《Reaper》 Level 1 - 4 The bag was lifted off his head and the murderer recoiled at the light. The lamp was put directly in front of him to ensure this. The prisoners hands were cuffed to the table restricting his ability to look away. Before his eyes could adjust the interrogator gave him a hard punch to the cheek. It was intended as more of a threat, however that didn¡¯t stop it from knocking a tooth from his gum. He stared straight forward where he assumed his assailant to be, he still couldn¡¯t see anything, and spit a mouthful of blood. It missed its mark, but succeeded in getting the prisoner another hit to the jaw. With reloaded blood he took another try at his interrogator. This time he managed to hit the chest area. Before his imprisoner could get revenge a voice resounded through the room. ¡°That¡¯ll be enough Major. We need him with his blood inside his body please.¡± Surprisingly the next punch never came. Astounded by his own victory the prisoner burst into laughter. Flashes of red could be seen when he attempted to smile with a swelling face. Over the course of a minute his vision slowly returned, although he was slightly seeing red. The Major, as the voice had called him, came into view and he could see that the man was wearing a military uniform. His uniform was entirely black. On one shoulder were the flags of several different countries. America, Mexico, Japan, and several others he didn¡¯t recognize were sewn on. He had a blacked out assault rifle in his hands and various other equipment in pockets and around his belt. Near his left shoulder there was a red stain that stood out from his black apparel. The room was your typical interrogation room: One table, 2 chairs, one blacked out window. There was a door behind him that swung open as 3 more military men and another man in a labcoat entered. The guards all had the same assault rifle with the same flags on their shoulders. The man in the labcoat was clean shaven and looked to be in his 30s. His head lacked hair and ended up reflecting the lamp light as he went to sit at the other end of the table. Once he sat down he took a pen from his chest pocket and wrote a few words on a clipboard before switching his gaze to his new lab rat. Right before he went to speak he was interrupted by the prisoner. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t I be dead already? I don¡¯t really know how this whole lethal injection thing is supposed to go down, but I know they said I¡¯d be dead by 11, so can u just hurry it up?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but you¡¯re not dying today Mr. Yeager. Although I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll wish you were after the next couple days. Now if you could please verify the following information we can proceed. Name, Daniel Yeager. Nickname, Baron. Age, 28. Born in East Chicago, IL. 3 charges of petty theft, 1 charge of assault, and 3 charges of drug possession with intent to distribute. Known gang affiliate. Convicted of triple homicide at the age of 18. Executed at 28 for his crimes.¡± ¡°Sorry but your information is a little ahead of the present.¡± ¡°No I assure you it is quite accurate. I just listed information of Daniel Yeager. The man who was executed this morning for killing 3 minors. He is dead. You are dead, and because you are dead I can use you for whatever I want. Fortunately for you I am under contract, well not a legal one of course. So I have to make sure not to kill you by accident. Since you¡¯ve been behind bars for the past 10 years I¡¯m sure you haven¡¯t heard but Virtual Reality is the newest trend in technology. There have been many studies done on its effects of the human body and mind, however, all of those had to abide by ¡®ethics.¡¯ Here we don¡¯t have that issue, and Unicorn Corporation along with several other governments are offering a hefty price for more¡­ realistic information. You will be participating in a study to determine what prolonged exposure to virtual reality does. The 2 pieces of information we will be trying to acquire is if VR is a suitable substitute for natural sleep, and how the body reacts when the mind ages at a 4 times pace. In VR time goes by at a slowed pace. For every one hour in VR, 15 minutes will have passed in real life. Since the body and mind are linked we need to determine if the body will age at the same pace as the mind. There are also several psychological conditions that could arise, which we will monitoring you mental state throughout. Shortly you will be put into a VR capsule to play the game Royal Road. In one week you will be automatically logged out and undergo an exam. While in the game you will be nourished by an IV. You will be monitored in the game so don¡¯t bother trying to send any information to an outside source. Per the games rules if you die you will be banned from the game for 1 day. Since we have a deal with the game¡¯s company this ban will only last for 5 minutes, and you wont be logged out. Now that you have a rudimentary idea of what is going on the Major here will escort you to the experiment room.¡± He motioned to the man with the blood stain and he began to unlock Daniels cuffs. As he was taking the prisoner out of the room, Daniel turned around and looked the man in the labcoat right in the eyes. ¡°Well fuck you too.¡± Too much had happened in Daniel''s life already him to get upset. Since he was 18 his life had been unjustly stolen. He had no control over anything in life, so nothing about this was new. He was by no means a model citizen. He had been in and out of Juvenile Hall his entire teenage life, but he knew he wasn¡¯t a murderer. For his 18th birthday him and 3 other gang members went out partying to celebrate. They ended up scoring some X at an over 18 club, and going home with some trashy women. When he woke up the next morning and couldn¡¯t remember anything that happened. Since he was 18 he didn¡¯t go to Juvenile Hall. Instead he was to be tried as an adult and found himself in a maximum security penitentiary. He was taken to court and charge with triple homicide of his 3 friends. The story was that his loyalties had switched to a rival gang and the killings were his initiation. The detectives found video evidence of the crime so there was no disputing the charges. After a lengthy 10 year trial Daniel was finally set to be executed. He had suffered enough from the disowning of his family to the death threats from his former gang. He was starting to look forward to death, but it didn¡¯t go as planned. While on the way to his death bed a bag was placed on his head and he was smuggled out of the prison. Finally ending up in the interrogation room. The Major dragged him along several hallways until finally coming to an open door. Inside were various medical equipment and computers that lined the walls. In the center of the room was a giant capsule 8 feet long that looked to be straight out of a Sci-fi movie. There were a few more scientist-like people inside the room working on the equipment. One of them directed the Major to put him into the capsule. The door opened at the push of a button and Daniel was placed inside. An IV was stuck into his arm and several chords were connected on various places around his body. The capsule closed and surrounded him in darkness. There were no lights inside. No screen like a normal video game would have, just nothing. Seconds later that nothing started to warp and twist as he was dragged from this reality. He lost feeling with his body and it felt like it was just his mind in the capsule. Another couple of seconds later he found himself in a blue and white space that could be described as the default background for a computer. He realised he could feel his body again as a female voice spoke to him. -Now connecting to Royal Road- -Welcome to Royal Road. What would you like your avatar name to be?- "Daniel" He wasn¡¯t really sure of what was happening, so just like if he was making an email he gave his real name. -Avatar name has been accepted. Welcome Baron. What gender would you like: Male, Female, or neutral?- "I said Daniel, not Baron." The name Baron had been his nickname in the gang. It wasn¡¯t a name he used now since the only people to call him that were the gang members that had been trying to kill him. It was somewhat of a sore subject for him. -Gender has been selected as male. Please choose your race. Royal Road has 49 different races. You may choose from the 29 currently available.- ¡°Are you fucking listening to me?¡± -Invalid response. Please choose from one of the human subspecies as per individual system parameters.- Baron was beginning to get annoyed until he realised his options were already decided for him. Everything else had been pre-programmed by the people who ran the experiment. Since he didn¡¯t know anything about the game or the different races he decided to ask. ¡°Show me my options.¡± Seconds later he could see a mirror image of himself standing a few feet away. It represented humans. Standing inline with himself were 3 other people who also looked exactly like him. The first was a little over 4 feet tall and had the name hobbit written above it. Next in line was a more muscular version of himself. It stood over 7 feet tall and made the hobbit look childish. Above its head was the name barbarian. The last in line was the tallest and fattest. It was around 8 foot tall and was likely pushing 400 pounds. Although it had the same face as Baron it looked some what uglier. This time its name was giant. ¡°Barbarian.¡± Looking at the 4, including the standard human, he had to choose the barbarian. It looked like the cliche image every guy wants to look like. -Would you like to alter your appearance?- "No." -Which city would you like to start in? You may choose any major city or capital.- Instead of responding he decided to just wait. His decision was likely programmed in already. -The Citadel of Sai, Gradian Kingdom has been chosen.- After a pause the women¡¯s voice continued. -Your avatar has been created. Welcome to Royal Road.- The space he was in faded away as Baron was transported to the heart of a busy city. Thousands of people could be seen shopping at stands or filling canteens in the fountain. For a second he just looked around at the picturesque medieval city he was standing in. Other people paid no attention to him as he began stretching and testing out the VR system. It was a common sight for them. ''Is this really virtual reality? I had no idea it would be so realistic.'' As he stretched he could feel his muscles burn like they would in real life. ''Holy shit!'' The experience of VR left him stricken. For the next 3 hours he just wandered around the market. Aside from it being his first time in VR it was also the first time in 10 years he had been in a public place. He watched people who were doing everything from forming parties to making and selling weapons. The market was full of people at stands trying to earn a few coppers. Users and NPCs both were shouting out product names and stating they had the best prices. "No restriction swords! cheapest you''ll find! 30 coppers!" "Custom made leather boots! 3 defense, 17 coppers! You won''t find boots so cheap in all of Versailles!" " I repair weapons and armor cheap!" "beginner copper sword! 29 coppers!" After sitting there awhile it was easy to tell who was getting ripped off, and who were the better con artists. It didn¡¯t take that much common sense to see it. Merchants would sell the same item as the person next to them at double the price. The players buying them still thought they were getting a deal. The scams around him further strengthened Baron''s belief that people were naturally stupid. At first he thought the stands around him selling food were also scams. ¡®What use is food in a game?¡¯ After a few hours of walking his satiety had dropped and he came to a realization about the food stands. ''They can''t just make you hungry without giving you food or money for it. Can they?'' He had almost no experience with video games. Now that he was thinking about it he had overheard some people talking about selling their starter bread. After a minute of experiments he found out how to open his inventory. He had 10 pieces of barley bread and a small canteen. He quickly took out the bread and began eating to quell his hunger. The first bite revealed the flavor of the bread: old, stale, and tasteless. He quickly spat out the bite and emptied his inventory of bread onto the ground. ''Like I would ever eat tasteless shit like that.'' The canteen was useful in rinsing the stale taste from his mouth, although he would have prefered pepsi. He put it back into his inventory and started to walk away. The people around him started laughing and whispering to each other. "The fuck you looking at?" At the threat people stopped laughing and seemed slightly taken aback. They could all tell he was a beginner, his actions proved that, however his presence as a barbarian coupled with his menacing attitude gave him the image of someone not to be messed with. All of the higher level users put their hands on their weapons in anticipation. There were a few combat profession users around level 6 in the crowd. Royal Road or RR had just came out 10 days ago in real life so this was a decent level. The highest leveled players at the time were all tied at 9. Baron decided to ignore them and just walk away. In the process he glanced back at the pile of bread he had dumped. Several beginners were fighting over it. ''Pathetic.'' The sky began to turn dark as night was getting close. The market was still as loud as ever with thousands of people doing business. He had spent the entire day doing nothing and never bothered to talk to anyone. Even the NPCs that reached out to him offering quests were ignored. He was never much of a people person. Life had taught him to never trust anyone, especially those you love. Every couple of hours a system message would pop up saying his satiety levels were dropping. He couldn''t care less about his stats that were falling, but his hunger was becoming unbearable. Without anything to do he had found a spot to sit and wallow in his starvation. He had been sitting there for over an hour just watching the people around him. At what must have been 10 or 11 pm a man in line for one of the nearby food stalls caught his attention. The man in line looked to be in his early teens, a boy really. What caught Baron¡¯s attention was the bag of coins in the boy¡¯s back pocket. Unlike most sensible users the boy didn''t leave his money in his inventory. It was a noob mistake that most users would pay dearly for. Baron hurried and got in line behind the boy. In the process he tripped and stumbled into the unsuspecting user. After a quick apology he quietly stood his place in line and waited for his food. The aroma was intoxicating, especially for someone who hadn''t eaten in a day, and Baron hadn¡¯t had anything good to eat in 10 years. Prison food sucked and he never got his last meal before the execution. After 3 minutes it was the boys turn to order. "I''ll take a half loaf of barley bread and a bowl of that stew." The boy was clearly excited by the tone of his voice. He went to grab his money only to find an empty pocket. "That''ll be 5 coppers: 1 for the bread, 2 for the stew, and 2 for the bowl." The stall worker began pouring the stew into a fresh bowl. If he tried to wash the bowls after customers ate then he wouldn''t get the bowls back, so instead he sold a bowl to each new customer. Users that frequented his stall would reuse the bowls and save the 2 coppers. This wasn''t only practical but it gave customers a reason to come back if his cooking skills didn''t. After pouring the stew and cutting the bread he looked up only to find his customer in tears. The boy frantically searched every pocket for the missing money. ''Typical.'' The vendor thought. "Look kid if you don''t have any money you don''t get any food. I ain¡¯t running no pity service." It may have been cruel but that''s what it takes to stay in business. The boy went through and rechecked each pocket for the missing money. He had just sold all of the loot he got from hunting rabbits. The hunt had taken nearly 6 hours and his profit from all the loot earned him over 50 coppers. He had planned to use the money to buy decent leather armor for his level. All of his efforts were fruitless and on top of that he was starving and had no money for food. "Here''s 5 coppers." Baron took a step forward. He opened his inventory and took out the money. There was 57 coppers in his inventory, so he thought the least he could do is buy the kid his food. The boy surprisingly had manners and referred to his savior as sir when he thanked him, all with tears in his eyes. The stall worker grabbed the 5 coppers and handed the boy his food. "That''s a nice thing you did." Said the cook as the boy walked away with his food. "It was nothing. Can I get 2 bowls of that stew?" When Baron got the food and ate he was disappointed. The food could be called a downgrade from what they served in prison. Still, he was starving and compared to the bread it was delicious. For the next 4 weeks Baron did nothing but sleep, pickpocket and eat. It wasn''t the most exciting lifestyle but it worked. He found a local inn that had rooms for 2 coppers. He went to the tavern once, but cursed his luck that they didn¡¯t serve alcohol. The profits from pick-pocketing were decent, but not enough to afford liquor. Since he usually targeted beginners it didn¡¯t always have the best payout. Most of the time it was around 5 coppers. 3 of those a day and food was paid for, however he usually stole from upwards of 20. The most he was able to get was from a merchant. The middle aged man had just spent the day selling goods and was on his way to buy his next stock. He had over 250 coppers in his purse. The money could have been exchanged for silvers, but since the game was new most trades didn''t surpass 100 coppers, so there was no need to switch. The third day after he arrived the amount of guards increased. Pick-pocketing was always a problem, however the amount of incidents had tripled. Most users didn''t have high pick-pocketing skill so they would never risk it in a major city. Since guards were so vigilant it would be better to train the skill somewhere without the chance of getting caught. Because of the amount of guards crime was low even in the ghettos. When they decided to increase the already large amount of guards it didn¡¯t matter much to Baron. In real life he had learned that crime really does pay. When he was 12 years old one of the high schoolers he would hang with taught him how to pickpocket. They would go into Chicago and use Baron¡¯s boyish charm to their advantage. He had gotten so good that by the time he was 15 he could walk down a street and clean multiple people¡¯s pockets. He got caught a couple times but that hadn¡¯t been his fault. For Baron pick-pocketing in the game was ten times easier than in real life. There were no security cameras, and people were generally less observant. After a couple of days he got the skill. It was a surprise to him that the game would support something illegal by making it a skill.
