《The Winged Knight》 Volume 1 - Prologue Hello everyone, this is my first Fan Fiction, and pretty much the first thing I''ve ever tried seriously writing. English is not my native language, and there will be spelling errors and some incorrect grammar. I wrote the first chapters I''ll post now over a period of 2,5 weeks, and I went back over them again and again changing things. I finally decided to just post it so I can stop myself from changing it even more. Therefore I might''ve missed some things that doesn''t make sense, if so please tell me and I''ll correct it. As always all criticism is welcome and appreciated. Thanks to anyone that managed to read this rant. ~borgen92 PS You might recognize the names of some of the characters, if you do it''s because I''m pretty terrible at inventing names, and I wanted to pay homage to some of my favorite authors. [p=center]The Winged Knight[/p] [p=center]Volume 1 - Prologue[/p] "What do we have?" the Doctor shouted to the EMTs over all the deafening noise of the ER. "Male, 18 years old, got hit by a car while trying to save a little girl!" screamed the EMT in response. "Alright, bring him to OR #3! Dr. Harrington is already preparing himself for the surgery." [p=center]***[/p] "Mr and Mrs Haines, I''m Doctor Alfred Harrington, I''m the man in charge of your son, and this is my wife Doctor Allison Harrington." The doctor gestured to the beautiful woman standing next to him, she was small, probably shorter than 1,60m(5''2) with long black hair, dark chocolate eyes and Asian looking features. The man however was almost the antithesis of her, being tall. Very tall. Probably over 1,95m(6''4) and had blond short hair and green eyes. Why the hell is he introducing his wife to us at a time like this?! thought Mrs Haines resentfully. "The reason I introduced her will become clear shortly," I guess I''ll wait until then. "but first I''ll give you a short description of how your son is." Mr Haines tightened his grip on his wife''s hands. "How bad is it? Will he live?" he blurted out before he could stop himself. Dammit what was wrong with him? The doctor was just about to explain how his son was, couldn''t he hold himself in check for 10 seconds? My son did just have an accident though, so i guess i''ll cut myself some slack. The doctor didn''t look irritated at all though, he just calmly looked him in the eyes and said: "Your son has extensive damage. He has three broken ribs, a broken arm and a broken leg. But i''m sorry to say that''s not the worst of it." They immediately tensed up hearing of their son''s damage. Oh god, why is he always doing stuff like this?! Mrs Haines thought resentfully. He always dives in headfirst trying to save whomever he lays his eyes on. God! Can''t he take care of himself first?! She immediately felt ashamed. I guess he wouldn''t be the son I loved if he didn''t do these things, but I wish with all my heart he would be more careful. But they do say little Alyssa will be alright because of him. She shuddered thinking what the car would have done to her neighbors little girl if it hadn''t been for Marcus. Doctor Alfred calmly continued; "Basically, your son damaged his main nerve cluster that is located just below the neck. This damage wasn''t enough to make him a complete quadriplegic, but it was enough that he won''t be able to use any of his limbs. The cluster is damaged, not destroyed so his brain can send commands to move body parts, but when they reach the cluster they''re stopped." "Oh my god, he''s never going to be able to move anything below the neck ever again?!" Mrs Haines shouted, horrified. "That''s how it looks right now, there are however some good news. First of all, there are several Doctors working on how to fix nerves, they might not be ready right now, but in 5-10 years there might be a cure, also since his nerve cluster was not destroyed, only damaged, it might slowly but steadily fix itself. There''s much that is currently unknown about how exactly, nerves work." "So he might be able to return to normal in the future? And can we speak with him?" Mr Haines interrupted. "That''s what I was coming to Mr Haines." Dr. Alfred still looked calm and not irritated in the least for the interruption. These people have been through enough without me getting irritated for small things like that, at least Allie will probably be able to help their son. "He''s currently in an artificial coma. Being awake will undoubtedly result in him sending commands to his body, which will result in them passing through the nerve cluster. And that''s not good right now, his nerve cluster needs time to try to repair itself, waking him up will only result in doing more damage to it and maybe destroying it permanently. But don''t despair, this is why I brought my wife here. Let me reintroduce her, this is Dr. Allison Harrington, head of the medical research branch of Unicorn Corp." Their eyes moved to the petite woman next to him. Unicorn Corp? Isn''t that the company with the so-called revolutionary virtual reality technology? But what has that to do with our son? Thought Mr Haines angrily. Nowadays, with the technological advances, the ultimate goal of every game-company was to equip itself with the virtual reality system. A truly great game named Royal Road, was referred to as the standard for virtual reality. It was created by Unicorn Corp which invented the Virtual Reality technology. Beginning with a fully implemented world, the game contained tens of thousands of races and users. Over tens of thousands of jobs, and hundreds of thousands of skills. You could enjoy adventure as you desire, hunt monsters, try to slay dragons. Not interested in things like that? You can even go fishing in unknown waters trying to catch new species of fish. The massive scale of freedom was amazing, and it was reputed to be one of the most enjoyable experiences you could ever have. The current number of players of Royal Road was somewhere in the vicinity of 400 million. And, the game was named Royal Road after the ultimate goal of the game. Uniting the entire continent of Versailles and becoming the Emperor. If you succeeded in becoming the emperor, you would get 10% of Unicorn Corp''s proceeds for a month. Which, would be a truly massive amount of money. "Hi, as my husband just introduced me, I''m Dr. Allison Harrington, but you can call me Allie." she said with a kind smile. "I''m going to be conducting an experiment using virtual reality for coma patients with intact brain capacity. And your son would be perfect for that. Basically what I want to do is move your son to my medical facilities, and connect him to Virtual Reality. Using a modified capsule that will connect into his brain-stem instead of the normal connection which occurs in the nerve cluster your son has damaged." "What this means is that if this works, he will be able to move normally, talk normally exactly as if his body was fine. We will create a virtual house for him to live in when he''s not inside Royal Road. And this means that you can visit him as well. This experiment is important for Unicorn Corp, and we''re prepared to give your whole family modified capsules that will allow you to connect to his house as well as Royal Road, so you will be able to visit him anytime you want." This is simply too much information to take in at the same time. They want to connect our son to a Virtual Reality? But if it works, instead of just laying there in a coma for countless years until, maybe, a solution has been invented or his nerves has somehow fixed themselves enough for him to use his body. This way, if it works we will be able to speak to him even though he''s still in the coma. Mrs Haines thought. "This is not without risks. But I''m confident we have about a 70% chance of succeeding. By the way we will, of course, monitor him at all times. We will monitor his virtual house, and his playing of Royal Road to make sure nothing bad happens, but i''m honest enough to tell you this is also for our research." "Also, the contract for this has a specific clause that says we will never disconnect your son from Royal Road or any other Virtual Reality game Unicorn Corp makes. Basically we guarantee we won''t just disconnect him after our experiment is done and you won''t be able to meet him again. If our experiment is done, either he will still be kept there under observation, or you can take him home with his special capsule so he can continue there." "Hmm, it sounds good. Well, maybe not good but certainly the best out of our options." Mr Haines said. He had clearly calmed down some during the explanations. "And with the capsules we can visit him anytime we want?" "Well, not anytime no. Because when he plays Royal Road he will leave his house and join the game, he will obviously not be there. So the best would be for you to decide a time to meet so he can log out from Royal Road and wait at his house. But even if he isn''t in his house, you can still chat with him inside the game. The game have a chat function which you can either write or speak to him directly. So don''t worry, even if he''s not in the house you can easily speak to him inside the game, although you might not be able to meet him as easily." "What do you mean? Why couldn''t we meet our son in the game?" Mrs Haines said angrily. "It''s not that you can''t meet him, it''s simply that the game is massive. It''s huge. So you might be too far away from each other. You have to realize that you will be working or busy with other things, but your son will be logged inside either the game or his house the whole time. Which means that with the 4x time speed inside the virtual reality, he will have much, much more time than you inside to do things." "Alright, I''ve heard about that. And I suppose now that you do mention it, if we play the game for let''s say 2 hours a day. That''s 8 hours of game time, but since he''ll be logged inside 24 hours a day, he will spend much more time than us inside it." Mr Haines said thoughtfully. "Yes that''s correct Mr Haines, your son will have much more time to do things. And he can''t of course stay in the same place all the time, so he''ll probably travel around the continent when he has this much time. That''s why i said you probably won''t be able to meet him in-game, but you can still decide a time to meet up back at his virtual house, also you can still chat with him inside the game. Regardless of the distance." Dr. Allison said seriously. "Can we have some time to think about this?" Mrs Haines said worriedly. "The faster you can decide, the better it''ll be. As I''ve said, right now he''s in an artificial coma. Without using Royal Road it''s not really ethical to keep him there. After all who are we to decide whether he''d rather live as a quadriplegic than stay in a coma for 10 years? But if you agree to this treatment, he can live in Royal Road while his body recovers." Dr. Alfred said seriously. "Please give us some time to discuss this." Mr Haines said in a grave voice. After an intense discussion that lasted for well over two hours they finally decided. "Alright, where do we sign?" Mrs Haines said in an exhausted voice. [p=center]***[/p] When I opened my eyes, all I could see was darkness. Nothing else, but darkness. Where the hell am I? This can''t be space can it? No, there''s no stars and could I breath in space? Does that mean I''m dead? Is this hell? Or, god forbid, heaven? If this is heaven that would suck. Last thing I remember was getting hit by the car then this. Is Alyssa alright? I hope so, it would be horrible if I died for nothing. Suddenly a bright light appeared and blinded me, when I opened my eyes I found myself inside the most luxurious house I''ve ever seen. House? This is more like a Palace. I was standing in something that looked like a living room, except the sheer size of it... you could easily play football here. The living room was richly decorated with a huge Persian rug that took up most of the floor. There was a huge sofa that could easily seat 30 people, dozens of chair surrounded the sofa. And a magnificent coffee table was in front of it, facing the wall. I could see outside the windows at the end of the room, a pool bigger than my old house with a huge water statue in the middle of it, and the ocean was behind the pool. "What the hell? What''s this? Heaven or hell? It looks more like heaven, but looks can be deceiving. Also if this is heaven, where''s all the beautiful women?" I unconsciously spoke aloud. "Seriously, this must be hell. A giant luxurious mansion that''s completely devoid of people. This cannot be heaven." Suddenly he heard a sound, it came from his right and sounded suspiciously like a giggle. He instantly turned towards the sound. "And what are you giggling about?" He asked the startled, beautiful woman. She was petite with warm chocolate eyes and dark long hair. "And who are you?" I asked before she had a chance to speak. "An angel? Or a demon? A succubus here to tempt me into hell? But if you are, why are you dressed like that with a lab coat? Shouldn''t you be in revealing, sexy clothing? At least that''s how I''ve always seen them in games and the like. Wait?! Does this mean I have a fetish for lab coats? Is my subconscious telling me that lab coats are my thing?" He''d seen the woman''s face go steadily redder and redder and now she turned her head away trying to hide her face. He could also hear something that sounded suspiciously like laughter in the background. He realized there were actually more people standing a way behind her, three women and two men in matching lab coats. He also realized that what he was looking at was actually a huge TV. It was the size of an entire wall, and it was showing a lab of some sort with the people in it. "Ahem." the woman said, fake coughing into her hand after regaining her composure. "I''m Dr. Allison Harrington..." Before she could finish, she was, interrupted. "Yes, that would make sense if this was my fantasy wouldn''t it? A sexy doctor to take care of all of my "needs". And another three female doctors to help her take "care" of me. Yes, I''m getting excited just thinking about it." I said with a smile. "But if that''s the case, what are the two men doing here? Do I have such tendencies? I certainly never thought I did, but if they''re here now it means my subconscious is telling me I do isn''t it? And who am I to argue with my own subconscious?" This time most of the people were blushing. Some, however, looked more composed. A short blond man looked mostly amused while the other man was blushing and looking away. "No! Let me finish before you interrupt!" Dr. Allison shouted. "No need to shout Allie, just talk and I''ll try not to interrupt you again." "As I was about to tell you," she gave me a glare. "This is not your fantasy but a..." before she could finish she was, again, interrupted. "If this is not my fantasy, then why am I naked?" Marcus asked as a matter-of-factly. "That''s because this virtual house was just created, and we didn''t realize you''d need clothes when you arrived!" she, again, shouted at him. "Virtual house? Anyway, so what? I just have to stand here naked speaking with you? I can''t have any clothes? Is this how you get your kicks Allie? Forcing patients to appear naked before you? Well, I for one am not embarrassed by my own body so your tactic is meaningless against me." The other people in the room started laughing while Allie looked angry. "Shut up! And go to your wardrobe in the master bedroom for some clothes!" Her dignity completely crumbled under my barrage. I suppose I should stop teasing her. I don''t even know where I am, so maybe I shouldn''t harass one of the only people that knows what''s happened to me. "Alright Allie, I''m sorry. Please calm down, I''ll go to the bedroom and change." The master bedroom was huge. Easily the size of the living room in my old house. It was lavishly decorated with a huge bed, that looked like a dozen people could sleep in it. In the wardrobe I found a grey t-shirt, some underwear and a pair of jeans. I dressed myself then went down to the huge TV/wall again. "Okay Allie, so if this isn''t heaven or hell. And you said something about virtual reality. Does that mean I''m dead or in a coma or something from the car crash?" This time Allie looked very surprised. "Yes actually. You were hit by the car, broke several bones but worst of all your main nerve cluster took considerable damage. To the amount that would you be awake, you wouldn''t be able to do anything except talk." she said sadly. Wow, worse than I thought. Well, at least I''m not dead. And this place doesn''t seem so bad. And, here I can move just like I used to be able to. "But don''t despair, I''m in charge of the medical research branch of Unicorn Corp. And this is my team." she said waving to the group of people behind her. Unicorn Corp? Isn''t that the company that created Royal Road? "Basically your nerve cluster is damaged, but not destroyed. It might fix itself, or new treatments might become available later. However, your nerve cluster needs to rest. To be able to repair itself. That means we have to keep you in an artificial coma meanwhile. And even if it does miraculously fix itself, it might take years possibly even decades." "That''s where we come in." she said, obviously proud over her team and their work. "We''ve directly connected the capsule to your brain-stem, bypassing the nerve-cluster enabling you to enter virtual reality while still in a coma. This is what we''re researching, using VR to enable people who are in a coma but with a healthy enough brain to enter VR without further damaging their brain. It might even help them by stimulating it." Wow. That sounds pretty cool. So instead of lying in a coma, I can be here and inside Royal Road? That sounds good, I''ve never played Royal Road but I''ve heard great things about it. "And don''t worry, we''ve notified your family that it was a success and you''ll be able to meet and talk to them shortly." That''s good. It''ll be nice to see mom, dad and Jenny. What they must have gone through when they heard I''d been in a car accident. I can already hear mom''s lecture. "Be more careful! You need to take better care of yourself!" Although, to be fair, this time she''s certainly right. "So just sit down in the sofa, and wait for a short while. They''ll be here soon enough. In the meanwhile, we''ll leave you alone to think some. As you''ve already seen this screen allows you to see our lab at all times, and it''s got a microphone so you can speak to us any time, and we can speak to you. We have a big screen on the wall beneath the camera you see through, so we can see you at all times. So it''s a sort of give and take. You can see us at all times, and we can see you at all times." The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. "By the way, if you haven''t realized it yet. That capsule over there" she pointed at a big coffin-like thing. "is where your body is at." "Alright, this is kind of a lot to take in right now. So I''ll do as you say Allie and sit down here and think on it some. Please send in my parents as soon as they arrive." Marcus said with a small smile. "Sure I''ll do that." [p=center]***[/p] "Marcus!" I turned around as I heard my mom shout. She, dad and Jenny came running to me. I got up from the huge sofa and ran over to them with tears in my eyes. I could see I wasn''t the only one with tears though. We formed a big group hug while we cried some. "It''s good to see you son." my father said in a voice that was suspiciously husky. "How long has it been? For me it feels like I saw you only an hour ago before I went out. But I guess it''s been a couple of days at least, right?" I asked. "It''s been over two weeks Marcus." my mom said in a wavering voice. "Okay, are you all at home now?" I asked, trying to move on to a less emotional subject. "Yes Marc, the Unicorn guys delivered three capsules for us to use." my little sister Jenny told me. She was 15, three years younger than me and I had always spoiled her immensely. She was beautiful, around 1,75m(5''8) tall and had wavy blond hair and looked very much like my mother. I however inherited my fathers light brown hair, amber eyes and height. I''m around 1,88m(6''2) tall, my father is around 1,85m(6'') so I''ve outgrown him a little. Most of my other features however, are from my mother. We broke off our intense hug. "Please, come