for Stronger monsters and 100% for weaker monsters.
Character Info (Van)
NAMEValen
Level25
ClassMonk
HP MP1000/1620 170/300Physical Attack Magical Attack25-32 14-20
Stamina65/100Defense35
Attributes
Strength40+12Intelligence30
Agility33+5Dexterity33+12
Vitality61+20Wisdom10+12
The monster was now distracted and is attacking Valen. Even without their squad leader''s order. Ronne knew he shouldn''t waste the chance Valen created and cast his strongest offensive spells to the monster. "O'' God of Roaring Lights grant me thy powers. Lightning Bolt." Lightning emerged at Ronne''s staff and went straight to the monster. The monster took the spell and wasn''t affected by the paralysis effect.
Lightning Bolt You take command of every electric charges in the area and use it to your own will. Deals wind and electric damage to the target. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Paralysis Chance: 5% for Stronger Targets and 100% for Weaker Targets.
Character Info (Ron)
NAMERonne
Level25
ClassWizard
HP MP300/480 140/850Physical Attack Magical Attack9-13 38-41
Stamina78/100Defense12
Attributes
Strength25Intelligence61+24
Agility25Dexterity25
Vitality14Wisdom37+19
Erica cast also her spell. "Voodoo Restoration Magic: Healing doll." All of a sudden, a man size weird voodoo doll appeared right beside Erica.
Voodoo Restoration Magic A dabbler in Voodoo Magic has enough knowledge to destroy or restore a physical body Increased HP Regeneration by 7% Reduced the Effects of Curses by 20%
Character Info (Erica)
NAMEReica
Level25
ClassWitch Doctor
HP MP500/520 220/840Physical Attack Magical Attack6-13 23-29
Stamina69/100Defense13
Attributes
Strength25Intelligence66+18
Agility25Dexterity25
Vitality14+12Wisdom27+13
Ari ran towards the monster waving his two swords. "Get back." he shouted. The monster swing his giant axe horizontally towards the Tankers and judging from the direction of the swing, it will converge with Ari. Ari did a knee slide with his arms wide open, to avoid the incoming swing. When the Giant Axe get past him, he stood up and stepped to the monster''s right knee and took another step in the monster''s bicep and used it as a foothold to jump into the air. In a matter of seconds, Ari was in the air above the monsters head and started to initiate his attack. "Crosswind Slash" A light in a cross pattern appeared and hit the monster in the head.
Crosswind Slash Your mastery in sword allows you to move like a wind. Note: This move is only available to Dual-Wield Blade Masters. Deals Wind and Slashing Damage to the target.
The boss monster shrugged the attack and raised his giant axe and a blinding light appeared. The monster''s spell blinded everyone in the dungeon. When the party regained their sight. They have realized the lost of their healers. The dungeon boss ignored everyone near it and attacked those who are not in his Axe''s Range. With the lost of the healers, the surviving members also lost their life. I was revived at the City. Maybe I should try to do some quests before Yunjee knows I am back into the game. I rushed to the first NPC merchant I saw in the city. ¡°Mister, do you need help delivering that box over there?¡± I asked while pointing at the box behind the merchant. The merchant dropped his jaw and stared at me. ¡°Oh my, yes.¡± He picked up the box. ¡°If you deliver this to Hamlek near the South Gate, I would be very grateful to you young man.¡± Ting.
QUEST RECEIVED: Package Delivery to Hamlek Merchant Luye asked you to deliver a package to Hamlek. Quest Difficulty: F
¡°My pleasure, Mr. Luye.¡± As I thought. Flattery and high fame are not the only ways to get a quests. Observation and anticipation of the NPC¡¯s needs seems to work just fine. I went to the South Gate and asked for a Mr. Hamlek. "Mr. Hamlek, Mr. Luye asked me to deliver this to you." "Oh Blessed the Maker, finally. Good job young man, here take this." Ting.
QUEST COMPLETED: Package Delivery to Mr. Hamlek Reward: 20 Copper
Only 20 copper, what a cheapskate. Oh, well it was only a simple delivery after all. Ting.
Yunjee: If you''re in the game already, come back to the Birek Mountain Range.
I went to the west gate and an adventurer with a leather armor approached me. "Are you Cripple?" "Nope, can''t you see I am moving perfectly fine." I know what he meant, but I can''t help myself. "Woah relax mate. Yes you are. Side swept hair and blue eyes. Also a newbie who is heading outside using west gate. You fit the description very well. Here take it." He handed me a rusty sword, a copper sword and he left before I can even ask any questions. Now they want me to fight my way through the Birek Mountain Range. Okay let''s do it. The first monster I spotted was a lvl 7 Scorpion. Its body length was at least 1 meter long and its tail was probably longer. Even though the scorpion could kill me in a single attack I wasn''t afraid anymore. It''s time to put my training into use. The scorpion used it''s tail to stab my face. I used the sidestepping technique Yunjee taught me and dodged it perfectly.Sweet Move.I raised my sword and struck the tail. The scorpion was hurt and took a step backwards. I lunged at it, but it was only a feint. The scorpion fell for it and attack me again using its tail. This time I cut the tail in half. Now I have reduced his fighting capability to a half or a third. The scorpion let out a hiss. I used multiple feints to see if the scorpion can use both of its arms. But in the end, it was only capable of using its right arm. I charged at it and it raised his right arm to attack but I sidestepped to my right and swing my sword to its head.
Your enemy has been defeated. You have leveled up. You have leveled up.
I killed 10 more scorpions in various methods. I tried severing its right arm first before going for a kill but it took me more time since the scorpion''s exoskeleton in his right arm is a lot thicker than its tail. I have gained 3 more levels and haven''t distributed any of my attribute points yet. The attributes I gained in the training center was seem to be enough for now. Besides I am reserving them for that special quest. I was now a lvl 10 Novice when I finally reached Birek Mountain Range.
Cripple: Where are you? Yunjee: Your 10 o''clock.
I looked hard to my left and saw her in one of the hills. I went to where she is. "Hey there, So how''s hunting?" She asked when I reached the hill. "Going good so far, I gained nine levels." I said. "Okay, nice job. Here eat it." She handed me some bread.
Satiety Increased by 20.
It tasted good. "Thanks." "Let''s go hunt some foul gnomes." she said. "Lead the way." She is unusually happy. I wondered what happened. I went to where I died to hunt some gnomes. There''s a heavy feeling in my chest. A feeling that I had hurt someone. Maybe Yunjee? Anyway I should apologize to her for wasting her time. I stopped. "Uhmm, Yunjee about earlier....." Something hit my back, when I turned my head to see what it was, I saw Yunjee''s head. Her forehead was leaning at my back and she was crying. Yunjee was sobbing. "Please don''t do that ever again. What will happen to your loved ones when you die? You''re being selfish." I felt guilty and an unexplainable pain in my heart for making her cry. Maybe she was traumatized in her past and forget that we were only on a game. My suicide must have brought some painful memories of her past. I want to turn around but her head was leaning hard on my back and I got this feeling that she wouldn''t want me to see her current state. We stayed like this for a while. I wanted to say something to her, wanted to promise her that I wouldn''t do it again, that everything will be alright. But people with disabilities like me, making promises were not really our strong points.
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I don''t know if I did a good job on Character Info Windows. I can sure use some suggestions. I usually read my chapters twice or thrice before pressing Post Thread but sometimes when I read it again after a day, I still spot grammar errors. That''s why I am grateful to anyone who spots my mistakes. Thank you. Chapter 6: The Minotaur Dungeon Chapter 6 The Minotaur Dungeon ¡°Jeehan, your mama loves you and will never leave you. Don¡¯t believe what they say about me, ok.¡± a middle age woman with long hair and a pale face said as she hugged the young girl. When Park Jeehan was young her mother had been caught up in a lot of debt. Her mother had frequented a lot of gambling parlors and owed a lot of money to all sorts of people. Her mother¡¯s depression grew due to the constant threats her family was receiving. One day on Jeehan way home after her school, her neighbors had gathered in the front of their house murmuring with each other. ¡°They say Mrs. Park hanged herself. She had a lot of debt after all.¡± Said one of the housewives. ¡°Shhhhhhhh. Her daughter is here.¡± Young Jeehan rushed into her house but her father grabbed her and hugged her tight. ¡°Papa, what¡¯s happening? Where¡¯s Mama?¡± asked the worried young Jeehan to her father. Her father pulled himself away from Jeehan and held her shoulders. ¡°Mama is gone. From now on I need you to be strong. It will only be the two of us now, so we have to take care of each other. Don¡¯t worry, everything will be fine Jeehan, your papa will never leave your side.¡± Her father said with a comforting and soothing voice. At that time, Jeehan hadn''t fully realized what was really happening but somehow she felt the loneliness her father was trying to hide and at the same time a feeling that nothing will ever go wrong as long they have each together. Her father sold their house hoping it could pay off his wife¡¯s debt but it wasn¡¯t enough. They went to her father¡¯s friend who owned a dojo. ¡°We will stay here for a while, remember Mr. Lee?¡± her father said while pointing to a muscular old bearded man. Jeehan nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll go back to our house for a while I need to get something.¡± Her father said as he left Jeehan in the dojo with Mr. Lee. Jeehan somehow felt an unexplainable sadness as her father turned his back on her, a sadness that made her hands tremble and blurred her eyes with tears. Her father didn¡¯t come back the next day but the news of his suicide did. The loss of his wife and their house had taken its toll to her father and finally he decided to take his own life. He died knowing that his friend Mr. Lee would take care of his daughter a lot better than himself and his wife did. Jeehan was left all alone. Grief enveloped young Jeehan and tears were flooding her eyes. Young Jeehan couldn''t even begin to understand her emotions. Anger, that her parents left her despite their promises or sadness due to the fact that she will never see them again. Mr. Lee adopted Jeehan as his own and trained her in the ways of fighting. She immersed herself in fighting to overcome the trauma she had suffered, to fill the void in her heart and to feel again. When Jeehan was 15 years old she applied to the academy and got accepted. She showed exceptional fighting ability and was praised a lot by her instructors. She thought her life was finally coming around but she was wrong. Her past had caught up with her. The loan sharks had found her and started to threaten her to pay the rest of her mother¡¯s debt. Mr. Lee whom she considered to be her grandfather and her only remaining family, wanted to sell his Dojo to pay her debt but she strongly refused. She went to the academy to ask for an advance on her stipend but the bureaucrats in the academy refused because it was a lot of money. On her way out of the academy. A lean, tall and weak looking man approached her. ¡°My name is Lt. Kino. I have heard you need some help. I have a proposition to make to you, if you choose to accept it you could pay off your debt.¡± The strange man told her the existence of a secret division and asked her to join and perform a specific quest in Lost Earth. ¡°Work for me and your debt will settled.¡± Said the stranger. Jeehan agreed to join and didn¡¯t mind the consequences. All she wanted was to save hergrandfather¡¯s life¡¯s work, his dojo. *** We resumed the hunting of foul gnomes as if nothing had happened. YunJee gave me pointers when she noticed something out of place with my movements. The battle was so easy that I don¡¯t know if I had gotten stronger or the foul gnomes were just easy preys. I had gained 5 levels from hunting foul gnomes. "Character Info."
Character Info
NAMECripple
Level15
ClassNovice
HP MP300/300 250/250Physical Attack Magical Attack14-15 8-11
Stamina45/100Defense6
Attributes
Strength25Intelligence25
Agility25Dexterity25
Vitality5+10Wisdom5
Remaining Attribute Points: 42
The experience I gained from hunting the foul gnomes was not the same as before hence we decided to look for stronger monsters. We quickly found ourselves some malevolent gnomes which were bigger than foul gnomes and wore basic armors. The malevolent gnomes are lvl 16 and wield a dagger and a wooden shield. The malevolent gnomes hunt in group of three so Yunjee kept the other two busy while I dealt with the third one, Mano a Mano. Fighting someone with a shield was a completely different experience than before. They could block and counter my attack so easily. I swung my sword to see the reaction of the gnome, it completely blocked my vertical swing and push back my sword while lunging his dagger at me. The gnome¡¯s defensive capability was efficient but its attack was rather slow. I could see his dagger coming from miles away. I dodged its attack and sidestepped to my left trying to avoid its shield equipped on its left arm. I stabbed the gnome in its neck but my sword didn¡¯t go through.
Critical hit.
I knew one more attack should do it but I didn''t attack though, instead I waited patiently for its next thrust. The gnome tried to stab me but I dodged it again and slashed his neck down to his chest. The gnome fell down and Yunjee told me to deal with the next one. I slashed and stabbed the back of one of the other gnomes consecutively, while it was busy attacking Yunjee. Only one remained but Yunjee killed it before I could attack it. ¡°I think your sword is broken. You should check your weapon before initiating an attack. ¡± Yunjee said. I looked at my sword and saw a crack.
Copper Sword Durability: 0/10 Damage: 0-1 Weight: 20 Description: A sword suitable for starting adventurers.
Yunjee took something from her bag. I was excited because I know it can only mean one thing. A new sword. ¡°Here take this. It is either brand new or fully repaired, it depends on your point of view.¡± Yunjee said. She handed me a new sword and I was ecstatic. Yes, a new sword. To my disappointment it was another copper sword. I frowned and when I looked at Yunjee she was smiling as she turned around. ¡°Let¡¯s go set up a camp, it¡¯s getting late. Monsters are far stronger during nighttime.¡± Yunjee said as she leads the way. I followed her and noticed something odd. We could have chosen one of the hills we passed by as a camp but Yunjee chose not to. Something doesn¡¯t feel right. What is she planning? I did not bother to ask. We continued walking and reached a certain hilltop. The hill was covered with green grass and surrounded by trees of varying sizes. The clouds tried to hide how vast the mountain ranges was from the sparkling eyes of the stars. ¡°This will do.¡± She said while looking at our surroundings. Being disabled I learned the importance of being critical, of not accepting the way things are and the value of asking questions and the only question that was running in my mind was why did she chose this place? If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.¡°Stay here for a while, let me hunt some food.¡± Yunjee said. And now she is leaving me, something is really up. I must not let my guard down. ¡°Hey do you have anything that could produce a fire? A flint or something.¡± I asked. She hesitated. ¡°Hmm, Okay.¡± She took something from her bag and handed me a flint before she left. Okay, Yunjee. Let¡¯s see what you are trying to pull. For all I knew she might be luring monsters in my general direction. I collected some twigs and branches and started a fire and I hid myself behind a tree. The fire might lure some monsters in but the smoke should mask my scent. I equipped my brand new sword and waited. Okay Yunjee give me your best shot. *** The Birek Mountain Range is located on the west side of the kingdom of Mercia. It has numerous mountains and hills covered with thick forests and grass. At one end of the Mountain range which is the southern part of the Kingdom of Mercia was a wide river and to the east was the Capital of UAN territory, Elaros. There are a lot of monsters and dungeons in the Birek Mountain Range. Some were still undiscovered by the UAN soldiers and adventurers and some acts as a training ground for the Academy Cadets. ¡°Ari, are we really going to try that dungeon again?¡± asked Mari worriedly as they walked to one of the hills in the Birek Mountain range. ¡°Last time, we were wiped out you know.¡± Ken said while checking the string of his bow. ¡°But we were about to finish it.¡± replied Ari. ¡°Nope.¡± John said while polishing his shield. ¡°Nada.¡± Both Ron and Rin said smiling. ¡°Not even close.¡± Joan said as she walked past Ari. Erica shook her head. ¡°Come on guys, we were at the last stage, the boss stage.¡± Ari said. ¡°Yeah, but I don''t know if we even scratched the boss hard enough.¡± Ken said. ¡°Ari, it is also nighttime now. Monsters gain massive bonuses during this time.¡± John said. ¡°Actually, monsters are penalized when they are exposed outside during the day.¡± Said Zath in a low voice. They all turned to Zath for they were surprised to hear him saying something. Zath rarely talks in the game and in real life. ¡°What¡¯s the fucking difference?¡± shouted Van. ¡°Look, let us go already, I have a score to settle to that overgrown cow.¡± he added. ¡°Wait, hold on. Zath was trying to say that dungeon monsters are always at their peak, since they don''t suffer some penalty for being outside . Is that right?¡± Joan said as she looked to Zath. Zath nodded. ¡°Then, there is no more problem, right John?¡± Asked Ari. "Yes there is, how about that Blinding Light?" John asked Ari scratched his head. "I don''t know. I am good at fighting but not much on thinking." "Yeah, we know." Ken said. The rest nodded. "Hey, you guys were supposed to say ¡¯you are not that bad, Ari'' or something." said Ari. "So does anyone have any idea on how to deal with the blinding light?" Even if Ari was the leader of the squad, the planning and others stuff wes performed by other members. Still, they respected Ari and his fighting prowess that had saved them numerous times. "We could hide our healers and ranged members and only come to them when we need to heal." Joan proposed. "Yeah, that could work. Good thinking Joan." Ari said. "But that would take us a lot of time since we have to constantly check our HP and run back to the Healers in case it dropped too low." said Ken. "Yeah, but at least it''s better than being wiped out you know." Ari said. Everyone nodded. "Come on, let¡¯s go already." Van said. *** I hid behind a tree as I waited for Yunjee, all of a sudden, I felt something cold on my neck. ¡°Move, you die.¡± A group of people arrived at the campfire. ¡°Someone is here. This fire is new.¡± said one of them. When they looked around, they saw one of their comrade trying to push someone closer to them. ¡°Hey it was you. You are Cripple, right? What are you doing here?¡± asked one of the young men. ¡°I was resting here when I noticed someone was approaching, so I hid.¡± I said. I think this guy''s name is Ari. That was a lie of course, I didn¡¯t heard any of them but one of them noticed me hiding. He must be an assassin. ¡°You don¡¯t have to hide from us, we are all UAN citizens here. Zath leave him be.¡± Ari ordered. Zath dropped his blade and stepped back and faded into the dark. ¡°We were trying to finish a dungeon here.¡± said Ari while pointing to something near my camp fire. ¡°There¡¯s a hidden entrance there. By the way, you¡¯re more than welcome to watch while we kick the Minotaur¡¯s ass. You should come maybe you could learn a thing or two from us.¡± If this is what Yunjee was planning. Well played Yunjee. I didn''t expected this. ¡°Ari, we cannot protect him inside. Remember what happened last time?¡± protested John. ¡°He doesn¡¯t need protection if he just stays in the back. And besides this time we have some plan and on how to defeat that cow.¡± Ari said. Oh boy, it seems the chances of me dying on this one are very high. I should ran away now. Ting.
