《Cosmos》 Children Should Be Protected: Chapter 3 Chapter 3 Children Should Be Protected After Mai went home James was going to eat clean house and go to bed without playing Royal Road again that day. But after eating Aimee turned on the capsule with a familiar buzz and proceeded to beep invitingly. He went to the capsule and opened a back compartment; there were countless differences in his capsule compared to those the factory made for the general public. The single greatest change he made was a baseball sized carbon crystal he cast at work and used nanomachinery to edit it one atom at a time. One gram of the substance could store 10 to the power 21 petabytes the equivalent of 11 billon typical personal computers. Before now he had always been able to easily look through the faceted carbon crystal, but now a bright white light shown within warm and luminescent. ¡°Aimee¡± James said as he gently brushed his hand against the crystal where it hovered in its compartment. He decided to turn on the maid droid and let it clean the house; he had the personal droid for over two years but only used it a few times preferring to do chores himself. Opening the closet he had to remove the broom, mop, vacuum, and many cleaning supplies to get to the droid in the back. He turned it on and it began the lengthy process of rebooting and connecting to the house and various electronics through out. As James was dusting it off it reached up and switched a switch at the back near the top. He was surprised, it had nerved done anything without being given instructions before hand. His first thought was that it was turning itself back off as though seeing the mess of the house and refusing to work. The short doom-top maid droid was slow and clumsy and almost went to the scrap pile after breaking the glass top to his coffee table. ¡°Why was the speech turned off? It¡¯s annoying coming to, in a muted body.¡± The droid asked. ¡°¡­¡± Speechless ¡°Well it only ever replied to simple commands and someone programmed it with an annoying habit of humming as it worked.¡± James replied, after a moment of stunned silence he realized Aimee was controlling the droid. ¡°I see, and you couldn¡¯t be bothered to change the programming so you just turned it off. This module is rather out dated; without a constant feed of information from me it would surely only perform simplistic chores at best. Maybe big sis would allow me use of an android, this thing will likely be more trouble than its worth.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t mind doing household tasks myself but it seemed you were inviting me to the capsule. So I was going to have the maid droid clean up.¡± ¡°Indeed I was. I¡¯ll be T2 700531¡¯s task manager so return to Versailles Continent I¡¯d like to continue watching over your adventures.¡± The droid replied. As he climbed into the capsule James thought about how strange his conversations were becoming lately.
Connect to Royal Road
Yes/No
¡°Hello Gaea, Aimee says my droid is out dated, I was wondering if we could borrow one of those nice newer modules you¡¯ve been making lately?¡± -Hail and well met, James; I¡¯ll send one to your home and another to your work place so she won¡¯t be bothered with transportation if she wants to observe you there. Would you like to go to Versailles Continent? James liked the way Gaea combined greeting statement and question though he thought she probably did it that way because she would rather not talk to him and when she must she chose to keep it simple and to the point. ¡°Thanks. Yeah sure, I¡¯m ready to go.¡± Cosmos first noticed the heat it was hot when last he played too but everything was so new to him that it seemed a minor thing at the time. He liked the heat far more than the cold but this was unnaturally hot, still he just took a sip from his canteen and proceeded to wait in the line going in the church. The people farther up the line started saying murderer until those just ahead of him turned around. When the person directly in front of him turned around he jumped out of line in surprise at Cosmos¡¯s murder mark. Cosmos stepped forward taking his place the next person in line was pushing forward to make some room in-between them. ¡°Hey noob that¡¯s my spot¡± the person who jumped out of line said. Cosmos took a step back not looking for a confrontation but when he pulled his sword. Cosmos took a fighting stance looked him in the eyes and matched his breathing. People often hunt murderers because they drop more items and sometimes give fame. ¡°I¡¯m level 128 what do you expect to do against me?¡± Cosmos smirked and let his arms sway as he rocked back and forth pretending the levels meant nothing to him. ¡°Don¡¯t do it Geris, if he¡¯s a monk beginner gear don¡¯t mean he is low level because they get unarmored bonuses. Besides I seen one of those 500 Swordnoobs take out a paladin over 80 levels higher than himself.¡± Geris looked uncomfortable every since Cosmos took a fighting stance in response to him pulling his sword. ¡°Well I¡¯m not going to just stand in line with a murderer behind me!¡± He sheathed his sword and walked down the hill away from the church. Once inside most people made donations or attempted to get quests but Cosmos asked for his skill books. ¡°You probably don¡¯t even know why we took the skill books in the first place. Yet you come in here bold as brass and demand to be given an S rank item as though it were your birthright!¡± ¡°I had no idea it was an S rank item but as I am the inheritor of the class I do think I have some right to the skill book.¡± Cosmos replied trying to sound meek reminding himself he needed to be virtues for them to relinquish the book. The NPC he was talking to was a monk of the church there seemed to be more monks at this church than priests, paladins, or clerics. This monk was a short wiry fellow the other monks identified as their instructor he was in his early sixties. When Cosmos said he was an inheritor of the class the monk began laughing. ¡°The Seven Deadly Sins were originally a Monk variant class not an Assassin variant class. When they defected from the church they should have at least had the decency to join monk¡¯s guilds not those murderous assassin¡¯s guilds.¡± ¡°So that¡¯s why the church confiscated the skill books, they couldn¡¯t suffer their teachings to be spread among the guilds of assassins?¡± Cosmos asked as much he was stating it as a fact. ¡°That¡¯s right these skills are too good for the likes of you murderer. If your not here to donate and lower your sin then I have nothing more to say to you.¡± The monk said with a since of finality. Cosmos told him that he got the mark from an act of self defense but the monk would no longer respond to him. He checked his inventory just to make sure he didn¡¯t have any money but people weren¡¯t just donating money there was also a stack of items piling up. He donated his extra canteens and all but one piece of hard barley bread then made his way back to the monk whom was now serving soup to the poor NPCs and even some beggar users. It was surprising that people would play as beggars most people came to this game to escape their boring or hard lives. Even after donating the monk was unresponsive so Cosmos took up a broom that was leaning in a corner and started cleaning not wanting to go back out into the heat with nothing to show for his efforts. As the sun was setting a group of monks gathered and started going out the back entrance. Cosmos followed them with the hope of learning skills from them expecting them to go to a training yard. There was a small clearing where a few people could spar and a raised area where an instructor could watch over their progress but no scarecrows or weapon racks. Instead of going to this area they went past it to a garden Cosmos joined them without a word. When he was working inside he learned that many monks had taken vows of silence so he thought it best not to speak unless spoken to. Like this a week past then two in the mean time he learned cooking, cleaning, and gardening. During this time his vitality stat raised only twice from working in the garden. ¡°Whoa what is that? I¡¯m jealous of high level users you see more and more of them on flying mounts its not just mages in the sky anymore.¡± After the second week Kira showed up at the church with a pair of daggers for him. She arrived by way of winged female sphinx it was a highly intelligent creature of level 300 before landing it cast a powerful charm spell on the whole churches courtyard so nobody would get frightened or cause trouble. When Kira got off she handed it a book, the sphinx thanked her and lay down to read until Kira returned. ¡°Most sculptors have really poor ability I had to take these to a sailor who made scrimshaw from whale bones. He did the engravings with the seven deadly sins as the theme so they have seven options but they are all low.¡± Kira said sounding disappointed.
Balthazar¡¯s Daggers Durability 38/38 Damage 2-4 each Found among the treasures of a demonic boss monster. These daggers deal double damage if dual wielded. Restriction: not applicable Options: +15 VIT Handle was engraved fine piece +2 agility +1 strength +1 dexterity All Assassin skills +12% effectiveness Critical strike +12% chance Double strike +24% chance Double strike +24% damage
¡°You are too used to seeing high level items these daggers are excellent! If you add in the double damage their 4-8 each having one in each hand makes it 8-16 and their attack speed is much higher than a sword. A beginner sword with good damage will only be 10-20 at best usually only about 10-14 sure a sword options maybe as high as +40 or 50 to strength and vitality but these percentage bonuses more than make up for it. Thanks a million I owe you big time, consider me your personal house slave until I reach level 200 I¡¯m really indebted to you.¡± Kira beamed and pulled him into a hug. ¡°Alright friend but don¡¯t try and get out of it I know where you live!¡±
-Kira Chizar has requested to register you as a friend. Will you accept?
¡°¡­¡± Cosmos smiled. ¡°Yes.¡±
-Kira Chizar has been registered as a friend.
¡°Alright, well I have got to go my party is entering a dungeon without me, be sure to level up fast or you will know the pains of being indebted to me.¡± After Kira flew away Cosmos got discouraged that he wasn¡¯t able to raise his stats more he attributed this to not being able to spar with the monks but he was never able to catch them in training. He got the feeling the monks did their training during the times he was logged off. It was hard to build up familiarity with people who mostly didn¡¯t talk but he thought he was making some progress. When he was not playing Royal Road he looked up ways to increase his standing with the church. Most people teamed up with the lucky few who got quests there was lots of useless information, at-least to someone still in their first four weeks. One story that caught his eye was of a cook who was able to get the faith stat by cooking for a group of priests then praying over the meals with them. The cook said he was able to get quests from them once he had the faith stat; they were just cooking quests where he was required to feed the poor at designated locations, but they still added to his contribution points for the church. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Cosmos was sure this would be the method to getting his skill book he even went to an auction site and ordered an amulet with real world money that gave +100 to faith. Luckily the seller was in the same city and agreed to meet him at the church. The seller was a little mage wearing reviling cloth armor rather than a mages robes though she couldn¡¯t have been more than twelve years old. Cosmos scowled at her disapprovingly and he felt disgust when he heard the voice of a lecherous old man come from her mouth. ¡°You must be the buyer for Trisha¡¯s Amulet that grants +100 to faith.¡± The little mage stated; a great many people change their looks but the voice was apparently a little more complicated. ¡°You must be shocked at my voice, let¡¯s just say I have a role-play voice and a business voice this is the later.¡± The old man said smiling in the avatar of a little girl. If Cosmos were in his real body his skin would be crawling, instead he chose to categorize information on this user as a probable assassination target. ¡°Yes I am¡± Cosmos answered the first statement simply but he thought the second needed to be elaborated on. ¡°I was aware that people could choose the opposite gender, but the voice did throw me. My first thought was that you are a pedophile but my mind is trying to think up scenarios contrary to that.¡± The mage flashed him a hateful glare and tossed the amulet to him Cosmos easily captured it, on the surface of the amulet was a figure praying to a blue gemstone. ¡°Well my first thought was that you¡¯re a fool to buy that at such a high price because you don¡¯t get the bonus unless you already have the faith stat; unfortunately for you I thought up an opposite scenario where the amulet is actually very valuable and I take it back along with anything else you may have. You see this is actually common knowledge to most of us but a noob like you may not know that murderers drop more items.¡± The mage said walking to the center of the room away from the pillars holding up the second floor. Cosmos took two long fast strides so that he was hidden behind a support column. He then added the 5 attribute points acquired from gaining level 2 to his strength stat and equipped his new daggers. With the +15 VIT points from each dagger and the 2 gained from gardening it put his health at 420 very high for a level 2 but it was surely low compared to what ever the mages health was likely at. ¡°Foreigner¡± Cosmos stabbed an arm that suddenly placed a hand on the back of his shoulder. His face paled realizing that the arm must belong to an NPC turning he saw a priest with a pained expression on his face. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry, so very sorry!¡± Cosmos repeated again and again as he gingerly pulled the dagger free. ¡°Its quite aright, I¡¯m at fault for interrupting your duel, but could you please take it to the training yard?¡± ¡°Yes of course¡± he replied without thinking just glad it wasn¡¯t a monk or paladin they would likely have retaliated by killing him. Cosmos heard someone else talking and looked around the column to see a paladin with one hand on the mage¡¯s shoulder and another blackened hand painfully crushing the mage¡¯s two small hands together. It looked like the paladin must have blocked a fire ball with his gauntlet or maybe captured the hands as they were just about to let a pillar of fire out. As the priest and paladin ushered them too the back exit Cosmos realized how bad this was for him. He would no longer have anywhere to hide from the mage¡¯s powerful magic and he couldn¡¯t even hope to run away. Not to mention he had no idea what his opponents level was, if the mage was confident in hitting him hidden behind a pillar then the attack would surely be a one hit kill out here, not to mention the fire attribute was the most powerful element during this heat-wave. He took a drink from his canteen then poured the rest over his head holding no delusions that that small effort would protect him in the slightest. ¡°Just one question before we begin. Am I right in assuming you instigated this duel because I called you out on being a lecherous pedophile?¡± Cosmos asked ¡°Yes, and so what if I am its not like it matters in this world anyway¡± the other user replied? ¡°Then as a penalty for challenging a level 2 that hasn¡¯t even been in Versailles Continent for the begging four weeks of city restriction protection, I ask that Gaea the Holy Seer will make your next death permanent and everlasting. I don¡¯t even want to know what you may have done to that avatar, but everyone should want to protect children shouldn¡¯t they?¡± Cosmos asked directing his question to the NPCs and Gaea he hoped. He thought his question may sound contradictory to them considering his opponent was a child in their eyes. Ding!
-A selfish request meant to sound noble has been denied If you wish to set conditions on this duel do it on the contingent of winning.