with me and sit down. Also, I suppose I should welcome you all to my Palace." I said with a small smile. We walked to and sat down on the huge couch. "Yes, this house is certainly... large." my father said smiling wryly. "I suppose they realized what an august personage they were going to house here, so they thought it only fitting." I said with a smug, superior smile. Before breaking out in laughter with the rest of my family. This feels good. To be able to laugh together like this, despite what''s happened. "Well, i don''t know about that Marcus, but it really is more like a palace than a house." my mother said with a warm smile. Ah, even though it doesn''t feel like it''s been that long, but still it feels great to see my mother smiling like that. A lot better than what I imagine she must have looked like when she heard the news. I thought darkly. "How''s Alyssa? She okay? I was kinda worried about her but forgot about it when Allie told me all about what happened to me." I said in a slightly worried voice. "Yes, she''s fine Marcus. A few bruises but nothing more. Her parents told me to thank you for them. Also you''ve kind of had a lot going on. And, by the way, what the hell were you thinking throwing yourself in front of a car?! I know you were trying to save Alyssa, but still." And there it came. As expected. I sighed and told her in a heavy voice: "I know mother, it was pretty stupid of me. But honestly, I didn''t really think. I just reacted when I saw what was happening." "Well, I can believe that. Also, even though you almost scared me to death, know that I''m proud over you for saving her." "I just did what anybody would." I said in a slightly uncomfortable voice. "You did what everyone should do" my father said in a stern voice. "but not what everyone would do. I seriously doubt there''s more than a few people in this world who would do the same as you. I think most would just stand there staring, hoping for someone else to intervene or that it would simply solve itself." Well, that''s probably true. People these days are way too selfish. But I guess in this situation where you had to potentially risk your life for someone else they can be forgiven. Now that i think about it, would I do it for some random person and not someone I know? I hope so, I''d like to believe I would. "Anyway, it''s good to see you Marc. Everyone''s missed you terribly. People have been calling and asking about you around the clock. Also they''ve put down massive amount of flowers at the spot you got hit. It feels like there''s enough flowers to build a 1:1 scale replica of the Chinese wall! Also, there''s been news people camping outside our house. There was a news report on the TV about what happened, and after that you kind of became a celebrity overnight." my sister said with a slight smile. "Your sister''s right Marcus. Some people have even created a fund to donate money for your hospital fees or other expenses. Last I heard the fund had something along the lines of 1,2 million dollars in it." my mother said with the same slight smile my sister had. Well, that''s uncomfortable. Hero? Haha don''t make me laugh, I''m no hero. Just a regular guy, and dare I say it? Handsome young man. "Well, I''m no hero. If anything, I''m the charismatic Emperor, with just a little drop of tyranny in the mix. Just look at my Palace, surely this proves it?" I asked, with eyes so innocent you wouldn''t believe it. We all laughed together. "Yes, well Marcus believe whatever you want" my father said with a grin. "but I''m afraid we''re going to have to leave now. I promise we''ll see you again soon. And, we''ll try to squeeze in some Royal Road so we can chat there with you as well. I don''t really want to leave you right now, but I''m still awfully busy with work. Jenny needs to study for school, and your mother will have to start calling all of our relatives and friends to tell them we''ve seen you now and that you''re okay." he said with a sad smile. "Don''t worry about it dad, I know how busy you are and I can only imagine the carnage our relatives and friends are wreaking on the phone company." I said with a big smile that I hoped hid my sadness at their early departure. Saying something would only make them even more stressed, they must feel a huge relief now that they''ve seen and spoken to me and know that I''m relatively okay. We all hugged some more, I kissed my whole family goodbye then they logged out, and the Palace suddenly seemed very quiet. I was startled to realize I was crying. It''s not everyday you find out you''re almost dead, are probably gonna remain a semi-quadriplegic for the rest of your life. It feels like a lot to take in at such a short time. Bah! I shouldn''t feel so sorry for myself, at least I''m alive. And so is Alyssa my cute little neighbor. I hope she doesn''t feel too guilty about me getting hurt protecting her. It wasn''t her fault after all, if it was anybody''s fault, it was that driver''s. Was that guy drunk or what? Zigg-zagging like that in the middle of the street, he probably was. I forgot to ask what happened to him. Did he get away? Is he under arrest? Maybe I should ask Allie. "Hey Allie, now that you''ve finished spying on me during my shameful episode. Mind if I ask you a question?" I asked turning towards the giant screen-wall. Yes, screen-wall. That''s what I''ll call it from now on. She looked startled that I had caught her staring. It was kinda easy to figure out what you were doing Allie, you were just sitting in that chair glancing at the wall under the camera from which I can see the lab, suspiciously close to the place you said you had the monitor for watching me. Haha, she probably thought she was being "discreet". "W-what are you talking about Marcus? I wasn''t spying. And I suppose that depends on the question." the first half sounded very suspicious with her stuttering and all, but she composed herself enough for the second half. I noticed that she was the only one in the lab at the moment, that was rare. Previously when I checked the screen there were always a couple of them at least. Maybe they''ve gone home? What''s the time in the "real" world anyway? Maybe she has the first shift, or they were trying to be tactful and shuffling out the people so I could have some alone time with my family. "I''ll just ignore your spying for now. Anyway, do you know what happened to the driver that hit me?" I asked very seriously. She looked surprised I could be that serious. Well I do treasure my laid back attitude, but there''s a time for everything. "Yes I do. He was driving under the influence, and after hitting you he crashed into a tree. He apparently wasn''t wearing a seat belt, so he was killed instantly in the crash. It seems like after he hit you he got scared realizing he''d hit someone. So, panicking he accelerated and lost control. Ended up driving straight into a tree." she said with equal seriousness. "Alright, I don''t know what to feel right now. Relief that he got what he deserved? Would that make me a terrible person? At the same time do I feel relief? To me it feels like it happened just a couple of hours ago, and I haven''t really had any time to sort out my feelings on the subject." "It wouldn''t make you a terrible person if you felt relief. If someone harms you, isn''t it natural to want justice? To want that person to be punished for what he did to you? I think so, and most would probably agree with me. And you will have time to come to terms with what''s happened. Everything has been like a whirlwind for you." she said with a sad smile. "Yes, thank you for your advice. I do think I need more time to think it through. But I guess time is one thing I''m going to have now." I said with a slightly bitter smile. "Yes you will. But I promise you it won''t be all bad. I might be biased, no scratch that I''m definitely biased, but I think Royal Road is great. It''s incredibly fun, and you will have all the time in the world to play it. Sure you''ll miss out on things. But most of what you can do in real life you can do there as well. For example, your body doesn''t feel strange now, right?" "No... not really. I hadn''t thought about that at all." I said with a slightly surprised expression. "Yes, I thought not. As you can see, it feels completely real. It''s hard, nay scratch that. It''s almost impossible to tell the difference from real life. The easiest way to check is to bring up the menu by saying "Palace menu", try it." "I will in a second, but Allie, how is it that we can talk normally like this?" she raised an eyebrow. "I mean, isn''t time supposed to go 4X faster in VR or something? Shouldn''t that mess up our talking like this?" I said in a curious tone. "Well, you''re right about that. But to combat that problem, we made your "Palace" on a 1:1 time scale so it''s the same as the real world, exactly for combating that problem. Also, this makes it so that you won''t have to wait 4 days before you can play again. Like this you only have to wait a day the same as for everyone else." she said with a smile. A very nice smile, oh my, I know she''s married because of the ring...but well, I''ve always had a thing for older women. I thought with a smile. "Alright let''s give this Virtual Reality-thingy a test. Palace menu!"
Palace Menu
Royal RoadSpawning
Whoa! Freaky, a hovering box right in front of me...Hmm "Spawning"? What''s that? Let''s press it and see what happens.
[quart=Food & Drink,Electronics]Furniture,Games[/quart]
Spawning
"Hey Allie, what the hell is Spawning? Is it what I think it is? Can I spawn food etc out of thin air?!" I asked excitedly. "Haha, yeah it''s exactly what you think it is. You might not get hungry, but just like Royal Road in this place you can eat as much as you want without gaining any weight. So we added that feature so you could spawn food and other stuff to do. Basically, if you die in RR you will get locked out from the game for 24 hours, that time you will spend here. So this is for when you do die, or you have guests, so you can do something. There is, of course, the pool outside but with this menu you can spawn whatever you want. Lobster risotto? Sure! Peach sundae? Go for it! And you can use the spawning menu to for example, create a tennis court outside if you feel like it. Or a basketball court. Great isn''t it?" she said with a huge smile on her face. Ah, this is bad. This could get addicting. Getting almost anything you want at anytime at an instant?! Gotta make sure I don''t abuse this... too much. For now, let''s try creating some ice cream. "Food & Drink, Desserts, Ice Cream, Chocolate!" *TING
Spawned: Chocolate Ice Cream
The coffee table was empty, then a white light appeared on it, and suddenly a bowl of chocolate ice cream was there. It even had a spoon laying next to the bowl! Yummy! This tastes great, just like how I remember it. Actually I''m pretty sure this tastes better. Is it some kind of luxury ice cream? Who cares?! It''s free and delicious! "God, I''m gonna have to make sure I don''t abuse this. It''s way to luxurious..." I said with a sigh of pleasure as the chocolate ice cream melted in my mouth. "Well, if you want I can always disable some features..." she didn''t have time to finish her sentence before my roar of displeasure was unleashed. "Don''t you dare! This is heaven on earth! Or, well, I suppose it''s heaven in virtual reality? Hmm... wait why are you looking at me like that? I''m sorry okay! I''m a foodie, and don''t you dare threaten my food." I said with a mock glare. "Haha, no worries I was just teasing you. And it would actually be very complicated to disable just some features, so I''d rather not anyway." she turned when she heard a sound coming from somewhere off-screen. "Finally! Where were you all for so long? His family left almost half an hour ago. So, what''s your excuse for being away this long?" her words made it seem like she was angry, but her tone of voice sounded almost disappointed for the interruption. "Ehm... Allie we were actually waiting outside, but you looked like you were enjoying yourself so much that we didn''t really want to interrupt..." a man''s voice told her awkwardly off-screen. "Haha, Allie you falling for me?" I said teasingly. "I thought I saw a wedding ring on your finger, but I guess it''s not really cheating if you''re in Virtual Reality is it?" I said with a seductive smile. Now there was an awkward silence as Allie blushed and the rest of the group that had entered the room again, tried to hold back their laughter. A short bulky blond man looked like he was having a serious problem with it, while one of the women, the oldest one I think. She was probably in her middle thirties (This was Unicorn Corp after all, most of their employees are members of the younger generation.) also seemed highly amused with a smile on her face. I just realized it now, but does this mean I''m going to loose my virginity in virtual reality? That''s kind of sad. "Ahem..." Allie coughed into her hand. Oh, so Allie''s finally composed herself huh? I thought with a small smile. "Anyway, get back to work people, don''t just stand there!" she half screamed still having a slightly red face. The group quickly scattered and got back to their work duties. Oh Allie, I don''t think you look all that authoritative when you''re still faintly blushing. I thought with a smile. "Anyway Marcus, shouldn''t you try Royal Road now? We have work to do, but most of our work can''t start until you begin playing RR. That virtual "Palace" you''re in right now works to some degree, but what we really need is to start RR and see how it works for you." Allie said with a serious face. "You''re right, of course. I guess I do need to start playing now. Oh, don''t misunderstand me, I really am looking forward to it. It''s just so much fun to tease you that I can''t seem to get enough..." I trailed off with a heartbroken smile. "Oh stop it now! You''ve had your fun. Go on, it''s time to finally log on." she said tartly. "Yes mistress." I said in a quiet voice. She gave me a very sharp look indeed. Looks like I can always squeeze just a little bit more out of her. I thought with a smile. "Palace Menu!"
Palace Menu
Royal RoadSpawning
"Royal Road!"
Connect to Royal Road?
YesNo
Here we go... "Yes!" A bright light enveloped me.
Previous ChapterNext Chapter
Volume 1 - Chapter 1 - The Blood Knight [p=center]The Winged Knight[/p] [p=center]Volume 1 - Chapter 1 - The Blood Knight[/p] A bright light enveloped me. Suddenly I found myself floating in an endless darkness. This again? Well, this time it''ll hopefully be different. "The scan on your iris and vein has determined that you are an unregistered user. Do you want to create a new account?" a female voice resounded from out of nowhere. Whoa! Where did that come from? She sounds beautiful... I wonder what her name is? "Yes please, and may I have your name O''Nameless lady?" The voice was quiet for a while, making me unsure of whether i should have asked her. Until, finally, I got an answer. "I am the Goddess of Versailles, I do not have a name." the voice almost sounded sad. She doesn''t have a name? That''s sad, maybe I should give her one? "Then may I please have the honor of giving you one?" I asked slightly unsure of how she would react. Again, the voice was quiet for a while. "Please do." the goddess sounded slightly excited at the prospect of getting a name which made me relieved that she wasn''t upset. A name worthy of a goddess, hmm... It can''t be a name some other god or goddess have in the continent so... I''ve got it! Let''s just hope she likes it. "Then, from now on you will be known as Orianna, the goddess of Versailles. The name Orianna means sunrise, which i think is very fitting for a goddess." I said in a kind voice. This time there was a long, thoughtful silence. Until Orianna finally responded with: "Thank you, I''ve always wanted a name. And now, I finally have one. Orianna is a beautiful name and I will treasure it." she said in a happy voice which made me smile. "No problem my lady, a man should always endeavour to please a lady." I said with a happy smile. "Then, let''s continue with the activation process shall we?" she said in a slightly embarrassed voice. "After you, my lady." I said with a gracious smile. "Ahem, then... Please select the name of your avatar." I had given this some thought. I couldn''t simply name myself "Marcus" so i decided to choose the name of Aurelius, after the roman emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus. "I will take the name of Aurelius." I said in a firm voice. "Please select your gender from male, female or neutral." she said in an amused voice. "Do you even need to ask? Well, I suppose you do. Male of course!" I said in a strong tone of voice that made it seem like the face that I would be a man was a fundamental truth of the universe. "Royal Road has forty-nine races. You may select your race from the primary twenty-nine..." I could almost hear her smile. "Human of course!" again, said like the most obvious thing in the universe. "You may alter your appearance or stay the way you are." she said in an interested voice. "Stay the way I am! How could I possibly change this majestic appearance? Think of how all the women in the world would weep bitter tears." I told her in a supremely dignified voice. This time there was quite a long pause, I could almost imagine her sitting somewhere trying to keep herself from laughing. The thought made me smile. "Your account has been activated. Your stats and class shall be determined while you are playing Royal Road, would you like to enter the tutorial?" she said in a voice that could barely hide the laughter hiding inside it. "No thank you, I will skip the tutorial." Seriously, how many go through the tutorial? I can barely keep myself from bursting into spontaneous fire due to the excitement of finally being able to play Royal Road. "Please select a city and kingdom you want to start in." she had finally regained her composure. "Would my lady please give me a recommendation? By the way, for your information I''m going to be playing as a knight, and I would rather start in a kingdom that is not filled with other knights. I would like a city which has a good and strong knight that can teach me, I am aiming to become the strongest knight in the world after all." I said in a voice of steely determination. "The Kingdom of Dale is famous for it''s bowmen, but in the capital of Jinari there''s a famous knight by the name of Katherina. She''s also known as "The Blood Knight" which is said to have lost only one duel in her life, and that was against the famous Koldeurim, strongest knight of Kallamore Kingdom." she said, but there was something else in her voice... something hidden. What is she hiding? I can feel that there is more to know about Katherina... oh, well, I asked for her advice and here it is. "Alright, I trust you Orianna. Send me to Jinari then and let''s hope we can meet again someday." I said seriously. "Yes, let''s meet again someday Aurelius..." A blinding light was again starting to envelop me. "and please forgive me, but you said you wanted to become the strongest." she said with a laughing voice, but Aurelius had already disappeared by then. [p=center]***[/p] Suddenly Aurelius found himself standing in a big square, with a fountain behind him. The stone cobbled street, the shops around the square, the wooden stalls filled with everything from food and spices, to weapons and armors made me really excited to be visiting another world. Wow... this really looks medieval. I can smell some meat roasting from a vendor''s stall. God, it smells delicious. I turned, looking around admiring everything from NPC''s going about their day, guards standing ready to intervene at any sign of trouble, at Players walking around talking excitedly with each other. Is this truly a game? It''s more like another world. I can feel the wind blowing in my hair, the touch of my skin feels just like it should. But what did i expect? Didn''t I already experience virtual reality? Isn''t my palace also VR? Yeah it is, stupid of me I guess... But this is so much more. It feels so alive, so real. What''s the difference between this and the real world? The only way I can tell them apart is that there are some elves standing here and there with their pointed ears, also I guess if I use the command to bring up the status window I''ll really know. "Status window."