Yunjee: Follow them.
I instantly looked around trying to look for Yunjee. She must have been observing me from a far. Oh, great. Now you want me to follow them.
Cripple: You know you could have told me about them earlier instead of me being found out. Yunjee: Say you followed them inside the dungeon and they didn''t know you were in the Birek Mountain Range and then you were caught following them. That wouldn''t look good, right? They would suspect you were a spy or at least some creepy stalker. Cripple: That''s assuming I''d get caught. Yunjee: Trust me on this, they would have found you. They have a talented assassin with them, the one who had caught you earlier hiding behind a tree. Cripple: So you just want me to follow them? Yunjee: No, I want you to watch them. It is a good opportunity for you to learn something.
¡°Is there something wrong?¡± asked Ari while trying to look around just like I did. I must have spaced out for a second there. Following them inside the dungeon is very dangerous, if some stray monsters were to choose to attack me. It would be better to stick with them so that I can properly watch their battle. ¡°Oh no, I thought I heard something. Yes, I would like to come with you, if you would have me. I promise you I can take care of myself.¡± I said. ¡°Sure, that¡¯s it then. Let¡¯s go team!¡± Ari shouted. *** Two figures were standing on one of the hills in the Birek Mountain range observing something. ¡°So that was your plan all along, Lt. Loki.¡± Asked the smaller figure. ¡°When in the game, my dear Yunjee call me Loki, just Loki.¡± Loki said as he continued to observe something from a far. ¡°How did you know Ari¡¯s squad would try to challenge the dungeon again, sir?¡± asked Yunjee. ¡°Well, Ari is a simple-minded idiot and a fighting maniac. He seeks stronger opponents to fight and when he finds one, he will not stop until he has defeated it.¡± Loki replied. ¡°That still doesn¡¯t explain why you wanted them to meet, sir.¡± ¡°Who? Ari''s squad and young Kira? "Yes, Sir. I mean Loki." "The Minotaur dungeon is one of the hardest dungeons in Birek Mountain range. The Minotaur has two special spells that makes it very hard to defeat. Even 10 lvl 50+ players would have a hard time if they don''t know how to deal with it.¡± ¡°I know that, sir. Ari¡¯s squad chance of defeating the minotaur is very low. My question sir is, why do you need Kira to be there? What can he possibly do inside? He¡¯s only lvl 15 with no class and a cheap ass sword.¡± asked Yunjee. Loki laughed. ¡°That, my dear Yunjee, is what I hope to find out.¡±
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Proofread by ShadowOfHAvoc. This guy is awesome. Thank you SOH. In case there are still some mistakes, that would be my fault. I added some details in the proofread version. Chapter 7: The Dungeon Incursion Chapter 7 The Dungeon Incursion
DO YOU WANT TO ENTER THE DUNGEON
YesNo
Darkness filled the inside of the dungeon. For a minute, I couldn¡¯t see a thing until a sound of torch being lit sequentially from the entrance to the pathway echoed throughout the dungeon. It was a tunnel. The number of torches on the side of the wall suggests it was a long one. ¡°Here we go. Battle formation.¡± ordered Ari. All of a sudden, two of his members moved in front of us. They wore heavy armors and carried shields. The mages moved backwards but Ari and I stayed at the back. ¡°Mmmmooooooo¡­¡­. Mmmmmoooooooooo¡­¡­.¡± The sound reverberated off the walls and roof of the dungeon. So it was really a cow. That was the signal that the boss monster had noticed us, the trespassers of its domain. ¡°Just you wait you fucking cow.¡± Shouted one of the member of the group equipped with big ass knuckles. We moved deeper into the dungeon. A group of monsters appeared before us blocking our path. I counted 12, but there were probably more. As we moved closer to the monsters , I noticed 5 gnomes among them. But they were different than the ones I have encountered. They were equipped each with an axe and a shield instead of just with dagger. This dungeon''s gnomes were also taller than the malevolent ones. So these are lvl 20 named gnomes. Someone stepped forward, it was a tall muscular guy with heavy armor and a shield. He must be a Knight. ¡°Come here you monsters. Taunt.¡±
Taunt Your gallantry and bravery annoyed the monsters to the extent that they wanted to get rid of you first. Threat generation: 100% Enemies defense decreased by 2. Note: Does not stack with other provoking spells.
Character Info(John)
NAMEJohnny
Level25
ClassKnight
HP MP1440/1440 250/250Physical Attack Magical Attack24-27 6-9
Stamina79/100Defense25
Attributes
Strength49+12Intelligence29
Agility25+4Dexterity25
Vitality53+19Wisdom5
The monster rushed him. The knight positioned himself on the left side of the tunnel, drawing the monsters with him. The rest of the team moved to the right side, getting ready to attack.The monsters that flocked to the knight¡¯s right side were being sniped by arrows and magic. ¡°Pinning shot.¡± Said someone in front of us.
Pinning Shot Your mastery in the bow can even stop the fiercest enemy. Deals piercing damage and can immobilize targets.
Character Info(Kenneth)
NAMEKen
Level25
ClassRanger
HP MP440/440 250/250Physical Attack Magical Attack24-27 6-9
Stamina45/100Defense18
Attributes
Strength25Intelligence25
Agility61+18Dexterity52+12
Vitality14+8Wisdom5
The other monsters who weren¡¯t affected by the Taunt rushed to attack the other members using the opening on the right side. A woman clad with white heavy armor and a shield stopped their advance. ¡°O¡¯ Goddess Freya, grant me thy power to stop thy enemies before me. Shield Aggravate.¡±
Shield Aggravate Your shield shines so brightly that monster cannot take their eyes on it. Threat Generation: 100% Slow the movement of monster by 10%. Note: Threat Generation does not stack with other provoking spells.
Character Info(Joan)
NAMEJoanDArc
Level25
ClassPaladin
HP MP1060/1060 250/250Physical Attack Magical Attack24-27 6-9
Stamina70/100Defense25
Attributes
Strength40+15Intelligence42+14
Agility25Dexterity52+12
Vitality35+18Wisdom15
The monster who had slipped by the first tank tried to attack the Paladin. This time the Paladin positioned herself on the right side of the tunnel a few steps behind the Knight. The monsters were now dropping one by one on the left side by the constant bombardment of arrows and magic. When a monster slipped by the Paladin. The assassin who caught me in the forest and the hotheaded monk dealt with them. It was quite a sight to see. The first tank would engage the enemy while trying to move to the left side to create an opening on the right side for monsters to use. The Archer and Mages would then deal the necessary damage to whittle down the monsters who were attacking the first tank. In a situation where some monsters would not attack the first tanker or if the threat generation by the first tanker broke and the monsters decided to attack the Ranged DPS members, another tank behind the first one would step in and position to the right side which in turn would create another opening on the left. In case some monsters survived the attack by the ranged DPS constant bombardment and tried to ignore the second tanker, someone would intercept them and would make sure nothing would get past them. The sight was similar to a flowing river where you placed two big rocks alternately in the path. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. It was a brilliant display of strategy, tactics and efficiency. So this is how to fight swarm of monsters in a tunnel. Ari didn¡¯t even issued a single order to his teammates during the course of the battle. How efficient. I thought while looking to Ari who was standing beside me. So these are Academy Cadets. Yunjee was right, I could learn a lot from them. But I don¡¯t think this kind of efficiency can be taught in the Academy or in any learning institution for that matter. This level of efficiency can only be obtained through countless battles, accumulation of experience and failures. This team must have been always looking for a fight. I thought while looking again at Ari. In a matter of minutes, the battle ended and 22 monsters were lying dead and they started to loot the items .The healers made sure everyone¡¯s health were full before we started to move deeper into the dungeon. We searched every tunnel in the dungeon looking for monsters. 10 more battles occurred and every single time Ari didn¡¯t move an inch to help his team, not like they needed his help. He must be preparing for the boss. We talked for a while. I asked him some of the details of what happened in their previous run in this dungeon, how they were wiped out. It turned out that they had reached the Minotaur boss the last time and got their asses handed to them. He told me about the Blinding Light spell the boss used and their plan on how to deal with it. We stopped moving and when I look in front a giant door blocked our path. The door was at least 15 meters tall and 5 meters wide, it was gigantic. I felt a cold air pass through me and sends chills down my spine. ¡°This is it guys.¡± Ari said as he stepped forward in front of his team. ¡°Hell yeah!¡± The hot blooded Monk shouted. Ari reminded everyone the plan they had devised. The plan was to have the healers and other ranged members would hide near the door to avoid the boss¡¯ attack during the blinding light spell. Ari turned to me. ¡°The final battle will be very dangerous, even if you stays in the back I can¡¯t guarantee you will get out of here alive. It¡¯s up to you if you want to enter that door with us.¡± He said while pointing at the gigantic door. ¡°But we will not protect you.¡± He turned around and walked towards the door. A small young woman approached. Judging from her dress and a tall white hat she might be a Priest. Her rosy cheeks were visible even in this ill-lit dungeon. She was hugging her staff with intricate design at the other end. ¡°Uhmm¡­ Ari is the strongest of us in terms of fighting ability. So if he says it is very dangerous I think you should listen to him.¡± she said with an innocent face. Should I follow them inside? I asked myself. My logical mind is telling me that it would be a very bad idea. What can I possibly do inside? Still there was this urge that wanted me to follow them to the very end. I tried to rationalize my feeling. I might be facing stronger monsters in the future than the one behind that door in the special quest Lt. Kino will asked of me, it would be a good idea to experience them now when the stakes are not that high. Ari pushed the door and it started to creak. They entered the room and I decided to follow them. ¡°Mari, Reica, Ken, Ronne and Rinne stay on that rock.¡± Ari ordered as he rushed towards the center of the room. They nodded. ¡°Mooooo¡­. Y-y-y-ouuu. D-d-d-a-re. ! Moooo¡­¡± I felt the ground move and when I turned to look past the rock. I couldn¡¯t believe what my eyes were seeing. It was a gigantic cow standing on two legs holding an enormous double-bladed axe with its two hands. The cow was ripped and its skin was a shade of dark blue. It was easily standing at 10 meters tall and it had two short arched horns that were extending outward on top of its head. Its eyes were red and there was a huge ring hanging from its giant nose. I quickly hid back behind the rock at the sight of the boss, my heart was beating so hard. When I regained my senses I tried to watch the fight. I saw the giant cow swing its axe horizontally. I partially saw the assassin the one who caught me earlier, clinging on to the mane on the back of the Minotaur, stabbing and slashing simultaneously. The Minotaur jumped and when it had reached the ground a huge tremor was felt. The hot blooded monk rushed towards us. ¡°That Fucking cow. Heal me.¡± He ordered. When he was healed he rushed back to the fray. I saw Ari with his two swords running straight at the Minotaur. The Minotaur was attacking the Knight and the Paladin with his giant axe but they were completely dodging it. To be able to dodge those attacks despite the weight of their armors. They were good. I thought, Ari¡¯s twin blades shone so bright when he was about to reach the Minotaur. He aimed his attack at the massive fingers of the Minotaur. Smart move, if he could sever those fingers, the Minotaur won¡¯t be able to hold its weapon anymore. Ari¡¯s attack connected but failed to sever the fingers. The archer who was at my side was also watching the battle as it unfolded came out of hiding and started to shoot the Minotaur with his arrows. The Minotaur raised his axe to make another swing but a light started to appear on its axe and all of a sudden I couldn''t see a thing. When I regained my sight, the archer was dead lying near me, ripped in to two. Holy shit! So even the manner of death in the game was so realistic, I think I am gonna be sick.I looked around trying to find the giant cow and saw it resuming his attack to one of the tank. ¡°Ken!¡± Shouted Ari. The small woman who approached me before stepped forward. ¡°Don¡¯t worry Ari, I¡¯ll revive him. O¡¯ Blessed the Maker, grant me thy holiness, allow me to bring back my fallen comrade. Resurrection¡±
Ressurection Your devotion to the Maker, the creator of all life on this world grants you his power to revive an ally. Resurrects an ally. Note: The spell has a long cool down and only restore half of the health points of the target.
¡°Thank you, Mari-chan¡± Ari shouted. ¡°Thanks Mari-Chan. I''m sorry Ari.¡± Ken said as he stood up. So that was the Blinding light. How the hell that cow kill that archer? I was blinded but I don¡¯t think my other senses stopped working during that spell. How? How can it kill someone without moving? Or did he move at all? No, every time that giant cow took a step, the dungeon would shake and yet I didn¡¯t feel or hear any tremors during the course of the blinding light. How? Think Kira, think. Could it be it has another spell? What kind of spell could rip someone into to two? Wait, I felt a gush of wind when I temporarily lost my sight. It might be some sort of wind spell. The manner of how that Archer died, the wind gush and the absence of tremors during the temporary blindness. Is it really a wind spell? Only one way to find out. I looked to one of the healers behind me. ¡°Ms. Mari, can you use your resurrection spell again?¡± Mari was startled. ¡°Umh. No it¡¯s on cool down. You have to wait another day.¡± ¡°Anyone of you have some sort of resurrection spell?¡± I looked to the other healers. ¡°I have an incomplete voodoo resurrection spell. I can bring you back to life as a voodoo doll, you can still move but you can¡¯t use any spells. Why are you asking us?¡± a woman with a fringe hairstyle said. ¡°That would do, please use that spell if I die.¡± ¡°Wait, what are you planning to do?¡± ¡°Dying, of course.¡± I said.