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
Pick-PocketingBeginner713%
Stealing less than 20 coppers is now nearly a guarantee. Large or valuable items are now easier to steal. Beware, users will be hostile if stolen from. Guards may attempt to arrest you. Guards may look the other way if you have increased familiarity or fame. Experience is gained 2.5x faster because of the users natural talent.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. By the end of the 4 weeks Baron had gotten to pick-pocketing beginner level 7. Unknown to him it was the highest level of any skill anyone had in the game. It was extremely rare for someone to get an experience multiplier because of natural talent. To get it you had to show skill befitting someone with advanced level in the skill or higher. Raising his skill level gave him something to relieve the boredom of life. Every so often he would get a notification saying his dexterity or fame had increased. When that happened he noticed his fingers would become more nimble. This allowed him to more easily take things from pockets. In the end he gained 42 points of dexterity and 104 points of fame. ''Fame? More like infamy.'' He thought as he checked his stat window. Due to his rising skill in pickpocketing he also managed to reach level 3. After several hundred people had their money stolen users began to put up their guard. It became much harder when users started protecting their goods. Baron would often hear people discussing the recent pick-pocketing epidemic. Much to his dismay they would encourage each other to hold their coins close, often times including bystanders in the conversation. The result was an area that was unworkable for several hours. Even still he was able to make 1500 copper (15 silver) by the end of the 4 weeks. Since he spent a fraction of what he stole the money just kept piling up. Although he hadn¡¯t earned the most money in the game, he was at the time one of the top 10 richest players in the game. Most other rich users had found some rare, high paying job the facilitated their increase in wealth. A few players were already making a name for themselves as artisans. Blacksmiths and tailors are always needed in games like this. Baron was contemplating whether or not to leave the city. A notification had just popped up declaring the end of his 1 month restriction to the city. He had no desire to hunt and get stronger, so he figured there was no need. Plus, it was about time for him to be logged out for his exam. He couldn¡¯t tell that anything had changed in his mental or physical condition in the past VR month. He was most surprised that he wasn¡¯t tired. He slept in the game but it was more out of habit than need. He never got tired in the game and sleeping never made him feel better. He was sitting near the fountain at the heart of the market. As usual there was a sea of people around. He had been sitting their for about an hour when a man walked up and sat next to him. The man could only be described as shady. He was wearing light leather armor all dyed black. A black hood covered his face to complete the look of a thief or assassin. Several knives and daggers of all sizes were sheathed in various places around his body. On his chest was a small crest of the thieves guild. The crest consisted of two crossed daggers behind a coin purse. The man spoke soft so that only Baron could hear him "To your right, 50 feet away there is a guy in light knights armor and a red shirt. He''s talking to 5 others.¡± Baron could find the guy easy enough. The guy was a user that looked to be around level 10. He had a decent broad sword on his back, that combined with the fact that he was in a group meant he was the worst possible mark. "Fuck off!" Unlike the guy from the thieves guild Baron made no attempt to speak softly. "That guy has a document I want. None of my men have the skill to pull of an advanced pickpocket like this. That''s why I came here looking for a little outside help." The thief retained his composure after Baron¡¯s outburst. After he said that a window popped up in Baron¡¯s view.
STEAL THE DOCUMENT A representative of the thieves guild has approached you asking for your help stealing a document. The document are the guild verification papers for the PK guild Blue Blood Brothers. The guild has made an enemy of the thieves guild and without the papers their guild will be disbanded. Difficulty: D Rewards: 2 Gold, Increased familiarity with the thieves guild Requirements: Recognized by the thieves guild as a good pickpocket The quest fails if you fail to steal the document in 1 hour, are caught stealing it, or die in the process. If the quest fails you will lose reputation as a good thief. The thieves guild will be less likely to hire your services in the future.
After reading the quest window Baron started to consider it. The reward was huge. 2 gold was several times more than what he earned in 4 weeks of pick-pocketing. In the end his greed clouded his better judgement. The mark was the leader of a notorious PK guild that had over 20 members. Being new to video games Baron had no idea what the definition of PK was and just brushed it off. He also had no concept of what a D level quest involved. No one had ever completed above a rank F quest in RR thus far. D rank quests are often given to players around level 75, not players like Baron at level 3. The reason he was offered it was because his pickpocketing skill would be considered average for a thief that level. Even still he had no hope in completing it. At that moment the guild leaders were having a meeting. They had just finished hunting and had come back to the market to sell their loot and enjoy coffee while they discussed the guild financials. "Give me 10 minutes... And have the gold ready." Baron decided it was worth the risk for 2 gold. He got up from where he was sitting and blended in with the crowd. 2 minutes later he started sprinting towards the mark. He wore an expression of fear as he ran at full speed. To onlookers he appeared to be just another user late for something. He brushed past several people shouting back apologies as he continued to run. As he approached the group containing the mark he continued to keep up the act. Running at full speed he brushed past the guild leader. The impact was enough to send the man to the ground. Baron shouted back an apology and continued running. However, after 2 steps a hand grabbed his shoulder throwing him onto his back. "Show some manors punk!" One of the other guild members had stopped him. Being thrown to the ground hurt a lot. It also dropped his HP by 25%.Baron slowly got up off his back. When he was close to his feet the mark came over and punched him in the stomach. After that the 6 users took turns hitting him. None of the blows did as much as the initial impact, but his HP was dropping fast. After about 5 minutes the group got bored and decided leave. ¡®Idiots. They didn¡¯t even realise I robbed them.¡¯ They had only gotten a few steps when the guild leader stopped everyone. "Wait! The guild verification papers are missing!" The group turned around and looked at Baron with renewed hatred.
Quest Failed Reputation as a thief has declined. Reputation with the thieves guild has declined. -50 Fame
The 6 guild member took back the document and started the beating again. This time they hit harder and at a faster pace. Baron cursed his luck as his HP hit 0. A message popped up alerting him to the negative effects of dying. He didn''t care about the skill progress or level lost. As he was logged out he cursed the world, promising to get revenge on the users who killed him. Growing up in the ghetto had given him a constitution around actions. The moment the Blue Blood Guild killed him, they became the target of his hate. They were the only people he could hate, and he wanted revenge. In place of the 1 day ban he only had to wait 5 minutes before respawning. He wasn¡¯t even logged out when it happened. He appeared in the exact location he had died. The guild had already left, however a couple of the people who had seen him die had some weird expression. He tried to find the guild members again, although he had no idea what he would be able to do. After about an hour of searching he gave up. He promised himself that he would kill them all if their paths ever crossed again. Around noon in game he was suddenly logged out and returned back to reality. They had told him he would be logged out in 1 week IRL and it had been a little longer. When his consciousness fully returned he was hit with wave after wave of pain. The light that seeped in as the capsule opened seemed to cause physical pain. Even with his eyes closed he was blinded by the light. He didn¡¯t dare attempt to move a single muscle as his entire body pulsed searing pain. He contemplated whether or not to breath as in intensified the pain several times. Several seconds went by and a couple people picked him up and placed him on a stretcher. The pain from being moved was worse than anything he had ever experienced before in his life. The people weren¡¯t gentle either. He could feel every bump as the stretcher was wheeled away. The light was still too much for him and he still couldn¡¯t see anything. All he could do is guess where they were going as they traveled farther and farther away. After a couple of minutes he came to a stop. His eyes were beginning to adjust and the faint shapes of several people started to come into focus. There were several more machines hooked up to his body Baron sat there for over an hour while the scientists ran numerous tests. The whole time he was in agonizing pain. Once he got accustomed to it he realized he was tired. More tired than he had ever been before. Several times he began to lose consciousness until he was awoken by the Major. Baron vowed to put the major onto his revenge list along with the Blue Blood Brothers. Baron wasn¡¯t the most coherent person, so he couldn¡¯t pay attention to what was being said or done. He did manage to catch a few words here and there, but most of it was gibberish to him. One thing he did manage to catch was something about his body reacting like it hadn¡¯t slept in a month rather than a week. He also caught the word placebo in there somewhere. After what felt like an eternity in hell he was carted back to the capsule. The IV and other wires were reconnected as he was placed inside. As the lid closed and all other stimuli were removed the pain started to subside. As his mind was ripped from reality and transferred to VR the pain completely left him. The feeling couldn¡¯t be compared to any drug he had ever taken. The absence of pain gave him a high that put the likes of heroin and ecstasy to shame. Baron found himself back in the market as he fully logged in. After having become accustomed to his weak body IRL he wasn¡¯t able to stand. Once he fell he didn¡¯t move for a while. It wasn¡¯t that he couldn¡¯t move. It was that he didn¡¯t want to He just layed there in the middle of the street. About 20 minutes later a guard came and checked on him. When he found out Baron wasn¡¯t dead he started yelling at him to get out of the road. Baron reluctantly listened and started roaming the market like he had for the past month. This time he wasn¡¯t looking for people to rob, but people to pay. In order to get revenge he needed to become stronger, and to do that he would need a weapon. There were plenty of users selling weapons below market price, but he wanted something better. During his 4 weeks in the city he had overheard many conversation and had acquired a lot of information about the game. Among the information were things he never would have thought of such as distributing stat points, monsters dropping loot, and how professions worked. He was also able to figure out what were considered decent swords and what weren¡¯t. He found a NPC stall that was selling one of the best swords he could get with his level. He spent an enormous sum of 95 coppers and bought one long sword and one short sword. He didn¡¯t know which sword would fit him better so he just bought both. He had once heard some users debating about what the best hunting grounds were. The general consensus had been the northern plains. When Baron arrived he was overwhelmed by the number of users. There were thousands of players in a never ending struggle with rabbits. The rabbit to player ratio was too low making it impossible to find anything to hunt. Baron started wandering around the plains looking for something to kill. A couple times he found a rabbit, only for it to be killed before he could walk the 20 feet to it. In search of mobs to kill he was forced to walk farther and farther away from the city. Eventually the players thinned out and he was able to find a rabbit. He equipped the long sword and charged. The rabbit looked unimpressed as it hopped out of the way. Before Baron could realize it the rabbit hopped into his stomach. A message telling him his HP hit 0 popped up as he died. ¡®Fucking Rabbits!¡¯ 5 minutes later he respawned exactly where he had died. The rabbit was still there and it eyed him suspiciously. He went to switch to the short sword when the rabbit suddenly attacked. He was caught off guard with both swords in his hands and was forced to block the deranged animals tackle. Just like with pickpocketing his added dexterity played a huge role as he effortlessly swung the sword. His wrists moved fluidly as he blocked everyone of the rabbits attacks. Several times he would slash instead of block. The rabbit¡¯s attack would be diverted and it would receive damage. After a few minutes of blocking and slashing with both the short and long sword the rabbit finally died. Baron was drenched in sweat from his low stamina being depleted. A messaged popped up alerting to a gain of two levels. Unknowingly Baron had killed a rabbit that was level 7. The reason most users stayed close to the city was because the mobs got stronger the farther out you go. Foxes were seen more frequently and eventually there were wolves in the forest. Being level 1 Baron had gotten an enormous amount of EXP. He distributed the stat points to strength, stamina and vitality. Since he was a barbarian he already had above average health, but it didn¡¯t hurt to raise it. He continued hunting and killed many more rabbits. Once he hit level 5 it started taking upwards of 20 rabbits to gain a level. He got weird looks from parties as he was the only solo player hunting the higher level mobs. One of the groups likely thought he was a high level and invited him to party up. He declined because the group looked suspicious. The most contact he had with other users so far was the guild that killed him, and he still had the prison mentality of being a loner. He really didn¡¯t feel like associating with people at that moment. His tactic of using both the short and long sword had developed to the point that he was started to get his own style. The rabbits rarely were able to hit him because of his Dextrous blocking. Twice a rabbit had managed to get around his guard, and twice his HP hit 0. Going from level 5, to level 3 was a huge set back. By the time he decided to go back to the inn and rest he still hadn¡¯t reached level 4 again. When he reached his bed he was surprised to find he didn¡¯t want to sleep. When IRL he couldn¡¯t stay conscious he was so tired, however in RR he had no fatigue. Even if he tried to sleep he would probably just end up lying there. Dismayed by the task in front of him he decided to skip sleeping and go hunt some more. Unlike in the real world where you needed to rest to regain strength. Here in RR all you needed to do was wait for your stamina to regenerate. Before he went to hunt he decided to sell his loot. He found a convenience store that would buy all 37 of his rabbit pelts for a copper a piece. He used the money to buy some food to take along with. He figured it would be tiring if he had to walk back everytime he got hungry. The food wasn¡¯t the best tasting but it would suffice. With renewed vigor he started Slaughtering innocent bunnies. He knew it was only a game and felt no remorse for his actions. The rabbits that had once looked at him with disinterest now gazed upon the barbarian with fear. As the night went on, 10s of rabbits died and Baron grew to level 4. His pace for hunting was much faster than any party around so he dominated the area. When a couple mobs would spawn they would be dead before any party could reach them. Monopolizing of an area was usually the work of a guild, however here was a solo player doing just that. Some of the parties in the area were started to get annoyed. They had finally leveled up enough to move towards better, less crowded game only for it to be stolen. One such party decided to confront Baron after witnessing him kill 2 rabbits that had just spawned. The party consisted of 3 member. 1 archer, and 2 warriors. Each of them had made it to level 6 before moving farther away from the city to hunt. They exerted caution as they approached Baron. From what they saw of him fighting they figured he was level 9 or 10. They were also slightly intimidated by his appearance. ¡°Hey What the hell are you doing? You think you own these hunting grounds or something?¡± One of the warriors decide to initiate conversation with Baron. Baron turned around to face the 3. They had only just started talking and he was already annoyed. Apparently his emotions were visible because the party was overcome with momentary fear. In an attempt not to look intimidated the warrior continued talking, only proving to annoy Baron more. ¡°If you¡¯re going to steal all the mobs the least you could do is give us the loot. I mean we could always make you give them to us, but wouldn¡¯t it just be simpler if you handed them over?¡± ¡®I really hate little people who think they¡¯re big.¡¯ Baron didn¡¯t say anything but he shifted his stance. The warrior took that as his cue and swung his sword at Baron. Compared to a rabbit¡¯s speed the sword seemed to be stationary. Baron was able to effortlessly knock it away, and hack at the player neck with his short sword. A message popped up telling him it was a critical hit and that his opponent was in a state of bleed. The other 2 players were too shocked to react as Baron added a few more strikes and their comrade¡¯s corpse faded away. Without pause Baron Continued to rain down damage on the remaining two. The warrior didn¡¯t have any idea of the concept of blocking so every one of Baron¡¯s strikes hit with full force. The archer attempted to fire an arrow, but in his stupidity he never created distance when the fight started. As the second warrior fell the archer was left in close quarters combat with nothing but a bow. Baron ruthlessly executed him as he knelt and begged for mercy. ¡®Pathetic!¡¯ It was a moment of ecstasy for Baron as he stood in the middle of the carnage. The bodies had faded, but their blood remained and it stained the ground around him. He was finally beginning to realize the thrills of virtual reality. Adrenaline had his heart beating faster than he could ever remember. How good it felt to kill these players made him wonder whether or not he actually did kill his friends 10 years ago. He contemplated just hunting people from now on. They were easy to kill and gave much more EXP than rabbits. The loot was also on a different level. One of the players had dropped leather boots. Since Baron hadn¡¯t bothered to buy armor he didn¡¯t have any foot wear. The only thing stopping him from hunting players was the warning message he got about its negative effects. Since the players had attacked him first he didn¡¯t get the murderers mark, but he had to be careful in the future. Because of the openness of the plains several parties had witnessed the event. Most of them were annoyed by Baron, however after what they saw none of them dared speak up. As far as they knew the person in front of them was one of the highest leveled players in the game. It wouldn¡¯t be worth it to lose their lives over something trivial. Party members discussed amongst themselves and decided to stay out of the way of the ruthless barbarian. Level 4 - 8 Baron had been hunting in the same spot for 3 days and managed to reach level 7. The EXP gap to the next level required more than 50 rabbits. The problem was the spawn rate of mobs. Baron was lucky if he could get 40 rabbits to spawn in a day. It was getting easier for him to predict where the rabbits would spawn. Although it was getting more efficient, there were also more people to contend with. As the game progressed players naturally got stronger. More and more parties started appearing in Baron¡¯s hunting ground. He had unintentionally claimed the land for himself after he killed the 3 players. Since then the parties in the area began avoiding him. There was a hill in the plains that no users dared visit, Baron¡¯s hill. That was untill all the new parties started coming. They hadn¡¯t been there to witness the carnage and had no clue about Baron. Some had heard rumors, but there weren''t that many people who believed it. They didn¡¯t think it was possible that the solo player stealing all their mobs was that much of a monster. Most parties consist of up to 5 players who level up together. They get stronger as a group and move on to new hunting grounds when everyone is ready. Usually it consists of friends from real life who get the game to play together. Some players who lack patience will form the largest party possible. They try to gather as many players as they can and move directly to the better hunting grounds. Since EXP is evenly distributed amongst the greater numbers, there is no difference in leveling speeds between the two strategies. The latter is however, much more dangerous as people become expendable. The players in the party usually don¡¯t have teamwork and end up sacrificing players to win. Still there were many examples of this present in the hunting grounds. One of these groups consisted of 17 users fresh out of their 1 month bans. Every member was either level 2 or 3 and had no fighting experience, but they insisted on hunting the highest leveled rabbits. The group had been hastily formed in in the past couple days. Most of the users didn¡¯t even know each others names. Still they had delusions of starting a guild and dominating the hunting grounds. They talked about becoming the strongest and dominating the game. By the time they reached Baron¡¯s hill they had already started to get annoyed by the lack of mobs. There hadn¡¯t been a single rabbit in the past half hour of searching. They finally decided to go where no other parties were and try their luck. They were suspicious at first that there was an area so large without people, however they determined it was just luck after seeing Baron. If there was one person there then it wasn¡¯t because something was wrong with the place. They continued their search for another 20 minutes before getting mad. They failed to find a single rabbit, but every time they looked at Baron he was locked in battle. The leader of the party was hot headed and decided to confront the barbarian. He was currently the closest barrier they needed to break on their road to controlling the hunting grounds. Baron had been watching the group for a while. It wasn¡¯t often that people got so close to him. Baron had memorised the mob spawns in the area and continued killing every rabbit. After a while he noticed the group was approaching. He didn¡¯t turn around and face them, or even acknowledge they were coming. When they got close they started calling out to him. ¡®When will these bastards learn?