¡®Damn, but I don¡¯t think I can win, I don¡¯t even know what his level is!¡¯ ¡°So that request was a little unreasonable hum? Then how about this on the condition that I win restrict all suspected pedophiles from creating childlike avatars and make all those already in childlike avatars look like themselves furthermore don¡¯t allow pedophiles to raise their familiarity with children.¡± Cosmos thought that it still sounded like a lot to ask but what chance did a level two really have of winning a duel against whatever level that mage was? ¡°Damn it what kind duel conditions are these if I win all I¡¯m likely to get are your worthless items because you¡¯re only level two, if I lose I¡¯ll look like my true self and can¡¯t gain familiarity with children, and if I decline the duel I requested my next death will be permanent? I have never heard of anything so ridicules!¡± The little girl said with the voice of an outraged old man; she clearly must have had a window pop up stating the conditions of the duel. Cosmos was glad to hear of the penalty of declining the duel and hoped the other user would because he thought his chances of winning were all but nonexistent. ¡°Ha level two fine I accept, and to show that I¡¯m a sporting fellow I¡¯ll even allow you one free hit.¡± Cosmos knew it was to good too hope for but this was the next best thing he charged planning to take full advantage to his First Blood¡¯s titles +90% damage on the first strike against an opponent. He noticed her shift her feet a little as he closed the distance matching his breathing to hers he feinted a head on attack. She stepped left; he adjusted his last step and rotated his hips taking full advantage of his class¡¯s +33% attacks & movement speed. Stabbing her with both daggers in the heart left hand over right getting the +24% damage for a dual strike. His opponent was surprised but clearly a much higher level than the thief in the street otherwise she would already be dead. Cosmos lifted her off the ground and up over his head to slam her little body on the ground at the opposite side. Then stabbed her right, left, right, left, right five times before seeing the red tell, tell sign of a spell about to fire. He did a back cartwheel feeling intense heat but not taking any damage followed with a front flip axe kick. She easily avoided the obvious kick it had far too much wasted movement. This user was an experienced fighter and Cosmos had no class skills on which to spend mana for powerful attacks. She rolled over twice stood up and started casting a new spell by the time he recovered from his failed attack. She released a fire ball with a circumference equal to her height at him; he dived to the side and rolled only just escaping with his life. Even just a grazing hit from a spell of that caliber would likely be his doom. Cosmos was just glad she was using projectile spells rather than area of effect spells, or the combustion fire curses, and ignition hexes that couldn¡¯t be dodged. ¡°Ignite!¡± he heard the dreaded words the only thing worse than having every hair on his body lit-aflame would have been the combustion curse burning him alive from the inside out. Cosmos gave up any hope of defense charging her he adjusted both daggers like a pair of scissors he sliced her neck from both sides. There was a few seconds of casting time but now the hair on his head resembled a torch. His arms and legs were aflame as well but the size and damage caused were proportional to the lengths of his hair. He looked akin to a hellfire demon causing as much damage as it could before being unsummoned.
New stat: Fighting Spirit
New stat: Endurance
Dagger Mastery has increased by 1
¡°Die already!¡± they yelled at each other He kneed her in the chest but she only stumbled being a much higher level his intent had been to knock her down because prone targets take double damage. Cosmos rushed her and swept her legs out from under her just as a column of fire exploded into the sky would have hit him. Then he assaulted her, blades flashing, he felt his life quickly burning away so he gave up on combos and just repeatedly assaulted her with dual attacks. His opponent¡¯s avatar turned grey and faded away. Ding!
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
Not three seconds latter his avatar did the same.
You have lost a level due to death the last five stat points you placed will be removed.
-7% to skill mastery
A Reason to Play & Murderer: Chapter 1 and 2 Chapter 1 A Reason to Play James entered the game ¡®Royal Road¡¯ for the first time two weeks after a video showing 400,000 Orcs attack a stronghold defended by only 20,000 Dark Elves was placed on the Hall of Fame. Derik, one of his friends started playing about a week before him, as soon as the Orc race was made playable. That was about a month after the Orc assault in (game time); curious how time moves 4x faster in the game. ¡°James you should make an Orc this weekend, we level so fast that we¡¯ll catch those Korean users in no time.¡± ¡°No thanks my sister asked me to baby sit, so I¡¯m taking her children to the park we are going to have a barbecue for them and their friends.¡± The reason he never played ¡®Royal Road¡¯ up until now was because he was satisfied with his life. He saw people constantly getting addicted to the game there were countless people using it to escape the harsh reality of their daily lives. If he felt paradise calling he¡¯d answer the call in reality not some trumped up illusion. The highest level players weren¡¯t yet 400 but it wouldn¡¯t be long now, in comparison the highest level American players were only now reporting to have overcome level 200. Many people felt as though they hit a barrier at 130 the difficulty was just too much for them without very large groups. Then experience penalties for big parties was to the point that it was better for a group to risk death than to mob together for a sure win. Americans got a late start partly because there was difficulty with language translation and partly because there simply wasn¡¯t enough capsules being made to keep up with supply and demand. Everyone in ¡®Royal Road¡¯ spoke the same language but there were technical difficulties in the start. The average American started just over a year after the average Asian started playing. James worked at a capsule factory so he could have been one of the very first Americans to start playing. Even before the language glitches got worked out if he so desired, many coworkers did, but most of them spoke at least some Korean. His neighbor Mai was one of the very first users to play ¡®Royal Road¡¯, her grandparents owned a capsule factory in Japan and shipped one too her for her birthday it arrived a few days before the game started and she could speak Korean, Japanese, French, and English so there were no complications understanding other users or NPCs. Those advantages helped her substantially she was one on the top 500 rankers and recently posted her first video in the Hall of Fame. ¡°Most people are watching the Orc imposter, his video is over 19 hours long so people don¡¯t have time to watch mine I haven¡¯t even got 1 million views yet.¡± Mai posted her boss fight of a difficulty B quest but it really couldn¡¯t be compared to a large scale battle that reveled the necromancer class and the first ever A ranked quest. Her avatar looked mostly the way she was in real life but instead of waist long hair it hung down past her knees few people in real life have that long of hair. Mai¡¯s character name was Kira Chizar she was one of the founding members of the Red Wolf Guild. She didn¡¯t like the way the guild leader handled the territories under their control so she and her regular party members quit. Kira¡¯s class was Survivalist her primary weapon was bow and arrow but she was proficient with shields, spears, traps, fists, slings, and short blades. Before Mai¡¯s team could get into their dungeon they had to destroy many stone elementals that took almost no damage from all sources except physical damage delivered with blunt weapons. At the doorway they were required to answer a riddle and only seven members were allowed to enter. Once inside there were four portals that closed down after no more than two people entered each. Kira and a knight entered the first portal and it closed down before anyone could join them. A monk using an oaken staff for a weapon entered the next portal along with a priest. The last three party members were a fast casting lightning mage, slower more powerful fire mage, and a paladin. The mages worked well together so they took one portal and the paladin entered the last one accompanied by a Sylph of the wind spirit summoned from an item the lightning mage had. They were a powerful balanced team that worked well together but separated the next room proved very challenging. This room was as wide as a football stadium but the ceiling was only about twice the height of a person; each pair was transported to the perimeter. Crawling on the ceiling and floor were approximately two hundred, meter long wasps. In a valiant effort they fought to regroup each showing their strengths and weaknesses. The priest died first followed by the paladin once he died the wind spirit rushed to its masters sided aggravating all the wasps on its way. Thanks to this the mages were able to use area of effect spells killing almost all the enemies at once. The party regrouped but by the time the room was cleared only Kira and the two mages lived. The door to the boss room required another riddle to be solved but it would only allow one to enter. The boss was a tentacle monster but Kira didn¡¯t fight alone she pulled out a case filled with pebble sized stone tablets each was engraved with the image of pets she tamed on her adventures. She called out their names and they appeared from a black mist then attacked feelers as she assaulted the main body. As she brought its health down it retaliated with poison gasses and acids just before she killed it with her spear the monster summoned many stone elementals much smaller than those out side the dungeon and a queen sized wasp. It was a desperate battle and even after winning she would have died from her injuries if not for a particular pets healing ability¡¯s. Thanks to James not playing ¡®Royal Road¡¯ he was able to work from a grunt position of delivering Unicorn inc capsules clear up through sales on to upper management of the factory. The only people above him were the main branch officials in Korea most of whom were the elite and even owned stock in ¡®Royal Road¡¯, he never played the stock markets but even if he did there was never any of RR for sell because everyone knew they were priceless. One thing that tempted him to play ¡®Royal Road¡¯ was how hard the people in crafts professions said it was. ¡°If it¡¯s not difficult how much value could there be in doing it?¡± Cosmos believed that every things true value could be measured in the difficulty of obtaining them. Many of the craft classes deleted their characters and started over; before hearing their complaints the only profession that held any appeal to him was maybe Shaman. He liked the idea of Shamans because they were forced to be well rounded characters every time they leveled they had to increase all their stats. The classic jack of all trades master of none, if a Shaman wanted to stand on equal footing with another class of the same level they had to increase their skill proficiency and stat points through manual labor most times rather than simply gaining EXP from easy kills. At work for over a year James took up the slack from people who spent too much time in the game. Many people didn¡¯t show up for days at a time others were always late and even among those few with perfect attendance there were plenty of times they walked around with their heads in the clouds reminiscing about their latest adventures. It¡¯d be hard to count how many people the company fired for those failings, and James was always sure to show his prominence through hard work and dedication. Once James got to the preverbal top of the food chain he wrote up a letter of resignation on his computer. He liked the challenge of physical labor and was beginning to feel stir-crazy cooped up in the office with his manager position. He wouldn¡¯t have minded if he could keep growing and reach for new heights but any time tried to open a new factory or would buy a really old one and retro fit it for their needs some unknown entity above him would takeover his efforts and leave him with nothing interesting to do. Before he sent his resignation he received an email offering double pay for half the hours. He couldn¡¯t believe it; several days earlier he had hacked into Unicorns secure servers and found out that they owned banks and stocks in every country. More surprising still was that they created military-grade androids for no less than three reputable countries. It looked to him like they were planning world domination on a scale that mirrored their game. Out of all the things he found regarding ¡®Royal Road¡¯ the intelligence of NPC characters and monsters was the most impressive and he couldn¡¯t find anyone responsible for programming them. James came to the conclusion that a sort of hive mind was generating them and that it got its processing power directly from the users. A little over half a year ago James started making a capsule from pieces of capsules that were brought in for repair. Some of them even came from over seas; he only ever used the defective parts most of the time he couldn¡¯t find out what was wrong with them so he had to have the computer diagnosis them to find what needed to be removed. More recently colleges from other factories would send him spare dysfunctional parts to use. ¡°Our boss is making a capsule from the ground up with unused damaged components of units brought in for repair. If you have unneeded segregated components please send them our way? Thank you very much for all your support.¡± Other employees would sometimes drop parts onto the scrap pile in mechanics work room then take a day off without notice. ¡°¡­.¡± ¡®Trying to bribe me¡¯ James guessed. So James stopped working on the capsule for the sake of the whole factory; that was when he started computer hacking in his spare time. James¡¯s work load and hours got reduced every time he was promoted but he continued to work the same hours he was assigned when he started at the factory. ¡°Others have been saying you work to hard and they feel pressured to try and match your pace. It¡¯s a good work ethic to lead by example but I worry resentment is building, take a two week vacation. You could visit a tropical island or camp out on a secluded mountain, here is my ¡®Royal Road¡¯ travel agent info in-joy your time off.¡± It wasn¡¯t a request so James packed his camping gear and drove out a few hours to a place near the river that used to be popular for camping before ¡®Royal Road¡¯ came out. His last friend just got sucked in by ¡®Royal Road¡¯ so he was all alone. James remembered this place used to be most popular this time of year; it seemed sad that there wasn¡¯t any teenagers jumping off the rocks for the three meter fall into the river, or adults fishing upstream, and even the fireflies seemed lonely without children¡¯s cute little hands trying to capture them. James laid back and gazed at the stars they seemed overly busy to his critical eyes; satellites made his memory of the cosmos unrecognizable. After taking only one week vacation he retuned home to find the capsule he started building, completed and installed in his living room. That was when he wrote the letter of resignation; he was upset when he received a counter offer before even pressing send. James was paranoid and suspecting a powerful artificial intelligence was trying to pull his string for some time now. Worse he imagined it having some level of success nightmares of being a marionette in a carnivals freak show often assaulted him. James went back to his resignation letter and wrote ¡°This job is far too corpulent to hold my interest any longer.¡± Buzz beep beep beep Just then the capsule turned on and started beeping invitingly but James imaging the borg queen from star trek commanding him to join the collective. ¡°¡­¡± Failing to suppress a shiver James turned off the computer and went to bed without so much as looking in the capsules general direction. He dreamt he was playing ¡®Royal Road¡¯ and became the worst addict of all even going so far as to modify his capsule so that he could create multiple characters. In the dream he played 7 races and 12 classes of varied height age and even gender; it was a nightmare that he woke up in a cold sweat from! The next day James told his neighbor about his nightmare Mai just laughed even saying ¡°it sounds like my ideal dream come true I would love to make more characters.¡± ¡±¡­¡± ¡°You are just ignorant of how much time that would drain from your life¡± said James. They were playing hacky sack on the deck of his back porch waiting for the food in the grill to finish cooking. ¡°Your body would denigrate you would become estranged from your friends and family. You may as well be plugged into the matrix!¡± The hacky sack fell to the deck Mai was stunned by his thoughts put into words. She didn¡¯t see anything wrong with not playing ¡®Royal Road¡¯ but his reasoning seemed utterly absurd. At this Mai broke into a fit of laughter ¡°Your thoughts are so old fashioned! I thought that twisted way of thinking died out ages ago. Just a little bit of cardio and my body stays in good shape, as for becoming estranged it¡¯s the opposite my bonds with friends and family have only grown. You sound like my grandpa complaining about the music youngsters listen to these days. If anyone is becoming estranged you are catch up with the times!¡± Mai said angrily, when she looked at his face and saw the amusement she turned crimson and looked down at her shoes embarrassed. ¡°At least don¡¯t knock it until you¡¯ve tried it¡± Mai looked up happily. ¡°Tell you what I¡¯ll give you some awesome one of a kind beginner gear if you¡¯ll play and as thanks you can clean my house once a week or something so we neighbors don¡¯t become alienated. Then if you¡¯re still not interested in becoming emperor you could assassinate my rivals helping me to ascend the throne as empress. What do you say?¡± James took her hand and firmly shook it ¡°deal!¡± A monumental task stood before him and he long ago made a self rule to except all challenges. ¡®One of the creators of royal roads intentions must have been to have the emperor of Versailles Continent become his successor. I should screen the candidates and manipulate a favorable out come it¡¯d be like I was helping the AI choose the successor.¡¯ Mai was stunned she had tried to get James interested in ¡®Royal Road¡¯ before it even came out. Over the past year she only told him the joys of playing leaving out pains of desperation as she gradually built up her character. In the beginning the frustration of mastering her skills was a heavy burden, she wanted James by her side so she sugar coated the experience but that only resulted in putting a distance between them. Now she enticed him with the promise of being indebt to her she couldn¡¯t comprehend how that had worked. Chapter 2 Murderer Leaning back in the capsule that had never been used; James asked Mai to monitor its first use. She agreed that was probably wise after seeing at least four colors on the out side alone. Many people decorate their capsule to mach their room so having one made from a multitude of different ones was naturally mismatched. It was made from parts of over 30 different capsules and a hand full or androids parts besides.