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Proofread by ShadowOfHAvoc. Thanks again SOH. Hello there! Enjoy. Chapter 8: The Academy Chapter 8 The Academy ________________________________________________________________________________ Continental Peace Treaty of 2050 The Abolishment of all Military Organization: ARTICLE 1 ________________________________________________________________________________ The sun was not completely up and partially shined the Academy''s compound. Hundreds of rows and columns of people filed neatly in the compound and were arranged facing northward toward the central stage that held the flag of the UAN,. The people who had gathered around the central stage were staffs and cadets of the Academy. The staffs comprised mostly of former soldiers, marines, pilots and spies all of whom had lost their job and designation under the effect of the peace treaty. Previous governments who were now under the UAN were frustrated in the money and time that they had spent training these soldiers in hand to hand combat, strategy and tactics. To try and recoup their losses, they decided to create a new organization that would make use of their trainings. Bounded by the peace treaty, they created an organization in the guise of a learning institution, the Academy. The central stage was elevated by at least 1 meter. On the outskirts of the stage there were 20 long iron poles erected around it. 20 poles with 20 distinct flags corresponding to the 20 nations united under one rule. The flags belonged to Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and other Asian nations. At the front of the central stage stands stood a pole taller than the other and held the largest flag of them all, the UAN flag. One officer went to the center of the stage and started conducting the official anthem of UAN entitled Under the Eastern Sky. After the singing of the official anthem, they started reciting their oaths. The whole ceremony took 20 minutes and everyone was then dismissed. Lt. Kino¡¯s Platoon was on their way to their classroom. However, during their walk, some cadets were murmuring and whispering while looking at them. ¡°No way, a single squad?¡± said one them. ¡°Yeah, a single squad did it.¡± Said the other. ¡°No way, the whole platoon maybe.¡± ¡°Yeah, I can¡¯t believe it either.¡± Lt. Kino¡¯s platoon entered their classroom and sat down at their respective seats. ¡°Good Morning, Ari. Good Job yesterday.¡± Mary greeted. ¡°Oh hey, Good Morning Mary.¡± Ari sighed. ¡°What¡¯s wrong Ari?¡± Mary worriedly asked. ¡°Well, we may have defeated the Minotaur but we lost two lives yesterday.¡± Ari sighed again. Ken was approaching them when he overheard their conversation. ¡°Good morning, Ari. It was entirely my fault I died anyway, don¡¯t blame yourself.¡± ¡°But, still¡­¡± Ari was stopped by the incoming student. ¡°I¡¯ve heard about your conquest yesterday, Ari. The second year couldn¡¯t believe it.¡± Rizzo said while fixing his glass. ¡°They say the whole platoon, us, were in on it.¡± When Jazmae heard what Rizzo said, she immediately went in front of Ari¡¯s desk and slammed her hand to the desk. ¡°You idiot! What were you thinking?¡± Jazmae demanded. Ari was startled by the reaction of Jazmae. ¡°Uhmm. Well¡­ You know¡­¡± Ari stuttered. ¡°Uhmm. I didn¡¯t know you were worried about me.¡± Ari said while looking away with his flushed face. Jazmae gulped. ¡°I am not. I am worried about our platoon.¡± She placed both of her hands on her hips. ¡°Your whole squad could¡¯ve died on that dungeon raid and lost all your items.¡± ¡°Ahm... Ahh.¡± Ari couldn¡¯t formed a single word. He looked to his squad to ask for some help but every time a member locked eyes with him they all looked away, feigning innocent. He looked to Van to ask for some back up since he were pretty much the only other one who really wanted to take down the Minotaur but Van wasn¡¯t even looking at him, just whistling an out of tune song. They all knew it was reckless the first time they entered the Minotaur dungeon, but they couldn¡¯t say no to their squad leader persistent persuasion. The second time was beyond comprehension, an exercise in futility, which is why they can¡¯t help but only feel sorry to Ari by Jazmae¡¯s admonishment. ¡°If you died the second time and lost all your equipment to that dungeon, the Logistics Division will have no choice but to replace them.¡± Jazmae said. Ari wasn¡¯t able to understand what Jazmae was trying to tell. ¡°Hm. Yeah?¡± ¡°Of course they will, it¡¯s their job.¡± Jazmae slammed Ari¡¯s desk with her two hands this time. ¡°The point is, if my squad and Rizzo¡¯s squad were to ask for an upgrade in our equipment, they would hesitate now to give us new ones to compensate for the items you had lost and would''ve lost.¡± Ari nodded. ¡°Good, now you understand.¡± She looked to the other members of Ari¡¯s squad. ¡°You guys did well. Congratulations, you made your platoon proud. But, please try to restrain this idiot.¡± ¡°Uhm¡­ You know I am proud of them too, being their leader and all.¡± Ari said to Jazmae feeling happy that she recognized his squad. Jazmae just stared at him and sighed. *** I was still hiding behind a rock near the entrance of the Minotaur''s lair while trying to assess the situation. I observed the fighting intently trying to discover some weakness. Ari and the assassin came to us with low health. Mari and the other woman whose costume had a resemblance to that of a witch healed them back into shape. Wait, Ari and the assassin were completely dodging every swing of that Minotaur¡¯s giant axe. How come their health is dwindling? ¡°Let me heal you too.¡± Mari said to me. What? I looked at my Health bar and saw it was not full. 5% of my HP was gone. When did I had received some damage? I watched the fight again and heard the Paladin was saying something. ¡°Van take the Cow¡¯s aggression. Ari, Zath and John let¡¯s lure this thing near that wall.¡± The Paladin said pointing to the west wall. ¡°It should render his axe useless when we fight near to the wall.¡± ¡°Good idea, Joan. Let¡¯s do it.¡± Ari said. ¡°Van let us position ourselves first before coming to us.¡± Joan said. ¡°I know that already. Nail Punch¡± Van said while punching the thigh of the Minotaur. So her name is Joan. She was good to think of that, but I think it will be pointless. Van was now running, heading towards to the west wall and the Minotaur was following him. Every step of the Minotaur took, a slight tremor could be felt. When he reached the west wall where the others had gathered, he stopped and faced the Minotaur. ¡°Come here you ugly cow." The Minotaur held back his axe trying to gain some momentum and released it towards Van. ¡°Here it comes, dodge.¡± Van shouted. Every one of them dodged the swing easily. The Minotaur may be strong but it was so slow, a price for his size and power. Joan¡¯s plan would have been successful if the giant axe would have stuck in the wall, but it was not the case. The wall was destroyed and rock debris were scattered everywhere. Ari and the others took quite a bit damage from the debris. I thought so. ¡°Urgh¡­ I¡¯ll hold it for a while, get yourselves healed now.¡± The Knight said. ¡°Thank you John. Wait for us.¡± Ari said while running towards us. The supports used their healing magic to restore some amount of their health. The damage was so significant that the healers couldn''t fully heal them instantly. Ari rushed back to the Minotaur disregarding his health points. ¡°This will do. I¡¯ll go help John. Van and Joan, make sure your HP is full before going back.¡± He said. ¡°Ari wait¡­!¡± Mari shouted. The Minotaur was busy attacking John that it didn¡¯t noticed Ari jump at his back. Ari held one of his sword using his mouth while his left hand was forcefully clinging to the mane. He stabbed the back of the Minotaur using his remaining sword equipped in his right hand. The Minotaur felt the stab but before he could react Zath and Joan attacked the left leg of the Minotaur. It shrugged the attack but turned his attention to Joan and Zath and had forgotten all about Ari who was still on his back. ¡°Ari, let¡¯s lure him back to the center. Fighting near the walls was more dangerous that I thoug....¡± The Minotaur jumped in the air but before it could reach the ground Ari was already gone from its back. A huge tremor was felt when it landed. So that jump was the cause of gradual dwindling of their HP. I looked to my health bar thinking it must also be the damage I received a while ago. To my surprise my health was still full. Aaaahhhh, if not the Cow¡¯s Jump, then what was it? I looked at the supports beside me and saw their worried look. Their MP must be getting low. The situation was bad and it was getting worse every minute. If they ran out of Mana the game is over. I should run away now. I looked to the giant door and it was closed. I ran towards it and tried push it but it didn¡¯t budge. It was locked. ¡°You can¡¯t escape now. That door will only open if we defeat the boss.¡± Ken said. Oh, you must be kidding me. I¡¯m trapped here? The sight of me lying in my bed and my legs were covered with blanket flashed before me. NO! This is not the time. I have to do something. I went back to the rock and observed the battle. At this rate, the supports will run out of MP before they even defeat this thing. They need another source of damage and I can¡¯t provide that. I looked at the archer and one of the mage and thought that If only they could attack, they would have stand a chance . The Minotaur''s lair had some sort of rock-like corridor, it connects the giant door into the center of the lair. The corridor was 15 meters wide and at least 25 meters high. Hit and hide tactic might work if there was not much distance between us and the Minotaur. Of course, Ari and the rest could lure the Minotaur near our hiding place. But, it would not be wise, seeing what had happened when they tried fighting near a wall, Ari and the rest didn¡¯t stop their attack. Zath the assassin rushed forward to attack the left leg. ¡°Vital Assault.¡± He shouted.
Vital Assault Your mastery in the Art of Killing gave you knowledge in spotting vital points of your target. Critical Chance: 100% Duration: 5s
Character Info(Zath)
NAMEZathor
Level25
ClassAssassin
HP Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.MP250/380 179/250Physical Attack Magical Attack36-48 3-5
Stamina35/100Defense21
Attributes
Strength25Intelligence25
Agility61+18Dexterity61+15
Vitality5+14Wisdom5
Combined with the previous attacks and the pinpoint attack of Zath, the Minotaur finally kneeled on his left. ¡°Hell yeah! Let¡¯s finish this.¡± shouted Van. Before everyone could attack, the Minotaur raised his axe and looked like it was about to attack but it was the blinding light. A moment of blindness and when it was over, no one had died. It was true what Ari said, it only attacks everything it sees outside its Axe¡¯s range. The Minotaur stood on its two feet again and prepared for another swing. I must do something, or rather come up with something to escape here alive. Let''s review the facts. First, it¡¯s big but its attack was slow. Second, it has a blinding light spell that renders our sight useless and attack everyone it sees who was not on its axe¡¯ range. Third, its attack was rudimentary and only compose of horizontal swings and the Occasional Jump attack that will cause tremors. Wait, how many times had it used the Jump attack? Twice. ¡°Hey, anyone of you counted how many times the cow had jumped?¡± I asked. Of course, I knew the answer. I only asked to see their reaction under duress. ¡°Twice.¡± Said two of them in unison, they both wore a magician¡¯s robe with different colors. They looked at each other and smiled. Come to think of it, they both looked similar. Twins, maybe. I was occupied in my thinking process that I didn¡¯t bothered to ask. Not bad.Twice, it occurred. Under what circumstances? A sudden realization hit me. It was when someone was clinging onto its back. That¡¯s right, the first one was when the assassin was on its back, and the second was when Ari stabbed it on its back. So it will only jump when someone is on its back to get rid of them, why? Fourth fact, the health points of Ari and the rest was gradually dwindling despite completely dodging the axe¡¯s swing. Why? I focused myself again into watching the ongoing battle. What causes the gradual decrease of their HP? It was not the jump attack since it only happened twice. It must be the swing. Well, what else could it be? I have eliminated other factors and it was the only one that remained, the swing. Last remaining fact, it has some sort of powerful wind spell technique that could rip someone into two and it only uses it on the duration of blinding light spell. I saw Ari dodge another swing. He turned his back on the Minotaur and dashed to us. ¡°I need a heal.¡± Ari said. Oh, I am an idiot. Why didn¡¯t I think of that? Wind pressure, of course. It was the wind pressure produced by the axe when it was being swing at a great force that damaging them little by little. ¡°Thanks.¡± Ari said as he went back to the Minotaur. Oh, great. Even if I tell them that, what could they possibly do to dodge it?It is now a battle of endurance. One of the twins started to chant something and a light was forming at the tip of his staff. Oh no, he was about to attack. The wizard stepped out of the rock and and directed his staff to the Minotaur and released the accumulated energy. The burst of energy didn¡¯t reach the Minotaur and it just dispersed in the air. I have a feeling on what is about to happen so I rushed to the wizard and tried to grab his arm but I was too late, I was now blinded, but still I felt I had successfully grabbed the hand of the wizard and I pulled it so hard towards me. When we regained our sight, Ari shouted. ¡°Ronne, are you okay? Ronne?¡± ¡°Yes, I am.¡± Ronne replied. Ronne faced me and said smiling. ¡°Thanks. I owe you.¡± I had felt the gush of the wind again during that commotion and realized something. *** ¡°Why don¡¯t you just drop dead already, you fucking cow.¡± Van said angrily. ¡°We are close on defeating this thing.¡± Ari said. Joan sighed. ¡°I wish I could share your optimism, Ari¡± John entered the conversation. ¡°Ari, our supports. Their mana is getting low.¡± ¡°We have to defeat this thing faster, then.¡± When Ari was about to attack he saw someone running to him. It was Cripple. ¡°What are you doing, Cripple?¡± Ari asked. ¡°I have to try something. Don¡¯t mind me. Continue your assault.¡± Cripple answered. Cripple stood near John the Knight because he knew John was currently the target of the Minotaur. The Minotaur swung his axe, John and Cripple ducked down to dodge the attack. ¡°Ari, tell the others to come out of hiding and attack this thing.¡± Cripple shouted. ¡°What¡¯s he talking about, Ari?¡± John asked. ¡°That would get them killed.¡± Ari said to Cripple. ¡°If they don¡¯t help attack this thing," Cripple said while pointing to the Minotaur. "Your healers will run out of mana first. And if that happened were all doomed.¡± ¡°Yeah, but you don¡¯t know what happened last time. They died instantly after casting a spell.¡± Ari argued. ¡°Yeah, I know that. The Minotaur was programmed to deal with ranged heroes first.¡± Cripple said. ¡°Then why do you want them to attack this thing? You should know we were close to bringing this fucking thing down.¡± Van said. "Actually, so far we had only dealt 35% damage to this cow." Zath said calmly. When everyone heard Zath, they were shocked. For them the battle has gone too long and thought they had at least brought the Minotaur down to half HP. ¡°How did you know that?" John asked to Zath. "Its one of my skills as an Assassin." Zath replied. "Why didn¡¯t you tell us you have such skill?¡± John asked, somewhat pissed off. ¡°You did not bothered to ask.¡± replied Zath. Joan was agitated that they still had to bring down 65% of the Minotaur¡¯s life. ¡°Hey, Cripple was it?" She turned to Cripple. "Why do you want our ranged members to come out of hiding? Surely you have some plan?¡± Cripple turned to the paladin. ¡°Yes. I do have.¡± Then turned back to Ari. ¡°Ari, tell them to come out of hiding now.¡± Without hesitation, Ari shouted. ¡°Ronne, Rinne, Mari, Reica and Ken come out now and attack this thing.¡± ¡°Ari, tell Zath to cling on the back of the Minotaur and to never let go, no matter what happened.¡± Cripple said. When Ari was about to give the order, Zath had already jumped and was holding the mane of the Minotaur. Though somewhat confused by the order Ari had given. Ken and the others started to attack. Ronne cast his strongest offensive spell and Ken fired his arrows continuously. Cripple turned to Ari. ¡°Ari, make sure someone clings on the back of the Minotaur at all times.¡± He then, turned his back to retreat. The Minotaur felt the constant bombardment of magic and arrows. It shrugged the attack and started to jump. ¡°Don¡¯t let go, Zath.¡± Ari shouted. Tremors were felt when the Minotaur landed. Due to his low base armor and health Cripple died on the jump attack. Zath was still holding the mane and his health took a lot of damage during the Jump attack. The healers cast their AOE restoration and healing magic. The Minotaur lowered both of his knee. It jumped again for the second time and another tremor was felt when it reached the ground. Reica cast her spell. ¡°Incomplete Voodoo Ressurection.¡±
Incomplete Voodoo Ressurection. One of the pinnacle of Voodoo magic, resurrecting someone from the dead. Though the art is still incomplete. Revive the target as a voodoo doll. Cannot use skills and will revert back to normal state after 12 hrs.
Cripple¡¯s body transformed into strands of hays that retained the basic form of human. The Voodoo doll Cripple ran back to where Ken and the others were. Ari somehow knew that Zath wouldn''t be able to hold on to the mane much longer. He ran to the Minotaur and slid between its legs. ¡°Zath give me a hand.¡± Zath held out his left foot for Ari to grab on. Ari grabbed the leg and started to climb. ¡°Zath, get back to the ground.¡± Zath jumped away to the Minotaur. Ari climbed higher and reached the back of the neck of the Minotaur. The Minotaur lowered its body to prepare another jump. Ari drew his twin swords and stabbed it so hard onto the back of the Minotaur. He braced himself and another tremor was felt when the Minotaur landed. Arrows were shot, spells were cast, swords were drawn and shields were raised. The Minotaur was feeling the constant onslaught. It raised its giant axe to prepare another devastating swing, but instead the room was filled with so much light that it blinded everyone for a second. When everyone was able to see, to their disbelief, no one had died. They continued their attacks and Ari was still clinging onto the back of the Minotaur. He didn¡¯t know the purpose of what he was doing, but he felt the importance of it. The battle lasted for another 10 minutes and finally the Minotaur dropped its giant axe and fell down.
THE MIGHTY MINOTAUR HAS BEEN SLAIN.
¡°Fuck yeah!!!¡± shouted Van raising his hand in the air. Mari hugged Reica beside her. Ronne and Rinne just smiled, but this time their smile was now full of relief and happiness. John and Joan both dropped their shield. Ken placed his bow at his back and Zath was checking on the Minotaur''s corpse looking for Ari. ¡°We did it, Zath.¡± Ari said as he emerged from the Minotaur''s corpse. Zath didn¡¯t say anything but his eyes were smiling.
