《The Maker of Heroes》


 Prologue. and a few secrets of the universe.

    Prologue. and a few secrets of the Universe


    Most do not read the prologues of a story if they believe they can skip it.


    For those I shall summarize this prologue now and say that this is a Royal Road fan fiction written from the first person perspective of an interdimensional consciousness with a hobby of using its power to make heroes. This being discovers the Virtual Reality game Royal Road and creates a character. It will use its powers within the game to continue its hobby.


    For those who enjoy a bit more of an in depth prologue, continue. The details are nothing more than my own origin story and a few of the secrets of existence, having nothing to due with Royal Road or Legendary Moonlight Sculptor, thus can be ignored.


    If at any point the prologue becomes unreadable for you, skip to the point near the end where it says, SKIP TO HERE to see how it connects to Royal Road.


    --------------------------------------------------------


    First, I tell you now that not a single reader of these words will think them true. It is a fundamental flaw in the way of thinking of your people so it cannot be helped. You think in terms of absolute facts. To any piece of information you attach either ¡®100% True¡¯ or ¡®100% False¡¯. When in reality there is no 100%. All things are uncertain. Even in your world, if one delves into the deepest depths of your science in any field, uncertainty increases as one seeks greater detail. However, the greater majority of your population will stubbornly hold fast to the certainty of their beliefs, even if evidence to the contrary stares them in the face. I will tell you now that it is better to think of all things in different shades of grey. Instead of 100%, think of the ¡®facts¡¯ in your mind as ¡®95% Either True or False.¡¯ If you discover evidence to the contrary, adjust the percent accordingly. Such a belief structure will serve you well in the future, this I guarantee.


    Now, a basic introduction. At this time simply assume that I am a normal person writing a fantasy novel from the first person perspective of someone that is not human, and this is that perspective¡¯s origin story written in the way the writer felt that perspective would have written it.


    I am not human. I was once, then I died. I had no attachments to the world as I knew it, so my being did not linger there after death and shortly moved somewhere else.


    As to where I went, it was not heaven or hell. I am not saying that these planes do not exist, I just did not go there. As to why, it was because I did not expect to go there.


    Where the being goes after death is mostly determined by expectation and attachment. Attachment to the world is to be avoided.


    The worst case scenario is that one has many attachments, such as possessions, or wealth, or power. People who acquire these things in life and refuse to part with them after death are torn apart. Imagine the attachments like nails that keep you on this plane, but the call of the world beyond pulls at you. With a few attachments, the nails may come undone, and though painful for the being, it is not too bad. But if there are too many nails, the pull of the world beyond may rip the being asunder. Like tying a man to two horses and having them sprint in opposite directions. If consciousness exists in this state, it is nothing but pain. Pain forces the being to shift from the earthly realm where the beyond world pulls to a different realm where there is not pull of the beyond world. However, the nails remain in place. There you exist, in the tortured state of a torn being, forever unable to return to the earthly realm and go to the world beyond. This is hell.


    Since I have explained how to go to hell, I shall balance it out by explaining how to go to heaven. It is quite simply. Die without attachment to the earthly world, accept that you are leaving it and do so without regret. As to heaven, which you go to depends on expectations. Yes, there is more than one heaven. Presently, the most popular religion that claims to send one to heaven, does so by instilling certain beliefs in their followers that yield a high success rate of entering that particular heaven. They are told and brought up believing that there is nothing greater than standing beside the one they believe to be their creator, and heaven is where they will do that. When those that truly believe this die, they expect that the beyond world will be greater than the earthly realm because they were brought up believing this, and thus they have little to no attachment to the earthly realm upon death. When their being is pulled through to the beyond world, their expectations guide them their heaven. That being said, although there are many heavens, most are connected. Simply expect that you are going to go there, and you will.


    Now, that brings us back to my case. I had no attachment to the earthly realms so I was not nailed there, but I did not expect to go anywhere. After being pulled through to the beyond world, I existed in the between, the space between spaces. The smallest desire there would pull you into the space that you desire, your heaven as it were, but I died without desire. Such an existence is generally impossible for most beings to maintain, but I left more than my attachments in the earthly realm. After I passed through into the beyond world, I let go of my ego, my identity, my personality, and my memories. I let them break away from me without resistance. I did however keep one thing. It was not a part of me that I had gained or developed as I grew in the earthly realm, it was something that was apart of me before I even came into existence on the earthly plane, a part of me that defined my very soul more so than my name defined myself as a human. It was my curiosity. What I possessed then was not true consciousness, but a consciousness driven by curiosity. In other words, my only thoughts came from my curiosity, and I was not even conscious enough to be aware that I thought of nothing else.


    I will spare you the details, but such a state is similar to that of a newborn, and in this state, I slowly matured, very slowly. A true consciousness developed along with an awareness. With awareness came more curiosity, the desire to know suddenly allowed me access to the spaces around the between, the planes known as heaven. There I learned many things.


    Before moving on, there are a few things I would like to clarify. Although I was an extreme case, losing memories and parts of one¡¯s personality is common after traveling to the beyond world. Most of the beings are unaware of the loss, they don¡¯t remember having the lost pieces so do not miss them.


    Thinking about this on the earthly planes, one might think that heaven is not so great, but that is because what most humans believe about heaven is contradictory. They believe they will be completely themselves in heaven and still be able to be happy. If you do not understand the contradiction, consider this. A person on earth judges happiness based on the distance from suffering. This means that one who has never suffered, cannot measure their own happiness. Therefore, how can a person be happy, in a world without suffering? If you still do not see the contradiction, than ignore it. Simply put, a whole person cannot be be happy without suffering. There are however happy people in heaven who do not know of suffering, this is because they are not whole, parts of them incapable of happiness without suffering are lost when they enter heaven, and they don¡¯t miss it or even remember losing it. Over time, the being slowly breaks down until all that is left is the original spark, free of the extra bits gained during life. Once in this state, the spark is pulled out of their heaven into the plane where reincarnation occurs.


    I know that none of you are asking this question, but it is an important one so I will raise it for you. ¡®Where do all the extra bits go after breaking off from the original spark?¡¯ That being said, I will not answer it. It is one of the greater secrets of the universe, not meant to be shared, only discovered on your own. I will however assure you that something productive is done with it.


    To summarize the heavenly planes, they are places where the being can exist in a happy state until they are ready to be broken down. One cannot be broken down back into the original spark unless one is ready. I am sure some of you readers may believe you will never be ready to be slowly broken down, but think on this. Eternity is quite a bit longer than you can imagine. Do you really wish to exist for eternity? Some of you who fear the unknown may answer yes, but the reincarnation cycle is a better choice. Consider this, which is better? Watching a marathon of your favorite show over and over again for eternity, or watching it over and over until you get sick of it, then wiping your memory of it so that the next time you watch it, it will be brand new, allowing you to enjoy to enjoy it all over again.


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Now back to my my point. One thing that all beings lose when they enter heaven, is the awareness necessary to leave heaven. This prevents beings from even considering leaving. I don¡¯t mean leaving their heaven, as most heavens are connected. I mean leaving Heaven altogether. I however was fundamentally different when I entered a heaven for the first time. With the exception of curiosity, I allowed myself to be broken down without a heaven, but not completely so I was never pulled by the realm of reincarnation. When a being breaks down to the point of a spark, it can easily build itself back up again as a new being after reincarnation. But I existed as a spark so long, I eventually built myself up anyways, but I did so without pieces that exist on the earthly planes, like experiences or memories. Eventually, I developed into a consciousness free of earthly pieces. In this state I entered a heaven, but the awareness of how to leave was not apart of me as a piece added from the earthly plane, therefore it could not be broken down.


    Thus began my existence as a curious consciousness traveling from heaven to heaven.


    Eventually I developed into a complete being. This cannot be described using any earthly terms or concepts, so I will not attempt to define it save this. As a complete being, I could acquire knowledge from the earthly plane without the earthly experience adding pieces to me. These are the very same piece that are broken down in the beyond world, so acquiring any before this point would have been fruitless as they would have broken down.


    It didn''t take long for me to figure out how to travel between the beyond world and the earthly realm. As a being without earthly experiences, I could exist on the earthly realm without being forcibly pulled into the beyond realm.


    Before continuing, I shall explain a bit about the earthly realm. First of all, although it is called the earthly realm, it is not composed solely of your earth. There are many earths and many worlds, all of which is considered the Earthly realm. I would also like to point out that I do not know which earth I am originally from, though I highly doubt it was yours.


    While in the earthly realm, I learned several abilities that allowed me to do more than observe. Using what your world would classify as either ¡®magic¡¯ or ¡®a trick,¡¯ I could take on human form and do things others would call either, ¡®witchcraft,¡¯ ¡®a miracle,¡¯ or ¡®a clever trick,¡¯ depending on your 100% either fact or fake beliefs.


    Let me give you a small lesson on something the people of your world has long forgotten. Magic is simply another level of energy storage. Another field of existence that can interact with itself and your world. Your world¡¯s science has discovered that an object can hold heat, that an object an object can hold radiation, but it has yet to discover how all objects also contain the energy of magic. Not entirely their fault of course. There are many worlds where magical energy is naturally prevalent and usable, perhaps you will see one after you reincarnate, but your world is not one of them. Magic exists of course, but only is specific areas. Where the energy of magic comes from and why it is stronger in some worlds than others is not something I intend to discuss.


    At the very least though, consider the possibility, change the 100% fact in your mind that magic isn¡¯t real to 99%, I would be satisfied with this.


    Another point I would like to put into focus. The odds of what happened to me, happening to another are low. I won¡¯t bore you with the numbers, but just take my word for it that it doesn¡¯t happen often. That being said, in the infinite worlds over an immeasurable period of existence, many beings just like me have come into existence. I would go as far as to say that the number of beings throughout all of existence is greater than the current population of your world. Of course not all of them started as a curious spark like I did.


    Another point. Time exists in space, they are inseparable. Thus, in the space between spaces, there is no time. Not only that, but if one travels through the between space, time travel is rather simple.


    So, as to what I did with my knowledge of magic and access to every century of an uncountable number of worlds, I bet you¡¯re curious. To put it simply, I created heroes. Have you ever heard a story of a righteous young man who suddenly gains great power? Yes, that was me. Not every story of course, but a few, even in your world. Of course they do not all become heroes. Most do not even know that I played a part in what changed their life. It has become a hobby of mine.


    Of course there are limits of what I can do. They are set by other beings such as myself. For a being such as myself, I am reasonably powerful. But I do not have the power of beings that are called gods. Your world has rules for beings like myself. I won¡¯t tell you anything about the god(s) that set the rules of your world, because there is a rule against it. But to summarize it, I cannot use my powers to cause any great changes that affect the world.There are actually many such gods that have similar rules.


    So I can¡¯t declare myself ruler of the world, but I can give power to someone else. If that person gains great power over the future of the world, I am no longer allowed to use my power to help or influence him, thus preventing any being such as myself from setting up a proxy ruler.


    This next bit is something many of you will find insulting, so I recommend you skip this paragraph. Many of your religions claim to focus around a god they believe to be higher than all other gods. To all of these, I say this. Any god that came to your world and influenced your culture directly was a being such as myself or something similar. If you believe in one god, the god who created the earthly realm and the beyond world, then know that such a being does exist, but it is rather indifferent. There are many worlds, it does not play favorites. The only thing the god that created existence does, is maintain the balance between chaos and order throughout the universe and every piece of it. If you could comprehend how large such a task is, and how vital it is to the universe as a whole, you would understand how small the world you stand on really is, and not fault the creator for not playing favorites.


    Most of the supernatural things in your world are caused by interaction with the magic field or beings like myself messing with the world.


    Back to my hobby. If you are wondering why I would pursue such a strange hobby, they answer is obvious. Because I¡¯m curious. I¡¯m curious to see how individuals with certain characteristics will change or what they will do when I give them power. I do not regret the times things have gone bad. I understand that things will go bad sometimes regardless of what you do, and sometimes when all hope seems gone, something good will happen despite all expectations.


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------


    SKIP TO HERE


    Now here is where the real story begins. While exploring various eras of various worlds, I came across a world similar to yours, but different. In this world was another world. A whole world within a world. The inner world was a virtual reality video game. The amazing thing about it was, that anyone from that world could enter this virtual world and become a hero. They gained the ability to become strong, and could take any path they wished to do so. And although it was different from reality, the world also contained magic.


    I decided to enter this world. Why? Because I was curious.


    Now, one last thing. A few of you may wonder at some point why I posted this story here, on this site, in this world. I choose this site because it hosts a copy of the story Legendary Moonlight Sculptor. This is in fact a true story from the world I found. This should not be surprising. In an infinite universe with infinite possibilities, the odds are good that every story you have every heard occurred somewhere. Your world is not the only one with a version of that story being told either. I however choose this world because I intend for this story to influence its reader. Perhaps even, make a few heroes among them. After all, 100% true or 100% false, all knowledge is power, and giving power is how I make heroes.


    Chapter 1 http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=4733</a>

 Chapter 1 The goddess of Versailles

    Chapter 1


    For a being such as myself to enter into a virtual game was generally unheard of. Although filled with curious things, the virtual world was a flawed imitation. Other worlds exist that have far more fascinating places, people, and creatures. The reason I choose this imitation fantasy world over a real world was because this imitation world alone could be accessed by people from a boring world where there were few if any heroes.


    Entering the world was not too difficult. In other worlds with advanced science and computers, I had turned myself into data and explored. Why? Because I was curious. I learned many things there.


    This first thing I noticed upon entering the game was that this world too had a god, just like the outer world. Although upon further examination it seemed to be referred to as the goddess. The virtual god seemed be comprised of programming more advanced than any I had ever seen in that world. If the goddess caught onto my presence, it would try to remove me from the game. Without actually touching the programming, I examined the goddess¡¯s code. It seemed that whoever programmed this intuitively knew a great deal about gods, for the rules around the goddess were similar to that of the gods who watched over a few of the worlds in the earthly realms.


    In short, within the world the goddess did not interfere in small events, only guide the general balance of the world.


    I have a great deal of experience disguising my actions so they cannot be discovered by the world¡¯s gods. After looking through the virtual world¡¯s code, I decided the best way to enter was to create a User character. The same as one created by any other human. Creating fake signals from the real world¡¯s virtual world interface was simple enough. Through it I could actually enter the game and interact without the goddess paying it any mind.


    ¡ªThe scan on your iris and vein has determined that you are an unregistered user. Do you wish to create a new account?


    Not that I have an iris or vein, but manipulating the sensors within the interface device called a capsule was a simple thing. So was setting up a bank account with that world¡¯s currency to pay for access.


    ¡°Yes¡±


    ¡ª Select the name of your avat-ar.


    ¡°Curi.¡±


    As a name it was as good as any, and it was short for curiosity.


    ¡ª Select your gender from male, female or neutral.


    At this point I should tell you that I have no gender. Gender is not a part of the soul, it is something one grows into, (or not into in some cases) as one grows older. When taking a human form I have appeared as both genders at one time or another. For this world, I decided to appear as a woman.


    ¡°Female.¡±


    If it is convenient for you, you may think of me as a woman as well.


    ¡ª Royal Road has forty-nine races. You may select your race from the primary fifteen currently available.


    ¡°Elf.¡±


    For what I had in mind, Elf was ideal.


    ¡ª You may alter your appearance.


    ¡°As I am.¡± I already manipulated the capsule to perceive an appearance as I wanted. As for the details, I choose a four foot, seven inch tall woman with a slender figure, shoulder length jet black hair, and an appearance of beauty about twenty years old. Such an appearance is most useful when dealing with humans, men and women alike.


    ¡ª Your account has been activated. Your stats and class shall be determined while you are playing Royal Road.


    ¡ª Select a city and kingdom you want to start in.


    ¡°The Castle of Aean, Haven Kingdom.¡±


    ¡ª Welcome to Royal- Road.


    At this point the data access had been opened and I could enter the virtual world as the chosen avatar without the goddess noticing.


    The world formed around me and I saw it in a way that only I could see.


    Let me explain a bit about game programs for those who don¡¯t know. Most of the existences in a game are considered Objects. The Object data contains all of the information of interactions and behavior. Most objects are paired with at least one Sprite, or image data, that displays the visual side of the object. Everything one sees in a game is a sprite.


    Now, if I were a normal User, I would also see the world like that. A world filled with only sprites. However, I exist on more than one plane of existence, and can see things others can¡¯t. Sparing the details, lets just say that in addition to sprite data, when I look at an object in the game I can perceive its object data as well.


    This means that every possible interaction and detail of every object can be read by me.


    Yes, this is a cheat, but as far as the goddess is concerned, a legal one. I can observe the code due to my nature, it doesn¡¯t raise any red flags for the goddess to notice. It is the equivalent of having a master guidebook while playing the game for the first time.


    Of course this ability is not without limit. To see the object data I must be able to see the sprite. So I cannot see through walls or objects beyond my avatar¡¯s eyesight limit.


    Within the game, I was in the capital city of Hevan Kingdom. It was one of the most populous cities within the world.


    According to my own avatar¡¯s object data, it could not leave the borders of the city until a time of one week passed in the real world. A simple enough thing to get around, I can time travel. But there were a few things to do first.


    I walked around the city observing the data of the various non player characters. When I looked at each, I saw how they would react to anything I said or did. Eventually I found one that seemed useful. It was an old man with a weakness for beautiful women. According to its data, it was once a great adventurer. If I said the right thing to him, he would give me a quest that would reward me with a Adventurer¡¯s sword.


    Stolen story; please report.¡°Excuse me sir, do you know where a young adventurer may find work?¡±


    The old man looked up at me, though stopped looking up when his eyes reached my chest. He smiled.


    For the next three days I did odd jobs for the man.


    When he ran out of things for me to do, he was disappointed, but also happy that he could help me by rewarding me with his novice adventurer sword.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Adventurer¡¯s Sword.


    Durability 40/40


    Attack 10


    A sword for novice adventurers.


    Equips:


    +3 AGI


    +3 STR</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Three days of work for a free sword at the novice level is not a bad deal in this game, but that is not why I wanted this sword.


    Within the game, I still have a few abilities other than Data reading. I can alter the game¡¯s data as well. But only things that the goddess would not noticed. If I altered too much, she would reset it back. If she found out I was capable of hacking her system,  she would do all she could to block my access to her world. In case you are wondering, I cannot alter the data of the goddess herself. I will not say whether or not I am capable of such things, but it is against the rules. The artificial intelligence that makes up the goddess of this world is also the most advanced computer in the real world. Because it is the most advance, messing with it falls under major interference of the world.


    Anyways, I can only alter data that the goddess would not notice. I will list my active abilities here to make it convenient for you.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>-Complete Sprite Data Alteration.


    Sprite data is independent of object data and interaction data. My Avatar¡¯s sprite data is that of a beautiful woman, but NPCs treat me like a beautiful woman because the choosing of my sprite added Beauty to my object data. If I wanted to, I could change my appearance to that of an ugly monster, but every NPC would still treat me like a beautiful woman. Sprites exist solely for the sake of Users. So if I changed a sprite, a User would see it differently, but an NPC would not.


    The only use such a skill has is tricking Users.


    </tr></td><tr><td>-Minor Object Data Alteration


    As long as I do not exceed the maximum or minimum value of an object, I can change its data. An example of going over the maximum value would be adjusting the sword I have to have an attack of 10,000. It wouldn¡¯t be noticed immediately, but if I attacked anything with it, the damage rating would be a major red flag. Also, I can only alter set values that are independent of other values. For example I can change the value for maximum durability of the sword, but I cannot increase my avatar¡¯s maximum health because that attribute is linked to various stats.


    </tr></td><tr><td>-Random Chance control.


    Many objects have a code that contains random number generation. These numbers can affect how the object will react to an event. For example, When releasing an arrow fired from a bow, the arrow has a chance of hitting or missing, depending on what random number is generated. The effect of the chance is lessened if the archer has sufficient skill of course. The engine that drives random number generation within Royal Road has few protections from interior manipulation. As long as it goes unnoticed, no additional protection will be implemented, allowing me to control anything that happens or doesn¡¯t happen by chance. However, this ability can only be used in close proximity of the target object I wish to alter. A practical use of such is increasing the item drop rate of slain monster.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    That¡¯s about it. I have other abilities that I could possibly use within the game, but they would be risky so I¡¯ll try to avoid them.


    Back to the Adventurer¡¯s sword. Unlike normal swords, the Adventurer¡¯s sword is a Variant item. Variant items have higher ranges of possible stats, therefore I can make greater changes to the sword than a normal sword without it being noticed.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Adventurer¡¯s Sword


    Durability 80/80


    Attack 25


    A sword for novice adventurers strengthened by an other worldly presence.


    Equips:


    +7 AGI


    +10 STR</td></tr></tbody></table>


    In addition to the object¡¯s stats, I also changed the objects sprite and flavor text. The flavor text was a simple signature that would go unnoticed by the system, but adventurers could read and appreciate it. The individual values adjusted for the sword was not the absolute limit of an Adventurer¡¯s sword. But having every value at such a high range without the sword having a level or class requirement was generally impossible for the regular system to generate. However it was still within the limit of values so it would raise no read flags.


    To be safe of course I had no intention of using it myself. I intended to sell it to a User.


    It did not take me long to find a User run weapon shop to buy the sword. I acquired 137 gold for the Unique object. (A sword of that quality without a level requirement was far from common.) Even I did not know what the shop would sell it for. Such an item was one to be purchased by one party and given to another to aid the process of fighting monsters to strengthen one¡¯s self.


    I explored the city using the money in various ways, though most wasteful. My only use for money was sait my curiosity. Eventually I grew bored and decided it was time to strengthen my character. It was time to decide a class.


    Chapter 2


    http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=4744</a>

 Chapter 2 A Curious Class

    Chapter 2


    Choosing a class in Royal Road is not a simple thing for me. Having seen the very code of the game, I know how to obtain the rarest, most powerful classes. Other than me, every player simply moves through the game, hoping to stumble upon a powerful class. Anyone who has ever owned a game guide book would understand my dilemma. I must choose ahead of time which class to acquire, and make the appropriate measures.


    First I will tell you this, I have no intention of choosing the strongest combat class in the game or anything close. My hobby entails giving interesting humans power then seeing what they do with it. For this however I do intend to choose the strongest class.


    Within Royal Road, there is a series of craft and artisan subclasses with the word Light in their names. Aqualight Painter, Blacklight Tailor, Moonlight Sculptor, Silverlight Chief, and several others. One such class is the one I will choose, and the method to become it exists in this city.


    I purchased a dress that appeared both elegant and tasteful. It was necessary to look good to qualify for the initial step.


    I entered an item shop and requested a job. The manager did not require assistance, but I knew just what to say. It took some doing, but he eventually hired me for the lowest pay.


    I worked there tirelessly. I smiled at adventurers that came in, attracting them back and chatting with them about various things. I have been around for a while, I am a very skilled talker.


    Things progressed after that. The shop manager realized what a skilled worker I was and that keeping me increased repeat customers. Eventually I was promoted to the highest pay. I always made sure to act humble and gracious to the manager, and demonstrated my knowledge of his items was very high. My familiarity with the NPC grew, until it reached the point I qualified for a certain quest.


    ¡°Hey Curi. Can I ask a favor of you?¡±


    I replied, ¡°Of course, what do you need sir?¡±


    The man smiled, ¡°I came across a sword some time ago that I cannot identify, could you take it to the Identification shop to have it looked at? I would do it myself but do not have the time and I trust you to not run off with it. I will of course give you the money to pay for identification.¡±


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Identify the mysterious sword.


    The manager of the item shop has asked you to take this sword to to an Identification shop to learn its properties. Have the sword identified and return it to the manager.


    Difficulty level: E


    Quest Requirements


    Close friendship with the store manager.


    Does not have the identify skill.


    Acknowledged as trustworthy and knowledgeable by the manager.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    It was what I had been waiting for. ¡°Of course, I will gladly do so.¡±


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have accepted the quest.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I was given a sword and 12 silver pieces. Even with my eyes, the sword was unidentifiable. That was because it was a quest item with a variable state. When it was identified, the object data would be replaced with a different object data. Of course before going into the game, during my time searching the code, I already learned of this item and the details of the quest.


    I entered the Appraisal Shop and lent them the sword and the fee for Identification. But it was no good. The appraiser¡¯s skill was too low. The appraiser apologized and asked for the help of the head appraiser to determine the object¡¯s value. The price to have the head appraiser use Identify was unbelievably more that what I was given, but due to the inconvenience, they would lower it this one time. To a price of 7 gold. As 1 gold is worth 100 silver, this was over fifty times the amount the manager had given me to use. Of course I knew it was apart of the quest. I also had more than enough money for such a thing and paid the man.


    I watched as he used ¡®Identify¡¯ on the sword, and saw it glow for a moment before the object data was switched out.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Mystic Sword


    Durability 32/80


    Attack 23


    This sword was once bestowed magic by a powerful enchanter. The magic is of a type once thought lost to time.


    Restriction:


    Level 30


    Equips:


    Damage caused by this sword is treated as magic damage.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    The appraiser was stunned by the information the identification had revealed. Before he could ask any questions, I retrieved the sword and left.


    I returned to the manager and passed him the sword.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Quest Complete


    The sword¡¯s mystery is revealed, but in answering one question, more take its place.


    Reward:


    10 Gold</td></tr></tbody></table>


    After hearing that I spent my own money to pay for the appraisal, the manager insisted that he pay me back and extra for my consideration and trustworthiness.


    After looking over the sword, he said, ¡°Hmm, most interesting. A magic lost to time eh? Could you do me another favor? I wish to know a bit more about this enchanter. If I told you who I acquired this sword from, would you investigate and see if the enchanter is still around?¡±


    <table><tbody><tr><td>The Mysterious Enchanter


    An enchanter capable of bestowing lost magic upon weapons may reside in the city, investigate to see if the Enchanter truly lives.


    Difficulty level: E</td></tr></tbody></table>


    ¡°I will do so sir.¡±


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have accepted the quest.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    ¡°Thankyou. I acquired this sword from an Alchemist acquaintance of mine who has a shop on the other side of the city. Please ask him about it.¡±


    ¡°Yes sir.¡±


    I crossed the city in little time and found the NPC alchemist of the potion shop. Potions were rather expensive compared to herbs when it came to healing, so few but high level adventurers came to his shop. In order to for the NPC to take me seriously, I used a significant portion of my gold reserve to purchase a custom dress. When I entered, the alchemist smiled at me. He could not tell the level requirements of the custom dress, but the fact that it was custom, it was beautiful and that I was beautiful wearing it all accumulated in the Alchemist¡¯s mind that I was someone to be taken seriously.


    ¡°Pardon me sir Alchemist. Would you mind greatly if I asked you a question?¡±


    ¡°Why not at all dear,¡± he answered.


    ¡°The manager of the store I work for told me you gave him a sword, would you tell me more about it?¡±


    The potion maker¡¯s attitude changed a bit, but not too much. I had revealed that I was working for an item shop which meant I was not rich, but I expected this from him. The only reason I needed him to like me was so that he would not throw me out after this revelation. If he did so the quest would fail and I would have lost the path to the class I sought.


    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    ¡°I¡¯ll answer you miss, but only if you buy something.¡±


    I smiled, knowing I had succeeded in taking another step in the quest chain. I knew the minimum purchase required for him open his mouth, and bought a potion of the same value.


    ¡°Hmm, okay. The blacksmith up the street traded it to me for a potion. Talk to him if you want to know more.¡±


    I thanked the man and left for the blacksmith.


    The blacksmith was trickier than the alchemist if you did it wrong. I was convinced that without knowing how to do it beforehand, this quest was close to impossible for all those but the luckiest to complete. Simply put, you had to buy at least three items from him over the course of the week prior to taking the quest. He was a good blacksmith, but not the best, and there were many blacksmiths in this city. Not to mention that he was on the other side of the city from the item shop, so although becoming a trustworthy friend of the item shop manager was a prerequisite for the quest, it was unlikely that anyone who had this prerequisite would buy three things from this exact blacksmith within a week of doing this quest.


    If someone obtained this quest and made it this far and ended up asking the blacksmith without having bought three things from him, they would be turned away and the quest would reach a dead end, resulting in failure. Even if the person tried to buy something off the blacksmith after asking it still wouldn¡¯t work. It was possible to continue if you purchased three items at the same time, then asked, but he would make a request before giving you the information.


    I of course knew of this, and had bought at least one item from him, every other day since I started working at the item shop. This way, no matter what day the quest was given after the first week of work, I was always qualified to obtain the information instantly without having to do his request.


    ¡°Hello little lady, welcome back.¡± He greeted me with a smile, which I returned.


    ¡°Hello again. If you have some time, could you answer a question for me?¡±


    ¡°For a repeat customer? Of course.¡±


    ¡°I heard you gave the alchemist down the street a strange sword. Could you tell me about it?¡±


    ¡°About that? Hmm. Well, I suppose I can. For you.¡±


    I smiled sweetly at him, something that made the man blush just a bit.


    ¡°Well, Funny thing is, it was sold to me by the Innkeeper of the South Rock Inn. Told me he found it among a few other things one day in his Inn¡¯s attic. You can ask him if you really want.¡±


    I thanked the blacksmith and made my way to the South Rock Inn, the final step of this quest. In case you were wondering, I could not have headed for the Innkeeper first and asked him about the sword without having first received the quest, talked to the alchemist, and been directed there by the blacksmith. Doing each action changed my avatar''s object code until it reached this state which qualified me to successfully get what I needed from the Innkeeper.


    ¡°Hello, would you like a room for the night?¡±


    I smiled and said, ¡°Not at the moment, could I ask you a question?¡±


    ¡°Why certainly dear.¡± Innkeepers always treat potential customers with respect.


    ¡°I heard you sold a strange sword to blacksmith a few streets over. Could you tell me about it?¡±


    At this the young man frowned. ¡°That¡¯s a bit personal.¡±


    I said, ¡°I¡¯m willing to pay for the information.¡±


    I slide two gold coins onto the table.


    The Innkeeper looked at the coins and smiled, ¡°Well if you put it that way. I inherited this Inn from my uncle who died some time ago. I¡¯m sure the sword was his. I found it among other things such as books and papers and such.¡±


    I gave gratuitous smiled and said, ¡°Oh? Would you be willing to sell those things to me?¡±


    There were other ways of acquiring them without money, but they all involved doing a task for the Innkeeper. Money was a shortcut.


    ¡°Hmm. How much would you pay?¡±


    ¡°Would 25 gold cover it?¡± Let the haggling begin.


    ¡°Hmm, how about 50 gold.¡±


    ¡°Oh I can¡¯t afford that. I don¡¯t even know what is in them. How about 28 gold?¡±


    ¡°You must have some idea of their contents if you¡¯re willing to buy them. 42 gold.¡±


    ¡°Not really. Truth is, it is my lover that wishes to know about them, this is a present to him from me.¡± I gave him a wink that implied we were very intimate. Such things throw men off so easily. ¡°Would you be willing to part with them for 32 gold?¡±


    The Innkeeper raised his hands in surrender. ¡°Alright, alright, I give. Let me go get them.¡±


    I smiled. A moment later the man came down with a heavy bag containing a few books and papers. I rented a room at the Inn and took them out to begin reading.


    The papers told the story of the man, his past, his dreams, his triumphs, and his failures. It seemed he left it all for his nephew, but the Innkeeper never read them, not caring for his uncle all that much.


    After reading it, a system message appeared.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Quest Complete


    You have learned that the sword was enchanted by an enchanter who discovered some of the long lost enchantment arts.


    You have leveled up!</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Class Change!


    You can convert to the secret class Firelight Enchanter. If you accept, you can learn exclusive skills for the class that are withheld from the primary class.


    Do you wish to convert to Firelight Enchanter?</td></tr></tbody></table>


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    My avatar was enveloped in light. My object code was replaced by a new object code, that of the Firelight Enchanter.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have learned new skill: Enchant</td></tr><tr><td>You have learned new skill: Identify</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I knew the class would come with more skills, but they would not be acquired until I increased my level, stats, and the proficiency of the skill Enchant.


    I returned to the item shop manager and told him of the Firelight Enchanter and he congratulated me on getting the class. Later I told him I was leaving the city, and he thanked me for my hard work.


    Although I acquired the class that would best allow me to give others power and make heroes, I was only part way done. I would acquire enchantments to use on items automatically as I leveled up and increased my Enchant proficiency, but the most powerful enchantments had to be discovered out in the world. I already knew it of course, but even the book I acquired the class from claimed that there were enchanting masters out there who could teach me powerful enchantments. Only by learning them all could I truly become a master enchanter.


    Chapter 3


    http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=4805</a>

 Chapter 3 Cant Solo Alone

    Chapter 3 Can''t Solo Alone


    Enchantment can be divided into two types. Temporary and permanent. Permanent enchantments cast on a character, last until that character dies. All permanent enchantments, and most temporary ones, require a component of some sort to use. Once the enchantment is used, the material is spent.


    Most consider the battle power of an enchanter as one of the lowest in the games. Both attack and defense are weak. Enchanters are a magic based class that can learn spells but they do not specialize in  magic, so spells cast by them are weak. Most players believe they should buff a party before they enter a dungeon or if they enter with a group, the enchanter should stay in the back and try not to get killed. This is generally correct.


    Although I could spend the money to buy a spell book and learn a weak spell, I considered it a waste. After acquiring the class and the ability to enchant, I used the remaining books I had acquired from the class quest to learn three Enchantment spells. For now anyways, this was all I needed.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Red Thorn Enchantment. [1] 0%


    Weapon Enchantment: Wraps target weapon in the magic of piercing thorns.


    Mana Cost: 25


    +7 ATK for 30 mins</td></tr><tr><td>Static State Enchantment. [1] 0%


    Weapon Enchantment: Charges target weapon with electricity.


    Mana cost: 50


    +5~10 Additional Lightning magic damage. for 30mins</td></tr><tr><td>Wind and Water Enchantment. [1] 0%


    Body Enchantment: Surrounds the body with natural energy to move more freely like wind and water.


    Mana Cost: 75


    +5% Movement Speed for 30 mins</td></tr></tbody></table>


    These are of course normal enchantments that can be learned by any low level enchanter.


    Beyond the city gates I found my first opponent. A white rabbit. I could of course see the rabbit¡¯s object data. Seeing this let me know the rabbit''s attack pattern down to the tiniest detail. Not that I needed it.


    I should probably mention at this point that I am a capable fighter. I traveled to many worlds and learned the strongest fighting styles I could find. There are afterall many ways to make heroes, and I used these systems to train humans of my choice into peerless martial artists. I won¡¯t mention which, but a few of the styles of your world originate from men I taught. You ever hear a story of a talentless fighter who wanders off, then returns years later the master of his own original peerless fighting style. Yes, that was me.


    The rabbit jumped at me. According to its object data, if it made contact it would deal between 35 and 65 points of damage. My current health is 109 points.


    I took a step forward and twisted my shoulder to the proper position and pierced the rabbit¡¯s neck with a precise thrust of my small knife. The move was something of a counter, as it used the rabbit¡¯s own jump against it to push the knife through the skin.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Critical Hit!</td></tr></tbody></table>


    The rabbit¡¯s body slid off the knife and fell to the ground. Next to the rabbit appeared a textured piece of rabbit fur.


    Other than using the data to predict and counter strike the rabbit, I manipulated the Object Data: Drop Chance of Rabbit Skin, to cause it to drop.


    The test was successful, it was time for a fox. I held my knife and said, ¡°Red Thorn Enchantment.¡±


    A scarlet light glowed from the hilt where I held it and a pattern wrapped around the knife. An image in the shape of a red vine with thorns on it moved over and spiraled along the surface of the knife like a living painting until it reached the tip. The image froze and stayed there. It slightly glowed.


    In order to reach the the minimum requirement to learn the most basic skill exclusive to the firelight enchanter, I had to increase my Enchant skill to level 5. The skill increased whenever I used an Enchantment, but very slowly. The fastest way for me to do that was to join a group, but few groups would join with someone weak, so before I increased my Enchant skill, I would increase my level.


    The knife I had equipped was a variant I purchased at a User run shop. The knife was at the low end of the limit, but was still a variant so it cost a bit more than a common knife of higher stats. Still it was worth the effort. I changed the knife¡¯s stats to that of a high class variant. Not of the Unique class like I had the Adventurer¡¯s sword, but enough for me to use without the system noticing.


    My ability to alter Object data was the main purpose behind the choosing of the enchanter class. I cannot affect temporary buffs because they are stored in Object data in temp files which are surprisingly difficult to change without the Goddess noticing. But once I obtain spells that can give permanent buffs, I can use this to greatly alter object data under the ruse of a highly successful Enchantment. The Firelight Enchanter has the potential to cast the strongest permanent buffs in the game,  so it is ideal for this.


    I will not bore you with the details, but over a course of two in game weeks, I killed enough rabbits and foxes to rise to level 20. It would have taken far less time if I did not have to logout, but the world keeps track of the length of continuous playtime of all players. So as not to arouse suspicion as to why I did not need to eat or sleep, once every four days, or twentyfour hours of real world time, I would log out for four hours. Not that I waited during that time. I simply left the time space and instantly returned at a point four hours later and returned to the game world.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''3''>Status Window</td><td>Exit</td></tr><tr><td>Avatar</td><td>Curi</td><td>Alignment</td><td>Neutral</td></tr><tr><td>Title</td><td colspan=''3''>None</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>20</td><td>Class</td><td>Firelight Enchanter</td></tr><tr><td>Fame</td><td>None</td><td>Infamy</td><td>None</td></tr><tr><td>Health</td><td>186</td><td>Mana</td><td>650</td></tr><tr><td>Strength</td><td>10+20</td><td>Agility</td><td>10+20</td></tr><tr><td>Wisdom</td><td>62+20</td><td>Intellect</td><td>108+20</td></tr><tr><td>Leadership</td><td>0+20</td><td>Luck</td><td>39+20</td></tr><tr><td>Vitality</td><td colspan=''3''>10+20</td></tr><tr><td>Attack</td><td>19</td><td>Defense</td><td>3</td></tr><tr><td>Magic Resistances</td><td colspan=''3''>None</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>All stats +20


    Wisdom +50


    Intelligence +50


    Enables you to learn magic to the stage of advanced.


    Enables you to learn all Enchantments to the stage of Master.


    Enables you to learn secret skills based on your level in Enchantment.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I think I should point out that although there are many enchanters within Royal Road, almost none of them are of the Enchanter Class. When a mage¡¯s Intellect stat reaches 300, they can learn the skill Enchant and go on from there learning most enchantments. They choose this route because they need high stats to successfully make the most of Enchanting, while the Enchanter class itself is notoriously difficult to raise. Although a true enchanter can learn skills that make up for this down the road, most characters cannot reach this point and give up.


    The reason Enchanters are hard to raise is simply because they do not learn any combat skills or spells that can compensate for how easily they are killed in battle. Even I am not a great exception to this. If I had to face a pack of wolves, My avatar¡¯s speed would not be fast enough to dodge the combined effort of a coordinated wolf pack attack. Regardless of whether or not I could see the attacks coming.