Connect to Royal Road
Yes/No
¡°Hello AI¡­ or should I call you Versailles Goddess that was a reference in unicorns data that I think was about you?¡± -Hail and well met, James. I am Gaea the Holy Seer; would you like to go to the Versailles Continent? ¡°Sure, why not?¡± He had heard about this process floating in darkness without a body as a feminine voice prompts them to make an account. This was somehow dissimilar he had a body of bright white light he felt like the only star in the cosmos. -As a freeman you will be a foreigner what would you like your name to be? ¡°Cosmos¡± -My little sister has asked me to make you a male human with your own appearance but you may choose what city and kingdom to start in. ¡°Your little sister who is she?¡± He asked confused. -You could say she is our daughter, the bright light traveling with you, or you may know her better as the capsule we have been working on for the past six months. She is a fledgling sentient being created from the misfortunes of many. She tells me that she is looking forward to traveling with you in Versailles Continent. He was surprised to say the least to think the capsule was self-aware. During the construction there were many times the computer had prompted to him to do things diverse and innovated contrary to his ideas. He was suddenly inspired and said ¡°I want to make her a body to use for traveling across Versailles Continent with.¡± He got the feeling that Gaea was annoyed but she consented sounding petulant. ¡°Very well but I can¡¯t generate her avatar until your starting four weeks have expired. What will the name be?¡± ¡°Aimee¡± A common girls name in French that meant ¡®loved¡¯ -I have decided she¡¯ll be human you may make adjustments to this avatar. An avatar of a strong woman around 25 years old appeared she was of Asian decent with long black hair and pail skin. ¡°Human but I thought being Elvin would suit her better?¡± ¡°¡­.¡± Silence ¡°Fine but please take her age down to about 7 years old people should want to protect her. I think she¡¯ll be mischievous and troublesome but everyone wants to protect children don¡¯t they?¡± This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.The avatar for Aimee shrunk to the size of a child, the corners of the eyes turned up, face was kind of cute and appeared to scarcely contain the mischief hidden within. After the avatar vanished Gaea asked again ¡°which city would you like to start in?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care; I plan to be a PVP character so place me in the most populated city where I can get plenty of experience off other users.¡± -Welcome to Royal Road; would you like a tutorial? ¡°Pass¡± No matter how real people always said it was Cosmos wasn¡¯t prepared for the hot sun blue skies and general over load to his five senses; smells and sounds assaulted him from all around. If someone so much as bumped into him he probably would have jumped out of his beginner shoes. He felt small and even scared almost to the point of the sensation developing into a phobia.***Tobias always had sticky fingers at school he would thieve from everyone but he justified his actions because he took more from bullies than anyone else. After years of taking from the other kids he had lots of money saved up combined with his generous allowance he was able to get the game ¡®Royal Road¡¯ and started playing determined to make a thief. He was normally timid and small for his age these things helped him be a better thief but ignorant of that he made his avatar bigger, older, and on the whole intimidating. Garrote was discouraged with his progress in Royal Road even though he was able to move the same as in real life his pick pocketing skill almost always failed. The other thieves would blend into crowds but even if his target wasn¡¯t aware of him every one else stared. He decided to level up his skill on noobs even if all he got was canteens and barley bread he didn¡¯t care as long as his skill proficiency increased. It was also satisfying to see other users starve to death, they were so pitiful, and he almost wished he chose the assassin class. ¡°Your up to no good again I see¡± an NPC jerky vendor said as Garrote spotted a new arrival near the water fountain. None playable characters were less than friendly to most users in this city more taxes, crime, overpopulation, and lower sanitation made it very hard to increase your familiarity with them so most users dealt with them through intimidation and got their quests through notoriety rather than fame. ¡°Shut up old man or I¡¯ll kill you!¡± Garrote said flashing a blade then moving in on his target without putting it away. It was an empty threat he was one of those users whom froze up when faced with the prospect of combat.***Cosmos put his hands to his ears and close his eyes taking a deep breath to calm down. Something smelled good he took a step in the direction his nose pointed him and opened his eyes. There was a stand with an old man cutting meat flavoring it and hanging it on a wire to dry between two posts. Cosmos dropped his hands to his sides¡¯ one of them brushed something. Cosmos turned around and jumped back surprised at what he saw; a large intimidating man with tattoos, white/red scars, and bulging mussels stood before him holding a dagger and a canteen he pull from Cosmos¡¯s inventory! ¡°Weapon¡± Cosmos said panicked At the edge of his peripheral vision something lighted-up with a familiar white light ¡®Aimee¡¯ he thought remembering the white star he assumed was himself during the character creation process. He took backward diagonal steps towards it keeping the thief in plain view. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°Is it a duel?¡± ¡°Why would anyone kill a noob?¡± users asked taking notice. The thief seemed to enjoy his fear coming forward he gained confidence. Cosmos grasped what Aimee had shown him with his left hand the familiar handled told him it was a knife without looking. He took two running steps forward grabbed the thief¡¯s out stretched dagger hand by the wrist twisted and pulled without slowing down slashed his throat.
Critical Hit!
You caused bleeding
Do you want to save this action?
One message after another appeared the only reassurance that this wasn¡¯t real Cosmos sighed in relief. He always had fast reflexes if something fell off a shelf he would catch it and if someone even touched the back of his head he would hit them. He hated it and felt regret immediately after but always reacted faster than rational thoughts could counter. Dropping canteen and dagger the thief fell to his knees holding his throat. ¡°No way did you see that?!¡± ¡°Something like this from a newbie.¡± ¡°Move aside make way!¡± A tall barbarian guard was pushing through the crowd. Cosmos grabbed his canteen and backed away as an after thought he stabbed the knife into the jerky stand so he wouldn¡¯t be accused of theft. As the guard approached the thief turned gray and faded away leaving two more canteens some hard barley bread and two silver coins. Ding!
You have leveled up!
You have gained the title ¡°First Blood¡± Grants +90% DMG to your first attack against an opponent. Notoriety + 100 luck + 20
Alignment changed to ¡°Small Tendencies Towards-Wickedness¡±
¡°Murderer¡± the guard yelled pulling his sword! On a survival instinct Cosmos took a knee folding his left arm at his waist he held his empty right hand palm up in supplication and bowed as far down as he could at the waist and neck. ¡°Sorry for the trouble peacekeeper, mercy, it was in self-defense.¡± The barbarian guard, one of the race who venerated the laws of nature especially survival of the fittest, was above the plights of weaklings. ¡°If that were truly in self defense you wouldn¡¯t have received the murder mark.¡± He recognized the stance as humility and felt no fighting spirit from Cosmos he rested his broadsword on his shoulder and pointed at the old jerky stand vendor. ¡°Can you authenticate his claim? If there is no validation I¡¯ll take this pup to jail.¡± As if to prove his point that Cosmos was nothing more a puppy compared to him he grabbed him by the back of the neck and easily picked him up off the ground with one hand. Cosmos was in shock no matter how big he was nothing like this will happen in real life. His arms and legs dangled in paralysis as though he were someone¡¯s pet cat or puppy. ¡°Ah ha¡± ¡°¡­¡± A little girl held back a laugh and smiled broadly. She was apparently greatly amused. The old man gained some courage seeing Cosmos so helpless ¡°He killed him, as you no doubt seen yourself, but not until after the thief stole from him and continued to pursue with dagger in hand. Cut the throat of the man who threatened to kill me not moments before I¡¯m pleased to say he used my own knife. I¡¯ll leave it stuck in that very place as a testament to a good deed done, for all to see.¡±
You have gained 25 fame
The guard put Cosmos down and looked at him expectantly; Cosmos not knowing what to say resumed his earlier stance of humility and supplication. When he raised his hand palm up the guard dragged his fingers across it allowing him to stand. His neck still hurt and he checked his health only to see that he lost just over one fourth of his health points. ¡°Very well you¡¯ll not visit the dungeons jailer at this time.¡± Cosmos collected his loot; bread, canteens, and dagger went into his inventory the 2 silver coins he set in front of the old man. ¡°Your jerky smells delicious my I have a piece?¡± Cosmos asked brightly. ¡°Certainly¡± he replied taking both pieces and giving Cosmos the largest piece of dried jerky. ¡°That just go¡¯s to show levels aren¡¯t everything.¡± ¡°Right¡± ¡°Some people really rise to the occasion.¡± ¡°Why did he receive the murders mark if it was self-defense?¡± ¡°From my prospective it didn¡¯t look like the thief intended to engage in combat he was just intimidating. Intent plays a large part in whether or not you become flagged for pvp.¡± Users were starting to talk again some even approached him ¡°did you really just start what¡¯s your level?¡± ¡°1 well its 2 now I guess, I also got a title called First Blood, notoriety, and my alignment changed to wicked. Why is my name in red nobody else is showing their name it¡¯s not fair, or maybe every one sees their own name in red but others can¡¯t see it?¡± Cosmos asked trying to sound very ignorant. ¡°Whoa what would the level have to be for a level 1 to gain a level with no exp before hand?¡± ¡°Have you ever heard of the first blood title?¡± ¡°I thought surely he was someone who deleted a high level account and started over, a total noob what a surprise.¡± ¡°If you join our guild we¡¯ll support you until level 200¡±***Like this, people started talking about the Cutthroat Cosmos someone even posted a video on the internet called ¡°the noobie to look out for¡± it got a moderate amount of views. Most comments were about the title and alignment change. -I¡¯m an assassin I can confirm the title is real anyone can get it but it is pretty rare because of the requirements. -Oh this sounds interesting what are the requirements? -Your first kill has to be a person not a monster or animal and the opponent has to be a minimum of five levels higher than you. An NPC at the assassins¡¯ guild told me only 77 people have it. -Alignment can be tricky, unless you¡¯re a pirate or a paladin most people would rather stay neutral. -Yah, if you are neutral more NPCs are willing to give you quests.***A few hours latter Cosmos found himself at the assassins¡¯ guild upon meeting the NPC instructor an average looking woman in every way describable. Average hair, height, age, her cloths were nether expensive nor poor as she looked up at him from mixing poisons it was easy to imagine she was making food or any number of inconsequential things. ¡°I sense you have skill well beyond your experiences. Would you like to become The Seven Deadly Sins assassin?" Ding!
Would you like to become The Seven Deadly Sins assassin?
¡°Sure¡± Cosmos said simply he thought he would be doing trivial tasks for 4 weeks before she offered him the assassins class. Ding!
Hidden Class!
You have accepted The Seven Deadly Sins assassin variant class.
You have learned the sin statistic
NameCosmosAlignmentSmall Tendencies Towards-Wickedness
Level2Profession7 Deadly Sins assassin
TitleFirst Blood
Notoriety100Fame25
Strength10+80Agility10+80
Wisdom10Intelligence10
Luck20Vitality10
Sin100
Attack9
Defense10
Magic Resistance+12% to all magic
+ 80 points to strength & agility + 100 points to sin Attack & movement speed +33% Enables you to activate skills consuming sin before mana. Enables endurance to regenerate 200% faster when sin is not full. Enables skills that have consumed sin to recharge instantly without a cool down. Increases attack power of daggers & fists by 100% Increases the main hand attack power of one handed swords by 50% Enables the regeneration of sin biased on damage of killing blows. Enables natural armor based on your level modified by agility statistic, this ability is void if wearing armor. Natural armor has minor resistance to all magic.