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Proofreader: ShadowOfHavoc. This Chapter was 1200+ words longer than the previous ones. I don''t know if its too long or just enough. Chapter 9: The Forma Tribe Chapter 9 The Forma Tribe ¡°Help me barricade this door!¡± I shouted. There are five of us currently trapped inside a house, trying to survive the night on a D-deads infested village. And by that I mean, walking corpses, skeletons with their flesh still intact and devouring every one they spotted or sensed. I called them D-deads, short for double dead. Well, because the NPC villagers had no life in the first place and now they were dead and turned into a walking flesh-eating corpses. Quite ironic, huh. She was holding back her tears. The daughter of the tribe leader I was tasked to protect and bring back to the tribe. ¡°What should we do, Cripple? We¡¯re surrounded.¡± She said to me in a shaking voice. I grabbed a table and dragged it near the door. The others who were with us who shared the unfortunate events of being surrounded by flesh eating D-deads helped me barricaded the door. I know that it will only buy us some time and if we really wanted to survived, we need to move. I left the task of barricading the door and windows to the other survivors. I ran to the stairs and drew my sword on the off chance that there are D-deads upstairs. As I slowly went up to the staircase, I noticed there were three rooms, two on my right. I approached the door on my left. I knocked twice and opened the door quickly without bothering to look inside, instead I waited for someone or something to come out. Time passed, and I was now sure no one was in the room or else they would be eating my sword already. I checked the window and peeked outside. I saw a roof below when I looked down. This is it, a way out. *Crack* I heard a wood that was being torn apart. I hurried downstairs. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± I asked. As if an answer, a bloody arm managed to break through the window. The D-deads were now ripping the window like a paper. Some of them managed to even enter the house. ¡°Isshan. Come here.¡± I shouted. Isshan ran towards me. ¡°Go upstairs, left room. Climb down through the window.¡± I said to Isshan while holding her shoulders to calm her down. She nodded. There were now continuous flow of D-deads entering the house through the broken window. The groans and moans were now getting louder every second. ¡°Hey, go upstairs now.¡± I shouted to the rest of the survivors. When they heard me, they turned and ran towards the stair. I didn¡¯t go upstairs yet to follow Isshan, instead I waited. Two of the villager managed to climb the stairs in a hurry, and the D-deads were closing in on us. When the fat merchant¡¯s turn came to climb, I extended my foot to trip him. *Thud.* The merchant lost his balance and hit his head in one of the wooden footsteps. He was out cold. ¡°Sorry, Pal.¡± I said as I ran back upstairs. He was fat, sure. But to be fair, anyone of them, who managed to get to the stairs last, was the one I planned to sacrifice. He was just slow, that¡¯s all, and we badly needed time for us to escape. When I reached the room, Isshan had already gone, and one of the villagers was preparing to follow her. ¡°Hurry.¡± I shouted. ¡°Where¡¯s merchant Kren?¡± asked one of the survivor. I gasped. ¡°He¡¯s gone.¡± He frowned. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s too bad.¡± ¡°No time to mourn, go, go.¡± I said while pushing him to the window. I stepped into the window and started to climb down. ¡°Where to now, young traveler?¡± asked the one of the survivors. ¡°Follow me.¡± I said. I grabbed Isshan¡¯s hand and pulled her beside me. *** 1 week ago. Laughter echoed the dungeon. Ari¡¯s squad still couldn¡¯t believe that they had defeated the Minotaur. ¡°Haha, told ya, we could beat this thing.¡± Van said. ¡°Yeah, Van. Wait till the other cadets hear about this.¡± Ken said while walking towards the Minotaur Corpse. ¡°Oh, they wouldn¡¯t believe it.¡± John said as he picked up his shield. Ari returned his twin swords at his back. ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter, as long as we know.¡± The rest nodded. Joan picked her shield and walked towards me. ¡°I¡¯m not sure we could have defeated this thing, if not for this guy.¡± She said while pointing her shield at me. ¡°Oh right, Cripple. Why did you want us to cling on the Minotaur¡¯s back?¡± Ari asked. ¡°I¡¯m not sure what really happened but somehow the Minotaur failed to kill our ranged members.¡± He continued. ¡°It was a space cow.¡± I said. It was the best statement I can think of that summarizes our slain opponent. Everyone faced me, dazzled at my words. ¡°A space cow?¡± Ari asked. ¡°Well, it can travel through space, during the course of blinding light.¡± I replied. They were silent for a second trying to let what I had just said to sink in. ¡°That makes sense.¡± Joan said in a serious face. She was holding her chin while her other arm was laid across, below her chest. ¡°That would explain the absence of tremor during the blinding light.¡± Zath nodded. ¡°Wait, hold on. What makes sense?¡± Van agitatedly asked. ¡°Are you saying, that cow can teleport?¡± Ronne asked. I nodded. ¡°No way, are you serious?¡± Ari asked. I nodded again. ¡°As what Ms. Joan said, the fact that we didn¡¯t feel any tremors during the blinding light means the Minotaur didn¡¯t walk or run to its target.¡± I said while looking at their puzzled faces. ¡°At first, I thought it was a long range spell that killed Ken.¡± ¡°But it wasn¡¯t, was it?¡± Ken said. ¡°When did you learn that it was not a long range spell?¡± Joan asked. ¡°All throughout the battle, I also thought it was some sort of spell.¡± ¡°After the Minotaur was defeated.¡± I said. Joan dropped her jaw. ¡°What? Don¡¯t tell me you took a gamble on our lives without our consent?¡± Ari laughed. ¡°Well, it turned out to be alright. Calm down, Joan.¡± ¡°The minotaur jumped when someone was on its back trying to get rid of whoever it was, why?¡± I asked to Joan. ¡°I don¡¯t know, maybe the Minotaur find it irritating.¡± Joan replied. ¡°I think, it disrupts whatever spells it has when someone was on its back.¡± I said. ¡°So you didn¡¯t know it was a teleporting cow?¡± Rinne asked in a soothing voice. ¡°Yes, although I had a feeling, I was not entirely sure, that¡¯s why the gamble. Sorry.¡± I said in my most calming voice. ¡°So if someone was clinging onto it, it can¡¯t teleport?¡± asked John. ¡°Yes. But it¡¯s better to think of it this way, the Minotaur can¡¯t travel through and in between space with an extra baggage.¡± I said. ¡°Nah dude, it¡¯s better to say teleport. It¡¯s a lot easier to understand.¡± Van said. ¡°That would explain why the Minotaur kept on jumping when Zath and Ari was on its back, it was trying to get rid of them from its back.¡± Ken said. I nodded. Looks like they understand now. ¡°Whoa, this is some Minotaur then.¡± Ari said. "Anyway, thank you Cripple." Instead of a thanks, an item from the drop would be nice. I thought. As if he was able to read my thoughts. Ari said. ¡°Cripple, to show our gratitude, you can be the first one to choose any single item you want and its yours.¡± ¡°Uhm, Really?¡± I was ecstatic when I heard Ari. I can choose any item here and it would be mine, fantastic. ¡°Yes.¡± Ari said and he turned to his teammates. ¡°That wouldn¡¯t be a problem, right guys?¡± They nodded. There were Minotaur¡¯s hind legs, tail, horn, nose ring, mane, some armors and other accessories scattered around. Every single item would fetch a decent amount in the market. I looked around, searching for an item that would greatly help me in my future endeavors. An armor would be nice. I searched for an armor, but the armors I found has class restriction and since I don¡¯t know what class I will become, if I succeed the Lt. Kino''s quest, I discarded the notion of looking for another armor. Instead, I searched for an accessories since they were hard to find and they cost a lot because of the scarcity of Jeweler in UAN territory.
Ring of Mino, the Mighty Minotaur One of the prized possessions of Mino, the Mighty Minotaur. It was meant to be a gift to a human, Lyra. Rarity: Rare Intelligence + 8 Strength + 10 Agility + 10 Dexterity +10 Vitality + 10 Defense +5 Wind damage increased by 5% Wind Resistance increased by 5%
Woah, Amazing. ¡°I choose thing ring then, if you guy'' don''t mind.¡± I said. ¡°Good choice. Yes, you can have it.¡± They started to collect the other items and we headed outside the dungeon. Ari inhaled. ¡°Fresh air.¡± And turned to me. ¡°By the way, where will you go now?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll hunt some monsters here for a while.¡± I said. After witnessing such battle, my blood was riled up and eager to fight. ¡°Okay, good luck then. By the way, can we add you to our friends list?¡± I don¡¯t know what to say, but before I could give a reply, a message appeared.
Arima requested you to be his friend.
YESNO
They might be useful in the near future and I have this strange feeling that I would meet them again, sooner than everyone of us think. ¡°Yes.¡± I said. Afterwards, everyone one of them started to add me on their friends list. ¡°Thanks again, Cripple.¡± Ronne said. ¡°Thank you for saving my brother.¡± Rinne smiled at me as she passed me by. Ken nodded at me. ¡°See ya, mate.¡± John said. Zath just stared at me and gave me a slight nod. ¡°Goodbye, Mr. Cripple.¡± Mari said. "Thanks for reviving me, Ms. Reica." I said to Reica as she walked in front of me. Reica held my hand and stared at me. She has this look of wanting to hug me. Perhaps, she find my appearance as a voodoo doll so adorable. Mari hugged Reica on her arms as she pulled her away from me and gave me a forced smile and a slight bow as they went on their way. Joan stared at me with her piercing gaze. A gaze you usually give to a competitor. In return, I gave her my most charming smile, but somehow having an appearance of a voodoo doll, it must have been creepy. ¡°I''ll see you around.¡± Ari said and shook my hands. We went on our separate ways. I started to look for gnomes to fight before Yunjee knows I am out in the dungeon.
Yunjee: Head straight to the east.
Oh great, how does she even know I am out? I looked around hoping she was nearby. I walked towards the eastern side of the Mountain. I found her with Lt. Kino and they both wore a plain shirts and pants. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. When Yunjee saw me, she was surprised. She was trying so hard not to laugh at me and in doing so her face flushed. It was my first time seeing her that happy. I felt relieved. Okay Yunjee, now we¡¯re even. ¡°Y-you looked, different.¡± Lt. Kino laughed. ¡°So how was your first dungeon exploration?¡± He asked. ¡°Well, it went fine, sir.¡± ¡°Haha, really? I guess you are ready then.¡± ¡°Ready for what, sir?¡± I asked, but I knew what he meant. ¡°Drop the sir when were in game." he sighed. "The quest, of course.¡± I looked at Yunjee trying to see her reactions. She has this look of someone who is in doubt. Most probably she was doubting whether I am ready or not. ¡°I think I am ready.¡± I said firmly. ¡°Where in the Birek Mountain range can I get the quest?¡± I asked. Yunjee snapped her head to look at me. She was giving me an intriguing look. ¡°Haha, oh boy, you are really sharp.¡± Laughed lt. Kino. ¡°Did you figured that out based on the fact that we sent you here in this Mountain range to train instead of other places?¡± Lt. Kino asked. I nodded. ¡°Very good. There was a reason Yunjee trained you here and that is to acclimate yourself in this mountains.¡± He said. ¡°I guess you have also figured out that the quest has one singular similarity." ¡°Yes. It stands to reason that the origin of the quest can only be obtained in one place. After that, it all changes.¡± ¡°Yes. Yes, very good. But it cannot be obtained in one location.¡± I was puzzled at his words. ¡°Are you saying the origin of the quest was moving?¡± I clarified. ¡°Haha, that¡¯s right. I need you to find them here in this Mountain Range.¡± ¡°Them? Who are they?¡± ¡°The Forma tribe. They are a nomadic tribe of warriors and hunters. Our intel told us they were currently living here in this mountains.¡± ¡°This mountain ranges is vast.¡± I said. ¡°Oh, I am sure you can figure something out.¡± He laughed. ¡°When you find the forma tribe, earned the trust of their tribe leader and their seeker. They will lead you to the quest.¡± Oh great, How am I supposed to find them? I thought. ¡°Is that all the information you can give me?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes. However, we have videos on how the other Spectre members perform the quest and failed, but I strongly suggests that you should not watch them.¡± ¡°I understand, because the quest was constantly changing, information from the previous undertakings could bring me more harm than help.¡± Lt. Kino nodded. ¡°Here take this, compliments from the Spectre Division.¡±
Long Copper Sword Durability: 20/20 Rarity: Uncommon Level Requirement: Lvl 15 Damage: 12-16 Strength +4 Agility +4 Weight: 25
Novice Plate Armor Durability: 25/25 Rarity: Uncommon Level Requirement: Lvl 10 Defense +7 Vitality +4 Weight: 50
Basic Magic Bag Capacity: 100 items.
¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°Oh before I forgot, I visited your parents and told them you were gonna be away for a while." He pointed to a small bag and a box. "and this, your mother asked me to give it to you." It was a bentou and a small bag. ¡°Thanks.¡± Lt. Kino nodded. ¡°Well then, good luck Mr. Kira, the thirteenth Spectre. May the God of your choice favors you in this quest.¡± They turned and walked away but Yunjee looked back at me, I felt like she was trying to say good luck, but my appearance as a voodoo doll ruined her sincerity, and instead she hold her mouth to hide her amusement but her smiling eyes failed her. When they were gone. I checked my status. ¡°Character status.¡±
You are a Voodoo Doll. Skills Activation: DISABLED Time left to return to normal: 8 hrs 56 min.
I had no slightest idea on how to track someone in the mountains. Yunjee didn¡¯t taught me any of that. Instead, I decided to reach the peak of the mountain to have a good vantage point. I encountered some monsters but I avoided them. With the expenditure of time and food, I managed to reach the peak. It was not the tallest mountain in the area, but still, it gave me a good spot to observe what was happening below. The mountain was not tall enough to reach the clouds. That¡¯s why, I was still able to witness the greenery scene below me where countless trees covered the mountain. I was on the lookout for smokes. As the saying goes, where there''s smoke, there is a fire. I saw two smokes below, grey as a stormy clouds, escaping into the sky. I was almost tempted to rush to the source of the smoke, but I realized that if I was the tribe leader, I would set up my camp with a nearby source of water, but by further observation, there was none of it nearby. I started a fire to where I stand to serve as a marker that I have been here and also the smoke will tell me how far I have traveled from this point. I continued to travel south and still in the lookout for a smoke or any clues of nearby settlement. When nighttime came, I climbed in one of the trees to hide. Good news, though, the effect of Voodoo doll was gone. I ate my dinner sitting in one of the branches of the tree and waited for the sun to grace me his presence. It has now been two days since I started to find the Forma tribe. I continued traversing to the south side of the Mountain range and saw a river and several smokes near it. Oh, they were having a feast. I started to climb down slowly in the mountain towards the river. I stopped when I heard some rustling of the leaves. Uh-oh. I quickly ran towards the source of the smoke, hoping that if some monster had indeed discovered me, the tribesman will help me deal with them. When I reached my destination, there were no tribesman or houses or any traces that someone had lived here. Only a crackling of fires greeted me. When I turned around and was about to walk away, several people with unique clothing blocked my path with their spears and bows held up and all pointing at me. Uh-oh, I gradually raised both of my hands to show them my unconditional surrender, I have no idea if they understood what I just did, so I decided to kneel down too. One of them slowly walked towards me and grabbed my hand and twisted it around my back and drove my face to the ground. ¡°Hey, that hurts.¡± I shouted while my right cheek was touching the ground. They brought my other arm to my back and tied a rope on it. They helped me stood up and pushed me to start walking. We walked for a while and managed to reach their tribe. Oh, these clever bastards, they started the fire miles away from their tribe as a decoy for monsters or for unwanted guests and I fell for it. My captors pushed me to continue walking. When we reached a certain tent, my captor kick the back of my knee and I was forced me to stooped. ¡°Hey, don''t just kick someone''s leg.¡± I shouted. Feeling irritated and angry. He growled at me. A figure emerged from the tent. He was tall, muscular and had a brown complexion like the rest of them. He has a distinct tattoo on his chiseled face and squared jaw. He has the looks and masculinity of being a tribe leader. He was intimidating and scary. ¡°O¡¯ great and honorable leader of the Forma tribe, this humble traveler is at your service.¡± I said in my most clear and vibrant voice. ¡°Who are you?¡± he asked in a very low voice. ¡°They call me Cripple, O¡¯ honorable leader.¡± ¡°Untie him.¡± He ordered to his men. When my arms were untied. The tribe leader gestured me to follow him. He entered his tent and I followed him inside. He sat down on his legs crossed with each other and motioned me to sit down as well. ¡°You have heard and know of us, young traveler, perhaps from a young woman?¡± Young woman? Is he talking about Yunjee ¡°Yes, O¡¯ great leader.¡± ¡°Where is she now? My daughter? She went missing a week ago and we have not found her since.¡± Oh, bollocks. He was talking about his daughter not Yunjee. I''ll just ride this chance then and lie my way through. ¡°I met her in the woods and I haven¡¯t seen her since, O¡¯ great leader, but if you would permit this humble traveler, I would like to find her once again and bring her back to you.¡± I bowed while holding my fist to my chest. He was hesitating, but the lack of the result of his men in searching for his daughter gave me an opportunity. He stood. ¡°Very well, Young Cripple. I, Ishul, the Beast slayer, son of Ishod and Chieftain of Forma tribe, assigned you the task of finding my daughter and bringing her back to the tribe.¡± Ting.
Quest: Ishul''s prodigal daughter. Find Ishul¡¯s daughter and bring her back safely to the tribe. Quest Difficulty: D Rewards: Unknown
Will you accept the quest?
YESNO
I stood. ¡°I, Cripple, will find your daughter and bring her back to the tribe." I said in my most gallant voice. "Alive." he growled. "That, too. Of course."
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I am so sorry guys, that this chapter took so long. Here is the next chapter. There might be some grammatical errors I have missed, for that I am sorry. The next chapter was finished already but It was still rough, I need to go over it again and again. Chapter 10: The Ghost Town Chapter 10 The Ghost Town I did not ask any more questions to Ishul, Chieftain of Forma tribe, for he may suspect me that I hadn¡¯t really met her daughter. I left the Forma tribe yesterday with nothing but only my bag, sword and armor. I had no idea where to start my search, so I asked Yunjee if there are villages or towns south of Birek Mountain Range. She told me there is a village called Murika and it is located at the southern end of the mountain range. I traveled for almost two days straight and still no sign of the village. Ishul told me her daughter was missing and they couldn''t find her. I don¡¯t know if she was kidnapped or left on her own accord. But being kidnapped is highly unlikely, because these tribesman had spent their entire lives living in the wild and they were probably the best trackers in whole UAN territory. The fact that this people couldn¡¯t find her tells me that she doesn''t want to be found. I wondered how I am going to convince her to return home. If she was as close as frightening and as big as her father, urgh, I shudder at the thought, I felt my hair tinges when I pictured a female version of the chieftain. Twice as tall as me, gigantic biceps and legs, rock hard abdomens, long hair, blood lust eyes and massive breasts. If I failed this quest, it would be very impossible for Chieftain Ishul to trust me again. If that happens, I might as well bid goodbye to the special quest. No matter how she looks or even if I have to tie and dragged her back to her tribe, I must bring her back at all costs. On my way deeper to the southern part of the mountain range- still not seeing Muriko village or any traces of it- I found footprints and by the looks of it, there could be at least two sets of them. The prints were not that big but it was longer than normal and the mark can only be made by a three-fingered foot. The scent of meat being roasted stab my nose and made my stomach growl. I followed the footprints and the scent was getting stronger. I drew my sword and hide in one of the bushes. When I looked past the bushes, I saw a fire and it was surrounded by two figures. I slowly moved closer and finally got a good look on them. They were rats, or at least that¡¯s what their head looks like. They were busy eating their food, and incredibly fast too. They were so fast, that their two yellowish long teeth were creating after images and bits of meats were flying around their neck. They were facing each other and they looked thinner than me and on their side was two giant bags. They wore a faded and a bit loose leather armor. If you think about, those leather armors was not heavy enough to leave a footprint, then those bags must have a weight a lot. I wanted to leave them be since they haven¡¯t discovered me yet, but I was so tempted to know what was in their bags. I searched for any object lying beside me. I grabbed rock, big enough to be held on one hand, and found another, a bit smaller than the first one. I threw the smaller rock and aimed it high. High enough to go across the two busy rats without them noticing. I picked the other rock and waited for the other rock to land. When it landed, the two rats immediately turned to see what they heard. I then charged at them. When they turned their head to look at me, I had already closed the distance. They both stood and I threw the rock towards to the rat at my left side. I didn¡¯t bothered to throw it hard since it was only meant as a distraction rather than to hurt. The rat raised its hand to block the incoming rock. I leveled my sword across my chest and continued my charge to the other rat. The rat swing the piece of meat, the one it¡¯s holding on its tiny right hand, to block my sword. But with all the momentum I garnered from running, my brand new sword went through the piece of meat into its leather armor and to the other side, and we both fell on the ground. The other rat was now able to grasp what was happening and attacked me with its tail. Its tail coiled around my neck and it prevented me from breathing. The game was so realistic that it was able to tricked the brain that I was actually choking. But if one realized that breathing in Lost Earth was more like a formality rather than necessity, then they would be able to deal this situation calmly. I stood up and extracted my sword impaled on the rat¡¯s body. I twisted my body to face it and I saw it was picking up its weapon from the ground. I swung my sword coming from below to cut the tail. It shrieked and bare his two front teeth at me. I removed the remaining hairy tail around my neck. ¡°Oh, so gross.¡± It charged at me, but before it could get near me, it tripped itself. The loss of its tail must''ve messed up its sense of balance. I ran towards it and quickly placed my left foot at its back to stop it from standing up again. I raised my sword while pointing the tip at its head. When my sword went down, it pierced through on its neck.