    My ability to overcome the obstacles of this game is not infinite. To put it in perspective, image two chess playing computers, each with the world¡¯s most powerful chess playing software. Now imagine that one of these computers had to start the game without a Queen. Which side would win, ten times out of ten? One hundred times out of one hundred? Being able to see the opponent¡¯s future moves is pointless if your abilities handicap your available options.


    Simply put, at this point I had reach the limit of soloing. To continue soloing, I needed to be stronger, so I had to join a party.


    I made my way to the western road and traveled until I reached a dungeon. It was a goblin cave with five floors. Each floor had stronger monsters than the previous floor, with hobgoblins on the fourth and fifth, and an Ogre boss monster at the bottom.


    The mouth of the cave had dozens of adventurers of all types. I found a large group that was forming, it had about twelve members, lead by two knights. All of which were Users.


    I approached the knight I could see had the highest level and said, ¡°Excuse me sir knight, do you have room for one more?¡±


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have requested to join Follen¡¯s Raid Party.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    The knight looked me over, stopping for a moment to appreciate my face before continuing on to my equipment. He said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry miss but this is a guild only raid party, Hermes members only.¡±


    I hadn¡¯t noticed before but when he mentioned it I looked over each User¡¯s Object data and could see he spoke the truth. Each member was apart of the same guild. However this did not dissuade me.


    ¡°I see. But I do not want any kills or loot, only practice. I am an Enchanter, and I need a large group to work with to increase my skill proficiency.¡±


    The second knight said, ¡°Enchanter? What is that?¡±


    The question did not surprise me. Most people do not learn of things that do not affect them. Other than bard and cleric, most people are ignorant of the other classes that can provide buffs.


    The first knight looked over me once again for a moment before holding out his spear and saying, ¡°Show me what you got.¡± UsuallyI I could not enchant another without being in their party, but if they gave permission, I could do so. Sometimes enchanters take advantage of this and set up in front of dungeons to enchant players they meet for a profit.


    I smiled at him, touched the spear, and cast Red Thorn Enchantment.


    A visual effect of a scarlet vine moved out from my finger over the weapon, twisting around it. The image grew thorns and continued to spread until it reached the edges.


    ¡°What the, did she paint your spear?¡± The first knight saw the change in color and was a bit confused. Due to how uncommon enchanters are on the battlefield, most have never seen even their most simple spell.


    The knight looked at the spear. He opened his menu to observe the change in Attack power. I spent the whole of the two week slaughter session with my weapon enchanted. Using it so much got my Red Thorn enchantment to level 7, it increased attack by 11 for half an hour, and only cost 17 mana to use. My Enchant skill in case you were wondering, is only level 3.


    The knight asked, ¡°How many enchantments can you cast?¡±


    I smiled, touched him, and used Wind and Water body. The spot I touched formed into a intricate glowing tattoo. In his field of vision he would have received a message saying his movement speed had increased by 7% for the next half hour.


    I answered, ¡°I can enchant everyone and every weapon here, and keep them enchanted for the entire duration of your hunt.¡±


    If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    ¡°And you don¡¯t want any loot?¡±


    ¡°Nope.¡±


    He nodded, ¡°Alright. you¡¯re in.¡±


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have joined Follen¡¯s Raid Party.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    The other knight protested, ¡°Hey! I don¡¯t care what an Enchanter is or how pretty she is, she isn¡¯t a Hermes member!¡±


    Follen said, "Leave it Steve."


    I walked over to Steve and said, ¡°I promise to be your good luck charm.¡± I got close to him and winked at him. I tapped his shoulder and gave him and Wind and Water Enchantment.


    After seeing the buff, he grumbled and relented. Follen then ordered everyone to get themselves and their weapon buffed by me. And that time would be made to do so every half hour.


    Using the Wind and Water along with the Red Thorn Enchantment together cost me less than 50 mana points, so I could use it only everybody with mana to spare. I spent some stat points gained from leveling up on Wisdom. That along with the generous bonus of 50 points received for being a firelight enchanter and an additional 20 gave me enough wisdom for my Mana Regeneration to fill up the bar completely after half an hour had passed.


    The dungeon brought back many memories. Not of fighting goblins, but of training adventurers by making them face monsters.


    Once you know how to make a body out of nothing for yourself, making a body out of nothing for something else is simple. I may have created a few monsters in my early hero training days. I may even intend on making a few more in this game. Enchanting has many possibilities after all.


    Two hours after starting, one of the young, low leveled swordsmen came up to the head knight and said something. Afterwards the knight came to me.


    ¡°Ok, what gives? Three of my men have reported that after your buff wore off, the maximum attack of their weapons had increased.¡±


    I smiled. I had been playing with the item data of a few of the User¡¯s weapons. I wanted to see an initial reaction to how they would take it. I said, ¡°I and a subclass of Enchanter with special skills. Sometimes the buffs I make have a permanent effect of increase weapon stats. I am sorry but I can do nothing about it.¡±


    Such a skill of course does not exist, but I needed some reputation if I wanted groups to accept me into their parties. A bit of mystery can do wonders for the reputation of a beautiful woman.


    The knight stared at me, ¡°Any ill effect?¡±


    ¡°None at all,¡± I replied.


    ¡°Alright then.¡±


    After word got around, people in the group came to me to buff their equipment more often. Even before the buff they already had wore off. I increased one sword by one attack point about once every twenty enchantments. Considering the duration of the raid, everybody would have a stronger weapon by the end.


    Due to the men moving faster and attacking stronger, the knight Follen decided it would be safe to go to the second floor. Goblins are level 50, and even with just the experience for being in their raid party, I had leveled four times due to the volume of goblins killed.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Skill level up! Enchant [5]</td></tr><tr><td>You have learned a new spell: Enchant Dungeon</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I smiled.


    According to the documents that gave me the class, the the class Firelight Enchanter was conceived by a ancient Enchantress who craved power above all things. She created a series of enhancements that were fundamentally different from normal enchantments. This is because they drew their power from a different source.


    As I said before, most enchantments above a certain level require a material of some source. Fairy hair, magic gems, precious metals, monster parts, these are the components necessary to cast permanent high level enchantments.


    The creator of firelight enchantments devised a way around the need of components. The enchantments drew their power from else. Think of a piece of wood. It doesn¡¯t have much energy. But if you set it on fire, the wood burns itself, releasing a vast amount of energy. Afterwards, the wood is ash. So is the way of the Firelight Enchantment series, they burn through the source material, but produce amazing power from doing so.


    I stopped the group. ¡°Excuse me, I have a request to make.¡±


    The second in command said, ¡°What is it girl?¡±


    I answered, ¡°I would like to use a different enchantment, but it will use up all my mana. Would it be alright if the men went without my other buffs for half an hour?¡±


    Follen came forth and asked, ¡°What enchantment?¡±


    I smiled. ¡°I want to enchant the dungeon to make the monsters drop more loot.¡±


    ¡°What?!¡± This shout came simultaneously from at least three people.


    ¡°You can do that?¡±


    ¡°I just acquired the skill.¡±


    ¡°Alright, give it a go.¡±


    I walked to the dungeon wall. ¡°Dungeon Enchant.¡±


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Dungeon Enchant</td></tr><tr><td>Change Item Drop rate ¡ü¡ý


    Change Monster Spawn rate ¡ü¡ý</td></tr></tbody></table>


    When the skill increased, more options would be available.


    I tapped the ¡ü icon next to Change Item Drop Rate and the placed my hand on the dungeon wall.


    From the spot I touched, a light red pattern developed and spread over the wall. It encompassed the wall, the floor, the ceiling, and the wall behind us. Afterwards it kept spreading out and out. After a few seconds I lifted my hand. The spell cost 1000 mana. I only just had enough because I put every stat point I had gained from leveling up in my Intellect stat.


    From the group came a mixtures of  ¡®oohhs,¡¯ and ¡®ahhs.¡¯


    The pattern on the wall glowed faintly red and pulsed and flickered. The color and intensity looked just like the light of a dim fire, thus the name, Firelight Enchanter.


    ¡°Did you change the whole dungeon?¡±


    ¡°Of course not. I might be able to when my proficiency maxes out, but for now I only covered about a fifth of this floor. Monsters within will drop more loot.¡±


    I had no intention of telling any of them the dark side of this spell. For a normal enchanter to make a spell that could cover even part of a dungeon would require tens of thousands of mana points. The reason this spell did not, is because it got most of its power elsewhere. The dungeon itself, and all occupants. Of course this was a weak spell as it was only at level one. The current effect was nothing more than everyone within the affected area having a reduced health and mana regeneration by about 10%. Not something most would even notice. But when the spell reached a higher proficiency, it would stop health and mana regeneration altogether. At the highest level, the dungeon would cause people to lose health and mana as long as they were in it.


    Of course most of these faults could be worked around. I could intentionally not cover most of the dungeon, so they could leave the affected area to regenerate mana and health if need be.


    However, when I reached the highest mastery of this skill, I could not only affect the deepest nature of the dungeon, molding it as I please, I could also make the effect permanent. Such a hazardous spell has many applications. When it gets to the point where I can cover most of a floor and cause slow health decline, I can simply wait for all the monsters to get so weak that I can walk up and kill them, even with my low attack.


    All that aside, the effect of the spell at the moment was too low to notice. It increased Item drop rate by about 2%. I wanted to make an impact on this group, so I affected the goblin¡¯s random number generator for drop chance to give the monsters in the room about a 20% drop chance. (Goblin drop rate naturally about 5%, so I had it at four times the original value.) About one out of five kills got an item drop, as opposed to one in twenty beforehand.


    ¡°Woah! So much Loot!¡±


    This was the common cry. I also noticed that most of the Users had herbs with them for healing so they did not rely much on their natural recovery.


    The group requested I continue to use Enchant Dungeon for the remaining ten hours of the raid. Of course as it cost a great deal of mana, I had to wait longer to restore my mana points so the time between would be longer than thirty minutes. However the leader gave me blue herbs to eat that recovered my mana enough to cast it. Even the second in command did not say anything about using guild resources on an outsider.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''3''>Status Window</td><td>Exit</td></tr><tr><td>Avatar</td><td>Curi</td><td>Alignment</td><td>Neutral</td></tr><tr><td>Title</td><td colspan=''3''>None</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>31</td><td>Class</td><td>Firelight Enchanter</td></tr><tr><td>Fame</td><td>None</td><td>Infamy</td><td>None</td></tr><tr><td>Health</td><td>201</td><td>Mana</td><td>1210</td></tr><tr><td>Strength</td><td>10+20</td><td>Agility</td><td>10+20</td></tr><tr><td>Wisdom</td><td>72+20</td><td>Intellect</td><td>148+20</td></tr><tr><td>Leadership</td><td>0+20</td><td>Luck</td><td>39+20</td></tr><tr><td>Vitality</td><td colspan=''3''>10+20</td></tr><tr><td>Attack</td><td>20</td><td>Defense</td><td>3</td></tr><tr><td>Magic Resistances</td><td colspan=''3''>None</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>All stats +20


    Wisdom +50


    Intelligence +50


    Enables you to learn magic to the stage of advanced.


    Enables you to learn all Enchantments to the stage of Master.


    Enables you to learn secret skills based on your level in Enchantment.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    ¡°Are you sure you won¡¯t consider joining the Hermes guild?¡±


    ¡°Thankyou for the offer, but I do not wish to be tied to down one place.¡± Not by you anyways.


    ¡°Come on. The Hermes guild is becoming the strongest in Haven Kingdom. We could use someone with your skills.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure the strongest guild in the kingdom will do fine without me.¡±


    Ironically it was Steve, the second in command knight who was trying to recruit me. I grew on him over the day and he knew that any raid without me would seem wasteful by comparison. In addition to wanting my skills, I was sure he had a crush on me. He would likely arrange it so that I was on every raid party he was on. Not that I mind the advances, but he was not my type. That is to say, he had little hero potential.


    Follen said, ¡°That is unfortunate, but I will tell the other captains to be on the lookout for a Scarlet Enchantress. You should be able to join any raid party of the Hermes guild without a problem, with your fair share of the loot.¡±


    Due to the fact that they had more than three times the loot they had ever gained from such a raid party before, they practically begged me to take my share. I insisted that I was sincere about not wanting it and it was unladylike to go back on my word. Since I made the issue about my honor as a woman, they let it go and promised next time I would definitely get my fair share.


    I smiled at the group as they left the dungeon. I looked around for another raid party forming at the mouth of the cave. I had a reputation to spread afterall. The Scarlet Enchantress as it were would be welcomed into any party.


    Chapter 4


    http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=4824</a>

 Chapter 4 The First Hero

    Chapter 4


    The First Hero


    After two straight weeks of buffing parties, (with some logout time to prevent suspicion,) I have become one of the most popular party members to have in the goblin cave. Demand for me especially skyrocketed after my Enchant Dungeon spell could increase the experience of the affected area. When this spread around, the group that delved into the lower floors that contained Hobgoblins (Level 80~100) invited me and even offered to give me two guards throughout the raid to protect me. I declined generous offer.


    The point of joining a party was not the experience, but the members. I tried to join the largest party whenever I could. It would have been nice if the largest party was the one that fought on the fourth and fifth floor, but it wasn¡¯t.


    At this point I should tell you that, in real world time, this game has only been available for four months. I first came in three weeks ago. Also, although there are many characters that have trained as much as I have, I am likely the only character who has yet to die even once. When a character dies, they lose a level and some percent of the mastery of all of their skills. When I log out I occasionally check to see what is the highest player level is and how many are in that group. The first person to reach level 100 did so about two weeks after the game came out. Right now the highest level player is a solo adventurer somewhere in the mountains, a level 194 warrior. There are currently about three hundred players out of Versailles that are between level 140 and 194. I said before that there were many mages that know the enchant skill and sell themselves as enchanters, most are a little over level 100.


    By the way, I am currently level 41, and here is a list of my current skills and spells.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Enchant [8] 12%


    Can learn and use enchantment spells.


    Can stack up to 2 enchantments.</td></tr><tr><td>Identify [1] 0%


    Mana Cost: 30</td></tr><tr><td>Enchant Dungeon [5] 67%


    Cast Firelight Enchantment on Dungeon Area


    Effects Available:


    Change Monster Spawn Rate (10%


    Change Monster Drop Rate (10%)


    Change Monster Strength (10%)


    Change Dungeon Experience rate. (10%)


    Duration: 30 Mins


    Mana Cost: 900


    Additional: Occupants of affected areas have Health and Mana regeneration reduced by 50%</td></tr><tr><td>Red Thorn Enchantment. Intermediate [2] 77%


    Weapon Enchantment: Wraps target weapon in the magic of piercing thorns.


    Mana Cost: 20


    +21 ATK for 30 mins</td></tr><tr><td>Static State Enchantment. [9] 21%


    Weapon Enchantment: Charges target weapon with electricity.


    Mana cost: 22


    +20~40 Additional Lightning magic damage. for 30mins</td></tr><tr><td>Wind and Water Enchantment Intermediate. [4] 10%


    Body Enchantment: Surrounds the body with natural energy to move more freely like wind and water.


    Mana Cost: 65


    +44% Movement Speed for 30 mins</td></tr></tbody></table>


    If you consider overall that I have not killed a single goblin, then my growth rate is quite impressive. Being in a party shares some of the experience of killing. I would say that 80% goes to the one who killed the monster, while the other 20% is divided up between the remaining party members.


    One day after another long goblin raid was finished and I returned to the mouth of the cave looking for another party, a young swordsman I did not recognize came up to me.


    ¡°Excuse me, but are you the Scarlet Enchantress Curi?¡±


    The name the Hermes guild have given me stuck it seemed. Not that I mind it.


    ¡°Yes, that would be me.¡± I gave a small introductory bow and a smile.


    The young man blushed a bit. ¡°Ok, I¡¯m supposed to give this letter to you.¡±


    I took the envelope he held out and opened it. The man stayed still. He appeared to want to get a reply off me.


    The letter was basically from the Hermes guild stating that they would attempt a Boss Raid Party in five days, and wished to know if I would be interested in participating. Whoever wrote it seemed to know my preferences, as it stated that there would be forty-six members participating and that I would be provided with mana potions enough to enchant the dungeon and the whole party with everything I could. In addition, besides receiving a fair share of the loot, I would be paid 50 gold.


    From an outsider¡¯s perspective looking in, this was too much to allow for a nonguild member, even a high quality buffer like myself. However, it became known that my enchantments occasionally raise maximum weapon stats and I was the only confirmed character in the game that could enchant a dungeon and give several rooms within a bonus like additional experience for monsters killed.


    This put me in very high demand.


    However, just because the deal was tailor made for me, did not mean that I would accept it. I have my own agenda. That being said, this raid could have been exactly what I was looking for. Perhaps within I would find someone worth making into a hero.


    I answered the messenger, ¡°I shall be there.¡±


    The young man nodded and said, ¡°Ok, great. Please be here at 9 a.m. in five days.¡±


    I nodded my head in acknowledgment.


    Instead of returning to the dungeon, I took the road back to Aean. There were a few things I was in need of.


    As one of the first available starting cities within Royal Road, the capitol of Haven kingdom was enormous and packed with users. It also had a large variety of stores to suit almost every need. I made my way to one such store after selling the accumulated loot I¡¯d acquired and browsed the selection. This was a Magic book store where one could buy spells and the like.


    The shop¡¯s contents were expensive so two armed guards stood at the doorway to prevent thievery. The shelves were arranged by level and type, with low level spells like Fire Ball on the bottom and higher class spells like Fire Storm on the upper shelves. The front counter had books beneath glass casings, in a similar fashion one would find at a jewelry store. Spells in those cases were for advanced mage classes above level 200.


    I found the section for Enchantments without difficulty. I knew from looking at the code that Aean Castle had about fifteen mages with the Enchant skill, six of which had come togther and set up a User run enchantment shop. There were also about fifty NPC enchanters or mages with the enchant class, though most were used by noblemen or royalty.


    On the cover of each book, besides its name, was a number that represented the required Enchant skill level to learn the book. Many class skill books had such requirements. All spell books above a certain level require proficiency in a skill called Magic Mastery. Enchanters do not acquire this skill so they can only learn weak spells. I picked up three new enhancements to buy.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Bear¡¯s Strength Enchantment.


    Body Enhancement: Increases target strength.


    Mana Cost: 100


    Component cost: Bear¡¯s Tooth


    +5 STR for 30 mins</td></tr><tr><td>Mana Channeler Enchantment.


    Body Enchantment: Opens body channels to receive mana


    Mana cost: 220


    Component cost: Mana Stone Dust, Fairy Hair.


    Increases Mana regeneration by 10% for 30mins</td></tr><tr><td>Infuse Strength Enchantment


    Body Enchantment: Fuses power into the core of a target


    Mana Cost: 350


    Component Cost: Giant¡¯s Toe, Troll blood, Ruby.


    +3% Strength. Permanent effect, lasts until character dies</td></tr></tbody></table>


    In case you didn¡¯t know, increasing skill proficiency with strong enchantments is an extremely costly business. Most characters that Enchant professionally charge outrageous fees. These are for the cost of materials. Also, when a skill has low proficiency, it is possible to fail. I know for a fact that no one in this city has a Infuse Strength proficiency higher than level 4, because no one has an infinite amount of money to spend on rubys to use the spell over and over again. Until now anyways.


    I brought the books to the counter. The clerk looked over them, impressed not only that I was a skilled enough enchanter to use them, (Infuse Strength requires Enchant lvl 8 to learn,) but that I was buying them at all. Due to how costly the spells are to strengthen, they were not popular buys. The price on the books themselves was also ridiculous.


    ¡°That will be 2130 gold, and 75 silver pieces.¡±


    Ridiculous.


    I paid the man what he asked for. This NPC did not enjoy haggling with first time customers so I did not bother. Besides, the cost did not matter. There are places to gamble in Aean and for someone with the ability to control chance, this was an unlimited source of gold. Not that I had aroused too much suspicion. I simply walked in, wagered every gold coin I had on one gamble, won, and left. This was not an uncommon thing (though the winning was,) so it did not raise any system flags.


    I then went to a magic shop that sold magic components and homemade potions. I purchased a large amount of each of the components I required. Later I went to a jeweler and used my charm to persuade him to sell me a batch of raw uncut rubies too irregular for him to use. The total amount I spent for all of the components was about thirteen thousand gold.  (More than half was spent on materials for Infuse Strength alone.)


    I returned to the dungeon and quickly joined a party. I used my new enchantments free of charge. Though in truth I simply did not tell them that the buffs I was using cost money to cast. Thanks to casting the Mana Channeler Enchantment on myself, I recovered mana faster and was able to use more enchantments. I did not even charge anybody for the use of Infuse power. And since I could stack two enchantment onto anything, I cast two enchantments on each user, their weapon, and used Enchant Dungeon with two different effect activated. (Though to do so I had to cast it twice with a break between each cast because I did not have enough mana to use both casts at the same time.)


    The time spent traveling, gambling, and buying supplies was about a day and a half. I used the remaining three and a half days to go all out with increasing my Enchanting.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Skill level up! Enchant has reached level 10 and becomes Intermediate lvl 1


    Can now stack up to three enchantments.


    Enchantment effect strength increased by 10%</td></tr><tr><td>You have learned a new spell: Mystic Enchantment</td></tr></tbody></table>


    A few hours before I was set to join the boss raid, I received a message. The spell was the same spell cast on the sword from the quest. It would permanently change the properties of a weapon to deal magic damage instead of physical. Since it was a Firelight enchantment, it didn¡¯t require components, but it did have an effect of reducing the health and mana regeneration of the person who equipped it. The spell however was only at level one at the moment. The effect would likely only convert a part of the damage into magic damage and reduce regeneration by less than 10%. Not something useful now, but it could be trained easily enough by acquiring many weapons and enchanting them all.


    The more useful effect was the Enchantment Stack increase to three. Professional Enchanters could stack up to four permanent enchantments on a weapon, (for a horrifying price). But none of them had a Enchant level above intermediate 6.


    The group¡¯s first party arrived around 8:30. I was already waiting at the cave¡¯s mouth. I always arrive early.


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Another knight, this one one mid to late twenties, approached me and said, ¡°You are Curi yes? You are as beautiful as the rumors say.¡±


    He took my hand and kissed it lightly like a knight would a princess. I am many things, but I am not immune to flattery. I gave a quick smirk and said, ¡°And what do these rumors say?¡±


    ¡°That an beautiful enchantress in a red dress dares the depths of these dangerous grounds and commands the world like a goddess come to earth.¡±


    Ok, that was a bit much. Not that I don¡¯t like the comparison, I just get antsy when compared to gods or goddesses because they might be listening.


    I gave a light curtsy and asked, ¡°And whom do I have the pleasure of addressing?¡±


    The knight bowed, ¡°I am Bard Ray, second in command of the Hermes guild.¡±


    Was not expecting that. I looked over his character data. He was a level 159 Knight, which put him in about the top 50 of high level players in the game. It seemed that not only is he second in command, he was apart of the original group the founded the Hermes guild.


    I could only give a genuine smile at his introduction. This man had outstanding hero potential.


    The reason I was not expecting it was because the usual Ogre boss was about level 130. The Hermes guild sent a raiding party every month after it respawned, so this was just another raiding party like so many others. There was no reason for a high level knight, much less the second in command of the Hermes guild to come here, even for supervision.


    I decided this man would be my first project.


    Now, a bit of an introductory lesson in Hero making. Simply handing over Excalibur and saying, ¡°Good Luck,¡¯ is a very ineffective way to make a hero. They have to work for, earn it, and do so in a way that lets the whole world know it. Though I will say that Excalibur was in fact some of my finest work. I even took the time to look after that boy for a while posing as a skilled magician. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve heard that story.


    The first step is to make a trial they must overcome. I could not help but delight over the circumstances. This dungeon had a feature that no one but those who wrote the code knew about, and it was too early in the game for others to have stumbled across it yet. A one in a million chance event.


    Without the others noticing, I walked up to the cavern wall and touched it. The dungeon as a whole is one piece of code, by touching one part, I could affect the whole thing. What I affected, was the chance rate of the dungeon¡¯s rare event.


    When I finished I smiled and returned to the group.


    Bard Ray was coordinating guild captains into ordered ranks. When he had time he asked what kind of enchantments could I cast.


    ¡°Would you allow me to cast one on you?¡±


    The knight smiled, ¡°Sure.¡± Thus I was granted access to change his object data.


    I cast Infuse Strength on him. The skill have leveled up to six, meaning it gave a bonus of +18% strength until he next died. (When people learned a Enchantress was giving out free permanent enchantments, people actually came to the dungeon looking for me.)


    He read the buff message that appeared and said, ¡°You use Infuse Strength?!¡±


    It seemed he was familiar with the enchantment.


    He continued, ¡°How rich are you?¡±


    I smiled again. He was looking at me differently now. Not as a beautiful woman, but as something that could be used. A tool, a weapon. Not that he was entirely wrong. I am a tool that chooses its user, and today I have chosen him.


    In addition to increasing his Strength by 18%, the buff also increased his movement speed by 10%, his defense by 40, and fire resistance by 30%


    This was a blatant use of my cheating abilities. I altered the buff I gave him to increase all of his abilities to meet the trial I had in store for him. He of course did not notice. Besides altering what the Buff gave, I altered what the message the buff showed him said. He didn¡¯t know his entire combat capabilities had boosted to one of the highest in the continent.


    Also, because I had not altered his object data but my spell¡¯s object data, the system would not register it as a problem. Eventually he would die, and the buff and the evidence would disappear.


    Since Ray understood the cost of Infuse Strength, he could not ask me to cast it on the other forty-five members of the raid party. (Though I could.) Especially knowing that I had just spent more on him than I would actually make for the whole of this raid party. (Loot+50 gold payment less than cost for casting that spell once.)


    I was however asked to cast as many spells on as many men as I could. One hundred mana potions each capable of restoring 300 mana in an instant were brought for me to use. (Though I could not keep the extra at the end of the raid party.)


    The heavily strengthened party easily made their way all the way to the fifth floor boss room without incident. Any who doubted the use of hiring an outsider Enchantress just for buffs understood my value at that point. Especially the spell casters. Mana channeler had reached level 8, so their mana regeneration speed was 80% higher.


    Bard Ray opened the door of the boss room and lead the group in. I had already cast Enchant Dungeon to give this room more experience and more item drops. Though in truth I had also used it for to increase the strength of the monsters inside, increasing their levels.


    When the group saw the throne at the end of the room, they stopped. It was not was they were expecting. Where a green ogre usually sat, was a red one.


    This dungeon has a secret event that will occasionally produce a red ogre instead of a green one. When this feature is discovered in the future, the finding of a red ogre will be celebrated, for they drop exceedingly rare loot. But this was the first encounter since the game started, and no one knew what was going on.


    The ogre rose from his chair. ¡°You have defiled my lair for the last time. .I will kill you all and eat your Corpses!¡± After this disturbing declaration, he faced the air and exhaled plumes of fire. This had a great intimidation effect on the group. Combined with the heavy sound of the door to the boss¡¯s chambers closing shut with a loud bang, this also demoralized the troops.


    Ray announced, ¡°Stand Strong! We will win! To your positions!¡±


    Three knights of about level 100 stood guard around me. I was asked if I could wait outside, (like a traditional Enchanter would,) but I said I had to be inside to activate Enchant Dungeon. For protection I was assigned some guards.


    Hobgoblins were fighting with swordsmen and mages. Lightning, fire and arrows flew every which way across the room.


    Four hobgoblins approached my guards and two moved to defend me. I used this opportunity to lose them.


    I said before I can control sprite data, or the viaula part of an object as I wish. I can also disconnect sprite data. (Though I have to reconnect it quickly before the system notices.) I disconnected the sprite data for all of my equipment and my body. Essentially, I was invisible. But only to those that relied on sprite data, Users. Monsters could still perceive me because they didn¡¯t know they shouldn¡¯t.


    I moved over to get closer to Bard Ray, who was fighting the Red Ogre with two others while supported by priests, mages and archers.


    For a level 130 Ogre, this would be overkill. Bard Ray never intended on taking part in the fight. The red Ogre however was level 180. And within his own dungeon, he was stronger than any User on the face of Versailles. (Especially since he was strengthened by my Enchant Dungeon, along with the hobgoblins in the room.)


    Ray was being pushed back, however he was still better off than the other two. They seemed to be a level 130 Warrior and a level 128 Spearmen. Likely the original captains of this raid party until Bard Ray took it over just to see me.


    I could not make myself invisible to monsters, but whenever one saw me, there was a chance of it attacking or ignoring. I altered those chance to ignore me. That only works though when a creature at least has a chance of ignoring me. It also only works when close up, so if a goblin got out a bow and arrow and started shooting me from a distance I could not stop him.


    The reason for ditching my guard and moving closer to the boss fight was to use my random chance control to give Ray the edge. Even with my super buff he was in a huge disadvantage. He probably noticed that his movement was far superior to what it should be, but I hoped he would attribute all of it to just the 18% increase in strength.


    I found a safe place behind a pillar near the Ogre¡¯s throne. I was close enough to effect chance.


    Whenever Bard Ray attacked, I made sure it deal the maximum damage it could. When he was hit, I made sure it dealt the least.


    The Ogre jumped back to put the three men fighting it into range.  The other two had fought the boss ogre before, and were getting caught up in thinking this one fought the same. The red Ogre let roar a blast of fire that covered most of the area in front of him. All three leaders were hit, but Bard Ray was the only survivor. Though even if I had not reduced the damage from that attack to the minimum, had he not had fire resistance from my cheat buff he would be dead.


    The others in the group continued fighting the hobgoblins. Because I strengthened them, the group had yet to finish them off and help Bard Ray. I needed him to mostly defeat the ogre on his own.


    Finally the last blow was struck. I made sure the Ogre dropped its rarest loot, an armband that increased Leadership and Charisma by 40 points each. This would make any man a great leader. If the man was already a great leader, it would elevate him to the next level.


    I left the cave without receiving any loot or money. This is because I remained Invisible the entire time. If I stayed the men would have likely begged insistently for me to join the Hermes guild, and I don¡¯t think I would have been able to say no if Bard Ray asked in person. I was sure that is why he came today. So I stayed invisible and let everyone assume I had died.


    Ray Bard had passed my trial. Sure I helped, but it would have been for nothing if he hadn¡¯t made the most of it. The kid with Excalibur needed my help a lot of times too. The last part of making a hero was an easy part compared to finding a hero and guiding him through a trial without him knowing you set it up and helped him out. I just had to make sure everyone knew what he did.


    NPCs have a Rumor spreading system that informs the masses and each other about interesting events. I simply walked all over the city and made sure that they would spread the word that a famous adventurer in a powerful guild defeated a Red ogre. I spread it to the merchants, the bar and Inn owners, the artists and bards. I took a walk along the Noble side of the city and made sure Bard Ray¡¯s Adventure was the talk of the high society town.


    It didn¡¯t take long for Bard Ray¡¯s reputation to overshadow the Scarlet Enchantress. Eventually he was known all over the city. Last I heard, one of the city lords offered him a knighthood. This meant that he would now have political power and influence. He had become a hero.


    It is at this point I step away. I stay back and look for more heroes to make. I¡¯ll occasionally check up on him now and then to see what kind of hero he becomes. Or if he becomes something else entirely.


    Chapter 5


    http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=4862</a>

 Chapter 5 Treasure of the Dungeon

    Chapter 5


    Treasure of the Dungeon


    In the game of Royal Road, there are approximately 1,700 dungeons. When a dungeon is first discovered, the individual or party that discovers it receives fame, the opportunity to be the first to plunder the riches of the dungeon, and several other useful benefits.


    At this early stage in the game, new dungeons were being discovered about once every three days. Though that is just the discoveries made public.


    Overall, this became a problem for me. To train my enchantments to the point I needed, I have


    to be in a large party, preferably a raid party. But the largest groups always moved around when a new dungeon was discovered. The goblin dungeon was practically deserted within a week of the discovery of a lizardman dungeon. That one was left empty a week after the discovery of a den of bandits that dropped good loot. And I of course had to follow the crowds to best train my enchantments.


    Hard work does pay off though. Two months after the now infamous Hermes Dungeon Red Ogre Raid, my Enchant skill reached intermediate level 5. I knew for a fact I had risen it faster than anyone else in the game so far, mostly because I did nothing but enchant. I did not fight monsters or collect loot or explore on my own. I did nothing but party with groups of six or more, enchanting them every step of the way, for sixty days in a row. (I still logged off once every four days, but that is besides the point)


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''3''>Status Window</td><td>Exit</td></tr><tr><td>Avatar</td><td>Curi</td><td>Alignment</td><td>Neutral</td></tr><tr><td>Title</td><td colspan=''3''>None</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>81</td><td>Class</td><td>Firelight Enchanter</td></tr><tr><td>Fame</td><td>96</td><td>Infamy</td><td>None</td></tr><tr><td>Health</td><td>360</td><td>Mana</td><td>4570</td></tr><tr><td>Strength</td><td>10+20</td><td>Agility</td><td>10+20</td></tr><tr><td>Wisdom</td><td>140+20</td><td>Intellect</td><td>302+20</td></tr><tr><td>Leadership</td><td>0+20</td><td>Luck</td><td>60+20</td></tr><tr><td>Vitality</td><td colspan=''3''>10+20</td></tr><tr><td>Attack</td><td>20</td><td>Defense</td><td>3</td></tr><tr><td>Magic Resistances</td><td colspan=''3''>None</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>All stats +20


    Wisdom +50


    Intelligence +50


    Enables you to learn magic to the stage of advanced.


    Enables you to learn all Enchantments to the stage of Master.


    Enables you to learn secret skills based on your level in Enchantment.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Enchant Intermediate [5] 2%


    Can learn and use enchantment spells.


    Can stack up to 4 enchantments.


    Enchantment effects increased by 20%</td></tr><tr><td>Efficient Enchanter  [7] 23%


    14% chance to not use a component when Enchanting</td></tr><tr>[tr]<td>Identify [1] 0%


    Mana Cost: 30</td></tr><tr><td>Enchant Dungeon Intermediate [2] 22%


    Cast Firelight Enchantment on Dungeon Area


    Effects Available:


    Change Monster Spawn Rate (31%)


    Change Monster Drop Rate (31%)


    Change Monster Strength (31%)


    Change Dungeon Experience rate. (31%)


    Change Monster Intellect (31%)


    Change Monster Speed (31%)


    Duration: 30 Mins


    Mana Cost: 950


    Additional: Occupants of affected areas have Health and Mana regeneration reduced by 120%</td></tr><tr><td>Red Thorn Enchantment. Intermediate [7] 53%


    Weapon Enchantment: Wraps target weapon in the magic of piercing thorns.


    Mana Cost: 15


    +35 ATK for 30 mins</td></tr><tr><td>Static State Enchantment. Intermediate [4] 89%


    Weapon Enchantment: Charges target weapon with electricity.


    Mana cost: 19


    +65~85 Additional Lightning magic damage. for 30 mins</td></tr><tr><td>Wind and Water Enchantment Intermediate. [8] 11%


    Body Enchantment: Surrounds the body with natural energy to move more freely like wind and water.


    Mana Cost: 52


    +84% Movement Speed for 30 mins</td></tr><tr><td>Bear¡¯s Strength Enchantment Intermediate [2] 76%


    Body Enhancement: Increases target strength.


    Mana Cost: 180


    Component cost: Bear¡¯s Tooth


    +62 STR for 30 mins</td></tr><tr><td>Mana Channeler Enchantment Intermediate [3] 6%


    Body Enchantment: Opens body channels to receive mana


    Mana cost: 180


    Component cost: Mana Stone Dust, Fairy Hair.


    Increases Mana regeneration by 136% for 30mins</td></tr><tr><td>Infuse Strength Enchantment Intermediate [4] 40%


    Body Enchantment: Fuses power into the core of a target


    Mana Cost: 540


    Component Cost: Giant¡¯s Toe, Troll blood, Ruby.


    +42% Strength. Permanent effect, lasts until character dies</td></tr><tr><td>Mystic Enchantment. [1] 0%


    Weapon Enchantment: Firelight Enchantment that alters the weapon''s existence, forcing it from the physical plane


    Mana Cost: 250


    Permanent effect: Converts 5% of physical damage dealt to magic damage


    Health and mana regeneration of wielder reduced by 1%</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I stayed pretty active. I actually ran out of materials for Infuse Strength, but it didn¡¯t take too much for me to ¡®find¡¯ some more money to buy more supplies with. You may have noticed as well that I obtained the skill Efficient Enchanter. This is a skill only those of the Enchanter class can gain and gives a small chance of not using a necessary component when Enchanting. Needless to say it became immediately useful. Gaining money the way I do is very risky so I prefer to avoid it. As I gain a higher skill level I will be able to learn more Enchanter exclusive skills that will make my work superior to mage enchanters. Also, you may have noticed that I added a few points to my Luck stat. This is because it increases the chance of good things happening. And the higher the chances, the less I have to alter to change those chances in my favor.


    Anyways, those endless dungeon days are now that¡¯s behind me. For now I don¡¯t need an Enchant skill higher than Intermediate 5, so I don¡¯t have to follow the crowds and party up. And as for dungeons, there¡¯s an undiscovered one I need to pick something up from.


    I can imagine that the day I stopped showing up at the dungeon was filled with confusion. To this point I was practically an accessory of the dungeon life. But I could not continue that path. After intermediate level 5, the Enchant skill became exponentially harder to train. There was a dead end coming up soon. Just as when I could no longer train solo, now, I can no longer train while weak. As the groups I join increased in strength, the monsters they fought would become stronger. Too strong. The physical weakness of the enchanter class had to be overcome if I wanted to survive this world.


    The dungeon I picked was one related to a quest about an ancient kingdom that fell to ruin. Of course the quest was B rank, not something I could complete even with cheats. But the dungeon was accessible by accidental discovery.


    In a abandoned ruins that held little interest to anyone was a secret passage. I had to access it first though so I brought a shovel.


    I found the spot above the buried entrance and started digging. After ten minutes I realized I made a small mistake. I had no strength to dig. Or stamina. The permanent enchantment I had that increased strength increased it by percent. So the more you had, the more it gave, while it gave almost nothing to me. I had to use Bear¡¯s strength every half hour just to prevent myself from keeling over. I did the only thing I could do. I toughed it out and kept digging.


    I finished about five days later. The volume of dirt and rock (a lot of rock) I had to move could fill up five school buses. The game however reward my effort a bit. My Strength and Vitality stats increased a bit. Doing repetitive labor was one means of strengthening a character, but it was not the means I had in mind.


    The door to the dungeon looked like an intricate relief sculpture to hide its true nature. It was locked by something of a puzzle. Although the quest that brought you here had the main clue you needed to solve the puzzle, I could see the answer in the door¡¯s Object data. I moved a few pieces around and the door swung open.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Dungeon:


    You have discovered the Tomb of the Fallen King.


    +2000 Fame


    You have received title: Lucky Explorer


    +30 Luck


    New Stat: Insight


    The first monster killed will drop the best loot.


    2x Experience and Drop Rate for one week.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I waited for a few moments.Then a few more. Then I took a relieved sigh. The goddess hadn¡¯t noticed me. I was watching her programming, to see if any red flags were triggered. But it hadn¡¯t.