¡¯ ¡°Hey you! Big guy!¡± The party leader and the groups tank came closer to Baron while the rest of the party stayed about 20 feet away. Baron kept walking and paid no attention to the disrespectful calls. A tank is a player who has high health and protects the rest of the party. They are usually heavier classes like knights who can wear heavy armor. Most carry a shield to reduce the damage they take. Baron would be classified as a tank. Barbarians have naturally high health which makes them perfect for the role. ¡°Yo! Idiot! Look at me when I¡¯m talking to you!¡± They player was clearly upset at being ignored. Baron had his reasons though. They were annoying him, and he was secretly hoping they would attack. The last fight he had with users had been like a drug and he was currently experiencing withdrawals. Half of him just wanted to turn around and take the guys head off, but he had to wait. It would be a problem if he got the murderers mark. It was better to wait for them to attack first. ¡°The big bitch is too scared to even look at us!¡± The party¡¯s tank picked up a rock and through it at the back of Baron¡¯s head. They reached a new level of anger as Baron didn¡¯t react at all. Just like before he kept casually walking, although inside he was overflowing with bloodlust. The user who had just thrown the rock was pissed. He unsheathed his broad sword with a loud clang of metal. As he was went to slash, Baron turned around to face him. The player attacking him was also a barbarian, although he was shorter and didn¡¯t have as much muscle definition. The sword he swung was much larger than Baron¡¯s short sword, however that didn¡¯t make much difference as it was parried with ease. In one fluid motion Baron¡¯s second sword slashed a wound from shoulder to waist of his aggressor. The parties tank faded away after 1 hit. The player was only level 3 so his health was miniscule. The party leader was only a couple of feet away. With 1 stride and a leap Baron covered the distance and landed a critical hit. His short sword pierced the players neck from above and dropping his HP to 0. Compared to rabbits, users were slower, weaker, and had less health. ¡°If you guys are going to attack me, at least put in some effort!¡± Baron was beyond pissed and couldn¡¯t help himself from taunting the rest of the party. The other 15 players were standing 20 feet away watching it all go down. After the first death the 9 warriors left sprung into action. Most of them had swords, with a couple brandishing an ax or mace. They attempted to surround Baron to no avail. Without rest he lashed out at the players. The first player he targeted was nearly 2 feet shorter than him. The man had a shield along with an ax. He stopped in front of Baron and began to say something. He was cut short as Baron slashed the air in front of him. The player block with his shield but was knocked to the ground. Baron was forced to turn his attention away as 3 more fighters closed in. They attempted to attack in unison but had no coordination to speak of. Every swing and thrust was easily blocked by Baron¡¯s high dexterity. His feet rarely moved, but his swords seemed to dance around the enemies. The 3 fighters were dead in seconds. Without letting up Baron turned and sliced the throat of a player trying to backstab him. One of the groups mages cast a fireball spell. Baron was oblivious and took the hit directly. In his confusion he also took 2 hits from a players sword. All 3 hits combined lowered Baron¡¯s health by half. Once he gained composure he dealt with the pesky player that had slashed him. Realizing the situation Baron ignored the remaining 4 warriors and began an assault on the groups mages, cleric, and archers. The 6 players that belonged to the 3 classes didn¡¯t have a chance in a melee. With 6 strikes 6 players faded away. At level 2 they all had next to no health. All that remained were 4 level 3 warriors. They were hesitant as Baron stopped his rampage for the first time. Of the players remaining: 2 of them were shaking, and another was still on the ground. The last of the 4 decided to run away. The first 2 players Baron killed were the groups best fights. Without them or the clerics, there was no hope. ¡®That ones not worth my effort.¡¯ The 3 that were left began begging and pleading. Baron had slight de-ja-vu as he mercilessly executed them. He was still caught in the ecstasy of battle and wasn¡¯t thinking straight yet. During the fight he lost himself in bliss. With all his focus on the carnage he didn¡¯t pay attention to much else. He hadn¡¯t even seen the numerous parties in the vicinity who were watching. He was just standing there in the middle of the red soaked scene. Blood covered his arms and was splattered around his body. ¡®What a wonderful image.¡¯ He thought as he sheathed his long sword on his back and the short sword on his waist. He turned his attention to the windows that popped up.
You¡¯ve gained a level! You are now level 8! +5 stat points available
You have received the murderers mark. Despite being attacked first, your ruthless way of handling the situation has been noticed by the city guards. Guards in Sai will arrest you on sight. Guards in all of the Gradian Kingdom will be weary of you. The murderers mark will appear above your head for all users to see. The mark will disappear after 1 week or after a sizeable donation is made to a church. For recieveing the murderers mark for the first time: +50 Fame Increased Reputation among the Infamous
New Title Acquired: 15-Man Slayer Number of players with this title: 2 Requirements: Kill 15+ players No outside help All players must be within 10 levels of each other Effects: +100 Fame Increased reputation as a fighter +50 Fame for being in the first 10 to acquire this title +15 stat points available for distribution
You have been recorded by a player¡¯s in game camera. Do you give permission to the player to use this footage?
Baron read and closed each message. The one about the murderers mark made him a little upset. He only had enough food left for another day and would need to venture back to the city to buy some. The thing about the title made up for it though. Just the sound of The 15-Man Slayer Baron sounded badass to him. As for the thing about being recorded he didn¡¯t mind. If anything it was a way to upset the scientist back in real life. He quickly accepted it in case they were planning to take control of his system and decline. ¡®I might as well make their lives hell. I¡¯m just returning the favor after all.¡¯ It could have been anyone of the numerous parties around that recorded it. Who ever it was Baron wanted to thank them. He had been trying to think of a way to annoy his captors but hadn¡¯t thought of anything until now. They had warned him not to tell people about his situation, however he had no control over whether or not people took videos of him. It was a loophole in the plan that he intended to fully exploit. Now that he couldn¡¯t return to Sai he only had the option of going to another city. He had heard that the city of Gorn was a little over 10 hours away by foot. A few players had managed to make the trek, although it was dangerous because of the number of foxes on the trail. Baron hadn¡¯t fought a fox yet but he was confident they wouldn¡¯t be too strong. The average fox was around level 10. The highest leveled players in the game were at level 12. For them foxes were their main source of EXP, however most of them hunted rabbits till level 10. At that point they would be able to match the fox in most areas of combat. Players at level 8, like Baron, normally wouldn¡¯t have a chance, but Baron did start killing level 7 rabbits at level 1. There was a main road coming out of the Sai¡¯s north gate. The road was said to be around 17 miles and cut around the mountains and to the city of Gorn. The mountains in the area were surrounded by massive forests that were home to wolves. Taking a shortcut through wasn¡¯t an option because of their high levels. Baron would be dead seconds after getting into a fight with a wolf. The road didn¡¯t have that many people on it. Even for it being early morning it still seemed deserted. Every 10 minutes or so Baron would cross paths with an NPC merchant or adventurer. Some of them gave him dirty looks as he walked past. He ignored them and kept walking. He ran into a fox during the first hour. Baron was disappointed by its strength. The fox was much faster than the rabbits, but its health, attack and defense were the same. Baron only took 2 hits before landing a critical hit and finishing it. The EXP it gave was significantly more, but that didn¡¯t matter to him. He was looking for the thrill of battle. No matter what he tried Baron couldn¡¯t get the same feel as killing players. After several hours of waking Baron could see something in the distance. At first it was just a speck on the road, but as he kept walking it came into focus. It was a person, a girl, fighting a fox in the middle of the road. The girl didn¡¯t have a weapon and the fox was clearly winning. Once he was in earshot Baron could hear the girl shouting, although he couldn¡¯t make out what was being said. He kept walking at the same pace. The girl and fox were slowly getting closer and closer until Baron was standing in front of them. They payed no attention to him and continued their brawl. At this distance Baron could easily make out what the girl was saying. ¡°I command you to STOP!¡± This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°Don¡¯t hit me again or else I¡¯ll¡­¡± ¡°YOU¡¯RE NOT LISTENING TO ME!!¡± After a minute of fighting and yelling the fox was one attack away from killing the girl. It had knocked her down and darted forward to bite her ankle. When it was inches away Baron¡¯s sword sword swung down and cleaved the fox in two. It faded away as Baron received a message about the EXP. ¡°WHAT DID YOU JUST DO!!¡± The girl quickly got to her feet and started yelling at Baron. She didn¡¯t seem fazed at all by the fact her HP was nearly 0. Baron Didn¡¯t know why but he started yelling back. ¡°I JUST SAVED YOUR LIFE!!¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± The girls demeanor changed at Barons flawless logic. She had indeed been on the verge of death, however she hadn¡¯t realized. ¡°Either way you owe me a fox. I could¡¯ve still tamed it if you didn¡¯t interfere.¡± The girl quickly came up with a come back. ¡°What are you talking about? It was about to kill you. There was no chance for you to kill it.¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t trying to kill it! I¡¯m a beast tamer. I was trying to control it, you idiot!¡± By this time she was close to Baron attempting to yell in his face. She was tall for a human at over 6 foot, but Baron still had a head on her. He was surprised she wasn¡¯t scarred by the murderers mark above his head. Most users wouldn¡¯t risk upsetting a murderer. Especially if it was a girl alone in the middle of no where. ¡°Because of you all my hard work taming it is lost. Now you¡¯re going to help me tame another. It¡¯s only fair.¡± Baron didn¡¯t understand her reasoning, but for some reason he went along with it. ¡®Maybe it¡¯s because she¡¯s pretty?¡¯ She started walking away. When she walked about 10 feet she turned around. ¡°ARE YOU COMING OR WHAT?¡± She yelled at Baron who hadn¡¯t taken a step. ¡®What the hell have I gotten myself into?¡¯ Baron caught up with her and they began walking down the road together. It was silent between the two for awhile until she initiated conversation. ¡°Hey whats your name? Or do I just call you big guy.¡± ¡°Baron, and you?¡± ¡°Avrice. I¡¯m a beast tamer, and you?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have a profession.¡± ¡°You should become a knight... or a paladin. That would be cool! Actually, I think you¡¯re too scary to be a paladin. You kind of have to look, you know, like you would save people and not eat them.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t eat people.¡± ¡°No, you just look like you do. You¡¯re like 7 feet tall, muscular, and you have dried blood on your shirt. It kind of looks like you eat people.¡± Baron had washed the blood off after his last fight, however it never came out of his shirt. Baron decided to ignore her and the conversation ended. He didn¡¯t know what to think about this girl. She openly spoke her mind in front of someone with the murderers mark. It was obvious she had no fighting skills so if Baron wanted he could have killed her with ease. She was lucky he wasn¡¯t a real player killer. They didn¡¯t walk in silence the entire time. Avrice would strike up a random conversation here and there. She was constantly reminding Baron of his duties. He had to help her tame an animal as payment for saving her life. It wasn¡¯t the most fair trade. They came across several foxes while walking. Avrice attempted to tame them to no avail. After her 4th failed attempt Baron started killing them before she had a chance. He was beginning to get annoyed and Avrice¡¯s whining wasn¡¯t making it any better. He wasn¡¯t able to find enough mobs to raise his level before they arrived at Gorn. He was planning to slow his walking pace and hunt more but Avrice hadn¡¯t let him. Now that he was in the city he needed to sell off his loot and buy some food. Avrice decided she wanted to go to the tamers guild, and so she insisted Baron register her as a friend so they could keep in touch. She reminded him again of his duty to help her, so he couldn¡¯t refuse. Not that he really wanted to. He thought Avrice was beautiful, even if she was annoying at times. After 10 years in prison he would take anything he could get. The city of Gorn looked almost identical to Sai. They were often referred to as twin cities for this reason. Aside from geographical differences there weren¡¯t many differences. Gorn only had mountains to the north, unlike Sai that was surrounded on 3 sides. The layouts of the streets was so similar that Baron had no problem finding his way around. Gorn wasn¡¯t a city available to start in, so the amount of players was a lot lower. Players could hitch a ride with a caravan from Sai, but that was either expensive or dangerous. Of the over 10,000 players who had started in Sai only about 200 had came to Gorn. The market wasn¡¯t nearly as crowded although there were still many NPC stands catering to NPC customers. Baron window shopped for a while before deciding on a store to sell his loot. It was starting to get dark so he hoped the stores would still be open. He had over 100 rabbit pelts and a couple fox pelts. He was able to get a decent sum of 124 coppers. Subtracting the food he bought he made a profit of 78 coppers. It wasn¡¯t close to what he would make pickpocketing, but he was also able to level up so it didn¡¯t matter. He was pretty sure the store keeper offered him less money because of the murderers mark. The mark reduced their already nonexistent familiarity to less than nothing. He spent some more time walking around the market before finding a tavern to get some food. He had been eating preserved jerky for a couple days and it didn¡¯t satisfy his palette. The tavern didn¡¯t exactly have high quality food, but it was made by a chef. He got some sausage and stew which cost 85 coppers. With that meal alone he spent more than he had earned in the past 4 days. He was in the mood to splurge and decided to get some alcohol as well. Each pint cost 47 coppers and he planned to get drunk. Aside from food Baron didn¡¯t have any expenses in game, and had decided there was no use for the riches he¡¯d been saving. In total he still had 1500 coppers and no qualms about wasting it. The first beer the waitress brought he downed in one go. Even though he wasn¡¯t of age before he was arrested he was still an avid drinker. It had been 10 years since he tasted alcohol and it was much better than he remembered. That with the good food made this one of the best nights he had had in his entire adult life. He was surprised to find TVs in the tavern. He hadn¡¯t been to the tavern in Sai so this was new information for him. The TVs were for people in game to watch real life Royal Road broadcasts. The one currently playing had an attractive female host and was going over player accomplishments. Since the game was a little over 2 weeks old players were beginning to do things. Baron chuckled when they talked about the player with the world record for highest skill level. He had gotten his archery mastery skill to beginner level 6 after only 2 months in game. Baron had already achieved beginner level 7 in pickpocketing and it only took him 1 month. They also talked about someone considered the richest player in the game, however he only had 400 coppers more than Baron did before he started buying food. The biggest news they covered was about the highest leveled player, Bad Ray. Although he wasn¡¯t the only player at level 13 he was the first. They showed a video of him fighting another player in a duel. At the time both players were level 12, but there was an evident skill gap. Every move his opponent made was in vain. Bad Ray¡¯s sword was able to bypass the other players defense with every attempt. The fight only last 45 seconds until the goal of 25% health was reached. Watching the fight Baron couldn¡¯t help but get excited. He had grown to love fighting. The strong opponent he just saw gave him another reason to get stronger. He cursed his luck that Bad Ray hadn¡¯t started in Gradian and ordered a 4th pint from the waitress. While drowning his sorrows the topic switched on the TV. The host began talking about a video that started going viral just a few hours earlier. Apparently it had almost 100,000 views and had started trending. She gave a warning about the clip containing violence right before the screen changed to that of a user in RR. In the clip it was still dark, however you could see the sun beginning to rise in the background. The user was looking down at a group of about 20 users. All of their faces were blurred except one. When Baron took a closer look he realised it was him. It was confirmed when the fight started to play out exactly like it had earlier that day. Baron watched as he killed the first two and moved onto his next victim. He started to get weird looks in the tavern as people recognized it was him. The clip ended and the hosts voice came back. ¡°What a monster.¡± Baron couldn¡¯t help himself and started laughing as hard as he could. He had hoped to annoy the scientists with the clip, but this was on another level. He could just imagine the balding man in a labcoat screaming profanity at the TV. Then firing the people who were supposed to monitor Baron in game. If this show was airing inside RR it was likely a major show in real life as well. Baron hadn¡¯t changed the face of the avatar, so he still looked like the death row inmate whose face was on the news countless times. ¡®Out of the millions of people watching, what are the chances of someone recognizing me? HAHA those fucking labcoats are screwed.¡¯ ¡°Pretty good with a sword there.¡± The man sitting next to Baron at the bar started talking to him. He was a middle aged man that had the appearance of a drunkard. He also slurred a little when he spoke. The man took another swig of his beer before continuing. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m not gunna give you shit for killing them. Those whiny bastards had it coming. There isn¡¯t a real man in this kingdom who would call you out for that.¡± The man drunkenly raised his glass for a toast. When Baron didn¡¯t participate he took a big gulp before slamming it back onto the table. ¡°I doubt the city guards see it that way.¡± ¡°Like I said, any real man wouldn¡¯t give it a second thought. Those Gradian dogs all have a stick up their asses. I¡¯ve fought along side them all my life. Even in battle they¡¯re worried about the enemies rights. Give me a break. War is war, and there is no mercy in war.¡± The old man was clearly drunk as he chugged the last of his alcohol. ¡°Hey bartender! Get me and this here fella another round!¡± He shouted at her across the tavern. She didn¡¯t look too pleased as she excused herself to a customer. Baron and the old man, whose name was Barry, had a couple more pints together. Barry was in good spirits after finding a drinking buddy and started recounting war stories. He had been a member of one of the top mercenary guilds on Versailles. They were a NPC guild considering the timeline was before the game became open to players. In the guilds prime they had over 500 member and were one of the main military powers in the kingdom of Haven. Barry was careful not to reveal too much information. Baron couldn¡¯t tell if it was just a touchy subject or if he was hiding something. Baron thought it was odd he never mentioned the name of the guild. He did however, mention that the guild was nearly destroyed. At the time he was the commander of a 100 man unit, and 11th in terms of rank in the guild. After one battle he had become the highest ranking member still alive. It wasn¡¯t mentioned how many others survived, but Baron got the impression there weren¡¯t many more. He went on for over an hour talking about the whole thing. He talked a little about tactics they used and unique fighting styles he had come across. Some of it was useful, but most wasn¡¯t. By the end of his stories he was close to passing out from all the beer. ¡°Well now that you know my story, what do you say I hire you for a fight or two? I¡¯ve seen you fight and you¡¯re not half bad. Hell, you can probably just stand there and our enemies will piss themselves while they run away.¡± The drunkard burst out laughing before continuing.¡±I got a job lined up but I don¡¯t have the manpower to do it yet. I¡¯m gunna try to get a couple more people like you before heading out in a week or so. What do you say?¡±
Barry¡¯s Mercenary Job The mercenary Barry has offered you a job. He hasn¡¯t specified what it is but he is recruiting multiple people before starting in a week or so. Difficulty: F Rewards: Payment equal to contribution Requirements: Proved to be a decent fighter. Listened to Barry¡¯s story.