You have leveled up.
I checked the contents of the bags. It contained Silver chalices, silver plates, cooking utensils, spoons and forks, candleholder, bread knifes and a bunch of silver wares. These rats were lvl 20 and they were called Rattails and it seems they were in the business of theft. The stolen stuffs must have come from a church or a respectable household. That would mean there was a nearby village here. I could return some of the stolen goods and earn some fame and reputation, a good investment in the future, and sell the others when I got back to the city. I checked the contents of the other bag and it was almost the same, however, a certain gauntlet caught my eyes. The gauntlet was covered in black, it was so light that you couldn¡¯t believe it was made of metal. It has an intricate design of layers and layers of black metal placed in between each other. It was long, it could easily covered my entire hand, from my elbow to fingertips. It looked sleek and dangerous but when I tried to identify it, I failed. Its rarity must be rare or higher. My dad may be able to identify this for me. I placed the gauntlet and other stuffs to my bag. All of it wasn''t able to fit in my bag so I took one of the Rattail¡¯s bag and placed the remaining goods on it. Of course, I couldn¡¯t carry all of them. Instead, I dig a hole near the fire using the silver chalices and plates. When the hole gets bigger and deeper enough, I slid the bag in it and covered it again. I moved the burning wood one by one on top of the spot where I just buried the bag. I placed more woods on it and the fire grew bigger. The ashes from the fire, hopefully would mask the signs of a freshly dug ground.
Satiety rate: 12%
I picked the meat dropped by one of the Rattails that I skewered and ate it.
You are hungry. Satiety increased by 3%
Only 3%, huh. Well, what do you expect from a rat''s cooking, After my scuffle with the burglar rats. I decided to continue my search of Murika Village. The weight of my bag was steadily decreasing my satiety rate, thus, I was forced to stopped for a while to cook some food. Apparently, everyone in Lost Earth can cook, even those damn rats can, but the effect varies greatly depending on one¡¯s skill in real world. However, a chef in Lost Earth with Lvl 1 Basic Cooking Mastery could easily defeat a five star hotel chef with a combat class, in terms of food effects and bonuses. The council did not only restarted the game, they also did a massive revamp of the game. Like for example, they had increased the pain threshold to 20%, changed the entire continent to fit the needs of the four remaining factions, and each of them were given a starting territory, they made the game more balanced, systematic and realistic, one cannot learn anymore skills that overlap to other classes, for example, a tailor couldn¡¯t learn Cooking Mastery Skill, but they could still learn stuff like Horseback Riding Mastery and etc., but only after they graduated from being a Novice. That is why the existence of hidden classes does not make sense in Lost Earth, hence the gravity of my quest. I roasted the meat I stole from the Rattails that they probably stole from someone else. I grin and thought Isn¡¯t kind of ironic to steal from a thief, anyways, all of those meat only managed to increase my satiety at a meager rate of 10%. I brought out some of the food my mother gave me thru Lt. Kino, and my satiety increased by almost 50%. Now, that¡¯s real food, I thought.
Satiety rate increased by 46% Strength +7 Vitality+7 Agility +7 Dexterity +7 HP regeneration increased by 1% MP regeneration increased by 0.4% Effects and bonuses lasts for a day
Now that I am stuffed. I continued traveling south and finally found a man-made pathway, I followed it and it directly led me straight to Murika Village. The village has a rustic and abandoned look and it gives off a gloomy vibe. The gate was open and riddled with splintered woods, and there seems to be no one guarding it. I saw four users coming out. They kept walking away from the village. ¡°Tough luck, boy. No one¡¯s here, this town is deserted.¡± Said one of them. I didn¡¯t say anything and they continued to walk towards me, until they passed me. I entered the village but only a cold wind and a weird silence greeted me, there were no NPCS or other users. I looked around and the houses looked old or rather dull, a sign that no one has lived in the villages for a long time. I reached the town square and found only trash lying around and the merchant carts were out of places. Oh, a dead end. I thought. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.It was a ghost town and the place gives me the creeps, not that I believed in paranormal stuffs, but in lost earth, I am not a cripple, so what do I know. I walked to a certain house and kicked down the door. The door should have been given in but instead I was thrown off and landed on my butt. If someone saw me, they would have already burst into a laughter. Damn, that¡¯s one sturdy door. I checked the windows and it was barricaded from the inside. Something¡¯s not right. Could be monsters raid or some internal discord from the town. I drew my sword and hit the window with the hilt of my sword. I hacked the wood planks that blocked the window. After a few hacking, I managed to make an opening small enough for me to fit through. I entered the house and it was empty. No decorations, food, or anything that you would expect from a simple household. I looked around and the house was in a mess. It seems like the one who previously lives here left in a hurry. Now, I am curious to what had happened to this town. I went out in the house via the window. As I stepped outside, I saw a figure standing few blocks away from me. When it had noticed me, it suddenly took off and ran to a corner. Only an idiot will rushed and follow it, I went around the block instead. I drew my sword and went to where it could possibly had gone. I found it waiting in the corner with its knife, probably waiting for me, I could have been stabbed if I followed it. Though, looking closely, it was a human NPC, a fat one at that and bald too. I sneaked behind him. ¡°Are you planning to kill me with that?¡± I asked while pointing my sword at his back. He dropped his knife and raised both of his hands as if to block an incoming punch. ¡°Please don¡¯t kill me.¡± He said. His hands were shivering like a jackhammer. ¡°Of course not.¡± I said. He slowly lowered his hands. ¡°Then can you withdrew your sword?¡± ¡°Depends on whether you still want to kill me.¡± I said while looking to the knife in the ground. ¡°I am not. I was just scared and all.¡± He regained his confidence and stood straight. He was taller than me by an inch. Yet, I don¡¯t find him intimidating but rather a timid one. ¡°They why did you run when you saw me?¡± I asked still not dropping the sword. ¡°I am merchant Kren. What¡¯s your name young man?¡± he asked. Deflecting my question, huh. Classic response when someone has something to hide. ¡°I am a nobody, but most people call me Cripple. And you, haven¡¯t answered my question.¡± ¡°Follow me.¡± He looked to the sky. ¡°The night is falling, trust me, we don¡¯t want to stay here. I sheathed my sword. He seems to be nervous about something. Its best to follow him for a while, instead of finding out what could happen during the night. He led the way and I followed. We stopped at the front of a house near the town square. The door opened easily and he looked around before we enter. His sweat was pouring down at his temple. What is he afraid of? ¡°Help me.¡± He said as he was pulling a chair towards the door. We placed chairs, cabinets and tables to block the door. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± He said when we were finished. I was surprised when he opened a door at the floor. There was a stairway going down at the basement, or so I thought. But it was not a basement, it was a tunnel. My eyes took a moment to adjust in this pitch black tunnel. It was warm and moist and this merchant has no plan of lighting any fire. He knocked twice in the wall. ¡°Touch this wall with your right hand and you won¡¯t get lost.¡± I reoriented myself on the sound of the knocking and held out my right hand to find the wall. I felt a rough and a cold surface in my fingertips. If I kept touching the wall while walking, I will always turn right in any forks. I moved forward and wasn¡¯t able to see anything, my heart was thumping like a drum. I guess, I was afraid of the abyss, not for the reason of terrifying monsters or any horrible creatures that lurk there. It was the nothingness that scared me, the helplessness, the realization that everything we do, will amount to nothing, a zero sum game. The sound of the merchant¡¯s footsteps tells me he was close and but to me, it was a rhythm that was soothing my frightened soul. We walked for a while and I saw a lit torch ahead. Honestly, I felt relieved. It was quite an experience walking blind like that. For the first time, I was grateful that I am a cripple instead of being blind. ¡°Here.¡± He said as he walked upstairs. When he opened the door, a bright yellow light almost blinded me. When my eyes adjusted, I saw grey stone walls, marble flooring, and a statue.
You have witnessed the statue of the god of mountain, Birek. Health regeneration increased by 3% Mana regeneration increased by 1.5% Vitality increased by 10 Strenght increased by 5 Magic resistance against lightning increased by 75%
It was a church. The fat bald merchant led me to a church. If he thinks were safe here, why did we used the tunnels instead of the front door? Was he afraid someone might follow us? ¡°Who is he, Kren?¡± asked a mysterious guy. He was tall and skinny and wore a farmer¡¯s clothing. ¡°I saw him outside when I went to get some of my goods in my house.¡± Kren replied. The other guy stared at me and said nothing, then left. Kren turned to me. ¡°Come.¡± I followed them. They were both NPC¡¯s and I can only assume that the town is under some sort of attack. From who or what? I have no idea. When we reached the room. There were two more NPC¡¯s, one of them is a middle age man, and signs of old age in his face were visible. But the way he stand, I think he can still outrun anyone in the room. The other was a young woman, a bit shorter and leaner than me. She wore a white tunic with brown laces on its long sleeves. She has caramel-like skin and dark wide eyes with unbelievably long lushes. Her golden brown wavy hair brush along her shoulder blades. The old man looked at me. ¡°Who¡¯re ya? Boy¡± ¡°They call me Cripple.¡± I answered. ¡°Are you a cripple?¡± I swallowed. ¡°No, it¡¯s my name.¡± ¡°I am Borin, The mayor of this town.¡± Said the old man. He pointed to the figure beside me. ¡°That¡¯s merchant Kren. And that old geezer there is Threbo.¡± I looked to the young woman and she looked back at me. Her hair was parted in the middle and extended along her ears. She looked exquisite and different. Her skin color somehow matches the people of the Forma Tribe. ¡°She is Isshan. A seeker.¡± Borin said. Isshan? A Seeker? Her name is strikingly close to Ishul, there¡¯s a high chance she was the one I was looking for, and if she was a Seeker, then it¡¯s my lucky day, it¡¯s like hitting two birds with a single stone. Jackpot. I took a gamble. I bowed. ¡°Milady, your father is worried sick about you.¡± They all looked to Isshan, wondering what the hell I am talking about. ¡°My father would not trust a weak looking human like you to find me.¡± She said. It was really her. I am still bowing with my right hand across my stomach and other at my back. ¡°Be that as it may. Would you reconsider coming back home?¡± ¡°I am not coming back. Tell that to my stubborn father.¡± She said sternly. I can tell she was getting uncomfortable in all the formality I was showing, she was fidgeting whenever I mentioned, Milady. I stopped with my right knee. ¡°Then, milady Isshan. What could I possibly do to urge you to return home?" Its best to irritate her and make her uncomfortable enough that she would want to get rid of me. ¡°Stop it. Don¡¯t call me lady and such. And for Daneto¡¯s sake, please do get up.¡± She ordered. I did not stand nor budge. ¡°Alright, fine. This town is under some curse. Help me remove it, and I¡¯ll follow you.¡± She said. I stood up and scuffed the dust in my knee. Got you. Ting!
Quest: Murika Town¡¯s Curse. Murika Town is a small town located south of Birek Mountain ranges. People from Murika were farmers and hunters. They worshiped, Birek, the god of mountains. The town was blessed with bountiful resources like fish, lumber, plants and animals. Unravel the curse that is haunting the people of Murika Town. Difficulty: D Rewards: Isshan intimacy would increased
¡°Gladly, my lady.¡± I said.
You have accepted the quest.
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Here it is, I hope I didn''t made too much mistakes. Btw, I am currently making a map of the Continent of Pangaea, and the UAN territory. I made some already but they sucked, I wasn''t able to follow some of the steps. The cartographersguild website offers stunning tutorials and now I am kinda enjoying making maps. Hopefully, If I am successful in making a decent one, I will post it here. Maps, discussions, etc. I''ll put all maps on this thread. So please come visit here often. Also comments, suggestions and criticisms are all welcome here. LOST EARTH: PANGAEA This is the map of Pangaea. There are other continents aside from Pangaea. But the council deemed this continent to be the starting territory of each World Factions. Though, it may look small, but I assure you they are relatively big. UAN TERRITORY alone is 20 Million Square Kilometers, twice as big as China. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. More detailed Map will follow soon. Especially, detailed MAP of UAN territory. MURIKA TOWN SQUARE So guys, I hope you like it. Chapter 11: The Blockade Chapter 11 The Blockade Lt. Kino was sitting in his office when the door opened and a tall figure entered the room wearing black suit and tie. ¡°Ho ho ho. My dear brother, please do come in.¡± Lt. Kino said. But before Lt. Kino was able to finish his sentence, the man was already on the chair. He unbuttoned his suit and sat down. ¡°Oh my, by all means, please sit down.¡± Lt. Kino said sarcastically. The man looked around the office before fixing his eyes to Lt. Kino. ¡°Hmm. Ordinary.¡± Lt. Kino laughed. ¡°Yes, I like to keep it that way.¡± Knock* knock* The tension broke when someone knocked the door. ¡°Lt. Kino, this is Jeehan, I have the recorded videos you asked.¡± ¡°Come in.¡± Lt. Kino ordered. When Jeehan entered the room, she was surprised at Lt. Kino¡¯s guest. ¡°Uhm.. I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t know, y-you have--.¡± Jeehan faltered. Lt. Kino held out his palm to her and she approached Lt. Kino¡¯s desk and handed the laptop she was holding. ¡°Beautiful as ever, young Jeehan.¡± The guest said. Jeehan bowed. ¡°Thank you, Mr. Senator.¡± ¡°Have you made up your mind about my proposition, Jeehan?¡± The Senator said. ¡°Quit working with my sorry excuse of a lazy brother and come work for me.¡± ¡°I am honored that you think highly of me, Mr. Senator. But, I think I have to refuse your offer, I am sorry.¡± Jeehan bowed. The Senator sighed. ¡°Very well, you are always welcome in my division. We are always in need of talented soldier like yourself.¡± "Thank you, Mr. Senator" ¡°I¡¯m sure you didn¡¯t come here to recruit my staff. Did you, Saito?¡± Lt. Kino smiled. Senator Saito sighed. ¡°We have information of Russian troops marching into one our city in the Northwest region.¡± ¡°Fifty thousand strong, wasn¡¯t it?¡± Lt. Kino asked. ¡°You were lazy and now you¡¯re getting sloppy too, my younger brother.¡± Sen. Saito said. ¡°Fifteen-thousand Russian soldiers, fifteen thousand Mercenaries, ten thousand users and another ten thousand NPC soldiers, all combat ready.¡± ¡°Ha ha ha. You¡¯re living up to your expectations, next Prime Minister.¡± Lt. Kino said. ¡°Your division, what¡¯s it called? Spectrabull or something, only answers to the Prime Minister. When I become the Prime Minister, you will answer to me, Kino.¡± Sen. Saito mocked. ¡°Oh, I am looking forward to that.¡± Lt. Kino said in his sarcastic voice. ¡°Don¡¯t be. Anyways, I am here to give you a mission. The current prime minister asked me to personally tell you that your Division, as of today, is now on active duty.¡± ¡°So that old geezer finally decided to forgive us.¡± Lt. Kino said. ¡°Officially, I am against it. There¡¯s a high chance one of your members may betray us again.¡± Sen. Saito said. ¡°So, get your lazy ass back to work, my dear brother and watched your members carefully.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the mission.¡± Lt. Kino asked. ¡°Do what you do best, brother.¡± Senator Saito stood up, buttoned his suit and turned to Jeehan. ¡°Make sure he doesn¡¯t slack off.¡± Jeehan nodded, as Senator Saito exited the room. ¡°Jeehan, I want you to call seven and eight and tell them to meet me at the usual place.¡± Lt. Kino ordered. ¡°Yes, sir.¡± Jeehand answered. *** ¡°These things, the walking corpses, appear at night and from out of nowhere?¡± I asked. I dropped the milady this time for I wanted to win her favor rather than to annoy her. ¡°Yes they were animated dead, but they were originally the people of this town.¡± Isshan said. ¡°What do we need to do then to lift the curse?¡± I asked. ¡°I-I have to recite an incantation.¡± Isshan said while trying to hide her worried face. I sighed. ¡°Let me guess, this incantation needs to be recited at the middle of the night or something.¡± ¡°Uh-Yes.¡± She gave me a surprised look. ¡°Also, at the middle of the town, the town square.¡± Urgh. Duh doy. Of course I know that, else you would have recited it here. ¡°How long it would take you to recite the spell?¡± I asked. ¡°I will need an hour.¡± ¡°And no one has to bother you while you are doing the incantations?¡± She nodded. ¡°When I start, the corpses will turned all of their attention to me and they will try to interrupt the process.¡± I nodded. ¡°Then we have to ask your father for some help.¡± She turned his gaze away from me. ¡°It will be too late. If the curse hasn¡¯t lifted tomorrow, its effect will be permanent.¡± Are you freaking kidding me? It took me almost a week to come here, even if the tribesman rode a horse it would at least take them two days. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you asked him before?¡± I asked. Isshan looked down. ¡°He told me that he wouldn¡¯t risk the safety of our people to settle the problems of the other races." ¡°That¡¯s why you left.¡± I said. So their tribe belongs to one of the hidden races. No wonder their skin color is different. I should ask her more about this after the quest is finished. She nodded and her unbelievably beautiful long eye lashes seems to flutter whenever she nods. I looked to Borin, the town¡¯s mayor. ¡°Do you have a map of this town?¡± ¡°Yes. Here.¡± He took a scroll from his bag. ¡°Were they strong?¡± I asked while looking to the map. ¡°A bit yeah, but they were slow.¡± Borin answered. ¡°And there''s a lot of them.¡± Kren answered. I looked again to Borin. ¡°What was the town population before the curse?¡± ¡°Around fourteen hundred, excluding young adventurers like you.¡± He answered. ¡°There weren¡¯t that many adventurers who visits this town anyway.¡± Threbo said. ¡°Are they drawn to the sounds, as usual?¡± I asked. ¡°As usual? Are there other towns suffering from the same curses.¡± Kren asked. Damn those zombie novels. ¡°What I mean was monsters were attracted to sounds right?¡± They seemed to take it. I would rather not explain to these NPC¡¯s that there is a world beyond Lost Earth. That they were just a product of mankind¡¯s imagination and thirst for violence. ¡°You guys should get some sleep, we have a lot of work to do tomorrow.¡± For D-rank quest, this one is hard. I¡¯ll have to make do with what I have then. We were all in the same room and they started to prepare their sleeping areas. I am not yet sleepy so I decided to look into the map once more and come up with a better plan. Isshan shifted her body and now facing me. ¡°Thank you for helping us, Cripple.¡± She said. I looked at her and saw her lips curved. It was a subtle smile. I turned away and looked at the map again. ¡°It¡¯s no problem, Lady Isshan. I promised your father I¡¯ll bring you back alive.¡± ¡°Isshan, just Isshan.¡± She said then turned her body facing the wall. The A.I system of this game is top notch. For a second there, I somehow felt her emotion. The relief and happiness that someone was helping the town beside her and a tinge of sadness. When I had memorized the map, every nook and crannies, I logged out of the game. ***
DUNGEON CLEARED!