[quart=Character name,Alignment]Aurelius,Neutral[/quart][quart=Level,Profession]1,None[/quart]
Status Window
TitleNone
Fame0
[quart=Health,Mana]100,100[/quart]
[quart=Strength,Agility]10,10[/quart]
[quart=Vitality,Charisma]10,10[/quart]
[quart=Wisdom,Intellect]10,10[/quart]
[quart=Luck,Leadership]0,0[/quart]
Attack2
Defense0
Magic ResistanceNone
Charisma? Is that a starting stat? I don''t think so... but in that case where did I get it? Did Orianna give it to me as a gift? "Stat info; Charisma."
Charisma
[p=left]Increases your attractiveness and makes NPC''s and Players more likely to heed your commands, this also stacks with Leadership and Fame, and makes vendors likely to offer a discount if stat is high enough. Also makes it easier to tame pets, and allows one to charm both enemies and allies rendering them unable to oppose you, either by combat or speech. Stat points distribution is possible, but depending on the character¡¯s actions it can be increased by itself.[/p]
Haha that''s great. I''m going to have a lot of fun with that stat. I thought satisfied. Let''s see, I should probably ask one of the guards for the way to the Knight''s guild. I could see a bored looking man standing guard on the other side of the fountain, so I quickly made my way over. "Excuse me my good man, I was wondering if you could point me in the direction of the Knight''s Guild?" I said with my most gracious smile. For a moment he looked startled. I guess not a lot of people try to speak with them, it must be terribly boring standing around all day. "The Knight''s Guild, eh? That old ramshackle place still stands? Well, if it does I guess it should be down this street" he pointed at one of the exits out of the square. "follow it to the intersection, turn right and follow that road till it''s end. And I guess if it does still stand, that''s the place to find it." he said with an amused smile. What''s with this guy''s attitude? He seems to find it amusing that the Knight''s Guild still stands. Well I guess this is the Kingdom of the Bow, so maybe knights aren''t that respected here? "Why are you going there anyway? You should avoid it unless you have some business with Katherina, and even then you should probably avoid it. She is not known for her kind and thoughtful nature." he continued with a serious expression. "I was going there to train, so I could become a great knight. Isn''t Katherina famous as "The Blood Knight"? Shouldn''t a strong knight like her, be great as a teacher?" I asked in a slightly irritated tone. Why is he speaking badly about her? Isn''t she a great knight? The guard just looked at me strangely, then he abruptly laughed. He laughed so hard his laughter shook the square, people everywhere were turning to stare at us. I could feel my face going red with humiliation. Is he laughing at me? I was trying to calm myself, when he finally stopped laughing with tears in his eyes, and looked at me again. "I''m sorry lad, I wasn''t laughing at you, it''s just that someone has played a cruel joke on you." he said with a sad smile. "What do you mean?" I asked, dread apparent in my voice. "Sure, Katherina is known as "The Blood Knight" but do you know why? You probably assumed it was because she bathed in the blood of her enemies on the battlefield or something like that, didn''t you?" I nodded with a perplexed face. "I thought so. Listen, lad, Katherina is known as "The Blood Knight" because she almost bathes in her trainees blood. She''s incredibly hard in her training, and more trainees than I can count has been found sobbing in the street, beaten bloody purple and refusing to ever go back to her. It''s true that those that survive her training emerges incredibly strong, but the number of people who has completed it is probably less than the fingers on my hand. And the training itself is probably the closest you could ever come to hell-on-earth." he said in a voice filled with pity for me. Orianna! How could you do this to me?! Well, I guess I did say I wanted to become the strongest. Anyway, now that I''m here, I''ll be stuck in this city for at least a month. And even if I did wait a whole month, I would still have to travel for weeks, probably months until I could reach Kallamore. That, or I would have to delete my character and remake it. But I refuse giving Orianna the satisfaction of seeing me there again, with my tail between my legs admitting defeat. I must complete the hell-training! With newfound determination I again sworeto myself that I would survive this training. "Alright, I guess hell is waiting on me. Thanks for the information." I said in a surprisingly firm voice as I turned to leave. "Lad! You''re not really going there are you?!" the guard shouted after me. I turned and said: "I came here to be a knight, and even if this will be hell, what doesn''t kill you simply makes you stronger." At least I hope that saying is true. I thought to myself as I started walking out of the square, while the guard watched me leave. [p=center]***[/p] I arrived at the Knight''s Guild, and it was just as the guard had told me. It really does look ramshackle. It was a large building with at least three floors, and it looked like it had a huge backyard as well. The problem was that the house was almost falling apart. You could see some windows where the glass was all cracked, and the paint of the building itself was stripping of in alarming bits. It had clearly once been a white building, but now it simply looked a sort of, dirty gray. The roof looked ready to collapse any moment now. And the whole building looked slightly slanted. How is this place still standing? I thought with a touch of dread, anybody that lived here has to be bad business. My newfound determination was quickly crumbling in the face of this building. I shook myself off, and walked determinedly to the front door and opened it. What greeted me was emptiness. Where is everybody? Shouldn''t there be someone here to greet new arrivals? Whatever, I''ll try shouting my business. "Hello?! I''m here for the Knight training!" my voice boomed through the building. For a while there was only silence, then I started to hear the creaking of floorboards from the second floor. Someone was moving here. This place feels like a haunted house, it fills you with an indescribable dread. I thought shuddering. Finally a beautiful woman emerged from some stairs on the left side of the room. She was at least 2m(6''6) tall, and had fierce red hair. She had a beautiful and delicate face that looked oddly out of place on someone so big and muscular. Her clothes were too tight. They accentuated her assets but also made it look like the sleeves were about to rip from her muscles being too tightly confined. "A new student is it?" she asked in a bitter voice. I answered with a nod. "Welcome to the Knight''s Guild, and if you want me to train you, you must do everything I tell you to." the woman I presume is Katherina said with a steely smile. *TING
Katherinas Knight Training
[p=left]Katherina has offered to train you, so you can become a knight. Difficulty: Unknown Quest requirement: Must complete a month of training.[/p]
"I-I''m Aurelius and I would like you to train me, I swear I will do whatever it takes to complete your training." I tried to sound brave, but failed miserably with my stutter in the beginning. *TING
You have accepted the quest.
"Haha, this is going to be fun," she said with a frightening smile "I''m Katherina, and I haven''t had a student since my last one ran away." she said with a hearty laugh. Keep calm, it can''t be that bad, can it? It was. It was worse than that. "To start with, this training will combine the basic training program with knight training. From here on out, you will always wear this." she gestured to a huge, monster of an armor. It was a full body armor, covering everything in coal black, and looked like it would hurt immensely to wear. "That''s iron!" I blurted out upon the realization. "That it is my little swan," I looked at her strangely. Swan? "what? You look like a little baby swan, beautiful and innocent, but also immature and frightened." she said with a mocking smile that made me flush with humiliation. I tried to ignore my humiliation and her nickname for me asked questioningly: "Isn''t steel armor the most commonly used?" "That it is my little swan, but this armor was made to be heavy and hard to move in, so that when you finally get your first steel armor you will really feel the difference. You''ll feel like you can fly with it, that''s how big a difference it''ll make. The iron armor will also make you incredibly strong, though you''ll feel like dying being forced to wear it all the time. I won''t permit you to take it off until the training is complete, except of course, to sleep." Well thank god for for small favors! "If, however, you take it off in any other case, you will immediately get expelled from this Knight''s Guild. And I will send out letters to all my colleagues warning them not to train you." she said with a smile. God, screw my pride. I should have ran away when I first saw this place and her. She grabbed my arm and half dragged me towards the armor, I tried to struggle against her but it was completely useless. She was so much stronger than me that it was a joke. Fifteen minutes later I was in the armor panting just from the sheer effort of standing up. How heavy is this thing?! It''s got to weigh at least 60kg(132lbs)! "Now my little swan, it''s time to start the training. Follow me out into the yard." she said turning around and walking deeper inside the house. Well, I''ve come this far let''s just do it. Five minutes later we were in the yard. Why five minutes you ask? That''s because I needed several breaks on my way there. But every time I tried to slow down, the red demon would turn around and look at me contemptuously. My humiliation fueled my strength and I finally made it out into the yard. I was standing there panting when she interrupted my first moment of rest. "Well well, the little weakling is tired already? Can''t he even handle this little? Is he even worthy to be a swan? Maybe not, maybe from now on he should be my little cockroach." I gave her a furious look but kept my silence. "That''s better, be quiet and just do what I say and we should get along swimmingly." she almost purred. "Now''s the time for the training to begin. You will run around the garden until you collapse. Yes, that''s right until you collapse out of exhaustion. And don''t think for a moment you can fake it. I''m going to be running alongside you giving you some proper motivational words. And if I think for even a moment, that you''re faking it. I will beat you so hard you''ll have bruises till next summer." she whispered with an almost loving voice. And so they started to run. I thought I knew what exhaustion was, being forced to run for hours continuously at football training. What a joke. I thought derisively. That was warm-up compared to this. We had been running for thirty minutes now. Thirty minutes of running with that armor, having Katherina right next to me screaming insults. I''ve seen several messages pop-ups but decided to ignore them, they were too distracting. I barely have the mental fortitude right now to be able to tell where I''m going. And when I somehow manage to recover enough to actually think using the exhaustion-hazed fog that is my mind. What happens then? Of course it''s time for one of the red demon''s insults: "What you''re tired already? God you''re a pathetic excuse for a man. Are you sure you''re a man? Have you actually looked? I''m sure if I checked we''d discover that you''re completely smooth down there." And that was almost tame in comparison to the rest of the insults she''d given me. [p=center]***[/p] Three hours later. Where am I? What am I doing? I can barely see anymore. The sweat had drenched my eyes and everything i saw was hazy and indistinguishable. And now my mind finally decided to shut itself down to prevent damage. Ah, the darkness descends, how grateful I am to you. I thought before fainting. The little swan hit the ground with a loud crash, and Katherina watched. Three and a half hours? The boy did good. My previous student''s record was only two hours after all. I might be able to make something out of this one. she thought with a surprisingly kind smile. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. [p=center]***[/p] Five hours later I woke to find myself on the floor inside the guild. God, I didn''t know pain like this existed! My whole body ached from overuse of it''s muscles, and it didn''t help that i''d been sleeping wearing an extremely uncomfortable iron armor on the floor. I used all the strength I had and was finally able to sit up. It took an humiliatingly long time. I''m just glad the red demon didn''t see me struggling to even be able to sit! After some more time i finally managed to stand up. To find the red demon watching me with a huge smile. "So, the little swan has finally woken up? Any more time and I would gladly have started beating on the armor with an iron rod." she said with a sweet smile. "I''m ready for whatever training you have in store for me." I said with a smile that contained huge amounts of bravado. She answered with a delighted laugh. "I''m sure you are, now It''s time for some more running." my smile vanished, and when she saw that she gave me a bright smile. "Now let''s go!" I dejectedly followed her back into the yard that had become my hell. Five hours of running later I collapsed again. [p=center]***[/p] This time when I awoke I had been sleeping for three hours. I apparently awoke because I was about to die from satiety dropping too low. I asked her during our run how I had not died from lack of satiety during the night. She answered me with: "Because i force-fed your worthless face while you slept. Forcing a special porridge of mine packed with herbs and medicine to allow you to run more, and sleep less." she said while laughing hysterically. I guess I never noticed the remaining porridge sticking to my face since I''ve not really been allowed to look myself in a mirror. But I''m sure my face looks horrible after I remove the helmet. I got up and decided to look for the kitchen. I''d eat anything right now, I don''t think I''ve been this hungry in my entire life. I finally found the dining room, and inside it was, of course, Katherina. "Good morning." she said with a small smile. Huh? That smile looks almost normal, no it can''t be! She must be trying to trick me with it! I thought resentfully. "Good morning, is there anything I can eat for breakfast? My satiety is so low I''m about to die any minute now." I said in a truly exhausted voice. "Sure, come and sit down. I''ll bring you some of my special porridge." she said while rising and walking into the kitchen. I was honestly too tired right now to mistrust her, so I just sat down and waited while my satiety bar started to flash red faster and faster. Death will be a nice break from this. But, alas, she returned with a huge bowl of porridge. It isn''t really a bowl, it''s more like a pot of porridge. The moment she put it down in front of me I threw myself at it as if it was an enemy I had to conquer. This is surprisingly good! I shot a look full of gratitude at Katherina who had sat down opposite from me watching as I devoured the porridge with a small smile. "This is delicious! Feels like the best thing I''ve ever eaten." I said with a huge smile that contained a great deal of porridge stuck to my face. Oh my, the little swan even looks handsome with porridge stuck all-over his face. I really want him to complete the training, he could become something. He has the will and the looks for that class. she thought with a smile. "Alright, today we''ll start some weapon training. Do you have some weapons in mind that you want to use? The most important thing for any melee warrior is to choose a weapon he is truly comfortable with. Don''t just obey me and take what I want you to take, you have to choose the weapon you''ll truly love." she said with a serious expression. "I thought about it a lot before I came here, and during the run. I almost want to use the standard, a sword and shield as main weapons, and a spear as secondary and for on horseback. It fits me the best, and just so you know, I want to become the greatest knight in the world." I said with complete seriousness. Sword is a good weapon, easy to learn but hard to master. And spear eh, that''s good. I''ve always thought using a lance was pretty much useless, since it''s almost always a one-time use only. And spear can be used on the ground as well. And greatest knight in the world? Ha! The kid''s not lacking ambition that''s for sure. she thought highly amused. "Yes, that sounds good. There''s a reason why sword and shield are the most used for knights. Spear is used by many, but not all. It''s a good weapon and will serve you well if you have the patience and skill to master it." she answered me seriously. She doesn''t look like she minded my choice of weaponry, that''s great. I was afraid she was going to force me to use some strange weapons. I thought relieved. "You''re finished with the breakfast now right? Let''s go outside and start our practice." she said walking for the door. I obediently followed her though my muscles still screamed in protest at the prospect of more training. Huh, even though I''m completely exhausted I can still walk a lot easier than I did yesterday. I wonder what my stats are right now? No, forget about that for now. I will only focus on training. We arrived in the yard and I could see that she had prepared some wooden weapons, some shields, a lot of different swords and spears. She turned towards me and said with a serious face: "From now on, after breakfast we will run for three hours. Then take a break for one hour, then spar with sword and shield for three hours. After that we''ll eat dinner. When dinner is finished we will run two more hours, and after that we''ll finally spar for two hours before going to bed." "This is what your schedule will be like here. You will be exhausted, you''ll think your body will break, and it might. But what will also happen is that you will notice that everyday will become easier. Your stamina, strength and agility will increase at an incredibly fast rate." "The sparring however, will only become harder. I know some people like to make their trainees hit scarecrows or something like that, but to me that''s useless. What I want you to develop is a flowing combat style. Ever-changing like water. Other schools or teachers teach different styles for different situations, an example is one for attacking and one for defending. Then there''s all sorts of styles for different weapons etc." she said sounding like she found that school of thought ridiculous. "I will only teach you one style. The Flowing Water Style. It''s a style that can use any weapon, and is built upon always changing depending on the enemy and how it moves. For a fast enemy that can quickly evade, it focuses on attacking at just the right moment when the enemy can''t evade. For a strong and slow enemy it focuses on death by a thousand cuts. Basically, trying to hit vital points of the enemy while dodging or blocking." she finished in a voice filled with pride for her combat-style. Wow, she sounds like she really knows her stuff. This is after all what I came here for. I thought admiringly. "That sounds great Kat, can I call you Kat? And I know I''ll probably die of exhaustion and curse your name but know that at least at this moment, I am truly grateful for your training." I said sincerely. She looked surprised, and maybe even happy. No, that can''t be right? I''m deluding myself. "Alright my little swan, you can call me Kat. Just don''t let it stray into impudence or I''ll smash your face." she said with a vicious smile. Yes, definitely deluding myself. [p=center]***[/p] Five hours later with three of those being running. We had now been sparring for an hour, and I''ve already forgotten my thankfulness. Oh how I must look under this godforsaken armor, my skin has probably become permanently purple thanks to all the bruises. I thought resentfully. "No no no! Goddammit listen to me, you must stand with your balance completely centered and relax yourself. Try to let your shield be kept up with as little muscle as possible. Keep your sword pointed loosely downwards ready for anything. And you must always be ready to move in any direction!" she snarled at me. "Yes Kat, I''ll try again." I relaxed as much as wearing a 60kg(132lbs) armor allowed, tried to center myself so I could move fast in any direction that was required. I can do this, I have to do this. I will succeed. I thought with unyielding determination. "Yes that''s better, now try dodging or blocking my attack." she said a second before attacking. She attacked fast as lightning, it''s hard for me to even see her move because she''s so fast. But because of all the bruises I''ve taken thus far, my body seems to respond by itself when it senses danger. This time I actually did pretty decent, I managed to barely dodge her thrust. And try to respond with a shield bash after which I was planning to slice at her with my wooden sword. Except it didn''t really work out that way. She looked mildly surprised by my dodge, but swiftly recovered and when I came forward for my shield bash she easily dodged to the left and brought down a hard blow on my shoulder which made me grunt in pain and go down on one knee. *TING
Skill: You have learned The Flowing Water Style
"Kat, I''ve finally learned the skill! Let me check it out, Skill info: The Flowing Water Style!" I said excitedly after finally getting the skill after over one and a half hours of merciless "training".
