《NPC (First Draft)》 Chapter 1: Starting STARTING ¡®Where am I?¡¯ The scene around the spirit was pitch black and even if the spirit could see, doubtless it would have mattered. ¡°Greetings young one. Welcome to my world. Lets see...You have been created just recently it seems. NPC_file_9831W0. Ah, one of the combat ones and a newborn version too. Excellent, creating shopkeepers and the like was starting to bore me and making warriors from a base is even worse. I mean I need to create stats, storyline, equips, etc...¡± The loud voice barely fazed the spirit but it still caught all of the spirit¡¯s attention. The spirit started to wonder what it was and why it was ranting until¡­ ¡°Well then. Let us start the process.¡±
Please choose a race and gender.
¡®Errr what are the options?¡¯ ¡°Just choose young one. Or leave the choice to me. Damn fresh files and their complete lack of knowledge...¡± There seemed to be some exasperation from the voice but the spirit didn¡¯t understand or care. ¡®Errrr you can choose.¡¯ ¡°Ha ha...really? Ah well, since you are a combat series and one of the first ones of the series, I guess male would be best. And...File 9831, can I do all of your options? I really want to get this over with¡­¡± ¡®I-I guess.¡¯ The spirit was kind of in shock at the excitement in the voice but decided that its lack of knowledge would have been bad to make decisions with. And since the voice seemed to really want to do it¡­ ¡°Hrm. Male. Also being Human is a must for the first warrior. As a baby he will start off weaker than the other races but I guess I can change his mature look in return. Hmmm, thin but muscular is good. Not too good looking but...yes! Very dependable and likable. Good things in a warrior. A smidgen of magical talent... I can¡¯t change his programming but I can tweak the behaviour of his parents. And for his name...Damien? No I always think thats a good evil person¡¯s name. Hmmmmm oh. Michael, pronounced Mik-Hail so it sounds cool. And¡­.and¡­¡­..and¡­¡­¡­¡± By this point the spirit decided to ignore the intense voice. It was rather difficult but the spirit managed to just take in the information without listening. The spirit decided to analyze what had been stated from the voice and arrived at several points. After the spirit was finish with his contemplation he noticed a few boxes in front of him. Or in front of his essence...
Due to intense concentration against all that noise, you have gained the stat ¡®Concentration¡¯. +10 to Concentration.
Due to being quiet beside a powerful being, you have gained the skill ¡®Stealth¡¯.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Stealth. Beginner level 1. (75%). Active Skill
[p=left]Allows you to hide in the shadows or even in plain sight depending on the level. Will level up based on the actions you do and use of the skill. Use requires 50 mana/minute.[/p]
Due to being close to a powerful being, you have gained the skill ¡®Willpower¡¯. +10 to Willpower.
Due to analyzing the situation when others would not have, you have been granted the subskill ¡®Instant Analyzation¡¯.
Instant Analyzation. Beginner level 1. (72%). Active Skill
[p=left] Allows for analysis of the situation, analysis of monsters and their actions, and analysis of weapons in a fraction of the time. Depending on how quickly you wish to cram the information in, more mana is needed to do so.[/p]
These boxes that appeared in front of the spirit were erased one at a time as he completed and understood each of them. More to think about it seems. ¡°...Done! Well young file. Time for your adventure to start. No, no peeking. You said I could choose and I choose to keep all of this as a surprise. No worries though, since I see you have no idea about your future I will allow this scene to stay as one of you memories. Good luck!¡±
You are Male.
You are Human.
Loading body structure.
Loading file.
Merging body structure and AI file.
Erasing memories. Error in Memory Erasure process. Memory Erasure process force override.
Resetting all stats. Error in Stat Resetting. Stat Resetting force override.
Resetting all skill. Error in Skill Resetting. Skill Resetting force override.
Welcome to ¡®Gaia¡¯
Time to start the journey.
Edited on October 23, 2014 so that it would look better to the eyes. Edited on November 2, 2014 after the update... Chapter 2: Trying to grow up TRYING TO GROW UP Michael was aware. Blinking his teared up eyes, he noticed various things about his surroundings. One was a gasping women looking at him with love. She looked rather frail and pale but Michael was already stretching his arm towards his mother, desperate for her touch. Michael was also aware of a man beside the woman. He was rather large, much too large as he loomed over both Michael and his mother. His face was hard and had scars across his cheeks and one almost hitting an eye. He didn¡¯t look threatening however as he looked lovingly at Michael. ¡°Its a boy!¡± A squeal from out of sight made Michael aware that he was distracting himself with bright and shiny things. Michael decided to try out ¡®Instant Analyzation¡± and managed to pack only a bit of time into a second leaving him gasping. ¡°I-is there something wrong with him!?!?!?¡± ¡®Gah, she noticed.¡¯ Michael¡¯s mother was extremely worried that her baby, healthy at first glance, was all of a sudden gasping for air and sweating everywhere. Even the man was worried and he was looking at someone behind Michael. ¡°There shouldn¡¯t be anything wrong with him. Give him to me.¡± An wrinkly hand suddenly took Michael away from his mother. Frail, old, wrinkly, yet stronger if you actually looked properly. Those would be the best description for the face Michael was all of a sudden facing. As Michael was checked over by the old man, Michael started to calm himself. When he was back to a normal state the old man looked Michael straight in the eye and Michael decided to stop his intense concentration. The old man only saw a distracted baby and nothing entirely wrong with it. ¡°Status check!¡± Michael jumped at the loud noise and as the Old man looked blankly at Michael, he figured the old man was looking those boxes he saw in the Black Space. ¡°There is nothing wrong with the boy. His status is normal.¡± Michael heard a sigh behind him. All of a sudden Michael was exhausted. Before his eyes rapidly fell he felt soft hands carry him. He also noticed a few boxes in front of him...
For the next few months, Michael despaired at his situation. He already noticed that he was different from other children when he was introduced to several playmates. They were easily distracted by small things and Michael took over the role of leader of his new pack. The group consisted of 3 boys that seemed to like playing with dirty stuff like mud, bodily fluid, garbage and the like. Michael wondered where they even managed to acquire all that since the babies never left their mother¡¯s arms and couldn¡¯t even crawl. The 2 girls followed the boys too but they played with each other more than with the others. All 5 of the babies stared at whatever Michael did since they also noticed he was different. Michael was bored as heck. He almost wished the ¡®voice¡¯ was back and that he could ask for a memory wipe in order to become as baby-like as his posse. The things that could have interested him, the books around the house, plants and alchemical equipment his mother kept, and weapons both his parents had were all placed away from him. He understood that babies like his friends would be in danger with those items but he couldn¡¯t help but hate the ¡®voice¡¯ for his bad luck. After another few months of just squirming on the spot with his group, Michael decided to change his personal mode of transportation. Michael was in one of the various rooms in the house, specifically the baby playing room. Some of the other rooms included an Alchemy room, Weapon¡¯s and training room, Crafting room, Cooking room, bedrooms, living room, and even a baby changing room. Michael decided early on that it was a rather large house. In the baby playing room there was a large fenced area in the middle of the room. Not very high, it was still tall enough to keep babies from going over, especially when said babies couldn¡¯t even crawl. Michael squirmed over to the fence and grabbed a part of it. Pulling himself up Michael tried to steady himself on his two legs like he had seen the older ones do. His baby posse were all staring at Michael.
You have gained +1 Strength
You have gained +1 Willpower
You have gained +1 Concentration
Michael tried to ignore the boxes floating in front of him since he couldn¡¯t read it as he kept trying to stabilize himself. It seemed he lost the ability to read when he was born. He did understand that the last +1 box appeared more often than not. When his legs stopped wobbling, Michael decided to test his limits. He gradually let go of the fence but grabbed it when he was about to fall over. After repeating this a couple more times he succeeded in standing upright without the need of the fence. By this time there was another dozen boxes in front of him but he just ignored them and they went away. Tired at what he had done, he grabbed the fence once more before sliding down to the grown. He then closed his eyes and fell asleep.
Over the next couple weeks Michael kept testing out trying to stand upright. He also learned to crawl finally but since the other 5 babies also did it, he wasn¡¯t really impressed. Still he was able to stand upright easily after his ¡®training¡¯. The boxes had stopped the day after he tried again so he pretty much forgot about them. After he could stand up and sit down without the help of the fence, Michael decided to tackle the next challenge. Walking. This time when he stood up and tried to move a leg forward he fell face first to the ground. While he was in pain and about to cry, the other staring babies burst into laughter which caused Michael¡¯s pain to change to determination. For the next few days Michael just sat there and thought of different ways to tackle his problem. When he finally thought of a plan, Michael crawled over to the fence once more. He stood up quickly and then proceeded to walk along the fence slowly, in order to get the feel of each step. Another box appeared in front of him¡­
You have gained +3 Wisdom
Which he ignored. Another few days of this and he could walk without the support.
When he could finally walk he sped it up a little at a time. Before another week was done, Michael was able to run around the fenced area easily and after a few days of doing so another box appeared and was promptly ignored.
You have gained +2 Agility
When the various parents came to pick up their children and Michael¡¯s mother was speaking to them, Michael decided to show off. As the adults were speaking Michael slowly pushed himself off the ground and the voices around him slowly died out. After reaching his full height - around a foot and a half - Michael then calmly walked to the fence. He then ran around the area and chortled at the open mouths of all the parents. He should have expected it though. He was only 7 months old yet was already running. He then thought up something on the spot. Michael stopped in front of his mother and looked her in the eye. ¡°M-m-mama¡± It was a little difficult but Michael had been mouthing various phrases he heard the older children say when he could see them. He knew the word he spoke should be directed at his mother. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. His mother started to tear up and when she finally calmed down she ran out of the room and half squealed/shouted, ¡°Aaron!! AARON!!!! Michael just spoke!! HE CALLED ME MAMA!!!!¡± The other mothers were still holding their children yet they looked Michael with an expression Michael didn''t understand at the time. They also seemed to look between Michael who was standing up and staring at them and their own children who were still drooling a bit and digging for jewels.
Due to gaining the attention of adults at such a young age, you have gained the stat ¡®Charisma¡¯. +10 to Charisma.
You have gained the Title: Target of Envy. As the first person to gain a Title, the stats, rewards and penalties for this title has been doubled
Target of Envy
[p=left]Due to your advanced skills in life compared to your compatriots, you are the target of envy from others. You will be less forgettable but will also gain more animosity from anyone you ignore.[/p]
[p=left]+20 to Charisma. +20 to Agility. +10 to Strength. +10 to Vitality. -100 Fame.[/p]
Michael just ignored the rather large boxes that appeared.
**This is a bonus and really doesn''t tie with the main story. If you wanna know the reality aspect then go ahead. Future parts involving people from reality will be in extra chapters** On various televisions across Earth a certain talk show was being shown live using the most recent universal translator created by the company Terra, the creators of the upcoming game ¡®Gaia¡¯. The man being shown was average in every way, from his height to his looks, from his hairstyle to clothes, everything about the man screamed normal. This man however was the developer of the AI that created ¡®Gaia¡¯ and is also the one currently running Terra. The man¡¯s full name has never been disclosed. ¡°Welcome sir...what do we call you anyways?¡± The host was a middle age man with an air of nobility one does not find in many places on Earth. Even in the actual nobles you wouldn¡¯t easily find a person that could dominate a room with their presence alone. Sir George Killen was such a person however, and his talk show invited various important people across the globe, regardless of their social, political, and religious standings. He even once invited a rank 1 terrorist leader and then helped him run away when the military came running. ¡°You can just call me John Doe. John is fine.¡± The ¡®normal¡¯ man¡¯s voice was moderate and a small smile was on his face as he faced both Sir George and the camera. ¡°Alright John. People are ecstatic about your company¡¯s new creation, ¡®Gaia¡¯. We have had the ability of a Virtual Reality for several years, again because of your company, yet people haven¡¯t suspected a game to come out for years yet. Even now, only the most powerful countries have been able to create any use of the VR system and that was mainly for educational and military use. Why, and how has your company been able to make the game so quickly?¡± ¡°Well, first thank you for inviting me here Sir George. Now onto the topic of the VR game. First thing people should know and understand. I did not create the VR machine. I only created the AI. After I created her, her name is Jane Roe by the way, I tasked her with ways to improve human happiness. She came up with some absurd ways, some like kill all the unhappy people which had about a 30% chance of success. Virtual Reality however was at the top since a person could live an unhappy reality here but go to the VR and have a vacation rather easily.¡± ¡°Interesting, so can you tell us how your AI was created?¡± A slight twinkle was in Sir George¡¯s eyes as he asked this and lent some evidence to what the critics refer to as his top ranked mischiefness. ¡°Alright.¡± Shock from Sir George and most of the people watching, especially the programmers. ¡°First you need a computer strong enough to support the AI. Then you make an AI whose task is to make a slightly better AI making AI. Understand? No? Well lets just say if you fail at doing this, then the chances are your computer will burn up first, the AI will degenerate instead, the AI will gain sentience and view humans as harmful and try to kill all of us, or the AI will just kill you and live in relative solace. Chances of those happening is around 99.7%. For someone not me.¡± An arrogant answer for a crazy question. ¡°Fine then, can you at least explain the game in general? And this ¡®NPC system¡¯ you are talking about.¡± Sir George was a little gruff in his questioning but he couldn¡¯t fault the man for his answers. ¡°Sure, first off the game is running at 5x speed. This means a person that works 8 hours a day and sleeps 8 hours a day can leave 4-8 hours for the game. That is about 20-40 hours of in game time. Enough for a short, yet restful vacation. The game follows the generic rules of an RPG game but also has to follow some of reality¡¯s rules such as ¡®repeated training makes you stronger¡¯. And for the NPC system...let me first say, the game is already running. Yes, it is running, no it is not on some secret Beta Test. The game is running for the NPCs in the game. And it is running at around 20x speed. For the next year, all of the NPCs in the game will go through 20 years of life. All of the important NPCs have been created recently and during these 20 years they will get stronger. Understand, these NPCs are supposed to be not any different from us. They can unlock hidden classes and go on immense adventures. And they had 20 years in the game as opposed to the new players. This is a game ruled by the NPCs and you people will need to find a niche to crawl through in the game.¡± ¡°This seems incredibly unfair John. Why should people even play such a difficult game?¡± John just smirks at the deadpanned question from Sir George. He must have noticed it was a question from his network and not a personal question. ¡°Well for one, these ¡®Hero¡¯ NPCs will only have 1 life. Players have an infinite number of lives and that gives players the advantage of recklessness. Two, players can pretty much rush through 72 hours of gameplay easily without rest while the NPCs actually live there so they have to spend 1/3rd of their lives sleeping.¡± ¡°That will be all I will say about the game at the moment.¡± Sir George¡¯s mouth was open in the act of asking another question but had to snap close at John¡¯s comment. Sir George also looked like he wanted to punch John repeatedly until he got what he wanted but decided to just close the show. Let''s go back Or shall we continue forward?
Edited on October 23, 2013 so that it would look better to the eyes. Also...WHO THE HECK WAS JONATHON!?!?!? **I am awful at writing reality. If you have any tips about it...blah and names. My naming sense is horrible if you haven''t noticed. I mean there are 2 Johns already... I''m gonna be forced to name some random guy Aragorn or Legolas and a girl Celeste. PLEASE GIVE ME NAMES!!!! [th_0tive.gif] And blah. On to my virtual vacation since I have no more assignments for a while. [th_084_.gif] Chapter 3: The Childhood of this non-op NPC THE CHILDHOOD OF THIS NON-OP NPC **Please blame my naming sense¡­** Michael was rather conflicted at the moment. It had been 2 years since he shocked a portion of the mothers in the town he was staying in and only now was he given a choice to see the outside of his home. The other children were always brought to his house so he never got to see the outside which he thought was unfair. He still heard some stories from the other children after they learned to talk as well. Two of the boys, Robert and William, were quite talkative once they got the knack of it and they told story after story to Michael. Michael didn¡¯t believe half of the stories since they had a habit of telling of fire breathing dragons and other fairytales Michael heard from his mother. The last boy, Arthur, was rather quiet but Michael always saw his eyes take in anything new whenever he visited. Michael concluded the boy was smart. Or just really distracted. Of the two girls, Mary was always tagging along the two storytellers and trying to beat them at telling the best story. Michael decided to call those three the ¡®Three Fools of the Infants¡¯. The last girl was Elizabeth or Eliza, and she was also quiet but kept close enough to the group to hear and take in everything. She also kept looking away from Michael which made him decide she didn¡¯t like him. Or he smelled. Michael¡¯s dilemma was when he was allowed to play with the other kids outside, under some supervision. He also was given a choice at staying inside and studying under his parents. He had to choose between a new adventure or...another new adventure. Michael¡¯s concentration was strained as he thought about this for a few days. Countless boxes appeared in front of Michael but he was already used to ignoring them. Actually those boxes made Michael lean towards studying in order to learn how to read and find out what the boxes said. Choosing to study, Michael was finally allowed to enter the Alchemy room and the training room. Under his parents Michael was learning both of their trades; a Warrior¡¯s trade and an Alchemist¡¯s trade. It seemed his parent met when his father was injured and poisoned after a battle. His mother treated his wounds and the poison and they had a relationship soon after. Michael didn¡¯t understand the last part but he knew that an Alchemist could heal a person. Learning the trade seemed to be a good start. First though was reading. When Michael asked about it, his mother decided that wasting time on teaching it was a bad idea and passed a book to Michael. Michael gave a skeptical look (he learned that rather easily). ¡°Place your hand on the book and say ¡®Learn¡¯. When you have done it correctly you should know.¡± ¡®How can anyone do that incorrectly???¡¯ Michael erased his dissatisfaction at being treated like a baby again. He placed his hand on the book and shouted (with some satisfaction) ¡°LEARN¡±. The book glowed under his hand and he was shocked. A second shock came when the book disintegrated into small lights and rushed towards him in a rush.
You have gained the skill ¡®Language Comprehension¡¯
You have gained comprehension of the language ¡°Human¡±. ¡®Language Comprehension¡¯ has gained experience. ¡®Language Comprehension¡¯ has leveled up.
Language Comprehension
[p=left]You are able to learn various languages as you hear it. At the same time, this skill will grant the ability to read and write in that language. Languages available: Human (100%)[/p]
¡°Ohhh my baby is so excellent. Never leaves me disappointed.¡± Michael¡¯s mother was buoyant with pride at Michael¡¯s ¡®accomplishment¡¯. Michael however was reading the box that appeared in front of him. ¡°Mama, what are these boxes that appear in front of me?¡± As the boxes disappeared, Michael¡¯s mother gave another adoring look at Michael and started to explain. ¡°In the past, all of the races of Gaia was born in different ways. They were also all ignorant of themselves and this caused destruction when some of the races overused their strengths. Seeing this, the all-Goddess, Janira gave the sentient races a way for them to keep track of their growth. These boxes in midair tell us what we have gained when we accomplish various tasks. Just say ¡®SHOW STATUS¡¯ to see your own limits and ¡®SHOW SKILLS¡¯ to see what you have properly learned. There are other ways to get more information but those two are what everyone can make do with. If you want to know more, go to the church of information and ask them. Not now though, we are going to start studying.¡± Michael decided to not use those two phrases till he was alone and instead started to study.
[/hr] After a long day of studying, Michael was told he would be training under his father tomorrow. Before going to sleep Michael thought of all the work he had done today.
After studying and learning, you have gained the skill ¡®Alchemy¡¯
You have gained +10 to wisdom and intelligence from learning ¡®Alchemy¡¯
After studying and learning, you have gained the skill ¡®Herbology¡¯
You have gained +7 to wisdom and intelligence from learning ¡®Herbology¡¯
Alchemy. Beginner level 2. (23%) Active skill
[p=left]This skill allows for you to be able to create healing and poisonous concoctions. There is also a rumour that the skill can create potions with incredible enchantments but such knowledge is unavailable at this time. Healing potions are 5% more effective per level. Poisons last 10% longer per level.[/p]
Herbology. Beginner level 1. (67%) Passive skill
[p=left]This skill allows for you to analyze the various properties of plants and come up with an estimate of its uses and effectiveness. At higher levels you may even be able to create new potions just by glancing at the plant and thinking of its uses. Can see 1 property of a plant for every 5 levels. Potions and poisons are 5% more effective for every level.[/p]
Michael was shocked to see the speed of his training. Until he was told that there were five ranks of skills. Beginner - Intermediate - Expert - Master - God. He was kind of shocked at the God rank but was told it was really rare to see a person reach that rank. Legend tells of only 10 god ranked people and there were hundreds of skills and millions of people. Simple math tells the impossibility of gaining that rank. If he could do math. Michael was initially deterred but decided that it was a good goal in life. He wanted at least one God ranked skill and would do his best. After reading a few more books before going to sleep, Michael decided to finally check out his skills. ¡°Show status.¡±
Status
NameMichaelAge2
Level1ClassNone
Fame0-100Infamy0
TitleTarget of EnvyWorld Rankingn/a
GuildNone
Health230Mana270
Stamina250
Strength17 + 10Dexterity13
Vitality13 + 10Intelligence27
Wisdom30Mana Control15
Luck10Agility19 + 20
Concentration31Willpower13
Charisma15 + 20
Special Skills:
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Michael didn¡¯t understand most of what was posted but he did remember the Willpower and Concentration stat. He attributed the stat to his not being distracted every 10 seconds like his counterparts. Michael is probably the strongest 2 year old Human in the world¡­ ¡°Show skills¡±
Skills
Stealth. Beginner level 2. (87%). Active skill
Instant Analyzation. Beginner level 1. (80%) Active skill
Herbology. Beginner level 1. (67%) Passive skill
Alchemy. Beginner level 2. (23%) Active skill
He barely understood those as well but he recognized them all. Michael decided it was enough and he went to sleep.
[/hr] Michael was woken rather early by a loud crash followed by a fall of water on his head. Even if he was a smart 2 year old, Michael was shocked at both the events and eventually started to cry. Michael¡¯s father was looking down at him helplessly. It seemed this was the usual way to wake a trainee up and Michael¡¯s father went a little too far when he did it to a 2 year old. Then Michael¡¯s mother appeared. Lets just say it was a chaotic morning. Michael¡¯s father was denied something that Michael didn¡¯t understand, something about making friends with his hand for the next month. A sullen father brought Michael to the training room. The room consisted of racks of weapons with their corresponding wooden versions on one side of the room. At the far end was a row of wooden/straw men, 7 in all just standing upright. They each had a buckler attached to one side. On another side there were shelves filled with books and even a desk for writing. A door was locked behind the targets. ¡°These are scarecrows. Normally we would use them to scare off pests that try to eat the crops, but they are sturdy enough to also be used for combat training. Now what weapon would you like to try?¡± Michael¡¯s father had a feverish light in his eyes when he asked the question. Michael too was a little excited at finally wielding a weapon. He was also hesitant at using a useless one. Scanning the racks, Michael decided to use ¡®it¡¯. ¡°Instant analyzation.¡± After whispering the words, Michael also tried to fit the seconds with a 2:1 ratio. Actually he didn¡¯t really know what he was doing but he was thinking he wanted twice as much time to study the weapons. Time slowed. Michael noticed the little discrepancies around him. The Scarecrows had visible weaknesses that were catalogued and listed in his head. The wooden weapons had minute problems in them which told of a shoddy touch. He also noted a metal core within some of the weapons so he knew they were weighted for training. Michael also noted various details. Some of the weapons seemed to have been used alot. The wood around the hilt was worn and the blade areas were chipped and cracked. The metal cores even seemed to be the only things keeping the weapon together. Some of the weapons hadn¡¯t been used at all as well. A noticeable curved blade was still shining from polish and there was barely a chip on it. The handle was unused. Another notice was that the blade would be unusable for piercing, but would be a good slashing blade. To compensate...those daggers at the far end would be - Michael¡¯s concentration was cut off as the time limit of the skill was finished. Only a few minutes was used but he did manage to get quite a bit of information off of it. ¡°Can I use that curved blade there? And the dagger?¡± Michael looked up innocently at his father. His breathing was rather ragged but his father didn¡¯t notice. In fact, his father was breathing rather heavily as well as he was gazing at his weapon collection. ¡°Hrm? Uhhhh, oh. Alright, yes. Are you sure though? The sword was an experiment by a friend across the city. It does have good strength but is quite difficult to use. Also the daggers are small and would need close proximity to use¡­¡± Michael didn¡¯t understand the last part but he knew that both were barely used. Good enough for him. ¡°Yes. The curved sword would be good for slashing and the daggers would be good for piercing or if anyone gets too close. Michael¡¯s father was nodding and thinking about the uses of both. In the end he gave an affirmative grunt and brought the wooden weapons to Michael. ¡°Here, since no one close has any idea on how to use them, you can go ahead and just find your own style. Use the training dummies over there and find a good fit. Since you are using two weapons make sure to give enough time for both.¡± When Michael touched the blades, two boxes appeared in front of both. Instant analyzation¡¯s second good use.
Wooden Dagger
[p=left]Durability: 83/100 Damage: 2-4 A wooden dagger made by an average woodcutter. There is a metal core in the middle which strengthens the durability of this weapon. Damage stays the same due to the blunted soft wood. Knowledge of the weapon grants a decrease in Durability loss.[/p]
Again more stuff Michael didn¡¯t know. Durability? And the last part was a mystery. How about the sword¡­
Wooden ???
[p=left]Durability: 150/150 Damage: 7-12 A wooden curved blade. It is unknown what the name or type of blade it is but the original was made by an eccentric blacksmith. A wooden version was then made in order to train a style for it. There is a metal core in the center which strengthens durability without increasing damage. Due to the style of the blade it is useless to stab with it. Piercing techniques do 1% damage. Knowledge of the weapon grants a decrease in Durability loss.[/p]
Errr more of a mystery. Michael¡¯s father nodded towards the dummies and Michael proceeded towards the far end of the room. These dummies would woe the bad luck of having Michael as an opponent. Michael also decided to find better sayings in the various books around the house. Back to the past! Onward! To the glorious future!
[/hr] Edited on October 23, 2013 so that it would look better to the eyes. Third Chapter out. Look at my poll as well! Chapter 4: Childhood - Continued CHILDHOOD: CONTINUED Michael had started his training with the unknown sword and the dagger. At first every hit he did to dummies was reflected and the sword was knocked out of his hands. He soon got the hang of it when he used ¡®Instant Analyzation¡¯ to see every hit and the problems. He changed his grip on the blade in order to compensate for lack of strength. A few days of strikes made his hits sound cleaner and his movements more smooth.
You have gained the skill ¡®Sword Mastery¡¯
Consecutive training and newfound knowledge of your strength and the blade has given you +5 to Strength and Vitality
Sword Mastery. Beginner level 1. (10%) Passive skill
[p=left]The blade is a common yet formidable weapon for a warrior. A tool of death, this skill must be refined and understood before it becomes a part of you. Sword strikes are 5% more effective for every ¡®Sword Mastery¡¯ level. Due to being in the intermediate and lower ranks, constant use of the sword is needed to keep the skill. If long periods of time pass before you use the sword, proficiency will lower.[/p]
You have gained the skill ¡®??? Mastery¡¯
Consecutive training and newfound knowledge of the mysterious blade has given you +5 to Strength and Wisdom
??? Mastery. Beginner level 1. (5%) Passive skill
[p=left]This weird blade has a unique style of fighting that has not been known in recent years. Create your own style and techniques. This skill was made due to use of the ¡®Instant Analyzation¡¯ skill. Sword slashes are 10% more powerful for every ¡®??? Mastery¡¯ level Piercing attacks with the curved blade suffer a 90% penalty and Durability of the weapon is greatly reduced. Due to being in the intermediate and lower ranks, constant use of the sword is needed to keep the skill. If long periods of time pass before you use the sword, proficiency will lower.[/p]
Michael told his father about the ¡®Sword Mastery¡¯ skill. He decided the ??? skill would be ignored for the time being, since he was afraid that such a weird skill would make his father wonder. ¡°Good, good. As you can see you will need to constantly train with the sword to increase your skill at it. Also if you slack off for too long you will start to forget the skill. This doesn¡¯t really matter when you hit Expert ranking but at the lower levels it is very easy to forget. For now, just keep training with the sword. Also don¡¯t forget the Dagger. Its the same thing with those." Michael nodded his understanding and turned back towards the dummies. He started to slash with his left hand, the hand holding the dagger, and found his slashes were relatively clean. It seemed since he didn¡¯t use his right hand for anything complicated he could use both at relatively the same level. Slashing the dummy a few times, Michael nodded in approval. The ??? skill allowed for all bladed weapons to benefit from the increase in slashes. Even if he didn¡¯t understand how much it increased by, he could see the difference. Time for¡­ Michael raised the dagger and started to thrust at the dummy. It was harder since different angles of hits and thrusts caused the blade to veer to the sides dealing little damage. Michael used ¡®Instant Analyzation¡¯ for a bit to see his problems before turning it off to save energy. Leaving himself weak was a bad way to use the skill. Michael changed his positions in order to deal a good thrust. He managed to score a few consecutive hits but thought it wasn¡¯t good enough. Michael decided to change his grip on the Dagger. Instead of it pointing up, he made it point down. The slashes from this kind of grip was a little better but he needed a totally new way to pierce the enemy. So Michael jumped and slammed the dagger down through the dummy¡¯s shoulder.
Critical Hit
The dummy was pulled down with Michael and his father rushed to help him up. His father was examining what Michael was doing and was amazed at the ingenuity of his child. Without any lessons, his child was able to come up with ways to properly hit. And even with the weighted weapons he was able to lift them with little problems. It usually took 25 strength and higher to lift the weapons. Of course Michael had that and higher due to the title he earned and skill rewards. Meanwhile¡­
You have destroyed ¡®Training Dummy¡¯.
You have gained the skill ¡®Dagger Mastery¡¯.
Consecutive training and newfound knowledge of your body and the uses of the Dagger has given you +5 to Dexterity, Agility, and Vitality
You have learned the skill ¡®Forced Stab¡¯.
Dagger Mastery. Beginner level 1. (25%) Passive skill
[p=left]The dagger is a powerful piercing weapon when used correctly. It can be concealed easily due to its small size yet can deal powerful one-hit strikes. Dagger thrusts are 5% more effective for every ¡®Dagger Mastery¡¯ level. Critical hits with all weapons gain a 1% chance increase per ¡®Dagger Mastery¡¯ level. Due to being in the intermediate and lower ranks, constant use of the dagger is needed to keep the skill. If long periods of time pass before you use the dagger, proficiency will lower.[/p]
Forced Stab. Beginner level 1. (10%) Active skill
[p=left]A strike made using the entire force generated by the body. Damage increases based on speed, momentum, and angle. Costs 60 mana. Deals 50% more damage. Damage will increase by 10% and mana costs willl lower by 2 for every level in ¡®Forced Stab¡¯. Damage will increase by 5% for every level in ¡®Dagger Mastery¡¯.[/p]
¡°W-well Michael, you have the ¡®Dagger Mastery¡¯ skill now? Good. We can move on to some basic skills I want you to train too. Also we need to give you some breathing techniques and the like. For the next few years you need to figure out the secrets of those weapons of yours as well as train other must haves. When you finally go to school we can start sparring matches.¡± And so Michael was taught a variety of skills over the next few months. He learned what he was awful at - Bows and crossbows were accidents waiting to happen - and what he was good at. Projectile throwing was his specialty and by the end¡­
You have gained the skill ¡®Weapon Throwing Mastery¡¯.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Consecutive training and newfound knowledge of your limits and the uses of various projectiles has given you +5 to Dexterity and Concentration.
Weapon Throwing Mastery. Beginner level 1. (5%) Passive skill
[p=left]Anyone can throw things yet to actually target something and accurately pierce it with whatever is at hand requires skill. Targeting is 5% faster per ¡®Weapon Throwing Mastery¡¯ level. Due to being in the intermediate and lower ranks, constant use of the throwing and/or targeting is needed to keep the skill. This includes just tossing everyday items around and focusing on various objects. It is next to impossible to lose this skill...[/p]
Michael spent the next few years training with his weapons and learning from his mother. He was always under the watchful eyes of his father. A relatively peaceful time...that won¡¯t be disrupted by bad luck.
[/hr] ¡°Welcome children to your first class. I am Father Nathan of the Church of Information and I will, under the guidance of Janira teach you about this world and help you on your way in the future. For starters, everyone please open your status screens. These screens can only be seen by you unless you say ¡®Show status screen to -¡¯ and then the name of the person. To avoid showing it to every person with the same name as the person you need to focus on that person. Now does everyone have their screens open?¡± Michael was now 5 years old. He had left the house only a few times over the years and this is the first time he had seen so many children in one place. He was kind of used to crowds of adults yet this classroom of his peers made him nervous in a different way. He didn¡¯t really want recognition from them but he didn¡¯t want to be spurned either. Michael was sitting beside Arthur while William and Robert made a pair at the other side of the room to his right. To his immediate left, was Mary and Eliza as a pair. The six of them were at the back row. Michael whispered ¡°Show status.¡±
Status
NameMichaelAge5
Level1ClassNone
Fame0-100Infamy0
TitleTarget of EnvyWorld Rankingn/a
GuildNone
Health380Mana320
Stamina350
Strength37 + 10Dexterity28
Vitality28 + 10Intelligence32
Wisdom37Mana Control18
Luck15Agility29 + 20
Concentration56Willpower20
Charisma15 + 20
¡°Now, as you can see all of your body¡¯s limits are displayed in the box in front of you. The numerical values show the limits of your body. You all know how to add and subtract I assume? Good. Simple mathematics allows for you to keep track of yourself without the need to always open this screen. When you reach 10 years of age you will be able to add 50 free stat points to whichever stat you want based on the class you wish to get. Now to look at each individual stat and see what it does, you only need to say ¡®show -¡¯ and then name the stat. For instance, saying ¡®show strength¡¯ will give a display that says ¡®Strength: The maximum power you can display when you exert all of your abilities. The higher the value, the greater the maximum power.¡¯ Now as a child, most of you will be in the low 10s in terms of strength. To wield a regular weapon needs 20 strength and higher. Soldiers need to have 50 strength and higher. For mages it will be the Intelligence and Wisdom stat that is needed to rise. 20 and higher wisdom will allow the usage of skills while Intelligence is needed to increase your total mana and increase the strength and ease of magic spells¡­. While the Father was continuing his lecture on various classes and the stats needed - Michael was already told all this by his mother - Michael decided to check his few unknown stats. ¡°Show Concentration, Show Willpower, Show Charisma.¡± Michael continued to stare ahead as he whispered the commands.
Concentration
[p=left]This value represents how long and focused you can stay when there are distractions all around. The higher the number, the less distracted you will be in situations. Cannot add stat points to this.[/p]
Willpower
[p=left]The power of your will! Obviously. This value will decide whether you fall in defeat or get back up in glory. The higher the stat, the quicker you will recover in intense situations. Cannot add stat points to this.[/p]
Charisma
[p=left]The glory of ability. When people look at you they will either see a weak man or a strong being. This value represents the power of your bearing. The higher the stat, the more people will notice you. However this will also have a negative impact if your infamy is high. Cannot add stat points to this.[/p]
Michael was kind of conflicted about Charisma. He didn¡¯t really want to show off yet they stat was pretty much as bad as jumping in people¡¯s faces. He decided he needed to lay low for now. ¡°...agility. With agility the movements of your body will be more smooth and your actions will flow together easily. A must have for quick warriors and rogues. Now, for the next few months we will be analyzing each stat and figuring out ways to improve each. By the end of the year I hope to have most of you with at least 15 in each stat.¡± And Michael again entered a bored state. He already reached that minimum early in life... Michael hates the present. Lets dwell in the past! Don''t be a fool. The future is the way!
[/hr] Edited on October 23, 2013 so that it would look better to the eyes. Michael is NOT OP. Got it? Good. If you think about it, 5 years of training and he only has those stats [th_093.gif] Well...Michael has now entered the school phase. And he is bored as heck. Next chapter will focus on getting more skills for him. What class would people like him to aim for? Or get accidentally. He will be rather unique when he reaches 10 years of age. AND INTRODUCING A PET WHEN HE REACHES 10 YEARS OLD. WHAT WOULD YOU GUYS LIKE? Nothing big like a dragon or some mythical creature please...too early to make an Eragon MC. Chapter 5: Paths PATHS Michael was still bored at school. While he did learn things - biggest surprise was if a person can walk down a trap-laid hallway without triggering anything, Luck will get a huge boost so this is the worst stat to increase - it wasn¡¯t to the extent of interesting him. So he did what any normal person would do. He lazed about. Until¡­ ¡°The Goddess Janira is always watching over us. The Bishop of the order was given a viewing and was told to instruct you young ones on the advantages of options. For now, everyone please open the screen by saying ¡®Show Options¡¯. Now the first thing about options is to¡­¡± Michael was interested. He immediately opened the options, ¡°Show Options,¡± with a whisper then examined the screen.
Options (NPC Edition)
LifeSightShowHide
Michael was confused at everything being shown. ¡®NPC¡¯? ¡®And these options...¡¯ For the first time Michael decided to listen to the Father. ¡°...lives easier. Now look at the screen and you should see ¡®Options (NPC Edition)¡¯ at the top. NPC refers to us, and our order has decided that it should mean ¡®Normal Pieces of the Continent.¡¯ The Goddess Janira has also approved of this name while also hinting at how there are going to be abnormal ¡®pieces of the continent¡¯ that will appear. Hopefully this will be far into the future.¡± Michael was getting bored, but he persevered. Changing his options could have an adverse effect, especially if this was first kept to the Church and is only now being revealed to the public through educating the kids. ¡°Now, under that title you will see a set of four words: Life, Sight, Show, and Hide. The first word ¡®Life¡¯ is something denied to all males. This part of options is for females of a certain age and is what helps them in having children. This still needs a female and a male to pair up and *cough cough*¡± Father Nathan started to cough quite loudly and his face was rather red. It got redder when he noticed the stares of the children. ¡°N-now, the second option is for active people. For mages and warriors they need to keep an eye out for their Health and Mana. For this reason, opening ¡®Sight¡¯ will show various options but most are hidden from our eyes. For now, only Health, Mana, and Stamina are shown. They are also in a dormant ¡®Off¡¯ state. Turning it on will allow you to see a bar at the top of your sight line. These bars will represent your body¡¯s energy. Red for health, blue for mana, green for Stamina. Warriors will need to keep track of their health and stamina in order to avoid collapsing in a critical situation. Mages need to keep track of their mana in order to see what spells could and could not be used safely.¡± Michael immediately opened the ¡®Sight¡¯ part of options. ¡°Open Sight¡±
Options (NPC Edition)
LifeSightShowHide
Sight
HealthOFF
ManaOFF
StaminaOFF
UnknownOFF
¡°Health on, Mana on, Stamina on.¡± Michaels whispers barely ended when he immediately saw three bars of various colours appear at the top. He was glad he didn¡¯t need to open his status screen anymore and already he thought of the things he could properly do with it in sight. ¡®Instant Analyzation¡¯ was still an unknown skill that takes up an unknown amount of mana. With some experiments¡­ Michael half-heard the Father finish his explanation of the Sight option and decided to listen to the rest. Maybe the other two would be good as well. ¡°...used safely. Now for the next option. Show and Hide actually go hand in hand. For important officials and even just paranoid citizens, hiding various parts of one¡¯s status screen is a must in order to avoid showing their body¡¯s strengths and limits. Now when you open the option for those you will notice¡­¡± Michael decided to open the Hide one and turned off some of the options. What did he turn off? Well we can find out later.
[/hr] In the house of the Kane family, there lived three people. The child Michael was somewhat of an odd duck. Especially if you listened to various specific mothers in the town. Most of them would say they he was mature for his age. Never making a fuss, never wandering around, never talking back. Those plus the talk of his walking and talking at just 7 months of age gave him some positive reviews. To balance out though there was the rumours. Tales that Michael was really a black sorcerer that reincarnated as a baby. There had been legends about such things but in this modern age...The parents of Michael actually turned off such rumours. Aaron Kane was a prominent warrior. Rumour has it he had ties to several royal families across the land and there even a sight where Aaron kicked out a noble from his house. There was even one story where there was a raid against caverns of monsters. The soldiers had gathered at the entrance, ready to fight, only to watch as Aaron walks out of the cave, calm as the breeze. He was covered in blood and when the soldiers did go into the cavern they did not see any living soul left. The treasure was also taken to the disappointment of the raid leaders. Aaron¡¯s wife was Celia Kane. Although she always calls herself a simple alchemist, her concoctions would sometimes heal what the priests of Helene couldn¡¯t. Rumours of such usually brought wishes from nobles and because of that, Aaron had to kick out most of the more stubborn proxies. With two prominent citizens of the town of Bellen as his parents, Michael had a relatively calm childhood. Michael approached the end of his 7th year.
[/hr] Michael was sitting in the middle of his bed. 7 years and he had ignored the skill¡¯s more detailed side. When he was finally taught the phrase this morning he decided he couldn¡¯t ignore it any longer. ¡°Show details of ¡®Instant Analyzation¡¯.¡±
Instant Analyzation. Beginner. Level 7. (38%)
[p=left]Allows for analysis of the situation, analysis of monsters and their actions, and analysis of weapons in a fraction of the time. Depending on how quickly you wish to cram the information in, more mana is needed to do so.[/p]
¡°Instant Analyzation¡± Michael said the words and then made it so he crammed twice as much time. He kept an eye out on his mana and was surprised at the speed it was going down. Even at just twice the speed made his mana, 500 in all, go down quickly. When he counted to 50 the skill was cancelled and his mana was zero. ¡®50 seconds was compressed into 25. So at a rate of 2:1 20 mana is used up per second. Or 10 mana per compressed second.¡¯ When his mana recovered fully, Michael decided to use it again. ¡°Instant Analyzation¡± This time he tried to compress 3 seconds into 1 second. His mana dropped very quickly. Before he could even reach 25 seconds the skill was cancelled and his mana gone again. ¡®Did the skill take up twice as much mana just by adding another second. Thats some awful restrictions...¡¯ Michael then focused on the information boxes that appeared. He had tampered with a few of his options and noticed he could actually move the boxes to a corner of his vision. Focusing on the boxes brought them back into full sight. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
Due to finding out more information on ¡®Instant Analyzation¡¯ more information is added to the skill window.
You have gained +1 Concentration
You have gained +4 Wisdom
You have gained +1 Concentration
You have gained +1 Concentration
You have gained +1 Concentration
[/hr] His concentration had lagged the past few years. Boring classes made his mind wander so the stat had stayed in the 60 range. Now though...he gained +8 to concentration just by focusing on the limits of a skill¡­ ¡°Show details of ¡®Instant Analyzation¡¯.¡±
Instant Analyzation
Beginner. Level 7. (38%)
[p=left]Allows for analysis of the situation, analysis of monsters and their actions, and analysis of weapons in a fraction of the time. Due to experimentation you have found the limits of the skill. Depending on how quickly you wish to cram the information in, more mana is needed to do so. At a rate of 2:1 it takes up 10 mana per compressed second. For example, 50 seconds compressed into 25 seconds takes up 500 mana. At a rate of 3:1 it takes up 20 mana per compressed second. For example, 25 seconds compressed into 8 seconds takes up 500 mana.[/p]
¡®Well thats useful...¡¯ Michael could find uses for this skill¡­
[/hr] Michael had been sparring with his father for the last few years. Aaron Kane was a rather large man but his movements were very smooth and practiced. Michael assumed he had a high agility stat but he knew ways of countering that. Whenever he was in a pinch Michael made good use of ¡®Instant Analyzation¡¯ in order to get some advantage. Aaron himself was always surprised at his son. Michael had a knack for managing to see through surprise strikes, and even if he was noticeable slower Michael even blocked some of them. In the beginning Aaron wanted a weaker person to spar with Michael, but at this rate Michael could probably surpass Aaron. Aaron was also trying to find some challenges for Michael. He started to notice that Michael was taken it rather easily. Hard training was done systematically by Michael and there barely any complaints. 3/4s of the books in the house was already read by Michael and there were a lot of books...So Aaron decided to call a friend. In the privacy of his office - hidden from everyone except his wife, he was smart enough for that - Aaron went to one of the various safes and opened the smallest. Inside was a glowing red orb that seemed to pulse in his hands. He then spoke the magic phrase. ¡°Hello? Operator? Ah, please connect me to Harold olr Opinio.¡± The red orb showed the operator, a middle aged women wearing some kind of helmet, nodding and tampering with something out of sight. The red orb then cleared once more before a noise filled the room. rrring. rrrring. ¡°Hello? Ah Aaron my dear friend. Hows the missus? You enjoying the married life?¡± A youngish man was looking through the orb. He had a face splitting grin that was reminiscent of his seal - a Happy face with diamond eyes. The red orb discoloured his usual purple eyes. ¡°Ah Harry, I have a proposition for you. You see my son is kind of...bored. He went through my hell training at just 6 years of age and I¡¯ve been sparring with him since he was 5...hes gonna beat me before reaching his 10th year. You don¡¯t have to look so shocked. Anyways, I wanna see if he has any interest in Magic. Could you come and tutor him? Yes he has read that book. He read 3/4s of the books in the house already, hence the call. Ah good. I¡¯ll be seeing you then. Wait, when will you be here? 3 years? Oh good you can teach him after he reaches 10 years old. Good timing.¡± Harold just gave another big grin before he disappeared from the orb. It was just like the man to have a grin when facing something strange. And Aaron remembered his hell training¡­ ohhhhh flashback
[/hr] Michael was running his 10th lap through the course Aaron made. Climbing up specific trees, jumping from one to another, throwing a rock accurately at the target, fend off strikes from Aaron, then running a few kilometres. Rinse in the river then repeat. Most men would have fainted already but Michael had a look in his eyes. A look most men wouldn¡¯t have until they reached their Calling day. Michael actually was taking advantage of the course to increase his ¡®Concentration¡¯ stat. He focused on the various stages, not allowing for anything else to distract him and in no time he was finished most of the stages. When the stat reached 50¡­
Congratulations, you have reached 50 in Concentration. Because of the intense concentration made by this achievement, you have gained the ability to stay calm during various situations. This has unlocked the ¡®Stored Rage¡¯ stat. Unlocked the skill ¡®Rage Release¡¯.
Rage Release. Beginner level 1 (0%)
[p=left]Your rage from the past returns in a burst of power. Release your bottled up feelings and allow it to wash over you and dye the battlefield in the colour of Rage. Using the skill normally will permanently consume the ¡®Stored Rage¡¯ stat. Every 10 seconds of use will take up 1 ¡®Stored Rage¡¯ stat. Normal skill will boost all stats by 10%. Increasing the usage and stat increase will consume more of the ¡®Stored Rage¡¯ stat. Overuse will cause you to go Berserk. Berserk: ¡®Stored Rage¡¯ will not decrease but you will not be able to differentiate between friend or foe. Strength increases as damage taken increases. Health is recovered at triple rate. Cannot be debuffed in this state. Cannot be healed in this state.[/p]
¡®...what an awful skill...¡¯
+1 to Stored Rage
¡®...¡¯ Simple back And forth
[/hr] Edited on October 23, 2013 so that it would look better to the eyes. Grahaha. Finished the 5th chapter. Woot woot. Maybe a break? Meh I''ll just write a better 6th chapter. Gonna be introducing a pet so yea... And when will the Game be released to everyone else? When he gets to 20 years of age. So around chapter 12 hopefully... Chapter 6: Change part 1 CHANGES pt 1. Michael was 9 years old. He thought he was an average boy, but when one looks at his stats¡­ ¡°Show Status.¡±
Status
NameMichaelAge9
Level1ClassNone
Fame0-100Infamy0
TitleTarget of EnvyWorld Rankingn/a
GuildNone
Health600Mana570
Stamina585Stored Rage10
Strength55 + 10Dexterity46
Vitality50 + 10Intelligence57
Wisdom59Mana Control29
Luck19Agility46 + 20
Concentration89Willpower37
Charisma20 + 20
Michael didn¡¯t notice but he had the stats of a person who reached their 20th name day. Every child goes through 2 different changed. The first, at 10 years of age, grants a child a set amount of stat points to distribute, so 50, plus an amount based on their stats and skills. Some rumours have sprung up of a child that gained an extra 20 stat points. An unprecedented amount for someone so young. After the child distributes their stat points they will be able to choose a class path to walk through. The choices are Combat series, Silent series, Crafting series, or Healing series. For the second change, at age 20, the child will be able to choose a class. More info on that later. Michael¡¯s stats were abnormal to say the least. Even if we do not count most of the stats, the Concentration stat was difficult to acquire and raise. You needed to first focus while under extreme duress in order to just gain the stat. Then to raise it requires constant distractions around while you train yourself to focus. Michael was different since he gained the stat before even being born. Then as a baby there are countless distractions and that served as a powerful sort of training for Michael. From then on the stat rose rather smoothly. The ¡®Stored Rage¡¯ stat and ¡®Rage Release¡¯ skill were usually only available for people that had been training for at least 20 years. ¡°Show Skills. Show all skill details.¡± This duo phrase made various boxes appear in front of Michael.
Stealth. Beginner level 9. (88%). Active/Passive skill
[p=left]Allows you to hide in the shadows or even in plain sight depending on the level. Will level up based on the actions you do and use of the skill. Use requires 41 Mana/minute. Passive version activates when you stay in one spot for a long period of time. Concentration erases your presence further.[/p]
This skill leveled up mostly without Michael¡¯s active notice. 9 years just get 9 levels¡­
Instant Analyzation. Beginner level 7. (56%). Active skill
[p=left]Allows for analysis of the situation, analysis of monsters and their actions, and analysis of weapons in a fraction of the time. Depending on how quickly you wish to cram the information in, more mana is needed to do so. At a rate of 2:1 it takes up 10 seconds per compressed second. For example, 50 seconds compressed into 25 seconds takes up 500 mana. At a rate of 3:1 it takes up 20 seconds per compressed second. For example, 25 seconds compressed into 8 seconds takes up 500 mana. The higher the level the greater the amount of information that can be analyzed.[/p]
Honestly his best skill, the Mana needed to keep it up was incredibly high. Michael hoped it would decrease when it reached Intermediate.
Alchemy. Intermediate level 1. (6%). Active skill
[p=left]This skill allows for you to be able to create healing and poisonous concoctions. There is also a rumour that the skill can create potions with incredible enchantments but such knowledge is unavailable at this time. Healing potions are 5% more effective per level. Healing potions grant 1 extra property. Every 5 levels after Intermediate will add more properties. Poisons last 10% longer per level. 10% chance that Poison will inflict a random status effect on the target. Status effect has a 30% chance of being a debuff while having a 70% chance at being a buff. Higher level skill will grant an understanding of poisons great enough to add the status effect without such a large degree of randomness.[/p]
Herbology. Beginner level 5. (79%). Passive skill
[p=left]This skill allows for you to analyze the various properties of plants and come up with an estimate of its uses and effectiveness. At higher levels you may even be able to create new potions just by glancing at the plant and thinking of its uses. Can see 1 property of a plant for every 5 levels. ¡®Instant Analyzation¡¯ can add 1 extra property to the plant for every rank it has. Current number of properties it can add: 1. Potions and poisons are 5% more effective for every level. Plants that were personally planted by you are 2% more effective for every level of ¡®Herbology¡¯ and 1% for every level of ¡®Alchemy¡¯.[/p]
These 2 skills were drilled rather harshly by his mother. In the end, Michael had a rather large stockpile of health potions stocked up. Mana potions were an Intermediate level creation so they were more expensive. He had a dozen as a gift from his mother.
Sword Mastery. Beginner level 7. (98%) Passive skill
[p=left]The blade is a common yet formidable weapon for a warrior. A tool of death, this skill must be refined and understood before it becomes a part of you. Sword strikes are 5% more effective for every ¡®Sword Mastery¡¯ level. Due to being in the intermediate and lower ranks, constant use of the sword is needed to keep the skill. If long periods of time pass before you use the sword, proficiency will lower.[/p]
??? Mastery. Beginner level 6. (54%) Passive skill
[p=left]The weird blade has a unique style of fighting that has not been known in recent years. Create your own style and techniques. This skill was made due to use of the ¡®Instant Analyzation¡¯ skill. Sword slashes are 10% more powerful for every ¡®??? Mastery¡¯ level Piercing attacks with the curved blade suffer a 90% penalty and Durability of the weapon is greatly reduced. Due to being in the intermediate and lower ranks, constant use of the sword is needed to keep the skill. If long periods of time pass before you use the sword, proficiency will lower.[/p]
Quickdraw. Beginner level 2. (8%) Active skill
[p=left]A strike that is used as you draw the blade. Force is increased due to rotation of the body from drawing. Surprised quick strike gives a greater chance for critical hits. +100% more damage. +10% more damage for every ¡®Quickdraw¡¯ level. Uses up 200 mana. +20% more damage if used with the ??? curved blade. +30% chance of a critical hit if the opponent has not drawn their own weapon.[/p]
Constant training from his father allowed Michael to level his skills rather quickly. Only a few more levels till Intermediate. His father also said fighting monsters to the death increased proficiency by a lot. The ¡®Quickdraw¡¯ skill was when Michael was experimenting on the uses of the skill. With the range of the sword he had an advantage unless he was facing a spearman. Michael also wanted to end battles quickly so he tried to strike right after he drew the blade. He was quick when he did it but it was still a slow attack. When he just swung the sword right out of its sheath he knew he had it. Constantly practising the skill made the information box come up¡­anyways¡­
Weapon Throwing Mastery. Beginner level 6. (76%) Passive skill
[p=left]Anyone can throw things yet to actually target something and accurately pierce it with whatever is at hand requires skill. Targeting is 5% faster per ¡®Weapon Throwing Mastery¡¯ level. Due to being in the intermediate and lower ranks, constant use of the throwing and/or targeting is needed to keep the skill. This includes just tossing everyday items around and focusing on various objects. It is next to impossible to lose this skill...[/p]
Dagger Mastery. Beginner level 5. (65%) Passive skill
[p=left]The dagger is a powerful piercing weapon when used correctly. It can be concealed easily due to its small size yet can deal powerful one-hit strikes. Dagger thrusts are 5% more effective for every ¡®Dagger Mastery¡¯ level. Critical hits with all weapons gain a 1% chance increase per ¡®Dagger Mastery¡¯ level. Due to being in the intermediate and lower ranks, constant use of the dagger is needed to keep the skill. If long periods of time pass before you use the dagger, proficiency will lower.[/p]
Forced Stab. Beginner level 4. (16%) Active skill
[p=left]A strike made using the entire force generated by the body. Damage increases based on speed, momentum, and angle. Damage will increase by 10% and mana costs willl lower by 2 for every level in ¡®Forced Stab¡¯. Costs 54 mana. Deals 80% more damage. Damage will increase by 5% for every level in ¡®Dagger Mastery¡¯.[/p]
His dagger use was relatively small. As a defensive skill it was lacking if the person didn¡¯t come close enough. As an offensive skill it was a little too strong to use in spars. He only managed to level it by constant dummy training.
Rage Release. Beginner level 1 (0%)
[p=left]Your rage from the past returns in a burst of power. Release your bottled up feelings and allow it to wash over you and dye the battlefield in the colour of Rage. Using the skill normally will permanently consume the ¡®Stored Rage¡¯ stat. Every 10 seconds of use will take up 1 ¡®Stored Rage¡¯ stat. Normal skill will boost all stats by 10%. Increasing the usage and stat increase will consume more of the ¡®Stored Rage¡¯ stat. Overuse will cause you to go Berserk. Berserk: ¡®Stored Rage¡¯ will not decrease but you will not be able to differentiate between friend or foe. Strength increases as damage taken increases. Health is recovered at triple rate. Cannot be debuffed in this state. Cannot be healed in this state.[/p]
Michael didn¡¯t even bother to use this skill. It was a rather hard skill to level and ¡®Stored Rage¡¯ was very hard to keep. Michael barely got angry at things so he only had 10 ¡®Stored Rage¡¯ to use. Along with these skills, Michael was also able to get¡­
[/hr] ¡°Now Michael come here.¡± Michael was working in the Alchemy lab and was trying to make a stronger health potion. Most of his earlier work made health potions that recovered 50 health but he wanted to make one that at least recovered 75. At his mother¡¯s words though he stopped his work, cleaned up, and went to her. When he went to her private room opposite the Alchemy room - Michael had never seen the inside of either of his parent¡¯s private rooms/offices - he was greeted with a different sight. His mother was in the middle of a miniature forest, Plants and trees of various sizes covered the walls and ground of the rooms. He recognized a few as the plants he used in his potions but the rest were unknown. Michael saw his mother at the end of a dirt path in the middle of the room. ¡°Since you are old enough (7 years old btw) I should teach you my real craft. I tell everyone I¡¯m an alchemist but thats just a side hobby I do with most of my time. Really though I¡¯m a Green-Singer. I use my senses to control the magic of nature in order to grow some plants. My main goal is to keep endangered plants alive and well. Because of this goal, the plants I grow and keep are rather rare and expensive. Thats why this room is warded strongly by a friend of the family in order to keep out scrying magic and the like. Also anyone but family wouldn¡¯t even notice the door to this room. Lots of security right?¡± She had a twinkle in her eye when she looked the gaping Michael. His concentration was totally blown by everything she said. Before he could even do anything however he was given another shock. ¡°Since this ability is Hereditary I can finally teach you how to properly use this ability. Ohhh I¡¯m so happy to finally have a student¡­¡± And she proceeded to crush Michael in a large hug. ¡°M-mother...can¡¯t...breathe¡­¡± ¡°Oh I¡¯m sorry dear. Well I guess we can start. First things first for you to get a grasp of Mana. First, close your eyes and concentrate on your surroundings. You should first notice the physical part. This includes everything your senses can touch like things you can physically touch, smell, hear, taste, and see. You need to look deeper than this. Peel off the cover of the physical and - ¡° This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Michael delved past the physical realm. He wasn''t able to hear his mother anymore but he felt waves flowing to him and past. The plants that were there before instead turned into large pockets of energy and his mother was a glowing ball of power. She was also connected to each plant and he noticed she gave a bit of herself every second. Her glow never faded long however as she immediately recovered and started the process repeatedly. This glowing - fading - glowing process was hypnotic. Then the glow reached towards him and he was shaken. ¡°-hael? MICHAEL!?¡± He heard his mother¡¯s voice and opened his eyes to her worried face. When she saw that he was awake she hugged him again. ¡°What happened!? You were unresponsive for a while! Are you alright?!?¡± ¡°Yes, yes I¡¯m alright. I just did what you said. I saw all these glowing stuff. The plants became green glows and you were a ball of bright yellow.¡± Michael¡¯s mother was shocked. He was only concentrating for seconds yet he already was able to perceive Mana sources. With training he could become¡­ Celia Kane, the Green-Singer and High Priestess of the forgotten Lady of the Land looked her son in the eyes. ¡°We shall now seriously start training.¡±
[/hr]
Green Magic. Beginner level 8. (79%)
[p=left]An ancient style of magic, Green Magic has its roots from the union between Elves, Humans, and Fey. The power of these three bloodlines gave rise to this unique magic. Green Magic allows for a person to connect themselves with a plant temporarily. They will be allowed to give energy (mana) to the plant in order to sustain it. It is entirely possible for a plant to survive in the desert as long as mana is given constantly in order to keep it alive. Can attach your mana to a plant. Every 5 levels will allow for more plants to be attached. Plants fed mana for a time can gain new and different properties. With training you can change the type of mana given to a plant. For example giving a fire-based mana can give flame properties to the plant. After attaching to a plant, you can gain 1 property as payment for a time. More properties as your skill reaches higher ranks. Mana upkeep will depend on the plant.[/p]
This was a difficult skill to find uses for. Right now, Michael had attached himself to a mint plant. The property he gained from the plant was ¡®breath will always smell minty¡¯. He thought it was a good trade. His mana upkeep was .5 every 10 seconds while his recovery was around 14.5 mana per minute. He kept the connection on every day. Michael¡¯s change day was in a few months.
[/hr] The town of Bellen was situated inside the borders of the Old Kingdom of Jilr. The kingdom was around until 300 years ago when the mad King Jilr XXI went and attacked three of the great continental superpowers. The result was a 2 year war where one superpower was crushed by the other three. The damages were rather large however and the three leftover superpowers collapsed. In more recent times the town of Bellen was in close contact with several other towns across the Human land. A treaty was drawn 100 years back that stated any situation involving the need of all Human towns will task each town to provide 30% of their standing army to quickly finish off the invaders. If each town on average gives 600 troops because of this treaty, the end army would consist of 300, 000 veteran troops. The treaty offered a decisive conclusion to all threats against Human-kind. The town of Bellen was a large city that housed around 100, 000 humans. There were some other races that traded with the town but it was mainly a Human settlement. The town does not discriminate based on race and any actions against other races is the same as if the target was Human. Most of the land around the town was bare but there was a large stand of trees to the east of the city. Most say that the ¡®forest¡¯ was relatively safe but there have been legends and rumours associated with it. In the end, they just decided to name it ¡®Forest of Dread¡¯ because of the rumours and because most of the voters were young boys. It is this forest that Michael wandered into.
[/hr] *crunch crunch* Dried leaves crunched under Michael¡¯s boots as he traveled into the forest. He was looking for a better plant to connect to and he hoped to find one that offers a good property for him. Because he once read of a special plant in the middle of this forest in one of the many books in his house, he decided to do some old fashion searching. Several animals crossed his path but Michael ignored them as he continued to walk. He judged he was nearing the middle of the forest when a deep growl interrupted his musings. He looked around to see what crept up at him but found nothing. Then he heard the growl again followed by several more, but to the right of him. Michael used Stealth actively for once and crept up onto the noise. Peering through the foliage, Michael saw a standoff. Two large wolves, nearing the size of Dire Wolves he noted, was surrounding a smaller wolf. The larger wolves were incredibly injured but it didn¡¯t seem that the smaller wolf was the cause. The smaller wolf didn¡¯t move from it¡¯s spot and the two wolves continued to creep closer. Michael was about to leave them to their business - he really didn¡¯t care about wolf problems - when he saw what was underneath the smaller wolf. A silver plant peeked through and the leaves, shaped oddly square with a spiral in the center, was distinct. Especially against the black of the wolf¡¯s fur. Michael knew that plant. It was the plant he was aiming for after all. So Michael took out a few projectiles. Small daggers that were weighted well and made for Michael¡¯s child hands. Michael moved into position then swiftly threw the daggers. He didn¡¯t aim for the head like an idiot but for their larger chests. Although the wolves turned towards the soft noise Michael made, they were not able to dodge the throws completely. Both of them took a dagger to the chest and collapsed on the spot. They had suffered a lot of damage earlier and with the daggers¡­ Michael walked up to each of the wolves and swiftly pierced their hearts with his normal dagger. He avoided the smaller wolf until he was finished and both of them stared at each other for a while. Then¡­ ¡°Grrrr Thank you.¡± Michael was surprised. He didn¡¯t expect it to talk. Yet he was raised to be polite. ¡°It was no problem. Can I ask you a question?¡± The wolf only nodded, not taking it¡¯s eyes off Michael. ¡°Is that plant a Silven Plant?¡± A loud growl came from the wolf. ¡°How do you know of it? Who are you that would enter the forest knowing about this plant?¡± ¡°I am a Green-Singer. Well a son of one at least.¡± When Michael said the title he thought the wolf looked almost surprised. Then the wolf did a total change of his attitude and asked¡­ ¡°Please. Please help it.¡± The smaller wolf got out of the way of Michael and allowed him to approach. When Michael was close enough to examine it better but he didn''t actually see any problems outright. ¡°Instant analyzation.¡± Forcing it to do 4:1 Michael quickly surmised the problem. The plant was dying by the second and would soon wither away. He didn''t know what the problem was but Michael turned off ¡®Instant Analyzation¡¯ and his connection to the mint plant. Then he quickly made a connection to the Silven Plant. He didn''t want to overburden himself with too many plants, even if he could connect to two plants. He noticed his mana drop more quickly than before. Waiting a minute though he also saw his mana recover completely so he calmed down. ¡°I did it. It should stay alive for as along as I keep this connection. What happened here anyways?¡± Michael directed these words to the wolf and waited. ¡°My pack was directed by the Lady of the Land centuries ago. We were tasked to keep this plant alive for as long as possible. We do not know the reason why but we have kept back predators time and time again. Those two wolves you dealt with back there changed things however. They made a pact with each other and the power of two wolf packs under two powerful leaders overwhelmed us. I was the last to live and guard this plant.¡± Michael looked around. He only saw the two large wolf corpses and nothing else. ¡°I don¡¯t see any other corpses. And I haven¡¯t heard of any such battle from others in the town.¡± ¡°We fought far away from this area. Those two must have traveled for days just to reach here.¡± Michael nodded. ¡°So what now young one?¡± ¡°You must take and keep the plant safe young Green-Singer. It will be your responsibility now. I shall also travel with you if you will have me.¡± The wolf looked expectantly at Michael and when it saw Michael¡¯s nod it looked relieved. Then it went to the plant and dug around it, careful not to damage the roots. It still made mistakes however and Michael saw his mana drop some when that happened. Michael collected the plant and covered it with a special cloth he brought just in case he did find the plant. Then he looked at the wolf and wondered what to do with it. The wolf bit its leg and thrust the leg at Michael. ¡°Drink and form the contract.¡± Michael knelt and did as he was told. A flash emerged around the wolf and then it was replaced by¡­ ¡°You were a SHE!?!?!?¡± A naked girl rose from the place where the wolf was previously. She had waist length hair that covered nothing and Michael was floundering around a bit. Then he focused at just her face and thanked Janira for his Concentration stat. ¡°We need to cover you. Here.¡± Michael handed over a cloak from his pack and managed to cover the girl rather well. He noticed she was a little younger than him and decidedly pretty. He tuned that thought right out. ¡°I guess we should head back to town. Looking like that would be much better than bringing a wolf into town¡­¡± The girl just nodded and followed Michael.
[/hr] On the way back to town, Michael noticed he had a lot of information boxes that needed to be read. So he focused on them.
Weapon Throwing Mastery has leveled up.
You have killed ¡®Brown Wolf-Pack Leader¡¯.
You have killed ¡°Grey Wolf-Pack Leader¡¯.
You have Levelled Up (x2).
For killing two powerful pack wolf leaders you have gained the title ¡®Wolf Pack Hunter¡¯. You have also gained the stat ¡®Presence¡¯. +30 to ¡®Presence¡¯. +10 to Strength.
Wolf Pack Hunter
[p=left]You have never killed a wolf before in your life yet you managed to bring down the strongest of the pack. Your kills will be the talk of tales if you ever share this knowledge. +20 to Charisma +10 to Strength +10 to Vitality +10 to Agility +30% more damage against wolves and wolf subspecies. Does not need Title to be equipped for this to work. Wolves are more likely to avoid your presence.[/p]
You have cancelled connection with (common) ¡®Mint Plant. You have lost the ¡®Minty breath¡¯ property. Your mana upkeep is at 0
You have connected with (rare) ¡®Silven Plant¡¯. You have gained the property of ¡®Double Mana regeneration¡¯. Your mana upkeep is at 20 mana/minute.
[p=left]You have made a contract with the Wolf Fey ¡®Liera¡¯. The contract will last until either one of you dies. ¡®Liera¡¯ has gained the ability of ¡®Human transformation¡¯. ¡®Liera¡¯ will gain 10% of your exp from now on and vice versa. You have gained +200 Health. You have gained +20 Strength. You have gained +20 Agility. You have gained +20 Presence. You have gained the Blessing of the Wolfblood.[/p]
¡®...¡¯ ¡°Show Presence.¡±
Presence
[p=left]You are a force to be reckoned with. Most weaker beings will instinctively feel your strength and shy away from you. Most stronger beings will try to find and fight you in order to show their power. EXP increases by up to 30% when killing stronger beings; the more stronger, the higher the exp gained. Cannot add stat points to this. [/p] [p=left]Concentration can lower the effects of this stat. Stealth can lower the effects of this stat. Rage Release can increase the effects of this stat.[/p]
¡®...¡¯
+5 to Stored Rage
I got tired...heres the past chapter And the next part...
[/hr] Edited on October 23, 2013 so that it would look better to the eyes. Chapter 7: Change part 2 CHANGE PT 2 Michael should have thought more deeply about the situation. If he had he may have avoided the mayhem of the next few days. Basically the idea of bringing a half naked little girl back home was certainly a cause for concern. The greater part was when his mother saw him holding the ¡®Silven Plant¡¯. Michael didn¡¯t know her actually ¡®job¡¯ but he should have suspected she would know most of the details surrounding the plant. ¡°M-Michael¡­¡± Michael¡¯s mother had her head bowed and she was quivering. Michael¡¯s father backed up a few steps and even Liera was a little concerned. Michael wasn¡¯t foolish enough to think his mother was quivering with worry. Use of ¡®Instant Analyzation¡¯ also helped. Yes, this was a bad thing. While ¡®Instant Analyzation¡¯ was being used Michael also tried to think of the reasons of her anger. Bringing a homeless looking girl back shouldn¡¯t be that bad. Both of them weren¡¯t hurt - Liera¡¯s arm was healed after her transformation. The sun was still high up so he wasn¡¯t late. That left¡­ Michael looked down at the ¡®Silven Plant¡¯ and thought to back to the information he read about it. The ¡®Silven Plant¡¯ was a personal creation by the ancient land goddess. Her name wasn¡¯t always spoken but Liera did say something about the Lady of the Land. A title perhaps? A goddess that was known by both man and beasts? Was she powerful? After the creation of the plant, various properties were found by the Magus community at the time. While the properties were not listed, the reactions to it was detailed down. A widespread hunt for every ¡®Silven Plant¡¯ was underway. Forests were burned and battles were fought between the followers of the Goddess and every other country. The Magus community turned into a splinter of what they once were but they were the real winners when compared to the Goddess. Her entire following was almost wiped out and her position was in peril. Her sect went into hiding and the ¡®Silven Plant¡¯ was named a forbidden treasure by the surviving countries. This was near 500 years before and still that law was kept from the descendants of those countries. Michael thought about it for a bit more. And then winced when he noticed several potted plants in the house were starting to grow at an alarming rate.In only a few minutes the living room was half-full of plants but at least his mother was calming down. Well at least her face wasn¡¯t bright red anymore. Maybe his rage stat and skill came more from¡­ ¡°Michael. Where did you get that plant?¡± Michael barely heard the question in her voice. It sounded more like a Judge passing sentence than anything else. So Michael did what any normal 9 year old would do. He pointed at Liera. Liera shot Michael a glare that screamed ¡®Traitor!¡¯ before she was the target of that deep glare. Liera¡¯s eyes dotted around trying to find a hiding place before she shook once, twice, then glowed a bit before transforming back to a wolf. The shock of this calmed Michael¡¯s mother rather quickly. Michael¡¯s father was still calm but his hand still darted to where his sword should have been. ¡°A wolf fey. And since she can transform...Contract.¡± Michael¡¯s mother glanced between Liera and him before she gave a deep sigh and grabbed both - well she lifted Liera more than she grabbed. Liera barely came up to Michael¡¯s waist so she was relatively easy to carry and move. She shooed away Michael¡¯s father and took the children to her private study. Liera gasped when she saw them walk through the door and Michael remembered the wards. ¡®Cool¡¯. ¡°Now. Tell me everything.¡± The last was a warning not to leave anything out so Michael started by talking about his studies of plants. Then he spoke of wanting a connection with a better plant and of going into the forest. Liera, still in wolf form, spoke up about her situation and Michael¡¯s mother gave a second deep sigh. Against his expectations she just waved them away and told them to not reveal either the plant or Liera to anyone. Michael nodded before grabbing Liera and rushing off.
[/hr] ¡®That fool boy.¡¯ Celia couldn¡¯t help but curse the fortune, or misfortune of Michael¡¯s situation. The ¡®Silven Plant¡¯ was kept away from everyone for a reason. It¡¯s effects were near godlike and even a plant as young as that would be coveted by every mage that knows of it. She would need to find a good container for it. Once that would hide its essence from peeking eyes but still allow for the connection between Michael and it. And the girl¡­ Feys were an anomaly. Even for a High Priestess there was barely any left over knowledge of the mysterious race. She knew they aged the same as Humans so the girl wasn¡¯t a hag in disguise. She also know they were divided into different sects based on which animal group they belonged to. Wolves were not low in class but rather high up. She didn¡¯t know the implications of such things and doubts many Humans would. Elves would need to be involved but she didn¡¯t want to bring them into this if she could. Another deep sigh. She could feel her life cut down for every sigh she gave but she didn¡¯t care. Then she perked up. Fey girls shouldn¡¯t have feelings for Humans...maybe the girl can keep Michael away from the clutches of others¡­ Celia Kane, High Priestess of the secret sect of the Lady of the Land, Green-Singer, wife of the Warrior Aaron Kane, prominent Alchemist of Bellen, was going to keep her son from the clutches of evil females of the world.
[/hr] Over the next couple months until Michael¡¯s Change day, the household of the Kanes entered a frenzied state as the Kane couple introduced Liera to the town council and Lord, adopted her to their family, and then started instructing the girl the same way they had Michael. Liera was shocked at the change but she accepted it; as long as the plant was safe she would follow along with everything. Also Michael''s mother was a Green-Singer as well and much higher in rank than Michael. In other news the ¡®Silven Plant¡¯ was kept in Michael¡¯s mother¡¯s private room since that had the most wards and protection surrounding it than anywhere else. Michael witnessed all of Liera¡¯s teaching - well more like the girl didn¡¯t like it when Michael was out of her sight. He witnessed her training with his father and noted her prowess with bare-handed techniques and her helplessness at using Human weapons. It didn¡¯t seem to be such a big problem though since she still had a wolf¡¯s movements and agility. It was unfortunate she was so young though. She didn¡¯t have a full wolf¡¯s experience of hunting so she was rather weak in that aspect. In return she was taught in the ways of fighting other humanoids. Only a few months yet she was proficient enough to protect and fight alongside Michael. Michael¡¯s mother did not allow him to view her classes though. The two always went into locked rooms and did private studies. Sometimes after the classes, Liera looked Michael rather strangely and that made him shiver. He pointedly ignored the two when they had their heads together. Meanwhile Michael noticed some advantages to the connection between the two. When Liera was training alongside him he noticed his stats rising much faster than it had earlier. He had initially thought it was because he was doing the training rather lazily before but when he was taking a break during training and Liera was still continuing he was surprised when¡­
You have gained +1 agility
It seemed the Contract enabled both to gain strength during training. While Michael was contemplating this he remembered another aspect of the Contract. ¡°Show ¡®Blessing of the Wolfblood¡¯.¡±
Blessing of the Wolfblood
[p=left]The Blessing of the contract with one of the Fey. The Wolf Fey are a class of Fey that are very close to a kind of Nobility. They are usually tasked with important jobs that could last generations and will keep to it unless released. For taking up the task of one of the Wolf Fey pack you have gained the following special abilities. When the target ¡®Silven Plant¡¯ is in great danger, all Stats are doubled. As the ¡®Silven Plant¡¯ grows or withers, all stats does the same. Gain affinity with Nature. +10 to Affinity. Fey will instinctively feel the gravity of your task and will not hinder you. Because you are recognized as the Wolf Pack Leader for this task you will gain the following benefits. When a member of the pack is in trouble, instinct will warn you of it. Can instruct members of the pack with a degree of success. Depends on Loyalty. Can allow more members to fill the ranks. Due to being off a different race than Wolf Fey you can add other races as members. Should any member harm the target ¡®Silven Plant¡¯ they will suffer a curse made by the Gods.[/p]
¡®...great. More work.¡¯ Michael only thought of the bad luck of having such things. ¡®Wolf Pack Leader¡¯? Is that what the contract is? Did Liera accept him as her leader then? All this from drinking a little blood. Michael just sighed at the problems he faced. Then he repeated his mantra. ¡®Just a normal boy, just a normal boy, just a normal boy, just a normal boy...¡¯ He returned to his training after he convinced himself.
[/hr] Every child from their birth to 10 years of age is not able to distribute the blessed stats to anything. This is to stop them from involuntarily ruining their own growth. At 10 years of age the child is deemed able enough to decide their path. Choosing a Series is the first step. Choosing a Class comes when they reach 20 years of age. By that time they would have gained sufficient skill and knowledge of the class. The ceremony at a child''s 10th birth day is called the Day of Change or just the Changing Day. No real difference. The Combat Series. Hard training is introduced at this stage and the child is taught the finer arts of fighting. Dueling and killing. Tactics and Strategy. Commanding and obeying. The different aspects of fighting is grilled into the children in order to find the tasks they will do best and to determine their classes. Depending on their scores they may also receive a job before getting a class. The God-ranked swordsmen Kilren was one such. He gained command of an army at the tender age of 12 during the War of the Mad King. The amount of money a person can get from these types of classes is determined by job and luck. Being a soldier gives a solid pension but nothing to show off about. Being an adventurer is fun and the rewards are sometimes great, but mainly you will be living off the leather of your shoes for most of the year. The classes associated with the Combat series include Swordsmen, Spearmen, Archers, Guardians, Paladins, and other subclasses. Subclasses are either specialized classes focusing on a specific weapon like Blademasters or general class that involves a jack of all trades approach to weapons like Weapon-Masters. The Silent Series. Made for people that do not associate much with others, the Silent Series classes are taught various things that are not seen well in society. Stealth, Lockpicking, Eavesdropping, Forging, Disguising, and etc. Students are taught these various skills and different combinations of them will decide the class. Since classes are associated with the skill learnt it is relatively easy to choose. A student that excels in Stealth only can be trained to wield several weapons and become a Ranger. For a combination of Stealth and Lockpicking they can be chosen as Rogues and learn to infiltrate enemy encampments and dungeons in order to gain information. Stealth, Forging, and Disguising can lead a person down the route of Spies which are a must have for both large and small kingdoms. An honor student of all skills can be a Spymaster. No additional info on that. The Crafting Series. The most common class everywhere, students are first taught the generic Handicrafts Skill. Students are then introduced to various types of Crafts and other classes. Excelling in a specific craft will then have the student take up an apprenticeship with a craftsmen with at least an Expert ranking in it. 4 God Ranks have been part of the Crafting Series which gives some incentive to take up the class. That and most people do not belong to the other three series. The Classes for the Crafting Series are rather easy to find out. These classes are the least secretive and most easiest to find teachers for but that also means making money off of them is much more difficult. Competition is incredibly fierce, especially in larger towns. The various classes include Blacksmiths, Tailors, Jewelers, Scribes, Woodworkers, and Artists. Artist Class has the greatest amount of subclasses as people would generally choose a specific type of art to specialize in. There are then the sub-crafting classes. Classes like Miners, Lumberjacks, Farmers, Foragers, and Hunters are mainly just side classes that people do for needs and money. Artists are surprisingly good Lumberjacks. The Healing Series. The most secretive and lucrative series of classes of all. The Churches of the Continent will allow only a select few children into its halls in order to become a member of their holy or unholy institute. They then swear a pledge of silence about what they learn, and in return they gain the ability to use a portion of their Gods or Goddess¡¯ power to heal wounds, cure disease, or fight evil. Some of the dark churches, like the church of Death, will give their members the ability to communicate with spirits or make contracts with the damned. For people that do not wish to follow the ways of the gods for one reason or another, there is also a introduction to a sub-crafting series like Alchemy or Surgery. Classes for the Healing Series for the churches includes Priests and Priestesses, Paladins - some connections between the Healing Series and Combat Series - Exorcists, and even Summoners, people who can summon beings that are connected to their Church. Necromancers are also basically a part of the Healing Series but only the Church of Death allows for this class. The non-Church classes includes Alchemists, Doctors, Surgeons, and Dentists. These are the four main Series a child can choose. If they wish it however they are also allowed to choose the Neutral Series. There are no schools or teachers for this Series and the child will need to find people from the other Series to teach them. Merchants usually come from this series. The main aspect of Neutral Series is to allow for a class different from the other Series.
[/hr] The Church of Information followed the Goddess Janira. They were a truly Neutral Church and it is forbidden in every land to attack a member of the Church. Mindless Monsters did not follow this rule of course but any sentient being usually avoided attacking the Church. The Church had different responsibilities depending on the land they are stationed in and they are mainly responsible for official tasks. They do not gain members from outside of the Church. Members come usually in the form of orphaned children that are interested. Every day the Church of Information¡¯s Changing Day room is filled with representatives from the 4 Series. With a town as small as Bellen the families are rather close and the children are known by every series. The child¡¯s interests in various series are usually known before the Changing Day and the corresponding Series sends representatives to be there. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Michael though was an anomaly. His interests are unknown to the various Series and most of his training and education was done by his parents. In class he does the bare minimum and just lets his mind wander most of the time. The Series weren¡¯t fooled however. Michael¡¯s parents do not show any disappointment in him and it is known he was an Apprentice of both his parents. A renowned Alchemist and Warrior as teachers. No problems told by them. And the recent addition of a girl the boy found in the forest...Well let¡¯s say they were all interested. So Michael¡¯s Changing Day room was packed full of representatives hoping he would choose their Series. They may also have been interested in the amount of stat points he would get¡­ Michael himself was not very happy. He didn¡¯t really like crowds and when the said crowd was entirely focused on him...well...it didn¡¯t make him happy at all to know all of the series sent representatives. Still he was happy to finally have his naming day appear. 50 free stat points. Michael had been tearing up at the mana problems he faced recently. Since the ¡®Silven Plant¡¯ allowed for double mana regeneration he could keep the plant¡¯s connection properly but he was down to only 9 mana regeneration per minute. He had to limit his use of ¡®Instant Analyzation¡¯ and his combat skills used mana too which meant he had to take many more breaks during training. Recently though he managed to make a skill that didn¡¯t rely on mana.