    The title was probably generated because I found this place without help from the game. The new stat was actually the rarest stat in the game. I seemed to be the first in the game to receive it. It is usually born from very high wisdom and intellect, but in rare circumstances it can be awarded to those who discover hidden ruins.


    The stat had an effect very similar to many of my cheat abilities. It allowed one to see the true nature of things, to see a bit into the future, and to see hidden things. The stat was also a pre-requisite to learning the most powerful spells and enchantments. The stat could not be increased by stat points, but increased on its own when I demonstrated insight. A simple thing for me.


    At this point you might think I¡¯m gonna leave. I got the Insight stat, what more could I want? Well, Insight was only a part of the reason I came here. The true goal is in the very bottom of this dungeon.


    This dungeon was actually one of the few that had no monsters. Instead it had hundreds of traps. 415 to be exact. If you got to the end, there was a mighty treasure trove and a curse. Of course the curse only activated if you took the treasure.


    The traps themselves were likely devised by a genius, or a psycho. Sometimes I can¡¯t tell the difference between them. Sometimes there is no difference


    I walked through the place like I was strolling through the park. I could tell where the trigger to each trap was so I could avoid most of them. Without the disarm skill my chance of disarmed any of them was zero, so my chance manipulation would fail even if I knew exactly how to disarm them.


    It took about five minutes to find one I couldn¡¯t walk past. It was a pitfall trap that extended down the length of the hallway. It was impossible to walk down the hall without falling in.


    Of course I came here knowing there would be traps I couldn¡¯t just walk past. I knew I would have to cheat. But cheating too much, too often would get my avatar deleted. I could make a new one, but I would not be able to get the Firelight Enchanter class again. (The class can be acquired in other cities, but the quests to get them will not be available for years.)


    I had to cheat as little as possible.


    I choose to change the interaction data with the surface of the wall and the surface of my hands. My hands would be able to grip the wall like it was a rock and I was a mountain climber.


    This worked for about a third of the way down the hall. I was climbing like a human spider. Then my less than decent strength came back to haunt me. My avatar¡¯s arms were getting too weak to hold on. I fell off the wall and hit the floor. As I heard the tale-tell click of the mechanism to release the hatch, I decided to go for broke. I jumped forward and turned my avatar¡¯s gravity to zero for a moment. I sailed through the air to the other side where I turned it back on.


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    ¡°Oh dam.¡± I sat down and closed my eyes.


    I had little choice but to hack into the memory system that recorded everything that went on and make it forget that I get cancelled gravity for an instant. Doing this without getting caught is tricky since I¡¯m not allowed to touch the goddess¡¯s code. It took about 25 hours to completely wipe clean.


    The only reason it worked was because gravity in this game is not a data of the world, but a data of the objects in the world. So I just changed my Object data¡¯s gravity to zero.


    The rest of the dungeon was a bit easier. Though looking through all the traps made me feel very bad for the unfortunate group that came through here the hard way. There were a few more traps that could not be avoided, but I handled them well with some clever, yet subtle cheating.


    The game did not know I was cheating, but it did know I was progressing through a dungeon filled with traps without activating them. For this it rewarded me.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Insight increases by 1. (+1 INS)</td></tr></tbody></table>


    By the time I reached the end of the dungeon, three days had passed, and I gained 21 Insight points.


    If I had the skill to do so and tried to manually disarm the whole place. It would take about two months. That¡¯s because I would likely fail four or five times, killing everyone, and we would all have to restart back at the entrance where all the traps would reset themselves.


    The treasure room had more gold, powerful weapons, and jewels than the amount of dirt I had to move to get here. To put the number in perspective, If I sold it all for a fair market price, I would have enough money to buy every enchantment spell sold in stores, and enough component materials to use each one enough to advance them all to Advanced level 10, or Master level. And still have enough left over for a nice dinner.


    Of course I couldn¡¯t touch any of it. The quest that ended here required only a single item from this. I saw it in a corner. It was a green jewel a bit larger than a fist. The jewel was blessed by the game¡¯s earth goddess and any land where that gem resides, (above ground) would have the earth goddess¡¯s blessing. This made the land more fertile, prevented famine, and even made dead soil come to life. The quest was to be given by a king during a future event where that king¡¯s land would become dead and infertile. With the exception of that gem, every other item in this treasury had a curse.


    Here is a bit of a back story. This dungeon is the burial crypt of a man who was once a pretty good king. But the kingdom had a lot of problems. Aggressive neighboring kingdoms, poor quality land, and a lot of monsters. The king needed help, so the court mage summoned and bound a spirit being. Using the spirit¡¯s knowledge, the kingdom became strong. It knew the locations of secret treasures and artifacts. The green jewel with the goddess¡¯s blessing was one such item. Then things went bad. Other kingdoms heard of the objects that brought the kingdom prosperity and went to war to claim them. The kingdom could not defend itself and lives were lost by the thousands. The king became disparate and went to see the spirit himself. When he returned, he was changed. He used powerful weapons the spirits located and armed his army before leading them into battle himself. The war lasted three years, but the king emerged victorious. Just when everyone thought things would be ok, the king declared he would set out to conquer the neighboring kingdoms. The king became cruel and wicked. He used the items that once gave his kingdom prosperity to destroy lands and end lives. The king eventually caught an illness of some sort and died. His treasury was buried here with him.


    He didn¡¯t actually die of illness though. In addition to seeing this place¡¯s written history, I could see the data for what really happened. Truth was the king had contracted with the spirit to acquire power, and the deal literally ate away at him because he was too weak. And it turns out that the spirit was a dark spirit, a demonic entity that gave the kingdom knowledge of treasure knowing it would lead to war.


    The curse of this room came from the fact that other kingdoms trying to take the objects in this room is what started the war in the first place. If I took it, the wrathful spirit of the king would emerge and kill me. And I couldn¡¯t kill him even with cheats. He was a part of a larger quest chain and his health bar was locked by a code written by the goddess herself. There was a way to get the treasure, but it  involved a Rank S quest and required at least four thousand fame and high familiarity with a certain royal family to get.


    I however did not come for the treasure.


    Near the back wall of the treasury was a secret door. I opened it and walked through into the deepest part of the crypt. Here lay the corpse of the king himself, and my true target.


    At the bottom of the stairs was a simple door without traps or tricks. I opened it and saw the king¡¯s stone sarcophagus next to a ornate stone pedestal with a quarter sized black gem on it. This was the container where the dark spirit was imprisoned.


    I picked it up and felt a cold chill from the stone.


    -What is it you seek? Wealth? Fame? Power? All can be yours..


    ¡°Pffftt! Bwa Hahahahahaha! Oh god, I can¡¯t, I can¡¯t stop laughing!¡± The spirit¡¯s words caught me completely by surprise. It was the funniest thing I¡¯ve heard in centuries. I will be the first to admit that the spirit¡¯s story has similarities to many things I have done in the past. But I never gave power with the intention of corrupting. If my power corrupted someone, there was a darkness within them to begin with.


    -... Why are you laughing?


    It seemed the spirit didn¡¯t get the joke, but that did not matter. Time to get to business.


    ¡°What I want spirit, is your cooperation and magic.¡±


    -You want power? Very well, I can make a contract with you and grant you great power.


    ¡°No spirit, you misunderstand. I want you to cast your magic for me.¡±


    -To cast magic, I would need to be free of this gem. But my kind cannot exist on your world without a container. If you wish for my magic, you must allow me to possess your body.


    ¡°I had something else in mind.¡±


    I put the gem into my inventory and left the dungeon. The traps had a wonderful feature of only activating on the way in, so I did not have to worry about them.


    I made my way to Owel castle, another city of Haven kingdom. There I made my way to the city¡¯s auction house and waited. On certain days of the week, today for instance, this auction house auctions off the finest gems created by the most skilled of craftsmen. Of course the buyers were not the general public, but jewelers. They would buy the best of the gems, set them in beautiful jewelry, and sell them to customers.


    There is something I should mention before moving further. The enchantment spells I bought are spells that can be cast on weapons and people. Most professional enchanters however focus on enhancements that can be used on gemstones. Such spells can only be cast on specific types of gemstones. For example, a simple enchantment can be cast on a cut aquamarine that increases Wisdom by 40 points. Necklaces, rings, and earrings containing such enhancements can be found in Enchanter¡¯s shop. Enchanters are often thought of as magic jewelers. It should also be noted that as an Enchanter, the power I can give to a weapon is high, but a blacksmith with the skill Magic sword Creation can create a weapon that far surpasses mine, (even after maxing out potential stats with cheats.) The true power of an Enchanter is meant to be with gemstones. Several of the secret Firelight Enchantments I¡¯m supposed to learn are also gemstone based, and are very powerful.


    I waited until the diamonds came through. Eventually a diamond was put up for auction that was about the size of a quarter. It was flawless. Bidding began immediately.


    -Four thousand!


    -Six!


    -Six and a half thousand!


    -Eight! I¡¯ll give you Eight!


    After a few moments I raised my hand, ¡°Twenty thousand.¡±


    The other bidders went silent


    -Sold to the pretty lady in the red dress!


    After the auction was over I paid the man and went to work.


    Besides a shovel, I bought a few other things before leaving Aean. I bought a spell book so expensive it was kept beneath a class case. The spell book, Spirit bind Enchantment, it required and Enchant level of  intermediate 5, and was the goal of the months of training..


    It was the same spell as the one originally used to keep the dark spirit inside its own gem. It¡¯s main purpose was to capture nature spirits into gemstones, but it would work on this dark spirit as well.


    -What are you doing?


    I did not answer. What I was doing was changing out containers. What gem you put a spirit in greatly determined the effect. A black gem has a effect of warding evil. It prevented the spirit within from using any abilities, (since it was evil) that it had so it could only talk. The clear diamond however was different.


    That being said, I intended to use Chance control and a bit of cheating to change it.


    -Wait, if you fail I¡¯ll die! Just let me possess you.


    It figured out what I was doing. It was true that I had only learn the spell to do it and its failure rate would be high, but with chance control I would succeed as long as there was any chance of success.


    ¡°Spirit Bind!¡± The black gem shattered and a dark essence quickly filled the diamond, making it seem like a hollow glass piece filled with smoke.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have created Dark Spell Gem.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    - Yes, I can feel it. My power! I can use it. Wait.. No. What have you done?!


    I smiled.


    If another enchanter had done what I had done and succeeded, they would have a gem capable of using dark magic on its own at a set skill level, and the skill level would never change. The spirit would have a set amount of mana and when it ran out it would recover it.


    This would be useful for a while, but eventually the spell¡¯s would be too weak to be of use to me. I needed more.


    What I did, was change it so that the spirit¡¯s spells were not locked at a level and could in fact be raised with use just like a User or NPC. This however had a consequence of resetting the skills and spells back to beginner level one. I also removed the spirit¡¯s stats. It could not hold or recover mana. It was powerless to use its own spells. If someone held the stone or wore it however, the spirit would be able to cast magic using the wearer¡¯s mana and stats as if they were its own.


    ¡°Here is the deal. I will provide you with my mana to cast your spells. You will cast them for me whenever I ask. If you do not, I will make the rest of your existence very unpleasant.¡±


    -What are you?


    ¡°I am the being who gives others wealth, fame, and power. I am like you, just a stronger version. Will you submit?¡±


    -Very well... Mistress. I am yours to command.


    ¡°Good, we have a big day tomorrow.¡±


    Chapter 6


    http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=4921</a>

 Chapter 6 Black Mage in Training

    Chapter 6 A Black Mage in Training


    According to the subtext of my avatar¡¯s stat bar, I can only learn magic in this world up to the limit of Intermediate level 10, thus denying me the ability to learn the most powerful spells of this game world. Any spell I did learn here, would be useful to a point, but after the spell hit the skill ceiling, it would grow no stronger, and the ceiling was too low for me to even consider learning them.


    That is when I came up the idea to get around that.


    I found a reclusive master blacksmith and convinced him, (using my  Avartar¡¯s charms) to make a mithril armlet for me with the dark spell gem at its center. I asked to make sure the gem could make contact with my skin so it could take in mana and use magic. I provided the mithril.


    The result he achieved after three days of work, (with a little help from my chance control to prevent a failed piece) was perfect. It harnessed the effect I desired without losing any power.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Dark Spell Armlet


    Durability 300/300


    This armlet was fashioned by a master blacksmith out of mithril with diamond at its center that contains the essence of a dark spirit. The spirit was stripped of all but its spells by a powerful enchanter and must rely on a host to cast spells through.


    Equips:


    Enables Dark spirit to cast magic using wearer¡¯s stats and mana.


    Spells become stronger with use.</td></tr><tr><td>Dark Magic Mastery [1] 0%


    A branch of magic mastery that specializes in Dark and force magic..


    Dark magic spells 5% stronger and can be cast 3% faster.</td></tr><tr><td>Psychokinesis [1] 0%


    The ability to move and push objects with the power of the mind.</td></tr><tr><td>Dark bolt [1] 0%


    Cast a bolt of dark energy to damage target. May inflict curse.


    Magic Attack 25.


    Number of Bolts: 1


    Chance to inflict Curse 5%


    Mana cost: 50</td></tr><tr><td>Soul Striker [1] 0%


    Casts a magic arrow that damages Mana.


    Magic Attack 15


    Number of Arrows: 1


    Mana Cost: 30</td></tr><tr><td>Dark Claw [1] 0%


    Casts a hardened claw of dark magic that may lowers target¡¯s defense


    Magic Attack: 40


    Chance of lowering Defense:10%


    Mana cost: 75</td></tr><tr><td>Dark Call [1] 0%


    Envelopes target with negative energy.


    Inflicts Random dark series curse.


    Number of Curses Afflicted: 1


    Mana Cost: 120</td></tr><tr><td>Dark Summon [Cannot Use]


    Summons dark creature that obeys simple commands.</td></tr><tr><td>Dark Heart [Cannot Use]


    Corrupts the heart of target to make more pliable.</td></tr><tr><td>Dark Cannon [Cannot Use]


    Fires a Powerful burst of Negative energy that deals physical and magical damage, as well as curses all that it damages.</td></tr><tr><td>Dark Hand [Cannot Use]


    Uses psychokinesis to form an invisible hand that crushes the target.</td></tr><tr><td>Dark Corruption [Cannot Use]


    Summons evil spirits to possess target. Possessed individuals obey your commands.</td></tr><tr><td>Dark Oblivion [Cannot Use]


    Summons darkness that covers the area and deals constant damage to all within affected area.</td></tr><tr><td>Unknown [Cannot Use]</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Many of the spells required required the Dark Magic Mastery or Psychokinesis of a higher proficiency. For example until Psychokinesis reached intermediate level 6, Dark Hand could not be used. The last spell was one that could only be used by the dark spirit when it had a body of its own, and would be useable by me once the spirit gave me all its power.


    I was proud of this item. I had to use Enchantment stack as well as hack a few enchantments that don¡¯t actually exist into this, but it worked and the goddess was none the wiser. The reason is because there are already items that have such abilities in this world. If I could have I would have maxed out the spell levels of the Armlet, but the creation of such an item with Maxed out skill levels would have definitely raised a red flag.


    It would take a lot of time to strengthen the spells, but it would be worth it. Unlike my avatar, this armlet did not have a ceiling on spell proficiency. They could be raised past intermediate level 10 all the way to advanced level 10. And the dark spirit had spells that even I would not be able to acquire, (without some red flag hacking.)


    I left the city for a remote dungeon filled with kobolds. Kobolds are dog faced humanoid monsters between level 20 and 35. Killing them would not gain me much experience, but I had to raise the Armlet¡¯s skill proficiency before I took on a stronger dungeon.


    The dungeon itself was pretty much empty of Users. It was discovered a month ago, but all its secrets and riches had been plundered. Few if any Users used it today.


    ¡°Alright spirit. When I call out a spell name, you cast it, simple as that.¡±


    -Yes mistress.


    Earlier I demonstrated that I could use enchantments like static state on it. This caused the being within great pain and there was nothing it could do about it. I made it clear that I was dominate over it and resistance would lead to pain. This however would not be enough to gain its loyalty under usual circumstances. The spirit within was not so easily made to submit. It however intended on following through with its word because I was of interest to it. I once said that the spirit shared a few characteristics with me. One of which is curiosity. It wanted to see what I would do with it, and I did not plan to disappoint. Until then it would be a loyal servant.


    The first thing I did upon entering the dungeon was cast Enchant Dungeon: Lower Monster Speed. I had enough mana now to stack a few more enchantments, but I needed it to cast magic now.


    I made my way to a group of Kobolds and said, ¡°Dark Bolt.¡±


    Mana was drained from my arm and directed back into it and to my hand where a black bolt shot out and struck a kobold. It fell and died. The group had three remaining members.  The magic itself took about three seconds from calling it to the bolt firing. Magic had this downside. Even if I wasn¡¯t the one casting it, it was still being cast and most magic requires casting time.


    The kobolds ran at me, I used Dark bolt again to kill another. Two left, and they were charging now. I killed one more just as the last one came up and tried to attack me. Of course I dodged easily enough. Usually from the distance the kobold attacked, my Avatar would not have enough Agility to dodge. Even knowing how it would strike. But since this area was affect by my Enchant Dungeon, the Kobolds were slow enough for me to dodge.


    I¡¯m sure some of the readers of this may think the power and progression of the Enchant Dungeon spell is too much, but after it reaches intermediate level 5, the power increase for each skill level up reduces. When the skill reaches Master level, or Advanced level 10, a change of 60% is all it will be capable of. Also I shall reveal that above a certain level, many monsters are resistant or even impervious to the effect of Enchant dungeon. Not only will the effect be reduced or blocked, but the side effect of reduced Health and Mana regeneration will also be negated. This starts after level 200. This means that even if I max out the spell, I can still be easily killed if I solo in a dungeon with creatures level 200 or above.


    This means before I reach level 200, I must acquire the means of survival. The means I decided on is two-fold. One is the Dark Spell Armlet. The other is to manually increase my agility so that I may dodge more successfully.


    When I dug several tons of dirt out with a shovel, I gained bonus Strength and Vitality stats without leveling up. There are many actions within this game that can increase stats when done repeatedly, and I could see them all. There are limits as to each action of course as to the maximum number of bonus stats one can receive. This limit is determined by how difficult the action is.


    The first action I decided to go with for increasing my avatar¡¯s Agility, was sprint. I could see where every kobold in the dungeon was, so  I sprinted to each group and even cast magic while sprinting. My avatar¡¯s stamina reached it¡¯s end after half a minute. I need to rest for a few minutes just to catch enough breath to sprint for another half minute.


    According to my Avatar¡¯s object data, if I sprinted for a total of twenty hours, my agility would increase by ten points. Not all at once, but slowly over the duration of the time. After accomplishing that, my avatar would need to sprint for another thirty hours to increase Agility by another ten points. Then forty, and so on. There were other ways to increase agility, but this was actually among the fastest ways I could accomplish. (Others had ways that could be done faster, but for a Enchanter, this was it). It would take a few months of course since this avatar¡¯s stamina would not permit it to do all of it simultaneously.


    I won¡¯t bore you with the details, but it took about half week without rest for my sprinting to gain the tenth agility point. Regardless of what you may think, this is not the first time I have trained up a weak body to a strong one. I cannot make a weak person into a strong hero unless know how to do it, and study of which required me to take the form of a person with a weak body and train it up until it became strong.


    In addition to the ¡®twenty hours of sprinting¡¯ gaining me ten Agility points, my ¡®constant activity over a long duration¡¯ gained me seven vitality points. Thanks to the gaining of vitality, I was able to sprint for longer durations without rest. It took only one week to get the next ten agility points. And with the Vitality gained during that, I was able to do the next set of thirty hours in a week as well.


    I continued in this fashion for months (in game). While other Users were breaking the level 200 barrier, discovering new dungeons and new kingdoms, I spent that time sprinting in dungeons. When my Armlet¡¯s spell strength increased, I moved onto a stronger dungeon.


    When spells like Dark Bolt increase in mastery the number of shots increase. The more shots it produces the more damage it can do to one target or do the same damage to multiple targets. The latter allowed me to fight larger groups without being overwhelmed by numbers.


    Over the course of four and a half months, 138 days or sprinting as much as this body was capable of, I gained 104 Agility points. If I did not have to log out for four hours once every four days, the time would have been under 120 days, but it was worth it. My speed could not keep up with a high level creature, but it at least would allow me to dodge by predicting its attack pattern. I also trained up the spells in the Armlet to intermediate, though none of the other spells had been unlocked yet.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Dark Magic Mastery Intermediate [2] 9%


    A branch of magic mastery that specializes in Dark and force magic..


    Dark magic spells 72% stronger and can be cast 38% faster.</td></tr><tr><td>Psychokinesis Intermediate [3] 71%


    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.The ability to move and push objects with the power of the mind.</td></tr><tr><td>Dark bolt Intermediate [6] 88%


    Cast a bolt of dark energy to damage target. May inflict curse.


    Magic Attack 115.


    Number of Bolts: 5


    Chance to inflict Curse 10%


    Mana cost: 164</td></tr><tr><td>Soul Striker Intermediate [4] 31%


    Casts a magic arrow that damages Mana.


    Magic Attack 71


    Number of Arrows: 4


    Mana Cost: 92</td></tr><tr><td>Dark Claw Intermediate [4] 60%


    Casts a hardened claw of dark magic that may lowers target¡¯s defense


    Magic Attack: 200


    Chance of lowering Defense:20%


    Mana cost: 74</td></tr><tr><td>Dark Call Intermediate [5] 47%


    Envelopes target with negative energy.


    Inflicts Random dark series curse.


    Number of Curses Afflicted: 4


    Mana Cost: 115</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Most of the spells that were unusable would be unlocked when Dark Magic Mastery reached intermediate level 5 with the rest when the skill reaches advanced. Until then I made do with these. The spells were highly useful. Especially Psychokinesis. How much it could move was determined by my Intellect stat, and how fast I could move it determined by my Wisdom stat. It cost more mana to move something heavier, but other than that the spell had few limits and reminded me of my own power out of this game. It was a simple joy to lift a monster into the air and smash it against the wall and roof over and over again. Of course many monsters have resistance against being lifted by psychokinesis, but the little weak ones do not.


    I made great effort to strengthen every skill. Each was useful in a different situation but training them when not in the right situation was irksome to say the least. But with the strength of these spells and my own stats I could defeat a group of monsters of my own level. That being said, I only received eight levels in the months of training.


    At level 89, I can kill hobgoblins and the like, but to kill stronger monsters in a stronger dungeon (without cheating) I still need a team. The reason is simply that casting requires time. For any group if I can¡¯t kill every monster in a group by the first or second spell, by the time the third spell is about to be cast the remaining monsters in the group could have reached and attacked me.  My newly acquired speed would let me put more distance between myself and any group, but that would only buy time if the group is faster than me.


    I needed the spell Dark Summon. At level one it would let me summon a hellhound as strong as any wolf. As I mastered it I could summon stronger creatures or several weaker ones. However, it will take more months of training at this pace for Dark Magic Mastery to reach intermediate level 5.


    Once again I reached a ceiling for what I could do on my own. The fastest way to increase my skill level was to use dark spells on higher level monsters. And the best way to do that, was to join a party or raid party.


    I left the hobgoblin dungeon I had been using and journeyed east. Not for a dungeon, but the northern plains. A tribe of Orcs roam those areas in packs and there are many adventurers forming parties to fight them.


    On the edge of  the orc territories was a town called Bells. Adventurers forming Orc hunting parties would team up there and acquire Orc hunting quests from the locals. Fighting monsters gives experience. Doing quests gives experience. Doings quests that require killing monsters gives the most experience.


    The town itself was quite busy with all the adventurers. Orc parties come in levels between 100 and 220 depending on area and quest. If one didn¡¯t die often and made friends with the locals it was possible to level from 100 to 200 without having to change hunting grounds. The Inns and hotels around the town were full of adventurers doing just that.


    I purchased equipment fitting that of a black mage and adjusted it to be a bit better than it looked.


    A point I would like to make at this time is that if I chose to, I could purchase several Gemstone Enchantment spells, train them up to be very powerful, then use them to enchant jewelry like rings, necklaces. and earrings. If I was to be lazy about it, I could just buy jewelry someone else enchanted and max out its limits with Data alteration. The reason I do not do so is because I do not wish to use those spells to make heroes. Not that I can¡¯t, but because of who it would affect. If I wanted, I could train until I could make a jewelry set that would just about triple the power of any character. However, from then on, that character would never buy magic items from enchanters that gained their skills legitimately. Also, anyone who saw that person¡¯s jewelry set, would be less likely to buy equipment from legitimate enchanters because they saw their products as inferior to mine. In other words I do not wish to create all powerful items and let them out into the world due to the damage they might cause. This means I cannot create powerful items carelessly, even if their sole use is to strengthen me. (The Darkspell Armlet is an exception as, unlike any other piece of equipment, I will not outgrow it.) Any item I do give to someone must be unique and the one I give it to must not know I made or altered it.


    I found a group of Users around level 90 that was getting together for a quest. The details were simply to kill several small groups of orc raiders that were stealing from a farmer¡¯s land.


    ¡°Excuse me, do you have room for one more in your party?¡± I asked the group as a whole because I could not reveal I already knew which was the leader.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have requested to join Link¡¯s Party.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    The leader, a level 106 Ranger in a bright green tunic asked, ¡°Level and class?¡±


    ¡°Level 90 black mage.¡±


    ¡°I see. Alright.¡±


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have joined Link¡¯s Party.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    The rest of the group did not know each other that well, they simply joined together for ease of doing the quest. I first had to find the farmer who gave the quest and acquire it. Even without knowing the NPC I could take it as I was a party member of the man who earned the quest and was close to the farmer. After that the team left for the north.


    Our party of five encounter the first Orc party of eight members after half an hour. I used Dark Bolt and Link used his Ranger skill Orc Bane Shot. It was a skill that dealt heavy damage to Orcs. The swordsman and spearman rushed the group without a second thought. The fire mage next to me cast fire ball and shot six swirling balls of flame in the direction of the orcs. Four of the fire balls missed, while the other two hit one orc in the head and the other in the side.


    Link used another Orc bane shot while the fire mage and I were casting our second spell. Two of the orcs raised their glaives and fought man to man against the warriors while the other six rushed the rest of us.


    Two of my five bolts cursed the Orcs they hit. One had a curse that reduced his strength while the other had a curse that weakened his magic resistance. I targeted the latter for Dark Claw. The spell caused four horizontal slashes to strike the orc. Link finished it off with another arrow and I cast dark bolt again. Before my cast was complete the fire mage sent out another six fire balls. Two of them hit one of the orcs, one hit another, and the other three missed. Accuracy with some spells requires high proficiency and wisdom. It was obvious even without seeing her object data that she was underskilled for this party.


    The Ranger on the other hand was handling the situation well. He aimed his shots at the weakest Orcs that were approaching to take them out one at a time.


    Two of the five orcs that charged now remained and were within close combat distance. One sought out Link while the other had its eyes on me.


    I used psychokinesis to push the orc off its feet a few meters away. Using it for simple actions like pushing required almost no casting while complex actions required a lengthier casting time. The fire mage finished casting another round of fireballs and shot them at the orc that was getting up from the ground. Two still missed but the other four hit the orc dead on and killed it. Link had taken out a sword and was dealing with his orc.


    I looked over to see that the swordsman was dead and that the spearman was getting killed with two on one. I cast Dark Call on one of the orcs. When the spell finished casting the shadow of the orc spread out like a black pit and small hands made of shadow reached up and grabbed the orc. The orc panicked and tried to jump back, but it¡¯s shadow followed it. A moment later the hands dissolved, but the orc had received four different curses. I started casting the same spell on the second one. When the casting finished, the same thing happened to the second orc. The fight after that became one-sided with the spearman in the lead. He killed one orc just before the Ranger killed his orc. Before the ranger could re-equip his bow and fire, the last orc was killed.


    We got together and took out the herbs we each brought to heal our wounds. There were plenty of priests in the town of Bell, but they were all snatched up by larger, more experienced parties.


    The ranger looked at the spearman and said, ¡°Look what charging in got you? Duke was killed.¡±


    The spearman replied, ¡°I was doing fine by myself I assumed he would be able to take care of one orc. But he died and it ended up two on one. Not that I needed help with those odds.¡±


    ¡°Would you still have been fine if Curi had not cursed those orcs?¡±


    The spearman did not reply.


    Link turned to me and said, ¡°Your spells were impressive. After this quest is over, I¡¯m meeting another party, would you like to join?¡±


    ¡°Absolutely.¡± I answered.


    Link was the one who first got the quest to relieve the farmer of his orc problem. He seemed to be familiar with many of the locals and that would make it easier to gain quests.


    In case you were wondering, I don¡¯t think he is the hero type. A solid adventurer, but not a hero. That being said, he would make a useful friend for my stay in the town of Bell.


    By the end of the day, we finished and turned in the quest. It was D rank so I acquired a level with the experience from it and the orcs we killed.


    I meet up with Link at a bar where he said we would rendezvous with the other members of his party.


    What I saw firmly confirmed my belief that this man was not a hero. Each of the four members of his experienced team was a beautiful woman.


    When the group reached the table, he introduced me. ¡°This beautiful elf is Curi, and she will be questing with us for a while. Treat her well.¡±


    Definitely, not a hero.


    Chapter 7


    http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=4967</a>

 Chapter 7 The Orc Plains Party

    Chapter 7


    The Orc Plains Party


    Contrary to how Link¡¯s group seemed, he was not the leader. The leader was a woman named Tif, a level 98 thief. Tif was Link¡¯s sister in the real world, and the other three members were Tif¡¯s friends in the real world.  One was a tall woman named Dawn of the Barbarian race and the warrior class. The other was a petite half-elf priest named Chris. The last was a human bard named Sunny. Each was beautiful in a different way.


    Tif sat across from me and said, ¡°I have no problem with you joining our party but I would like to see you in action before we do any quests. You have ready to hunt some orcs?¡±


    I showed an amused smiled and answered, ¡°Of course.¡±


    With that the group set out without another word to the orc plains.


    The plains themselves are very dangerous to explore because orc groups of various levels and sizes roam around in set territories. Walk through unknowingly and you may encounter an orc raid party of fifty members between level 150 and 220. Such things are actually common occurrences.


    I was relieved to see that the territory Tif lead the party was to where small orc groups around level 110 tend to congregate. One such orc party of ten members was spotted. Chris cast holy protection buffs that raised physical defense and Sunny played a song in her lute that raised attack.


    Tif and Dawn ran over to attack all the orcs. I stayed back with Link and the others and waited for them to deal first damage. Dawn had an enormous cudgel that matched her size and used it to bash one of the orc in the head. The others yelled and attacked, but they directed their attacks on her. I started casting Dark call and Link used Orc bane shot while Sunny put away her instrument and got out a shortsword.  Chris used the spell Healing Hand whenever Dawn¡¯s health got too low and Tif snuck through the group Dawn had aggarvated dealing critical hits.


    The team itself worked well and I fit in snugly. There was a good chance that Dark Call would would put a curse on the orc that either lowered defense, increased critical damage received, or both. In other words when Tif attacked Orcs I cursed she did more damage than usual.


    Eventually the multiple arrows to the head and the curses being cast on them made some of the orcs realize that more than just a barbarian attacking them. Five of the orcs turned towards our group and split off to attack us. Tif used backstab on one of them, killing it, but was too preoccupied by two orcs that noticed her to chase the other four on their way to us.


    Link used orc bane shot, first targeting the orcs I had cursed. I used Dark Bolt and focused all five bolts on one orc, killing it. Neither of the remaining two orcs closing the distance were cursed.


    Out of the group, Sunny and Chris had not dealt damage so the orcs didn¡¯t care about them. Link and I however had a lot of hate coming our way, but I was closer so both charged me.


    Sunny saw this and came to defend me with her shortsword but I used the remaining time left before they got close enough to cast psychokinesis to throw them both up into the air. They didn¡¯t go up more than a few feet but it bought enough time for me to recast psychokinesis for a longer time for a more complex use. By the time they got back to their feet and charged me again the spell finished and I raised them into the air and kept them there.


    Considering how heavy orcs are, keeping two of them in the air cost me a fair amount of mana. About 200 per second. After casting my other spells I could not hold them for even half a minute.


    Link used Rapid shot to fire arrow after arrow into one of the orcs until it died. My armlet cannot cast others spells while holding psychokinesis so I could only wait. My mana however ran out before Link killed the second orc which got down and charged me. Sunny ran between us and cut down its remaining health before it reached me.


    Without any mana I could do little so I sat down and Sunny got out her lute again and cast a spell song that raised my mana regeneration a little bit. I smiled in thanks to her and we both turned to watch the other fight.


    Tif had killed three of the remaining five orcs and struck the other two from behind with hit and away tactics while Dawn held their attention with her constant reckless attacks. The final pair died within a minute.


    Tif walked over to me as I sat and recovered my mana. ¡°You did pretty good. Sunny would have protected you but it seemed like you really didn¡¯t need it.¡±


    I smiled, ¡°Not at all, I still ran out of mana keeping those orcs afloat. I need more practice.¡±


    Tif smirked, ¡°Well, you¡¯re welcome to stay with our group for as long as you want.¡±


    After that things went smoothly. Tif and Link had been in the town for a month and knew many of the NPCs well enough to acquire good quests.


    I even helped them out a bit on that front by pointing out the hints that lead to a few of the more lucrative, but not so obvious quests.


    ¡°I heard a rumor in the bar that the spearman gate guard has mother who has a problem, and the quest rewards a lot of familiarity from the town NPCs.¡±


    Dawn looked oddly at me, ¡°His mother has a quest? How do we get that?¡±


    I answered, ¡°We ask him about his mother. We can only get the quest if he refers us to her.¡±


    Tif looked over at Link and Dawn and said, ¡°What do you think?¡±


    Link said, ¡°The more familiarity, the more quests. I see no problem.¡±


    Dawn answered, ¡°We¡¯ll see what Chris and Sunny say when they log in, but I don¡¯t see any problems.¡±


    When the others logged in the group left for the east gate where there was only one guard with a spear. Link knew him and started chatting.


    ¡°Hey Forn. How¡¯s your mom?¡±


    The gate guard shook his head and sighed, ¡°Not good. She lost her.. Well.. She won¡¯t stop crying. I can¡¯t do anything for her.¡±


    Tif spoke up, ¡°Maybe we can help.¡±


    Forn looked over to Tif and said, ¡°You¡¯d do that? Thanks. My mom lives near the northern wall at the end of the street with the apothecary.¡±


    Tif responded, ¡°Ok.¡±


    The northern section of the city was home of the people who were ¡®well off.¡¯ The Northern wall was the highest and thickest thanks to the natural rock it was built around.


    Tif knocked on the door. A middle aged woman answered, she had tear marks all over her face.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry dear, but I can¡¯t entertain guests right now.¡±


    ¡°We were sent by your son to help you... Find what you lost.¡±


    At this her face gleamed with hope. ¡°Oh. Oh yes please. My precious angel, my little girl, she was taken by orcs. Oh please, please rescue her. She was going to be married tomorrow, but.. If she isn¡¯t found soon.. ¡° She started crying again, tears rushing down her face like a crack in a fishbowl.


    Tif frowned in remorse for the poor woman and said, ¡°We¡¯ll get your daughter back. Do you know what orcs took her?¡±


    After a few more sobs the woman answered, ¡°The leader, he had a red hand on his face. Like makeup. That one.. I¡¯ve heard about him... He.. he... He is Going to eat her!¡±


    The crying started again but it didn¡¯t stop, no matter how much Tif and the others tried to calm her down. Tif left the woman promising to recover her daughter.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Quest Accepted: Lost Child


    Recover the stolen child before she is eaten by orcs.


    Rank D


    Bonus Reward if returned before her wedding day.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    When no longer in earshot Tif said, ¡°The one she described is an orc captain. That will be tough.¡±


    I said, ¡°Is it in a dungeon or field.¡±


    She answered, ¡°His hideout is a cave. He is only there if you have a quest to fight him.¡±


    The others were a bit down at this revelation as they knew that all monsters are 50% stronger in dungeons compared to outside on the field. Dungeon monsters also give 25% more experience when killed, but unless one is very skilled, the risk is not always worth the reward.


    ¡°If it is a dungeon, I can help.¡±


    Everyone looked at me. Tif asked, ¡°How?¡±


    I smiled, ¡°Trust me.¡±


    The cave entrance was hidden in the shadows of some rocks. It could only be found if you knew where it was, but knowing that was a prerequisite for the guard referring the quest in the first place so it was not a big deal.


    When we entered I cast Mana channeler on myself and cast Dungeon Enchant:Lower Monster Speed, Lower Monster Strength, Increase Monster Experience. I did not have to cast them all, much less stack them, but I wanted to show the group the Enchantment spell I ¡®picked up from a quest.¡¯


    ¡°The hell? My health and mana are dropping.¡±


    ¡°Mine too.¡±


    ¡°And mine.¡±


    I answered the unspoken question, ¡°While in the Enchanted area marked by these glowing lines on the walls health and mana are drained. But this affects monsters too as long as they aren¡¯t too strong.¡±


    Stolen story; please report.


    ¡°So it is a health and mana draining field?¡±


    ¡°No, that is a side effect. The spell¡¯s effect is different. Let¡¯s find a group of orcs.¡±


    The rate at which health drained was a little more than twice the rate it was gained for natural regeneration.  Meaning the faster one¡¯s health regenerated, the faster it drained away. Overall however it would take the greater part of an hour for it to kill anyone of their group, but Orcs would likely die in less than half an hour. Their hardiness turned against them.


    We however had a bard and her spell song increased health regeneration by 40 points per second. The just about negated the health regeneration and I used mana channeler, another enchantment I ¡®picked up¡¯ to negate half the mana decline.


    Six orcs were found a few hallways down. Dawn, Tif, and Sunny ambushed them and killed them all in about seven minutes.


    Tif said, ¡°I don¡¯t see a difference, what does this spell do?¡±


    I smiled, ¡°You don¡¯t see the difference because you are comparing the orcs to the ones outside, these ones should be a half part stronger.¡±


    Dawn revealed a shocked look. ¡°You¡¯re right. I didn¡¯t notice.¡±


    I continued, ¡°Did you look at the experience?¡± Spells and abilities that increase experience are incredibly rare so they would not have looked.


    ¡°Holy shit.¡±


    This coming from the diminutive priest caused Tif to burst out laughing. ¡°Chris!¡±


    Chris blushed at her language, ¡°Sorry!¡±


    Link continued from the point I was making, ¡°So, you weaken monsters and increase experience in dungeons, though the dungeons themselves will kill you.¡±


    I answered, ¡°Yep, and at a bargain price of three thousand mana points.¡±


    The others smirked at my sarcasm. After using Enchant dungeon with multistack I had enough mana left to kill a handful of monsters in this dungeon. After that I was defenseless with no mana until the spell ran out. Using this left me in a powerless state, but benefited everyone else.


    For now anyways.