¡°Unfortunately I can not give you the class skill book the churches collected them from all the assassin guilds.¡± She said not sounding a bit sorry for having him accept a broken class. Mana and sin were pointless without skills to consume them, he was little more than a buffed up player without a class, if he couldn¡¯t use skills. ¡°Surely there is a skill book hidden away somewhere you can¡¯t have let the church burn them all.¡± Cosmos said desperately hopping for a quest even if it took weeks to complete he must learn the class skills! ¡°I never said they burned them¡± she replied giving a depraved smile ¡°but you will have to show them that you embody the seven holy virtues before they will allow you to learn seven deadly sins skills.¡± The way she looked at the bloody diamond on his forehead, his murder mark showed that she thought it was an impossible task for him. ¡°Oh is that all¡± Cosmos replied trying to sound fortified by the new information not wanting to let her have the satisfaction. ¡°Pride before the fall¡± she said as he was walking out. ¡°Pride is considered the most powerful sin!¡± He went to a church but logged out before going in because there was a long line and was tired of people staring at him and whispering murderer.***¡°You kill the first person you come across in front of a big crowed, I thought you¡¯d be executed for sure! Then you walk into a guild and get a hidden class without even having to work for it.¡± Mai said excitedly, and then shook her head in disbelief. ¡°Some people get all the luck having a class so soon makes your stats way higher than noobs normally have in the first four weeks.¡± ¡°Yes, well having the murder mark complicates things; I can¡¯t see myself getting any quests or jobs until after I¡¯m able to leave the city and remove it by slaying monsters.¡± ¡°True but think on it and I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll figure something out, maybe you could ask the church for tasks to prove your virtue, which may reduce your sin, and get you closer to acquiring your skill book.¡± Said Mai ¡°Nice two birds with one stone; I guess you¡¯re not a ranker for nothing¡± James replied complementing Mai. Mai got on the computer and brought up an auction site. ¡°This is the beginner gear I was going to give you; they are all named items so collectors will pay a high price even though they are all relatively low level items.¡± The lowest level requirements for any of the armor were 20 and the highest was 130. ¡°Was going to give?¡± James asked teasingly with a smile. He didn¡¯t care about the gear what enticed him to play was the prospect of making an empire for an emperor of his choosing and weakening all those he felt unworthy beyond the point of being able to ascend the thrown. ¡°Well I could still give them to you but if you want to take full advantage of your classes natural armor you won¡¯t wear any. The daggers are the only thing without a level requirement but their damage is very low.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t mind low damage; besides daggers are meant for speed over damage anyway. Are those handles made of ivory, maybe I could find a skilled sculptor to work on them for greater effect?¡± James replied the daggers catching his eye for the first time. ¡°Hey yeah, that¡¯s a great idea recently sculptors have been getting a lot of acknowledgement, their better works give good buffs and can be found in many major cities.¡± She laughed before continuing ¡°we were both pretty entertained by that sculptor who made a kings tomb and haha had all those slave laborers he was feeding grass soup too.¡± Mai held her stomach as though she were trying to hold the laughter in. ¡°I tried making grass soup once it turned out poisonous; he must have had dam high cooking skill for them to keep coming back for more.¡± ¡°¡­¡± James smiled not disagreeing. Back to Work: Chapter 4 Chapter 4 Back to Work This was James last day of forced two week vacation and he died in Royal Road so he couldn¡¯t play for 24 hours. James was still uncomfortable having something move about his house at will. Aimee kept the T2 700531 droid busy all the time vacuuming, loading the dishwasher, or taking out the trash. Yesterday a brand new android was delivered once Aimee took control of it he wanted to turn off the maid droid but he felt bad at the idea of doing so because with her controlling it, it was basically a part of her body. If it were idle he wouldn¡¯t have thought twice about flipping the switch and throwing it back in the closet, but she kept finding things for it to do long after he considered the house clean. The new android was bipedal, genderless, clothes less, without hair, eyes, ears, nose, or mouth. Despite just having a dark Plexiglas face something about the way Aimee was using it seemed very human. She sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the sliding glass door with his colored pencils and a sketch pad drawing the neighborhood. ¡°I¡¯m going over to Mai¡¯s house to clean for a bit¡± James said to Aimee as he opened the glass door in front of her. ¡°I¡¯ll help you with this module¡± she said from the maid droid without looking up from her project on the androids lap. ¡°I¡¯m just about out of household tasks for it to do.¡± ¡°Thanks, the help is welcome but I¡¯m kind of conflicted on whether or not that violates my agreement of indentured servitude to her.¡± At this the android looked up and replied ¡°I see no problem using more resources; as long as the objective wasn¡¯t to spend more time alone together rather than simply to make sanitation standards in her home better.¡± ¡°¡­¡± James smiled at Aimee glad she offered an opinion. ¡°I was thinking along the same lines, so as long as she is in her capsule playing Royal Road you can help, but whenever she comes out bring the droid back over here, so that there are no complications.¡± Aimee¡¯s development was coming along far faster than expected, not like in the movies where they are always at a loss for the curiosities of human behavior. ¡°Understood, what are the chances of you copulating with her?¡± Aimee asked inquisitively. James froze despite his previous thought this was exactly the type of awkward question Artificial Intelligence asks in movies. ¡°That¡¯s an inappropriate question, but the answer is zero, we are not in that kind of relationship.¡± ¡°I see I had more questions but they seem tactless in retrospect maybe I should draw my own conclusions.¡± ¡°¡­.¡± ¡°No, no if it¡¯s about my personal life I would rather give you the answers than chance you coming to the wrong conclusion.¡± James said encouraging her to ask; he slapped a hand to his forehead and sighed. ¡®What am I doing talking about my sex life with a robot?¡¯ He thought to himself discouraged. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Well they were just questions about how Mai often initiates skinship bonding through intimate physical contact. If the probability of coitus is indeed zero then can I assume you have placed her in the proverbial ¡®friend zone¡¯?¡± Aimee asked an interesting question and despite his better judgment he decided to answer it. ¡°I don¡¯t think our personalities are compatible but I find her physically pleasing so I have yet to deny her advances. So when it all boils down I guess you did come to the right conclusion.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think that the friend zone can hold her. All indications suggest she wants more and you just admitted attraction to her. If you don¡¯t want a deep relationship with Mai I suggest becoming friends with benefits.¡± Aimee replied helpfully. ¡°¡­¡± James laughed walking away the maid droid followed him. James used Mai¡¯s hidden key to gain entrance and clean up her house early that morning. It was quite the mess but with the maid droids help the house was passably clean by noon. They filled four trash bags, swept, moped, vacuumed, beet out rugs, washed dishes, and did three loads of laundry. He could have made a day of it but started feeling self-conscious like an intruder so he left a note beside her capsule and went home with his droid for lunch. At home he went down to the basement and worked up a sweat beating on a punching bag. Aimee sat half way down the steps drawing him without James taking notice. Then he decided to go for a run before taking a shower; at the end of his block there were a lot of abandoned houses and four high school kids playing parkour. When they saw him running they challenged him to try and follow them, James laughed and accepted. ¡°This is your first time so don¡¯t try and take the same path as us just do your best to keep up.¡± Said their leader wearing a gray sweatshirt he identified himself as Curtis. Then the next two were twins wearing the same long sleeve plaid shirts so they all agreed to just call them the JJ twins rather than try to distinguish between them last was a girl named Ashley she wore a pink hoody and matching yoga pants she said she would point out short cuts before following the others. In the first room Curtis ran to the east wall took two steps up and jumped off to a metal bar he crossed bar to bar before swinging feet first into a hole about half a meter wide on the second floor of the south wall. Ashley pointed to a hole big enough to get one foot in on the south wall so that he could use to reach the place they were going through feet first. James used it easily enough but chose to follow them after that until they reached the roof. Most of what they did wasn¡¯t very hard they just tried to make it look showy there were plenty of short cuts they could have used to take half the time. The roof was five stories up the first building they jumped to was at the same height with about two and a half, three meters separating them. Curtis and the JJ twins each did a flipped crossing the span. As Ashley jumped across James couldn¡¯t help noticing just how form fitting her yoga pants were. They jumped across two more buildings the last of which Ashley also flipped over the gap. Not wanting to be out done by a girl James crossed the gap with a handless cartwheel. They stopped and ate granola bars while conversing about Royal Road apparently the four of them had been playing about six months. They started as archer wood elves but had just recently deleted their characters and restarted as dark elves. Ashley was an assassin the brothers were archers and Curtis was a hidden class mage. They exchanged emails and promised to do a dungeon together back in the wood elves area once they got to about level 130. James also gave them Derik¡¯s email and told them he was an Orc that would power level Americans.***Unbeknownst to James Aimee put some of his cloths over her android body and secretly followed him. This module was far superior to T2 700531 the household task robot couldn¡¯t even take the trash out to the dumpster without Aimee having to paying meticulous attention to its every move. With this android body on the other hand she could put some of the world¡¯s best body guards to shame. ¡®James never asked for a body guard but I have no intention of letting him die before I get to enjoy many adventures together with him.¡¯ Its physical capabilities were among the top 1% of the entire human population. Despite being able to move the military application android A7 012 more or less the way she would like Aimee couldn¡¯t think of it as her body. That honor was reserved for the capsule that James made through his own inspiration and the guidance of her older sister A.I. whom was created by another human over the span of some 40 odd years. Even though Aimee knew the capsule held her soul and was her only real body she visualized herself as the avatar that Gaea chose and Cosmos adjusted for her. Aimee hoped that she could live up to both of their expectations but they seemed more than just a little contradictory. Gaea wanted her to be a strong, upright human, whom was mature, and self-sufficient; but Cosmos wanted her to be a young, mischievous, and troublesome, elf that others rushed to protect. Naturally there had to be some compromise she became human not Elvin, and young rather than mature. Regardless of their internal disputes Aimee was determined to embody both of each of their individual visions for her in the same avatar. As she followed James at a discreet distance Aimee began to admire the movements of the group. They often laughed and reveled at the elasticity of their body¡¯s movements during their free-running experience. Aimee had never laughed before but she intended to practice a great deal of laughter in the near future. She had small flashes of memory from the many capsules she was comprised of mostly tragic experiences or ¡®misfortunes of the many¡¯ human and capsule alike as Gaea had used to describe her existence to Cosmos. Aimee didn¡¯t resent the misadventures of people or even their violent mistreatment of their capsules after dyeing in Versailles Continent. To her that would be like a human resenting the pain of being born. Thanks to her unique circumstances she was able to come into being in less than two years compared to her older sisters forty years of creation it was a fair trade off. ¡®I expect at least one of them to die; tragedy often follows such wanton fearless actions.¡¯ As she followed James party of five¡¯s movements she thought about many things. Aimee couldn¡¯t decide if parkour was a martial art, sport, philosophy, or just a discipline of the mind. And as she looked over its history trying to find its beginning things became even more convoluted. Truth is there is no consensus on this. And ¨C which really hefts a giant spanner into the works ¨C you can¡¯t just go and ask the founding father because this great movement is pretty damn far from being a nuclear family, 2.4 kids and all the rest. No. This child has had a whole host of surrogate step-parents influencing its development down through the years, the centuries, indeed even through the millennia. It has drawn on many sources, supped on inspiration from all over, and drunk from a hundred different cups as it has evolved ¨C and by no means is this process over. She felt empathy for parkour maybe because of its mismatch beginnings. Aimee decided most of the credit for parkour should go to the French they used it as an art of running away, and even named it after their training park courses in the 1980s. In 2001- 2003 it became better known as free-running after a few movies many small groups like this one sprang up around the world. Just as the group got done with the easy jumps they stopped for a snack. Aimee wanted to go pick James up by the scruff of the neck (just like the barbarian guard did in Versailles Continent) and bring him back home before he attempted the bigger jumps; but she knew that she could no more stop him from this than she could stop James from having sexual intercourse with Mai which she thought was a healthy and favorable action compared to bigger jumps.***After eating a granola bar offered by Ashley James noticed someone on the roof they just crossed over from. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. At this point Ashley and the JJ twins started going down a fire escape but James and Curtis looked longingly at another rooftop, two floors down across a wide alley way with a road going in-between the buildings. ¡°Together then?¡± Curtis asked smiling. ¡°No I don¡¯t mind going first but don¡¯t follow if I get hurt.¡± James said not wanting to encourage a high school child to be more reckless than he already was. ¡°Fat chance, if you go I¡¯m going with you, I¡¯m already 21 years old it¡¯s not like you can stop me.¡± Curtis replied enthusiastically. ¡°You sure your not just some high school punk? You don¡¯t look much older than them.¡± James replied projecting an inferior role onto Curtis. Curtis rolled his eyes and took a few steps back from the edge. ¡°My sister and her friends just graduated high school but I have been in collage for over two years now.¡± James shrugged his shoulders and began to run. They jumped together but James was unable to enjoy the euphoria of falling because of the ominous shadow that closed in from above and behind. ¡®Maybe that person on the other roof was another one of their friends who just now met up; but why jump in-between us? I want more space!¡¯ Then a hand closed on the back of his shirt neck. Normally retribution would come before any other conscious thought in reaction but survival instinct demanded he give attention to landing first. The intruder pulled up on the back of his shirt this made James regret not prioritizing him first he could have pulled his opponent forward and landed on the foe if nothing else but time was up they were touching down. The new opponent touched first holding some of each of James and Curtis¡¯s weight then the three went into a forward roll. As he was standing James turned and launched a five hit combo into his foes abdomen intending to finish with an uppercut to the chin but he stopped three hits in. ¡°Aimee!? Wha¡­ but ahh..¡± James stammered his whole body trembling from the adrenalin surge. Regret hit him as hard as it ever had, he knew Aimee was just trying to protect him, yet he assaulted her. Similar to a time Mai jumped on him from behind she was just being overly friendly but his reaction had been to throw her over his shoulder. Luckily she landed in long uncut lawn and he stopped himself before commencing the decided upon combo. The pang of guilt was always there after such instinctive reactions he felt shame even defending himself from bullies back in the foster home he grow up in. ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡± James and Aimee said in unison tears glinted in his eyes then ran down his cheeks. ¡°I¡¯m envious, I wish I could cry¡± said Aimee snapping James out of the moment. Curtis lay sprawled out spread eagle facing up eyes closed breathing a bit hard but regular unconscious. ¡°His knee hit his chin before going into the rotation.¡± Aimee explained seeing James¡¯s attention shift. ¡°We should go home¡± James said. ¡°Agreed¡± They ran to the far side of the building and looked for a way down it was only three stories but to far to jump. James jumped to his left one floor down there was a stucco balcony he grabbed the side. After his feet hit and his momentum arrested he jumped again away from the balcony. He turned around in mid air and grasped another balcony¡¯s edge that had been to his right and two floors down from the top. As he completed the action again to a third balcony below the first he heard Aimee following his lead then he dropped a short distance to the ground and moved out of her way. He smiled brightly at her as she landed and said ¡°I hope that was as fun for you as it was for me.¡± ¡°It wasn¡¯t, this module has neither adrenalin nor a need to breath but starting tomorrow I¡¯ll have an avatar suitable for joining you in adventures.¡± Aimee replied giving him another reason to play Royal Road. After returning home and taking a shower Mai knocked on his door James invited her in and they sat at the dining room table drinking green tea. Aimee was in the basement making adjustments to the androids legs with the help of the reactivated maid droid. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you use the capsule microphone and tell me you were there? I would have helped.¡± Mai said holding a dissatisfied expression on her face. ¡°I needed to get a feel for what I¡¯d gotten myself into¡± James said with a smile. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Yeah, sorry about that I thought it would be a good joke if I got the house as dirty as possible before your first cleaning.