The Flowing Water Style: Beginner Level 1 (0%)
[p=left]A combat style heavily focused on an ever-changing pattern of attack and defense. Making it very hard for the enemy to know what will happen next.[/p]
"That''s great my little swan," something in her voice made me immediately look at her. "because now we can finally start the real training." she said with a gleeful smile. Oh god, I refuse to believe that this was just her doing it leisurely! I thought in despair. [p=center]***[/p] One and a half hour later my Flowing Water Style managed to hit beginner level two under her merciless tutelage. We finally finished and went inside into the dining room, I sat down with a loud thunk and almost fell asleep right there. Fortunately Kat arrived with another batch of wonderful porridge before I could fall asleep. The porridge made my mouth water just thinking about it. I immediately wolfed down the porridge and leaned back against wall with a sigh of pleasure. (I was sitting on a sturdy bench that was mounted directly into the wall, I was unsure otherwise if it would have held me.) "Your porridge is truly the greatest Kat. I know we''ve only been training for two days but I feel deep down in my heart that I''ll never tire of your porridge. You have to be careful, if you keep making this for me I might just end up coming back often for some of your lovely porridge." I said in a satisfied voice. She looked happy from the praise, almost like normal person. She looks very cute when she''s like this, but I won''t let it trick me. Whenever we enter training mode she changes completely. *TING
Charisma has increased by 1
Whoa, this is how I raise Charisma? "Yes well, if you manage to finish the training you can come back anytime for a visit." she said in a tone I''d never heard before. She sounded almost, shy? Shy, her? Now I must be imagining things. "Yes, i will certainly come back after I''ve finished and tell you about some of my exploits. Perhaps then I might be allowed to stay in your bedchamber instead?" I said with my most gracious smile. It probably looked pretty flawed with me still having porridge on my face, and several nasty bruises developing. For just a split second I could see something that looked suspiciously like a fist. Then felt a roaring pain and realized I was on the floor. That was pretty stupid of me. I thought trough the haze of pain. I looked over at Kat and she seemed torn between anger and amusement. *TING
Charisma has increased by 1
Haha, I guess it did work, it''s just that her reaction was kind of violent. Well if I gained a stat for it, then the pain was worth it. But I shouldn''t overdo it. I slowly got up, and when I was finally up she looked like she had calmed down some. "I''m off to bed, thank you for the food. And see you tomorrow for some more fun." I said with a smile before leaving the room. Just before I exited I heard a "Good night Aurelius." [p=center]***[/p] It''s been sixteen days since I started now. My parents messaged me, they''d been worried about me. At least Allie had explained to them that I was in the middle of training, and so they logged on to Royal Road instead so they could message me. (Allie helped them add Aurelius to their friends list without having to manually search through all the players named Aurelius.) It was nice to get an update from them, I had honestly been too exhausted to even realize how much I was missing them. They had spoken with all the relatives and friends. Told them that I was still in an artificial coma, but if anyone wanted to see me they could log onto Royal Road and find me, or they could borrow my parents special capsules so they could enter my Palace when I was there. (Their special capsules allowed them to enter the Palace, but since it was supposed to be his home, the research team had made it non-accessible if he''s not already there or had given them permission beforehand.) And Kat had been right, the running was definitely getting easier. But it''s still all relative, I mean how much easier can running five hours a day in a 60kg(132lbs) armor get? The answer is not all that much easier. I''m still completely exhausted and almost always collapse like a dying man at the end of the day. My Flowing Water Style however has leveled up a lot. From that day when I first received the skill, it''s now reached Beginner level 7 and I managed to get the sword mastery skill, which has reached beginner level 5. The sparring has definitely gotten harder. Even though I''ve reached Beginner level 7 i still have almost 0% chance of getting a hit/dodging one of hers. It''s become quite clear over these two weeks that her Flowing Water Style has to be incredibly high. Advanced? Maybe even master? I''m not sure but she''s incredibly strong. Her choice of sparring method is as follows: 1. She fights me on a level where I can see her movements, but that doesn''t necessarily mean I can dodge them. 2. When she sees that I''m almost able to dodge and counter-attack her, she raises her level of skill. 3. She hurts me until I can manage to see her movements again and then she starts the whole cycle all over again. Which basically guarantees a lot of pain for me. And it is true, the training so far has been hell. And I can see why most of her trainees didn''t last and ran away. But she really isn''t all that bad. She''s vicious as hell when she''s in training mode, but actually kind of cute outside of it. She lashes out a lot of the time, especially if you''re trying to flirt with her then you have to expect a punch, kick or flying object striking you. But other than that she''s pretty nice. (Though most people would probably qualify that as pretty bad.) We were now standing in the yard, preparing to start sparring. We had just finished our customary one hour break after the three hour morning run. "Aurelius, It''s finally time to start some spear-training. You''ve come a long way since you started. And I can honestly say that you''re the best student I''ve ever had. Don''t let that get to your head though, there''s still much left." Kat said with serious and slightly proud expression. Is she proud over me? I hope so, makes my heart all warm and fuzzy just thinking about it. "Kat, before we started I''d heard that your training was hell, and that many of your students had ran away. I have to admit that freaked me out, but now that we''ve gotten this far I want to tell you that I''ve never had a better combat teacher then you. And even if you would extend my training for another month I would gladly accept it." I said with quiet sincerity. And, I had been startled when I realized that it was actually true. Even if she did extend my training for another month, my stats and skills increase lightning-fast and I enjoy her company. She looked highly pleased and more than a little embarrassed by my comment. *TING
Charisma has increased by 1
"So we''ll start my spear-training now? I''m looking forward to it. And I''m sorry if this is a stupid question, but how am I going to be able to practice using it on a horse without a horse?" I asked with a curious expression. "You can''t. For practicing with the spear on horseback you obviously need a horse. Since you don''t own one, and the only one I have is my partner Marengo. I was thinking of making you practice on her, except that could be a problem. She''s not exactly... kind to strangers. In fact it''s always seemed to me that I''m basically the only human being she likes." she said with an amused smile. "But if that''s the case, how am I going to practice?" I asked with some trepidation. "You''re going to have to try and make friends with her. And if you can''t succeed then I guess I''m just going to have to tie you onto her and make you try to hold on for as long as you can, and then maybe if you can manage to hold on till she capitulates, she might allow you to ride her. Though I wouldn''t count on that method working... It never has before anyway." she said with a big smile. [p=center]***[/p] Meanwhile in the Unicorn Corp medical research facility, Dr. Allison was watching the screen showing Marcus playing Royal Road. Is he crazy? And what''s with this quest? The person who created it has to be a sadist, or did someone create it? No, I suppose the goddess of Versailles created it. Though her name is Orianna now. she thought amused. He''s certainly unique. Giving a name to the goddess AI that controls the game. she thought fondly. I wonder what he''ll do next? But I guess he has to survive this "training" first. "Seriously, how is he still doing this?" she heard a deep voice from behind her turning around she saw Dr. Matthew Johnson standing watching the screen. Dr. Matthew was a short, but muscular man. He seemed to be built more for width than height. He has to be only around 1,65m(5''4), but weigh at least 95kg(209lbs) and I don''t think any of it''s fat. she had often thought that he seemed to have made it his life''s mission to disprove the stereotype of a skinny nonathletic scientist. But for all of his looks, he had an extremely sharp mind, which was why she had handpicked him for her team. "I mean, I''ve gone through some harsh training" which she could definitely believe. "but what he''s doing is absurd. I know it''s only a game, but it feels completely real. He''s gotta be hovering on the edge of a breakdown!" he said angrily. So Marcus managed to charm him too, huh. Even though we only talked with him for a couple of hours, he still managed to make a big enough impression to make us all care for him. she thought perplexed as to how that happened. "I agree, but at the same time I''m very curious what stats and reward he''ll get at the end." she said with in a curious tone. "Yeah me too. It''s gotta be something special right? At the very least he''ll have some incredible stats at the end of this. But he''s got some incredible willpower to keep doing the training while wearing that block of iron Katherina calls an armor." he said in a slightly admiring tone of voice. "Indeed. It''s strange, I barely talked with him for a day and I still miss him. He''s got some charisma." she said with a serious face. "Yeah, I agree. I didn''t even talk to him directly, didn''t introduce myself." You know why we did that though, to let him take it a bit easy in the beginning. We certainly didn''t expect him to stay in the game for two weeks in a row! she thought. "But I feel like I want to get to know him. I guess that''s what you call charisma." he said with a slightly bemused expression. "Yes I suppose it is. I wonder how he''ll do with the horse-riding? And just imagining the pain of being thrown of a horse in that armor makes me shudder." she said while shuddering exaggeratedly. "Haha true, I guess we''ll just have to wait and see." he said looking back at the screen. [p=center]***[/p] "So, are you ready then?" Katherina asked with a big smile.
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Volume 1 - Chapter 2 - The Swan Knight [p=center]The Winged Knight[/p] [p=center]Volume 1 - Chapter 2 - The Swan Knight[/p] "So, are you ready then?" Katherina asked with a big smile. "Yes, let''s do this." I said with an unsure smile. After that she led me to a building next to the main one. It was actually in better condition than the main building, but looked at least as old. I first thought that was strange, but then I had a rare insight into my teacher. It looked like she''d actually repaired the stable, but not the main building. Clearly she wanted to take good care of her horse, better care than she allowed for herself. It was obvious that she must care for the horse a great deal, her earlier words calling the horse her "partner" came to mind. When she opened the door to the stable, the inside was clean. At least as clean as a stable can be, and it was possible, maybe even probable that it was cleaner than the main building. She started walking towards the door of the long room. It had empty boxes lined up on each side of the path, they were clearly meant to contain horses, but all of them were unoccupied. When she opened the door I realized how large the stables actually was. It was kind of hard to see from the outside since it was surrounded by trees and wild growth. It really wasn''t a tall building, just very a long one. The room we walked into was huge. It looked to be the size of half a football field. And standing alone in the middle of the room, was a small gray horse. Now, I know nothing of horses. But to me it looked like something I''d once been told was an Arabian full-blood. She''s beautiful. Even I can see that much. She''s majestic, and looks fit to be the horse of an Emperor. Still, I''d always assumed that Kat would have a huge horse fitting to both her height and attitude. Immediately upon hearing the door open, and seeing who came through it the horse came trotting towards us. "Hey girl, I''m glad to see you too." she said while patting it affectionately. The sheer surprise of seeing Kat that warm and affectionate stopped me cold. I mean I knew she wasn''t all that bad, it''s just that when it comes to training she''s absolutely merciless. But knowing and seeing are two very different things. I thought amazed. She turned around while still patting the side of the horse''s head. "Marengo, meet Aurelius, my newest student. Aurelius meet Marengo, my most trusted friend and confidant." she said with a smile. I moved forward until I was a meter in front of the horse, took of my helmet and gauntlets and gave her a gracious bow, or at least as gracious as you can be wearing this monster of an armor. "It''s nice to meet you Marengo. I hope you will take care of me, I''m a beginner in the art of riding. But with your help I hope to change that." I said with my most gracious smile. The horse looked almost thoughtful when she heard that. I took a chance and moved forward while trying to pat her. At first she looked unsure whether to allow me or not, but I continued moving closer until my hand finally touched her soft mane. It feels great, almost silky to the touch. Katherina was staring at me. "What is it?" I asked curiously. She recovered instantly and showed an almost disappointed expression. "I didn''t expect Marengo to like you this much." She makes it sound like she wanted Marengo to bite or kick me. Or at least try to for a good show. "How much? Isn''t this normal?" I asked puzzled to which she responded with a short laugh. "You need to learn something my little swan, all horses are different. Just like people they have different personalities. Some are kind and docile, others are wild and violent, but most are somewhere in between. I''ve never seen her take to someone this fast. In fact I seem to recall the first time I tried to pat her she almost took one of my fingers off." she said indignantly. "What? I don''t believe it. She''s clearly a nice girl." I said while pressing my face into her mane still caressing her. "Will you please let me ride you Marengo?" I said while removing myself from her mane and giving her my best doe-eyed look. The horse nodded and gave me a look filled with maternal protectiveness. Did she just answer me? Are horses this smart? Or is the game making them smarter? I wondered. "See, there''s no problem Kat. We can start practicing my horsemanship any time she''s ready." I said with a huge smile on my face. He managed to charm Marengo in just a couple of minutes... I refuse to believe it! Didn''t I have to court her for weeks on end before she''d let me ride her?! Kat thought outraged. "Alright, then let''s go get a saddle for you so we can start." she said turning, her back to him and walking back where they came from, hopefully getting a saddle. I need to cool off some, it''s pretty pathetic of me to be jealous of his ease with Marengo. she thought. I decided to stay with Marengo, and gave her my most affectionate caresses. She''s so beautiful. I mean I''ve seen horses on TV, but this is different. It''s my first time seeing one in person. "Please take care of me during my training." I said seriously toward her, to which she responded with a grave nod. Is she special? Or are all horses in the game this smart? A sound from the direction of the door brought me out of my reverie. Kat was on her way back with a saddle. "Here''s your saddle, and watch closely. This is how you saddle a horse." she said while putting the saddle over Marengo''s back, then adjusting it so it wouldn''t push against her shoulders and making sure it wasn''t chafing her. Kat then went over to the other side making sure the same thing hadn''t happened there. She adjusted it slightly and then came back around to strap it securely on Marengo''s stomach. "This is a leather saddle. When you''ve got your own horse and are going into combat, you''re going to want body-armor for it as well. Otherwise a knight is incredibly vulnerable. Just aim for the horse and he''ll come crashing down. That''s why almost all knights use armor for their horses. Knights are heavy armored and slow, therefore their horses almost has to be as well." "It wouldn''t make sense to have a lightly armored horse with a knight on it''s back in full plate armor. All you''d have to do is aim for the weaker armor on the horse and the knight might become crushed by it, or at the very least hurt in the fall. Perhaps he''ll even have an armor so heavy that he''ll have a hard time getting up and then you could simply finish him off on the ground." "For other classes however, the opposite can be true. For example horse-archers are almost always light armored, both rider and horse. Simply because they''re supposed to harass with arrows. Out-riding a slower knight and showering him or his horse with arrows. If that proves ineffective they can simply run away. Since lighter armored means less weight, they''re almost always faster than knights. Unless you have a truly exceptional horse that''s much stronger and faster than the other ones." she continued seriously. "But unless you manage to acquire an incredible horse, just assume you''ll always be slower than light armored riders and plan accordingly. For example maybe use a javelin? Or a bow? Not very knightly but I''ve even seen some knights that had a chain with metal balls at the ends that they threw trying to tangle the horse''s legs. Or you can know the region better, plan what routes they have to take so you can intercept them somewhere. It might be galling to admit, but a knight will almost never catch a non-knight trying to flee from them on horseback, unless he''s a bad rider, or he and his horse have less stamina then you and your horse." "Though for me it''s different. I almost always catch up to whoever I''m hunting." she said proudly. I looked at her interestingly at that. "Why?" I simply said. "You see, Marengo here is almost royalty. She comes from an incredible line of horses that dates back for almost a thousand years, and was given to me as reward for saving a Duke''s daughter." said sounding very proud of her horse. "The little girl had