    The rest of the quest proceeded well. In the time it took for me to regenerate my mana between casting Chris was able to heal everyone of their depleted health and Mana Channeler regained their mana.


    After killing about fifty orcs over the course of four hours each of us leveled at least once, I leveled three times.


    When we arrived at the entrance to the boss¡¯s room Tif asked if I could use Enchant Dungeon before we went in, but I reminded her that strong monsters may not be affected and there was a prisoner inside who could be killed by that.


    ¡°Oh yea, I forgot we this was a rescue mission.¡±


    ¡°I wonder what she looks like, I mean she is getting married tomorrow right?¡±


    I said nothing.


    We entered where several orcs were stirring a pot and a larger one with a headband was standing over it. I cast Dark bolt as Link used Orc Bane shot and everyone else rushed in. When my spell activated all five shots were directed at the Orc captain. The boss¡¯s class had an effect of strengthening all its subordinates so  the faster it was killed the better. Though easier said than done as it was at least level 130.


    Dawn smashed her cudgel against the boss but it took the hit without flinching and returned a strike with its glaive.


    Chris cast healing hand to heal the wound, but the captain was already reeling back for its second strike.


    Link shot another arrow at the orc¡¯s arm and I finished casting Dark Call on the captain. Boss class monsters have curse resistance, but that only meant that it would receive less than four curses, not that it wouldn¡¯t work at all. To make sure, I used Dark call again. While the spell was being cast, Tif was slashing at all the orcs in the room to draw their aggravation towards her. Since her agility was much higher than mine,  she could dodge their strikes at least until the rest of us killed the captain. My spell finished casting and another round of curses fell on the boss. As long as they are not the same, a character without high resistance can have many curses on them.


    The curses built up, slowing, weakening, and hurting the orc while Dawn smashed it again and again. Along with Link¡¯s Orc Bane shot, the two dealt heavy damage to the cursed orc and eventually killed it.


    I used Dark bolt on five different orcs to draw their attention off Tif. One the closest one I next cast Dark Claw. Link knew that it reduced defense so he targeted that one with another headshot, killing it.


    The rest were killed over the course of seven minutes


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Intellect has increased by 1. (+1 INT)</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Something I forgot to mention. When a character spends a great deal of time on any activity in Royal Road, the system grants stats that make doing so easier. If you sprint for a long time, you gain Agility and Vitality. If you swing your sword for a long time, you gain Strength, Agility, and Vitality. And if you cast magic for a long time, over and over and over again. Yes, Intellect and Wisdom is not gained by reading books in Royal Road, it is gained by performing actions that require Intellect and Wisdom, the basis of magic.


    When the final orc was slain, Tif asked aloud, ¡°Where is she?¡±


    The captured daughter was no where in sight. I was tempted to let them sweat over it for a bit, but I thought better of it. Instead, I ¡®aimlessly¡¯ wandered in the direction of a small wicker basket and opened it. I pulled out the small dog that was inside and held it for everyone to see.


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Her precious child was a dog?¡±


    ¡°Wait, that dog is getting married? Can dogs do that?¡±


    The dog licked my face affectionately.


    We took the dog out of the dungeon and returned the dog to the woman.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Quest Complete: Lost Child


    You have recovered the woman¡¯s dog with time to spare.


    Additional Reward:


    You received an Invite to the dog¡¯s wedding.</td></tr><tr><td>You have leveled up!</tr></td></tbody></table>


    ¡°Oh, you brought her back! Oh who¡¯s my little precious, who¡¯s a good girl? That¡¯s right, you¡¯re a good girl.¡±


    After her happy reunion she gave everyone a invite to the wedding. No one wanted to go, but I convinced them it would increase their familiarity with the NPCs of the town. After all, if our group was willing to go to a Orc Captain¡¯s lair to rescue a dog, the NPCs would be more inclined to steer their own requests our way.


    The wedding itself was as bad as you would think. It seemed her and another ¡®well off¡¯ person had the same dog breed but different genders, so they decided to marry them together.


    As the guests of honor for the wedding our group received a standing ovation and 50 points of fame.


    Overall the rewards for the quest was good in both the short and long term and I had become much stronger.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''3''>Status Window</td><td>Exit</td></tr><tr><td>Avatar</td><td>Curi</td><td>Alignment</td><td>Neutral</td></tr><tr><td>Title</td><td colspan=''3''>Lucky Explorer</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>97</td><td>Class</td><td>Firelight Enchanter</td></tr><tr><td>Fame</td><td>2168</td><td>Infamy</td><td>None</td></tr><tr><td>Health</td><td>940</td><td>Mana</td><td>6550</td></tr><tr><td>Strength</td><td>18+20</td><td>Agility</td><td>121+20</td></tr><tr><td>Wisdom</td><td>240+20</td><td>Intellect</td><td>402+20</td></tr><tr><td>Leadership</td><td>0+20</td><td>Luck</td><td>101+20</td></tr><tr><td>Vitality</td><td>94+20</td><td>Insight</td><td>23</td></tr><tr><td>Attack</td><td>20</td><td>Defense</td><td>10</td></tr><tr><td>Magic Resistances</td><td colspan=''3''>None</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>All stats +20


    Wisdom +50


    Intelligence +50


    Enables you to learn magic to the stage of advanced.


    Enables you to learn all Enchantments to the stage of Master.


    Enables you to learn secret skills based on your level in Enchantment.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I forgot to mention this, but during my months of sprinting I gained about 60 intellect and 60 wisdom points. Afterall, I did cast magic just as much as I ran, and casting magic over and over again is a method to raise Intellect and Wisdom without leveling up.


    After the wedding our group received one quest after another. An endless supply of quests to use to level up and strengthen my skill levels through fighting stronger monsters. They were a good party so until I gained access to Dark Summon I would stick with them. For now anyways.


    Chapter 8


    http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=5013</a>

 Chapter 8 The Terrors of Dark Magic

    Chapter 8


    The Terrors of Dark Magic


    I¡¯d like to say that I enjoyed the two months I spent with Tiff¡¯s party, but that would be a lie. While traveling, between fights, or not on a quest, all they did was talk. Not that I was left out, I am a skilled conversationalist among other things, but the conversations themselves did not interest me. I am a fickle being, if I have no interest in something I will not pay it any mind.


    When my Dark Magic Mastery reached intermediate level 5, I received a message.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Dark Summon Now Available for Use.</td></tr><tr><td>Dark Heart Now Available for Use</td></tr><tr><td>Dark Cannon Now Available for Use</td></tr></tbody></table>


    At this point I told the party that it was time for me to leave. They tried to throw me a party and add me to their friend list. I was able to refuse the party but could make no excuse for denying them the friend request. With it they would be able to talk to me wherever I was.


    I left the danger of the Orc plains for a safer dungeon to practice my new spells.


    At the moment my level is 141. It rises much faster when I participate in combat and damage and kill enemy monsters myself instead of relying solely on shared party experience.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Dark Summon [1] 0%


    Summons dark creature that obeys simple commands.


    Summons Available:


    Hellhound level [20]


    Mana Cost: 350


    5 mana used per second to maintain summon.</td></tr><tr><td>Dark Heart [1] 0%


    Corrupts the heart of target to make more pliable.


    Affects the weak minded.


    Can convince affect target to become loyal to you.


    Mana Cost: 500</td></tr><tr><td>Dark Cannon [1] 0%


    Fires a Powerful burst of Negative energy that deals physical and magical damage, as well as curses all that it damages.


    Magic Attack: 350


    Mana Cost: 1200</td></tr></tbody></table>


    In preparation for the Summon spell I raised my Wisdom stats to 350 while leveling up. Wisdom is the primary source of mana regeneration. When I was boosted by Mana Channeler which was Advanced now, my Mana regenerated at 20 points per second. That means I can recover 6000 mana points in five minutes. It also means I can have three hell hounds out at all time and still regenerate mana.


    The dungeon I chose was an abandoned castle filled with goblins and poisonous rats. The rats were numerous and Users hated them, so it was a very unpopular dungeon.


    Just like before, I needed to raise the skill levels of the new spells. Raising Dark Summon had many useful benefits. It increased the level of the summoned monster. It decreased the mana required to keep them out. And at high levels I could summon different creatures.


    I used Mana Channeler on myself and used Dark summon. A dark spot appeared on the floor and grew into a spiraling circle of shadow and darkness. From the center crawled out a beast with a face more like that of a shaved bear than a dog. It was a little larger than a wolf but had most of the same features. I looked at me with piercing red eyes, waiting for a command.


    I summoned two more and we proceeded into the dungeon. A pack of six rats came upon us and the hounds charged them. They were torn to pieces. I received all of the experience for the kills.


    In the future I would not only summon powerful monsters, but I would have enough mana left over afterwards to enchant them with greater power. This is the point of my story where the learning curve ends and I take charge.


    Although the hell hounds were too weak to face the goblins they were able to work together to take down stronger foes. I used spells when necessary to aid them. Sometimes one would lose all its health and fade away like a shadow exposed to light, but I would just summon another one. The summoning spell took some time to cast, but the other two hounds would prevent anyone from approaching me, so at this level of dungeon my casting speed was irrelevant.


    We cleared the rats and Goblins on each floor until they ran out. Dark Summon had risen to level 3 in the meanwhile raising the hellhound level to 40 and giving me the ability to summon a level 50 Imp for 500 mana. Imps are small spell casters that use the same dark magic I use though weaker in strength than my own. They could use the same set of spells I was limited to while Dark Magic Mastery was beneath intermediate level 4 . They were also more intelligent than hell hounds and required 9 mana per second to maintain. This however allowed me to summon one imp and two hell hounds and have them go off on their own. The imp would direct the hounds and follow my orders even if it lead to death. I even casted Mana Channeler on the imp so it could fight better.


    The Dark Summon spell increased in proficiency when the monsters fought, so by sending off to fight on their own, I could gain experience and skill proficiency without doing anything. Not that I intended to waste the time.


    While training with training with Tif¡¯s party I acquired the spellcaster skill Meditate. When used my body was defenseless but my mana regeneration vastly increased. To this point I have used it very little but now is the time to train the skill to its highest peak.


    I summoned two imps and four hell hounds and sent them off into two teams. I then sat down in a safe corner of the dungeon and used Meditate. At the base level it still doubled mana regeneration. It was the basic skill mages used between battles to recover mana. Few however would be able to use it like this until the higher levels. I was the first.


    I meditated for a day straight. Dark summon had risen to level 5, and each summon now required 1 less mana point per second to maintain. With the imps to take lead the monsters could work independently of me but still needed to stay close. However the only real limit was that they had to stay on the same floor of the dungeon as I was on. After three days the dungeon was empty. It would refill about an hour after I left but for now the castle was silent.


    I unsummoned the beasts and moved onto a lizardman dungeon.


    The lizardmen had sturdier hides so the heavy fangs of the hellhounds would be less effective, but the magic of the imps would work well. I summoned four imps and four hellhound. This time instead of commanding the hounds and backing them up the imps would be the primary damage dealers and the hounds would defend them. Whenever a hound was lost the imp would return to me for another.


    Since increasing my proficiency with Meditate, my mana regeneration has allowed for more summons. With my Summon spell at level 5 the hellhounds were at level 60 and imps were at level 80. Against the level 80 lizardmen this was a fair fight.


    It took a week and a half this time but the dungeon was cleaned out as well.


    In case you were wondering, this spell is not all powerful. My summoned creatures attacked designated enemies, but if they killed a user, I received a Murderer¡¯s mark and some infamy. The murderer¡¯s mark is a red diamond that appears on the forehead and along with it my name would be shown above my head in red letters. In this state I could be killed by a User without repercussions and I would lose more skill proficiency than usual. Of course I instructed the summons not to attack users, but if the Users stuck first, the summons would fight back. There were some incidents. Luckily the act of killing many monsters eventually cancels out a Murderer¡¯s mark. Eventually I decided to solve the issue by changing the sprites, or image data of my summons to something else. My imps now look like ugly hobbits  and my hell hounds look like wolves. Anyone who saw the group would think it a beastmaster party. This type of deception would come in handy for other uses later.


    Also, the summoned monsters could not pick up dropped loot. My cheat method of acquiring money is too risky, so lately I have been gathering dropped loot and going to town to sell it. But I have to be the one to gather it. When the dungeon is cleared I must walk through each hall collecting the fallen loot.


    There was one incident where a User party followed my ¡®beast master¡¯ party and collected all of the fallen loot they left behind.  I was tempted to order their deaths but decided against it.


    The closer the Dark Summon skill got to Intermediate, the harder it became to raise it. Eventually it reach beginner level 8 and I could summon a fiend. Fiends look a mix of a bear and a bull, with the strongest aspects of each. The level I could summon them was 100, though that would grow by 20 with every additional skill level. They required 12 mana per second to remain, but I had been putting nearly all of my status points into Wisdom so this was acceptable.


    Other than mana regeneration, Wisdom increased the strength of the curses I cast, increased accuracy of magic attacks, strengthened my magic defense and resistance to mental magics and curses, and decreased casting time. So although I was losing out in the extra mana and higher magic attack I would gain by allocating the stat points to Intellect, it was a worthwhile investment.


    Now, fiends themselves are very aggressive and did not take orders from imps. They would be useful on the field or in larger dungeons, but in a small dungeon I would stick with the imps and hellhounds.


    When wiping out the whole dungeon did not increase Dark Summon¡¯s proficiency by more than 10%, I decided to switch dungeons and practice another spell.


    Bandit dungeons are popular because bandits tend to horde loot, therefore they had a higher than average rate of dropping good loot. Also even if the boss bandit was defeated and the boss¡¯s loot claimed, the boss¡¯s treasure chest would refill with the next boss to spawn. A trait many dungeons did not share. There is of course a downside. As bandits are bandits, if you die in the dungeon you would drop more items than usual which will be taken by the bandits.


    In this dungeon I would strengthen the skill Dark Heart. It made the target more evil and suggestible.


    In the dungeon I summoned two fiends and changed their sprites to look like bears. As long as I traveled with them I could make sure they did not kill users and tell users I encountered not to attack them.


    The bandits on the first floor of the dungeon were level 150. I enchanted my fiends with Bear¡¯s Strength, Infuse Strength, and Wind and Water enchantments to increase their strength by about 50% and their movement speed by about 100%. Fiends are already very fast and powerful, but even at level 100 with these enchantments they could kill the level 150 bandits as long as they were not ambushed.


    I tested this out on a group of four Bandits and it proved true. The bandit mobs did not see bears of course but monstrous fiends that moved twice as fast as they should and had clawed forearms that could ripped through steel.


    Of course level difference is not that easy to overcome. If it was just the fiends against the bandits the latter might win, but since I was with them I attacked as well with dark magic and cursed them. This tipped the balance and the bandits were no match.


    I killed bandits with my fiends for a few hours but eventually the Dark summon spell reached level 9. I had to resummon the fiends to get the stronger versions, but it was worth it as now they were level 120. I cast my enchantments on them again and we continued.


    For the next bandit group we encountered, I ordered the fiends to keep the last man alive. The were reluctant but obeyed and simply kept him pinned on the ground while snarling at the bandit with terrifying teeth.


    I walked over to him and cast Dark Heart. A red aura enveloped him and was absorbed into him. Then leaned over to the man and said, ¡°Your comrades are dead, you will soon die. But I offer you a chance. Swear loyalty to me and fight your comrades. Do this and I shall spare your life and make you wealthy.¡±


    The bandit looked at me uncertainly, but I produced a handful of gold and rubies that sparkled to his eyes.


    ¡°Done,¡± he answered.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>A bandit has given you his loyalty. You may command the bandit and he will fight at your side.


    +3 Infamy</td></tr></tbody></table>


    This spell had many applications for one such as myself. When I create a hero, I make him pass a trial. Like when I forced Bard Ray to fight a red ogre. In the past I have done such things many times. Sometimes to create a hero, you must first create an enemy for the hero to fight.


    For example. Once there was a kingdom with a tyrant king. I disliked the man so I searched for a hero who could face the king. I found a promising youth, but his life was too peaceful. So I influenced a certain group to become bandits and eventually lead them to the youth¡¯s village. Many died, including the youth¡¯s elder sister. After that I guided the youth to become a man strong enough to defeat the bandits. He became powerful and lead another group into battle to wipe out the bandits. Tales of his actions spread and he became a known hero throughout the kingdom. Eventually the tyrant king grew fearful of the man so he ordered his death. The man did not care about the king before, but after this action he openly declared he would stop the king. I helped him a bit along the path that lead to the final confrontation, but I did not help in the actual battle. It ended with the man killing the king. The land became peaceful after that and remained so for a few hundred years.


    You may look at what I did in whatever way you wish. I never claimed to be benevolent. I never claimed that my work is solely good. I have even admitted that a few heroes I created turned into villains that caused the deaths of many. I will do whatever works to create a hero. That being said, it is not always necessary to use such drastic means to create a hero. Sometimes I can simply walk up to the person and ask if he wants to become a hero. If the person says yes, I will give them whatever they need, be it training, tools, knowledge, or superpowers.


    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.Now, thanks to Dark Heart I can gain servants who will do as I command. I do not gain experience for what they kill as that solely goes to them, but that also means they can naturally grow stronger. It also means that if I order them to kill a User, I do not get a murderer¡¯s mark.


    I captured five bandits and enchanted their bodies and weapons. Thanks to the enchantments they were stronger than the bandits of the same level on the same floor. And although I do not gain experience when they kill, Dark Heart increases in spell proficiency.


    In this way I sent out the group of bandits to kill on their own and used my fiends to kill on my own. Sometimes a bandit was killed and I captured another or sometimes a whole group was killed by either a larger group or by users they encountered.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Dark Summon spell level has advanced to Intermediate level 1.


    Summoned creatures are now 25% stronger.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Three months since gaining access to the spell it had reached intermediate. A good start.


    After the level 150 bandits no longer posed a challenge I went to the next floor where the bandits were level 180 on average. Before doing so however I summoned four fiends and had them kill the bandits under my control. The enchanted bandits managed to kill one of them, but I had enchanted the fiends as well who were now level 160 so it was not a fair fight. You may think me cruel, but if you had this spell I¡¯m sure you would do the same. It was that or actually pay them. Also, the bandits do pick up loot when they kill something, and after I killed them, all of the loot dropped before me.


    I used my newly strengthened, enchanted fiends to capture level 180 bandits and made them the same proposition. Most agreed but not all. The higher the level the less likely the spell is to work until it had a higher proficiency. I still acquired a team of ten bandits, enchanted them, and told the kill all they could. Sending out bandits to kill was more than just for my Dark Heart proficiency, by killing them later I would collect of their loot so it was a good way to make a lot of money very fast and ¡®semi¡¯-legitimate.


    I would not have to rely on this method to acquire money for long, I just needed the system to see that I did not rely on ¡®luck¡¯ and gambling halls to acquire money. If it thought I did, that would be a red flag I was likely cheating, even if the system did not know how.


    Sometimes I came across a group of Users that trained in the bandit¡¯s dungeon, but I would wordlessly leave and take my ¡®bears¡¯ with me. Though the Users never put down their swords when the ¡®bears¡¯ were nearby.


    Slowly I advanced through the dungeon using my enchantments, dark magic, and summoned creatures that all slowly became stronger. Eventually I reached the third floor where the bandits were level 210. By now Dark Heart worked on the level 180 bandits every time, but on the level 210 bandits it only worked about half the time. (I could use Chance control to make it work 100% of the time for the bandits, but decided to not rely on that.)


    Since I progressed through the dungeon along with the progression of my Dark summon skill I managed well to this point. My Dark summon was at Intermediate level 3 so my fiends were at level 180. At this point I should also mention that I am level 193.


    I captured 6 bandits with Dark Heart and summoned 4 fiends [level 180], 8 hell hounds [level 140], and four imps [200]. I enchanted the lot and split them into two groups with the bandits leading them. Afterwards I found a safe spot to use meditation.


    Above level 200 monster intelligence is something to be reckoned with. Even with all I had if I ended up surrounded by superior numbers I would likely be killed. I am not that much of a risk taker when I do not have to be, therefore I did the safe thing which was to make a group that would collect experience and loot for me.


    Eventually the endless hours of using Meditation while my mana drained away due to my summoned creatures caused the skill advanced to a point it could increase no further.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Meditation has advanced to Master level.


    Mana regeneration while meditating increased by 1000%


    +100 INT and WIS</td></tr></tbody></table>


    This took about five months of meditating twenty out of every twenty four hours. The last 50% of Advance level 9 took two weeks to get up. Also getting any skill to advanced or master level increased the appropriate stats.


    After this I was able to send out more groups of dark creatures. When Dark Summon reached intermediate level 5, I gained access to another monster, and all my other summons required 2 less mana per second to maintain.


    Something else I should mention. At this point my Wisdom had surpassed my Intellect. The reason is, aside from Wisdom¡¯s other uses, was that controlling many summoned creatures simultaneously required high wisdom. Although my mana would eventually run dry it was entirely possible for me to summon an army of hell hounds. However without enough wisdom I would not be able to control them all.


    Now, the new dark summon was an Flame skull. Which looks exactly like you¡¯d think. A larger than average human skull coated in flames that flew around either ramming its targets dealing physical and fire damage or casting fire magic. The skulls required less mana to maintain than Fiends and were weaker, but they could fly over targets and when used right they were very effective. They also took orders from the imps and their fire magic was harmless to hell hounds so I was able to send out groups of two imps, four hell hounds and three flame skulls.


    After I advanced past level 210 and My enchant skill reached Intermediate level 9 I decided to leave the dungeon as opposed to staying. My summons were attracting the wrong kind of attentions. The imps I summoned could now use illusion magic and make themselves and my monsters appear to be whatever they wanted without my help, but it was still safer to leave.


    The reason was because my class allowed me to learn secret firelight enchantments from other enchantment masters. Soon I would be able to use them so learning them now would make training even faster in the future.


    It had been almost a year in game since I left Tif¡¯s party, and now I was stronger than the whole party itself. Here is my current stat table.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''3''>Status Window</td><td>Exit</td></tr><tr><td>Avatar</td><td>Curi</td><td>Alignment</td><td>Chaotic Neutral</td></tr><tr><td>Title</td><td colspan=''3''>Lucky Explorer</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td>210</td><td>Class</td><td>Firelight Enchanter</td></tr><tr><td>Fame</td><td>2189</td><td>Infamy</td><td>324</td></tr><tr><td>Health</td><td>2140</td><td>Mana</td><td>19320</td></tr><tr><td>Strength</td><td>49+20</td><td>Agility</td><td>151+20</td></tr><tr><td>Wisdom</td><td>703+20</td><td>Intellect</td><td>642+20</td></tr><tr><td>Leadership</td><td>78+20</td><td>Luck</td><td>201+20</td></tr><tr><td>Vitality</td><td>109+20</td><td>Insight</td><td>27</td></tr><tr><td>Attack</td><td>29</td><td>Defense</td><td>18</td></tr><tr><td>Magic Resistances</td><td colspan=''3''>None</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>All stats +20


    Wisdom +50


    Intelligence +50


    Enables you to learn magic to the stage of advanced.


    Enables you to learn all Enchantments to the stage of Master.


    Enables you to learn secret skills based on your level in Enchantment.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Here are a few of the skills and spells I¡¯ve strengthened.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Enchant Intermediate [9] 7%


    Can learn and use enchantment spells.


    Can stack up to 4 enchantments.


    Enchantment effects increased by 20%</td></tr><tr><td>Efficient Enchanter Intermediate [6] 33%


    38% chance to not use a component when Enchanting</td></tr><tr><td>Identify [1] 0%


    Mana Cost: 30</td></tr><tr>[tr]<td>Meditate Master


    Focus on taking in the energy of the Universe.


    Defense becomes 0 while meditating and damage taken increases by 300%


    Mana regeneration increased by 1000% while meditating.</td></tr><tr><td>Enchant Dungeon Intermediate [5] 22%


    Cast Firelight Enchantment on Dungeon Area


    Effects Available:


    Change Monster Spawn Rate (37%)


    Change Monster Drop Rate (37%)


    Change Monster Strength (37%)


    Change Dungeon Experience rate. (37%)


    Change Monster Intellect (37%)


    Change Monster Speed (37%)


    Change Enchantment Strength (37%)


    Duration: 1 hour


    Mana Cost: 1250


    Additional: Occupants of affected areas have Health and Mana regeneration reduced by 150%</td></tr><tr><td>Red Thorn Enchantment. Advanced [2] 13%


    Weapon Enchantment: Wraps target weapon in the magic of piercing thorns.


    Mana Cost: 32


    +55 ATK for 30 mins</td></tr><tr><td>Static State Enchantment. Intermediate [7] 48%


    Weapon Enchantment: Charges target weapon with electricity.


    Mana cost: 15


    +85~105 Additional Lightning magic damage. for 30 mins</td></tr><tr><td>Wind and Water Enchantment Advanced [3] 11%


    Body Enchantment: Surrounds the body with natural energy to move more freely like wind and water.


    Mana Cost: 78


    +130% Movement Speed for 30 mins</td></tr><tr><td>Bear¡¯s Strength Enchantment Advanced [6] 26%


    Body Enhancement: Increases target strength.


    Mana Cost: 200


    Component cost: Bear¡¯s Tooth


    +112 STR for 30 mins</td></tr><tr><td>Mana Channeler Enchantment Advanced [4] 86%


    Body Enchantment: Opens body channels to receive mana


    Mana cost: 200


    Component cost: Mana Stone Shard, Fairy Hair.


    Increases Mana regeneration by 136% for 30mins</td></tr><tr><td>Infuse Strength Enchantment Intermediate [4] 40%


    Body Enchantment: Fuses power into the core of a target


    Mana Cost: 540


    Component Cost: Giant¡¯s Toe, Troll blood, Ruby.


    +42% Strength. Permanent effect, lasts until character dies</td></tr><tr><td>Mystic Enchantment. [1] 0%


    Weapon Enchantment: Firelight Enchantment that alters the weapon''s existence, forcing it from the physical plane


    Mana Cost: 250


    Converts 5% of physical damage dealt to magic damage


    Health and mana regeneration of wielder reduced by 1%</td></tr><tr><td>Dark Magic Mastery Intermediate [8] 70%


    A branch of magic mastery that specializes in Dark and force magic..


    Dark magic spells 106% stronger and can be cast 46% faster.</td></tr><tr><td>Psychokinesis Intermediate [4] 32%


    The ability to move and push objects with the power of the mind.</td></tr><tr><td>Dark bolt Intermediate [8] 69%


    Cast a bolt of dark energy to damage target. May inflict curse.


    Magic Attack 145.


    Number of Bolts: 9


    Chance to inflict Curse 5%


    Mana cost: 170</td></tr><tr><td>Soul Striker Intermediate [6] 77%


    Casts a magic arrow that damages Mana.


    Magic Attack 91


    Number of Arrows: 5


    Mana Cost: 75</td></tr><tr><td>Dark Claw Intermediate [6] 83%


    Casts a hardened claw of dark magic that may lowers target¡¯s defense


    Magic Attack: 260


    Chance of lowering Defense:25%


    Mana cost: 70</td></tr><tr><td>Dark Summon Intermediate [6] 10%


    Summons dark creature that obeys simple commands.


    Summons Available:


    Hellhound level [170]


    Mana Cost: 750,


    3 mana used per second to maintain summon.


    Imp level [245]


    Mana Cost: 1250,


    6 mana used per second to maintain summon.


    Fiend level [220]


    Mana Cost: 2250,


    9 mana used per second to maintain summon.


    Flame Skull level [215]


    Mana Cost: 1550,


    5 mana used per second to maintain summon.</td></tr><tr><td>Dark Heart [8] 26%


    Corrupts the heart of target to make more pliable.


    Affects the weak minded.


    Can convince affect target to become loyal to you


    Mana Cost: 400</td></tr><tr><td>Dark Cannon [5] 14%


    Fires a Powerful burst of Negative energy that deals physical and magical damage, as well as curses all that it damages.


    Magic Attack: 500


    Mana Cost: 1050</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I didn¡¯t use Dark Cannon much because although it was powerful it still took a long time to cast. When I join parties again and cannot rely on my summoned creatures I will be able to use it more. Also, when Meditating under the effects of Mana Channeler my mana regeneration is over 270 points per second. That seems like a lot at my level but that is only because I maxed out the Meditation skill far earlier than it was meant to be maxed out. If I was level 400 with over 100,000 mana, 270 points recovered per second would seem slow when spells of costs more than 5,000 mana points were being cast back and forth every moment.


    I left the bandit cave and journeyed east. Although I was heading in the direction of the first master enchanter, I was also on the lookout for any potential heroes.


    Chapter 9


    http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=5022</a>

 Chapter 9 The Young Hero

    Chapter 9


    The Young Hero


    I spotted him while at a tavern in small town of Rickens. Outside the tavern he was carrying a pile of wood when he was tripped by a group of men who then proceeded to spurn and laugh at him. The one carrying the wood was a boy of ten or twelve, the men in their thirties. Most would back down but the boy stood up to them and demanded an apology. The refused and laughed again. The boy picked up the wood and moved to go on with his business but the men made him trip and spill the wood all over again. Instead of crying or yelling, the boy picked the wood back up and left without another word while the men continued laughing.


    I used Dark Heart to ¡®convince¡¯ an NPC bar patron that the girls at the bar would desire him if they saw him beat up those laughing men.


    Without checking on the results I left to follow the boy. I made my sprite invisible so he would not notice the tail and looked over his data as I followed him. His name was Sam and he was a level 134 swordsman with an impressive amount of battle experience. He was currently on a quest to collect wood for an elderly woman that lived out of town so that she could use her fire place to stay warm at night. The quest was definitely a chain quest but I was not familiar with it so I would have to logout to check the details or see the data of the quest giver. For now I followed the boy back to the old woman¡¯s house.


    The boy knocked on the door and I got down to hide. The boy could not see me but the NPC might.


    -What are you doing?


    The dark spirit within my armlet could see everything I did and asked an obvious question.


    ¡°Gaining information on my next target.¡±


    -Will you offer him fame, fortune, or power?


    ¡°We¡¯ll see. If he is worthy of it I¡¯ll guide him to all that and more.¡±


    The armlet said nothing else. Until now it rarely spoke, but it had been observing me every step of the way. It had yet to refuse an order, but if it choose to, it could refuse to cast magic at a crucial moment that could end in my death. If I dropped the armlet on death and it was picked up by someone else, it could do great harm upon the world. The reason it did not was two fold. The first reason was that I spent a great amount of effort strengthening its spells so the longer it was with me, the stronger it became. The second was that it was interested in me, that is to say, in my hobby. The being inside was once a powerful proud creature, and even under the threat of oblivion it would not work under someone if it did not really want to.


    The door opened without the old woman leaving and the boy entered. I got back up and moved to a window.


    I saw the old woman inside, but could not see her object data. This is because my data sight could not see through walls, and although it was see-through, the glass of the window was still a wall. I snuck closer and soundlessly opened a crack in the window to see her.


    According to her data, the woman was once married to a nobleman, but the man was killed by bandits before she had any children. Without any blood ties to the family, the woman was cast out due to being born a commoner. The quest chain the boy was on could only be done by a child with the sword mastery skill. It ended with the woman lamenting that her husband¡¯s sword, the family heirloom of his house was stolen when he was killed. She regrets she could not bare any children to wield it, and if the quest chain was completed well, the woman would say she thinks the child would be like the one she and her husband would have had, and asks the child to claim the sword for himself. Or herself, the quest was not gender specific.


    I closed the window and backed away. Later I logged out and looked over the details.


    The boy had good hero potential. The problem was that the end quest was C rank and the Bandit Chieftain that had the sword was too strong for the boy to handle.


    I logged back in and returned to the town to pay for a room at an Inn. I would be here for a while.


    I ¡®bumped¡¯ into the boy the next day, then apologized before saying, ¡°Hey, you were that kid who those jerks tripped yesterday right? Carrying the wood?¡±


    Sam answered, ¡°Ah, yes, that was me.¡±


    ¡°That was pretty cool the way you stood up for yourself.¡±


    He smiled shyly and replied, ¡°Not that I was able to do anything. hehe.¡±


    I proudly responded, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, karma has a way of coming back at you. Both the bad and the good. Those guys will get theirs and you will get yours.¡±


    The boy looked uncertain.


    I said, ¡°Hey, how about you come with big sister for the day. I¡¯m heading off for the Cursed Goblin dungeon and could use a strong bodyguard.¡±


    Cursed goblins were about level 130. Too low for me but would make good training for the boy.


    He shyly responded, ¡°Well, I..¡±


    I caught him between quests in his chain, he still had three more minor quests to go before the big quest.


    ¡°Come on,¡± I encouraged.


    ¡°Well, ok. I¡¯m Sam. A swordsman.¡±


    I  smiled, ¡°I¡¯m Curi the Enchantress.¡±


    ¡°Enchanter class? I heard that¡¯s really rare.¡±


    The boy knew his stuff. A Mage who knew enchantments is one thing but there are few if any Enchanters who knew magic and fought in the field.


    ¡°Yep, I¡¯m one of a kind. Not much good on the battlefield alone but I can make anyone else super strong.¡± A blatant lie at this point but I wouldn¡¯t be using my Dark Spell Armlet.


    Some time ago I purchased an Enchantment spell book for health regeneration called Troll¡¯s Life force. It was a powerful enchantment that could not be learned without a Intermediate level 7 Enchant skill. It required Troll blood as a component but I have quite a bit of troll blood because it is also a component for Infuse strength.


    When we reached the dungeon I gave the boy every enchantment I could. When we entered I then Enchanted the Dungeon with Increase Monster experience. Since Mana channeler and Troll¡¯s life increased regeneration more than the dungeon drained it with only one stack it would not harm Sam at all.


    On the contrary, he admired the intricate designs my firelight enchantment gave to the walls of the dungeon. ¡°Woah, what¡¯s that? It¡¯s so cool.¡±


    I smiled like a big sister who received praise from a naive but adorable younger brother.


    I said, ¡°Ok, the stage is set, lets go kill some goblins.¡±


    Cursed goblins descended from a breed that was enslaved by a dark magician who forcible injected the goblins with dark energies to strengthen them. The resulting creatures were hideous beyond words and dark of skin, but they were stronger than normal goblins and had a high resistance to magic. Especially dark magic. They could cast a bit of dark magic as well, though from a different branch than what my armlet used. They used a branch that focused on enhancing physical strength through dark spells and skills.


    The branch of dark magic my Armlet uses is basically Demon magic. The true identity of the dark spirit was that of a fallen demon whose spirit was, by chance, summoned and bound to the black gem I found it in. Demons use those spells to wreck havoc and destroy lives. It is also one of the most versatile branches of dark magic, but even it doesn¡¯t have everything. Demons have an incredible amount of physical and magical might, therefore they have no need for self enhancing buffs. I could get around this with enchantments, but if I ever faced down a demon the same level as myself with the same skills at the same proficiencies, they would beat me ten times out of ten. I could summon and maintain more beasts for a longer period, but the physical might of a demon would be enough to tear every creature I could summon to shreds even after I enchanted them and their magical might would cast the spells with a magic attack power far greater than anything I would be able to cast or defend against. Not to mention their own defenses and health being nigh impenetrable. Not that I ever intended on facing down a demon in this game.


    We first came across a group of three dark skinned goblins. With increased movement speed and strength Sam was able to make short work of them.


    ¡°Woah, that was awesome.¡±


    Just wait till you notice the experience.


    That being said, ¡°Hey Sam, where¡¯d you learn to use a sword?¡±


    ¡°Huh? I just swing it.¡±


    Yeah, noticed that.


    ¡°Figured. Most guys in this game don¡¯t know how to swing a sword. Want a few pointers?¡±


    ¡°Umm, what do you know?¡±


    ¡°Heh, I don¡¯t look like it, but I¡¯m a top notch practitioner. My dad owns a dojo and made me practice since I was four. When I started an account I chose a magic class just to spite him.¡±


    ¡°Ohh.¡±


    He didn¡¯t look like he believed me, but that was more because he couldn¡¯t see me as a swordswoman than it was he didn¡¯t believe my lie. My lies are very convincing.


    I continued, ¡°Well, for this place and with my buffs you can just swing a sword. But if you need something stronger, I can show you a few moves later. Now, lets go kill more goblins.¡±


    I let the thought settle in first. Pushing it right at the get go forces defenses up. I knew how his quest chain would end with him not being strong enough to finish so I had to plant the idea early on that I could help him if he needed to become stronger. When the time came, the two points would connect and he would come to me thinking it was his idea.


    We continued for the rest of the day like that. He had never been here before so he didn¡¯t know how much experience the goblins gave without my enchant dungeon spell, he just thought the experience here was really really good.


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


    At the end of the day Sam had increased his level by 2. We parted ways and I said I would be at the Inn for a few weeks while training in that dungeon. In essence I told him where he could find me when he needed me.


    My method of manipulation is more than devious than it first appears. While with me and under my enchantments fighting was easy and productive. I¡¯m sure he has never had a more productive training day. Without me he will feel that fighting is less productive. All I need is one more training session with him under my enchantments and he will decide that without me he is too weak. Then he will crave the strength I can offer.


    When put this way it seems cruel, but it is not.


    There is a difference between normal people and heroes. It is what makes them heroes. Heroes are those who can break the boundaries that others cannot. They are people who show others that those boundaries can be broken. The existence of heroes, the idea of heroes, they advance culture and worlds in a way even beings known as gods fear to do.


    Is it a wonder why I¡¯m so fascinated with them or that it is my hobby to create them?


    Anyways, in order to break the boundary a person needs strength. But more than that, they need to want strength themselves. When he asked for my training I would provide him with the strictest regime his avatar body could handle. It would be the trial for him to overcome.  If he passed, he would have all skill he needed to overcome boundaries others could not, to become a hero.


    For the next few days I stayed in Rickens I intended to train a spell I had been neglecting.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>]Mystic Enchantment. [1] 0%


    Weapon Enchantment: Firelight Enchantment that alters the weapon''s existence, forcing it from the physical plane


    Mana Cost: 250


    Converts 5% of physical damage dealt to magic damage


    Health and mana regeneration of wielder reduced by 1%</td></tr></tbody></table>


    It wasn¡¯t that I had forgotten about it, it was just that this was a tricky spell to train. It was permanent so I could only use it once on a weapon meaning to train it I had to use it on hundreds of weapons. The problem with that is that it is not a safe spell to use. Only someone who was an Enchanter or Blacksmith could read the description that the sword reduced regeneration speed.


    I approached the blacksmith of Rickens and asked if I could train the spell on the rejected weapons he forged before they were melted back into scrap. He had no problem with it since he had a very large pile of failures for every successful weapon. The failures themselves were still fine weapons, but they were not up to the blacksmith¡¯s standards. It was the difference in potential ranges. He only sold swords that were at their highest value range, ones I could not make any better without going over the range.


    I sat down with the pile, picked up a sword and used Mystic weapon on it. From the point I held it, the same intricate red lines appeared and spread over the sword. They glowed lightly which meant that the enchantment was active. If these swords were put on a shelf too long or in storage too long without anyone equipping them the glow would eventually fade.