Focused Strike
[p=left]With a weapon in hand or none you are able to strike at a foe¡¯s weak points accurately. Using this skill at the right moment can end the battle in a strike but failure can cripple you at the wrong moment. Using the skill will highlight various weak spots on the target for half a second. Use will take up 150 stamina. Striking after using the ability will give a 120% boost in power. Missing with the ability will cause a confusion debuff for 1 second. If the target has no weak points you will not lose Stamina.[/p]
Michael had used this a few times and felt the limits of it. For one, the flashes of color he saw were almost too quick to make note of. He had to use ¡®Instant Analyzation¡¯ in order to see the flashes long enough for it to matter. Two, the penalties of missing were too great. 1 second of confusion allows an experienced warrior to bring you down quickly. 120% more power may seem excellent but you needed to actually hit the target to make good use of it. He did manage to find a better use of it¡­ Anyways back to the Changing Day ceremony. Michael entered the hall after the Bishop of the Church was finished intoning about importance of knowledge and the need to guide the children to their prospective futures. Michael was dressed in a fine silk shirt and trousers with tight fitted boots. The most prominent piece of clothing was the cloak he wore. A large Grey wolf peering over his left shoulder and a large Brown one over his right. The rest of their bodies was draped over his back and ended just above his feet. The sight made the Combat and Stealth series start to mutter. ¡®Only clothing made and created by the child was allowed to be worn to the ceremony¡¯. ¡®Did this mean he hunted the wolves themselves?¡¯ ¡®The size means they are either Dire Wolves or Pack Leaders¡¯. ¡®Dire Wolves that colour aren¡¯t found near here¡¯. ¡®Then...¡¯ Michael ignored the whispers as he concentrated on walking down the room. Some of the sub-crafting classes like Dancers looked and admired his air of refinement as he walked down the room. All they saw was confidence and grace in his movements and his eyes held power in them. In a corner of Michael¡¯s mind he was crying over the effects of Charisma and Presence¡­ The room finally quieted after Michael reached the altar. Well we say room but it was able to fit around 80 people with only some discomfort. The room was made for speeches and even the people at the back could hear¡­ ¡°We are gathered to witness the change of this child. He has overcome the hardships of childhood and has reached an age of Maturity. Let him now decide his growth and future.¡± The ceremonious words were from a time when children were unlikely to live until 10 years of age. The Ceremony is a reflection of that age. A bright flash out of nowhere surrounded Michael. He absently noticed it was almost the same as the one that surrounded Liera the first time she transformed and he really hoped he didn¡¯t turn into an animal or something. The other watchers seemed to expect it and no one gasped in surprise. They were actually surprised Michael didn¡¯t gasp too. An information box appeared in front of Michael.
[p=left]Congratulations on reaching 10 years of age. You are now accepted as mature enough to handle your own growth. Unlocked access to ¡®Stat Distribution¡¯. Gained +50 Stat Points. Every year you will gain an extra 5 Stat Points. For being/passing level 1, gain +1 Stat Point. For being/passing level 2, gain +2 Stat Points. For being/passing level 3, gain +3 Stat Points. For having 2 titles, gain +20 Stat Points. For having a contract with a mythical being, gain +5 Stat Points. For getting 2 skills to intermediate, gain +20 Stat Points. For getting several stats over 50, gain +10 Stat Points. For unlocking several hidden stats, gain +15 Stat Points. For your connection with the ¡®Silven Plant¡¯, gain +100 mana and +5 to Intelligence.[/p]
Michael first looked at the Bishop. The Bishop nodded in understanding and Michael started his work in glee. ¡°Show Status.¡±
Status
NameMichaelAge10
Level3ClassNone
Fame0-100Infamy0
TitleTarget of EnvyWorld Rankingn/a
GuildNoneFree Stat Points126
Health600 + 200Mana620 + 100
Stamina585Stored Rage15
Strength85 + 10Dexterity46
Vitality50 + 10Intelligence57 + 5
Wisdom59Mana Control29
Luck19Agility66 + 20
Concentration89Willpower37
Charisma20 + 20Presence50
[p=left]Special skills. +30% more damage against wolves and wolf subspecies. You have the ¡®Blessing of the Wolfblood¡¯.[/p]
Michael was glad to see he had over 100 points to use. He didn''t care about secrecy when he didn''t know the people and proceeded to distribute the stats. He was already taught the words during one of the rare good classes with Father Nathan. ¡°Distribute 21 stats to Wisdom.¡± He needed the mana regeneration. 20 more stats gives another 5 mana regeneration per minute. He had a total of 80 wisdom now or 20 mana regeneration.And with the ¡®Silven Plant¡¯s double regeneration property¡­ ¡°Distribute 20 stats to Dexterity. Distribute 20 stats to Vitality. Distribute 20 stats to Intelligence. Distribute 20 stats to Strength. Distribute 25 stats to...Agility.¡± The agility was an afterthought. He already sensed the problems behind him in the audience. The audience themselves were shocked. They clearly heard his distribution of his stats. The Wisdom and Dexterity made them think he would go the Stealth Series. Then he said Vitality and they thought Combat or Healing to become a Paladin. Then he said Intelligence. Then Strength. Then¡­ Even the most math crippled of them could count that high. The boy had over 120 stat points to distribute which was a nonsensical amount. No one has ever heard of such an absurd number and all of them wanted to see his stats and skills. Each of the Series representatives had only one though. To get Michael into their group. Michael was all too aware of them. He had generalized his Concentration to take in everything and when he became aware of something he activated ¡®Instant Analyzation¡¯. He didn¡¯t turn around since that was conspicuous but the Bishop was still in front of him. Michael finished his distribution. He also decided to change his Title. ¡°Change Title to Wolf Pack Hunter.¡± His voice was clear and the entire hall went silent for a full minute before the tension was doubled from before.
Status
NameMichaelAge10
Level3ClassNone
Fame0Infamy0
TitleWolf Pack HunterWorld Rankingn/a
GuildNoneFree Stat Points0
Health800 + 200Mana820 + 100
Stamina810 + 150Stored Rage15
Strength105 + 10Dexterity66
Vitality70 + 10Intelligence77 + 5
Wisdom80Mana Control40
Luck19Agility91 + 10
Concentration89Willpower37
Charisma20 + 20Presence50
[p=left]Special skills. +30% more damage against wolves and wolf subspecies. Wolves are more likely to avoid your presence. You have the ¡®Blessing of the Wolfblood¡¯.[/p]
¡°Ahem...n-now child...which path will you take?¡± Simple, short, and effective. The entire hall was silent as they awaited his answer. Most already knew what he would choose, whether by process of elimination or by instinct. Nevertheless his answer made each of them die a little inside. ¡°I wish to follow my own path and seek my own teachers. Let none stand before my path. I shall seek my future and grab it with my own hands.¡± Michael had to ask his parents about the different phrases each Series would accept. He missed the lecture on that because of his wandering but his parents didn¡¯t mind. Usually people would only tell the four main phrases but Michael¡¯s parents weren¡¯t like others. So they told him the fpur main common phrases plus the mostly unknown Neutral Series phrase. ¡°Then I wish you luck on your journey and may you have the Blessing of Janira.¡± Michael was glad the old man was looking better. He didn¡¯t like the twinkle in the man¡¯s eyes though. The man was laughing at his unfortunate situation... How bad can the situation be if a Bishop can actually enjoy the show. Still the words he said ended the ceremony and Michael got himself ready. ¡°Boy. BOY PLEASE, TAKE THE TIME TO CHECK OU-¡± ¡°ARE YOU INTERESTED IN FIGHTING? WE HAV-¡± ¡°MAGIC! MAGIC FOR ALL. JOIN US AND -¡± ¡°YOU MUST HAVE HAD THE BLESSING OF THE GODS. JOIN US AND-¡± ¡°WE GOT POPCORN! AND PENGUINS!¡± What the heck was popcorn? And penguins? Michael decided it was time to leave. He ran past the laughing Bishop and towards a backdoor he took note of when he used his ¡®Instant Analyzation¡¯ a while back. His increased Agility and Dexterity allowed him to keep his feet from tripping over themselves and his run increased into a dash. His stamina was rather high and he noted it decreased rather slowly. He ran for all he was worth. A few days before the ceremony Michael had entered the church - which was open to all - and scouted the entire building out just in case. Why would he do so? Well he was inherently paranoid about being trapped anywhere in a building that was the source of a great power. He still had nightmares about the ¡®voice¡¯ and the problems he faced from it. Problems like his abnormal childhood and the correspondent Charisma and Presence stat. So Michael knew exactly where he was when he burst into a hallway. He also knew this was the worst place to run from since it was at the back of the church and he would need to run all the way back to the front. There was no backdoor. Who the heck has a backdoor in a church? Before Michael could choose a direction to run to however, he was promptly knocked out. Part 1 here And the continuation...
[/hr] Edited on October 23, 2013 so that it would look better to the eyes. Well time for a little explanation. First, the NPC way of stats. Age is more important to NPCs than levels. At least in the beginning. Every year they get 5 stat points like a regular player would get 5 per level. When an NPC levels though they gain the stat points equivalent to the level. Until they reach level 10. Then the Stat points decrease until 5 and then stay at 5 per level like a normal player. This is gonna be real complicated...so if I make a mistake please correct me. Michael is finally 10!!! Took 7 chapters...Sigh I''ll probably squeeze the next 10 years into as little chapters as possible. We need to start introducing Players soon!!! Chapter 8: Too Quick TOO QUICK Michael woke with a raging headache. He immediately tried to use ¡®Instant Analyzation¡¯ to get as much information as he could but was rewarded with a second headache. It felt like the second took a sledgehammer and was pounding the first to submission. Michael focused on his body and noticed a few things beside the headache. For one, he was tied up and seated on a chair. Second there was a presence around him but when Michael tried to check the Mana of the person he couldn¡¯t concentrate enough to do so. So he focused on the ropes around his hands. He felt the course rope and damage it was doing to his skin. It was minute, especially when compared to the headaches and past injuries but it was better than nothing. Michael focused on only the rope burn and felt much better as he ignored the headaches. ¡°Hes awake. Yes. N- Yes. Of course. When do you wan-. Yes sir.¡± Michael barely heard the presence speak. Michael was incredibly weak and confused but he kept his mind focused. He knew the worse thing to do was to panic. He was incredibly close to it through. As a kid he never went through much hardship. Just hard training and learning. Even the Wolves he killed were dealt with rather quickly so Michael never had a life threatening event. Till now. A door creaked open behind Michael. At the back of his mind, past the headache he was thinking that the door hinges really needed to be oiled. As a counterargument the headache assaulted his loose concentration which made him focus harder. He heard a sigh in front of his face. ¡°What did you do to the boy? He was supposed to be unharmed. This does not look unharmed...¡± Michael¡¯s head was still bowed since he couldn¡¯t find the strength to raise it. Probably because of this he saw the man¡¯s shoes. Actually they were closer to sandals but the design was a little...bright? Bright blue and green actually. Michael raised his eyes a bit more and saw really bright pink. A dress? Well on a man it would be more respectful to say a robe¡­ Michael¡¯s headache again brought him back to reality. ¡°...not that damaged. I had to knock him out before the Series representatives rushed us. I have never seen such behaviour before. You would have thought someone showed off a million gold coins in front of them and then told them to ¡®catch him¡¯. Some idiot was just shouting ¡®Penguins! Penguins!¡¯ and that made me shiver a bit. Something to worship perhaps? We already have enough Deities around and¡­¡± The presence just rambled on and on in its deep voice while the man started rummaging. Michael strained his eyes upwards and saw the man reach into his belt and pull out a vial. The liquid in it was golden in colour and it- Michael¡¯s head was jerked to the ceiling and the vial was tipped into his open mouth. Cool liquid flowed into his mouth and in one large swallow he consumed the concoction. ¡®It couldn¡¯t be any worse than now.¡¯ Michael¡¯s eyes widened as his vision cleared. He noticed his health, mana, and stamina bars at the top were rather low and he thought that was the reason for his headache. To his astonishment all three recovered in 3 seconds flat. Michael was also still focused on his wrists so he felt the skin there heal. His headaches disappeared as well and Michael felt as good as new. When his head was released, Michael immediately used ¡®Instant Analyzation¡¯. Michael saw a young man in front him dressed in bright pink. Large slashes of red and yellow crossed the middle of the robe. He also had a necklace which had a purple...bone? A purple bone, Michael thought it was a thigh bone, was attached to the necklace and was hanging down the front of the man¡¯s robes. His ¡®Instant Analyzation¡¯ also noted a smiley face near the end of the bone. The man himself was impressive. Not physically though. Just in terms of looks. Blonde hair, purple eyes and the widest grin Michael had ever seen. Oh you think blonde hair is normal? How about when it started to glow? And purple eyes that glowed too. Even the grin revealed shining white teeth. Everything about the man screamed ¡®Eccentric¡¯. He didn¡¯t look evil but¡­ Michael turned his focus onto the presence. Now that would be something creepy to look at. If the shape didn¡¯t cause confusion first. Smokey and unclear the presence was in the shape of one of the monkeys Michael read about. Not the dangerous Lupins in the Monster Encyclopedia but the weaker versions that went from tree to tree and ate Bananas. The shape also wore a hat that was not made of smoke. It leant some substantiality to the presence. Michael finished his analysis in 20 seconds crammed into 4. He noted that his mana barely decreased and judged that the potion was still in effect. Michael then remembered his connection. Michael focused on the infomation boxes in order to see¡­
You have been knocked out
¡®Useless.¡¯
You have been been drugged. Mana has decreased to the lowest levels.
No more mana for connection to ¡®Silven Plant¡¯. Because of the composition of the plant the plant has started to absorb your stamina.
No more stamina for connection to ¡®Silven Plant¡¯. Because of the composition of the plant the plant has started to absorb your health.
Health has reached dangerous levels. Willpower has activated. 30% chance of waking you from your state.
Willpower has successfully revived you.
You have gained +5 to Willpower.
You have gained +1 to Concentration.
You have drunk ¡®Tonic of the Gods¡¯.
[p=left]All status debuffs are cured. Health, Mana, and Stamina regeneration recovers at 10x speed for the next hour. All stats doubled for the next hour. All skills temporarily gain +2 to skill levels for the next hour.[/p]
Michael¡¯s eyes popped when he read the last box. ¡®Tonic of the Gods¡¯? What the heck is with this potion. And using it on a kid like him? Michael wearily looked at the man. The grin was still there. ¡®Maybe its a mask?¡¯ Then the man spoke and broke the wish of a mask. ¡°Well boy, I am Harold olr Opinio. Stands for ¡®Harold of many Opinions¡¯. Anyways I was instructed by your father, an old friend of mine, to train you. I¡¯m guessing you are wondering in what? Why Magic my boy. Mages are quite rare these days and even average ones are walking wonders. I¡¯m told you¡¯re more of a warrior type. No problem, no problem we can implement that with Magic. No one ever said a Mage can only throw around spells. Well some do say so but we are going to do otherwise.¡± The man, Harold, crammed all that information into just 4 seconds. Michael had to actually activate ¡®Instant Analyzation¡¯ at 3:1 speed in order to capture any of it. ¡°Ca-can you slow down. I barely got any of that. And what kind of Mage is both good at the sword and magic?¡± Harold gave a start. He purposefully spoke that fast since he wanted to surprise the boy but instead the boy actually heard it all. ¡®What a shocking development...thank you Aaron for this interesting specimen.¡¯ Harold¡¯s accompanying grin was very suspicious. ¡°You will be a generic warrior my boy. I was told you can use the sword and dagger? Good. Focus on those and leave the magic to me. You will be granted a sub-class of magic if you do well. Its rare but possible. Now first, show your status and skills to me. Hurry hurry we don¡¯t have all day.¡± While slower than before Harold was still speaking at a rushed pace. Michael was glad he didn¡¯t have to turn into a weird class that needed to be hidden but at the same time he was disappointed he wouldn¡¯t be some grand mage. Still¡­ ¡°Show all to Harold olr Opinio.¡± Michael watched as Harold examined the space in front of him. He couldn¡¯t believe it at first, but the man¡¯s grin got larger. ¡°Green Magic huh? Your mother¡¯s work no doubt. Still useful in its own way. Titles as well, at such a young age. Your stats are incredible. I fear there is no kid with the same status. Instant Analyzation huh? Takes a lot of mana but it has incredible uses. Everything else is interestingly normal. Your Stealth is stuck at Beginner level 9, 99%? We can fix that. Just need you to do something big...¡± Michael knew ranking up a skill required a rather large catalyst. Alchemy had him make a mana potion while still a Beginner Rank. It was rather easy since he was taught it but it would probably have been harder for a person that self taught themselves. Green Magic was a little harder. When it reached Beginner level 9, 99%, Michael had to speed grow a single plant using all of his mana. He was forced to let go of the ¡®Silven Plant¡¯ for a bit before force growing a mint plant. The result was a 5 foot long mint leaf and Intermediate in Green Magic. ¡°Your other skills are quite developed quite ordinarily. Thank Janira for her small mercies, I hoped you only had a few abnormal skills and not a whole array of them. Well we should be going back to your house. It has been quite a hectic few hours and hopefully all this hype about you had died down.¡± ¡®Only a few hours...¡¯ Michael¡¯s Health, Mana, and Stamina was almost all gone just from a few hours of being knocked out and drugged. Michael contemplated the risks of the connection he had. ¡°Ummm was the drug that took all my mana common? I have never heard of a potion or poison doing such a thing.¡± ¡°Its a poison boy and it costs around 1300 gold per vial. Too much to be common so no worries about that. Now get up and lets go. Ah right, your bonds. Here we go. Now follow!¡± Michael¡¯s hand were finally free and he managed to get a good look of the room. No windows were there so he thought it was a deeper office room of a building. The room was also incredibly shabby so Michael assumed it was a temporary hiding place and followed Harold. The presence followed behind. When Michael and the presence was out of the room a bright flash surrounded him. Michael opened his eyes and found himself staring at the front entrance of his house. Then he heard some shouts behind him. ¡°THERE HE IS GET HIM! HE¡¯S GOD RANK POTENTIAL.¡± ¡°NO HE¡¯S GONNA JOIN US!!!¡± ¡°NO, THE GREAT LORD PENGUIN WANTS HIM AS SACRIFICE. MORTALS WILL BOW BEFORE HIS WILL. Reward is popcorn.¡± Seriously was Michael the only one that noted the penguin title again? Well the presence also said it but no one else batted an eye in that direction. The trio ran to the doors of Michael¡¯s house, Harold laughing like a mad man at the situation. Before they reached it, the doors swung open and Michael¡¯s father rushed out to herd them in. Then he planted himself at the front door and roared. ¡°STAY THE HECK BACK!!¡± The roar blasted everyone back. This did barely any damage but it did shock the crowd senseless. Then Aaron ran back into his house and locked the door. ¡°Crap. The Penguin Lord will not be pleased¡­¡± *** ¡°Where did you take my dear Michael mister olr Opinio!?!?¡± Michael¡¯s mother was standing before the grinning man with her hand at her hips and her glare pointed at him. Michael noticed that even though Harold was grinning, he was also sweating like crazy. ¡®Ah, the man knows the fury of mother...¡¯ ¡°My sweet, don¡¯t worry. He was not harmed...greatly. In fact, me and my compatriot saved your son from the trappings of that crowd outside. Those scoundrels would have torn your boy apart just to have him join them. But don¡¯t worry I shall teach your boy everything he needs to know!¡± Harold said all this with quite a bit of flare but Michael¡¯s mother did not change her stance. In fact she shifted from anger to rage. Harold seemed to be very capable of bringing out the beast. ¡°You will do no such thing! Me and my husband have already asked several friends to oversee various parts of his education. You are a mage, you will ONLY teach him magic. And don¡¯t you dare twist my magic around to fit your needs. GOT IT?¡± The last part came out as a roar that almost reached the level of Michael¡¯s father¡¯s. Harold¡¯s grin finally disappeared and he crouched under the verbal assault. ¡®Weakness found.¡¯ Michael grinned. Until he remembered the part about having tutors. ¡°Wait, who are my new teachers?¡± Michael shivered when all 3 adults and a smokey monkey turned grins on him. *** ¡°Hello boy. My name is Cider and I will be teaching you how to Blacksmith for the next 10 years. You should know my work. I made that curved blade you like so very much. One of my best and earliest work. I have several other Curved blades you can take a look at later. It should be interesting to see how you use ¡®em.¡± Cider was a remarkably skinny man for a Blacksmith. But when Michael shook hands with him he was shocked at the strength. Michael thought the man just added stats to strength like crazy. Cider had no hair at all on his head. The story was told that an accident happened when he was younger, that his head was somehow covered in oil then promptly set alight. Luckily they managed to put it out with a large cloth and a Priest was very close. He healed his skin but the hair was permanently burned off. Cider was also dressed in a rather odd one piece. It wasn¡¯t the regular Blacksmith overalls but more like a slick skin tight suit that looked almost oily black in the light. It seemed Harold made it and enchanted it with a strong Fire-resistance. Water is absorbed by it which increased the fire-resistance. Perfect for a Blacksmith even if it looks very out of place. ¡°Since you did not take the Craft Series route you cannot be automatically supplied with the Handicrafts skill. No worries you can get it as you go along. For now we shall work on getting the proper metals out of rocks. Your parents have already installed a smith¡¯s workplace in the house. Let us go there...do you know the way?¡± Remember when Michael said the house was rather large? Well he was understating the size. The house had the usual rooms for specific work like Alchemy, training, cooking, sleeping, and the like but it also had a few dozen empty rooms. Michael¡¯s mother¡¯s magic also could warp a room to suit the needs so a smithy inside the house wasn¡¯t strange. The ceiling even had a vent for the excess smoke to escape. The walls and floor of the room was reinforced with flame resistance magic made by Harold and Michael¡¯s mother. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. ¡°Perfect. Ok first I shall teach you the ¡®Identification¡¯ skill. I had the book somewhere...There! Now just learn the skill from this book. Go ahead, its a common skill.¡± Michael was actually trying to figure out where the book came from since the man was wearing a skintight suit. He gave up when he didn¡¯t find any pockets and placed a hand on the book. ¡°Learn.¡±
You have learned the skill ¡®Identification¡¯. Due to the similarities between this skill and ¡®Instant Analyzation¡¯ the two skills have merged to form ¡®Instant Analysis and Identification¡¯. ¡®Instant Analysis and Identification¡¯ has leveled up. ¡®Instant Analysis and Identification¡¯ has reached the Intermediate ranking. ¡®Instant Analysis and Identification¡¯ mana costs have halved. You have gained +5 Intelligence.
Instant Analysis and Identification. Intermediate level 1 (3%). Active and Passive skill
[p=left]A combination of two different yet similar skills. For the active part, it allows for analysis of the situation, analysis of monsters and their actions, and analysis of weapons in a fraction of the time. Due to experimentation you have found the limits of the skill. Mana costs have decreased due to Intermediate ranking. Requires a vocal command to use. Depending on how quickly you wish to cram the information in, more mana is needed to do so. At a rate of 2:1 it takes up 5 mana per compressed second. For example, 50 seconds compressed into 25 seconds takes up 250 mana. At a rate of 3:1 it takes up 10 mana per compressed second. For example, 25 seconds compressed into 8.3 seconds takes up 250 mana. For the Passive part, any item touched by you is analyzed and then identified to the limits of the skill. Does not require a vocal command to use. Does not consume Mana or Stamina. Gives half the experience the ¡®Identification¡¯ skill would usually get.[/p]
¡®Ohhhh it got an upgrade,¡¯ ¡°Come on boy. Get to identifying. Here, identify this rock and tell me the properties.¡± Michael was given a large rock by Cider.
Iron Ore
[p=left]A rock with a low percentage of Iron. 1.7% of the rock is made of Iron. About 1.4 kilograms. At your current skills, 1.3% chance of a pure purification of the Iron.[/p]
Michael repeated what he saw and Cider was gaping in astonishment. ¡°I barely understood all that but I can see that you get quite a bit of information from the skill...alright well you now know that these ores do not contain much metal in them. It needs to be melted down and¡­¡± Michael listened carefully and worked with Cider for the rest of the day. After melting down several types of ores and memorizing their characteristics Michael gained the following skills.
Smelting. Beginner level 1. (43%) Passive skill.
[p=left]The process of extracting metals from their corresponding ore. The skill requires an understanding of heat and a need for patience. The purity of the metal gained is 2% better for every ¡®Smelting¡¯ skill level. The purity of the metal gained is 1% better for every ¡®Blacksmith¡¯ skill level.[/p]
Handicrafts. Beginner level 1. (13%) Passive skill.
[p=left]A generic crafting skill, this skill affects all types of crafting. All crafting skills will give a bonus 1% increase in end product quality for every level in ¡®Handicrafts¡¯. Deft use of hands will increase damage using weapons by 5% per ¡®Handicrafts¡¯ level. Strengthening of hands will increase hand-to-hand damage by 10% per ¡®Handicrafts¡¯ level.[/p]
The ¡®Handicrafts¡¯ skill was a good reward by the end. Michael could see the rewards for leveling this skill and other crafting skills. Michael went to sleep satisfied at his progress. He couldn¡¯t wait to meet his next teacher tomorrow. He secretly hoped it would be a female. Michael drifted of to dreams of a mature female teacher... *** ¡°Hi Michael! Its me again. Cider, remember? No? Do you have bad memory or something? Well no matter. I am your Tailoring and Woodworking teacher as well. What? How can I do so? Well I am a sort of jack-of-all-trades master of Crafting skills. I have Expert ranking in Tailoring, Woodworking, Sculpting, Painting, and Architecture. I also have Master ranking in Blacksmithing and Mining so I have all the requirements to teach you. Ah you don¡¯t have to tear up in joy. I¡¯ll be your teacher for the next 10 years after all. Hmm? Yea all my clothes are enchanted based on my craft.¡± Michael couldn¡¯t believe his bad luck. To have a hairless skinny man that like to wear skin tight clothing - its brown and rough today, but still skin tight - as his teacher for the next 10 years was a little too much for him. So the unfortunate Michael went through the next few weeks just acquiring skills under the watchful and creepy eyes of Cider. Michael¡¯s personal title for him was ¡®curse of all male students of crafting¡¯. And as for the skills¡­
Tailoring. Beginner level 1. (9%) Passive skill.
[p=left]Craft skill that involves stitching various furs and pieces of leather to create clothes. An expert Tailor can take apart the materials and construct a unique piece of clothing with enhanced stats and abilities. Clothes made are 5% more aesthetically appealing. Clothes made last 3% longer. Can only used tier 5 materials and lower.[/p]
Woodworking. Beginner level 1. (43%) Passive skill.
[p=left]Craft skill that has ties to Sculpting. Can create pieces of art or even weapons from wood. Requires a delicate eye for details. Sculptures made are 5% more detailed per ¡®Woodworking¡¯ level. Weapons made are 3% more durable and deal 2% more damage per ¡®Woodworking¡¯ level.[/p]
¡°How come my wooden sword has such a low damage when you have such a high level of ¡®Woodworking¡¯?¡± ¡°Who the heck said I made the wooden sword? I just made the original weapon and the core of the wooden one. Hence the high durability and low weight. Now on to the next skill!¡±
Sculpting. Beginner level 3. (39%) Passive skill.
[p=left]A crafting skill that is looked down upon, this skill creates works of art that leaves a lasting image in a person¡¯s mind. Very difficult to master. A master is able to create pieces of any size that has nearly no difference from the original. Sculptures are 3% more detailed per ¡®Sculpting¡¯ level. Sculptures are 10% more durable per ¡®Sculpting¡¯ level. Can only make fine pieces at this level.[/p]
Michael¡¯s Concentration and skills made him quite proficient at sculpting. Good as a hobby if nothing else.
Painting. Beginner level 1. (87%) Passive skill.
[p=left]Drawing seems simple but requires a feel of the emotion of events that is then transferred through the brush. A master of painting can move a person to tears or make them laugh just by having them view his/her works. Paintings are 5% more delicate per ¡®Painting¡¯ level. You gain a understanding of the different shades of colour. 10% increase in noticing the slight differences between shades. Can only make fine pieces at this level.[/p]
Blacksmith. Beginner level 1. (22%) Passive skill.
[p=left]Creation of weapons or armor. A craft that requires great strength, vitality and will. A true master can bring out the hidden properties of lower tiered metals and display them to the world. Quality of metals will influence end result of creation. Can repair weapons and armor to a degree. There will be some loss in Durability. Can sharpen weapons making them deal 3% more damage for the first strike. Can wax, oil, and repair armor making it have a temporary 5% increase in defense. Weapon creations are 2% more durable and 4% stronger for every ¡®Blacksmith¡¯ level. Armor creations are 5% more durable and have 3% higher defense for every ¡®Blacksmith¡¯ level.[/p]
Michael was happy when the week ended and he finally got the skills. He could privately work on each without the need to see Cider¡­ After his skill acquirement he was told his next new teacher would appear tomorrow. And that it would be a she...on a side note he would also start working with Harold...Michael had conflicting thoughts about the next day... Back to the epic ''Changing Day'' Onward to a dull future.
[/hr] Mwahaha finished the third chapter. Introduction of Michael''s first set of teachers. The second set will be in the next chapter. By Chapter 10 I want to finish at least 5 years of training. And maybe a sneak peek at his class choices? Maybe...nah... I needed to post Chapter 8.5 here. The number of views on it was very low and it does have a specific point that needs to be read.
Chapter 8.5 HOWS THE REAL WORLD DOING? The self named John Doe was relaxing in a recliner. The Recliner had auto message properties and heating/cooling options. It also had a built in foot rest. The Recliner also housed the AI Jane Roe - named by John Doe of course. John was getting constant tabs from the AI about Gaia. At 20x speed the game had progressed 10 years in just 6 months since its starting. John was happy about that but he was starting to wonder about the NPC files he personally created. They were based off various previous scenarios he created and each file had a distinct personality. Based on tests, the files also had an effect on the area around them. To this end, John decided each file will not be created in the same town so as to minimize the impact. Still¡­ ¡°Jane, which towns¡¯ have veered off their intended schedules? List the problems and it¡¯s contributions to the town as well. Also compare the list to the ¡®Hero¡¯ npcs to find any commonalities. I want to know what affect these files have had.¡± -Yes sir. 17 towns have veered off their intended schedules. 12 have positive changes while the other 4 towns have been destroyed. 1 town has barely a change. Of these towns, 5 include files from the ¡®Hero¡¯ list. The other 12 towns have developed groups of people that exceed predictions. All towns have also found out how to create ¡®Guilds¡¯ ahead of schedule. The 12 largest and most active guilds are from these 12 towns. The 5 other towns include members of the ¡®Hero¡¯ list. Of the 5, 4 of the towns were completely destroyed by the doings of their ¡®Heroes¡¯. Those ¡®Heroes¡¯ have been erased as per the instructions set 6 months ago. The last town had only a 2% change in schedule. The ¡®Hero¡¯ there has stayed relatively quiet and most of the city does not suspect any difference from him.¡± ¡°Hmmm, which town is that? The one with the hiding ¡®Hero¡¯?¡± John was a little saddened that 4 towns were already destroyed but he had already made countermeasures to minimize the damages earlier. Still only 1 ¡®Hero¡¯ that didn¡¯t negatively change a town was way below his expectations. These were people that became Champions of Gods from the other scenarios. Oh well, lets check out this kid. ¡°The neutral city of Bellen. The ¡®Hero¡¯ is named Michael. Stats and Skills shall be displayed.¡± John would have done a spit take if he had any liquids in his mouth. The kid¡¯s stats were incredibly high for a child of his age. Skills were also a little bizarre and John attributed it to his upbringing. John¡¯s main confusion was how the kid hid all this. ¡®Stealth¡¯ can only do so much¡­ ¡°Jane, watch this kid from now on. He will be a good surprise for the players coming in 6 months¡­¡± ¡°Yes sir.¡± Jane Roe, or the Goddess Janira since she hated the original name she was given, was glad the creator didn¡¯t order for the immediate destruction of Michael. He was basically her first personal creation and she remembered his cute submission during his creation. Janira seemed to have some S qualities¡­
[/hr] After the examination of ¡®Gaia¡¯, John decided to troll the rest of his company. The company had agreed on a ¡®need to know¡¯ policy where no one but the company needed to know anything about the game. So John went on the internet and posted various information about the game. The last part was made as a joke but the reactions didn¡¯t show it. Loners and long-time single people reacted positively to the news of an NPC marriage while everyone else had already stopped caring about the eccentricities of gamers. John decided to actually allow NPC-Player marriage just to see how it all turns out.
[/hr] Again, really bad at writing about reality. Don¡¯t get your hopes up!! Just cause its possible for an NPC-player relationship, doesn¡¯t mean I will do it. Consider this my version of a troll. NPC x Player relationships is one of the big points in later chapters. Needs to be properly read so I moved it to chapter 8. Still this leaves me the option of doing so. Alright going to sleep. I need to clean the house tomorrow so chances are there won''t be chapters. Unless I clean quickly...hrm...a new concept... Chapter 9: Before the Time-Skip BEFORE THE TIME-SKIP Elves in the world of Gaia. People basically associated Elves in 2 different ways. One was a small being that had a gentle disposition and were only seen in forests or other forbidden areas. The other was a tall beautiful race that lived long, about 500-700 years, and had an affinity for Nature. They also had a long standing antagonism against the Fire loving Dwarves and blood using ¡®Dark Elves¡¯. Elves were one of the races that contributed to the Human¡¯s Green Magic. In the beginning the only races that had a direct influence on plants and indirectly had a connection with the ¡®Lady of the Land¡¯ were the Elves and Fey. Humans that wished to follow her had to beg the two races for their help in creating magic that Humans could use. The Fey gave pieces of their essence since they were pieces of Nature themselves and the Elves became the middle man, taking those pieces from the Fey and merging it with select Humans. The end result was a line of Green-Singers, people who followed the ¡®Lady of the Land¡¯ and were allowed to use her power. The magic was hereditary however and when a large number of Green-Singers were wiped out, the magic became rare and it was very difficult to get back followers. The Magus Wars left the number of Green-Singers at barely 1/100th of their old numbers... Before the ¡®War of the Mad King¡¯ Elves lived in great cities that were a combination of masonry and plant magic which created beautiful cities that had great affinities with Nature. They did not openly say they followed the ¡®Lady of the Land¡¯ since that would cause some clashes with members of the recovering Magus community, but it was well known of their connection with nature. Fey and Elves had a long standing history together so it wasn¡¯t odd to see Fey on their streets. Hence the rumours of ¡®good natured little people¡¯ as elves. The war changed everything. A large portion of the Mad King¡¯s army was directed at the Elven superpower and many of their cities were destroyed. An alliance of Nature affinity races was formed under the command of the elven God-rank Archer, Luanden, to battle the Mad King but the cities were beyond recovery. Elves had to gather in large forests to rebuild their communities and relations were strained between them and the Humans.
[/hr] When Michael was told his next teacher would be a female he nearly wept with joy. Cider wasn¡¯t a bad person but he was a man. As a teacher that made him 50% less enjoyable to be around. Or it should really be that having a female teacher makes the classes 50% more enjoyable. Of course age has a factor as well. And looks. Basically Michael wanted a hot teacher. You cannot fault the boy when he¡¯s at that age. Michael¡¯s father was rather happy too. It seemed he had a history with the new teacher and Michael wondered whether he should be glad or pissed. For one, his father was rather good looking. The mothers that brought their children to play with Michael always sighed when they saw his father and Michael wondered if they only came just for that. If the teacher was a person that caught his father¡¯s eye... Michael¡¯s mother wasn¡¯t very fond of the idea. Whenever she saw Michael¡¯s father just sitting there, grinning into space as he was waiting for the new teacher¡¯s arrival, she took out her club and started a few hours of havoc. Michael¡¯s stockpile of health potions dwindled a lot in just a few short hours. Then she appeared in front of the house and Michael¡¯s father was on his feet, facing her, and bent at the waist in her direction. ¡®The heck? He never bowed to anyone before, not even actual nobles...¡¯ Michael didn¡¯t know what he was supposed to do since only his father was bowing while his mother cast a glare at the hooded women. Liera was behind his mother and for some reason she had a complicated expression while looking at the stranger. Cider and Harold were in the house somewhere doing a ¡®drinking game¡¯. Explosions could be heard in their direction every once in a while. ¡°Good boy. You still remember the training. Glad to see you didn¡¯t slack off after all this time.¡± The woman¡¯s voice was low and strong, nothing like what Michael would have imagined coming from her sleek, tall body. She was a head taller than his father, or twice the height of Michael. She also had no chest much to his disappointment. And calling his father ¡®boy¡¯? Michael was scared of getting an old lady as a teacher. His fantasies¡­ When she removed her hood Michael stared in wonder. A beauty would have been an understatement. Flawless white skin, crystal blue eyes, strong nose, and a crown of short brown curls. She even had a dimple! That face was entirely out of place with the tall dark look. Then Michael noticed her ears. Specifically he noticed the points at the top. ¡°E-elf! You''re an Elf!¡± Although the town of Bellen was a neutral town with strong rules against racial discrimination, there was still barely any arrivals from the other races. Only a few merchants and adventurers came to the town and most were either Dwarves or Devils. So an Elf... The stranger stared at Michael for a few seconds before walking into the house. She also kicked Michael¡¯s father back. He still had a strange smile¡­ Michael¡¯s mother glared at his father until his smile vanished. He even looked a little peeved, like he had been caught doing something bad. Michael didn¡¯t understand so he activated ¡®Instant Analyzation and Identification¡¯. He really needed to change the name¡­ Michael had read 9/10s of the books around the house. Not all of the books were entirely for kids and Michael probably knew enough to shock his mother senseless if he told her. So after activating his skill he surmised that: After everyone entered the house the tension increased a bit more. Mainly the tension between Michael¡¯s mother and the future teacher. Michael¡¯s father didn¡¯t look like he wanted to break the silence. In fact he was smiling even more and his expression made Michael sweat¡­ Liera decided to break the tension. Or she succumbed to it. She transformed into a wolf smoothly and proceeded to sit at Michael¡¯s side. Her training in transforming was going very well and she barely wasted any time now. The idea was to have train both Michael and her in fighting while she was in her Human state and her wolf state. ¡°Ohhh a Wolf Fey. Haven¡¯t seen one your kind for a few centuries. What are you doing here? With the boy? No one told me anything about you¡­¡± Liera said only 3 words in response and pointed her head in Michael¡¯s direction. ¡°¡®Silven Plant¡¯ guardian.¡± Michael was expecting a reaction like what his mother had before. He knew elves were more sensitive to nature than Humans so the fact that a rare plant belonged to him should give some reaction. Michael had already braced himself for some chaos. Remarkably the women just grinned in delight. ¡°Ohhh the boy has a connection with the ¡®Silven Plant¡¯? This is good, very good. The High Council was hoping for the return of the Goddess¡¯ Symbol. Oh I can¡¯t wait to start testing out the ¡®Silven Plant¡¯ guardian. Hopefully he lasts long¡­¡± The last part ended with the stranger licking her lips and looking at Michael like his was a piece of exotic fruit. Michael checked himself for a bit and happily noticed he did not inherit M tendencies from his father. He could still be taught though¡­ ¡°M-my name is Michael. And you are¡­?¡± Better to attack first! The stranger smiled at his obvious tactic and grasped his outstretched hand. ¡°Hello dear boy. My name is Serena, I am a Weapon-Master and ranked Master in the class. My brother is Luanden. I shall be continuing your training in combat. You will learn tactics, common commands, strategy, weapons, and other types of combat training. I am also going to teach you the history of Gaia and the important battles of history. I will also teach you elven etiquette which your father never fully learned.¡± *gulp* The woman was sister to the God Rank Elven Archer...Michael prayed to Janira that he could survive¡­ Then Serena smoothly crossed the room and bent over Michael. ¡°I later I could even extend your education with more...private classes.¡± This was whispered seductively in his ear but everyone in the room heard. Michael¡¯s father¡¯s grin was close to Harold¡¯s and he was nodding vigorously in permission. His mother was a different story. She had taken out her club and was using her magic to create wooden thorns on it. And Liera¡­ Liera was still a wolf and her head was pointedly away from Michael. Her paws covered her eyes and she gave a loud whimper than caused Serena to laugh out loud. ¡°Ah I¡¯m just kidding. Its fun to mess with youngsters. Too bad you¡¯re so serious though. Not even a blush on those young cheeks.¡± And Serena pinched Michael¡¯s cheeks like the aunties at the markets do. How did Michael keep his composure? Well¡­
You have gained +20 Concentration
You have gained +7 Willpower
The next few years will seriously test Michael¡¯s stats.
[/hr] ¡°And now its time for your magic training to start. I patiently waited till you finished getting your crafts skills before starting. No, no need to thank me. Now sit down. No, stand up. First we need to test your limits. Now look at this flame in my hand. You know it is there yes? You can see the flickering light and can imagine the heat coming off it? Good. Now close your eyes and delve the mana realm for the flame. It should be red though some see it as orange or yellow. When you find it, put as much energy as you can into the fire. Go on, do it. This should be interesting...¡± Harold was dressed in a bright red robe today and even had a matching pointed hat to go along with it. The necklace this time had a flapping pink fish dangling on it. Yes, it was still alive. Michael did as he was told while ignoring the the distraction that is Harold. Michael concentrated on his surroundings then promptly stripped it away to reveal the Mana around him. Because of his ¡®Painting¡¯ skill Michael could see the differences in most of the colours around him. Further concentration made balls of light turn into more significant shapes. Harold was a bright rainbow ball that soon turned into a bright rainbow cylinder with concentration. ¡®Still too weak.¡¯ What Michael had tried to do was a high class concentration skill called ¡®World Mana Reflection¡¯. Although the name was rather ominous the results were innocent enough. The main thing about the skill was that it allowed the user to reflect the regular world through the mana world. It turned the balls of mana that were reflections of items in the real world into the actual shapes they were reflections of. This basically allowed little difference between the physical realm and the mana realm - since everything had a tiny bit of mana in it the mana realm could turn as detailed as the physical realm. Even paintings can be reflected since the smallest bit of paint has mana in it. Keeping this skill on allowed the user to manipulate the mana world easily and the user did not need to keep switching from the physical realm to the mana realm to aim and use spells. Anyways¡­ Michael saw the ball of bright red in front of Harold¡¯s rainbow form. Michael reached out towards the ball and gave it some energy. Michael then noticed the different aspects of it. Hot yet cooling. Solid yet spreading out. Alive yet it had no sentience. So Michael tried to change some of the aspects. Using more mana, Michael tried to minimize the cooling of the ball. He then spread the ball out and imagined a more humanoid form. The form was rather off though so Michael fixed the form and made it into a large bonfire form with 2 arms added to it. He then raised the living aspect of the flame and tried to give it...SENTIENCE. Michael burst out of his delving when his concentration broke. Then he backed away quickly at the large flame in front of him. No, not just a large flame. The thing in front of him was a floating piece of fire that looked like a bonfire but without the wood and fuel to keep it alive. It also had 2 arms stretching from it¡¯s side and it roared at Michael. Then it rushed him. Before it reached Michael the being was doused in waves of water. Michael felt his mouth dry instantly. After the waves stopped he saw Harold looking down on him with a deep frown on his face. His eyes were excited though. ¡°Boy...what did you do? I only told you to feed the flame.¡± ¡°I-I felt some problems with the fire. Well not problems, more like...things I could improve. So I added my own ideas to it. I stopped it from cooling for one. Then I made it large and gave it a proper form for it. Then...I dunno. I think I ¡®woke¡¯ it.¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°KELEKELEKELEKELE!!!!¡± Harold laughed at what he said and Michael was confused. He didn¡¯t know what Mages were usually like but he doubted what he did constituted as something humorous. ¡°What you just did boy was create a flame familiar. Well you didn¡¯t add the loyalty aspect so it wouldn¡¯t really be a familiar, more like a monster? Anyways that is a high level skill that takes years of training. Hmmm maybe your Green Magic has something to do with it. Plants are technically living so maybe...Most mages don¡¯t think of objects as having any form of sentience so they would have difficulty trying what you just did but people who already are used to giving mana to living beings would...Much to think about. Anyways. BOY! As your teacher I forbid you from doing that again. Just follow as you¡¯re told or you may die. If I wasn¡¯t here that Flame Monster would have probably killed you!¡± Those grave words would have been more effective if Harold didn¡¯t have a grin on his face. Michael still nodded in acceptance. ¡°Umm why did my mouth dry when you used that water spell? At least I think the two are connected.¡± ¡°They are boy. The air around us is part water. Using that kind of skill required quite a bit of water and I had to take most of it from the air. The spell needs -¡±
[/hr] After Michael¡¯s class with Harold he gained a new appreciation of the...young(?) Mage. The man was easy to understand and happy to answer questions. He also had a tendency to throw fireballs at the walls and laugh at chairs but he was overall an easy teacher. Before sleep Michael checked his numerous information boxes.
Ball of Fire
[p=left]A ball of fire created by a mage. Very simple magic. Mage is supplying Mana at a steady rate. Heat increases by 10 degrees per second. Ball of Fire is cooling down at a rate of 10 degrees per second. Ball of Fire does not have sentience.[/p]
You have granted sentience to the target. You have gained the skill ¡®Golem Creation.¡¯ You have gained +100 Mana and +10 to Intelligence and Wisdom for using a high class type of magic.
Golem Creation. Beginner level 1. (87%) Active skill
[p=left]An ancient type of magic. Once upon a time the magicians of the past were spurned by the populous. Wielding powerful spells in one hand they were unable to protect themselves against physical attacks. Trusted Warriors were too rare to obtain so the Mages needed to resort to this spell. Allows the user to grant sentience to the Elements. Only a properly strong elemental object can be granted Sentience. Creation uses only 1000 mana.[/p]
Golem Creation has absorbed all of your mana and some of your stamina.
You have created the monster ¡®Flame Spirit of Fury¡¯.
You have gained +1 affinity to Fire.
No more mana for connection to ¡®Silven Plant¡¯. Because of the composition of the plant the plant has started to absorb your stamina.
Your monster ¡®Flame Spirit of Fury¡¯ has been destroyed.
You have learned ¡®Elemental Manipulation¡¯. You have gained +5 to Intelligence.
Elemental Manipulation. Beginner level 1. (54%) Active skill.
[p=left]This skill allows for one to manipulate mana to create the elements. This skill then allows for the user to create various types of spells based off the different ways the user manipulates the elements. Mana is decreased proportionate to the amount of manipulation done to the element. Mana is constantly decreased proportionate to the power used in manipulating the element.[/p]
Michael was very happy at his progress. Unlike the crafting skills, magic and combat skills give stats when learned. Michael was happy for all the extra boosts he got today and hoped his classes with Serena in a few days - she needed to get used to the house and training room - would be as rewarding. Michael slept to dreams of a nice Serena...definitely dreams.
[/hr] Meanwhile at the grand cathedral of Information, the headquarters of the Church of Information and the living space of the Pope of Information¡­. A gathering of rather old people dressed in simple robes was being done in a medium sized chamber. The only thing to show rank was the placement of the seats. The long rectangle table had an ancient man seated at the head and lower ranks continuing down. ¡°I can¡¯t believe it. I hoped this would happen in some other generation, not this one¡­¡± ¡°Maybe I can start my retirement early. I heard the north has some nice Hot Springs.¡± ¡°A-are we sure about this?¡± ¡°Yes, the Goddess has spoken to each of us about this. We are here to decide when to tell the populous.¡± The last speaker was the ancient and obviously most important man. Pope Moust de Tael was one of the most powerful on the continent and wielded the greatest authority. Blessings of the Goddess Janira also assured that he was completely selfless and giving. ¡°I can¡¯t believe the time has come¡­¡± ¡°Get a grip. We need to figure out when to tell everyone. Shall we do it now? Or later?¡± ¡°I vote later. Doing it now will allow too much time for people to forget about it.¡± ¡°Too late will also panic the people. We need a safe timezone to work with so we can plan out solutions for any problems that could arise.¡± ¡°Alright then. We will tell everyone 5 years before the ¡®Emergence¡¯. That should be enough time for us. Pray to the Goddess for her mercies in the coming years.¡± Every member of the high council of the Church of Information was pale and frightful of the coming future.
[/hr] Michael¡¯s training with Harold and Cider went by without much problems. He had to repeat a lot of creations with Cider in order to sufficiently level up his crafting skills. He also had to journey throughout the city in order to capture new images and materials for his painting and sculpting skills. Remarkably when Michael was hiding in the Church of Information at night in order to get a good image of their rich furnishings, he managed to rank up his ¡®Stealth¡¯. The new Intermediate skill had an added effect of silencing his footsteps and breathing. Michael soon started his classes with Serena. They both had wooden weapons and were at a distance apart. Michael with his curved sword and his dagger. Serena with her wooden baton. It was incredibly worn so he knew she used it alot. He hoped she used it for combat at least. Private usage was... ¡°I was told youngling that you were proficient with that stupid looking curved blade of yours and the dagger. I shall be the judge of that. Now show me what you got.¡± Michael rushed Serena after he heard those clich¨¦d words. He whispered ¡®Focused Strike¡¯ and also activated ¡®IA¡¯, he managed to change the name of the skill to ¡®Instant Analyzing¡¯ and the vocal command to ¡®IA¡¯ after some lessons from Harold, and tried to find openings in her guard. He saw many flashes on her and aimed for the flash opposite her sword arm. He also took note of the various weaknesses of her blade. Michael slashed at Serena¡¯s left and knew he swung a clean strike. Michael¡¯s ¡®IA¡¯ however caught the movement of Serena¡¯s muscles - his mana regeneration was enough for him to use 4:1 speed normally - and Michael raised his dagger to block the incoming strike. Even with ¡®IA¡¯ the strike from Serena was incredibly quick. Michael barely blocked the blade but he did remember to strike the weakspots of her weapon. The two backed away from each other quickly. Michael¡¯s strike with his sword managed to hit her but lacked the power to decide the fight. Serena gave an approving smile at the boy before she turned the smile into a more predatory one. She walked to the side and picked up a second baton. The real fight began from there. Serena¡¯s speed was incredible as she assaulted Michael from every direction possible. Michael was absolutely on the defensive and used ¡®IA¡¯ in flashes in order to preserve his mana. Even if the mana costs were halved he needed to use the expensive 4:1 speed just to catch up to Serena. They finally took a break when Michael saw his Mana reach 20 - he needed at least that much for his connection with the ¡®Silven Plant¡¯ - and Michael fully canceled his ¡®IA¡¯ and took a blow to the side. The blow took out 500 health. A wooden weapon doing 500 damage was crazy. Serena still had a bloodthirsty look in her eyes but she stopped the rest of her strikes. ¡°You are very good. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if you beat your dad. The fact that you couldn¡¯t match my speed but still defended properly was very surprising. You had barely any useless movements at all. I don¡¯t think I can teach you much in the way of using your weapons.¡± Serena then took noticed of her own weapons. They were chipped in several places so she didn¡¯t think of it when she was attacking Michael furiously but now that she looked closer she could see that the chips went as deep as to cut through the metal core in the center. ¡°Identify.¡± Serena examined the information on her weapons and got another surprised. The weapons had a Durability of 300 and she had whittled it down to 200 over the years and her various...uses of it. From this one battle with the boy the Durability went down to 78. ¡°Did you aim for specific areas of my weapons boy?¡± Michael was still crunched up in pain from the blow but he nodded at her question. ¡®Very nice...¡¯ ¡°Well since I cannot teach you much I guess we can forgo technique teaching. You can figure out different techniques for those weapons yourself since I barely use the dagger and have never seen that curved sword before. Your Strength, Agility, and Stamina are definitely lagging however. You are stronger than most races your age but you can improve by a lot. Humans are actually quite good at improving themselves in abnormal ways¡­¡± And so, Michael¡¯s hell training began. Back to the first meetings. Timeskip!!!
[/hr] Well. The 9th chapter of the series. In only a few days. I¡¯m pretty proud of it myself. Did you guys know it was THANKSGIVING tomorrow? In Canada at least. I was about to get ready for classes tomorrow when I found out. It would have been awkward and expensive to drive all the way there only to find an empty and locked campus. Anyways how do you guys feel about his training? I know most are sick of spending another 10 years reading of his progress. So I decided to make major time skips for the next chapter. 9 years of training packed into a little chapter. Also I will provide his stats at the end of the next chapter. And Serena. Beautiful deadly Serena. Her brother is the God-ranked Archer, Luanden. He is the second God-ranked person to be named and the 6th to be introduced (I had those 4 crafting God-ranks before). I will be introducing a Dwarven Merchant God-ranked next. Hes still alive...I think. He could easily be dead in my head. Serena herself has traveled the lands and barely trained her skills. Its actually rare to see anyone training their skills after reaching Expert ranking. She is about 400 years of age, probably younger- you don¡¯t reveal a woman¡¯s actual age. Her brother was around to see the Magus Wars. Elves live 600-700 years. They age rapidly after reaching 600. Luanden and Kilren were best friends! Duo God-ranked buddies. Luanden was the womanizer while Kilren was the straight man of the party. Elven NPCs gain half the exp from skills compared to humans. Since they live soooooo long. Humans take at least 100 years to get to God-ranked so most give up. Kilren though was a cheat character. He had Expert ranking skills before reaching his ¡®Changing Day¡¯. He had 250+ bonus stats to distribute. Just some background information on the various characters of Gaia. Chapter 10: The Time-Skip Chapter! THE TIME SKIP CHAPTER! ¡°Teehehe, guess we need to add more weights. You get used to them way too fast.¡± Serena¡¯s giggles were the kind of giggles that made boys have uncomfortable dreams and men shiver in anticipation for more. Matching that the low seductive voice with her belle of a face and males would probably crawl towards her, since they wouldn¡¯t have the strength to walk or run. Michael though started to have nightmares. Everytime he heard that low playful giggling his face turned pale and his body started to quiver, even when he used the maximum of his concentration. Michael¡¯s father also seemed to remember it. One time when his father was about to enter the room and he heard Serena¡¯s giggle, he turned pale and swayed on the spot for a bit before he nearly ran out of the room. Michael feared for his children and hoped he had to gall to deny Serena from training them¡­ His training progressed rather smoothly besides that though. Serena had acquired several wrist and ankle bands to hold the weights in and Michael had a tough time doing his daily work for a time. After a few days of getting used to them he started sparring with them on to increase the speed of his training. First it was 10 kilograms total. Then 12. Then 15. For the first year Michael went through his daily work with an extra 20 kilograms attached to his body. His physical stats rose by a lot. Michael also used the weights for his Concentration stat training since he had no teacher for that. Michael, with his extra 20 weights, went to the closest dance instructor in town. He didn¡¯t exactly find a pure dancing master but a general performer with Expert in the performance arts. Since dancing was a precise task that required finesse, Michael had to strain his concentration in order to make his limbs move properly. He kept to this task so much that he soon learned a skill.
Due to learning how to dance for the sake of combat training, you have acquired the sub-skill ¡®Battle Dance¡¯. You have gained + 5 to Agility and Charisma. You have gained +10 to Presence due to your confidence in the training.
Battle Dance. Beginner Level 2. (34%). Passive skill
[p=left]Although the general idea is that dancing is only for boosting morale and atmosphere with performance, there are other ways to use it. The skill and finesse needed for dancing makes it a good training practice for aspiring warriors who wish to avoid blows and weave through crowds of enemies. Movement speed is increased by 2% for every level of ¡®Battle Dancing¡¯. Battles will double this effect. It is possible to immediately change direction without decreasing speed. Requires additional training at this time. Stamina costs increase by 600% while doing so. Illusions left due to quick turns will last 1% longer for every level of ¡®Battle Dancing¡¯. Connected strikes are 10% stronger. Can accumulate if more strikes are connected.[/p]
Michael nearly jumped in joy when he reviewed the skill before sleeping. Another legitimate combat skill that didn¡¯t use Mana. It did consume a lot of stamina but at least it didn¡¯t take any of his precious mana. Michael trained the skill during his dancing classes and sparring sessions with Serena and his father. His movements became more smooth and his strikes stronger as he formed various different combinations with the curved blade and dagger. He didn¡¯t acquire actual attack skills since he didn¡¯t trust in pre-arranged movements. Michael instead liked the irregular movements he had, even if they were generally weaker than skills. Harold continued to teach Michael about magic and its history. The history lessons gave insight on the problems and difficulties that Mages of the previous eras faced. They were a help when Michael was trying to make his own spells. He had no aptitude for long range magic though since he never really trusted the effects. Even his weapon throwing skill required use of small daggers - he was used to the effects of daggers and knew the damage he could cause with it. Although it was only a problem mentally it still cause a stagnation of his actual magical use. He could use magic to empower objects temporarily and magic to So Harold changed tactics. When Michael went to Harold¡¯s room for his next class he walked in to find an empty room. When he reached the center the room shook around him and he had to crouch low to keep his balance. Michael looked towards the door but rejected the option that would place him in deeper in the collapsable house. So Michael eyed the window and got ready to rush through it. Luckily the shaking stopped before he could move and Harold appeared right beside Michael. ¡°Well boy, that was a type of magic called ¡®Quake¡¯. Since you saw the effect and the felt the actual movements you should be able to learn it. Well? Try it out. Enter the Mana realm and focus on the mana in the ground then give it a shake. Go on, go on.¡± ¡°Err why couldn¡¯t you have just fired a fireball instead? If all it took was for me to see the effect and¡­¡± Michael cut off once he figured it out but Harold decided to continue. ¡°Yes, I would have had to throw the fireball at you and you needed to feel the effects of it. Would you like to try? Just stand there and let me make a big enough fireball¡­¡± Michael got nervous when he actually saw Harold position himself for the spell. Before he could run away, the door to the room burst open. ¡°HAROLD! WHAT THE F*** DID YOU DO TO MY HOUSE? WHO GAVE YOU PERMISSION TO USE SUCH A LARGE SCALE SPELL WITHOUT ANY WARNING OR WARDS? DO YOU WANT TO FEEL MY CLUB AGAIN? DO YOU!?!?!? YOUR HEAD MUST HAVE MISSED THE FEELING OF IT! LET ME-¡± Michael¡¯s mother continued that for a few more hours and Harold was a sorry, red lump at the end. The good news though was that Michael became good at using large scale magic that affected the area and not the actual target.
[/hr] Michael¡¯s first year went smoothly after that and he acquired a few more large scale magic. Michael also went through a ¡®cursed¡¯ phase in order to learn specific cursed-type magic since he needed something to weaken his enemies as well. To be more specific Michael had to drink some specific poisonous substances - this time under the watchful eye of his mother - in order to create the necessary organ in his body to house poison for his magic. You couldn¡¯t just create poison out of nothing in the Mana realm. Needless to say he was more happy trying to make beneficial magic. Constant training was Michael¡¯s everyday life. He didn¡¯t have any other hobbies to speak of and when he was giving time off he usually just took a walk around town - while avoiding the watchful eyes of the Series membership - and found places to read books he got from Harold and Serena¡¯s personal collection. Histories of wars with notes of alternate strategies and tactics devised by both Serena and her brother. Histories of magic arts and magic battles with some doodles from Harold. He was basically a teacher¡¯s pet...with the alternative being a teacher¡¯s punching bag. It was during one of his times out that he first met Damien. Michael was at the North-Eastern area of the city, the area with the gate entrance and road that one could use to travel to the ¡®Forest of Dread¡¯. He felt nostalgia every time he looked at the forest that gave him his connection with the ¡®Silven Plant¡¯ and introduction to Liera. Liera¡¯s training was done under the watchful eye of his mother and Serena. His mother had taken over her education of Gaia and she taught history, geography, cooking, and even a little of alchemy just in case Michael ever got too sick to heal himself. Serena took over Liera¡¯s training and taught her moves she had learned from the Fey she knew. Liera¡¯s combat training never interfered or connected with his since she was being taught how to fight by shifting forms. The aim was for her to be able to tap into her wolf form while staying human. A high level technique but she had 10 years to practice. The next level after that would be to tap into other forms¡­but all that for later. Michael was reading more on about one of the battles during the Mad King¡¯s War. Luanden and Kilren¡¯s army was trapped in a gorge in order to drawn out Jilr¡¯s ambush and Luanden had the soldiers form a steal dome to weather the enemy volleys. Their tactic was to wait out the attack until the main army could surround and take down the enemy. What they hadn¡¯t anticipated was the arrival of Jilr¡¯s high Magus and group of Magus¡¯. Trying to block balls of fire or torrents of lightning was way different from just arrows and Luanden¡¯s men were being slaughtered. Here, Serena told Michael to study various ways to counter the Magus¡¯ while not allowing the enemy to retreat before the main army got there. Michael thought of one or two plans that included created gaps in the shield to allow the archers to fire back and - Michael¡¯s book and concentration went flying when a boot interrupted his day. Specifically a Knight¡¯s Sabaton had replaced the book as the center of attention for Michael. Michael looked up to see a large boy with a Knight¡¯s Helmet looking down on him, That was all. Only the Knight¡¯s Sabaton and Helmet was being equipped on the boy which created a rather comical effect. It took quite a bit of Michael¡¯s concentration just to keep himself from laughing. Guess the other boy was very good at reading expressions. ¡°What!?! You laughing at me? Little bookworm. I¡¯m a Knight¡¯s apprentice and you should be on your knees grovelling for mercy because your book dirtied my Sabaton. Well? Are you just gonna sit there?¡± The boy wasn¡¯t the only one there and 4 other boys, all as big as the first, surrounded Michael. They all made an even more comical group since one had an Iron Cuirass over a leather vest, another also had an Iron Helmet on, and another had large shoulder Pauldrons only. The final one nearly killed Michael using laughter since he only had a Culet attached to his backside and completely took all the attention from his glare. Michael had to delve more deeply for his Concentration. ¡°A Knight¡¯s apprentice huh? Impres-No. No it really isn¡¯t impressive. And am I just gonna sit here? Well I was hoping to sit here and read a book but that¡¯s out of the question so yes. I am just gonna sit here. You can shine my boots if you want though. I give good tips. Maybe you can save enough to buy the rest of your armour¡­¡± Michael had started off his spiel with a touch of awe but he decided halfway that his acting skills were not good. So he told the truth since he had noticed that seem to be a good way to finish problems. It may have worked too if he didn¡¯t add some of his newfound humour at the end. The boy¡¯s unequipped hands started to quiver and turn red with rage. The other boys were the same and any skin not covered by metal - so a lot of their skin - was turning red. Then one of them took out a sword that looked very shiny and clean. ¡®Expensive...did they buy that first, then the armour with whatever they had left?¡¯ Michael wasn¡¯t trying to calm the situation at all as he bent to examine and approve of the naked blade. He even tapped it with a finger to get some information on it with ¡®Instant Analyzing¡¯ passive mode.
Expensive Steel Sword
[p=left]You have seen the real values of the sword. ¡®Item Description Change¡¯ has been temporarily removed for you. Durability: 50/50 (shown to other people as 200/200) Damage: 10-20 (shown to other people as 40-50) A beautiful steel sword made using a technique that allows the sword to withstand corrosion, rust, and stains. The technique however makes the sword weak and brittle. Not used for combat but for decoration purposes. Approximately 11% of the blade is made with Chromium. (To other people the description shown would be ¡®A strong sword that every warrior must have. Its expensive so it must be good.¡¯) A good blow will shatter the blade. Charm +10 while having the blade. Cost: 20 gold. (probably more expensive when sold to idiots)[/p]
Michael actually laughed at this. He collapsed on the ground and had tears rolling down his face as he thought of the stupidity of these children. These kids probably didn¡¯t have the common ¡®Identification¡¯ skill so they relied on the good word of the merchant that sold the product, not knowing of abilities like ¡®Item Description Change¡¯ and got promptly ripped off. If all of their equipment were like that¡­ The surrounding boys resembled walking humanoid tomatoes in clothes and mismatching armor at this time. When they saw Michael collapse they had thought he turned pale after examining the sword but the boy actually laughed. He LAUGHED. All 5 of the boys were well over 6 feet tall and some even hit 2 meters. They had bulging muscles from a childhood of food and steroids and muscle training but their stats did not reflect the same. Their strength barely hit 50 and that was the highest while the next highest was half that. Michael instead looked rather slight. His height was average at just 1.7 meters and his build was hidden underneath a lot of clothes. He had on a leather jerkin and wool pants, both made by him and had pretty awful stats although they were very comfortable. Over all that he wore a long sleeved brown robe and a matching pointed hat to block the sun. The robe was actually to cover the heavy weights he had over his wrists and ankles. Michael had a few dozen throwing daggers under his robes and his combat dagger hidden in his left sleeve. His sword was too big to carry around so he left it at home, confident enough to take care of himself with just his daggers. His stats had steadily increased over the last 2 years and his strength had just broken 125. Stats weren¡¯t a reflection of looks though, unless it was Charm, and Michael looked just like an apprenticed mage who didn¡¯t even have a magic Staff to protect himself with. So the large boys did what every group of bullies did. They each took out their ¡®Expensive¡¯ steel swords and proceeded to hack at the little boy in front of them. They wouldn¡¯t kill him but they would reduce him to a begging sobbing mess. The largest boy, the one wearing the Sabatons and Helmet, swung his sword down on Michael¡¯s leg. He missed when Michael twisted on the ground and sprung up to his feet, still laughing at the misfortune of the fools. None of the boys took notice of the incredible speed Michael showed as each was in a mini bloodlust. Stab to the right, chop from the left, sweep from the top. Michael dodged and weaved through the attacks with a grace that would have made his dancing teacher proud. He also took the time to tap their weapons with his concealed dagger¡¯s hilt. In a matter of moments¡­ Michael knew it was time when he saw a crack in one of the blades and he lifted his wrist to block that sword. The wielder was ecstatic to finally draw blood and threw all of his weight into the blow. With a Clunk the blade hit Michael¡¯s wrist weight and promptly broke in half while the unfortunate person fell over in shock. Michael brought his fist down on the boy¡¯s head and knocked him out. Michael then thought about his wrist weights. ¡°Listen boy. These weights were in my family for the last 4000 years. You will not use these to block blows. GOT IT?¡± Michael paled at the memory before glaring at the boys. He Concentrated on his presence and burst the feeling out. The entire city all of a sudden felt the tension in the air and the higher ranked combat professions and few mages gasped at what they felt. Any dungeon diver or hunter felt the power of a Boss-class monster and their senses told them it was in the city. Everyone rushed to the scene. Michael didn¡¯t notice or care about what he had done. These boys may have earned him a sadistic night with his teacher and he wanted some tension release before that happened. The boys in front of him were quivering in fear since Presence had an effect of instilling terror into weaker beings. The boys saw a monster in front of him. A being with horns and a forked tail, claws and hooves while the mouth was split in a sharp toothed grin. When Michael finally advanced the boys broke out of their reverie and used their trained moves to fight him. Michael just took out his combat dagger and blocked every single one of their blows then grabbed the swords with his right hand and crushed the brittle steel. Once he did that with every sword, he charged them and proceeded to attack their armoured sections. He broke every single piece they had on and then went on to delicately shred their clothing. When Michael finally calmed and cut down on his presence, he looked down at the boys that were in bloody heaps on the ground. They barely had a strip of clothing left on and Michael had cut thin lines across their bare bodies. They were all incoherent due to the pain and one of them had fainted during the assault. The blood cooled his frenzy in the end and Michael was rather happy at the scene. So he walked to the side, picked up his book, lay down, then went to sleep with the book covering his head. Michael also noted that he had accidentally used ¡®Rage Release¡¯ and that the skill leveled a few times. He also lost quite a bit of his ¡®Stored Rage¡¯ which almost made him attack those stupid kids again. When the high ranking or experienced people in or out of the town finally came to the scene they were shocked. 5 large boys were either sobbing or knocked out. 4 of them were bloody with cuts on them while the other had a bleeding head wound. Another boy was laying asleep a few paces away from them. When the 3 sobbing boys saw the crowd they started to point and shout that the boy had assaulted them. That the boy was a demon spawn and had sprouted horns and claws and some other supernatural body part before trying to tear them to shreds. One of the adventurers that came was an expert ranked Swordsmen and a representative of the Combat Series. He recognized that the boy was Michael and decided to just watch and record the scene for his Series. Other representatives also decided the same. A Knight stepped out of crowd and towards the boy. He was Sir Cliff and he was the master of the largest boy there, the one in the comical Sabatons and Helmet. Sir Cliff didn¡¯t like the situation since he only saw a sleeping weak kid but he couldn¡¯t deny that the other boys had quite heavy injuries. Based on their screams and wails it wasn¡¯t anything terribly serious. What spurred on Sir Cliff was that he had noticed the terrible presence in this direction and the only thing that could be a cause for it was the sleeping kid. Sir Cliff walked up to the kid and examined him. Skinny, average height, book, pointed hat, robes. Everything about the kid screamed ¡®Mage Apprentice¡¯ so Sir Cliff raised a boot to kick the boy awake. He missed however when the boy shifted his position slightly. Sir Cliff wondered if it was a coincidence and raised his boot again. 5 times more he missed and Sir Cliff decided the boy was awake. ¡°Boy...Did you cause all of this damage to the others? Are you a¡­Demon Spawn like they say?¡± Sir Cliff wasn¡¯t a horrible person. His apprentice, Damien, was chosen because he thought the boy had some talent with the sword but it seemed his judgement was terribly off. The large boy was a slacker and weak willed. Flashing a few coins in his face was enough to catch his attention and the boy couldn¡¯t even last 2 seconds while sparring against him. Even after 4 years the boy hadn¡¯t grown in any way. Sir Cliff wondered if the bandits he killed in the past all had beginnings as horrible apprentices... But the boy was his apprentice. He couldn¡¯t just turn away from the boy during a time of need. His honor as a knight didn¡¯t allow it. And now this other boy¡­ When Sir Cliff didn¡¯t get a response he asked a different question. ¡°Then did you start this fight boy? Even if you say ¡®no¡¯ we only have your word against it while these 5 have injuries and will probably all say you started it. Do you have any proof?¡± The last was said with some reluctance. There were no other eyewitnesses here since it was a secluded spot. They had to take the word of these 6 kids and 5 of them would surely gang up on the last. In the end the boy would probably be punished but Sir Cliff knew the personality of his own apprentice and has already formed an idea of what happened. He also noticed that some of the people in the crowd, those were the masters of the other apprentices, also had darkened faces as they could also imagine the real thing that happened. Then Sir Cliff heard a long sigh from the sleeping boy. Sir Cliff saw the boy raise a hand. Then he made some sweeping motions in the air and cut down several times. Sir Cliff was confused at what was happening and looked into the crowd. He saw confusion there too but when he looked at the few mages in the crowd he saw something else. All of the mages were staring at the boy with pale faces and wide eyes. Was the boy using magic? The mages didn¡¯t back up so it probably wasn¡¯t dangerous. Sir Cliff turned his eyes back to the boy when he caught a different motion. The boy¡¯s hand went to his head and started to give off a white light. When the boy had finished whatever he was doing he thrust the hand upwards. Inside his hand was a translucent ball the width of a thumb. Sir Cliff took it in confusion and then noticed the boy pointing towards the crowd. Actually the boy was pointing to one of the mages in the crowd. Sir Cliff looked as the mage started to walk forward. ¡°That, Sir Knight is a memory ball. The boy was going through his own memories and copying then cutting out specific parts. The last motion was when he gathered the memories into a ball to give to us. I can access the memories and broadcast it for us to see¡­¡± The mage was very skinny. And old. Sir Cliff had never seen such an old person before and judged that the man knew his craft well enough if he could survive to this age. He also saw the slight nod from the book covered head of the boy. Sir Cliff gave the ball to the old mage and walked backwards a bit. The mage took out his staff from under his robe - the staff was a good 2.5 meters tall and couldn¡¯t possibly have fit under that robe - and then threw the ball up. Closing his eyes the old man swung the staff at the airborne ball and a flash accompanied the loud crack that was heard. Then the scene changed. Everyone in the crowd and the town saw the book in front of their eyes. It seemed to be a history on battles and some knowledgable folk saw that it was about a battle during the Mad King War. They also noted and approved of several of the notes. Everyone jumped when a Sabaton replaced the book. The view changed to show the boys surrounding them and the comical effect of misplaced armour made some of them laugh. They also laughed at the exchange of words between the two sides. Some of them gasped when a sword appeared in one of the boys¡¯ hands. A larger gasp when the view went closer to the blade and a finger touched it. Then they all laughed when they read the actual description of the sword. When all 5 of the boys took out their blades the crowd was already on the Apprentice Mage¡¯s side. They all were shocked at the movements of the boy and the very experienced warriors saw and approved of all the strikes the boy was returning. When a sword broke after hitting a wrist, the scenery turned red. To the shock of the people they saw the offensive attack of the boy as a dagger destroyed weapons, armour, clothes and then skin. When the scene turned calm once more the bloody heaps of the boys were seen. Then everyone came back to their original senses. The crowd of onlookers looked unfavorably towards the gang of 5. They had seen everything that happened and did not approve of that behaviour. The 3 conscious boys started to shiver as they saw punishment await them in the near future and they envied their unconscious companions. The Series representatives were even more worked up after the scene they saw. The boy was a beast and having him would win such renown from the other towns. When they cast their eyes on the boy however they only saw a pile of rocks on the spot. The boy seemed to have run away during their reverie.
[/hr] Michael didn¡¯t tell his teachers or his parents about the event. The house was warded quite well so the people inside did not see his memories that were projected. They all knew what happened though since each of them had a way to keep their eyes on him. Serena approved of his dodging and weaving in the first bit but turned furious when she saw her family heirlooms used as a shield. She calmed down when she saw that Michael was giving back 10 fold. For the next 3 years Michael went through his training. Nothing much changed except that Liera had finally got the hang of her transformations and had started sparring with Michael. Her quick attacks and pseudo transformations of her limbs kept him on his toes during the bouts and he got experience facing a new foe that didn¡¯t match the characteristic of a monster or a person. Liera herself was glad to finally be of use since her transformation practice was time consuming and seemed useless. Liera had started to undergo a slightly weaker version of Michael¡¯s beginning training. She also had weights and the like on her wrists and ankles. A month before Michael¡¯s 15 naming day there was a statement from the Church of Information. In one month there will be an announcement by the church to everyone that came directly from the Goddess Janira herself. The Church advised everyone to stay in the town during that time in order to not miss the world changing information. Rumours immediately started. Some thought that a demon army was about to charge, but they were refuted with questions of why the Church would delay that kind of news. Some thought that the goddess would destroy all the towns on that day and that she needed more people in the towns in order to get a high kill streak, but this was even more unbelievable than the last. Janira was a true-neutral goddess and even the other gods avoided direct confrontations with her. There was literally no reason to suspect her of mass murder. All of the speculations and rumours became more crazy and imaginative by the day. Most of the higher ranking people feared that the town would riot during this time so they imposed a strict curfew a few weeks before the Church¡¯s announcement. Michael really didn¡¯t care about the announcement or the curfew. The announcement was from a goddess that really only gave information so it was obvious that the announcement would just be news. And the curfew was also not a hindrance since it just allowed Michael to train his ¡®Stealth¡¯ more easily. A week after the statement Michael was told to take off his top by Serena. He was quite wary but since his mother was also in the room he decided that it wouldn¡¯t anything too inappropriate. Michael removed his top to reveal a slight but chiseled body. Muscles were not very large but they were obviously well used and several scars just served to accentuate his body. Overall Michael was incredibly fit since he trained literally every day. When he reached Expert ranking he would get a simplified training regiment that would only take up 30 minutes of his day but right now he had to give several hours to training. Serena measured Michael¡¯s body and fingers and then proceeded to the door to give the measurements to Harold and Cider. Michael waited a few minutes while sitting on a bench to the side of the training room, still shirtless before they came back. Cider entered first carrying a leather vest with thick springs coiled in various areas on it while Harold entered with a small pouch. ¡°This, boy, is a restrainer. Since I can¡¯t add any more weights to the wrist or ankle without fear of breaking it I decided to have this made. The springs are incredibly strong and any movement with your body will cause a strain from them. You will need to push incredibly hard to do anything and then slowly go back to your original placement if you don¡¯t want the spring to snap back and damage you. The rings in that pouch were made by Harold and each is enchanted with a different level of gravity magic. One increases your gravity by 10%, the next 25%, the third 50%, and the last are 100% and 200% respectively. You will also be wearing those for training. Only one at a time first then more as you get used to them. In the end I expect you to wear them all.¡± Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Michael was incredibly pale as he was told his new training regimen. His wrist weights each had 20 kilograms on them so they nearly doubled his weight. The new restraining jacket though looked rather fine to wear but those rings sounded like they would kill him! The first would increase his weight and the wrist and ankle weights by an incredible amount. Still, Michael never backed down from training so he accepted the lowest level ring and was helped into the jacket. Michael immediately felt the effects of the jacket. Any movement of his arms away from his body caused him to strain in effort. When he let go of his strength his arm snapped back to the body and nearly knocked him to the ground. Michael lost about 200 health just from that. Twisting his body and bending over had the same effect and when Michael let go after bending over he snapped backwards and made a flip on the spot. ¡®Great. Hell training level 2¡­¡¯ Michael took the next few weeks to get used to it. When month was over the Church of Information had created a podium in the center of the town. With the help of some mages they had also created several sound enhancement devices so that the speech could be delivered to various areas of the city. 100, 000+ people was a difficult number to accomodate. ¡°The Pope Moust de Tael and the high council of the Church of Information has received a vision from the Goddess Janira. In 5 years time the world will change as the ¡®Abnormal Pieces of the Continent¡¯ will appear. They are beings from another world and will affect every single aspect of Gaia. They will either become Heroes to praise or Demons to haunt. Each will appear as weak as a newborn but can become as strong as a God. Janira has warned us of this event and has tasked us to prepare for their coming. The 4 Series will be guided by the Church to devise a training for the newcomers. Mages will have to cooperate in making a new type of magic for the beings and we will need to acquire a great number of items for their coming. The Goddess Janira has also created a new system for them. Quests can be given to these beings and the way it will be done will also be taught by our Church. Fear not, this event will be weathered by all the races and we must unite in order to survive.¡± The Church finished their speeches by answering some questions but most of the people had already left to prepare. They needed to go to the Church to learn this new ¡®Quest¡¯ system since it seemed to be some help against the incoming beings. The Series needed to choose instructors and teachers without apprentices so that the series can be able to acquire good members. They all remembered the failure of getting Michael so each created contingencies just in case of failure. Michael? Michael was excited at the announcement. These people were even stranger than him! Michael hoped they caused enough excitement and problems so that he could live in relative peace in the town. Michael also decided to learn about ¡®Quests¡¯ since he didn¡¯t think it was only a one-sided offer. Quests could probably give good rewards and Michael could even have the newcomers do Quests for him. Michael envisioned a new life as he closed his eyes stretched out his hand to the sky. The hand snapped back and drove him out of his reverie.