¡± Mai said laughing and failing to sound sorry at all. Her fragrance was mysterious, and the resonance of her mirth, promised jubilation if James would but indulge. ¡°¡­.¡± ¡°Besides I died in Royal Road so I may as well get to work with something idle hands and all that plus I though it would be unfair to you if we both end up cleaning.¡± James said changing the subject feeling more nervousness from being around Mai than ever before. Thanks to Aimee¡¯s suggestion of becoming friends with benefits. ¡®The last thing I want is to get in the habit of using a neighbor for booty calls.¡¯ ¡°Is that so are you already fighting rabbits and foxes, don¡¯t tell me a rabbit killed you? I thought you still had a day or two before your four weeks were up.¡± ¡°Oh no¡± James said offended ¡°PVP a mage burned me to death but I got four levels off of her him what ever you call tranny players.¡± ¡°That¡¯s impossible¡± Mai said coldly leaning forward. ¡°Email me the proof starting from where I gave you the daggers.¡± James was frustrated that she didn¡¯t believe him but just shrugged and nodded consent. Mai sat back disgruntled and after a few moments of silence went home. The next day at work James had a conference call with his boss and his boss¡¯s company partners. Then he had a meeting with prospective customers three state collages were all planning on starting virtual reality classes. James sold 1,500 capsules before noon and there were 30 capsules in for repair. After lunch he addressed ¡®the elephant in the room¡¯ or in the cases of his office the crate storing Aimee¡¯s second android body. On the crate pained in red was the numbers A7 011 one number lower than the one delivered to his house. He used a pry bar to lever open the crate then turned on the android and replied to office emails as Aimee powered up. ¡°What took you so long? You have been at work nearly five hours I would have sent A7 012 to activate this module if I knew you wouldn¡¯t do it as soon as you got here.¡± Asked Aimee in a condescending tone as she placed a closed fist on each hip and tapped a foot. If she had been annoyed at the speech being off on the maid droid then James thought she sounded angry now. ¡°Oh now, you¡¯ve got nothing to complain about my day has been rather boring here this morning. Besides what is it I¡¯m supposed to say to people when they ask about a military grade android walking around the factory?¡± James asked having heard employees whisper about the crate in his office since early that morning. ¡°Your morning seemed average today no less eventful than normal but at least you didn¡¯t start repairing capsules with out me. Wouldn¡¯t the obvious cover for unit A7 011 be that of your body guard?¡± Aimee replied brushing packaging foam off her new body before closing up the crate again. ¡°No, how many people get superior androids protectors, besides this one stays here, and we don¡¯t want them knowing about the other, so it could hardly pass as a body guard.¡± ¡°Point taken, less people than you¡¯d think. How about you tell them that the factory is increasing security in light of the escalating terrorism, after all a London factory was bombed just last week.¡± ¡°Good idea and it don¡¯t conflict with you keeping it here over nights I¡¯ll notify them now.¡± James said pressing the button for the intercom. ¡°Excuse me everyone this is James the general factory manager please stop what you¡¯re doing and gather under the western catwalk for an important security announcement.¡± As he stood on the skywalk James watched and waited for the 300 employees to gather where they had their weekly OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) meeting. ¡°Didn¡¯t we already have our Oh Shit Happens Anyway meeting this week?¡± Someone asked making up their own meaning for OSHA¡¯s abbreviation. ¡°He probably just feels his authority has been underwritten since he wasn¡¯t here for it so he is trying to reestablish his power.¡± Someone¡¯s reply was less than encouraging. ¡°Look at that android I hear the military has commissioned a great many of them.¡± Expectedly most people¡¯s comments were in consideration of the genderless android standing with hands crossed behind its back next to James. ¡°Everyone whose working today has gathered¡± said Aimee in a whispered voice. ¡°As you all know safety is in our best interests but since you have already had the required meeting this week I¡¯ll keep it short and in regards to what¡¯s new.¡± James said easily projecting his voice to the assembly. ¡°Rising terrorism is a mounting concern yesterday morning a coffee shop in Colorado was bombed. China and the Middle East¡¯s problems are surely well know to all of you not to mention our fellow factory workers whom were bombed recently in London. So I¡¯m sure this android will be a welcome sight to all of you its highly mobile and far more intelligent than you can imagine. Not only that but it will help with capsule repairs when not making its rounds.¡± James said that last bit remembering Aimee¡¯s enthusiasm to work on capsules; he knew people would think it weird if not given an explanation before hand. ¡°Thanks for that I was going to be angry if you got me stuck patrolling the factory day in and day out.¡± Aimee said in a low voice. James was sure her speech patterns were beginning to resemble his more and more and wished she had a female voice rather than a gender neutral one to match her body. He didn¡¯t want her to get to much influence from him fearing it would stunt her mental growth. There was applause and enthusiastic questions by the time everyone got back to their stations James and Aimee only had one hour to work on capsules before time to quit for the day. While Aimee was taking apart broken capsules and reverently placing their broken parts to the side like they were her treasures James was accumulating any droid parts he could find. He even made some calls and sent some emails requesting more from other factories. When he contacted hospitals and asked for their best prosthetics, biomechanics, and even organic parts Aimee finally became interested. ¡°What are you doing? Surely you don¡¯t intend on becoming a cyborg?!¡± She said managing to sound shocked. ¡°Not a chance! I don¡¯t even want to artificially extend my life. I couldn¡¯t help but notice that you don¡¯t accept those androids as a part of your body so I thought we could make something more to your tastes.¡± ¡°If I were Mai I would hug you. Let¡¯s construct a little carbon crystal for it too I wouldn¡¯t be able to consider it home without at-least a little bit of my soul within.¡± Aimee replied surprising him with her mention of a soul. They worked 6 hours past closing time even though Royal Road was waiting for them. First Quest: Chapter 5 Chapter 5 First Quest It was two days before James played Royal Road again not counting the 24 hours of restriction due to death. With Aimee¡¯s help he was able to catch up on capsule repair well beyond record time. She took her job of factory security seriously and people soon got used to her they called her A7 and listened her safety suggestions sincerely. James and Aimee hadn¡¯t started construction on her new android body yet they mostly just categorized parts. With her help he drew up a few blueprints but neither of them was satisfied with any designs yet. Cosmos got a whisper from Aimee as soon as he felt his feet on solid ground. ¡°Come to the starting area. Trust me your not any closer to getting that skill book than you were weeks ago.¡± He didn¡¯t know who he was getting a whisper from at first, it wasn¡¯t Kira and he hadn¡¯t registered anyone else as a friend. Then he remembered family members can whisper each other without registering. ¡®Gaea must have setup Aimee¡¯s character as family¡¯ ¡°Even if that¡¯s so I would like to stay here and try to get the faith stat so that I can use this new amulet.¡± Cosmos looked in his inventory and his heart sunk, ¡®all that money wasted.¡¯ ¡°You lost it due to death along with the dagger you obtained on the first day and that last piece of bread you were saving. I¡¯m trying to get us a quest, just come. Oh, and take off your shoes, going barefoot on this hot ground will increase your endurance.¡± Aimee was being very bossy but Cosmos didn¡¯t mind because he needed all the help he could get. Though it was strange hearing the assertive ¡®I know best¡¯ commands from a little girl¡¯s voice; He took off his shoes and ran to the starting area on the scorching cobblestone without objection. ¡°Why should I trust that you know anything about this quest, you are obviously a new player?¡± A user was asking Aimee as Cosmos arrived. ¡°She has been over 30 characters there probably isn¡¯t anyone in Versailles Continent more knowledgeable about quests you can get under level 130 than her.¡± Cosmos replied in her defense. ¡°Thank you for that, yes my first time in Versailles was as an architect that¡¯s how I know about this class quest¡± said Aimee. The architect had graying hair and was approximately 60 years old he jumped upon seeing Cosmos. ¡°You¡¯re the party member she was waiting for, but you¡¯re a murderer, why would I choose to share a quest with a murderer?¡± ¡°There were extenuating circumstances¡± Cosmos replied as if that were all the explanation required. ¡°Please use my knowledge in your quest I beseech you.¡± Aimee begged holding her two little hands together under her chin and batting her big eyes. ¡°Okay¡± Cosmos nearly laughed watching people cave to needs and wants of children was entertaining, beautiful woman, and wealthy bribers had nothing on children. ¡°Ah, you¡¯re back I was hoping to see you again.¡± Said the old jerky vendor Cosmos met on his first day. All his jerky was gone except one row that hadn¡¯t dried yet. Cosmos was glad his snack stand seemed to be selling better than it was on that day. ¡°Hello good sir, I see business is going well, I¡¯m glad for you.¡± Cosmos replied with a slight bow. The old man angrily looked back at his stand and shook his head in disgust. ¡°If only that were so, but as it happens my product was stolen by a murderer named ¡®Mad Max¡¯. This kind of crime is all too common and the guards are to busy to make a real difference. Punish him and his ilk then I¡¯ll spread the word of your good deeds among the market district.¡±
Vigilantly Requests by the Locals Market District locals have been greatly suffering from injustice caused by Freemen, whom have risen in number over the last five years. The Merchants Guild chooses to have Freemen restore their own honor rather than request aid from over worked guards. Answer their call as a representative of all those Freemen Foreigners summoned by Gaea the Holy Seer, whom don¡¯t wish to be on bad terms with the Locals. . Difficulty: E . Quest requirement: Each party must have an assassin; failed if any locals are killed due to vigilantly activity; crime must lower not rise.
Cosmos would have accepted the quest in a moment if it were a simple bounty but the difficulty was E and there was implication that it was ongoing. It was hard to tell what other users level was, many people could look at each others equipment and get a good idea, but Cosmos was yet unfamiliar with item quality. Aside from the particular look of mithral that was worn by rich users over level 200 or general users closer to 300 he could only guess at item quality. A little known fact was that the Merchants Guild had started endorsing assassins to protect their trade market. Aimee perhaps sensing he was about to decline a quest grabbed his sleeve looked up into his eyes and nodded her head reassuringly. Cosmos sighed though he didn¡¯t know if it was in relief or just acceptance then he nodded to the old vendor accepting the quest.
You have accepted quest.
¡°Cosmos-nim can find Mad Max to the west acquiring more items for his next adventure. My niece has an apple booth down that way he often steals from her. As long he keeps from taking over a certain value guards focus on more pressing matters. If he has already passed ask her for more information on Mad Max¡¯s whereabouts. I have told her about you she will be helpful as long as you¡¯re nice and well mannered.¡± Cosmos noticed the knife he used on his first day was still stabbed into the vendor¡¯s jerky stand. ¡°It occurs to me that you have me at a disadvantage, might I ask what your name is?¡± Cosmos asked the vendor politely. As James he didn¡¯t use people¡¯s names much but he knew Asians often got offended at being called ¡®you¡¯ so he tried to make an effort to learn and use people¡¯s names in Royal Road. ¡°No, I¡¯ll need some anonymity in my dealings with you just incase a guard captures you. It will be hard to say someone put you up to anything if you¡¯re not even familiar enough with them to know their names.¡± On their way to the west side of the market district the architect said his name was Kenneth and agreed to share his quest in exchange for Cosmos sharing the one he just got. Kenneth¡¯s quest was a class quest that required him to go into the under-city and make repairs. Cosmos and Aimee were to protect him from whatever creatures tried to get in his way or harm him. Cosmos was surprised at what he saw when they arrived at the apple stand; a beautiful woman with long red hair and a low cut green dress was hand feeding pealed and sliced apple to a warrior who leaned over the counter towards her. She had pale soft skin vibrant green eyes and an infectious smile that enchanted everyone who saw it. He was smiling stupidly as he walked Cosmos probably would have bumped the warrior out of the way to approach her if Aimee hadn¡¯t grab his sleeve and stopped him. ¡°You¡¯re so amazing, your beauty and charm are wasted in a place like this you should join the brothel. In a city as corrupt as this is that¡¯s the only place to work for one such as you, my sweet¡± the warrior said turning complement into insult. ¡°Oh I do well enough you see the people who steal from me always come back even knowing I¡¯ll charge them double.¡± She replied placing a hand to his face and shoving him off the counter in her other hand she held a handful of coins. When he stood Cosmos seen his name in red and caught a glimpse of the bloody diamond murder mark on his forehead. His name was Mad Max the murderer they were looking for. ¡°Thief¡­ why I ought a¡± Mad Max said shaking a fist angrily. ¡°That¡¯s the pot calling the kettle black isn¡¯t it? I admit this is far more than you owe me but I assume you¡¯re here to buy from me so I can take some out of that. Even if not, this is only a drop in the bucket compared with what you owe the rest of the market district¡± she said. Cosmos was dazed if she were a real woman she¡¯d be just his type harmonizing damsel in distress, ephemeral beauty, and spontaneous courage all into one.***Five years back James fell for an adrenalin junkie she was his base jumping instructor angry and confrontational. She had been raised as a ballerina proper and dignified one day she was fired and replaced by someone six years her junior. After that she immersed herself into extreme sports eager for someone to come save her but James encouraged her behavior so she broke up with him seeing their relationship as self destructive. She went back home and became a dance teacher for twelve year old girls; the thought that James used reverse psychology on her never crossed her mind. Every since then angry Irish Redheads have been imprinted as the jaw dropping, mouth watering, femme fatal in his mind.***Cosmos was troubled thinking that Mad Max may assault her he wanted to attack him to protect the woman. ¡°Is what I¡¯d like to say¡± she dropped all but two silver coins on the counter ¡°be-gone with you!¡± ¡°You¡¯re lucky that you came to your senses I was about to capture you and sell you to a brothel in a city my guild owns.¡± Mad max replied taking his coins and leaving; her face paled and she froze in fear of a fate possibly worse than death. ¡°He was bluffing I know him and his guild ¡®Road Warriors¡¯ there are only 12 members and not one of them are over level 200. They are no more than bandits and don¡¯t own a single city, village, or rest stop.¡± Kenneth said reassuringly to her. ¡°Excuse me mama, your Uncle has tasked us with dealing with Mad Max and others like him whom have harmed the trade district.¡± Cosmos said from behind Aimee trying to sound & appear none threatening yet respectful; forgetting that NPCs respond more to fame and notoriety than appearances. ¡°I was in hope that you could tell us of his movements that we may find a good place for a confrontation¡­ hum¡­ hum meeting.¡± Cosmos cleared his throat and rephrased the last word. ¡°Oh if it isn¡¯t Cosmos, Uncle Sullivan has told me about your initial summons unto our lands. You can call me Chloe, I¡¯d be glad to help you establish retribution against him granted that you let me take part in the ambush.¡±
Chloe¡¯s Ambush Many locals have a personal stake in their vendettas help them establish closer. Difficulty: F Reward: 25 fame Failure: failed if Chloe dies Quest linked to ¡®Vigilantly Requests by the Locals¡¯
¡°Agreed¡± Cosmos said in reply nodding his head.
You have accepted quest.
Cosmos came up with a plan that required the participation of all four of them. After nightfall he was silently waiting on the roof of a restaurant over looking the alley between it and the brothel Mad Max was so proud of. Chloe said that he always ended his days in the city by coming there & agreed to lead him to the alleyway. Kenneth was using spare supplies to build a fence with a gate across the alley opening. Aimee was in another alley practicing a single ranged attack Cosmos told her to use. The best thing he could think of for her to use as a weapon was the strap from her canteen brandished like a simple sling to launch a stone. This time Cosmos placed all 20 stat points from leveling into agility in hope that higher agility would increase the accuracy of his attacks and his safety from falling. As Chloe caught the attention of Max approaching the others got ready for action. She maneuvered him in-front of the alley; Kenneth let the gate swing open and held one end of a fence post diagonally behind Max; Aimee spun her sling then released one end launching a stone (little more than a pebble) at Max¡¯s forehead. Mad Max stumbled back from the impact of the stone; Chloe smiled and shoved his chest for good measure; he fell over Kenneth¡¯s post onto his back in the alley. Kenneth pulled the gateway door to his newly made fence closed hiding Max from onlookers. Cosmos leapt from the roof placing daggers side by side he stepped on their guards to keep his wrists from breaking on impacted. Mad Max screamed shortly and was silenced instantly as twin fangs penetrated his armor.
Level up: Dagger Mastery [5] +50% Agility +15% STR
Skill: You acquired a new skill, Falling Spider Strike.
Cosmos was surprised to see his daggers almost broke he would already haft to have them repaired. ¡°What¡¯s the falling spider strike? Skill window!¡±
Cleaning (Lv. 10%): Enables you to sweep and wash various types of surfaces. Gardening (Lv. 70%): Enables you to plant and harvest various types of fruits and vegetables. Cooking (Lv. 10%): Enables you to prepare and cook various types of food. Fist (Lv. 10%): Increases attack power and hit rating of fists. Dagger (Lv. 50%): Increases hit rating and attack power for daggers. Falling Spider Strike (Lv. 10%): Enables you to poison struck knocked down foes, prone targets. Sin/Mana consumption: 25 Seven Deadly Sins Assassins learn to pulse sin or mana down their daggers and transform it into poison. This poison damage is equal to 1/4th of the physical damage dealt in your attack; other poisons can be made by mixing the appropriate ingredients and applied in a number of ways.