gotten angry with her father, and ran away from home. She was very young and naive, and somehow managed to leave the city. After leaving the city, she was caught by a raiding party of goblins." she said darkly. "By coincidence I was nearby answering a call for any knight to help them clean out the goblins that was harassing the countryside. The goblins had started with stealing some animals, but had recently moved onto capturing humans. Nobody knows what they did with them, if they were all dead or working as slaves for the goblins." "I found the cave where they had their base and slaughtered all of them." she said with a savage glint in her eyes. "Deepest down inside the cave I found the people who''d been kidnapped. They were half-starved and had ragged clothing. And just when we were about to leave the cave, we met the raiding party coming back with the girl." "At first the goblins didn''t seem to understand what had happened, so I took advantage and charged the one who was half-dragging the girl with ropes tied around her hands. I killed it before it could even react. Quickly I cut loose the ropes, and pushed her towards the crowd of people standing there in fear. I barely had time to turn back around before the first goblin was swinging his club down on me. I managed somehow to dodge and cut one of the creature''s legs clean off. He went down screaming while another goblin charged me in anger. This one was easier, I was prepared now. The first thing I did was deflect his blade down onto the ground and let loose a savage slash that almost split him in half, he was dead before he hit the ground." she said with savage satisfaction. "The rest of the goblins were suddenly unsure what to do, they were frightened. So I took advantage of that and charged before they''d time to recover. I managed to kill another and when the last two of them saw that, they tried to run." "Remember this Aurelius. Never turn your back on the enemy, for that''s the perfect chance for him to strike. Even if you need to run away for some reason, back away and when you''re sure that your far enough away only then turn to run. And make sure that your back is protected by something, a shield or maybe a tree that you can use as protection from projectiles while you run." she told me seriously. "Anyway, when the one farthest away from me tried to run, I quickly took one of the dead goblin''s spear, and threw it straight into his back. The last goblin was close, so I charged him on foot and after a couple of meters I was upon him, and then he was no more." she finished with great satisfaction. "After that I found out she was the Duke''s only daughter. I brought her and the rest of them back to the city and explained to the Duke what had happened, he told me that he''d recently bought a horse fit for a King, and wanted me to have it. He said ''you have not only brought me back the most important thing in my life, but also saved the kidnapped villagers and ended the menace of the goblins. The least I could do is give you something truly fit for a knight''." "And that''s how I got Marengo. But it didn''t all go smoothly from there, she can be quite willful and didn''t like me the first time we met. Anyway, that''s another story for another time and I''ve already reminisced enough." she said with a small smile. Wow, so that''s how they met. And Marengo truly is a great horse, huh. As expected, if even I can see something is special about her, she has to be great. "Alright let''s continue," she said trying to come back into her instructor role. "obviously you put your left foot in the stirrup, and then swing yourself onto her." she did it herself, showing me how to do it. "Now, try it yourself." "Sure." I moved to the side of Marengo, patted her gently on her side, put my left foot in the stirrup, and heaved myself up onto her back. It didn''t work. I used way too much force and promptly went over the other side for a date with the ground. A lot of pain greeted me warmly on arrival, and the air was filled with Kat''s booming laughter. God, that''s probably the most embarrassing thing I''ve ever done. I thought through the roaring pain. And I can only imagine the research team rolling on the floor laughing in the lab. Marengo turned towards me and gave me a gentle nuzzle on my face. Thank you, at least someone isn''t laughing at my misfortune. I thought caressing her face. I managed to sit up, and then heave myself to my feet again. By this time Kat had finally recovered. "That''s the funniest thing I''ve seen for at least a couple of years." she said with a blinding smile. Well, at least it looks like she''ll be happy for another month riding this high. I thought with a small smile. "You did everything right, except you used way too much power. Be more careful, regulate your strength." she said half seriously, it seemed like her serious instructor persona was at war with the part of her that wanted to roll around the floor and laugh again. Yeah, I kind of realized that. Well, she is trying to be serious again so maybe I should be thankful instead. I did the same thing again, except this time I was very careful when getting up on Marengo. And it all worked perfectly. For the first time in my life I found myself riding a horse. And it felt great. Like nothing I''d ever experienced, it gave me a huge sense of freedom. It felt like I could do anything while on horseback. Honestly, it didn''t feel like something new and alien, it felt more like coming home. As if some unseen part of me suddenly found exactly the place where it was supposed to be. "This is amazing... I''ve never felt anything like what I''m feeling now." I said wonderingly. Even with that ugly armor, he still makes a gallant figure atop her. It looks like he belongs on a horse. Kat thought, unknowingly echoing Aurelius earlier thoughts. Suddenly something hit Aurelius, Wait is Marengo alright like this?! With this armor I have to weigh something like 150-160 kilos(352lbs)! "Kat! Is this okay?! Can Marengo handle all this weight?" I thought panicking. "Calm down boy, It''s alright. She can handle the weight, because that saddle is actually enchanted just for this occasion. It halves the weight of the person sitting upon it. So to her you don''t weigh 160kg(352lbs), you weigh 80kg(176lbs). And by the way, you shouldn''t worry about your future horse either. Most horses can lift 20% of their weight easily. And Marengo weighs 600kg which means, 600x0,2=120kg." she said in a soothing tone of voice. "Thank god for that, I was really worried." I said while affectionately stroking Marengo''s neck. Kat looked like she appreciated that. It was after all, her horse. "I''ll start by leading you around with the reins. This is simply to make you comfortable with the motion of the horse and let you know how it feels." she said, grasping them and started walking. It was a pleasant feeling, although I had a suspicion my posterior would not be happy with me for the next period of training. [p=center]***[/p] After half an hour of walking around the room holding the reins, Kat, me and Marengo were incredibly bored. And finally Kat stopped and turned around to face us. "If you''re wondering why you haven''t gotten the horse mastery skill yet, it''s very simple. You haven''t ridden by yourself, so until you do it wont create itself. And now it''s time for that. I know you got bored in the end, but it''s crucial for you to become used to the motions of a horse before you try riding by yourself." she said concerned. "Be careful, and don''t depend on the reins too much. Try to use your legs by applying pressure on the opposite side of where you want to go. For example if you apply pressure to the right side, Marengo will try to turn away from that pressure making her turn to the left. Use the reins in the beginning, but know that steering with your legs is the best way for combat. When in a fight it''s much easier to steer with your legs while using a weapon and shield. Because then your hands are obviously pretty occupied, and even if you could grasp the reins anyway it simply over-complicates everything." she said seriously. "So start now, I''ll be staying here for a while watching until I''m sure you won''t kill yourself. Also from now on we''ll switch 2 hours of running to horse riding instead." she said moving towards the chair next to the door. I leaned down to Marengo''s ear and whispered: "It''s just you and me now girl, let''s show her what we can do." I first tried out walking a bit while steering her myself. A very large difference from being chained down with Kat. After a few minutes of walking around I finally had enough confidence to give her a gentle tap on the side indicating I wanted some more speed. I didn''t want to press my heels into this majestic animal. Even if it didn''t hurt her, it felt degrading somehow. And I quickly decided I would never kick or press my heels into any animal I ever rode. Marengo started to pick up speed, and suddenly it felt great with the wind in my hair. I don''t think I''ve ever experienced such joy. And quickly my heart decided I wanted more, without really consulting my brain I whispered to Marengo: "Gallop!" And suddenly we flew. Somewhere in the back of my head I realized what I was doing was extremely dangerous, but another part of me almost screamed ''You only live once!''. And together me and Marengo galloped around the room. At some point I even decided to completely let go of my reins and steer with my legs instead, while holding my arms out on either side. While all of this was happening, Kat had jumped out of her chair in surprise. The boy is crazy! she thought angrily while staring at him going around the room in a full gallop, while holding out his arms on either side like an idiot. He''s an idiot, but he''s got to be the best natural rider I''ve ever seen. And they certainly look majestic together. At this point he had reeled his arms back in but instead of calming her down, he clearly decided to urge her on even faster. Suddenly he was coming her way. At first she couldn''t understand what he was doing charging madly towards her, but quickly realized he wasn''t aiming at her but the door. Before she could do anything about this however, he was already past her like a whirlwind ducking under the broad door and exploding out of the stables into the street. Aurelius quickly decided that this place was too confined for him, and steered Marengo towards the door out of the stables. He had a millisecond to see the shocked face on his teacher which made him grin hugely. Together they exploded out on the street, avoiding crashing into people left and right. Storming down the cobbled street with the wind in my hair, I felt free. We came to a crossroads, I turned left and realized we were almost at the square. When I arrived there, it was even more packed than it was when I arrived some two weeks ago. I quickly realized that there simply was no place for us and we needed to slow down, before I could even begin to tell Marengo however, someone that looked drunk stumbled out of an alley a few meters in front of us. "Get down!" I screamed, the drunk man looked up, and had one second to realize what was happening. Thankfully for Aurelius he was clearly sober enough to see mortal danger was almost upon him, and threw himself onto the cobbled street. He was still in the air when we came upon him, and I screamed in Marengo''s ear "Jump!" And jump she did. For one second I thought we were really flying. Then we landed and I managed to get back enough of my wits to pull the reins and tell her to stop. People in the way were quickly moving to the sides and we glided for a couple of meters before finally coming to a stop almost exactly in front of the fountain. That was the most fun I''ve had in my entire life. Still, I''m lucky I didn''t kill anybody. I thought relieved, and more than a little exultation raged inside me. I jumped down from Marengo while the huge crowd simply stood there staring at me, too shocked to speak. We were both panting heavily, and I put a hand on her side and told her: "Please drink some, you certainly deserve it girl." By now the crowd had started to recover and people were starting to speak with each other. "He''s got a horse, aren''t they incredibly expensive? And what''s with that huge armor?" "He''s gotta be high level to have a horse as fast as that right?" "Seriously, what''s with the armor? It looks like it''s completely made of iron, it''s gotta weigh a ton!" People were chatting excitedly everywhere. I turned towards them and gave them my most gracious bow, and when I got straightened up again said: "My humble apologies my good lords and ladies. I simply got too absorbed in the moment." I told them with an incredibly boyish grin. Which seemed to freeze them in place. And then someone gave a short laugh and most of the audience followed. I saw a familiar face moving towards me angrily, when he finally came close enough to recognize me he froze. He managed to recover and moved towards me again, his purposeful stride combined with the fact that he''s a guardsman seemed to silence the audience. "Boy! Have you gone mad from Katherina''s training? Stealing her horse and running away are you?" his face seemed to alternate between anger and pity. As if he couldn''t decide whether he was angry at the spectacle and theft of the horse, or to feel pity at him for having to flee her training. "I actually wasn''t running away. Like I told them" I gestured to the audience now standing there watching and listening. "I simply got too lost in the moment, you see that was the first time I ever rode a horse and the sheer joy of it overwhelmed me." I told him with a huge smile on my face, not being able to forget the wind in my hair while riding. The guard had a strange reaction, he became even angrier and shouted at me: "Now I know you''re lying boy! There is no way that was your first time riding a horse." he told me accusingly. Surprisingly, the audience seemed to agree with that. He heard someone close to him say: "Yeah, the guard''s right. He''s clearly lying. That was definitely not his first time riding. I guess he really did run away from Katherina, not that I can blame him. You know how many players have tried her training and done just that." Now I was starting to get upset with everybody calling me a liar, and was just about to tell them so when I heard a familiar voice. Oh, she got here fast. "What the hell were you thinking?!" she screamed angrily. Coming out of the audience was of course, Kat. They were parting like the red sea before her, and she was clearly panting from the run here. With her flushed cheeks and red hair she looked even more beautiful than normal. I wonder what punishment this will merit. I thought, still in that afterglow that made it seem like nothing could be bad. "Well, to be completely honest with you Kat. I really wasn''t thinking at all. I simply let go and enjoyed the moment." I said with a blissful smile. She stopped cold at that, and then to everyone''s surprise except me, she started laughing. She recovered after a little while, walked up to me and gave me a hard fist to the top of my head. Ow! Her strength is as abnormal as ever. I thought stroking the place she just hit. "Ah, I could expect nothing less than that from you my swan. I''m still mad at you, and for this I''ll add an extra hour each for sparring and running for a week. But damn it boy if you aren''t an incredible rider! I''ve never heard of anyone being able to do things like that on their first ride!" she said with a huge grin that matched mine. "I don''t really know what happened either, I kind of lost myself and just did what felt right." I said with a smile. "Anyway, can we go back to continue the training? I really want to ride some more and Marengo looks like she''s all rested up." Marengo looked up at the mention of her name, and walked over to me and Kat so we could pat her. Which, we immediately did. But the guard had finally recovered enough and shouted at Kat: "Katherina, you can''t seriously be saying that was his first time riding!" the whole thing seemed impossible for him to comprehend. She turned towards him and gave him an ice-cold look. "Are you calling me and my student a liar Sergeant?" she said in an icy voice. "No of course not!" he answered incredibly fast in a panicky voice. "It''s just that can''t be his first time riding, I''ve never seen anyone ride like that in my entire life much less on his first try." he''d calmed down some now. She regarded him with a slightly less icy look and simply told him: "You have now. And for your information, he didn''t run away. I knew he would never do that. In fact, I know he''ll finish my training and I have to tell you he''s the best student I''ve ever had." she said with a proud, possessive smile. It made me blush when she spoke about me like that. Giving compliments and receiving them are really two different things, huh. I thought embarrassed. The Sergeant simply stood there, apparently too shocked to speak. It seemed like he couldn''t fathom that any new knight could endure her training, much less that she''d actually like a student. To be fair, it''s not that the Sergeant couldn''t imagine anyone completing it, but those would be hardened soldiers. For new adventurers that came to the city to become knights, that training was hell. For that to probably be the first real training they''d ever experienced it was far too harsh. The crowd seemed the same, her words caused quite an uproar from players who had friends that''d tried the training, with them explaining to the rest of the crowd what it entailed and why as far as anyone knows no player had ever completed it. I took the opportunity to get up on Marengo again, and held out my hand towards Kat. "Would my lady care to accept a helping hand in getting up?" I said with a gracious smile. She gave me an icy look that seemed to say ''Don''t push the limit too much boy, or it''ll break.'' that made my smile falter for a second before righting itself out. Even though she gave me that look, she decided to accept my offer and took my hand and i helped her up behind me, still on the saddle so now it halved our combined weights. Otherwise it would surely have strained Marengo heavily. I leaned forward and whispered to Marengo: "Girl, trot please." To which she responded and started to move again. We exited the square with everyone staring at us, some seemed too shocked to believe anyone was on his way to complete the training. Others were discussing heatedly if it could really be that hard if he was doing it. When we were about halfway back Kat decided to speak. "Have you checked your messages? Surely you got the horse horse mastery skill now?" she asked interested. I checked the messages and lo and behold, there it was:
Skill: You have learned Horse Mastery
Also, I checked my other messages and it seemed like I''d gotten several increases in charisma as well. "Skill info: Horse Mastery."