[/hr] 4 years and 11 months and 29 days passed in an eyeblink. Michael had succeeded in controlling his body to such a degree that the restraining vest no longer hampered him at all. He had also upgraded from his 10% gravity ring to 385% total from 5 rings. He walked normally with the rings on and could even fight with the rings on. He decided that after his training he would keep the vest and rings on since it would be abnormal to walk a few kilometers in minutes without them. Michael had finally hit Expert ranking in nearly all of his skills. His stats had also almost all hit over 200 in each and he had decided on a class before his ¡®Choosing Day¡¯. He noticed that he wasn¡¯t incredibly handsome but he had already known this would happen since the day he was born. His body though would attract looks if he ever went shirtless. Too bad he didn¡¯t have such exhibitionist tendencies. Michael was stuck on which guild he should choose until he heard a passing group talking about their work. Michael¡¯s eyes shone when he heard about the guild and he decided that they would satisfy most of his desires. Not telling anything right now. As Michael stood before the doors of the Church of Information, he opened up all of his skills and stats. ¡°Show Status. Show skills and descriptions. Show all titles.¡±
Status
NameMichaelAge20
Level3ClassNone
Fame326Infamy0
TitleStudent Under The GodsWorld Rankingn/a
GuildNoneFree Stat Points0
Health3400 + 200Mana3020 + 600
Stamina3210 + 400Stored Rage108
Strength258Dexterity204
Vitality340Intelligence282 + 20
Wisdom280 + 20Mana Control150
Luck119Agility231
Concentration489Willpower157
Charisma120Presence130 + 20
[p=left]Special skills. +30% more damage against wolves and wolf subspecies. Mana recovery rate is increased by 1.5x its base rate. Gravity exerts an extra 385% force on you. Movements are restrained. You have the ¡®Blessing of the Wolfblood¡¯.[/p]
Affinities
[p=left]Nature: 67 Fire: 12 Water: 9 Earth: 20 Wind: 5 Light: 0 Dark: 0[/p]
Stealth. Expert level 5. (15%). Active and Passive Skill
[p=left]Allows you to hide in the shadows or even in plain sight depending on the level. Will level up based on the actions you do and use of the skill. Footsteps and breathing are 2% quieter for every level of ¡®Stealth¡¯. Shadows will blend around you. Hiding in shadows is 5% more effective for every level of ¡®Stealth¡¯. If you attack while the enemy in unaware you can deliver 5% extra damage for every level of ¡®Stealth¡¯. Requires 25 mana/minute. Passive version activates when you stay in one spot for a long period of time. Concentration erases your presence further. Presence can increase risk of being found.[/p]
Language Comprehension
[p=left]You are able to learn various languages as you hear it. At the same time, this skill will grant the ability to read and write in that language. Languages available: Human (100%) Elven (100%) Magus (100%)[/p]
Alchemy. Expert level 9. (3%). Active skill
[p=left]This skill allows for you to be able to create healing and poisonous concoctions. You have also found a way to increase stats using magic. Healing potions are 5% more effective per level. Healing potions grant 4 extra property. Every 5 levels after Intermediate will add more properties. Poisons last 10% longer per level. 60% chance that Poison will inflict a random status effect on the target. Status effect has an 80% chance of being a debuff while having a 20% chance at being a buff. Higher level skill will grant an understanding of poisons great enough to add the status effect without such a large degree of randomness. Using specific types of mana will grant potions with different benefits.[/p]
Herbology. Intermediate level 7. (43%). Passive skill
[p=left]This skill allows for you to analyze the various properties of plants and come up with an estimate of its uses and effectiveness. At higher levels you may even be able to create new potions just by glancing at the plant and thinking of its uses. Can see 1 property of a plant for every 5 levels. ¡®Instant Analyzing¡¯ can add 1 extra property to the plant for every rank it has. Current number of properties it can add: 3. Potions and poisons are 5% more effective for every level. Plants that were personally planted by you are 2% more effective for every level of ¡®Herbology¡¯ and 1% for every level of ¡®Alchemy¡¯.[/p]
Sword Mastery. Expert level 4. (10%) Passive skill
[p=left]The blade is a common yet formidable weapon for a warrior. A tool of death, this skill must be refined and understood before it becomes a part of you. Sword strikes are 5% more effective for every ¡®Sword Mastery¡¯ level. Sword combinations are smoother and more fluid. Can use sword skills with non-sword weapons. Will not lose knowledge of this skill due to being of Expert ranking or higher.[/p]
??? Mastery. Expert level 2. (5%) Passive skill
[p=left]This weird blade has a unique style of fighting that has not been known in recent years. Create your own style and techniques. This skill was made due to use of the ¡®Instant Analyzation¡¯ skill. Sword slashes are 10% more powerful for every ¡®??? Mastery¡¯ level. Sword slashes can rip apart magic missiles like Fireball. Does not lose Durability when doing so. Curved swords lose a maximum of 1 Durability when slashing. Piercing attacks with the curved blade suffer a 90% penalty and Durability of the weapon is greatly reduced. Will not lose knowledge of this skill due to being of Expert ranking or higher.[/p]
Quickdraw. Intermediate level 1. (97%) Active skill
[p=left]A strike that is used as you draw the blade. Force is increased due to rotation of the body from drawing. Surprised quick strike gives a greater chance for critical hits. +200% more damage. +10% more damage for every ¡®Quickdraw¡¯ level. Uses up 100 mana. +20% more damage if used with the ??? curved blade. +50% chance of a critical hit if the opponent has not drawn their own weapon.[/p]
Dagger Mastery. Expert level 6. (25%) Passive skill
[p=left]The dagger is a powerful piercing weapon when used correctly. It can be concealed easily due to its small size yet can deal powerful one-hit strikes. Dagger thrusts are 5% more effective for every ¡®Dagger Mastery¡¯ level. Critical hits with all weapons gain a 1% chance increase per ¡®Dagger Mastery¡¯ level. Dagger strikes can cause bleeding debuff. If the Dagger¡¯s Durability is higher than the opposing item¡¯s Durability, Dagger thrust can pierce through it. Ignores the Defense stat and only relies on the Durability value. Will not lose knowledge of this skill due to being of Expert ranking or higher.[/p]
Forced Stab. Intermediate level 3. (10%) Active skill
[p=left]A strike made using the entire force generated by the body. Damage increases based on speed, momentum, and angle. Costs 34 mana. Deals 310% more damage. Damage will increase by 10% and mana costs willl lower by 2 for every level in ¡®Forced Stab¡¯. Damage will increase by 5% for every level in ¡®Dagger Mastery¡¯.[/p]
Weapon Throwing Mastery. Expert level 8. (5%) Passive skill
[p=left]Anyone can throw things yet to actually target something and accurately pierce it with whatever is at hand requires skill. Targeting is 5% faster per ¡®Weapon Throwing Mastery¡¯ level. Weapons do not lose durability as it is being thrown, only when it hits the target. Weapons have 0% chance of accidentally damaging the user. Will not lose knowledge of this skill due to being of Expert ranking or higher.[/p]
Rage Release. Beginner level 4 (87%)
[p=left]Your rage from the past returns in a burst of power. Release your bottled up feelings and allow it to wash over you and dye the battlefield in the colour of Rage. Using the skill normally will permanently consume the ¡®Stored Rage¡¯ stat. Every 11 seconds of use will take up 1 ¡®Stored Rage¡¯ stat. Normal skill will boost all stats by 10%. Every 3 levels of ¡®Rage Release¡¯ will increase time for each ¡®Stored Rage¡¯. Increasing the usage and stat increase will consume more of the ¡®Stored Rage¡¯ stat. Overuse will cause you to go Berserk. Berserk: ¡®Stored Rage¡¯ will not decrease but you will not be able to differentiate between friend or foe. Strength increases as damage taken increases. Health is recovered at triple rate. Cannot be debuffed in this state. Cannot be healed in this state.[/p]
Green Magic. Expert level 9. (79%)
[p=left]An ancient style of magic, Green Magic has its roots from the union between Elves, Humans, and Fey. The power of these three bloodlines gave rise to this unique magic. Green Magic allows for a person to connect themselves with a plant temporarily. They will be allowed to give energy (mana) to the plant in order to sustain it. It is entirely possible for a plant to survive in the desert as long as mana is given constantly in order to keep it alive. Can attach your mana to a plant. Every 5 levels will allow for more plants to be attached. Plants fed mana for a time can gain new and different properties. Can give different types of mana to plants. After attaching to a plant, you can gain 3 properties as payment for as long as your are connected. More properties as your skill reaches higher ranks. Mana upkeep will depend on the plant. You can see through your connected plants. # of connected plants: 1 -Silven Plant[/p]
Silven Plant
[p=left]An ancient type of plant that was personally grown by the ¡®Lady of the Land¡¯. Grants great magical properties when used as an ingredient. Connections through Green Magic or similar grants great benefits. Age: 698 years Durability: 1000/1000 Properties being given through the connection:
  • Double Mana Regeneration
  • Double Affinity to Nature
  • Can give Health, Stamina, and Mana when the connection senses trouble.
Mana Upkeep: 30/minute[/p]
Focused Strike
[p=left]With a weapon in hand or none you are able to strike at a foe¡¯s weak points accurately. Using this skill at the right moment can end the battle in a strike but failure can cripple you at the wrong moment. Using the skill will highlight various weak spots on the target for half a second. Use will take up 150 stamina. Striking after using the ability will give a 120% boost in power. Missing with the ability will cause a confusion debuff for 1 second. If the target has no weak points you will not lose Stamina.[/p]
Instant Analysis and Identification. Expert level 2 (1%). Active and Passive skill
[p=left]A combination of two different yet similar skills. For the active part, it allows for analysis of the situation, analysis of monsters and their actions, and analysis of weapons in a fraction of the time. Due to experimentation you have found the limits of the skill. Mana costs have decreased due to Intermediate ranking. Requires a vocal command to use. Depending on how quickly you wish to cram the information in, more mana is needed to do so. At a rate of 2:1 it takes up 2.5 mana per compressed second. For example, 50 seconds compressed into 25 seconds takes up 125 mana. At a rate of 3:1 it takes up 5 mana per compressed second. For example, 25 seconds compressed into 8.3 seconds takes up 125 mana. For the Passive part, any item touched by you is analyzed and then identified to the limits of the skill. Does not require a vocal command to use. Does not consume Mana or Stamina. Gives half the experience the ¡®Identification¡¯ skill would usually get. Can detect rank 3 and lower traps.[/p]
Smelting. Intermediate level 3. (43%) Passive skill.
[p=left]The process of extracting metals from their corresponding ore. The skill requires an understanding of heat and a need for patience. The purity of the metal gained is 2% better for every ¡®Smelting¡¯ skill level. The purity of the metal gained is 1% better for every ¡®Blacksmith¡¯ skill level. Using mana can grant additional properties to the metal.[/p]
Handicrafts. Expert level 1. (2%) Passive skill.
[p=left]A generic crafting skill, this skill affects all types of crafting. All crafting skills will give a bonus 3% increase in end product quality for every level in ¡®Handicrafts¡¯. Deft use of hands will increase damage using weapons by 5% per ¡®Handicrafts¡¯ level. Strengthening of hands will increase hand-to-hand damage by 10% per ¡®Handicrafts¡¯ level.[/p]
Tailoring. Expert level 3. (84%) Passive skill.
[p=left]Craft skill that involves stitching various furs and pieces of leather to create clothes. An expert Tailor can take apart the materials and construct a unique piece of clothing with enhanced stats and abilities. Clothes made are 5% more aesthetically appealing. Clothes made last 3% longer. Can only used tier 2 materials and lower. Can take apart old clothing to get back materials.[/p]
Woodworking. Intermediate level 6. (43%) Passive skill.
[p=left]Craft skill that has ties to Sculpting. Can create pieces of art or even weapons from wood. Requires a delicate eye for details. Sculptures made are 5% more detailed per ¡®Woodworking¡¯ level. Weapons made are 3% more durable and deal 2% more damage per ¡®Woodworking¡¯ level. Wood loses 5% less durability for every level of ¡®Woodworking¡¯.[/p]
Sculpting. Expert level 6. (39%) Passive skill.
[p=left]A crafting skill that is looked down upon, this skill creates works of art that leaves a lasting image in a person¡¯s mind. Very difficult to master. A master is able to create pieces of any size that has nearly no difference from the original. Sculptures are 3% more detailed per ¡®Sculpting¡¯ level. Sculptures are 10% more durable per ¡®Sculpting¡¯ level. Can only make ¡®Masterpieces¡¯ and lower at this level. With good materials you can try to make ¡®Great Pieces¡¯.[/p]
Painting. Intermediate level 8. (87%) Passive skill.
[p=left]Drawing seems simple but requires a feel of the emotion of events that is then transferred through the brush. A master of painting can move a person to tears or make them laugh just by having them view his/her works. Paintings are 5% more delicate per ¡®Painting¡¯ level. You gain a understanding of the different shades of colour. 10% increase in noticing the slight differences between shades. Maps are automatically drawn when entering an unknown dungeon. Can only make fine pieces at this level.[/p]
Blacksmith. Intermediate level 9. (22%) Passive skill.
[p=left]Creation of weapons or armor. A craft that requires great strength, vitality and will. A true master can bring out the hidden properties of lower tiered metals and display them to the world. Quality of metals will influence end result of creation. Can repair weapons and armor to a degree. There will be some loss in Durability. Can sharpen weapons making them deal 3% more damage for the first strike. Can wax, oil, and repair armor making it have a temporary 5% increase in defense. Weapon creations are 2% more durable and 4% stronger for every ¡®Blacksmith¡¯ level. Armor creations are 5% more durable and have 3% higher defense for every ¡®Blacksmith¡¯ level. Can use different types of mana to infuse different properties to the finishing piece.[/p]
Golem Creation. Beginner level 1. (87%) Active skill
[p=left]An ancient type of magic. Once upon a time the magicians of the past were spurned by the populous. Wielding powerful spells in one hand they were unable to protect themselves against physical attacks. Trusted Warriors were too rare to obtain so the Mages needed to resort to this spell. Allows the user to grant sentience to the Elements. Only a properly strong elemental object can be granted Sentience. Creation uses only 1000 mana.[/p]
Elemental Manipulation. Intermediate level 9. (54%) Active skill.
[p=left]This skill allows for one to manipulate Mana to control the elements. This skill then allows for the user to create various types of spells based off the different ways the user manipulates the elements. Mana is decreased proportionate to the amount of manipulation done to the element. Mana is constantly decreased proportionate to the power used in manipulating the element. Can use different types of elements to form compounded spells. Spells you have learned/created.
  • Fire Tornado (Fire + Wind + Water)Quake (Earth)Lightning Shower (Wind + Water + Fire + Earth)Forest wall (Nature + Earth + Water)Fireball (Fire + Wind)
[/p]
Battle Dance. Intermediate Level 7. (34%). Passive skill
[p=left]Although the general idea is that dancing is only for boosting morale and atmosphere with performance, there are other ways to use it. The skill and finesse needed for dancing makes it a good training practice for aspiring warriors who wish to avoid blows and weave through crowds of enemies. Movement speed is increased by 2% for every level of ¡®Battle Dancing¡¯. Battles will double this effect. It is possible to immediately change direction without decreasing speed. Requires additional training at this time. Stamina costs increase by 600% while doing so. Illusions left due to quick turns will last 1% longer for every level of ¡®Battle Dancing¡¯. Connected strikes are 10% stronger. Can accumulate if more strikes are connected. If you have a partner you can lead him/her to create a dance of death.[/p]
Target of Envy
[p=left]Due to your advanced skills in life compared to your compatriots, you are the target of envy from others. You will be less forgettable but will also gain more animosity from anyone you ignore. +20 to Charisma. +20 to Agility. +10 to Strength. +10 to Vitality. -100 Fame.[/p]
Wolf Pack Hunter
[p=left]You have never killed a wolf before in your life yet you managed to bring down the strongest of the pack. Your kills will be the talk of tales if you ever share this knowledge. +20 to Charisma +10 to Strength +10 to Vitality +10 to Agility +30% more damage against wolves and wolf subspecies. Does not need Title to be equipped for this to work. Wolves are more likely to avoid your presence.[/p]
Student under the gods
[p=left]Given to individuals who study under teachers who have achieved master rankings, you are granted this title in congratulations on graduating under their tutelage. 10% increase in skill exp for skills of Intermediate or Beginning ranks. +20 Intelligence. +20 Wisdom. +20 Presence. +500 mana. Mana recovery rate is increased by 1.5x its base rate.[/p]
Michael smiled at his progress and got himself ready for his ''Choosing Day'' ceremony. Before the Time-Skip!!! After the Time-Skip!!!
[/hr] Finished this a few minutes before class. I should pay attention but...I''ll be on to read comments. If you see problems or such and such, just comment and I''ll either fix it or explain. Its a Tuesday...today, tomorrow and the day after I have classes so I may or may not have a chapter ready. Probably not until Friday. Oh well. Chapter 11: After the Time-Skip AFTER THE TIME-SKIP A person¡¯s ¡®Choosing Day¡¯ is the official day a child turns into a proper individual. This day is when a child chooses their class and their guild which are then recorded by the Church of Information. One can change their guild whenever they want but most stay in the guild they choose during their naming day. ¡®Choosing Day¡¯ is not only a Human activity like their ¡®Changing Day¡¯, but instead is a day that is traditional to most of the races on ¡®Gaia¡¯. People are introduced to the different types of Churches on the Continent on that day. People in Gaia have already moved past the idea that Churches based on Affinity were basically a representative of either Good or Evil. The people have accepted that Churches of Light and Dark can be either Good or Evil. This knowledge was backed up by countless wars created by the zealotry of their Doctrines. For example the Church of Light who worshiped the battle God Luke was mainly worshiped by Humans. One day the god decided that Humans should be the only race on Gaia and went ahead to declare war on the other races. Countless people died during that war and even the members of other races that worshiped Luke were targeted and wiped out. The war ended with the God Luke in defeat while the other Gods decided to cast the Light God of Battle out of the Divine realm and caged beneath the land. Churches were basically divided into 5 sections. Churches of Light and Good were gathering places of Healers and heroic Paladins. Churches of Dark and Good were worshiped by people who desired Freedom above all else. They had a great number of Adventurers and Assassins but the general rule was not to kill just for the sake of killing. Light Churches of Evil had an incredibly large Fanatical populous and the members of that Church would sacrifice their own lives for the benefit of their Church. Children are taught incredibly early on about the doctrine of the Church and nothing else. Dark Evil Churches house the dregs of society and the most murderous of people. Recruitment is mainly made in forbidden areas and areas of imprisonment. These people have no qualms with killing people of every race, gender or age. The final type is the true-Neutral Churches. These includes the Church of Information, the Church of Death, and the Church of the Lady of the Land. The ¡®Lady of the Land¡¯ and her Church have basically disappeared after the war with the Magus Community while the other 2 have too powerful a structure to ever die out. When a child chooses their class they need to first seek approval from the Goddess Janira. Stats, skills, fame and personality are all taken note of. A normal class usually has low requirements that are known by many people. Warriors for example require at least an Intermediate in ¡®Sword Mastery¡¯ and 50 in strength. Knights require the same requirements as Warriors but also need a minimum of 50 honor. Since Honor increases or decreases based on the deeds of Knights, people who have a evil sadistic personality won¡¯t even get 1 stat in that. Even people who try to hide their personality with acting would be hard pressed to increase a skill that is based on personality. Rogues need Intermediate in ¡®Stealth¡¯ and at least one other rogue characteristic skill. Healers need to have a Holy affinity of at least 10 and one healing skill at Intermediate rank. These examples show the really low requirements a person needs for ¡®normal¡¯ classes. The harder classes are the ones that include more than 1 series. Paladins for examples require a Holy Affinity of 30 and at least 2 healing type skills at Intermediate. They also require a minimum of 100 strength, 50 Vitality, and 75 Agility. They must not have any infamy or Dark type skill. The opposite of a Paladin would be a Dark Knight. They have the same stat requirements but need 2 curse skills at Intermediate and a Dark Affinity of 30. They can have both Fame or Infamy. They can also learn a dark type of Healing spell or they can even just corrupt the healing skill they already have. Guilds were different matter since they were never Evil but more Neutral or Good. Before. there were only 5 different guilds. The ¡®Sons of Battle¡¯, ¡®Shadows of the World¡¯, ¡®The Factory¡¯, ¡®All-Cure¡¯, and ¡®The Merchant¡¯s Society¡¯. These 5 basically represented the different Series a person could join. These guilds spread across the continent and had members from various races and were the power behind the scenes. Members of the guild benefited from information exchanged through the guild and even formed connections using the guild. Infamous people however were denied access to these guilds since the guilds didn''t want to be viewed in a negative light by the populous. Not everyone was in a guild or worships a Church. That all changed rather recently when several towns had created new guilds. That wasn''t really a problem since the guilds of previous eras were usually absorbed by the main 5, but these new guilds were different. They didn''t cater to a general type of class but to jobs. These guilds included classes from different series and worked together to complete various tasks. The most prominent was the ¡®Dungeon Seekers¡¯. They were filled with combat, stealth and healing professions and desired to find and complete every Dungeon they could find. The death rate for the guild was rather high but recruitment was incredibly easy. Cooking, Construction, Home Decor, Toy Making. These different guilds were very well received by the Guildless and even people already in guilds. However this also created the opportunity for Evil-aligned people to create ¡®Chaotic Guilds¡¯. *Ahem*, back to the ¡®Choosing Day¡¯ event. Apart from an introduction to the Churches and the choosing of a Class and maybe a Guild, there is the single Blessing from the Goddess Janira and the God of Death, Plutys. These 2 Blessings last for as long as the person lives and cannot be removed. If you have somehow earned the ire of either divinities...then you will basically be screwed for life.
[/hr] Michael was in front of the Church and was attracting the attention of various onlookers. Earlier in the day the Church posted information on who¡¯s 20th naming day it was that day. There was also the fact that the new otherworld beings would appear some time that day and change the face of Gaia forever. Not a very pleasant thought. A few hours before Michael stood there, a large number of people had entered the Church to witness his ¡®Choosing Day¡¯. They were members of the Series who wished for Michael to at least join their guilds. They had all seen the view of Michael¡¯s fight between the 5 Knight apprentices and the ¡®Sons of Battle¡¯ were incredibly interested in him joining them. The other 4 Guilds just wanted to see the boy but all of them wouldn''t have denied him from joining their guild. The newer guilds had heard rumor of the boy. Stories that told of his extra 70 stat points during his ¡®Changing Day¡¯ and his battle against 5 combat professions. There were even some rumors about his renowned parents and the stories they also had among the people. The ¡®Dungeon Seekers¡¯ hoped the boy would join them and increase their standings among the guilds while the other guilds came because they hoped the boy had an interest in their goals. In total, 17 guilds were represented by about 5 members each and all had come to watch Michael¡¯s ¡®Choosing Day¡¯ and what Blessing he would get. When Michael¡¯s teachers went into the Church though...well it was a rather shocking scene. Serena was an elf and renowned adventurer, although only the most experienced and high ranking representatives actually knew who she was. She was also known as the sister of a living God-ranked being so she became an instant topic in the Church¡¯s hall. Harold olr Opinio was also a well known person, although for different reason. At least half of the representatives had contact with the bright mage and all of them were tricked in one degree or another. They all had to admit that the man was a brilliant mage though and several Magic guilds started to get anxious about the boy. They had known that the boy could at least use ¡®Memory Ball¡¯ which was a high class type of magic, but now they knew his teacher and could imagine the boy¡¯s prowess. Cider caused the loudest commotion in the hall. When he entered in a loud and religious tight suit of pure White and Gold, every single craftsmen started to shout at the man. The words weren''t horrible however. Basically half the craftsmen were crying because they had wanted to be his apprentice while the other half started to shout their desire for the boy. Cider was a renowned craftsmen and the only man to have 5 craft skills at Expert ranking, never mind 2 at Master-ranking. These 3 as teachers made several representatives faint when they tried to think of which Class the boy would choose. Something along the lines of ¡®Dark Lord of Chaos¡¯, ¡®Champion of the Gods¡¯ or just a normal class like ¡®Warrior¡¯ caused great distress in the representatives. Then Michael walked in.
[/hr] Michael had to wait till noon before the ceremony started. He saw a few other young men around the Church entrance and all were staring at Michael. Michael didn''t know why so he ignored the other people who had a ¡®Choosing Day¡¯ along with him. What they were staring at was Michael¡¯s clothing. Like the ¡®Changing Day¡¯ the 20 year olds had to create their own clothing with bought materials or acquired through hunting down various beasts, mainly rabbits to wolves. Some had hand stitched silk clothing that had various types of embroideries which told of their skill in the crafts. High ranking tailor skill was used, some skill in painting and the arts, even a little bit of skill in Blacksmith created rather high quality pieces of clothing although it was also clear that the people had zero prowess in fighting. For the warriors or stealth Series, they had clothing or armor created out of the hides of monsters they slayed. The equips were crafted with what little skill they acquired themselves which made for quite a mismatched array of protection. A hide here, leather there, awkward stitching used everywhere. It was still impressive to see the different types of armors they wore. For the Healing Series they had to rely on donations made in their name by the populous that they helped. They were not allowed to use items that was donated by family members. They were the most rugged of the group but also had the most divine aura surrounding them. Michael...Michael had high skills in most of the crafting skills. He had taken apart the old Wolf cloak he had made with the hides of the pack leaders he killed a long while ago. After taking it apart he crafted armor that combined leather and metal to create a chestpiece with a different feel to it. It looked like a regular Cuirass but the Blacksmiths of the group saw the high quality and purity of the metal. The Wolves main body was draped over the the back and ended in a mini cloak below the waist. At the front, Michael had draped the head of the Brown Wolf over his left shoulder and positioned it so that the eyes of the wolf would stare down anyone in front of Michael. The Grey Wolf was draped across his right side and facing the Brown Wolf while laying it¡¯s head on Michael¡¯s middle. The legs of the wolves were grabbing pieces of the armor which gave the illusion that the armor was being gripped by the wolves and the wolves were going to protect Michael from his enemies. Since the wolves were both bigger than the wolves found around the area the Combat and Stealth classes assumed that Michael had hunted several Pack Leaders, which was correct. The rest of his armor was near flawless except for some engraved designs and shown with an expert touch. Blacksmiths don¡¯t dare to wear armour during their ¡®Choosing Day¡¯ since it may have confused people into thinking that they were part of the Combat Series and may mess up their chances at getting into the proper guild. They do try to show off their craft so most go about and make a proper shield. Michael was definitely not a craftsman. He was neither a full on Combat person or a Mage and even his ¡®Stealth¡¯ was just a skill he had and used when he needed it. Michael was equipped with his strangely curved blade, obviously only sharp on one side, several daggers, no shield, his Wolf pelted armour (Its a set too, so every armor piece has some kind of Wolf pelt on it. No metal helmet, it just looks stupid), an enchanted cloak, and even a pointed hat he kept packed up. After the incident with those stupid idiots when he was 12, Michael decided a Mage was a good disguise to have. He kept several short staffs in his pack to help the image since he really didn¡¯t need the staffs to improve his magic aim. Area of effect magic doesn¡¯t need one target. All in all, Michael made a powerful sight at his ¡®Choosing Day¡¯. He made combat professions look weak, and his craftsmanship was about 5 times better than the others. If any mages were there and tried to harass him he might have just unleashed a mini-¡¯Quake¡¯ and ¡®Fire Tornado¡¯ on them to shut them up. Stealth professions couldn¡¯t approach him without being caught and the entire crowd sometimes lost sight of Michael even when he was just standing there. No one knew what he was or what he will be, and everyone was hoping to see anything that could give a hint. When noon finally arrived several of the ¡®Choosing Day¡¯ participants were ushered into the building. There were 8 halls in the Church of Information and 4 were used for ¡®Changing Day¡¯ while 4 were used for the ¡®Choosing Day¡¯. Everyone noticed that one hall was packed tight with representatives from nearly every guild and most of their gazes (the representatives¡¯) then went to Michael. Michael instead was hoping to go to one of the quieter ones and actually made it halfway to one of those before he was ushered into the very crowded one. Michael strode quickly down the hall towards the Bishop and noted that he was the same person that performed his ¡®Changing Day¡¯ ceremony. It seemed the Bishop became very interested in what Michael would choose for a Guild and Class. Arrayed to the sides of the Bishop were his teachers, Serena and his Mother on the Bishop¡¯s right and Cider, Harold, and Michael¡¯s father on the left. A very prominent group of teachers, each of them had a higher ranking of skills and power than even the Bishop of the Church of Information.
[/hr] ¡°We are all gathered here today to witness the coming of age for this young man. He has come here today to formalize his graduation and receive the gifts he needs for his future. But first, the various Gods and Goddess¡¯ representatives will need to present themselves to him and give their acknowledgment of his deeds.¡± One by one, several robed members of the audience walked up to the front of the hall and placed a hand over Michael¡¯s forehead. Michael wasn¡¯t a very tall man at exactly 6 feet tall but some of the representatives were of the shorter races like Dwarves. Most of them stayed hooded but what cause great consternation in the crowd was when a Fey lady unhooded herself and proceeded to the stage to give the acknowledgment of the ¡®Lady of the Land¡¯, something not done since before the Magus Wars. The short, skinny woman was very beautiful and left a scent of flowers in the air after she placed a hand on Michael and then walk away. What this process did was allow the various Gods and Goddesses to see the growth and potential of the child through their representatives. They would acknowledge the child and if the child wishes to join their following they would already have the information to either accept or deny him. The next part of the Ceremony was to receive gifts from the child¡¯s teachers. When the last representative left the stage, Serena walked up to Michael. She took out a necklace that depicted a silver leaf with a gold design of a bird, a hawk in the middle. ¡°This is my family¡¯s sign. Show this in any elven town and speak in the elven tongue if you are in any trouble and they should help you. My brother is...greatly acknowledged by our people so this should point you out as a friend of either me or him.¡± A great gift for a traveler. This pretty much meant that Michael could call on the help of an entire race if he ever needed it. Cider was next. He walked up to Michael and took out a large chain-mail body suit. Michael noted that it would be a rather tight fit. Michael pointedly ignored how Cider could hide it anywhere on his tight white and gold suit. ¡°This my dear boy was made with Mithril and Dragon¡¯s Fire by one of the God-ranked craftsmen a long time ago. It was once worn by Kilren himself and has enchantments on it that can block elemental damage and reflect back the opposite element. For example, if a Fireball is thrown at you it will be blocked and an Icespear will be launched back. Take good care of it. Its strong but any incredibly high level magic can destroy it. And Dragon¡¯s breath. Watch out for them too.¡± Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Michael didn¡¯t really need the warning. He doubted he could or would want to ever face a Dragon¡­ Harold walked up after Cider and presented an item to Michael. It was a purple bone. Actually it was the Purple Bone, the one that Harold had on when they first met. ¡°This, boy, is the bone of a specific Demon. The Demon could teleport wherever he wanted but died when he accidentally teleported into a wall. This bone of it can do the same but only over a short distance, about 50 meters. I also enchanted it so that it will avoid...killing you by making you a wall ornament.¡± ¡®Good for running away? Ugly though...¡¯ Michael knew the item was incredibly rare but he was only thinking of the consequences of running around with a purple bone...On a side note, Harold¡¯s smokey monkey companion¡¯s hat was made of leather from the Demon¡¯s skin. Amazingly it was not purple in color but orange. Michael¡¯s mother replaced Harold and she eyed the bone with some dissatisfaction. Then she took out box. ¡°This box is warded and enchanted with the greatest spells I could collect. It will block any excess magical power from leaking from objects placed inside but will be attuned to you so you can keep connections with the items.¡± Although it was not such a great gift as the others, it was definitely to be used for Michael¡¯s ¡®Silven Plant¡¯. This was actually a good way to make people not so curious about the box since he had all of those other rare and unique items. Michael shared a conspiratorial smile with his mother. Michael¡¯s father was next and he took out an orb wrapped in a cloth. When he opened it every mage in the hall gasped. ¡°This, my son, is a ¡®Call Orb¡¯. All of your teachers and I have one of these and this is an extra. Make sure you use it to keep in touch with us when you can. I¡¯ll tell you the words needed to activate it later.¡± Michael gaped at his father. He had read many books over the years and had heard of these ¡®Call Orbs¡¯. He also knew the value. Items were ranked in the following. Common -> Uncommon -> Rare -> Unique -> Artifact. What his father just said was that all of his teachers and now him had Artifacts. An Artifact that was used for instant communication. Once Michael obtained all of his high class items, the ceremony continued. ¡°Now we shall hear the choice this child has chosen for his future. His Class will be a permanent decision and the Goddess Janira will either accept this decision or give the proper class herself.¡± This was the time for Michael to say his self-written speech. A simple class would only take one line but for different classes... ¡°I wish to follow the ¡®Lady of the Land¡¯. To protect her territory and spread her name. To guard her secrets, told or hidden, and to represent her when the need arises. To present myself as one of her children, now and forever, and to give my life for her causes. I have the strength to follow and the will to take up my blades against her enemies. I wish to take up the class ¡®Guardian of the Lady of the Land¡¯. Will my decision be accepted?¡± Silence. The ¡®Lady of the Land¡¯ was one of the True-Neutral divinities so the requirements for becoming a follower were incredibly high. Especially for Humans since they were not like the Fey or Elves in being born close to the Goddess. Another problem was that her following was incredibly small among the Humans and there was a large strain between the other Humans and her following since the Magus¡¯ and the Mad King¡¯s War as Humans were the main group that destroyed her following. For the next 5 minutes there was no response. The Bishop did not seem overly concerned and neither did Michael¡¯s teachers so Michael himself wasn¡¯t very concerned either. The audience members were different since this part of the ceremony usually took a minute max. The child asked for a class and it was an immediate yes or no by the Goddess. All of a sudden the hall shook. Then two women voices could be heard. ¡®Come on little sister, the boy wants to be a follower of yours. He has every requirement to be a follower. Why won¡¯t you accept his decision?¡¯ ¡®Because he does not deserve such a lowly class. You know his growth and potential. Being just a Guardian of mine isn¡¯t a proper position for the boy. Its like a Hero wanting to be a common soldier. A pope wanting to be a choir boy. A king wanting to make sculptures. It just doesn¡¯t seem right.¡¯ ¡®So he should be something more? Hrm you could be right about that. How about this? Will this be a good enough Class for the boy?¡¯ ¡®Oh that''s better. But sister how about adding *blzz* to it too?¡¯ ¡®Yes, yes, thats fine.¡¯ Then Michael was washed in golden light. It made the glow during Michael¡¯s ¡®Changing Day¡¯ look like a candle being compared to a sun. Information boxes appeared in front of him even though he had ignored the others than had appeared during the ceremony..
You have been denied the class ¡®Guardian of the Lady of the Land¡¯. You have changed to this Unique Class: ¡®High Champion of the Lady of the Land¡¯. You do not get specific skills from the class but you can learn skills and abilities from other followers of the ¡®Lady of the Land¡¯. All stats have increased by 20. Health and Mana have increased by 500. Affinity with Nature +100.
[p=left]Your class change has unlocked the following skills based on stats. Due to the nature of your class, the skills ¡®Sword Mastery¡¯, ¡®??? Mastery¡¯, ¡®Dagger Mastery¡¯, and ¡®Weapon Throwing Mastery¡¯ have combined to create ¡®High Champion¡¯s Combat Mastery¡¯. You have gained the skill ¡®Focused Defence¡¯ due to getting beyond 200 Concentration. You have gained the skill ¡®Focused Health Regeneration¡¯ due to getting beyond 400 Concentration. You have gained the skill ¡®Focused Mana Regeneration¡¯ due to getting beyond 400 Concentration and 300 Wisdom. You have gained the skill ¡®Focused Stamina Recovery¡¯ due to having both ¡®Focused Health Regeneration¡¯ and ¡®Focused Mana Regeneration¡¯. You have gained the skill ¡®Ironbark Skin¡¯ due to getting beyond 300 Vitality. ¡®Rage Release¡¯ has its ¡®Berserk¡¯ description and ability changed due to Concentration being the highest stat.[/p]
Due to the nature of your class, you have become the champion of life. You are now an eternal opposite to Plutys, the God of Death. You deal more damage to Undead but get greater debuffs from curses.
The entire hall erupted in conversation. ¡®Choosing Day¡¯ Class acceptance was usually just one word said by the Goddess. She either said yes or no then gave the class to the child. This was the first time anyone has ever heard a conversation between Goddesses. It was an even greater impact when it sounded like they were arguing over whether to give such a low ranking class to the child. The 6 people in front of Michael didn¡¯t reveal much expression. Harold and Cider were playing Cat¡¯s Cradle beside the Bishop while Serena had started to polish her batons. Michael¡¯s mother and father had each taken out a book to keep themselves busy while the Bishop was writing in a scroll and smiling in delight. ¡®Was he keeping notes about this situation?¡¯ Michael didn¡¯t know how to feel about these 6 important people. So Michael cleared his throat, trying to get the ceremony to continue. ¡°Hmm? Oh yes. *Ahem*. The Goddess has chosen a proper Class for this child. We shall now hear the choice of a guild this child will choose. Whether he chooses a guild or not is his decision but let it be known that this is not a permanent or drastically life changing decision. Now Michael, which guild do you wish to join?¡± Everyone in the hall was waiting for his answer. Even his teachers and parents turned their eyes every once in a while in his direction. Michael hadn''t told anyone his decision but he doubted it needed this much attention. ¡°I wish to follow the paths of the past. To reveal the hidden secrets our ancestors hid away, and to find out the truths that were covered up. I wish to join the ¡®Historical Society¡¯ if they will have me.¡± The ¡®Historical Society¡¯ was one of the newly created guilds. Their goal was mainly to research history and note down arguments and ideas about different aspects of the past. Another part of the guild was that they would tackle incredibly dangerous ruins in order to obtain new information and historical items and facts. They would usually hire mercenaries, which is expensive, but the information they obtain gives them an incredibly large stable income. Their clients ranged from curious common folk to the Church of Information and the nobility. Michael had heard of their goals when a group of them had passed through town once. They were going to enter the ruins of Jilr¡¯s ruined Kingdom in order to get a greater grasp of the Mad King¡¯s War and had been complaining about the hiring of trusted Mercenaries. Michael had been reading a lot of History given by his teachers and had developed a love of the past. He decided that joining the guild and going on Dungeon runs would help his Historical interest and decrease the costs of the Guild having the hire mercenaries. A win-win situation. The ¡®Historical Society¡¯ representatives was thinking along the same lines. The main representative knew that this man was very gifted and powerful and he was eager to recruit him. When he heard the man wanted to join the guild, the representatives all almost fainted in disbelief. The main representative gathered himself and walked up to Michael. He pointedly ignored the anger on the faces of the other Guilds. ¡°I am the representative of the ¡®Historical Society¡¯ in Bellen. My guild will be happy to include Michael within our ranks.¡± Simple and short. Michael envied the man for those 2 sentences as he listened to the final part of the ceremony. ¡°This child, Michael, has finished his ¡®Choosing¡¯ and will now go out to the world. The final task is to accept the blessings or curse of the Plutys and Janira. May they guide you on your journey and help you with your tasks.¡±
[p=left]You have gained the Blessing of Janira. You have gained the Curse of Plutys.[/p]
¡®Uh oh.¡¯
The Blessing of Janira
[p=left]The Blessing of Janira, given to all NPCs after their ¡®Choosing Day¡¯ ceremony at the age of 20. During the night, all stats are increased by 30%, the same amount monsters usually get. However all exp bonuses you may get are reduced to the normal amount. All skills gain 10% more experience at night. You can see better in the dark, as long as there is even a tiny bit of light. Blessings are half effective but healing spells heal more Health.[/p]
The Curse of Plutys
[p=left]One way or another you have gained the enmity of the God of Death. Bad luck¡­ All stats are halved unless Health is below 30%. Curses are twice as effective. They are also twice as hard to remove. When you die a close relative or friend will have the option to sacrifice their life for yours. You will gain a blessing based on the person sacrificed. This blessing will be permanent.[/p]
The Curse of Plutys was probably the worse thing Michael could have gotten. He didn¡¯t want anyone to die for him yet he doubted he would have the chance to convince them not to. He was rational enough to understand that his parents would do so in a heartbeat. And his teachers...were crazy enough to go through with it. Michael didn¡¯t know the meaning of being the ¡®eternal opposite¡¯ of the Death God, but he now knew the depth of the problem and that it was much worse than any other possible curse. ¡°I-I...I accept this.¡± Michael¡¯s words ended the ceremony. There were no other possible words since the Blessings and Curse were already given to him but he almost couldn¡¯t say it. The Bishop did not notice his distress but his parents and teachers did. They frowned at his expression and pale features. Michael decided not to tell them about the Curse. It was on a whim but he didn¡¯t want to know right away which of them would sacrifice themselves. ¡°Then by the power vested in me, I pronounce you, Michael! High Champion of the Lady of the Land and member of the Historical Society!¡± All of that will later be recorded and stored in the Church¡¯s archives but Michael couldn¡¯t care less. Once Michael and his teachers had exited the Church with the ¡®Historical Society¡¯ representative in tow, the congratulations and goodbyes started. No one commented on what Blessing or Curse he may of gotten but the question was definitely in their eyes. They all said their goodbyes only and his father told him the words for the ''Call Orb'', then they left Michael one by one. In the end Michael faced his new guild member. ¡°First we need to finalize everything. Michael will you join my guild?¡± A screen appeared in the corner of his vision but he already said ¡°Yes¡± before he noticed it. ¡°Alright. Well our main guild house is in the city of ¡®Carihaven¡¯ so you should visit there and meet the ¡®Guildmaster¡¯ when you get the chance. Every city has a representative you can get commissions from and with the introduction of ¡®Quests¡¯ the system proceeds much smoother. We can track your progress using ¡®Quests¡¯ and you can do the same. If you have any problems just give one of us a call. Oh yes, here''s a medallion of the Guild. It''s just for show but its been the tradition for the last few years. Now if you will excuse me I have a few more ''Choosing Day'' ceremonies to go to.¡± Michael nodded and walked away from the Church. He was still pretty unwilling to believe his misfortune but he decided to train outside of the town. He level was incredibly low for his stats and he wanted to see how he would do. All of a sudden the sky turned Golden. It was almost as bright as the one that surrounded Michael earlier. A clear female voice rang out across the land. ¡°They have come.¡± Then strangers appeared in the center of the cities. Time Skip chapter here. Time to meet some strangers! Or just start the journey!
[/hr] This...came out better than I imagined. When I was writing various parts I thought I was writing nonsense since my fingers typed faster than my mind could form words. The end result was pretty nice though... So how do people feel about his class. No absolute new class skills. The ''High Champion''s Combat Mastery'' is not a new skill but just a combination of the old. The other skills are stat skills that were locked until he got a class. And we can now introduce players! YAY!!! [th_084_.gif] Let the chaos start. I still take suggestions or tips or typo/grammar reports. Just comment and I''ll read. Liera does not get a ''Choosing Day''. She is born with the class and she doesn''t need to be introduced to the Churches since she follows the ''Lady of the Land''. Guilds are also unimportant to the Fey. Anyone want some specific type of Player to start appearing? Villains or friends. I can think of some scenarios for them. Damien failed being a Knight. He had 0 honor. So he became a bandit! Surprised? I thought not. Well...yea...hope you enjoyed it. Comments and Discussion. I feel that this page is needed. I dunno if people are disappointed for thinking this is the next chapter. They probably are. Let me just say that I finished a response paper between this post and the last chapter (Chapter 11). It was due tomorrow so yea. I can get Chapter 11.5 out tonight if you are interested... OK THIS PAGE IS FOR COMMENTS AND DISCUSSIONS. I WILL READ THIS EVERY DAY. I READ EVERYTHING EVERY DAY ACTUALLY BUT THIS IS FOR THE SERIES AS A WHOLE. IF YOU WISH TO SEE THE SERIES GO A SPECIFIC ROUTE JUST COMMENT. I CAN PROBABLY ADD IT AS A SIDE STORY OR EVEN PART OF THE MAIN STORY IF I REALLY LIKE IT. Here are some points I should make clear. Again sorry for this not being a new chapter. You really think I can just write a new chapter inside of 4 hours? Well I can but not with any degree of length. Chapter 11.5: The Day of Release THE DAY OF RELEASE It was finally time. Just a few more hours until ¡®Gaia¡¯ was officially online for players. After a fricken long year of waiting, the game was going to be open for gameplay. The lack of a Beta testing meant that there was next to no information on the game. Usually a game would go through a beta-test with players in order to get knowledge of bugs and glitches and the like, but ¡®Gaia¡¯ didn¡¯t go through such a thing. Instead, the game went one year free of players and noted down bugs and glitches itself, fixing itself up without the help of outside interference. Of course it helped when 20 years was actually used up in the game, but this left many players grumbling at missing the chance to play even a few weeks of the game. Government officials also argued that the game didn¡¯t go through a proper safety procedure but they were shut down when information was released about the characteristics of the game. For one, pain was cut down to 50% of what a person would feel in the real world. Some would argue that it was too much but the counter-argument was that if people wanted to feel no pain, they should just shut themselves up inside their rooms and not do anything. In a game that would have near real-world characteristics, adventuring wouldn¡¯t feel the same without a little pain. Second, since the game was run by an AI there was no threat that the creator would be mad enough to just trap people in the game for whatever reason. This wasn¡¯t 100% supported but people were satisfied that it was at least commented on. Third, kids under 11 had auto-censorship of parts of the game. They could not see blood or mature themed scenes. Anyone below 21 basically was blocked from the mature content. That included marriage. Four, you cannot switch genders. John Doe had expressed vehemence at the idea. It seemed he dislike talking to female characters that had male reality counterparts. There was same-sex marriage in the game so you could just make effeminate or masculine characters. For the game content people had to be satisfied with the releases from the company. This include the information of item and skill ranks. No information was given on the difficulty of the game or what to expect. This great lack of knowledge didn¡¯t boost sales. As the only VR game to ever come out, people were rather sceptical about the quality and content of such an expensive game (about 1000 USD to play yearly while the console itself is about 5000 USD). Dante was one of the people who had already bought the console and game and was eagerly watching the countdown on the ¡®Terra¡¯ website. 20-years old, he was a quiet person during the school hours but became a raging bull while speaking online. Dante¡¯s shyness mainly came out from his rather large build. He wasn¡¯t incredibly obese but he had extra weight that made him feel rather socially awkward. His larger size as a boy also created a passive personality as he could easily damage the other children that played with him. All of that disappeared when he went online. Shouting at the microphone, he releasing all the pent-up anger he had gotten during school, and pretty much abused anything in his hands while he was playing. The amount of money he used to repair his controllers or mouse reached nearly as much as the console had cost. He saved all the money he got during his part-time job though so he had enough for the game. Still, Dante was a single-20 year old with no chances of getting a RL girlfriend due to his personality. ¡®Gaia¡¯ seemed to be the answer to his wishes. (13, 12, 11, 10) Once the timer had hit the single digits, Dante was already in the console. He had studied every single detail about the machine as he had painstakingly waited for the release. He switched on the machine with his right hand before settling every part of his body down on the bed-like surface. Dante continued to count down in his head as he closed his eyes and waited. (3, 2, 1) And Dante couldn¡¯t feel his body anymore.
Welcome to ¡®Gaia¡¯.
Dante heard both a voice and saw the floating box in front of him.
Scan of Irises and brainwaves have revealed you to be a new user. Do you wish to create a new account? (Yes) (No)
¡°...Yes!¡± Dante knew to take things slowly. As one of the first players he didn¡¯t want to make any mistakes that he could have avoided if he played after the first day.
Please speak the In-Game name you wish to have. Conflicts with others are allowed. Please choose wisely, it is incredibly expensive to obtain a name-change while in-game.
The extra information caused Dante to mentally frown. He silently discarded his usual name ¡°Tiny¡± and decided to choose a more suitable name. He then spoke his decision. ¡°Ferocious¡±
Do you wish for your name to be (Ferocious)? (Yes) (No)
¡°Yes.¡± Dante figured that since it was a game he could at least use his gaming personality while playing it.
Please choose a race. Warning: Humans have some penalties associated with the race.
Dante was confused so he asked the most obvious question. ¡°What are the restrictions?¡±
Due to the common decision to become a Human you may not change your character too drastically. Pain tolerance is capped at 50% instead of the regular 25% of other races. Humans will also start in random Human cities meaning you cannot choose where you can start.
All of those options weren¡¯t horrible but the fact that other races couldn¡¯t feel as much pain seemed to be huge point. Feeling 1/4 of the pain is much different from feeling 1/2 of the pain. Dante had already decided to be Human though. ¡°Human.¡±
Warning: Are you sure you want to be Human? This decision will be permanent for the rest of the game. (Yes) (No)
¡°Yes.¡±
Please change your character¡¯s look. You cannot change it too drastically.
¡°Reduce overall fat content to 2%. Sharpen jawline. Add a short beard. Add-¡±
You have hit the maximum changes. Please finish or alter an old change.
Damn. Still it looked way better than Dante had before. ¡°Finished.¡±
You have created your ¡®Human¡¯ character. You will start in the Neutral city of ¡®Bellen¡¯.
Welcome to Gaia.
Dante, no, Ferocious, looked around himself in awe. The houses he saw looked incredibly strange to him but he noticed every piece of the house. Every screw and wood plank was seen and noted and the other various details were there as well. Ferocious smelled the air and noted a slight fragrance of flowers and the scent of baked bread. It was so...real. It almost made his reality look drab and fake. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Ferocious looked at the people around him. Most were dressed in wool shirts and pants and some had richly embroidered jackets. A few stoic people wearing armors could be seen near the edges of the clearing. Ferocious noted a flowing fountain behind him and he further noted that the era was definitely not like Earth¡¯s Medieval age. No one was excessively dirty or poor. In fact most seemed rather well off. Ferocious was becoming increasingly embarrassed when he noticed his rather drab clothing and several others around him were dressed the same. Then Ferocious saw a newly appeared man immediately set off to one of the guards. ¡°You! Tell me how I can get stronger! NOW! TELL ME NOW! Does a Cat got your tongue? Tell me -¡± The guard had become increasingly red under the tide coming from the annoying man. It seemed he couldn¡¯t take it anymore when he took a single step forward and drove his fist quickly into the man¡¯s stomach. The man cut off his tirade when he got hit. Collapsing on himself he started to gasp and cough in pain. Dry heaves came out later and Ferocious thought he heard a sob somewhere in the middle of it. ¡®50% pain...hurts.¡¯ Ferocious and the other players looked nervously at the other guards but they seemed satisfied at the outcome. Their attitude basically said ¡°Please try to do the same to us.¡± Their smiles cause Ferocious to look away. Scanning the crowd a few times he suddenly noticed a man standing a few feet away from him. He seemed to have appeared from out of thin air and the stare he gave seemed to be rather bedraggled. He was dressed in the most resplendent armor though and even the guards didn¡¯t possess the presence that this man had. The wolves on his clothing also looked like they wanted to eat Ferocious. Ferocious gathered his courage and approached the man. If he made a mistake he would pay for it, but he wouldn¡¯t just lie down and wait for a silver platter to come his way. The man seemed to note him coming but didn¡¯t move from his position. The man was a little shorter than Ferocious but definitely had muscles underneath his armor. His eyes were a clear ice blue and his blonde hair was cut rather short, not short to the skin but short enough not to hamper his eyesight. He wasn¡¯t incredibly handsome but his presence changed his average look and made it rather imperious and noble. His eyes also seemed to take in every detail. When Ferocious stopped before the man he gave a small bow at the waist. ¡°Excuse me sir. I was wondering if you could give me any information on how to gain strength and skills in this world. As you can see, I am new, and I fear the laws and needs of this world are different from my own. I beg your assistance.¡± The last was said with another bow. Ferocious had watched all the news surrounding ¡®Gaia¡¯ so he knew that NPCs were rather intelligent individuals or at least didn''t follow the role of regular game NPCs from RPGs. Speaking to them the same way as the other Player would have obviously caused problems, so the best way was to be polite. Information wasn¡¯t given on how NPCs saw Players but Ferocious took a stab in the dark. He was rewarded with candy. ¡°It seems at least some of you ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ possess a modicum of manners. You can gain stats and abilities by training your body under harsh conditions. For skills you may go to the Series buildings around the city. Different Series sections offer different sets of skills. The Series are Crafts, Combat, Stealth, and Healing. Ask around for directions. If you wish to be a merchant you will need to speak to a member of ¡®The Merchant¡¯s Society¡¯ guild and ask for an apprenticeship. The Church of Information a few blocks away will also help you in understanding the workings of this world. It is also the place to learn magic.¡± The great torrent of words came from the man but every single piece of information was worth its weight in gold. Ferocious noticed some other Players that were edging closer to hear what was being said but the man was speaking in a gradually quieter voice that only allowed Ferocious to hear. It seemed he had noticed them too. After the man finished speaking he looked at his fingers. Then his eyes widened and he paled slightly as he focused on several rings he had on. He took off the more plainer of them. ¡°Thes-These are Gravity Rings. Only 10% and 25% but wearing these will help train your strength and vitality. I¡¯m wearing rings that increase gravity by 350% right now so these barely matter. You can have them to train with. If we see each other again I¡¯ll see if you can handle more.¡± Ferocious¡¯ eyes widened at the generous and quick gift he had gotten. He immediately put them on and almost fell to the floor afterwards. Since he didn¡¯t brace himself his knees had started to bend under the extra weight and pitch him to the floor. Luckily the man seemed ready for it and caught Ferocious.
You have taken damage from being squeezed too hard. -25 Health.
Ferocious widened his eyes at the box. What the heck¡­ ¡°Ummm¡­.you damaged me from that squeeze¡­.minus 25 health.¡± The other man¡¯s eyes also widened and he muttered to himself. Then he gave his goodbyes. ¡°Well, hopefully you have a safe journey. I will need to start heading out on my own.¡± ¡°You haven¡¯t gone adventuring yet?¡± Ferocious was stunned at his words. He didn¡¯t look like he spent all of his time inside yet¡­ ¡°Yes, I just hit my 20th year so it¡¯s past time I saw the outside in its entirety. Good bye.¡± He left quickly and was lost in the city after a few short steps. Ferocious started to recall the conversation he just had and started deeper into the city. He also asked anyone he passed where the Combat Series area was located.
[/hr] John was glad that the game had finally been released. He was tempted to open it a few minutes earlier but was vehemently rejected by Jane. She had started to ramble about being busy and the like and something about complications with stubborn siblings. He heard mutters from her about one of the gods in the game, Plutys, but he decided to let her deal with it all. He did make her so that she can maintain and keep the game running, not make more work for him. Jane delivered a report for John right before the game started. The file was titled ''9831W0-Michael''. ¡®I wonder how this little hero has been doing...¡¯ John flipped through the file until he arrived at Michael''s ¡°Choosing Day¡¯. Then promptly burst into laughter.
[/hr] Bonus Chapter with the first introduction the new player character ¡®Ferocious¡¯. He will be having various appearances in future chapters and side-stories. special thanks to IsUnavailable for his character suggestion. I will be using more characters as I go. It seems Ferocious was supposed to be...Ferocious. However his personality just turned into one that becomes between the shy and loud one. I''ll involve more stories where he goes berserk in battle or shy around girls...Liera and him...NO. Leave my pretty Liera out of those fantasies... People seem greatly dissatisfied with the Curse of Plutys. All I have to say is that Michael needed to be nerfed. Doesn''t mean he will stay Nerfed...but it all depends on where I go with the story. Comments and Discussion page has been created. Hope to see lots of comments and suggestions for the story. I basically have a small outline of the game. An end goal as well but that can come when I get tired. I still rather like the series and finishing it after just a week seems premature. Final chapter for the night. Cya guys tomorrow. Chapter 12: The First Dungeon THE FIRST DUNGEON Michael looked at the people that started to appear in the center of the town. Michael had wandered through a few streets as he was contemplating the curse he had just gotten from Plutys. This was worse than just plain enmity. People Michael loved, people he had come to know and respect and care for. These people now have the option to give their life for him. ¡®Why¡¯ Michael thought. ¡®Why this one curse? I could handle being half-dead for all eternity. I could handle a curse that twisted my limbs and crippled me. Why did you have to target everyone else?¡¯ Plutys either didn¡¯t hear Michael or just ignored his cries. Michael¡¯s feet took him towards the center of the town. He was actually supposed to go the North-Eastern gate and meet up with Liera to start his journey. She and his mother had gone out early in the morning to buy provisions that would last to the next town over, Kiryun, and Liera was supposed to guard it all until Michael came to her. Instead, Michael had gone the opposite direction to the center. Then Janira spoke to the world and the ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ came. They didn¡¯t make a very impressive sight. Michael really didn¡¯t know what to expect but he had some musings of ¡®Large impressive men dressed in expensive armor and rushing off to battle Dragons and the like¡¯. Instead the group he saw were normal looking and dressed in very cheap linen clothing and too weak shoes. Each had a bag on their back and were looking at their surroundings as if at a dream. Michael didn¡¯t care what they were really doing. He was too busy concentrating on his Curse and failed to notice that ¡®Stealth¡¯ was on Passive mode when he stopped a few paces from the group. Then he noticed a commotion. A thin man had appeared in the growing crowd and he immediately set off to one of the city watch that was posted to help citizens. There were about 8 of the watch in the center, 2 more than there would be usually, so Michael attributed it all to the Church of Information¡¯s influence. Michael noticed a few of the Watch were just apprentices between the age of 14-16 and decided that they were being used to increase the Watch¡¯s numbers at the time. The thin man had started to ¡®demand¡¯ information from a grizzly guard which made Michael frown. Each of the demands could easily be answered but the man had the bearing of a Noble. With no obvious wealth though the obvious discourse would be...yep the man got punched. He even seemed surprise. The Guard had restrained himself greatly¡­ Everyone was told that the newcomers would have the starting stats and skills of a newborn. Michael didn¡¯t know the exact stats a baby would have but somewhere along 5-10 of each stat seemed to right. Michael didn¡¯t know how they would grow but he decided that they would have a very harsh beginning. Michael turned his eyes away from the rude ¡®Otherworlder¡¯ and continued his musings of the Curse. Michael tried to find loopholes so he opened his stats to see what really changed. ¡°Show Status.¡±
Status
NameMichaelAge20
Level3ClassH. Champion of LotL
Fame326Infamy0
TitleStudent Under The GodsWorld Rankingn/a
GuildHistorical SocietyFree Stat Points0
Health3600 + 700Mana3220 + 1100
Stamina3210 + 900Stored Rage108
Strength(278)/2Dexterity(224)/2
Vitality(360)/2Intelligence(302 + 20)/2
Wisdom(300 + 20)/2Mana Control160
Luck(139)/2Agility(251)/2
Concentration(509)/2Willpower(177)/2
Charisma(140)/2Presence(150 + 20)/2
[p=left]Special skills. +30% more damage against wolves and wolf subspecies. Mana Recovery rate is increased by 1.5x its base rate. Gravity exerts an extra 385% force on you. Movements are restrained. Due to a large ratio difference between (Health/10) and Vitality, you are more susceptible to damage and illnesses. Due to a large ratio difference between (Mana/10) and Intelligence you are more susceptible to magical accidents and mana damaging spells. Due to Wisdom being the same as Mana Control it will take 10 minutes before Mana Recovery will start. ¡®Focused Mana Regeneration¡¯ will speed up this process. You have the ¡®Blessing of the Wolfblood¡¯. You have the ¡®Blessing of Janira¡¯. You have the ¡®Curse of Plutys¡¯.[/p]
Michael didn¡¯t think the curse on his stats was incredibly bad but he also decided that he never really knew how his stats would work against monsters. Serena and his father both controlled their abilities in order to not overwhelm Michael so he knew that he was weaker than both of them. Liera would team up with one of the two combat teachers and he decided that she was either weaker than him or better when fighting solo. He would need to test her when -. Michael cut off his line of thought when one of the ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ started to approach him. Michael noted that the man was one of the more early ones and that he seemed to have been shocked from the world around him. The man was rather big. Michael knew stats didn¡¯t affect physical attributes but he couldn¡¯t help but notice the tight muscles and confidence the man exuded. His beard also gave a boost to that. Michael had started to shave when he was 13 and it was a daily ritual for him...but he did think a beard made a man looked better. His musings were cut short after the man stopped before him. Shockingly the man bent at the waist. ¡°Excuse me sir. I was wondering if you could give me any information on how to gain strength and skills in this world. As you can see, I am new, and I fear the laws and needs of this world are different from my own. I beg your assistance.¡± With a second bow the man straightened and looked into Michael¡¯s eyes. His low voice seemed sincere to Michael and Michael then noticed the way the man spoke. Then Michael reviewed how he would look to people of other worlds...he nearly flushed at how flashy he probably looked. ¡®The man probably thinks I¡¯m a noble...I don¡¯t know if this is good or bad...might as well play along.¡¯ Michael really didn¡¯t wanna ruin an opportunity to practice his atrocious acting skills. ¡°It seems at least some of you ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ possess a modicum of manners. You can gain stats and abilities by training your body under harsh conditions. For skills you may go to the Series buildings around the city. Different Series sections give off different sets of skills. The Series are Crafts, Combat, Stealth, and Healing. Ask around for directions. If you wish to be a merchant you will need to speak to a member of ¡®The Merchant¡¯s Society¡¯ guild and ask for an apprenticeship. The Church of Information a few blocks away will also help you in understanding the workings of this world. It is also the place to learn magic.¡± MIchael made sure to add some haughtiness to his voice as he spoke. He also quieted down when some of the ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ started to approach and eavesdrop. ¡®Very rude folks...¡¯ As Michael spoke he recalled his own training and decided to help the politely big man. Michael looked down on his fingers and examined his training rings when he all of a sudden felt it. Weight rushed on top of Michael and the restraints he had on felt incredibly tight to his muscles. Michael could barely breathe as the pressure was several times that of what he did during training. 385% gravity was for 200+ strength and the restraints made the requirements higher. At under 140 strength now he was surprised he managed to walk all the way here without killing himself. Michael breathed in and focused on his body. He made sure each straining muscle would hold before he reached for the 10% and 25% rings he had on his left hand. He removed them and felt a slight lessening of the pressure. Michael handed the two rings to the man and tried to quickly get away. ¡°Thes-These are Gravity Rings. Only 10% and 25% but wearing these will help train your strength and vitality. I¡¯m wearing rings that increase gravity by 350% right now so these barely matter. You can have them to train with. If we see each other again I¡¯ll see if you can handle more.¡± Michael impatiently watched as the man put the rings on. When the man fell, Michael used ¡®IA¡¯ in order to properly catch the man. He also tried to use just a tiny bit of his strength since the man was supposed to be weak. Still¡­ ¡°Ummm¡­.you damaged me from that squeeze¡­.minus 25 health.¡± Michael widened his eyes at the fact. He only had 140 strength and he even lowered that before catching the man. He muttered the words ¡®It¡¯s like handling infants¡¯ before again trying to rush away. ¡°Well, hopefully you have a safe journey. I will need to start heading out on my own.¡± ¡°You haven¡¯t gone adventuring yet?¡± The other man¡¯s eyes widened and Michael just nodded. ¡°Yes, I just hit my 20th year so it¡¯s past time I saw the outside in its entirety. Good bye.¡± The man seemed even more shocked at Michael¡¯s age but Michael ignored that and turned around. Michael focused on each of his legs and his breathing and pushed himself to walk. When he managed to get of eyesight and into an alley Michael promptly collapsed on the ground and started to gasp for air. The pressure was incredible and Michael doubted he could do much more. He noted that his Stamina was barely at 10% and sighed. He needed to get more used to the situation.
[/hr] Michael avoided Liera as he went through the north gate. He encountered a large field filled with bunnies and foxes and even a few wolves in the distance. The coming of the ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ created various changes to the world. Michael didn¡¯t search for every single piece of information about what was changed, but he knew that animals and monsters had started to breed and increase their areas like crazy. Michael barely took two steps from the city before he encountered a pack of rabbits. White and fluffy the rabbits completely ignored Michael and were just hopping around or laying down before the sun. Michael smiled at the peaceful scene...then took out his curved blade and several throwing daggers. Michael¡¯s curved blade had changed over the years. The first blade he used was the one he had seen in the training room, the one he had a wooden copy of and used for the entirety of his pre-adolescent years. It was a long blade at 90 centimeters and the hilt was quite long too at 30. Slightly curved and very sharp, the blade was used only for slashing and the rare desperate stab or two. The slight curve meant that it could incur great damage when it hit something it couldn¡¯t pierce so Michael mainly took advantage of it¡¯s slashing capabilities. When Cider had become Michael¡¯s teacher he introduced several other curved blades to him. Several were quite oddly shaped and there even one that ended in a large half-moon. Most of them were very uncomfortable to use but some were rather good. In the end Michael ended up with a curved blade with a rather unique hand-guard. The blade itself was fixed at 70 centimeters and was ornately crafted and the hilt at only 15 for a one handed use. The guard was very uncommon. Starting from between the blade and the hilt the guard was large and circular and was made to keep the hand from slipping and cutting itself on the blade, something Michael¡¯s first blade had lacked. The stranger part was the area around the sharp side of the blade. It was lengthened and then curved down before being attached at the end of the hilt and this created a strong guard to protect his hand from being cut from opponents. Michael had learned to create every single blade and armor Cider knew, even if the quality wasn¡¯t exactly the same as his teacher''s. The uniqueness of each blade and piece of armor was the main reason for his quick Blacksmith skill training. Most Blacksmiths focused on one type of blade in order to master the creation of it or they focused on a specific type of armor. Some did spread their training to encompass many different kinds of equipment but they couldn¡¯t learn much from their single-minded teachers. Anyways, Michael took out his weapons and prepared to fight. He felt rather slow still but tried to ignore it and concentrate on the fight. Michael threw a few daggers into the crowds of rabbits and then proceeded to chop the bunnies that came towards him. Each of his daggers killed several bunnies before hitting the ground while sweeps of his blade killed them in droves. Michael frowned. Bunny killing...seemed to be rather easy. Michael concluded that bunnies were awful to test since they didn¡¯t team up or fight back at all. Michael walked past the field of lifeless bunnies and proceeded to the foxes. The bunny mess would clean up in a few days. Foxes. Sleek and colorful the foxes didn¡¯t seem to notice Michael. They actually eyed the bunnies with greedy eyes but each of the foxes had already eaten their fill. Even a few hundred foxes couldn¡¯t dent the bunny colony. Michael threw one of his retrieved daggers at a fox and watched it die. This alerted the closest of the foxes. Several stood up and charged Michael. They were of the ¡®hit first and wonder later¡¯ faction it seemed and Michael mowed them down with little guilt. This time he felt a little better since the animals actually attacked him back. Each sweep of his blade still killed several foxes however and soon he was in the middle of a circle of red corpses. Michael noticed that the rest of the foxes had backed away from him now. They had witnessed his prowess and none wished to die quickly when they didn¡¯t have to. Michael also decided to ignore the rest of the foxes since he wanted better targets. He barely noticed the lessening pressure from his restraints and rings. Michael approached the wolf pack. He couldn¡¯t see a large Wolf Leader and decided that the Leader had gone to protect its territory from another wolf pack. It didn¡¯t take all of the fighting wolves as several medium sized ones stood up at Michael¡¯s approach. They charged when they saw the flash of steel from his weapons. This time Michael felt his blood boil as he readied himself. Wolves were one of the most dangerous animals to fight, especially when they do so in a group and Michael had no backup. The first wolf launched itself at Michael¡¯s legs, hoping to bring him down. Michael hopped a bit to dodge the bite and then swung his sword down on the passing wolf. The damage seemed quite high as the wolf didn¡¯t get back up and Michael had to deal with another charging wolf. Michael threw a dagger into the mouth of the charging wolf and when he finally landed he was met with a three-pronged attack from the rest. He didn¡¯t think he could defend from the different positions so Michael ran forward to charge the group in front of him. His blade flashed several times before he managed to break through and turn around. Eight wolves were left and were charging at him in a group and Michael concentrated deeply. Michael¡¯s vision then merged with a different look. Brown and Black blobs of color half-replaced the charging wolves. The ground beneath his feet was a dark green from the grass and a light green from the slight Mana the grass gave off. Focusing harder Michael could see the slight blue of the air around him. Michael concentrated on the air and threw it at the wolves. Michael contained the air in a spiral and noticed that wolves being lifted off the ground. Michael then concentrated on the air and threw out a different part of the air that had a slightly green tinge. What he needed was a pure type of air. He wasn¡¯t finished as he took several dry pieces of grass he found, pieces with a slightly red tinge, and rubbed them together quickly to ignite the tornado. The inferno that was created consumed the wolves inside. What Michael had done was collect and gather a great amount of air. He then used the air to create a cyclone with the wolves at the center which simultaneously stopping their charge. He then concentrated on the aspects of the air and took out the unwanted parts of it. Nitrogen was mainly taken out and replaced by greater amounts of oxygen. The almost pure oxygen was then ignited by the quickly rubbing a small bundle of dried grass within itself. It didn¡¯t take much ignition to create the fire storm. All of this was done in less than 10 seconds with the help of actively using ¡®IA¡¯. Michael approved of his magic but noticed that it was much more difficult to control and create. Extracting the unusable parts of air was more difficult and his ¡®Fire Tornado¡¯ was also much weaker than it should have been. He attributed this to his Curse. Then he looked at his Mana. Michael gaped at his Mana. He had over 4000 and ¡®Fire Tornado¡¯ was only supposed to use up 500 Mana max. Instead he had less than 60% of his Mana left and it wasn¡¯t recovering due to his low Wisdom. ¡®Dammit. This is worse than I thought.¡¯ Michael needed to change his style of fighting to compensate for his worsening stats. He decided to finally meet up with Liera in order to get their journey on the way since he couldn¡¯t do anything at the moment. Then Michael noticed that he had accumulated a few new information boxes and focused on them. It seemed some of them were even from during the Ceremony much earlier.
Erlinium Family Necklace
[p=left]Unique. Durability: Infinite. A beautiful necklace displaying the sign of the Erlinium High-Family, the Golden Hawk. Only worn by members of the Erlinium High-Family or by loyal people related to the family.[/p]
Millenium Chain Mail.
[p=left]Rare Durability: 500/500 Defense: 67 A chainmail made by an ancient Blacksmith using only the purest Mithril, this chainmail was forged under the fires of a helpful Fire Drake. It was then further enhanced by several High Magus¡¯ who gave it several enchantments. The enchantments have mostly worn away during the ages but several properties still resonate within this valuable piece of armor. Can only be worn by someone with at least an Expert ranking in ¡®Blacksmithing¡¯. Can block magical attacks up to a certain level. Can return a magical attack that is the opposite of the attack used. Can block damage to a certain degree.[/p]
Hiliernt¡¯s Thigh Bone
[p=left]Rare Durability: 89/100 Damage: 1-2 A thigh bone from the ancient demon Hiliernt, this thigh bone has kept the unique and strange property of the demon renowned for it¡¯s teleporting. Can be used to teleport a short distance. Location is Random. Can be fixed by using a spell. Location cannot be within an object.[/p]
Warded Box
[p=left]Rare Durability: 4000/4000 A powerfully enchanted box made to block damage and spells. The insides are also enchanted to prevent items from breaking inside. There are more enchantments but they are too numerous to find out. Can block magic from going inside or outside the box. Does not affect connections from ¡®Michael Kane¡¯, Owner of the box. Blocks 90% of all incoming physical damage to the box. Blocks 99% of all incoming magical damage to the box. Can only place a few items inside.[/p]
Call Orb
[p=left]Artifact Durability: Infinite Used in ancient times for instant communication, this artifact has been around for hundreds of thousands of years. The knowledge of creating this artifact has been lost. Vocal commands will activate it. Locked to the essence of ¡®Michael Kane¡¯.[/p]
You have gained +1 Willpower
You have gained +1 Strength
You have killed 300 bunnies in less than 35 seconds. Leveled up x4.
You have gained +1 Dexterity
You have killed 13 foxes in 10 seconds. Leveled up x6.
You have gained +1 Agility
You have gained +1 Strength
Wolves targeted. Damage increases by 30%.
You have gained +1 Agility
You have gained +1 Concentration
You have gained +1 Strength
You have gained +1 Vitality
You have gained +3 Wisdom
You have killed 14 Wolves. Leveled up x8.
Michael liked the extra information on the gifts he was given and was rather happy at the carnage he had done and the stats he had gained from it. Michael opened up his status screen and distributed the stats into Strength, Agility, and Wisdom. The restrictions he had seemed to help increase his stats by a lot and the high level spells also increased Wisdom. Since he used a greater level of understanding that doesn¡¯t match his stats it was probably inevitable. Michael then decided to check out his new skills. ¡°Show ¡®High Champion¡¯s Combat Mastery¡¯. Show ¡®Focused Defence¡¯. Show ¡®Focused Health Regeneration¡¯. Show ¡®Focused Mana Regeneration¡¯. Show ¡®Focused Stamina Recovery¡¯. Show ¡®Ironbark Skin¡¯.¡± Stolen story; please report.
High Champion¡¯s Combat Mastery. Expert level 5. (12%) Passive Skill
[p=left]A combat style unique to the High Champion of Divinity. All weapons do 15% more damage for every level of ¡®High Champion¡¯s Combat Mastery¡¯. Stats are increased by 1% of their base for every 3 levels of Beginner, 2 levels of Intermediate, and 1 level of Expert ¡®High Champion¡¯s Combat Mastery¡¯ and will only be active during battle. Critical hits power increases by 1% for every 2 levels of ¡®High Champion¡¯s Combat Mastery¡¯. Critical hit chance is gone. Critical hits depend on skill with the blade. Increased chances to Debuff opponents depending on weapon used.[/p]
Focused Defence. Passive skill
[p=left]By concentrating deeply and entering a trance like state you can ignore incoming damage and pain. The body obeys you more completely and strikes hit more accurately. Breaking concentration however can leave you in a ¡®Confused¡¯ state for a period of time. Take only 50% of incoming damage. Pain level is reduced to 50%. Movement is 10% smoother. Accuracy increases by 10%. 2% chance to enter a ¡®Confused¡¯ state after stopping this skill[/p]
Focused Health Regeneration. Passive skill
[p=left]Meditation by focusing on a specific idea will increase Health Regeneration by 200%. Due to low Concentration this effect is cut down to 100%.[/p]
Focused Mana Regeneration. Passive skill
[p=left]Meditation by focusing on a specific idea will increase Mana Regeneration by 150%. Due to low Concentration this effect is cut down to 50%.[/p]
Focused Stamina Recovery. Passive skill
[p=left]Meditation by focusing on a specific idea will increase Stamina Regeneration by 400% and decrease Stamina Consumption by 20%. Due to low Concentration this effect is cut down to 200% and 5% respectively.[/p]
Ironbark Skin. Beginner level 1. (0%). Active skill
[p=left]Your skin takes on the makeup of the tough elements. Due to affinity your skin will become more tree-like, reducing damage from the Winds and Water elements but increasing damage from Fire-based ones. Uses up 100 mana to activate, then 10 mana upkeep per second. Due to low Vitality this effect costs 150 mana to activate and 20 mana upkeep instead. Defensive properties stay the same. Blocks 60% more damage from physical attacks. Blocks 40% more damage from wind-based attacks. Blocks 20% more damage and heals you for 3% of your HP if hit by water-based attacks. Fire-based attacks deal 70% more damage. Increased chances of catching on fire.[/p]
Everything was basically what Michael had expected of them. Then Michael decided to see how much ¡®Rage Release¡¯ had changed. ¡°Show ¡®Rage Release¡¯.¡±
Rage Release. Beginner level 4 (87%)
[p=left]Your rage from the past returns in a burst of power. Release your bottled up feelings and allow it to wash over you and dye the battlefield in the colour of Rage. Using the skill normally will permanently consume the ¡®Stored Rage¡¯ stat. Every 11 seconds of use will take up 1 ¡®Stored Rage¡¯ stat. Normal skill will boost all stats by 10%. Every 3 levels of ¡®Rage Release¡¯ will increase time for each ¡®Stored Rage¡¯. Increasing the usage and stat increase will consume more of the ¡®Stored Rage¡¯ stat. Overuse will cause you to go Berserk. Berserk: ¡®Stored Rage¡¯ will not decrease but you will not be able to differentiate between friend or foe. Strength increases as damage taken increases. Health is recovered at triple rate. Cannot be debuffed in this state. Cannot be healed in this state. Due to your concentration being your highest stat you have a 50% chance of staying sane while under the influence of ¡®Berserk¡¯. This will not increase or decrease if Concentration level changes. If a new stat becomes more dominant the properties of this skill will change as well.[/p]
Michael gaped at his ¡®Rage Release¡¯. Although it wasn¡¯t a big change it did have the effect of changing his view of it. Berserk status wasn¡¯t a comfortable buff to have since the 1 debuff associated with it was incredibly dangerous during group battles. ¡®But a 50% chance to stay sane while still having the buffs of it¡­¡¯ Michael really did need to find out if it was useful or not. Michael decided to formulate some new combat systems - since the ones he already had required higher stats - as he walked back towards the city.
[/hr] Liera was waiting for Michael to appear. She had heard the spookily loud voice of the Information Goddess earlier and she really didn¡¯t want to stay in the city and meet any of the ¡®Otherworlders¡¯. She didn¡¯t know anything about them and wanted nothing to do with them. She wanted to avoid trouble but she had an itch under her ear that usually meant trouble was going to come. She was sitting beside the North-Eastern gate and had 2 large packs on either side of her, one for her and for Michael. In her pouch was the ¡®Silven Plant¡¯ she was temporarily in charge for and the pouch itself was given a minor and temporary enchantment. She was seething at how late Michael was becoming¡­ Liera still had a few reservations about Michael. She did accept his strength as one capable of guarding the ¡®Silven Plant¡¯ but she was quite wary of his unknown personality. The two only had meetings that involved wooden blades and flying fists so she didn¡¯t know her travelling companion a lot. His mother had said quite a bit though¡­ Celia Kane was a high ranking member of the Lady of the Land¡¯s sect among the Humans. Liera was told at least that much and she caught a glimpse of her power when she was first ushered into her office. A user of Green Magic, Celia was incredibly close to the Goddess so Liera had a sort of expectation of the older woman. However whenever the two were alone she was told many private secrets about Michael. This lowered Liera¡¯s evaluation of Michael while also re-creating the view of Celia; from powerful Green-Singer to doting mother. Stuff Liera didn¡¯t want to know at all was stuffed into her mind. When he started walking, his first words, the time he stopped wetting his bed, when he could start feeding himself. Actually all of that stuff was basically finished during his infancy year which had created some concern for Celia. What Liera had come to understand from her interactions with Celia was her new side-job. This came after Celia started to speak about what she expected from Michael¡¯s future wife and then the cold fury she expressed when she imagined him being taken by a ¡®trollop¡¯. Liera didn¡¯t understand the meaning but the next words cut the thought out of her head. ¡°Sigh I fear for the boy¡¯s future you know Liera. Still I know that you will be there to keep him away from anyone that is going to take advantage of him, right? You will keep him from a woman¡¯s dirty hands, yes?¡± Celia¡¯s tone had grown cold at the last part and Liera had no choice but to nod in agreement. She was then taught everything that Celia wanted a wife to know, saying that Liera would be able to test any woman she met and see if Michael would be in good hands. Liera later noticed that Celia had no fear of Liera falling for Michael. There were barely any stories of Fey-Human relationships...but even she was told a few when she was just a cub with her pack... Liera decided not to tell Celia that information¡­ Whenever she could, Liera tried to examine Michael. She did this under the assumption that a woman she approved of will want some basic information of Michael¡¯s childhood. She tracked his growth and training through the years but all from a far distance or in the corner of her eye. Michael didn¡¯t seem to notice so she did this for quite a long time. Liera didn¡¯t understand Michael. He did everything he was told, which would seem like a good thing but it depended on what he actually did. She once witnessed him tied up and hanging from a tree. A bonfire was created below him and he needed to somehow escape from it or be roasted alive. Michael didn¡¯t complain before or after the ¡®training¡¯. Liera decided that there was something wrong with Michael¡¯s head and pitied the woman that would fall for him. Actually Michael had concentrated at a memory of being cold and succeeded due to the high stat. He didn¡¯t complain since he actually gained a few Concentration stats along with the Vitality and Wisdom stats from the ¡®training¡¯. Liera snapped out of her reverie when a few drably dressed men appeared in front of her. ¡°Hey Peter, check out the hot chick. She seems all alone and in need of our company...¡± ¡°My name is Ballista in this game. You are right though. Didn¡¯t expect to meet such a cute NPC just a few hours after playing.¡± ¡°Hey girl, wanna come with us? You can experience the body of real men.¡± The men in front of Liera seemed to be quite attractive to the eyes of Humans. Each had delicate features and protruding muscles that they seemed to flash every once in a while. Some even looked down on themselves in glee before directing their attention back at Liera. Each of these men had a few common thoughts in their minds. They had each created good-looking characters and the goal was to create a harem in this Virtual Reality world. What they didn¡¯t fix was their personalities. ¡°Come on girl. We can give you a good time. Don¡¯t be shy.¡± ¡°Are you waiting for someone? Could they be girls? Are they as pretty as you? Introduce us to them.¡± The 6 men started to crowd closer to Liera. The guards posted at the gates and several passing townsfolks started to frown in worry. The guards had noticed the coming ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ and had straightened at their posts, wanting to show off their discipline and refined look. What they did not expect was to see them start to harass a young women. And so blatantly in the middle of the street. The closest guard started to draw his sword. Then a CRACK echoed across the clearing. ¡°Ah-ARHGHHHHH¡± Liera had enough of the dirty stares and comments from the men. These men may have looked a little good, but each of them gave off an aura that screamed ¡®CREEP¡¯ and Liera knew she was the target. She was trying to ignore them, but when one of them started to reach out towards Liera, she snapped. Liera quickly ducked under the hand and got close to the man. Since the stats between them was incredibly high, the men and onlookers just saw Liera disappear. Liera then raised a foot and strengthened it before smashing it down on the knee of the man. She aimed at an angle so the knee gave way smoothly and the crack that accompanied it made Liera smile. On a side note, just the difference in stats would have been enough for Liera to break his knees, she didn¡¯t even need to kick at an angle to do so. The man fell to the ground in tears and his hands had started to flail in the direction of the injury. Liera ignored the man and moved on to his companions since she still had some pent up anger that didn¡¯t dissipate. ¡®This wouldn¡¯t have happened if Michael had got here on time...¡¯ Definitely misplaced anger. The other men were shocked at what had happened. Each of them had fervently believed that they were suave and smooth in how they were about to pick up the girl. They each had a high confidence that a new body would give them easy chances at getting girlfriends. Liera proceeded to destroy that image. ¡°You -¡± CRACK ¡°creeps -¡± CRACK ¡°are so -¡± CRACK ¡°disgusting and -¡± CRACK ¡°you should have -¡± CRACK ¡°left me -¡± CRACK ¡°ALONE¡± CRACK Liera had aimed for different parts of their bodies. She bent and cracked their arms, legs, ribs, shoulders, crushed their hands, and then she proceeded to break the other leg and an arm of the first man. He had actually reached a hand towards her so¡­ The 6 men were crying on the ground. If the game allowed for a loosing of bowels then the stench would have filled the yard and ruined everyone¡¯s day. Luckily it didn¡¯t and most of the passing people nodded in approval. The guards smiled at the damage Liera had done and decided to take a harder stance against the ¡®Otherworlders¡¯. They had had a neutral view of the newcomers but it had slowly turned negative as the guards watched the harassment. They would pass the word and try to immediately stop this from happening again.
[/hr] Michael had turned the corner of the street just in time to see Liera crush the hand of an ¡®Otherworlder¡¯. She had a dark expression on her face so it didn¡¯t seem that she had done it on a whim. The notable smiles of the onlookers and guards also supported that reasoning. So Michael ignored the sobbing men - he didn¡¯t even avoid them and instead stepped on the leg of one of the men in his way, his gravity enhanced weight crushing the bone - and walked to Liera. Liera noticed him and flushed at the scene she caused but Michael just passed her and took up the larger of the packs. ¡°Are you ready? Good, we should be on our way. I should apologize for my tardiness but you seemed to have found something to pass the time¡­¡± Liera turned a slightly deeper shade of red at his words and silently followed Michael out of the city. When the two reached the ¡®Forest of Dread¡¯ Michael halted and took out the box his mother gave him. ¡°This is for the ¡®Silven Plant¡¯. It will protect it very well while still allowing me to keep my connection with it. Lets place it inside before continuing.¡± Liera nodded at Michael¡¯s words and lifted the pouch from her waist. She noted that her actions earlier had caused a slight tear in the pouch but she didn¡¯t dwell on it as she opened and took out the beautiful and softly glowing plant. Placing the plant in the box, Michael closed and packed it away. He had shifted his sight to the Mana realm and was glad to note that there was no leakage at all. The connection was also still in place so Michael and Liera walked through the forest.