¡°Another boring dungeon.¡± Van sighed. ¡°Yeah, compared to the Minotaur Dungeon, this is too easy.¡± John said approvingly. ¡°Off to the next dungeon then. Where¡¯s the nearest dungeon here, Ken?¡± Ari asked. Ken took something from his bag. ¡°According to Intelligence Division, the nearest one was south of here." ¡°What kind of monsters lies in there?¡± Ari asked. ¡°You know, its Academy¡¯s policy to not reveal any information about dungeons, except its location to the cadets.¡± Ken answered. ¡°Why?¡± Ari asked. Ken sighed. ¡°To train us on how to adapt to any kind of situations.¡± Ari turned to Van. ¡°Did you know that Van?¡± ¡°Of course, I know that.¡± Van said while trying to put on airs. But the truth was, Van had no idea such rule existed. ¡°Ari, let¡¯s head first in the nearest town. Our equipment need some repairs.¡± Joan said. ¡°Ok, to the nearest town then.¡± Ari said then turned to Ken. Ken looked again to his map. ¡°There¡¯s a town called Murika south of this mountain range.¡± ¡°Ok let¡¯s go there.¡± Ari said. *** When the sun peeked on Murika town, I told them my plan to form a blockade around the town square. The town square have four roads connected to it. Luckily, the houses were close to each other that makes defending the square a bit easy. ¡°Grab anything you can, tables, chairs, cabinets, doors, as long as it is heavy bring it in to the town square.¡± I said. ¡°And hurry!¡± When they were gone, I grabbed on one of the merchant carts. It took me a while to pull it to the west road. When Isshan saw what I just did, she also grabbed one of the carts and she pulled it easily. I was surprised and thought those skinny caramel-like arms sure pack a punch. ¡°A-ah, put it here and knock it down.¡± I pointed the space next to the cart I just pulled. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind can you also pull the other one and put it there.¡± I said while pointing at the southern road. ¡°Okay.¡± She answered happily. Each road were roughly five meters wide and two carts placed side by side in a diagonal position were enough to block the road leaving only a space for two people to fit through. Borin and the others torn down the doors in different houses and grabbed some chairs and tables and brought it in the square. ¡°Get some more, this is not enough.¡± I said. While they were ransacking the house. Isshan and I stacked the chairs, doors and tables atop the knocked carts. I told Isshan to leave some gap in the west blockade. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you keep the barricade straight and simple? Instead of placing them like that.¡± Borin asked. I was shocked not because he sneaked behind our backs but to the level of reasoning this NPCs are capable of. ¡°Feel free to do that in the remaining roads. This blockade is where we will face the full force of the walking corpses.¡± I said. ¡°Why are you leaving a space here?¡± Borin asked while pointing at the right side of the blockade. ¡°That would be our entrance to the town¡¯s square¡± I said. That was a lie, but it would be very hard to explain to him what I¡¯d really planned. ¡°Are you saying we will not wait for them to come here?¡± Borin asked. ¡°Of course not. I¡¯ll answer all your questions after we¡¯re done finishing all the blockade.¡± I said. ¡°But right now, we need more chairs and tables, grab a cabinet if you can. Also grab blankets and curtains. Borin didn¡¯t say anything and turned his back on us. ¡°Wait Mr. Borin. I am sorry for being hard.¡± I said. ¡°By the way, what were you guys used to light your lamps?¡± I asked. ¡°Oh- You didn¡¯t have to, I am grateful that you are helping us.¡± Borin said. ¡°Do you mean Littor seed oil?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t what that is. Is it highly flammable?¡± ¡°Yes, very.¡± Borin answered. ¡°Then, bring me a lot of those.¡± I said. He nodded. The western blockade comprised of chairs, doors, carts, tables and stood more than two meters high. The way the blockade was stacked if viewed from the top was like a trapezoid, where its shorter base was on the right side, and there was a gap where one or two person can fit easily. After hours of spending a lot of time strengthening the western blockade. I went to where the others are. The northern blockade towered less than two meters and not as thick as the western blockade. ¡°Seal it now, Mr. Kren.¡± I said. Kren then lifted the midsize table and placed it on the gap. After the Northern blockade was sealed I went to southern road where I had appointed Mayor Borin in charge to form a blockade. The southern blockade was a bit higher than northern one, but not as high as the blockade Isshan and I made. ¡°Let¡¯s finish it, Mr. Borin.¡± I said. After we properly sealed the northern blockade, Mr. Borin gave me 10 bottles of littor seed oil. I gave Mr. Borin one bottle of Littor seed oil and told him to pour it into the blockade. ¡°Eh? Are we supposed to set this blockade in fire?¡± he asked. ¡°Yes, as a last resort.¡± I answered. I went to check on the eastern gate and Mr. Threbo was still stacking some wood planks on it. ¡°I think that¡¯s enough, Mr. Threbo. Here take this.¡± I said as I gave him the bottle of Littor seed oil. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± He asked. ¡°Littor seed oil. Pour it in your blockade.¡± I said. He frowned. He probably mistook what I said as [/i]¡®what have you done is rubbish, burn it¡¯. [/i] ¡°If the blockade wasn¡¯t able to hold the walking corpses, burn it as a last resort.¡± I said. He nodded then sprayed the litter seed oil to his blockade. After that, I went to Mr. Kren and gave him another bottle and instructed him to do the same. It was late afternoon when everyone was finished and we gathered around at the center of the town square. ¡°Where will you recite the incantation?¡± I asked to Isshan. She pointed at the center, on it was a two concentric elevated circular stone platform and a statue of Birek atop on it. ¡°I need to be as close as possible to the statue.¡± She said. I nodded. ¡°Weapons, we need weapons.¡± I said. ¡°We have spears and swords we stole in the smithy.¡± Mr. Borin said. ¡°Leave them here.¡± I said. Then there¡¯s only one thing left. I need to lure the d-deads into the western side of the t own. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± I said. ¡°Wait, are we not gonna stay here?¡± Kren asked. ¡°Nope.¡± I said then walked away. I led them into a two story house. It was the last house near the western gate. ¡°Barricade the windows only.¡± I said. I brought out some of the food I stored in my bag and sat down in the floor. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s eat. We are going to need all of our strength later.¡± I said.
Satiety increased by 46% Strength +7 Vitality+7 Agility +7 Dexterity +7 HP regeneration increased by 1% MP regeneration increased by 0.4% Effects and bonuses lasts for a day
I stood. ¡°Stay here for a while and don¡¯t barricade the door.¡± ¡°Oy-oy, where are you going?¡± Kren said. Isshan looked at me and gave me a worried face. ¡°There¡¯s some things I need to do for us to succeed.¡± I said then looked to Isshan. ¡°I¡¯ll be back.¡± ¡°Are you sure that¡¯s wise? The sun is about to set any minute now.¡± Mr. Borin asked. I looked at him. ¡°It¡¯s not, but it is necessary. Keep the door close at all times and be quiet, if you heard three knocks, open it.¡± I went to the Church. It was located at the western section of the town, near to the house where I left Isshan. When daytime was over I set on fire one of the house near the church with the help of litter seed oil. I can now hear the distant groans and moans of d-deads from the distance. The fire grew stronger but not strong enough to engulf the entire house. I quickly entered into the church and set up the barricade we removed earlier from the door. I placed the barricade in a way that it can only hold at least a hundred of d-deads. I want the door to fail but only after thousands of d-deads had gathered around the church. I climb the stairs to where the bell was located. I pulled the rope and loud metallic bang stab my ears. I pulled it again and again. I wanted to draw all the d-deads into the church, that¡¯s why I set up the western blockade to be thicker and higher than any of the blockade. *Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh* Though, a bit muffled, the groans and the constant beating of the door was getting stronger. I pulled the rope again to ring the bell. ¡°Come and eat me!¡± I shouted inside the church then rang the bell again but probably I am the only one who heard it. Isshan needed to recite the incantations at the middle of the night and that means I still have two hours to run away from this church. I can hear the door creaking below and probably about to break. I pulled the rope so many times before running to the cellar where Merchant Kren and I used to enter the church. "Thud* The door broke down and hundreds of d-deads swarmed inside. ¡°Huh, I didn¡¯t know you guys were that religious.¡± I said to the d-deads. I ran and then quickly opened the cellar door and climb down. I turned left in the ill-lit tunnel and when I am about to reach the dark part of the tunnel, I held out my left hand to reach the wall. If I keep touching the wall using my left hand, I¡¯ll end up to house we used to enter the tunnel before. ¡°Ouch.¡± I yelled. My toe stubbed in one of the footstep of the stair. I climbed the stair while trying to feel my way around in the darkness. My head hit the cellar door and I pushed it upwards. The house was still the same before we left it and It was located at the eastern side of the town near the town square. I slowly opened the door and looked to my surroundings if there are d-deads nearby. When I was sure there was none, I stepped out. I can¡¯t go through the blockade so I have to walk around the town square. But, as luck would have it, some of the d-deads who were on their way to the church noticed me and turned their attention to me. I don¡¯t have much time to lose them so I ran towards the house where I left Isshan. As I run, several d-deads are now following me. When I reached the house, I knocked three times and the door opened. I quickly let myself in. ¡°Help me barricade this door!¡± I shouted. ***Back to the present*** Where to now, young traveler?¡± asked Borin. ¡°Follow me.¡± I said. We walked in the roof carefully and silently towards the town¡¯ square. When we had reached the house adjacent to the town square, Mr. Threbo jumped and all of a sudden Isshan followed him. Mr. Borin and I looked at each other and I gave him a slight nod. Then, he jumped. It was now 11:40 in Lost Earth time. Twenty more minutes to go before we faced hundreds of d-deads. Isshan stood near the statue and prepared herself. ¡°Mr. Borin, you will guard the southern blockade.¡± I said. ¡°And the northern blockade, I¡¯ll leave it up to you Mr. Threbo.¡± ¡°Hold on, how about the eastern gate? Who will guard it?¡± Mr. Borin asked. ¡°Leave it be. Majority of the walking corpses will be on the west blockade and the rest will either be in north or south blockade.¡± I answered. I went to Issan. ¡°Focus on the incantation and no matter what you hear or happened do not stop.¡± She nodded then I went to the stack of chairs I set up earlier near the statue and lit it. ¡°Regna terrae, cantata Deo, psallite Cernunnos¡± Isshan said.
Time remaining 5 9: 5 2 before the ritual ends.
Regna terrae, cantate Deo, psallite Domino Kingdoms of Earth, sing to God, praises to the Lord qui fertis ascendit super caelum that you carry above the sky caeli ad Orientem of heaven to the east. Ecce dabit voci suae vocem virtutis, Behold, he sends forth his own voice, the voice of virtue tribuite virtutem deo Attribute the virtue to God.
I drew my sword and waited for the d-deads to swarm in the western blockade. I still have five bottles of littor seed oil which I converted into a Molotov cocktail. Five minutes had just passed and two d-deads entered the west blockade thru the gap. I stab the first one in the head and decapitated the other. As I dispose the two d-deas, the groans were getting louder, especially in the west side of the town. ¡°They¡¯re here.¡± I said. ¡°Always talk to me when something strange is happening, Mr. threbo and Mr. Borin.¡± I shouted. I peeked in the gap and there were hundreds of d-deads coming towards the west blockade. The plan worked, huh. The groans and the wailing was getting stronger every minute. Isshan continued reciting her spell and I braced myself for the incoming wave of d-deads.
Isshan: Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus We exorcise you, every impure spirit omnis demonio potestas, omnis incursio every demonic power, every incursion infernalis adversarii, omnis legio, of the infernal adversary, every legion omnis congregatio et secta diabolica. every congregation and diabolical sect. Ergo draco maledicte Thus cursed demon
¡°How many on your side, Mr. Borin?¡± I asked. ¡°Around twenty.¡± He answered. ¡°Mr. Threbo?¡± I shouted. ¡°The same.¡± And when the brunt of hundreds d-deads hit my blockade, I thought it was going to cave in, but it didn¡¯t. I waited in the gap for one or two d-deads that will surely slip in. I stab them in the head and neck, since I can¡¯t swing my sword in this tight gap. Corpses were now dropping and starting to pile up in the gap. I backed up a little whenever I killed four or five d-deads. I don¡¯t want the pile of corpses to completely block the gap, rather I want it to be high enough to slow them down. They kept coming and I kept stabbing. I lost count when I was out of the gap in the blockade. The purpose of the gap was a release. The same as pressure relief valve in boilers or the tiny hole in the pressure cooker. Think of the d-deads as the steam and the cover as the blockade. If hundreds of d-deads all pushed into the blockade, it wouldn¡¯t last for an hour. But if we let a gap in the blockade small enough for one or two d-deads to slip in, the brunt of the d-deads pushing on the blockade will be reduced considerably.
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
And also, I can get a lot of experience from killing the d-deads, instead of waiting for them in the other side of the blockade.
Time remaining 3 0 : 2 4 until the ritual ends.
Corpses were now piling up too inside the blockade. D-deads were still entering through the gap continuously. I may have been overestimated myself. I thought. For I am getting tired, I¡¯d probably killed hundreds of them already. ¡°Mr. Borin and Mr. Threbo, your situation?¡± I asked ¡°South blockade can hold.¡± Mr. Borin answered. ¡°No problem here either.¡± Mr. Threbo answered. ¡°Come help me here. Grab your spears.¡± I shouted. I felt and heard the blockade compressed due to the continuous pushing of the d-deads. The blockade may not be able to hold for another ten minutes, if this continues. Mr. Borin and Mr. Threbo came to me with their spears. ¡°What the ¨C?¡± Mr. Borin said as he saw the mountain of corpses. ¡°Deal with them for a while.¡± I pointed to the d-deads entering through the gap. I grabbed one of the Molotov cocktail I prepared and lit the cloth. I threw it so hard passed the blockade. This will buy us some time hopefully. I thought. I threw another one but I didn¡¯t see the flame when it landed, but the thick smoke emerging past the blockade told me, the d-deads were burning. The blockade was creaking and started to move. Some of the tables were falling towards us. I grab a torch and climb the blockade. I lit one of the cocktail and threw it to the d-deads near the blockade. Flame rose but the d-deads didn¡¯t screamed in pain but they were distracted. I threw another cocktail and climbed down. When I reached the ground, I noticed the d-deads were climbing up past the northern blockade. ¡°Burn your blockade, now, go go!¡± I shouted. Surprised, Borin and Threbo looked into their blockade and their eyes widen in horror. The d-deads were climbing up and crawling atop their blockade. They quickly grab a torch and run towards their blockade. I dealt with the d-deads that entered into the gap. Flame started to rose in my blockade because of the burning d-deads. I expected this to happen, more like a time controlled fire, but I did not expected it to be that fast. Flame was spreading too fast in my blockade, because I doused it earlier with littor seed oil. I looked at Isshan and she was still reciting her incantations. I threw the last of my cocktail into the gap. I was startled, when I saw one of the d-deads burning and rushing towards me, its face was melting and dripping into the ground. Woah, that one was scary. But before it can reach me, it fell on its knees. The fire halt their progress, but there were still burning d-deads managed to slip through the gap. I stabbed one of them and kicked it so hard back to the blockade. The fire was starting to weakened. I looked again to Isshan to see if she was finished but what I saw was a d-dead coming at her that must¡¯ve slipped through in the eastern blockade. ¡°Oh shit.¡± I shouted and ran towards Isshan.