    When I had used the last of the blacksmith¡¯s scrap swords I helped him melt them down and assisted him in the forge. I knew a great deal about making weapons, and even within this game it was natural for me. If I kept assisting him for a few weeks I would eventually generate the blacksmith skill. Craft skills like tailoring, blacksmith, and sculpting can be acquired instantly from guilds if you pay for it or have the appropriate pre-requisites, but they could be learned manually as well if you just did it on your own for a long period of time. Few of course choose to learn the skill this way, but those who did would be better at it than others who instantly acquired it in the long run.


    Of course I had no intention of forging weapons for the same reason I would not create enchantment jewelry. If you don¡¯t remember why that is, go back and read it.


    When the blacksmith ran out of weapons and told me to come back in a few days I left for the caves hidden in the hills outside the city. In their deepest depths was a spawning ground for cave trolls.


    I summoned seventeen hellhounds, the maximum number of beasts I could control and enchanted them all with Troll¡¯s Life Force and Bear¡¯s Strength. Then I found a small crack to hide in and began meditating.


    The hellhounds killed many trolls, but were eventually wiped out. Trolls have the highest regeneration in the game, and four powerful arms to attack with. And within this cave was hundreds of trolls.


    This time I again summoned seventeen hellhounds and enchanted them, but before sending them off I had them wait for me to meditate my mana back to full. Then I summoned more hellhounds, and more, and more. I sent the seventeen I could control and ordered them to guide the pact to attack the trolls. It worked well. I alternated between using Mediate to regenerate and summoning more hellhounds. It was tricky because if I ran out of mana they would all vanish in an instant, but every moment I was not meditating I was losing 60 mana a second.


    I never got to the point where my mana regeneration while meditating and the hell hound¡¯s costs evened out. Casting the summon spell cost mana as well so I had to meditate a bit between casting, and in that time hell hounds would die, meaning the number never reached the point where my mana declined even while meditating.


    Summon hell hound, meditate to recover mana, hell hound dies while fighting, repeat.


    Due to my mastering meditate and my high wisdom, I could stay like this forever if I had enough food. Just gaining experience, training my Dark magic mastery and Dark summon skill until they all reached max. Not that I would. I had to check on Sam sometime.


    It took about a week but one day I returned to my Inn and there was a note from Sam asking if we could spend another day fighting in the Cursed Goblin cave.


    I met him at the entrance and we went inside. I cast Troll¡¯s life force and all my other enchantments, making him a super Sam and we went on another day of leveling him up.


    This time he rose three levels, he was now level 140 and could take on a cursed goblin group without my enchantments.


    Eventually came the day his quest chain reached its conclusion. I had logged out and was watching him from inside the data of the game itself. I could affect nothing but observe everything.


    The elderly woman spoke, ¡°Dear, you have done so much for me. If my husband and I had a son, I hope he would have been just like you.¡±


    Sam blushed and smiled at this praise. She continued, ¡°In fact, there is something I want you to have. I told you that my husband was killed by bandits. What I didn¡¯t say was that they took his family sword. That sword was supposed to be passed down to our children. If you found that sword, I think he could rest in peace. Will you do it?¡±


    <table><tbody><tr><td>The lost Heirloom.


    The widow¡¯s deceased husband will know rest only when the family heirloom, the Long sword Grass, is held by a worthy member of his family. As the child chosen by his wife, you may wield the sword and awaken its true power.


    Rank C


    Requires:


    Trusted and loved by the old woman.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Sam smiled and held the woman¡¯s hand, ¡°I will retrieve that sword.¡±


    It was already revealed to Sam through the woman''s story that the bandits that killed her husband were in a hideout a long distance away. It was also widely known that the bandits in that dungeon were level 200 at the weakest with the bandit chief being level 250.


    This was the point I was ready to log back in to help when he came to me, but instead he left for the north. It seemed he did not think he needed my help.


    I watched him throughout his travel. He did not ask anyone on his friend list for help, he did not buy new equipment, he just went straight to the hideout. This meant that either he did not know how strong the chief was, he was overconfident due mostly to me, or both.


    I watched him enter the dungeon. I watched him encounter a pair of bandits. And I watched him slowly die. I mentioned this before, but over level 200, monster intelligence becomes much more advanced. There is a big difference between level 150 and 200 when it comes to monsters.


    Besides just being pushed back by the bandits high stats, he was being toyed with by their superior swordsmanship. Mobs higher than level 200 knew how to fight well. Sam died not long after. He cried the whole time.


    I moved a day ahead in real time and returned to watch and see if Sam would log back in. He didn¡¯t. I waited for him for a whole day, then two. Eventually he logged back in. His avatar lost its sword and shoes when it died and he came back in the last town he visited before going to the bandit¡¯s hide out.


    He journeyed back south. I watched him all the way until he reached Rickens before I logged back in and waited in my room.


    It took another half hour before I heard a knock at my door at the Inn.


    ¡°Umm. Big sis.. Could you teach me how to use a sword?¡±


    I smiled. Let the trial begin.


    Chapter 10


    http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=5047</a>

 Chapter 10 The way of Lightning

    Chapter 10


    Sam was a grade school student so he could only play after school and on the weekends. In game time this meant he could only log on for about nine days out of every month.


    I told him we would begin his training this weekend.


    ¡°I can teach you how to use a sword, but only on two conditions. You have to go all the way once we start, and you can¡¯t tell anyone I taught you.¡±


    ¡°Huh? Why not?¡± he asked.


    ¡°This is my dad¡¯s style and you are not of his dojo. If he found out I was teaching you he¡¯d kill me.¡±


    ¡°Oh, ok. And thankyou very much.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t thank me yet. I was just gonna give you some pointers but if you want real sword skill you will have to suffer for it. It¡¯s not too late to back out now, but once we start, it is till the end. And if you quit I¡¯ll use a super enchantment to curse you so bad you¡¯ll have to delete your avatar and make a new one.¡±


    The last part was said in partial jest, but considering he knew nothing  about my abilities he couldn¡¯t just ignore the possibility either.


    ¡°Are you absolutely certin this is what you want?¡±


    He bowed his head and said, ¡°Please!¡±


    ¡°Alright, Now I can''t tell you the name of this style but for now you can call it the Way of Lightning. To begin with, it''s back to the curse goblin dungeon.¡±


    He followed me but asked, ¡°Umm, aren¡¯t you gonna teach me first?¡±


    I raised my shoulders, ¡°Teach you what? I don¡¯t know anything about you other than that you swing a sword. I need to see what you¡¯re capable of and we¡¯ll go from there.¡±


    He didn¡¯t understand what I meant at first, but he would.


    When we arrived I used Enchant Dungeon, Increase monster Strength, Increase Monster speed, Increase monster Spawn, and Decrease monster experience.


    The light traveled over most of the dungeon floor.


    ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡±


    His noticed that his health and mana were dropping. Not as fast as mine, but still pretty fast. I used mana channeler on myself to keep from having all it drain away.


    I said, ¡°I¡¯ve made everything in this dungeon stronger except you. Defeat 100 cursed goblins and come back.We¡¯re not leaving until you do.¡±


    ¡°But my health! It will drop to zero before that.¡±


    ¡°Not every spot in this dungeon is affected. Find a spot without my marks on the wall to regenerate your health.¡±


    ¡°But I don¡¯t have a sword.¡±


    I knew this of course, he lost it when he died and had not bought a new one. I pulled out a sword and handed it to him.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Warrior¡¯s Long sword.


    Durability 80/80


    Attack 28~30


    Made by a skilled blacksmith, this is one of his lesser works.


    Requires:


    Level 100


    STR 200</td></tr></tbody></table>


    ¡°I borrowed this from a friend, he¡¯ll want it back when we¡¯re done.¡±


    He took the sword and left, uncertain.


    Throwing someone into the fire like this was the quickest way to determined their strengths, weaknesses, and habits. Using Enchant Dungeon to train Heroes is one of the main reasons I wanted the Firelight Enchanter class.


    I¡¯ll take this time to explain a few details about the uses of Enchant Dungeon. Effects like Increase Experience are useful for obvious reasons, but what is the purpose of effects like Increase Monster Strength? Increasing the monster¡¯s power does not grant additional experience when the target is slain, just like if a priest cast a buff on a monster it would not yield more experience when killed. So why do it? Simply put, fighting a monster whose power and speed has increased, will yield more Skill proficiency. Also, fighting a monster whose strength and speed has been lowered, gives less skill proficiency. That means that in this dungeon, fighting to increase your level will naturally increase your skill proficiency at more than triple the rate per level.


    If you could survive.


    I cast Dark summon to call an Imp to follow Sam and report his progress to me. With the imp¡¯s illusion magic it could appear invisible without me needing to alter its sprite data.


    I continually cast Enchant dungeon to prevent the spell from dissipating. When I first cast it the spell spreads out with me at its center, but after it is cast I can recast it with the same effects just by touching the glowing markings anywhere and using it again. This means I can stand at the edge of its effect in a place where it wouldn¡¯t cause my health and mana to drain and recast it with ease.


    The imp told me Sam was having a very hard time but he was improving. It seemed he thought a bit on what I said about ''swing a sword'' and was trying different things.


    The monsters within the Enchanted zone of the Dungeon lost life and mana as well but became faster and stronger. It didn¡¯t take them long to figure out they would be fine if they stayed around the areas without the glowing lines on the walls. I don¡¯t receive experience if they die from having their health sucked dry, but the Enchant Dungeon spell does increase in proficiency.


    The boy eventually figured out the goblin¡¯s simple attack patterns and was able to kill them with greater ease. I said this before but I saw in his data he did have a lot of battle experience. He was naturally skilled and even his ¡®just swinging a sword¡¯ was done well. It just wasn¡¯t enough to cover the level gap between himself and the Bandit Chief he had to defeat.


    After about five hours he returned, exhausted both physically and mentally. However, instead of complaining, he said with a smile, ¡°Big sis, I got stats. My strength and agility stats went up even though I didn¡¯t get a level.¡±


    This was another effect of using Enchant Dungeon to increase monster strength and speed. Defeating them increased your own. Within Royal Road there are many systems in place that can give a User bonus stats. Eventually Enchant dungeon would also give Change Monster Defense and Change Monster Magic Defense. Fighting them while either of these was increased would also increase stats.


    My plan was to use this system to increase his sword mastery and physical stats while drilling into him proper ways to fight.


    We left the dungeon and he rested at the Inn. I used the time to return to the blacksmith and practice Mystic Enchantment on his failures again before helping him melt them back down.


    When Sam¡¯s stamina recovered I brought him back to the goblin dungeon and told him to show me what he had. He slew a few goblins which gave me a look at the base abilities I had to work with. Physical strength would be an issue in most worlds, but in this game world a child could be as strong as an adult.


    ¡°Ok, first things first. Where does the power of a sword strike come from?¡±


    ¡°Um, the sword?¡±


    ¡°Nope, a sharp sword can¡¯t swing itself, try again.¡±


    ¡°My arm?¡±


    ¡°Incorrect, does your arm hold itself up? Keep trying.¡±


    ¡°Umm... my ... torso?¡±


    ¡°Wrong again, does that torso float about the floor? It gets its power from somewhere.¡±


    ¡°My legs?¡±


    ¡°Almost there, what are you standing on?¡±


    ¡°The ground.¡±


    ¡°Yes! Striking power comes from the ground. In this game technique has more of an effect on damage than a sword¡¯s attack. The power of a strong sword technique comes from the ground, but you have barely been using it, so your strikes are weak.


    He didn¡¯t seem to understand, so I broke it down for him.


    ¡°Try hitting the wall with your sword.¡±


    He swiped it at the rock making a clinking sound


    ¡°Ok, now start from the contact point and move backwards.¡±


    It took him a second to realize what I meant, but he set his sword on the wall, and pulled it back.


    ¡°Ok, now do that again, but really slowly.¡±


    He did so. I pointed to his arm and said, ¡°Right now the weight is in your arm and wrist.¡±


    When he moved a bit further out, I said, ¡°Now the weight is being supported by your wrist, arm, and upper body.¡±


    When he reached the point where one would start a sword swing I said, ¡°Now the weight is being supported by your wrist, arm, upper body, and legs. But is it the legs and feet where the power starts from. Then as you strike you channel the strength from the ground through your feet, through your torso, through your arm, through your wrist, into the sword and into the enemy''s flesh.¡±


    I went through this a few more times to make sure he got it and made him consciously aware of taking power from the earth and directing it to his sword. At first he could only do it slowly, I would not let him progress faster unless he had the movement of force down at that speed. It took a few hours but he eventually had down three moves that made the best use of this concept.


    ¡°Ok now, same thing as yesterday, Imma make the Goblins tougher, you come back when you kill 100. Use what I taught you.¡±


    I enchanted the dungeon and made another shrouded imp follow him.


    He returned again after two hours.  He had already figured out the goblin attack pattern and knew where they congregated so it was easier to complete, but he was also able to best use his sword skills to overcome the goblins. I could also see that when he returned his Sword Mastery had reached beginner level 8.


    After teaching him where power came from, it was time to teach him speed.


    ¡°Ok. Now duck as fast as you can.¡±


    ¡°Duck?¡±


    I threw a rock at him forcing him to get down. ¡°Duck.¡±


    The rock hit him in the head. This was not my first time doing this sort of thing, and I was quite accurate.


    ¡°Next lesson, speed. Try ducking again, as fast as you can.¡±


    I threw another rock and he ducked, but it still hit him.


    ¡°Ow.¡±


    ¡°Hehe, I¡¯d use a rubber ball if this was my  dad¡¯s dojo, but I don¡¯t have any on me in the game. Now, show me how you duck slowly.¡±


    He saw where this was going and slowly ducked his body and got back up.¡±


    ¡°Quiz time. What can you do to move faster?¡±


    ¡°Train?¡±


    ¡°That would work, but only to a certain point. In this world without leveling up or in the real world there is a limit to how much training can accomplish. Let¡¯s assume you were a person who had trained his muscles to the limit and more training would not make your muscles faster. How could you move faster then?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±


    ¡°Use more muscles.¡±


    ¡°Aren¡¯t I already using all  my muscles?¡±


    ¡°Your ducking uses the muscles in your neck and legs to bend your head down and lower your body. You have other muscles too. You have muscles in your gut that let you bend over, you have arms that if you move them up quickly will cause your torso to move down a bit. There are muscles in your butt that can pull your legs up. What if you ducked using all of that at the same time?¡±


    I made him practice just that for about fifteen minutes, then I threw a rock at him.  He ducked the way he normally did.


    ¡°Ouch!¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t duck fast enough. Practicing all the thing¡¯s I¡¯m teaching you is pointless if your body won¡¯t do it when the time comes.¡±


    Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    I threw another rock at him but this time he ducked right. Using all of the possible muscles simultaneously he lifted his legs off the ground while bending down his torso while moving his arms up and bending his neck down. The rock missed and brushed by the hair on top of his head.


    He looked back at me and smiled.


    ¡°Good, now we¡¯re gonna apply that to every sword strike you have.¡±


    His smiled vanished and died.


    My teaching method is not to carve magnificent techniques into a body that makes them unstoppable in battle, it is to show them how to make those techniques themselves. Though for some of the less talented ones I did show them a thing or two.


    Sam and I continued like that every day after school and over the weekend. Luckily the monsters of the dungeons proved a measuring stick for how far he came each day so he knew this was working.


    ¡°With each strike you must use every part of your body. Grab the earth and push with your toes, force yourself forward with your legs, twist your body forward with your hips, move your arms together to produce the most power with your strike without throwing your body off balance, and do all of this in the blink of an eye.¡±


    It was that last part that was the hardest to learn. It required a lot of dedication and training to move everything in the right order at once.


    Sometimes he would mess up the order without even noticing it and I had to reprimand him. ¡°Wrong. Think of your attacks like a Rocket ship. Rockets have several stages when they blast off. If the wrong stage goes off in the wrong order, the whole things explodes, but if they do it right, they can break free of the earth and sail into the stars.¡±


    This analogy is easy to use on this world as most every child knows what a rocket ship is. On worlds without such science I have to come up with a different analogy.


    Gathering power from the feet with each attack to provide greater strength is not too hard to use. Using the partial movement of several muscle groups at the same time to perform one action at greater speeds is not too tricky to learn. But teaching them both and mastering them both is not easy.


    I however was not planning on getting him to master it. That would take years, even within Royal Road. For now it was enough to drill the basics enough that he could use it when he needed to and continue further himself if he wanted.


    We traded dungeons to a few times to get him more practice and increase his level, but I used my Enchant Dungeon to strengthen the monsters while lowering experience. Even in this state he got to level 180, and his sword mastery reached Intermediate level 6.


    ¡°Ok Sam, you have officially graduated from novice to student. So my work is done.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re done? But you haven¡¯t taught me any skills yet.¡±


    ¡°You know the basics, you can make up your own skills. As long as you practice them after thinking them up, you¡¯ll be able to use them.¡±


    He looked pretty sad about it.


    ¡°Tell you what, make up and master three moves and I¡¯ll teach you a forth move. You¡¯ll need a parry and counter move, a dodge and counter move, and a fake out and counter move. Make up, practice and become able to use those three moves that use what I¡¯ve taught you, and I¡¯ll teach you a super secret move that my dad forbid I teach anyone.¡±


    This got him excited so he hurried to start. I had previously explained what each of those types of moves were and I told him a few ways to do each so he had enough to make his own.


    It took him three weeks but he got down the basics for his moves.


    The parry and counter move rotated his wrist with his shoulder while twisting his hips forward to produce a powerful side striking revolution of his sword that would knock away an opponent¡¯s sword before reversing all of those muscles to produce a strike that used the sudden reversal of the muscles to store more energy to use a stronger strike.


    The dodge and counter move would dodge a normal slash while moving to the opponent¡¯s blind side and delivering a critical blow.


    The feint and attack was a duck that would make his opponent block with his sword then duck under the sword and stab up, through the opponent¡¯s head. This movement would actually not be possible for an adult but it was ideal for a child and seemed to use everything I taught him about ducking to its fullest advantage.


    I showed him a few pointers on his moves and helped him get used to them. During which he received a notification that his moves had been turned into skills.


    Often if a player did something repeatedly within the game it would turn into a skill. That being said, I helped the system along a bit on that part and made it recognize his movements as skills a fair amount of time before it would do so naturally.


    ¡°Ok, the secret skill I¡¯m going to show you is actually a move that can be used with all of your other moves. When used together, it makes them much stronger. Are you ready to learn?¡±


    ¡°Yes! Please!¡±


    I smiled, ¡°Ok, I¡¯m going to demonstrate it. I¡¯ll  use to to strengthen a punch, so hold out your hand.¡±


    He did so and I punched it using everything I taught him. Although my avatar is weak and no damage would be done, the force of the punch still threw his hand back.


    ¡°That was a normal punch,  here is a punch while using the secret technique.¡±


    He held out his hand again in anticipation.


    I punched it again, using every muscle almost simultaneously, but at the same time I shouted, starting the shout at the beginning and having it reach its peak the instant I made contact with his hand. His wrist flew back again, but the pain in it would be a bit different. Besides being hurt, there would also be a stinging sensation.


    He looked at his hand and looked back up in disappointment. I answered with, ¡°Ha, I bet you are thinking, ¡®That¡¯s it?¡¯ Well, I have news for you. Forcing all the air out of your lungs when you strike increases the pressure on your body and powers up outward movement. A master¡¯s sword strike take less time than the shout lasts, so for the whole moment of the shout, the body is more powerful. When a true master uses this, his strike become up to a third stronger, just from shouting.¡±


    He still looked like he didn¡¯t believe me. I smiled and said, ¡°Hey, you don¡¯t have to learn it if you don¡¯t want to. My dad doesn¡¯t teach it to his students so that even if the strongest challenges him, he can become a third stronger with each strike and defeat his students. Without knowing this skill, none of the students will ever surpass my dad. He¡¯s kind of a jerk like that.¡±


    This made Sam break out smiling and laughing.


    I spent the rest of the day teaching him the proper timing for shouting and eventually he felt the difference.


    Later we parted ways. I bought him a sword from the blacksmith, (I couldn¡¯t increase it since the blacksmith didn¡¯t sell things that could be increased by me) for a graduation present and he added me to his friend list.


    I logged out and watched him for a while after that. He returned to the Bandit¡¯s cave and was able to beat the level 200 bandits within. Thanks in no small part to his new skills and the many stats he acquired from training.


    He stayed in the cave for a while and increased his level. Eventually he hit level 212 and challenged the Bandit Chief. The fight was impressive but the kid had the edge in speed. In the final moment Sam rushed to slash the Chief but when the Bandit moved to block, Sam disappeared from his field of vision. Due to the height difference between Sam and the Chief, when Sam was right up next to him and ducked faster than the blink of an eye it looked like he vanished. From this ducking position he thrust up his sword with a shout and pierced through the bandit chiefs head. After which he obtained the chief¡¯s loot and acquired the Grass sword.


    I logged back in and sent a whisper.


    -Hey Sam, how¡¯d that bandit thing go?


    He told me about it so it was not surprising I knew.


    -Hey big sis, I did it, I beat the Bandit Chief and got the Grass sword. I couldn¡¯t have done it without you.


    I smiled. He would make a good hero


    -Nice, so you got a good sword now.


    -Yea, it looked like it was in a locked state, but when I got it some abilities appeared. I guess because I completed the quest.


    I already knew what abilities the sword had, it was a good sword. And I may have snuck into the bandit¡¯s cave while an Imp used an illusion spell to make us invisible and altered the sword a bit.


    -Very nice, so what are you going to do now?¡±


    -Well, I¡¯m gonna sell it on an online auction.


    What?


    -Huh? Why? You worked so hard to get it.


    -Yea, but it is probably worth a lot of money and I need money more than I need the sword.


    -I see. For what?


    -My mom, she¡¯s sick.


    -Ahh. Well I hope you get a good price on the sword then. Good luck.


    -Thanks big sis.


    Afterwards I logged back out and hacked into some files on the internet. It seemed the User registered as Sam had a mother in the hospital.


    I let out a small sigh. He could still become a good hero, but I was counting on that sword to make him a great one. Oh well.


    A few days later I heard back from Sam


    -Big Sis, you¡¯ll never believe this. I got enough money for the sword to help my mom out. With it she¡¯ll get better.


    -Ha! Remember what I told you about karma? It always comes back, the bad, and the good.


    -Yeah, it¡¯s just. Thank you soo much.


    I could hear the tears in his voice


    -Hey, you killed the bandit chief with skills you made up. I just pointed you in the right direction.


    -Still, thankyou. Really.


    I smiled a bit as I walked away from the city¡¯s auction house. This one was run by users who managed online transactions. I had just bought something off one such site and came by to pick it up. I told you before but I can¡¯t let objects I¡¯ve altered back into the world. In the past when I gave a hero a powerful weapon and he sold it, I always made sure to get it back.


    Still, I may have overpaid for the sword to get Sam enough money to pay for the operation his mom needed.


    Now, what am I going to do with this?


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Grass Sword


    Durability 45/120


    Attack 78~90


    A sword used by the noble Threpe Household, but when the last descendant died, the sword sealed away its own powers. Recently it has awakened and its abilities can be used by anyone, weak or strong that lacks a wicked heart.


    Requirements


    Good or Neutral Alignment


    Equips:


    Grass Blade ability


    Sword can extend like grass and retract just as quickly


    This sword cannot break, only bend.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Chapter 11


    http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=5158</a>

 Chapter 11 The First Magic

    The First Magic


    Chapter 11


    In the city of Atur was home to three hundred fifty thousand non player characters, about fifteen thousand players that have taken residence and one master Enchanter. Not that he enchanted anymore. He retired from the craft to make way for younger enchanters, though he partially regretted that none of them could surpass him.


    The man was one of four Master enchanters throughout Versailles that could teach me the secret Firelight Enchantments. I didn¡¯t really need them, and getting most would a hassle, but the final Enchantment that I would gain after completing all the Firelight Enchanter Class Quests would be able to permanently change the rules of the world. Though it would take a few years to get without cheating or arousing suspicion. Still, it wasn¡¯t like I needed to be anywhere anytime soon. One of the many perks of being able to travel through time is that I can be anywhere, any when I want.


    And although I don¡¯t really need it, this particular Firelight Enchantment would be very useful and make playing this game easier in many ways. Which was of course the reason I came to this city.


    Although I could just walk up to his house and knock on the door, it would be a tad suspicious if I somehow found the master without any prior knowledge.


    Traditionally, a Firelight Enchanter must apprentice an Enchanter, since that will allow them to level up their enchant skill without having to pay for the materials themselves. After the apprenticeship has ended, several Class Quests must be gone through, one of which has the Enchanter encounter someone who tells of the Master in Atur.


    First I had to have someone tell me there was a master enchanter in this city, then I could go to his house.


    I won¡¯t bore you with the details but I eventually got an NPC enchanter to tell me that there was once a Master Enchanter in the city that was the best there was. After that I went to his house.


    The one who answered the door when I knocked was a young woman, similar in appearance of age as myself. This was the current apprentice to the Master Enchanter Eldos.


    ¡°Yes, how may I help you?¡± she asked.


    I bowed lightly in respect, ¡°I have come to seek the secrets of Enchanting from Master Eldos.


    She frowned at this and said, ¡°The master is not seeking new apprentices. Go and seek another master.¡±


    Before she closed the door I replied, ¡°Has Master Eldos given you his blessing to speak for him, or have you taken this upon yourself without his knowing? How would he take the knowledge that you turned away one who seeks an audience with him without his knowing? If you are not willing to allow me passage, I will permit myself inside and ask him this question myself.¡±


    The woman was not an actual apprentice, though she fancied herself the man¡¯s apprentice. She was more of a stay in housekeeper that tried to get the Enchanter¡¯s most powerful spell off him and make herself rich.


    Of course Eldos saw through this from the start. He decided to use her greed against her and now she acts as a free housekeeper that can¡¯t leave out of the fear that she may lose out on the opportunity to learn his final enchantment. She also cannot risk doing anything that would get her kicked out, like refusing a guest without informing Eldos.


    That being said, she has no knowledge of what that Enchantment actually is, nor does she even know anything about Firelight enchantments.


    The woman reluctantly allowed me in and said, ¡°You won¡¯t get anything from him.¡±


    I smiled and entered the home¡¯s study.


    The woman left for the upstairs to get the master. I looked around the study. It had about forty books that lined the shelves. I did not know their content, but by looking closely I could discover their contents. A few of these were actually highly valuable books that would never be found in a library that would increase one¡¯s stats by reading them. Books on Magic theory, Magic physics, Magic circle foundation and composition. These were not copies either, but handwritten volumes once owned by ancient, powerful, mages and sorcerers that were each once the top of the world in their time. As for their value, it was worth more than the total amount of gold I had spent on enchantment books and components since starting this game. By a large margin.


    Besides proving that this was the study of one of the world¡¯s five most powerful enchanters, this also proved just how rich enchanting had made him during his life.


    Ah, before your imagination gets the better of you, know that the Firelight Enchantment I and the pseudo-apprentice seek is one Eldos discovered and mastered while researching ancient enchantments. However, it has little ability to make one rich just by learning it. The spell has thousands of uses to a clever person, and hundreds even to a dullard, but it is not an Enchantment that can be sold or used for profit. The pseudo-apprentice believes this Enchantment will be a short-cut to fame and fortune, and she can use it to become as rich as Eldos. But Eldos never used it to get rich, his money was earned through hard work and dedication to his craft. There is no short-cut.


    The reason the Pseudo-apprentice thinks it a short-cut, is because Eldos already informed her of all Enchantments that he knows except the firelight enchantment. All of his spells are known in public record from when he was a professional enchanter. She assumed it was a spell others would pay him a fortune to use, but was a secret.


    Eldos never corrected this, thus gained a free maid.


    The old man came down the stairs and groaned a bit as he saw me. This is a reaction unique to one such as himself who lives with a bothersome beautiful young woman, and now sees another.


    I bowed politely and said, ¡°Greetings master Eldos. My name is Curi, I am a Firelight Enchanter. I became aware that you may know one of the spells I seek to master.¡±


    My introduction caught his attention. ¡°Oh? A Firelight Enchanter you say?¡± He continued down the stairs and sat at in the cushioned seat of his reading chair.


    I moved to sit opposite him. Before the woman could join us, Eldos said, ¡°Elena, could you brew us some tea dear?¡± She resisted at first but nodded and went to the kitchen.


    Eldos shook his head. ¡°Woman can¡¯t make tea worth a darn, but that will buy us some time to talk.¡±


    I smiled at the craftiness of the old man. I continued, ¡°Would you be willing to teach me the spell?¡±


    Eldos said, ¡°Well, depends. Why do you want the spell? To make money? To become powerful?¡±


    I smiled lightly as if those options were humorous in their absurdity. I answered. Not the exact answer I could see would get me the spell, but the honest answer. ¡°What I seek is the means to make others great and the ability to do so.¡±


    He looked me in the eyes for a tense moment. Then started laughing. ¡°Make others great. I like that. That being said, this spell is not for making others great. Learning it may be pointless for you.¡±


    I gave another smile and said, ¡°Even so, I still wish to master the art of Firelight Enchanting in all its parts. And even if the spell cannot make others great, if it can assist me in any way to make others great, I will do all I can to learn it.¡±


    Eldos nodded, ¡°That it may, that it may.¡±


    The old enchanter turned to the kitchen and said, ¡°However, I cannot in good conscious simply give you the spell I have been withholding from Elena for so long for free. It would make her truly realize the pointlessness of her efforts, and I might lose my housekeeper.¡±


    I knew where this would end so I hurried the man to the decision. ¡°Why not test us both with something only someone worthy and capable of learning the enchantment can pass? I¡¯m sure you have reasons other than keeping a maid to not pass on the enchantment. Make a test that demonstrates what she lacks.¡±


    Eldos nodded at my suggestion and said, ¡°Hmm, I¡¯ll need a bit of time to think of something.¡±


    I nodded and asked, ¡°In the meantime, do you mind if I peruse your study¡¯s selection?¡±


    Eldos cocked his head to the side and said, ¡°You sure? There is some very advanced stuff in there. Elena read through them, but she got nothing for it. It isn¡¯t something for those below the level of master.¡±


    ¡°I think I¡¯ll manage.¡±


    ¡°Oh ho. Well then by all means.  Don¡¯t fold the pages.¡± After that he returned upstairs.


    Elena returned with two cups of tea, I informed her that Eldos would take his upstairs and that he would return after some period.


    I opened the first book, Determinants of Causality, by Archmage Tharken.


    Overall, the finer details of magic within Royal Road had quite a few more similarities to real magic than I first assumed. Instead of boring you with the contents of the many books I read, I¡¯ll  share a few details about the part of magic that Royal Road shares with most worlds, including your own. If this does not interest you, skip ahead.


    I¡¯ve stated this before, but in case you forgot, I¡¯ll remind you. Throughout every part of the universe, great and small, there is a balance between polar opposites such as chaos and order. Magic is the separation of these opposites to use an effect that requires one over the other. For example, if you want to protect something, you want it to stay in the same state it was in. This continuity is a form of order. The opposite of order is chaos, therefore the magic that would protect this would separate the chaos and order that exist within and around the object, and expel the chaos. This is a standard form of protection.


    However, there are consequences to such magic. The chaos that was expelled would not disappear. It would go elsewhere. For example. If a protection spell that worked like previously mentioned were used on a house, the expelled chaos may go to the houses or people around it. So while the protected house would have less chaos, the houses around it would have more, thus be more likely to incur damage that may have once befallen upon the protected house.


    Another example of magic consequences. Say you use magic to fashion a ring that ensures the wearer always has good luck. This magic splits the luck that a person has into the polar opposites, Good luck and Bad luck, and expels the bad. So, same point as last time. Where does the bad luck go? Well, it might go to some stranger and if you are uncaring that may not bother you, but more likely it will gravitate towards those you spend time with, friends and loved ones. So as you receive good luck, they receive greater amounts of bad luck.


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    There are ways around these consequences, but only a learned practitioner can use them. Simply put, when separating the polar opposites, both must be used in a way that benefits towards the desired outcome.


    A simple example would be a spell to keep oneself healthy. The splitting of opposites here yields the body¡¯s ability to maintain health being heightened and reduced. The proper way to do this, would be to split the time between them to make your body suddenly sick, then make it healthy afterwards. The lasting effect is that your body¡¯s final state will be healthier than the original. This is because the momentary illness followed health, acts similarly to the way a inoculation works in your world.


    The power behind true magic exists everywhere, it just cancels itself out.


    Now, a powerful spell splits dozens of opposing effects, combines them in ways that either cancel out the unwanted effects or makes the opposite effects work towards the desired outcome. For most minds, this entire process is very difficult. Not solely for the complexity, but because the way of thinking required to use such spells requires a way of thinking that your entire civilization has grown away from.


    Some worlds have civilizations that were built around magic. The talented wielders of magic within can split more than fifty different opposing forces and recombine their energies to do wondrous things in only a few moments. Of course, the energy field that magic exists in, the field that contains the balanced energies that usually cancel each other out unless disturbed, these fields are weaker in your world than they are in others. Even if a person who could focus their mind to split a hundred forces and allocated them properly existed in your world, they would not be able to do much outside the areas of your world where magic is strong.


    Of course, that is only for those who must rely on the fields around them on this plane. For those who can access the magic fields that exist on other planes, magic of a far greater power can be realized.


    Now, on to how to command these forces. Simply put, they respond to pure will power. A pure desire for something to happen. Spell incantations and the like are tools for purifying one¡¯s intent to the point it can affect the energy field.  The words themselves do not matter. They are a tool to attach the pure desire to, a simple feat that can be done with repeated practice. Spell circles and diagrams are also tools that assist in directing the forces while splitting and combining them. They lessen the load on the mind and allow more complex spells to be done more easily. Same goes for rituals.


    ---


    Eldos returned to the study after about six hours. After seeing that I was interested in his books, he had taken a nap.


    In that time I flipped every page of every book that would grant me bonus stats and thought the words in my head to make the system think I was speed reading them. Of course at my rate of ¡®speed reading,¡¯ the bookshelf was ¡®read¡¯ in an hour and a half. I have complete control over what the system sees in occurring in my mind,  so making it appear that I was speed reading was not difficult.


    In total I had gained 53 Intellect points, 46 Wisdom points, and 33 Insight points.


    As I mentioned before, they were one of a kind books.


    Eldos looked over his bookshelf once and saw that each book had been moved a bit from their original position. ¡°Did you really read them all?¡±


    ¡°Yes, a fascinating collection.¡±


    ¡°I see. And if I were to ask you what Romor the sage¡¯s thoughts about definitive allocation through total comprehension..?


    ¡°Then I would say that nothing is certain and nothing lasts forever.¡±


    Eldos burst out laughing, ¡°Haha. You really did read it.¡±


    Elena was watching me the entire time. She likely thought I was simply going over the pages of the books to glance them over. She had likely done the same a few times.


    Eldos calmed down and addressed Elena. ¡°I am going to give this young lass a test. If she passes, I will teach her my secret spell. However, I will give you a chance as well. If you pass, I will teach you instead.¡±


    Elena looked uncertain, ¡°Truly?¡±


    Eldos nodded. ¡°Yes, the test is this, one simple question. I¡¯ll ask you first Elena. If you are correct, then I¡¯ll see this young lady off, and I will teach you the spell without a moment¡¯s waste.¡±


    Elena looked even less certain. ¡°Does the question have to due with the contents of Master¡¯s study?¡±


    Eldos chuckled a bit at the reasonable fear, but replied, ¡°No, that is material that is only useful to a master. Comprehension of the subjects will help in the path to becoming a master, but it is not required before then. The question is one that lies at the very heart of the magic of Enchanting. No enchanter shall ever become a master unless they know the answer to this question. Are you ready?¡±


    ¡°Yes master.¡± we both answered.


    Eldos turned to Elena and asked, ¡°Where does the magic behind enchantment come from?¡±


    Elena looked astonished by the question, she quickly answered, ¡°Mana.¡±


    Eldos shook his head. ¡°No my dear, that is the source of power. Where does the magic come from?¡±


    Elena looked thoughtful but only for a moment before answering, ¡°The components.¡±


    Eldos shook his head. ¡°No, no. The components balance out the forces of the magic by sacrificing items that shared similar bound principals. If components make the magic, there would be no component-less enchantments. Now, this is your last chance. Where does the magic come from?¡±


    ¡°The magic script?¡± She knew this answer was wrong, but she never thought to question such a basic concept before.


    Eldos answered, ¡°Enchantments existed before magic script. They existed before incantations and rituals.¡±


    He turned to me and asked, ¡°Where does the magic behind Enchantments come from?¡±


    Elena looked expectantly at me. Like a lost child trying to find her way home. I knew the answer of course. I knew it long before I knew of this game. The answer was the same as it was in the real world. ¡°Love. Enchantments are born from love.¡±


    Eldos smiled, satisfied. Elena looked even more confused. Eldos explained the answer, more for her sake than mine. ¡°Love it is. Tell me Elena, did you know that Enchantments were the first magic? Love is as natural as breathing, and as pure as sunlight or rainwater. Through love, desires could come true. Loving a child and wishing for their protection, loving a person from afar and wanting their happiness. Although primitive by our standards, these cast the first enchantments, the first working magics.¡±


    Elena bowed her head down in shame. She was an Enchanter as well, but she had not bothered to consider such a basic thing as where the power of her enchantments came from. She understood now why she had not been given the secret enchantment.


    The woman left the study to go upstairs. likely to either sulk or rethink her life.


    Eldos continued and asked me another question, ¡°How much do you know about the one who created the firelight enchantments and your class?¡±


    I revealed only what I had gained through gameplay. ¡°She was a powerful Enchantress who lived long ago. She wished to create powerful enchantments that used sources for their power other than components.¡±


    Eldos nodded. ¡°Yes, but more than this, she wished to pioneer new enchantments that could do things no other enchantment could do, she was truly a visionary. The spell I discovered of hers pioneered something I had never before seen. A enchantments that could enchant anything. All enchantments have a limit on what they can be cast on, whither it be a body, a tool, a weapon, or a wall, but this one can be cast on anything. And to whatever it is cast on, it does the same thing.¡±


    Eldos picked up a book from his shelves and placed it on the table. He touched it, and a red line spread from his fingertips and made a familiar pattern that surrounded the book. When the book was completely covered in glowing red lines, the lines suddenly glowed bright, and the book disappeared. In its place was a card, with a picture of the book on it.


    Eldos picked up the card and let me see it. I knew what it was of course. The enchantment could turn almost anything into a card if you had enough mana, (bigger, more complex, means more mana, more difficult, and less likely to succeed). The source of power for the enchantment, other than mana, was time. Any object turned into a card had the time it should have experienced, turned into power to preserve the enchantment. In other words, objects turned into cards are locked in the moment they were turned into a card. This was a perfect example of using the good and bad aspect of magic and directing them towards something beneficial. Realistically this wasn¡¯t a bad thing at all. The cards themselves could retake their original form immediately if broken, or after a few seconds if the one holding it said ''release.''


    Of course using the spell required an Enchant skill of advanced, but I had gotten the skill up to Intermediate level 9 at 94%. Learning the spell would advance my Enchant knowledge and increase the skill enough to achieve the next level.