¡°I¡¯ll be there.¡± Baron was slightly reserved because of the last quest he took, but Barry wasn¡¯t nearly as shady as the thieves guild representative. ¡°Good, meet me at the west exit of the city in 10 days.¡± Barry picked up the full beer he had just ordered and walked out of the tavern with it. He could barely walk as he stumbled out of the building. Baron paid the waitress what he owed. Since every beer after his 4th was covered by Barry he didn¡¯t owe as much as he expected. Even though he had drank enough to puke, he was barely tipsy. The only reason for this he could think was the change in body size. In Royal Road he was a foot taller and weighed twice as much as he did in real life. ¡®This game is so realistic it¡¯s annoying.¡¯ Level 8 - 15 Baron left the tavern and went to hunt. He was annoyed he wasn¡¯t able to get drunk and just felt like hunting. There was only 10 days before he had to go with Barry so he thought it would be a good idea to train more. At level 8 he was in the top 10% of players, but that wasn¡¯t good enough. He was sure the Blue Blood Brothers were higher than that. After all, revenge was still his main objective. The hunting grounds around Gorn were devoid of weak rabbits. Even right next to the city gates the high level bunnies were gathered in force. Compared to Sai that was over crowded with users, there was an abundance of mobs. Baron was the only one in the entire hunting ground. By the end of 3 hours he had killed as many rabbits as he would have in a day at Sai. A little further out of the city there were foxes. Some were at higher levels, but they didn¡¯t give Baron any trouble. Having two swords increased the speed of his counter attacks. A foxes ability to dodge is there strength, but Baron¡¯s fighting style took that from them. No matter where a fox would dodge his second sword would be there waiting. He was careful not to wander too far from the city. Once the forest begins wolves start attacking. The lowest level possible for a wolf is 15. For common wolves you would find in normal forests the highest they can go is around 30. The Versailles Continent was thought to have many different species of wolves likely getting all the way up into the hundreds of levels. The problem is that the high and low level wolves mix together. At his level Baron wouldn¡¯t be able to handle one. He would have no hope if attacked by a pack. Packs could be anywhere from 3 to 500 wolves, or even more. Since they are smart animals they can even use tactics when fighting. For any beginner it would be nearly impossible to fight one by themselves, or even in a small group. Baron spent the next 4 days hunting foxes in the area. Because of the lack of competition he was able to level at an incredible speed. In the first day alone he was able to level up one and a half times. He went up 5 levels total, ending on 13. Each level he put all his stat points into strength, endurance, and vitality. He also noticed that as he kept using the two swords, his dexterity continued to rise. Since he killed the first rabbit it had been steadily increasing. At 83 it was his highest stat, aside from his health which was past 200. As his dexterity got higher it got easier and easier to one hand the long sword. The short sword was very natural, but the long sword had been awkward to use at first. With such high dexterity 50% of his strikes landed without a problem. The only reason he had to stop hunting was because Avrice sent him a whisper. She had finished the basic training at the tamers guild and wanted him to repay his debt. They were set to meet at the hunting grounds. Baron arrived on time, but Avrice was already there and waiting. ¡°Why are you late?¡± She had the same demeanor as the first time they had met. ¡°I¡¯m on time! Why are you early?¡± ¡®It doesn¡¯t even matter if I¡¯m right does it?¡¯ Baron had been thinking about Avrice the whole time he was hunting. He just couldn¡¯t figure her out. One second she was cheerful and the next she was yelling. He really didn¡¯t know her yet. Unlike his childhood friends there was no way to judge her. What she looked like IRL, how she lived, what hardships plagued her, were all questions he couldn¡¯t answer. Everyone is atleast slightly two-faced. But without knowing what stereotypes Avrice fit in, Baron didn¡¯t know how to act. Anything he said could potentially offend her. ¡°Well¡­ Lets hurry and go find a fox. I¡¯ve been waiting a while for this.¡± Thankfully it wasn¡¯t too hard to find a fox. Baron already knew where they would spawn. The first one they came across looked to be closer to a pup then an adult. Baron expected her to start screaming at the fox like she did before, but he was proven wrong. The first thing Avrice did was take out food. The fox was caught off guard when the treat was thrown in front of him. It wasn¡¯t very trusting and quickly backed off. She didn¡¯t seem discouraged and threw another treat towards the mob. This went on for several minutes until the fox ate the first treat. It had been gaining courage for a while before attempting to eat it. The treat was so delicious that the fox hesitantly began eating from the heap of treats strewn about. Avrice got a glimmer in her eyes as she took out a different kind of food. Instead of the jerky she had been throwing, this was a chicken leg. Even Baron¡¯s mouth started watering when she brought it out. The fox saw the food and went to approach Avrice. Before he got too close he stopped himself and resumed his fighting stance. Avrice threw the chicken leg in front of the fox. Like a thief it grabbed the chicken leg and ran away. ¡°Fucking shit!¡± What little bit of class Avrice had disappeared as she started spewing profanity at the fox. Baron was a little envious of the fox. It got the delicious looking food and managed to escape Avrice unharmed. The next several foxes Avrice attempted to catch just stole her food and left. One of them even attacked her and then ran away with the chicken leg. Baron was doing everything he could not to laugh. It was hilarious how the fox got the better of her every time. Towards noon she finally got a fox to stay after she gave it the chicken leg. Her attitude did a 180 as she went from annoyed to ecstatic. The rest of her process involved feeding the fox more and more food. Each time she would throw it closer and closer to herself until the fox had to take it from her hand. It was reluctant but took the food and ate happily. Avrice spent another 10 minutes feeding the fox various treats from her hand before attempting to pet it. The fox was very timid but opened up to her. ¡°Your name is Fox 1.¡± Avrice said it in a very happy tone as she stroked the fox who had no idea what she was saying. Baron couldn¡¯t believe she had such horrible taste in names. ¡®It¡¯s so bad I almost believe its on purpose.¡¯ He was sitting several feet away from the them. He had found out quickly that his job in all of this was to kill the fox if it attacked. If he tried to help with the taming process he would only frighten the animal. ¡°Baron come over here and feed it.¡± ¡°What? I thought you said I¡¯d just scare them away.¡± ¡°This one already trusts me. I just need it to trust other people now. If it can trust you it will trust anyone.¡± Baron reluctantly walked over to the fox. It attempted to flee but was held in place by Avrice¡¯s aggressive petting. Baron sat on the ground next to them and pulled out some chicken. The fox was showing its teeth but he didn¡¯t scare Baron. If he wanted, Baron could¡¯ve killed it with just his hands. The fox attempted to refuse the chicken, but Baron was persistent. After dangling it in front of the foxes face for a while, it finally indulged. After that it readily took all the food Baron was willing to give out. It took another half hour but they finally ran out of food. Avrice stood up and told Baron they were going to the market to buy more. It was part of Fox 1¡¯s training to get used to crowds. The market was a little more than just a crowd, but that would only speed up the process. They walked back to the city gate with the fox trailing a few feet behind. They only passed 3 players on the way and got dirty looks from all of them. When they passed through the gate the guards informed them of the rules of having a pet in the city. It was mostly predictable things. Avrice would have to take responsibility for anything it did. Since it wasn¡¯t completely trained the fox needed to be held or leashed to prevent incidents. Since they didn¡¯t have a leash and the fox was too big for Avrice to hold, the task fell on Baron. Similar to a cat, the fox sat on Baron¡¯s shoulder. It would¡¯ve been too big to do with a normal person, but his broad shoulders made it possible. When they walked into the market the fox became spooked. He dug his claws into Baron, who attempted to suppress his anger. After a while of just walking around the fox loosened its grip. Avrice bought some more treats and food from a vendor. She got a pretty decent deal because the food wasn¡¯t up to the standards of human consumption. It was several days old and had a strange odor. She gave some of it to Fox 1 who happily ate. Avrice didn¡¯t tell Baron why but they continued to wander through the market. Eventually they came to a specialized weapon shop. The building was big enough to hold around 20 people. Since it was a building and not a vendor, the merchandise was likely of higher quality. The shop seemed to sell hunting related items. A plethora of bows lined the walls, and several types of traps were on display. At the counter there was also several other types of items: various hunting knives, mob attracting incense, tracking equipment. A man behind the counter greeted them when they walked in. ¡°Hello, what can I do for you today?¡± ¡°I¡¯m looking to sell this fox.¡± Avrice¡¯s response left Baron speechless for a second. She took the fox from Baron¡¯s shoulder and placed it on the counter in front the shop keeper. The fox was oblivious to the situation. It just sniffed its surrounding out of curiosity. ¡°What level of training does it have?¡± The man looked the fox over. He checked the mouth, eyes, fur, and nose thoroughly. ¡°Its only tier 1. I caught it earlier today, so I haven¡¯t had time to train it any further.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll give you 150 coppers as is. Bring it back later with tier 2 training and I¡¯ll make it 350. There aren¡¯t many people looking for an untrained pet. It¡¯s a little on the old side as well which will make it harder to sell.¡± ¡°175 and it¡¯s yours.¡± Avrice tried her hand at bargaining, but it wasn¡¯t her strong suit. Her pretty face couldn¡¯t be taken seriously. ¡°Sorry, can¡¯t do. I gotta make a profit here as well.¡± ¡°How about a trade?¡± The shopkeeper was a little more intrigued. ¡°Go on.¡± ¡°I need a hunting knife and a whip.¡± He thought for a moment before going into the display case under the counter. He took out one of the least expensive knives. It was about a foot long with a single edged blade. The hilt was covered in leather that was worn and stained. The edge looked slightly dulled and had nicks in it. Overall it was an average, used hunting knife. He also went to one of the walls and took down a tattered old whip. It was in better condition than the knife. The whip was made of black leather. It to was used, evident by the cracks already forming on the hard leather. It was one of the shorter whips on the wall, but not the worst. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°The knife is worth 35 coppers and the whip is priced at 120. This is the best I can do.¡± ¡°Deal.¡± Avrice didn¡¯t waste any time before accepting. The man took the fox and went into the back of the shop. He placed it into a cage along with a bowl of water. The fox who had been oblivious was starting to get an idea of the situation. ¡°If you¡¯re feeling up to it could I offer the two of you a job? I can tell you¡¯re not an experienced tamer, but I¡¯m in need. ¡°Whats the job?¡± Avrice tried to hide the excitement in her voice, but it was clearly evident. ¡°Viscount Theo of Gorn came here about a week ago. He asked if I had come across a wolf with tier 2 training. Unfortunately, I haven¡¯t seen the such in many years. He didn¡¯t specifically ask that I search for one, however, I would like to get his favor. I¡¯ve heard he is a hunter of great skill. If a noble like him starts coming here I might be able to retire early.¡±
ACQUIRE A WOLF The owner of a hunting store in Gorn has asked you to get a wolf with tier 2 training. Viscount Theo of Gorn is searching for one, and the shop owner wishes to win his favor. Difficulty: E Rewards: Twice the market value of the wolf Requirements: At least tier 2 training The owner of a hunting store in Gorn has asked you to get a wolf with tier 2 training. Viscount Theo of Gorn is searching for one, and the shop owner wishes to win his favor.
¡°We¡¯ll accept!¡± Avrice accepted the quest for the both of them. She didn¡¯t even read the discription. Baron didn¡¯t really want to accept. He already had the quest with Barry. Also, he didn¡¯t know if it would be possible for Avrice, who struggled taming a fox, to tame a wolf. Even if they did have 2 months, he wasn¡¯t confident at all. ¡°Thank you! Have that wolf here in 60 days and I¡¯ll compensate you handsomely.¡± The shop owner seemed excited. He had likely been searching for someone to give the quest to for a while. Since there weren¡¯t many players in Gorn he wouldn¡¯t have gotten many chances. After they left the shop Baron had Avrice explain the taming system to him. Basically, she said that a mobs level of training is represented by a tier. Tier 1 involves the basics. Things such as: Don¡¯t kill me, Don¡¯t kill my party member, are included in it. Tier 2 is similar just more in depth. After that, the training can change. Specializations in certain areas change the training program. Specializations can be anything from hunting and fighting, to artisan crafts. It all depends on the type of monster, and type of trainer. How long it takes to achieve the next tier varies in the same way, however, it always gets longer the higher the tier. Avrice came up with a plan. Since Baron had to leave in 5 days for his quest with Barry, they would just tame a wolf before then. At her low level it would be nearly impossible to go head to head with a wolf. Baron was the key to both surviving and success. There wouldn¡¯t be any point without him. They decided to start with foxes so Avrice could gain battle experience. She had never been in a proper battle and still needed to test out her whip. Avrice soon found out how difficult it is to aim a whip. The first couple foxes they came across nearly killed her before Baron stepped in. The whip had a range of 5 feet, but was very unruly. Whenever she tried to swing it one direction, it would go the other. Very rarely was she able to get the whip to snap. After a couple hours her level was starting to rise steadily. Her and Baron started using teamwork to hunt. Baron would tank and block while Avrice dealt the damage. It was a very inefficient strategy, but it worked to increase her skills. Baron and Avrice started getting better at small talk. Although Avrice was the type to never stop talking, Baron was much more reserved. Now that they were spending so much time together he was forced to talk. Mainly to eliminate any awkward silence. By the next day Avrice could handle a weak fox by her self. She finished learning the basics of the whip, along with the skills associated with it. It all made it so her skills considerably increased. Baron was the opposite. The hunting was slow for him so he barely got any exp. He was able to gain a level only because he was so close. His skill proficiencies were already decently high so they didn¡¯t change. Once he started hunting in Gorn he managed to acquire a few skills related to combat.