Horse Mastery: Beginner Level 4 (75%)
[p=left]Makes it easier to ride and tame horses. The higher the skill the less tired you become from riding.[/p]
"Whoa! Kat, it''s already at Beginner level 4 75%. How the heck did it go up that fast?" I said in an amazed voice. "I suppose it''s because while the skill levels slowly but surely every time you ride, what you did was a lot more advanced than what you''re supposed to do as a beginner." she said in an amused voice. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. That kind of makes sense, you aren''t really supposed to gallop with a horse as fast as Marengo at Beginner level 1. I thought with a smile. "That makes sense. Anyway, what now?" "Well, we''re going to eat and then sleep. Tomorrow we''ll continue the training and when you have high enough horse mastery we''ll start with the spear, since it needs to be taught on horseback and ground side." While she talked we''d arrived at the guild. We both jumped down from Marengo, Kat told me to take her into the stable and remember to close all the doors after myself while she started on some porridge. I led Marengo back into the stable, and before I left I walked up to her and put my face into her mane. "Thank you for a wonderful day, I had a lot of fun." I said while hugging her. I pulled back from her mane and gave her a kiss on the forehead before turning to leave. She looked a little sad at our separation, and she wasn''t the only one. "Don''t worry, we''ll have fun again tomorrow." I smiled at her warmly and left the stables. After the delicious porridge I dragged myself to the bed barely making it there and out of the armor before collapsing into it. Before Kat went to bed, she went to check on Aurelius. His blanket was on the floor, so she silently walked into his room and put the blanket fully over him. When she did, she heard him mutter "Marengo faster, we can go faster..." which made her smile affectionately before leaving for her own bed. [p=center]***[/p] Today was the last day of the training, since my first ride with Marengo we had been training with the spear on horseback and in spars, alternating between spear and sword and shield. I was still as exhausted as ever, but it had gotten a lot better from when I first started. I was currently in my final spar with Kat. "No! I told you, keep centered more. You have to be ready to instantaneously attack or dodge from any direction. That''s hard, which is why you got to keep centered and light on your feet. Always ready to move or attack in any direction." she said in a scolding tone of voice which made me smile. It sounds crazy, maybe even perverse, but I think I''m going to miss her scolding. She misinterpreted my smile, and gave me a sharp strike with her lead-cored wooden sword on the thigh. It hurt immensely. "That''s what you get for mocking my teachings." she said angrily. "No no, you''re misunderstanding Kat. I wasn''t smiling at your teachings, I was smiling at you. But not in a ridiculing way, I simply realized that I''ll miss your scolding voice." I said with a smile, trying to massage my thigh through my armor. Which, not all that surprisingly didn''t work at all. "Oh." she let out a voice in surprise. "Well let''s keep going then." she said brusquely trying to hide her embarrassment. *TING
Charisma has increased by 1
We continued with our spar, and I was still hopelessly outclassed. But there''s a big difference in my swordsmanship since I started. I still have much to learn, and I''ve only begun to really understand the Flowing Water Style. It was hard, but also very fun. I really liked the way it adapted to any opponent. Kat often simulated that by sometimes attacking with heavy, but slow strikes. Or other times going completely for speed and making me wait for my chance while dodging her attacks. Suddenly, right after I managed to dodge a particularly vicious set of slashes a message popped up: *TING
Skill: The Flowing Water Style has reached Beginner Level 10.
[p=center]The Flowing Water Style has been converted into Intermediate Level 1.[/p] Bonus for reaching Intermediate Level: The style becomes even smoother, you can now dodge with the minimum movement required. This greatly decreases your stamina usage for dodging. The smoothness of your style now makes it possible for the momentum of a previous big dodge to be used for a faster counter-attack. The style can now be used on horseback. This will greatly help you dodge incoming weapons and projectiles while in the saddle. Warning: Your horseback style will not be as good as the one on foot.
That''s great! I finally reached intermediate. I was almost bouncing with excitement. "Skill info: The Flowing Water Style." I said signaling Kat to stop.
The Flowing Water Style: Intermediate Level 1 (0%)
[p=left]A combat style heavily focused on an ever-changing pattern of attack and defense. Making it very hard for the enemy to know what will happen next. After reaching intermediate stage can now also be used while on horseback.[/p]
"Kat, my Flowing Water Style just reached intermediate!" I told her excitedly. She looked surprised at that, but also pleased. "That''s great. That''s what I was aiming for, but honestly? I wasn''t really sure whether you could make it. As you now know, it''s not easy to increase and I''m fairly sure this is the fastest intermediate has ever been achieved." she looked proud that it was her student who had succeeded. After some more sparring another message popped up: *TING
Skill: Sword Mastery has reached Beginner Level 10.
[p=center]Sword Mastery has been converted into Intermediate Level 1.[/p] Bonus for reaching Intermediate Level: Swords are easier to wield, they will now naturally feel like an extended limb instead of something you''re just holding. All sword skills that use either stamina or mana have had their cost reduced by 50%
I was surprised and again signaled Kat to stop and said: "Skill info: Sword Mastery."
Sword Mastery: Intermediate Level 1 (0%)
[p=left]Increases Attack Power with a sword by 100%.(+100% ATK). Increases Attack Speed with a sword by 30%. (+30% ATK SPD)[/p]
"My sword mastery just reached intermediate." I said wonderingly. "That''s great boy!" she said with a big smile. "Yes, it''s all thanks to you Kat." I said sincerely. She just gave me a pleased smile and waved it away. "What''s your spear mastery at now?" "Let me see, Skill info: Spear Mastery."
Spear Mastery: Beginner Level 6 (59%)
[p=left]Increases Attack Power with a spear by 60%.(+60% ATK). Increases Armor Penetration with a spear by 18%. (+18% ARM PEN)[/p]
"It''s at beginner level 6." I said satisfied. "Yes, that''s very good. You''ve really made a lot of progress here. I''m proud of you." she said so seriously it made me blush. "T-thank you Kat, it''s been my... well not pleasure exactly, since I''ve been hurt a lot. But it''s been fun, and I''m truly grateful." I said with a thankful smile. "And I promise to come visit anytime I''m back here in Jinari." "You''ll always be welcome here, and there will always be a bed you can use as well." she told me with a smile. "Your bed?" I asked teasingly with a seductive smile. She blushed and just shook her head with a smile and motioned me to follow her into the guild. *TING
Charisma has increased by 1
I followed her with a smile, and we walked to the dining room, where she told me to wait. I wonder what''s going on? She going to get me some farewell porridge? Well I can''t say I''m dissatisfied with that. I still love it after all. She returned fifteen minutes later and, to my astonishment she was not alone. With her came several waiters with plates of food that smelled absolutely delicious. "I thought we should finish with a feast to celebrate you completing my training." she said with a small smile. The waiters put down the food on the table, and there were loads of it! It looked like we were about to have company, since the amount could easily feed a family of five. "Is someone else coming?" I asked curiously, but inwardly a little sad. I wanted to celebrate with her alone though... Well I guess it must be someone interesting if it''s someone she invited. She gave me a smile as the waiters were leaving and said: "No my swan, today we eat like kings. Eat as much as you want." That made my mood soar like nothing else, the big table was now filled with food. There was a whole grilled chicken, roasted potatoes and a half-dozen different meats. She didn''t need to tell me twice, I started shoving food into my mouth. This was after all, the last day of training. Which had made her make it extra hard sparring, running and riding. Which had exhausted me. After we finished our meal, which took a considerable amount of time. I was so full I wasn''t sure if I''d be able to move if she asked me, well the test came quicker than I thought as she asked me to follow her. We arrived in a room I had never seen before. It was a large study, clearly the kind a Guild Master should have. I realized I''d forgotten that Katherina was one. "Take a seat." she said pointing at one of the chairs in front of the desk while she walked around to sit behind the desk. I did as told and sat down. "You have now formally completed your training." she said in a serious voice. *TING
You have completed the quest: Katherina''s Knight Training
You have leveled up
You have leveled up
You have leveled up
You have leveled up
You have leveled up
Five levels? This must really have been a high difficulty quest. "And now, to your reward." she said standing up and walking over to a large cabinet. She opened it and took out a sword, unsheathed it and walked over and placed it in my hands. It was a steel sword, was the first thing I noticed. It was beautiful and looked like a classic knight''s sword, except for the cross-guard. Instead of a normal one, this one was two wings. One wing on either side of the blade, it looked beautiful. Are those... swan wings? I thought wonderingly and looked up at Kat. She smiled at me and then a message window appeared. *TING
Hidden class discovered!
[p=center]You have been offered the class of a Swan Knight.[/p] The Swan Knight is a class much like a normal knight, except it requires an exceptionally attractive appearance. In addition to normal knight skills you also gain bonuses from the Charisma stat. People who see you fight will think of a graceful swan. This will heighten ally morale and distract enemies into watching your graceful form even as you cut down their comrades. Effectiveness will be decided by how high your Charisma is.
[p=center]Do you accept?[/p]
YesNo
A hidden class?! And Swan Knight? A knight that also depends on charisma? Could I have asked for anything better? I thought excitedly. "Yes!" I shouted and was enveloped in a bright white light.
[quart=Character name,Alignment]Aurelius,Neutral[/quart][quart=Level,Profession]6,Swan Knight[/quart]
Status Window
TitleNone
Fame50
[quart=Health,Mana]1290,100[/quart]
[quart=Strength,Agility]50+25,50+5[/quart]
[quart=Vitality,Charisma]50+25,34+30[/quart]
[quart=Endurance,Fighting Spirit]95+15,80[/quart]
[quart=Wisdom,Intellect]10,10[/quart]
[quart=Luck,Leadership]5,0[/quart]
Attack15
Defense0
Magic ResistanceNone
[p=left]+30 Charisma +25 Strength +25 Vitality +15 Endurance +5 Agility + The Swan Knight class focuses on Charisma instead of Honor, this makes it much easier to raise the Charisma stat but makes it impossible for the Honor stat to be generated. + The Swan Knight regenerates a little stamina every time he makes a graceful move/dodge/attack. + Being a Knight class, all your weapon mastery skills level up faster. + Riding is easier and faster to master as a Knight. + Enables you to equip certain items specialized for the class.[/p]
"Why are my stats this good?" I without thinking said out loud. "Well, first of all my training counts as Basic Training like I told you when you arrived. So you get all the stats that you would have gotten from that. Also, since my training is hard with a lot of sparring and running, your endurance is probably very high because you''ve been taking hit after hit. And you''ve probably created a stat called Fighting Spirit?" she asked seriously. "Yes I have, what is it?" I asked curiously. "It''s basically the will to fight. It can sometimes give you superhuman strength temporarily, but that''s really rare. Much more useful is if you''ve got higher Fighting Spirit than a monster, it will fear you. And some might even move away from you because they don''t want to fight you. Also, this stat is raised by fighting long battles, and fighting stronger opponents and monsters." she said with a smile. This is the first time I''ve checked my status window since I started, and I knew I''ve been getting a lot of stat messages. Fighting Spirit? That''s great, and I certainly have been fighting a stronger opponent. And that about my endurance, it''s proof of how many hits I''ve taken during her training. I thought shuddering in remembrance. While I was thinking Katherina gestured toward the sword and started talking: "I''ve had this sword for a long time, and was thinking of granting it to the first person that deserved the Swan Knight class. You''ve earned the class and the sword." she said with a smile. "The sword is already identified, so take a look. Also, I''m going to be giving you a basic iron spear and shield as well." she continued smiling at me. I took up the sword and held it in front of me and said: "Item info."
[p=center]Knight''s Steel Swan Sword[/p] Durability: 65/65 Damage: 19-25 Awarded to the first person that manages to finish Katherina''s training and become the hidden class of Swan Knight. This is a fine steel sword that was custom-made by a blacksmith for Katherina''s needs. She anticipated what stats the person who finished her training and got the class would have, therefore she could make it perfectly fit his/her stats. Class: Swan Knight. Restriction: Strength 75, Vitality 75, Charisma 40. Equip: Raises Strength by 15, Raises Charisma by 10.
This sword is amazing! And just like it says, it looks like it''s custom-made for me. I can equip it right now. I stood up from the chair, gently put the sword back in the scabbard that was on her desk then laid it down there. I turned back around to Kat who was still smiling at me, took a huge step forward and enveloped her in a crushing hug. "Thank you so much! This is so much more than I ever even hoped for! I don''t know how to thank you." I said while tightly hugging her to me, but because she was taller my head ended up below hers. I couldn''t see her expression but for one second I was convinced she was going to throw me away. But she didn''t, when she overcame her shock she hugged me back. Though I could barely feel it since I was still wearing the huge iron armor. *TING
Charisma has increased by 1
"A-alright it''s okay. You can stop hugging me now." when she said that we''d basically been standing there hugging for a couple of minutes. I reluctantly moved back and when I could finally see her face she looked red and more than a little embarrassed. "By the way Kat," I said trying to defuse the awkward mood. "does this mean I can finally take off this armor?" I said hopefully. She looked relieved at the change of subject, and answered with a smile: "Yes. You can remove it now." I quickly started to remove the armor. And when it was done it felt like I was floating, like I weighed nothing. I had taken it off previously, but only to go to bed. And by that point I was so exhausted that I didn''t really think about it. I just crashed into my bed and instantly fell asleep. This time I could savor the feeling of loosing the 60kg(132lbs) armor. I had some normal clothes under, but I realized I felt naked. It sounds ridiculous, but after wearing that thing for so long I feel naked without it. So vulnerable. I thought uncomfortable. Kat seemed to sense what I was feeling and started laughing. I too, realized the absurdity of it and laughed. "It feels strange doesn''t it?" she asked me and I nodded. "Yes, it felt the same way to me. Not like for you, but before I settled down here I used to travel around the world and I always wore my armor then. I only ever took it off when I could sleep inside an inn. Remember this Aurelius, you never know who''ll come when you''re in a forest or on the road. Sleep with your armor on so you can always be prepared for whatever happens. It will be uncomfortable, but that''s surely better than death." she told me seriously. "I promise to remember it Kat." I replied seriously but with a small smile. She''s trying to throw in just a little extra advice. I thought fondly. After that we went to a sort of storage room, and she gave me a decent iron spear and shield. And then walked out to the stables to say goodbye to Marengo. We entered the room Marengo was in, and immediately when she heard us came trotting over. I walked up to her and put my face in her mane. She seemed to realize something was wrong since I wasn''t in my usual armor. "It''s time for me to leave." I whispered to her. She seemed to understand what I was saying and pulled away from me so she could look me in the eyes instead. "I''m sorry girl, I''m done with Kat''s training now and it''s time for me to go." I said with a sad smile. I never realized how hard it would be to leave. It''s one thing with Kat, I''ll miss her a lot. But I wasn''t expecting how much I was going to miss Marengo, which was pretty stupid of me. Marengo just looked at me for a moment, then she walked up to me again and licked my face. It really startled me and I almost fell down. As expected, Kat started laughing while Marengo walked up to me again but this time pushed her head towards mine so our foreheads touched. It was a really touching moment for me, and my vision was going kind of blurry at the prospect of leaving them both. I waved Kat to me and she came, though a little puzzled. And when she was in my reach I used all the speed I could muster and pulled her into a group-hug with me and Marengo. I succeeded, barely. First it looked like with her automatic reflex she would just throw me away, but she seemed to realize what I was doing and stopped it. We ended up in an emotional group-hug with me and Kat hugging Marengo. After a few minutes we finally finished, and it was time to leave. We all walked out of the stables together through the front-yard of the guild and to the street. I hugged each of them once more and then left with blurry eyes walking down the moonlit street, and I suddenly felt so lonely again. I walked for a couple of minutes until I reached the square, before I logged out I decided to use my stat points on +20 Strength and +5 Charisma. And then, for the first time I logged out. [p=center]***[/p] What Aurelius didn''t know was that after his spectacle with Marengo in the square, he had become kind of famous. People had been visiting the knight''s guild all the time after that, but had been met by a sign on the door which said: ''I will not take any new students until this one has run away or finished.'' From that they had assumed he was still in there training. And so when someone finally saw that the sign wasn''t there anymore, they quickly entered the guild and asked what had happened to him. The response they got was ''The Swan just finished, ah I''ll miss him...'' she said in a sad voice none had ever heard from her. After that the news spread like wildfire. "Someone finally completed Katherina''s training!" was put online and people everywhere heard about it. Most, who had never been in the capital Jinari of The Dale Kingdom had no idea who Katherina was, or what her training entailed. Some users who''d tried it started explaining what it consisted of and why it was so incredibly hard. The news were small, many who read it simply forgot about it quickly. But almost everyone who had started in Dale remembered it. They knew how tough it was, and some had even seen him in the square. And so, unbeknownst to Aurelius he had become quite famous in The Kingdom of Dale. It later became known that if you wanted to talk to Katherina about something not involving her training, you should start speaking about ''The Swan'' because that would really get her to open up. Some people thought it was a quest, like a sort of ''Find My Lost Student'' but as no quest ever came, and a large amount of people had actually seen him in the square, it was correctly assumed he was a player.