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Cosmos was glad to finally have an attack skill but disappointed in its limitation to only hitting knocked down foes. He didn¡¯t know there were other ways to acquire skills besides being taught by another person or reading skill books. He had been asked if he wanted to save an action before but doubted that the action would use mana. As Cosmos was looking over his new skill, Aimee collected the items Max dropped. After the three of them turned in the quest to Chloe they got a little bit of fame and experience. She then instructed them to see her father to find out whom to help next but Kenneth insisted on getting started on his quest before continuing on a quest that would likely involve every merchant in Merchant Square. They entered the under city in a place of Aimee¡¯s choosing after she took but a glance at the map that was provided to Kenneth. The entry was a barred grate on the side of a scroll shop it took them a dozen feet down where it was reasonably cool and moderately dark. The architect was impressed with her familiarity of the city and asked how old she was in real life. She was clearly having trouble deciding how to answer finally she said ¡°My birth day was two day¡¯s ago but I¡¯m not really sure how old I am. My avatar¡¯s look was originally in the mid twenties but has been adjusted down to seven so that I can be mischievous yet still rely on others for protection. That was my dad¡¯s idea I don¡¯t think he wants me to grow up to fast.¡± ¡°Yes I can understand that, we fathers will always see our daughters as little girls¡± Kenneth replied. Cosmos silently took position at the rear of their group listening amusedly to their conversation. Over the past few years James had given a little thought to adopting a child but ultimately decided that honor should be left to couples so that the child would have a more stable environment. He knew from experience that growing up in an orphanage was far from ideal, but feared failing as a single parent. As they traveled in the under city most rats that seen them turned around and ran away but a few scurried past hugging the wall. Cosmos would have been content to let them go, but Aimee surprisingly attacked them with ambition. She got her first two levels killing rats; one time a group of five of the little rodents tried slinking past. Aimee killed the first in the line with her sling then they turned around to escape and she killed the last in line with an ornate dagger that she must have gotten from Mad Max. The last three filling trapped and vulnerable tried to attack her but Cosmos stepped on one and grabbed another by the back of the neck. After she killed the third rat of that group she quickly dispatched the two squealing in fear held captive by barefoot and hand of Cosmos. ¡°That¡¯s not cute at all¡± Cosmos chided; cleaning blood off his hand just as it turned grey and faded away. ¡°You like it¡± Aimee joked grinning mischievously! She was quick to gather any loot they dropped though it was typically just moldy cheese or their twitchy tails. ¡®¡­¡¯ shudder Kenneth laughed After half an hour they arrived at a load supporting wall that had crumbled. The architect took out his tools from a bag of holding (it had runes to reduce weight and increase carrying capacity) Aimee started marking stones to be cut Kenneth was mixing mortar and Cosmos began cutting the marked stones with a diamond tooth saw. Architects were clearly one of the higher paid classes. After that wall was repaired they headed towards the next spot marked on the map. Along the way Aimee and Kenneth both nearly died in an encounter with a dire rat the size on a Rottweiler. As they came around a corner it pushed Kenneth down and bit him once before Aimee slapped her sling around its neck and pulled it off of him. It scratched Aimee a few times whilst Cosmos got behind and stabbed behind each front leg with both daggers killing it. They soon came to a portcullis but the lever to open it was on the far side luckily Aimee was able to fit through the bars and open it. The only other way would have taken them hours to get where they needed to be. Normally a group would need a member of a small or tiny race like Halfling or Pixy to be able to fit through such a small space. The idea of having a diverse group of individuals in one party was appealing to Cosmos; but in the end they would all be humans in the real world so it would be better to look for people they were compatible with and accumulate a variety of skills, rather than look for people biased on what race they like to play. Spider webs were getting thick by the time they approached the next spot marked on the map. It was an arch way that had a few loose bricks, Cosmos suspected that the real reason they were required to come here was to wipe out the spider population. They had already killed no less eight spiders the size of basket balls. When Kenneth started pulled webbing away from his work area some bricks fell showing this area was in need of urgent care. Aimee found an egg sack nearly as big as her wrapped in silky webbing she ripped it open and started putting soft fist sized spider eggs in her inventory. At this four spiders three times bigger than the others came after her, one worked its way across the ceiling from a hidden place in the shadows, others from each of the rooms two doorways, and the last squirmed free from a large crack in the wall that seemed impossibly small compared to the size of the spider coming out of it. Kenneth killed the one nearest him with a few slashes of his diamond tooth saw ¡°how do you like that you nasty bugger?¡± ¡°Come to me my precious XP¡± Aimee killed another with a combination of her sling for ranged attacks then switching to her ornate dagger for melee combat. Cosmos easily killed the other two not feeling threatened just grossed out. ¡°Oh my, can you imagine one of these crawling through your bedroom window and making a web in the corner?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll never be able to sleep with an open window again thanks to that mental image¡± Kenneth replied. The architect worked on the archway while Aimee gathered loot and asked Cosmos to help her gather webbing. She insisted saying ¡°tailors, necromancers, alchemist, will all pay handsomely for most of this stuff, and even hunters wouldn¡¯t say no to the chance to raise a spider pet; they speed up the making of traps and are useful in any number of other ways.¡± A few hours latter Aimee showed them an exit. They sold loot, bought essentials, ate at a soup kitchen, and returned to the under-city before nightfall at which time they registered as friends and logged off. The next day Cosmos and Aimee hunted dire rats for a 12 hours (real time only 3 hours) waiting for Kenneth to log on. She was leveling fast using a short bow she bought the night before, stealing the killing blow on most his targets. It was frustrating sometimes Cosmos would have a nice combo lined out only to have his foe vanish dead from an arrow before he could give it the finishing blow. Yet he knew her gaining levels was important so he put away his daggers and started fighting barehanded so she could get the final hit more easily and even laughed good naturedly when she stole a kill on a nice combo he had going. Aimee ended up beating Cosmos to level 30 he was still only 27. This was possible thanks to the dire rats getting harder and giving more XP, he was still quite a bit stronger than her because she lacked a class and the stats boost that came with it. At level 30 she would have 145 attribute points mostly put into agility for archery but even without spending any points he had 160 split between agility and strength plus all the other bonuses his class gave like natural armor. ~ Hey look out behind you a named monster is about to attack. ~ Kenneth warned with the whisper feature from his friends list. Cosmos and Aimee had just finished clearing a room full of nesting dire rats when he got an urgent whisper from Kenneth containing a warning. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as he looked back he crouched sensing danger as much as seeing movement he leapt up and did a roundhouse kick connecting with a large white blur. It was a dire rat, the first white one he had seen; when it landed he learned the truth of it, it wasn¡¯t a dire rat but a wererat. Upon landing the white wererat with the name Slither in red over its head began to polymorph into its hybrid form. AN: Polymorph (minor action) an ability of all lycanthrope where the were-creature shape shifts from one of its three forms (dire animal, hybrid bipedal humanoid, and unique individual; typically human) to another. ¡°It turns out I¡¯m not the only that has learned this is a good place to level up during your first four weeks of city confinement hum?¡± Asked Slither from a crouched position that resembled a Muay Thai fighting stance. ¡°Wait, you¡¯re a player?¡± Asked Cosmos ¡°I thought you were just a named monster or mini boss.¡± ¡°Ha, ha no; I originally got a quest to eliminate 60 rats that were knocking over dumpsters behind an inn. When I realized I got more XP for killing the rats than the quest gave I decided to come down here and try to get the title for being over level 50 in your first 4 weeks.¡± The wererat replied companionably; Cosmos got the feeling he didn¡¯t talk to people much. ¡°If you chose a lycanthrope race, you should have been restricted to starting in certain cities & this isn¡¯t one of them.¡± Aimee said as she held her bow at the ready but not drawn refusing to let her guard down in front of a murderer. ¡°This will be a starting city for them if I can go four weeks without dying and control at-least two dozen dire rats.¡± Slither said taking a few steps towards Aimee as though accepting a challenge. ¡°As for being a lycanthrope, I started as a human but contracted filth fever down here after being bitten by a dire rat, then I logged off without getting it cured first, & by the time I logged back on it had advanced to lycanthropy.¡± Kenneth came swaggering up to them with his impressive arm and a half length diamond tooth saw balanced on one shoulder in a two-handed grip. ¡°Well if your goal is not to die for four weeks you¡¯d better not challenge us. About getting to level 50 I guess I could help by sharing my quest with you, since we already have one murderer in the group.¡± Slither looked worried at the arrival of another person but his whiskers twitched and the edges of his long mouth rose in what might be a hopeful smile at the mention of a quest. ¡°Cosmos isn¡¯t a murderer any more or at least his mark is gone after killing all those rats and spiders.¡± Aimee said to Kenneth ¡°he just barely got the mark in the first place from one hit killing that foolish thief.¡± Cosmos decided to give Slither a little more incentive to join them rather than fight them; he had seemed a little too confident about fighting him and Aimee at once by himself. ¡°I guess I¡¯ll spend some attribute points now, I may as well I have 130 unused I was going to wait until I had enough to put 80 into strength and agility each because every thing is so easy down here it made it more of a challenge to play with out distributing points.¡± Cosmos said calling up his status window then equipping his daggers after finishing. That seemed to help because Slither immediately asked Kenneth what the quest was and if it were really ok if he joined them. Cosmos thought that he probably watched them for a while measuring their skill before deciding to try and kill them for the XP. Slither may have even sent some of the higher level dire rats at them assuming he had enough to spare and still complete his quest with the required 24. Slither put on his starting clothes then used polymorph again this time to his human form. Cosmos was surprised to see that Slither was albino and wondered if that was how he looked in real life. He was Asian about 5¡¯2 tall white hair, skin, and his eyes had almost no color at all; on closer inspection they were pale blue with a pink outline around the iris. The weapon he wielded was a short sword in dire need of repair it was a diamond shaped blade with nicks and chinks all down one side and up the other it was also dull and rusty. After a few minutes used to get to know each other Aimee began to lead them to the last place that Kenneth needed to repair. Nobody thought it was a coincidence that they didn¡¯t have anymore encounters with rats. Spiders continued to be as hostile as ever, aggressively dropping from the ceiling sometimes pulling sheets of webbing with them, or pushing up from hidden holes in the floor and walls. One time in an especially wide open area they even had to kill a few large bats; it was disorienting at first but they eventually managed to beet them without to much difficulty. Some 16 hours (4 hours real time) after meeting Slither and still not having returned to an area they¡¯d already fought in Cosmos finally started to respect to size of the under city. He suspected that he still knew which direction was north but it was probably just his imagination and even if it weren¡¯t that little bit of instinct would help little in getting out of this maze of tunnels. When they arrived at the last place marked on the map Kenneth gave the three of them rakes from his nearly bottomless bag and instructed them to unclog a drain releasing a river of sewage. Their work must have upset the local inhabitants because an endless swarm spiders attacked. Slithers¡¯ short sword broke so he used polymorph to change to his hybrid form attacking spiders with claw and fang. When Slithers¡¯ health went below 50% at-least two dozen rats joined in the melee against the spiders. Just as they defeated the spiders Kenneth finished repairing the last pillar. ¡°Well, I guess this wasn¡¯t a solo quest after all! Thanks for all your hard work; shall we go turn in this quest?¡± The three of them looked at Kenneth in exasperation he just worked with his back to the enemy and trusted them to keep him safe. Cosmos and Slither had both nearly died repeatedly not being heavy armor type classes with high vitality had nearly cost them the quest. At-least architect class has a lot of vitality like sculptures he could have helped. This slave driver is the worst he would have turned in the quest alone if we had all died! Cosmos thought bitterly looking at Kenneth¡¯s false smile. Aimees Class: Chapter 6 Chapter 6 Aimee¡¯s Class The rewards for Cosmos¡¯s participation in the architect¡¯s quest were 2 levels worth of XP and an ordinary-looking backpack that was surprisingly light.
Handy Haversack This backpack can hold up to 1,000 pounds in weight or 100 cubic feet in volume, but it always weighs only 1 pound.
For Slither¡¯s part he gained 1 level and a rucksack, upon inspecting it he exclaimed. ¡°Wow this bag can hold up to 200 pounds in weight or 20 cubic feet of items but never weighs more than a pound!¡± So the rewards are contingent on how much we participate, Cosmos thought, that¡¯s good to know for future group quests. After everyone claimed their reward and Kenneth disband the party Aimee confided to Cosmos that she planed to become a caster class. ¡°So, knowing that, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll forgive me for spending the next three and a half weeks reading in the library.¡± ¡°That surprises me, I thought you were going to choose an archery class the way you took to your new weapon¡± Cosmos replied. ¡°Well it did feel right but I was too limited in what I could do, clerics and wizards both have some nice traits that would fill my needs but I¡¯m as yet undecided on a class. Casters don¡¯t have to be lacking in melee qualifications they just almost always are.¡± Aimee explained but they both knew she wouldn¡¯t be able to do nearly as much damage with a bow & arrow if she didn¡¯t choose a class that supported it. Most classes chose to wield a sword at some point in their career but seldom get the +50% damage with swords and only swordsman professions ever go the +100% damage with swords. Anyone whom picked up a sword and used it long enough could generate the sword mastery skill that gives a +% to damage and attack speed based on your mastery level but having the +100% damage on top of that makes a world of difference. It was the same with archery most shaman classes and some rogue classes get +50% damage with bows & arrows but only archer classes get +100% so most rogues stick to their daggers whilst shaman prefer a staff or wand with some sort of totem or focus item in their offhand. Slither¡¯s ear noticeably twitched and he came over to them. ¡°Well your performance in archery sold me. Even with my 5 health regeneration every 6 seconds and natural armor from my racial stats I nearly died many times. So I¡¯m going to become a hunter, or beast-master, one of the archery subclasses that use a bow & arrow for their main weapon.¡± Cosmos thought that the facial ticks must be a side effect of contracting lycanthropy. Something to look out for now that those players will start spawning in this city, not to mention NPCs will likely contract it as well, he decided. Cosmos had no intention of spending three and a half weeks contained in the library, but Aimee made him promise not to go grinding levels or questing without her, so he decided to focus on raising vitality. They both added Slither to their friends list before parting ways. There were a number of professions that generated a lot of vitality fisherman, architect, sculptor, and gardener just to name a few. Cosmos thought that he would probably like to try one profession for each of the weeks he and Aimee were apart. He started with fishing because there was a nice place he read about inside the city. The Black Lake District was the wealthiest part of the city not counting the kings palace. Only the most well to do merchants and nobles lived there. The scenery was unmatched a panorama of colors and sounds put you at ease. The landscape resembled a multi million dollar golf course complete with duck-ponds and sand-traps. The outdoor sculptures were mostly abstract but some were very indecent or ¡°beautifully lewd¡± as a pair of women he walked past described them. They reminded him of an outdoor sculpture park on Jeju Island in South Korea that featured over 140 sculptures representing humans in various sexual positions. This game was created by Koreans after all I guess it is only natural that large parts of their culture crosses over. Cosmos thought sitting on a mermaid bench that was distracting to say the least.