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
Sword Mastery (Passive)Beginner232%
Allows for more skilled sword play. Increase the level for further benefits. Certain professions raise the rate that experience is gained. 5% increase in damage while using a sword 2% increase in attack speed while using a sword
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
Fighters stance (Active)Beginner17%
Fighting with a proper stance is what seperates the skilled from the average. A correct stance allows for better strength, speed, and resilience in battle. It is the core of all fighting styles. Combat related skills gain ecperience 1% faster. 5% increase in defense 5% increase in attack damage 5% increase in attack speed Opponent is less likely to land a critical hit all status effects caused by physical actions are 10% less likely. Cost: 1.2x stamina consumption for the duration of use
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
Unexpected Reach (Active)Beginner313%
By switching between weapons with different reaches it is possible to catch the enemy off guard and land a critical hit. Using it in succession will result in a decreased chance of working. 10% increase in critical hit chance 25% chance of putting your opponent into a confused state Costs: 50 manna
Sword mastery seemed like it would be a very common skill, but it was still very effective. The fighters stance skill was a mystery to him. Since it was an active skill he needed to activate it, however he had no idea how to do that. The 7% of experience he had gained was completely out of luck. If he could figure out how to use it, the skill would likely be very useful though. Unlike Fighters Stance, Unexpected Reach was a skill he already used in combat. It was the product of his unique fighting style. He used it in almost every fight making the skills level rise faster than the others. Having already wasted a day getting Avrice battle ready, they started raising her taming skill. Since the skill grew whether or not the taming was successful, they just had to attempt to tame every fox they saw. Since Avrice¡¯s combat ability had grown Baron was no longer needed to protect her. Instead of wasting his time watching her, he decided to go and gauge the skill of a wolf. It was only about a 10 minute walk to the edge of the forest. Baron walked along the outskirts looking for a wolf. He didn¡¯t dare go deeper in. The edge of the forest was where you find lone wolves, and deeper in is where you find packs. He ran into several foxes before coming across his first wolf. The wolf he found was level 17. It was black with mangy looking fur. It had some scars on its body and what looked to be a fresh wound on its nose. The wolf would have been terrifying if Baron didn¡¯t know this was a game. Rather than wait for the wolf to attack, Baron lashed out. A fox would have dodged to the side to be safe, but the wolf wasn¡¯t afraid and lept forward to avoid Baron¡¯s slash. It was so quick Baron was barely able to get his short sword in place to block. Immediately after blocking Baron stabbed with his short sword and landed a flesh wound. It barely fazed the wolf which lept for his throat a second time. Rather than block, Baron decided to trade blows. He put all his strength into slashing the wolf. The wolves teeth barely grazed Barons neck as his long sword struck and sent the wolf to the ground. He barely got hit but Baron lost almost 10% of his health. The wolf took a much more lethal strike and had lost nearly 50% of his. The wolf wasn¡¯t dumb. It had tried two frontal attacks without avail. Now it just circled Baron waiting for an opportunity. Baron just stood there. When the wolf was in his blind spot it attacked. It was such an obvious move that Baron had already started to turn and face the wolf. As it leapt towards him Baron simply pointed his sword at the wolf. In mid charge there was no way for the wolf to stop itself. The force of its tackle was enough to impale itself onto Baron¡¯s sword. In a puff of smoke the wolf faded leaving nothing but blood and loot. It dropped a pelt along with some wolf meat. The pelt could be sold for a few coppers and the meat could be used by Avrice for treats. The exp he gained was enough to raise him to level 15. More than anything Baron was just excited about having a fun fight. Unlike the foxes, Baron was actually challenged by the wolf. It wasn¡¯t the same as fighting another player, but it was the closest he had got thus far. Level 15 Now that he knew hunting wolves wasn¡¯t out of the question, thats all he did for the next two days. He managed to level up to 16, but then died shortly after. Most of the wolves he found were in the later teens. The one that had managed to kill him was level 20. Baron was helpless against the wolf. It was too quick for him to block, and too strong for him to withstand. In the end Baron fell after only two hits. He respawned in the same place 5 minutes later. The wolf that had killed him was still in the vicinity. For once Baron had the chance to get revenge. The wolf that had killed him was right there. Baron went for an all out charge on the beast. The wolf was taken off guard. It wasn''t expecting him to come back to life. Still, it reacted like any wild animal would. Baron died for the second time in 10 minutes as the wolf ripped at his throat. He spawned again 5 minutes later. The wolf had decided to play it safe and left the area. ¡®Fuck!¡¯ Baron received a whisper from Avrice shortly after. She had managed to get her taming skill to Beginner Level 3 and now wanted to try to tame a wolf. They went into the city to sell off the pelts Baron got and buy more treats. He had gotten 6 low quality wolf pelts. They were much more valuable than fox or rabbit fur. He managed to sell them to another player for 21 coppers a piece. He had a local butcher turn the wolf meat into treats. It was a lot cheaper then buying anything else. Still, Avrice demanded they buy other treats. She just didn¡¯t have the heart to use wolf meat to tame a wolf. They bought some rabbit jerky and a few chicken legs before returning to the forest. Once they got close to the forest, Baron and Avrice were greeted by two foxes. She had managed to tame them while leveling up the skill. ¡°It¡¯s better experience if I train them to tier 2 before selling. Plus, I can sell them for more than double the price. Fox 2, Fox 3, this is Baron. Play nice please.¡± The foxes had an oblivious look as Avrice gestured to Baron. ¡®I understand she is just going to be selling them, but couldn¡¯t she use somewhat natural names?¡¯ Baron couldn¡¯t help but wonder over Avrice¡¯s poor naming sense. It didn¡¯t take long before they came across a wolf. Avrice had already instructed him on what to do, so he sprung into action. The wolf looked emaciated, and didn¡¯t hesitate to attack them. Baron used the flat part of his sword to block. Avrice followed up by snapping her whip inches from the its face. The attack didn¡¯t do any damage, but it had a psychological effect. Before the wolf could reassess the situation, Avrice threw a treat at its feet. The peice of rabbit jerky made the wolf flinch. Both Baron and Avrice stopped attacking and waited for the wolf. It was more than apprehensive about taking the treat. Since wolves are smart, it makes them harder to tame, but easier to train. The wolf was smarter than to just take random food thrown at it. However, once it was caught it would take to the training much faster than other mobs. Avrice threw another treat, but the wolf took the opportunity to attack. It lunged at her; only to receive a heavy slash from Baron. It quickly tried to counter attack. Before it could even move Avrice¡¯s whip cracked in its face. The loud snap sent the wolf recoiling. Another treat was thrown at it. This time the treat was a more savory smelling chicken leg. The wolf was almost tempted, but it kept up its guard. It went in for another attack. This time Baron was the target. Before the wolf could reach him Avrice snapped her whip. The crack was several feet away, but it still made the wolf flinch.The flat end of Barons sword smacked the wolf¡¯s nose for good measure. Since his attacks were always accompanied by Avrice¡¯s whip, the wolf had begun to relate the two. All it took now is for Avrice to crack her whip and the wolf would curl into submission. She threw another chicken leg at the wolf. It just stood there for awhile growling and leering at the two. Every now and then it would look at the chicken leg, or lean forward and smell it. Eventually the wolf decided to eat the food. When it finished the small leg, it turned its attention to another a little closer to Avrice. After cautiously sniffing it, the wolf grabbed it and darted away. ¡°Hey!¡± Avrice screamed and cracked her whip at the fleeing beast. It started to run a little faster after hearing the whip. Baron couldn¡¯t help himself and burst into laughter. Avrice seemed slightly pissed, but she refrained from saying anything to him. They continued to hunt for the next two days until Baron had to leave. Avrice tried to tame more than 10 wolves to no avail. Baron was forced to kill 3 of them after they kept attacking. It wasn¡¯t the most efficient task. Avrice¡¯s taming didn¡¯t gain much experience and Baron only managed to make it back to level 15. With only beginner level 3 taming, the wolf was too hard for her. Since Baron had to leave Avrice decided on a new plan. She still had 50 days before the quest was over. It would be enough time for her to increase her skills a level or two and then tame a wolf. If Baron wasn¡¯t going to be there it just meant she needed to train her combat abilities some more. After parting ways with Baron she decided to start the grind that would consume her next 50 days. The wolves were left alone for a while as she switched her attention back to the foxes in the area. Baron had 3 hours before he had to meet Barry. Since he didn¡¯t know what to expect he decided to prepare as much as possible. With the 1400 coppers he still had left he went into the city to shop. The murderers mark had disappeared, so he could now walk around without its restrictions on familiarity. He first stopped at a food stand in the market. The vendor had hundreds of strips of dried meat hanging on display. In exchange for half of the mans stock Baron had to give him 230 coppers. It would have been 250, but the vendor dropped the price since he was buying in bulk. With at least 3 weeks of food he was set. There wasn¡¯t any worry about water either. The starter canteen Baron got would suffice since it could be filled wherever water was available. His next stop wasn¡¯t a street vendor, but an actually shop. Baron was happy with the swords he had now, but he started to notice them wearing down lately. He had been oblivious at first, but he eventually noticed the durability stat decreasing. Since he had bought the best swords possible for his level, they had extremely high durability. It was the only reason they hadn¡¯t shattered already. If he didn¡¯t replace them soon they would shatter. The shop wasn¡¯t the biggest in the area, but it was a step above the stalls lining the streets. When Baron walked in all he could see was row after row of equipment. It was all unorganized and strewn about everywhere. After navigating the maze of sword and armor racks, he finally found the store keeper. He was an older dwarf with a short grey beard and angry looking eyes. There was another man there as well. He was human, although he could pass for a barbarian. He was the tallest human Baron had ever seen. Despite their racial differences the man still came up to Baron¡¯s chin. He was also very well muscled and had exceptionally broad shoulders. The thick armor covering his body looked heavy, but it didn¡¯t show in the man''s posture. ¡°Oy! I don¡¯t got time for ya. Come back when ya can afford my stuff. I don¡¯t sell to no broke beginners here!¡± The dwarf stopped his conversation to address Baron. His assumptions of Barron weren¡¯t unfounded though. Baron never bother to buy new clothes. He was still wearing what he had spawned in with. They were also torn and blood-stained from wearing them the past six weeks. ¡°I¡¯ve got money.¡± ¡°Oh! Ye got money do ya? Well a couple coppers ain¡¯t gunna buy ya a thing here. Now scram ¡®fore I get this guy here ta throw ya out!¡± The dwarf gestured to the large gentleman standing next to him. The man seemed to be chuckling as he watched the angry dwarf. ¡°How much money did you bring?¡± This time it was the man who spoke. Baron took a step forward and grabbed his coin purse from his inventory. He untied the string and let the two see its contents. ¡°1170 coppers. I was looking to get a replacement for my swords.¡± The man started chuckling a little harder, while the dwarf seemed to be agitated. He must have had to suck up his pride a little, but he decided to oblige for the sake of business. ¡°Fine, lemme see those swords you got there.¡± At the dwarfs words Baron handed them over hilt first. The dwarf¡¯s small arms looked miniscule compared to the two swords. The entire dwarf looked miniature compared to the barbarian standing in front of him. The Dwarf thoroughly checked the swords over. He inspected every chip and scratch, and he made several comments about how Baron should take better care of his blades. ¡°It¡¯s a disgrace ta the smith ta keep ya blades lookin¡¯ like this.¡± He handed the swords back to Baron before continuing, ¡°I¡¯ll see what I can get ya. Gimme¡¯ a moment.¡± As the dwarf disappeared behind one of the armor racks the man commented to Baron. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°Leather Hand may be an angry, old dwarf, but he¡¯s an excellent smith.¡± Baron was confused about the Dwarfs name. He had overheard players talking about how dwarves had names similar to their professions. It didn¡¯t make sense that a smith would have a name related to tailoring. ¡°They call me Sir Redrick, and you?¡± ¡°Baron¡± The knight extended his hand for Baron to shake. ¡®I doubt an NPC knight would betray me. Still...¡± ¡°What a noble name.¡± Sir Redrick took a second to laugh at his own whit before continuing. ¡°I had assumed you were a new adventurer, but that is a lot of money for someone with such low value attire. Baron was offended by what the man said, but he decided to hold his tongue. It was obvious he would be no match for the knight, and although what he said was disrespectful, Baron never gave him a reason for respect. ¡°I am a new adventurer. I just happened to come across some money.¡± It was a lie, but better than telling a knight he got his money from pickpocketing. ¡°I see. Have you thought about taking the path to knighthood? Someone of your size would fit right in.¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t thought about what path I want to take. For now just getting stronger is good enough.¡± As Baron finished talking Leather Hand came back with 2 swords in hand. ¡°This is the best I have for ya.¡± He placed the weapons on the counter along with their sheaths.
Iron ShortSword
Damage:19Durability:92 /92
Restriction:Level 15
A master smith made this sword while focusing on speed rather than quality. The damage, durability, and restriction lower than they should be. The sword is made from 97% pure Iron making the durability higher than average.
Iron LongSword
Attack:24Durability:111 / 111
Restriction:Level 15
This sword was made by a master smith who focused on speed rather than quality. The damage, durability, and restriction are lower than they should be. The sword is made from 98% pure iron making the durability higher than average.
The longsword was the same length as the old one but a half inch wider. The hilt was longer and resembled a broadswords. The guard was smaller and barely stuck out an inch from the hilt. There was nothing artistic about the weapon. It was your average Iron longsword. Rather than a normal sheath, the sword had one that didn¡¯t cover the blade. It was similar to a sling that held the swords tip and guard with a strip of leather connecting the two. It was designed to go over the shoulder with the sword resting on his back. The shortsword looked almost identical to his old one. The blade was much thinner than the long sword, but looked much sharper. The hilt was slightly smaller and looked too small for Baron¡¯s large, barbarian hands. Leather hand grabbed a small whetstone nearby and placed it on the counter. ¡°If ya don¡¯t buy the whetstone too, I ain¡¯t gunna¡¯ sell ya anything. Ya need ta take care of yer blades. The longsword is 375. The short sword is 250, and the whetstone is 75. Since ya got the money, buy some armor for a couple extra coppers.¡± Baron nodded his head at the dwarf¡¯s insistence. Leather hand left and came back with full set of armor.
Iron and leather Armor Set
Defense:79Durability:167 / 167
Restrictions:Level 20, Barbarian race
This set of iron and leather armor was made by a skilled smith and tailor. Because the craftsman focused on speed rather than quality the defense, durability, and restriction are lower. The Iron used is 97% pure making the durability higher than average. The armor was made with heavy iron plates suited for the barbarian race. The joints are connected by leather to increase mobility and eliminate speed penalties.