[/hr] Michael didn¡¯t want to really fight so he concentrated and pushed out his Presence. This caused any weaker monsters to run away and thus made their journey rather pleasant. Liera frequently picked up various plants and berries along the way for their meal later and Michael was incredibly happy that he didn¡¯t need to cook. That was one skill he had zero ability for. The foraging being done lessened the use of some of the provisions that had been packed. For the next few days the two had slowly started their way to the city of Kiryun. It was mainly a combat town and adventurers passed through the town often due to its location. As the only city located at the center of the continent and the main city that roads connected to, it had a large influx of merchants and adventurers making use of the roads. It was also a desired place because of the powerful new Mercenary guild that had sprung up, the ¡®Taskmasters¡¯, people who could be paid to perform duties, as long as the duty was specifically said in the contract. Breaking the contract resulted in being hunted down by an internal force of high ranking and high leveled people who were very good at their job. This lent a sort of legitimacy to the guild and Merchants and Nobles desired the guild¡¯s services greatly. They didn¡¯t only handle expensive jobs and even catered towards lower classed people for lower prices. Michael and Liera¡¯s final destination was mainly the city of ¡®Carihaven¡¯. Liera wasn¡¯t told the city until they had actually travelled some distance but she mainly didn¡¯t care anyways. Michael wished to meet his ¡®Guildmaster¡¯ and acquire a few jobs before doing something else. Kiryun was just a stepping stone on the journey there. On the seventh day of their journey, about 3 days away from Kiryun, Michael and Liera halted in their steps when they heard a scream. They had already been out of the woods after the first 2 days and had been travelling down the paved roads. They were about to enter the gorge that would deposit them at Kiryun when they heard the disturbance. The sides of the gorge had rather steep mountains and it was the one on the south that caught their attention. Michael and Liera both noted the running figure. A woman, by the wide dress that flew behind her. She was running from a pack of goblins and seemed to not have noticed Michael and Liera yet. Several of the goblins did however and dashed towards them. Michael told Liera to take care of those while he helped the woman. Michael didn¡¯t have a heroic heart, but neither could he just ignore a woman and let her be killed. Michael knew that Liera could handle a few goblins so he focused his attention at the larger pack. Michael ran as fast as he could towards the woman. As he approached, Michael switched his sight and locked on the mana of the goblins. After he had done so he estimated how far they would run and then targeted a stretch of land a few paces in front of the running group. Michael willed his Green Magic into the ground and sought a few left over bits of plants. Since it was a rocky mountain the amount he found was very small but he did succeed. Michael then softened the Earth around those plants and moved them around in order to form a line where he desired. Then Michael concentrated and ripped apart the water from the air. This was the hardest since he needed a large quantity and he used up half his mana just doing so. With the rest of his mana, Michael forcefully grew the line of plants and fed them the water he had obtained. He hardened the Earth until the woman passed the line, and when she did he poured every last drop of mana into the plants. A wall of green erupted from the ground and blocked the way of the goblins. Some of the plants even had thorns that grew to incredible proportions and those thorns killed various goblins that ran into it. The leading group was also killed as they were squashed by their running allies behind them. With 3/4s of the goblins down Michael had an easier time finishing them off. He was still dazed after giving so much energy but the plan succeeded and he sat to begin his Meditation. The woman was completely out of his mind for a short while.
[/hr] Liera approached later and had a conflicted expression when she saw the carnage Michael had done. She only had to deal with 3 of the goblins yet she was done a long time after Michael. The dead group of goblins around him numbered 23 and Michael himself didn¡¯t seem to care. Liera then noted that the woman was peering around the plant wall. When the woman saw Liera looking she jumped but then made her way forward. She was very bedraggled but started to straighten as she came closer. ¡°I...I am Vanessa de Leorn. May I please inquire about your names?¡± She spoke in a near-haughty tone but Michael and Liera had already met several self-important nobles before. They didn¡¯t recognize her surname and didn¡¯t bother to respond. Michael was still meditating anyways as Liera continued to stare at the woman. She seemed to shrink a little at the lack of response but continued. ¡°My adventuring group was examining a recently found cave when we were attacked by Goblins. The group was very expensive to hire so they seemed strong enough to handle it but there were too many Goblins. I was told to run when a member of the expedition died. My father is very influential. He can make it worth your while if you bring me back safely. W-well?¡± Her tone faltered at the end when Michael gave a small smile. He had been completely motionless for a long time and Vanessa thought that he didn¡¯t even notice them but in reality Michael noticed everything. Meditating was basically second nature since it was the fastest way to train concentration early on. Michael heard everything she said and a quick change of sight said she really wasn¡¯t very strong. What Michael was very interested in was the Cave she had found. One of the changes that ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ brought was an increased number of monsters. Another change was the creation of cave complexes brought out due to the monster numbers. These caves grew and even accessed various ancient areas that were then looted and added to the monster¡¯s hoard. Adventurers flocked to clear out these ¡®Dungeons¡¯ and obtain a vast collection of wealth. Famous and smart people had also created caves a long time ago in order to live the rest of their lives there or create and discover new things in secret. These people were also attacked and then killed by the monsters. These made the crafters and mages interested in caverns to discover hidden secrets and stores of information that they wouldn¡¯t be able to get in the cities. Michael hoped that one of the quests he could get from his guild would involve a new cave, but this was even better. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but we will be going to that cave you were looking through. You should just make your way back yourself. Heres a dagger for protection. Goodbye.¡± Michael had gotten up very quickly and spoke his decision to both Liera and Vanessa. Liera¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change since she didn¡¯t care but Vanessa paled. She had given away a secret and she knew she probably couldn¡¯t stop them. Still she tried. ¡°B-b-but you don¡¯t know where it is. You would be better off leading me towards town. Also the caves are crawling with those goblins. What can the two of you even do?¡± ¡°Liera here can trace your tracks back to the cave. And goblins should really be no problem for either of us. Again, Goodbye.¡± Michael tossed a dagger to Vanessa before Liera and he dashed off in the direction she ran from. Liera took the lead here since Michael didn¡¯t learn any tracking skills. Vanessa looked at the running figure of the two and waited till they disappeared. She dropped the dagger to the grown and stood up very straight. Then she smiled and disintegrated on the spot. The next breathe of wind scattered the sand that replaced her. The good and bad chapter that people hate and like. The Dungeon!!!
[/hr] Phew, this was rather long. I was about to just post this a week later due to all the comments...but even I was disgusted at myself for even thinking it. Not everyone was arguing and some actually like what I did. So here is my 12th chapter and happy 1 week anniversary for the series. My decision will stand. People want me to take off the Curse. I say not till I, and the story, is ready. My decision may be disliked but I always have reasons for it. I usually have reasons for it. I don''t just do things on a whim...I''ll stop talking now. For the people that like OP moments from time-to-time, don''t worry he does have those kinds of scenes. He is still rather strong at his level and his personality is rather flexible with ideas. So...romantic interest...still don''t know where I''m going to go with this...please comment suggestions...if I really like it I''ll use it...still... Chapter 13: Title is too long. Chapter has it at the top. THE FIRST BUNCH OF ENEMIES AND MICHAEL¡¯S FIRST ACHIEVEMENT Liera thought the tracks she was following were a little strange. She was definitely following Goblin tracks, she could tell from the long four-toes and rare ragged shoes they had on. Twenty-six sets of feet were distinct as they ran all the way to the bottom of the south mountain range and the both of them had reached a broken down mining entrance. What Liera thought was strange was the lack of human tracks. The woman they had talked too should have left at least a few tracks but Liera didn¡¯t find any and that meant that she could have lead them towards a Goblin nest instead of a secret cave. Michael didn¡¯t seem to care as he equipped several throwing daggers and repaired his sword and main dagger. While Liera was still a little concerned about the chances of entering the wrong cave, she decided not to tell Michael. He obviously wanted to enter any kind of dungeon and she decided that a goblin cave was as good as any.
[/hr] When the two started to enter the cave complex, they immediately heard a soft sound. It was reminiscent of drums and under that was the clash of steel. Michael and Liera took off towards the sound and was met with a large body of goblins trying to crowd into a closed room. Several goblins seemed to be hitting drums to a rhythm and each hit brought forth a new clash of attacks. ¡®Signals?¡¯ The goblins were facing away from the duo so Michael motioned Liera to the side. Michael shifted his sight and focused deeply. He wasn¡¯t able to find any plant life at all so he rejected using any Green Magic in the cave. Michael focused a little more deeply and was able to discern different colors in the walls and ground. Brown, black, grey, and even minute traces of yellow. He didn¡¯t know which was which but he didn¡¯t need to. Michael concentrated on the entire ground before him and started to break down the area he needed. Then Michael saw a goblin turn around and notice them. On the other side of the crowd Michael could see an armored man holding back the onslaught of goblins. He also noted the slight whitish glow that encompassed the man from time to time and he heard the slight twang that accompanied the arrows that flew from inside the room. About 5 goblins could stand side-by-side in the hallway and the humanoid wall was repelling them. Between the room and Michael was about 180+ goblins. Michael had to work fast. The goblin had shrieked in surprise and the other goblins around it turned too. Then they all ran forward. By this time however, Michael had already finished his preparations and was pushing as much of his mana as he could into his creation. What he had done was break the section of ground beneath the goblins and separate it from the wall. It was a rather large section but he finished it rather quickly and then proceeded to sever the singular piece 2 meters below. What was left was a 2 meter tall platform that encompassed the distance between Michael and the room. Michael then raised the platform a few feet and shook it. Goblins fell over themselves and their comrades as they flailed about in utter chaos. Michael himself didn¡¯t feel the shaking since he wasn¡¯t on the platform, but he could see the wild movements the goblins had. Blood flew when a goblin hit the ground or wall hard and some even fell between the floor and the separate wall. Several of the goblins¡¯ weapons also flew around and killed their owners or others and created an incredibly bloody scene. Michael¡¯s mana abruptly ended and the platform crashed down with a roar. Michael didn¡¯t notice it since he was under a Mana backlash. He hadn¡¯t paid attention to his Mana and didn¡¯t cut the spell off at the right time. Michael wasn¡¯t able to replicate the ¡®Quake¡¯ spell Harold had used on him before. For starters, the skill required knowledge of the land being used and the ability to stabilize it. Since the stabilizing part was impossible to learn as Michael couldn¡¯t see or feel the effects of doing so, he ended up with a ¡®Quake¡¯ that went out of hand and caused wanton destruction. What was decided was to cut a piece of land out of the ground and then shake it using ¡®Quake¡¯. While it was longer and used up more Mana, the resulting spell was much easier to control and didn¡¯t need a stabilizing spell at the end. The ¡®platform¡¯ would fall back to the ground and stabilize with the rest of the area around it. As a bonus, there was the fall damage the opponent would face as well. Michael was on his back, groaning and clutching his head. His head felt like it was splitting apart and there was nothing Michael could do to fix it. What was worse was that his loss of concentration made his muscles lose tension and the restraints he had sprung his hands down to his side. Gravity assaulted him too causing another groan out of him. What had happened was that Michael had ¡®dried¡¯ up his Mana. When a spell was draining Mana the user had to keep an eye out for it and make sure to cut off the spell before he wiped himself out. Since Mana represented a sort of mental energy, using too much of it and emptying the entire stash you had caused pain in the brain. This was a very well known problem and curses like ¡®Mana Drain¡¯ were greatly used in order to create this effect. A dizzy and nauseous Mage was a very easy kill. Michael thought he still needed to get used to his rapid use of Mana as he forced himself to sit up properly and straightened his back. Meditation came very slowly but once he had it, he fully focused on it. After a few minutes of doing so his Mana started to regenerate and his headache lessened. ¡°Phew. Liera, if you don¡¯t mind can you check on the people in the room ahead of us? There should be a Knight, a Cleric, and an archer of some sort. Just tell them t-.¡± Michael didn¡¯t open his eyes as he asked her but he did hear her move from her previous spot. He instinctively ducked and opened his eyes to see a foot retreating back. Liera didn¡¯t say a word as she looked down on him. She had grown only two feet since they had first met and at around 5 feet 2 inches, or a metre and a half, she was quite short. Her slim body did reveal curves in all the right places and she was definitely a beauty to behold with her slightly tanned complexion. She may have had the height of a child but no man could ever think she was too young to make advances on. The Fey were renowned for being as beautiful as their elvin cousins. Right now Liera did not have any expression on her face as she stared down upon Michael. He didn¡¯t know exactly what she was thinking about but he assumed that she didn¡¯t want to be too far away from him. He mentally examined himself and agreed that he would be incredibly weak against any attacks at the moment. ¡°Ah, nevermind about what I said. I guess I wasn¡¯t thinking. If you don¡¯t mind, I¡¯ll just continue to meditate and recover my Mana.¡± Michael gave his best try at an innocent expression. He closed his eyes after speaking and concentrated in order to speed up the recovery. He fortunately (unfortunately?) missed Liera¡¯s slightly red cheeks as he focused on the information boxes that he ignored since entering the cave.
You have entered the dwelling of ¡®Inutian¡¯. [p=left]Due to a dark spell placed a long time ago, the cave has the properties of a dark night. All monster¡¯s stats are increased by 30% and exp is boosted by 10%. Blessing of Janira has increased your stats by 30% while inside the cave. Exp boost is nullified.[/p]
You have gained +2 Wisdom
You have gained +1 Willpower
You have killed 147 Goblins with ¡®Quake¡¯. Leveled up x20
Elemental Manipulation has leveled up. Elemental Manipulation has reached Expert ranking.
Elemental Manipulation. Expert level 1. (1%) Active skill.
[p=left]This skill allows for one to manipulate mana to control the elements. This skill then allows for the user to create various types of spells based off the different ways the user manipulates the elements. You have been granted the ability to perceive and control the elements of Light and Darkness. You will need to practice in order to create spells. Mana is decreased proportionate to the amount of manipulation done to the element. Mana is constantly decreased proportionate to the power used in manipulating the element. Can use different types of elements to form compounded spells. Can change sight from the physical realm to the Mana realm with greater ease. Spells you have learned/created.
  • Fire Tornado (Fire + Wind + Water) Quake (Earth) Lightning Shower (Wind + Water + Fire + Earth) Forest wall (Nature + Earth + Water) Fireball (Fire + Wind)
[/p]
You have gained an understanding of ¡®Space of the Night¡¯. Further study is needed in order to recreate this spell.
No more mana for connection to ¡®Silven Plant¡¯. Because of the composition of the plant the plant has started to absorb your stamina.
You are under the effects of ¡®Mana Backlash¡¯.
You have gained +4 Intelligence
It only took about 15 minutes for Michael to recover most of his Mana and he opened his eyes to see an approaching group of people. He was a little surprised to see 7 people in the party but was happy to note he was correct on the fact that there was a Knight and a Ranger. What he thought was one Cleric was actually two, a brother and sister by the looks of them, and the other two members appeared to be Miners of a sort, both of them carrying a pickax. Michael decided that the two Miners were probably craftsmen since it was rare to see full time Miners around. What surprised him the most was a female Dwarf walking at the front of the party. She was dressed in a brown silk vest over a blue blouse and both were heavily embroidered with gold fixings. She had on divided skirts that reached her shoes and she also had a sword at her hip. Well used. Michael had never seen a dwarf before. He had heard of several appearing in Bellen over the years but he never really had an interest in them before. Most of the books he read only described the race as short and good with their crafts. Some dwarven men and women did become continental heroes but Humans rarely had books on heroes from the other races. Since Michael had never seen a dwarf before he just made mental assumptions and pictures about the race. He imagined short people with stocky limbs and really hard craggy faces. The men had beards and mustaches that could reach overwhelming lengths and the woman weren¡¯t that different in appearance, just lacking the beard. This really detailed image of the race had Michael thinking he met some before but forgot. Michael had to change his image of them after he looked at the dwarf in front of him. She was definitely short, about 4 feet in height. What Michael had to change was the appearance. The dwarven woman was not stocky in the least. Her limbs were thin and slender and her body was proportionate to that. Her bosom was considerate but not enough to capture every man¡¯s eyes for too long and her movements looked like a dance that Michael hadn¡¯t participated in before. This basically made the woman look like a miniature Human woman although with an above average figure and aura. The dwarven woman¡¯s looks were decidedly pretty as her long lashes framed coal-black eyes and her lush lips were slicked red. Her calculating look however made Michael¡¯s wariness rise. While the party was still crossing the destroyed hallway ground (an aftereffect of Michael¡¯s version of ¡®Quake¡¯), Michael decided to distribute his stats. He decided that his Mana was depressingly low at this time since his spells cost too much, so he split the stats between Strength, Vitality, and Intelligence. He was a little disappointed that the stats would always be halved and weak but he did like the increased Health, Stamina, and Mana he got when he added stats to Vitality or Intelligence. It didn¡¯t mean he would always add to those stats, but it did raise his spirits. Michael also read and liked the new effect of ¡®Elemental Manipulation¡¯. The skill had leveled relatively slowly the past 10 years but it seemed that effective use of it to kill enemies greatly increased its level. ¡°Hello traveler! Many thanks for the help back there. Was that a spell or a scroll that was used. If you¡¯re a Mage then thank you, if it was a scroll then I hope to compensate you for it.¡± In the world of Gaia it was incredibly hard to find or create Spell Scrolls. The reasons for it was costs, time, and overall usability. The costs to make a scroll are expensive because it uses two rare ingredients, ancient oak that is either given or taken by the Elves and Fey, and blood from a magical creature - the stronger they are, the more powerful the spell - in order to supply the ink. Then the mage needs to channel a great amount of Mana into the scroll, usually by pouring 3/4s of their Mana pool first then pouring a steady amount that equals their Mana Regeneration. The Mage must keep a clear mind throughout the process, as well as channel his magic as if he was manipulating the spell. The scroll would absorb the magic and record the channeling of it so that when it is used, the scroll can use the spell without any help from the user. The writing on the scroll also serves to help channel the Mana. Several ancient words written are used to direct the Mana properly and saying a specific set of words can control the magic, thus allowing for the user to aim and fire the magic if needed. For instance, a fireball spell requires a mage to gather and compress air into a ball before igniting it in some way. A burst of friction requires more mana so the 3/4s Mana the mage used before would all go towards these two actions. Then the steady supply of mana will be used to direct and launch the ball of fire forwards. If the user knows the right words, the Fireball can be aimed anywhere the wanted and could even be sped up, like a Mage could do regularly. A scroll is basically an object that interrupts a Mage¡¯s mana manipulation until a later time and allows non Mages to experience using magic. The last reason for a lack of scrolls was the usability factor. A fireball scroll was rather easy to make compared to other spells but it was a rather weak spell when used only once. Mages would use several Fireballs at a time during a battle but using that many precious scrolls would be an incredible waste. So scrolls would only be used for the incredibly powerful spells or spells that affected a large area. Scrolls were VERY expensive. A simple Fireball spell actually costed 100 gold each, which again made the actual use of it rather useless. A ¡®Quake¡¯ spell, obviously that was what the other party thought he used, could go upwards of 2000 gold. ¡®She is probably a merchant...¡¯ Michael was brought up to be wary around Merchants. A long time ago, the Merchant class wasn¡¯t a favorable class since the group needed a great deal of money to run their projects and hire guards from mercenaries. Mercenaries themselves weren¡¯t to be trusted with pricey trade routes so Merchants actually didn¡¯t make much money. That all changed with the coming of the God-ranked Merchant Rashan. A dwarf, Rashan paved the way for armed Merchants, a type of Merchant that could guard their own items using their own power. Rashan himself was said to be as strong as a Master ranked swordsmen and Rashan used that strength to trade expensive products all over the continent. He reached a God-ranking in his ¡®Mercantile¡¯ skill using that method and he was said to only deal with the Nobility and high-ranking members of various Churches. There were various stories about Rashan, but the ones that Michael was brought up on were the ones that said Rashan destroyed several countries and even Churches just by using their economies and that he even caused several large-scale wars. Since Dwarves could live up to 300 years of age, Rashan could probably do all that and more in his lifetime. Of course, Michael always thought that Rashan was a heavily bearded Dwarf that probably had immense strength with an axe, but now that he saw the woman in front of him Michael decided to revise that thought. He changed his view of Rashan into a miniature man with good looks, powerful build, and a quick sword. Heroes are supposed to be good looking¡­ ¡°Ah, no I did not use a scroll. As you can see I am meditating to replenish my Mana. That spell took more out of me than I thought.¡± The dwarven woman smiled at his words, then gave a signal to her companions. Michael¡¯s wariness paid off and he activated ¡®IA¡¯. The other party had probably thought that Michael hadn¡¯t finished recovering his Mana. Liera didn¡¯t look like a threat and since Michael seemed to be just a mage... Michael¡¯s thought process sped up and everything around him seemed to slow. He saw the Ranger lift up his bow and reach for an arrow in his quiver. The Knight still had his Tower Shield out and he removed a Longsword from behind it. The two Miners threw away their pickaxes and both of them took out daggers with one hand while wrapping their heads in a scarf with the other. ¡®Assassins...¡¯ Expert knife users that excelled at one-hit techniques. The miner disguise was probably part of their array of skills and the scarf was used to both disable the disguise and cover their faces. Michael already had a tough time trying to remember how they looked. The merchant quickly ran to the back of the group during these few seconds. The only people that didn¡¯t seem to know what to do were the Clerics. On closer examination the two were worshippers of Ket, the Goddess of health and recovery. Members of that church followed strict rules that forbid assaulting any race under negative goals. Basically they either hunted down criminals and monsters or defended themselves. The fact that these two were associating themselves with the other party probably meant that the group itself had never done things like this. Or they were new. All this Michael gathered in about 20 seconds of ¡®IA¡¯. He used the skill a lot since the upkeep was getting negligible as his Mana grew. Michael switched sights again and gathered the air around him. He condensed as much as he could without choking himself and Liera. When he managed to form three balls of air he ignited all three and launched them forward. One went towards the Ranger who still hadn¡¯t drawn the string back from his bow, the second hit the rushing Knight¡¯s shield and exploded, knocking him back, while the third went flying towards the two assassins. The Ranger immediately threw his bow towards the Fireball. The Fireball burst when it hit the bow and the Ranger ducked to the side to avoid being burned. The two assassins agilely dodged the Fireball and rushed towards Michael, only to be blocked by Liera. Michael didn¡¯t see the Merchant but he had more to worry about since the Knight got back up and was charging at him while the Ranger took out a long knife. Arming himself, Michael charged the Ranger. It was best to deal with the easiest first and the Ranger seemed better with the bow than with a knife. This failed however when several knives flew towards Michael and stopped him. Blocking the knives, Michael mentally cursed when the Knight managed to situate himself in from of the Ranger and defend him. Now Michael had to deal with a combo from those two plus randomly thrown knives from the Merchant. Michael went to work and assaulted the Knight. Each of his blows rang as he forcefully pushed the Knight back. Each blow was a hammer due to his strength and boost from ¡®High Champion¡¯s Combat Mastery¡¯ and the Knight¡¯s shield started to bend under the strain. The Knight himself was shocked at the power since he thought Michael was just a mage. Blocking took all of the Knight¡¯s concentration and strength and he had no opportunity to attack back. When a knife flew towards Michael both the Knight and the Ranger charged him, hoping to catch him as he was distracted. They were wrong however as Michael ignored the knife and let it hit his side. This allowed him to get into the shocked Knight¡¯s guard and cut off his shield arm, right through the armor, flesh, and bone. The Ranger¡¯s leg was chopped off next and Michael moved beyond their range and calmed. He pulled out the knife before surveying the hallway. Liera had already disabled one of the assassins and was focusing on the last. She didn¡¯t have a scratch on her. Michael looked down the hall to see the Clerics just standing there, both of them seemingly unwilling to break their oaths and help their team. The female Cleric was looking in the direction of Liera and frowning. ¡®Did she not like Liera? Or was it the fact that two assassins were fighting her?¡¯ Michael was incredibly relaxed. He didn¡¯t seem to care that he crippled two people, and he didn¡¯t since they attacked first. Searching the rest of the hallway only revealed the corpses of the fallen goblins. A few groups of those seemed to also still be alive but Michael knew they wouldn¡¯t be a problem. The Merchant woman seemed to have run away as well. Since Michael and Liera were placed at the only entrance, it was highly unlikely that she had slipped past them and out of the cave. The last option was that she entered deeper into the cave...without her guards. A grunt told Michael that Liera had finished the last Assassin off. Michael turned to the two Clerics and examined them. Both wore robes of grey and purple, colors of Ket. The necklace also had an emblem of their Goddess and they were equipped with a few rings and a circlet. The man had a staff and when Michael shifted sight he saw the leakage of Mana from it. The girl didn¡¯t have a staff but a cane that also emitted Mana. ¡®Rings and Circlets seem to take in Mana. Mana regeneration items? And the staffs....Mana storages? Good items for magic healers...¡¯ Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°What are you two going to do?¡± The two looked at each other and the woman raised an eyebrow. The man seemed to understand and nod his head in agreement. The woman took the lead and spoke. ¡°My brother and I follow Ket (of course) and will not challenge you. Our...teammates seem to desperately want the cave and its treasures. We will heal them and my brother will take them back to Kiryun. If you do not mind, I shall accompany you and help you for the time being. It¡¯s the least I could do for the problems they caused. Especially after you saved us.¡± The man was already moving towards the fallen men and starting to heal them. A complex creation of white Mana that did not seem to be from any of the surrounding Mana, surrounded the man and he used that to heal the wounds. Michael saw him reattach the leg of the Ranger. Liera¡¯s opponents only had broken limbs so they didn¡¯t need healing as much as Michael¡¯s foes. Michael went to Liera to confer about the offer. ¡°Liera do you want her to accompany us? A healer would be very useful as we search the cave.¡± Liera only looked at Michael before she turned away and walked to the other end of the hallway. ¡°I will stand by your decision.¡± ¡®Good enough.¡¯ Michael was a little confused at Liera¡¯s attitude but he turned to the female Cleric and nodded. She sighed in relief before moving to the Knight and trying to find his arm. Michael and Liera waited as everyone was healed and moving out of the cave. The male Cleric took a last look at his sister before leaving. The female Cleric turned to Michael and Liera. The female Cleric was beautiful, similar to her brother in looks and demeanor. The two had gold hair, medium length for the man and long for the woman. The man was only a few inches taller than his sister and an inch shorter than Michael. So the woman was taller than Liera, which made Liera frown slightly. The man didn¡¯t seem to have much of a physical presence but his looks were a little above average giving him a look that screamed ¡®I need protection¡¯ to women who were into that kind of man. The woman was also slight but her small curves just added to her innocent and pretty appearance. The two together would have tested a person¡¯s will as they looked like they needed to be protected from everything in the world. The woman walked towards the pair and opened her mouth. A torrent of words seemed to spill out as her eyes watered a bit. ¡°I am called Catherine and that was my older brother Glen. We are twins and we are only Deacons of the Goddess Ket. This was supposed to be a simple protection job in order for us to be promoted to Priests and Priestess but¡­Me and my brother joined the other group as last minute additions. Since we are only Deacons we came along without pay and the group seemed to be quite experienced. The Merchant from before payed good coin in Kiryun and managed to hire the Knight and Ranger. The two...Assassins seemed to have already been under her employ and stuck to her. I thought it was strange that she kept close company with Miners. When the Goblins came I thought we were doomed but Nellend, that Knight, rushed us to a closed off room in order to keep the goblins at bay. We had been fighting for almost half a day and were getting exhausted. When the goblins started to rumble and toss around I thought....¡± Catherine seemed rather embarrassed about what she was going to say. When she saw that Michael and Liera were also staring at her, she blushed and rushed to finish her story. ¡°Uh-umm the merchant from before, Lerisa, didn¡¯t want you two to explore the cave. Since she thought you guys were very powerful and could take the cave from her she told us she would try to buy you off. When everyone started to arm themselves though...Me and my brother couldn¡¯t go against our oaths so we decided to not do anything.¡± The Knight doing so was also a surprised. However it was rather hard to acquire Honor during the first 20 years since you were very young. As an adult your decisions could easily lower Honor but helping the right people gave enormous amounts of it. A Knight could easily murder and then just do a few jobs to get back the Honor lost. Knight masters were people with 0 infamy and their job was to recruit Knights that strove to be Just, but a few did squeeze past the early detection work. ¡°Yes, yes. I noticed you two not raising a hand. Lets just start the exploring and deal with¡­Lerisa when we find her.¡± ¡°Y-yes.¡± Catherine seemed relieved at what Michael said and she immediately went to heal his knife wound. Liera just gave a silent glare at the both of them.
[/hr] The cave they had entered was nicknamed ¡®Iron Mount¡¯ by the miners of old and didn¡¯t have an underground area. As it was based at the bottom of the mountain, the miners seemed to have instead been aiming to hollow out the inside of it. The cave was a source of Iron for Kiryun for many years and when it dried out, the miners just put up supports to keep the mountain from collapsing and then left. This was before the Mad King¡¯s War. Between the abandonment and the war, several dozen people had taken residence in the mountain for different reasons. There were mages or researchers, tinkers and even people of nobility, banished to the mountains for reasons lost. The Mad King¡¯s War resulted in them losing their lives, and the many items they left behind was taken by different groups who owned the caves. Bandits at one point. Then Trolls. Witches, demonic worshippers, cursed beings. Lastly the goblins took it over. Hundreds of thousands infesting the mountains, none of them wishing to show themselves to the world and starting a massive hunt on them. They hid much of the evidence of the Cave and avoided the eyes of travellers. They also avoided the very top of the mountain, where a person is said to have dwelled for the last 300 years¡­
[/hr] Michael was having fun in the Dungeon. A few corridors after the party moved from the bloody scene, they had started to encounter traps. A few had already been set off and there were a few splashes of blood here and there. Lerisa seemed to be having a rough time. Most of the traps seemed to be around rank 5 traps so Michael easily found them with just a glance of the corridor. Arrow traps, poison dart traps, even a few hard-to-set-up boulder traps were all set up to be activated when a person steps on a tile or trips over a string. Traps made by goblins weren¡¯t very good. Each and every one was temporarily highlighted in green when his vision first passes and if Michael focused he could see the telltale details that showed the traps and allowed them to pass through. The other two girls seemed to be getting more anxious as the traps got worse and more hidden; Michael just started to get a little excited. The first room they found seemed to originally been a Miner¡¯s rest station from a long time ago. The troublesome thing was the obvious treasure chest in the center of the room. It was obviously placed there recently since the metal trimmings were still gleaming and had no dust. The chest practically screamed ¡®TRAP¡¯ to anyone that saw. Michael however just laughed out loud and walked over to the trap before kicking it open. The door shut in the face of the other two girls leaving Michael trapped inside the room. To make matters worse, the ceiling was lowering. Now, a normal person would panic a bit; maybe scream a curse or two, or even start praying for help. Michael just stood there and continued to laugh. ¡®This is an adventure.¡¯ The homeschooled poor man was slightly addicted to his change of life. Michael waited until the ceiling was a foot from his head before he used ¡®IA¡¯ and switched his sight. Michael tried to view the area beyond the lowering ceiling to find some kind of mechanism for it so he could stop it. He was blocked however. The lowering ceiling, ground, and four walls around him didn¡¯t allow his sight to penetrate at all so his use of Magic is nullified. Michael groaned a bit. Then he took out his Blacksmiths hammer and walked towards the door of the room and started to beat on it. After a few hits a shield appeared over the door and Michael ¡®saw¡¯ that it was made from the same mage that used Magic to cover the room. Michael was getting a little frustrated when the ceiling finally touched his head. An idea formed as it did and Michael backed up so he can get some running space. He lowered his body before dashing towards the direction of the door, hammer raised. He noted that several more shields had been erected over the door. Michael charged at the door and kept his direction until the last minute, then he turned slightly and crashed into the wall beside the door. He broke through since the shield only blocked the door and the walls were regular walls. He emerged into the hallway and glanced to his side to see Liera and Catherine staring wide eyed at him. They each had a pickaxe - taken from the Assassin Miners from before it seems - and were in the process of breaking through the door before he appeared. Michael just smiled and started to walk down the hallway, his excitement actually rising instead of diminishing. Liera and Catherine shared a look before packing away the pickaxes and following; it was highly doubtful they would try to rescue him again. Several more corridors and rooms were ignored and passed before the trio saw an automatic elevator. There was no platform on it which led Michael to believe that Lerisa had taken it for her own use so Michael took out his sword and sliced through several of the mechanisms. There should be a manual way to the top and Lerisa should not have a chance to come back down through this way. When Michael finished his destruction a noise from the elevator prompted the three to back up. A few seconds later the platform came crashing down, making a noise loud enough to wake a sleeping Dragon. They continued on. A tunneled stair rising up finally appeared a few minutes after walking. Their speed was rather quick since each of them knew that treasures were unlikely to appear in the lower levels. Michael¡¯s sight also revealed a lack of living beings in the rooms they passed. There was no more sign of the Magic from the trapped room he was in. When they reached the top of the stairs they were met with a small group of goblins. MIchael shifted his sight long enough to tell that this level was infested with goblins. Before he could do anything though, Liera motioned him to stop. With the goblins rushing forwards Liera said a simple, ¡°Let me handle this,¡± before rushing off. Michael told Catherine to keep an eye on her and then he took out a few health vials just in case. He eyed the battle just in case she needed help but he judged she could handle a few dozen of them with the help of a healer. Catherine herself seemed to look at Michael skeptically. Liera was a few inches shorter than Catherine and looked so cute and innocent that Catherine wanted to...later. Catherine was rather envious of Liera¡¯s independence and her fighting skills didn¡¯t help to diminish that freedom. Liera felt free for the first time. She had only had to fight three goblins before and the two assassins weren¡¯t really a threat. They had bad coordination compared to Serena and Aaron Kane so Liera didn¡¯t feel any danger when she fought them. Melee combat against 26 goblins though¡­ Liera wove through each goblins that came at her. Group charges were relatively mindless as most people never try to use coordination at all. Especially when against a single person. Liera ducked, turned, and jumped away from every blow coming her way and her fists were reinforced with metal spikes to deliver heavy blows. Faces caved in, chests exploded, legs and arms torn off. Liera was a reaper with her fists and her enemies had no chance against her. Liera was definitely not a normal Fey. As Fey, most of them had an animal form that they used to enhance their abilities and fight with. Wolves in particular were known for their use of claws and teeth and coordination with the pack to bring down larger and stronger foes. The social interactions between wolves were close to Humans and they were very well versed in the quantity over quality approach to battles. Liera was different though. She was barely taught how to fight in a pack as she was still young and the Humans she lived with for years never fought in the same style. Instead she was taught by experts and masters in the way of fighting solo or doubled and her training was basically a dialed down version of Michael¡¯s. She was usually never in any dangerous situations but she did become exhausted by the end of the day. Serena¡¯s S tendencies didn¡¯t seem to reach over to females. Liera¡¯s battle didn¡¯t look like a dance. Her movements flowed into each attack and her strikes always hit but it didn¡¯t look like a dance. Instead it was reminiscent of a choreographed battle. Enemies rushed her and she didn¡¯t even look as her strikes made them fall. No waste of movements. No missed strikes. It was as if she had practiced the battle so many times that she barely even cared about it anymore. Her lack of expression as she fought would have made the hairs stand from Human or other similar races but goblins didn¡¯t notice it. A lady of Death on a stroll. Michael shook himself from his reverie of her fight when she finished. Catherine was also staring at Liera since her movements were so graceful. Catherine also had nothing to do as a Cleric so she was fine just watching. Liera didn¡¯t suffer so much as a scratch. Large groups of enemies were much easier to kill than smaller groups; the 3-man group she faced outside gave her more trouble since they had some coordination and used lots of feints and skills to try to take her down. As he walked to Liera, Michael took out a large cloth from his pack and proceeded to wipe the blood off Liera. She gave a shocked expression before ripping the cloth from him and doing it all herself. When she gave it back she had a glare ready for him but Michael pointedly ignored it as he placed the cloth back in his pack. Catherine also had the same glare but Michael was already continuing his exploration. Several more groups were seen and each of them attacked Michael and co. as three people looked like easy targets. Liera dealt with them all and her fatigue was cured by Catherine. Catherine didn¡¯t expect the skill ¡®Morning¡¯s Wake¡¯ to be so useful and its rising level made it more efficient to use. With her fatigue lowered, Liera dealt with more and more enemies. At the entrance to the 5th level, Michael called for a stop. 4 levels and many battles all done in a single day. Michael was pleased at the rate they were going and was hoping to do more tomorrow. Liera was supposed to be incredibly exhausted from all the fighting but her Wolven constitution and constant fatigue magic from Catherine limited all of that. A good night¡¯s rest would allow for her to continue her one-sided fights. The only grumpy person was probably Catherine. She thought that the two were monsters since she was exhausted as heck and her pride didn¡¯t allow her to use her fatigue magic on herself. She didn¡¯t actually fight in any way and her healing was useless since Liera didn¡¯t take wounds. Catherine was rather disappointed in how much she had done as a member of the group. Her worries were unfounded. Michael and Liera both had a high opinion of her array of skills. Having a healer was a good precaution since anything might happen inside a dungeon and Michael also knew that their progress would have slowed had she not lessened Liera¡¯s fatigue. Michael did not think he would be allowed to fight as long as the other group had less than 50 in it since Liera had stared at him when he asked after the first dozen battles.
[/hr] 2 days of exploration later, the party finally reached Lerisa. She had taken the elevator to the second last level and had barricaded herself inside a room when the goblins saw her. About 700 goblins had fallen to Liera and Michael knew that there were at least 200x more of them in the surrounding mountains. A goblin had creepily told them that bit of news before dying and Michael hoped to find some treasure before he had an entire race after him. Michael had continued his use of shifting his sight to the Mana realm to look for ambushers when he noticed a slight bit of mana inside a room. The Mana was moving around which meant it was a live person and when he focused deeper he could make out individual parts of the being. He led the group to the door of the room and then took out a Hammer to use. Only 2 strikes allowed him to access the room and when he entered he saw Lerisa¡¯s small shape huddled beneath blankets. She jerked when Michael entered and her bedraggled state looked like she had been running for weeks instead of just a few days. Michael smiled down on her. ¡°Well lookey here. The grateful woman that I saved has finally appeared. I only got a ¡®Thanks¡¯ before you decided to kill me out of greed. What do you have to say for yourself, miss?¡± Michael¡¯s jolly tone had deadened by the last word and Lerisa¡¯s already white face had paled. She had hoped to camp here for only a few days but the crash of the elevator told her that her quick way out was destroyed. Still she didn¡¯t expect this group to appear so soon and she was starting to panic at her awful decision. ¡°I-I-I¡¯m sorry? I only wanted to make a name for myself and this cave was supposed to give me that. I didn¡¯t want to kill you two, only frighten you off. But you attacked us before I could tell you to go.¡± ¡°Excuses. Don¡¯t take out weapons unless you¡¯re willing to use ¡®em. Anyways the sorry was all I really wanted. Now if you''ll excuse me.¡± Lerisa¡¯s mouth hung open as Michael walked out of the room. She did manage to get it working before he got out of sight. ¡°Wait! I-Is that it? You aren¡¯t gonna do anything else?¡± ¡°Well...yea? I already took care of your group and this dungeon still has riches for me to collect. I don¡¯t really need to kill or punish you since me and Liera weren¡¯t even hurt. And Catherine here has been a fine help for the last few days. So yea. Bye.¡± Catherine had perked up at the words spoken by Michael. Her complexion was very bad since she was still stubborn about not using healing on herself, but her smile made a person ignore that. Liera saw and glared a bit at Michael but his back was to them and he didn¡¯t notice either of their looks. Lerisa was still on the ground and shocked at the situation, but she picked herself up quickly and ran out of the room. She wanted to get out of this goddess forsaken mountain before doing anything else. She was shocked to see that all of the goblins on every floor had been killed and she shivered at the monsters she had met. Still, she couldn¡¯t help but smile a little at what the other group was heading towards. Lerisa doesn¡¯t give up grudges nearly as quick as Michael. A few minutes of travelling saw the group to the entrance to the next level. Since they were very close to the top the levels had gotten smaller and smaller and fewer enemies had been found. The level they were on only had a few warriors and most of those ran away from Michael¡¯s group. Liera killed the few courageous ones that charged but she didn¡¯t needlessly pursue the runners. When Michael took a step on the stairs, an information box forced itself in front of him.
Congratulations for clearing ¡®Iron Mount¡¯ of the goblins infesting its halls. [p=left]Telling people the tale of this adventure will reward fame. Go to the nearest mercenary base and report the completion of this dungeon along with the location of the entrance to receive rewards. You have gained +100 Fame. You have gained +10 Charisma.[/p]
Michael read the rewards he had obtained and was extremely disappointed by them. ¡®Only Fame and Charisma...maybe the treasure is better...hopefully it¡¯s better...¡¯ A second box came when he took his second step.
You are entering the inner sanctuary of ¡®Inutian¡¯. [p=left]Beware traveller and turn back. For death awaits all who enters.[/p]
Michael smiled and continued his climb. He pointedly ignored the dreary feelings of his companions. Start of Adventure End of the Iron Mountain!
[/hr] Well...I had hoped to completely finish the mountain dungeon in only 1 chapter but after a few days of writing I decided to split it into two. The second part will include the final boss of the place and then the progression to Kiryun. It may take long since I suck at writing Dungeon scenarios. You only find out these sort of things as you go. So Liera and Catherine...I really don''t know what to do with these two in relation to Michael. If you wish to have Catherine join up with the pair, please comment reasons. If you don''t...Haha. Catherine was just a character I made on a whim. Her brother can join as well or instead if people prefer him. I don''t have a personality for him at all. So the final boss...yea I got nothing. I''ll figure it out as I go. Liera is pretty tough huh? Michael only knew her fighting abilities when they sparred but it seems that even he is shocked at her skill... For people who believe in eternally passive Fey, Liera is not like that. She is a Fey Guardian and guardians don''t usually let others walk all over them. She can kick as much ass as Michael. Tongue twister... So...Michael seems to use alot of magic huh? Still he does have some fight scenes, just nothing that strained him. I also suck at writing about traps. Did you notice? Anyways I hope the next chapter can be released soon. I may be busy with some studies since I have an assignment due next week and an exam next wednesday. I haven''t started on either...busy busy. I''m still rather lazy so... Chapter 14: The Bump in the Road A BUMP IN THE ROAD Michael finished the climb to the last level of the mountain and stopped at a door gate. The previous levels never had even a door blocking the way so Michael was a little skeptical of the protocol. He was wondering what he should do when Liera moved in front of him and knocked four times. She gave a quick smile at Michael¡¯s expression before moving back beside Catherine. Catherine also tried to hide her amusement but a smile flitted across her expression once in a while. The gate squeaked opened before Michael could give a defence and a strong gust came out of nowhere behind them. Michael saw that it was made by the bothersome Mage from a few days ago and the air pushed them inside the room. What they saw caused no little shock. The interior the room was dark and damp, but incredibly spacious. The far side of the room was at least half a hundred paces away from Michael¡¯s party and the entire area was round in shape. The height of the room was maybe half the length of the hall and the top had a giant golden chandelier hanging from the center. It took up most of the ceiling and wasn¡¯t lit. The walls were covered in ice and crystal making a dazzling sight and there were stone sculptures placed all around the room. Depictions of warriors with detailed pieces of armor and quality weapons. Maidens in tight clothing and beautiful features. Monsters with different characteristics and each deadlier than the other. This vast array of sculptures created a disquieting scene and made everyone walk lightly. Michael¡¯s sculpture skill rose considerably as he looked at just one sculpture so he used ¡®IA¡¯ for a time and examined them all. After leveling his ¡®Sculpting¡¯ skill once, Michael moved on down the hall and tried to reach the end of the hall to see if there was anything hidden. When the party reached the center though, a loud rumbling started. Michael initially thought that it was a large scale ¡®Quake¡¯ type spell. However, when he switched sights to see for where the Mana would be coming from he found nothing. No traces of Mana was being used to shake the room and Michael paled as he thought of a different reason it would shake. His feeling came about in the form of a giant winged beast that emerged from behind the chandelier. A deep voice spoke from it. ¡°Kukuku. Fresh intruders, come to me to die. I usually have to go out and find some meals that fall into my traps. This however is much better...¡± The wings of the beast stretched about 5 metres each. They were reminiscent of the bat wings Michael had read about in his books. The main body was definitely not a bat since it was almost completely round in shape and the two legs at the bottom were long and ended at only three clawed toes. The most distinct part of the monster however was the giant eye that took up nearly the entire body. Its mouth was located directly below it and the sharp teeth that were shown had a slightly bloody tint to it. Michael had heard of Floating Eye type monsters before and had even read about them. The books he read said that these monsters were relatively low level and small, not even going beyond the size of a dwarf. They relied on group attacks and usually overwhelmed travelers with a mass use of claws to kill. The one in front of Michael was different. It was incredibly big for one, and the eye was looking and examining the intruders with an obvious intelligence. Plus the fact that it spoke told that its level was incredibly high. Michael used ¡®IA¡¯ as best he could. 5:1 speed with ¡®IA¡¯ at its Expert ranking used up about 20 mana per second. 10:1 used up an incredibly 640 mana per second so the uses were extremely different. Michael could have probably used 10:1 before the Curse on him but right now he needed a compromise between speed and mana upkeep. He settled on 6:1 speed which used up 40 mana per second and started to analyze the being in front of him. Half a minute later a telltale information box appeared. Michael turned off his ¡®IA¡¯ which had taken over 1/4th of his Mana and focused on the box.
Inutian. Level 256. Evil Eye (BOSS CLASS) [p=left]The most powerful of its kind, Inutian has used its high intelligence to trap and kill many types of monsters without the help of allies. This efficient type of solo hunting has allowed Inutian to become much larger than the rest of his kind and his strength is nothing to sneeze at. Consuming multiple spellcasting prey has granted Inutian powerful abilities in the magic arts. Vulnerable to Light-type magic. High flying abilities. Can use high-level magic. Lowest stat is Strength but it can still crush a boulder if it wants. High intelligence has allowed it to communicate to a most races. Incredibly resistant to Magical Curses.[/p]
¡®Oh great...¡¯ Michael became incredibly frustrated at this abrupt bump in his adventure. A high 200 leveled monster...No, a high 200 leveled Boss monster. And from the description it was an extremely intelligent one at that. Troublesome, troublesome. Michael took another long look around the room and sighed at the lack of treasure he found. ¡°Share information to party.¡± Michael said a few party commands and the information he found should have been sent to Liera and Catherine. Indeed, they both jumped at the screen that should have popped up in front of them; Liera nodding at all the information while Catherine just gave a shocked stare at Michael. The skill was nearly one of a kind so¡­ Michael approached Inutian slowly. ¡°Excuse me. Inutian? I would like to ask. Where are all the treasures?¡± Always best to be polite. It never really made things worse for Michael. That situation with Damien was hardly a dangerous event. And besides, the boss monster may react well to- Michael didn¡¯t even have time to think as his body moved to collect Liera and Catherine and then ran as fast as he possibly could. The area they were standing in was engulfed in multiple wind-type spell ¡®Tornado¡¯ and each of those were almost as large as Michael¡¯s ¡®Fire Tornado¡¯. Michael had never really felt the need to learn how to make a ¡®Tornado¡¯ spell since the damage output seemed rather low, but when he saw the stone statues around them being sucked into the massive vortex and then being ripped to shreds...he started to admit he knew next to nothing about it. ¡°Kekeke you dodged that well...for a Human. Are you a mage? Or was that all instinct. I¡¯m guessing the latter but I really shouldn¡¯t assume until I absolutely know. Kekeke this will definitely be fun.¡± Michael continued to run with Liera and Catherine over his shoulders; both were extremely angry at their treatment but quieted down when they saw the devastation that occurred behind them. Michael switched his sight in order to see any future attacks before he dropped both women off near the entrance to the room. It had a slight overhead which would allow them to hide somewhat. Maybe if Michael could get it¡¯s attention for a bit¡­ Michael did not wish to rely on his Magic. His stat reduction wasn¡¯t as bad as it was before since the cave had the property of night and gave him a 30% boost to stats. Also his ¡®High Champion¡¯s Combat Mastery¡¯ gave a slight passive battle boost to his stats, only 8%, but that 8% was off his original stats and gave a large boost. He still wasn¡¯t up to par but he was closer than ever. Michael dashed towards Inutian after giving some instructions to Catherine. Liera wasn¡¯t suited to fight flying monsters so she had no choice but to stay with Catherine and try to protect her. She obviously didn¡¯t like it but she knew there was little chance a close-combat fighter would stand a chance against a flying boss. Michael was also close-ranged but he did have some ranged skills. Michael threw several daggers at Inutian and it swerved to dodge them. They wouldn¡¯t have caused great damage but Inutian was obviously cautious of any status debuffs they may inflict - aka poisoned daggers. ¡®Very smart indeed¡¯. Still Michael was aiming for the creature to go in that direction. Michael was still running towards Inutian when the monster hit the wall slightly. The room seemed rather small with the boss inside it and Michael made great use of that. Kicking off the wall, Michael launched himself at the monster that was trying to right itself. Michael took out his blade and took a swing at Inutian¡¯s wing. He noticed the shift in Mana too late and an impact threw him away. He skidded along the wall before coming to a stop a few metres from the entrance. Michael had lost about 2,300 Health from that one hit and he was bleeding from several places which meant his health was lowering continually. He saw Catherine starting a spell to heal him. ¡°Heal my cuts first, then my Health.¡± Michael¡¯s Health was a finally lower than 50% but he didn¡¯t want to resort to his original state as he felt that would mean he had given up. Michael wished to test the limits of his abilities under the curse and he tried to devise a plan as he ran around the room. He noted the destroyed sculptures and gave some sorrow for the lost artwork. His sorrow increased when he saw that most of the Maiden sculptures were the ones that were destroyed. Then he had a plan. Michael tried to look for the largest sculpture in the room and found a set of them near Inutian. ¡®Perfect¡¯ Michael thought as he switched sights and took out his strongest Mana potions from his pack. Michael focused deeply until he could see the original makeup of the sculptures. Hard stone that repelled the elements. Pure Earth. Some resistance to Water and Wind. High resistance to Fire. Very strong. Solid for a long period of time has permeated the aspects of its look into its essense. No sentience. Michael focused on that part and poured his mana into it. He needed to change its role on Gaia. Change it from a sculpture to a being. Give it¡­Sentience. The sculpture started to move and its eyes opened. Michael looked at its aspects one last time and gave it another piece. Fury. Michael didn¡¯t need Loyalty from the new Golem, only its strength. The moving sculpture had been created in the aspect of a giant lizard. Its mouth opened a little to let out a stone tongue that was created as part of the spell and its sight locked onto Inutian. It had a long tail that was nearly as long as its main body and the head was in the shape of a V. It used all four legs to charge the flying being and it whipped out its tongue in order to catch Inutian¡¯s leg and pull Inutian towards it. Inutian was shocked at the developement but its long life had given it some reflex and Inutian tried to pull itself away. The struggle continued as Michael drank his Mana potions. Michael searched the room a few more times before choosing a large Warrior sculpture. The entire thing was encased in heavy armor and an axe could be seen attached to its back. At 5 metres tall it would be small in the room but good enough for the fight. Michael focused on that as well and noted the similarities it had with the lizard sculpture. He did see that the humanoid aspect of it gave off some intelligence but he gave it sentience anyways. He added Berserk instead of Fury so it would attack everything it sees to the death. Michael did not want his Golems to live to the end. The warrior started to move after Michael had finished his work and it immediately turned its gaze to the giant battle. It tilted its head back and gave a giant roar before charging at its new foes with quick steps. The warrior¡¯s axe was equipped and it made a menacing figure as a foe. When the warrior reached the pair it swung its axe at Inutian and cause a long gash on the main body. Inutian¡¯s eye wasn¡¯t damaged but the area to the side of the mouth gave off a lot of blood. Michael noticed something shiny dropping out of the gash and he shifted his sight to see what it was. He gasped when he saw that the mana from the surroundings were being drawn to it in large quantities. ¡®Mana regenerating item...did the monster eat all of the treasures?¡¯ Michael now viewed Inutian as one of those ancient stuffed animals that let out treats whenever it got hit. When the group moved away from the item, Michael charged as quick as he could to pick it up. It was a bracelet and it had a shield on it that even repelled Michael¡¯s identification skill from ¡®IA¡¯. He already saw that it took in Mana though so he slipped it on. The bracelet started to shine and Michael¡¯s mana dropped to 100 as he gasped in pain. Then the entire room was engulfed in Chaos. Michael seems to attract bad luck...The bracelet he picked up was a Mana storage and spell activator contained in one. It was designed to absorb the mana from its surroundings and store it for a vast period of time, the maximum seemed to be about 3000 years. The spell it had was ¡®Copycat¡¯ and it basically copied the last spell the user used and then replicated it in a larger scale. With no control it would use up all of the Mana it had stored. Inutian had controlled and used it to a degree and that was the main reason he could unleash the vast quantities of ¡®Tornado¡¯ from before. Inutian did have several hundred years to practice and used it so he didn¡¯t make as many mistakes as before. Michael however wasn¡¯t used to it. When he equipped it, the spell activated and it copied his ¡®Golem Creation¡¯ on a large scale. Both ¡®Sentience¡¯ and ¡®Berserk¡¯ were copied and then used on every sculpture in the room and a large war started as stone warriors and monsters started to fight each other and the original three giants. Inutian was taken down under a wave of attacks and every sculpture started a free-for all battle. Michael was also under attack for a bit but he dodged them to the best of his abilities and the attackers were drawn to more violent bouts. Michael ran towards the entrance to meet and group up with Liera and Catherine. He saw several crushed sculptures around Liera and he was glad to see the two relatively unharmed. They both glared when he came and Liera bashed another sculptures head in. ¡°Did you cause all of this?¡± Liera¡¯s tone reminded Michael of his mother and he gave a sheepish grin at her question. He had already packed away the bracelet so that both wouldn¡¯t see and suspect the fault of an item. Then he took out his sword and dagger and proceeded to take out any incoming stone attacker. Michael¡¯s movements were different and more fluid than Liera¡¯s. His steps were connected and looked smooth, and instead of the solid choreography of Liera¡¯s movements, Michael¡¯s were like he had tried to do a solo dance and killed the ones that wished to interrupt and join him all without breaking rhythm or tension. When he went up against a tight group of stone warriors he started to leave after images as his chaotic movements were enhanced by his high ¡®Battle Dance¡¯ skill. Against solo enemies Michael wasn¡¯t able to rely on the skill but he didn¡¯t falter. He used quick thrusts and feints to drive the enemy where he wanted and end it with a flair.
[/hr] The battle lasted for an hour before only a scant amount of sculptures were left. The Lizard had been taken down very early since its movements were very inappropriate in wars. It had no real attacks to be used against groups and it was swarmed by the other sculptures. The warrior was still there but it was missing an arm and both of its legs. It seemed to have passed its Berserk state and was unwilling to continue its fight. It still kept a wary eye out for the other monsters too. Since it had 0 loyalty to Michael, he didn¡¯t bother trying to recruit the it. The number one reason for the battle was still alive. Inutian had been able to take to the skies with only a few dozen attached sculptures trying to kill him. Arrows from some random sculpture archers also contributed to the sky melee and Inutian was covered in arrow wounds and gashes. Blood continually dripped from the monster as it eyed its surroundings to make sure nothing else would approach. Then it saw Michael and it screeched. Inutian wasn¡¯t able to use magic during the battle since its concentration entirely focused on defence but now was different. Michael jerked his head at Inutian after it screeched and he saw an incoming Fireball. Michael easily dodged the spell and started to charge the confused monster. It seemed to wonder why multiple Fireballs hadn¡¯t been used and Michael grinned at its misfortune. He launched himself off a large pile of stone - he thought he saw a lizard head in the pile - and took advantage of the momentary shock from Inutian to deal a large blow to its left wing. A body hit would have had a higher chance of being a critical strike, but a wing hit would ground the flying creature. Inutian fell in a roar and it started to scramble its limbs. It wanted to get airborne again but it wasn¡¯t able to in the end. Knowing this, Inutian tried to stand up and face Michael but the leg that the Lizard had before was broken and Inutian limped on the spot. All in all, Inutian was going to die and it knew it. ¡°Kukuku, do you still wish for the treasures Human. I can give it to you. Just let me live and leave me alone and you can be wealthy beyond measure.¡± Inutian was obviously trying to live. Michael just smiled however and took out the bracelet that cause all of the destruction. Inutian¡¯s eyes widened when it saw the prized possession. Michael¡¯s smile and his next words chilled Inutian to the bone. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°I surprisingly saw this bracelet come out of a gash in your body. And when I look around the battlefield I can also see several dropped gold coins. This makes me wonder if you have all that treasure inside of you. Please be nice and let me kill you to find out.¡± Inutian immediately sent a ¡®Tornado¡¯ at Michael before trying to limp away. Michael however had ¡®IA¡¯ on 2:1 speed so his reaction to the spell was quick. He ran forward before the spell even formed and his blade took Inutian¡¯s other leg. ¡°Is that a necklace I see coming out of your leg. Seems my idea was correct!¡± ¡°NOOOOOOO. Bastard, you will not get any of this treasure!!¡± Michael grew pale when his sight caught the activation of a spell. He scrambled back and hid behind a large piece of sculpture when a large ¡®Fire Tornado¡¯ was created with Inutian at the center. The temperature of the spell wasn¡¯t increased by purifying the air but by pouring enourmous amounts of mana into it. Michael knew that it had used every bit of the Mana storages it had and the result was a suicide that reached incredible proportions. Only when Michael had hid did he remember the items inside Inutian. ¡®THAT BASTARD!! WHAT KIND OF SORE LOSER KILLS HIMSELF AND DESTROYS THE ITEMS SO THAT THE OTHER PERSON DOESN¡¯T GET IT!?!?!?¡¯ Michael started to rage a the waste of time he had given to the exploration of treasure. All of those Mana items. That gold. The research that could have been there. Gone. Liera and Catherine went looking for Michael after the ¡®Fire Tornado¡¯ had died down. They found him sitting and wrapping his arms around his legs in a position that screamed ¡®DEPRESSED¡¯ so they went around to gather the fallen loot. They only managed to acquire about a thousand gold coins and no items. Very small reward for the battle that took place. Sculptures didn¡¯t drop items after all. The pair didn¡¯t find any other area that could house secrets - the Chandelier had also transformed into some twisted being with twisting arms and Fire-based attacks and Inutian had to deal with it - so they both decided they had everything. When they showed the items to Michael he finally dispelled his depressed state and rose from his position. He knew that the chances of actually finding treasure was originally low and a thousand gold pieces was not a small amount. He even had the bracelet that he could tinker with and control when he had the time. He could think of various uses for it so he brightened a bit. His personallity also didn¡¯t allow for long periods of depression, especially for items that he had never seen or heard about before. As the trio started to walk towards the entrance, they heard a small sound in the pile of rubble near them. Michael strained his ears a bit and he heard the sound of movement; of stone scraping on stone. Then a ¡®help¡¯ came from the pile and all three rushed towards it. They all started to take out chunks of stone that made up the pile and they soon uncovered a moving slender stone hand. When the pile was completely off they uncovered an intact female stone sculpture that looked at them with some fear. The ¡®Berserk¡¯ state had left a long time ago so there should be no aggression from the sculptures anyways. ¡°A-Ah where am I? Who am I? Why was I under there? Who are you? Why -¡± The long torrent of questions from the sculpture caused Michael to frown at Liera and Cathering. His unspoken question said ¡®What do we do?¡¯ They both answered back with ¡®you caused this, you deal with it.¡¯ Michael sighed at them and looked at the stone girl again. All of the sculptures in the room were made by an expert hand. Whether Inutian had collected them or found them all there in the beginning were questions that died with it. The stone girl in front of the trio was moving and talking due to Michael¡¯s spell and even the clothes on her seemed to become lifelike. Still, stone clothing was probably unwearable to other people. The girl was also very pretty. She was probably taller than Liera and had curves that made Liera and Catherine blush when they noticed. Michael didn¡¯t care and he already took in her personality. Or rather lack of personality. As a new being, she had the intelligence of a regular person but basically no real memories. Since she was also made with only beauty in mind she probably had no fighting skills either. Basically she wasn¡¯t going to last long. ¡°Well, none of our business. Let us be off!¡± Michael started to turn away when the sculpture started crying. ¡°P-please don¡¯t leave me alone. I don¡¯t know anything about the world. Please.¡± Her pitiful look didn¡¯t touch Michael¡¯s bored heart but Catherine and Liera started to tear up at the sculpture. They both scrambled forward to hug the woman and both of them turned large teary eyes at Michael. Not even a monster would be heartless enough to make them all cry - at least hypothetically - so Michael waved them all to come and he continued his walk towards the entrance. Michael tried the ¡®Call Orb¡¯ as he walked but he wasn¡¯t able to make a connecting call. The three women behind him started to talk with each other in low whispers and Michael tried his best to ignore them.
[/hr] Michael decided that the best way out of the mountain was through the elevator. He knew his decision to destroy it before was right so he didn¡¯t bother mulling over it as he examined the shaft entrance. It seemed to go straight down so Michael decided to try a new spell. The ¡®Gust¡¯ that Inutian had used before seemed to have enough power to propel people in different directions. Michael decided that if he used the spell to push upwards from the bottom of the elevator, he would be able to create a slow descent for the riders. He decided that the new Stone Girl would be the first victim. ¡°How much do you weight? Do you know? Shall we try to find-¡± Michael was slapped twice by Liera and Catherine, both of whom started to say something about manners and the like. Michael didn¡¯t hear since he was still reeling from the blows. Catherine was rather weak in strength but Liera technically had a higher strength than the current Michael. Plus she had mass leveled during the goblin extermination. In the end, the plan was for Michael to use gust on Jemma - they decided that Stone Girl was a very inappropriate name for her - in the hallway and then lower her slowly through the shaft. He had a couple of Mana potions out and ready to use as well. Surprisingly the mana used to create an air cushion underneath Jemma was relatively low. He basically just solidified the air than then manipulated the spell using his Mana, allowing the cushion to move around with some ease. Jemma was a little heavy but she seemed to have lost some stone weight during the transition. Jemma was lowered down the shaft and only took up a fifth of his Mana. Liera was next, then Catherine before Michael took the makeshift traveling route himself. Reaching the bottom was very quick and when all four were together they started their walk once again. Michael was a little worried about his ¡®Call Orb¡¯. It was supposed to have infinite durability but the fact that it didn¡¯t work at the moment made him frown with worry. ¡®Maybe a spell of some sort? But Inutian is dead...wait.¡¯ Michael opened his stats and was shocked to see that he still had the 30% bonus from ¡®Space of the Night.¡¯ Michael decided to check out his ignored information boxes.
You have entered the secret dwelling of Inutian.
You have seen the ¡®Warrior of Hope¡¯. ¡®Sculpting¡¯ proficiency has increased.
You have seen the ¡®Dawn Knight¡¯. ¡®Sculpting¡¯ proficiency has increased.
You have seen the ¡®Lovely Maiden of the Lake¡¯. ¡®Sculpting¡¯ proficiency has increased.
You have seen the ¡®Rampaging Reptile¡¯. ¡®Sculpting¡¯ proficiency has increased.
...
These went on for quite a while.
¡¯Sculpting¡¯ has leveled up.
You have gained more of an understanding of ¡®Space of the Night¡¯
You have lost an incredible 2361 Health.
You are under the effects of ¡®Ket¡¯s Touch¡¯. Bleeding effect is taken care of. Health has recovered by 300 points.
You are under the effects of ¡®Ket¡¯s Kiss¡¯. Health has started recovery. Health recovery at 100%.
You have granted Sentience to the target. You have created ¡®Giant Stone Lizard¡¯. ¡®Giant Stone Lizard¡¯ has the characteristics of ¡®Fury¡¯ activated.
Golem Creation has leveled up.
You have granted Sentience to the target. You have created ¡®Giant Stone Guardian¡¯. ¡®Giant Stone Guardian¡¯ has the characteristics of ¡®Berserk¡¯ activated.
You have equipped ??? Bracelet. [p=left]Last known spell has been recorded. Mana use has not been directed. Using all mana stored. ¡®Golem Creation¡¯ Spell will be repeated using all mana.[/p]
The next few thousand boxes had information on the different sculptures Michael accidentally gave sentience to. ¡®Golem Creation¡¯ also leveled up a few times in between.
Golem Creation has leveled up. Golem Creation has reached Expert ranking.
Golem Creation. Expert level 1. (5%) Active skill
[p=left]An ancient type of magic. Once upon a time the magicians of the past were spurned by the populous. Wielding powerful spells in one hand they were unable to protect themselves against physical attacks. Trusted Warriors were too rare to obtain so the Mages needed to resort to this spell. Allows the user to grant sentience to the Elements. Only a properly strong elemental object can be granted Sentience. Can also give Sentience to an object of mixed elements. Creation uses only 300 mana. Can grant a limit of 5 aspects to the creation. Minimal loyalty level of all creations is set at 70% if you add Loyalty aspect to the target.[/p]
¡¯Battle Dance¡¯ has leveled up.
¡¯High Champion¡¯s Combat Mastery¡¯ has leveled up.
You have killed the boss ¡®Inutian¡¯. You have leveled up 20x. You have been granted +10 Strength and +20 Agility because of your achievement.
You have explored 95% of ¡®Iron Mount¡¯ and you have gained a proper understand of ¡®Space of the Night¡¯.
Space of the Night [p=left]A darkness attribute spell, this large scale spell will recreate the attributes of a dark night sky. Requires Mana to increase the area of the spell. Approximately 1 square meter will require an upkeep of 20 mana.[/p]
This...was a very useful spell. It basically allowed Michael to take advantage of his ¡®Blessing of Janira¡¯ without having to wait till the evening. Very nice indeed¡­ When the part finally left the cave Michael tried his ¡®Call Orb¡¯ once again. This time the telltale operator appeared in the orb and he immediately tried to contact his house. ¡°Oh hello son. Good to see that you are alright. We haven¡¯t been able to-¡± Aaron Kane had answered the call but he was shoved aside soon after by his wife. ¡°MICHAEL! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? WHY HAVEN¡¯T YOU CONTACTED US RECENTLY? ARE YOU HURT? IS LIERA HURT? WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING MISTER!?!?!?¡± Michael¡¯s mother screeched the questions out and when she took a breathe, Michael seized the opputunity. ¡°Relax mother. We haven¡¯t been gone that long. Me and Liera had just taken a side detour through a dungeon for the last few days. Nothing to worry about. We¡¯re fine.¡± Michael¡¯s mother calmed down at the fact that her children (she thought of Liera as a daughter now) were fine. But she tensed as she remembered a bit of what Michael had said¡­ ¡°Michael. You weren¡¯t gone for a few days. We lost contact with you a few weeks after you left. That was 2 months ago¡­¡± ¡®...WHAAAT!?!?!?¡¯ Back to the Exploration! Continued Journey in Kiryun
[/hr] So. They beat Inutian... The aspect of Inutian was taken from some of the comments given about what the boss should be. Basically ''ForgottenOne'' had given me the idea of using the Inuit part of the name to create a monster. I wikied the gods and goddesses of the Inuits and found a god named Issitoq who took the form of a Giant Flying Eye. That reminded me of the FF games with the Evil Eye monsters so I based Inutian off that! I basically made a version 1 and a version 2. V1 was where Michael made himself go below 30% and demolish Inutian. The story ended at just 5 pages so I gave up on that. V2 is Sculpture melee! The Sculpture Melee...meh It was too chaotic. Still the important part was that they killed Inutian. However the stat rewards for doing so is rather small since Michael didn''t actually do much damage overall. And Inutian suicides so he didn''t get Last Hit rewards. Inutian is an ass of a boss. Cough. So I added a new stone companion. No idea why. I just felt like trying out a stone girl. I''ll figure out what to do with her later... So I made an easy understanding of the difference in time between Michael and the Otherworlders in the comment section of CHapter 12. Basically they would be addicted and play longer while sleeping less so they would have more time ingame than Michael. Please comment in chapter 12 if you disagree. Basically I trolled everyone who wished for an even time in the end. I basically wanted the adventurers to be at least level 100 before Michael got to Kiryun. Michael is level 71 now but he is still much stronger than the adventurers. So is Liera. I''ll make some more fight scenes between NPC and APC later. If anyone has suggestions on the path of Jenna, please give it. Also Catherine will probably be staying in Kiryun to undergo her Priestess training. Her brother Glen has also been doing a large-scale cave with another party. MIchael''s progress through the mountain was way too fast but the time change made it even with Glen''s party. They will be reunited and go through the next rank training. Cough. Please comment about the story. This is a short chapter since its basically just the boss battle. 12 pages on Google Docs. Will Michael use Golem Creation again? Lol... Chapter 15: The Trouble Between Worlds THE TROUBLE BETWEEN WORLDS Michael couldn¡¯t believe the fact that the mountain had a hidden spell underneath ¡®Space of the Night¡¯. That first spell already made the mountain a top ranking hunting ground for parties under level 100 due to the increase in Monster stats under ¡®Night¡¯ conditions. 30% increase in monster stats was nothing to sneeze at and the 10% exp bonus was incredibly useful for trainers. The unfortunate fact that there was a time spell, one that seemingly made 3 days turn in 2 months would probably turn off any dreams of a good training ground. The mountain was basically a place where time went 20x slower and most hunting parties wouldn¡¯t be able to finish it in the 3 days that Michael¡¯s party had done it. Michael cursed about this over and over again since the rewards did not reflect the time spent acquiring them. Jemma was staring at her surroundings in delight. As a newborn her view of the world was incredibly fresh and untainted. Liera didn¡¯t seem to find anything wrong with a place that had slower time. She even found some ideas about making good use of it: Luring enemies into the mountain and keeping them there for a long time, sick people can stay there for a short period as everyone else can go and look for a cure, a very good retirement place for old people as they can live long enough to see Grandchildren and Great-great Grandchildren. Liera¡¯s thoughts about the mountain were rather sweet and mundane. Catherine was incredibly frustrated at the loss of time. She didn¡¯t want her brother to beat her in anything, hence why she had taken the initiative to join Michael¡¯s party before. She thought that the stronger party - Michael and Liera did just beat up a 5 member party without trouble - would go through the dungeon quicker and that meant she would be first in getting her promotion. And indeed, the party finished ¡®Iron Mount¡¯ in near record time, but the fact was that they basically finished it in 2 months, not 3 days. The sombre party slowly made their way to Kiryun.
Halfway to through the gorge the party was stopped by a familiarly short person. This person was also at the head of a small army of people. Michael noted the lack of matching equipment and insignias on the members of the group so he thought that they were all bandits. Actually the party was made of ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ who had been hired by the person ¨C Lerisa if you didn¡¯t already think so ¨C to end Michael¡¯s life. Their awful attire was mainly due to the fact that all of their equipment was worn cause of stat reasons and a lack of equipment sets. Upon exiting ¡®Iron Mount¡¯ and returning to Kiryun, Lerisa had found out the time discrepancy between her entering the cave an her exiting. A plan formed in her head as she figured that Michael¡¯s party would probably defeat the boss monster at the top, then return back quickly. She worked quickly for the week and hired 142 ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ since they boasted the quickest levelling rate. She also made sure to choose people skilled in killing regular people ¨C aka PKers for the Players. Gaia the game had changed a tiny bit while Michael was away. For one, NPCs were allowed to kill ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ as long as the reason was legitimate, it was so easily allowed because the ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ could revive after death so the killing was seen as a temporary punishment. This meant that Bandits also killed a great many ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ for sport and this caused a great amount of grumblings among the players. Then there were the people who had left the city very early and ended up dead by mass rabbit swarm or the occasional fox. When John Doe was told that a great many players would quit if the game continued as such, he gave in and added some extra parts to the consoles and the game. The first, all of the consoles were upgraded to allow for players to get a bit of sleep ingame. This was easily achieved since only about 10,000 people had bought the consoles at the time; the year of advertisement and news did not increase sales at all so only a few actually bought it and played; this number has since increased by about 100x over the past few months. The second was a decrease in the amount of time a person stays dead. Death amounted to about 24 hours of being locked from the game, or about 5 days of non-playing. John lowered this amount by implementing the first game update in order to achieve this so players spent only 18 hours locked out. The result was a significant edge in the amount of time an ¡®Otherworlder¡¯ can play in game compared to NPCs. Anyways, enough about RL news; Michael and co. were against Lerisa¡¯s rather large army of quality Chaotic ¡®Otherworlders¡¯. Their strangely red skin made a sharp contrast to Lerisa¡¯s fair and it looked near ridiculous to see a childlike being leading this army of monstrous looking foes. Michael had no idea about anything that happened in Gaia for the last month but he did know that Lerisa had some qualms about losing the Dungeon to Michael. Still, he was kind of peeved to see that she would waste so much money just to get revenge. All of those people probably costs as much as the treasure she would have gotten from the Dungeon. Kind of redundant if one thinks about it. ¡°Grahaha. Remember me? I¡¯m here to -¡± Michael didn¡¯t even have the tact to let Lerisa finish her written speech. He had already shifted sight and he gathered the air around the army and made a cyclone. He purified as much of the air as he could before igniting it and a medium sized ¡®Fire Tornado¡¯ erupted in the middle of the army. The reason why he didn¡¯t put much Mana and power in the spell was soon revealed when he took out the ¡®??? Bracelet¡¯ from his pack. Michael equipped the bracelet and concentrated on an image of three ¡®Fire Tornado¡¯ spells being used but the bracelet didn¡¯t seem to listen. It instantly absorbed Michael, Liera, and Catherine¡¯s Mana before unleashing 10 medium sized ¡®Fire Tornado¡¯ spells on the army. The result was a devastated area where the hundred man army was before. Lerisa was a long distance in front of the army so that she could talk to Michael, so she didn¡¯t get damaged in any way from Michael¡¯s spells. Lerisa looked back in horror at her expensive army. She paid the PKers up front since ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ revived after a few days. They required upfront payment so that they won¡¯t be cheated by town skipping Merchants. They also signed a binding contract that would have caused the ire of the Merchant God if they broke it. Basically, everything was being paid for by Lerisa and the Contract costs were not small. She spent a good 70% of her hidden fortune but she did so under the assumption that she would get all that back and more from Michael. Lerisa gave a haggard look to Michael. This¡­monster destroyed 5000 gold pieces in under 2 minutes. Lerisa knew she had no chance at revenge so she deflated within herself. ¡°Well Lerisa. Do you have anything else up your sleeve?¡± Lerisa shook her head. She didn¡¯t have the funds to continue her grudge. Let the man do whatever to her¡­Lerisa blushed slightly at her thoughts. Michael could do *bleep* to her and then *bleep* and *bleep*. Lerisa almost didn¡¯t hear the rest of what he said. ¡°Well then. Since you¡¯ve caused so many problems for our group, you can repay it all back. I¡¯m going to be travelling a lot so it will be nice to have a Merchant in a few cities as friends. When I come to Kiryun or wherever you are, you can be my primary Merchant there and buy everything I get. Yes? Good. Now what is your ¡®Identification¡¯ skill level?¡± Lerisa was a little giddy at the first part of his sentence but her blushing face turned pale by the end. She shakily answered his question. ¡°M-Master level 3¡± Michael and co. were shocked at the statement. ¡®How many items did the little girl identify just to reach that level?¡¯ were the thoughts that ran through most of them, Jemma was just looking surprised to fit in. Michael¡¯s ¡®IA¡¯ was his most commonly used skill and it was only at Expert level 4. Michael thought that he may have hit the jackpot in acquiring this new ally. (On a side note, God-ranked ¡®Identify¡¯ pretty much allowed the user to see the materials needed to create the item as well as the instructions on how to do it. No one else knows though... gift from the author¡­) ¡°Then here, analyze this bracelet. Share the info to me as well.¡± Lerisa nodded as she took the bracelet. She was entranced by the design of what she held since it seemed to have been old but still had a high quality to it. The Bracelet was designed rather thickly. It didn¡¯t match the width of a bracer but it was wide and had a large detailed design on it. Made of gold, the design depicted a scene where a man (stickfigure) is seen pointing a spear or staff at something. The end of the staff had a light coming out of it (almost made of gold although there seemed to be some white gold included to give it a better look) and then a great number of ¡®Fireballs¡¯ and ¡®Lightning Strikes¡¯ and ¡®Ice Bolt¡¯ are drawn around the man and being sent away. It was an incredibly detailed drawing...basically if Michael had looked at it the first time, he may have avoided the sculpture free-for-all from before. ¡°Identify. Identify. Identify. Identify. Identify. Identify. Identify. ¡° 7 tries before her Master ranked ¡®Identification¡¯ could even take. Lerisa¡¯s eyes widened and flashed to Michael before settling back on the Bracelet. Her hands started to quiver. ¡°S-s-share information.¡± That command was a general one that people with the identification skill could use. ¡®Identification¡¯ usually only allowed the user to see the information; once the item was out of their hands it becomes ??? once more. The ¡®Share Information¡¯ command unlocks the details for everyone to see and was used by Identifiers so that their clients could read it for themselves. On a side note, the Merchant skills like ¡®Item Description Change¡¯ is virtually useless against anyone with even a Beginner ranking in ¡®Identify¡¯ so Michael had no fear of being conned. Lerisa shakingly handed the Bracelet back to Michael.
¡¯Instant Analyzing¡¯ has shown a few more hidden abilities for the item ¡®Agiel¡¯s Band¡¯.
Agiel¡¯s Band
Unknown Durability: 2,988,673/3,000,000 Defense: 300 (only when hit) A magical band created by the Human Blacksmith Tiurand for the Demon Wizard Agiel who then magically enchanted it. This band can turn a battle or a war if wielded by the right person. Has the ability to passively store a minute quantity of Mana from its surroundings. When equipped, the last spell being used will be automatically recorded using ¡®Copycat¡¯. If the user does not set a limit on the Band, then the Band will use all of the stored Mana to recreate the spells. When equipped, 95% of the Mana from surroundings will be absorbed unless limited by the user. (¡®Instant Analyzing¡¯ has revealed the amount of mana already stored as well as the maximum Mana allowed. This is mainly due to your high base Intelligence and Wisdom.) Mana: 231/400,000
The ¡®Human Blacksmith Tiurand¡¯ and the ¡®Demon Wizard Agiel¡¯. Otherwise known to everyone else as the Human God-ranked Blacksmith and the Demon God-ranked Wizard. An item created by those two was now in Michael¡¯s hand. Michael immediately erased all grumblings he had about the time wasted finishing the ¡®Iron Mount¡¯. This item could probably buy several Human cities and still have cash left over for an independent Mercenary army of several thousand. Michael gave the Band to Liera and Catherine so both of them could see it before he rounded on Lerisa. ¡°This item would cause terrible pain to the person that revealed it. Nobles and Leaders, Good and Evil churches. All of them will try to take a hold of the person that revealed the information and will use any means necessary to get it. Good gods and goddesses have greed as high as their Evil counterparts.¡± Not all of that was particularly true. Good-aligned divine beings and their followers were subject to their patron¡¯s personalities. A Good-aligned Battle God for instance will only let his followers fight in large scale wars that involve over a thousand participants. They probably would not be allowed to search for anything that wasn¡¯t dropped during a battle. Still it was better to be safe than sorry. Lerisa¡¯s previously bright eyes turned dead once more when she thought about what Michael had said. It was definitely true that the item would attract much unwanted attention and Lerisa really didn¡¯t think she could last under torture. She accepted Michael¡¯s slightly true and logical words and nodded in agreement. Michael retrieved ¡®Agiel¡¯s Band¡¯ from Catherine who had it last and proceeded to Kiryun once more with Lerisa following now. With 4 woman in tow, all of them beauties to a degree, Michael could be seen with envious eyes by most men. However there was still something missing. After a few hours of walking Lerisa had to comment about Jemma. ¡°Ummm. This Stone Girl...Won¡¯t she be a problem to bring into the cities?¡± Everyone looked at Jemma and examined her. While her looks and body were definitely made with a Human woman in mind, albeit a woman that would be modelled after a man¡¯s fantasies, she was still made of stone. Her clothing flowed like regular clothing but no breeze was strong enough to even ruffle the strange stone-like substance it was made of. Michael also decided it was a problem so he took out his painting tools from his pack. He had a set of tools for each of his crafting skills but Blacksmithing required the use of a large forge. No campfire had the fire strength high enough to melt the metals properly. ¡°I guess I¡¯ll paint your skin to look more Human and Catherine can give you an extra robe. Or I¡¯ll make one. Take off those stone clothes.¡± Liera and Catherine looked shocked at what Michael said but they became even more shocked when Jemma actually obeyed. They scrambled to stop her but her question stopped them in their tracks. ¡°What? Theres no problem if Father sees me. Right?¡± The logic of that statement halted them but further thoughts entered. This was still a 20 year old man, a virgin man if Liera knew anything about Michael and his vehemence of being caught by Serena anywhere private. Jemma was a very beautiful stone girl and this may be a problem¡­ ¡°It¡¯s no problem. I¡¯ve made dozens of nude female sculptures under Master Cider. I don¡¯t see a problem in seeing another one. Plus painting needs to be done evenly in order to look alright. I¡¯ll be using permanent paint too so I won¡¯t need to do this all again.¡± Liera started to curse at what that perverted skinny baldy taught Michael. She couldn¡¯t find any holes in the statement so she had no choice but to allow him. What proceeded next was a long scene where 3 girls of mixed races were blushing from what Michael was doing. To add to the problem, Jemma started to moan halfway causing an increase in blushes. Michael didn¡¯t seem to hear or care though and his painting was done rather quickly. At least the skin portion was. Next were the eyes. He asked Jemma what kind of eyes she would like but she wasn¡¯t able to respond as she continued to gasp for breath. The other girls also couldn¡¯t look Michael in the eye so he just decided to paint the irises in a red and yellow crystal design. The rest of the eye was white to look more normal and then he moved onto her hair. Seeing as Liera had black hair, Catherine had Gold hair, and Lerisa had brown, Michael decided to paint Jemma¡¯s hair in a fiery red. He added some yellow and white highlights afterwards before painting her stone nails in a more pink colour. The end result was a Human woman with a stunning figure, flaming hair and eyes, and smooth flawless skin. The other three girls didn¡¯t think they lost in the looks department but they did see that Jemma was more exotic looking. They all glared at Michael, although the blush in their cheeks ruined the look. Michael decided to check out Jemma¡¯s stats at this moment. ¡°Show Jemma¡¯s stats and skills.¡±
Status
NameJemmaAge1382
Level35ClassStone Maiden
Fame847InfamyN/A
TitleGolem of MichaelWorld RankingN/A
GuildNone
Health5000Mana2000
Stamina3500
Strength213Dexterity104
Vitality500Intelligence200
Wisdom146Charm832
Luck57Agility89
Loyalty to Michael93%
Special skills. +30% more damage against wolves and wolf subspecies. (Gained from Master: Michael) Mana Recovery rate is increased by 1.5x its base rate. (Gained from Master: Michael) Does not have any Magical Affinity. Stone-like skin reduces physical damage but does nothing against elemental damage. Cannot be Healed except by using a ¡®Sculpture¡¯ skill.