    Eldos held out his hand and I took it. His hand glowed for a moment before I received a few messages.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have learned a new Spell: Enchant Card</tr></td><tr><td>Your Enchant proficiency has increased.</td></tr><tr><td>Enchant has reached Intermediate level 10 and becomes Advanced level 1


    Intellect Stat +20</td></tr><tr><td>You may now learn the Enchantment: Love</td></tr></tbody></table>


    ¡°Thank you master.¡±


    Eldos gave a smile only given by kindly old men to their grandchildren and said, ¡°No, thankyou. You have given me some hope for this younger generation. Perhaps Elena too, shall in earnest, change her greedy ways and devote herself to the true study of Enchanting.¡±


    ¡°In which case, I wish you both well.¡±


    Eldos nodded again and said, ¡°Remember your answer young lady, and spread the magic born through love throughout the world.¡±


    I hugged the old man for a moment before leaving on my way.


    Chapter 12


    http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=5259</a>

 Chapter 12 Power of the Cards

    Chapter 12


    Power of the Cards


    After acquiring a new spell it was time to train it. The Enchant Card spell was useful even at low levels, but its efficiency was terrible. The spell could turn almost anything into a card. The only real limit was how much mana I had to use. The higher the proficiency I had in the spell, the less mana was needed. Also, if a card was made that contained another card, the mana cost would be be compounded. For example. Say I used ten thousand mana to turn a lot of items into cards and put all the items in a suitcase. Then I turned the suitcase into a card. The mana cost to do so would be the cost to turn the suitcase plus the cost of every card within, so the suitcase would need a little more than ten thousand to turn.


    Also, the weight of each card is independent of the item it holds. They weigh a little more than a common playing card. In other words if I have enough mana, I can turn every item in my possession into a almost weightless card.


    I have not mentioned this before, but the inventory of any character still has weight. And unless the character has plenty of physical stats they can¡¯t hold much weight. Previously when I trained on my own I would have to either leave behind loot or travel between my place of training and the nearest town to sell the loot. It is a fair amount of hassle.


    My avatar also requires sustenance. I have to carry food to eat when needed or my health slowly declines. There is also a feeling of pain when hungry, an annoying feature for this game. Also food can go bad if left uneaten too long, so I must buy or make my own food at regular intervals. Now however I can turn food into cards. Because the food is frozen in the state I turn it in, when I bring it out it will always be fresh. This alone was reason enough to acquire this spell, but its usefulness goes far beyond that.


    Obviously the first thing I did was go to a restaurant of fair quality and order one of everything on the menu. When a dish arrived I moved it onto a plate I brought and used Enchant Card. A fine red line would spread over the dish, draining my mana with each inch it traveled. Eventually the dish was covered with red lines that pulsed and glowed. A few of the wait staff witnessed this and looked on in confusion. When the dish turned into a card, there were a few gasps.


    The act of turning a four inch long steak on a eight inch long plate into a card took about twenty seconds and cost 350 mana. The time it took for Master Eldos to turn a similar sized book into a card took only four second and cost him only 40 mana.


    This is what I meant by the spell lacking efficiency at lower levels. Also, the spell can turn living NPCs and monsters into cards, but the cost is far more than for an inanimate object and affected by the monster¡¯s level. A level 5 rabbit would cost about 700 mana. A level 15 fox would cost 1850. And a level 25 wolf would cost 2775.


    One of the main features of this spell was that if I used it on a summoned creature, the creature would not cost mana to maintain while in card form. I could have a deck of hellhounds, summoned and stored beforehand, and in a battle if any died, I could release another from a card almost instantly to replace it without having to cast the summon spell again.


    Of course at this point I did not even have enough mana to turn even a hellhound into a card. A consequence of my training the summon spell was that even the lowest level summon was too high a level for my to turn into a card with all of my mana. For me to take advantage of such a cheat like way to mix spells, I had to get the Enchant Card¡¯s proficiency up to at least intermediate.  Then I would be able to turn at least a few monsters into cards before I had to replenish my mana with Meditation.


    The training for this spell is not as simple as it seems. The proficiency gained for turning the same item into a card reduces each sequential time.  So I can¡¯t just walk along the side of the road turning every small rock I see into a card for a week.


    The point where the proficiency gained is not worth the effort for the same object turned is about 67, so the best way to train the spell is to get 67 of as many of the same objects as I could. Also proficiency for turning the same type of item of the same grade dropped too low after about 250. So I can buy 67 low level knives made by one blacksmith and 67 of a different knife of the same quality from another blacksmith, but overall it would be pointless to turn more than 250 low level knives into cards.


    This training of course would require more funds than I currently possessed, so it was off to the gambling hall. It had been over a year in game since I last gained money through gambling, so the system would not flag it. The fact that I gained money a few times through gambling was deleted, as most useless information is after some time within the computer itself.


    The gambling hall itself was smaller than most for a city of this size, but it was also quite full. I turned half the funds I currently possess, about 22 thousand gold, into chips, the currency  for this hall. I then proceeded to a table in which a game of cards was about to conclude.


    The game itself has cards you would be familiar with, 52 different cards of Ace, two, three, all the way to jack, queen, king. The game they played however is one you are not familiar with.


    Each player in the game, there must be five at the start, is dealt five cards by the dealer. Then five cards are set on the table.  At the end of the game, they players may play any card from these five as if they were in their hand as well as their actual hand to make the strongest five card hand they could. However, this is quite difficult.  After the cards are placed there is a round of betting. Then, in order from the dealer¡¯s left. Each player may choose to replace one card in their hand with a card on the table. This is done not just to secure a stronger hand only for yourself, but to weaken your opponent¡¯s hands. After each player is given the opportunity to switch out a card, another round of betting begins. Then the process repeats four more times, though the first to take a card on each subsequent round is the person who was second the previous round. Often by the end the five initial cards have all been swapped, and the hand that you could have had dissolves.


    The table I was watching was inhabited solely by Users. There were only two players left, the others had lost all the chips they entered with.


    The dealer was also a cheater. Not my kind of subtle cheat hacking, but a slight of hand cheater. This is not altogether uncommon for a User run game, but this was my first time seeing the cheater as the dealer.


    The five cards on the table were a 2, 5, two Jacks, and 8. The dealer¡¯s hand was going to use the two jacks and a third in his hand to get a three of a kind hand. Not the kind of hand that usually wins this game, but against only one opponent it was enough. Especially since he knew what the opponent¡¯s hand was. He knew the opponent was going to use the 2 and 5 and his own hand to make a small straight. The dealer placed those cards there himself for his opponent¡¯s benefit. In the final round of switching cards, the opponent switched a 4 in his hand for the jack. He hopped that this would misdirect the dealer into thinking he did not want the other cards, but the jack. The dealer¡¯s turn on the final round is often the most damaging for others. As he knows no matter what he lays down, the table and his hand will all be available to him. He took the 3 and set down another four. The opponent¡¯s smile shattered. Now his best hand was just a pair of fours against the dealer¡¯s pair of jacks.


    The opponent lost the last of his money, and a new game was dealt. I of course sat down at the table.


    ¡°A new face? You know this is the big boy¡¯s table little lassie. Buy in of five thousand?¡±


    The men at the table were all older than I appeared to be, but I didn¡¯t answer. Instead I took out a stack of chips with values in the thousands.


    The men flinched a bit before I answered, ¡°Only five thousand? Why not bring it to ten?¡±


    The dealer smiled and put a few more chips on the table. He of course had enough funds.


    Now, to those who don¡¯t know, there are three common cheats that can be used for most card games played around a table. The first is to have extra cards in your sleeve that can bring up the value of your hand. This is easy to use but hard to cover up in a long game, as if the extra cards are not removed, the a person my end up with five aces in their hand. The second is a cheat shuffle. At the end of each game, the suffler piles the cards  together and puts the higher value cards in a place he can deal to himself. The last is partners outside of the table. Allies that look at the opponent¡¯s cards and give gestural signals that tell what they have.


    In this game the cheat shuffle was risky as there were many experienced eyes around that could spot such a thing. The dealer however did have cards in his sleeves that, as the dealer, he could remove before each new shuffle to avoid getting caught. He also had partners. At least two of them. His last dirty trick was not a cheat that could be used in most games, but here it could. He had an ally on the table and they signaled each other back and forth for what cards they needed. Due to how the game went, this was like sharing a hand of fifteen cards between two people. Having a unknown partner was also useful to avoid suspicion. If one man won every game it would look like a fix, but if two men won alternatively, then they were just very good.


    Of course relying solely on cheating was very obvious. These two didn¡¯t get caught because they were also very good players.


    The first hand was dealt. When I had all five cards I lifted the edges and peaked a bit before putting them back down. The woman behind me didn¡¯t even see the suit of the cards, much less what they were. I didn¡¯t see them either, but I didn¡¯t need to. Lifting the edges to ¡®see¡¯ them was for everyone else¡¯s benefit. I could see the object data of each card and I knew what they, and every other card on the table was.


    If the suit of the card matters for this next part, I¡¯ll include it next to the number. H=Hearts, S=Spades, D=Diamonds, C=Clubs.


    My hand was a 5S, 5D, JD, QueenC, and a KingH.


    This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    The deck that dealt me this hand was pre-made and switched with the previous deck while the dealer¡¯s partner was talking to everyone. This hand was a test. Would I go for a flush, a 3 of a full house, or a high straight?


    In this game, cheating does not always guarantee victory. It was a game where the opponents could hurt your hand or help someone elses. High levels of strategy and foresight were required to win.


    The five cards on the table would not help me make a hand with the hand I currently had, but it did not matter. With a pre-made deck and cooperation between two skilled players it was not possible for anyone but either of those two to win without some serious cheating.


    The first round of bets called for 300 gold, a player. I called.


    The next round I folded.


    It was earlier than they expected, with my hand I should have stayed in until the final round where I would have fallen one card short of a flush and the dealer¡¯s partner would have a full house.


    I watched the dealer shuffle the deck thoroughly. He knew I was watching so he couldn¡¯t do anything slippery.


    The following games would be the real deal.


    Three rounds later the dealer slipped an ace in his sleeve for a card in his hand. The woman standing around the table signaled him that there were no other aces in on the table. They didn¡¯t see my hand which made it a risk, but from the way I was drawing from the table, there was no way I had an ace. The dealer¡¯s hand was now three aces and two jacks.


    ¡°All in.¡± I raised the bet to all the chips I had.


    The other three on the table folded. Since it was the dealer¡¯s partner who won the last two games, I had more chips than the dealer himself, if he wanted to call, he would need every chip he had.


    ¡°Call.¡±


    I went all-in two turns before the game ended. Even though we couldn¡¯t bet more, we could both switch cards twice more. I switched cards both times, taking a 4D and a 7D. An advantage of scaring others out in a hand was that you were more likely to get the cards you needed on the table. Especially if you needed more than one.


    When both of our hands were lain down, I had a straight flush, 3d~7D. The whole pot became mine.


    ¡°I¡¯ll take dealership as well, you can start another game on another table.¡± I said with a smile.


    ¡°Wait a minute, why should you be the dealer?¡± asked the partner.


    I picked up a thousand gold chip and said, ¡°Would you like to deal? How about we flip for it?¡±


    Before he could answer I flipped the coin, snatched it from the air, and placed it on the table with my hand over it. No one saw what it landed on.


    1000 gold chips and above all have different images on each side. The 1000 chip itself had a picture of a pile of gold on one side and a picture of a castle on the other.


    ¡°Call it.¡±


    The man looked closely at the coin. All cheaters are naturally suspicious of cheating, but if he called it after the coin hit the table and I simply moved my hand away, it couldn¡¯t be changed.


    By any way he knew of anyways.


    ¡°Gold.¡± he answered.


    Good guess. He was right. So I changed the sprite of the chip to the reverse. I lifted my hand slowly, revealing a picture of a castle.


    If there were any NPCs looking, they would have seen a pile of gold, but I made sure there were none before hand.


    ¡°Castle. I guess I¡¯m the dealer.¡±


    Even in the real world, I know how to shuffle to make what I want come out. In the game it is even easier.


    The following games went smoothly. The remaining cheater had a few cards up his sleeve but without control of the deal it was risky to play them. And I made sure no one saw my hand.


    ¡°All in.¡± The partner couldn¡¯t risk losing this game. He had to risk getting caught cheating so his aim was to win in two games, and cheat like hell for both of them. The women signaled him that the other two at the table had fair hands, and thanks to seeing what they picked up and giving them false signals for what he picked up, he made them think he was bluffing, They each called and I folded. He won with three kings and a pair of threes,


    For the next game after the first round of drawing, he immediately went all in. He hadn¡¯t cheated yet, he was waiting to see if I would call.


    ¡°Call.¡±


    He switched out a few cards in his hand for a low straight flush.


    At the end of the game, we laid down our hands. I had two pair, he had a pair of sixes.


    ¡°What?!¡± he exclaimed.


    I looked at his cards and said, ¡°You bluffed on a pair of sixes. Too bad.¡±


    I don¡¯t need to touch an object to alter its sprite data, just being close is good enough. I changed his cards the instant he put them down from the straight to the original cards he had in his hand. I also changed the cards from his hands that were now in his sleeves into the hand he had. After looking at them, he would think that he only imagined switching them.


    He looked back at me and said, ¡°I want another game.¡±


    I smiled sweetly. ¡°Of course. Would you like me to bet everything I have?¡±


    The total I now had was fifty thousand gold.


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    He must have been cheating for a while to be able to come up with enough for him and his partner.


    I said, ¡°Alright, but first, there is something I¡¯d like to place a bet on.¡±


    I walked over to a chance game at the gambling hall, one that had a 1 in 22 chance of winning. I said, ¡°I¡¯d like to bet fifty thousand gold on 13.¡±


    Everyone in the hall looked at me with horror. It was like throwing gold bars over the deck of a ship into the ocean while laughing maniacally.


    No one had a more horrified expression than the dealer and his partner.


    I won the game of course, which shocked everyone more so. Then I acted shocked, like I had intended on throwing away their money and now I had won and did not know what to do.


    I just shrugged my shoulders and walked back to the man.


    ¡°So, still wanna play? I¡¯ll bet everything I have. Just a little over a million gold. Can you match this wager?¡±


    Sweat trickled down his forehead. He realized as he looked in my eyes that I was above him. He broke eye contact and left. Afterwards I gave a tip to the gambling hall NPC that ran the chance game I won, a tip to the man at the counter, and a tip to the man who exchanged my chips for one million gold.


    I left the city before buying anything. There was something I wanted to test out.


    Not long after leaving the gambling hall six men started following me. I did not know if they were paid to do so by the gambling hall of if this was an automatically generated event for those who won a great deal of money, but all six were intent on robbing me. I knew this of course because they were NPCs and I could see it was in their data to rob people they knew made a killing in the gambling hall.


    When outside the city limits they confronted me.


    ¡°Hey there little missy. You¡¯re going to be a good girl and hand over all your gold and valuables.¡±


    Instead of answering, I said, ¡°Summon hellhound.¡±


    The men did not think I would fight back so they were stupefied when I cast a summon spell. If they were true professionals they would have attacked me immediately before the spell completed.


    Since leveling up, my hellhounds have gotten much larger. It was inconvenient for smaller dungeons but they were almost the size of a horse and had small flames light the lines of their backs.


    The men who came to rob me consisted of three thieves, two warriors, and a assassin. All lower than level 150.


    I gave the order for my hell hound, ¡°Keep them off me.¡±


    Then I summoned another. This time the men didn¡¯t stand still but my guard dog kept them away long enough to finish the spell. Then I summoned a third.


    ¡°Wound, don¡¯t kill.¡±


    After a not so lengthy battle, two of the thieves were dead, (they had too little health to maim without killing,) and the others had given up.


    I then used Dark Heart on the lot and asked, ¡°Why did you try to rob me?¡±


    The assassin answered, ¡°Heard a tip that a young lady won a million gold from the hall. Couldn¡¯t pass that up.¡±


    I smiled and said, ¡°How about you all work for me?¡±


    The men looked at each other for a moment before the assassin answered, ¡°What do we get out of it?¡±


    I answered, ¡°Power. I¡¯ll give you power.¡±


    To prove this point I cast Infuse strength of the lot of them. I explained that I was an Enchanter looking for powerful enchantments, and that if they worked under me, they would become powerful and rich.


    Permanent enchantments cast on an NPC last until death, which means forever for them as their is no after death.


    After a bit of negotiating we came to an agreement. They would do odd jobs I request of them for a large amount of gold and power.


    Next I turned each of them into a card. It took more than half my mana each time, so I had to meditate between uses, but they agreed to become cards I could summon for a lot of money.


    In case you¡¯re wondering I¡¯ll likely pay them when I give them work. They were not the clever kind of NPC which meant they were controllable. I doubt I even needed to use Dark Heart to convince them to work for me. (I did so mostly for the proficiency.)


    Unlike my summons I would be able to use them when needed instantly. Also I could have them kill users without acquiring a murderer¡¯s mark myself. An assassin, a thief, and a warrior. I¡¯ll train them well. NPCs in this game acquire experience and skill a bit faster than Users, though they still have the set back of only being able to die once.


    I had to do something about that. Other than buy enough items to get the proficiency of Enchant Card proficiency up, I also needed to do the quests that would teach me the Advanced Enchantment spell, Love.


    This is going to be a busy month.


    Chapter 13


    http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=5259</a>

 Chapter 13 The Raid Party

    Chapter 13 The Raid Party


    For those of you who have continued to read to this point, I¡¯m sure you think I have gained far more power than a player should be able to gather. This is far from the truth. A more accurate way to think of it, is that I have amassed a great deal of power earlier than most characters have. The level of power I have gained is something that many players will one day gain. It will take some time, but one day this level of power will only be considered rare, if not uncommon. Afterall, if knowing the game was all that was required to become the strongest in this world, it would not have interested me.


    So the strength I have gained is not beyond all others, just ahead of the curve. But I am not the only one with such might. For overall battle power, my rank in combat is somewhere between 600th and 700th place. That means in one on one combat there are hundreds of players who are capable of defeating me.


    If I had chosen a class where I could make the best use of my extensive combat skills and in depth game knowledge it would have been a simple thing to rise to the top 10, but battle prowess is not my goal, only a means to reach it.


    Also, you may have mistakenly believed that I am very strong because I have yet to fall in battle. The reason I have yet to be killed is because I have not attempted anything beyond my abilities. The highest level monster I have killed was level 265. I am level 246 at the moment. There are dungeons where the weakest monster is over level 400. In such a place, even if I summoned a hundred monsters, conscripted two hundred of the highest level NPCs the spell Dark Heart could manage, and enchanted them all to the best of my abilities, I could not pass through the second floor of such a dungeon. An unlimited army of my strongest summoned creatures would not be able to kill a single level 400 monster on their own, not at their current strength anyways. And although such dungeons require great effort to discover, they are not at all uncommon.


    There is one such dungeon I wish to reach the end of now. The monsters inside are between level 180 at the weakest, and level 350 at the strongest. It is over my abilities to pass through. At first I intended on waiting some time before challenging the dungeon. Recently however I decided to put the full use of this game into effect. While I cannot reach the end on my own, with the help of others I can.


    I gain information about Royal Road directly from the code, but others have a different resource to fall back on to gain information. Websites, search engines, and chat forums. Using these, Users can share information and gain access to data they would normally be unable to gain themselves.


    I created several accounts on these sites some time ago and started sharing detailed information that would lead to vast riches or quests. In doing so my account gained a high reputation for being reliable, and I had many followers that logged on daily to see if I posted a new piece of information.


    Here is the basic piece I posted on about twenty different sites.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Ancient Dungeon Raid


    In the Halcos Wasteland in the southwest area of Ritten Kingdom is a dungeon containing powerful weapons and items.


    The location and contents of this dungeon was discovered through research and historical quests.


    The dungeon is, as of yet, undiscovered. I will be leading a group into this dungeon on the last weekend of this month. After we enter, groups may stay together or work separately. I will make my way to the innermost part of the dungeon along the fastest route, those who wish to follow me must do as I say to stay alive or risk the dungeon on their own.


    Noteable monsters within:


    Basilisks


    Three-headed Hydras


    Black Ogres


    Spellbinder Hags


    There may be others to be wary of as well.


    The dungeon emits a foul energy that draws in evil beasts and monsters.


    There are many traps as well.


    Qualifications to join this raid:


    -Anyone or any group that believes themselves capable may join this raid. If you do not know if you are strong enough, look up the monsters listed above.


    Reward:


    If I make it to the end of the dungeon, all those with me at that time will receive 10,000 gold when the party is disbanded.


    All treasure in the final room of the dungeon is may be divided as the group that makes it to the end wishes.


    To join this raid, Meet me at the south gates of the town of Holesty in Ritten Kingdom on saturday. When the sun rises in the town of Holesty, I will lead whoever has joined to the dungeon as a raid party.


    -S.E.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    The monsters were some of the strongest mid-level creatures in the game. Finding one in any dungeon meant trouble, but in this dungeon they were the easy to encounter. I left out the details for the rarer, more dangerous creatures, but only because I had no ¡®legitimate way¡¯ of knowing what they were.


    I posted the notice three weeks before the date to attend. This meant that anyone who was interested had three in game months to get to Ritten Kingdom.


    Other than set up my preparations and train, I often logged out and visited the forums to see what people thought of my little post.


    -Ancient Dungeon huh? Sounds way too dangerous.


    -Black Ogres? Never heard of those. I know that regular ogres are like level 130 or something.


    -Never heard of them huh? Be glad for that.


    Black Ogres: level 270~300


    Three-headed Hydras: level 295~340


    Basilisks: level 320~350


    Spellbinder Hags: 280~330


    That raid is a deathtrap, a one way ticket to a 24 hour lockout and death penalties.


    -I¡¯m going, I¡¯m level 291. I¡¯ve killed three-headed hydras and basilisks before.


    -The poster is S.E. right? I don¡¯t think it will be a deathtrap.


    After logging back on I made my way west. I had not arrived in Ritten yet, and it would be poor form for the raid party to form without me.


    On the way however I had to make another stop. There was an abandoned rock quarry I had to visit.


    I won¡¯t bore you with the details but I successfully raised my Enchant Card spell to intermediate and now had many carded summons as well as many other items and useful things carded as well.


    What I needed here however was rocks, large rocks. If I turned a boulder into a card then released it inside a dungeon¡¯s tunnel it would seal off the tunnel unless it was broken.


    In case you were wondering, such an application has a limit. If I had a boulder in card form that is a great deal larger than the hallway of the dungeon tunnel I wish to seal, the card will not revert in the hallway. The same goes for monsters too large for indoors. If I somehow manage to card a vast sea monster, larger than a whale, I cannot release it while in a dungeon or area too small for it. Cards can also not be destroyed in places where their contents will not fit.


    I used dark magic spells like Dark Claw and Dark Cannon to break off large chunks of rocks. Now that I had a very high wisdom, all of my spells required far less casting time so Dark Cannon was now a viable spell. The reason I had yet to train it was because although the spell¡¯s damage increased and mana cost decreased with proficiency, its casting time would barely reduce so it was not worth using or training before this point.


    I spent three days at the quarry collecting hundreds of boulder sized rocks. You would be surprised how often a large number of giant rocks can come in handy.


    It took another week by horseback to reach Holesty. It was still another four days until the deadline but I could already see there was a large number of high level users. At the moment the average level for the top 200 players was about 300. The average level for the Users that showed up in town was about 240, of which I was one, with scattered groups in the level 280s and even a couple over level 300.


    I wandered through the town sizing up those who came. It wasn¡¯t my intention to find a hero candidate but if one showed up it was all the better. No one however stood out. I could see stats, levels, titles, play time, and completed quests, but overall they were all the same. The stronger ones either spent more time playing or got lucky.


    At the appointed day, I set up a table and sat outside the south gate of Holesty three hours before the sun was to rise. There was already a few people there, mostly in the low 200s.


    When I set up the table one walked up to me and asked, ¡°You S.E.?¡±


    I nodded and said, ¡°Yes, I go by the Scarlet Enchantress in game, though my name is Curi.¡±


    I held up a hand before he continued and said, ¡°I¡¯m sure you have questions but I¡¯m also sure others will ask the same questions. So I will not answer any questions other than that I am indeed the one who set up this meeting. Not until sunrise.¡±


    ¡°What? Come on. What kind of treasure is in the dungeon?¡±


    I shrugged and ignored the question. Many others came up to me but I only told them who I was and told them to wait for further questions.


    When the first light rose over the town, there was about 80 Users..


    I rose from the table and said, ¡°Alright, before we head off, there are a few things I¡¯m going to point out. For those of you who came just for some fame, you should stay in town. The Dungeon is in the Wastelands after all, and anyone unprepared will die before reaching it.¡±


    The Helcos Wastelands was one of the most uninhabitable places in Versailles. The same force that drew in the beasts of the dungeon also stole the life from the land. The monsters that could be encountered there were fearsome.


    No one left the group, they either were ignorant of the area or were confident in themselves. Likely both.


    I began walking and said, ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go, you can ask questions along the way.¡±


    One person yelled, ¡°How long till we get there?¡±


    ¡°More than a day, less than four days,¡± I answered. I was purposefully vague to prevent others from running ahead and entering the dungeon.


    About three hours into the journey, the group encountered a Wasteland Wurm. It was a giant worm that moved through the earth like a fish swam through water, and it had a mouth that could swallow a car whole. It was level 380, but outnumbered. I lead the group purposefully into the creature to thin out the weaker ones. I¡¯ll explain why later.


    Several barbarians used Earth striking skills that could pass through the ground to damage the wurm. They lead it to a spot where mages were casting spells. A group of three mages cast ice magic at the same time, covering the wurm in too much ice to dive back into the earth. It was swarmed by the other players who slowly hacked it to death.


    Seven Users were killed, but only the ones in the low 200s, the Users that had no business here.


    I lead the group along a straight path, but slightly angled a few routes to avoid some territories while leading the group into others. I had to get them use to fighting powerful monsters together, so even with the lost numbers the group that made it in the end would be stronger.


    At night we made camp on a outcropping of rocks. Monsters are 50% stronger at night, and the wasteland was no place to explore without the light.


    Several of the leaders of various groups came to me at night, mostly with the same questions. I answered them in kind.


    ¡°Yes, I know which territories which monsters roam in through. Yes I have lead this party through some of them to avoid others. Would you rather face a wasteland wurm, or a wasteland drake? Would you rather encounter an ogre, or a giant? There is no safe route to the dungeon, but the fact that we made it this far should indicate that I have in fact chosen the safest route.¡±


    The men basically said, ¡°Alright, but tell us what is to come beforehand then so that we will be prepared.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s fine. I intended to do so once the tourists fell. We¡¯ve actually already made it through most of the hard part. But the dungeon itself is hidden in the nest of a Desert Queen.¡±


    ¡°A Desert Queen¡¯s Nest?! Are you insane?!¡±


    I held up a hand to silence the man and said, ¡°If I felt that this group wasn¡¯t strong enough I would have already turned back. For those of you who don¡¯t know, I¡¯m called the Scarlet Enchantress for a reason. I can increase the power of every warrior and spell caster in this group.¡±


    One of the other captains said, ¡°I heard the one called Scarlet Enchantress could use unique enchantments and black magic. You¡¯re really her?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Alright, I¡¯m in.¡±


    The next day we made it to the edge of the the Queen¡¯s territory.


    A Desert Queen is a giant flying insect the size of an average two story house. Its level is high, but overall it is not overwhelmingly strong. The problem with them was that they breed countless hundreds of drone insects. Flying, ground, and underground creatures that acted in unison with no regard for their lives under the queen¡¯s command. Most of which were poisonous.


    The group captains informed the Users of the dangers ahead. Everyone lined up and I gave the remaining 59 Users multiple enchantments. The priests, bards, and shamans gave their buffs as well. The total power of the group more than doubled.


    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.Not long after entering we met the first wave, several hundred flying drones. They had the bodies of a hornet with the arms of a prey mantis and were larger than an average wolf.


    Several of the women shrieked. Unsurprising due to how horrifying the bugs were to behold.


    The spell casters chanted in unison, they were all told only to cast fire magic so that opposing elements would not cancel each other out. Before the insects were in range, I started casting with my spell armlet. The more complex the use of the spell Psychokinesis, the longer the casting time.


    The swarm started converging into a single, thick column of bugs heading straight for us. This made the magic far more effective as it burned through the hundreds of bugs.


    By the time the bugs came within close combat range, their number had been reduce to a fraction of the original. The large scale psychokinesis spell to move them together to make for an easier target was a success.


    The mages ran for cover behind the melee groups who protected them from the bugs. The creatures had high attack and speed, but their greatest asset was their numbers. For a body light enough to fly, defense was sacrificed and they were easily killed by swords and magic. Without a doubt the mages had each leveled up during the attack.


    The enchantments and buffs were recast before each wave and the priest cured the poisoned men after. I told the lot I had a skill that told me when they were coming so the group was never caught unprepared. Thanks to my mana regenerating enchantments, the shamans and priests were able to recover mana without needing to meditate between waves.


    Overall the only real threat was the swarming flying drones. If a party was caught unprepared, they would be cut to pieces within a few minutes. The underground drones looked like giant centipedes but were easier to deal with than wasteland wurms and they only came in small groups. The land covering drones were waist high beetles that came in numbers even larger than the flying drones, but their danger was coordination with said flying drones, so as long as the flying insects were taken out fast, the group could take its time with the ground beetles.


    Or so I thought. The strategy developed into forming a circle where the melee fighters surrounded and protected the mages, myself included, who cast magic from the safety of within to wipe out large groups of insects outside the circle. The problem was that the durability of the melee fighter¡¯s weapons and shield was wearing down. No one within the group had any skill to repair weapons.


    Honestly this was something I had not seen coming.


    Although I cast magic I do not use a magic staff to enhance my magic attack power. Something I have yet to explain, is that the armlet is basically the spellcaster, and I am the armlet¡¯s staff. Because of this, equipping myself with staff doesn¡¯t increase the spell armlet¡¯s spell damage. That being said, powerful magic staves are hard to come by, and even a normal mage¡¯s staff would only increase their damage output by a few percent. It is more common for mages to go without staffs than use them, so the fact that other classes use weapons which slowly degrade in ability was not something I had factored into this mission.


    At this rate, we would still be able to attack and defeat the queen, but the dungeon in the nest, the main purpose to coming here, would be an absolute deathtrap when their weapons reach their limit. For the party and for me.


    However. There was a chance we would still succeed. It was far from absolute, and diminishing with each battle, but there was a chance.


    At the realization of what I felt, I let out a merry laugh.


    A few of the men beside me looked a bit worried at this. A woman laughing at nothing in a dangerous situation was viewed by many as a sign of insanity, but I ignored it.


    This was the feeling of wanting to take on a challenge I did not know the outcome of. Such is rare for me, I¡¯m not much of a risk taker. My usual method is to create a scenario that leads another person into becoming something greater. I usually try to control every aspect of said scenario without leaving much to chance. The only variable in said scenario is what the hero does after becoming a hero and what happens to the world after the hero comes into it.


    The reason I avoided risk was that is was rarely worth it and I usually found a way around it.


    Other than some over the top cheating, I had no way to get around the risk other than go back. If I was alone that is likely what I would have done, but I was leading group I gathered using my internet profile. Turning back would lessen my accounts reputation and make others think I was unreliable which meant the effort I put into that profile would amount to nothing.


    We continued forward.


    The Desert queen¡¯s nest was dug into a rocky area. It acted as camouflage to the area¡¯s original purpose.


    Though if you ask me, it doesn¡¯t really make sense why a dungeon whose entrance was hidden in an insect nest contain non-insect monsters like hydras, ogres, and spellcasting old ladies. Such creatures could be found in a few areas of the Wastelands but.. Nevermind, I¡¯m going off topic.


    Several mages cast fireballs at a tunnel I pointed out in the rock face. Most missed but a few made it in.


    I¡¯ve mentioned this before, but the accuracy and precision of magic is determined by wisdom. Most mages pour all of their stats into Intellect to increase magic attack power and forget this fact. I would go as far as to say that for the mages on this trip, if I had not been crowding the insects together with psychokinesis, they would not have been able to hit anything. But on the plus side, because they were able to hit due to me, their highly strengthened spells were able to kill greater numbers of insects faster than I would have dared hope.


    The few shots that made it inside attracted the attention of the queen. It burst forth from the rock face and shrieked with a high pitched wail.


    After killing so many bugs and giant monsters, the monstrous form and size of the queen barely raised any eyebrows.


    Along with the queen came swarms of every variety of insect at their highest level.


    Everyone had already been buffed to the max, and prepared from the start. The mages were already chanting, their spells were not aimed for the queen, but for the swarms of flying bugs. They came out of the rocks in several places and came at the group in three directions.


    I could only use psychokinesis to push a single stream into a point for attacking, but with multiple streams that would not help. Instead I cast a psychokinesis spell so large, it took more than half my mana to use. I forced the incoming swarm of bugs down to the ground. It was difficult. Pushing them sideways was simple, but pushing them down was harder as their wings actively repelled the downward force by pushing up. Nonetheless I was able to push them to the ground where they were trampled over by the incoming swarm of ground insects. The hive mentality did not allow for the beetles to consider that the things the pierced with their sharp legs were the allies that should be in the air.


    The other two streams of flying drones were already upon us. They used hit and away tactics to strike someone once per flyby, and with hundreds of insects the attacks on the group per second was already over a dozen.


    I used my remaining mana to cast another psychokinesis spell to push the remaining flying drones to the ground. During the time it took for the spell to cast, twelve Users had been killed. The spell did however go through. Because they were hovering lower to attack, there was less distance to the ground to push, so I was able to cast it on a larger number for the same amount of mana as the previous time.


    The flying insects were crushed again, their remaining number reduced to a few dozen.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Spell Level up: Psychokinesis Intermediate [5]</td></tr><tr><td>Dark Hand now available for use.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Convenient, but pointless at the moment. I was out of mana.


    The queen was done watching from the rock edge and started its charge. Instead of waiting for the queen to plow through, the group charged through the beetles to the queen. This battle formation was arranged beforehand.


    Strengthened by enchantments and buffs, the fighters and mages tore through the insects to meet the giant queen head on. The team then split into two groups.  One group took the attention of the queen and attacked the front. The other went to the side and attacked the back end.


    The mages cast fire spell after fire spell. Torrents of flame rode over the queen, charring its wings to prevent it from fleeing to the sky as it usually would if wounded. Pillars of scorching flames rose up from beneath the enormous insect and burned through the soft underbelly. The smell of the burning carapace was unsettling to most, but they had already grown used to it from the many burnt insects they fought their way through earlier in the day.


    The queen eventually turned around to take out the mages and ignore the melee fighters in front, but this was the opportunity they had been waiting for. Switching from defense to offense,  they charged the queen. Several had a leaping skill of some sort that allowed them to jump on the queen¡¯s back and attack the back of the head directly. Several good shots were put in before the queen went berserk and bucked them off.


    The battle looked exciting, but that was only because a few key players were attacking, while the rest were holding back the beetle and centipede insects. If everyone tried to attack, we would be overrun by the other insects within a minute. If the men were greedy they would try to attack the queen to kill it to get experience, but several men died trying this very thing against monsters on the way to this territory, and they knew this action would lead to their death.


    The battle was slow overall, as the group prioritized defense over offense, but the horde of insects in the nest was not infinite, though it seemed to be at some times.


    When the time came, I yelled aloud, ¡°Everyone! Away from the Queen!¡±


    They were use to my orders at this point and knew to follow them. They likely thought the queen was going to do something dangerous.


    I opened the deck box on my belt and took out a card. I said, ¡°Release,¡± and threw it into the air above the queen. When the card reached the apex of the throw, it turned into a giant van sized boulder and crushed the weakened queen beneath its weight.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have leveled up!</td></tr><tr><td>You have leveled up!</td></tr><tr><td>You have leveled up!</td></tr><tr><td>You have leveled up!</td></tr><tr><td>...</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Something I have not explained yet it that in a raid party, the person who deals the final blow to a monster, get half the experience for the kill. And for someone below level 250 to kill something almost twice her level, even half the experience was enough to gain eight levels.


    Many of the captains complained, loudly. But I mulled them over by letting them take the queen¡¯s drop loot. I used chance control to make sure the drop loot was worth more to them than the levels they could have had, so the captains were satisfied. I reminded the rest that there was still an unexplored dungeon around the corner.


    The remaining insects picked a direction and scattered. Several still ended up fighting, but were quickly killed. The queen would not respawn for another month, so if we survived the dungeon it would be safe to leave.


    Several people started asking more specific questions about how I knew where this place was. I simply told them I found out about it in a journal. The journal itself does exist, but it is the reward for a high rank quest I did not feel like doing.


    We broke through a part of the nest that concealed the hidden passageway. The true structure of the area that was hidden beneath the nest was revealed. The whole thing looked like an ancient temple. There were many ¡®oohhs¡¯ and ¡®aahhs.¡¯


    The group only rested to recover what was necessary. There was some talk of resting the night, but with such a tempting prize before them, they could not wait.


    I lead the group of now 31 Users into the temple¡¯s entrance. Only I knew what true horrors that awaited them inside.


    Chapter 14


    http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=5898</a>

 Chapter 14 The Continents Seal

    Chapter 14


    The Continent''s Seal


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Dungeon: You have discovered Temple of the Dark Seal


    +350 Fame


    The first monster killed will drop the best loot.


    2x Experience and Drop rate for one week.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I gathered everyone around me and said, ¡°Alright, everyone is free to go whichever way they wish. I will be taking the fastest route towards the end. Anyone that wishes to accompany me must do as I say or face the risks.¡±


    One of the rather more arrogant captains spoke up and asked, ¡°What risks? What if we just follow you through but don¡¯t do what you say?¡±


    I smiled, took out a card from the deck in my belt, said release, and threw it a bit down the hall. It turned into a medium sized rock and hit the ground. After which the rock was pelted with poisonous darts that shot out of the walls of the hall.


    I turned back to the captain and answered, ¡°If you don¡¯t do as I say, you¡¯ll likely die from the traps of this dungeon. It is still up to you though if you want to do as I say.¡±


    I turned to face the rest and said, ¡°A little reminder. I stated that the group that accompanies me to the end will receive ten thousand gold upon our return to town. First let me clarify that at the town of Holesty, I have an account with the bank containing enough to pay each and every one of you the total of ten thousand.¡±


    This got a few gasps and ahhs from the group. Even at the high levels, ten thousand gold was an amount that would take many months of hard work to acquire.