¡°I don¡¯t have much armor suited to a guy of yer size, but you¡¯ll be able to use it eventually. 475 coppers.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll take it all, but I can only pay 470 for the armor.¡± ¡°Fine but I¡¯m gunna¡¯ add that on ta yer bill next time.¡± He was still a couple levels away from using the armor, but it didn¡¯t matter. Level 20 wouldn¡¯t take too long to reach. The armor itself looked sparse. Aside from a few thick pieces of iron the rest was just leather. It wouldn¡¯t provide any defense at the joints, but the iron plates looked impenetrable. ¡°Why don¡¯t you come outside and humor me a little.¡± Sir Redrick motioned for Baron to follow as he started walking outside. They found a small area to the side of Leather Hand¡¯s shop where they wouldn¡¯t be in the way. The knight had Baron draw his old swords and instructed him to take his stance. ¡°Thats not a stance. Your legs need to be farther apart. Your guard is too low, and both elbows need to be raised.¡± Baron was caught off guard but went along with it. ¡°Good now bend your knees a little¡­ Thats it. You need a true fighters stance if you want to succeed in combat. Now let our duel begin!¡± ¡®What the hell? It¡¯s obvious I¡¯m outclassed, but to just attack him?¡¯ He hesitated, but decided to indulge in battle. ¡®I wonder if it¡¯ll feel the same as fighting players.¡¯ Baron decided to use Unexpected Reach as his first attack. It was the only combat skill he had, and it had become his crutch. His first swing was blocked. The second followed shortly, but the knight didn¡¯t hesitate to shift his stance and block. Baron¡¯s long sword hit Sir Redrick¡¯s guard full force. ¡®Did I just hit a wall?¡¯ When the swords met, neither budged. He was caught off guard and left wide open. The knight saw every opening but refrained capitalizing on them. ¡°Good! Now add a step in between the strikes. Try to get around my guard, if you can.¡± Baron tried again and added the extra step. Before he went in for his second attack, he sidestepped to get into the knights blindspot. when he went to slash, his sword was met once again by a wall. ¡°Much better. Speed it up a little and you may be able to hit me.¡± ¡®Is this bastard taunting me? And why the hell isn¡¯t he fighting back! There¡¯s no enjoyment in fighting someone like this.¡¯ Baron was starting to get irritated and decided to keep up the assault. He went in for unexpected reach again, but by now it was expected. He didn¡¯t manage to even get close to the knight. He tried several more times all in vain. ¡°It¡¯s no good if you don¡¯t attack with your head. Randomly flailing will get you nowhere.¡± ¡®Fucking die!¡¯ Baron put every muscle he had into attacking. As his shortsword made contact with Sir Redrick¡¯s guard, it snapped. Without noticing his sword broke, Baron began to hack at his opponent with his remaining weapon. He swung the sword like an ax until it landed full force onto the knights perfect guard. The swords durability dropped to zero leaving Baron without a weapon. His opponent took the opportunity to glide his blade across Baron¡¯s chest. It wasn¡¯t much of a slash. The blade barely went deep enough to pierce the skin.
Health has dropped to duel limit of 10%
Duel Lost -50 Fame
Although it barely grazed him, the attack was enough to drop his health to 10%. If the dueling system didn¡¯t stop his health from dropping, he likely would have died. Sir Redrick¡¯s attack was too fast for Baron to see. Even if he had a sword there wouldn¡¯t have been any chance to block. ¡°If you ever decide to take the path of knighthood. You must first learn to fight with your head. Using your emotions to fight is a trait of the weak and cowardly.¡± Baron just thought to himself, ¡®Pathetic.¡¯ Level 15 - 18 Despite the crushing defeat Baron still had to make it to the west exit by noon. He was scheduled to meet Barry there for the quest. Shopping in the market took longer than planned, so he was 20 minutes late. He approached and could see Barry along with 14 players crowded around a wagon. Only a couple of the players were wearing the starter clothes, while the rest had various types of defense. 5 of them donned plate armor, and 4 had leather armor equipped. 2 players were wearing mage robes. There was only one girl in the whole group, and she looked to be a priestess. She wasn¡¯t as pretty as Avrice. However, she did have the men¡¯s attention. "Don''t worry Julia, even if we see a wolf, I won¡¯t let it hurt you. I''m already level 12. Last time me and my party went to hunt, we managed to kill a wolf. It was pretty strong and five of my teammates died, but I was able to kill it in the end." One of the guys in plate armor was bragging. He had a long sword on his back similar in size to Baron¡¯s. "WHAT! Nick, you actually killed a wolf. That''s so amazing!" Baron thought it was odd, but the cleric seemed genuinely amazed at this guys meager accomplishments. It didn¡¯t seem like much of a feat if five of his teammates died in the process. All the other men standing around shot hateful glances at the wolf slayer. None of them liked the guy since he got all of the girl¡¯s attention. Their gazes shifted towards Baron as Barry greeted him. ¡°Well, how nice of you to join us. Now lets leave before we get behind anymore.¡± "What? Did we actually spend 20 minutes waiting on a beginner like this? It''s not like he''ll even be any help. We should¡¯ve just left." Nick who had just been bragging decided to call Baron out. Every other player, including Baron, just ignored him. Except Julia, who appeared concerned about the whole situation. He was justified in assuming Baron was a beginner. Everyone was thinking the same thing, but they weren''t going to say anything. The only one who knew Baron could fight was Barry, and he choose to keep silent. ¡°Where are we going, Barry?¡± A player in leather armor asked. ¡°We¡¯re meeting some more people a couple towns over. We¡¯ll get there in a day or two. Bother me again and I¡¯ll leave you on the side of the road.¡± Barry climbed into the wagon with a bottle of booze in hand. It was a small wagon that was barely big enough to lay down in. As Barry went to Sleep, one of the players grabbed the reins of the horse pulling the wagon. Unfortunately for Baron and the other players, they had to walk. There was some small talk along the way. Mainly it was Nick bragging about his accomplishments in RR. All of his talk was starting to annoy Baron. Some of the other guys felt the same. A conversation was started to drown him out. They were also talking about RR, but none of them were bragging. Baron found out a lot about the group. The lowest leveled warrior was called Thyne and he was only level 5. He had just gotten out of the 1 month restriction and had been grinding rabbits ever since. When he revealed his plan to buy knights armor Nick butted into the conversation. "If you¡¯re only level 5 there''s no point in getting the armor. You''ll never be a knight. You have to do something like I did and get to know a real knight before you even start leveling. It''s the only way." After he said that the kid looked like he was almost in tears. You can''t tell peoples age in RR, but the way he acted was similar to a pre-teen. One of the other warriors, A large ax fighter named Raiden, told Nick to fuck off. It didn¡¯t go over well, and 3 players had to separate them. ¡°Don¡¯t listen to that bastard. All you need to be a knight is dedication. Once you hit level 10 you can apply for the knight school back in Sai. I only trained there for a couple days, but it was well worth it.¡± Raiden tried to console Thyne. The kid didn¡¯t have a knights frame though. He was shorter than most players in RR, and his build wasn¡¯t something to brag about. On the other hand, Raided looked like the strongest player in the group. He had polished steel armor with a crest etched into it. On his back was a large, dual-headed battleaxe. Out of everyone there he seemed like he could handle himself the best in a fight. He had broad shoulders and was taller than most. If Baron wasn¡¯t there, Raiden would have had the largest avatar. When it was Baron¡¯s turn to contribute to the conversation he didn¡¯t say much. One of the player started asking him questions, but he only answered the one about his name. It was rude not answering direct questions, and Nick seemed to take notice. ¡°What? A noob like you can¡¯t even answer someone¡¯s question? What are you, some kind of retard?¡± He seemed a little flustered when Baron didn¡¯t respond. If it wasn¡¯t for Raiden¡¯s glaring he would¡¯ve done something. Instead he just turned around and pretended like nothing happened. ¡®It¡¯s ignorant fools like this that get me upset.¡¯ Baron thought to himself. They continued to walk for the rest of the day. Baron was able to learn useful information from the groups discussions. He was able to gather information on everything from dungeons to classes. What he found to be the most interesting was the discussion about how guilds worked. He had been oblivious to the meaning of a PK guild before. Apparently the Blue Blood Brothers guild was quite famous in the area. He was happy to get any information that would help him get revenge. They made camp once it got dark. Since they had been walking for over 10 hours in game, only a little over 2 hours had gone by IRL. Still, most players decided to use the time to log off. The only players to stay behind were Thyne and Raiden. Raiden decided to go hunt while they waited and offered the invitation to Baron and Thyne. The boy was more than excited to go. Raiden had become one of his idols after the incident with Nick. Baron was already planning to go train, so he went along with it. They spent the the next several hours hunting foxes and wolves. Thyne and Raiden realized Baron wasn¡¯t a beginner when he took the first wolf by himself. The way he didn¡¯t hesitate up against the beast gave them shivers. His silent personality made him seem cold and ruthless. Baron started to enjoy the fight once they stopped messing with the foxes. There was a decent thrill in hunting wolves. Not as much as fighting players, but it was good enough. If it wasn¡¯t for Thyne they could¡¯ve gone much faster. Baron and Raiden were constantly protecting him from the much higher leveled wolves. His level was rising significantly though. By the end of the night the kid had managed to get to level 7. He also gained the skills sneak and back-stab which helped him participate. The only way to have Thyne participate without dying was to have him get in a quick strike and retreat. Using his small size he would sneak behind the wolf and strike when least expected. He was surprisingly good with his dagger, as it hit its mark every time. Every couple of hours they stopped so Baron could use his whetstone and sharpen his blades. He wasn¡¯t very good at it, but he was able to get a couple points of durability back. Raiden and Thyne gave him their weapons to sharpen as well. It cost them extra time, but it would make their weapons last longer. When they returned to camp most of the players had logged back in. One of the players was making stew and selling it. At 35 coppers it was a outrageously priced. Still, everyone was hungry, and it was the only edible food around. He was a decent cook. The food even gave a plus 2% stamina regeneration effect. When the time came to leave Barry got back into his wagon to sleep, and everyone else started walking. They were all surprised to see how well Thyne and Raiden were getting along. Raiden had been a quiet person before. Not as quiet as Baron, he did talk every now and then, but he had kept to himself most of the time. Now it was like an endless stream of questions from Thyne and answers from him. They even got Baron to say a couple things. To the rest of the group it was a mystery as to what happened while they were logged off. They had to walk for the rest of the day before arriving. Eventually they made it to the city of Gren. It wasn¡¯t anywhere near the size of either Sai or Gorn. The city walls would be better described as fences, and the tallest building, the Lu Cathedral, was only 4 stories tall. Barry gave the guards a little liquor to get them through the gate quicker. They didn¡¯t seem like the protective guards. Their weapons looked poorly maintained, and they were blatantly corrupt. ¡®So much for the city guards. Better for me if I ever run out of money.¡¯ Barry led them to a tavern on the west side. It was a rundown place, but was fairly large. Inside was the group of people they were there to meet. Just like them, there was another 14 players and an old man. The way the two talked made it seem like Barry knew him. After short greetings, the old man addressed the arriving players. ¡°Listen up! I¡¯m Luis Crame, but you can all call me commander. I trust my old friend here that he picked some decent fighters. You¡¯d better pray to whatever god you got that he was right, because we leave tomorrow at first light. Get any supplies you need and meet back here early. Understood?¡± Everyone assumed it was a rhetorical question and didn¡¯t answer. Luis wasn¡¯t intimidating, but he gave off an old, asshole vibe that showed in the manner he spoke. It was like a drill sergeant addressing those beneath him. Rather than pay for a room at an inn, the group set up camp outside the city. They all sat around the fire and talked everything RR. The two groups got to know each other pretty well while enjoying good food someone made. There wasn¡¯t anyone very interesting in the second group. The only thing of note was the trio of priestesses that the guys were drooling over. Everyone there agreed that their healing magic would be helpful in the quest., and it gave them a hint of vanity. The group was a edge wondering about what was going to happen tomorrow. Neither Barry or Luis gave any information regarding the details of the quest. The players were also wondering what F level quest needed 28 players to complete. Either way though, they would all find out tomorrow. They all made it back to the tavern a half hour before sunrise. Pissing off Luis was the last thing everyone wanted. After an hour of prep they were set to depart. Barry gave one of the players some money to buy supplies. It was only enough for a small pile of food that wouldn¡¯t last the group more than 2 days. Since Baron already had enough food to last him another week, it didn¡¯t matter much to him. It surprised everyone that Barry didn¡¯t start drinking once they left. He had drank every second he wasn¡¯t sleeping on their way to Gren. Instead he sat in the back of the wagon talking to Luis. They reminisced about their old war days the entire trip. Baron noticed them referring to someone the whole time, though they never used any name other than him, or he. They headed down a trail into a mountain north of Gren. The entire day was spent walking. Even once night fell they never made camp. Barry said it would only be couple hours till they arrived, so it wasn¡¯t worth it. Being in the mountains at night frightened half the players to the point that some were trembling. The cries of monsters could be heard constantly, some far off and others just feet away. Howls seemed to follow them as they progressed down the trail. Movement could be seen in the tree line, but the light from the torches made it impossible to see clearly. Everyone was certain they were being hunted. Perhaps it was a stroke of luck, or their intimidation of numbers, but the wolves never attacked. Once they reached a point in the trail they all just left. It was then that all the players realized how much of a comfort knowing the wolves were there was. Now it was deathly quiet. They didn¡¯t have any sense of what was out there. It could be nothing, or it could be something that scared off the wolves. The whole situation was annoying Baron. He couldn¡¯t understand why everyone was so scared of a game. One of the priestesses had even tried to hold onto him like a scared puppy. He didn¡¯t have the heart to shake her off and ended up enduring her tight grip for the rest of the trip. It wasn¡¯t all horrible. As she held onto him she pressed her entire body up against his. It was the first time since before he went to prison that he felt a women. They arrived at a large cave half-way through the night. Luis took a torch and lit a lamp on the wall. It ignited a chain a lamps stretching a 100 feet in before reaching a sealed entrance. There was a huge door with statues of wolves on either side. It was masterly carved making the wolves look moments away from attacking. Upon seeing the statues everyone in the group received several pop up messages.
Entrance to the House of Wolves (Masterpiece) +100 leadership for the next 6 hours
Quest Update!
Respect For the Leader of the House of Wolves
Difficulty:E+Rewards:Payment equal to contribution
Completion:0%
Barry and Luis have led you and the group to the tomb of their former leader. The leader of the mercenary guild, the House of Wolves, was once a man feared and respected across the continent. Barry and Luis wish to visit the tomb and pay their respects. In order to do so they need help gaining entrance to the tomb. The quest fails if either Barry or Luis is killed, or the group doesn¡¯t open the tomb door before all dying.
Everyone was relieved to get further details of the quest, but the change in difficulty was unsettling. E was the hardest quest difficulty that had been completed thus far in the game, and this quest was E+. Even if they did have a group, they had no experience fighting with each other, and the difficulty was likely adjusted to account for their numbers. Most of the players went from confident to hesitant, while others seemed excited by it all. Since the game only recently came out most people hadn¡¯t completed many quests. On top of that it was high difficulty and looked to have promising rewards. Barry and Luis went up to the door. They seemed overjoyed to be there. The lock on the door had 6 different keyholes that needed to be unlocked. Barry went into his bag and pulled out a key ring. He began putting them in one by one until he ran out with one keyhole left. He turned around and spoke to the players. ¡°We need your help in retrieving the sixth key. As he was a man who valued teamwork above all else, the last key can only be earned through the efforts of a group. Prepare yourselves. The fight starts now.¡± When Barry was done speaking Luis added his own bit of information. ¡°Double reward to the warrior who defeats the enemy that drops the last key!¡±
Dungeon of the Fallen Army
Difficulty:FDiscovery Bonus:+50 Fame
Party Size recomended:20
The army of the House of Wolves was buried alongside their leader as a means of defending against grave robbers. They are the timeless guards whose loyalty tethers their soles to the world of the living. The only thing that will make them move on is a command from their leader to do so.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. The entire group tensed, including Baron. After reading the dungeon message people began to panic. E+ was hard enough but to have to survive a F level dungeon was unthinkable. They didn¡¯t have much time worry though before the fight commenced. Moans began to resound throughout the cave. One of the priestesses shrieked drawing everyone¡¯s attention to the entrance of the cave. There blocking the exit were ranks of undead warriors. There was already 50 enemies coming at them, while more crawled out of the ground. It was Raiden who called out for everyone to ready themselves. Under his directions the Warriors made a line stretching from wall to wall of the cave. Behind the first line was the remaining warriors, archers and mages, and behind them was the 3 priestesses and Julia. Barry and Luis sat on the floor to watch and enjoy the fight. The players held their positions and waited for the skeleton warriors to reach them. Looking at the ragtag group Baron could tell the line wouldn¡¯t hold for long. His excitement became too much for him to bear, so rather than wait Baron decided to go to the enemy. As he walked out in front of everyone Nick called out to him. ¡°Hey, Bastard! You trying to die or something?¡¯¡± Baron didn¡¯t hear and kept walking. He drew his swords and slowly walked at the enemy. ¡®30¡­ 29¡­¡¯ Raiden had two players fill the large gap that Baron had left. They quickly obeyed the orders of their makeshift leader. He gave the order and archers began unloading volley after volley. ¡®12¡­ 11¡­ 10...¡¯ Arrows whizzed by Baron as he continued his mental count. The skeletons seemed unfazed as the shots punctured skulls and cracked ribs. ¡®3¡­ 2¡­¡¯ As Baron¡¯s count came to an end the first enemy came into reach. He wasn¡¯t able to reach 1 before the skeleton lost its head. An all out melee began as Baron was instantly surrounded. None of the undead were able to get close though. Every skeleton in reach was cut down. Ancient spears, swords, axes, maces, shields, and skulls were all crushed as Baron blocked, parried, and cut his enemies. He was swarmed by so many skeletons that the majority ignored him and continued onto the rest of the group. They weren¡¯t very strong mobs. Their strength was in their numbers and not in individual prowess. Each mob was only level 5 allowing Baron to one or two shot them. By the time the 15th skeleton faded he was beginning to feel his stamina drain. The undead horde hit raidens line with a clang. The first skeleton to challenge him had nothing but a shield. It was an old shield that only had a few points of durability left. Raiden¡¯s heavy ax had no difficulty traveling threw it and landing on the skeletons neck. In one blow the skeleton¡¯s shield and spine were crushed. The other players fared similarly. Thyne was able to use his dagger to kill an enemy by himself. The priestesses began their healing magic, but it was in vain. None of the players had been hurt because the skeletons were too weak. As Baron began to get tired a couple of the enemies¡¯ attacks managed to hit. He was still too low leveled to use the armor he bought from Leather Hand. Without any protection the weapons were able to land flush and bite his flesh. It didn¡¯t take long for the line to break. As the warrior¡¯s stamina drained it became harder to keep up with the limitless number of enemies. Thyne decided to stop fighting by himself. Instead, he used his sneak skill to stealthily traverse the battlefield. When the moment arose he would use his back-stab skill to finish off an enemy. A warrior on the line was the first to die. He was one of the lower leveled group members and couldn¡¯t keep up. Everyone was fighting with as much effort as they could. The more enemies they killed the more likely they were to have the last key drop, and each player was hoping for the double reward. When Baron hit the milestone of 50 skeletons killed his stamina was nearing 0 and his health was starting to drop below 10%. It didn¡¯t faze him that he was about to die. All he could do is look at the army of skeletons in front of him with excitement. The undead were constantly spawning. What had started as 50 mobs was now closer to 100, and they were continuing to crawl out of the ground with no end in sight.