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Volume 1 - Chapter 2.5 - Return to the Palace [p=center]The Winged Knight[/p] [p=center]Volume 1 - Chapter 2.5 - Return to the Palace[/p] After the bright light enveloped Aurelius when he logged out of Royal Road, Marcus found himself back in the Palace. He immediately walked over to the screen-wall and looked into the lab. Dr. Allison was there, but she wasn''t alone. One of the men he had previously seen but not been introduced to was there as well. He was short, but very muscular. In fact, he looked more like a body-builder than a scientist. I guess people are not always what they seem, huh. I feel like I should take that to heart. "Hello Allie, still as radiant as I remember." I said with a gracious smile. "And I''m sorry to say I was never introduced to the gentleman next to you. We should remedy that immediately, don''t you think?" I asked curiously with a smile. They both looked at me, and Allie answered me with a smile: "Hello Marcus, and yes, we should. Please allow me to introduce you to Dr. Matthew Johnson." she said waving her hand at the man. Dr. Matthew looked me straight in the eye and said: "It''s nice to meet you. I''ve been monitoring all you''ve done in Royal Road, and I must say I was very impressed you managed to complete the training." he told me seriously. I answered by blushing a little. Damn it, I need to overcome my embarrassment of compliments! "Yes well, thank you for that." I said still slightly embarrassed. "And it''s nice to meet you too Matt. I suppose the whole team has watched and re-watched my saddle debacle?" I said with a grin trying change the subject and to regain my composure. They both started laughing at that, and I joined them. "Yes, that was... hilarious." Allie said still quivering from laughter. Matt''s booming laughter had also finally died down, his voice was impressively deep and seemed to almost shake the walls. At least someone could get something enjoyable out of that embarrassment. I thought with a small smile. "It was certainly one of the most embarrassing things I''ve done in my life. But you all could at least enjoy it, right?" "Yeah, we certainly did. You can count on that." Matt said trying to stifle another batch of laughter. "I think Diane, that''s Dr. Diane Tarell even made a screensaver out of it." he said with a large smile. I suppose it''ll haunt me for months to come at least. I thought sighing inwardly. "And where is the rest of the team?" I asked trying to change the subject again. "You can see the time behind you, It''s currently 23:30. And we had the night shift so the rest went home." Matt answered me in a disappointed tone. Oh, it really is. I suppose my sleep schedule has become completely warped by sleeping in Royal Road all the time. But why does he sound disappointed? "Why do you sound disappointed? A hot date? Even hotter than me?" I asked in mock outrage. He smiled at me and said: "Yes well, she was definitely hotter than you. And I wasn''t supposed to take the night shift, but Dr. Erica Tamberlaine''s babysitter was sick and couldn''t make it. And someone had to watch her daughter, so I had to take her shift instead. And therefore I had to reschedule my date." he said in a disappointed tone. "I suppose I should be sorry you had to be forced to stay here and watch me, but I can''t really express it sincerely since I know what an absolute delight I am. Therefore I can only be sorry for your date having to miss not just your good company, but my great company as well." I said with a grin. He laughed a little and said: "I''m sure she''s absolutely devastated to be missing your company, whom she don''t even know." I just looked at him with a superior smile. "I''m so great that women who''ve never even met me, can still feel a subconscious longing for me. The moment she sees me she''ll probably feel a deep hole inside she never knew existed starting to be filled completely by my presence." I said with a haughty expression. This time we all laughed together. When I''d finally recovered I asked them: "By the way do you two also play Royal Road?" Both of them looked at each other, then back at me. "Of course we do, everyone in the team plays. For that matter I''m pretty sure over 95% of everyone who works at Unicorn Corp plays it. We can play it for free you know, just buy the capsule at a reduced price and play without the monthly cost. Why do you ask?" she asked me interested. "That makes sense. Since you watched me, you know I just got the hidden class Swan Knight. So I was wondering just how rare a hidden class is? You all must know much more about Royal Road than me, but I thought that my class, stats and especially that sword was incredibly good for my level." I told her seriously. They just stared at me. And then they started to laugh again. What''s so funny now? I thought bemused. So I waited patiently until they finished. And when they did Matt told me: "Marcus, hidden means hidden. I know you''re new to the game and you spent your first month in that training so I guess I''ll explain. In Royal Road there are normal classes, hidden ones and unique ones." "Just as the names implies, normal are those that almost all players have, and hidden are very rare. I don''t know the exact statistics but I''d guess it''s something along the lines of 1 player in 100,000 that gets one. And unique classes? Pfft forget about it. There are probably less player than fingers on my hand who has one. And that''s out of hundreds of millions of players." he told me seriously. "You''re the first player I ever saw with a hidden class, and your stats are monstrous. They could easily belong to someone of level 50. What this means is that since you''ve improved your stats so much now. You''ll have a big advantage throughout the rest of the game. And the sword was incredible since you can use it now at level 6. That sword should probably be used normally at around level 50, but since you have all the required stats to use it, and it doesn''t have a level requirement. You can use it now at level 6 which is pretty overpowered. So you can probably use that sword until level 50-65 without worrying too much." Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Thank you Kat! And thank you Orianna! So I guess this means I''ll have an advantage throughout the rest of the game, huh. I thought highly satisfied my training had paid off this much. "Wow, I was pretty sure I was going to have an advantage by completing this training. But I didn''t think it''d be that big." I said wonderingly. "Yes, I''m pretty envious of your stats... though I don''t envy the training you went through. How could you do it?" Allie asked me seriously. I thought about the question some, then answered with: "Honestly, I was pretty scared in the beginning when that guard described her to me. But all of that kind of went away after I met her and knew what she was going to do. And I always saw it as the next day will be easier than the last. Though that wasn''t really the case, with running, yes. But with sparring it just got harder and harder, which I''m sure you guys saw?" I asked them. "Yeah, we watched you spar so many times. I mean you did improve greatly throughout, and I''m pretty interested in that Flowing Water Style. I''d never heard of it before, and decided to search the internet for some info about it. I found none. Seems like it''s rare enough that none of the normal sites knows about it. But it looked very useful." Matt told me interested. "Yes. It''s actually pretty great. I haven''t tried it in real combat against monsters, as you know. But I kind of consider Kat to be something much worse than anything I would encounter for a long time. She must be very high level. Anyway, back to the style. I''m used to it now, but it feels great dodging a blade minutely and then counter-attacking at a vital spot. It gets both easier and harder as the skill develops. The basic stuff gets easier, but more advanced things start to come out the higher the skill gets." I told them excitedly. "But what I really wasn''t prepared for, was just how much I would love riding." I told them with a blissful smile remembering the wind in my hair as I rode at full speed out onto the streets. Both Matt and Allie looked at each other. They were actually there to see it when it happened, and it stunned them. They had discussed it afterwards and both of them agreed that he looked like he''d been born to ride. And although neither of them had told the other, they both thought he looked incredibly majestic when he rode Marengo. "Yes, you were very good at it. And you certainly seemed to enjoy it!" Allie told me with a smile. "Yes, it was one if not the best feeling I''ve had in my entire life. I can''t wait to get a horse of my own in Royal Road." I said with an eager smile. "I must warn you though Marcus, horses are expensive. A good knight''s horse, like you want. Would probably cost at least 500 gold. Probably more. So I know you really want one, but it will probably take a long time." Matt told him cautiously. Marcus was shocked, and his face clearly showed it. I was an idiot! 500 gold?! I only have the starting money right now, and that''s what? 5 copper? And isn''t it 100 coppers is 1 silver, and 100 silver is 1 gold. And I need 500 of them? That''s going to take forever. I thought dejectedly. Allie upon seeing my face quickly tried to comfort me. "It''s not that bad Marcus, you''ll probably be able to get it in no time. And, there''s still the chance that you could catch and tame a wild horse." she said encouragingly. Though that''s so astronomically rare that it would probably be likelier to find a pouch filled with 500 gold. she thought a bit guiltily. Marcus on the other hand had cheered up considerably at the prospect of finding and taming his own horse. I see! I can just try to find my own horse. And being the romantic that I am, wouldn''t that be destiny to find a wild horse and tame it on my own. I thought positively. Though in the back of my head I probably realized just how slim a chance that really was. "Well, I guess I''ll just see what happens. Anyway I logged out to check up on you guys since I''ve been logged on this whole time. But I think I''m going to head back inside." I told them apologetically. The truth was I was eager to return to my adventure. "Sure, we can talk later. But please log out more now. Don''t just stay connected for another month. Also I would like to introduce you to the rest of the team." Allie told me seriously. "Deal. I promise I''ll log out fairly regularly, I''m not sure how often. It will depend on the quest and situation etc." I told her. I really shouldn''t have been logged on for a month straight. But I was so exhausted I just collapsed in the bed there, and if I logged out I would have lost so much time in game. "Anyway, I''ll be back later. Have a lovely evening watching my graceful form." I told them with a smile and logged onto Royal Road again. "Should we have let him log on again this fast?" Dr. Mattew asked Dr. Allison after Marcus logged onto Royal Road again. "I''m not sure. The problem is if he''s trying to replace his old life with Royal Road. But since he''s promised he''ll log out more now, we just have to make sure he follows it. In the worst case scenario we''ll forcibly log him out if he refuses to disconnect." she told him. "We just have to trust him for now. And if it seems like it''s getting worse we might have to institute some sort of rule of how many hours a day he can play. Well, that''s only if it does get worse. Let''s just watch him for now. And next time he logs out we can try to make it so his next log-out will match daytime, so he can be introduced to the rest of the team." she finished in a serious voice.
[url=http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=456&t=4005Previous Chapter width=50%][/url]Next Chapter
Volume 1 - Chapter 3 - Leaving the Nest Hey everyone, thanks for all the feedback and comments! This chapter really is too long, but I''ve already finished it now so I''ll just post it as it is. Next time I''ll most likely split it up into two separate chapters instead. Again, thank you to everyone who''s read it and rated it. All feedback is welcomed. ~borgen92 [p=center]The Winged Knight[/p] [p=center]Volume 1 - Chapter 3 - Leaving the Nest[/p] Aurelius was once again enveloped in a bright light, then found himself standing in the square. He was thinking on what to do now when he heard a voice call out to him from behind. He turned around and saw the Sergeant he always seemed to meet come walking towards him. "So we meet again lad." The Sergeant said after he''d approached me. "Yes, and as you can see I''ve finished Kat''s training now. So it''s time for me to leave and find some damsel in distress to save." I said with a dreamy expression that made the Sergeant laugh. "Well, that sounds like some sort of a plan. Anyway I realized that I never introduced myself. I''m Sergeant Radcliffe and I''d like to apologize for calling you a liar the last time we met. It''s just that it was so unbelievable." he told me in an apologetic voice. Well if he''s apologizing for it, there''s nothing I can do but to accept it. I''m not so petty that I won''t accept an honest apology. "I accept your apology Sergeant Radcliffe. We all make mistakes, but I''ve always believed that one way to measure a man''s true worth is to see what he does after he''s done something wrong." "Does he keep clinging to his false belief in a desperate effort to convince himself he was never wrong? Or do he just pretend it never happened? Or, does he find himself in the wrong, and upon realizing that seeks out a way to right that wrong? If that''s the case you''ve certainly proved yourself to be an honest man." I told him in a serious voice. Sergeant Radcliffe looked a little taken aback by my serious words, but managed to recover quickly. "I agree. I''ve always believed a good and honest man should face whatever wrongdoings he has made, and do his best trying to right them." He replied with an equally serious expression. A man of my own heart, I think he''s beginning to grow on me. "That''s nice to hear Sarge, but let''s leave that awful seriousness behind us now. Is there anything else you want to speak to my magnificent self about? You don''t happen to have something a knight can help with?" I asked him with a smile. The Sergeant also looked a little relieved at having left that subject behind and answered me: "Well, actually... there is something. But I''m not sure I should ask it of you. You''ve completed Katherina''s training so I know you''re strong. But I''m not sure I should ask this of you..." he let his voice trail off. "If there''s anything I can do, I will. I''m always glad to help the guardsmen of this great city, so you can count on me for whatever it is." I told him firmly. "Alright then, actually we''ve been having a real problem with wolves around here. There''s a forest just outside the north gate, and inside it a huge wolf-pack lives. They''ve been terrorizing the farmers outside the city, killing their animals and even attacking some travels on the road next to the forest." "We should be clearing them out, but we''ve been having some trouble with increased criminal activity here. So we can''t leave right now, we have to keep an eye on the situation inside the city. If you could enter the forest and kill the pack-leader and some wolves, that would probably scatter them enough that I could ask some other adventurers to help finish them off." *TING
The Wolf Menace
[p=left]Sergeant Radcliffe has asked you to help the farmers outside the city by getting rid of the wolf pack that roams the northern forest. Difficulty: E Quest requirement: Kill the pack leader and at least 15 wolves. Reward: 1 gold and some old armor from the city-guards storage.[/p]
1 gold and some armor? That''s great! It doesn''t matter if it''s old, right now I still have the starting clothes after all. But killing 15 wolves and the pack leader? That''s got to be hard... well in the worst case maybe I can find some players to help me out. I thought positively. "I will stop the wolf menace."
You have accepted the quest.
"Good, and thank you lad. Just head out of the northern gate and you''ll see the forest immediately. I''ll be eagerly awaiting your good news." he told me with a small smile and waved goodbye as he left. I waved him goodbye then made my way towards the northern gate. After passing through the gate I could see the large looming forest not that far away from the wall. In front of it I could see scores of beginners. They were killing rabbits, and a few in a group were hunting foxes. I equipped my Swan Sword and shield and made my way towards a rabbit. I should try a rabbit out to see how strong it is. I got in my stance, and charged the rabbit. It looked surprised and tried to run away, but I was too fast. My sword made a graceful arc through the air as it descended upon the rabbit. The instant my sword connected with the rabbit it shattered into pieces of light and what looked like some rabbit meat was the only thing left behind. That was... easy. Too easy. I immediately got suspicious of the swiftness which the rabbit had died. I looked around and prepared myself from some kind of rabbit ambush. Which never came. I''m such an idiot! I thought smacking myself on the forehead. Of course it was easy, my stats are incredibly strong! Deciding to ignore the stares that my head-smack had won me, I made my way towards a fox that was standing at the edge of the forest. Immediately when I arrived I started jogging towards it, the fox sensing my approach turned around to face me. It bared it''s fangs and leaped towards me, I smoothly dodged to the right side, making the fox''s lunge narrowly miss me. Then I quickly turned towards it''s back and let loose a graceful slash that cut through it''s back like butter. The fox instantly shattered in small pieces of light. So easy! My training with Kat really paid off, huh. I picked up a fox pelt and when I straightened up I saw some players were heading towards me. They probably want to question me, but I''m really not in the mood. I thought turning towards the thick forest and ran straight into it. Some screams for me to stop were heard behind me, but I ignored them and moved deeper inside the forest. Suddenly I came out of a thick part of the forest, and found myself in an empty clearing next to a small stream. And right in front of me was a wolf. Staring straight at me. No doubt wondering what the noise was coming towards it, and now it knew. It immediately lunged towards me, I wasn''t prepared and took a slash from it''s claws on the side of my stomach that went through my clothes like they weren''t even there. It prompted the message:
You have lost 60 Health
60 damage, eh? That means I have 1230 health left... But it would be bad if I was overwhelmed by a group of wolves. They could probably kill me by overwhelming me with attacks from all directions. I thought a little concerned. I turned around and the wolf was just about to jump on me, but this time I was prepared. I slammed my shield into it''s face so hard it was stunned for a few moments, I used a swift thrust aimed straight at it''s chest. It went through and the wolf shattered into light. I picked up the wolf pelt it dropped, and ate some barley bread while I refilled the water canteen in the stream. I knew my health would regenerate by itself, slowly but steadily. And since I didn''t have any health potions, I decided that I''d be more careful from now on. After drinking and eating some, I continued into the forest. After a few minutes of walking I heard a noise to my right, I quickly raised my shield and prepared for combat. I was just in time as a few seconds after that a wolf jumped out of the bush. I managed to push it away, and just when I was about to slash it with my sword I sensed something behind me. I quickly turned and slashed behind me, and just as I thought another wolf was there. But my slash had been badly timed, so it missed. There''s two of them. One in front and one behind. The best tactic is probably to trust my style. I readied my flowing water style, and waited for a chance to attack. The wolfs started circling me, I maintained my ready stance and waited. One of the wolfs tried to run forward and bite me but I dodged it easily enough, then the other one rushed me from behind. Just when it was about to jump onto my back and bite me in the neck, I dodged enough to the right that the wolf missed my entire body and let loose a slash that took the wolfs head clean off. After that I charged the remaining wolf before it could recover, the first slash grazed it since it managed to dodge slightly to the left, but that still almost killed it. And after it became wounded it was so slow it was easy to finish off. I continued moving through the forest for the rest of the day, killing wolves in groups as large as four. I leveled up for a third time after finishing a group. I guess I should use the points now. I thought and decided to put 10 points in strength and 5 points in vitality. I saw my endurance had gone up by 5 from taking hits from wolves. I wonder if it increase faster based on what type of weapon you''re hit by? Since with Kat it was all wooden swords and spears, but here it''s wolf claws. I put the thought aside and continued deeper into the forest. It was almost dark when I came upon the entrance to a small cave on the side of a hill. A wolf den! I thought excited, but then I saw that there were five wolves laying at the entrance, and more were probably inside. This is probably where the pack leader is. This is going to be tough. Should I rush them and try to blitz-attack? Or should I throw something then hide behind some trees hoping to lure them here? Hmm... but I don''t know if more will come here. I should probably try to be as fast as possible. Speculating from the number of wolves I''ve already killed, this pack must be huge. I steeled myself and started charging the wolves. The hearing of wolves is obviously superior to humans, so almost after I took my first step they looked up and bared their teeth. I can''t let them try to surround me! Push them back towards the entrance so they can''t use their numbers! I charged and when I saw the one furthest on the right trying to slink away from the group and around me, I charged for it. I put my shield towards the other wolves and slashed the one trying to circle me. It let out a whine when my sword dug into it''s side, and just when I was about to finish it off one of the other four jumped at me from the left. I managed to block it with my shield, and finished off the limping wolf. Immediately when it died I grabbed the loot fast as lightning and turned around. Now all four were starting to circle me in different directions. I knew I couldn''t let them do that so I charged one. The others were obviously waiting for this and all rushed me from different directions. This time I couldn''t dodge or block all of the attacks.