    I continued, ¡°However, to make it this far and die before getting to the end would be anticlimactic, so I¡¯m adding another point. Anyone who stays with me and dies along the way will be able to receive their share of ten thousand gold upon their revival at Holesty should this mission succeed.¡±


    ¡°Woah! Really?!¡±


    I nodded, ¡°Yes. At this point, a few death are inevitable. There is a possibility that a person¡¯s death may even contribute to the success of the mission. I have memorized everyone¡¯s names. Should the mission succeed, I will direct the bank to give 10,000 gold from my account to each individual who dies here. I swear this on my reputation as the Scarlet Enchantress.¡±


    ¡°Oh ho, sweet!¡±


    ¡°Of course, this is only for those who accompany me. Regardless of success, no money will be awarded to those who split from the group I¡¯m leading. I¡¯m sure a few of you intended to split at this point and take all the treasure for yourselves. At this point, would those who intend to do so please leave.¡±


    A few murmurs of conversations sounded through the group. It continued for a few minutes, ending in a group of eight users splitting off and going ahead. Their average level was about 290, a loss, but not too bad. Less than I had been expecting. Including myself, the group now had 24 members.


    The reason that most stayed was because four of the twentyfour members were priests. The priests stayed because they liked my Mana channeler enchantment, and most everyone else stayed because they liked staying with priests.


    I lead the group down three hallways until we reached a room with two Basilisks.


    The creatures looked like giant lizards with a long neck leading to a head with three eyes. The third eye was horizontal between the other two and was usually closed. Basilisks breath fire at their enemies, and if you look into its third eye when the creature opens it, you will be inflicted with a status effect such as Weaken, Stone, or even instant Death.


    I threw ten cards into the room after saying, ¡°Release.¡± They turned into hell hounds and I ordered them to attack the basilisks.


    Many of the group were surprised but I called out, ¡°My hounds will distract them, don¡¯t look at their faces!¡±


    At this the team charged the beasts.


    I¡¯ve stated this before, but my summoned creatures don¡¯t stand a chance against mobs with a significantly high level. It would take a hundred of my fiends to take down one basilisk, three hundred to take down both at the same time. If you didn¡¯t already know, summoned creatures have less health than normal creatures of the same level. They are far more easily killed and most higher leveled creatures can end them in a single strike. In this case however they didn¡¯t need to survive. They acted as disposable units to die in the place of the group.


    The hounds however did not go down easily. Despite the fact they were the size of a small horse, they were as nimble as rats. The fact that they are fireproof helped as well. The basilisk¡¯s fire breath did nothing.


    However, the hellhounds could not be commanded to not look into the basilisk¡¯s third eye. Each time one did, they died on the spot and I had to summon a new one from a card.


    Thanks to the distraction of the hounds, the melee fighters were able to get up close to and attack the basilisks. The mages of the group attacked from a safe distance. I was apart of one of the mage groups. I cast as many curses as I could upon the basilisks. Curses have a low chance of affecting powerful creatures, but at least once every four casts, I was able to inflict at least one curse on one of them. Over time this would be enough to take them out.


    Although the mages were safe from the basilisk¡¯s teeth, claws, and fire breathe, they were not safe from the basilisk¡¯s third eye. After one mage cast a lightning bolt at a basilisk, it turned its long neck and looked right at him, its third eye wide open. The mage screamed as he was turned to stone.


    I ran up to the poor fool and took out a Remedy from my inventory and poured it over the statue. A moment later the mage was back to normal, though quite shaken.


    The mages were in three groups spread out around the room. When a basilisk turned to look at them, they would all shut their eyes or look down. If not for the other men keeping the basilisks at bay, they could easily charge the mages and kill them all.


    Suddenly an nine foot tall black ogre could be seen walking down a hall. Someone yelled out and I ran up and threw four cards into the hall. The cards turned to stones, blocking the passage. For a few moments.


    The ogre knew we were on the other side and started bashing the rocks. It would break through soon.


    I decided to speed the fight up by attacking as well instead of just cursing. I moved to a side of the room where no one would get in the way and cast Dark Cannon. A torrent of purple and black energy formed around my hand a shaped itself into a pulsing black orb. A moment later a beam of dark energy shot out from the orb at on of the basilisks. The beam was over two feet in diameter and cursed anyone, friend or foe that it hit or even grazed. Though it still took ten times longer than my cursing spell.


    I set myself to attack again. I had already closed my eyes as I knew both basilisks were now looking straight at me.


    The closer one tried to blow past the men and my hounds, but one of the hell hounds was able to latch its jaw on the creature¡¯s neck, forcing it to try to slash the hound with its claws. Two of the swordsmen used this opportunity to simultaneously use a powerful sword skill. Both slashed through the neck at the same time, from opposite points, beheading the creature through its dense scales like a hefty pair of scissors through cardboard.


    The melee fighters that were split into two groups now all assaulted the remaining basilisk. Two of them however let their guard down and look at the third eye while charging towards it. Both died instantly.


    I shot another Dark Cannon at the other basilisk, aiming carefully so as not to strike anyone else.


    It didn¡¯t look at me so as to avoid the fate of its brother.


    Due to the height of a basilisk¡¯s neck, the safest spot to avoid their eyes is up close, beneath their gaze. This however puts you in range of its poisonous bite and razor sharp claws. However the group that was fighting was the same men that fought their way with me through the Wasteland and were buffed with priest buffs and my enchantments. They didn¡¯t go down with one or two hits even from a basilisk and the priests at the sidelines were keeping them alive with healing spells.


    The second basilisk was killed and I ran over to recast my temporary enchantments. The sound of the black ogre crushing the rocks in its way reverberated through the room.


    I enchanted the six most capable fighters before the ogre burst through the hallway. My hounds attacked, but with a single swipe of the ogre¡¯s cudgel, the hounds all died in an instant.


    I took out another deck and threw six Flame Skull cards. They flew around to annoy and get the attention of the ogre. I yelled, ¡°Stay at his back and sides, watch out for its seismic slam!¡±


    The group continued as before, with my summons getting the monster¡¯s attention and the group damaging the monster. However I had to summon a new skull every two seconds. The ogre¡¯s cudgel was fast and could accurately swat my monsters from the air. I had to replace them as fast as they were being killed to keep the group safe.


    Eventually the ogre realized the annoying skulls were not as annoying as the annoying Users that were attacking him. It raised its cudgel into the air and I yelled, ¡°Moved Back!¡±


    Only four did. The cudgel smashed into the ground. The shockwave it caused lifted everyone around the ogre off their feet making them land on their butts. In other words until they got back to their feet their were immobile.


    Before the ogre could smash one of the melee fighters into goo, I threw a card at it and cast dark bolt to destroy the card in flight. It became a boulder that moved through the air as fast as the card I had thrown, and right at the ogre. The monster turned to face this new threat and smashed the boulder with its cudgel like a baseball bat through a dirt clod.


    Spared from the attack that went to the boulder instead of them, the other fighters got to their feet and started attacking again.


    The flame skulls were very effective at disorientating the ogre. They used fire magic to blind and distract the ogre so it could not get a clear shot at the melee fighters. The ogre swung wildly, but the men themselves were also a distraction. The true damage dealers for this fight was the mages. Basilisks have higher magic defense than average, while ogres have higher physical defense. Such strategies were discussed in length among the group captains before coming to the dungeon.


    The ogre eventually fell to the magic attacks.


    The three captains that lead the remaining groups came up to me and asked me what was going on. Why I was using spells and skills I had not used until now.


    I explained that I intended to do all could to keep everyone alive for as long as I could. Using them before now would have been a waste.


    We continued forwards through a few more rooms, killing the enemies along the way. When we reached a room with a long hallway I stopped everyone and moved in first. I threw a card which turned into a small rock. When it hit the ground, the floor opened up revealing a thirty foot deep spike pit. along the whole length of the hallway.


    I took out a deck, held the whole thing and said, ¡°Release,¡± before throwing the entire deck into the pit.


    With a large rumbling sound, rocks appeared and filled the pit to about a foot from the top. I walked onto a rock and continued forward.


    I told you before, but a large amount of rocks has many uses.


    The groups slowly followed behind me over the rocks.


    I do not have the skill to disable traps, but thanks to the many items I brought with me in card form, I was able to guide the group through the traps.


    We did in fact have two thieves and a ranger who were capable of disarming traps, but I told them it was unnecessary. Though it truth it was because I felt their skill was too low for this dungeon.


    Through the skilled use of using my endless armies of carded summons and items I had on me, we were able to pass through most of the monsters and obstacles.


    When we faced three headed hydras, I called out five fiends at all times to deal as much physical damage as they could while the melee group defended the mage group that dealt the bulk of the damage through spells.


    Against the spellbinder hags, I summoned eight imps to cast magic spells and curse the hags and draw their own magic attacks while the melee fighters fought up close.


    When multiple types of different monsters showed up, things became very difficult. There was one incident where three Spellbinder hags, a Black Ogre and a Basilisk all came together to fight us. Our group was at eighteen before that room. Afterwards it was at ten. Eight melee classes, one mage, and myself. No priests.


    I searched the data of the dungeon and found that the other group that split off previously had long since been wiped out. Though I do not know if it is from monster or trap.


    Finally the one of the more severe problems hit the group. The durability of our fighter¡¯s weapons had almost reached their limit. If I had known something like this was going to happen, I would not had sold back all the weapons I bought, carded, and released.


    We were about two thirds the way through the dungeon. At least one person had a sword that was going to break in the next battle, and the rest were little better off.


    I turned to face the group and said, ¡°If we continue along the shortest route, we won¡¯t make it to the end. We¡¯ll have to take a detour around as many monsters as we can.¡±


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.No one argued.


    Monsters can set off trapson some dungeons just as easily as Users. Most that live in such a dungeon have long since learned to avoid the traps. Therefore I choose a detour that went through many traps along the route.


    I have yet to say anything yet about this dungeon, so I¡¯ll do so now. It was built on a natural energy line that leads through the lands to every corner of the continent. The purposes of the temple and traps was to keep people out. The dungeon itself is built like a maze. If anyone of this group saw a map of it, they would fall into dispair. I feel somewhat sorry for the group that left, but I had no way to warn them as the journal did not have a map in it.


    I prepared for weeks to make my near-infinite decks of carded summons for this dungeon, but the amount of rocks I had was more limited. Three days was a lot of time, but the quarry I chose had been mined out of most of the usuable stone ages before.


    In addition to using stones to tactfully move over or arond traps, I also had to use them to seal hallways I knew monsters would come through to prevent an ambush.


    It took a day and a half, but through sheer luck, (Not the hacking kind, just normal luck) we made it to the end without incident.


    Before entering the final chamber where the dungeon boss was, I asked everyone if they wanted me to cast the enchantment, Love on them all.


    The risks were high and the penalties heavy, but it was likely the only way the group would survive.


    They all agreed, so I cast Love on them in addition to the other enchantments.


    We entered the room and saw before our eyes a wealth of powerful looking equipment and gold. Swords with gems in the grips. Shields with a vibrant luster made of some unknown metal. Bows made with high elf hair. It was likely the largest treasure trove any of them had ever seen.


    In the back of the room was a stone was with intricately carved images and symbols. This was the seal of the dungeon.


    After entering, the door behind us closed. A black vapor seeped from the stone seal in the back of the room. It gathered on the floor and grew darker and darker. It became a solid form that rose from the ground to become a hideous monsters.


    Above the creature¡¯s head glowed the name, ¡®Corrupted Guardian.¡¯


    The original guardian of this place was tainted by the dark energy that the leaked from the seal. Because it was formed partially from black magic, my attack spells and curses were useless on it. I could also see that its level was 440.


    I took out two decks and called out, ¡°Release,¡± on both of them. One deck contained sixty Flame Skulls. The other contained sixty level 240 bandits I¡¯d conscripted and enchanted.


    The point of the giant swarm of monsters and foes was to take the Guardian¡¯s attention from the only people who could deal significant damage, the remaining party.


    I couldn¡¯t risk meditating with a dungeon boss out here so my mana dropped at a rate of 300 points per second due to all the Flame Skulls. At this rate I would be out in under a minute and a half, but I knew it would take longer than that. A minute and a half is how long it would take if none of the skulls died.


    The black guardian rose its formless arm into the air. Tentacles shot from the end and sought out and destroyed a number of skulls. The attack skill was called Raging Thorns, and could take out a whole party if they were the targets.


    The skill however had a cool down period and left the guardian vulnerable for a moment. The raid party did not let the moment pass. They used their strongest skills to strike the guardian.


    I did not specify this before, but Priest buffs increase defense and magic defense, making the character harder to kill. Having no priests in our party did not diminish our damage output.


    That and I used my strongest damage increasing Enchantments over the health and vitality regenerating enchantments.


    The conscripted bandits would have to be paid 2000 gold each should they survive. Their damage output was minimal compared to the raid group, but they held the potential for critical hits, and with so many, a few could successfully deal critical damage a few times.


    Still, it was the raid party that was dealing the most damage.


    And although the bandits died easily, they did not stay down long. I mentioned this before, but I cast several enchantments on the bandits before carding them. It increased the cost of carding, but it was worth it. One of the enchantments I cast on each of them, was Love.


    The creator of the firelight enchantments created a series of unique enchantments that drew power from a source other than components and were each unique onto themselves. I won¡¯t bore you with the details, but the class quests required for me to gain this spell took about a month. The Enchantment Love was unique in that is was a permanent enchantment that did not expire on death, but rather activated upon death. The effect was to revive the person it was cast on upon death and maintain other enchantments to last after death. The enchantment drew its power from two sources. It drew power from other enchantments cast on the person, and on death itself.


    The Enchantment Love, was an auto-revive spell that only worked if a person was under the effect of at least one other enchantment when they die. Usually if a User dies, they lose a level and a portion of their skill proficiencies. If they die and are brought back to life by Love, they lose two levels and more skill proficiency than usual. However, when they come back, the power of the other enchantments cast on them doubled. Permanent Enchantments are permanently doubled. Though the same enchantment can¡¯t be doubled more than one.


    The spell works the same way on NPCs, but since they normally don¡¯t come back if they die, they have nothing to lose. However a User does. If they are killed after reviving, they don¡¯t come back. Love cannot be cast on the same person until  24 hours have passed since it was activated. So if a User enters a fierce battle with Love cast on them, they may lose up to 3 levels, and more than double the proficiency loss of a normal death had Love not been cast on them.


    When Love was activated, it was obvious. While dormant the spell took the shape of a small glowing red mark that formed an intricately shaped heart. When the person died, the heart mark spread over the body. So people on their second life had intricate glowing red lines on their bodies.


    Since my enchantments are already strong, the effect of doubling them more than made up for the loss of strength from dying.


    However, because I have not mastered Love yet, the person that revives does not come back with full health. I practiced the spell as much as I could, but for now, people only revive with 39% of their maximum health.


    The guardian used horrible, deadly skills. I watched out for the area wide skills and warned the others when one was about to come the best I could. Two minutes after the battle started, and my mana had not reached bottom yet. There was only about twenty or thirty Flame Skulls left. There was about thirtyfive bandits left, a little under half of which were glowing. Six of the ten Users within the room were glowing.


    When the bandit number hit twenty, I threw out another deck of sixty bandits.


    I don¡¯t have an infinite number of those if you were wondering. That was my last one. In total it took two and a half weeks to capture, corrupt, enchant, and card so many bandits. I think next time I do something like this I¡¯ll just find a place where I can capture at least ten monsters an hour and get a thousand or so.


    About ten minutes into the battle, three of the melee fighters weapons broke. The guardian still had a majority of its health. At this rate the party was dead for sure. I decided to go for broke and lend my Grass sword to a swordsmen with the instructions to return it when he was done. He put it to good use by lengthening the blade and slicing off some of the tentacles on the creature¡¯s hand from a distance.


    Other than summon more monster cards there was nothing I could do. My only damaging moves are ineffective against the boss. I had to support the group for as long as I could.


    In case you were wondering, I do in fact have many potions on me. I rushed to feed them to whichever User had the lowest health while continuing to throw Flame Skull cards. It was thanks to this that the group was not long since dead.


    The lone mage in the group eventually ran out of mana from contiually casting magic. I surprised him with an elixir, a potion that restores mana to full and costs six thousand gold to buy. The potion also increases magic attack for a short period.


    I played the role of distraction, healer, and leader while directing large groups of bandits and flame skulls into irregular attack patterns to grab the boss¡¯s attention.


    After about thirty minutes, all but six of the fastest bandits were dead, and the only Users still attacking the boss was the swordsmen I lent the grass sword to and the mage I continuosly pumped with mana potions. I still had a swarm of flame skulls out, but it looked like the battle was nearing its conclusion. The guardian was covered in cuts and wounds, and a few of the tentacles that had been cut off were no longer growing back. It was reaching its limit.


    I called out to the swordsman, ¡°I¡¯ll get its attention!¡±


    I threw five mid-sized boulder cards. The guardian used Raging thorns to instantly pulverize the rock. The swordsmen used the opening to elongate the sword from a distance and deal and rotating slash faster than the wind. The tip of the long blade moved faster than the eye could see, and moved swiftly from one side of the room, through the other. The guardian that stood in the middle, had been bisected.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have gained a level!</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Just from being in the raid party with him I gained enough experience to reach my next level. There were five of use remaining at the end. Other than the remaining mage that survived the whole ordeal, the other two melee fighters had withdrawn to a safe corner due to their broken weapons.


    If the swordsman had gotten unlucky or missed a step, he would have been killed. If he died, the monsters I could summoned would be of no help to the rest of us, and we all would have been killed.


    The swordsman walked up to me to return the Grass sword, but I said, ¡°Keep it. You earned it.¡± It wasn¡¯t like I was going to do anything with it anyways. And although it was unintentional, I had put him through a hero test and he came out on top, protecting all of our lives. He would make a good owner of that sword.


    I walked up to the wall where the guardian came from. I fired dark cannon at it, cracking and breaking through the wall.


    The ground shook beneath our feet. It was a tremor that would be felt at some small scale everywhere in Versailles at that moment, but here at its epicenter it was an earthshaking quake. A moment later it died down.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>The Continent¡¯s Dark Seal has been broken. The negative energy long since bottled up beneath the surface has been unleased.


    Black Magic spells are 20% stronger for all of Versailles.


    The undead whose spirits were once forced into slumber have awakened due to the broken seal.


    Undead Dungeons Unlocked throughtout Versailles.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    This was a message that was received by every User on the continent at the same time.


    No one knew it yet, but undead dungeons were some of the best in the game. The undead have infinite stamina and vitality. Defeating them gave more experience than usual monsters of the same level and more skill and spell proficiency as well. The breaking of the seal also awoke several of the most powerful undead bosses  that were strong enough to cover Versailles in death and decay.


    One of the best ways to make a hero, is to provide a villain. In addition to training my skills and finding secret enchantments, I intend to awaken the most powerful of foes within the game. I do this not to cause suffering, but in the hope that a hero will arise to defeat them.


    I looked back at the remaining Users and said, ¡°Mission complete.¡±


    ¡°Yeah!¡± one of them cried out. The others were too tired to celebrate.


    I walked over to the pile of treasure and picked a few choice items from the pile. I told everyone else they could take all they could carry.


    I was almost surprised to find that each of the remaining Users had brought an Item bag to store treasure it.


    Of course they weren¡¯t rich yet. They still had to make it out of this place alive.


    Chapter 15


    http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=6266</a>

 Chapter 15 The Perfect Companion

    Chapter 15


    The Perfect Companion.


    It has been about a year give since I started playing this game. A year in the real world. That is about four years in the world of the game.


    At this point, I have come to the conclusion that I am lonely. I want someone or something to stay at my side during my travels through this world and keep me company. At first I intended for my travel companion to be the spirit in my spell armlet, but even though it was an advanced AI, since being transferred into my armlet it seems to have been downgraded to a normal AI.


    Within Royal Road, not all artificial intelligences are the same. A common monster has a simpler AI than a boss monster. A level 200 monster had a more sophisticated AI than a level 150 monster. The A.I. a non player character was allocated was usually determined by how many interactions are needed of the character.


    Transferring the Dark Spirit into my armlet reduced the possible interactions required to almost none. Other than myself, the spirit didn¡¯t have to talk to anyone. And it was saying less and less all the time.


    I wanted another companion, preferably with the highest level of AI. But in acquiring one, there was a possibility that the AI would be reduced again. Such was at the discretion of the game¡¯s programmers, I had no way to predict it.


    Perhaps a unique creature with a high Intellect stat. Though the Intellect stat did not always affect the quality of the allocated AI, if it was a unique creature, it was far more likely. As long as I kept the creature active, it would fight on its own, interacting with others thus making the best use of its AI, so there would be no reason to downgrade it.


    Which creature to choose was the problem.


    Did I want a dragon? No, too much hassle. I would have to raise it from an egg, and there are few if any safe ways to acquire a dragon egg. Besides, raising a dragon meant I would be drawn into quests where I would eventually have to fight dragons, and I did not want that.


    How about a pegasus? No. Pegasi are light attribute monsters and would kill me on sight due to the stench of darkness I emit.


    Phoenix? No, that would be a waste since I don¡¯t use fire magic and phoenixs


    can use fire to instantly come back to life.


    A fairy perhaps? No, fairies dislike talking to others and are more interested in playing pranks.


    Thinking about it was frustrating. With a few exceptions, most useful creatures that could be tamed had the same potential so it was not like there was one that was clearly a superior choice. It all depended on what I needed in a permanent companion.


    That of course was another problem. In trying to become strong enough to accomplish the impossible I don¡¯t have many weakness left for someone else to cover. My class¡¯s weaknesses were overcome with the Dark Spell armlet. Even the weaknesses of a caster was mostly overcome though skill training and the card spell.


    Of course even my strengths have weaknesses. For example, priests, paladins, shamans, and a few other classes can easily learn a spell called Banish that automatically destroys summoned creatures. No class build is flawless after all.


    Maybe I could take an apprentice hero as a partner. Heroes don¡¯t have to be Users in this game. If an NPC had a sophisticated enough AI, I could train and develop him or her into a hero. But no. Heroes I make are not meant to stay by my side, and I wanted someone to stay by my side for the rest of my duration in this game.


    The strength of the partner would not be an issue. To compensate for the fact that they can only die once, npc characters and creatures gain strength and skill faster than Users. So I could train any chosen partner to a level of strength where they would not die easily without much hassle.


    I could just log out and enter the game¡¯s database and look through each creature. If I truly desire the best possible companion, perhaps this is the best call. In fact, it may be overdue. The bestiary is often updated with new monsters, dungeons and bosses from the game¡¯s creators. Maybe something new would have been made.


    I decided to do just that.


    Overall, it took seventy-two hours to look over every creature in the game. I did this not just to look for a companion, but to review updated information and changes made to others.


    However, I could not find any existing creature or NPC that I desired as a companion. There were many that would make excellent companions but none of them drew my interest. I have mentioned this before, but I am a fickle being. However, the search had bore fruit. I found a combination of special conditions that would create the perfect companion for me. They had been added recently, and if they occurred, they would produce a new being that does not yet walk on the surface of Versailles. A few NPCs were adjusted along with the update to include a backstory to make it seem like it was always possible for this to occur.


    As there is not one currently in existence, I chose to make one myself. After deciding what I wanted to have, I had to decide who to change.


    The first thing I did was acquired a certain spell scroll. Spell scrolls are consumable items that allow anyone to cast the magic within. The spell was a powerful curse I was unable to cast myself. The creature I intended to create was a variant of an existing creature that would come into being if during the conditions for its creation it was under the effect of this curse.


    I know I am being cryptic, but if I simply told you what I intended to create, you would lose interest in reading.


    By the way, the spell scroll was not common or easy to acquire. Another group had acquired it some time ago in a dungeon and it was sold to a magic shop a fair distance away. I didn¡¯t go there myself, as that was not the fastest way to acquire it. I mailed a bank note (A check basically) with an amount on it that could be taken from my account in bank in the same city and the Shop Owner¡¯s name to the shop and requested it to be mailed back to me.


    Yes, Versailles has mail. Though it is not as safe as real world mail due to thieves and bandits on the road. Time wise I could have gotten a horse and rode to the city and that would have been faster, but instead I mailed off the check, logged out, traveled through time a bit, logged back in, and acquired the scroll in the mail. That is what I meant by fastest way to acquire it. Relatively speaking.


    After acquiring a curse scroll I traveled to Barsamagle, a large town at the edge of the Warrior¡¯s Teeth, the mountain range in the northwest of the Brittan Alliance.


    Here I would find my target. Strictly speaking my current plan basically involves turning an NPC into a monster and having it travel with me. This completely disregards the NPC¡¯s will in the matter as the plan will manipulate the target into giving it its loyalty to me after becoming a monster. From the perspective of a moral person, I am a despicable existence. But morals hold little meaning to me. They change with each person in each world so I have no reason to be affected by them.


    All that being said, my target¡¯s life after this will be a vast improvement compared to the life before.


    I walked up to the porch of my target¡¯s residence and knocked on the door.


    A woman in her late forties appeared and asked, ¡°Yes? Can I help you?¡±


    I answered, ¡°Yes. I am a graduate student of the Colsworth Magic college. I believe I can help your daughter.¡±


    At first she looked suspicious. I was a stranger after all, and her personal backstory was filled with false hope.


    I was however, wearing the uniform robe of the college bearing the college¡¯s symbol. All of which was custom made through a tailor.


    She said, ¡°Please, come in.¡±


    The woman herself was once a mage and student of said college.


    In case you are wondering, Versailles has several institutions where one can master certain skills. There are seven accredited magic colleges, three non-accredited which taught some very interesting things as well. There are two cooking schools whose masters give the quests for those who wish to learn the final secret cooking skills. There are seventy-two institutions that train physical skills, not including the most basic training halls. And hundreds of others ranging from Dance and Bard colleges to Archery schools, Monk temples, and secret assassin schools.


    The woman said, ¡°Please sit,¡± after pulling out a chair for me at a table. She sat across from me and asked, ¡°What do you know about my daughter¡¯s condition?¡±


    I answered, ¡°She was born with her mana channels blocked at several points throughout her body and thus is unable to perform magic. However it goes beyond this. The life energy that should also be flowing through these channels is blocked as well, leaving your daughter in a state of constant weakness and fatigue. Several specialists from Colsworth and others institutions have looked at your daughter and agree nothing can be done as they do not understand the cause. However they do agree that she will not last much longer.¡±


    The woman nodded at these points and progressively become more depressed with each comment. She said, ¡°You are right. The only thing I can do is provide energy potions to supplement her, but it only delays the end. Please. Please tell me you have good news.¡±


    I took her hands and held them as I smiled and said, ¡°The best.¡± I continued, ¡°I was studying a journal I discovered some time ago in a library describing unique conditions discovered in the past in Heaven Kingdom. One of which was a condition that was the same as your daughter¡¯s.¡±


    The mother¡¯s eyes widened. As far as she was told, no other case like her daughter¡¯s was ever seen.


    I continued, ¡°I believe I can save  your daughter¡¯s life.¡±


    ¡°How? Please, how?¡±


    I shook my head, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but that would be between me and your daughter. There are risks of course but I know it will work. It will be up to her as to whether or not to accept it.¡±


    ¡°I understand.¡± She showed me to her daughter¡¯s room.


    On the bed was a woman of nineteen years. She had pale skin, chestnut hair, and a doll¡¯s face. She was a beauty, even considering that she looked feeble.


    Before I continue this story I shall point out a few things. There were several actions, events, or pieces of information that could lead a person to this house if they played normally. It was possible to receive a B rank quest here to cure the daughter. The actual cure was medicine made from the fruit of a sacred tree. Finding the this information, locating the tree, defeating the guardian of the tree, obtaining the fruit, finding a pharmacist skilled enough to make it into a medicine, would all take about three months. The reward was either a full scholarship to the Colsworth college, (learning magic there is expensive so this is a valuable reward,) or the possibility of having the daughter become your companion. Being thankful for your deeds and wanting to explore the outside world, she would ask to travel with you. This is a good deal, as although she starts out weak, she quickly becomes a powerful mage.


    The condition she possesses is actually a side effect of a power she was born with to cast magic without a casting time. If the side effect is nullified, she can use the power to its fullest extent.


    I do not have the medicine to cure her, nor do I intend to use it. It just so happens, that making her into the creature I chose as a companion, would cancel out her disease. This loophole was one of the main reasons I chose her as the companion. The other reason I chose her, was that is was actually unlikely someone would discover her quest and cure her before she was to die.


    The woman was looking out a window into the world she had never stepped foot in with a calm expression. When we entered she turned and looked at her mother then to me. Her eyes opened in surprise and she looked down afterwards. She meekly looked back up to me and said, ¡°Hello. My name is Talia.¡±


    I nodded and said, ¡°Hello, my name is Curi.¡± I motioned to the mother to indicate this would have to be a private conversation. She hesitated a bit but relented before leaving.


    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.I sat at the foot of Talia¡¯s bed and said, ¡°Would you like to leave this room and see the world?¡±


    Her eyes widened in surprise, she looked at me before turning her head down again.


    I remained silent. After a moment, she realized I was waiting for her to answer.


    ¡°I... Cannot leave.. I am too weak.¡±


    ¡°What if you could? What if I had a way to permanently undo the blocks on your mana channels so that you could perform magic and gain a strong body?¡±


    ¡°Such a way... Does not exist..¡± She looked even more downcast than before. She was not a stupid girl. Her mother had a vast library, most of which was acquired for her daughter, and the girl knew what she was talking about.


    I said, ¡°Perhaps. Maybe there is no cure for your disease. But I¡¯m not talking about a cure. Fight fire with fire. There is a disease that if you were to catch, you would be cured. That being said, if the disease were cured, you would return to this. So if you were to agree, I would need to make sure the disease would not be curable.¡±


    Her look changed. She of course knew of many diseases, her mother¡¯s library had medical texts and even a few journals of medicine. She went through many of them in her head, seeing if such a thing were possible.


    ¡°Which disease do you speak of?¡±


    ¡°Lycanthropy.¡±


    Her eyes shot up in shock and she let out a small gasp. She went over the details in her head.


    Lycanthropy, the disease that can turn mortals into werewolves is well documented. When first infected, the body will become a werewolf in about one month if not treated. The negative effects of this are that in the presence of the light of the full moon, one will automatically turn into a werewolf beast form regardless of will. While a werewolf, all physical attributes are heightened to the level of a powerful warrior. A werewolf cannot cast magic and cannot equip weapons unless they are specifically made for a werewolf. Inexperienced werewolves become mindless beasts that attack friend and foe alike unless they have a high wisdom stat. If you are known to be a werewolf most people will treat you with hostility. A werewolf can change between beast form and mortal form at will, unless under a full moon. After becoming a werewolf, one develops a weakness to silver. Silver has antibacterial properties and kills the disease at its source. Werewolves have a natural instinct to travel in packs and will seek each other out. As it is stronger and usually more powerful, most werewolves choose to stay in their beast form and live away from society. And of course, when one becomes a werewolf, they become more violent and often crave meat. They are not picky about where said meat comes from.


    There are however many benefits if you can look past the becoming a savage, hated, beast part. After developing into a werewolf, the constitution of the mortal changes and strengthens. The person becomes completely immune to all other disease and gains a high resistance to poison and weather effects. This constitution change would not only cure her condition, it would also strengthen her body.


    I continued and said, ¡°If you choose this path, you will not only be able to cast magic, you will gain the strength needed to immediately leave this bed and journey across the world.


    She was of course scared at the idea. If left at this, she would likely refuse.


    I continued, ¡°I know it is hard but this will absolutely work.¡± I gave her one more push, ¡°And if you agree, can journey the world with me.¡±


    She looked back into my eyes and asked sheepishly, ¡°With you?¡±


    I gave her a gentle smile and nodded, ¡°Yes. I am actually an adventurer. I travel all over the place and fight many monsters. If you become strong, you can fight with me.¡±


    She of course already possessed a disposition to want to travel together with whoever saved her. She had a wild adventurer side and the thought of getting strong and fighting monsters appealed to her.


    ¡°But... What if I hurt you?¡±


    ¡°You won¡¯t. I understand that you would be frightened if you were turning into a normal werewolf, but that is not the case. You will turn into a Curse Werewolf¡±


    The name itself sounded imposing, she asked quietly, ¡°Cursed werewolf?¡±


    I explained, ¡°It is a variant that retains its mind and can cast magic.¡±


    This simple explanation made her gasp.


    I continued, ¡°One becomes a cursed werewolf if bitten while under the effect of a powerful curse. The transformation takes in the power of the curse and the result is different. It has to be the right kind of curse, and I have one such curse here.¡± I took out the scroll and showed her.


    The scroll was called The Will of Death. It cast a curse that severely weakened the afflicted by reducing all stats and halting all mana and health regeneration. The curse was permanent and could only be cured by holy water or the curse removal spell of a powerful priest.


    The chance of becoming a Cursed Werewolf, increased with the power of the curse on the afflicted. The Will of Death was the strongest curse scroll I could get my hands on at this time. If the afflicted had a curse that was too weak, the transformation would automatically dispel the curse and nothing else would happen. If it was strong enough, it would absorb the power of the curse and the curse itself would be negated after becoming a werewolf anyways.


    I said, ¡°This will absolutely work, but the choice of whether or not to go through with it is still yours. Do you need some time to think?¡±


    After a moment she said, ¡°No, I will do it.¡±


    I nodded and discussed the plan with her.


    Not long afterwards I summoned her mother back into the room.


    Talia said, ¡°Mother, I wish to go with Curi. If I do, I can be cured.¡±


    ¡°You can?! But how?¡±


    Talia shook her head, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I can¡¯t tell you. The treatment will take a month, but after that, I will come see you.¡±


    Her mother looked worried. Usually the term, ¡®I can¡¯t tell you,¡¯ would provoke outrage. But she was once a student. Some students keep the details of their work a secret and for good reasons. She could not press further as it may drive me, and my ¡®cure¡¯ away.


    She turned to me and asked, ¡°Is it safe?¡±


    I nodded, ¡°Yes.¡±


    The mother relented and allowed it.


    I arranged for a carriage to pick up Talia a while later. The driver was a strong middle aged man who carried her off her bed and into the carriage. She was still too weak to walk.


    I took her to an Inn and rented a room to stay in for the next month. I could have done this next part at Talia¡¯s house in her room, but we both agreed that her mother should remain unaware.


    After being set down into a bed, she said, ¡°I¡¯m ready.¡±


    I nodded and pulled out the scroll. I called out, ¡°Will of Death.¡± The scroll dissolved into pitch black dust that evaporated before it hit the ground. A black mist flowed into the room and formed into the menacing shape of a cloaked skeleton. The room suddenly turned cold. Talia closed her eyes as she knew what would happen next. The otherworldly phantasm flew towards Talia with piercing red eyes and disappeared inside her. She shivered and collapsed into the bed. Now however she had a thin dark aura that surrounded her. It would not be noticeable in daylight but it definitely existed.


    I got out a powerful health tonic and fed it to her. She was already weak so the reduced stats were hardly noticeable, but the shock of the curse still affected her.


    I fed her another potion and after finishing it she immediately went to sleep.


    The carriage driver who carried her in looked over to me and said, ¡°You sure about this?¡±


    I nodded and said, ¡°Yes, her options are this or death.¡±


    He answered, ¡°She may come to regret choosing this.¡±


    I replied, ¡°No, she won¡¯t.¡±


    He gave a small smirk at me before approaching her. He suddenly became larger, and his equipment disappeared beneath a layer of dark fur that suddenly grew all over his body.


    Another reason I chose Talia to become a Cursed werewolf was that she lived at the base of the Warrior¡¯s Teeth mountain range that was known werewolf territory. Finding one in human form around the town and paying him to infect her was not difficult.


    While in the form of a two and a half meter tall werewolf, the man softly picked her up and bit her shoulder. He easily could have killed her, but perfectly restrained himself. To ensure he didn¡¯t bite hard enough to inflict fatal damage, I treated him to an all you could eat meat lunch to fill his belly to the point his animal instincts would not accidently cause him to bite too hard out of a desire to eat her.


    And although she had no natural health regeneration, the tonic I fed her caused her to gain 50 health points a second for three minutes after drinking it. It cost about 1750 gold, the same price as a full set of equipment for a level 110 knight including three types of armor and a spare sword in case one breaks.


    After a few moments the wound on her shoulder healed without a scar. The werewolf just looked at her for a few moments. Then he said in a deep grizzled voice, ¡°It is done.¡±


    There are a few ways an outsider can tell if one is infected with Lycanthropy. One of which is that another infected with it can sense it. There are of course ways to hide it from detection, but that is something for later.


    The man returned to his human form, his equipment appearing around him as his hair receded and he shrunk back.


    I paid the man the second half of the promised amount and he left the Inn.


    I could see from Talia¡¯s object data what was happening. As she slept the disease multiplied in her body. Once the body was saturated the disease would change the body. At this point taking a remedy would cure her of the disease, but obviously that wasn¡¯t going to happen.


    By the way, I have not explained yet how to cure a werewolf, and what makes cursed werewolves different. After the point a remedy can no longer cure Lycanthropy, there are other ways of curing it. The most well known is a potion, that, although expensive, is not hard to acquire. It does not always work, but you can keep trying it until it does, so it will eventually work. There are also several high level purification spells capable of curing Lycanthropy.


    Cursed werewolves however cannot be cured. The power of the curse amplifies the disease, and the disease can draw power from the power of the curse.


    That being said, Cursed Werewolves are not initially as physically strong as common werewolves. With training however they can surpass others, and I know every training in the book.


    The saturation of the body by the disease took about three weeks. During this time, I gently cared for her like a loving nurse. After that the changes started. The changes cause great pain, but she had lived in pain for most of her life, so this was nothing new. However, after each round of pain, she claimed that the original pain in her body lessened, and her strength increased. Her body changed from skin and bone to fill out into a woman¡¯s form. Her pale skin did not change much, but it was obvious at a glance she was different from before. After three days, she no longer looked unhealthy and could move around freely. Her diet changed as well, her tastes moving towards meat.


    By the end of the month, the sickly, skinny girl was gone and a beautiful woman had taken her place.


    I called out to her, ¡°Talia, it is time to show your mother how well you are doing.¡±


    ¡°Thankyou mistress, I cannot wait.¡±


    Ahh, I guess I should mention the fact that during our first meeting she developed a crush on me. That is why she was so shy and avoided looking at me. During her treatment she fell completely in love with me and swore to do whatever I asked of her. A part of this was the fact that Werewolves are very loyal.


    As I said before, I made the perfect companion.


    Chapter 16


    http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=6332</a>

 Chapter 16 Efficient Training

    Chapter 16


    Efficient Training.


    The first step on the path to becoming a magic user is picking a discipline. Fire, Dark, Ice, that sort of thing. After primarily using magic from that discipline, the matching Affinity skill will be gained that increases the power of spells from that branch. There are mages and shamans that learn spells from more than one discipline, but they are usually weaker than purists because training multiple affinity skills means that each affinity is likely weaker than the affinity of a purist that only trains in one discipline.


    It is like a ranger that trains both Sword Mastery and Archery. Their sword skill would be less than a Swordsman, and their bow skill would be less than a Archer¡¯s. In order to overcome these weaknesses, the ranger would have to devote twice the amount of time to training as either purist. However, knowing both bow and sword is not necessarily better than knowing one or the other. If a Ranger gets their Sword Mastery and Archery skills up the match either purist, it doesn¡¯t mean they will deal any more damage. Unless a player fights solo, there is little point in taking the time and effort to master multiple skills. It is better to devote all of their time into mastering one skill.