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Hello guys another chapter is out, I hope there won''t be many mistakes this time. Thank you again for supporting me until now. To those who rated, followed and commented on my FF, Thank you very much, it''s what kept me going. By the way guys, have you check out the map section? if not, do yourself a favor and check it out. Chapter 12: The Path Chapter 12 The Path I never ran this fast in my entire life, but it¡¯s not like I had that much opportunity anyway. I seriously thought I was going to fly with the way the wind attacked and glided over my face. I ran so hard that I couldn¡¯t even feel my toes touching the ground. The d-dead that was approaching Isshan was slow, but it has the advantage of being closer to Isshan. It was groaning and intently looking at Isshan, as if she was its dinner. I didn¡¯t shout to Isshan to disturb her ritual.
Isshan: Benedictus Danetos, Novo deus. Gloria tibi. Blessed be Danetos, God of Change. Glory be to you.
Isshan stopped reciting and her eyes were gradually opening. I felt a sense of relief, like a heavy weight was removed from my shoulders. The d-dead has still no intention of stopping, I quickly analyzed the situation and thought of a way to capitulate on the incoming danger to Isshan¡¯s life. I threw my sword down and rushed to Isshan. ¡°Isshan!¡± I shouted. Then she quickly turned to look at me. The d-dead was feet away and I grabbed Isshan¡¯s hand. I hugged her and twisted our body so that my back will be exposed to the d-dead. All of this happened so fast that before Isshan can grasp of what was happening something had bit my right shoulder. ¡°Aarrrrrrrrrrrrrgghhhhhhhhhhhhhh.¡± I shouted.
Critical hit!
You have been cursed. You will turn into a walking corpse in 5 minutes.
¡°Cripple!¡± Isshan shouted with her terrified eyes. I felt the d-dead¡¯s teeth dislodged into my shoulder, then it bit me again.
Critical hit!
It was now chewing my shoulder savagely. This sacrifice better be worth it. I thought while trying not to think of the pain. A light appeared and somehow the gnawing pain on my shoulder stopped. ¡°Urg! I feel sick.¡± A voice said from behind me.
Your curse has been lifted.
Ting!
Quest: Murika Town¡¯s Curse. Murika Town is a small town located south of Birek Mountain ranges. People from Murika were farmers and hunters. They worshiped, Birek, the god of mountains. The town was blessed with bountiful resources like fish, lumber, plants and animals. Unravel the curse that is haunting the people of Murika Town. Difficulty: D Rewards: Isshan intimacy would increased
Quest completed!
You have leveled up! Intimacy with Isshan increased significantly.
Tears flowed in the eyes of Isshan that allowed the light of the moon to play a trick on it that it sparkled in radiance. ¡°Y-you saved me.¡± Isshan said but her voice trembled a bit.
Intimacy with Isshan increased.
¡°Ti¡¯s my duty, milady.¡± I said as if it was nothing. She wiped her tears and her pale lips bent. ¡°Thank you!¡± she said. Mayor Borin came to us with his overjoyed plump face. ¡°The curse has been lifted. Thank the gods!¡± he shouted. Gods? Your gods allowed your people to turn into monsters and I beat the crap out of them. Thank me. Ting!
Side Quest Discovered. Quest:Keep Mayor Borin alive. Borin Tian was the appointed Chief of Murika Town. He handles the development and various administrative duties inside and outside the town. By saving the appointed chief, Murika town will be able to start anew. Difficulty: D Rewards: Fame Intimacy with the people of Murika Town
Ting!
Side Quest Completed. The curse have been lifted. You have kept Mayor Borin alive and the Town of Murika can now rise from the rubble and start anew. The people of Murika is now indebted to you. Fame increased by 200. Intimacy with the people of Murika increased. You are now the Hero of Murika.
Ting!
You have acquired the title of Murika''s Last Hope No. of Available titles: 1 Equipped titles: None Strength + 5 Agility + 5 Vitality + 5 Intelligence +5 Dexterity + 5 Wisdom +5 35% off discount to any merchants in Murika town when equipped.
¡°Thank you! Seeker Isshan and Traveler Cripple.¡± Borin said and bowed several times. ¡°But, I am afraid our town suffered great losses and can¡¯t reward you handsomely.¡± ¡°It¡¯s alright, Mayor Borin.¡± I said but thought differently. Are you kidding me? The d-deads returned to their previous state after the curse was lifted. Though, the one killed by us remained dead. ¡°I am sorry, Mayor Borin. The one we killed did not managed to return back alive.¡± I said with my apologetic voice. ¡°I was prepared for it. It was us or them. To be honest, I¡¯d already lost hope that our town will be restored. But thanks to you and Lady Isshan we can live in peace again.¡± Mr. Threbo nodded. For an NPC, he was quite understanding. Impressive. ¡°What the hell happened to the town?¡± Said one of the villager as they saw the pile of burned tables and chairs. ¡°I remember being bitten by a ghoul.¡± ¡°Yeah me too.¡± They remembered the curse and how they turned into a walking corpse but they don''t remember what happened afterwards. It was a long and tiring night and we decided to rest. ¡°Let¡¯s worry about the mess tomorrow.¡± Mayor Borin suggested. I logged out of the game. *** It was late afternoon when Ari and the rest reached Murika Town using the west gate. ¡°The hell happened to this town?¡± Van asked. Some of the villagers were dragging the corpse outside the gate. Other corpses were loaded in the carts and being pushed outside. Ari ran towards one of the villager. ¡°Mister, what happened here?¡± he asked. ¡°A terrible curse did this, young man. But it¡¯s over now. Talk to our mayor, he¡¯s one of the people who freed us in this curse and he''s looking for help.¡± ¡°Where is he?¡± ¡°At the town square.¡± They entered the town and saw houses that had been ransacked, broken windows and doors. They saw several thick Black smoke extending upward in the center of the town. When they reached the town square, several burnt corpses and wood, blocked their way. The villagers were removing the blockade piece by piece. ¡°Looks like a blockade.¡± Joan pointed out. Zath nodded. They stopped walking when an old man came running towards them. ¡°Hey, young ones! Would you like to help us?¡± The old man said. ¡°I am Borin, mayor of this town.¡± ¡°What happened here and what seems to be the problem, sir? and ¡± Ari asked. ¡°A curse with an unknown origin inflicted this town. I am afraid our town is very vulnerable right now, young man, we need someone to defend our city from monster during the night. Can you help us for at least tonight?¡± Ting!
Quest: Defend Murika town from possible monster night attack Murika town had suffered great losses. In order for the people of the town to get on their feet, they need to feel safe. Duration: 24 hrs Difficulty: D+ Rewards: Fame
¡°We may be young sir, but we will not only defend your town, we will also defeat any monsters that dared to attack.¡± Ari said.
Quest accepted!
¡°Yes, I believe in you, young man, for our town hero is quite as young as you.¡± Mayor Borin said. ¡°Town hero? Who is he?¡± Ari asked. ¡°He said people call him Cripple. He fought thousands of walking corpses and slain them all. If not for him, this town is gone.¡± Borin said. ¡°Eh, Cripple?¡± Ken said. Ronne and Rinne looked at each other, Reica eyes gleamed when he heard the name Cripple, Joan raised her eyebrow and John just nodded. ¡°Urg. While were doing boring dungeons, that guy was having a blast.¡± Van said. Ari just laughed. ¡°Whoah, amazing all by himself?¡± Mari asked. ¡°Well, I did helped a bit, little miss.¡± Mayor Borin laughed. Mari pouted when the Mayor called her little miss. ¡°Father!¡± Someone shouted behind Ari¡¯s squad. When they all turned to look who it was, they saw a young man and behind him was a group of adventurers. ¡°Oh, Bohr. Thank Biren you¡¯re alive. I thought I''d lost you in the curse.¡± Mayor Borin said as he approached his son and hugged him. ¡°Father, has the curse had been lifted? How?¡± Bohr asked. ¡°Yes. Where have you gone?¡± ¡°I went into the city and asked for help father.¡± Bohr said as he pointed to the people behind him. Mari walked closely to Ari and whispered something. ¡°They are second years.¡± Ari turned to Mari. ¡°Eh?¡± One of the adventurers who seemed to be their leader came forward and asked Ari. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°Who¡¯re you?¡± he wore a bluish heavy armor and a shield at his back. He has bigger built than John the knight who is the biggest in their squad. ¡°He is the cheeky brat and his squad who got lucky defeating the Minotaur.¡± Said one of his companion. Van growled but Ari held his hand to stop him. ¡°I¡¯m Ari and this is my squad.¡± Ari said. ¡°What outfit?¡± he asked. Ari scratched his cheek and looked to Joan. Ari¡¯s members sighed. ¡°42nd Infantry Battalion 6th company 1st platoon, under Lt. Kino.¡± Joan said. ¡°My name is Joharris Johnson and this is my squad. 39th Infantry Batalion, 2nd company 1st platoon, under Lt. Raj. Did you finished this Extermination quest?¡± ¡°No, we just came here.¡± Ari said. ¡°Thought so, you guys can¡¯t possible beat a Rank C+ extermination quest.¡± Joharris said. Ari and the rest said nothing but Van was boiling up in anger. ¡°It seems like, we had wasted our time coming here, let¡¯s go.¡± Joharris said. ¡°Aye.¡± Said one of his member. ¡°I want to punch that guy.¡± Van said. ¡°Haha. My arrow will reach him first before you can punch him.¡± Ken said. Joan sighed. Ari then turned to Mayor Borin. ¡°Mister, Where¡¯s Cripple now?¡± ¡°Oh, he¡¯s gone. He left early in the morn.¡± *** ¡°Thank you for saving my life.¡± Isshan said to me. ¡°I promised your father to keep you safe.¡± I said. She turned her head down. ¡°We could stay here for a while if you want.¡± ¡°Oh no, I have done my duty here. Let¡¯s head back to my tribe.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Mayor Borin thanked us and wished us the best. He also told us to come visit the town sometime soon. Isshan and I started our journey back to her home. She was awfully quiet during the travel so I tried to ask her. ¡°Mayor Borin said you were a Seeker. What exactly is a seeker?¡± I asked on the off-chance that the hidden class might be a seeker. ¡°I¡¯m not yet a Seeker, but I will be soon.¡± Isshan said. ¡°Seeker pursue the truth. They are the disciples of the forgotten god of change, Danetos.¡± Forgotten god? ¡°Danetos?¡± ¡°Danetos is our patron god. He is the god of change." Isshan said enthusiastically. " Before this world came to be, there is what we called Tenebris, the realm of gods. In it lived thousands of gods and goddesses." Isshan looked in the sky. "In this realm, the greater gods ruled over the lesser gods." ¡°Is he among the greater gods?¡± ¡°Yes and a powerful one at that. He was the thirteenth son of Urek the Maker, the most powerful god in Tenebris.¡± Thirteenth son, huh? ¡°Why was he forgotten?¡± ¡°Danetos strongly disagree that it was the duty of superior beings to rule over the lower ones. But rather, he believed that it was the superior being''s moral duty to guide rather than to dominate.¡± ¡°Then, he rebelled?¡± ¡°Danetos wanted change. He persuaded his brothers and sisters to look past their dogma that had been perpetuated over a thousands of years and widen their perspective." Isshan said with tinge of sadness in her voice. "But they just laughed at him. However, once an idea has been planted, it can never be removed. The lower gods who were suppressed for a thousands of years decided they had enough. They heralded Danetos as their champion and they rebelled against the greater gods. The seekers before me called it the Armageddon, the Apocalypse, Ragnarok, the twilight of the gods or the Genesis, but one thing for sure was that, it brought forth a new epoch.¡± ¡°So the rebellion failed.¡± I said. ¡°Yes. Danetos and the lower gods despite their numbers were outmatched to the combined power of the great gods and goddesses. Stripped of his power, he was then banished into this world. The greater gods also removed the memories of the lower gods who had supported him before banishing them as well into this world.¡± ¡°Are you might possibly suggesting that the beings who lived on this world were the lower gods and goddesses?¡± ¡°Yes. Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, Humans, Spirits, Formars and others races are all lower gods, but we grew weaker over the course of history.¡± ¡°Hold on, something doesn¡¯t make sense." ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°It took Danetos a thousand years to realize the inequality between the greater and lesser gods. I don¡¯t think such heavy realization just pops up on his head. Something or someone must¡¯ve provoked him to changed his ideals.¡± ¡°You are sharp, Mr. Cripple.¡± ¡°Yeah, I get that a lot.¡± ¡°A lower goddess named Krishta had captivated his heart. They say that her beauty even rivaled the goddess of beauty." It was always a woman, huh, thhe cause of downfall of every man. So even gods were susceptible to the curse, that is woman. "Was she also banished?" "Yes, but Krishta¡¯s love for Danetos prevailed and she remembered Danetos even after they were both banished. Krishta told to the other lower gods the deed of Danetos but nobody believed her. That is why Danetos was forgotten over the course of time.¡± ¡°And your people were descendant of Krishta, that is why you remembered him.¡± I said. She stared at me for a while, and she nodded. ¡°And to this day, we seek evidence or anything that will prove to the other races the existence of Danetos and his deeds¡± I nodded. ¡°Your turn.¡± She said. ¡°My turn?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, what is your objective in helping my father?¡± I stopped walking and faced her. She was surprised at the sudden stop and I noticed she flushed and looked away when I stared at her. Its better to tell her the truth now. ¡°I was hoping to obtain a secret that only your tribe knows.¡± ¡°Oh. You were talking about the secret of Danetos¡¯ trial. After you bring me back, my father may allow you to take the trial.¡± She looked straight at me. "But, I warn you, no one had succeeded in completing the trial." ¡°How many had taken it?¡± ¡°My father said twelve of different races had taken it and failed.¡± ¡°So if your father allows me to take the trial I¡¯m the thirteenth.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Just like Danetos.¡± I said. She looked into the sky then faced me with a subtle smile. ¡°Yes, I pray that he¡¯ll favor you and pass the trial.¡± ¡°Thank you. But what do you think?¡± ¡°Hmm? Think of what?¡± Isshan asked. ¡°Will I fail or not?¡± She stared at me. ¡°I am sorry, but I think you will fail. It was an impossible trial after all.¡± ¡°Impossible, huh? Nevertheless, I think I¡¯m still going to try it. ¡± I said then continued walking. "You don''t understand. The trial changes as Danetos'' see fit." "It might be wishful thinking but you cannot crossed out the possibility he will make it easy for me you know." I said and smiled at her. "Uhm-, maybe." Chieftain Ishul and his men gathered around waiting for us. His scouts must''ve told him we were coming. I bowed. "O'' mighty Ishul, son of Ishod, the Beastslayer and Chieftain of Forma Tribe, I have returned to fulfill my promise." Ting!
Quest: Ishul''s prodigal daughter. Find Ishul¡¯s daughter and bring her back safely to the tribe. Quest Difficulty: D Rewards: Unknown
QUEST COMPLETED
You have returned and with you the daughter of Chieftain of Forma Tribe. Rewards: Ask chieftain Ishul.
Isshan with her head held low, stepped forward and went to where her father is. Ishul then raised his spear pointing to the sky. "I, Ishul, son of Ishod, The Beastslayer and Chieftain of Forma tribe acknowledges your accomplishment and obligated to reward you." Ishul said with a clear and low voice, "Gold, weapons, tell me what you want and I shall grant it to you as long it is within my reach." Before I could say anything. Ishan spoke for me. "Father, he want your help to finish the Trials of Danetos." "SILENCE!" Ishul roared. "You do not speak for him." For a second, he had a bloodshot eyes and his voice echoed throughout the mountain. Isshan lowered her head even more. Woah, what are you trying to tell me Isshan that you risked your Father''s wrath? Is it possible to ask or the chieftain''s help? "O'' mighty Leader. I would like your help in completing the Trials of Danetos." I said. "What you ask of me is impossible, young man." Ishul said as he looked to his spear then to his daughter, "However, it seems like my daughter thinks you are worthy, for that I will present you with two choices, young man." "Pray do tell, mighty chieftain of Forma tribe." I said. "Normally, the trials are your means to prove yourself to our god, Danetos. If he thinks you are worthy, he will appear before you. But, if you are confident enough and consider yourself worthy before the eyes of our god, then I''ll give you the means to appear before Daneto." "But will he appear, I mean Danetos, if you provide me the means to talk to him." I said. However, I got this feeling that it won''t be that easy. Ishul looked serious and his eyes narrowed. "Only if you are worthy, young man." Ishul paused. "Only if you''re worthy." Now, I regret not watching those videos of Spectre members taking on this quest. The most logical choice here with a higher chance of success is to take the trials and prove myself. However, my chances of passing all the trials are slim, since I have neither the fighting prowess of Jeehan nor the vast experience of Lt. Kino nor the other qualities of other Spectre members. Ishul hit the ground with butt end of his spear. "What will you choose young man? Will you persevere to the bitter end and take the harder path or are you confident enough to think you are worthy to take the easier path. Choose and regret."