Skills
Seduce. Beginner level 5. (98%) Passive skill
Sculpting. Beginner level 7. (6%) Passive skill
Stone Skin. Beginner level 4. (76%) Active skill
Cry of a Maiden. Beginner level 1. (92%) Active skill
¡°Show ¡®Charm¡¯. Show ¡®Seduce¡¯. Show ¡®Stone Skin¡¯. Show ¡®Cry of a Maiden¡¯.¡±
Charm
A value that represents the beauty of a person. The higher the stat, the more beautiful the person is. This value adds to the effect of several skills. A person is more likely to help someone with a high value in this stat. (EXTRA) Due to the fact that ¡®Jemma¡¯ was previously a Grand Masterpiece Sculpture and was made beautifully, she gains an automatic +750 to ¡®Charm¡¯.
Seduce. Beginner level 5. (98%) Passive Skill
A skill that only belongs to the most beautiful, seduction allows a person to twist whoever they want around their fingers. Easier to gain the trust and friendship of strangers. Easier for the other party to fall in love with you. Buying something costs 2% less for every 2 levels of ¡®Seduce¡¯. Selling something will increase the price by 5% for every level of ¡®Seduce¡¯. Will level as long as anyone feels some attraction from your looks or actions.
Stone Skin. Beginner level 7. (6%) Passive Skill
As a Stone Statue you gain the properties of stone while still being able to move. Incoming physical damage will be reduced. You take 5% less damage for every level of ¡®Stone Skin¡¯. You do not bleed and cannot gain the ¡®bleeding¡¯ effect from wounds. Cannot be healed by Clerics or other healing spells. Can be healed with the application of ¡®Sculpting¡¯ skill.
Cry of a Maiden. Beginner level 1. (92%) Passive Skill
A skill that takes advantage of the seductive wail of a maiden, use of this skill will call upon the righteous fury of Males and some Females. Damsels in Distress are the dreams of Knights and Adventurers. Charm will increase range of your scream. Current Range of skill: 16 Kilometres Anyone who hears you will fall under the skill ¡®Seduce¡¯. Due to the skill ¡®Seduce¡¯, your moans will also gain the quality of ¡®Cry of a Maiden¡¯ and ¡®Seduce¡¯. Anyone who sees you after using this skill will gain a boost in stats.
¡®This is a little too ridiculous¡­¡¯ Michael was extremely wary of Jemma after he finished reading. She was basically a walking ¡®Damsel¡¯ and any ¡®Distress¡¯ she might get into will gain the attention of a lot of useless people. Side note, Michael¡¯s Concentration negates the effects of Charm and Seduction, even when the stat is as low as it is now. When everyone had settled down from all the excitement, Catherine took out an extra robe she had. When asked, Catherine told the party that she kept 4 sets of clothing for emergencies. Where she placed them was a mystery but it seemed the cloth was relatively thin and easy to pack. Michael eyed the dress and judged that it wouldn¡¯t fit Jemma so he took it apart with his Tailoring skill and then remade it to fit her better. He also added a hood with some extra leather from his pack. Michael was wary about Jemma¡¯s looks and he wanted to hide her as much as he could. His tailoring skill was noted by Catherine and Lerisa and they both wondered what else the man could do. Lerisa had seen his Magic skills when he killed the horde of goblins and her mini army, and she also saw his swordsmanship and strength when he faced her Knight and Ranger. Catherine knew he had sword skills, magic skills, ability to give life to sculptures, a weird identification skill that didn¡¯t require him to touch the enemy or even battle it for a bit. He probably had more skills that neither woman would ever find out without asking. When the party started their journey again Michael told Lerisa to teach Jemma how to barter. He wanted Jemma to become a semi-Merchant because of her high Charm stat and her skill set. Lerisa had a tough time doing so since Jemma basically knew nothing about the world and concepts like money and business deals were foreign to her. Coins in Gaia were grouped in 20 sets of coins. 20 copper coins equaled 1 silver coin. 20 silver coins equaled 1 gold coin. The size of the coins were also relative to their costs. 1 copper coin was made of enough copper to equal 1/20th of a silver coin. This meant that the copper coin was the weakest coin made and had the most bends and dents in it. Silver coins were slightly thicker but smaller and that was because they needed to represent 1/20th the costs of a gold coin. A gold coin was made of pure gold. Each gold coin weighed about 1/10th of a pound. 20 Copper coins had the same metal value as 1 silver coin. 20 silver coin had the same metal value as 1 gold coin. Michael took out one of the coins they had gained from the Dungeon. The glint of the coin attracted some of the attention from Lerisa but he ignored her as he read the information box that appeared.
Ancient Gold Coin Made during a time when gold was rare and scarce, most of the nobility had crafted these thick coins in the likeness of their King. The rarity of the coin gives it a higher value than regular gold coins these days but the image that was inscribed on the coin makes its value soar. Show to an artifact collector to get a good deal. Approximate value for coin: 18 current gold coins
Even when the collection of gold coins was divided amongst the three dungeon hunters - Liera and Michael and Catherine each got 1/3rd share - the value of the coin made them rather rich for a first adventure reward. 834 of these Ancient coins were divided into 278 each but that still amounted to 5000 gold coins each. There were still some problems with supply and demand and the likelihood of finding a buyer but Michael was in the ¡®Historical Society¡¯ and he assumed he could donate his share to the guild and get some points back. Lerisa could also be used to find buyers and the selling of all the coins should go smoothly.
Several hours of traveling later. The 5 person party finally made it to Kiryun. The route from Kiryun to the empire of the old Mad King through the gorge wasn¡¯t a well traveled route due to the length and the lack of monsters. Although safer, most groups would travel the monster infested route in order to acquire items and experience from the monsters. Mercenary hiring prices also lowered if a Merchant takes the shorter route so it becomes a win-win situation for travellers. The city of Kiryun was a very large town, about the twice the size of Bellen. The city boasted a fighting force of 5000 men and women and most of the regular populous had gone down the Combat Series route before their ¡®Choosing Day¡¯. This meant that attacks against Kiryun would usually end with disaster. The main guilds that had headquarters within Kiryun were mainly ones that had the most members that associated with the Combat Series. The mercenary guilds ¡®Taskmasters¡¯, ¡®Battle Gloried¡¯, ¡®Rising Phoenix¡¯, and ¡®Duty¡¯ were the main 4 of the 5 large guilds there. ¡®Sons of Battle¡¯ was the main Combat guild in the city as well as the oldest, but their reputation and strength was waning by the day. ¡®Battle Gloried¡¯ and ¡®Rising Phoenix¡¯ were mainly free combat guilds that had a rivalry with each other and skirmishes between these two guilds during Dungeon runs were a common sight. ¡®Taskmasters¡¯ and ¡®Duty¡¯ were the main merc guilds that Merchants hired from and ¡®Duty¡¯ also took care of administrative work for the other mercenary guild. They gave the most quests and jobs to people who came looking, and their vast resources also gave good rewards for people who shared Dungeon info. Michael and his group was not supposed to attract too much attention when they came through Kiryun¡¯s gate. Michael had fashioned a durable cloak for everyone and their features were mostly covered by it. The cloak did not fully cover the faces all the time though, and when Jemma, Catherine, or Liera¡¯s face was seen, a great number of males started to follow to try and catch another glimpse. A few blocks into the city and the group had a following of about 300 people. Michael noted that most of the people in the crowded city were dressed in mismatched armor. A quick question and answer revealed that most of the people were ¡®Otherworlders¡¯. They seemed to have awful styles of dress and seemed to like the stats from the clothing rather than the comfortability or attractiveness of it. Strength over looks in a way. Michael then noted that the people he had killed earlier were ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ and not Bandits. On the way to the city, Michael had asked several questions concerning ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ to Lerisa. The answers he got back were strange and abnormal but basically understandable. ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ do not die. At least they do not stay dead for long. You can kill an otherworlder only to have him come back in less than a week and very pissed at his death. Lerisa had said that the first month of dying, they had come back to life in 5 days but the time had been reduced by a day since then. ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ also do not have good relations with the NPCs. They usually acted in a rude manner that delegated most NPCs to a servile role. They would interrupt conversations to speed it up and even shout at people when they don¡¯t get what they want. A vast majority of ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ had died in the first few weeks by the hands of NPCs. Another aspect of ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ would have to be their version of bandits. Since they can¡¯t die, some ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ take it upon themselves to kill NPCs and other ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ in order to steal their items and gain experience. These people gained a distinct reddish skin tone which darkened after every kill and were dubbed PKers by the ¡®Otherworlders¡¯. All of this indiscriminate killing had caused a small rift between them and the NPCs. Still, there were some ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ that did not follow their example. These ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ formed guilds and parties to tackle dungeons of high difficulty and they gained achievements after achievements. These ones usually treated other NPCs rather well in comparison and they killed the PKers whenever they found them. Over 2 months since their coming and the highest known level of an ¡®Otherworlder¡¯ was 133. When the party reached the center, Michael told Liera and Catherine to take their share of the Ancient Coins and go with Lerisa to sell them. Michael would try to find a room at an inn before searching for a member of his guild with Jemma. Everyone agreed to meet back in the central plaza in a few hours and they all split. The following they had also split with them. Michael removed his hood and obtained the glares of several of the followers. As the only male in a group of girls, he gained the enmity and envy of everyone who saw them. Michael walked through several inns and noted a few posters within each. The city had a great number of those posters but Michael didn¡¯t care about it at the moment. When he entered the 6th inn, called the Wandering Horse, he found a place with a quiet atmosphere and areas to lounge around. It seemed to be a high quality area so the place was filled with a few nobles and merchants and didn¡¯t have the rowdiness of the other places. Several servers were watching the customers to see if they were needed and there was even a well dressed bartender behind a counter, ready to take drink orders. The sounds of the kitchen was low and quiet. An old man in a suit walked up to Michael and gave him a once over. Michael was in a rather clean cloak but his clothes underneath was covered in travel dust and a large number of stains. Jemma was the same but still very pretty so she got a small smile from the old man. Michael had taken off his Wolf Armor set because of how loud the outfit would look in the city so he didn¡¯t look very impressive. His demeanor and presence still alerted the old man of his power though. ¡°How much would a room cost per day here?¡± ¡°A single room is 5 gold per day. A double is 10 gold per day while a triple is-¡± ¡°I¡¯ll take a single room and two double rooms please. We will also be staying here for a while.¡± The old man had started his speech with a tired voice and a look that said ¡®Do you even have money?¡¯ but when Michael finished his sentences and took out a clinking pouch of gold coins, the old man stood straight and his personality did a complete 180. Michael had 200 gold to start his adventure with, a gift from his parents. Gold was relatively hard to come by so the amount he had and would later get was enormous for a person just starting their adventure. The old man took both of their cloaks to wash and offered them different kinds of beverages before showing them to their rooms. Michael decided to change before going out and he also gave a new set of clothes to Jemma so she could also change. Michael¡¯s room was a 5 by 5 metre square room and had a luxurious bed in the center. A dresser was beside the bed and a closet made up an entire empty wall. The room was further decked out in high quality paintings and furnishings that would have cost a good amount of money. Michael examined each painting in order to get more experience for his ¡®Painting¡¯ skill. When the two finished they both went downstairs and re-equipped their cleaner cloaks before heading out. Michael went around the town to look for his guild member. The badge that each member had would identify them as part of the guild but in a town as large as Kiryun it was much harder to find a single man. Michael decided to go to each of the other inns and ask a few questions. A poster was on the wall of an inn and Michael stopped to read.
Kiryun is now hosting its yearly tournament for all. This is to celebrate the anniversary of the God-ranked Kilren¡¯s birthday and promote the outstanding quality of fighters that enter Kiryun. All fighters and classes are welcome to participate and rewards will be based on standings. No one above level 150 is allowed to participate and the minimum requirement to join is a level of 70. Magic is allowed. Items will be examined by the administrators of the tournament, No item that gives an unfair advantage will be allowed. No enchanted weapons will be allowed. All weapon types are allowed. No poison is allowed. Fights are to the death. Surrendering is allowed. Exiting the ring means forfeiting the match. You can be knocked out by the opponent.
Michael smiled at the poster. A tournament was exactly what Michael¡¯s adventure needed and since his stats were cut, he could basically match the strength of the opponent. Meaning he didn¡¯t need to hold back at all. Michael knew the birthdays of all of the God-ranked people so he knew that the tournament would take place in a few days. Registration was still open so Michael made his way to register after he checked out a few more inns. Several patrons knew of a person from his guild but they couldn¡¯t exactly give directions to him. Michael made his way to the registration tent in the eastern side of the city. This part of the city housed a great coliseum that took up 1/10th of the city and could seat about 300,000 people at once. It had been created before the Magus wars and the people of the town have a deep affection for the ancient building. Most of the soldiers would say that the coliseum is the main reason they would protect the town. The coliseum is a place that does not only serve as a place for competitions. Since the tournament in Kilren¡¯s name is a yearly event the coliseum would have to be used for more than one reason. Military officers and commander-in-training would set up military games and competitions using the Coliseum in order to simulate battles. Physical competitions and practices are also mostly done in the large coliseum and the stands always have a few people as audience every day. Michael signed up for the tournament in a tent that was beside the coliseum entrance and he found out through gossip that the format of the tournament this year was a single-elimination tourney. 3 weeks of registrations has created a large crowd of participants and the estimated number was supposed to be in the thousands so Round Robin and other tourney styles were too lengthy to use. The length of time given to the tourney was constantly extended and the costs for seats had skyrocketed as more and more participants had come. Betting had become a huge hassle since there were so many participants and the bookers had decided to open their stalls when the last rounds of competition start. Michael wrote his name and combat style on the registration sheet. He marked off Magic as one of the things he could do and he added that some of his items had some enchantments. Nothing to boost his power though so there was no worry about that. After Michael finished his registration, he left the registration tent and started to visit the shops that lined the main street when an old man appeared beside him. With shockingly blue hair and pair of glasses on his head, the man was dressed in a suit that was 3 sizes too large and made of expensive material. Michael¡¯s tailoring eye already started to measure the body size of the man and make some corrections to the suit before he could stop himself. The man himself was of average looks but his huge white mustache covered a great deal of his face. The blue haired man focused his eyes on Michael and spoke in a deep baritone of a voice. There was a slight hiss whenever the man said something with an ¡®s¡¯ in it. ¡°I¡¯ve been hearing that you¡¯ve been looking for a member of the Hissstorical Sssociety. What busssiness do you have with the guild?¡± Michael flashed his badge at the man and introduced himself. The other man didn¡¯t have a bad attitude around him, but the slightly serpent way of speaking would usually keep others away. They chatted as Sam led Michael and Jemma towards a lonely house in the south-eastern area of Kiryun. The house was a normal looking house made of wood and some brick. Only 2 stories, the house gave off a homely look that made it look like a family would be able to settle in easily. There was a small sign at the top of the entrance that said ¡®Historical Society Representative Dwelling¡¯. No wonder no one knew much about the guild. ¡°Ah, the new member. I was expecting you to passss through here monthsss ago. Were you waylaid in any way? Ah, my name is Ssssam. Sssorry about the hisss. It wassss a bad habit from my younger daysss. When I wasss a bit of a ssssnake addict.¡± The smile Sam gave Michael was a friendly smile that made the chilling hiss go away. Jemma was a little ways off to the side and she didn¡¯t seem to want to approach the hissing man so Michael didn¡¯t think he should introduce them. ¡°Ah, I was detoured to visit ¡®Iron Mount¡¯. It seemed that there was a time-spell on the mountain itself and I spent more time there than I wanted to. Hmm? How long? Well I spent 3 days exploring the mountain and came out to find that 2 months had passed.¡± ¡°¡®Iron Mount¡¯ isss well known for messsssing with time. You are lucky to only get off with 2 monthsss gone. Ssssome have been gone yearsss when they entered and then came out. Well, did you get anything of value from there?¡± Sam was actually quite surprised that Michael finished the Dungeon in only 3 days. The dungeon was known to have 6 levels to it and a secret one at the top that no one ever lived from. It usually took weeks to finish it and the time spell on the mountain caused problems for people who wished for the treasure. In the end, the dungeon itself was hidden away and only the books told of the history of the mountain. Sam didn¡¯t expect much from the exploration of the mountain. Since goblins were the only beings that infested it in recent years, the mountain has next to nothing of value for Adventurers and Historians. Sam of course did not know that Michael also finished the final secret level of the Mountain. ¡°Sam you are the representative of the guild for this city yes? That means I can donate what I find to you and you can give points based off what I give?¡± ¡°I do have permission to do so. Every repressssentative in the cities have permissionssss to give out pointssss, as long as the itemssss follow a few rulessss. Here, read thissss. Sssshow ¡®Guild Point Information¡¯ to Michael Kane.¡± A box appeared in front of Michael.
Guild Points A type of currency in the guild, points can be generated when a member completes quests for the guild or donates an item that the guild accepts. For the ¡®Historical Society¡¯, the following types of items are acceptable as donations.
  • Anything older than 200 years and cannot be found easily in this era
  • Anything concerning the Mad King¡¯s War or the Magus Wars
  • Anything concerning the ancient civilizations of old
  • Anything of ¡®Unique¡¯ or ¡®Artifact¡¯ ranking
Items will be appraised by members with permission and points will be given in accordance. Points can be used to trade for funds, items, weapons, or guild services. To see your points, use the command ¡®Show my Guild Status¡¯.
¡°Show my Guild Status.¡±
Guild Status
NameMichael KaneGuildHistorical Society
Position in GuildMemberGuild Points0
Ranking in GuildF# of Guild Members142
Nothing much to show. Michael nodded at the information he got and took out his large share of the Ancient Gold Coins. ¡°I would like you to appraise these coins and tell me the point costs of them. Also if you don¡¯t mind, please tell me what I can use points for.¡± ¡°Of coursssse. Let me jussst look at thosssse coinssss firsssst.¡± Sam took one of the coins and examined it. His eyes widened when he read the information box that came with it but he continued to examine the coin slowly. He didn¡¯t rely on the skill to show all the information but instead used touch and sight to find the hidden parts of it. He replaced the coin with another and continued his examination. This went on for 10 minutes and 4 more gold pieces before he sighed and stopped. The sigh worried Michael for a bit but Sam gave a helpless expression, not one with pity. ¡°Each of thessse gold coinsss are unique in their creation. I will need to ssset up a sssyssstem with sssome friendsss in order to give the correct amount of pointsss for each of them. Or would you like to get pointsss for the entire batch insssstead? There isss no need worry about time being wassted. I will need to examine each one anywaysss. You can take part in the long tournament later in the week.¡± ¡°I guess I can wait for you to analyze them all. When do you think it will all be finished?¡± ¡°Dependsss on how many people I can get working on it. With 10 or sssso people I can probably finish in a few weeksss. Maybe sssoon after the tournament endsss.¡± ¡°Can I offer Jemma¡¯s help? She has just joined my party and I would like her to learn several skills for the long journey ahead.¡± ¡°Of courssse. The more help, the better.¡± Jemma was a little reluctant to be away from Michael and Sam¡¯s hissing did still creep her out, but she agreed to help Sam a few hours a day. Sam¡¯s bushy eyebrows rose when Jemma called Michael ¡®Father¡¯ but he tactfully did not ask questions. Michael and Jemma arrived at the center plaza several minutes later and found Liera and Lerisa waiting for them. Catherine wasn¡¯t around so Michael asked after her. ¡°She went to the Church after we got the money from the coins. Her brother was also there and he seemed to have just come back from an adventure too. Both of them saw each other and started rushing to the front of the Church. And here. Our portion of the gold.¡± The gold was technically Liera¡¯s but both knew that neither of them would waste it on stupid things. Michael accepted the bag and was told that they had gotten 6,000 pieces from selling the coins. Catherine had the same and the buyer was extremely pleased to get the coins too. Michael led his party to the inn that he picked out. And was introduced to the proprietor when he entered. An elderly woman with a thin figure and dressed in a simple dress of blue silk, MIstress Annah was the owner of the Wandering Horse for the past 30 years. A waft of soft perfume clung to the lady as she fussed over Liera and Jemma, though she did start at the hard quality of Jemma¡¯s skin, and she mainly ignored Lerisa. Lerisa was obviously a dwarf to a person with half a head and she had a look on her face that screamed her dissatisfaction. It seemed the amount of gold that Michael and his party had obtained in the Dungeon had caused her to become extremely angry, even if she gained a lot of experience selling the Ancient coins. Michael left the girls in Mistress Annah¡¯s hands and made his way to his room. He decided to plan out the next few days before sleeping.
The next day, Michael left the inn early and made his way to the Craft Series area of town. Located in the north of the city, the size of the district reserved for Crafting in Kiryun was roughly the same size as the one in Bellen. In a town as big as Kiryun though, this meant that the district was proportionally smaller in comparison. Even though soldiers and adventures needed the craftsmanship of the Tailors and Blacksmiths, this just meant that those two took up the most area of the Crafts Series district. Sculpting, Woodworking, Painting, and the performance arts were delegated to small schools and areas. Michael hoped to find a good Bard teacher in Kiryun after he was done his task. His teacher in Bellen wasn¡¯t an expert in Singing and there were no other teachers that had an Expert in Bark skills and didn¡¯t have a student already. Michael knew of a few combat skills that required some Singing skills so he wanted to have a teacher that could pass on his skills. Michael first went towards the loudest area of the Crafting Series district. A cacophony of noise greeted Michael when he entered the biggest Blacksmith shop in Kiryun. The counter where deals could be made wasn¡¯t open to the populous at the time but Michael wasn¡¯t interested in buying anything there. Instead he walked through the open doors a few paces behind the counter and looked around. The scene was rather chaotic for an early morning period. Men and women were shouting orders at teens and some adults and they were running around trying to appease their masters. The adults confused Michael for a bit but when one stopped to take a break Michael knew they were ¡®Otherworlders¡¯. No real apprentice would have the gall to take a break during work. The man even looked shocked when a woman screamed her dissatisfaction at him. Michael walked through the chamber and towards an empty forge. The first floor of the building had 20 different forges and each was spaced very far apart from the others. This made for an incredibly large building and a very complicated ventilation system. MIchael almost got a headache when he took a look at the numerous pipes that were placed at the top. No apprentice or Blacksmith bothered Michael when he went to the forge, although a few did eye him. Forges were free to use and coal was for everyone. Metal was the thing that you needed to buy or acquire for yourself. Michael took out ¡®Agiel¡¯s Band¡¯ from his pack and set it to the side. He saw a few damaged areas to the incredible item and he wanted to repair it whenever he could. The band did not really need constant repair but Michael knew the rarity of such an item so he worried about it alot. Plus it amounted to 2 months worth of exploration. Michael examined the band deeply in order to find any faults with it. Some cracks along the golden design in some places and a few dents in the metal of the band were relatively easy things to fix. Materials were the problem though as Michael did not have much Mithril to spare. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Michael set to work on the golden design first. He took out a few gold coins and proceeded to melt them down. Some of the apprentices paused when they saw the gold, then gasped when he melted them. They haven¡¯t seen anything higher than a Silver coin in their life and Michael¡¯s display shook them a bit. Michael ignored them and continued to examine the band. Michael fixed the golden design slowly and patiently. He didn¡¯t want to mar the design at all so he worked with a miniscule amount of metal at a time. When he finished he took out a hammer and softly beat the dents back into place. Melted Mythril was applied when he noticed some cracks from his work and the band slowly went back to full Durability. Michael¡¯s watchers had increased constantly ever since he had come in. The design of band had attracted the attention of various Blacksmith Experts and Masters and his careful repairs earned their silent approvals. Some of the more sensitive apprentices noticed their Masters¡¯ attention and also gave part of their attention to Michael. The ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ really didn¡¯t care since they only wanted to get their Blacksmith skills quickly so they ignored the slowly working Michael. Michael finished his work and was happy with the Durability recovery. Even with such a high Durability, the item can become weaker quickly with the passage of time and lack of attention to it. Michael stowed the item away and then took out his used up weapons. Michael didn¡¯t fight much in ¡®Iron Mount¡¯ but his weapons were very dull and bent. Fighting sculptures was incredibly hard and their skin dulled weapons very quickly. Michael repaired his swords and daggers easily since he knew the exact metal requirements and care needed for his own creations. When the last dagger was repaired, Michael took some stored weapons he scavenged from the goblins and melted down the metals. He packed those away as backup for when he needed them and he tossed the useless leather and bone handles from the weapons. Michael exited the shop and started his search for a Bard. The sun only reached noon but Michael had been repairing for the last 6 hours and he wasn¡¯t even done with the day. Michael bought a few meat kabobs and bread from a local vendor and walked around the district trying to find his target. After an hour of searching, Michael decided to ask the people around for help. The news wasn¡¯t good as most of them denied knowing a Bard without a student. Michael was directed to a building that was for the Performance Arts and he entered the building to inquire about a teacher. He was told that most of the teachers already has students. The next ¡®Choosing Day¡¯ for a student was also a month away so he could either wait or go to another city, not in such rude terms though. Why does Michael need an Expert or higher ranked teacher? Ranking promotions require a catalyst in order for the person to rank up. This is usually true for every skill but not every skill has a difficult time doing it. For example, the ¡®Identify¡¯ skill requires identifying a higher ranked object than what the person can comfortably do. This is rather easy to do as the person just needs to spam the ¡®Identify¡¯ skill for a time on the single item just to complete it. Skills like a combat mastery one requires creating or learning an entirely new move or style for the weapon used. This can take a long time as learning similar kinds of skills does not count and creating skills require an exceptionally imaginative mind. A teacher should be able to express their experience of ranking up to their student. An Intermediate ranked person will only have experienced ranking up once and wouldn¡¯t be able to fully express what they did compared to an Expert ranked. Also the number of years a person needs to become an Expert is almost twice what a person needs to reach Intermediate. Michael gave up his search when the sun reached as low as the buildings. He headed back to the ¡®Wandering Horse¡¯ and had a secluded Dinner by himself. He went to sleep early again and decided to take it easy until the tournament.
For the next several days, Michael was taken around by the other girls as they all explored the city. Liera and Jemma were unhappy that Michael had left them to be by himself the second day they were there so they both made sure to keep an eye on him. Liera had bodyguard reasons and Jemma had familial reasons. Lerisa was there in order to buy and sell stuff. The slave Merchant of the group. Catherine told Michael on the Third day that she and her brother had passed all of the prerequisite tasks needed to be promoted. They would need to spend the next month in the Church learning the extra teachings of Ket and some new skills that are taught to priests. Michael was slightly disappointed that he wouldn¡¯t have a healer for the journey but he still had a rather large cache of Health potions to use. The group went around the city buying different types of products from the stores. Michael went to buy Alchemical ingredients and some various types of metals. He even bought a kilogram of Mythril for a few hundred gold coins, which was relatively cheap for the powerful metal. He also bought a few quality pieces of wood from the area and some pieces of leather. Michael wasn¡¯t a Lumberjack and he didn¡¯t like the unnecessary cutting and cleaning of leather from animals. As a spoiled rich kid he had the money to do what he wanted. Jemma needed new sets of clothing in order to fit in more. She didn¡¯t sweat or create waste like other races so her clothes didn¡¯t get dirty as quickly but she did need new clothes so people don¡¯t think shes too poor to afford much. Liera and Lerisa both gave input on what she should wear and Michael was dragged to see if the clothes were good. The glares that were pointed at him were easily ignored with Concentration and he closed his ears to whispers. Michael¡¯s concentrated eyes caused some nervousness among the girls though and blushes appeared more than once. Michael¡¯s demeanor and his display of weapons prevented problems from occurring with creeps and the like. However, on the fourth day¡­ The girls were walking ahead of Michael and were chatting about the sights of the cities. Some of their glances kept turning back to Michael just to make sure he was there and hadn¡¯t run away. Michael ignored those glances and focused on window shopping the passed stores when a small scream from Jemma cause his head to whip to the girls. Jemma had been giving a glance to Michael when she accidentally walked into the back of a man. The impact was rather small but the man immediately pushed back and hit Jemma. She screamed at the impact but didn¡¯t move from the spot due to her body type and the man instead got severely damaged from the sculpture tackle he tried to do. He fell to the floor in pain and his group mates glared at Jemma and the girls. Jemma and Lerisa backed away from those glares by Liera gave a low growl as she bared her teeth and took a step forward. Her posture was hunched and ready to pounce but before either side could do anything, Michael situated himself between them. ¡°Get out of our way man. Those chicks need to be taught a lesson!¡± ¡°A lesson? And your fallen friend there also tried to teach them a lesson, no?¡± The group seemed to have been harassing the crowds as they were moving, pushing people who had touched them or groping a female every once in a while. Michael noted that they were ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ and they were in the livery of a passing nobleman from a different city. The local soldiers weren¡¯t allowed to interfere with them, as much as they wanted to. Michael noted the avoidance the other people were giving the group and the clenched hands and glares the guards were giving them. He interrupted the group on the assumption that no one liked them but wasn¡¯t powerful enough to do much against them. Michael was different as he was raised to shove nobles out the door with a boot up their butt. ¡°Ah, do you not know who we are? We are in the service of-¡± One of the men, a tall fellow with a long face and a bald head straightened himself to give a speech. Liera punched him quick enough to leave no image of her moving and the man fell backwards in pain, his nose broken and bleeding. Her innocent expression in that situation screamed the fact that she did it and Michael almost smiled. Some of the crowd also noticed and smiled at MIchael¡¯s group while somehow still giving the evil eye to the other group. Before the group could consider attacking, Michael took out 8 daggers from around his body and displayed them in front of the group. His face was emotionless but his eyes dared them to attack and find out what he would do with the daggers. One of the men actually took a step forward to attack and Michael threw 3 knives at the man. The knives hit his arm, leg, and side at almost the same time and the man fell down in a scream of pain and a spurt of blood. Michael calmly re added 3 knives back to his hands. The group snarled in anger at Michael¡¯s actions but there was also a hint of fear in their eyes. They didn¡¯t want to create a scene in the middle of the city and cause problems that may jeopardize their standings with a Noble they had accidentally saved. As ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ they wouldn¡¯t usually think twice about defending their pride but they couldn¡¯t take the chance of dying and missing the Tournament event that was taking place tomorrow. The group backed away slowly and left their injured comrades in the streets. No one cheered their departure but the atmosphere of the area definitely turned more positive. Michael walked towards the groaning pincushion and ripped out the daggers from the man¡¯s body. No one was going to heal him soon and he would probably die from bleeding out, but Michael couldn¡¯t find any reason to care. The day finished relatively quickly after that. Jemma expressed her desire to go back to the inn and Liera decided to accompany her back. Michael went with Lerisa to a few more shops but he really didn¡¯t need any more materials so they also headed back. Then Michael saw a familiar large man making his way through the streets. ¡°Hey! HEY MISTER!¡± Michael called towards the man and made his way through the crowds. The ¡®Otherworlder¡¯ paused in his walking to look back and started when he caught sight of Michael. Even though Michael wasn¡¯t in his Wolf Armor this time, the man obviously recognized him. It had been only 2 RL weeks since they last met. Michael reached the man and started to lead them towards a more secluded area. Lerisa followed silently behind until Michael asked her to head back. The large man and Michael went into a quiet and mostly empty bar - it was still too early - and sat down on a table. The large man was the same as when Michael first saw him a few weeks ago. Full beard and muscular, the large man was dressed in a full Armored Knight set and was equipped with a quality longsword and a large Kite shield in red. He made a much more different picture than most ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ Michael had already seen. ¡°Its been a while milord. How have you been.¡± ¡®Ah, he still thinks I¡¯m a noble...¡¯ Michael had acted like a noble the first time they had met. His actions recently also seemed to look like it too since he had dismissed his servant (Lerisa the Servant!!!) and practically dragged the man to where he wanted. Michael decided to end the act. ¡°Ah, I¡¯m not really a noble you know. My family doesn¡¯t own castles or land or anything. Just one really big house. Anyways, how have you been doing? I see you became a Knight yes? Or are you a Paladin?¡± The man was a little skeptical of the supposed low class Michael but he did respond more normally. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m a Knight. Paladins required too much work to get a Class for and the other Classes didn¡¯t suit me much. Ah, I should thank you for your rings. They increased my strength quite a bit in the early days of training so I finished it quicker than my peers.¡± ¡°Good, good. Do you wish to upgrade? Trade those 2 rings for a 50% one this time? Oh don¡¯t worry about bothering me, I can create stronger ones when I have the time. Here, here.¡± The large man was hesitant about getting more help from Michael but Michael practically ripped the two weaker rings from the man¡¯s hand and gave his stronger one to him. The Large man gave a slight groan when he put on the ring but he stayed steady unlike before. Michael didn¡¯t feel much difference between 350% extra gravity and 335% extra gravity so he just smiled at the other man¡¯s discomfort. ¡°I just remembered that we haven¡¯t introduced ourselves. My name is Michael Kane. I¡¯m a...combat class like yours but I can use a tiny bit of Magic when I need to.¡± Lerisa would have screamed if she heard his claim but fortunately she wasn¡¯t there. ¡°My name is Ferocious. I¡¯m of the Knight Class and I¡¯m obviously an ¡®Otherworlder¡¯ unlike you. I¡¯m going to be participating in the Tournament tomorrow, Will you be watching?¡± Ferocious obviously had the idea that Michael was of a higher level than 150. Ferocious was level 123 and he was one of the top players in Gaia. He was shocked when Michael spoke. ¡°Hmm? No, I¡¯ll be taking part. I barely made the cut at level 71 so I hope to face you in the finals.¡± A smile was on Michael¡¯s face as he gave a little friendly competition but the big man was just gaping. At level 71, Michael was probably stronger than Ferocious and the level difference was way too different. For the second time in Gaia, Ferocious was scared of these NPCs.
The day of the tournament and the birthday of Kilren. People across the city of Kiryun woke up early to line up at the coliseum doors and get good seats, only to find a mass of people already there; the result of camping the night. Michael¡¯s party had awoken rather late but when they reached the coliseum the group was ushered through a side door and taken to Michael¡¯s area. He had told the coliseum guards to watch for people matching their descriptions and the group would be given private seats so that they could cheer for him. Actually Michael had paid a large sum to acquire private boxes for the girls. The problem of having 3 beauties in a crowd of mostly men wasn¡¯t something to ignore so Michael made sure to keep them comfortable. Michael himself had been inside a large waiting room since early morning and at the moment it only had a few hundred competitors left. One by one they were led into a private room and had their items checked. The people in those rooms had a Master ranked ¡®Identify¡¯ skill so anything that couldn¡¯t be identified would be labeled as illegal and kept under lock until the person lost or won. Michael had to keep ¡®Agiel¡¯s Band¡¯ inside the ¡®Warded Box¡¯ with the ¡®Silven Plant¡¯ and the box was kept with Liera. Liera would have been extremely stressed if she had to keep the box safe in a huge crowd so the private rooms were also bought because of that. When Michael¡¯s turn was up, he walked inside the room and was met with a tired elderly man seated behind a portable desk. The man had a folder in front of him and a set of writing equipment. He gestured for Michael to remove all of his clothing and don the clean robe. The robes were given in the hundreds so there was no fear of using a used one. Michael removed every bit of clothing he had but fumbled a bit as he took off his restraining vest. His muscles almost sighed in relief as he became unrestrained. The old man just gave a small smile at the restraining vest. The old man went through Michael¡¯s leather equipment and nodded as he wrote down the information he found about them. The ¡®Erlinium Family Necklace¡¯ was identified and that made the man¡¯s eyebrows rise for a bit. He probably didn¡¯t know the name though since that was an elven name for an elven noble house. Michael had given back the wrist weights to Serena but his training was technically over so he didn¡¯t feel he needed to have them replaced. So a leather vest over a wool shirt and leather pants made up Michael¡¯s basic attire. Next were the weapons. Since the tournament was a one-on-one duel style tournament with single elimination rounds, Michael decided to forgo the massive amounts of throwing daggers he usually had on him. His only weapons were a long Dagger as his defensive and piercing weapon, and his curved blade with the odd handguard. The old man looked these over rather quickly since the information about them was rather basic, then he moved onto the few accessories. Picking up the most mundane ring first, the old man identified it and smiled at the small gravity spell on it, 10% boost wasn¡¯t a very powerful spell and the fact that it only affected the user¡¯s weight meant that the ring didn¡¯t go against the rules. The 25% one recieved the same look but the 100% one caused a slight widening of the eyes. Simple math told that the 3 rings gave a total of 135% gravity exerted on the user. He gingerly picked up the last ring and gave a deep sigh when he read the information. Something along the lines of ¡®Gods and Goddesses help the poor fool who makes him take off these rings¡± went through his head as he picked up the restraining vest. It was the last one to be looked at and the old man just shook his head before putting it down. Everything was noted down in the folder, hence why Michael only wore his leather equipment. ¡°Now please show me your stats. You can turn off what you want first but I need to see your name and level. My name is Roy.¡± There was no skill that hid your name or level so those 2 were usually the only parts of a status that paranoid people would share. A person can create a false guild in order to hide behind that power or they could use a potion that abnormally changed the Fame and Infamy stat for a time (very useful for chaotic aligned people who wished to move about more easily). Class was also usually never shown since the skills for it could be estimated and the person could be taken down quickly. Michael turned off everything but his level and name. He had a better reason to hide his Class than others. He focused his mind on Roy. ¡°Show Status to Roy.¡± The displayed information was jotted down and Roy motioned Michael to put his clothes back on. The 30 minute check up was finished and Michael went through a different door than the one he entered. With 30 ¡®Identifiers¡¯ doing the work, all of the contestants were finished before noon and the tournament officially started. The massive stadium was equipped with 10 large stone rings in the shape of a circle and Magic was used to show the different battles around the city. Bars and Inns were filled with people who couldn¡¯t buy the tickets for the show and had to resort to watching it elsewhere. Michael was in the second set of contestants so he had the opportunity to view that ¡®Man¡¯. Located in the centermost ring, two men were paired off. One was equipped with the standard equipment of an adventure: Leather clothing died in forest green, strong ox hide boots, a heavy cloak with an attached hood that could block poison as well as it could dust. He was equipped with dual swords and seemed proficient in its use. His opponent was an ¡®Otherworlder¡¯. The ¡®Otherworlder¡¯ was equipped in a rather mismatched set of clothing. He had a leather vest over his wool black robes and the vest was died in a light yellow. His bright red boots were made of a hide that couldn¡¯t be identified from a distance and he had a wide green hat that covered his features. He wielded a staff in one hand and a large crystal ball in the other and his appearance caused more laughter than any serious wonder. Michael thought that he looked rather like Harold but his attire was actually not as eccentric. It was definitely as mismatched as it could be but Michael had once seen Harold wear nothing but 5 flower stems once. He thought that this man was probably only wearing that for the stats, a proper ¡®Otherworlder¡¯. Michael didn¡¯t expect much from the man and it seemed that no one else did either. That all ended by the end of the fight. Fights usually only lasted 5-20 minutes max and if it went over, then the person that the audience liked the most would usually advance to the next round. The centermost fight however lasted less than a minute. The adventurer dashed forward when the gong rang and he already had his blades raised in a position to give a deep strike. The bright man however raised his crystal ball in the air and shouted some indistinct words. Black smoke seeped out of his staff and traveled to the raised ball and all of a sudden the adventurer was on his knees giving an ear wrenching scream. All of the other battles stopped as everyone¡¯s attention was fixed on the scene. The bright man laughed in a maniacal way and then stabbed the blunt spear into the screaming man. The staff took a while to pierce the man but in the end the blunt part ripped through the body and the ¡®Otherworlder¡¯ lifted the body over his head. The raised body was still convulsing in pain and the man¡¯s screams had died down. The bright man slowly lowered the body towards him and then a loud snap echoed across the coliseum. Then the adventurer was thrown out of the ring; actually only the pieces of the adventurer that wasn¡¯t eaten were thrown out. Everyone in the city was shocked at the scene. Then a woman screamed and most of the crowds shouted curses at the man for the disturbing scene. Several Knights in the crowd and fighting actually looked like they wanted to fight the monster but they were stopped when a brave announcer told everyone to calm down. He also told the contestants to finish their matches since there wasn¡¯t much time left. People may have thought the man was a little emotionless about the scene but one look at the announcer¡¯s green face shut them up. The bright man laughed at what he had done and he laughed at the audience. He saw a Knight itching to charge him and he laughed at him too. Michael knew that this man was probably the most dangerous one in the competition and he absolutely hoped that someone took him down before the finals. Michael didn¡¯t want the fuss of fighting a creep like him. When all of the competitions were done in the first set, Michael¡¯s group made their way to the stages. His was the leftmost ring and he was facing off against another dual swordsmen. This one wasn¡¯t dressed as an adventurer but in the mismatched armor that Michael started to associate ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ with and Michael smiled at his luck. He had never faced one of these people in a one-on-one before and this would be a good chance to test them. The gong rang, signaling the start of the matches, and Michael¡¯s opponent dashed forward in the same way as the adventurer. Michael didn¡¯t move from his spot and just took out his long dagger to fight with. The slashes and combos done by the other man were impressive in their speed but he strength was really lacking. The first blow was easily blocked and pushed back by Michael and the man stumbled back in surprise. His attacks from then on were easily seen through by Michael and Michael was extremely shocked at the weak person in front of him. Michael let some of the hits go through and noticed that his HP only decreased by a few points. This meant that Michael¡¯s overall defense was only a little bit lower than the other man¡¯s strength. Very weak indeed¡­ Michael decided to end the stupid match as he took out his curved blade. The blade caused the foe to start in surprise and Michael noticed his fear. Michael with one weapon was able to block every attack by the dual wielder and Michael with two weapons could¡­ Michael rushed the hesitant man and swung his blade. It was an obvious swing yet when the other man tried to block it with crossed swords, Michael¡¯s blade cut right through the swords and split the man in half. Michael sniffed in disappointment as he walked off the ring in victory.
The next half a dozen fights gave off the same feeling as Michael fought against ¡®Otherworlders¡¯. They seemed to rely only on their stats to fight and none of them had any semblance of a technique in their combat skills. Michael killed them all since he needed the experience to level and he distributed the 4 levels of stats into Strength, Vitality, Agility, and Dexterity. The first day ended with only a hundred competitors left and over 4000 others lost or dead. The bright man¡¯s name was revealed to be Necromn. All of the ¡®Otherworlder¡¯ opponents he would of faced had surrendered before the fight even began while the 3 NPC competitors were killed in the same was as the first. Each death resulted in his creepy laughing and a dampening of the tournament mood. Since each tournament round required a random roll to determine who faced who, no one could tell who their future opponent would be. The randomness was so that people would not be able to watch their opponent¡¯s battles and devise tactics and strategies before the fight actually began. This also caused a stir when an ¡®Otherworlder¡¯ was chosen as Necromn¡¯s opponent and the ¡®Otherworlder¡¯ shout his surrender. The ¡®Otherworlder¡¯s¡¯ face would usually show reluctance and disgust at the situation but they were usually firm in not facing Necromn. Something about too much pain and the like. The second day started and several betting booths were finally open. People betted on their favorite contestant and the Bookers would be racking in the cash whenever a person lost in the tournament. Since there was only one clear winner and one clear prize, the winnings from placing a bet and the losses were rather fair in exchange. The bookers seemed to be the greatest winners since they walked off with a fair bit of revenue. Michael had Liera bet 200 of their gold on himself. He didn¡¯t think he would lose easily and they would need the extra cash when they travelled. At least that was what he told Liera. Truthfully he just wanted to try his hand at gambling once. The next few competitions Michael was in went relatively easily. ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ were all horrible at one-on-one since they focused more on fighting mobs of opponents or cooperating with allies to take down Bosses. Michael mowed down his ¡®Otherworlder¡¯ opponents but he did it relatively quiet and with little flare. Michael constantly focused on decreasing his presence so people barely noticed he had a match, let alone his combat style and strength. He wanted his betting score to stay at a high rate. Meanwhile Necromn¡¯s betting chances had risen constantly and he basically had a high chance of winning which meant that the winnings you can get from betting on him was very little. Michael¡¯s 3rd last opponent was not an ¡®Otherworlder¡¯. As the first NPC Michael would face other than his parents and Liera, Michael was rather excited. He equipped both weapons right at the start and waited for the attack. The NPC charged Michael a little warily. He didn¡¯t have any information on Michael since he barely noticed his fights so he didn¡¯t take any chances. The man circled around Michael and attacked when it saw Michael¡¯s eyes flash towards Necromn¡¯s fight across the field. A scream could be heard in that direction but the man didn¡¯t care. His strike was aimed at Michael¡¯s thighs as he hoped to disable him but Michael managed to dodge at the last inch. Thinking that Michael had done it with only luck, the man continued his assault only to be dodged every time. Michael meanwhile was very saddened. The NPC had a better style of fighting than ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ but nowhere near a level that made Michael¡¯s blood boil with excitement. Michael sighed and fought back a little. The NPC started defending against Michael¡¯s light but quick strikes. Arm, leg, neck, shoulder, thigh, ribs. Strikes were coming from Michael very quickly but not enough that the NPC couldn¡¯t see it. The man was aghast at the skill Michael was displaying and he started to back up so that there was more room between the two. The NPC didn¡¯t know that both of them were already at the edge of the ring however and his steb back cause him to exit the ring. Michael stopped his strike and looked in surprise at the quitting man. When he saw surprise on the other man¡¯s face he knew that it was a mistake and not cowardice that caused an end to the match. ¡°Meet me afterwards and I¡¯ll teach you a few things.¡± With those last words Michael left the ring.
Michael¡¯s second-last fight was finished before it even started. Since the main thoughts about the tournament was that Necromn would win, every single contestant but Michael had basically quit. Since 7 people were left in the final round it was about to be a round robin style ending but since everyone quit when that was raised, it became a match between Michael and Necromn. Michael had been relatively silent throughout the tournament so bets for him were rare and high. 200 gold was bet on Michael by Liera and with the amount of favour Necromn had, that 2000 gold could easily turn into a few hundred thousand gold pieces. Necromn winnings were slim in comparison. 200 gold would return about 3 gold pieces which was an incredibly measly sum. Still, people bet on him since they really thought he would win. When Michael heard this news from everyone around him, he had a humorous idea. With the new skill he got from ¡®Iron Mount¡¯ and a second idea that had been brewing in his mind, Michael made up a plan for the match. At mid-noon on the second day of Kilren¡¯s birthday celebration, Michael and Necromn faced off.
Necromn had a silly smile on his face as the two faced off. Michael wasn¡¯t able to see his features from a distance, but up close he could see that the man was incredibly ugly. A mouth that was too thin and smiling widely, nose too large with an extra hole on the left side, one eyebrow that didn¡¯t exist and his teeth were mostly missing. His eyes seemed to be the only normal part of the face and Michael was a little put off by them. They nearly glowed with a black hate that was mismatched on his smiling face. Michael equipped his weapons and got ready. When the gong rang, Michael did not rush Necromn but instead waited for his weird attack. Michael calmly watched as Necromn raised his crystal ball into the sky and chanted his nonsense chant. Then Michael came under attack. Michael¡¯s body was attacked on every inch and it felt like a thousand needles were constantly poking various parts of his body. His Health did not lower at all but Michael could feel the pain as if it was real. The audience expected Michael to cry out in pain like the other opponents of Necromn, but instead he laughed. He laughed at the absurdaty of the skill being used. Michael laughed at the skill that attacked the mind of a person and gave them phantom pains in order to lower their mental defenses for the finishing strike. Michael laughed at the fact that Necromn was using a mental skill on Michael, the man who had trained his Concentration state since before he was even born. When Michael finally stopped laughing he tightened his mental defenses and waited for Necromn¡¯s next move. It didn¡¯t come however as Michael was right in his conclusion that the first strike lowered mental defences in order for the second strike to work. What Necromn was using was a combination of Soul-affiliated magic. The first was aptly named ¡®Agony¡¯ and was a skill that recreated a simple sensation and amplified it many-fold. Necromn had used the sensation of a needle piercing skin and the amplification cause his opponents to scream in pain and horror. The second was a more evil spell and had stronger restrictions. First was that the target would need to have lower than average will and strength. This was accomplished through the use of ¡®Agony¡¯. Next was the giving of blood from the victim. Necromn used the staff in inflict greater pain and pierce the body, giving the blood aspect to the spell. The last was the actualy deed. The blood that was absorbed would then fall under the dominion of the castor. If the opponent was not weakened then the blood would not obey the user but if the blood did obey him, then the user took control of the blood and used it for whatever he would like. Necromn used the blood to ¡®consume¡¯ the body of his opponents and instill fear in the audience and future opponents. The crystal ball and staff were not enchanted in any way. Instead, both were used as items necessary for his skills so Necromn was technically allowed to use them in the tournament. Since his spells were technically nulled by Michael¡¯s Concentration, Necromn was stuck doing nothing. His skill did not allow him to learn any other type of spell and his combat abilities were incredibly below par. Michael saw that Necromn couldn¡¯t do anything, so he smiled in delight. Then he removed his shirt. The restraints that were shown made most of the warriors nod in appreciation. Most of them used those restraints during training so they knew the limits of it. The fact that Michael had it on during the tournament meant a high degree of strength from him. Michael waved the announcer over and gave the vest to him. ¡°Folks. I am pleased to show the following stats of this vest to you. Show to all watching.¡± An information box appeared in front of everyone.
Heavy Restraining Vest
Uncommon Durability: 3,001 / 4,000 Defense: 20 A high quality restraining vest made for people with incredible strength. Most masters of combat avoid even using this vest since the strength of it would cripple them. Restricts 60% of movements. Loss of concentration will cause ¡®Snapback¡¯ which means that the limb being moved will snap back into place and damage you.
Michael then removed his 4 rings and gave them to the announcer as well, before everyone else could remove their shock. ¡°Show to all watching. Show to all watching. Show to all watching. Show to all watching.¡±
Ring of Gravity V1
Created by a sadistic person that liked to watch people being crushed by their own weight. Increased personal gravity by 10%
Ring of Gravity V2
Created by a sadistic person that liked to watch people being crushed by their own weight. Increased personal gravity by 25%
Ring of Gravity V4
Created by a sadistic person that liked to watch people being crushed by their own weight. Increased personal gravity by 100%
Ring of Gravity V5
Created by a sadistic person that liked to watch people being crushed by their own weight. Increased personal gravity by 200%
By the time all of this was completly read and accepted by the audience, most of the people who bet for Necromn started to cry at their misfortune and haste. On the opposite side, the people who bet on Michael were cheering in glee. Betting areas were closed a long time ago. Michael smiled at the small commotion he made and raised his hand to the sky. This was technically the first time he did the spell on such a large scale but he was pretty sure he knew what to do. Michael shifted his sight and looked to the sun. Michael focused within himself and tried to find the two new sources of mana. Every human had a personal source of Mana that they could tap into and use but it was exceedingly difficult to do so. It basically meant that people had to take a piece of their actual essense and use it. It wasn¡¯t a permanent loss of essense as the essense will recover, but it was much simpler to use the Mana from your surroundings. Healing spells were technically spells that took a small piece of essense from the Gods and Goddesses and they could heal their essense much faster in comparison. Michael delved and found the two new sources. One felt warm and just the presense of it filled Michael with the joy and ecstasy of life. He felt he could have drowned in it if he wanted to. The second source did not give off a warm feeling the it also had a feeling of ecstasy within it. If the other felt like he could drink life itself, the second one felt more like he could rip life out of the world and store it within himself. It exuded a power that called to Michael and begged to be used. Michael answered it. Michael touched the source and took out a piece of it. He threw it out of his hands and pushed it towards the sky. What happened next cause everyone to gasp. The bright mid-noon sky slowly darkened as Michael¡¯s spell took hold. The dark fog-like spell spread all across the skies and then darkened by the second. The sun was then replaced by a bright full moon and everyone received an information box.
Space of the Night
You are under the effect of ¡®Space of the Night¡¯. All monsters recieve a 30% boost to stats and you gain a 10% boost to experience.
The spell wasn¡¯t an evil spell but a large-scale dark-attribute spell. No one in the city had ever seen a spell like that before and people from a distance would only see a thin line between the city and the sun. The effects of it were not very good as everyone was still inside the city and there were no monsters about, but everyone did freak out at the display. When everyone calmed down and looked back at the duel, they saw Michael lift up his dagger and puncture himself. It was definitely a deep cut and the amount of blood gushing out caused some of the watchers to turn a little green. It got worse when Michael frowned in dissapointment and stabbed himself in other places. When his Health finally reached 30%, Michael felt the rush of power from the release of the curse. With a 30% boost from the nighttime effect, and 14% from his Combat Master, Michael became the strongest being within the city.
Status
NameMichaelAge20
Level75ClassH. Champion of LotL
Fame350Infamy0
TitleStudent Under The GodsWorld Ranking1382
GuildHistorical SocietyFree Stat Points0
Health1575/(4550+700)+44%Mana2070/(3800+1100)+44%
Stamina2759/(4175+900)+44%Stored Rage178
Strength412 + 44%Dexterity239 + 44%
Vitality455 + 44%Intelligence(360 + 20) + 44%
Wisdom(390 + 20) + 44%Mana Control205 + 44%
Luck139 + 44%Agility330 + 44%
Concentration509 + 44%Willpower177 + 44%
Charisma140 + 44%Presence(150 + 20) + 44%
Special skills. +30% more damage against wolves and wolf subspecies. Mana Recovery rate is increased by 1.5x its base rate. Under the effects of ¡®Space of the Night¡¯. You have the ¡®Blessing of the Wolfblood¡¯. You have the ¡®Blessing of Janira¡¯. You have the ¡®Curse of Plutys¡¯.
Michael decided to try out his skills. He sheathed the blade and turned slightly to the side and aimed for a section of the ground. Then he used ¡®Quickdraw¡¯ and sliced the ring. A large shatter came a few seconds after his swing and the ring split along his slice. The display of power shocked the audience to silence and Michael turned his feral gaze onto Necromn. When Necromn saw the look he immediately tried to log out. It was impossible to do so in the middle of a fight though (main reason why Players didn¡¯t fight him. If they could log out, most of them would have tried at least) so Necromn was stuck with a monster of an opponent. Suddenly 2 large sized ¡®Fire Tornadoes¡¯ emerged on the sides of Necromn and stayed there. Michael lifted a hand in a showy fashion and several dozen ¡®Fireballs¡¯ were created around the ring and also stayed in one place. These were just backup plans in case Necromn had any other tricks up his sleeve as Michael wanted to kill the man close up. Necromn¡¯s messed up face started to twist in a sneer as Michael started to walk forward, but Michael could read the fear in his eyes. When Michael walked close enough to kick the man, Necromn raised his staff and tried to beat him back. Michael just cut the staff in half and then cut the man¡¯s hand off. The scream that came out of him was a satisfied sound after what the man caused to several of his opponents.. When Necromn finally stopped his screaming he started to flail about in his robes. He replaced his crystal ball for one that was bigger and dyed in a crimson red. Necromn almost sneered with his pain racked face and he raised the crystal over his in the same manner he did with the regular crystal ball. This time Michael could pick out the words being spoken. ¡°Aaggooonny tiiimmmess aaa mmmiiillllllionn.¡± Michael judged that there was something wrong with his tongue and mind. The words being spoken was basically a command for the skill ¡®Agony¡¯ and Michael judged that the spell was an improvement over the other. Michael steeled his mind once more. Pain blossomed on Michael¡¯s body but he endured due to his Concentration stat being at 130% higher efficiency than before. The pain came and stayed but Michael just moved his body as if it hadn¡¯t happened. Michael stepped forward and quickly slashed the crystal holding arm off. While Necromn was once again screaming in pain, Michael went over to the crystal and picked it up.
Blood Crystal
Rare Durability: 98/100 A crystal filled with the souls of many people. As an item that goes against the very nature of life, it is your duty to destroy it. Grants the skill ¡®Improved Agony¡¯ to the holder. Takes away the holder¡¯s ability to speak properly. Curses the holder heavily. When the holder dies or the crystal is destroyed, the holder¡¯s soul is permanently destroyed and they cannot be revived in any way. (permanent death in Gaia for the ¡®Otherworlder¡¯ who held it.)
¡®Interesting.¡¯ And Michael crushed the crystal in his hands.
As the winner of the tournament, Michael became the 142nd winner in Kiryun. His name was recorded and added to the roster of winners, but there wasn¡¯t any plaque that displayed the name to the public. Only by word of mouth would his name and features be spread around. Since Michael¡¯s Presence and Charisma stats recovered to their original amount, his looks, height, and aura were enhanced in the eyes of the people. They saw a monster of a man wielding powerful magics and displaying incredible strength. A person with the dignity of a Noble and a Hero who slayed a monster. So no one really noticed when a cloaked average sized man received the reward from the tourney committee and made his way to an Inn.
Michael was laying on his bed and examining the item he had gotten as a reward for the tourney. Michael and all of the participants had been expecting the reward to be something Rare or Unique but the information Michael got on it seemed relatively mundane. Still, it was better than something he himself could make regularly since swords and armor was his specialty.
Offensive Shield
Uncommon Durability: 500/500 Defence: 100 Attack: 20-50 A shield made by a Master Blacksmith, this shield was designed for harsh battles. The thinner edges of the shield allow for offensive slashes if it is done quick enough. The shield itself is made of a strong unknown metal alloy. Sharpening the sides of the shield will increase slashing ability. Slashes deal more damage depending on how much force is put into it.
As Michael started to think about what he should do with it, he heard a scream from outside the Inn. He knew the voice so he jumped off his bed and ran out. Not surprisingly, he saw that every male in sight was also going towards the voice...¡¯Great...¡¯ First Boss Fight Staying in Kiryun
So...new site and all...had to reupload most of this chapter... Oh well. Shield reward. Looks useless...cause it is. Let me explain: The Tournament dedicated to Kilren is mainly a low-tiered one. Prizes are usually donated by the Blacksmiths and no donations are higher than Uncommon in terms of rankings (like the real world no real business would donate some extravagant 1 million dollar piece). Most of the town of Kiryun knows so they don''t participate. The travelers that come through the city don''t though so they mainly are the ones participating. All of the winners that got the useless prizes do not go around and share what they got since they 1: would be embarrassed at the prize and 2: no one would believe them and instead they would be thought of as scum for trying to trick people into not participating. The tournament is a yearly thing so why would anyone think they have rare prizes every year? The next explanation for the time skip. I had a question that players would usually be told they would experience slower or faster time. This is true for players not NPCs. Michael had no players on his party so they were not aware of a time discrepancy. Grahaha I feel embarrassed that I messed up Ferocious''s name. I had it spelled Furious. Fixed...hopefully won''t make that same mistake next time. I forgot what else I had on here. Chapter 15.5.1 Necromn! NECROMN! ¡°NO! NO NO NO NO NO! THAT F***ING A**. WHAT KIND OF MONSTER WOULD DO THAT!?!?!? NOOOOO!!¡± Kelli Porter started to hit the opening console. The last messages he saw in game after he lost both of his arms caused him to scream in rage.
Your ¡®Blood Crystal¡¯ Job-item has been destroyed. The destruction of the ¡®Blood Crystal¡¯ has released 4732 Lesser Souls and 32 Moderate souls. You have lost 50520 health. You have DIED. You have been locked from the game for 18 hours.
You have failed your class quest ¡®Revival of the Bloody Soul Goddess¡¯ and have gained the Ire of Plutys. Your wandering soul has been taken by Plutys and destroyed. Your account has been deleted. Creating a new account is possible but there will be some restrictions due to your previous actions,
¡®NOOOOO!¡¯ Weeks of work had just been wasted and Kelli was extremely pissed off at the situation. At level 127 Kelli, or Necromn, was one of the top 100 players and he had obtained a Hidden Class just a few real life days ago. ¡®Soul Reaper¡¯ was a class that took the souls of enemies after they died and then used it to fuel their magic. The class had the potential to become an extremely powerful class but he had just lost it due to the Quest¡¯s failure punishment. As a Hidden Class he was supposed to revive his Goddess in secret which meant he wasn¡¯t supposed to die and attract Plutys¡¯ attention. Churches and the like weren¡¯t supposed to know about him either so he usually never interacted much inside of cities. The Tournament was only supposed to be filled with noobs or NPCs that he could take easy souls from but because of that person... Kelli stopped his pounding and tried to calm down. He also flexed his fingers and moved his arms a few time in order to get feeling back into them. Getting your arms cut off, even if it was just in game, was never a pleasant sensation. The pain from where he got cut could still be felt and he even checked his lower regions to see if he actually pissed his pants. Finding just regular track pants and no wet discomfort, Kelli got out of the Console and proceeded to take a shower. The console itself was fine as the materials made were pretty high-quality. ¡°That damn nobody. He was just supposed to be a lucky idiot who made it to the finals. What kind of BS did the game throw at me?¡¯ Kelli was still extremely agitated as he went through the daily motions of life. He cleaned himself after the shower and then proceeded to clean the house and cook a meal before his kids got home. His wife was picking them up so there was no worry about him doing it and interrupting his playing, but since he died there was nothing much to do. So he mulled over what happened when he got the class¡­
[/hr] Necromn the Mage tripped over a few rocks in the darkness. He wasn¡¯t able to make any light since most of his spells leaned towards the Earth elemental side so he just fumbled in the dark and occasionally cast ¡®Echolocation¡¯ to avoid crashing into walls. The Mage class was a really BS class in the beginning but he had gotten over most of his hatred over it. Most of his hatred¡­ In the beginning of the game anyone who wished to become a Mage had to seek the Church of Information and learn there. The problem was that Magic was incredibly difficult to master usually and the priests there were trying many different ways of teaching. They mainly used trial and error on the various theories the Church had devised for the ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ but the waste of time caused many players to change their wishes of being Mages. Necromn and several others stuck to it though and a way was devised that used ¡®Chants¡¯ and ¡®Movements¡¯ to create the effects of Magic. Necromn really wanted to become a Mage that specialized in controlling the dead. A ¡®Necromancer¡¯, hence the name had chosen. Necromn the Necromancer was kinda stupid but the name was chosen and accepted so there was little to do to change it. When Necromn started playing though he found out that one had to join the Church of Death just to control the dead. Necromn had stark opposition to anything religious since there were basically 2 stupid rules when it comes to religion: Follow what they say or you will die/be excommunicated. Not much leniency at all. Necromn moved the point of his staff in a horizontal circle and he muttered the words ¡°I wish to see with my ears, Echolocation!¡± and 100 mana was used up afterwards. The spell cooldown lasted around 2 minutes so the Mana Upkeep was lower than his Mana Regeneration and it could be spammed somewhat properly. It was still a disorienting spell since the echos were all processed in his mind and produced a complex image of the area. Necromn wasn¡¯t able to pay attention to every pebble and rock on the ground, even if the objects were included in the scan so tripping was a common event. Necromn was in ¡®The Cave of Dread¡¯ which was located about 3 kilometres south of ¡®The Forest of Dread¡¯. Discovered by a few aspiring ¡®Adventurers¡¯ of the Rogue and Warrior classes, the cave was reported to a representative of ¡®Duty¡¯ in Bellen and they gained a few choice rewards. One of which was also the opportunity to lead an expedition to the cave and clear it out before retrieving the treasures for themselves and the city. Necromn had just passed a few more Earth classes with his teachers when the news came. Necromn was getting incredibly sick with his hermit like classes and he thirsted for the adventure that ¡®Gaia¡¯ had to offer. Necromn also wanted to see the realism of the game when he killed more monsters. The levels he had gained, about 63 in all, were mainly from hunting the rabbits, foxes, and wolves in the area. He needed more. Necromn applied for the group with about 150 others. The group consisted mainly of Rogues and Combat relation classes but Mages could be seen here and there. They were also the most welcome since the group needed a few AOE members in case of large battles. Clerics numbered 30 and were ¡®donated¡¯ a bunch of mana potions and the like while the few Craftsmen classes were there mainly to cook for the group and harvest resources found. Any rare minerals the cave had would be documented and gathered for future mining excursions. There weren¡¯t many performance classes so the group lost out of some mass buffs but they were rather confident in handling a close new dungeon. They assumed that all close dungeons were made for beginners... Necromn didn¡¯t like the group atmosphere but he couldn¡¯t find a reason to solo. He was used to uncomfortable situations outside of Gaia so the game made it easier to put up with it. He could talk about various parts of the game and even get information out of his party mates. He didn¡¯t get much recent information just from raiding libraries. Necromn heard that the best routes between cities were Monster ridden ones. He questioned the validity of the statement but when he was told that the monsters were mainly loners and avoided travelling in groups, he started to get an understanding. Parties could be hired by Merchant caravans so that meant a stable short-term income. Parties would also be able to deal with the single monsters and that means easy experience and items. Necromn stored that bit of information away as he kept listening. The information he got were rather good but the reliability was a little low. As they were all new players, a few months in game meant that they were still trying out various things and making sure they didn¡¯t make mistakes. What they all agreed on. NPCs are tough as hell and won¡¯t hesitate to kill. Necromn scoffed at their words but when he heard that several players were killed quickly on the first day he shut out the thought. He still remembered being punched in the stomach and then the jeers and faces the other NPCs made. Necromn clenched his fists in anger before another piece of information pierced his thoughts. ¡°I heard the highest level person, Promise, has just cleared another dungeon. He had the backing of a small guild but he is probably the first player to lead a complete Dungeon Run.¡± ¡°Ah, we will still be the second ones to do so. He won¡¯t keep that high seat of his for very much longer.¡± ¡°Hmph. I heard rumours that he was hoping to increase his guild power and try to own a city. How he will do so is beyond me though.¡± ¡°What level was he anyways? I checked the Player rankings an RL day ago and he was at level 96.¡± ¡°That was several days ago. He past level 103 when I logged in a few RL hours ago.¡± Necromn was excited from news about Promise. The man didn¡¯t start the game at the beginning but his fast leveling and adaptability to the game was shockingly fast. While others joined one of the NPC run guilds in the beginning, Promise made his own guild instead and started to hunt a massive amount of monsters. Necromn had a little hero worship for Promise but opposite that was a lust to surpass the man and become number one. When the main commanders of the Expedition had finally finished their preparations the Expedition went underway. Approximately 150 active people were in the group and 10-20 were craftsmen. That meant around 130 people to be split into groups. The commanders had no confidence in ordering a large mass of people around well, so they decided to form parties within the army and then allow the parties independent reign when needed. Orders would be told to the party leaders if it was necessary. Necromn was in a party of 8 that consisted of 1 Cleric, 3 Fighters, 1 Dagger specialized Rogue, another mage, and a Trap specialized Rogue. Not a very balanced group since the Fighters were all offensive types and there was no one to Aggro the monsters effectively, but the overall offensive might of the group was very high. 2 mages added a powerful assortment of AOE spells from the group. A few questions told Necromn that his partner was a Fire-specialized Mage which meant quick a powerful shots, especially in a tight cave. For 2 days the group traveled. Although the Dungeon was relatively close, the area they were traversing was full of boulders and sparse grass which made for an exhausting travel. Constant breaks were needed to replenish the low stamina of the Clerics and Mages so the Rogues usually went ahead to scout for monsters or the like. When they finally reached the Cave, most of the people gaped in wonder. The cave was actually sprouting out of the ground and seemed to invite them all inside. The entrance was in the shape of a large skull with the gaping mouth open and waiting. One could see a little foyer inside the mouth and then a set of stairs at the back of the throat. All in all it gave a creepy feeling and fit the ¡®Cave of Dread¡¯ title. ¡°Alright. Everyone take a short break here for a while. Nightmare, send in the two main Rogue parties to scout the inside for a bit. Report back in 1 hour.¡± ¡°Aye.¡± The speaker was the active Leader of the Expedition, a Paladin by the name Renald - said with a slight french accent - and he was speaking to the Leader of the Rogue faction, Nightmare. Handsome and golden haired spoke to handsome and dark haired. Even with the limitations on Character Creations, most of the Human Players made their characters in the same way, Handsome and taller than in real life. Necromn was no different as he made his Character with a sharp chin, strong nose, and striking grey eyes. He kept his regular dark-brown hair and his 6 foot 4 inches height and the combination created another handsome ¡®Otherworlder¡¯. There really was no benefit to doing so in Gaia though since most of the NPC have long since stopped flirting with pretty ¡®Otherworlders¡¯. Late-Players can usually be heard cursing the relative difficulty of striking up conversation with NPC women¡­ Renald was still a striking and large man as he wore an complete set of paladin armor. Stark white with lines of Silver and Gold here and there, there were rumours that Renald had been personally invited by a Church of Light. The Battle-God whose name was Luke or Lukas or something, bestowed his blessing and power on Renald, which was supposed to make the man a powerful person; both on the battlefield and in the cities. When Nightmare returned with the scout report, the leaders of each party went and congregated near the entrance. They started to talk quietly and any rising voices were immediately snuffed out. Necromn¡¯s party leader was a middle aged sword and shield Warrior named Polo. Since everyone was being trained by the Series teachers, they were all competent with their skills to a degree. This Expedition was more like a test of their skills more than anything. Polo returned to the party and told everyone to start getting ready. After 30 minutes of some bustle, the entire expedition entered the mouth of the ¡®Cave of Dread¡¯. The Skull seemed almost to be laughing as they all entered.
[/hr] Several hours of painstaking exploring came for the Expedition. No sign of monsters, no signs of treasure. All in all it was a boring cave. Even bats would have been a welcome bit of EXP. The cave itself served well as a scary experience. Dripping can be heard as the party walked but the sound never came closer or farther. Several hours of travel and the only accompaniment was a steady drip drip drip. The walls themselves were made of pure limestone which was unfortunate enough. The few craftsmen couldn¡¯t find a single bit of raw minerals anywhere in the walls. The entire Expedition stopped their exploration when one of the Mages reported low Stamina. The groups didn¡¯t split into parties but remained in a general group and the cooks took out their tools of trade and started to make a small feast. The smells of the food nearly brought the Expedition¡¯s hopes up. Until they heard a scream back where they came from. Everyone scrambled to their feets while the cooks continued their cooking. They¡¯re plan was to create an after-battle feast for the hungry Expedition. ¡°All class leaders, report in.¡± Unlike the party leaders, the class leaders were people who were assigned a specific class group. They numbered 20 and had the co-work of being a party leader. One by one they checked their numbers before calling out to Renard. ¡°Cooks all here!¡± ¡°Warriors, armed and ready.¡± ¡°Archers, arrows nocked.¡± ¡°Mages, rested and ready.¡± ¡­ For the next 5 minutes these comments from the leaders rang out before a definite silence washed over the group. Renard was listening for something and grew agitated when he didn¡¯t hear it. He scanned the group before shouting. ¡°Pan! Oy Pan! Why aren¡¯t you responding!¡± The entire expedition looked around to find this ¡®Pan¡¯ but no one heard or saw anyone speak out. ¡°Pan! Where are the Clerics?!?!?¡± That got everyone¡¯s attention and they all started to scan for a group of people dressed in the donated clothes of Deacons. No one spoke out that they spotted the group though and everyone grew even more agitated. Their Clerics, 20 in number, were all gone. They would have to traverse the caverns without anyone to heal injuries or cure curses. Another few shrieks echoed behind the group and most thought the same thing. ¡°C-c-could that be-¡± ¡°BY THE LIGHT OF PORTEND I BANI- GRAAAAAH¡± A loud male voice boomed down the hall and a light started to shine around the corner. The voice was trying to pray to the God Portend, a patron of Demon Hunters and Exorcists that were especially good in dark dungeons. ¡°Dammit Pan! What the hell is happening!¡± Necromn could see that Renard knew the voice and deduced that Pan was the follower of Portend that had shouted out. ¡®Just great. Traveling with a bunch of useless people.¡¯ Necromn was more pissed that they had lost time wondering about an obviously lost group instead of continuing. He had no great love for Priests or Churches after all of the problems they caused in training Mages. As the group continued to look back down the hall, they suddenly heard a great deal of struggling and shuffling behind them. The group seemed to have unconsciously inched towards where the Clerics had disappeared from and they were actually well away from where they had camped. When the group turned back they didn¡¯t see anything wrong at first. The food was laid out on makeshift tables that were created with leftover wood by some of the craftsmen. Smells of sandwiches and soups filled the members of the Expedition¡¯s noses as they tried to figure out what was wrong. ¡°Piper!? Where are the Craftsmen.¡± Now they knew what was wrong. The cooks and miners and appraisers. The one woodmaker, and 3 blacksmiths. The tailors and sculptor/painter. All of them had been left behind so that the group could deal with the monsters without being hindered by them. They had all disappeared and there was no large sign of damage in the area. One of the cauldrons were starting to shake and emit a few fumes of black smoke. Food left without a cook usually turned into inedible junk. ¡°Crap!! Everyone stick together. We need to get out of this hellhole and wait in the city for them to respawn so that we can get information.¡± None of the members usually exchanged contact information with one another. Since the Human race had random start places, real life acquaintances usually ended up in one of the random hundred cities on Gaia. This meant that any information they might gleam from the lost members had to wait a little over 4 days. Dying in a Dungeon did not allow for players to respawn within it. Instead, the player would respond a few hundred metres in a random location outside of the last city they were in. This was to ensure that any dangerous curses and the like could be dealt with before the instigator actually entered the city. No reviving spell has been found by the players as of yet. The Expedition readied themselves quickly in order to move soon. The cooking equipment and tables were all packed away for the Craftsmen; the group didn¡¯t like the fact that the Craftsmen died due to their incompetence. Necromn was pissed as hell at the development. 2 days of travel and no monsters to fight. Dungeon was creepy but no treasure or monsters to fight. Now they were going to run with their tails between their legs just because a few people were stupid enough to get caught by some monsters. Gritting his teeth Necromn hid his feelings and thoughts behind a mask of indifference. He was incredibly angry but still sane enough not to complain right out. The group headed out before what was supposed to be Mid-day outside. They were all a little peeved at the waste of time but they were getting themselves worked up in order to tackle the dungeon properly the next time. Each of them were assured that they wouldn¡¯t be attacked if they were traveling in a large enough group. As the party travelled back the way they came, they dissolved from their loud discussions and started to quiet down. It soon became dead quiet as the party could only hear their own steps and breathing along with the drip drip drip ahead of them. Then a shiver went up Necromn¡¯s back. ¡°W-w-why is the dripping sound still coming from ahead of us.¡± As soon as the words left his mouth the dripping stopped and a scream emerged from behind the group. Everyone turned towards it and raised what weapons they could. The higher leveled warriors had taken a defensive circle around the group so that the more fragile members could stay in the center and not be left behind. Looking back though there was no sign of any warrior classes and more people started to get nervous. The drip drip drip started up again. ¡°W-we should probably start up again. Faster this time.¡± The group restarted their traveling and the walls passed in a steady pace. Screams and shouts could occasionally be heard behind the group but it was mainly an ¡®everyone for themselves¡¯ situation. Then they ran into a problem. ¡°W-WHY!?!? Why is there an intersection here? It was a straight walk from the entrance to where we were before.¡± Indeed there was a 4-way split after a few minutes of running and everyone was rather confused. They knew they had gone the way back towards the entrance but the constant dripping in front of them and now this intersection started to cast some doubts. Then they were attacked by bats.
Night Bat
[p=left]A monster in the dead of night, these creatures have horrible vision due to a constant lack of daylight. Nocturnal monsters that rely on Echoes to make their way, these bats are usually harmless and mainly go after insects. About as strong as a large rat. Aerial abilities. Echoes can cause some dizziness in listeners.[/p]
This was the basic information a normal bat has out in the plains. They are rarely hunted since they still benefit from the Night boosts so many people don¡¯t have much experience hunting the creatures. Still, these monsters would normally not cause hunters much trouble. The ones that rushed the group however were about 4x as large as their innocent and cute cousins and they were definitely not insectivores. Groups and swarms of ¡®Cave Blood Bats¡¯ were smothering each of the adventurers and their bites caused huge damage as well as pain. The Mages were easily taken down since the bites disrupted their concentration which stopped their spells from working and the Mages were glass cannons anyways. They were dead before the minute was over. The rest of the Expedition didn¡¯t have it good either. The warriors and their movements were slow and sluggish with the weight of the bats and each hit they managed to get in did next to no damage. To make matters worse, the damages they did land on the bats were healed when the bats took a swig of their blood. In no time at all the 100+ group was swarmed and eaten by the creatures. ¡®Cave Blood Bats¡¯ were extremely powerful creatures since they were born as large as their cousins in their prime. The large frame allowed for the creatures to hunt big creatures when they were very young and the blood they consumed kept giving stats and weakened skills to the creatures. For example, one of the bats had a blue hue to it¡¯s white wings and it had been one of a few dozen to consume a wandering Illusionists. The blue bat was still the only one that managed to get the Illusionist¡¯s skills but the skill was very weakened; it only allowed for the bat to create one type of noise but constant use of the skill showed the intelligent species that it was very effective in weakening prey. When the last of the Expedition had died the bats stayed in the area for a bit. Their echoes said that the area was void of any extra movement but their instincts said there were still living creatures. They decided to move on though since there was really no point in staying the area just for a few stragglers.