    All that being said, I usually do fight solo which is why I have to spend so much time mastering different skills and strengths.


    When I brought all of this up with my new companion Talia, she asked me which discipline I wanted her to take.


    Having been bedridden most of her life, Talia was level 19, (the same as her age) and had no class or combat skills. However, after my ¡®treatment,¡¯ she gained several useful abilities.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Magic Mastery [1] 0%


    The ability to cast and use powerful magic.


    Magic spells are 2% stronger


    Mana cost for all magic reduced by 5%</td></tr><tr><td>Flash Cast [Max]


    The innate ability to use magic without casting or chanting.</td></tr><tr><td>Werewolf¡¯s Constitution [Max]


    The strong body of a werewolf is immune to disease and resists weather effects.


    A werewolf has enhanced senses.


    Damage from Silver weapons is doubled.


    The mortal form of a werewolf gains strength from eating meat.


    +20% Strength +10% Agility for 3 hours after eating meat.</td></tr><tr><td>Lunar Strength [Max]


    All stats increased by 30% while fighting under moonlight.</td></tr><tr><td>Cursed Werewolf Transformation [Max]


    Can switch between Cursed Werewolf form and mortal form. Switch is Automatic while under the light of a full moon.


    Switching to Cursed Werewolf form increases physical stats, change determined by level.


    Cursed Werewolves are naturally imbued with magic forces, they cast cast magic known by the User as well as Cursed Werewolf Skills.


    Biting a person while a Cursed Werewolf has a chance to inflict Lycanthropy.</td></tr><tr><td>Cursed Claws [1] 0%


    Passive Cursed Werewolf Skill. Claws are wrapped in a cursed aura, attacks with claws deal additional dark magic damage. The cursed wounds are slow to heal and resist healing magic.


    Attacking claws drains 20 mana per attack.</td></tr><tr><td>Cursed Howl [1] 0%


    Spreads a dark force through sound that curses and intimidates all enemies that hear it.


    Mana cost: 25</td></tr><tr><td>Cursed Feeding [1] 0%


    Consuming enemies while transformed regenerates health and stamina.


    Consuming enemies that have been cursed also regenerates mana and increases magic attack for a short period. This effects stacks.</td></tr><tr><td>Cursed Strike [1] 0%


    Fires a shot of negative energy from the mouth.


    The skill uses up all stacks of increased magic attack gained from Cursed Feeding.


    The Magic Attack power is determined by the number of stacks of Cursed Feeding consumed.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    With skills like this, she could rampage through an entire force of monsters, cursing and consuming them until there is nothing left but corpses and blood. However, before training her werewolf skills I wanted to strengthen her magic.


    Ideally she should use Black magic as Black Magic Affinity would strengthen her curses. But I use demon magic myself which is a branch of black magic so if we both fight an enemy that resists black magic then our magic would be useless.


    Besides, the Dark Spell Armlet can be worn by anyone, so I could give it to her if I wanted. Therefore, she has no need to learn Black Magic spells.


    Instead, I wanted her to learn Earth magic.


    Of all the magic disciplines, Earth is by far the least popular. Most mages prefer flashy elements like fire or lightning for damage dealing. The rest like black magic and ice magic. Earth magic has powerful, wide range effects, but the casting is slow and most agree it is not comparable in battle to the other elements.


    That being said, it is also one of the most useful if used properly.


    We went to the Mage¡¯s guild where she obtained the Mage Class. She acquired one spell book for starters and I bought her two others.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Earth Spike [1] 0%


    Causes a pointed spike of rock to burst forth from beneath target.


    Number of Spikes: 1


    Mana Cost: 40</td></tr><tr><td>Earth Shake [1] 0%


    Causes an area to shake violently for a moment


    Chance to unbalance or knock down those in target area.


    Mana Cost: 50</td></tr><tr><td>Earth Attunement [1] 0%


    Increases efficiency at which user draws power from the earth.


    Decreases Mana cost for Earth magic spells by 3% for 1 minutes


    Mana Cost: 30</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Gaining a mage class grants the skill magic mastery which is necessary for learning higher level magics from spell books. However Talia was a unique individual born with enough talent to possess the skill without the class. Technically she did not need to become a mage to learn spells from spell books. However, being a mage increased Mana and Magic attack as she leveled up, so it was for her benefit to chose a mage class. Also when she reached level 200 as an Earth Mage, she can specialize and become very powerful.


    After acquiring a class, I intended to put her through my special training Menu. I had to increase her mental stats and physical stats to make her strong both as a mage and as a werewolf. As she leveled up she would put her stats towards Intellect and Wisdom to increase Magic Attack, mana regeneration, and spell accuracy. This meant she would have to gain physical stats through bonuses gained from physical training.


    I was not going to make her train her physical skills though, just stats. Training both physical skills and magic spells was like training Sword Mastery and Archery. It is better to pick one and spend all of your time training that. Since she could cast magic as a cursed werewolf anyways it was better to train her magic.


    I first took her to a small kobold dungeon that was empty of other occupants. I used Enchant Dungeon to increase the monster spawn rate and monster strength.


    As there was no one around, she transformed into her Cursed Werewolf form to begin.


    As a cursed werewolf, her form was more slender and a bit shorter than the werewolf that turned her. Though this is the simple difference between males and females. Her fur was light brown with patches of darker brown, the same shade as the high-lights of her hair. However, no one would confuse her for a normal werewolf. Over her werewolf body were black lines like tattoos that pulsed a bit. These were the channels of magic energy that flowed through her werewolf body. When she used magic these lines would glow. Around her claws was a thin black aura that cursed any wound they gave.


    Without need for further encouragement she rushed into the dungeon. Thanks to Increase Monster Spawn Rate the dungeon just barely kept up with the speed of her kills. Talia herself was losing mana and health thanks to the side effects of the Enchant Dungeon spells, but she was able to regain both thanks to Cursed Feeding.


    Overall, Kobolds are very weak. Their strength lies in teamwork and numbers. That being said, hearing the ferocious howl of a cursed werewolf frightens kobolds into running away when they should fight together. Seeing another kobold being devoured alive drops morale too much to fight. And unfortunately they could not outrun Talia so they were all killed and eaten. She didn¡¯t eat the whole body, just one bite to gain some health, some mana, and a stack of Magic Attack bonus. She always slashed her target first to curse it before eating away.


    There were groups that were not scared away by the scene of a comrade¡¯s brutal death. They did not disperse when she howled at them. For these groups, she cast her earth magic first. Either Earth Spike to kill or wound the leader or Earth shake to break the groups balance and ambush them.


    Earth magic used tactically has more applications than any other magic branch.


    Earth spike can target a person in the center of a group without having to go through the group. Earth shake can provide an opening even against a group of opponents. Of course, these showed their best side when used to support a warrior while fighting. Talia however was her own warrior, she didn¡¯t need support against a foe of this caliber.


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.My instructions to her for the training had several rules.


    -Sprint while moving at all times, recover stamina when needed through Feeding


    -Stop and use Earth Spike or Earth Shake at least once per group. Use Earth Attunement every minute


    -Do not announce your presence when unnoticed, try to avoid making sound while sprinting.


    -Do not waste time eating everything. Consume when needed, and stop when health and stamina are full.


    Overall her training could be completed ten times faster than a normal person. She could basically keep this up until she had to go to sleep. Thanks to her Werewolf senses she could easily locate groups within the dungeon so she never wasted time searching and she recovered everything she lost through training while eating kobold flesh. It was the most efficient training to ever exist in Royal Road.


    She quickly gained levels and skill proficiency through slaughter. I told her to invest all of her stat points into Intellect.


    Wisdom has many bonuses, but most are not needed for her. Accuracy is not needed as most earth magic is Area of Effect magic, mana regeneration is not needed as she has other ways of reclaiming lost mana, and few of the spells I intended for her to learn would benefit from high wisdom.


    Having low wisdom would leave her vulnerable to mental attacks, but that was a worthwhile sacrifice considering how much power she would gain through devoting all her gained points to Intellect.


    Of course I intended to provide training to increase Wisdom as well, so that was not much of an issue.


    In three days, Talia rose from level 19 to level 50. The last day had her go from 45 to 50, but it was mostly for proficiency training. I said this before, but NPCs gain levels and skill proficiency faster than users. I could raise her to level 100 in under a month, and level 200 two months after.


    Not here of course.


    After achieving level 50 we left the small town for a larger city. Talia had long since gained the skill, Earth Affinity, and now she needed stronger earth magic spells. Most such spells required quests to obtain, but there were still a few that could be purchased with a large amount of money.


    There was a limited amount of books for powerful spells, so most would not part with one freely. NPCs that did part with them, only did so after certain conditions were met.


    For example, which a mage reaches level 200, the head of a magic guild will allow that mage to purchase one high level spell book from him. Becoming a powerful mage required a ot of luck, and a lot of money.


    I had the latter part covered.


    Outside of Royal Road, I often checked on Auction sites to see if anyone posted a powerful spell book. Such items usually had massive bidding wars to acquire. If the right person had an interest in it, even I would not be able to win the bid. I acquired a great deal of money, but some people just have more.


    However, I was successful in purchasing one such spell book recently. The auction house¡¯s proxy building was in the city we were heading to. I had to go there to pick it up.


    In addition to the auctioned spell, I found and purchased three other spell books from the city¡¯s magic shop.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Magnetic Field [1] 0%


    Creates a Field around the target that magnetizes all metal within.


    Magnetized metals attract one another for 3 minutes


    Mana cost: 120</td></tr><tr><td>Earth Rend [1] 0%


    Sends a shockwave through the earth that strikes and knocks back those in the path of the shockwave.


    Mana Cost: 70</td></tr><tr><td>Bury [1] 0%


    Command the earth to swallow target undead creature and bring it to rest.


    Instant kill against undead targets.


    Mana Cost: 150</td></tr><tr><td>Stone Strike [1] 0%


    Causes stones and rocks to fly towards and strike target


    Can be used against flying enemies


    Mana Cost: 70</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Magnetic Field was a rare spell that most would not find useful. People looking down on earth magic meant it was cheaper for me to buy on auction sites. When the spell was at a high enough proficiency, armored opponents would be unable to move their arms away from their bodies. Swords and shields would stick like glue to a knight¡¯s body, preventing them from attacking or defending. At even higher proficiencies, the metal in the earth would pull the target down, preventing them from lifting their metal shoes from the ground. If the earth was soft like sand, it would be drawn up and attach itself to the target, weight down their armor and metal weapons.


    The spell also worked in conjunction with spells like Stone Strike. If the stones around the area had a high metal content, they would be attracted to the magnetized target, striking faster and dealing more damage.


    Afterwards we spent the night in the city at a hotel where Talia expressed her deepest gratitude towards me for funding her training. (Those spell books were not cheap.) But it was a worthwhile investment after all, and I appreciated the enthusiastic, heartfelt gratitude.


    The next day we left for a goblin dungeon. Goblins are level 50, the same level as Talia. Although she was now more than strong enough to fight hobgoblins, (level 80,) it was still better to fight goblins.


    The reason is that due to her efficient locating and dealing with enemy mobs, she can kill goblins five times faster than hobgoblins, thus acquire more experience points faster overall.


    I once again used Enchant Dungeon to strengthen the goblins and increase their spawn rate while Talia went on a path of slaughter.


    If you are wondering how a girl who had never harmed a fly before meeting me was so at ease with savage, blood soaked combat, it was because the Werewolf instincts told her it was natural. She had no qualms with using her powerful jaws to rip off the arm of a goblin and watch blood spray out from the flesh. In fact this scene only made her hungry.


    The mental side of becoming a werewolf was that she could rely on instinct to do things she had never done before. This was true both on and off the battlefield. In fact I have discovered several areas outside of combat where it was clear she was letting her wild side direct her in what to do, to my pleasant surprise.


    We spent two weeks there, raising her level to 85.


    In case you are wondering I was not simply sitting around doing nothing during her training. I spent the time increasing the proficiency of Psychokinesis and Enchant Card. Neither required actual combat to train, so even in a dungeon where Talia killed everything I could strengthen these.


    When she could wipe out five hundred goblins and still not gain a level in any skill proficiency or gain any bonus stats it was time to move.


    The next dungeon was an Undiscovered one. It had been empty until recently, and locked from the inside. That was before I removed the seal of the continent. This was a Undead tomb occupied by the countless fallen soliders of a long forgotten war.


    It was also the reason I bought the Bury spell which only affects Undead.


    The reason I chose this dungeon was because it was the exact opposite of the previous training. Effective training cannot be the same throughout, there must be a high degree of variation to ensure the trainee gains flexibility in combat.


    This dungeon was filled primarily with skeleton soldiers, Skeleton soldiers had no meat, only bone, so they could not be used to regenerate stamina, mana, and health. They also had limitless stamina and vitality so they did not need to stop or rest.


    What was once a luxury in previous dungeons was gone, and Talia would have to carefully manage her resources here. All that being said, I wasn¡¯t going to have her sprint continuously around the dungeon this time. I would accompany her and ensure she was not in danger, as well as direct her to maximize her training.


    By the way, there is something I have yet to explain about Enchant Card. The spell can be used on Non-Boss type enemies, but I must remain in contact with the creature during enchantment. This means the enemy must either be too weak to struggle or be held down by a greater strength.


    I used Enchant card to gather hundreds of Cursed, weakened monsters that Talia spared for me. When she really needed it, I could release one and Talia could feast on the cursed creature. It was cheaper than a restaurant and healed her for stamina, health, and mana.


    In case you were wondering, I cannot simple give her a belt with a deck box like mine because equipment automatically unequips during transformation. So she could not use a deck box belt herself while a werewolf.


    This was the place where her training would truly begin. Strategy, technique, judgment, I would drill into her everything I could to make her the strongest companion possible.


    Chapter 17


    http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=6917</a>

 Chapter 17 The Maze

    Chapter 17


    I could go into length about how Talia fared through her training, but I¡¯ll skip it.


    Needless to say she is now a highly capable combatant in mortal form and werewolf form.


    She had reached level 200 while training through various fields, most of which were Undead dungeons. My training itself was not lacking. Thanks to her loyalty, (and the results) she diligently followed my training program. If I told her to clear a dungeon only using her left arm, she would do so. If I told her to only attack if she successfully ambushed a group, she would obey. With each new experience, her programming advanced.


    For those of you lacking in world experience, let me explain something. Whenever you face a challenge, like a fight, you have several options to choose from. Attack, defend, flee, beg, and so on. Most people can list off a few options they would have in a hypothetical situation, but in a real life situation, an inexperienced person will only be able to think of one option or two. Perhaps three. There are of course hundreds of options to choose from. Telling a person in advance won¡¯t do any good, they won¡¯t be able to think of them when needed. It is not their fault, that is just how the human mind works. The only way to imprint another option is to practice performing that option, over and over again.


    If you break your arm in a fight, what will you do? Well, if you have practiced fighting with one arm while in pain before, that option comes to mind.


    If you run out of resources while surrounded by enemies, what do you do? Well, if you put yourself into such situations on purpose and try out various things, you¡¯ll know how to survive from experience.


    If you encounter a group of enemies that have yet to notice your presence and are not sure how to proceed, what do you do? Well, if you have practiced various scenarios like ambushing tactics, trap laying tactics, and scare and guerrilla tactics, you¡¯ll have all sorts of options come to mind instantly and naturally. From which you¡¯ll be able to judge which is the best from experience.


    Talia¡¯s AI absorbed all of these experiences and grew to the degree I¡¯m certain she could take out a whole group of Users of the same level.


    After reaching level 200, we traveled to a city to advance her class.


    Class advancement involves a trial, usually a quest of some kind. Once passed, the class advanced and all stats rose. Additionally, one could purchase one spell book from the guild.


    All of this she could do without me, so I proceeded to another location to train while she went to a city. I even gave her 650 gold, the standard price of the spell book I wanted her to acquire.


    The location I moved to train further while Talia did her class advancement quest was called the Rukh Bhan¡¯s Labyrinth. It was an infamous dungeon because of a creature unique to the dungeon called Wall Sliders. They were earth spirit beasts that called the area their home, and they changed the composition of the maze at will. They also tended to attack others through the wall, then retreat back to the safety of the wall before they could be countered.


    The dungeon¡¯s dangers were famous, but the prizes within more so. Inside the dungeon were hundreds of treasure chests, each containing rare and valuable items. Stories of Adventurers making it through the maze and discovering such treasure prompted others to venture forth to find their own fortune. Of course those who died within paid a terrible price. The dungeon was known to almost guarantee that your most valuable item would drop when you died. Such items were collected by the Wall sliders, and used to fill the very chests Adventurers sought.


    There were a few treasures within I had my eye on.


    I rented a horse and left for the town closest to the Labyrinth.


    The groups of Users that occupied the town fell into either of two categories, those who somewhat knew what they were doing, and those who had no idea what they were doing.


    The latter was more common. Nine times out of ten they entered the dungeon and returned to town four days later after dying.


    Those who learned from the experience and still ventured into the dungeon were the ones who somewhat knew what they were doing. But most gave up after dying the first time. Due to this, the people that congregated around the labyrinth changed often.


    The key to surviving the dungeon was to have an experienced thief on your team and never go alone.


    I went in alone of course.


    The only thing I would need a thief for is to unlock a treasure chest or locked door. I have such a thief on standby in card form, though using him is expensive. 200 gold per chest and 5% of the chest¡¯s contents and 250 gold per locked door.


    I summoned three hellhounds and two imps.


    The dungeon labyrinth was nothing but hallway after hallway. Its overall area was hundreds of square kilometers. Most parties that entered got lost and died. The various reasons for their death included traps, ambushes, running out of food before being able to find an exit, and the bad luck of running into a powerful monster.


    The basic monster patrolling the first part of the labyrinth were lizardmen. Groups of six or seven could be easily found wandering around. According to their backstory, they were looking for treasure as well.


    Of course a single of my hellhounds could kill ten or so lizardmen. The reason I had out a larger party was the same reason I chose here to train. This dungeon had bigger game.


    Before continuing, I would like to remind the readers of the limitations of my data sight. I cannot see through walls. I can see the layout of the labyrinth like a map in my head, but I cannot see the data of the wall sliders in the wall or how they will change the labyrinth. In other words even with my cheating ability I cannot perfectly navigate this dungeon or locate any of the monsters or treasure chests inside. I do know the general area of the chests I came here for, but the path from where I am to them changes randomly.


    My first encounter could be considered lucky or unlucky, depending on whether or not I would survive it. A three meter tall minotaur stepped around the corner. Minotaurs are the guardians of this maze. They attack anyone on sight. This was however was a bit weak for a minotaur, only level 360. Stronger minotaurs have been seen in this labyrinth with levels exceeding 500.


    I took out ten Flame skull cards and threw them at the hulking beast just as it noticed me. I intended to have the summons distract it while I attacked and cursed it from a distance. However upon seeing the Minotaur¡¯s data, I realized I made a small error.


    This minotaur hated the color Red, and my equipment was scarlet red. (It isn¡¯t a standard trait, this minotaur just had personal issues.)


    As soon as it laid its black eyes on me, it snorted a puff of air and readied itself for a charge. It didn¡¯t care about the monsters around it, only me.


    ¡°Plan B.¡±


    I started the cast for psychokinesis. Before the beast reached me it felt a powerful force pushing down on its head. It was off balance from charging to begin with so it could not prevent its head from smacking against the ground. Its own momentum scrapped its face against the stone as it slide to a halt.


    Before the minotaur stopped I had already begun casting another psychokinesis spell. The heavy minotaur lifted off the ground and was thrown back to the end of the hall where my summons swarmed it.


    Tossing it around and forcing it to the ground from its dead angle is not exactly sportsman-like conduct, but taking advantage of sure fire ways to defeat powerful opponents is one of the cornerstones of most games.


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    The minotaur¡¯s attack pattern varies greatly but its charging pattern is always the same, allowing me to force it to the ground and throw it back before it reaches me.


    The battle is slow and repetitive. I have no time to cast dark cannon or anything other than psychokinesis so all of the damage is being done by my summons. At the very least I do have enough time to throw familiar cards to replace fallen summons.


    As the minotaur is on its last leg, I throw out several more hellhounds and shout, ¡°Keep it down!¡±


    The hellhounds latch onto the great minotaur¡¯s body and I run up to it. It tries to break free but the fight took most of its health and stamina.I place my hand on it and use Enchant:Card.


    It continues to struggle while a red line spreads over its body from my hand. I make sure not to move my hand.


    At a cost of just about all of my remaining mana over the course of two minutes, the minotaur is successfully carded.


    Next I spread my summons around as security and use meditate. While meditating my defense lowers to the point one hit would likely kill me, but it is a necessary risk.


    Over the next few days, I continue moving through the maze towards the chest locations. My plan is move closer and wait for the wall sliders to change the maze allowing for a path to get closer. If nothing else it beats walking through one channel of the maze only to have the path I was moving through turn into a dead end. While exploring I also intend to capture as many minotaurs as I can. Later I¡¯ll heal their health and stamina before re-carding them. They won¡¯t be loyal to me but minotaurs are guardians that attack all creatures. Next time I come across a difficult boss I can throw a few minotaurs into the room and hide myself.


    After rounding another corner, I spot something I did not expect to see. An ornate, jewel encrusted treasure chest at the end of the hall.


    It was not listed as one of the chests in the dungeon, and my data sight saw what it really was. A mimic.


    Mimics are creatures created by sorcerers to guard their secrets. They can look like anything, a chair, a table, a door, or a weapon.  Most however disguise themselves as treasure chests. Mimics secrets a glue like adhesive so when someone touches them they are trapped and the mimic eats them. Another interesting thing about them is that before they reveal themselves, before they are touched, they have an extremely high defense, so I can¡¯t just kill it from a distance.


    If an adventurer enters this dungeon without knowing about a mimic, they will  see a treasure chest and defenselessly walk up to it.


    All that being said, there is something about mimics that very few, even veteran adventurers know.


    I shift through one of my food decks for a card with a picture of a bottle. ¡°Release.¡±


    The bottle appears and I take it over to the mimic.


    I open the bottle, set it down in front of the treasure chest, and say, ¡°Hey, wake up.¡±


    Two of the engraves recesses rotate out, revealing eyes. The eyes immediately lock onto the bottle.


    I say, ¡°Give me some directions and I¡¯ll give this to you.¡±


    I hear a sound come from within the chest. It is thinking.


    The lid of the chest opens lightly and says, ¡°I don¡¯t know much, but I know a guy that does. He pretends to be a door a bit northwest of here. Ask him. And give me that!¡±


    I nod and hand over the bottle. Bits of the lining of the treasure chest break off revealing an arm that grabs the bottle. It immediately downs it into its mouth.


    ¡°Ohh, that¡¯s good stuff.¡±


    Mimics love booze. Something to do with how they are create, they love alcohol. If offered some, they are usually willing to give directions or helpful hints.


    I move northwest for a few minutes and find the door mimic. I make it the same offer.


    ¡°Hmm. Around this time, a way to that chest should open a few halls over. Go there and wait a bit.¡±


    After that I proceed to said hall. As the mimic said, a few minutes later, the walls around that point rearranged themselves and a short path to the chest.


    I sprint as fast as I can, as there is no way of knowing what I might run into or when the halls will  change again.


    Against the odds I make it to the chest. It is not as fancy as the mimic chest, but it is on a pedestal. Before getting closer however, shapes and shadows appear on the walls.


    Six creatures sprout from the walls, the wall sliders. They do not fully emerge from the walls, but along the walls they move in closer to me to attack.


    I use psychokinesis to pull them out of the walls where they are torn to shreds by my hellhounds.


    There are not many ways to pull a wall slider out of the wall, but psychokinesis is one of them.


    Three of them realize attacking is suicide so they run away. I take out a bandit card and release him. The chest is locked but this bandit has enough skill to unlock it without the key.


    The chest opens to reveal gold and silver, weapons and staffs, the most valuable items dropped by people who died here.


    Of course there is more than that, these chests generate other rare items as well. I dug through the chest to find the item I sought.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Eruption Spellbook


    Teaches the earth magic, Eruption.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    It was an S rank spell book that taught a powerful wide area spell. It was more powerful than the spellbook I had Talia get from the class quest, but it also cost a great deal more mana.


    I decided that this was enough for now.  After giving the bandit his share as payment for opening the chest, I re-carded him, and carded everything else in the chest to make carrying it easier.


    I traveled back through the maze, but leaving was as difficult as arriving. I encountered more minotaurs and successfully carded nine of them before getting to a stable path to lead me out of the maze.


    The time from entering to exiting the maze was two weeks. I only could do this thanks to carded food and allies to keep me alive.


    When left for the town though, Talia was not in the inn.


    I instructed her to come to this town and stay in the inn until I left the maze, but she wasn¡¯t there.


    I logged out and checked on the game data, according to it, Talia was still in the city and her Class quest was not yet completed.


    I logged back in and rented another horse.


    If I traveled along the same route i told her to use, then if she finished before I got there we would run into each other.


    However I made it all the way to the city on horseback without seeing her.


    This didn¡¯t make any sense. She was more than powerful enough to do the class quest.


    I logged out again and looked at her data. She was still in the city.


    I looked through a few more layers and saw something most troubling.


    Talia had been arrested on charges of being a werewolf. She was being held in a prison cell where magic could not be used.


    The cell was connected to the outside through a viewport where the moon could be seen.


    The cell was designed so that those accused of being a werewolf would be bathed in the light of the full moon and forced to change. When they changed, it would confirm they were a werewolf, and they would be executed.


    She had been confined for three weeks. The full moon was in two nights.


    I logged back in and begun my plans. No matter what, I was going to save her.

 Chapter 18 The Rescue and Discovery

    The Rescue and Discovery


    There are many cities that don¡¯t care whether or not someone is a werewolf. This city is not one of them.


    It is not without reason though. The city is within close proximity of werewolf territory, and the history of the land was filled with battles and wars with werewolf clans. Often the werewolves would send one of their own into the city to slaughter aimlessly.


    The whole conflict left a bad impression of werewolves in general.


    The death penalty was not the first resort either. First they would attempt to cure the lycanthropy. However the Cursed werewolf I created could not be cured by normal means. They would require the purification spell of a pope or pope candidate from the highest rankings of the clergy. No one would immediately jump to this conclusion, therefore when the usual purification spell failed, they would assume it is a new strain that cannot be cured, thus the infected should immediately be put to death to prevent further infection


    If Talia infected someone however, they would only turn into a normal werewolf. Unless of course they were cursed.


    Explaining the situation would take too much time, I had no legal way to free her before her execution. Therefore I would have to do it by force.


    Talia was being held in a courtyard within a cage. The cage itself was in the middle of a magic circle that prevented magic from being cast. The point of the cage was to forcefully expose the convicted to the light of the full moon. Werewolves cannot help but transform under such conditions, thus the accusation of lycanthropy could be proven beyond a doubt.


    The courtyard was also surrounded by about a hundred guards with several being very high level.


    To free Talia, I would have to break into the courtyard, release her, and escape together. Breaking into the courtyard was simple. I could do so with my eyes closed. Freeing Talia and escaping was another matter entirely.


    For the sake of imagery, image that a small animal was buried beneath a fire ant nest. How would you remove it without getting bitten, or allowing the animal to be harmed? It is easy to reach into the soft nest and grab the animal, but the act of doing so sets everything mad.


    The main problem is that there is not supposed to be a way to save her. She stumbled upon a scenario with no escape option. Creating one from nothing should be beyond any player¡¯s ability. That being said, recently I unlocked another spell for the dark spell armlet. It is an evil spell but its use is unavoidable if I wish to save Talia.


    Dark Corruption. The spell summons weak dark spirits to possess target weak willed beings. The possessed follow simple orders for a short time. The possession is not permanent and at the spell¡¯s current proficiency level I can only control a maximum of two people at once, but it is the only way.


    Using this spell, my carded monsters and minions, and all the information at my disposal, I¡¯ll have to do what can¡¯t be done.


    The plan begun at sundown. A minotaur was released in front of the guard station. It was weakened, but a level 350 monsters is still strong. With several quick cleaves of its great axe over a dozen soldiers died instantly. Soon the stronger guards were summoned. Although they did not match the creature¡¯s strength, they were more than enough to fell the wounded monster.


    At the same moment the minotaur collapsed, I used Dark corruption on two of the four guards that finished it.


    They collapsed for a moment, but recovered quickly. The others thought it was a minor exhaustion from the fight.


    I calmly walked up to them and the two possessed guards lead me inside.


    One of the men stationed there asked, ¡°Hey, who is she?¡±


    He was answered by one of them with, ¡°I have a few questions for her. Carry on.¡±


    ¡°Sir.¡± He nodded and remained silent.


    After entering I handed one of them a deck of lizard knights. The commands were issued as I cast the corruption spell, so there was no need to say anything.


    The other lead me the courtyard.


    Within a few minutes, alarms were being raised and armed men were running by us.


    The second possessed man was ordered to release all of the lizard knights in the training courtyard opposite Talia¡¯s imprisonment.


    After entering the courtyard, my escort followed his order and proceeded to take out his weapon and aimlessly slaughter every soldier he saw.


    I ran over to the wall and lifted the cell keys off a hook. The man who should be guarding the keys and the man who should be guarding the cell were defending their lives against the mad knight that was trying to kill them.


    Talia saw me and turned away ashamed. I hadn¡¯t thought about it from her perspective, but she may have thought this was her fault, and felt bad for troubling me.


    I unlocked her cell door and she said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry. Please, this is all my fault.¡±


    I looked around to check how many guards were still in the area. Several who were on there way to fight off the mad knight suddenly noticed a woman had just released the prisoner.


    I turned back to Talia and said, ¡°Not now, we must flee.¡±


    She nodded her head and followed me out. After we are beyond the range of the anti-magic circle, I told her to get us on top of the wall.


    She instantly cast earth magic to raise the ground beneath us to the height of the wall. From there we move onto the path towards the city¡¯s outer wall.


    Along the way I throw hobgoblins, bandits, lizard knights, and another minotaur.


    I fill up the rooftop paths with a large assortment of monsters, creating an absolute chaotic mess of things.


    For the guards we encounter along the way, Talia used earth magic to throw them to the courtyard below.


    That however only worked on small groups on the narrow walkway. Before reaching the outer wall, we came across twenty soldiers of substantial level and skill.


    ¡°Surrender! You are skilled but you are outmatched.¡±


    Instead, I pull out another card and tear it in half. From it appears a book.


    I press it against Talia and say, ¡°Learn it.¡±


    She immediately said, ¡°Learn,¡± and the book disappeared.


    The commander from before shouted, ¡°Archers! Ready!¡±


    Before he can say fire, Talia instantly cast Magnetic field three times. The three points she cast it on had a wide enough range to affect most of the group.


    Suddenly the men were pulled together a bit, The archer¡¯s aim was thrown off a bit, but not enough to miss from this distance.


    The archers however did not get a chance to re-aim. In the next instant, Talia cast Eruption.


    The ground beneath the group burst upwards. The wide area spell was a great example of a powerful earth magic. But Talia wasn¡¯t done yet.


    Before the rocks and debris could land, they suddenly increased speed and a shower of stones struck the group from above.


    Although she had never used the spell, Talia naturally knew the best combination to use it.


    First magnetize the enemy group, then use eruption. Eruption not only brought damage from below and threw the enemy off balance, it also caused a massive amount of loose rocks to shoot into the air. Last, use Stone strike, which causes loose rocks to shoot at target enemies. This spell is not very accurate, but due to the targets being magnetized prior, the iron containing stones naturally seek the targets and even increase speed, dealing even greater damage.


    Magnetic Field, Eruption, Stone Strike. Combining the fact that Talia can instantly cast magic without casting, this was a combination that was almost undefeatable.


    Of course for now her mana pool could not sustain her casting speed. Eruption on its own was a powerful spell that took many thousands of mana points to cast. That and depending on the size of the group, Magnetic Field and Stone Strike would have to be cast repeatedly. Even for this small group, to magnetize the lot required three castings. Stone strike had to be cast twice in succession to strike of the group with the debris from eruption.


    The group fell. From what I saw five of them died. The rest were too injured to move. We ran past them and over to the wall.  Talia used earth magic again to get us over, but after that her mana was spent.


    I of course planned for this and had two horses tied near the wall with a bandit guarding them.


    We rode off into the night as fast as the horses could take us.


    Our destination was the next kingdom over. It would not take long for bounty posters with our faces to be spread throughout the mand, but bounties were only good in the kingdom they were issued, so a criminal record does not extend beyond borders.


    We camped out that night when the horses grew too tired to run any more.


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    Talia remained silent mostly. She explained earlier what happened. Her class quest turned out to be a simple extermination quest. After completing it she returned, but due to bad luck passed in front of a guard dog that happened to be trained to recognize the smell of werewolves.


    Something as simple as that lead to this situation. She was immediately arrested and questioned. But she remained silent. They tried casting purification on her, but the dog still reacted. So they locked her in the courtyard cell and awaited the full moon.


    I told her it was not her fault but mine.


    She didn¡¯t believe me. She thought it was her fault that I had to flee the kingdom.


    Suddenly I felt something. A cold feeling ran down my very existence. It had been so long since I felt this that I had almost forgotten what it was. But I knew it. I knew it well.


    The eyes of god was upon  me. Not the god of the outer world, but the god of this world. The goddess of Versailles was looking right at me.


    I cannot explain how I know these kinds of things. It is simply my nature I suppose. When the god of a world looks at me, I notice it.


    I could not help but sigh. I had overdone it. I did not use a single cheat ability during the rescue, but I had still done something that should not be possible to do. A Red Flag had gone up. And now she was looking right at me.


    It wasn¡¯t like there was a giant eye in the sky staring down on me. The AI, the program known as the goddess of versailles was looking over my data. Whether she had been instructed to do so by her master, the creator of this world, or whether she herself decided to look over my data on a whim, either way, the result was the same.


    She was not just looking at my current state. She was combing over every single detail and tiny bit of data that passed through my existence in this game.


    This was what I had been trying to prevent since coming here.


    Overall on my account, a cursory glance from a normal AI maintenance program will reveal that nothing is wrong. The goddess on the other hand was a different story. By analysing every bit of data, she would know that I had gained data without a source. She would know that I knew things that I should not have been able to know. It would not take very long, but eventually she would come to the conclusion that somehow I was hacking.


    Overall, none of this would be too bad. If the Goddess were an ordinary maintenance program, suspicions would be all she had. But the goddess was a hacker too. After identifying me as a suspicious individual, she would investigate everything about me. Eventually she would discover that I do not exist.


    That is what it means to be under the eye of the goddess of Versailles.


    After that point my account would be locked. If I wanted to unlock it, I would need to come forward, thus revealing more information about myself. The act of locking my account would be more to gain information about me than to stop me from cheating. But in gaining information, the goddess would use it to attempt to discern my method of cheating.


    My only choice was to leave the game and create a new character. That was my only choice. That was what it means to be under the eye of the goddess of Versailles.


    I look back over to Talia.  Perhaps it is for the best. I intended on having her follow me for the rest of my days here, but in doing so she became completely dependent on me. She can fight an army on her own but if captured in a city she has no idea what to do.


    I break the news gently to Talia. That it is time for me to leave this world. That from now on she¡¯ll have to get by on her own.


    She cries at first, but I comfort her.


    The next morning when she woke up, I wasn¡¯t there. I preempted the forced log out and left the world. In my place, I left her a deck of cards, all my possessions, and my Dark Spell armlet.


    I explained the situation to the dark spirit within and it had no problem. It had become docile over time, and did not mind switching owners.


    With the Dark Spell Armlet, Talia at least would have a companion.


    As for me. I started a new character under a different name with a new set of Irises. This time I¡¯ll play without a single cheat. I even created a personal history for this identity so that the goddess would not find nothing if I was investigated again.


    I would like to find Talia within the game, but being her companion again would set a red flag. I think she¡¯ll be ok though, I raised her to be strong. Of course I¡¯ll still check in on her every once in a while. If it means protecting her I¡¯ll cheat and break the whole system if I have to. But that¡¯s a story for another day.


    ¡ªThe scan on your iris and vein has determined that you are an unregistered user. Do you wish to create a new account?


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    The End.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Thankyou for reading until the end of this story. Apologies for the abrupt ending, but I didn¡¯t want to leave it without an ending.


    By the way, for those who did not know this, the account Curiousbeing, is my second ff account. My first account is Gnomebob. For those of you who have heard of me, I¡¯m that Gnomebob, author of Tales of Adventure, Chronicles of the Blade, Dragon¡¯s Road, and now, Maker of Heroes.


    I wrote this story on a different account to see how many people would pick up on something that is a pretty good story, without having my name attached to it.


    The results were a bit disheartening. I would put my heart into writing a quality chapter for this story, then write a low quality chapter for something like Chronicles of the blade. 24 hours later, the chapter I wrote for this Story would have 400 views, while the shitty chapter I wrote for Chronicles of the Blade would have 2k views.


    But, that¡¯s the effect of name branding.


    For those of you who found this story, congratulations. People should put more effort into finding random stories on this site to read. Now that LMS is not even on this site, that is all this site has.


    Now then. The reason I ended this story, was because I had an idea for another story.


    So far, every story I have written, basically has no plot or character development. I have written a lot, but I am still an ametuer writter. My next attempt at a story will have both, in depth, detailed plot, and full character development. Also, I intend to base the next story off another tale. Like how Dragon¡¯s Road is a LMS DBZ knockoff, so too will my next story be a RR version of another story many of you should have heard of. Fullmetal Alchemist.


    I looked around a bit, and other than characters like Crane that have Alchemy as some potion making skill, no one has tried to make any kind of Alchemist ff.


    So my next ff will star an Alchemist MC. He will have full access to alchemy skills, of which I am still working on. I researched these off various other Alchemist class sheets. The current skill list is as follows:


    -Form Alteration


    Change shape, composition remains unchanged


    -Transmutation


    Changing a material¡¯s composition


    -Alchemic Extraction


    Using alchemic skills to create concoctions and items that normal pharmacists and potion makers could never make.


    -Infusion


    Uses alchemist¡¯s mana to increase potency of extracts.


    Items enhanced or altered by Infusion can only be used by alchemist that infused their mana into it. Alterations made through Infusion degrade over time and must be re-infused to reclaim potency.


    I won¡¯t spoil too much as for the story, but I intend to have RR equivalents for most of the best known characters from FMA making repeated appearances throughout the story. The story itself will also be my own adaptation of a RR version of something similar to the Brotherhood storyline.


    I wanted to call the story Fullmetal Alchemist, but a few people complained I should name it something different. Maybe I¡¯ll go with something like Halfmetal Alchemist. or something..


    Well, the whole story is still on the drawing board. Now that I finished Maker of Heroes, I can get started. However, to make the story the best quality I can, I will not post chapters until I have a firm story with all the stuff I want. [an actual plot that makes you always want to read the next chapter, characters that develop, ect,]


    It probably won¡¯t come out until mid or late february. And as I write it, I won¡¯t be writing much else. I might release a chapter of something every once in a while, but I would not recommend holding your breath. Sorry.


    But hopefully it will be worth the wait.


    -Gnomebob</td></tr></tbody></table>