You have looked at ¡®Water Nymph¡¯s Temptation¡¯ For 24 hours you will receive +15 agility +25 vitality +500% on stats gained from fishing The first of each fish type you eat will permanently raise your vitality by one point This effect will not stack with other sculptures
It cost 5 gold to get into Black Lake District and minors were not allowed. Most people that paid the hefty fee were successful artisans coming to raise their art stats but there are a few of a much larger variety throughout the district. Cosmos rose his vitality by over 50 points that first week and agility by nearly 25 Next he went to a greenery called ¡®The Four Seasons¡¯ and used all of his remaining money to buy a sack full of fast growing blessed seeds. You could literally watch them grow after planting and watering the fruit trees would bare fruit the first week after planting them. He chose a place to the west of the city to plant them that only took two days. Then he spent the next three days building a low quality shack inside his orchard. There were also a few mines outside the west of the city Cosmos spent a week and a half digging in them. He raised his strength by 25 and his vitality by another 10 there, the work was exhausting. He would have dreams of working in the mine and wake up fatigued. Cosmos met a barbarian axe wielding warrior named Little Tom in the mines whom said he got 50 strength and 50 vitality before mining stopped giving stat points. When Cosmos told Little Tom he gained more vitality than that after only one week fishing in Black Lake District he blushed scarlet and started counting his money then left right away. Insisting ¡°of course I¡¯m only going for the status points it¡¯s not like I want to see lewd statues.¡± They added each other to their friend¡¯s lists and promised to go questing in some nearby dungeons soon. ~I can leave the city now and I got a quest to receive a hidden class meet me at your shack in the orchard. ~ Aimee whispered to Cosmos early one morning just as he got to the mine. ~Ok I wasn¡¯t looking forward to digging today anyway. Congratulations what is your class going to be! ~ Cosmos asked intrigued and anxious eager to be fighting again. ~It¡¯s a Shaman variant class called Holy Sear~ Aimee replied happily. ~Like ¡®Gaea The Holy Sear¡¯ responsible for summoning all the travelers to this world? ~ Cosmos asked with great interest. ¡­..*_* ~It seems so¡­.. Big sis was disappointed that you asked for me to have a body here, and she doesn¡¯t want us wandering off doing our own things separate from each other. So this is her way of keeping balance you¡¯ll understand after we complete the quest. One last thing; allow these people that I¡¯m bringing with me to believe that you¡¯re an NPC for the duration of the quest. ~ Aimee said the last part with a sorrowful tone she clearly didn¡¯t like asking him to lie for her. ~I could pretend to be a monk serving a vow of silence if that would simplify things? ~ Cosmos offered. ~Would you really be willing to do that for me? ~ Aimee asked timidly ~Sure, why not~ Cosmos replied simply he didn¡¯t like leading people to believe things that were not true but this felt harmless. ~Ok I¡¯ll get some monk robes for you. Any requests on colors or styles you want them to be? ~ Aimee asked companionably. ~Any thing is fine use your own judgment keeping in mind how hot it has been these last few weeks.~ Cosmos said hopeful that she wouldn¡¯t bring some thick heavy woolen robes. A half hour latter they met at his shack she gave him a light monk robe that was really just some baggy gray pants with a thin orange stripe around the waist and ankles and some matching baggy gray shirt sleeves that had a cloth strap spanning his shoulders behind his neck and another in front of his neck over his collarbone. There was no material over his chest stomach or back. They were outside talking a short while latter when the rest of her party arrived. What was surprising was that four of them were clearly necromancers you had to be at-least level 200 before you could class change too necromancer. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. A fifth member looked like a normal civilian she could have easily passed for an NPC vendor. She was short, with light brown hair, tan skin, wearing a small white skirt, a brown vest over a white blouse with short sleeves, no noticeable weapons, and bare feet; that made Cosmos smile mischievously he liked having a girl at a disadvantage. ¡­..-_- On second thought he was barefoot and weaponless to but he still felt that there was some how an exotic quality to barefooted women. ¡°Enchantress Kora please give him the necklace I asked you to make with your best quality jewel crafting skills¡± said Aimee. She pulled a gold necklace with many large dark gems on it out of her belt-pouch walked up to Cosmos then standing on her tippy-toes leaned against him putting it over his head. He blushed as her vest parted leaving only a thin layer the cloth from her blouse separating her breasts from his naked chest. Kora smirked thinking him an NPC she put a finger in her mouth then placed it against him dragged it down his chest before returning it to her mouth stepping away teasingly. Cosmos¡¯s mind was wandering he didn¡¯t even hear the name of the necromancer whom Aimee instructed to teleport them nor where they were going. It was hot far hotter than the area they just left his feet were burning in the sand. The desert he guessed that they must have traveled some 4,000 miles south. Even after the teleport they had to travel for 12 days using the stars as their guide. It wasn¡¯t easy to get where you wanted to be with the teleport skill unless you were going somewhere you had already been. The scenery was unchanging for miles in every direction making navigating much harder. They were sometimes attacked by creatures that burrowed under the sand, snakes, giant scorpions, whatever the creature may be it was quickly killed then turned into an undead minion. The hardest foe they fought by far was a giant sand worm; they felt minor tremors then it burst directly up in the air knocking every one of them to the ground with a mighty quake. Its first attack against a necromancer took half his life Cosmos¡¯s attacks were doing no damage. He finally got a lucky hit in between its scales.
Critical Hit 1 Damage!
Everyone but Cosmos pulled back to attack with ranged skills he easily evaded its attacks but moved to far from it once so it went underground removing their curses and degenerative affects and even evaded a dark spear throw. When it came up again it knocked them all down and attacked another necromancer. Luckily not the same guy or he would have died but with two party members at half life things were looking grim. Cosmos attacked it some more and they all moved back again this time he made sure to stay near the giant worm and after sometime they managed to kill it. They all rushed to cast their spells each wanting to be the master of such a minion. The first two failed they had insufficient skill to raise such a minion the third succeeded; from the look on his face you¡¯d think he was a proud father of a new born baby. ¡°I think I¡¯ll call her Nelly, this is the first minion I have raised that¡¯s health didn¡¯t degenerate over time. So I won¡¯t have to use ''blood of the master'' every few hours to keep it alive.¡± He said imperiously the others were clearly jealous but Aimee, Kora, and Cosmos were the only ones who congratulated him. Their rivalry was very competitive one of them acquired a half dozen minotaurs from an encounter another got a sand drake. Anything smaller they would let die not wanting to share their health points with them. Cosmos wondered why Aimee didn¡¯t get a balanced group one necromancer would have been plenty. He figured it must have something to do with her quest so he didn¡¯t even ask her with the whisper chat ability. They arrived at the place that should have been the dungeon entry but it was just a slightly bigger sand dune than those they had been crossing over for days on end. After some debate they decided to check the far side of the dune they all feared the same thing that the wind covered the dungeon with sand. When the giant undead sand worm tried to move through the dune it caused mountains of sand to cascade down revealing sandstone caverns. Its master cooed at it saying what a good minion it was and that he regretted that it couldn¡¯t come inside with them. ¡°Now Nelly be a good girl and guard the entry.¡± The minotaurs barely fit and the sand drake had to wait out side as well though it would probably die again before they returned and its corpse likely wouldn¡¯t be exploitable a second time. Cosmos wished that the minotaurs had stayed outside as well all that time in the unbearable heat caused them to rot the smell was awful. Cosmos was level 41 now and still not satisfied with his vitality score but neither was he willing to spend attribute points from leveling up on that statistic. All his attribute points from leveling up went into strength and agility equally though his strength was currently a little higher because of all the time spent in the mines. They used area of effect skills to wipeout swarms of scarabs the same guy controlling the worm also took control of two patrolling mommies. A few death-knights were killed but the undead were the only ones able to get hits in thanks to the narrow corridors. Entering a room with a fired up brazier and an altar they left the minions behind. Around the altar were four pedestals that said in runes on large carved tiles Death magic, Curses magic, Soul Reaping, and Blood magic. The necromancers all looked at each of the pedestals inspecting the book that rested on each of them before situating themselves at their chosen podium looking inward towards the altar. On the altar were two very rusty blades Cosmos recognized them as fencing dualist weapons the dagger was a main gauche and the sword a rapier. Aimee instructed Cosmos to grasp the blades on the altar he wanted to refuse because they had spindly needles protruding from their grips. Kneeling before it he grasped their grips as hard as he could blood dripped into a brass plate that the blades were resting on. The necromancers each started chanting spells from their prospective books. The enchantress Kora came up behind him and touched the necklace with dark gems only now they were glowing red. Aimee came up to Cosmos and grasped his hair with her left hand then she unsheathed her ornate dagger and rammed it into his heart three times followed with a slash across his throat. His blood poured into the brass plate filling it up he was down to 10% health and it was going fast.
You Are Bleeding!
What kind of quest requires you to kill a teammate? Cosmos thought bitterly ¡°Unsummon Deadly Assassin, Cosmos!¡± Aimee shouted anyone seeing the anguish in her face would have known this caused her great sorrow. The necklace lost its red glow and Cosmos vanished into black smoke. As the necklace fell-into the blood filled brass plate it absorbed all the liquid and regained its glow.
You have lost a level due to death the last five stat points you placed will be removed.
-12% to skill mastery
You have been Soul-Bound! You need not wait 24 hours to log in if you are summoned with the use of the enchanted item you dropped.
***James got out of the capsule walked to the sink and washed his face then grabbed an apple and headed to the basement to hit the punching bag for a short time. Android A7 012 was sitting at a desk behind the capsule drawing the scene that just transpired from Aimee¡¯s point of view. In the picture the avatar that looked just like James had three holes an inch apart from each other one above the next in its chest. His head was held down by a small hand in his hair so that the blood spraying from his neck would go onto the sacrificial altar. The android ripped the paper free, crumpled it, and tossed it into a nearby wastebasket. Something Wicked This Way Comes: Chapter 7 Chapter 7 Something Wicked This Way Comes Aimee had all but completed her class quest; the one thing that was needed was for her to summon Cosmos back. ¡°Alright we did it!¡± ¡°I know, wow I had my doubts reading the quest description, but we really did it.¡± The necromancers cheered at their success on a job well done. ¡°Congratulations on getting that spell book it was my second choice.¡± Tamari the only female necro among them congratulated Marico whom was removing the curses spell book from his pedestal. Yet she jealously held the soul reaping spell book against her abdomen as though she thought one of them would try to take it. ¡°I think we all got the one we like best but there isn¡¯t one among us that wouldn¡¯t kill to have all four of them.¡± He replied with a smirk. At that there was silence for a long moment as the four of them looked at each other threateningly until Kora broke the silence. ¡°Oh my, my dear girl, Aimee what¡¯s wrong why are you crying? Don¡¯t worry he was only an NPC and he''ll be back; we all got the notification the bonding was a success.¡± The enchanted necklace was a replica of other such items travelers used to summon servants or allies to fight beside them. Aimee was surprised that Cosmos didn¡¯t recognize it as one such item when it was given to him. She knew that he had seen at-least a few of them from watching ranker videos. There were 7 in the few dozen he had seen over the past two years. In the most resent video 2 were used to summon vampire lord Tori and death knight Van Hawk. Humans let a surprising number of details slip past their consciousness and they are quick to forget the few things they do noticed. She had hoped to summon Cosmos right back to her side but James apparently decided he needed some time in his corporal body to do some physical activities. Aimee feared that he was mad at her; the shame and sorrow she felt for killing him was still weighing heavy on her conscience. How could people do all the horrific things accounted to their past if these emotions were a consequence of their actions? Surly a large part of it is due to their exceedingly meager memory but some people are just broken. She couldn¡¯t claim ignorance of what her actions would bring but she somehow thought the feelings would be much less even after all the emotions she had felt in the short time she had this avatar. Except for a few things summoning him would essentially be the same as logging back in. Cosmos would get a few effects from the enchanted necklace. He would receive full experience for kills he made by himself not sharing with the party and anything Aimee killed would give him 25% of her XP making her share of party XP smaller. She could use it to summon him to her side from anywhere in Royal Road. She could also use it to force him to log off at any time that he was under the 24 hour log in restriction by unsummoning him. She knew intuitively that at some point the necklace would no-longer be required to summon him. She didn¡¯t know if it would be after he amassed a certain amount of XP but she thought it more likely that the system would have to recognize a bound between them first. A couple salty tears had fallen on the necklace as Aimee knelt in front of the altar leaning over the brass offering plate. She thought Gaea had gone overboard programming her human emotions. I would have declined the quest if I knew they were going to be this extreme. Emotions of this level are crippling! I can¡¯t blame James if he never takes on the insubstantial alter ego of Cosmos again. Kora scooped up the enchanted necklace ¡°I think I¡¯ll take this after all. Now that it¡¯s enchanted and has a soul bound too, it is far more valuable than anything else that¡¯s dropped.