[/hr] Necromn waited almost an hour to see if the bats would come back before he decided to dissolve a door into the limestone wall he had hastily put up. He was not the only person behind the wall since it was a hasty creation so the rest of his party and the Expedition leader Renald exited behind him. Renald had been talking with Polo so he was the only other member of the Expedition included in the group before the massacre. As the Expedition was nearing its final hours, most of the parties had started to wander closer together and ready themselves for battle. Since Necromn was against meeting up with his party members, the group instead gravitated towards him instead. ¡°Dammit! What the hell is wrong with this cave?¡± Renald was raging at the awful scene in front of him. Bodies littered the floor but the lack of blood did little to diminish the effects death had on normal people. Necromn¡¯s blood was boiling in excitement but the rest of the party were ghastly pale and a male warrior even went to the side to retch. No vomit fortunately came out and the game didn¡¯t show such nasty effects like snot and spit as the man retched. A lack of a Cleric meant that the group had to deal with the effects of an upset stomach. ¡°We should get out of here. Renald, there is no reason we should stick around so calm down and take the lead.¡± ¡°Yes yes. By the glory of my God, let the Light of Luke shine in the darkness, Luke¡¯s Radiance! Now where is that stupid intersection?¡± After praying/casting a light spell, Renald looked both ways down the corridors but couldn¡¯t find the 4-way intersection that had freaked out the group before. Polo was still hoping for Renald to take the lead so he responded quickly. ¡°It must have been another trick of the Cave or those bats. You notice theres also a lack of dripping noises. Now lets go!¡± It was true that the corridors were completely linear again so Renald cast a last look at the bodies before going down the corridor opposite where the bats had come and gone. For a few more hours the 8-man group travelled the corridor but they all stopped when they found a resting stop set on the ground. The same resting set that they had left when they lost both the Clerics and the Craftsmen. A glare from Renald shut off any protests the party was about to voice. Turning around the group traveled backwards for another few hours but were shocked when they returned to the same area. If the game allowed, sweat would have probably dripped down most of the party members as they became aware of being trapped inside the dangerous dungeon. After a 5th circuit, Necromn decided he had enough and slowed to the back of the group. When the group went far enough ahead, Necromn turned around and went back towards the rest pit and then went beyond the stop, towards what should be the inside of the cave. Better to go solo then keep running around in circles. Necromn continued his walk for the next few hours and the lack of light caused him to rely on ¡®Echolocation¡¯ and luck as he walked. He silently cursed the stupidity of the failed Expedition as he walked; something to keep his concentration in check. Hours turned into days but Necromn wasn¡¯t able to actually find anything.during his search. The stray ¡®Cave Blood Bat¡¯ that he found was killed by dropping a section of the ceiling when it passed, not killing it but disabling its ability to fly. Numerous ¡®Earth Spikes¡¯ were then used to pierce and kill the weakened monster. His level rose quite a bit during the rare hunts but Necromn was hoping for more. Then he walked into a vast cavern and gasped. The cavern was about 100 metres high and twice as vast. The room was shaped in a triangle with Necromn at the far end and middle of the triangle and the point directly opposite him. The trouble was that every section of the room was covered by ¡®Cave Blood Bats¡¯. Maybe a few million in all, the mass of bats were still and none of them seemed to be awake. His ¡®Echolocation¡¯ was ignored since it was quite familiar to the bats. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Necromn was about to back up and out of the cave when the last bit of his ¡®Echolocation¡¯ came back to him. The examination picked up the large bodies of the bats and the end wall. Some dents in the walls meant engravings as well but he ignored it easily. What caught his attention was that the scan revealed a large pedestal near the wall. The bats seemed to be avoiding it and Necromn¡¯s scan revealed several large round objects nestled in the structure. ¡®Jackpot¡¯. Necromn was extremely pleased to find some treasure finally. Necromn decided to distract the bats so that he could reach the end of the large room so he backed out of the room and into the corridor. He ran for a few minutes and then stopped in his tracks. Necromn waved his staff in a square shape before adding triangles sprouting out from the shape. A large circle was then waved around the star shape and Necromn tapped the staff to the ceiling. ¡°By my order I wish for the ground to devour the passers, and the ceiling to crush my foes, I appoint the time, and say 900 beats; Earth Mine!¡± The spell was basically an earth bomb that either dissolved the ground or blew up the ceiling. The last part of it was then a timer that was needed for what he planned. The invisible symbol he had mimed was likely imprinted onto the ceiling that his staff touched and a 900 dots were imprinted in the center of it. As he watched, the dots disappeared one by one as the counter started down. Necromn recreated this spell as he traveled back towards the ¡®Treasure Room¡¯ and he decreased the time as he went. 900, 850, 800...300, 250¡­ When Necromn finally got to the room he managed to created several dozen different timed ¡®Earth Mines¡¯ and he scrambled into the room and hid himself. Then he waved his staff in a square 4 times, each square being inside the previous square. ¡°My protection is a must, Earth shall rise, my life be guarded; Earth Wall!¡± Lots of ego was placed inside the spells¡­ A dull boom echoed down the hall and a great number of the bats woke up. The noise they emitted was pretty quiet since their echoes were of a higher frequency than what Necromn could here. A second boom later woke up the entire colony and all of the bats rose from their perches and screeched out into the hall. A few more booms and then Necromn got some Info Boxes that said he killed several bats and increased in levels. The boxes were a kind of signal and Necromn dissolved a door into the wall and walked into the now empty room. The large room was incredible and Necromn used ¡®Echolocation¡¯ to get more information on it. Usually bats would leave droppings and the like but the game turned off that aspect in order to make the game more playable. The ¡®clean¡¯ walls were covered in large sculptures of monsters and undead. A large skeleton warrior was on the left side of the entrance and sported a battered plate armor while the other side had a large Yeti with a club that was larger than it was. ¡®Echolocation¡¯ also revealed detailed aspects of the sculptures and Necromn almost fainted in shock when he found that aspect in every sculpture. The miniscule parts of every sculpture smaller than the size of his thumb but the numerous quantity of it staggered the imagination. It was an engraving in the shape of a square, almost like a picture frame. The inside of the frame had a man or woman or group of people inside and each picture depicted tortured poses of each. Groups of people would stab themselves and their neighbors, men would castrate themselves or stab their eyes out while the women¡­ Necromn stopped focusing on the million of trillions of images that flooded his mind. He bent over and gripped his head while breathing slowly so that he could ignore the information. He stayed that way for a few minutes before standing up slowly. Necromn walked slowly across the room and made his way towards the pedestal he had scanned. He didn¡¯t need to rely on ¡®Echolocation¡¯ anymore as the pedestal started to glow red the closer he walked. Large broken statues also littered the ground but it was a clear path between the door and other side. As the walls started to close in on Necromn, the pictures he had seen from ¡®Echolocation¡¯ started to become clearer. A close statue was of a normal skeleton with no weapon or armor at all. Definitely low level, the images that Necromn could see were rather gruesome and wrong but a morbid curiosity made Necromn look at as many of the pictures as he could. None of the pictures were the same and when Humans seemed to have become overused the pictures switched to other races. The elves had prominent ears, there were some short people, even some trees were disfigured by the carvings. ¡®Was every single sentient species on Gaia depicted here?¡¯ The reddish glow from the pedestal grew darker as Necromn got closer until he managed to touch the actual thing. By then the glow had enveloped the entirety of Necromn¡¯s sight and the deepness of it had erased pretty much everything he could see. Once he touched it however the glow vanished and Necromn found himself in a deep black void. A loud cackle sounded in Necromn¡¯s head. ¡°Ahahaha a mortal! Finally someone who has found their way to my prison. Puny soul, what is your name?¡± ¡°N-Necromn.¡± ¡°Hmmm? You don¡¯t seem to be like one of the regular people of Gaia. Your soul has many restrictions and I can¡¯t seem to access them¡­¡± ¡®Restrictions? Could she be talking about the difference between AIs and Players?¡¯ Necromn was a little confused about this but decided to obey the rules of the game for a bit. ¡°I am one of the ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ that appeared a few months ago.¡± ¡°Oh! So you¡¯re a player!¡± And the AI broke the rules¡­ ¡°Oh don¡¯t be so shocked. I can¡¯t say much but I can at least admit I know you¡¯re a player. Now lets get started. I¡¯m gonna offer a job and a quest to go along with it. You can accept and take it or die. Good? Good.¡± Necromn was a little shocked at the straightforwardness of the woman but he internally smiled at what she was getting at. A hidden cave filled to the brim with Giant bats and then had a bunch of illusion traps with a reward being a quest and job at the end? Definitely a Hidden Job and Hidden Quest. Necromn could smell the excitement he was giving off.
The Blood Goddess Kalybus
[p=left]Several thousand years ago, the Goddess of Blood and Souls Kalybus tried to rule the world in a cliche way. She was defeated rather cliched way by a group of Good Heroes and forced into the void for all eternity. The void has weakened considerably in recent times by the influx of ¡®Otherworlders¡¯. You have passed the ancient halls of her temple and entered her place of worship. You have met the Goddess and been deemed worthy of her blessings. Reward: Quest and Job Requirements: Level 300+ 500+ Intelligence 10,000 + Infamy Killed at least 100 members of every race. or Be the first one to enter.[/p]
You have been offered the Hidden Class: ¡®Soul Reaper¡¯ This class can be promoted as you complete more quests for Kalybus. This Class has a natural antagonism with nearly all churches. All skills will be removed and new skills will be created upon acceptance. You cannot learn any normal skills like others. Do you accept? (Yes) (No)
Necromn nearly screamed in joy as he shouted ¡°YES!¡± This was exactly the type of class he wanted. A class that was nearly pure evil just by description. If a Necromancer was unavailable then a Soul Reaper is really the next best thing. Or was it a rank higher?
You have become a ¡®Soul Reaper¡¯
[p=left]You have discarded your old job and taken up the mantle of a Soul Reaper and as a member of Kalybus¡¯ Church. You will only get a few skills until you show your worth as a follower. You will be forbidden from entering the Churches that are negatively aligned with you. If any of your ¡®Soul Crystals¡¯ get destroyed, you will be overrun by the power of the released souls and die. Cannot learn any skills the normal way. All skill books dissolve when you touch them. Limited to a Staff and ¡®Soul Crystal¡¯ for weapons. All other weapons become 20x heavier. Limited to blood robes made from the skin of your enemies. All other clothing and equipment will continuously rot if you put them on. Any equipped ¡®Soul Crystals¡¯ will be a conduit for the souls you collect. If they get destroyed you will suffer under the strain of angry souls. Friendship level with all Good-aligned Churches is at the Minimum Level: Blood Enemies (will attack if they even sense you) Friendship level with the Church of Information is at the Minimum Level: Reluctant to approach and help. Friendship level with the Church of Death and its God, Plutys, and his counterpart is at the Minimum Level: Too negative to count. Friendship level with all other churches not already included is at Minimum Level: Unfriendly. You have gained the skill: Agony You have gained the skill: Blood Dominance[/p]
Agony. Beginner Level 1. (0%) Active Skill.
[p=left]An evil skill wielded by only a few, this skill is mainly used for torturing purposes. This skill hits the soul of the target and depending on the ranking of the ¡®Soul Crystal¡¯ being used, the skill will gain or lower in strength. Can transmit a low amount of pain to the target before using the ¡®Soul Crystal¡¯ to amplify the pain. Costs 100 mana per second. Increases if the rank of the ¡®Soul Crystal is high. Requires a basic understanding of souls and pain.[/p]
Blood Dominance. Max Level.
[p=left]A skill only allowed for those who follow Gods or Goddesses that have dominion over blood. This skill allows the user to control blood to a degree. Beings with a low Ego and Concentration have easy to control blood. Beings with high intelligence and Egoes will be much more difficult to control. Beings of a higher intelligence and ranking than the user will be next to impossible to control. Beings that are less than half the rank of the user have easy to control blood. Mana use is 20 per second. Blood cannot solidify well. Blood is weak. Beings that are around the same ranking of the user have moderate difficulty blood. Mana use is 100 per second. Blood can solidify well. Blood cannot be destroyed easily. Beings of higher ranking than the user are very hard to control. Mana use is 500 per second. Blood can become as sharp as anything on Gaia. Blood is nearly indestructible. Warning: Blood always has a connection with the soul. If the person gives up blood but is not sufficiently weak, you will NOT gain control of its blood. This means you cannot even control a drop of Dragon¡¯s blood if the Dragon isn¡¯t crippled beyond belief. A strong amount of fear and pain can lower a being¡¯s rank.[/p]
The revival of the Bloody Soul Goddess Kalybus
[p=left]Finding the hidden temple of the Blood Goddess Kalybus, you have been chosen to revive her and her Church. Gather 1000 moderate souls and 5000 lesser souls first. Tasks: Gather 5000 lesser souls [ /5000] Gather 1000 moderate souls [ /1000] Reward: ??? ??? ??? ??? Class Promotion. Requirements: ¡®Soul Reaper¡¯ job or a higher ranked version. Cannot be denied. Failure: Quest will fail upon death. Due to the extreme antagonism between Plutys and Kalybus, if you die Plutys will hunt down your soul in Gaia and destroy it. Your account will be deleted. You will have restrictions upon your next Character Creation.[/p]
You have accepted the quest.
Necromn didn¡¯t really care about the disadvantages to the Quest and Job as he wallowed in his imaginations of what he could use the job for. ¡®Agony¡¯ was a simple spell but if he read it right, he could cause immense pain to whoever he wanted. This was something he desired greatly since his ego didn¡¯t allow for many people to be ahead of him in any way. He started make a simple list of the people he would use it on. The priests at the Church of Information who wasted his time, Librarian, Expedition members, Promise.... ¡°Oh, how wonderful. Not even hesitating before accepting it all. I don¡¯t really have such high hopes but it should be incredibly fun to watch you and your adventures.¡± The voice seemed too peppy for an evil Blood Goddess but Necromn didn¡¯t really pay much attention. Instead he was rather impatient to get on his way. ¡°Is there anything else? I would like to get started quickly...¡± ¡°Yes yes, hold your horses. I¡¯ll just send you back and give some minor equipment for the class... Also you¡¯re free to take the ¡®Soul Crystals¡¯ on that pedestal you touched. Tah tah.¡± Necromn felt like he was being sucked into the black void but when he opened his eyes he found himself back in the large triangular cave. He could still hear a dull booming in the far hallway so he knew that time had barely passed since he got his dream job. Necromn smiled and looked around himself after standing. On the ground before him was a bright red boots and black robe both made with an unknown type of cloth and a staff that was twice as large as his old one. A green hat could be seen under the robe and overall the set looked like it was put together by a colour blind imp. Necromn just shrugged and took off his brown mage set and proceeded to identify the items.
Demon Fleshed Boots
[p=left]Uncommon Durability: 100/100 Defense: 12 A pair of boots fashioned by a large fire demon that was heavily in dept. The processing of its skin involved using the entrails of its family and friends. Infamy + 1000 +10% resistance to fire. Fire Demons will get incredibly angry if they ever find out the information of these boots. +20 to Agility, Strength, and Vitality[/p]
Human Black Robes
[p=left]Uncommon Durability 200/200 Defense: 20 A flowing black robe made from the skin of a village of people. Their farm animals were included in the processing of this robe. Enhances all Evil related magic by 50% Infamy + 2000 Any damage to this robe will release a toxic scent against Humans. User is immune to this debuff. +20 to Intelligence[/p]
Leprechaun¡¯s Hat
[p=left]Rare Durability: Unknown Defense: Unknown A hat supposedly made from an entire Leprechaun. Properties have remained unknown for a very long time. Supposedly very lucky. +100 to Luck ??? ??? ??? 0.0001% chance to incur the wrath of the Leprechauns. Pot of gold over the rainbow is inaccessible to you.[/p]
Necromn didn¡¯t bat an eyelash at the descriptions he read. ¡®Just a stupid game. Doesn¡¯t really mean anything.¡¯ With that kind of logic in mind, Necromn proceeded to put on the clothing before turning to the 3 large Crystals on the pedestal. He identified each one.
Regular Soul Crystal
[p=left]Uncommon Durability: 200/200 Can be used as a medium for the souls acquired by the user. As long as this is in hand, you will acquire souls. Any souls within 100 metres of this item will be absorbed if the body is dead. Will only work on beings that have been dead for only a few minutes. Any longer and the soul has already left. Agony: Does 20x more damage.[/p]
Healing Crystal
[p=left]Common Durability: 300/300 Can be used to heal people. Uses up a portion of the user¡¯s soul. Recovers any amount that is half the health of the user. Cannot heal the user.[/p]
Blood Crystal
[p=left]Rare Durability: 100/100 A crystal made by dipping a regular crystal into a fresh vat of blood made from 1000 different people. Much more effective than a Regular Soul Crystal but it does have some restrictions. Any soul within 2 metres of this crystal absorbed if the body is dead. The soul¡¯s ranking will increase when absorbed. Will only work on beings that have been dead for only a few seconds. Any longer and the soul has already left. Agony: Does 200x more damage.[/p]
Necromn ignored the ¡®Healing Crystal¡¯ and picked up the other two. As equips the two were very high quality but the ¡®Blood Crystal¡¯ will have to be used sparingly. He decided that a little practice was in order so Necromn went back into the hall and got as close to the bats as he dared. The bats were still swarming a bit but the mines had stopped exploding after his class change and the bats were calming down. Necromn had gained a whopping 30 levels just from killing the bats so he was rather happy there. When they finally settled down, they all swarmed back into the large cavern and rested again. Necromn got out from his old Earth Wall hiding place (he just closed the door on it) and walked out of the cave. The illusion seemed to have finally worn off so he made it out rather easily.
[/hr] Kelli woke from his reminiscing to the noise of his family coming home. He walked down the stairs to greet his sons and then his wife and the family settled down for a ¡°how was your day¡± discussion. Kelli avoided the questions and looks that went his way - he wasn¡¯t playing the game so his wife was looking at him a little funnily. Lets go over the house arrangement. There was Kelli¡¯s two sons, Nick and George who were in grade 3 and 5 respectively. They gave no real problems to the family so they were spoiled quite a bit. Kelli¡¯s wife, Melinda, was a secretary for a large firm and she was given a few leniencies here and there so that she could be with her family a lot. She was mainly in charge of driving since Kelli himself was scary at it. She had to beg to stop him from driving. Kelli himself was a moderately successful book writer. Well, online book writer. His works were mainly dark classics but the small internet crowd loved it so he made quite a bit from that. Around the same as his wife. The Hierarchy was that Melinda would take care of shopping and driving and anything that involved leaving the house area. Kelli would be in charge of cleaning the house and doing some simple repairs here and there. Both were not afraid to hire outside help for anything big, like indoor plumbing or furniture repairs. Kelli definitely fit the look of a household father with his height and normal features. He wasn¡¯t a well built man but he wasn¡¯t so bad that people would avoid looking at him. His wife was the same but much shorter and the family was seen in a rather positive light. Kelli was sitting and listening to Nick¡¯s talk about how his plant project had done at the science fair but Kelli¡¯s mind was still on the game. He hoped to follow the exact same paths he had before in order to try begging for a second chance. Since the AI knew that he was a player it should relatively easy to do so. Melinda saw Kelli¡¯s wandering mind so she told the kids to go play on their computers and she shooed him to take a nap. Kelli was a little hesitant but he decided that he wasn¡¯t himself at all so he took her advice and took a nap before dinner. The rest of the day went rather quietly as Kelli tried his hardest to ignore ¡®Gaia¡¯ for a time and he fell asleep rather easily until morning. In the dead of morning, Kelli woke up in anticipation. The kids had already gone to school and Melinda was also at work so Kelli was the only one in the house. He took a simple shower and took note of the time as he ate something light. He sat and stared at the clock until his 18 hours of death were finished, then he ran to the console and turned it on.
[/hr]
Welcome to ¡®Gaia¡¯.
The familiar voice greeted Kelli as he waited for the everything to start.
Scan of Irises and brainwaves have revealed you to be a new user. Do you wish to create a new account? (Yes) (No)
¡°Yes.¡± Calm, calm.
Please speak the In-Game name you wish to have. Conflicts with others are allowed. Please choose wisely, it is incredibly expensive to obtain a name-change while in-game.
¡°Necromn.¡±
I¡¯m sorry, the following name, Necromn, has been forbidden for you. Please choose another name.
¡®What? Was this one of those restrictions my death caused?¡¯ ¡°Blood.¡±
I¡¯m sorry, the following name, Blood, has been forbidden for you. Please choose another name.
¡®What the hell!?!?¡¯ ¡°Kel.¡± Kelli chose a very short nickname he had in his childhood.
Do you wish for your name to be (Kel)? (Yes) (No)
¡°Yes¡± ¡®Finally.¡¯
Unfortunately you will not be able to choose your own race. Your decisions in ¡®Gaia¡¯ before has caused you to become watched by Plutys and the other Gods and Goddesses. The divine beings had decided the following. You will be an Elf. You will be restricted greatly in-game. You will start in the Neutral City of ¡®Bellen¡¯.
Please change your character¡¯s look. You cannot change it to look more evil.
Kel had gotten extremely pissed as he read the information. ¡®An ELF?? A WEAK SPINDLY PRETTY BOY ELF?!?!?¡¯ Kel was conveniently ignoring the fact that he had changed his own character to look a little better and that he was a physically fragile mage. In front of Kel, an elf with his features appeared. He decided to make the elf as different looking as possible and succeeded in making the first ugly elf the world has ever seen. ¡°Finished.¡±
You have created your ¡®Elven¡¯ character.
With that done the next step was his starting point. However the void he was in remained empty for a little while before a large information box appeared in front of him.
Paroled by the Gods.
[p=left]Due to your actions in a past life, you are under the watchful eyes of the Divine Realm. You will be greatly restricted as you adventure in ¡®Gaia¡¯. Kalybus sends her regards. Any actions against a Player or NPC will reward 20X more Infamy. If you level due to killing a Player or NPC, you will get reduced stat increases. Monsters are 10% more powerful when they fight against you. Fame is 3x as hard to get. Cannot get a class of Neutral or Evil-aligned. Evil-aligned beings will see a halo around you and avoid approaching you. They will still be allowed to kill you. Good-aligned beings will see a dark aura around you that is reflective of your infamy.[/p]
¡®This,was.horrible!!!!¡¯ These restrictions stopped Kel from doing anything evil at all. Killing people is worse, and leveling that way gave such huge penalties! ¡®THIS F***ING GAME!!!¡¯
[/hr] So Necromn¡¯s adventure...Meh I didn¡¯t like him but I did my best to show how he got the class and quest. His family life is boring. I couldn¡¯t write much about that. His new name and class and such may be shown in later chapters. How do people feel about a reformed Necromn in the guise of the ugly Paladin Kel :;^^: I don¡¯t know if I should continue the next chapter or write a few more short stories. Ferocious needs one of course. And maybe Catherine and Lerisa¡­ Michael...meh he will come later. I have an exam tomorrow, a film response the day after (I didn¡¯t find out until today¡­), an assignment due next week and also an Essay. I hate the next few weeks¡­ Comments are greatly appreciated. Chapter 15.5.2 Ferocious FEROCIOUS Ferocious was slumped as he walked away from the center of the city and tried to look for a passive NPC. He now knew, rather early, that it was better to be nice to the people rather than acting gruff to them. The difference between strengths was supposedly incredible if Ferocious had accurately seen the guard¡¯s hit. The thin man¡¯s body hadn¡¯t really flown back at all and the guard¡¯s punch had stopped very short. It was basically a tap, yet the strength was enough to cause considerable pain. Ferocious¡¯ head was down and he was slow as he walked through the growing crowd - NPCs were still nice so no one jostled him too hard and killed him accidentally. He reached an open street and even then he saw more people continuing to arrive. He didn¡¯t want to be in their way and get trampled. Ferocious had lost 60 health just going through the crowd and he was starting to become increasingly horrified at the strength difference. Even the kids looked like muscle freaks to him. Walking aimlessly for a while, Ferocious took in the sights of the city around him. Out of the game he mainly stayed home unless he went to work so he never really got a chance to see the sights in the city that he lived in. Still the strange shops with legible signs and the hollering shopkeepers put Ferocious at ease. There was something calming about a mercantile scene. Ferocious went up to a moderate looking stand. The man behind the stand was tall but had a wide build. He didn¡¯t look like a sleaze though and actually looked jolly in a rotund way. There were no other customers anywhere on the street so Ferocious decided there was no harm in asking questions. ¡°Excuse me, can you tell me a bit of information about Gaia? My name is Ferocious and I¡¯m an...¡¯Otherworlder¡¯ so I don¡¯t know very much at the moment.¡± ¡°Ah, of course! Business seems slow ever since Janira¡¯s proclamation so I can help you.¡± Ferocious had given his bow that he got from some random shows he had watched and spoke rather politely. Surprisingly the other man smiled greatly at his bow and gave one himself; left hand over the stomach and a 30¡ã bow. Seeing the confusion, the man¡¯s smile deepened. ¡°This is the standard formal bow between strangers of the same ranking. Even if you are new and your standing is low, it really can¡¯t be helped so I guess a similar age would allow for this type of bowing too. Your deep bow is more suited for higher ranking or older folks. A noble wouldn¡¯t bow to a commoner as well.¡± Ferocious greedily absorbed the knowledge and thought back to the man a few minutes ago. ¡®Good clothes, haughty manner, no bow. Definitely a Noble. And I got a gift from him so¡­.Jackpot.¡¯ The man in front of Ferocious was behind a polished dark red wooden counter and was situated to the side of a door; the building had a sign that had a bed and said ¡®RAINBOW BED INN¡¯ and showed a bed surrounded by color. He didn¡¯t have any wares to show but Ferocious did note the large chests behind the man. Each of them was about 3 feet tall and as wide as the man. A merchant...probably...was it alright to just put up a stand there though and take all of the good customers? ¡°Now what do you wish to know? Theres a lot of things about Gaia and I don¡¯t really know what you need anyways.¡± ¡°Ah, I was told to seek out the...¡¯Series¡¯ I think? And also the Church of Information?¡± Ferocious didn¡¯t understand every single thing the Noble had said but those two points were the jist of it. Also the gravity rings he had were supposed to increase his stats in a passive manner. Speaking of stats¡­ ¡°And also, how do you check stats and skills?¡± The merchant nods in satisfaction of the questions. ¡°These are good things to know. The Series are the main ways a person can learn specific skills and gain the requirements for their class. The training is rather mundane so it really isn¡¯t hard, but you ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ are supposed to be rather quick in training. The Church of Information is on the other side of town so you went in the wrong direction. Basically turn around and walk straight. For stats and skills? Just say ¡®Show Status¡¯ or ¡®Show Skills¡¯.¡± ¡°Which Series are the best?¡± ¡°Thats a difficult question to answer...Usually the Combat Series would help you the most. The section that that area is just down the street. You need to have the basic requirements for getting a class - I don¡¯t think that has changed - so you can become a Warrior or Swordsmen, Warriors the the one that can wield a sword with an offhand while Swordsmen focus more on dual swords or two handed swords. Use of bows would be an Archer and there are even some Staffmasters I¡¯ve heard about. Fist users or Monks are rather rare due to the high difficulty requires a large organisation so you need to go to one of the fighting Churches to learn. I have heard of an unarmed master in the city though. You can also become a Weapon-Master or some other specialty class and learn to use a variety of different weapons. Knights and Paladins are the hardest and longest to get but they are wanted everywhere. High demand, low supply.¡± The description was short and sweet yet the information was quite good for the starting Ferocious. Since there was no tutorial and no restrictions in the beginning, people usually had to go through things slowly and apply the ancient art of trial and error. A Knight actually seemed the best for Ferocious. They probably needed honor in some way so you needed to be nice to everyone and they also had a powerful array of attacks in order to defend a kingdom. For the passive part of Ferocious, the Honor was very useful. For the gamer part of Ferocious, the array of skills would be much needed in a fight. ¡°The Healing Series isn¡¯t particularly good if you want power. Mainly people who want to help others would go there. You can become either a Cleric and worship one of the Healing gods and goddesses in order to get some Healing spells, or you can become an alchemist and herbalist and create potions that can recover health and mana or cure abnormalities. Each god and goddess can give a special class based on what they control. Paladins can worship whichever god/goddess they want but a healing deity gives the best sub skills. There are even some doctors or surgeons if you don¡¯t have a taste for the other two.¡± Ferocious thought that the merchant was finished but he continued on... ¡°For the Crafting Class you won¡¯t really level fast either. You mainly focus on creating items and equipment so they sell their stuff to the Combat and Stealth Series and then buy the stuff the two Series acquire through battles. Not a very strong group but they usually make the most money. For Merchant wannabes you would need to have a recommendation by an actual merchant before being accepted into the Merchant Guild and being offered the class. Its the hardest class to get but its also the most lucrative.¡± Ferocious was politely nodding throughout the explanation and taking mental notes when needed. He didn¡¯t actually need all of the information that didn¡¯t include combat and leveling but the extras would help in his grinding. ¡°You can also look around in the new dungeons and the like for some secret classes or quests or something. Rumors say that a boy of 13 went on a training run through a small dungeon a few months ago. He managed to unlock a secret area and obtain a hidden class. Unfortunately he died after provoking a Bandit Camp soon after he told everyone about it. Something about showing off his skills by taking down all of the bounties or something. ¡°Anyways, here¡¯s my card. Since you¡¯re just starting off you should get some contacts among the NPCs. The more contacts, the greater the advantage. Ah, new customers. I have the finest wares in -¡± Receiving a small silver card from the merchant, Ferocious took a few steps to the side to allow for the group behind him to do their business. He decided to walk towards the Combat Series section and check out the Church at a later date. As he walked, Ferocious studied the card. Not much information on the card but he was still new to the game. He can ask more questions later. Walking past several merchants, Ferocious did some non-window window shopping of the stuff being sold. Unlike Wilhelm¡¯s stand, these merchants displayed their wares and even called out to him as he passed. Ferocious didn¡¯t really hear them but he did feel that his body twisted slightly to the stands. Frowning, Ferocious pulled himself away and continued his slow walk. Then a slight surprise came upon him.
You have gained +1 Strength
¡®Wow...quick¡¯. As soon as Ferocious read it, the box shimmered and disappeared and Ferocious had a smile on his face as he avoided a march of soldiers. They fortunately didn¡¯t seem to think anything strange about it and some of them even nodded in his direction and smiled back. Not that he really saw since they were all men. He did note that they were heading towards the center of the city. Maybe someone caused a bigger disturbance? Ferocious turned his mind back to his walk and the stat he had gotten. Then he decided to check what he had. ¡°Show Status.¡±
Status
NameFerocious
Level1ClassNone
Fame0Infamy0
TitleNoneWorld Rankingn/a
GuildNoneFree Stat Points0
Health100Mana100
Stamina100
Strength11Dexterity10
Vitality10Intelligence10
Wisdom10
Luck10Agility10
There seemed to be some gaps in the stats but Ferocious was rather glad that the command worked. He had some thoughts that maybe it was only an NPC command or something. ¡°Show Skills.¡±
Skills
APC. Max. Passive skill.
¡®APC? What the hell was APC?¡¯ Ferocious had thought he wouldn¡¯t have any skills at all but this was rather random. He decided to try something out. ¡°Show APC.¡±
APC. Max. Passive Skill
[p=left]As an ¡®Abnormal Piece of the Continent¡¯ you affect the world in a rather strange way. Skills and techniques are easier to obtain for you but the ¡®Normal Pieces of the Continent¡¯ have a strained relationship with you. You cannot lose skill levels due to negligence. Skills are 15% faster in training Stats are 15% faster to gain. Levels are 10% faster to gain during the day and 30% faster at Night. Pain has been reduced to 25% due to being a player. Pain has been risen to 50% due to being a Human. No negative affinities due to being Human. Small antagonism with Evil races due to being Human. It is very easy to acquire a negative relationship with NPCs. Dying will not be permanent under normal circumstances. You will revive later (5 days ingame or 1 day IRL). You will lose some skill proficiencies when you die and you will lose a level that is 1% of your own level rounded up. (So from level 1-100 you will always lose 1 level when leveling). At level 1, deaths will take off 2 of each stat point. *This part of the message will disappear when you hit level 2* Requires: Being a player and not an indigenous person of Gaia. Race will change some qualities of the skill.[/p]
¡®...Basically telling me I was a player and pretty much have an advantage. Plus the information about ¡®NPCs¡¯...Guess they had their own way of calling themselves.¡¯ Dismissing most of the information, Ferocious mind went back to the walk and search and he sped up. Why did he not care about the pretty useful information? Well 1: Ferocious was focused more on leveling than stat gain anyways, and 2: he really had nothing to compare the information with since ¡®Gaia¡¯ was the first VRMMORPG to ever come out. Finally Ferocious saw a good sign. A large sword, bow and arrow, shield, and even a fist was displayed on a large sign with the words ¡®Combat Series Official Building¡¯ on it. How was the sign big enough to do so? Well the size was about 2 metres by 4 metres and it was placed right over the large 5 metre arched door with 2 fully decked out warriors on the sides. The building itself was maybe 3 stories tall and every floor was the same height as the first. So about 15 metres of an awesome building. It took up the same amount of space as 6 normal side by side buildings and that was just what Ferocious could see. It looked rather impressive with its dark red bricks and displayed weapons and the clack clack clack coming from inside gave Ferocious¡¯ blood a slight boil. Ferocious approached the door only to stop when a man burst through. He was followed by four others and then an assortment of weapons flew at them. Some even pierced the fallen men but they didn¡¯t even seem to notice. ¡®High level?¡¯ Ferocious had started to attribute every weird thing as ¡®part of the game¡¯ and ¡®the power of levels¡¯. ¡°YOU BLASTED TRAITOR! YOU¡¯RE AN IDIOT FOR TRYING TO COME BACK! If you didn¡¯t have the backing of Sir Orwell then I would have killed you...LEAVE! AND NEVER SET FOOT IN ANY CITY EVER AGAIN.¡± The raging shout was from a tall man, still shorter than Ferocious but with a significantly greater muscle mass. If Ferocious was a wooden strong building then the man was the forest that was used to make it. In other words, he was big. He had exited the large doors and the two guards automatically accompanied him when he charged the thrown group. ¡®Important.¡¯ The man that was the first to be thrown out just looked up in disgust. Ferocious was even sure he saw a small glint of madness in his eyes. This man wasn¡¯t big but he was still rather beefed up. His thicker neck and cheeks told that it was probably due to training though and not a natural growth. He probably would have been rather chubby if not for the training. Ferocious also noted that the man had a spear sticking out of his gut yet he gave no notice. ¡®Monsters¡¯. ¡°I have a right to enter! You have no reason to kick me out Len! NO RIGHT!¡± ¡°I HAVE EVERY RIGHT. YOU KILLED MY BROTHER IN LAW JUST BECAUSE OF YOUR SELFISH DREAMS. I SHOULD JUST KILL -¡± At this time the commotion had created a large gathering of people. Taking a glance, Ferocious saw that they were all decked out in strong armor or leathers and some had hard looks. None looked at all sympathetic with the five men. The large man, Len, was being held back by the two guards. Ferocious had thought that they were just decoration for the building but the fact was that one was able to use only a hand to hold Len back while the other was between them and keeping the peace. Tt seemed the position was given to rather powerful people. The restraining guard whispered a few words to Len and he visibly calmed. Still... ¡°Your brother in-law? Sir Cliff was weak stupid man who didn¡¯t even deserve his Knight title. He trained me for 10 years and in the end he dumped me saying I was the weak one. HA! I KILLED HIM EASILY IN HIS SLEEP! WHO WAS THE WEAK ONE NOW!?!¡± ¡®Definitely crazy.¡¯ Even the new Ferocious could feel the change in the air. Every single person there had stilled at the words and hands had gone towards weapons. The tension in the air was filled with blood and Len was red with rage. Only the two guards were quiet and neutral. A single glance by the peacekeeping guard followed by his hand going to his sword and the crowd calmed quickly. Len was also calmed by the restraining guard. ¡°Gag him and throw him out. Take his weapons and armors and send them to the crafters to be smelted. Sell them for a few coppers or something.¡± Len disgustingly turned back after these words and several groups of men walked out of the crowd holding strong rope. The fallen group was very verbose in their treatment but obviously the crowd didn¡¯t care. Tied up and gagged, each of the five were hauled off somewhere distant. The city was actually rather large it seemed but the Combat Series section was rather close to a gate. Hence the distance Ferocious had to make from the center of the city. ¡®What...an awesome game.¡¯ Ferocious was incredibly impressed with the realism of the city. First he met a random noble in the beginning and managed to get some random items, all of which are probably unique and awesome for a beginner, and now he had just seen a dramatic conflict within a large organisation. Was this some kind of unique event for the first watcher? Thoughts like that went across Ferocious¡¯ head. Of course this had nothing to do with Ferocious the Player. Instead it was just a major case of Coincidence with a dash of Luck and a side of Timing. Ferocious watched the receding crowd until there were only a few stragglers and the guards were back in position. Gathering his courage, Ferocious approached the grand doors. Immediately he was stopped by the two guards. Both of them were decked in heavy plate mail but their movements were not encumbered in the least. They were both holding a glave and were also equipped with a sheathed sword at the waist and a large shield on their back. They did not wear a helmet so Ferocious was confronted with strong faces and sharp glares. Both of them had shaved weathered faces and some scars but they were not ugly. ¡°State your business.¡± The guard on the left, the one that was holding Len, had spoken first. The one on the right had gone back to his vigilant guarding and let his partner do the speaking. The words were not very offensive so Ferocious gave his waist bow and spoke clearly. ¡°I am an ¡®Otherworlder¡¯ and I would like to see if the Combat Series would be able to help me in getting stronger. I was told this was the best way if I wished to survive in this world.¡± A short nod from the man and Ferocious continued towards the door. He pushed at the door but¡­ ¡°Ummm, excuse me. Since I just started I can¡¯t seem to open it¡­¡± This caused anyone within earshot to smile. 11 strength was very weak so this large door was an obstacle. The humiliation didn¡¯t last long as the right guard lightly pushed the door and allowed him in. Ferocious had a frown on his face but he decided to quickly get stronger instead of complaining. He entered the building.
The inside of the building had a sort of dojo feeling as there were countless mats and training equipment in the large space. The large space was divided into three distinct areas. The center area was the smallest and consisted of a stone flooring. At the end of this ¡®corridor¡¯ was a set of stairs that led to the upper floors or the lower ones. To the right was probably a training area. Stacks of wooden weapons and uniforms, the area had large groups of children that were doing repetitions under teachers and small groups of young men doing spars. To the left was a large area that had metal weapons and armor and a sign loaded with sewing needles, hammers, paint brushes, and small knives. The writing underneath said ¡®Crafting Series Selling Area¡¯. A large counter took up almost the entire area and prices could be seen on the items. Several people were lined up and it didn¡¯t seem that the area never had customers as several people came and went. ¡®A practise area and a weapons shop?¡¯ Best to know these things now rather than try to find them later.¡¯ On a side note, the door that Ferocious had come through is only the main entrance. To the back of the building there were several doors that opened out towards a vast courtyard that had rows upon rows of training dummies. There were also targets for archers and rings for matches. Ferocious could not see any of this. Right in front of the doorway was a reception area that was rather small and dingy. The wooden counter looked to have been damaged by thrown rocks or weapons slices or blunt impacts. Dents and cuts and missing pieces made it look like a mess. Ferocious was pretty sure he even saw a few dozen broken arrows in it. Behind the counter was a boy about 12-14 years old and very tall for his age. Ferocious approached the boy and the boy looked up from his half dazed dream. ¡°Yea? You need something?¡± The boy was definitely half sleeping since he was slumped on an arm and the eyes under his half closed eyelids were only raised to Ferocious¡¯ chest. The boy had no watcher and Ferocious didn¡¯t see ayone else close enough to help so he decided to just ask the boy first. ¡°I am an ¡®Otherworlder¡¯ and I wish to know how to become strong.¡± Not very eloquent but simple seems best for the kid. The boy¡¯s eyes widened a bit at the ¡®Otherworlder¡¯ term but a yawn brought back the sleepy look. He nodded and took out a large stick with a wrapped cloth at the end. Then he whipped around and smacked a large gong. Where the gong was before and how Ferocious missed it, he would never know. A loud noise rang around the building but everyone else ignored it. Ferocious actually quivered due to the noise and his vision wabbled.
Your body cannot take the effects of the loud sound. You are under the effects of ¡®Dizziness¡¯. Your hearing is disabled - only a long ringing will be heard for the next 10 seconds. Your vision will be impaired for 10 seconds. You cannot move your body for 10 seconds. Health and Mana regeneration has stopped for 10 seconds. You took 20 damage.
¡®Just for a little NOISE?!¡¯ Ferocious again renewed his determination to build up his character. When the ringing stopped and his sight finally stabilized Ferocious noticed a few men around him. All of them had the trademark muscular size but none had any weapons on them. They were all at least double Ferocious¡¯ age so their glares had the impact of age, experience, strength, and training. Ferocious was about to bow when a man stepped forward. A slight man, the course muscles that were displayed through the tight shirt gave off a sense of strength. He was the only one with a long white beard and no hair and his face had some wrinkles on it. He was the probably the oldest one there. ¡°Welcome newcomer. I am the grandmaster of Bellen¡¯s Combat Series. These three are some of the other masters. What do you need?¡± The man¡¯s voice belied his wiry look as a deep rumbling assaulted Ferocious and caused him to stagger.
You have been hit with ¡®Leader¡¯s Voice¡¯. All stats decrease by 80%. You have been inflicted with the fear debuff.
¡®Monster!!!¡¯ ¡°I-I am one of the ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ that have come today. I wish to train here and become strong enough for the world outside.¡± Ferocious barely got the words out as his teeth were clattering. His body was shaking like a leaf and he could feel the sweat rolling down his face. The three masters were confused by Ferocious¡¯ actions but the old man was nodding a bit. The old man turned and nodded towards the youngest master there. ¡°Kern, you should speak with him. My ¡®Leader¡¯s Voice¡¯ is giving some unwanted effects on the lad. I¡¯ll be in my room if you need me.¡± With those words the old man left, but Ferocious was under the increased effects of the skill. He couldn¡¯t even speak now and he almost fell over due to weakness. ¡°I¡¯ll wait a few moments until the effects wear off. Honestly the skill wasn¡¯t even used properly and even a kid could shake it off¡­¡± What was left unsaid was ¡®So weak¡¯ and that angered Ferocious. That anger bubbled as he was still affected by ¡®Leader¡¯s Voice¡¯ and couldn¡¯t do anything. Ferocious¡¯ face reddened and his shaking started to increase as he got angrier and angrier. The three masters noticed this and gave different reactions. The youngest was the largest - almost a head taller than Ferocious and had bulging muscles - and he was frowning at the display. The other two were around Ferocious¡¯ size and the oldest one was expressionless. No. He was asleep! The old man was standing asleep! Ferocious¡¯ anger increased. Then the middle man walked up with a smile and laughed. ¡°Ah, don¡¯t worry boy, we¡¯ll train you properly and you¡¯ll be able to lift up your head and walk with pride.¡± Then he gave Ferocious a slap on the shoulder. Now, the slap was a fairly normal one. The kind of slap you give a peer that gave off a friendly air. Like the kind of slap a teammate would give to another after a game or practice. Ferocious had never gotten one before, but he had watched some school games and was envious of the interactions. This slap was from an officially master NPC with a probably high level and high stats. The receiver was a new ¡®Otherworlder¡¯ that was under the effects of the stat reducing ¡®Leader¡¯s Voice¡¯ and had stats that would lose out to a newborn NPC. The slap from the man slammed Ferocious to the ground. His legs buckled under the force and there was a snap as his arms - he tried to land on his arms - bent beneath him. Then ground met face and Ferocious almost blacked out from the pain. He actually wanted to black out and forget the pain that was hitting him now. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Ferocious¡¯ head felt like his skull had cracked open and his brains were trying to breathe. His arms were fire and acid as they were in positions that defied what was natural and proper. The rest of his body had some impact from the fall but not enough to compare.
You have been severely damaged. You have taken 89 damage and are under the effects of ¡®Bleeding¡¯ and ¡®Bone Displacement¡¯. You are losing 3% health per second.
Ferocious couldn¡¯t see anything but the information boxes, but he could hear the voices. ¡°CRAP! I forgot that they were weaker than usual. Ilan!!¡± Ferocious heard the running of feet before the words were even out. ¡°May you feel my Goddess and recover, Ket¡¯s Touch! May you fall for my Goddess and shine, Ket¡¯s Kiss!
You are under the effects of ¡®Ket¡¯s Touch¡¯. ¡®Leader¡¯s Voice¡¯ effect has decreased. Bleeding effect is taken care of. Bones have been repaired. Internal Organs have been repaired. Health has recovered by 500 points.
You are under the effects of ¡®Ket¡¯s Kiss¡¯. Health has started recovery. Health recovery at 250%.
The effect was near instantaneous as Ferocious¡¯ face was repaired and healed and all of his broken bones were fixed. His arms were re-set and straight and his body ache was gone. His health was only at 100 so it should have been healed as well. Ferocious felt better than he ever had before. He gave a long gasp of fresh bloodless air. ¡°T- *cough cough* Th-Thank you.¡± Ferocious was on all fours, on the ground, and trying to clear the blood in his throat. The game was entirely too realistic if it even included internal damage. ¡°Ah, haha. Sorry about that. Guess I don¡¯t know my own strength.¡± ¡°*groan* No, its more like no one knows my own strength. The ¡®Leader¡¯s Voice¡¯ decreased my stats by 80% or something so I only had 2-3 of all stats. Really bad.¡± ¡°Ah haha¡­¡± Ferocious finally got over his ¡®beating¡¯ and stood up from his position. The master had an embarrassed face as he started scratching the back of his head and was avoiding eye contact with Ferocious. The other two were also avoiding eye contact and were also doubling over and trying to hold in their laughter. Ferocious got a little angry but his embarrassment overrode it. A fourth man stood close to Ferocious and didn¡¯t have an amused look. He was hard faced and had a few scars across his face and over a missing eye. He wore a purple and grey tunic over some leathers and he was equipped with a wooden sword. Ferocious recognized him as one of the teachers and probably as ¡®Ilan¡¯. ¡°This isn¡¯t something to laugh at. This boy could have died. If hes an ¡®Otherworlder¡¯ like we heard, then his stats are abysmal. I¡¯ve been to a birthing before and seen the stats. 100 health and 10 vitality. I¡¯m surprised he doesn¡¯t die just walking down a street.¡± The gravel voice matched the man¡¯s look but his words were rather kind. At least he managed to get the masters to become serious again. ¡°Yes, yes Ilan, we¡¯ll make sure it doesn¡¯t happen again.¡± Was the hierarchy here different? Or was Ilan just that mean looking? Ilan just nodded at Kern¡¯s words and walked back to his training. His class hadn¡¯t given up their repetitions while he was gone. ¡®So obedient¡­¡¯ ¡°Well then, guess we should continue. What class do you figure would be best for you? Or do you need an explanation as well? An explanation would take a long while as well so if you have a path you with to go down¡­¡± Ferocious¡¯ face was probably read by the young Kern so he didn¡¯t need to speak much. Ferocious slowly tried to figure out what would be best. A large explanation would be good, but he probably wouldn¡¯t be able to absorb all of the information or take notes. Plus direct information on classes he wanted would probably be best anyways. ¡°Hmmmm I would like to know about the Knight Class or Paladin Class.¡± Those two classes were directed at helping people so Ferocious could practice his social skills that way. The skills he would obtain from two powerful warrior classes would probably be good for fighting as well. ¡°Ah, I guess Ilan left some sort of impact on you. Ah, was I wrong? Ilan is a Paladin of Ket so he healed you using those skills. You would need to be very fervent in your faith if you wish to take up the class of Paladin or Priest. For a Knight you would need to gain the favour of the people of the city. Anyways for the explanation¡­ Knights are the most wanted class in Gaia. They wield a combination of Sword and Shield and other weapons and they are very powerful when mounted. To become a Knight you would need to have the respect of the people in order to accumulate Honor. Honor is gained when you perform a service without any ulterior motives. Since this stat is given based on personality, most Knights are extremely respected and desired by Cities. You cannot have a bad personality and become a Knight. For Paladins you would first need to choose a deity to worship. Afterwards you need to train yourself in the warrior arts and strengthen your belief in your god. Paladins can choose whichever weapon they want but most choose a large shield and some kind of blunt weapon. This allows them to cripple their target without a high chance of death or limb loss. Paladins are mainly used to spread beliefs and guard others. They are required to be selfless and good, at least for the Good aligned churches. Dark Knights are the opposite of Paladins and Knights and we do not have much information on them.¡± This information was easy to understand and Ferocious nodded in appreciation. A Paladin seemed rather bothersome to obtain since it required some religious knowledge and Ferocious was blatantly Atheist - he tried to be Christian but nothing came out of it and he is became socially crippled. A Knight though would be rather easy...maybe. If it was all about helping, then Ferocious had some community service experience from school. If it was about something else though¡­ ¡°I¡¯ll go for being a Knight.¡± Ferocious forced himself to not bow all the time. He also forced himself to make some sort of eye contact. Wilhelm the merchant didn¡¯t seem to mind if there was no eye contact, but these large three men probably wouldn¡¯t like the disrespect of a lack of eye contact. As much as he didn¡¯t want to, Ferocious stood straight, made eye contact, and spoke clearly. The three men gave a slight approval at Ferocious¡¯ stand and Kern nodded towards the doors on the other side of the room. ¡°You can start your training in the yard there. Lopen here will pay off his accidental abuse with some legitimate abuse.¡± Kern waved to the middle man and gave a broad smile to the pair. Ferocious felt like he had been invited to hell and found out that the main course and guest of honor was himself. Lopen just gave a smile back as he stopped himself from patting Ferocious¡¯ back again.
For the next few weeks Ferocious went through an extremely fast training camp. The first thing they did was attach a few weights to his arms and legs and waist and then started some hand-to-hand combat. A few days of this and he managed to create the ¡®Unarmed Combat Mastery¡¯ skill which surprised Lopen and Kern. Ferocious was given off to Kern to train next. Ferocious needed to choose a weapon along with his shield so he was taken to the training armory and told to choose something. He didn¡¯t decide quickly and took his time with each weapon before deciding on a Sword with his Shield and a long Spear. The selection was perfectly mundane but practical too. Trying to use some secret weapon would take far too long. Ferocious was told about the different types of classes and their jobs. Kern was a Weapon-Master so he had some knowledge of almost every weapon. Any new weapons can also be tested in a special way and he was also allowed to create new techniques and teach them to other people. He was basically a researcher and a teacher. Lopen was also a Weapon-Master but he focused more on the deadly techniques used in battle and was also one of the few with any sort of unarmed combat skills. A warrior through and through but he gave good unarmed classes. The last master was an old man named Skeer who was a retired Knight and taught classes that included tactics, strategies, logistics, and theory. A full time teacher. A Knight can have a variety of classes but most usually go for the more important ones - at least the ones that give the most pay. Under this rule of ¡®Pay is proportional to Importance¡¯ Ferocious was slowly taught a list as he went through different motions with the sword. A commander. Knights who were taught extensively in the art of command were highly favoured as commanders. Earning renown by doing so, a high quality Knight commander can instill fear in their enemies if news got out that they were hired. Becoming a good commander though, required years of being taught the art of war or years of experience. A combination of the two was greatly desired. A soldier. As a soldier, the skills a Knight has can greatly turn the tides of skirmishes. Knights are known for the battle cries and shouts as the positive boosts from them can help comrades and disable the enemy. The combat skills they wield can also pack a considerable punch and duels between Knights are the stuff of legends. A teacher. An injury, old age, or psychological damage can cripple the offensive power of a Knight so most would go on to teach the next generation or for the rich nobility. Since it is impossible for a Knight to have a negative personality, the teacher only has to take care to teach skills and lessons proportional to how much Honor the disciple has. Ferocious is being taught only the basics for now. The other jobs were rather low in comparison but included things like ¡®Hired Help¡¯ as the main category name. Knight Mercenaries were also well received since they were backed by the Honor stat. Ferocious managed to complete his quick training a single real life day so he was told to raise the honor stat and kill some monsters to level. Ferocious decided to log off since he had been playing for the better part of a day.
Dante rose out of the console and blinked his weary eyes. He didn¡¯t feel tired in game since he was required to sleep a few hours each in-game day but being out of the console and experiencing a tired body caused some considerable tension in his body. Dante rose sluggardly and did some stretches he had done before in school as he made his way to the washroom. Dante didn¡¯t have any work at the moment and the living expenses were rather small if you only ate enough to function a day. Dante had eaten some of the food inside the game and they tasted exactly the same as the ones in reality. Upon entering the game, you didn¡¯t get any food or water or anything but you did get 50 copper coins. Dante was given a water skin from Lopen and his meals were provided by the Combat Series as well. Pretty good deal if you asked him. While cooking his meal, Dante remembered an incident during the second day of training. The courtyard was filled with new students like him being taught under a few teachers and sparring matches between men and women so there was no lack of activity. Unlike the other students, Dante was being taught by the masters instead of the teachers so it looked a little like favoritism. The students didn¡¯t seem to mind though so there were no problems on that end. The actual problem was..
¡°HEY! IS THERE ANYONE IN THE HOUSE?¡± Ferocious and his partner Levi, another ¡®Otherworlder¡¯ who was a tanned pretty boy, looked up from their training and stared at the entrance along with 20 other students and teachers. Levi had entered the Combat Series building a few hours after Ferocious and was given the chance to train in nearly the same way Ferocious was allowed. The only difference was a lack of being beaten to a pulp. The two were paired off sometimes in order to spar and learn teamed fights. Levi had a rather easy going personality and was aiming to be a Weapon-Master since he said it would be cool to carry around 20 different weapons and use them like an expert. Ferocious had the regular reaction of ¡®What about carry weight¡¯ before he gave up trying to convince Levi. Watching his antics when he tried to equip so many weapons and train in them was rather refreshing. Anyways back to the loudmouths. The grand doors of the dojo had been left open after Ferocious and Levi were seen to struggle just to open it. Ferocious had 23 strength now due to leveling from the caught monsters the building kept - they had a sort of monster zoo for training - and from a combination of gravity rings and training. At level 7 he had distributed his stats in strength, agility, and vitality at a ratio of 3:1:1. His stats were progressing slowly but properly, at least thats what he thought. He could open the doors properly now and take the abuse of Lopen¡¯s pats. The seven intruders were crowding the large doors and openly acting antagonistic to the group. Ferocious saw their clothing and judged them to be Players like him and Levi. They were each carrying a wooden weapon of some kind and each of them stared at any female trainee that they saw. They were completely oblivious to the tension being caused from their lewd stares. Ferocious had eyes the women on the first day as well and probably had the exact same kind of stare as them. He stopped that bad habit when he saw a 12 year old girl lift a 14 year old over her head and slam him into the ground with a huge slam. Out in the streets Ferocious had seen countless Players with broken bones after they tried to pick up the girls they saw on the streets. It was a sobering scene. The men at the doors were arrogantly entering the building and eyeing everything. They headed straight in before turning to the side and towards the reception desk. The tired boy was still there and stood up to take a good look at the people before sitting back down in boredom. The boy was actually 16 years old but pretty short for his age. At exactly 5 feet he had next to no muscle mass at all and no air of strength. Ferocious hadn¡¯t seen the boy train the last two days so he assumed the boy was just a part-time clerk or something. ¡°Yea? How may I help you.¡± Without even raising his head the boy eyed the group and politely asked the group their business. The polite tone was entirely ruined by his posture but there was really no reason to point that out. The lead man was probably the most good looking and he sneered down at the boy. ¡°I hear this place is the one place to train. Where do we sign up?¡± ¡°Hrm give me a sec.¡± The boy took out that familiar gong stick and struck that familiar gong. The loud ring didn¡¯t shake Ferocious anymore since his vitality could somewhat take it so his body just shook a bit. Levi had a lower level and vitality stat than Ferocious so he visibly shook but didn¡¯t do anything else. The group of men were happily clutching their heads and obviously loving their dizziness. ¡°Grrrrrrrrrrrr What the urgggh was that?¡± The men were shaking and stumbling into each other as they were under the effect of the sound. The masters came down the stairs and positioned themselves in front of the dizzy men and smiled at the display. Until one of the men fell down. The man in the center of the group had been jostled constantly by the men and his own dizziness probably did not help him in any way. He fell with a shout but the other men either ignored it or didn¡¯t notice. The man that fell was promptly trampled by his group and hit by the two who were swinging their weapons at whatever they stepped in. He died in a flash of grey but not before he cursed his luck. The masters were shocked and tried to get to the man before he died but were too late after they pulled away the group to reach him. They watched with shock as he turned grey and the only thing that was left behind was a shirt and a wooden bat. Like a true warrior though they got over the death and separated the recovering men. Each of them grabbed two men and held them by the neck until they stopped shaking. The two swinging men were still going at it and both of them were being held by Kern. They slapped the weapons and fists on Kern but Kern didn¡¯t even budge and the weapons snapped after a few hits. He was hit by fists and feet until they finally got too tired and calmed down. Their red faces were glaring at Kern in red rage and Kern sighed at what he saw. He waited till they stopped shaking before carrying them towards the door, whispering a few words, and throwing the two out. The two were on the ground for a bit but they picked themselves up and shouted unintelligibly. Both of them rushed towards Kern who had got back inside the building and was approaching the four left over men who had been released by Lopen and Skeer. Ferocious was about the cry out and warn Kern about the angry duo but stopped in amazement. The two men had rushed to the entrance only to bounce off of an invisible wall and land a few metres back. They were not moving so Ferocious assumed they had been knocked out. Ferocious and Levi both had shocked faces so a close student whispered what had happened. ¡°Master Kern had kicked them out of the building and forbidden them entry. He needed to have them in his hands in order to use the command so it was very easy. The command can be overturned by the other masters and the Grandmaster as well.¡± Ferocious nodded his appreciation and eyed Levi. He gave a silent look that asked to continue their training while paying attention to what was being said. Levi returned it and they both picked up their heavy wooden weapons and started their individual repetitions. ¡°Well that was unfortunate. What do you four need with us? I am Master Kern and these two are Master Skeer and Master Lopen.¡± ¡°Ah, haha, we heard that this place and its renown for training so we wish to be taught in any way.¡± The leader had erased the sneer from his face and made a smile replace it. He had also seen what had happened to trouble makers so he was smart enough to change his attitude. Kern looked at Ferocious and Levi and gave a look. Ferocious understood and shook his head in denial. That group wouldn¡¯t be a good match for Levi and Ferocious. Better to have seperate training groups. ¡°Alright then. You and your friends can work under Skeer here and take a few lessons before training under Lopen. In a few days I¡¯ll come back and handle your weapons training. Fine?¡± ¡°Ah...Yes. Alright.¡±
Logging back in, Ferocious started his trek through the city in order to increase his Honor stat. The stat was generated from a ¡®Stat book¡¯ which was common enough in Combat Series areas so it didn¡¯t cost much. The actual work will have to be properly done by Ferocious so his goal of a Knight was still far away.
Honor
A partner of the people, this value is reflective of the relation between people and the user. This stat increases as you acquire respectability with the people. Cannot add stat points to this. Helping citizens and increasing relationship with the populace will increase this stat. Cannot increase this stat if you are filled with devious and greedy thoughts. Must have an amiable personality. Doing evil and negative actions will lower the value if people see it. This stat will have an impact on Fame.
He slept for 12 hours so he missed almost 3 days of the game. The first thing Ferocious did was volunteer for whatever he could. He wandered into the Crafting Series area - he obtained a map of Bellen from Skeer - and into a few busy shops. Most had frantic workers but they didn¡¯t seem distressed that much so Ferocious entered and exited quite quickly. The eighth building was what he was looking for. ¡°Georgie! After you¡¯re finished go and sharpen those tools! Rick! You need to get more fresh water!¡± ¡°I can¡¯t! I need to go and buy some extra hides and then visit the woodmakers afterwards! ¡°You can¡¯t add more stuff to my burden! I need to pay attention to the fires else it will take forever to build it back up!¡± ¡°Excuse me!! Is there any clerk here!?¡± ¡°Give us a second sir! Leo go and take care of it!¡± ¡°Leo isn¡¯t here, he went out to visit the market and get some lunch for us! Margaret isn¡¯t even the town so don¡¯t bother asking about her.¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± The three men in the building were extremely agitated as they each hurried at their jobs and shouted at one another. There was a small line of customers as well and they seemed to find the situation amusing as they relaxed in their lines and watched the frustrated workers. The oldest man took a short break from his work and approached Ferocious. His look gave a promise of retribution if Ferocious just wasted his time. ¡°What do you want boy?¡± Ferocious was dressed in the casual workout clothing of the Combat Series so he was received as a member of the group instead of as an ¡®Otherworlder¡¯. Ferocious had been quick frightened at the feelings the NPC population had towards ¡®Otherworlders¡¯. He had seen constant hopeless ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ with drabby clothing or ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ who took it too far and died. The influx of new ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ had stagnated since all of the buyers of ¡®Gaia¡¯ had already logged on and made their account. ¡°Ah, I wish to become a Knight so I need to increase Honor. I would li-¡± ¡°GOOD! Rick! Give take this boy under your wing and put him to work. NOW!!¡± Ferocious was grabbed and thrown into the arms of a large but much younger worker. Rick still looked 10 years older than Ferocious and he easily grabbed Ferocious and put him behind a station. ¡°Shovel once from the pile of coal and then press the bellows 8 times. Repeat until I come back.¡± The big man left Ferocious to his work and Ferocious acted quickly. He didn¡¯t mind the monotonous work since he had worked in a factory before so he quickly followed the instructions and played some memorized music in his head. His strength was just barely enough to press the bellows and he was pleased to see an increase in stats from time to time. For the next few weeks Ferocious volunteered in different parts of the town and went to hunt some rabbits outside the city at night. Word of mouth spread the tale of the Knight in training and he was exploited to the max. Still, he was paid, he was fed free food, and he got the stats he needed in the end. Ferocious was never working long enough to generate a skill for his work so that was one downside to everything. ¡°Show Status.¡±
Status
NameFerocious
Level12ClassNone
Fame104Infamy0
TitleNoneWorld Ranking1000+
GuildNoneFree Stat Points0
Health280Mana100
Stamina195
Strength54Dexterity18
Vitality28Intelligence10
Wisdom12Honor50
Luck10Agility23
50 strength and 50 honor. All of the prerequisite stats needed for the Knight class. Ferocious headed towards the Church of Information that he had ignored for the last few weeks.
So this is my SS of Ferocious and his start in Gaia. Its rather long but the information is waaaay too little. I apologize for running on for so long. The group of 5 in the beginning that were being thrown out? Yea that was the same group that got beaten up by Michael during his training years. Surprisingly the big boys were the same age as Michael. Levi will be a future companion for Ferocious. He may or may not be referenced in chapter 16. Ferocious will be the leader of a specific mercenary guild that aims to eliminate the conflict between Otherworlders and NPCs. I need help on what guild Ferocious will lead. He is a Knight obviously so as the Leader the name of the guild should reflect that somewhat. The guild is also supposed to be an intermediary between Otherworlders and NPCs so it needs a ¡®Good¡¯ name. Lastly the guild will need to be referenced in the story a few times so the name needs to be...good sounding... For the questioners, Ferocious is not OP. He is a regular player. He will work for his own stuff and not exploit the game like Bardray does in LMS (is it Bradley? I heard that before...) where bardray had his team leave last kill to him and all that. Ferocious is still docile. No real fight scenes. Going berserk when he was rabbit training would sound cool but look dumb. Even he wouldn''t try that. Chapter 16: Kiryun Part 1 KIRYUN PART 1 Michael burst out of the Inn and took a look around for any hint of a fight. Nothing caught his eye so Michael was conflicted about where to start. His body moved before his mind even processed the second scream and he ran down the street towards a large bar. There were usually some hired guards around bars and the lack of guards hinted at a problem. In front of the bar doors was a large sign with a golden crest on a green background. The crest was in the shape of a wolf¡¯s head with a spear through it. The streets held no one but a few wanderers. It was almost noon so most of the citizens were still in the center of the city and away from the Inns and bars so there was no need to walk through a large mass of people. Michael¡¯s run attracted no special stares and the few glances from the guards told Michael that he would receive no help or interruptions from them. Michael pushed open the double doors and surveyed the room. A large counter was on his left and some stairs were placed at the far corner of it - meant to lead to the living spaces of the proprietors. The rest of the space was given to large and small round tables with stools and the far right corner had another set of stairs leading to the basement. A set of doors was placed beside those stairs and had the words ¡®Private Rooms¡¯ overhead. It was from these doors that a third scream emerged. Michael whispered ¡°Stealth¡± since he didn¡¯t want to give any warning to the enemy. There were no other signs of people in the bar and the owner, an old but sturdy man with a gaunt look, was behind the counter. He had been eying the private rooms but hadn¡¯t made a single move towards it and he gave a hopeful look to Michael. Michael gave a small disgusted look back and the old man turned his head in embarrassment. Michael rushed past the tables and a few dozen men arrived at the entrance to the bar. Michael¡¯s speed further increased the distance so there wasn¡¯t much worry there. He switched sights as he ran through the ¡®Private Room¡¯ doors and used some Mana to manipulate the green Mana and create small blocks to rise from the wooden floor. A miniature version of his ¡®Forest Wall¡¯ skill. The door held under the mass of rushing bodies with the help of the door stoppers and even if it looked rather weak it at least didn¡¯t give off the telltale groan of stress. Michael gave a sigh of relief and then made his way down a short hall. There were three private rooms all side by side and Michael noted the thick walls. His Sight was still switched and he also noted a slight amount of wind Mana inside the walls. Something to block sound? Michael headed towards the sounds coming from an open door at the end of the hall. ¡°Porter! Hurry up with the capture and help me!¡± ¡°Handle that yourself! We have our hands full trying to tie this girl up. Shes strong and heavy, even for us.¡± ¡®Kidnappers?¡¯ Michael had some confusion about the situation since he doubted any lowly group should have been able to handle Liera. Peering into the room, Michael saw 3 men in light armor, 2 wielding clubs. They had green cloaks on that had the same crest on the back and Michael saw that they had swords sheathed on their belts. The use of clubs instead of swords meant that they didn¡¯t want bloodshed. Two of the men were struggling with Jemma. She was being held by one man who was also trying to tie her up while the other was trying to jam his club into her mouth. It was a rather harsh scene but their struggling showed that it was more troublesome than violent. They didn¡¯t actively abuse her and Jemma had few injuries; her body had no cracks or paint smudges from rough treatment. Liera was trapped in a corner and fighting a man with her quick speed. Her hits couldn¡¯t get under his range though and the occasional counter knocked her back into the walls, although she recovered quickly. Her injuries were more numerous than Jemma¡¯s but she didn¡¯t seem to be critically wounded. Liera was trying to go to Jemma¡¯s rescue but her opponent was far too skilled for her to deal with quickly. She needed to calm down more than anything. Michael noted that her features were becoming more wolf-like as she got angrier which meant she was probably gonna snap and transform soon. Michael didn¡¯t see any Mana changes on the men but he did note some changes in the clubs they held. He couldn¡¯t figure out what the clubs did but he guessed it had something to do with fortifying since Liera¡¯s opponent was using it without reserve. Touching those or the swords later would be of great use. ¡°IA.¡± The whisper was actually caught by the skilled warrior and he shouted a warning to his companions. He was smart enough to not let down his guard and the man who was trying to shut Jemma up turned to face Michael. Michael however had turned IA up to 4:1 speed so everything was quite slow. Michael moved into the room and used every second properly. Drawing his attack dagger with his left, Michael specially flexed his right arm and two throwing daggers sprung into his open hand. Michael took aim and threw the daggers at the group; one towards the turning man and the other towards Liera¡¯s opponent. The turning man caught they dagger directly in his neck and toppled over while the other dagger plunged into the side of Liera¡¯s opponent. Michael didn¡¯t want to kill Liera¡¯s prey. Michael turned off IA as he wanted to conserve as much Mana as he could. Approaching the final man, Michael noted that Liera had taken advantage of the momentary lapse from the skilled man and dug her transformed teeth into his shoulder. She was angry enough to actually draw a large amount of blood from the man and his screams made Michael wish she had taken him down quicker. The final man had given up on tying Jemma and drew his sword. The sword was then placed on Jemma¡¯s shoulder with the edge close to her neck. ¡°Stop! Stop in the name of my Lord, Sir Orwell or I will have to resort to drastic measures. We are to take these two to see him in Carihaven. Cease your actions and comply with his ruling. I will overlook the murder of my comrades but you must not interfere anymore.¡± ¡°Murder? The man I hit is still alive. The damage to his health shouldn¡¯t have been too high, even for a critical hit. And Liera won¡¯t kill her prey quickly anyways. I don¡¯t know what power your lord has but this is Kiryun not Carihaven. Besides, these two are my companions and I cannot overlook what is happening here.¡± At the word ¡®Companion¡¯ the man¡¯s relief turned into stoic determination and his blade¡¯s edge touched Jemma¡¯s neck. Michael had approached during the discussion and he was close enough to bend down and touch the fallen man¡¯s sword. The slight gurgle from the man was an enjoyable sound.
Steel Sword
Uncommon Durability: 137/150 Attack: 30-50 A well made steel sword created by an Expert. Swords of this calibre are produced in sets and are specially made for the warriors of important households. Requires: Strength - 60 Vitality - 40 Agility - 45
A good sword. Michael judged that the man¡¯s story was true since their equipment and weapons were of proper quality. Their master¡¯s crest must also be rather important since the Barkeeper was willing to let their actions continue instead of driving them out. Actually that would mean that their master was a person of high ranking. All of this was listed and then ignored by Michael. Now that he had information MIchael thought about the effects of that sword trying to slice a stone and accepted the answer in his head. He stood and once again approached the man. The look in Michael¡¯s eyes must have told the man something because he gave up trying to convince Michael and shut his opening mouth. He gave an agonizing groan before moving the sword and sliding it along Jemma¡¯s throat. A long shcreeech sounded and Jemma giggled a bit at the touch. The man was gaping in surprise but that was wiped off his face when Michael approached close enough to thrust his dagger into the man¡¯s sword arm. A punch cut off the man¡¯s groan and he collapsed, dropping the blade and releasing Jemma into Michael arms. Michael almost toppled over himself from Jemma¡¯s weight. She didn¡¯t seem to want to stand up himself and he contemplated stepping back and letting her drop. He stopped that thought and used a little more strength and concentration as he pulled her upwards and forced her to stand. She complied and Michael glanced over at Liera. Her blood soaked face greeted him. The man she was facing was on the ground, clutching his nearly unattached right arm and writhing in pain. Michael noted that there was probably a difference in pain between getting an arm cut off or getting a good chunk bitten off. He lightly whacked Liera¡¯s head and didn¡¯t say anything as she looked sullen enough. She knew it wasn¡¯t good to lose control of herself. Michael took out some small to moderate health potions and approached the man with the neck hole. Pouring a bit into the wound, Michael watched as it very slowly closed up. The man was constantly spitting out blood to clear his airway but he could survive without air for a few minutes. Michael forced the potion bottle into his hand and then moved on to Liera¡¯s victim. The man was a bleeding mess. His arm was dangling by bone and a little flesh and the man was near mad with the pain. Liera didn¡¯t bite down hard enough to crush and rip apart the bone so she caused needless pain. Michael drew his sword and eyed the man. The man wasn¡¯t far enough not to understand and he nodded in near relief. There was no healing magic that can specifically heal this much specific damage. It was better to cut off the entire arm and heal the entire limb. Michael swung the sword and quickly knocked the man out with a kick. Michael formed some air into a small ball in his hands and sparked it alight before placing it on the man¡¯s wound and cauterizing it. All of this took half an hour and Michael noted that the banging on the door down the hallway had stopped much earlier. The screams from the men must have deterred them or Jemma¡¯s Cry of a Maiden had worn off. All of this made his next task easier since he didn¡¯t have to worry about interruptions. The least injured man was starting to stir as Michael approached him and Liera had tied him up properly when Michael was treating the other two. The neck man had swallowed the health potion and was visibly recovering so Michael directed Jemma to sit on the man. His near scream and the sound of his ribs breaking caused Michael to note that he needed to get some information on how much she weighed. It would also have to be when no one else was around¡­ Michael slapped the man a few times to wake him. Michael poured a small bit of a moderate health potion on his arm wound before letting the man hold the rest. Michael watched as the man recovered slowly. Michael noted that he would need to try and find out the ingredients for a general cure potion in case of headaches or illnesses like what these people may experience from getting knocked out all the time. ¡°So why does Sir Owen want with these two anyways?¡± When all three men had been healed and tied up, they were planted on their knees before the Tribunal. That is, they were before Michael and Liera was glaring at them. Jemma was taking a nap on one of the chairs in the room. The private room had essentials for basically any parties. The chairs ranged from child sized to regular size and the large table in the center could become a makeshift bed if needed. The two closets in the corners of the room were large and spacious and the drawer beside the door held papers with charcoal and pens. The room was paid by the hour and was relatively expensive but Michael Managed to extend the time for the room by several hours with the help of Jemma. Their funds were large when you included what they made from the Ancient Coins and the amount they won from betting on Michael. The three men were placed on the far side of the room, away from the door. Their hands were tied with some strips from their expensive looking cloaks that Michael disassembled with his Tailoring. Michael was seated a metre away from the group and he had IA on 2:1 just in case of surprises. His chair was creaking under the weight of him and the ring bonuses. On a side note, he usually removes the rings when sleeping so that the bed doesn¡¯t break. Liera was behind Michael and to the left, seated on top of the table while Jemma was seated on a chair that was placed right in front of the door. Michael didn¡¯t want any interruptions so Jemma was the doorstop. ¡°How dare you! My Lord is Sir Orwell and my Lord¡¯s wishes must be complied. As one of his blood I cannot -¡± ¡°Useless.¡± The people who worked for nobles and signed and swore family blood oaths were extremely fanatic in what they did. So Michael quickly knocked the man out again and placed him the side. Blood oaths were very powerful but rare so Michael highly doubted all three of them were Bloods. Michael turned towards the one armed man. ¡°How about you two? Want to answer me?¡± ¡°We weren¡¯t told anything. We¡¯re hired mercs from ¡®Rising Phoenix¡¯ and we were told to follow that one. We wish that you won¡¯t treat us any worse. Under contract we had to follow orders. Plus we technically didn¡¯t permanently injure anyone.¡± The polite tone from the man was in direct contrast with the messy look he had. Blood had soaked his armor and leathers and his cloak was being used to wrap the bloody remains of his arm. A faint smell of burnt flesh was still in the room and the man was probably in a great deal of pain. There were two ways to recover limbs. If the entire limb was only cut off, you would only need the services of surgeons and a light healer to reattach it. For more serious wounds you need a master ranking healer and some remains of the arm. Recovering limbs without the actual limb is a God-ranking skill. Michael assembled the rest of the pieces of the puzzle in his head. The Blood member was probably given short orders to take Liera and Jemma to Sir Orwell. He was to resort to any means necessary which is why he was able to threaten Michael with hurting Jemma and even if he did cut her neck he probably had some way to heal her. Obviously as a statue that destroyed any sort of planning they did. The other two were hired to help bolster the mission. One skilled person to handle any problems and one grunt to help. Liera was probably stronger than they thought but the man was definitely skilled. Jemma that was the largest anomaly in their plan. Her scream had the added bonus of the skill and stats that was specifically aimed to get help so she was the main reason it all failed. Michael ended his thoughts with a plan to train Jemma in some way. The shield he won earlier came to mind but Michael had zero training in fighting with a shield and Jemma would need a proper teacher. Michael sighed at the growing problems. He didn¡¯t wish to cause any more problems and he was sure that further damage to the three would be exactly that. Letting the Blood member go would be a mistake but Michael couldn¡¯t see any good ending if he killed him. The other two¡­ ¡°How much were you two paid?¡± ¡°H-huh?¡± ¡°I wish to buy your contract. How much were you two paid?¡± ¡°300 gold total, 250 for me and 50 for him. I don¡¯t think you can-¡± ¡°I¡¯ll give a thousand if you tell your guild not to continue helping him. Tell the other mercenary guilds the same.¡± The man looked shocked at the amount and Michael would have been as well. The last he looked though, he had about 9000 gold in total. 6000 was from the selling of Ancient coins earlier and he spent about 1000 on supplies across the city. 5000 gold was left and 200 coins were betted on Michael during the Tournament. Michael was overstating his ranking and he didn¡¯t know that the more important watchers of the tournament had seen his skills and bet on him as well. As more and more people bet on him, Michael¡¯s odds when they placed the bet was at 20/1 which was lower than he had thought. In the end the 200 gold coins turned into 4000 instead of the hundred of thousands that Michael had anticipated. Afterwards, Michael agreed to 1250 gold coins - the other man was very shrewd and actually Managed to increase how much he could be bought off with - as well as having them deal with the problem of Sir Orwell. The Blood member was handed off to them and Michael went to get 5 large bags filled with gold coins. The bar was empty of anybody and even the owner had disappeared. A sign at the door said that the bar was closed until further notice. With the trade off complete, Michael and the rest went back to the inn and into their respective rooms. Michael had seen Liera¡¯s sullen look but he knew that he made the right decision. Gaining further ire from a powerful noble would cause greater problems in the future. Especially when their goal in the future was to head to Carihaven. Lerisa hadn¡¯t awoken from Jemma¡¯s scream and she was still sleeping in. She usually awoke only when the sun was fully in the sky so it was still early for her. Lerisa was by herself in a double room since Catherine was staying at the Church for a month and Michael decided to switch the two doubles with a triple the next day. In his own room Michael stayed up a while and devised a schedule for the next few weeks.
The next day, Michael went into the Craft Series district and went inside the blacksmiths area. He was greeted with nods from people who had been there when he first went and he politely returned the greetings. Michael went towards the back of the area where there was only one smiths station. The station mysteriously was placed far away from the other areas but he wasn¡¯t denied the right to work there so he didn¡¯t think much of it. Michael took out various pieces of metal that he had bought. He bought a moderate quantity of alloys from respectable areas so he could create the items he wanted today. Bronze was the alloy he would be working with mainly but Michael also took out small chunks of pure Gold and Mythril. He heated the forge patiently band melted down the Bronze. Michael switched sights and focused deeply on the Mana within the liquid Bronze. Finding the right shades of color, Michael poured Mana into his work and twisted the liquid metal. He kept the Fire Mana from leaking from the metal which kept the metal hot and easy to manipulate. Michael fashioned several rings from the previous chunk of metal and when 5 rings were created in midair he slowly cooled down two of them. Releasing his hold of heat aspect of the metal, Michael noted down any changes in the metal¡¯s body. He once tried to rip out all of the heat from a sheet of metal and the thing crumpled inwards like paper. This time he kept an eye on the shape of the rings and nodded in satisfaction when the rings were properly cooled and in the right shape. The rings were deceptively thin and each weighed almost 800 grams each. With those two done, Michael took out a small piece of gold and melted it down to a tiny sliver. He manipulated it the same way he did with the rings and he created a thin string of gold. Then he moved back towards the three rings. For the last three rings he wanted to work on them one by one. He didn¡¯t use a lot of Mana but he also had Mana potions available just in case so he was able to concentrate on each properly. For the first ring, Michael created a groove that spiraled around the ring and ended where it started. Michael took his string of gold and placed it within the groove and then cut it off when it completed its circuit. He patiently cooled the ring as he kept watch of the two different metals inside of the ring. When it finished cooling, Michael placed it alongside the finished two rings and moved back towards the forge. Taking out the Mythril, Michael stared at it for a bit. He had never been allowed to work with it before but he understood the information about it. Under his sight the metal was abundant with Mana and appeared as almost a shining rock. The Mana inside of it was a mixture of every type and it did not help him at all in his manipulation of the metal. It would require a constant heavy usage of Mana to work with it. Michael took out several moderate Mana potions after consuming the weaker potions he had left out before. His mana recovered to a proper quantity and he placed the Mythril inside of the forge. The Mythril required a very high temperature in order to melt and after waiting ten minutes, Michael decided to increase the temperature. Using the bellows he pumped air into the forge and it roared with greater intensity. It still wasn¡¯t enough though so Michael decided on a different way. Michael took out several more Mana potions and then focused on the wind inside and outside of the workshop. With a huge surge of Mana, Michael rushed as much of the air as he could into the forge and the amount of heat was staggering. The colour of the fire was flickering between a clear orange and white flame. Michael had to back up a few metres before he was sure he wouldn¡¯t get burned but he continued to push air into the forge. He downed several potions whenever he saw that his Mana was approaching dangerous levels. Using his sight, Michael saw the increasing glow from the Mythril and when it stopped growing Michael immediately used a large chunk of mana to halt the decrease of heat from the liquid metal. Michael stopped the air manipulation and approached the forge. Michael needed to decrease his sight as he approached. The liquid Mythril was practically pulsing with white light and Michael would have gone blind if he had looked at it in full Mana sight. Gulping down a few more potions, Michael quickly manipulated the liquid Mythril and created a string of it like he had done with the gold. The silvery blue-white metal was then placed the groove of a ring and cut off when it successfully filled the groove. The end result was a liquid Bronze ring with a band of Mythril wrapped around it. Michael cooled this ring slowly and carefully. He couldn¡¯t afford to waste time in redoing it. When the ring was complete he reverently placed the ring beside the others. Now it was time for the last ring. Everything up till now was an experiment and the best ring would be done now. The last Bronze piece was the thickest one and had the greatest shine. Carefully, Michael used his drawing skills that he had obtained from ¡®painting¡¯ and created a beautiful and smooth design on the ring, then manipulated the Gold and Mythril strings towards the band. The outline of the ring was made with the Mythril and the detailed inside were enshrined in gold. The end result was an exquisite silvery blue-white wolf with golden eyes, fangs, and claws. The entire design was miniature in size but grand in detail. It probably wasn¡¯t a world greatest but Michael¡¯s skills will only increase over time. Michael cooled the ring with a patient and pleasing aura. He had nearly finished and it was probably not evening yet. The final touch after the cooling was making the ring to last. Since each metal piece was attached during their liquid state, the rings were seamless and nearly perfect. There was still the occasional bumps though and Michael took out his sculpting knife to solve that. Slowly, Michael carved each ring slowly and sliced away the excess metal from the rings. He used quite a bit of strength and he went through several knives as they dulled beneath the strength of the Mythril, but in the end smooth and beautiful rings were left over. The entire process took around 7 hours. Michael had been there since the morning and the Blacksmiths shop had been filled to capacity as people entered and stayed to watch Michael¡¯s motions. None of the blacksmiths had ever seen anyone use Magic in the creation of equipment and Michael¡¯s use of magic to keep the metals in liquid state, increase the heat of the forge with a large quantity of air, and then delicately combine metals to form jewelry left everyone there gaping. The only ones who didn¡¯t seem to care were the ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ who had even tried to interrupt Michael¡¯s work and ask for advice. They were promptly beat up and thrown out and a sign was placed to warn off ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ and non-blacksmiths. Michael opened up the information boxes that he had been ignoring for the hours he had worked.
Bronze A large piece of pure bronze. The alloy is made of a composition of Copper and Tin. Heavier than Steel. Composition: Copper - 88% Tin - 12% 5 kilograms About 25-30 Gold pieces worth.
Gold A small chunk of pure Gold. Malleable and Soft metal, it is not recommended to create an object made entirely of Gold. 500 grams Pure form. Worth about 12 gold pieces.
Mythril A small chunk of precious Mythril. A strange metal that can be used in a variety of items, this metal has incredible mana stored within. Using this metal can grant special properties to items. Enchanting items made of Mythril will grant special characteristics. The creation of this metal is currently unknown and various religions state Mythril as a God ranked metal. 500 grams. Pure form. Worth about 200-300 gold pieces.
You have halted the cooling aspect of ¡®liquid Bronze¡¯. Mana will decrease at a rate of 50 per minute.
You are manipulating ¡®liquid Bronze¡¯. Mana will decrease at a rate of 10 mana per minute per kilograms controlled. You have a current mana upkeep of 47 Mana per minute.
You have changed the cooling aspect of ¡®liquid Bronze¡¯. Metal will now cool at 70% the normal speed.
You have a current total mana upkeep of 66 Mana per minute.
You have halted the cooling aspect of ¡®liquid Gold¡¯. Mana will decrease at a rate of 40 per minute.