Profession acquired through repetitive action.
Congratulation! You have now become a a Berserker. +150 Stamina +150 Fighting Spirit +150 Fame
Level Up! Level Up! Level Up! You are now level 18! 15 stat points available
Berserker A Berserker¡¯s bloodlust has never been known to be quenched. It is only while fighting that they can truly be happy. They value Fighting Spirit above all else. Most men would rather face an army than a lone berserker. Profession Traits: +1% health and stamina for every enemy that falls at your hands
Baron closed the messages as soon as they popped up without reading them. In the middle of battle there wasn¡¯t the time. He didn¡¯t notice, but his stamina had returned allowing him to defeat several skeletons converging around him. Due to his profession trait his health went above 10% after finishing them. As more and more undead fell Baron¡¯s health and stamina steadily rose. 2 more players had fallen. Where Raidens line had been mayhem took over. Arrows and fireballs flew everywhere not discriminating between friend and foe. Thanks to the priestesses the stronger players were able to maintain their health. Those who were lower level, like Thyne, were barely holding on. Everyone was beginning to lose hope. They had killed countless enemies, but the key hadn¡¯t dropped yet. If they weren¡¯t able to hold out it would all be for nothing.
Quest Progression! The sixth key has been obtained by: Baron
The message popped up and caught everyone¡¯s attention. Most players had assumed Baron was already dead. Once the fighting commenced they had lost sight of him. They were struggling to fight alongside one another, but Baron was alone in the chaos. Several players cursed their luck for missing out on the double reward. Jumping Baron and taking the key crossed their minds, but so did the fact he survived that hell. No one dared attack such a menacing figure. Even Nick was worried Baron would want revenge after treating him like a piece of shit. Once he got the key Baron began to fight his way back to the group. He wasn¡¯t happy the fight would be over, but it needed to be done. ¡®They¡¯re weak anyway. Better than fighting wolves, but not as good as players.¡¯ Luis nearly assaulted him to get the last key. As he put it into the keyhole and twisted his hands were trembling with excitement. Barry yelled at him to hurry up as the lock clicked. The whole door started to creak and open itself. The 3 of them stood there and watched while the rest of the group continued to fend off the horde. As the door finally opened enough to see inside, Barry¡¯s dagger lodged itself in Luis¡¯ back.
Quest Failed!
The NPC¡¯s body fell to the group in a puddle of blood. As the light faded from his eyes Barry spit on the fresh corpse. He stepped over the body and into the recently opened tomb. ¡°Good Riddance! Serves hi¡­¡± Barry stood motionless inside the doorway. In front of him was a barren room with nothing but a coffin. ¡°What the fuck! Where is the treasure!¡± Barry¡¯s voice that was once powerful and commanding turned into a whimper. ¡°I spent my whole life. Every second of it finding those keys, for what? A fucking empty room.¡± He dropped to his knees and began to quietly weep. ¡®Pathetic!¡¯ Baron thought as he looked down at the decrepit man. ¡°So this was all for you to rob a grave? You weren¡¯t even a member of the House of Wolves, were you? You tricked us all from the beginning, and wasted my time.¡± Barry didn¡¯t answer the questions. He just knelt there wallowing in self pity. He hadn¡¯t realized what happen when Baron un-lodged his sword, and Barry faded into smoke. Baron walked up to the coffin. It was huge. It took all of Baron¡¯s strength to push the stone lid off. Inside was a skeleton, but it wasn¡¯t attacking like the others. It had ornate looking armor that would have been valuable a hundred years ago. One hand held a helmet, and the other gripped a dagger. Scanning over the body the only thing that caught Baron¡¯s attention was a glint from the dagger. The blade and hilt were rusted and falling apart, but mounted in the guard was a orange gemstone that looked valuable. Picking it up Baron rubbed the gem with his finger to see if it was real. The moment he touched it two messages popped up.
Ancient Steel Dagger
Damage:3Durability:4 / 124
Restriction:None
A dagger once used by the leader of the House of Wolves. The ravages of time have left it broken and useless.
Cinder Wolf Diamond
Value:ARarity:A
Durability:4,998 / 5,000
The Cinder Wolf Diamond has a fiery orange color that has captured the hearts of many men. It is used as a form of identification for the leader of the long forgotten mercenary guild, the House of Wolves. Legend has it that the diamond will feel like red hot steel to those unworthy of the responsibilities that come with owning it. The next warrior to posses the gem is said to be able to rebuild the guild to its former glory.
You have joined the guild: The House of Wolves
You have become the guild leader.
New Quest: Legend of the Cinder Wolf Diamond Rebuild the House of Wolves to its former stature. Acquire wealth, fame, Power, influence, and respect in the name of the family to complete what legend has foretold. Difficulty: A Reward: Unknown Progression: Wealth: 0 Fame: 0 Power: 0 Influence: 0 Respect: 0
Raiden came into the tomb wondering what was taking Baron so long. Even though the quest was failed the skeleton army didn¡¯t disappear. If they didn¡¯t do something soon they were all going to die. When he confronted Baron, the barbarian was already walking towards the door. After reading through the messages Baron knew what to do. He took a step out of the room, and in front of him was what was left of the group. 11 of the 28 players had already died. Taking a deep breath Baron spoke so everyone could hear him. ¡°Stop!¡± Everyone, skeletons and players, halted at his voice. ¡°I relieve you of your duties, you are now free of all obligations.¡± At his words the skeletons collapsed into the heap of bones they were. At the command of their leader they could finally move on from the world of the living. As the chaos dissolved the players that were still alive began to cheer. They had failed the quest, but surviving was an accomplishment by itself. On top of that most players were able to level up in the intense fighting. The few low level players to survive managed to rise two or three levels. The weapons the skeletons dropped were useless, but the bones could be sold as alchemy ingredients. Each player had an inventory of bones that could fetch a decent price back in the city. When they got back to town the group went their separate ways. A few players exchanged friend requests and a couple lucky guys got onto the priestesses friends list. Nick managed to get Julia to go on an adventure with him despite cowering in fear for half the fight. Baron started to embrace the idea of being in the House of Wolves. Currently he was the only member, but if he got more players and the guild became famous it may make the scientists IRL pissed. Having strong people to fight with would also make eliminating the Blue Brothers Guild easier. After registering Thyne and Raiden as friends he sent them guild invites. They both accepted. Baron also sent invites to some of the other players who had survived, but none of them accepted. He sent an invite to Avrice who accepted a few hours later. Baron had to familiarize himself with the guild management windows. The first thing he did was promote the current members. The guild had 4 different ranks people could have. There was the family head, heir, family members, and house members. The position of heir had to be filled, so Baron chose Raiden. Avrice, and Thyne were both promoted to family members. As family members they have the ability to admit players to the guild and expel them. The heir, Raiden, has the same authorities although he can promote players into the family. He also has authorities that deal with foreign policy, guild contracts, and other management abilities. There were also leaderboards that ranked their guild against others in various categories. The House of Wolves was ranked 154,698 in the world for overall achievements. It was a generous ranking considering they had none at all. Baron and Raiden were also able to see the level and profession of all guild members. They were surprised to see that Thyne had gotten to level 10 during the fight, and Avrice managed to reach level 12 after Baron left. It was also new information to Baron that Raiden already had the Knight¡¯s Apprentice profession. Looking at the list Baron also saw for the first time his own profession. It seemed quite fitting for him. The personality described in the berserker¡¯s description seemed to represent himself. He never imagined he would love fighting so much until starting RR. The only reason he could find was the pent up aggression from being on death row for 10 years. It could also be the effects of prolonged VR starting to get to him. ¡®Those lab coats back in the lab must be having field day.¡¯ Level 18 - 19 It took Baron 3 days to make it back to Gorn. Him, Raiden and Thyne took their time to hunt on the way back. They were all trying to get stronger so they could strengthen the guild. Baron shared the details of his Legend of the Cinder Wolf Diamond quest with them, and now they both were determined to help. They still didn¡¯t know about Baron¡¯s other reasons for growing the guild. Everything to do with the experiment and the lab coats was still hidden, but they were just as willing to help. The first step was to gain reputation as a guild. Raiden did some research IRL and found that they could receive jobs from a bulletin board in Gorn. Wealthy NPCs would hire mercenaries, or mercenary guilds, to do whatever jobs they needed. It often involved escorting a merchant''s goods or clearing out a dungeon. Once they started getting fame and money, the next step would be recruiting. In order to build the guild to its former glory they would need an army of the same or greater caliber to what it once was. When they arrived in Gorn Baron sent Avrice a whisper. They only had 44 days left to complete the hunting store owners quest. He was hoping that she got her taming skill to a decent level so they at least had some chance. He split with Raiden and Thyne who left to go visit the Knights academy. Thyne now met the level requirement and could take the apprenticeship exam like Raiden did. It was also important for Raiden to show face and train or risk his master dropping him as a student. Baron went to the hunting grounds to meet Avrice. He wanted to reach level 20 before taking on any guild quests. When he arrived the sight left him shocked. Avrice already tamed not one, but two wolves. They started to growl as Baron approached, but backed off at Avrice¡¯s command. ¡°I still haven¡¯t gotten them to tier 2 training, so the quest isn¡¯t over yet. It shouldn¡¯t take more than another week though. Meet wolf one.¡± Avrice pointed to the wolf with black, patchy fur. Out of the two it was in the worst condition. There were bite marks on its ears and scars on its nose. Mange was starting to thin its fur in several places. ¡°And Rose.¡± Avrice pointed at the other wolf. It looked cleaner than the other. Instead of patchy, black fur the wolf had a beautiful grey coat with streaks of white. There was still evidence of mange, but it wasn¡¯t as severe. ¡®So her naming sense isn¡¯t completely terrible.¡¯ Baron thought to himself Baron got on his knees to pet Rose and Wolf 1. When he was little his family always kept dogs, and the wolves weren¡¯t any different. They still enjoyed to have their stomachs rubbed and behind their ears scratched. Of the two Rose was the friendliest. Whenever you stopped petting her she would bite your hand as if to say, ¡°I¡¯m not done with you.¡± And each time Baron would feel obligated to oblige. After getting to know the two new additions to the team they started hunting. Avrice stayed out of combat and just conducted the wolves. At her command they would dart off into the forest. At first Baron thought they had ran away, but Avrice assured him otherwise. Several minutes later they would return chasing a mob right to where Baron was. Like dogs herding cattle the wolves would find a lone wolf and bring it into the trap. It was a much more efficient way to hunt. They were able to find five wolves an hour where before they were lucky to find three. Avrice was even able to command them to find stronger opponents now that it was Baron fighting and not her. The level 20 wolves that had once killed Baron were now getting slaughtered. They kept up the level of hunting for the rest of the day, through the night, and into the morning. Baron managed to reach level 19, almost 20, and Avrice said that Rose and Wolf 1¡¯s training was progressing faster than anticipated. Baron¡¯s skills were also progressing. His Sword mastery managed to reach beginner level 4 and Unexpected Reach progressed to beginner level 5. He was taken off guard when his Fighters Stance skill leveled up. The only way he thought it could be gaining experience was when he used the stance that Sir Redrick taught him.
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
Sword Mastery (Passive)Beginner417%
Allows for more skilled sword play. Increase the level for further benefits. Certain professions raise the rate that experience is gained. 9% increase in damage while using a sword 7% increase in attack speed while using a sword
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
Fighter¡¯s Stance (Active)Beginner24%
Fighting with a proper stance is what separates the skilled from the average. A correct stance allows for better strength, speed, and resilience in battle. It is the core of all fighting styles. Combat related skills gain experience at 1.05x rate. 6% Increase in Defense 7% Increase in Attack Damage 6% Increase in Attack Speed Your opponent is 17% less likely to land a critical hit. All status effects caused by physical actions are 12% less likely to occur. Cost: 1.2x Stamina Consumption
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
Unexpected Reach (Active)Beginner573%
By switching between weapons of different length it is possible to catch the enemy off guard and land a critical hit. Using it in succession will result in a decreased chance of working. 16% increase in critical hit chance 30% chance of putting your opponent into a confused state Costs: 75 Mana
Upon leveling up to 19 Baron also got his first profession related skill. He didn¡¯t think it would be that useful though. It seemed to have the opposite effect than what he desired. Along with the skill there was also an update to his profession traits.
Berserker A Berserker¡¯s bloodlust has never been known to be quenched. It is only while fighting that they can truly be happy. They value Fighting Spirit above all else. Most men would rather face an army than a Berserker. Often shunned by society, they find their home on the battlefield where they are hailed as heroes by allies and cursed as the devil by enemies. Where a swordsman would use technique, a berserker uses their emotions to gain the upperhand. They aren¡¯t affected by intimidation and rise to any challenge. It is only when on the brink of death that their true strength is shown. A Berserker¡¯s main weapon is their Fighting Spirit which is fueled by their emotions. Measuring a Berserker¡¯s skill is the same as measuring their Fighting Spirit. It is what gives them their intimidation and what allows them to fight on the brink of death. Profession Traits: +1% health and stamina for every enemy that falls at your hands -Berserk is activated when health is reduced to 10%. Once active Fighting Spirit and regeneration are doubled. -Not affected by other players Fighting Spirit of intimidation skills. -Fighting Spirit is earned as a slightly accelerated rate.
Fighting Spirit This stat is the embodiment of the users desire to fight or win. It can be used to intimidate weak monsters or players, and can allow the user to call out inhuman strength in moments of great need. Fighting enemies of higher level and of greater numbers will increase the stat. Your profession changes the attributes of Fighting Spirit to make it a replenishing stat similar to health or mana. The base regeneration is 10 points/minute. You are prohibited from distributing stat points to this stat, but stat points can be used to increase the regeneration rate.