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"What the hell is wrong with this author? Its already been twelve episodes and the MC has no class yet." I am sorry guys that this FF is so slow. But I promise you the next chapter, hopefully not the last, the MC''s class will be revealed, finally. Chapter 13: The Metamorpher Chapter 13 The Metamorpher Twelve Formars including Chieftain Ishul sat around in a circular formation. However, I sat in the middle of the circle facing Chieftain Ishul. ¡°Isshan.¡± Ishul said. Isshan standing outside the formation handed a black cup to her father. Ishul then turned all of his attention to me. ¡°You can still change your decision young man.¡± Ishul said then he raised the black cup to the air. ¡°If you drink the contents of this cup, there¡¯s no turning back.¡± I nodded. ¡°If you fail here, you are not allowed to take it again. If you understand that, come here.¡± I stood then looked to Isshan. She gave me a worried look before she turned her eyes away. ¡°Drink this.¡± Ishul ordered. ¡°What is this?¡± I asked. ¡°You need not to know, young man. Remember, you chose this path.¡± I took the cup from his hands and drank whatever was in it. ¡°You may return.¡± Ishul ordered. Ishul then held both of his hands and the two Formars beside him grab his hands. Soon, their interlocking arms formed a close circle. Ishul said nothing and closed his eyes. A minutes passed and nothing happened. Where¡¯s the shouting, the weird sounds, the inconspicuous dance? This is one boring ritual. They didn¡¯t say to close my eyes so I tried to look around. They all looked scary. They all have dark brown complexion and a muscular build. They wore sleeveless jackets parted in the middle without buttons or any zippers. A dark clouds seeped into my peripheral vision and all of a sudden, I can¡¯t see a thing. A drip of water is all I can hear. ¡°Hello?¡± I shouted. ¡°Hello, hello, hello, ello, elo, o, o¡± Echoed my voice. Another minute passed and nothing happened. If Danetos doesn¡¯t appear then I failed this quest. Either way, this path is the most efficient one and time saving. Even if I passed all the trials, there¡¯s no guarantee Danetos will appear, since I don¡¯t think the completion of the trials is the only criteria for him to appear, or else someone in the Spectre Division had already finished this quest. ¡°Is there any petty gods here?¡± I shouted. ¡°Here, here, here, ere, er, er, e¡­¡­......¡± The ground shook violently and I almost lost my balance. The tremor stopped and a tiny light from far away seemed to be getting bigger every second. *Wooosh* A figure stood before me and his face was few breadths away from me. ¡°Who are you calling petty,¡± he paused, ¡°BOY?¡± Majority of his red vest with golden buttons was covered with his unhooded black cloak. The complexion of his face was the perfect blend of a brown rich soil, not too dark and not too light. He has a tattoo around his right eye that extended onto his right cheek down to his neck and probably to his body. He has also a black ear cuff and an earring of small skull hanging on to his right ear. He has shoulder length hair that looked like it was dyed in blood. ¡°Oh, I am sorry I meant puny.¡± I said. He placed his cloak to cover his face and then he vanished in front of me. I was surprised when I saw that I was actually standing on a floating rock in the middle of the cloudless sky. ¡°Haha, you impudent human. You speak as if we are equal.¡± He said. I looked around but there was no sight of him. I smiled. ¡°We may not be equal but at least you think I am worthy enough to grace me with your presence.¡± He appeared again in front of me ¡°Don¡¯t get cocky, BOY!¡± He was twice my height. His narrow neck suggests he was lean. Oh, god. I hate it when he say BOY, he sounded like he was spitting a spoiled food from his mouth. ¡°Oh, then Great god of Change, the thirteenth son of the Maker, the Champion of lesser beings, to what do I owe the pleasure of you seeing me." He flew, but more like he floated fast, and his black cloak fluttered with the wind. ¡°I have a debt to settle and I always pay my debts.¡± ¡°Whose debt?¡± I asked. He flew around and I heard his descent behind me. ¡°To you, of course. You saved Isshan and she prayed to me to help you pass the trial or at least come to meet you.¡± I knew that Isshan played a role on this quest, now the question is, how big of a role? ¡°Then you are just here to meet me.¡± ¡°You catch on quick, for a human.¡± ¡°And now that you met me, what are you going to do?¡± I asked. ¡°I have no more obligation to stay here.¡± Then the rock I am standing on shook. ¡°Wait!¡± I shouted. ¡°I saved the reincarnation of the woman you hold most dear.¡± I said. ¡°Don¡¯t you think you owe me an explanation?¡± He appeared instantly in front of me again and said nothing. I was right. Isshan is Krishta''s incarnate. "Speak BOY! How did you know that?" "They say Krishta''s beauty even surpassed the goddess of beauty herself." "That is true." "Isshan is very gorgeous and you went to the trouble of meeting me here, as her request." He flew away from me. "Speak, what do you want to know." ¡°I want to know the purpose of your trials.¡± I asked. ¡°To look for my champion, of course.¡± ¡°You know for a fallen god, you¡¯re too choosy. The twelve beings before me who took the trials, could easily fill the role as your champion. ¡± I said this to bait him to give me his reactions to the other Spectre members. He laughed. ¡°Cheeky human. Those mortal beings are quite interesting, but they all lacked something. They does not have what it takes to be my champion.¡± ¡°What does it take anyway?¡± I asked. ¡°Kindness, compassion, humility and a pure heart.¡± He smiled. I gulped. I am the exact opposite of those qualities if we¡¯re going to base it on my previous actions in Lost Earth. He laughed and disappeared again. ¡°If you think you have those qualities then you are not what I am looking for.¡± I sighed with relief. ¡°Then you are in luck. Here I am.¡± ¡°Oooooh?¡± He said out of nowhere. ¡°You have been watching me from the start I took the quest, how did I know that? Because you know I saved Isshan. That means you should know that I have neither of those qualities.¡± He appeared to my right side. ¡°Yes. You are very cunning, ruthless, efficient and quite manipulative.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you think those qualities will greatly help you in the coming war?¡± I asked. ¡°Coming war? What are you talking about, human?¡± ¡°Oh please, why else you needed a champion? You need me and I need you. If you let this opportunity to select me as your champion, then you will have to wait for another 100 years for someone equally as good as me. Why? Because I am a phenomenon than only happens once in a century, you know.¡± He laughed so hard. ¡°You think too highly of yourself, lowly human.¡± ¡°For you 100 years may seem like a fleeting moment, but how about Isshan?¡±I said. I knew he cares about Isshan. He stopped laughing. ¡°What about her?¡± He said sternly. ¡°I have no idea about the enormity of the incoming war, but to think that even a fallen god like yourself needed a champion, then it must be a very significant war and probably it will greatly affect the fate of this world, and Isshan is a part of this world. Don''t you think?¡± He fell silent. I got him. One more push. ¡°We both have things to protect. So I propose we worked together to achieve that.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t even know what I wanted to achieve, Human. And. You. Dare. Speak. For. me.¡± He growled. ¡°Surely, you longed for vengeance.¡± ¡°I am not some vengeful god.¡± He replied. ¡°But you say you always pay your debt.¡± I said. ¡°I know what you are doing, human. I am a sentient being that had lived for a thousand of years. You think such lowly tricks will work on me.¡± ¡°For a god who had lived for a millennia, you¡¯re quite na?ve.¡± I said. He disappeared again then suddenly a continuous strong gush of wind was gradually pushing me back. I raised my hands to protect my face from the strong winds. ¡°Who are you calling na?ve, BOY?¡± he said but I couldn¡¯t see him. I was still being pushed back. ¡°You pathetically lost in the great battle between gods." The wind getting stronger and I was forced to take a step back. "The beings you swore to protect doesn¡¯t even remember you" A strong gush of wind struck me that I was almost swept away by it. "and worse of all, you couldn¡¯t even protect the love of your life. You are weak.¡± The strong wind stopped and when I looked behind me I was already at the edge of the rock. ¡°Help me, help you. I am the thirteenth mortals to challenge your trial for a reason, I believe fate has brought us together and together, we could grant each other¡¯s desires. If you desire vengeance, I¡¯ll help you." I said while panting. ¡°What do you desire?¡± he asked. ¡°Power.¡± As I said this, the scene in my father¡¯s smithy when I was able to walk for the first time in the Lost Earth flushed before me. ¡°Ha ha ha ha.¡± He said then another strong wind came and pushed me out of the rock. ¡°AAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrgggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh.¡± I was falling. Then I woke up, with the same feeling you got when you woke up from a dream that you are falling. I saw Ishul and other Formars with their right knee and right hand touching the ground with their head held down. Ishul then looked to me. ¡°All hail Danetos!¡± "Yuheeeeh" Then simultaneously they all looked at me. ¡°I am not Danetos.¡± I said. ¡°You are not, but the egg you are holding is the embodiment of our god.¡± Ishul said. What egg? I looked to my hand and I was holding an egg the size of a football. It has the same color of an ordinary egg. ¡°What does this mean?¡±
Mystery Egg
Type:???Durability:?? / ??
Quality:???
????
¡°It means you passed.¡± Ting!
You have changed your Class. You graduated from being a novice.
Ting!
You are now a Level 1 Metamorpher.
Ting!
You have learned Morph Class.
Morph Class Level 0 (Passive)Ability to switch to any classes you want. As long as it was acquired using Morph touchor it was stored usingMorph Storage Synchronization rate depends on your base level and Morpher Class level.
Ting!
You have learned Morpher Touch.
Morph Touch Level 0 (Active)Ability to copy the target''s class. Cooldown: 25s Requirements: You need to touch any part of the target''s body to copy their class Retaining period: 5s (You only have five seconds to convert to the class you copied or you can store it using Morph Storage for later use.
Ting!
You have learned Morpher Storage.
Morph Storage Level 0 (Passive)Ability to store the class you have copied for later use. Cooldown: 20s Storage Capacity: 1 Current Class Stored: None
Ting!
You have learned Morph Stats.
Morph Stats Level 0 (Active)Ability to manipulate Attribute points. (e.g converting Strength points to Agility points or to Intelligence points or vice versa.) Cooldown: 10s Requirement: 10 Mp = 1 attribute point converted.
Ting!
You have learned Morph Overlay Assault.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
Morph Overlay Assault. Level 0 (Active)Ability to add effect on your attack depending on the Highest Attribute. Strength - Every strike has a chance of stunning your target for 2 seconds. Agility - Every strike has a 20% increased damage. Dexterity - Every strike has an increased Critical Chance of 7% Intelligence - Every strike will be imbued with elemental damage depending on the second highest attribute. (Fire, Wind, Earth, Metal, Water, Lighting, Nature, Spirit, Dark, Light/Holy) Wisdom - Every strike has a chance of paralyzing the target for 2 seconds. Vitality - Every strike has a chance of converting the damage you dealt to your enemy and add it to your HP. Cooldown: 40s Works on any weapon(Spear, Bow, Sword, Claws, Dagger, Staff, Mace, Hammer, Axe) and any offensive spells.
"Character info." I whispered.
CHARACTER INFO
NAMECripple
Level1
ClassMetamorpher
TitleNone
Fame250
HP MP100/100 50/50Physical Attack Magical Attack2-3 1-2
Stamina45/100Defense6
Attributes
Strength5Intelligence5
Agility5Dexterity5
Vitality5Wisdom5
Remaining Attribute Points: 0
SKILL WINDOW
Morpher Class Level 0 (Passive)Ability to switch to any classes you want. As long as it was acquired using Morph Touch or stored usingMorph Storage Synchronization rate depends on your base level and Morph Class level.
Morpher Touch Level 0 (Active)Ability to copy the target''s class. Cooldown: 25s Requirements: You need to touch any part of the target''s body to copy their class Retaining period: 5s (You only have five(5) seconds to convert to the class you copied or you can store it using Morph Storage for later use.
Morpher Storage Level 0 (Passive)Ability to store the class you have been copied for later use. Cooldown: 20s Storage Capacity: 1 Current Class Stored: None
Morph Stats Level 0 (Active)Ability to manipulate Attribute points. (e.g converting Strength points to Agility points or to Intelligence points vice versa.) Cooldown: 10s Requirement: 10 Mp = 1 attribute point converted.
Morph Overlay Assault. Level 0 (Active)Ability to add an effect on your attack depending on the Highest Attribute. Strength - Every strike has a chance of stunning your target for 2 seconds. Agility - Every strike has a 20% increased damage. Dexterity - Every strike has an increased Critical Chance of 7% Intelligence - Every strike will be imbued with elemental damage depending on the second highest attribute. (Fire, Wind, Earth, Metal, Water, Lighting, Nature, Spirit, Dark, Light/Holy) Wisdom - Every strike has a chance of paralyzing the target for 2 seconds. Vitality - Every strike has a chance of converting the damage you dealt to your enemy and add it to your HP. Cooldown: 40s Works on any weapon(Spear, Bow, Sword, Claws, Dagger, Staff, Mace, Hammer, Axe) and any offensive spells.
Are you kidding me? I''m back to lvl 1? Noooooooooooooooooooo, my hard earned stats. Ishul stood. "Come young man, you must be tired and hungry." I stood while still holding the egg and followed Ishul. Chieftain Ishul raised his hands. "Tonight, we feast. Our god Danetos had finally chosen his champion." Ishul shouted. "Huyeeeeeh!" Every one shouted in unison. The other Formars brought out two cask of wine, the others prepared a fire and started to roast some meat. I was impressed on how fast they set up everything. "Come, sit here." Ishul said. I went to where Ishul was and sat down in an empty log. "Say, young man. You were out for quite a well. What happened there?" Ishul asked. "Danetos and I just talked." I answered. Everyone gasped then they murmured with each other. "You were lucky young man." Not really. I lost all my stats. "Yeah, we talked for a while. I thought I was going to fail during our conversation." "Oh, young man. You misunderstood, the moment Danetos appeared before you, you had already passed the trial." Ishul said. What? Seriously? Then what''s with the dialogue between me and Danetos? Isshan came and handed out a cup of wine to me. "Thanks Isshan. Thank you for your prayers. Danetos heard them." She just smiled. "Drink, young man." Ishul ordered. I drank. "Any idea what to do with this egg?" I asked. "You take care of it until it hatches, young man." Ishul answered. I looked at the egg and thought how many people can it feed when cooked. Ala Scrambled style. Isshan sat down opposite to me, near to her father. "Isshan, your responsibility as a seeker will probably get tougher now. You should not neglect your training." Ishul said in his stern voice. Isshan lowered her head. "But, father. I think I am ready now." "Enough!" Ishul roared. Isshan was shocked and instinctively raised her shoulder. When she saw me looking at her she gave me a smile, though, it felt like forced. "Young man, where will you go now?" Ishul asked. "I''ll return to Mercia City, after that I have no idea, O'' mighty leader Ishul." I said. "Ishul. Call me Ishul, young man. You have earned it. Wherever you decide to go, you need to get strong as fast as possible, young man. There''s a big war brewing." Ishul took something that was hanging from his belt. "Here take this, young man."
Formanticore Horn
Type:AccessoryDurability:Indestructible
Rarity:Mythical
In times of great need, blow this horn and the people of Forma Tribe will come to your aid. Limited use: 5
"If you ever need help, don''t be afraid to call us." Ishul said. "Thank you, Ishul." He nodded. "I take it you will leave tomorrow then." Ishul asked. "Yes." I said. "S-so soon?" Isshan asked. "I am afraid so, milady." I said. "You can stay for a while, Cripple. I could teach you everything I know about our god, Danetos." Isshan said. "Isshan! if he wanted to go, you must not hinder him, for it is not our duty." Ishul shouted. Isshan then stood up and ran away from us. "Isshan!" shouted Ishul. "Forgive her, young man. She was not like that before." Ishul said. "What happened?" I asked but quickly regretted it. Ishul''s smile dropped and his eyes sank. "When her mother," Ishul paused, "my wife died. She started to change." Uh-oh, I touched a sore spot. "I am sorry, Ishul." "Nevermind that young man, we are here to celebrate. Let me go get some food" Ishul said then he stood. I sighed. There was a heavy feeling in my chest that I can''t explain. I should probably contact Yunjee or Lt. Kino that I finished the quest. Nah, I''ll just surprised them. This sucks, I am back to lvl 1 and all of my stats are gone. Metamorpher, huh. What a weird name for a class. Ishul returned with a big piece of roasted meat. "Here young man, eat." "Should we call Isshan or something?" I asked. Ishul sighed. "I''ll call her, wait here." I stood. "Oh no, let me call her." I went to find her but she found me instead. "Who are you looking for?" Isshan asked. "Your father is looking for you, milady. We should get back." I said. "Why are you still calling me lady? Isshan, please call me Isshan." Isshan said. "Were you really going to leave tomorrow?" Isshan asked. "Yes." I said. "Will you take me with you?" Isshan asked. I was startled. "W-what do you mean?" "My father thinks I am not ready to be a full pledged seeker. One of the seeker''s responsibility is to travel around the world and experience different way of living, so that we can serve Danetos better." "But your father won''t allow you." I said. "Yes, but If I am with you, Daneto''s champion, maybe he will reconsider." Isshan bit her lips. "I am sorry, please forget everything I said." She ran. I went back to the feast and Isshan was not there. "Hey, young man, come here, you have to drink more." Ishul said while raising his cup. I drank another cup of wine before sitting. "How long for Isshan to finished her training?" I asked Ishul. "She has a long way to go to become a proper seeker, probably two more years." Ishul said. "That won''t work." I said. "Hmmm? What will not work, young man?" "Danetos requires a seeker to accompany and help me in my journey." I said. Ishul fell silent. He then turned to one his men. "Call Isshan here." Ishul then looked at me. "Will you please take care of my daughter, young man?" "Yes, I will, Ishul." "If Danetos requires her then I have no choice but to accept Daneto''s wishes, young man." "You asked for me father?" Isshan said. "Pack your things, Isshan. You will go with Cripple to help him. It''s Danetos'' wishes." Ishul said. Isshan''s eyes grew wide. "Thank you father. I will not let Danetos and our tribe down." She said then walked away. Ishul sighed. "Don''t worry, Mighty leader Ishul. She is far stronger than you think. After all, she takes after her father." I said. Ishul looked at me then smiled. "No, young man, her strong nature, she takes it after her mother." When sun rose and peered between the mountains. Isshan and I stood at the entrance of the Forma tribe. "Take care of my stubborn daughter, Young Cripple." Ishul said to me. I nodded. Isshan ran to her father and hugged him. "Take care of yourself." Ishul said to his daughter. "You too, father. Please try, as much as possible, to avoid fighting monsters, father.." Ishul laughed. "Haha, that is a difficult request, fighting is in my blood, Isshan. Its in our blood." After we said our goodbyes, Isshan and I started our journey together. Our destination, the heart of the UAN territory.
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