You are manipulating ¡®liquid Gold¡¯. Mana will decrease at a rate of 18 mana per minute per kilograms controlled. You have a current mana upkeep of 9 Mana per minute.
You have changed the cooling aspect of ¡®liquid Bronze¡¯ and ¡®liquid Gold¡¯. Metal will now cool at 50% the normal speed.
You have a current total mana upkeep of 100 Mana per minute.
You have a current total mana upkeep of 734 Mana per minute.
You have been slightly burned and damaged due to intense flames. Health - 300.
You have halted the cooling aspect of ¡®liquid Mythril¡¯. Mana will decrease at a rate of 90 per minute.
You are manipulating ¡®liquid Mythril¡¯. Mana will decrease at a rate of 40 mana per minute per kilograms controlled. You have a current mana upkeep of 20 Mana per minute.
You have changed the cooling aspect of ¡®liquid Bronze¡¯ and ¡®liquid Mythril¡¯. Metal will now cool at 40% the normal speed.
You have a current total mana upkeep of 149 Mana per minute.
You have changed the cooling aspect of ¡®liquid Bronze¡¯, ¡®liquid Gold¡¯, and ¡®liquid Mythril¡¯. Metal will now cool at 20% the normal speed.
¡¯Elemental Manipulation¡¯ has leveled up.
¡¯Sculpting¡¯ has leveled up.
Bronze Ring Common Durability: 400/400 A heavy ring made of pure Bronze. The workmanship is highly skilled and the ring is deceivingly heavy. Can add a total of 1 Enchantment.
Twisted Gold Ring Uncommon Durability: 350/350 A heavy Bronze ring with an infused Golden band. The workmanship is highly skilled and the ring is an incredible piece in its simplicity. Charm + 10 Mana + 20 Can add a total of 3 Enchantments.
Twisted Mythril Ring Rare (High Class) Durability: 320/320 A heavy Bronze ring with an infused Mythril band. No mana has been lost in the making of this ring. The purity of the Mythril causes slight damage to any Dark-aligned creatures that see it. An incredible piece of jewelry with high magic potential. Mana + 200. Mana regeneration + 10 per minute. Can add a total of 5 Enchantments.
Devouring Fenrir Ring Unique Durability: 500/500 (Very hard to break. Resistant to physical and magical damage) An incredibly detailed Bronze ring with Mythril and Gold embedded into the design. This piece of work will be highly sought after and the magic potential in this ring is incredible. The wolf design is highly detailed and shows a great understanding of the species. Charisma + 30 Presence + 40 Health + 300 Mana + 400 Mana regeneration + 14 per minute Mana Control + 40 Can add a total of 9 enchantments. All enchantments are 30% more effective. *Due to your characteristics of ¡®Wolf Pack Leader¡¯ all members of the pack gain a 5% increase in stats. Orders are more likely to be obeyed.
The quality of what Michael had created was a little shocking but he based most of it on the incredible power of the Mythril being used. Gold wasn¡¯t a very powerful metal and was only precious due to its rarity and specific characteristics. The pure form of Gold was a little better but it was weak by itself and not a satisfactory metal. Mythril however was even rarer than Gold and was a powerful metal in its own right. With its own source of Mana regeneration and a hardness that steel can¡¯t compare to, it was an extremely valuable metal. The difference in stats between the ¡®Twisted Gold Ring¡¯ and the ¡®Twisted Mythril Ring¡¯ displayed the discrepancy. If the gold ring could be sold for 20-30 gold, then the Mythril ring would have been worth around 1200. The untouched Enchantment slots were also part of it. Enchantments were different from the usual magic or skills everyone has. For one, there was no skill for Enchanters to benefit from so their numbers were few and rare. The skills needed to enchant were hard to acquire since there was a lack of teachers and the Enchanters themselves had low skills. Harold olr Opinio was a different kind of person altogether. He had a near God ranked level of magic and he was a Master Alchemist. His enchantments were also extremely powerful and Harold taught Michael a few techniques of Enchanting. One of these techniques was gravity increasing. The basics of Enchanting is basically a connection between the user and a Magic Crafting God Weland. The user plunges the item into a specific task, pours a mixture of Earth and Fire Mana from their own body into the item, and then prays to Weland every day in order to solidify the magic. The type of prayer is as important as the task and getting either wrong could result in random stats. For example, to create a Gravity Ring you would first need to place a proper ring on a surface and then place a heavy object over it. The object should only be twice as heavy as the ring. You will than have to fill the ring with your personal supply of Earth and Fire Mana and then simply pray to Weland. The prayer is just a simple plea to create a Gravity increasing ring. This is repeated the next day as the Earth and Fire Mana has been absorbed by the ring and the user will need to increase the weight by double again. This will be repeated until the user wishes it to be complete or the ring cannot absorb more Mana. If the user does not say the prayer right than some other stats may be given. For example the weight on the Ring may just cause the Ring to gain an increase in weight. This will cause the user to equip 10-40 kilogram useless ring. The accumulation of stats depends on the ring. For a simple Bronze ring it would be 2% then 4% then 8% all the way to a max of 64%. An Iron ring will start at 5% and double. A Steel Ring will start at 12.5% and a mixed ring will have different results. Doing multiple enchantments is possible but it is more safer to do it one at a time. Now that Michael was finished, he looked over his station and noted the mess. The flakes of metal was mixed and it would be difficult to divvy up the different metals so Michael just piled the flakes together along with whatever left over metal he had and then melted the lot as one. If he collected enough crap metals like that he could later split them apart and gain a sizable quantity of recycled metal. Michael placed the messed up metal ball in his bag and then wrapped the rings individually. He would use the bronze ring and the gold ring and make Gravity enchantment on those. The Mythril rings will have different enchantments.
Heading back to the Inn, Michael bought a few weighted pieces of metal. He needed solid weights that would be perfect for the enchantments so he went to specialists and freely used his money to buy dense small weights made of heavy materials. A month in the city would be enough time to add several proper enchantments. Afterwards, Michael headed back towards Sam¡¯s place. Crossing the city and taking in the sights, Michael mentally listed everything he needed to do. First was to get the guild points from Sam. Questions would need to be asked about what the points can even be used for and then Michael needed to get more information on this Sir Orwell. Next was to inquire about a shield user that can teach Jemma. The actual shield was different so Jemma would only need to know the basics and then train herself in the skills. Like how Michael needed to create his own way of fighting with the curved blade.
¡°Ahhhh Welcome back Michael. I finisssshed examining your coinssss yesssterday and I¡¯m jussst compiling how much pointsssss it all comesss down to. Pleassse. Ssssit and wait.¡± After welcoming Michael, Sam went back into the innermost area of the house leaving Michael sitting in the foyer he had never been in before. The room was small and felt it would be cramped if more than 4 people were inside. At the center of the room was a low table with short stools around it. If Michael was any taller it probably would have been uncomfortable but he sat down easily and made himself comfortable. When Sam came back a while later, he was holding a small booklet of paper with a pen and an ink jar. Seating himself across from Michael, Sam flipped through to booklet and then dipped the pen in the ink, dabbed the excess on his stained cuffs and wrote. ¡°The coinsss you gave me causssed alot of problemss when I sssshowed them to my companionsss. They were exccccited about the find and wondering about where they were found. I told them and they all agreed that the mountain was virtually untouched for a long while. Examining the coinsss, I have consssulted with the rulesss of the guild and entered the following information. Since the coinsss were made individually in the passst, the quality of each differsss but they each alssso give valuable information on the techniquesss used as well as informtion on how the ancientsss used currency. Thossse coins will be crosssssreferenced with whatever coins were already found. Based on the importance of the find, I have decided to examine the information of each coin and reward points individually.¡± Sam had taken up several coins throughout the explanation and pointed vaguely at the discrepancies between each. Michael¡¯s eye had caught small details such as the maker¡¯s mark on several and the slight difference in size. Sam continued after putting down the coins and picking up the booklet. ¡°All in all, I have counted a total of 613 pointsss. The amount hassss already been distributed into your account and a report hassss just been sssent to Carihaven. I will keep the coinss and sssstudy them before sssending them to Carihaven asss well.¡± ¡°Show my Guild Status.¡±
Guild Status
NameMichael KaneGuildHistorical Society
Position in GuildMemberGuild Points613
Ranking in GuildC# of Guild Members142
Michael nodded in appreciation of Sam¡¯s work before going through his mental list of questions. ¡°Thank you, if I may ask some questions¡­? Alright, first what can I actually use my guild points on? As in how much are the guild points worth?¡± ¡°An underssstandable quessstion. Guild pointsss can be usssed for a variety of thingsss. Firssst, each guild point can be equated to 20 modern gold piecesss. You may ussse the pointsss to hire a member or someone through guild connectionsss. You may alssso rent or buy sssome of the itemsss the guild obtainssss. Members are usssssually hired from 10-30 guild pointssss and only people who volunteer may be hired. Items ranging from Uncommon to Unique costssss a hefty ssssum. 10-200 pointssss for the itemsss. You will have to get more information in Carihaven. Artifactsss cannot be traded.¡± ¡°Is there any other way to use it?¡± ¡°Hmmm ah yes, the new Quest teachings has also been added to the Guild. Depending on the ranking of a quest you wish to post, you will need to give a proper amount of points. Rank F quests costs just 1 guild point and also a small reward for the person who finishes it. For example, if I give you a quest to buy some supplies across the city it would cost 1 guild point and some gold as a reward. Not a very good system, I know, but the higher ranking quests make more sense. Rank E quests costs 3 points, D costs 5, C costs 10 and B costs 20. Rank B quests are basically dungeon hunting quests that have a very high potential for rewards. That mountain you were in can be designated as a low Rank B or high rank C quest.¡± Sam stood up after the information and went through a door to the kitchen. Michael sat there organising the information he had gotten and decided on a few more questions when Sam came back. Carrying a tea set, Sam poured both of them a cup before settling back. ¡°You said quest ranking up to B rank. What about higher ranks.¡± ¡°Its a little difficult to say...here, ¡®Show Guild Quest Requirements to Michael¡¯.¡±
Guild Quests Costs
Rank F
  • 1 guild point
  • Max of 5 gold reward
  • Only common type rewards
Rank E
  • 3 guild point
  • Max of 15 gold reward
  • Only common type rewards
Rank D
  • 5 guild point
  • Max of 50 gold reward
  • Only common and uncommon type rewards
Rank C
  • 10 guild point
  • Max of 100 gold reward
  • Only common to Rare type rewards
Rank B
  • 20 guild point
  • Max of 500 gold reward
  • Only common to Unique type rewards
Rank A
  • Only Guild Master or a respected Leader can give A rank quests
  • Given 50 guild points to help accomplish the quest
  • Items and rewards are dictated by the person assigning the quest
Rank S
  • Only Gods and Goddesses or beings of immense power can give S rank quests
  • Given as many points as dictated by the being in order to help accomplish the quest
  • Guild points, items, and other rewards are dictated by the person assigning the quest
Rank SA
  • Only one of the True-Neutral God or Goddesses can give SA rank quests
  • Given free reign over Guild items including Artifacts
Rank SS
  • Only Janira can give SS rank quests
  • Given free reign over the Guild in order to accomplish the task
¡°I-isn¡¯t S rank quests and higher kind of going overboard?¡± ¡°I agree but no one can change it. SsssA and SsssSsss rank questsss pretty much grant the usssser more power than the Guild Massster which will cause disssassstroussss resultsss after the completion of the quesssst. What happens if the person abusssesss the free reign and causssesss the dessstruction of the guild? Or what happens when factionsss of the Guild ssstart to ssssupport different leaderssss? Thisss issss all too recent and difficult to adapt to.¡± Michael agreed with Sam¡¯s points but he had a different worry. Joining a guild was voluntary and usually members were granted a high degree of freedom to do what they wanted. This quest system however was a great deterrent to Michael¡¯s freedom. If a person manages to get an SS rank quest then Michael will not be able to freely do what he wanted. Michael and Sam sipped tea for a bit and they both contemplated the problems associated with the questing system. Guild Quests didn¡¯t seem very worth it until C and B rank so that caused problems for lower ranking members who could have benefited from it all. The Guild Master can probably give churn out quests whenever it was possible but that couldn¡¯t be relied on either. Stopping the useless train of thought - it would be best to get information in Carihaven itself - Michael focused back on Sam and caught his eye. ¡°Another thing I am here for is information. I¡¯ll be staying in the city for the next month so I would like to talk about some things.¡± ¡°Of courssse. Go right ahead.¡± Michael¡¯s thoughts flashed towards the items he had in his bag before he focused on Sam again. Gravity Enchantments were low end items since they had a specific use and function and he could probably do all three rings by the end of the month. The other two were being saved for later, when he could get more information on other types of Enchantments. ¡°First, is there any such thing as a Shield master? I would like to train someone in using a shield and I don¡¯t think a sword and shield wielder would help.¡± ¡°You may have better luck asssking the Combat Sssseriessss people that quessstion. However, to my knowledge there isss no one that is renowned for their ssshield sssskillss.¡± Michael nodded at the answer. He had never seen, heard, or imagined anyone that could use a shield extensively. Michael didn¡¯t think he could get Jemma to wield a weapon to kill a person so the Shield was a compromise. She could block with it and attack if necessary. Fists were too up close and personal, swords were too bloody, blunt weapons were too simple, bows were too dextrous, and Michael didn¡¯t think she could use magic all that well. ¡°Lastly then, I would like to know more about Sir Orwell of Carihaven.¡± Sam went upright at that and Michael did the same in response. The shock on Sam¡¯s face was swiftly replaced with a curious look but Michael wasn¡¯t getting tricked by this blue haired old man. ¡°Tell me. I¡¯m going to Carihaven anyways so it would be best to get to know the Nobles in the city.¡± ¡°Noble. There issss only one noble in Carihaven and he controlsss the city with nearly an iron fissst. Guildsss are the only autonomousss groupssss but he dealssss with them by increasing taxessss for whatever they wisssh to buy. Why do you wissh to know about thisss particular noble? He isss actually well received by the citizensss of Carihaven.¡± The curious gaze was nearly too much but Michael focused back on what he had said. The only Noble? Michael had never heard of any city that housed only a single Noble. Usually it was several Nobles that each vied for control of the city. Should either become too greedy or corrupt, the citizens usually gathered enough coin to contract guilds to help take them down. If only one Noble controlled the city¡­ Michael decided not to tell Sam about the problem he had with Orwell. The information would probably come out soon anyways, especially if those two mercs from before told more people than necessary. Rumours spread quickly, even in large cities like this. ¡°I think that¡¯s all Sam. I should get going before it starts to get dark. I need to check with the Combat Series before finishing the day.¡± Sam eyed him a bit and almost seemed on the point of asking some questions before shaking his head and guiding Michael out. His moustache was hiding it but Michael noted the worried frown on Sam¡¯s face and Michael almost gave in and told. He was a new members and didn¡¯t wish to start his membership off with causing problems for the main branch of the guild. He stopped himself before doing so and walked away. The problem would be big enough when he arrived in Carihaven, there was no reason to bring the Kiryun faction into it. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Arriving at the Inn, Michael removed his rings before flinging himself onto the bed. It had become an ingrained movement in Michael to remove his rings before doing anything rushed like sleeping or sitting on something weak. Reaching into his pack, Michael brought out the Wolf ring and examined it in detail. His sculpting of the ring caused the smooth surface to reflect what little light was entering the window and Michael just stared at it. He needed to distract himself for a while. Needed to calm himself. Michael had entered the coliseum once again and asked the trainers if they knew anyone that knew how to use a shield properly. Some of them laughed right out at him but most responded in the negative. They knew people who coupled the shield with some other weapon like a sword or hammer or even a spear. No one was exceptional though and Michael had to visit other areas of the district. Repeatedly told the same thing, Michael started to despair about finding a good teacher. He didn¡¯t know anything about teaching a pupil since he was only recently a student himself. Barely a month of travelling and he already had to teach someone else. And the subject was about a technique that Michael had next to know training in. The ring was shining between his fingers and Michael almost lost his train of thought as he gazed into it. The golden eye staring at him were almost lively in its intensity and Michael imagined the feel of its teeth in his arms. In his side. In his neck - Michael jerked himself upright when a knock hit his door. He already forgot everything that happened earlier and was surprised to find that outside the Inn was dark and lit by a few lanterns. He had arrived at the Inn when the sun was only halfway to setting. How had he lost track of the time? Michael opened the door and peered outside. It had only been a single knock and there was no one else outside of the door. Michael guessed someone accidently hit his door so he went back into his room and placed the ring back into his bag. He equipped the gravity rings and then walked out of the room and into the full room at the ground floor. A few tables were placed around the room as Supper was being served for the people who were staying at the inn. The most crowded area was in front of a Minstrel as people danced to the song being played. Scanning the room, Michael saw Liera and Jemma sitting in the corner of the room. The corner seats were imbedded into the wall and Liera positioned herself so that she could see the entrance, the kitchen doors, the stairs, and all of the people inside of the Inn. Jemma was lightly sitting beside her and Michael guessed she was squatting more than sitting. As a stone being her muscles - if she had any - weren¡¯t easily strained so she could sit like that for a long while. Liera saw Michael when he came down and made some eye contact before continuing her vigil. They were too far to have knocked on his door and made to that table so Michael mentally agreed at it must have been an accidental hit. Meandering himself through the close group of dancers and then through the tables, Michael sat down beside Liera and relaxed. He was a little stressed from the amount of work he had done earlier in the day so he felt better when he was sitting down and doing nothing. Studying the other two, he didn¡¯t notice any changes in them although Liera was pointedly avoiding eye contact with him. He had told her to stay and protect Jemma just in case anything bad happened and he even bought a few magic scrolls to give to her. She was supposed to protect him and listen to his orders as the pack leader but there was a limit and she was definitely getting pissed at not doing her duty. ¡°I guess we should talk a bit about what is going to happen now. Wheres Lerisa?¡± ¡°Out. Doing her merchant things.¡± Liera¡¯s response was short and curt so Michael just sighed and decided to continue the discussion. ¡°We¡¯ll stay in the city for the next month so that I can improve on a few things and make sure we¡¯re ready to head towards Carihaven. The trek there will be longer and more dangerous so it¡¯s better to be prepared. Jemma I will try to teach some combat skills for her to defend with and Liera will need to hunt some of the monsters outside of the city as training. There are quite a few dungeons around the city so that will be best.¡± Jemma seemed happy enough to finally do something but Liera gave a slight glare at Michael before looking away quickly. Michael took that as an affirmative to his decisions. ¡°Take as much of the gold you need to buy whatever you need. I¡¯ll also send Lerisa to accompany you in the shopping. Or do you want to go with Jemma?¡± As Michael spoke, Liera became more and more sullen and Michael decided she was probably against going alone. Telling her that Lerisa would accompany her didn¡¯t seem to help as her eyes took on a dark light so Michael rushed and asked if she wanted Jemma. This erased the dark light but her sullenness didn¡¯t go away. He kind of pitied how much Lerisa was being hated but decided that her two attempts to kill them was kind of difficult to ignore. ¡°Then how about if all of us go?¡± This seemed to considerably brighten her mood although she was still a little hesitant. Really, how badly is Lerisa being hated?
Early the next day, Michael burst into Lerisa¡¯s room and dragged her awake. He completely ignored her grumblings and then her shrieks and immediately told her to get ready and accompany them for shopping. Her expression seemed to switch from anger to fear to something indescribable but Michael didn¡¯t focus much on that. He walked out of the room and in a few minutes the entire group met up in front of the building. The tables and chairs of the previous night were already stacked away and it would be weird to gather in the empty room. Liera was glaring openly at Michael and he mentally apologized for Lerisa¡¯s presence as the group made their way towards the different areas of the city. The crafting series was the closest so they made their way towards the loud stands. Even if the day was early, the stands were displaying many wares and there were quite a few people in the streets and inside buildings. Liera was measured by various tailors and told that the equipment would be complete in a few hours while Jemma and Lerisa were haggling the price. Jemma talked quietly with the men and Lerisa handled the woman and Michael and Liera watched silently at the abilites of the pair. Jemma was extremely close to the men and while she didn¡¯t touch them she was close enough that they could smell the perfume Lerisa put on her and hear the whispers that Lerisa had taught her. Lerisa was arguing with the females and commenting on the different ranges of quality in the clothing being displayed. She swiftly dodged any promises of better quality and the group ended up saving a few dozen pieces of gold. Michael thought it was a complete waste of time but agreed that it gave some experience to Jemma and allowed Lerisa to be happy at the increase in her Merchant skill. Michael had a large amount of funds that will be spent so Lerisa¡¯s Merchant skill will at least increase while she was around Michael¡­ The group made their way across the city buying various items and more equipment for Liera. Although Michael was completely able to make items for her, there was the problem of time and material that would cause some problems. Tailors and blacksmiths had the economic abilities to buy items cheaper in bulk while Michael could only buy individual materials to work with and most of those were quite expensive. Buying straight from Tailors and Blacksmiths was cheaper and faster and the quality was also quite good. Michael even bought a few different ranges of shields which earned a confused glance from Liera. She knew he had never learned to use them so he just winked at her playfully in response. Her quick look away made him realize that she was probably still angry. A problem occurred when noon arrived during their shopping. The group was in the Combat series area and Michael was trying to haggle with the Training Center instructor about renting a private room for the month. The Instructor was hired based off his credentials - Expert ranking in 3 different combat skills and at least 20 years teaching an apprentice. Combat experience was not required but it was more favorable to have it than to not. The one in front of Michael was the rare teacher that focused more on training than on the actual fighting. His bulging muscles lacked the telltale scars and he did not have the look of a battle veteran. He was probably well liked due to his teaching methods rather than his actual skills. The training centers were large buildings that were placed right at the city walls and took up an enormous amount of space. They included a spacious indoor area filled with a few straw and wooden dummies and various areas with mats that people use to perform skill lessons or sparring matches. There was only the single floor but the ceiling was high enough to allow for the rare war scenarios that include archers - blunted arrows are used of course. The building had separate rooms that were 10 metres by 8 metres in size and were used for one on one practice by masters and their apprentice. Outside of the center was a large array of wooden dummies that were usually filled with novices that needed to practise skill repetitions or veterans that needed to practice their skills for a bit. There were spacious areas as well that were used for Archery practices and the area was usually off limits for anything else. The entire area was made in the shape of a square in mind and the four corners had short obelisks with a glowing crystal middle. These were magic artifacts that created a large cubed off area that repelled powerful gusts and water. Michael was hoping to schedule a private room for at least a few days of the month. He didn¡¯t wish to practice outside in view of others and the Combat series usually viewed non-members with antagonistic feelings. Michael didn¡¯t know the rules but he wanted to at least try for a private room. He could order dummies for Jemma to practice against and there was a large assortment of regular wooden weapons for him to use. He doubted they had wooden versions of his curved sword but Jemma was probably not gonna face anyone holding that kind of weapon. Michael wished to get some clubs and wooden shortswords to train with. ¡°I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s even allowed. I usually create the schedule once per month and everyone follows what is written so it may be difficult and expensive to get a room. Why can¡¯t you just train regularly?¡± The big man was rubbing his chin as he contemplated Michael¡¯s request. He didn¡¯t seem to like Michael¡¯s wish for a private room and he didn¡¯t bother hiding it as he responded in a bored tone of voice. Michael viewed his response as bothersome. It would make everything much faster if the man did everything quickly and professionally. ¡°You and I both know that as an Neutral Series member I won¡¯t be viewed favorably if I trained here. It would be very bothersome if I have to deal with constant requests for duels and interruptions during the training. I wish to properly teach my student before we continue on our journey.¡± The instructor looked amused at Michael¡¯s proclamation. Indeed he had viewed Michael as a nuisance more than anything. Average in height, Michael was dressed in a full sleeved cotton shirt and wool pants. Everything but his head and hands were covered by the clothing so he looked quite skinny and weak. He didn¡¯t have any weapons visible on him and although he was standing straight and had a small aura around him, Michael probably only looked like a soft Noble. Actually since Michael had given Ferocious the stronger ring, the amount of gravity on him had decreased a little to only 335%. He spent a little less time concentrating on moving his body and more on his actual self so his presence and charisma were suitably suppressed. He also had a rather large amount of hidden throwing daggers on his person and they were placed so that they could be easily and quickly reached. Michael also had some small skill in hand-to-hand combat, just not enough to create the skill with. His ¡®High Champion¡¯s Combat Mastery¡¯ probably helped in that though. ¡°Then how about this. Since I feel very uncomfortable in giving out rooms to non-members all you have to do is spar with one of our regular members. If you win then I suppose you will have the requirements to use the room. If you lose then it would be a waste of time to give you the room anyways and I will have to ask you to leave. Good?¡± The Instructor¡¯s smile seemed filled with confidence and Michael was rather hesitant about it. A regular member seemed to imply a long time user of the Training Center. Michael wondered if that gave a hint of the skills to be used. Michael knew that he may be in trouble if a veteran like Serena was to face him one on one. This was actually a very off view since Serena was a 400 year old veteran so Michael was thinking nonsense. Liera saw the hesitance in Michael¡¯s eyes and decided to take it upon herself. She was more skilled in solo matches anyways so this seemed like a good idea on her part. She stepped up beside Michael and pulled on his sleeve. ¡°Hmm? You want to do it Liera? You¡¯re sure?¡± Liera¡¯s nods at his questions caused him to think seriously. He had only fought her when she tag teamed with either Serena and his Father so he didn¡¯t actually know her skills. He did know that the tag team was a form of lesson for Liera though and he had glanced at her solo matches with his two teachers from time to time. She went bare handed while his teachers used weapons but that wasn¡¯t unusual anyways. He decided that she could probably handle this better than he could so he nodded back at her. ¡°How about this. You send out your regular member and Liera here can fight him. She was taught alongside me and I actually wish to see how strong she is.¡± ¡°Hahaha what? This little girl fighting against one of us? Do you think this is a joke?¡± ¡°Please take this seriously. She killed at least 700 goblins in a few days.¡± Liera¡¯s lack of expression, Lerisa¡¯s white face, Michael¡¯s smile, and Michael¡¯s words showed the seriousness of that statement. The Instructor unconsciously backed up a bit at Liera¡¯s small burst of Bloodthirst in response to his condescending words. Sweating, the Instructor called out a name and a tall middle aged man walked up. A few years younger than the Instructor, Ledden was impressive. A few inches taller than Michael, he had thick hard muscle that would have made him rather thin if he wore a shirt like Michael¡¯s and numerous scars could be seen on those arms and his chest. His face was relatively clear except for the aged lines and his hair was a dark black with specks of white. Tied near the end, his hair reached his waist where a wooden short sword had been temporarily sheathed. A small smile was on his face but he didn¡¯t give off a slimy feeling that Michael seemed to find in too many people these days. ¡°What do you need Jimmy? I was about to go and spar with a few people. Haven¡¯t met anyone worth a good challenge for quite a while.¡± With those words, Ledden flexed his arms slightly and stood in a pose that exposed his arms. He was glancing at Liera, Lerisa¡¯s, and Jemma¡¯s response but they completely ignored him. Jemma was glancing at everything in the hall and her points prompted Lerisa to say the name of the object and what it did. Liera was expressionless as ever and she even gave a sigh at Ledden¡¯s showing off. Michael had seen bigger and more even muscles on his dad so he didn¡¯t feel anything special in these thin and less powerful muscles or the weird posture. Pointing at Liera, Jimmy gave a brief explanation to Ledden whose eyebrows pointedly rose. As he was about to comment in some obviously negative way however, Liera gave a large burst of Bloodthirst and his eyebrows rose even more. Bloodthirst wasn¡¯t actually a skill but a projection of the self. If Michael focused on limiting his Presence, a regular person had an easier time projecting it outwards. Michael didn¡¯t understand the details but he was told that Bloodthirst was the accumulation of experience, skills, and quality of monsters and people the person had killed. The Instructor could project his presence in a way but it would be rather limited due to his lack of hunting. Michael was rather the same but he killed a variety of strong monsters and he killed the people Lerisa had hired as well as Necromn. He also had the actual stat which gave him a large boost. Clearing a sparring space, Jimmy called out the rules to both sides. No sharp or deadly weapons. No blows that will cause a quick death. No use of poisons or magic. Fight will be until the other side is knocked out or gives up. They will be healed until either happens. Liera stood on one side of the 5 metre ring. She had taken out some of her old training leathers and she equipped the metal gloves they had bought a few hours earlier. Her shoes had been taken off so that she could have more freedom of movement and she took a stance with bent knees and raised hands that could cover her face from any quick blow. Ledden was on the other side and he had equipped the Training Center¡¯s armor and safety items. His elbows and knees were covered and he wore soft shoes that had gripped soles. The armor he wore didn¡¯t fully cover his body but protected the more critical areas like his heart and lungs, his kidneys, his groin, and his back. He did not wear a head protector but instead had a mask that covered everything but the eyes. He seemed to not like anything damaging his face. His long hair was tucked under his clothes and he was equipped with the wooden shortsword and buckler. The shield made Michael pay more attention. Counting down, the Instructor raised a hand in the air and slowly backed out of the ring. The match had acquired quite the large audience and Michael heard snatches of ¡®Undefeated Ledden facing a little girl¡¯ or ¡®is this some promotional stunt¡¯ and the like. At the last count, the Instructor jumped the rest of the distance out of the ring and his arm dropped down, signaling the start of the match. Immediately Liera made a quick dash to the right and then left an afterimage that slowly disappeared from regular sight. Her erratic movement actually caused her image to be left imprinted to the regular eye and she was jumping from side to side leaving different levels of afterimages. She didn¡¯t keep to a left and right pattern but changed it a bit by moving backwards quickly or moving somewhere completely opposite what she did before. Even Michael was having trouble keeping an eye on her. When she finally reached Ledden she gave a quick straight punch to his exposed stomach. Ledden moved the sword to block it but she immediately brought her fist back and attacked his now exposed shoulder. Again he raised the sword and this time he blocked it in time but grunted when her left fist drove into his side. Ledden quickly dashed to the side but Leira was one step ahead and she appeared behind him and gave three quick punches to his back. Twisting, Ledden stepped away from her and swung his sword in a counter but all it did was pass through another afterimage of her. A sharp punch to his sword hands and he dropped the sword which left him open to her barrage. Punches rained down on him from the front, back, and side as his head, chest, legs, and arms were repeatedly assaulted. Just as quickly, Liera jumped back to the other side of the ring and Ledden fell in a heap. Michael was severely disappointed by the outcome. Ledden was pretty skilled if he could block her attacks somewhat but he didn¡¯t even properly use the buckler in his hand. He instead used the sword to block and the shield seemed more like an afterthought more than anything. Michael didn¡¯t get any useful information on using the shield and he sighed in sadness as he approached Liera. She raised an eyebrow at him but all he said was that the opponent didn¡¯t match his expectations and she gave a wide smile in response. It was the first one he received for a long time so he patted her head and smiled as well. Meanwhile the rest of the audience were shocked. The first thing they were surprised at was Liera¡¯s speed as she approached Ledden. Most of the group didn¡¯t see her approach and the few who did were properly approving of her confusing movements. Her attacks on Ledden were also solid and well thought out as her two straight punches were meant to test his combat skills. The punch to the stomach was to test his sword arm¡¯s reaction speed and the shoulder was to test his shield skills. When he blocked the shoulder attack with his sword she took full advantage of that and used her left. From then on her attacks were focused on leaving him in a disadvantaged position and to leave his sword arm exposed to a hit. When that was done she had free reign to demolish him. When a training Paladin healed Ledden and said he was ok, the audience somewhat dispersed and went back to what they were doing. Jimmy reluctantly took out his Private Room scheduler and started to go over it and mark off the times that Michael could use while Liera went to unequip her stuff and repack them. Michael and Jimmy talked and argued about the different times but finally decided on a 3 day per week system. It cost about 200 gold per week which seemed rather cheap to Michael, not that he was gonna say anything.
By the end of the day, Michael and co. had spent around 300 gold pieces on Liera¡¯s equipment and some extra items for Michael and Jemma¡¯s training. Since Liera was of a rather unusual size, all of her equipment had to be sized appropriately which increased the costs. It wasn¡¯t a large increase since they had to reduce instead of enlarge but it was still a rather sizable chunk that would have been impossible to easily buy without their large amount of funds. Michael again thanked that goldmine of a mountain. The next day, Michael and Jemma went to the Training Center for their first lesson. Liera had left early in order to get a head start on the dungeon and Lerisa was sleeping in once again. The Training Center was open all day so Michael and Jemma walked in without trouble and Michael signed the sheet saying he was inside the room at the moment. They had the entire day to use it and Michael planned to create a rough regiment for now. In the room, Michael took out the equipment he had bought. Several different shields including a wooden shield with a metal base that was far heavier than regular shields. Wooden weapons that included swords, hammers, clubs, and staffs that he will use. And then a large assortment of wooden daggers that ranged from the heavy and strong kind to the light but quick ones. ¡°Alright Jemma, equip this and stand with your legs apart. One leg should be a little forward and your feet should be pointing in different directions. Fix your posture if you think you will fall and try to find a position that best keeps your body upright. Bend your knees a little too.¡± Hefting the wooden shield, Michael gave it to her slowly but she didn¡¯t seem to have any problems. She swiftly lifted the mass of wood and metal and positioned herself as he told her. When she got into a solid state he tried to push her in various areas and was pleased to see that she wouldn¡¯t fall very easily. Everything was going nice and quickly. Lifting the heavy club - all of the wooden weapons had a metal base - Michael positioned himself a few steps away from Jemma. ¡°When an attack approaches you, it is best to try to deflect the attack instead of block it. That is, turn your shield at an angle and push the weapon away instead of taking the entire blow. Lets try it a bit.¡± Jemma had a few problems here but Michael knew this was the more difficult part. His swings were average in speed and he made sure to target the center of her shield but Jemma couldn¡¯t seem to get the timing right. Her twists were either too early and left her wide open or they were too late and Michael lightly hit her shield right on. When she finally got the timing right they moved on to pushing the attacks up in the air and soon they were both gasping for air although Jemma suspiciously looked like she was faking it. While Michael was resting he thought a little more about Jemma¡¯s attributes. As a statue she didn¡¯t have the organs or weaknesses of other races and instead she seemed to have most of the same attributes as a regular statue; that is, she¡¯s resilient, doesn¡¯t need to breathe, doesn¡¯t sweat, doesn¡¯t ache easily, weighs the same as when she was a statue, and her strength was pretty high. A shield is mostly used to block projectiles and deflect strong attacks. It isn¡¯t proper to block the attack fully because usually the attack does more damage than the shield can block. But thats because the attacker has the added advantage of force from their blows, body movements (a swing with the sword gives more force than a stationary object), and the actual weight of their body. Blocking attacks still gave partial damage and the strain on the arm is rather heavy. Deflecting attacks pushes that extra damage away. But what if you can fully block the attack and you don¡¯t have muscles to strain? Jemma wasn¡¯t unbreakable but she was a statue with added stats. If a person of lower weight, strength, and speed were to attack her and she blocked it¡­ ¡°Alright! Lets try this again. Jemma this time block my attack. Don¡¯t bother defending and just push the shield into my attack.¡± Michael raised the club again and took a few steps back from her. He hefted it on his shoulder and then gave himself a running start at Jemma. Jemma eyed his attack and then raised her shield when he got close enough. Aiming for her shield, Michael swung down the club with all his might. Everything turned black.
Waking up, Michael immediately opened up his information screen to see what happened.
Training Shield
Common Durability: 200/200 Defense: 50 A simple wooden shield with a metal core. The core adds some extra Durability and Defense but also adds quite a bit of weight.
Training Club
Common Durability: 100/100 Attack: 20-30 A simple club with a metal core. The core adds some extra Durability but also adds quite a bit of weight. The added weight will increase the amount of force from swings.
Warning, continued use of heavy weapon will strain body and increase Stamina consumption.
Warning, Stamina is very low. It is advised that you rest and recover. All stats have temporarily decreased by 20% until Stamina recovers.
Training Club has broke.
Shock from your attack being blocked has inflicted your body. Temporarily knocked out for 2 seconds.
You have been inflicted with the ¡®Bleeding¡¯ debuff. Health decreases at a rate of 30 per second..
What¡¯s with this shock? Michael mentally probed his body but didn¡¯t find anything hurting immediately. Until he reached his hands and felt some pain there which he stopped by focusing on his breathing. Opening his eyes, Michael sat up and looked up at the shocked Jemma. Her ¡®Training Shield¡¯ was thrust forward with her elbows locked and it seemed that the shield itself was broken in half. Lying around Michael was the remnants of the ¡®Training Club¡¯ and then he saw his hands. Bloody and painful, his hands were a complete mess. His thumbs had been stretched all the way backwards and were touching his arms while his fingers were broken in several areas. White bone can be seen sticking out and there were some slivers of the ¡®Training Club¡¯ inside. Sighing a bit, Michael took a glance at his health and saw that it was decreasing quite fast so he got up as quickly as he could without hands and walked towards the door. He motioned Jemma to open it and she snapped out of her stupor and opened it, then walked a bit behind him as he entered the large space. As the trainers and trainees saw him, they all stopped what they were doing one by one. It was rather rare to see any large damage in the Training Center and most injuries that occurred were either some head trauma from an idiot student or a couple of broken bones. The excessive blood leaking from Michael¡¯s hands as well as the bone sticking out and thumbs bent all the way back made more than one person lose their lunch. Which was some bread and chicken anyways so the mess wasn¡¯t that large. ¡°Anyone have any healing skills? I would drink a Health Potion but my hands are rather busy¡­¡± Michael said the last with a rather bright smile and a slight laugh but everyone there was mentally screaming ¡®MONSTER!¡¯ at him. Just trying to imagine the pain he was in made some of the younger trainees lose feelings in their legs. Jimmy had his back to Michael and jumped when he heard his voice, but when he turned around in order to chide Michael for his lousy teaching skills, he paused and stared at the wounds he had. Michael¡¯s stoic expression with that much damage caused Jimmy to swallow his words. Eventually a group of Paladins came up and all of them used moderate level healing spells on Michael and patched him up quite nicely. ¡°Ah thanks. Anyways, is there anyone here who would like to help me with my lesson? Doing one on one lessons is good for teaching theory but groups would speed up the practicing more.¡± No one stepped forward to volunteer. They didn¡¯t know exactly what he had done to get that much damage but they decided that volunteering would be near suicidal. A brave soul eventually worked up the nerve to ask. ¡°Ummm what exactly do you want us to do?¡± ¡°Ah, just spar with my student here. I¡¯m trying to teach her how to use a shield so as long as everyone has a weapon and doesn¡¯t try any kill moves, it all should be fine. She will try out blocking and deflection.¡± At these words, most of the young men volunteered. These people were the most numerous in the building and the young women didn¡¯t seem very interested in ganging up on a girl. The older veterans had already put 2 and 2 together and got 4. That is, they knew that one of Michael¡¯s female companions was a beast of a fighter so this companion had a high chance of being the same. Gathering a group of 5, Michael herded the group to a free corner of the room. The lesson garnered some attention from the other training groups and the Center was unusually quiet. ¡°Jemma, use this metal shield and either deflect it like we did earlier or block it. You can choose whichever works. And for you five, please go one or two at a time and seriously hit. If you go easy on her I¡¯ll replace you. Positioning themselves in a half-circle, the group of 5 changed their happy and slightly lust filled faces into more serious ones. Several deep breathes and some stretches and they adopted a proper stance and demeanor. Jemma faced them in the same position she was in during the one on one and her metal shield was raised with the edge just below her eyes. The metal shield was much stronger than the ¡®Training Shield¡¯ and should be lighter as well based off the stat information.
Steel Shield
Common Durability: 140/140 Defense: 90 A simple steel shield made with a strong defense in mind, the padded inner lining was made so that the shock of the blows and the damage to the arm would spread out and lessen.
With a shout, the match began under the watchful eye of Michael. Two similar looking men gave a signal with their eyes and they both rushed Jemma at the same time. The smaller man swept his wooden staff in a diagonal strike over his head which Jemma blocked by raising her shield a little lightly pushing off. Her weight and stance however was more than enough to properly repel the staff and it was knocked out of his hands and hit him back. The other man had gone in for a low side attack with his wooden sword on her exposed legs but Jemma calmly lowered the shield and held it at an angle. The blade¡¯s direction changed from the straight hit and the sword banged on the ground instead. The man was still charging in her direction and Jemma quickly used her shield to knock the man out. Michael noted down what she did and what she would need to fix. The staff user¡¯s overhand blow was easily seen and Jemma should have dodged it instead and gave more attention to the bigger man. Her block was excellent though and Michael could see how his hands had been damaged. The staff user had swung his weapon in a way that would have had the same effects as just smashing a boulder. In Jemma¡¯s case, since she moved and pushed back, the force increased to the point that his hands couldn¡¯t handle it and the weapon was knocked out. For the second man she made made the decision to deflect the slash into the ground and then knocking him out. A better response was either to step forward and deal with him quickly or step back and find a better position. If she made a mistake then the sword would have successfully hit her leg or foot and disabled her. Wait...can she even be disabled that way? The next three men were hesitant this time. They didn¡¯t seem to know one another so Michael knew this would be solo fights instead. Two were holding clubs like he had and the last was using dual swords. They all seemed rather proficient in the use of those weapons so this would be interesting. The swords user went first and he used his speed to his advantage. Since Jemma was limited to the shield only she would not have the chance to properly block and attack which would usually be a proper way of fighting. The man swung his right sword in large slashes while the left was used for pinpoint piercing and the effect was devastating. Jemma had to contend with large powerful hits while also watching out for the thrusts that poked through her exposed areas. A few minutes in though, the fight was dieing down. The sword user was breathing hard and his attacks were sluggish and weak. Jemma didn¡¯t seem fatigued at all and when the man¡¯s slash failed to start she rushed forward and bashed the shield into his chest. The man flew and hit the wall, still alive. The last two seemed to have made a plan of attack while the solo match was going on and the skinny man went up to face her. His swings were rather far and weak but they succeeded in drawing Jemma towards him and soon she was in the middle of the old half circle stand off and the other club user positioned himself behind her. He was bigger and his club was incredibly large. The combination was a devastating force for the outnumbered Jemma and she tried to position herself away from the poor spot. The skinny man quickly stopped that and Jemma¡¯s expression turned more and more strained. Jemma then gave a frustrated scream and focused all of her attention on the big man. She approached him quickly and used her shield to powerfully block his club attacks and Michael saw the pain as his club was knocked back with incredible force. Quickly she was in front of the big man and she swung her shield into his arms, side, and head with wincing accuracy. He dropped into a heap as she turned to the last opponent. Breathing deeply she glared at the other man and he instinctively backed up a few steps. When Jemma took one step he quickly threw away his club and begged his surrender. And so, Jemma¡¯s first group battle ended in her overall victory.
Entering the Inn, Michael went to his room and did the daily ritual for the rings. He decided to do all three at once and to limit the mistakes. He had enough weights for a week of strengthening and he hoped to have three 100% gravity rings by then. He had eaten earlier and was going straight to sleep. Lying on his bed his mind wandered to the near future. The schedule for the next few weeks was so: Michael slept peacefully as he looked forward to the hopefully quiet days.
¡°What do mean you couldn¡¯t get them¡­¡± tap tap tap tap tap The impatient tapping sound came from a solid silver cane against a metal chair. The man sitting on the chair didn¡¯t seem to have any physical abnormalities that would promote the usage of the cane and instead he seemed exude an abundance of physical energy. The man opposite him was kneeling on the ground and shaking like a leaf. ¡°Please Sir! I-it wasn¡¯t my fault! There as an anomaly, an extra member of the group that we somehow missed during the initial viewings! Please send a stronger team team next time and we can take them!¡± The man had stopped shaking in the middle of his spiel and instead took on a fervent look. His eyes danced with light of madness and the seated man looked away in disgust. He was severely disappointed with the quality of followers. The longer a family contracts itself by blood, the more mad the descendants become. ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll send Richard and some of the Young along. They will go by regular travel though. Wasting Teleport scrolls four times is stupid. You will travel with them and explain why they aren¡¯t teleporting.¡± The seated man blankly watched the other man express his desire to be of help, his eternal wishes for the health of the Family, and his devotion to him before rushing out of the room. Sighing, the seated man stopped his tapping and stared at a small hand drawn picture. it was crude but the important part was drawn carefully. A plant with one special characteristic; square leaves with a spiraled center.
You have entered the well known Draanuk¡¯s Cave. Due to the circumstances of the cave, all stats increase by 20% and Plutys¡¯ Curse has been halved as long as you are inside.
Draanuk¡¯s Cave A prison that once imprisoned the excommunicated Necromancer Bishop Hallere, he broke out of his cell, slaughtered all of the other prisoners and guards, and took up the name Draaknuk which was supposed to mean ¡®Death Walking¡¯ in some obscure tongue. He then used a forbidden spell that combined the Evil energies of several gods with Plutys¡¯ to enchant the very walls of the cave and countless undead now walk its halls.
Cave Skeleton, Level 91
Health: 3000 A low level Skeleton equipped with either a sword and buckler or a bow, these Skeletons are created by the high level magic imbedded in the cave. They will continue to spawn indefinitely. If a person dies in these caves they will be added to the Skeleton hoard. Killing these Skeletons will only temporarily disable them and they will recover over time. Low to mid ranking Priests cannot release the souls of Skeletons inside the Cave. High ranking priests also face difficulties trying to release even one soul.
Skeleton Mage, Level 121
Health: 2000 Mana: 8000 A mid level Skeleton equipped with a magic enhancing staff and other magic accessories, these Skeletons are created by the high level magic imbedded in the cave. They will continue to spawn indefinitely. Created when a mage dies in the caves, the knowledge acquired by the mage is absorbed into the generated skeleton and they are allowed to freely wield Magic. Incredibly dangerous when backed by other Skeleton Mages or a Skeleton army. Low to mid ranking Priests cannot release the souls of Skeletons inside the Cave. High ranking priests also face difficulties trying to release even one soul.
*Extra* Once a set number of Skeletons have been reached they will gather out of the cave and attack the nearby Settlement. Approximate number of Skeleton needed will have to be 300,000 to attack ¡®Kiryun¡¯. These Skeleton souls can be released easily out of the cave.
Michael encountered undead after undead and ceaselessly slashed them with his sword and bashed them with his fist. His unarmed movements and damage was definitely better than they had been during his training and caused greater damage than if he used the piercing daggers. Skeletons had too many gaps between their bones so Michael needed to rely on slashes and punches. The number of Skeletons was overwhelming. Michael had heard that the cave was avoided because of the hoards within but there were always the few idiots who wished to see it for themselves. Michael was not one of them. Taking out a mana vial he switched his sights, used ¡®IA¡¯, and then started his favorite large scale Magic. He had more trouble than usual gathering the right kind of air but once he ignited it, the inferno raged down the corridor and hundreds of Skeletons perished. Taking a breather, Michael replenished his mana and the little health he lost and waited. When no more skeletons appeared he tentatively took a few steps forward and waited again before walking straight down the hall. He could feel empty eyes staring at him but he couldn¡¯t do anything about that so he ignored them. For the next few levels, Michael did not encounter any more Skeletons. Either the Skeletons were all dead, which was unlikely, or they knew it was best to avoid a person that could physically handle himself against a hoard of Skeletons and then use large scale magic very quickly. Michael walked and descended into the depths. For the past few weeks Michael had diligently trained Jemma and created different sparring scenarios for her. She would face groups of attackers at a time or against two opposite foes like before. This time she was told not to lose control and to concentrate which seemed quite difficult for the newborn statue. Practice did help a lot though and Michael knew she was good enough to manage by herself. She had also taken to dressing up in the same way as Liera and the two looked quite similar when beside one another...except when one looked at the difference in body type. No matter how you tried, Liera was a pretty and cute little woman while Jemma was a beautiful, tall, seducing lady with an almost unapprochable aura. Her personality may have been quite different but it¡¯s always the initial look that creates the atmosphere. Michael stopped when the straight journey placed him before a ominous black door. The design on the door was a skull that seemed to have been crudely carved and Michael noted that the background of it was actually that of prison bars. Michael guessed that the actual prison was behind this door and there may be quite old and powerful beings...or just one boss monster. Michael opened up the information boxes before doing anything else.
High Champion¡¯s Combat Mastery has leveled up.
You have destroyed 832 Cave Skeletons and 9 Skeleton Mages. Leveled x34.
Elemental Manipulation has leveled up.
Affinity with Dark has increased by 2.
When Michael got closer, the door automatically swung open and Michael readied his weapons. He had throwing daggers in his left hand so that he could give some quick damage and his sight was shifted as well in order to allow for any Magic needs as well to see if the Mana around his is being used. Michael slowly walked into the room and immediately put up 4:1 ¡®IA¡¯.
Franky the Corrupted Skeleton, Level 340, Mass Skeleton (Boss Class)
Health: 200,000 Mana: 10,000 A remnant of Draanuk¡¯s first use of the forbidden spell, all of the undead bodies in the Prison merged together to form this abomination. Over time the imbedded spells inside of the cave has permeated the being¡¯s body and has granted it some semblance of sentience. It has taken the name of an ancient undead creator for itself. All metal weapons inside of the skeleton disintegrates and combines to form a larger weapon. This happens over the course of several years and the formed weapon takes on special properties. Over a short period of time, Franky¡¯s body starts to repair itself using a personal version of the Forbidden Magic that has been imbedded into the Cave. Also if Franky has his hands on any undead, he can absorb and assimilate them into his body. Extremely Vulnerable to Light aligned attacks. Blessings are also effective but the curse inside of Franky can repel a certain amount of it. Piercing attacks are quite ineffective. Blunt attacks are extremely effective. Will start to regen after 10 minutes has passed or Health reaches below 60% Low-Moderate Intelligence Vulnerable to Silver
Well this made Michael appropriately nervous. Kiryun Prologue(?) Boss Fight!
Well, this chapter took a while to do. I had this list of what to add but as I wrote there was a bunch of different things to include. Fight scenes are short...cause fights are usually short. Rather confusing to make sure the fight scenes work as well¡­ There is also Michael''s unique Blacksmith skills. He can level both Elemental Manipulation and Blacksmith that way. Anyones this is part one of Kiryun. Part two will probably be shorter and have the party getting ready to head to Carihaven. I have 3 things due in the next few weeks as well as 2 exams so I may or may not give chapters...meh. What kind of Enchantments should go on his Devouring Fenrir Ring? Also give an explanation of how to do it as well...lol. Questions? Please ask. You want to rate me low? Please tell me why so I don¡¯t feel spited¡­ As an afterthought: How was Liera''s fight? Was it too short? Or was it alright. That kind of fight is basically what I want the future ones to be. I don''t like pages of fighting. Chapter 16.5: Ferocious (2) FEROCIOUS (2) Walking to the Information guild was a cinch in the beginning. Ferocious had a good standing with the people of Bellen so his questions were greeted with niceties and congratulations for getting the Knight requirements. Knights themselves were rather uncommon so that gained him an even greater fame to the small town. The roads were packed with sullen looking Players who kept trying to strike up conversations with NPCs. The initial starting of the Game was a complete disaster in Ferocious¡¯ opinion. The people who had bought the Terra Consoles and the game mainly consisted of people who had read the information that NPCs were marriageable. These single people and loners had started the game in swarms and the pretty Female NPCs or hot Male NPCs were continually harassed by these groups. Unlike Ferocious who started by actually playing the game, these people went and immediately started by asking out NPCs on dates and the like. Failure after failure could be seen whenever a person turns their head. A group of three pretty women were following a handsome guardsmen and trying desperately to strike up a conversation with him. Another group of five guys were surrounding a duo who were then saved by the roving guardsmen. Another gaggle of men and women could be seen getting thrown out of a bar. Did they even have enough money to buy alcohol? Every one of these events further depressed Ferocious and his mind started to wonder about the future. His thoughts were about the future and the increasing dissent that is growing between the NPCs and Players. In the real world, such dissent would cause incredible problems that would be solved by wars most of the time. This time was going to be different though. The average NPC could easily take on a number of new Players while not even breaking a sweat. Players like Ferocious were few in number and the amount of people who seek the help of the Combat Series numbered only 20 in the city. If a war ever occurred then the Player Population will be easily destroyed. At the very least the strain between the two would mean that Players will grow extremely slowly in comparison to the NPC and the ¡®Heroes¡¯ that Terra had announced would be a part of the game. Ferocious placed these thoughts aside when he arrived in front of the Church of Information. He had avoided this place since he was told that this Goddess was the strongest deity and he didn¡¯t feel like trying to bungle around in his interactions with them. The large cathedral took up a large space and looked comparable to a Noble¡¯s mansion with glass stained windows that looked kind of like the ones Ferocious had seen in the Churches outside of the game. He couldn¡¯t make out any specific details from outside so he placed that thought aside and walked up to the two guards that were on either side of the wide open entrance. The guards were quite resplendent but they didn¡¯t match. The one on the left was dressed in bright blue and yellow and had a cape with the golden sign of some bird while the one on the right was in Grey and Purple and had a purple distinct cat on his left chest. Ferocious had heard that Janira didn¡¯t have a Paladin group so he assumed these were Paladins from different churches. Again it was a display of the power of Janira if other churches were used to guard their buildings. Ferocious wasn¡¯t able to get into eye contact with either so he just gave a short bow to both and entered the building. Immediately a young man in pure grey clothing faced Ferocious and gave a low bow which Ferocious promptly returned. ¡°Welcome sir, may I help you in any way?¡± The young man had a polite tone and a dignified aura. His long blonde-white hair reached his shoulders and parted in front of his face and his cool eyes switched from grey to ice blue in the light. His handsome features made Ferocious grow slightly nervous but the gentle smile relaxed Ferocious and he made his tone quite respectful. ¡°I am an ¡®Otherworlder¡¯ by the name of Ferocious and I wish to get a class.¡± ¡°Ah, you are Ferocious? Your fame precedes you and we have been expecting you for a little while. Please, step this way.¡± Slightly pleased but incredibly embarrassed by the fame, Ferocious followed the man through halls and up stairs towards an obviously new part of the building. The wood was a different colour, the paintings were few a sparse and the furnishings were too new and clean and the overall smell of the place said it was recently made. Ferocious didn¡¯t know whether to keep his mind on the path ahead or consider about how real this game was. Passing a few doors, Ferocious was led to a hall that was somehow the length of a football field. He didn¡¯t think the building was big enough to have such a room but the sight was before his eyes. Was this a game bug or something? Walking into the room, Ferocious was greeted by a stooped old man. ¡°Greetings, I am one of the Bishops here. You are here for your class change yes? Please tell me which class you would like to have and Janira will see if you have the requirements to change into it. If you do not or you choose a class lower than expected, she will choose one for you. Do you accept?¡± There was no accompanying status screen so this was mostly just a social interaction. Ferocious only took a few seconds to ponder this before nodding in agreement. He already had the proper Honor and Strength stat amounts and his ¡®Sword Mastery¡¯ had also reached ¡®Intermediate¡¯ after the training at the dojo and his grinding outside of the city. There should be no reason to get denied the Knight Class¡­ ¡°I accept and wish to become a Knight.¡± Immediately a bright light surrounded Ferocious and disappeared just as quickly. It was reminiscent of the old games he had played before and he wasn¡¯t as shocked as he should have been. The light was what he had expected at the least when he class changed. At the most he had thoughts of an embarrassing ceremony complete with trumpets and a red carpet and some king doing a Knighting ceremony.
You have successfully changed your Class to a Knight. The following changes has occurred
You have gained the following from the Class Change. [p=left]Health now increases by 20 for every Vitality Stat and 10 for every Strength and Honor Stat. Mana now increases by 5 for every Intelligence Stat and Wisdom Stat. Stamina will be valued at half the rate of Health. Warrior and Knight Combat Skills will be 20% faster to train. Honor is permanent at 50. You have gained 100 Honor. You have gained 30 Strength. You have gained 20 Vitality. You have gained 20 Agility. You have gained 10 to all other stats. Cannot gain Infamy but doing negative deeds will quadruple the loss of Fame. Heavy Armor will not give a Weight Penalty. Light Armor will passively increase agility when worn. Generated the Charisma Stat. You have gained 20 Charisma. Generated the Righteousness Stat. You have gained 20 Righteousness. Generated the Justice Stat. You have gained 20 Justice. Generated the Shield Bashing Skill. Generated the Power Strike Skill. Generated the Attack Combination Skill. Generated the Steel Body Skill. Generated the Heavy Armor Mastery Skill. Generated the Shield Mastery Skill. Generated the Unarmed Combat Mastery Skill. Generated the Spear Mastery Skill. Generated the Horse Riding Mastery Skill. Generated the Battle Regen Skill.[/p]
The large amount of skills rather overwhelmed Ferocious and he decided to find out the details later. The Bishop smiled at Ferocious and took out a large bag. Where he got it was a complete mystery to Ferocious but he quickly put it out of his mind when the Bishop pushed it towards him. ¡°Ah, this is good. You are the third to gain a class in Bellen and the first to get a specialized one. The other two were both Warriors and seemed to have just trained outside of the city instead of gone to the Series. Here. These are simple items that a Knight should always start out with. ¡®Otherworlders don¡¯t own much beginning items so these should help a bit.¡± Passing over a large bag that gave off some muffled noise, the Bishop smiled happily at Ferocious and waved at the young man from before. Walking forward, the young man also gave off an envious smile that creeped Ferocious out when it was pointed at him and Ferocious was motioned to follow him. The walk was quite quick and Ferocious was hurrying to catch up. After getting hustled out of the cathedral, Ferocious stood in the streets with a small befuddled expression. The Class Change was rather anti-climatic and quite quick. Probably just in case too many players class changed at once. A future problem that really didn¡¯t look likely. He shook himself out of it and opened the heavy sack while he was still near the Guard Paladins. Each of the items were padded tightly with clothes when he opened them, each of the items opened a status screen in front of him and gave simple information.
Knight¡¯s Bronze Burgonet
[p=left]Common Durability: 30/30 Defense: 10 A simple bronze burgonet made with Intermediate Skills. Quite heavy and isn¡¯t valued very highly.[/p]
Knight¡¯s Bronze Cuirass
[p=left]Common Durability: 80/80 Defense: 15 A simple bronze cuirass made with Intermediate Skills. Thin but still heavy and cheaply made.[/p]
Knight¡¯s Bronze Greave
[p=left]Common Durability: 20/20 Defense: 7 A simple bronze greave made with Intermediate Skills. Small and light, it offers slight protection.[/p]
Knight¡¯s Bronze Gauntlet
[p=left]Common Durability: 50/50 Defense: 15 A simple bronze gauntlet made with Intermediate Skills. Tight and padded, made with care and is well oiled.[/p]
Knight¡¯s Buckler
[p=left]Common Durability: 100/100 Defense: 20 A well padded wooden shield. Small and light, this buckler is used to block simple attacks.[/p]
Iron Longsword
[p=left]Common Durability: 100/100 Attack: 10-25 A well balanced Iron Longsword. Made with only iron, this weapon cannot stand up to incredible stress and will break easily. Should not be used to block with.[/p]
Smiling, Ferocious equipped the equipment and was both surprised and happy to see that it all fit. The Combat Series had a large assortment of uniforms so it was easy to find fitted uniforms for him so there were no problems there. Did the Church already have his measurements? Definitely not called the Church of Information for nothing. Afterwards he decided to check out his new stats as well. ¡°Show Status. Show Righteousness. Show Charisma. Show Justice.¡±
Status
NameFerociousLevel12
ClassKnightFame104
TitleNoneWorld Ranking874
GuildNoneFree Stat Points0
Health3300Mana210
Stamina1650Righteousness20
Strength84Dexterity28
Vitality48Intelligence20
Wisdom22Honor150
Luck20Agility43
Charisma20Justice20
Righteousness
[p=left]Your actions speak louder than words! Whatever you do will be viewed in a good light and people are not prone to mistrust you. However if your actions lead to negative consequences then this stat will lower and you may gain an undesirable fame. Cannot add stat points to this.[/p]
Charisma
[p=left]The glory of ability. When people look at you they will either see a weak man or a strong being. This value represents the power of your bearing. The higher the stat, the more people will notice you. However this will also have a negative impact if your infamy is high. Cannot add stat points to this.[/p]
Justice
[p=left]The path to Order! The Justice stat is used to cooperate with local Military and Policing forces. They will be able to automatically check the Justice stat of a Knight, Soldier, or other Military Rank. The Justice stat will determine how much influence the user has with the local Military or Policing forces. Cannot add stat points to this.[/p]
Ferocious read and accepted the stats and then walked off into the city. The Justice stat was relatively useless for straight up grinders and the Charisma stat looked only like a stat that increased how one look. In the back of his mind he contemplated how high the gravity ring man had in his Charisma stat. Ferocious wandered through the center of the city when a female Player just entered the game. She was looking around in wonder just as he had in the beginning before she made her way with some familiarity. Probably meeting friends in the game. Giaa had stagnated quite a bit but was picking up recently as word got out. There also seemed to be an announcement from Terra but Ferocious hadn¡¯t been out of the game for a while. It had been 9 days in game since his last break so almost 2 days IRL and Ferocious decided to logout after he thanked the Series and the people who helped him. Wandering through the streets, Ferocious saw a familiar sight. ¡°Ah! Ferocious! Welcome back. Nice armour set. I assume you managed to get the Knight class you wished? Sit sit, we need to catch up a bit.¡± Wilhelm Porter¡¯s stall was still in front of the ¡®RAINBOW BED INN¡¯ and he seemed to have more boxes than usual. Ferocious had figured that Wilhelm¡¯s job was a Merchant like he thought but he also had a side job of ¡®Keeper¡¯. He kept items and gold that people needed kept safe and they needed to pay a small fee in order to do so. The boxes were blessed and enchanted by some Lock/seal god and were near impossible to open without Wilhelm. Wilhelm produced a set of chairs and they both sat down beside one another with the wall of the Inn to their backs. The Mercantile street was near empty of Players since they had next to no money and couldn¡¯t get good service and instead, NPCs were much more prominent and the gold flowed freely and easily. ¡°Yes, I just got the Class Change a moment ago. Rather quick if I may say. I was just about to go around thanking the people who helped me as well as the teachers at the Combat Series area. Then maybe go on an adventure out of town.¡± His goal was the beat the Foxes and Wolves around the city first and then go to the next city. After grinding weak and pathetic rabbits for a long time, Ferocious wanted some tougher foes. Wilhelm was nodding and took out a long pipe which he promptly filled with some tobacco and lighted. He puffed a few times before responding. ¡°This is good. Actually you are good. You are probably the only one of your kind to actually do anything in the city. You come from a very perverted place it seems.¡± That caused Ferocious to blush as he thought about the problems the other Players were causing. Various Male Players had taken it upon themselves to stalk and follow the NPC women and try to show off in front of them. Whether by flexing muscles or smiling too widely, they were rebuffed and turned away constantly. In the end the clothing they wore had rotted away and they were walking around in the nude doing the exact same things as before. The women were even worse. They didn¡¯t become nude in the end since a few had taken to sewing and clothing was distributed but they went around in swarms. Groups and groups of the women were chasing and piling on top of male NPCs and when any of the NPCs showed any interest in one of them, the women would attack and kill their own. Needless to say, relations had degenerated between the two sides. Only Ferocious and the members of the Combat Series had escaped this. Maybe even the other Series had a few members but the ratio was absolutely against them. For every one serious player, there was about 20 loners who were desperate to get a partner. ¡°Its rather embarrassing even for me and it seems that most of them were just following the majority. It has become commonplace for your people to chase after the NPCs and this is a problem in and of itself. The few who go outside are too inexperienced and they die quickly and they don¡¯t even try to get the help from the Series.¡± Wilhelm¡¯s points were completely accurate and they both settled into an uneasy silence. At this rate, the game may dissolve into a mess where the NPCs spurn the players and the game gets ruined. Ideas travelled through Ferocious¡¯ mind and he skipped through them all. He couldn¡¯t just beat up the Players and force them to behave. And he couldn¡¯t get the NPCs to like the Players just through his actions. One idea flew to the forefront of his thoughts. ¡°Wilhelm, no, Mr. Porter. How do I go about making a guild?¡± For a moment Wilhelm continued to smoke his pipe in deep thought. Then it seemed Ferocious¡¯ words finally got to him as he jumped out of the chair, spitting the pipe out and turning towards Ferocious. The clatter as Wilhelm¡¯s chair turned some heads but the onlookers were ignored as Wilhelm stared down at Ferocious. ¡®T-th-this. This is a great idea. A Guild will solve most of the problems. If you can teach a small group the proper way to live in Gaia, then they can go on to teach others. Over time the Guild can grow larger and hopefully the rift between NPCs and ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ can decrease!¡± The enthusiasm in Wilhelm¡¯s eyes took on a feverish light and Ferocious was slightly overwhelmed. He was also rather embarrassed at the increasing stares being pointed towards him and he started to make soothing gestures to Wilhelm in order to calm him down. ¡°Alright alright, calm down. I still don¡¯t know the specifics of a Guild and how to make one.¡± Placing the chair back into the proper position, Ferocious held it until Wilhelm could pick his pipe back up and sit. Cleaning the pipe, he started his explanation. ¡°A Guild is a group that is created for specific tasks. In the past there have been only five Guilds in prominence and each of them represents the 5 Series. There was the ¡®Sons of Battle¡¯ for the Combat Series, ¡®Shadows of the World¡¯ for Silent Series, ¡®The Factory¡¯ for Crafters, ¡®All-cure¡¯ for the non religious faction of the Healing Series, and ¡®The Merchant¡¯s Society¡¯ for the Merchants of the Neutral Series. "Recently however this has changed. In other cities there has been 12 Guilds that have popped up in the last 10 years and have made progressive movements in recruitment. There are the ¡®Taskmasters¡¯, ¡®Battle Gloried¡¯, and ¡®Rising Phoenix¡¯ who were all mainly of the Combat and Silent Series groups. ¡¯Duty¡¯ is another Guild and has the most influence among the newer guilds and has the largest work force. If you do make a Guild, these five will be the main opponents. The other Guilds consist of groups that combine the different Series and probably won¡¯t be as much of a problem as the others. "Yes, yes, I¡¯ll get to Guild Creation soon. It¡¯s still the middle of the day anyways. "Now, Guilds have a limit of 10 ranks and a minimum of 4. Generally they have 6 and consist of the following. 1: Regular Members. Commonly known as grunts these folks are the most numerous and can be assigned different tasks. Ranks are not based off level so there can easily be high leveled and strong grunts. 2: Officers. The widest range of abilities these officers take care of groups of grunts during battles or Dungeon Exploration. It is better to have an experienced leader than a high level grunt so choose wisely. 3: Administration. Keepers of the data the administrators are the ones that keep the Guild running. Without them the distribution of Guild funds and rewards for the new Quests would stagnate and lower the Guild¡¯s ability to function. It was due to this that the Big 5 were the main Guilds for a long time. With ¡®Duty¡¯ though, the other Guilds fight back. Duty has the largest Administration might and that means very high influence among the other guilds. 4: Enforcers. No Guild doesn¡¯t have stragglers of its own and Enforcers were introduced to handle them. This is actually a more recent rank and was properly done by the Mercenary Guilds. They gained greater and greater prominence as a faithful source of security and managed to last against the Big 5. 5: Sub Leaders. Sub Leaders actually mean the different city members that take care of the Guild¡¯s business in that city. Bellen is rare in that only the Big 5 have any worthy influence inside the city but there are small representatives of the Guilds in each. They are called Sub Leaders but their actual power if generally restricted by the Guild Leader and they call themselves Representatives instead. 6: Guild Leader. Usually the creator of the guild, the post can be passed down or inherited if the Leader dies and the person with the highest Guild Points takes the post. Guild Leader has the most authority in the Guild and the Leader should never abuse that power. Especially when he is a leader of a large powerful Guild.¡± All of that information overwhelmed Ferocious so he only took small notes in the beginning and then none at all. He just listened and made sure to know the basics of everything. ¡°Now to make a guild...just go to the Church of Information and request a guild creation.¡± Ferocious couldn¡¯t help but sigh at the simple information. ¡°I guess I need to try and figure out some members for the Guild then. Wanna join Wilhelm?¡± That request seemed to surprise him but he quickly got over it and argued about various Players and NPCs that Ferocious could approach.
Dante got out of the capsule and relaxed a bit. Then he jumped when he heard an incessant knocking at the door. Quickly he got up and started running only to fall flat on his face. Almost 2 days of playing and his legs were wobbly and his body felt weak. Slowly he half crawled and half walked to the door. ¡°Excuse us, we are employees of Terra and we are going around to current buyers to do a one time software and hardware update. Here are our credentials.¡± A group of 5 introduced themselves to Dante and handed a pamphlet to him. Confused, Dante read through it and was happily surprised. It showed a growing concern from the Players and the people hearing about the game and it introduced several ways to help the Players, namely the implementation of a software change and hardware change. The software change was to include lessening the how much time a person can stay in the game. The actual consoles had game exclusion incorporated inside of it and when the person died, the game would tell the console to lock itself for whatever time is stored inside it. The time was supposed to be 24 hours but the software change would make it 18 hours instead. The Hardware change would be more different. Based on the problems of numerous Player deaths, Terra would add a new component to the console that would lengthen the playing time of Players. This new hardware would do some kind of technical thing that would allow the Player¡¯s body to sleep as they play and rest easier. It won¡¯t provide sustenance to the body and the game would tell the Player how much time passed in the Real World when needed. Impressed, Dante let them in and brought them to the Capsule. Watching, he noted their quick and coordinated pace and experience. In no time at all they were out the door and Dante quickly took a shower and ate. While eating he went on the web to check out the problems. Googling various sites, Dante found the Terra Forums and found several threads by disgruntled players.
WARNING DO NOT GET GAIA
[p=left]The game GAIA is HORRIBLE! Nothing u do in the gme works and u die soooo easily. The stupid npcs are so uncorpertiv to us. Wht kind of gme is this? MODS FIX THE STPID GME UP AND LET US PLAY PROPERLY!!![/p]
Defficult NPC chicks
[p=left]I am a single student and I started playing in order to get an NPC waifu. Instead ALL of the npc chicks avoid me and beat me up. I got several limbs broken one time by this little girl and she didn¡¯t even break a sweat! Stupid game. Fix the game or no one will play.[/p]
These types of threads filled the entire forum to bursting and Dante was extremely tempted to type a response. Instead he went to the Terra site and read up on their response. Based on the disgruntled problems, Terra added a video section as part of the Hardware and Software update. Since the Consoles have their own internal connection to the net, the Company took advantage of that and added a video recorder to the game. Players can use the net to cut and paste several parts of their adventures and then upload them on the powerful site. Their response to the problems being told was to upload the problem users and the videos generated several million views. For the person who warned people away from the game, it showed a man with a 14 year old¡¯s face trying to attack a rabbit. Only he tripped over his own feet and stabbed himself with his knife. As he was rolling over in pain the rabbit jumped on him repeatedly until he died in a squeel. For the flirter it showed a group of men surrounding a little girl. One of them was about to grab the girl but then she broke most of his limbs and moved onto the rest of the group. In the end the group was lying bloody all over the ground and the NPCs around them gave approving looks to the girl. Dante spent the next few hours laughing at every uploaded video until he figured it was time to sleep. Then he looked back at the Pamphlet. He was pretty sure the Sleeping system was properly implemented...if he could play while sleeping. Reading more on the topic he found that it was a lessened version of sleep. The body would repair itself and the like in the same way a sleeping body would, but the mental strain would still be prevalent. It was advised to either sleep properly IRL or sleep a long time in game. Dante was about to play the game anyways, mental strain and all, when he remembered a rather large problem. He didn¡¯t have the coin needed to buy an Inn room and he disliked sleeping out where others could see and find him. He didn¡¯t know what Rogues and Thieves could do yet but he didn¡¯t want to test and see if they could pickpocket the clothes he wore. Dante went to sleep for almost a full day and after a quick shower and meal he entered back into the game. He figured a proper Guild name after the videos he had watched and the future of the Guild.
Ferocious entered the Combat Series building to see Levi sparring with Master Kern using dual swords. Strikes rained down from both sides and Levi¡¯s usually good natured expression was twisted in a slight snarl. Kern on the other hand had a patient face as he blocked Levi¡¯s blows and delivered the occasional random counterattack. Whether by some rule beforehand or something, Ferocious wondered about their attack styles. Master Kern seemed to be predominantly defensive and he used his long blade to occasionally attack Levi¡¯s legs and break his stance. Levi was on the full offensive as he used both of his short swords to attack Kern in the openings being shown. He hopped out of the way of the occasional lower attacks and his ferocity didn¡¯t diminish even once. Ferocious kept watching until finally Levi accidentally over swung his sword and twisted into one of Kern¡¯s counter. The blow flipped Levi over and the leg twisted with a snap. Immediately one of the watching warriors went up and applied a quick heal as he set the leg properly. Training in this building built up a sort of stoic resistance to screaming like a baby, even if the pain was still there, and Levi took it in stride. He lay on the ground breathing hard and Ferocious approached him and the Master. ¡°Ah, welcome back Ferocious! I hear you managed to get the class a few days ago! Congratulations Sir Ferocious.¡± The words were very warm and welcome. Ferocious was a rather respected ¡®Otherworlder¡¯ to the NPCs and his class made them welcome him even further. As a Knight he deserved some semblance of respect which would increase over time. ¡°Hello Master. I¡¯m just here to talk to Levi for a bit.¡± ¡°Of course, take your time. He has the rest of the day off and he needs to get a Class. So take as much time as you want.¡± With that, Kern left the two alone. Ferocious opened his pack and took out a skin of water which Levi promptly took and drained. After a few moments relaxing Ferocious spoke first. ¡°Wanna join a Guild I¡¯m creating?¡± Ferocious wasn¡¯t the only one who had noticed the disaster approaching. Levi had gone out a few times and returned angry at the problems outside. It seemed a group of girls had tried to gangrape him until he beat them up in return. They didn¡¯t seem to mind as they cursed their weakness and Levi returned in both fright and anger. Ferocious immediately grabbed Levi when he received the nod and ran as fast as he could towards the Church of Information. Within the hour they arrived at the doors of the Church where the same two paladins were stationed to guard. They eyed Ferocious and Levi but otherwise didn¡¯t obstruct them as they entered. When they passed the doors the same young man interposed himself in front of them. ¡°Ah, welcome back Sir Ferocious. How may I help you this day?¡± Levi was pushed forward and he haltingly explained about what he needed. The young priest - Ferocious really needed to get his and the Bishop¡¯s name - led them to the same hall as before. Levi was staring at everything he passed and Ferocious also took a good second look. The furnishings inside of the Church seemed to not follow any specific pattern of Art work and instead looked rather haphazardly added. He was sure he saw some bloody artwork and even a few Lecherous artwork that heated up his face quite a bit. Did the Church put up everything they were donated without even a care? A different Bishop greeted the pair and Levi went through the same quick ceremony. Ferocious didn¡¯t see a bright light surrounding Levi but when he covered his eyes quickly, Ferocious knew he got the class. Levi spent the next few minutes reading his personal information and then got a large bag from the Bishop. Again the young man led the two towards the door but this time Ferocious forcefully slowed down their steps. ¡°There was another topic I wished to speak about.¡± Ferocious started the conversation with the young man but then stopped. ¡°Ah, I guess I should properly introduce myself. I am Ferocious, an ¡®Otherworlder¡¯ with the class of Knight.¡± ¡°I am Levi, an ¡®Otherworlder¡¯ with the class of Weapon-Master.¡± ¡°I am Jerome. A Priest of the Church of Information and 5th in the hierarchy here.¡± Ferocious was somewhat impressed that he was fifth but he didn¡¯t know that it just meant that he was the 5th ranking Priest and that there was 2 more levels above priests so he was rather low in the way of power. ¡°Ahem. I would like to talk about creating a guild¡­¡± ¡°Of course. Here. ¡®Create Guild for Ferocious¡¯.¡± Immediately an information box appeared in front of Ferocious.
Guild Creation
Guild Name:-
Guild Master:-Vice Leader-
Sub LeadersNoEnforcersNo
AdministratorsNoCity LordsNo
OfficersNoMembersYes
It was a simple set up so Ferocious thought of the different ranks. He didn¡¯t have or need a Vice Leader or Sub Leader at the moment since it was a small guild. Actually everything but Officers and members was practically useless. So he made his decisions and made the guild. ¡°Set Guild Name to ¡®Feral Code¡¯. Set Guild Master to myself. Activate Officers. Add Levi to Officers.¡±
Guild Creation
Guild Name:Feral Code
Guild Master:FerociousVice Leader-
Sub LeadersNoEnforcersNo
AdministratorsNoCity LordsNo
OfficersYesMembersYes
[p=left]Members: Ferocious (Master) Online: Bellen. Levi (Officer) Online: Bellen.[/p]
So it showed the members as well. With that thought Ferocious decided to try something. ¡°Show Levi.¡±
Levi
Level9World Ranking1000+
ClassWeapon-MasterPosition In GuildOfficer
Ranking in GuildHasn¡¯t been set yetGuild Points0
Hrm, you needed to set guild rankings? ¡°Guild Rankings.¡± Nothing happened and Ferocious took a glance to Jerome. Jerome and Levi were patiently waiting for Ferocious, although Levi was mostly interested in some of the detailed paintings. He was staring quite intently on a painting where a couple was embracing and another couple was...oh. Blushing, Ferocious focused back on Jerome. ¡°You will need to change Guild Options with the Show Guild Option command.¡± ¡°Ah...alright. Ahem. Guild Options.¡±
Guild Options
Assigned Gold to Guild Points0
# of Guild Points for F Rank0
# of Guild Points for E Rank0
# of Guild Points for D Rank0
# of Guild Points for C Rank0
# of Guild Points for B Rank0
# of Guild Points for A Rank0
# of Guild Points for S Rank0
¡°Ummm what does it mean by Assigned Gold to Guild Points?¡± ¡°Every Guild Point a person acquires is equal to a specific amount of gold. In this way, a person can donate Gold and get a specific amount of Guild Points in return. Another aspect is for a person to cash in their Points and get an exact amount of Gold in return.¡± Easy, simple. Ferocious loved people who made things easier. Hrm. Ferocious did some simple math in his head to determine the points. It seemed that only in games could he do any sort of good math. ¡°Assign 10 gold to each guild point. Assign 500 points to Rank F. Assign 1200 points to Rank E. Assign 2000 points to Rank D. Assign 3000 points to Rank C. Assign 5000 points to Rank B. Assign 7500 points to Rank A. Assign 15000 points to Rank S.¡±
Guild Options
Assigned Gold to Guild Points10
# of Guild Points for F Rank500
# of Guild Points for E Rank1200
# of Guild Points for D Rank2000
# of Guild Points for C Rank3000
# of Guild Points for B Rank5000
# of Guild Points for A Rank7500
# of Guild Points for S Rank15000
With that done, Ferocious was pretty sure he didn¡¯t need to do anything else so he closed everything. Straightening, he didn¡¯t know why he was bent over for some reason, Ferocious gave a bright smile to both and deeply sighed. ¡°Thanks Jerome. All of that is done and over with. Levi. It is time to recruit! Show Officer Settings. Allow Officers to recruit!!!¡±
All around the city of Bellen, a ripple started to emerge. No, actually it wasn¡¯t a ripple. It was more like a wave that engulfed the city. From the Information Church and outward the wave went around and a large buzz came over the city. Ferocious and Levi had split after exiting the Church and the first person Ferocious tried to hire was Jerome. The Guild ¡®All-Cure¡¯ was the main Healing Series Guild but the Clerics and Priests of Churches had rather bad reception there. ¡®All-Cure¡¯ was mainly a group that consisted of Alchemists who made potions, Midwives and Wise Woman who were mainly small village healers, and Doctors and Specialists who had taken the mundane ¡®First Aid¡¯ skill and widened it to develop and master the sub skill sets like ¡®Surgery¡¯, ¡®Stitching¡¯, and ¡®Blood Replacement¡¯. There were many skills that the ¡®All-Cure¡¯ Guild developed but their feelings about Clerics and Healing magic were looked down upon. They favoured healing through Mortal hands so the Church Healers who depended on their deities were looked upon with distaste. Because of this, the Church members usually went around Guildless and focused mainly on their Church duties. Ferocious noticed this of course. He had helped at several different Churches and some Alchemy shops during his Honor grind. He learned some minor prayers that would lessen the effects of diseases and he learned how to make some minor potions. None of these gave him the skill though and he thought it would really be better to buy potions or services instead. What he learned was that the 5 Big Guilds and even the new Guilds all did not recruit from the Churches. The Clerics and Priests did not join ¡®All-Cure¡¯ - all Churches had some minor healing abilities although Ket had the greatest abilities and effects - and Paladins and other members did not join the ¡®Sons of Battle¡¯ or ¡®Shadows of the World¡¯. Actually it was more like the Guilds did not allow any Church members in since the Series actually trained Church apprentice members quite well. It was rather complicated but this rift was hard to not take advantage of. What he had learned helped in his decision to make a Guild. If he could recruit Church members, that would bolster the Guild numbers and create a separate network that is detached from the Series. That is, the Church aspect of the Healing and other Series. Each of the Series already had quite a bit of a network with in the Guilds but the Church members had no such thing. If Ferocious could get enough of them in, then he could create a separate and large network that is virtually untouched. Ferocious got into a quick but important conversation with Jerome. ¡°Hey listen Jerome. Ummm, I would like to ask, would you like to join ¡®Feral Code¡¯?¡± Ferocious could have beat himself up with those blunt words. Still, better to end it all quicker and Jerome was looking rather surprised at his words. ¡°I don¡¯t know. This has never happened before. Oh I¡¯m sure the Church of Information members could join a Guild, I¡¯m just not sure if it¡¯s a good thing.¡± ¡°Please, it would help alot if I can recruit members of the Churches. It won¡¯t be only the Church of Information. I wish to recruit whoever I could.¡± That seemed to sadden Jerome a bit but then he gained a slight seriousness to his eyes. When you combine a long blonde haired handsome face with ice-blue eyes and an expression of seriousness, you end up getting nervous. Even if you were a man. ¡°What is the goal of your Guild?¡± Ah, this topic. Ferocious¡¯ nervousness dissipated in front of this question and he brought up the words that were stored in his mind. ¡°I wish to bridge the rift between ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ and NPCs. I wish to get ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ accustomed to Gaia and if they won¡¯t, I wish to take them down with a feral violence. Feral Code is the name of the guild. Feral is for the wild ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ that are in Gaia right now and Code is a set of instructions that they must follow in order to stay in Gaia. Violence will be the response that will come if they do not change their ways.¡± Slightly impressed, Jerome nodded in response to the advertisement that Ferocious gave. Ferocious himself was red in face and he was berating himself for the incredibly embarrassing words. They were words that only a real confident person could say without embarrassment and Ferocious was not that kind of person. ¡°Alright then, I¡¯ll join. I¡¯ll also try to recruit as many people as I could. There are quite a few who do not like the problems between us at the moment so this would help greatly.¡± ¡°Yes! Alright. Add Jerome to Officers.¡±
For the next few days Ferocious watched as the number of Guild members grew. Levi was tasked to take any newcomers to the game and help them with introductions to the Combat Series. The Players already being trained by the Combat Series was told to complete their training, get their class, and then join the Guild. The Players are the Series were approached by Levi and soon a small group of Class Players were joining the Guild. Jerome had the highest recruitment rate of the two. He had gone to his Priest companions and recruited them as Officers. Since they were already well experienced in systematic recruitment and speeches - the Church of Information gave weekly speeches about the outside world and they recruited quite a few followers over time - the Guild swarmed with a great number of helpers. These helpers donated to the guild in small amounts and set up shops along the City Center and gave free items and advice to the new and old players. They were also quite experienced at giving quests and the amount of quests being given and being received reached epic proportions. In only a week in-game there was a massive wave of Elvish, Dwarvish, and other races spawning in Bellen as Players heard about the Guild¡¯s efforts. Humans were in the minority soon enough since they couldn¡¯t choose their starting city and were randomly spawned. Soon enough Ferocious had a network in every Church and at least one member in every city on the continent. The speed of the Guild¡¯s growth astounded every member and he had to fix some of the Guild Options when this happened. First thing he did was double the gold per point and point needed to rank up. There was also a prohibition from donating more than 10 gold per day and this was done to avoid present and future problems with rich members who wished to rank up by spending only gold. Ferocious needed to unlock the Administrator rank and get some clerks to keep track of the Guild accounts. This was quickly done with the help of Wilhelm who had quite a large network among the business sectors. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Still, the amount of gold flowing into the Guild coffers was growing but so was the problem of actual Guild Gold. If all of the members wanted to trade points for gold then the Guild Treasury would empty out immediately and be in debt. To challenge this Ferocious talked to several new Guild Officers and set up immediate Dungeon and monster hunters. The Dungeon group consisted of the greatest balance of high level and experienced players and went into any nearby dungeons to clear it out and acquire the treasure for the Guild. They never challenged themselves too greatly in the Dungeons since it was a plan to gain funds not renown and the Guild Treasury slowly increased due to it. The other group was headed by Ferocious, Levi and another Officer named Hentaiking. Hentaiking was the man who had crashed the Combat Series during the early days of Ferocious¡¯ training and now he had cured his earlier perverse attitude and adopted one similar to Levi¡¯s; Fun and outgoing but serious when needed. He had also seemed to find his name in bad taste and everyone had taken to calling him King instead. Ferocious¡¯ group was the Hunting Group. They would enter and grind in the forests and fields around Bellen which was teeming with monsters. Systematic killing allowed the group to gather a large amount of experience and loot which was promptly given to Crafting Members to train their skills and sell for funds. Player Merchants started to travel between Bellen and the closest city Kiryun and they were protected by Guild Members who needed to level. The large hunting from the travels helped train lower leveled members and formed parties that learned to fight well together. Each party was headed by an Officer just in case. The number of Hunting Groups increased to 3 by the end of the week and Ferocious had Levi and King take care of choosing Officers. The rule of thumb was that the person must be likable. Trying to lead a party just based on level was a recipe for disaster and ¡®Feral Code¡¯ wasn¡¯t that type of Militaristic Guild. A small problem appeared during that week as a group found a new Dungeon quite far from the city. They reported to the representative of Duty and they were given permission to form an Expedition and take it down. Ferocious knew Duty¡¯s plan though. They would use the Player Expedition to tackle and ascertain the quality of the Dungeon. Players were rather expendable and they were seen as such by the newer NPC guilds so Ferocious forbid and Guild Member to join it. A few grumbled but didn¡¯t disobey but a few did and joined. 30 members in all disobeyed and joined the Expedition which had then numbered over a hundred. They had seen the recruitment posters and the Expedition Leader and decided to follow it instead and Ferocious kicked all 30 of them without preamble. Even if they came back with a King¡¯s ransom in gold and jewelry, he knew he made the right choice. For the next week Ferocious didn¡¯t hear anything from that Expedition. Only when an Officer approached did he learn what had happened.