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
Visible Bloodlust (Active)Beginner10%
For the duration of use the users bloodlust will be visible as a red glow. Has the ability to make enemies hesitate or cower in fear. May also have the effect of decreasing familiarity with NPCs. Additional effects will be added as the skill reaches intermediate and above. Intensity of the effects depend on the skill level and Fighting Spirit stat. Costs: 5 Fighting Spirit/Second
The Berserk ability seemed useful, but Visible Bloodlust was more of a skill to avoid a fight. If the enemies get scared and run away there¡¯s no fun in it. The same was true for Fighting Spirit. He didn¡¯t want all the enemies to forfeit before the fight started. He already managed to get +1 point to Fighting Spirit since the stats creation. He attributed it to hunting wolves that were 4-5 levels above himself. When Baron¡¯s inventory was full they decided to head back to town and sell off their goods. He still had the bones from the last quest and needed to sell them. He was ready to leave when Avrice stopped him. ¡°Someone needs to stay here with the wolves. They don¡¯t allow hostile mobs below tier 2 in the city. Just give me your stuff and I¡¯ll sell it for you. That way you can continue to level and I can log out for a while. It¡¯s been over a day since I last logged out. I could really use a shower you know. I¡¯ll see you in a day or two.¡± Baron could relate to her. It had been longer than he could remember since he had a decent shower. It was one of life¡¯s comforts that an inmate gives up. When Avrice left, Baron and the two familiars went back to grinding. The wolves coordination suffered without Avrice, but Baron was able to control them to some extent. They were noticeably more wild though forcing Baron to get rough a couple times. Once it was clear that he wasn¡¯t opposed to physical harm they started behaving better, but never quite as good as they did for Avrice. _________________________ Thyne didn¡¯t stop talking the entire way to the knight academy. So much so that Raiden was starting to reconsider. He was doubtful the kid would make the cut, but it was worth a shot. If anything it would allow Thyne to move on and choose a new profession once he failed. So far the only path to knighthood known was through the academy. With the game only out for less than a month only one person was known to have acquired the knight class. He was the leader of the Hermes guild, Bad Ray. When looking at the guild leaderboards, Raiden saw them at number one. As expected considering the guild leader was also the highest leveled player. Bad Ray and other high leveled players were starting to get contracts with entertainment providers. They would send in footage of gameplay in exchange for money. It was a good deal that required little effort and paid decent money. In the latest videos Bad Ray managed to reach level 22, but only held the position of highest level for a couple hours until several people started catching up. Still, he was only 3 levels higher than Baron. ¡®It wouldn¡¯t be that hard for him to catch up. Especially considering the amount of hours he puts into the game. I swear I¡¯ve never seen him logout.¡¯ Raiden thought to himself The Hermes guild that Bad Ray commands had been around for the past couple years. It was started in an earlier game called Continent of Magic and transferred to RR once the game launched. 3 months had gone by in game and they already had a list of achievements behind them, and the guild had over 1,000 members. There was a rumor surfacing on the net that they managed to win favor with the king of Haven Kingdom, and were receiving secret, high level quests. Though there was no proof, the allegations weren¡¯t that hard to believe. If the House of Wolves ever became a major guild it would be the Hermes that they clash with. Considering the two sat on different sides of the Kallamore and Haven war, they would be bound to cross paths.. The Wolves weren¡¯t based directly out of Kallamore, but they have a long history of allying with Gradian. Inside the Gorns castle grounds, Raiden and Thyne found the academy. There was a group of players there waiting for the exam to start. All 135 players were level 10 and above. Raiden scanned the area for the instructor, but he wasn¡¯t there yet. He planned to give Thyne a recommendation once he found him. There was another familiar face in the crowd, but they weren¡¯t too happy to see each other. Sitting by himself off to the side of the courtyard was Nick. Raiden and Thyne tried to bypass his gaze, but it wasn¡¯t long before the obnoxious player started calling out to them. ¡°Hey! Funny seeing the ax man and the wannabe here. I hope you didn¡¯t come for the entrance exam. It¡¯s not like you¡¯d have a chance anyway.¡± ¡°Fuck off, and what happened to the ¡®I already know a knight¡¯ thing you were saying. I thought that meant you already had an apprenticeship?¡± Raiden wasn¡¯t about to let him insult Thyne in front of the rest of the players there. ¡°Not that it matters, but I was recommend to come by the instructor. Anyway you look at it I have the upper hand. It¡¯s not like the instructor will pick someone he doesn¡¯t know.¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°No. It¡¯s more like you¡¯re lucky. Raiden already has his apprenticeship, and won''t be competing. If he was you wouldn¡¯t have a chance.¡± Thyne¡¯s words made the surrounding players let out a sigh of relief. The moment they saw Raiden with his shiny armor and huge ax they all had lost some hope of winning the apprenticeship. Nick was speechless. He never imagined that Raiden would have already accomplished so much. Because you could only take the exam in a few cities in each kingdom, and only one apprentice was chosen each week, there were less than 500 players who had one. Most were top tier professional gamers who had guilds and sponsorships supporting them. None of which seemed to fit Raiden. Before they could continue the conversation the instructor arrived and gathered everyone¡¯s attention to himself. He was a man of average height, but with more than exceptional muscle mass. He looked to be in his late 30s early 40s, and had armor that was making every player there jealous. ¡°Welcome, Welcome! I trust you are all here for the apprenticeship exam, no?¡± The mass of players nodded simultaneously. ¡°Good, Good! Now let me introduce myself. I am Sir Hollis. I will be your instructor for this exam, as well as your master if you happen to do well. Now before we begin I will clarify a few things. One, I don¡¯t HAVE to choose an apprentice. If none of you impress me then thats it. Likewise, I could pick several of you to receive my tutelage. And second, the tournament will be duel style, so killing is allowed. However, killing your opponent won¡¯t impress me, so don¡¯t try. Now if you would all get into a line that would be amazing.¡± Sir Hollis motioned to several guards that were there to help. They assisted in organizing the line. The players were having mixed feelings about the Knight. Contrary to the typical stereotype he wasn¡¯t loud and commanding. He seemed like a nice guy, but that was what scared everyone. It seemed like a facade that could crack at any moment revealing the monster beneath. As the players were lining up Raiden went over to where his master was. He was hoping Sir Hollis wasn¡¯t mad after his 5 day hiatus. Thankfully the knight welcomed him back with open arms. ¡°Ah! Raiden, what a pleasure. I¡¯m glad to see you haven¡¯t forsaken the path of knighthood.¡± ¡°Not at all! I only left because it was asked of me by someone whom I owed a favor, but my obligations are gone. I¡¯ve returned to resume my training, as well as bring a friend of mine to the exam.¡± ¡°Oh? Who is it? From what I imagine of the company you keep he will be quite the warrior.¡± Raiden started to chuckle as he pointed Thyne out. Although he had determination and resolve, a warrior wasn¡¯t exactly the image the kid gave off. ¡°I know he doesn¡¯t have the physique of a knight, but his passion is greater than anyone here. I¡¯ll guarantee it.¡± Sir Hollis chose to remain silent and not comment. His expectations were less than met. ¡®Don¡¯t say anything if you don¡¯t have anything nice to say I guess¡¯ Raiden thought. The exam was set up with duel style tournament fighting. If you win you advance, and if you lose you don¡¯t. As Sir Hollis had said, winning the tournament doesn¡¯t earn you the apprenticeship. He has the right to pick any participant as his apprentice. Each duel is set so that a player wins when their opponent¡¯s health drops below 50%, however the system doesn¡¯t prevent the accumulation of damage after that. If a player chooses they could continue to attack until their opponent is dead. For each match the players are chosen from each end of the line. The winners of each duel proceed to the next line and so forth until only one player remains and the tournament is over. The first couple matches went by fast. There was distinctly different levels in the competition. Some players just recently reached level 10, while others were veterans competed in the last 2 or 3 exams. Half of the duels ended in one or two strikes leaving the victor with full health. Nick lucked out and got an easy first opponent. The player he defeated didn¡¯t have any decent equipment or good skills to fight back. It took 45 minutes and 37 duels before Thyne¡¯s turn came up. His opponent let out a laugh as they both stepped forward. He was an average looking player with decent armor and an above average longsword on his back. As they faced each other and waited for the guard to signal the start, the player couldn¡¯t help but taunt Thyne. ¡°Looks like I lucked out. Why don¡¯t you leave and let the big boys do the fighting.¡± Thyne didn¡¯t respond but just gritted his teeth. His size was something everyone picked on him for. It was a touchy subject for him. When making his avatar he tried to change the height, but the system only lets you adjust it within 6 inches of your original height. If not every player would be 7 ft. Even with the adjustment he was only able to make 5ft 5in. Since most players were taller in game than IRL he was still short despite being slightly below average. When Thyne drew his dagger the crowd seemed confused. Knights had proficiency in all weapons, but something like a longsword or ax would gain more benefits. It would put any knight at a disadvantage to use a dagger. Thyne¡¯s opponent started laughing hysterically when the blade was drawn. He couldn¡¯t believe the luck he was having. Once order was restored and everyone was serious the guard called for the duel to start. The warrior was carefree and recklessly charged Thyne. To his dismay the kid wasn¡¯t anywhere to be found. The wide swing aimed at Thyne¡¯s neck swooshed through the air without connecting. It was only when he felt the knife enter his back that he was able to realize what happened. As he turned to face the backstabber, Thyne¡¯s dagger went from his back to his throat. Both players heard a ding as a message outlining the results of the duel popped up.
The winner of the duel is player: Thyne!
The onlookers were all surprised. This was one fight that few had hope in the underdog. No one expected much of his opponent either, but this wasn¡¯t even a fight. The players that had wrote Thyne off were now starting to reconsider. Even Sir Hollis seemed surprised as he commented to Raiden. ¡°As I would¡¯ve thought, your company are ones to impress.¡± Raiden was starting to think Thyne didn¡¯t need the recommendation. He got substantially stronger during the last quest, and hunting with Raiden and Baron gave him additional skills in combat. The backstab skill he just used had become his signature along with the sneak skill. The fights continued for another hour before round one was over. In the second half there were only a few players that seemed to stand out. There was group of players that all did surprisingly well. Each of the six won their respective fights without a scratch. Two of them were able to end their duels with only one strike. The one looked to be in command of the others. Lucifer, as the guard called him, didn¡¯t even pretend to try as he used a sword skill to attack faster than anyone could see. The attack glowed blue making it resemble lightning as it hit its mark. The impact seemed just as strong as it was fast. Before anyone realised the player¡¯s health hit 0, and he faded into smoke. The other player, Goliath, was the only non-human player at the exam. At above eight feet he was a giant that outsized Baron by nearly a foot. His large gut that was characteristic of the giant race seemed fatter than average, and his ugly face was more than most people could look at for a few seconds. During his duel Goliath didn¡¯t bother to draw the mace on his back. Instead, he grabbed his opponent by the throat, lifted him above his head, and slammed him onto the ground. The impact not only won him the duel, but his opponent¡¯s health dropped to 0. Sir Hollis was visibly agitated during the two duels but didn¡¯t comment. Although he expressed his stand against killing your enemies in a duel, it was still allowed. Even if he wanted to discipline them he had no premise to do so. As the matches for the second round started Raiden made his way to Thyne. Walking through the crowd he couldn¡¯t help but overhear a conversation. ¡°It¡¯s bad enough they terrorize players outside the city, but now they¡¯re PKing inside the castle walls.¡± ¡°Why did we have to start in a city with a PK guild like them. We should just drop out. It¡¯s not worth dying for.¡± ¡°What PK guild is it?¡± Raiden had to ask. He remembered Baron mentioning a PK guild at one point. He even went so far as to designate them hostile on the guild relations list. ¡°It¡¯s the Blue Blood Brothers. The bastards have killed hundreds of players in the areas surrounding Sai and Gorn. They¡¯re a plague to this city. I wish they would just move on to a new kingdom already¡± Raiden went into the guild management window and looked under the guild relations tab. The only guild registered was the Blue Blood Brothers, and there name fell under the hostile category. He looked at their guild profile page, but it was mostly blank. The only information he was able to get was a list of players in the guild. Looking through the list of 12 names Lucifer was marked as the leader with Goliath second in command. Raiden thought about confronting them, but without Baron there wasn¡¯t any point. It was his fight after all, not Raiden¡¯s. He decided to let them be for now and mention it to Baron later. Raiden gave Thyne a pep talk while they waited for his turn. He instructed him on how to deal with several of the players he might have to face. Most importantly he warned him about the PK guild. The last thing they needed was for Thyne to die. Baron already wanted these players dead, it wouldn¡¯t help that they killed a family member. Thyne¡¯s next duel was shorter than the last. The underdog managed to shock everyone again by dancing around his opponent. The deadly accuracy of his dagger never failed to hit a vulnerable point in his opponents armor. Thyne may appear puny, but he proves that stigma wrong each time. His next two duels went similarly. He only took a few hits before coming out victorious in each. Now, he only had to win one more duel to make it to the finals, and the way it was looking he would be facing a Blue Blood Brother. Nick faced Lucifer in the third round. He tried to stand his ground, but couldn¡¯t withstand the PKer¡¯s lighting fast technique. It was a crushing defeat. His only redeeming quality was that he didn¡¯t die. It was mainly through luck that Nick had managed to make it this far into the exam. With only four players left the semi-finals were set to begin. First up was the duel between Lucifer and another member of his guild. The fact they were comrades didn¡¯t seem to matter as Lucifer used two strikes to bring his guild members health to zero. It was cruelty that was expected of a player who enjoys murdering players. Everyone there was wondering what would happen if Lucifer and Goliath had to fight. The only obstacle in the way was the duel between Goliath and Thyne. The crowd didn¡¯t know what to make of the match up. Every duel they had predicted Thyne¡¯s defeat, but he hadn¡¯t lost yet. Goliath on the other hand was expected to win every match up, and he did. As the two stood next to each other Thyne was completely dwarfed. Goliath seemed amused as he looked down on his opponent. ¡°I don¡¯t mind fighting a baby, but please don¡¯t die in one hit. Try to make it at least a little fun¡± In a deep, hoarse voice the giant started taunting. He finished the sentence with a belly chuckle that seemed to shake the ground. The guard signaled and the duel commenced. Goliath went straight for a knockout punch, but it was as slow as it was forceful. Thyne sidestepped easily. Using the momentum of darting forward to stab the giant¡¯s side. It would¡¯ve have been a critical hit near the kidneys if it wasn¡¯t for the layer of blubber protecting him. Goliath kept trying to land hits using every part of his body he could, but no matter how much he tried he couldn¡¯t match Thyne¡¯s speed. Each strike missed it¡¯s mark and kept going. In the time it took the giant to recover from the wide swings Thyne would move in and deliver a strike of his own. Goliath¡¯s health was slowly starting to get chipped away. His race gave him extra health making it slow, but Thyne¡¯s attacks were doing enough to be a threat. frustrated by his inability to win Goliath drew his weapon for the first time. It was a large, steel mace that surprisingly swung slower than the giant¡¯s fists. Thyne was worried at first, but after he ducked the mace he decided to continue his counter attacks. His attention was caught as he noticed the mace begin to glow red. As if it was put into reverse the weapon shot back at him. This time it wasn¡¯t slow, but had the same lightning speed as Lucifer''s skill. Thyne took the full force of the impact and was sent flying into the air. He didn¡¯t manage to hit hit the ground before fading into a puff of smoke. One hit was enough to bring his health to zero. Raiden could do nothing but grit his teeth. He had grown close to the kid in the past several days, and would love to bash the giant¡¯s skull in. As was the instructor reasoning, he had no cause to attack them. Technically they did nothing wrong, so he would be branded a murderer if he acted. There was no doubt in his mind he could take the giant, but Lucifer would be a challenge. It would be next to impossible to take them at the same time. Plus they would have the support of the three other guild member that were watching. He decided to let them go for now, but like Baron he resolved to get his revenge later on. He didn¡¯t stay for last duel. After talking to Sir Hollis, Raiden left to go train. It was the best way to relieve stress, and keep himself from lashing out at those two. He found out from his master that Thyne didn¡¯t pass the exam. Thankfully, none of the PKers made it either. ¡°That kid does have passion like you said, very much so, and under different circumstances I would have gladly taken him under my wing. I can look past his lacking physique, but I don¡¯t believe knighthood is meant for him. He has the qualities of character, but other professions are more fitting. I will however, talk to some of my colleagues. I¡¯m sure I can find a master willing to teach such a promising student.¡± If the knight said he would do it than the chances of Thyne still getting an apprenticeship were good. Raiden was just happy that Thyne dying wouldn¡¯t be entirely in vain.