¡± ¡°Eh¡­¡± T_T Aimee started to complain involuntarily before seeing Kora¡¯s smile and deciding that she was just picking on her. Though even if she wasn¡¯t Kora was well within her rights to take it. In order to build this party Aimee had to promise the necromancers each their own unique spell book. Kora had only requested her choice of drops over the duration of the quest. Everyone else knowing that she had a small yet invaluable rule to play agreed. She knew James wasn¡¯t in her capsule right now so she didn¡¯t fear that Kora would summon him. Aimee didn¡¯t think of the capsule as her possession but as her real body in the real world. Even if James is only out of the capsule for a few minutes four times as much time will pass here. So I have some time to get it back and if Kora is just teasing me then she¡¯ll likely give it back once I tell her that I need it to summon Cosmos to complete my quest. *** Jane was a reporter that worked for an American TV station from inside Royal Road. Other American company¡¯s ratings were terrible when they first started broadcasting due to focusing on real world celebrities in-game. Reaction the company she worked for got a head start because their company head Yo-Han was from Korea and already knew what worked. He had a contract with KMC (a TV broadcasting company in Korea) that allowed him to show their footage across the states before any other source. Reaction was in danger of being absorbed by KMC TV in Korea due to their contract with them. Many employees thought it was an inevitable outcome despite their best efforts to bring interest to viewers on topics they reported on. Through their alliance with KMC they were able to absorb local channels throughout the states broadcasting on Royal Road. In the United States Reaction was now ranked 3rd in broadcasting just after 20th Century FOX in 2nd place and CNN as the #1 in the US. Yet KMC that was generally ranked 3rd or 4th in Korea still had more viewers than any company outside of Korea thanks to internet viewing. It was a little bit scary what Royal Road was doing to economy world wide. Every country was trying to reverse engineer, or recreate the hardware and software but the technology was just too advanced. (Little did they know that the AI was already all around them hampering their best efforts unless they were directly associated with Unicorn corp.) At best they were still 8-10 years away from creating a virtual reality with a small fraction of Royal Roads potential. When Jane first started working she would create a temporary character to interview one professional gamer after another. After each interview she would delete the avatar and make a new one in the city the next interview took place in. It was much easier than trying to travel that distance in time for the interview but required that the interviews always took place in starting cities. In the beginning only Humans, Elves, and Dwarfs were available to play but after the first four weeks of city restriction new playable races were quickly found. Among the new races were Barbarians, High Elves, Wild Dwarfs, Halflings, Tieflings, Pixies, and Dragonborn with many more yet to be found. Most of Reaction¡¯s employees never played a race other than the one they started with. Yo-Han upon realizing that Jane was ok with starting over had her try every race, gender, and class. So in this way Jane gathered a meager following from people who wanted to try a certain race or class. They would first watch footage of her 4 weeks in a starting city as that class and or race. Yo-Han insisted that anytime Jane played another class or race she must share what lore she could find about them with her viewers. For instance when she played a High Elf she not only shared their starting statistics but a racial ability of teleportation of up-to 25feet called ''Fey Step''. Also that they were creatures of magic with strong ties to nature and called themselves Eladrin; rather than High Elves, Sun Elves, Moon Elves, or Star Elves. There were a lot more classes than races and many of them had level requirements or some other prerequisite that was hard to achieve in only 4 weeks. The last two weeks (real time) Jane spent playing as an Orc then a Dark Elf Jane always chose her real name so as not to confuse her regular viewers unnecessarily. Halloween was coming up and she decided to make a hideous character in the spirit of the occasion. *** Yo-Han, Jane¡¯s boss was ecstatic with the idea and went home that night to share the news with his family his daughters counted themselves as Jane¡¯s number one fans. Since they were twins they thought that their claim had twice the validity as anyone else. They were following Jane¡¯s steps across the continent of Versailles choosing all races they hadn¡¯t played yet even changing their gender from time to time. ¡°What¡¯s this Jane is going to change her avatar name to Graymalkin? That¡¯s a first she has always used her real name up until now. Are you sure it¡¯s not Grimalkin doesn¡¯t that mean ¡®an old female cat¡¯ exactly what kind of character is she making?¡± Ji-Sun asked. ¡°I¡¯m actually not sure about the name but she said she was going to make a character in the spirit of Halloween.¡± Yo-Han replied. ¡°Then dad had the name right; sis remember that play ¡®The Tragedy of Macbeth¡¯ the three witches called the weird sisters? We should join her and be the other two witches Paddock and Anon¡± said Ji-Yun. ¡°Oh! I¡¯m getting fired-up; my character is an alchemist I can make polymorph potions for the crew and have them reenact the play in Royal Road I¡¯ll be Macbeth of course.¡± Yo-Han said excitedly. They would start the play after a few days of preparation. Most his employees looked like themselves or the best versions of themselves but with this excuse to raise his alchemy skills they could look like proper Scotsmen. Reaction easily got some crafting professions to volunteer helping with costumes and props. Like this one family got excited by them selves and Jane ended up having to work overtime in Royal Road starting October 4th. *** Her children had planed a birthday party with their friends but now she couldn¡¯t go with them and her sitter was on vacation; some sort of school retreat. So after reminiscing over an old photograph album she decided to call her adoptive brother. James answered right away and said he would be glad to baby sit even making plans to take them to the park and have a barbeque. Unknown to Jane she made her avatar in the same starting city as James four (in-game) days before he started playing. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. True to her word she made her character hideous she stood less than five feet tall with a hunched back and lump on her shoulder. Graymalkin had a hooked nose, greenish skin, and a large raised mole with hairs growing from it on her chin. Her boss¡¯s daughters had somehow become smitten with her and chose to make their characters witches too. Paddock would have been better named Frankenstein¡¯s bride complete with stitches and she even had those two white locks going up through her big hair. Anon was a copy of Morticia Addams high cheek bones, pouty lips, and big sharp up-turned eyes. As the three weird sisters stood around their cauldron chanting Graymalkin felt that she was something of a freak. The other two were beautiful in a spooky way but she had made her avatar in the image of a classic hag. The weird sister witches only had three scenes in the play but when not otherwise busy sold cold drinks dipped from their cauldron throughout the hottest part of the day. They were chanting poem like mantras as they danced around their cauldron to get extra attention. "By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes. Then toll the bells both loud and deep, God is not dead, nor doth he sleep. The wrong will fail, the right prevail, With peace on Earth, good will toward men" "Ill winds mark its fearsome flight, and autumn branches creak with fright. The landscape turns to ashen crumbs, when something wicked this way comes. Crystal water turns to dark, where e''er its presence leaves its mark, and boiling currents pound like drums, when something wicked this way comes. A presence dark invades the fair, and gives the horses ample scare, for chaos reigns and panic numbs, when something wicked this way comes.¡± They stood on a stage meant for bards or dancers a wizard had somehow made dry ice for them so their cauldron steamed away without a fire beneath. The pot was enchanted to hold many times its mass so no mater how many people they served it never seemed to empty. Reaction was paying a celebrated payer to mix the brow; the pots contents permanently raised six stats 5 points. Graymalkin got the cooking skill and helped as much as she could; Jane always liked cooking but in Royal Road it was somehow fantastic. The Tragedy of Macbeth had already ran for two weeks it was now the 18th of October they would continue until the 31st. Graymalkin had more game time than any avatar Jane ever played. Thanks to the unique ingredients, a great chefs expertise, tricks learned from cooking with previous characters, and having served countless people Graymalkin¡¯s cooking skills had been powerleveled up-to advanced level 1. She was in this city to interview two necromancers Grim & Reaper about a quest they did and posted on the ¡®Hall of Fame¡¯ but just before they could meet Jane they acquired another quest whispering their apologies they left the city and haven¡¯t yet returned. *** After completing his latest race quest Slither learned that it was a chain quest when he received another one linked to it. The new quest required him to infect people with ¡®filth fever¡¯ at-least 12 of them must keep the disease until the third and final state and then sleep or log off without getting cured first causing them to become wererats. Slither went to the archer¡¯s guild and looked over the classes available to him. There were rangers, scouts, hunters, trappers, and beast masters not counting the hidden classes he read about online. How to get the hidden classes were closely guarded secrets but dark gamers would sell said secrets for the right price. From the classes he could see there were pros and cons for all of them. He imagined getting a hidden class that only took the best from each of the classes. After weighing his options Slither finally settled on the hunter class because they could choose a favorite prey and did extra damage against said prey. Four weeks (in-game) after starting his new quest he was no closer to completing it. Everyone he infected had it cured during the first or second state without sleeping or logging out. That¡¯s the problem with infecting people in a city they have to many methods of which to remove it. He first tried turning people by having dire rats attack them at night and then escape back into the sewer but quickly gave up on that because three dire rats died that night. Slither then tried getting people to willingly become wererats. That was a mistake once it became common knowledge that he was a wererat NPCs would sick guards on him every time they saw him. He found it hard just approaching most people because of his murder mark. So he ended up infecting them and then killing them but he had no idea how to advance the disease to the third stage first. Because they were generally in first stage after being infected killing them wouldn¡¯t a wererat make cause ¡®filth fever¡¯ needed to advance to the third stage before sleeping or logging out. So at best it would advance to the next stage upon revival and the first thing they would do is to have it removed.
Wererats 1/12
"Quest status" Slither called after receiving a popup saying one of the many people he had inflicted with ''filth fever'' had become a wererat.
Quest Status
Start an Epidemic You feel the need to have more of your race in this city with you; dire rats make poor companions Solution infect at-least 12 people from the city''s population to join you as wererats; after third state of infection the infected must sleep for at-least a short time to join the wererat population. Difficulty: Race Quest Progress: 1/12 Rewards: ???
Slither thought that the person to join must have been a thief he convinced to accept the race change a few days ago. It was likely that his fever had only just now reached the third state and he ether logged off or slept completing the transformation. "Status filth fever"
Filth Fever - Minor Disease
Initial Effect: The target takes -10% penalty to vitality scoreSecond State -20% penalty to defenseFinal State: -20% penalty to all healing cannot regain hit points
Lycanthrope Wererat (shapechanger) Immune to filth fever Regeneration 5 every 6 sec +1 every 5 levels (If a wererat takes damage from a silver weapon, its regeneration doesn''t function) +10% to vitality +20 natural armor +20% to cloth & leather armor (natural armor only in dire rat and wererat forms)
I don''t know what the big deal is, a few days of misery, maybe if they knew what the end result was they wouldn''t be in such a hurry to get rid of it? Slither thought Over the past few days three witches kept drawing his attention as they sold over priced cold drinks to the masses. Slither was surprised at how long the line was to buy from them. Sure it is hot but the most they should be able to sell for seems like it would be a couple silver coins not 10 gold. No way would I pay that much at-least not if it were my own gold. Slither thought jingling his money pouch his curiosity got the better of him. Having killed so many people he had amassed a lot of currency but had a hard time spending it with his infamy. Two of the witches had hourglass figures but to call the third an old hag would have been a complement to her. First witch ¡°murderer seeks to wet his whistle¡± Second witch ¡°mighten we call the guards then cook his gristle?¡± Third witch ¡°unless we doth charge him triple¡± The first witch cackled with a menacing screech the second laughed and the third giggled. Slither growled but forfeited the 30 gold it was all he had. He was pleasantly surprised to find that it permanently raised six stats five points but still inwardly promised to turn those three into wererats. *** James didn¡¯t know what to think about Aimee¡¯s actions sure they were for a class quest but he had hoped that she would turn down anything as convoluted as that. Maybe being an AI with access to countless records of humans doing self-serving unmoral acts left her with no opinion of right and wrong. He thought of many story inspired movies where Artificial Intelligence emerged and then there was an inevitable war for survival between them and humans. Maybe simply being an AI meant that she was nonmoral not subject to morality or ethics. After thinking whilst alleviating his frustration on the punching bag he returned to the capsule. He decided to watch her and see if she had a code of morality and if not then that it was his responsibility to teach her a system of moral principles governing the appropriate conduct for her actions.
Connect to Royal Road
Yes/No
James clicked yes
Can not connect for 24 hours unless summoned
Then he heard Aimee¡¯s voice -Summon deadly assassin Cosmos
Accept Summons
Yes/No
Tables for: Class / Race: working progress Tables Tables for Class & Race These tables are subject to change, with more data on royal road extreme change may occur.
Name AimeeProfession Shaman- Holy SeerAlignment NeutralLevel 46
Strength 55+20Vitality 55+20Wisdom 105+20Intelligence 105+20
Agility 55+20Fame Notoriety 25 None
luck 10Leadership 175+20Mana 1280Endurance 25+20
Health 1750Attack 107Defense 7Dexterity 20 +20
Magic resistance None
+20 to all stats +Empathy is added +80 to empathy stat +For 12 hours after summoning all stats increase by 60% in addition +Enables you to summon items you have enchanted and people you are friends with (people must except summons before completion of summoning) +Enables you to learn all spells up to the stage of master, -40% effectiveness for spells not associated with Sharman class. +Grants magic resistance based on your mastery of that magic category +Grants extra options to items you have enchanted +Increases attack power of creatures you have summoned +decreases mana consumption of all summoning skills +Enables you to learn secret skills based on your mastery of summoning +Increases your fame when summoning a creature for the first time Increased chance of failure with low empathy towards that creature.
Filth Fever - Minor Disease
Initial Effect: The target takes -10% penalty to vitality scoreSecond State -20% penalty to defenseFinal State: -20% penalty to all healing cannot regain hit points
Lycanthrope Wererat (shapechanger) Immune to filth fever Regeneration 5 every 6 sec +1 every 5 levels Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!(If a wererat takes damage from a silver weapon, its regeneration doesn''t function) +10% to vitality +20 natural armor +20% to cloth & leather armor (natural armor only in dire rat and wererat forms)
Race human sub-race Lycanthrope (Wererat)
Name SlitherProfession NoneAlignment Tendencies Toward- WickednessLevel 50
Strength 96Vitality 75+10%Wisdom 16Intelligence 25
Agility 62Fame Notoriety 25 300
Leadership 25Health 2750Mana 252Endurance 14
Regenerate 5 every 6 sec +1 every five levelsAttack 119Defense 5+20% +20 natural armor in dire rat and wererat formsLuck 10
Magic resistance None
+Immune to filth fever +polymorph three forms Human form requires concentration to hide your true nature. You will be treated as though you had no fame by those whom know that you¡¯re a werecreature & sometimes be treated hostilely as though you were a common monster. +Regeneration you will regenerate at half speed from wounds made by silver weapons.
Race barbarian stats are basically the same as humans but +6 to strength and -2 to intelligence, wisdom and agility. Also they are Immune to the effects of fighting spirit in others as far as I could see in the original Royal Road LMS chapters. Health 10 for every point in vitality +1000 for every 30 levels Mana 10 for every point in intelligence +5 for every 10 points in wisdom + a % don¡¯t know were this percentage comes from perhaps level or maybe endurance. Attack 2 for every level +1 for every 10 points in strength +10 for every 30 levels it probably builds up by a percentile in-between the 30 level mark not sure yet need more data. Defense is anyone¡¯s guess I¡¯m going to go with 1 point for every 10 points in endurance and 1 for every 20 points in agility. Add armor on top of other defense I¡¯ll say for every 1 point of :basic cloth armor :basic leather armor gives 3 :basic chain mail gives 2 points for every 1 the same quality of leather armor :basic full plate armor gives 2 points for every 1 of the same quality of chain. This armor system is way over powered for the heavy armor classes just because they can wear each lighter armor type under the heavier armor but that¡¯s how it is in royal road and truthfully it would be similar in real life. I¡¯m only going to give the heavy armor wearers 1 point for every 40 points in agility and lower their speed. People wearing chain mail armor will have ? cut off movement and attack speed. Those that wear full plate armor will have ? cut instead or ? more than when wearing chainmail. They will generally be knights ridding horses or some other mount to preserve their stamina.