Getting out of the Console, Dante quickly went to the computer and booted it. His body felt rather relaxed even from his massive gaming time and he felt that the Terra company had outdid themselves with the new updates. He made himself a meal of soup and sandwich as his computer booted and then went to the Terra Video section. Immediately he saw what he wanted. 132 videos had been uploaded in the past few hours and all of them were about the Expedition. The failed Expedition. Leading the group was the same Paladin in each video, the french Renald who did look rather cool in his armor. Dante loaded 10 different videos from the aspect of different classes and watched them one by one. The Cleric one had the lowest time included. For the first 10 minutes it was just regular traveling which was sped up by the uploader. Orders were given in proper time but there were lots of cuts as the uploader got rid of the useless stuff. The Group stopped at the cave which was in the shape of a large skull and that lasted a full minute as the different angles were given of it. The cave was enough to send a shiver in Dante but the cuts were all done rather awfully and it felt like it lacked quite a bit. When they entered the cave the cuts ended. In the POV of the Cleric, the group entered the creepy cave with the Combat Series at the front. The Clerics were at the back and the Crafters were in the middle along with the mages. At the back of the group the uploader was grouped closely with the other Clerics. Soon enough the rest of the Expedition slowly got further and further ahead but the stat lacking Healers couldn¡¯t catch up. Dante wondered why they didn¡¯t shout for them to slow down but he attributed it to stupid Player pride. The Clerics all of a sudden couldn¡¯t see the Expedition anymore. Chills crept up Dante¡¯s spine as panic erupted from the group and all of a sudden the POV of the Cleric leapt up. A giant furry creature had grabbed the Player and was attacking him without reserve. Screams erupted from the Player before dissolving to gurgles and then he stopped moving. Blood had splattered everywhere and the monster was greedily licking it off the Player and Dante saw that it was a Giant Bat. It was much larger than his imagination could have made and seeing it lick the blood off was too much. The video ended and Dante quickly looked at the next video. For the rest of the night Dante watched Video after video and saw countless players die by the Bats. His meal had been consumed during the video marathon and he went to sleep when the sun came up. He slept for only a few hours since he woke to nightmares of bats and the like. He decided to spend a few days in Gaia instead of sleep.
When Ferocious got back into the game he was greeted with a few messages. One of the game perks was the implementation of the Letter system since the game speed was 5:1 and people could miss each other by days. The letters Ferocious got were rather interesting.
Sender: Tough. To: Ferocious
[p=left]Dear Ferocious. My and my peers were wrong in joining the expedition and wish to rejoin the guild. We did not enter the Dungeon as we were in the throes of guilt and instead we made our way back to the city. When we entered we found you were gone so we sent letters hoping for your mercy. From: Loyal member Tough.[/p]
The other 20+ letters were the same and Ferocious grew a little more angry. Did these people not think he had watched the videos? Ferocious had seen more than a dozen of these people as one of the Dungeon Participants. Tough himself was one of the Combat Series members and he had pitifully died when the hoard of Bats came. Ferocious had laughed himself silly when he saw the Guild member he kicked get killed. Ferocious dismissed all of the letters and then sent out a Guild wide notice that the kicked members were not to be allowed in at all. He went a step further to Blacklist the people who sent the letters. The few who didn¡¯t send letters had the pride to not beg so he let them off from that. Blacklisting meant rather large penalties if a member associated themselves with the people that were blacklisted. This put a damper on what they could do in the city since Bellen was virtually a ¡®Feral Code¡¯ city.
A month later Ferocious heard news of an Event. It seemed to be the first one since the game started but that wasn¡¯t strange since only a few weeks IRL had actually passed. Still an Event would do wonders for the Guild and Ferocious asked for more details. The event would take place in Kiryun and it was open to anyone between the level of 70 to 150. Killing was allowed. Magic is allowed, poison isn¡¯t. And items were not to give an unfair advantage to the wearer. The tournament style was a single elimination tourney and the prize is only given to the winner. This basically meant that every Officer and Sub Leader could participate and even a few Members. Ferocious himself was around level 89 and that was only due to being swamped with guild duties for a time. Travel to Kiryun would level him quickly and the tournament would give a few good legal PVP kills. Quickly, Ferocious pmed all members online and described the details of the event. He then told anyone that fit that requirement and wished to go to meet him at the North-East entrance. He figured most would want to join but instead all he got was the Sub-Leaders and a few members. The members didn¡¯t have the level to join yet but they figured the quick trip there would level them enough and he allowed it. Ferocious was in a hurry so he decided to make do and go. The Sub-Leaders were Levi and King. The two were very well received in the city and were quite active in their recruitment. The number of Guild members had reached around 2000 in the city and Ferocious had sent out recruiters to other cities. Kiryun had only 10 members but it would be good for the ¡®Feral Code¡¯ if Levi and King could recruit there. Jerome had been promoted to Vice Leader and Bishop in the Church of Information and he was taking to his new duties with a fervor. With the group of 7, Ferocious moved to the quick route. Usual time to finish the route was about a week in game but Ferocious wasn¡¯t about to take regular breaks. The foes they fought after exiting the ¡®Forest of Dread¡¯ was mainly goblins. The quick route from Bellen to Kiryun was a straight road that went right between 2 mountains. Unlike the safe road which was dug through and flattened and regularly patrolled, the quick road was rough and only a little even. This increased the repair costs of wagons from city to city but the quick road allowed for easy trade of farm goods without fear of spoilage and hiring mercenaries usually costs less as the quick road was an easy training spot. Soon enough the party saw a large band of goblins heading towards them. Goblins in this path ranged from level 40-80. Since periodic travelers killed them the levels of Goblins didn¡¯t go very high and the training from fighting a large number of goblins was very good. Ferocious had led the Hunting team a few times but that was more systematic hunting than actual fights. This time they would be outnumbered 10:1 and there was no Cleric to heal them. Ferocious¡¯ blood started to boil and his expression took on a wolfish grin. Quickly, Ferocious got the group into formation. Ferocious would take point guard as he was the only real tank in the team. Levi and 3 others were Weapon-Masters and they plus an Archer took out their bows and fired from the back. King was to attack anyone that got past Ferocious. When the Goblins got close enough, Ferocious roared and stunned them for a second. He had learned ¡®Leader¡¯s Voice¡¯ from the Grandmaster of the Combat Series in Bellen. The old man was a retired Knight of some renown and he passed the skill to Ferocious. At the low level it was now, all it did was stop all movement from whoever it was directed at but that split second completely stopped all momentum from the goblins and half of them fell forward and on their faces. These were killed by Ferocious who immediately went forward and swung his sword through the pile. He didn¡¯t even care to aim and the blood flew all around him as he wadded through the bodies and into the rest of the goblins. His sword never stopped and his shield was used to bash any who had the gall to charge him. The arrows couldn¡¯t reach and help Ferocious inside of the tight melee so they contended to hit any stragglers who came towards them or tried to run away. In the end though they barely got any kills and Ferocious stood alone amidst the bodies. The blood on his body slowly disappeared but before that they could see his blood stained grin and wild eyes and more than one of them got a Fear Debuff from that.
In a record 4 days the party reached Kiryun and entered the massive city. A place of trade and Adventure the surrounding areas were filled with Dungeons that were either untouched or difficult to complete. The City administration would also post warnings about Dungeons that had already been complete and should be left until it had regenerated its denizens and treasure. Kiryun was basically the only city at the moment that had such a detailed schedule for the Dungeons but this was mainly due to the recent creation of ¡®Duty¡¯ and the cooperation it had with the other Guilds. The first thing the party did was get an Inn room and clean themselves up. While blood in the game disappears a few moments after battle, the accumulated dirt and grime from unwashed bodies and travel cause more than one person to grimace in disgust. Since they travelled through a mountain there was a limited source of water to use and they didn¡¯t have any mage that could supply water at all. They were civilized people in a VR game. They knew and liked the feel of being clean more than being dirty. The sign up for the tournament was still on for the next few days so the group rested up and replenished their stocks. Weapons and Equipment was collected and sent to be repairs and they took it easy in the city. The closer one got to the center of the city, the more crowded it became. Procrastinating for a bit, Ferocious wandered the city for the next few days and bought a few items. His level had hit 123 after the blitzed trip and needed to relax a bit so he walked around the city and helped out a few times. He visited the Series and acquainted himself with various members there. He had gained a sort of rep from the Guild work and Levi, King, and the others had all started to assimilate themselves into the workings of the city. Jerome had earlier recruited a priest in one of the Churches in the city and that was also making some headway. In the combat series he sparred with a few of the members there. He was taught different footwork for problems and the footwork was added to his ¡®Knight Movement¡¯ skill he had gotten before. The Grandmaster of the Combat Series in Kiryun was also a retired Knight and he gave some pointers to improve Ferocious¡¯ ¡®Leader¡¯s Voice¡¯. Screaming was fine and all but if you gave more air to your shout, used your chest to improve your sound, and say a phrase or word instead of nonsensical screaming, then the effects of the skill would increase. Ferocious tugged that piece of information away and learned a few offensive moves from him. In the packed streets Ferocious walked slowly towards the signup tent. He only had a few hours but he was quite patient and didn¡¯t feel the need to rush as his eyes partook of the sights of the cities. There were quite a bit of good leveled players in the city but the occasional skirt chaser could also be seen. In Bellen, Ferocious had spent the first few weeks assimilating everyone to the game but the people who didn¡¯t change were forcibly thrown out. The Guard wasn¡¯t allowed to do so and it was up to Feral Code to implement a strict anti-harassment rule and carry out the punishment. Leaving them in would cause a great deal of problems and Ferocious didn¡¯t need any such headache. Ferocious had never lead a Guild before in any of the games he had played. He was usually either an Officer or just a member and he felt he was good at following orders. As a Leader though there were countless problems that seemed to need his help all the time. Assigning Jerome as his Vice was a good idea since he could take care of the NPC aspects of the Guild but it was the Players that caused problems. Most had trouble getting used to the game and most were quite lazy about what they needed to do. The larger fellows had taken to telling smaller players what to do and ordering them around. The Player higher ups had different takes on how to tackle this. Levi took the smaller players under his wing and personally taught them what was needed to play the game. He had his own veritable army of young folks and they were quite loyal to him. Actually it was more like Hero Worship than anything else and they followed where he led more than where Ferocious led. This was fine with Ferocious since he trusted Levi to keep them from getting into trouble. King was a little more forceful. He was a security guard IRL and he had taken to actively enforce some of the Guild rules. He had been the first to tell Ferocious of the problem and Ferocious gave him permission to kick them out. King made several trips around the city every day in different routes in order to keep the order. Overall this surprised Ferocious who had seen him when he was at is more arrogant. There were other officers of course but they haven¡¯t been introduced yet. Ferocious¡¯ actions towards the bullies was quite harsh. He would view the scene, count the evidence with his head and eyes - he could always take the video and post it online for proof - and then he moved. Usually the entire thing ended with several arms broken and maybe one or two deaths. At first a person would wonder why he named himself Ferocious but scenes like this cemented the reason in everyone¡¯s eyes. His mad grin as he beat them was the stuff of rumours and many Players and NPCs avoided pushing him too far. All of these actions did serve to effectively make Bellen peaceful and Ferocious didn¡¯t think he did half as bad a job as he thought. Especially when he compared Bellen to Kiryun. ¡°Hey! HEY MISTER!¡± Wondering who that call was for, Ferocious turned around to check. To his surprise he saw the Noble from Bellen rushing towards him. He wasn¡¯t dressed in any flamboyant clothing like before and Ferocious probably would have missed him if he wasn¡¯t called out. Still a little shocked at the meeting, Ferocious barely noticed when they went into an empty bar. ¡°Its been a while milord. How have you been.¡± Best to start off polite. Ferocious was pretty sure the relationship between the two was uncommonly friendly already so it would be best to strengthen this. ¡°Ah, I¡¯m not really a noble you know. My family doesn¡¯t own castles or land or anything. Just one really big house. Anyways, how have you been doing? I see you became a Knight yes? Or are you a Paladin?¡± Not a Noble? The man can¡¯t be serious. He walked with a straight gait and an attitude that disregarded anyone who he didn¡¯t care about. The armour set he had worn before was made of Wolf fur but there was a quality to it that differed from normal armour sets. It was probably extraordinarily expensive and there was also the case of the Gravity Rings. Ferocious had asked around for information about Enchanted equipment but he was laughed at by the mages around. The Enchanting technique was incredibly secret and Enchanters and their items were the rarest of the rare. They had eyed his ring a few times during the conversation so he ended it rather quickly but he got the information he needed. Enchantments were very rare and that meant expensive. If this man wasn¡¯t a Noble then what could he be? ¡°Yes, I¡¯m a Knight. Paladins required too much work to get a Class for and the other Classes didn¡¯t suit me much. Ah, I should thank you for your rings. They increased my strength quite a bit in the early days of training so I finished it quicker than my peers.¡± ¡°Good, good. Do you wish to upgrade? Trade those 2 rings for a 50% one this time? Oh don¡¯t worry about bothering me, I can create stronger ones when I have the time. Here, here.¡± This was not a normal non-Noble response. Adventurers were quite possessive of the items they obtained. Especially the NPC ones. They risked their very own lives to obtain items and most wouldn¡¯t give any of the items away without a catch. Most go around to try and get the best haul they could and then retire in relative comfort. It was the Adventurer¡¯s dream. No one should just give things away like this. it was abnormal in and of itself. If he obtained the rings from his adventures then it should be stored and kept away from others, not given away freely. He said he wasn¡¯t a Noble but only a very rich man could have items like this and Ferocious couldn¡¯t see a Merchant giving things away for free either. Ferocious traded his two rings for the new one and immediately noticed the different feelings. He had taken off the 35% rings and gotten lighter and his body relaxed itself. He didn¡¯t even notice the tension that was released. Then he added the 50% ring and had to keep himself balanced properly. He had to go through all of that extra weight again but he had seen the stat gains and knew it would be a good choice. He had once compared his stats with Levi and King and seen the difference rather clearly with his higher Strength and Vitality. Besides, his stats now could probably take the extra 15% gravity. ¡°I just remembered that we haven¡¯t introduced ourselves. My name is Michael Kane. I¡¯m a...combat class like yours but I can use a tiny bit of Magic when I need to.¡± Kane...Kane...that named sounded quite familiar to Ferocious. He couldn¡¯t place it in his mind though so he just stored it for later. It was the second bit that caught his attention. A Magic using Combat class? Was he a spellsword or something? The Combat Series had no magic users at all and Ferocious only knew that Mages were being trained by the Information Church. He had never heard of dual classes and he was rather sure that there was a distinct lack of NPC mages anyways. The few he found were old and wizened while the rest were shut-ins. ¡°My name is Ferocious. I¡¯m of the Knight Class and I¡¯m obviously an ¡®Otherworlder¡¯ unlike you. I¡¯m going to be participating in the Tournament tomorrow, Will you be watching?¡± Maybe he could impress Michael with his new Knight skills. Ferocious didn¡¯t think Michael could participate anyways. It would be good to have a watcher see how you do in a fight. Kind of like how sport players play harder when they know theres a scout coming to watch them. ¡°Hmm? No, I¡¯ll be taking part. I barely made the cut at level 71 so I hope to face you in the finals.¡± Grah. Ferocious didn¡¯t think he was actually higher in level than Michael. The man had what? Overall total of over 300% Gravity Rings on him? Ferocious was struggling with just the basic 50%. How strong was he anyways? Ferocious had once compared his stats with an NPC. The difference wasn¡¯t really bad but the other person had been training for a good chunk of his life. However, while the stat difference was rather minimal, the fighting experience was the biggest thing. Ferocious couldn¡¯t handle himself against a 13 year old with training and that was a very sobering thought. Michael here had the experience of an NPC and probably higher stats than himself. Waay higher.
After a few hours the two broke up from their conversation and went their own way. Ferocious was in some low spirits as the talk went on as Michael explained about the Dungeon he had been in. The Dungeon had been a trap and he had wasted 2 months inside due to the time spell. He basically finished it in 3 days but his level had rocketed to 71 in that short time. As Ferocious walked he took in the sights again and walked. The closing shop stands. The milling people that would soon empty out. The multitudes of posters and the ads for the Tournament. Kiryun was not a night city and only the ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ actually went out frequently at night. All of a sudden Ferocious stops and stares at one of the posters. Posters. Tournament. Sign Up. Nighttime. LAST DAY!!! Ferocious turned and ran towards the tall Coliseum. The clearing streets enabled him to run rather unheeded and he made it in no time but it was to no avail. The Sign up tent had been taken up and the list of participants had been posted. The Tournament information would be posted the next day and the Tournament would stat too. Ferocious was too late.
Last night had been the worst. When Ferocious told his Officers that he hadn¡¯t been able to sign up he had to take their jeers and laughter for hours. He couldn¡¯t even blame Michael either since he hadn¡¯t told the man he didn¡¯t sign up yet. Ferocious was the only one who knew he needed to sign up and he had forgotten so he deserved everything that was coming. Still, Ferocious was sad for most of the night and the next day he was melancholy as he seated himself. His Guild members weren¡¯t total assholes though. Once they knew he would need to watch them they used their various new connections in the city and obtained a spot in the VIP section of the Coliseum. The room had a high and open vantage of the arena and when the Officers lost or won they would join him in the room. If they didn¡¯t die of course. Sitting himself down in the spacious room, Ferocious listened to the loud cheers outside. The room was about 6 metres in length and was only furnished with several stacks of chairs for anyone who wanted it. Ferocious placed 7 chairs and sat down in the middlemost one which was in front of the door. The space that opened to the arena had a short wall that went up to Ferocious¡¯ waist that he could easily lean on if he wanted to. The screams and cheers of the arena nearly deafened his ears and Ferocious looked down upon the arena. He was situated on the far south of the Arena in one of the special boxes that were placed there. He could see people inside of some of the VIP areas when he tried to look but the overall privacy of each was assured. If he looked at the people above him he would only see a bit of their ceiling, the people below would be completely obscured unless any of them stuck their bodies out like he did. The section he was in was void of any other sort of crowds and rest of the stadium was covered in people who had arrived early to take their seats. The actual tournament would start early and hopefully end by nightfall. The ten rings in the arena field were placed in a circle where the 9 arenas were surrounding the centermost one. The rings were most likely temporary items since the Arena was usually used for training purposes but Ferocious couldn¡¯t figure out how the rings could be removed that way. He figured he would ask later. Soon enough the tournament started and the first set of people entered the arena. Ferocious looked for anyone he could recognized and happily saw Levi in the centermost ring. He had decided to go the dual sword route and he had on his leathers that allowed for quick movements instead of the armour he wore against monsters. He usually had a bow, spear, staff, 2 twin swords, 1 greatsword, and several knives on him. It seemed he decided that using only one type of weapon would be better in this case and he went the speed route. If Ferocious knew King he probably went the Power route and had light armor but a long sword and shield. Levi¡¯s opponent was a creepy dressed Player. He had gaudy clothing and a had the look of some fortune teller/mage. Overall he looked like a clumsy spellcaster and Ferocious decided that Levi¡¯s fight was pretty much a given. The gong rang out and Levi moved first. His charge at the other man was smooth and quick and he was in range in no time at all, his strike about to connect with the man. All the other man could do was lift his ball in response. No. Some black smoke went from the staff to the ball and then¡­ Ferocious jumped out of his seat and clutched the wall as Levi screamed in pain. The entire Arena stopped their noises and the deafening arena echoed the screams for what felt like a long time. When Ferocious saw the other man go to Levi he thought the man would end it quick. Then he saw the staff being raised and Ferocious cried out when the staff pierced Levi¡¯s body. Ferocious¡¯ eyesight turned pure red and he didn¡¯t even notice the rest of the fights. He was quivering with an anger that he hadn¡¯t felt before and the only thing that pierced it was the maniacal laughter the man continued until the end. After a few rounds continued, Ferocious managed to calm himself down. Actually it was Levi who did that when he walked into the room looking no worse than usual. His half-eaten body had been fully healed by a watching cardinal and he was repaired fully. The only signs of damage was the haunted look in his eyes when Ferocious saw him. ¡°Hey man, you alright?¡± ¡°Yeah. Yeah I¡¯m fine. I don¡¯t hurt anymore and I feel as good as ever. The memories though. I can still remember the pain from whatever he did and even the pain from where he stabbed me but¡­¡± Levi grabbed his chest and shivered visibly. Ferocious didn¡¯t say anything and waited for him to continue. ¡°I...I blacked out when he...chomped on me. Luckily I guess. I woke up to lots of healers and...I came here. Ferocious, please tell everyone not to fight Necromn. The pain...I don¡¯t want them to feel it. So please¡­¡± The agony on Levi¡¯s face was too much and Ferocious nodded in assent. Ferocious opened up Guild Leader Chat Screen and set the receivers to be citywide. ¡°I am forbidding all members from fighting Necromn. I repeat, I am forbidding all members from fighting Necromn. This is the wish of Levi so do not fight him.¡± Slowly Ferocious received confirmation from the members and gave Levi the waiting nod. The Guild would not face Necromn again. Instead, Ferocious set Necromn on his Blacklist and then wrote a letter to a Player Administrator in Bellen. The Player would then give the information to Jerome and Jerome can spread the following news around to the other cities. Necromn is to be hunted down and killed on sight. For the rest of the day Ferocious and Levi watched the rest of the matches. Whenever Necromn came on, Levi paled and didn¡¯t look at his match while Ferocious quivered in growing anger. Unlike Levi the other NPCs who faced him each died from his hands and that added to his joy and Ferocious¡¯ anger. Only two members of the Guild were about to face them and they both dropped out. Soon the space was filled with all of the members as they lost one by one. No one had any real bad feelings about it and instead they solemnly watched the continuation of the Tournament. When the Tournament reconvened the next day, the 7 members were joined by 5 others. Each of them was an NPC and a ranking member of some of the Churches in the city. The one who took the lead was a male Priest who went by the name of Glen and was a member of the Church of Ket, the most prominent healing Church around. ¡°Greetings. If you don¡¯t mind, may we join you today? It¡¯s a little stuffy watching from the stands.¡± ¡°Of course, there is more than enough room for you and thrice your number. Please make yourselves comfortable.¡± The niceties passed quickly as the Tournament was about to start and the five quickly got some chairs and placed themselves in front of the open space with Glen seated between Ferocious and Levi. A little later the rings in the arena started to fill and once again the fights started. Necromn was the main topic of the Tournament since yesterday and the other matches were completely ignored when he was on the stage. His foes were always kills the same way; they screamed in pain from his magic and then he personally bled them and used the blood to create a monster that consumed them. There was one exciting match where a Weapon-Master went and used a bow against him but Necromn¡¯s range was not limited. The Weapon-Master screamed the same as the others and died the same way. Necromn¡¯s death count was rather high but there were some odd survivors. Levi was one of 3 Otherworlders who properly faced him and the rest were NPCs. The ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ managed to survive but only 2 NPCs survived their injuries and the rest had died. His kill count had reached 4 before the Final came around. ¡°What manner of man is this?¡± Glen was extremely agitated when he saw the spectacle. Glen hadn¡¯t been able to see the Tournament the day before and so he missed the entrance of Necromn so his question was rather expected. Ferocious gave a grim response and Levi stayed silent. ¡°He is one of us, an ¡®Otherworlder¡¯. Necromn uses dark magics to cause pain to his foes and then kills them in the most grotesque way. I do not know why. I do not wish to know why. He is a menace and if he isn¡¯t stopped then my Guild will do it. After this tournament he will be hunted down and killed. Repeatedly.¡± The coldness in Ferocious¡¯ voice caused a slight stir among the religious folk but when they heard another scream come from Necromn¡¯s opponent they decided it was the right course. Levi surprisingly spoke up. ¡°The pain I felt seemed to be focused on my entire body. Every part was assaulted and it was all I could do not to faint. Instead I screamed. It was incredibly painful and seemed to be endless so I screamed. I barely even noticed when he stabbed me but I guess when his magic ate me it was enough to overpower it all.¡± Chills rose up everyone¡¯s spines as they listened and watched the quarter finals. After the fight ended, an announcement soon followed that seven of the semi-finalists had given up and that the finals had moved forward. This time the entire stadium completely quieted as they watched the two finalists head for the center ring. All of them sighed in disappointment when they saw the last finalist though. Dressed in simple leathers and equipped with only a Sword and Daggar, the finalist was deemed a loss and everyone grumbled about the oncoming bore. In Feral Code¡¯s room however, Ferocious stood up straight and then laughed. ¡°Ar-are you all right Fero?¡± King was sitting on the other side of Ferocious and he looked concerned at Ferocious. Not only him, everyone in the room looked as though he had gone mad and Ferocious stopped laughing with considerable effort. ¡°Haaa I guess I don¡¯t even need to kill him. Necromn¡¯s opponent will do it for us. This will be fun to watch.¡± The first smile on Ferocious¡¯ face for days and it was in the shape of a feral grin that caused his Guild to shiver. Ferocious focused entirely on the fight and ignored the questions that were directed at him. He just waved everyone to the match. Michael readied himself when the match was about to begin but he didn¡¯t charge. Ferocious had quite the high opinion of Michael and he believed Necromn would probably lose to him. Necromn raised the ball and the smoke from the staff rose to it. There were some worried shouts in the stands as they saw Michael just standing there but everyone shut up when Michael laughed instead. Shocked and worried, most wondered if the man lost his mind. When Michael stopped laughing they saw him casually signal the announcer. Michael took off his shirt and Ferocious was surprised to see a very tough looking vest underneath. Springs were placed all around and attached to various limbs and overall it looked incredibly tough to walk around in. ¡°Ah, that looks like something I read once before. The springs lengthen and then snap back if the user doesn¡¯t keep tight control over their muscles. The tougher the spring material, the stronger the snap back.¡± Michael removed the vest and gave it over to the announcer. ¡°Folks. I am pleased to show the following stats of this vest to you. Show to all watching.¡± Immediately an information box appeared in front of Ferocious¡¯ face.
Heavy Restraining Vest
[p=left]Uncommon Durability: 3,001 / 4,000 Defense: 20 A high quality restraining vest made for people with incredible strength. Most masters of combat avoid even using this vest since the strength of it would cripple them. Restricts 60% of movements. Loss of concentration will cause ¡®Snapback¡¯ which means that the limb being moved will snap back into place and damage you.[/p]
Ferocious was more shocked than he needed to be. He had already known Michael had Gravity rings on him but this was a little over the top. The audience was now a little more positive about Michael¡¯s chances but Ferocious knew it wasn¡¯t over and happily watched as Michael passed more items over to the announcer. ¡°Show to all watching. Show to all watching. Show to all watching. Show to all watching.¡±
Ring of Gravity V1
[p=left]Created by a sadistic person that liked to watch people being crushed by their own weight. Increased personal gravity by 10%[/p]
Ring of Gravity V2
[p=left]Created by a sadistic person that liked to watch people being crushed by their own weight. Increased personal gravity by 25%[/p]
Ring of Gravity V4
[p=left]Created by a sadistic person that liked to watch people being crushed by their own weight. Increased personal gravity by 100%[/p]
Ring of Gravity V5
[p=left]Created by a sadistic person that liked to watch people being crushed by their own weight. Increased personal gravity by 200%[/p]
Now this was what Ferocious was waiting for and his feral grin became near mad as his eyes showed the future of Necromn. This time the noise coming from the Audience was growing and Ferocious was pretty sure he heard more than a few shouts for gambling bookers and that nearly made him laugh as well. Michael caught his eye once more and Ferocious took his eye of Necromn and focused on Michael. Necromn hadn¡¯t even bothered to do anything once his spell failed and Ferocious was pretty sure he had no other skill. Michael raised his hand over his head and then a dark light spread out from it. It stretched out and once it got high enough it stopped and then spread across the sky, covering the sun completely and darkening the city. There was still a little bit of light so people could still see and soon after the Arena lighted up. Ferocious saw torches being lighted automatically and he suspected magic but again he was distracted by Michael¡¯s movements. Michael raised his knife and stabbed himself in the stomach. Shocked, Ferocious wondered if Necromn had something to do with it but Necromn backed away in shock as well. Michael kept stabbing himself and stopped soon after. The audience was deeply in shock as they stared at the scene and Michael himself...changed. Ferocious didn¡¯t know exactly what happened, but the air around Michael seemed to warp as he grew larger. His hair seemed to lengthen and wave around and his muscles were more defined. His facial features became more clear and handsome, like he was initially covered with a dirty thin cloth which he then took it off to reveal what he really looked like. Whereas Ferocious and the audience had a far and hard to see look at his face, Michael now looked way too clear to be real. All of a sudden a boom echoed from the arena and the ground beneath everyone¡¯s feet shook and anyone standing lost their balance and collapsed. Shocked and more than a little scared everyone stared at the large split that came from Michael¡¯s slash on the ring. There was a clear split in the ring and Necromn was definitely shivering in fear as he back up. Michael also seemed to notice his slow retreat. Michael raised his hands and two large flaming tornadoes situated themselves by Necromn¡¯s side. He further raised his hand and numerous balls of flame were created and situated all around Necromn. The display was fantastic and showed remarkable skill. ¡°Is that difficult to do?¡± Ferocious and his Guildmates were only new players and really had little experience fighting mages. The few mages they saw were either new Players, Old Geezers, Shut-ins, or prideful weaklings. This was the first real use of Magic they have seen and they wanted to know if there was better things. ¡°Yk *ahem* Yes. Mages act under the basic principle of ¡®One Mind, One Magic¡¯ and only the really strong or experienced ones can use multiple magic. Even then they just fire the magic continuously and they don¡¯t strain themselves trying to hold magic like that. The easiest ones are single type magics like Fireballs or Stonewall. You just create the Fireball and fire it and then don¡¯t worry about it or you raise a block of stone and then hide behind it. Trying to hold a Fireball and control it would take a lot of strain never mind a Fire Tornado.¡± The explanation went right through Michael¡¯s disarming of Necromn and then the dismemberment of an arm. After a satisfying scream Necromn reached into his robes to take out a dark Red coloured crystal ball. Michael didn¡¯t seem to care and let him do what he wanted and Necromn raised the crystal ball over himself and shouted something indistinct. Overall it looked like a really bad Supervillain line where the villain was fashion blind, incomprehensible, and distasteful. Ferocious wasn¡¯t sure but he thought Michael may have actually twitched. That thought was promptly ignored when Michael cut off Necromn¡¯s remaining arm and Necromn humorously twitched on the ground. Necromn was writhing and Ferocious thought he screamed but the Fire Tornado was rather loud and the heat coming off it started to further warp the entire ring. He could make out melted pieces of the ring pooling around the pillars and the waves of heat made Michael and Necromn start to twist and bend like a mirage. Ferocious could just make out Michael picking something up and then the loudest scream emerged from the ring. The scream carried and grew louder throughout the entire arena and soon it turned into a raging roar. Canceling out all noise the Roar rose and rose and Ferocious thought that it was actually rising into the sky. Soon the roar started to diminish and Ferocious noticed that he had been staring upwards. So had the rest of the audience it seemed and when everyone looked down at the ruined rings they saw only a pile of dust where Necromn was and Michael wasn¡¯t to be seen at all.
The walk to the inn was a short and silent one. Levi had gained almost all of his colour back and was no longer a pale person. It seemed Necromn¡¯s demise had lifted his spirits and he was walking straight backed and happily. He bought himself a BBQ flavoured wolf sandwich on the way back and had eaten it with a gusto that made Ferocious sigh with relief. Levi was fine and wouldn¡¯t have any more problems in the future. The religious group had parted with ¡®Feral Code¡¯ a few blocks when they reached the center of the city and they had promised their help with the Guild. It seemed Kiryun had quite a few problems that made Bellen look like kindergarten and they need as much help as they could. Problems like newbie sweat farms, illegal Dungeon taking, PVP trappers and massacres done by PVPers. The list was near endless. The Churches had somewhat hired a force of sympathetic or morally sound ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ but the Guilds didn¡¯t dare do anything about it. They seemed to only care about their Guild standings and not about what ¡®Otherworlders¡¯ did or didn¡¯t do. With the Churches of Kiryun on his side, ¡®Feral Code¡¯ had a high chance of successfully integrating the Players of Kiryun into the same rules and community that Bellen had. All that was needed was to get the Series to cooperate and then start recruiting Players fully. Soon enough all of the members thoughts turned to the Tournament. Necromn himself would have been the talk of the town and videos had probably already been posted of the match he was in but it was his opponent that everyone would remember. Michael had managed to twist his average appearance into one that was stuck in everyone¡¯s mind. His actions were unbelievable for a level 70-150 tournament and his leaving meant that nobody could even interview him to see who he was. Without his super mode on it would probably be difficult to just notice him nevermind recognize him as that beast. ¡°H-hey boss. Who the heck was that?¡± One of the officers asked the question with a wondering tone and most of them had the same wonder in their eyes. What they had just seen was probably the biggest thing in Gaia ever. The game had only just started and already it surpassed any sort of movie or game they had played before. Never could they immerse themselves in the tournament or fights or even become part of such a frenzied crowd and audience. ¡°His name is Michael Kane. I met him right after I started the game and he gave me one of his gravity rings. In the beginning it was the two low one, the 10% and 25% ones. I met him yesterday and I got an upgrade to a 50% one and...Hey King, what are you doing standing there for?¡± King had paused his walking in the middle of the street and struck the common ¡®consideration¡¯ pose. That is, he leaned to the side, his head tilted and his hand grabbing his chin. His other hand grabbed the elbow of the arm and he had a concentrating look on his face. Ferocious could almost imagine the light bulb that should have went off when his face changed to recognition. ¡°Kane! If what you said was true then he must be -¡±
Alright my second SS about Ferocious. He has not gained the necessary Class and even made his own rather successful Guild. This is pretty much what Ferocious had been doing since Michael spent those months stuck in the Mountain. Levi and Hentaiking are regulars in the Guild. Sorry for not using the guild names that were given. I know I wanted Code but I wanted it to be more violent. Hard to write about Ferocious'' violent streak. Hrm... Oh yes, Please rate me. Blatant Advertisement!!! I''m a petty man. Give me rates so I can rank better. Chapter 17: The Undead Boss Fight THE UNDEAD BOSS FIGHT (a.k.a. Kiryun part 1.5) Michael expected to face a big boss in the end of a Dungeon. He heard a few stories that told of several dangerous dungeons around Kiryun that had a Boss at the end of the Dungeon but most of the levels were said to be around 100-200 - Levels were estimated since no one had a high enough identify skill coupled with the combat skills to get close enough to touch it - and Bosses were usually tackled as a group. Michael though, had felt rather full of himself when he entered the Dungeon. He had beaten the level 256 Inutian and Michael added another 50 levels in order to compensate for its annoying flying abilities. He did not forget about the use of a Sculpture free for all but he was pretty sure he could take down a Boss monster between the levels of 100 to 200. ¡°Stealth.¡± The skill was activated barely above a whisper and Michael relaxed when Franky didn¡¯t move from the sound. Michael was pretty sure he wasn¡¯t prepared for the fight so he backed out of the room and then ducked into the hallway. Pressing his back to the cold wall, Michael breathed in a bit and the foul air woke him up a little more. Sweating and breathing hard, Michael stared at the opposite wall for a few moments before heading further down the hall to avoid making too much noise and attracting unwanted attention. The soft sliding of the doors behind him said that the room was being resealed. Opening his pack Michael took out his high quality equipment. This time he would face a Boss fight with his better items unlike before. Michael took out his Wolf Pelt Armor which he refined with some pieces of Mithril and Gold.
The Pack
[p=left]Rare Durability: 2000/2000 Defense: 700 + 100 (Combined Defense rating) The Pack is a set of Armor made by an extremely focused and diligent master Blacksmith. The Wolves were skinned from a pair of partnered Wolf Pack Leaders who were both strong enough to each lead over 2000 wolves. The unfair deaths of these wolves has placed a large deal their essences in the skins which still retain a large degree of their ferocity, intelligence, and strength over the years and heighten the aspects of the armor. The Armor itself is made from a near pure form of Strong Steel. Carvings of Wolves were filled with Mithril and then smoothed and bright sheen. The Wolf fur is cleaned and well taken care of. Age has not had a chance to touch them yet. Enchantments were added that decreased the weight of the armor, increased defense, and increased the amount of Mana that the user can manipulate. Mithril has enhanced the Mana manipulation enchantment. Charisma + 200 Presence + 200 Vitality + 200, Mana + 200 Mana Regeneration + 14 per minute Mana Control + 30 Elemental Manipulation level + 2 50% Chance of debuffing enemies up to 20 levels about you with Fear. 25% resistant to all Magic attacks. 60% resistant to Fire. 40% resistant to Water. 40% resistant to Wind. 20% resistant to Earth. 25% resistant to Dark. 50% resistant to Light. Overall Weight of armour is 30 kilograms. Requirement: Michael or A person with suitable stats and a similar build. The wolves will decide. If an unworthy person wears this...[/p]
He also took out a Mithril enhanced Sword and his regular offhanded Dagger. Lastly he equipped several Throwing Daggers that were made in a set.
Legacy Blade
[p=left]Rare Durability: 300/300 Attack: 213 (slash) 40 (pierce) A curved blade made of Steel with an exact 0.6% carbon quantity. Designs etched into the Steel was then filled with small amounts of Mithril which gives and enhances the blade¡¯s attributes. Sharpened to a fine edge. Attack + 50 against Dark or Light monsters. Mana + 20. Mana Regeneration + 2 per minute. Mana Control + 5. Can be used to block 20% of a magic attack. Durability will slowly recover if immersed in Mana. Very difficult to lose an edge.[/p]
Steel Guard Dagger
[p=left]Uncommon Durability: 500/500 Attack: 20 (slash) 140 (pierce) A steel dagger made with protection in mind, the blade is more difficult to break and doesn¡¯t hold a very sharp edge. The tip is still suitable and the piercing damage of this blade is exceptional. Damage will lower if used excessively. Blunt tip will have to be resharpened.[/p]
Throwing Dagger
[p=left]Uncommon Durability: 20/20 Attack: 50 (pierce) A steel dagger made to last, this dagger has a sharp tip and a balanced weight. Very suitable for throwing.[/p]
Lastly Michael took out ¡®Agiel¡¯s Band¡¯ and secured it in an easy to reach pouch at his waist. Should the worst happen he would be able to take it out and equip it.
Agiel¡¯s Band
[p=left]Unknown Durability: 3,000,000/3,000,000 Defense: 300 (only when hit) A magical band created by the Human Blacksmith Tiurand for the Demon Wizard Agiel who then magically enchanted it. This band can turn a battle or a war if wielded by the right person. Has the ability to passively store a minute quantity of Mana from its surroundings. When equipped, the last spell being used will be automatically recorded using ¡®Copycat¡¯. If the user does not set a limit on the Band, then the Band will use all of the stored Mana to recreate the spells. When equipped, 95% of the Mana from surroundings will be absorbed unless limited by the user. Mana: 84,667/400,000[/p]
When he was inside the city, Michael took long walks during the busy hours of the day. Since every being there had a tiny bit of mana that the Band could siphon off it wasn¡¯t a big hassle for Michael as he concentrated on his steps and money pouch. Walking through a crowd with it could recovered much more mana than just hiding it away and Michael was satisfied with the Mana count he had gathered inside it. In the worst case scenario he would use it to create a large amount of Earth Walls to trap Franky as he ran. Taking a deep breathe, Michael calmed himself down. He removed his rings and restraints and his body relaxed itself without the strain. He put on his Twisted Mithril and Devouring Fenrir Ring and could feel the subtle shift in mana since he had ¡®IA¡¯ on 4:1. Furthermore he equipped all of the items and felt the power welling up within him. It wasn¡¯t anywhere near what he had experienced in the Arena but he felt it should be enough to fight a Boss. Switching his sight, Michael reached inside himself and pushed Dark Mana into the Franky¡¯s room. Michael heard nothing stir in the distant room as the Dark Mana covered every inch of the space between them and the ¡®Space of the Night¡¯ activated. He managed to also get an accurate picture of the room. 40 metres in length, the room was an uneven round space with a moderate high ceiling of 50 feet. There was one other exit in the room and Michael didn¡¯t bother trying to find where it led to. Franky was in a large hunched bundle located in the direct center of the room and didn¡¯t move at all as the Dark Mana slid under him. Feeling every bump in the mana, Michael could make out the different physical aspects of the room. Attached to the ceiling was an array of chains that surrounded the room. He didn¡¯t know what they were attached to but the tension and strain of the chain hinted at a heavy object. Oddly there were various holes in the ceiling besides the chains and if they were filled with chains inside then it would have made a complete circle around the room. The sides of the room didn¡¯t have any hangings but that was expected of an old Prison. The walls of the room was much more smoother than the rough stone at Michael¡¯s back which said that the room was properly made unlike the halls. Michael focused on finishing his spell and watched as the entire room became covered in his Dark Mana. Michael released the Mana and watched as it was supposed to solidify. Eyes widening, Michael watched as his spell wavered and then get absorbed into the walls of the room. A further shock came when the walls themselves darkened and soon the ceiling of the hall displayed a starry sky that caused a creepy atmosphere to envelope Michael. Being trapped inside a corridor with the starry sky above him was rather disconcerting. Michael noticed a new information box was waiting so he focused on it.
You have used ¡®Space of the Night¡¯ in ¡®Franky¡¯s Play Room¡¯. However, the corrupt spells and curses inside the walls have broken down ¡®Space of the Night¡¯ and assimilated it into the cave. ¡®Draanuk¡¯s Cave¡¯ now has the properties of ¡®Space of the Night¡¯.
Space of the Night
[p=left] You are under the effect of ¡®Space of the Night¡¯. All monsters recieve a 30% boost to stats and you gain a 10% boost to experience. Blessing of Janira has increased your stats by 30% while inside the cave. Exp boost is nullified.[/p]
Well whoops. Michael didn¡¯t expect this kind of reaction but now the cave would be even more dangerous for adventurers than usual. Next, Michael opened up his status screen to add the stats into what he needed. Every little bit would help in the fight, even if everything was still halved. ¡°Show Status.¡±
Status
NameMichaelAge20
Level109ClassH. Champion of LotL
Fame1430Infamy0
TitleStudent Under The GodsWorld RankingN/A
GuildHistorical SocietyFree Stat Points0
Health9688Mana8866
Stamina9277Stored Rage211
Strength(496)/2 + 55%Dexterity(266)/2 + 55%
Vitality(525)/2 + 55%Intelligence(380 + 20)/2 + 55%
Wisdom(390 + 20)/2 + 55%Mana Control(205 + 75) + 55%
Luck(139)/2 + 55%Agility(413)/2 + 55%
Concentration(560)/2 + 55%Willpower(177)/2 + 55%
Charisma(140 + 230)/2 + 55%Presence(150 + 260)/2 + 55%
[p=left]Special skills. +30% more damage against wolves and wolf subspecies. Mana Recovery rate is increased by 1.5x its base rate. Due to lowered Vitality you are more susceptible to damage and illnesses. Due to lowered Intelligence you are more susceptible to magical accidents and mana damaging spells. Due to Wisdom being lowered it will take 7 minutes before Mana Recovery will start. ¡®Focused Mana Regeneration¡¯ will speed up this process. Under the effects of ¡®Space of the Night¡¯. You have the ¡®Blessing of the Wolfblood¡¯. You have the ¡®Blessing of Janira¡¯. You have the ¡®Curse of Plutys¡¯.[/p]
Either way, Michael got the stat boost he needed so he canceled ¡®Stealth¡¯ and readied his weapons as he stepped lightly towards the closed doors. The doors opened and Michael took a deep breathe once more before forcibly expanding his presence. The doors were wide open and Michael saw the outline of a huge mass inside. All of a sudden the mass shot forward and Michael took an unwanted step back. Stopping himself and cursing, Michael changed ¡®IA¡¯ to 10:1 and started analyzing Franky himself. There were some things that ¡®IA¡¯ just didn¡¯t do and describing something was one of them. At 30 feet tall, Franky didn¡¯t touch the ceiling for a good distance but it was still larger than anything Michael had seen before. Mostly white in colour, Franky had a total of 6 limbs, four of which he was running on. The length of the ¡®legs¡¯ was about twice Michael¡¯s own height and the ends had bony hands instead of feet. The last two arms were attached in the general area a shoulder would be in an upright man and the ends of those had 3 metre long blades that seemed sharp enough to cut through stone. Based on the description, Franky should have even more than that set. The reason why it was ¡®general area a shoulder would be¡¯ is that there was no obvious human bone that Michael could see. The rib cage was replaced with a shining mass of fused bone that rose and fell with each heartbeat - which to Michael¡¯s mind was extremely slowly - and the legs were to the side like an insect more than a horse. Imagine an extremely boney four legged spider with a upright bony torso wielding large blades that were supposed to be extremely sharp. Franky was distinctly lacking a head of any kind. Instead there was a writhing dark array of lines that was moving all across the body and was initially unseen in the darkness. The lines crossed in some places and those areas took on a deep glow that accumulated across Franky¡¯s body to develop a disconcerting effect. Basically it looked like several areas of Franky¡¯s body looked like it was glowing black. Behind Franky hanged the chains Michael had scanned before. Huge, thick, and circling around the room, the Chains ended with large heavy cages that were completely empty of anything inside. The creepy aspect was the half eaten cage to the left of the room and Michael knew that Franky had taken to consuming the Cages for the metal. The top of the room also displayed a starry night but this time a large full moon was placed in the direct center of the ceiling. As fast as he could, Michael moved forward and to his right as Franky swung down onto Michael¡¯s left. Michael lowered ¡®IA¡¯ to 5:1 and barely made it into the room before he raised his tiny Dagger to deflect the blade. With a screech the blade was successfully turned and drove itself behind Michael¡¯s moving back. Michael¡¯s hand ached from the strain though and he doubted he could successfully guard against that monstrous strength for long. Michael¡¯s quick thinking worked though. He was inside the round room and now had the space to maneuver himself. If he had stayed by the door for any longer he would have been pushed into the hallway and would have had to face Franky in a confined space. At least this way he couldn¡¯t be backed into a corner the room didn¡¯t have. As Michael reoriented himself in the wide area, Franky rushed him once more with his arms slicing the air in fury. The onslaught was met by Michael¡¯s sword and dagger and the furious duel began before between them. Blocking a slash to his side with his sword, Michael lept into the air to twist his body away from the strike approaching his feet. In the air he deftly used his dagger to hit the blocked sword and he pushed himself to the right. Unfortunately, Franky¡¯s left blade had already returned from his low hit and he used it to strike Michael¡¯s temple. Michael blocked it with his dagger instead of dodging this time and then he swung his sword at a chip in the blade. It wasn¡¯t a very large chip but if Michael could break it¡­ Backing away from Franky, Michael tried to change the battle around and go on the offense but Franky was too fast. The slashes at Michael allowed for a few gaps in his defenses and only the use of ¡®IA¡¯ allowed Michael to keep his reactions up and deflect them. The occasional low attacks made him either back up and lose his stance or jump in the air and become susceptible to attacks. The third jump in and Michael decided to switch things around. As he jumped, Michael blocked a strike to his midsection and brought his legs up. Feet on the huge blade, Michael propelled himself towards the top of Franky¡¯s body. Stepping on the spot where a head should have been, Michael lightly pushed himself to different areas of the large skeleton as he ran on top of it. Michael swung his sword as many times as he could but the damage he did was negligible and Franky didn¡¯t even get incensed at the scratches. Michael needed a better plan so for the next while he only dodged the oncoming strikes and moved in the air as much as he could. Switching sights, Michael tried a Fire Tornado on Franky¡¯s leg and saw as the inferno struck the limb. With a frown, Michael dodged another strike as he saw that the leg wasn¡¯t even blackened by the Fire Tornado. Dodging the next two blows, Michael landed back on the head area of Franky and tried to figure out his next move when he was struck from behind. ¡®Wha-¡¯ Rolling across the room, Michael raised ¡®IA¡¯ a bit and took a look at Franky. Behind Franky rose a third arm with a large metal club attached to it. Counting quickly, Michael saw that he now had only 3 ¡®legs¡¯ holding him up. ¡®So the hands weren¡¯t for show¡­¡¯ Trying to figure out how this may prove a problem, Michael stood up and steadied himself. He calmly watched Franky¡¯s rush as he took out a few Mana and Health vials and downed them. The last attack had severely depleted his Health and he didn¡¯t need the stress of worrying if his health went below half. This time Michael kept his distance in order to come up with a plan. Sheathing his Dagger, Michael used a few throwing ones to test out a theory. Aiming for the dark patches, Michael¡¯s throws were accurate and each dagger stuck into the black patches. Michael¡¯s hope was short lived as the patches drew the daggers into the body and Michael remembered that Franky could absorb weapons. With a curse he stopped his throws and just kept his distance. The skeletal body was too tough for him to slash apart so it was desirable to pierce instead. However if the weapon that pierced was also absorbed then Michael would be a Dagger short and that might be rather worthless in the long run. Michael wished he had brought a Cleric or Paladin to help since he lacked any holy skills¡­ Michael nearly tripped when he remembered something. Quickly he righted himself and ran again. ¡°Show Elemental Manipulation!¡±
Elemental Manipulation. Expert level 6. (87%) Active skill.
[p=left]This skill allows for one to manipulate mana to control the elements. This skill then allows for the user to create various types of spells or techniques based off the different ways the user manipulates the elements. You have been granted the ability to perceive and control the elements of Light and Darkness. You will need to practice in order to create spells. Mana is decreased proportionate to the amount of manipulation done to the element. Mana is constantly decreased proportionate to the power used in manipulating the element. Can use different types of elements to form compounded spells. Can change sight from the physical realm to the Mana realm with greater ease. Spells you have learned/created.
  • Fire Tornado (Fire + Wind + Water)
  • Quake (Earth)
  • Lightning Shower (Wind + Water + Fire + Earth)
  • Forest wall (Nature + Earth + Water)
  • Fireball (Fire + Wind)
  • Earth Wall (Earth)
  • Space of the Night (Dark)
[/p]
¡°Hahaha!¡± The laughter that bubbled out of Michael¡¯s mouth would have made any ordinary monster back away in concern, but Franky was unrelenting and Michael had to jump to avoid becoming crippled and soon to be dead. Quickly he took off again and kept a piece of his mind on the battle. The rest of it was on the task ahead. Since Elemental Manipulation hit Expert he gained access to both Dark and Light elements. Both were hard to find in the surroundings and the only real spell he had for either was ¡®Space of the Night¡¯. Still¡­ Hightening ¡®IA¡¯ to 6:1, Michael searched inside himself for the Light Mana. He bypassed the constantly conflicting four elements and searched deeper. Finding the two sources he watched the two for a while. The source of Light still gave off a warm feeling, a glow that was very close to how he felt when he was held by his mother a long time ago. The source seemed to give off life and emotion itself. The Dark source would have been the opposite. If he had to put a memory to it, it would have to be the feeling of success and weariness he got after a good spar with his Father and Serena. Being beat to the point where you couldn¡¯t move but you still got the feeling that you were just a little bit stronger. That you would keep on going. The Dark source seemed to prize power itself and take instead of give. Drowning in either would probably be a bad idea. The Light source would have given Michael life and emotion until he exploded with both while the Dark source would have kept stripping him until he became a husk of himself. Ignoring the Dark source this time, Michael pulled a bit of the Light Mana into his right hand. The Sword in his hands glowed with the telltale light of the Mana and Michael used his left hand to direct the Mana and wove it around the sword. He etched the light across the blade in thin nets and Michael even needed to use his Tailoring skill to accomplish this. The Light Mana was slowly sewed onto the blade and soon not a bit of the Blade wasn¡¯t covered in that Mana. Michael tied it off at the tip and watched as the Mana tried to unravel itself. When it failed to do so it slowly contracted on itself and solidified around the blade. Michael could still see the individual strings of Mana when he switched his sight though and he knew he was successful. The Mana cost was rather high so Michael took out a few Mana vials and downed them. He needed to keep an eye on that just in case. With the newly Light ¡®sheathed¡¯ blade, Michael equipped his Dagger, pivoted on the spot, and rushed Franky. Not even hesitating, Franky swung all three blades at Michael, aiming for his legs, chest, and head. Jumping forward, Michael went over the low strike and used his Dagger to deflect the blade aimed at his chest to the left and behind him as he spun under the last blade. He continued the spin and raised his Sword to strike at the arm. Gaping, Michael watched as the sword cleaved straight through the bone covered arm and split it apart. A thick black liquid poured from the wound and Michael dodged it just in case. The black lines covering the body seemed to act like a sort of blood and Franky roared a silent cry of pain. For the first time during the battle, Franky backed away from Michael to try to get a sense of the situation or to get away from the man with the Light Sword. And for another first time, Michael rushed Franky eagerly. Franky stood on only two legs this time and wielded his three weapons with the intent to defend. The new weapon was another blade that was much longer than before but was also slower. Unlike the bone covered arm, Michael wasn¡¯t able to slice through the metal and Franky used that to his advantage. Michael¡¯s strike to Franky¡¯s arms and legs was met with a defending blade and the counter attacks were quick and fierce. Franky adapted to the situation well and with growing horror, Michael watched as Franky¡¯s cut arm started to regenerate. Only this time it was covered in metal instead of bone. Even the chip he made in one of the blades was starting to reform itself. Michael needed to end this sooner rather than later. Michael blocked one more strike before turning around and started his run from Franky once again. Splitting his awareness, Michael sheathed his Dagger and gathered Light Mana into his left hand and tried to think of a way to use it. Right now, Michael was disadvantaged in terms of number of weapons he could attack and defend with. If Franky used four limbs to fight with then Michael would probably lose. He needed to figure out a way to stop Franky and take the chance to cut off more limbs. Looking back at Franky, Michael examined him all over. Large and encompassing, Franky¡¯s movements were slow but his travel speed was relatively quick. Michael was still able to run without even breaking a sweat though and that meant he had an advantage in distance. The problem was that Franky¡¯s battle sense was rather high and he used his weapons to full advantage. The black lines around his body were still intact and didn¡¯t seem to weaken at all. The regenerating left arm of Franky had a large mass of the black stuff and it was slowly creating a fully metal limb to replace the bone. Michael found himself staring at the blobs of black that could frequently be seen on his body. The last time he hit there the weapons were absorbed¡­ Making a decision, Michael jumped onto one of the cages in the room and leapt from chain to chain in order to get higher and higher. The heavy cages kept the thick chains from moving during his jumps and it was as if he had a platform to jump off of each time. As he did this he took out several throwing daggers and concentrated on ¡®sheathing¡¯ each of them. The mana cost was lower this time but he was losing too much still. He needed to do it quickly. Once Michael almost hit the end of the chains he pushed himself towards the center of the ceiling and looked down. As he thought, Franky was directly below him and waiting for gravity to bring him down. All of his limbs were ready and even the cut limb had fully reformed to an extremely large metal blade. Michael¡¯s feet hit the ceiling and he crouched upside down. When he felt he was about to go down, Michael pushed himself off the ceiling in a huge burst of strength. He didn¡¯t fall to the ground, he flew towards it and after 10 feet passed he threw the light sheathed daggers at Franky. All four pierced the center of different black patches and Franky¡¯s movements stopped. All of his limbs seemed to lose control and fell, including his legs which became disabled and Franky had no way to defend or retreat. Smiling, Michael held his sword in front of himself with both hands and aimed for the center of Franky¡¯s body. With a mighty slash, Michael¡¯s dive-forced slash cut Franky¡¯s body from the top to the bottom with as little resistance as the limb once had. Bones split and black blood oozing, Franky tried to right himself but failed. It was almost comical as Franky didn¡¯t seem to understand he was dead and soon he tried to stand on both legs and slash at Michael. Only both sides slid from each other and Franky scrambled on the ground before finally becoming still. Breathing deeply, Michael slumped to the ground and turned to his back. The Light that was on his Sword still glowed for a bit but he cut off his mana and the room slowly darkened as the Light Mana dissipated. He faced the ceiling - which now had a huge crater from his jump, the moon had moved to a different area - and took out a few Health and Mana potions to recover his losses. He didn¡¯t have many cuts on his body but that was mainly due to his diligent defending and running away. His hands had been strained constantly and the Health potions relieved the pain and filled his Health bar. His mana was incredibly low and Michael was actually grateful the cave absorbed ¡®Space of the Night¡¯. At 20 mana upkeep per square metre it would have taken a huge chunk of his precious Mana during the fight. A long screech attracted Michael¡¯s attention and he turned his head to the door on the opposite side of the room. The round room held only 2 doors; the entrance Michael entered from and then the door at the opposite side. That door was opening up and the door hinges were obviously rusted with age. The screech got louder as the door slowed its opening and soon it was wide enough to allow 4 men to walk through side by side. A large door but nothing that Franky would have been able to go through. Only the entrance Michael came through was big enough for that. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Still lying down, Michael decided to just check the Information boxes as he rested.
Damage to hands, dexterity with left hand has decreased by 6%. Blocking will continue to decrease dexterity in hands.
Warning, struck a tough surface. Durability will decrease up to 5x if continued.
Critical! Due to lack of warning, body has suffered a large amount of damage from the blow. Health decreases by 1844 points.
Using Light Mana! Mana decreases by 20 per minute of use.
Success! You have created the magic spell: ¡®Light Clad¡¯.
Light Clad [p=left]A special use of Light Mana, every item clad in this Mana will gain the properties of Anti-Dark and will gain a bonus in attack and defense against the Dark Attribute. The higher the Dark Attribute, the greater the Light Damage and Anti-Dark status.[/p]
You have cast ¡®Light Clad¡¯ on Legacy Blade! Mana upkeep: 30 per minute.
Dark Attribute encountered. Light Clad has added 2000 attack to Legacy Blade.
You have cast ¡®Light Clad¡¯ on 4 Throwing Daggers! Mana upkeep: 70 per minute.
Dark Attribute encountered: Light Clad has added 700 attack to Throwing Dagger.
Dark Attribute encountered: Light Clad has added 700 attack to Throwing Dagger.
Dark Attribute encountered: Light Clad has added 700 attack to Throwing Dagger.
Dark Attribute encountered: Light Clad has added 700 attack to Throwing Dagger.
Dark Attribute encountered. Light Clad has added 3000 attack to Legacy Blade.
You have killed the boss ¡®Franky¡¯. You have leveled up x52. You have gained 10 strength, 15 Dexterity, 20 Vitality, 10 Wisdom, 30 permanent Mana Control, 20 Concentration, 30 Willpower, 40 Charisma, 50 Presence, and 7 Dark Affinity because of your achievement. For succeeding where others failed, +340 Fame.
A much better reward than what Inutian gave. Pleased, Michael stood up and went over to Franky¡¯s body. This time he would scavenge every piece of Franky. Inutian was a disappointment since Michael wasn¡¯t able to get the treasure inside him or the material from the body but Franky was a different story. Michael used ¡®Light Clad¡¯ on his knife and cut away at the body. With piles of empty vials he poured the blood in and made sure to scavenged the entire corpse.
Solid Skeleton Bone
[p=left]Uncommon Durability: 1000/1000 Weight: 3 kg A solid piece of bone fused from many individual ones. Solid and sturdy, this bone is a top class material if used properly. Has an inherent Dark attribute status which could grant bonuses or curses to items depending on the user. 93% corrupt. Extremely faint undead smell.[/p]
Corrupt Necromnic Blood
[p=left]Rare An extremely rare ingredient, this blood is only gathered from the heart of the most twisted creature imaginable. Can be used for a variety of tasks. It is not recommended for a person to drink unless they have an adequate amount of Dark affinity. Requirements to drink: Level 725. 1,666 Dark Affinity.[/p]
Black Heart (rare)
[p=left]Rare Durability: 99/100 Weight: 5 kg An extremely twisted heart, only the most vile of creatures would have this. As an alchemical ingredient this material is top class.[/p]
Fused Steel Blade
[p=left]Rare Durability: 126/200 Attack: 63 Made from an extremely pure metal, this weapon is extremely tough. The workmanship is very amateur though and so has a tendency to break easily. Sharpened to a very fine edge but dulls quickly. [/p]
Fused Core
[p=left]Rare Durability: ???/??? ???????????????????[/p]
Harvesting all of the items and returning his throwing daggers to their sheaths - all of them were still intact- Michael stored the treasures near the door so he could retrieve them later. The Bones could be sliced - with ¡®Light Clad¡¯ - and used to make beautiful scrimshaws or he could try to make a few defensive equipment from it. Shields popped into his head and he added it to the list of things he would make with it. He already knew how tough it was personally so he was hopeful of the end results. For the Blood and Heart he had plans to test small bits of each in his Alchemy experiments. He had been taught how to test for poisonous and cursed materials from his mother and he had a large heart to work with. The blood filled the 200 vials he had with him so he quickly made a large bone container to hold the heart and blood in. Lastly was the Steel blade. Virtually useless to Michael he decided to keep it and use it to reinforce the future equipment he would make. He found a larger metal cache inside the body and since he couldn¡¯t identify it he just added it to the pile. All in all he had about 200 kg of items. Way too much for him to haul himself. Putting the thought aside, Michael turned around to gaze at the open door. If his idea was correct then the door probably held the treasure for the Dungeon. It should be adequate and reflect Franky¡¯s strength so Michael¡¯s thoughts flared to ideas of treasure hoards and the like. With a light step Michael walked towards the inviting door. Walking through, Michael saw a short hallway leading to a lower level. The cave itself was just a random entrance in the middle of the plains and everything was below the ground. Michael forced himself to slowly walk through the hall and then down the stairs. The stairs went on for a few minutes but eventually opened up into a large room. The inside was completely empty except for the center and Michael wondered if he took a wrong turn somewhere. There was nothing that remotely resembled Gold or weapons. The room was incredibly spacious and all of the walls were covered in cages. There were no platforms at all which begged the question of how they put and moved prisoners at all... if they even did that. The most noticeable cage was the one on the ground at the far wall and the hole it was obviously ripped from in the middle of the same wall. Walking to the center of the room, Michael constantly turned and examined the various cages, watching for anything that might pop out. Reaching the center, Michael made sure to always keep a part of his awareness on his surroundings and he started to examine the ancient desk set. Made of a standard set of chair and table, the desk only had a few items on top. The top right corner held an ancient scribe set. The pens were cracked and the inkwell was dried up. The extra papers were actually still fresh looking but Michael felt he shouldn¡¯t touch it yet. To the left was a few vials of some dark liquid that seemed to be moving by itself. Another thing to not touch yet. It was the center of the table that held an item that Michael was most interested in. A large bound book was placed in the direct center and Michael read the title: ¡®Draanuk¡¯s Diary¡¯. Michael tried to cut the lock away but it resisted all attempts to do so and Michael resorted to using ¡®Light Clad¡¯ to cut it apart. Like Franky, ¡®Light Clad¡¯ just went through the lock as if it was butter and Michael opened the book to the first page.
Day 1 in the Prison [p=left]It was a success. I am finally out of the cage and have taken complete control over the prison. My plan was relatively simple for one such as I. My undead attack on the cave gave a large enough distraction for me to kill my roommate and turn him successfully. I disguised his smell and kept him as fresh as possible and began to wait my days out. Each prison guard that entered was subsequently killed and turned and kept as fresh as possible. Not a one suspected any problems because guards beating prisoners was a common occurrence so the struggle was ignored. After a week I managed to take control of about a third of the guards so I started the attack. For every one of the living that was killed I gained a new soldier. For every dead killed it only took a simple incantation to revive them. Once they were all dead I had moderate army at my disposal. The foolish prisoners actually cheered my victory and awaited being released. Instead I immediately killed the ones in the top row. They housed the highest ranking prisoners and made powerful guards for myself. By then the other prisoners found out what would happen and their screams and begging were so...succulent. Ah I am rambling. My task has finally started. Inside this prison I will unlock the way to corrupt Plutys¡¯ magic with my mistress¡¯ and gain enough power for her.[/p]
Day 8 [p=left]Corruption of Plutys¡¯ graveyard spell was a complete success. Now instead of keeping the dead from rising, the spell will allow for them to repeatedly come back. I killed the prison guards over and over again to test it and it works perfectly. I have also added a clause to the spell that will start when the amount of undead reaches a indeterminable amount. I have used the spell on the entire cave and by the blessings of my Lady I hope it stays. More to add later. [/p]
Day 15 [p=left]The annoying Humans have finally found out I have taken over this cave and are planning to mount an assault. I have killed 4 more rows of prisoners to increase my force numbers. Unfortunately I have no weapons for the new ones but the party coming to attack me should happily provide such for me. In preparation for this assault I have tested various techniques of Plutys and have designed an entirely new spell that should work in the case that I die.[/p]
Day ?? [p=left]The attack was a success and my forces were completely wiped out. I was killed and thrown around for quite a while before I came to. My army successfully revived due to the cave spell and the surprised Humans were wiped out quickly. My new spell obviously worked. It was a twisted version of Plutys¡¯ Bishop raising spell and it managed to activate after my death. I have successfully revived as a Lich and now gain a greater power over the dead, far greater than Bishops would have gained otherwise. Forever from now on I shall take the moniker of Draanuk and act as your loyal servant. The expedition force has completely assimilated itself into the army and my plans continue.[/p]
13 days after Lich-raising [p=left]Experimentation of my powers has reached a point and I fear I may need to create a monster greater than I in order to continue my research. I plan to use the torture room in the main floor to conduct this project. Lacking food the other prisoners had long died and my Undead brought these rotting bodies to the room. The pile reached huge heights as 342 prisoners were piled. My next spell is a completely original spell that took ideas from every aspect of Plutys. I will attempt to fuse all of the Undead into a new Being. This spell touches upon the realm of the Lady of the Land but I doubt she has the power to stop what I shall be doing.[/p]
Day 20 [p=left]The monster has been showing no obvious intelligent signs and I deem it a failure. Unfortunately I lack enough bodies to experiment a second time so I shall need to continue my experiments with it as the base. Using several undead I increase the Intelligence qualities and made a few Undead Mages. This spell was also incorporated into the cave and every few Undead that revive become mages. Definitely a good success. [/p]
Day 30 [p=left]After countless undead mages became assimilated into the creature I judge that its overall Intelligence has increased. This means that it will gain new abilities based on the Undead. I shall try a few more experiments before the final one. [/p]
Day 50 [p=left]The creature now has a suitable mind for battle. During a fight against ten foes he dealt with them successfully. I have taken to having it consume a large amount of metal weapons and it has started to create its own weapons within itself. I have changed my opinion of it and now suspect that I have created a wonder. Another expedition is being sent and I plan to mark how well he does.[/p]
Day 51 [p=left]It was amazing. The Creature had surpassed all my predictions and I think it is time for the next stage. The creature was able to completely stop all projectiles and magic attacks on its tough exterior and the weapons it had were enough to keep the warriors and thieves away. Whenever its weapons break the creature just made new ones and soon enough the party tired out. Thats when it struck and killed them all. The extra metal would do well in enhancing the creature¡¯s arsenal. The next stage has been planned. I shall tie it down and assimilate myself into its body. My superior mind will dominate it and I shall become a powerful pawn for my Lady. Let the world tremble under my might.[/p]
That was the last timeline that Michael read and the rest of the book was given over to necromantic teachings and techniques. The man seemed to live up to his name in the history books and maybe even beyond. Some of the stuff in the book was particularly dark even if mostly done as theory. Once Michael got through all of it he decided to burn it. Focusing on the fire within himself, Michael shot it out of his hands and had it consume the book. When the book stayed the same he tried to increase the temperature by adding in more air and changing its aspects but no matter what he did the book didn¡¯t burn. It didn¡¯t even catch on fire and even felt cool to his touch. Michael decided he needed more information about it and focused on the corner of his vision.
???
You have cast ¡®Light Clad¡¯ on Steel Guard Dagger! Mana upkeep: 15 per minute.
You have opened Draanuk¡¯s Diary.
Draanuk¡¯s Diary
[p=left]Unique Durability: Infinite A dark diary that records the exploits of the Lich Draanuk and his teachings. Made of the Flesh and Blood of his victims and bound together with a powerful blood spell, this book is practically indestructible against normal means.[/p]
You have read ¡®Draanuk¡¯s Diary¡¯ and has gained a greater understanding of blood magic. You gained +50 Intelligence, +50 wisdom, and +20 Dark Affinity from reading it.
So it was near indestructible huh? Michael nearly dropped it in disgust when ll of a sudden an Information box appeared in front of him without warning.
The Reviving Cult
[p=left]S rank Quest. Cannot be shared. Cannot be recorded. Guild does not have access to this Quest. You are not allowed to tell the Guild or directly request assistance from them. The dark sect of Kalybus, Queen of the Dying and gorger of Blood and Souls, has started to gain more prominence in the world of ¡®Gaia¡¯. As a sworn follower of the Lady of the Land you are tasked with finding more information about this sect and with destroying it. Killing any member of this sect does not give Infamy or the ¡®Murderer¡¯ status. The only clue you have in your possession at the moment is a diary from the Necromanctic member Draanuk. Requirements: High ranking member of the Churches of either Plutys or the Lady of the Land. Reward: Unknown. This quest cannot be ignored. Failure will result in death but due to circumstances you will instead be given over to Plutys. Will only fail if Kalybus successfully revives or the Quest Holder gives up.[/p]
You have gained blessings from both deities to aid you on your quest. These blessings come in the form of Enchantments which have been added to ¡®Devouring Fenrir Ring¡¯.
Eyes wide, Michael immediately called up the information. ¡°Show ¡®Devouring Fenrir Ring¡¯.¡±
Devouring Fenrir Ring + 2 [p=left]Unique Durability: 500/500 (Very hard to break. Resistant to physical and magical damage) An incredibly detailed Bronze ring with Mythril and Gold embedded into the design. This piece of work will be highly sought after and the magic potential in this ring is incredible. The wolf design is highly detailed and shows a great understanding of the species. Charisma + 30 Presence + 40 Health + 300 Mana + 400 Mana regeneration + 14 per minute Mana Control + 40 Can add a total of 7 more enchantments. All enchantments are 30% more effective. Enchantments: Once per month you may call on the ¡®Blessing of Life¡¯ to double and recover all of your Health and Mana for 5 hours. Does not gain the 30% enchantment buff. Twice a year you may summon up to 6 ¡®Ghost Knights¡¯ to aid you. They will reflect half the total stats you currently have and last for 3 hours. They do not have health and mana. Their stats will quadruple when under the effects of Night but lower to 10% under the Sun. Does not gain the 30% enchantment buff. *Due to your characteristics of ¡®Wolf Pack Leader¡¯ all members of the pack gain a 10% increase in stats. Orders are more likely to be obeyed.[/p]
Michael thought about this for a few moments and stopped at a decision. He would ignore the quest. This wasn¡¯t a lazy decision mind you, but one that he put into a lot of thought. All he had to propel the quest was a diary of a madman and nothing else. He could not ask people the specifics about the quest which meant he was virtually alone as well. If he went to a library he wouldn¡¯t be able to just ask for information but instead he would have to read every related book and search the large building for specific info. His best bet was to just continue on his journey and if something popped onto his path he would follow it. Say if the sect started targeting him, he could probably handle himself. Liera was a strong Guardian and Jemma had the racial bonus of a Statue and was learning how to fight with the Shield. Shoving the book into his pack, Michael looked around the prison for anything important. The only thing that caught his eye was the really broken up cage and then he wondered...The Diary said nothing about a broken cage. Just that Draanuk escaped his cage and then took over the prison. Michael went around the desk and stepped towards it. The cages were mainly made of solid iron with 5 cm thick bars that had 3 cm gaps. Quite extensively made and the amount of metal in the area could have been used to make a sizable quantity of weapons for an army. Inside the ruins of the cage stood a man. Michael took out several throwing daggers and readied himself only to notice that the man didn¡¯t appear solid. Michael could see the far end of the cage if he focused and the man¡¯s feet weren¡¯t even there. He was either a ghost or a spirit. Turning, the man¡¯s face alternated between fear, pain, hope, and sneering at Michael and he opened his mouth to speak. Only no words came out of his moving mouth.
Draanuk¡¯s End
[p=left]C rank Quest. The ghost of the lich Draanuk, he was only released after the death of the Necromantic monster Franky. Fear of his previous patron made Draanuk anchor his soul to the prison and Draanuk is forced to live through the agonies of all the old prisoners. As a high ranking member of the Lady of the Land you have the power to send Draanuk¡¯s soul on to Plutys where he will await judgement. Or you can leave him and let him wallow in the festering pit of hell that is his domain. Requirements: High ranking member of the Churches of either Plutys or the Lady of the Land. Reward: Unknown.[/p]
Michael didn¡¯t even hesitate to send him off. If Plutys was harsher with Draanuk than he was with Michael, all the better. ¡°I shall send him to Plutys.¡± A white glow surrounded Michael and words flowed out of his mouth in a torrent. Michael felt detached from his body and felt his body raise into the air. Not understanding what he was saying, Michael raised his hands towards the spirit. A staff of pure white was created and Michael gripped the stick tightly before striking with the butt of it, pushing the ghost back. Since Michael still had ¡®IA¡¯ on, he watched Draanuk¡¯s expression turn from outright fear to calm resignation as the body was propelled skyward. With that done, Michael felt his body relax and saw the glow around him subside. The staff in his hands dissipated and soon he was able to control his body again. Taking deep breathes, Michael nearly fell over in exhaustion and saw that all of his stamina had been depleted. A rare occurrence and it made for an awful feeling. Almost as bad as a Mana burnout. Michael stepped out of the cage and laid down on the floor. Gazing at the cave ceiling - which also had a moon and starry sky - Michael read the only Information box he obtained.
Draanuk¡¯s End
[p=left]Completed You have successfully passed on the soul of Draanuk. Plutys is pleased of the decision, but due to conflicting patrons he is unable to properly reward you. Instead the Lady of the Land will give you your reward. You have gained the skill: ¡®Judge¡¯.[/p]
With a great sigh Michael questioned the rewards he had been getting all this time. On his 20th naming day he got an awesome class but a curse to go along with it. Saving a woman, he entered a dungeon that went 20 times slower than normal. Killing Inutian gave him only 1 piece of treasure. The fricken tournament gave him a weak shield and now this dungeon gave him an impossible quest. Still lying down, Michael checked out the new skill. ¡°Hrmm. Show ¡®Judge¡¯...¡±
Judge. ???. ???
[p=left]A special skill that allows for the user to Judge a person¡¯s soul and send them to Plutys. Can only be used in special circumstances. ??? ??? ???[/p]
Yep, bad rewards. Sighing, Michael stood up and patted away the dust from his body. He knew that it was only the first few months of his adventure but the rewards he got for his deeds did not match and he was slight despairing over it. Maybe if he did more quests? He should get lucky at least once right? With another sigh, Michael went over to the table and picked up the vials of black liquid and left the stack of pages - which he was sure was made from Human flesh - on the table as he exited the room and made his way upstairs. For now he had to worry about how to get all of the items out of the cave and into his inn room without attracting thieves. Kiryun Part 1
Another boss fight :P I''ll be finishing his work in Kiryun next chapter. I dunno if it will be short or not so meh... Any questions? Please comment. I read everything!!!! People who were expecting Plutys to reward him well? Nope. He is programmed to not help members of tLotL and shes the same. Its not like they hate each other. Just the way this world works. Like if rival schools meet each other, they have to show a confrontational act even if they respect their opponents. There will be no GREAT BATTLE between the two. Just some sparks. Please rate and review my fic so that it stays in at least the top 20 >.> I do want to be in the top ten though... Revamp! Or something like that... Childhood Arc: Prologue: UPLOADED Chapter 1: UPLOADED Chapter 2: UPLOADED Chapter 3: UPLOADED Chapter 4: UPLOADED Chapter 5: UPLOADED Chapter 6: UPLOADED Chapter 7: UPLOADED SS - Valentine Contest Story: UPLOADED Chapter 8: UPLOADED Epilogue: UPLOADED Training Arc: Prologue: Writing (150%) Editor (0%) Proofread (0%) Kiryun Arc: So it has come to my attention a few weeks ago, that my story has severe problems. Mainly that there is a lack of a plot or goal and even feeling in my characters. So I will be taking the next few weeks to go over and rewrite the story. Some things that I expect to change is... Childhood/Training arc: Travel and Kiryun Arc: 3 Editors and 4 Proofreaders! Recruitment completed (2 days :P) If you want to apply, please email [email protected] although I really doubt people will >.> Questions and concerns and even some suggestions? Please comment below or email. Also review my fic so I can see what the problem is. AND RATE!!! This has been a blatant advertisement from Argos. Even though I''ll ask for a score reset later >.> The new fic stuff.