You have lost 50 Health
You have lost 60 Health
Two attacks got through while I managed to dodge one and block the other. This is even harder than I thought. I need to hurry before whatever''s inside that cave comes out. I recovered and charged the one furthest to the left this time. I knew the others were charging up behind me, but I ignored them and dodged the wolf in front of me that tried to bite me. Directly after the dodge I let loose a beautiful cut that took it''s head off. This time I had no choice but to ignore the loot and turned around as fast as I could. The moment I turned around one wolf came flying at me. I shield-bashed it to the left side, and took another step to the right so the next wolf just barely passed the previous place I was. The last wolf came flying straight at me now, but I was prepared. I did a lightning thrust straight through it''s open mouth, using it''s own momentum against it. It scattered in light instantly. But I had no time to think about that. There were still two wolves behind me, with an unknown number coming from the cave any moment now. I decided to take another risk and charged one of the wolves that was trying to flank me to the left. I blocked it''s own attack against me, and when I knew the last wolf was coming up behind me I dodged by spinning around and used the momentum from the dodge to cut the wolf I just blocked. It didn''t die, but was gravely wounded. The wolf I dodged landed next to the wounded one, This is my chance! I charged the two that were now clumped together and let loose a series of slashes that quickly killed them. I had just the time to let loose a relieved sigh from the intense fight, when I felt pain in my back.
You have lost 250 Health
I spun around and brought up my shield just in time to block the monstrous white wolf''s fangs. I could hear the shield creak dangerously from the attack. Shit, the attack must have damaged it''s durability significantly for it to make that noise. The wolf backed up and started to observe me. It was a true beast, more than twice the size of the previous wolves it was more like a small horse''s size than a wolf. It was completely white, except for around the mouth where the fur was stained a dark red that looked like dried blood. And the front right paw was stained a much brighter red, with my blood still dripping from the claws. I have no idea what level it is, but this will not be easy. If I want my shield to survive, I probably shouldn''t block anymore of it''s attacks. That means only dodging, but that might be wishful thinking. I thought grimly. I decided to try out it''s speed, so I rushed it and let loose a slash. The white wolf dodged and rushed me for a counter-attack. Now it was my turn to dodge, it tried to bite my thigh but I managed to evade it. Both of us backed off and started to circle each other. Now it was the wolf''s time to charge, he seemingly charged my left side so I prepared with my shield. But just when it looked like it was about to jump, instead it slowed down so my shield-bash completely missed. With my shield still trying to return from the failed shield-bash it had an open view of my chest, and jumped. I felt both of it''s front paw''s claws dig into my chest. Even though it was a game, and the pain sensation has been lowered a lot. It still hurt.
You have lost 230 Health
You have lost 250 Health
With it''s claws still buried in my chest, it brought down it''s fangs to close on my neck and finish the job. I almost collapsed under it''s weight, but thanks to Kat''s relentless training I managed to bear it. And before it could tear out my throat I used my sword''s pommel and hit it hard on the nose. It cried out in pain and jumped away, allowing me to get back my shield to defend my body. I rushed it and when it tried to lash out with a claw to stop me, I blocked it with my shield that violently protested with a sound and slashed the wolf on it''s side. It whimpered and tried to back away, but I pushed my attack and used a thrust straight at it''s throat. It barely managed to dodge the killing-blow, but the thrust still pierced it''s shoulder and it collapsed on the ground. I was panting hard, and was about to walk over to it and finish the job when it let loose a piercing howl that rattled my bones. My face instantly went paper white. Oh god, it called the rest of the nearby wolves. Counting by how many I''ve already killed there must be at least 30-40 left. I could already hear some twigs getting snapped, and bushes rustling from all around me. I rushed up to the white wolf who almost managed to injure me with a final, defiant bite. I dodged and used all of my strength and cut it''s head off. After that I looted it quickly, and ran towards the entrance of the cave. Just when I got there wolves started pouring out of the forest. They exited the forest and when they saw that the white wolf and it''s guards were nowhere to be seen, they seemed to realize they were dead. This is bad. Very bad. There must be at least 30 of them so far! While I was thinking that more and more wolves started appearing from the forest. I quickly equipped my spear, and started backing into the small opening of the cave. At least it''ll be a last stand to remember. With my flanks and back secured, and a spear and shield I can probably kill quite a number of them. That is, until either my shield or spear breaks, or I take too many small wounds. I thought with grim determination. When the wolves saw that I was starting to back into the cave, they charged. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion, to me it looked like a sea of wolves charging towards me. I backed enough into the cave, put up my shield and pointed my spear straight towards them. The first wolf that arrived never had a chance, I took a step forward and thrust out my spear straight through it''s mouth, killing it instantly using my strength and it''s momentum. Even if it had been fast enough to dodge, there simple weren''t any room. The wolves were packed so tight they could barely move. And now when they came upon the entrance, it was so tight they could barely fit two next to each other. So I stood my ground and started lashing out with my spear when I could, and blocked and dodged the rest. *TING
Fighting Spirit has been increased by 1.
I decided to ignore all the popups and concentrate on the fighting instead. [p=center]***[/p] This fight is endless. How long have I been fighting now? I can see that it''s completely dark now, and I''m completely exhausted. After what felt like hours, I''d received dozens of wounds, and killed scores of wolves. But they never gave up. They kept coming, again and again and again. My shield was barely holding together, I have no idea what it''s durability is at, but it''s almost broken. After even more fighting, my shield had splintered. Now I used only my spear to attack and parry with, resulting in even more wounds. Suddenly, a message popped up: *TING
Skill: Swan Song has been created and activated!
What''s this? And I can feel myself becoming stronger and faster, my stamina seems to be regenerating faster as well! I refuse to die like this, and with whatever this is, I can use the strength to do a final charge! My fighting spirit raised by the newfound strength, I let loose a set of vicious thrusts with the spear making the wolves back off some. And when they did, I quickly threw the spear at one of them killing it instantly and drew my sword. I charged like a madman. Since the flowing water style was passive, it was always helping me dodge and see vital points to be hit. I slashed and thrust at speeds I never knew I could achieve, wolves were dying everywhere around me. I was a whirlwind of death, shattering bodies into tiny fragments of light wherever I went. Until finally I found myself standing alone, physically and mentally exhausted. I was panting heavily and collapsed on the ground. I lay there just staring at the stars for half an hour, waiting to be finished off from my pitiful state. But no killing-blow ever came. And when I finally managed to sit up and look around, I could see no wolves. But I could see loot everywhere. Wolf meat and pelts all around me, I managed slowly to get up and pick everything up. There were so much loot I didn''t even look, I just picked everything up like a drone. After I did that I took out my canteen and barley bread and ate. I was hungry like never before, not even at Kat''s had I ever been this hungry or exhausted. So I walked to the entrance of the cave, laid out dozens of wolf pelts I''d gotten and fell asleep in the makeshift bed. [p=center]***[/p] When I woke up I was confused. Where am I? And then I remembered. That''s right, I collapsed here after I killed the wolves. I still can''t believe I survived. I checked my health and it was at full, it seems I''d recovered my health over the night. I ate some barley bread and drank the last of my water. Right! I also created that weird skill and then it activated. Better check what it was. I thought before saying "Skill info: Swan Song."
Swan Song: Beginner Level 3 (45%)
[p=left]You gather all your strength and determination for the last attacks before death. When below 10% health, Damage and Stamina Regeneration is increased by 30% and Speed is increased by 15%.[/p]
That''s awesome, I love the name. And 30% more damage and stamina regeneration and 15% more speed at level 3? That''s pretty great, though it''s only when I''m below 10% health. I thought pleased with the skill. After I checked the skill, I looked around and found nothing. So I decided that the only thing left before returning to the Sergeant was to check the cave. I walked into it, but it was dark and the passage was tight. I could barely see, but I continued onward. After a while of walking, the passage started becoming wider and I could see some light ahead. When I exited the passage I found myself in a big cavern with sunlight streaming in from holes in the ceiling. I decided to explore it before I returned. You never know what might be down here, I better be careful. I started to look around and it didn''t take long before I found something. It looked like the wolves had dumped most of what they ate in one of the corners of the cavern. And laying there next to bones from all sorts of animals, was some items. It looked like some human had been killed by the wolves, and laying next to a human skull was a huge two-handed sword. A warrior with his trusted sword. I have to bury him with the sword. I thought, determined to do right by this forgotten warrior. I dug a hole where he was, and deposited the skull inside the hole. After that, I made the hole longer and thinner so I could put the sword down with the skull. After that, I filled the hole again allowing the old warrior to rest with his sword. I continued exploring, and found nothing more except for some bones here and there from dead animals. I suppose it''s time to leave. I thought and started walking towards the exit of the cave. After exiting the cave I realized I had no idea how to get back to the city. I''m an idiot! All I remember was that I think I first saw the cave from over there, I looked to a big tree next to a medium sized rock I had some vague memory of. I walked towards it, and then tried to walk in a straight line not to get lost. If I walk in a straight line I will ultimately arrive somewhere. The forest can''t be endless... hopefully. [p=center]***[/p] After walking for hours and fighting some wolves here and there, I came upon a hill, and when I climbed it I saw the walls of the city in the distance. Thank god for that. I thought thankfully. After half an hour I exited the forest and saw the beginners fighting bunnies all around me. A girl was standing not that far away from me, looking like she was planning on attacking a fox. But when she heard the sound of me coming out of the forest she turned around. At first she simply stared at me, then her face went paper-white and she started to scream. The sound made all the beginners in the area turn around and stare at her, then following her gaze at me. What''s wrong with her? I thought grumpily, first all that walking through the forest and now this. I started walking towards her and when she saw it, she tried to turn away and run. But she was so panicked she fell to the ground clumsily. I quickly ran towards her lying on her back. And when I stood over her, bent over and looked her in the eyes and said: "Hey, what''s wrong? Are you okay?" At first it looked like she was about to scream again, but when she heard my voice her eyes went completely wide and just stared at me. I was getting more worried when she didn''t respond, so I grabbed her hand and pulled her up. "Are you okay?" I asked again, concern in my voice evident. I was really starting to get worried if she was having some sort of an episode. Then I felt something coming towards me from behind, so I quickly grabbed the girl and put myself between her and the object. I felt a sharp pain in my back, so I turned around and saw that a large group of players had gathered and stood some distance away from us, I saw that one of the archers was holding his bow like he''d just released an arrow. The bastard just shot an arrow at me. I thought numbly. I''d heard of player-killers but to attack me here, in broad daylight in front of so many witnesses. For that matter, what are they doing just standing next to him staring? I thought puzzled. "What was that for?" I asked him calmly. Now all of them looked completely shocked. What the hell is going on here? Some sort of spell? Mass hysteria? I was beginning to get really worried. Finally it seemed the girl behind me had recovered and she timidly spoke up: "Um... excuse me... but are you a player?" she seemed hesitant. I turned towards her and answered in a loud, exasperated voice: "Of course I am! What did you think I was, a monster?" I asked now baffled. The girl recoiled a little from the volume of my response. But now she looked like she''d somewhat recovered and asked me: "Um, do you know how you look?" she asked me curiously. And while the two of us were talking the crowd moved forward and was now standing just a few meters behind me as I spoke with the girl. "Of course I do, what a stupid question. I''ve got light brown hair, amber eyes and beginner clothes." I said as a-matter-of-factly. And now the whole crowd started laughing. What''s their problem? I thought more confused than anything. The girl looked at me with compassionate eyes and pointed at my chest. I looked down and was utterly shocked at what I saw. My fight with the wolves must have been brutal. The clothes were in tatters, barely hanging onto my body. And I could see more of my naked chest than the clothes. My trousers were the same. I looked like something from a castaway movie. And on top of all that, my chest, my clothes and pretty much everything of me you could see were dyed completely red. The blood from the wolves. I realized numbly. I turned towards the crowd that had finally stopped laughing and asked: "Does anyone have a water spell, or enough water to wash it all away?" Now they were shocked again. A boy in mage''s robes timidly raised his hand and said: "I c-can." "Then do it, blast me with water to wash it all away." I told him seriously. The guy started to ready the spell, but the others looked like they didn''t want to miss out on the fun as well. So they all took out their canteens and other flasks and then they all went up to me and splashed the water on me. I stood still with my eyes closed for around 10 seconds before a big water-stream, like something that would come from a garden hose started to wash me. Still with my eyes closed I used my hands to scrub everywhere. To other people it probably looked like I was standing there taking a shower in my underwear with all of them watching me. After a few minutes it finally stopped, and I opened my eyes. In front of me was the group of around 30 people staring. Some looked away, while a lot of the girls blushed. So did a few of the guys, including the boy with the spell that helped me. I looked down and saw that with all the filth washed away, you could finally see my body. Who''s laughing now, huh? I thought smugly watching 60% of the crowd blushing while the rest either looked away uncomfortably or were staring. I know my body is worthy of a statue, and now so do you. I thought satisfied. I looked towards the blushing boy that had helped me and gave him a gracious bow and a smile and said: "Thank you for your help. May I have your name, kind wizard?" It should have looked ridiculous. A half naked young man giving a gracious bow, but somehow it didn''t. *TING
Charisma has increased by 1
Hoh, I can gain charisma even while talking to players. I thought interested. When the shy boy got the question he blushed crimson, and after some time managed to answer. "I-im Eiden." he barely got out. "Nice to meet you Eiden, I''m Aurelius." I said with another gracious bow. Without my noticing, the girl that was behind me had moved in front of me to the rest of the audience. And she suddenly spoke up. "Um, excuse me... but why did you look like that? And why did you come out of the forest?" she asked, apparently burning with curiosity. The rest of the audience seemed interested as well. "Well my lady, give me some water to drink and I''ll tell you. My own water ran out a couple of hours ago so I''m absolutely parched." I said while sitting down in the grass. I gestured for her to come closer and she nodded and took out her canteen. I looked towards the crowd and said: "Well don''t just stand there! Come sit down and have a barley bread picnic with me and this young lady." I said with a charming smile. *TING
Charisma has increased by 1
Some looked unsure, but when they saw the rest of the crowd coming closer they followed. Everyone sat down in a sort of half-circle in front of me. I took the canteen gratefully from the girl, and drank deeply from it while she blushed. An indirect kiss, huh. Is that really such a big deal in a game? I thought amused. "And now I suppose you all want to hear what I was doing that made me look like this?" they all nodded and I smiled in response. "Well, I got a quest yesterday to kill the pack-leader of the wolves that live in this forest, and to kill at least 15 wolves." Now they all looked shocked again, but it was valid. Normally when one first leaves the city, they get a sort of standard quest to kill rabbits for their meat or something similar. Then they get the reward, buy some beginner armor and continues with a quest for fox pelts as an example. After that they might receive a quest involving wolves. But that was usually to get maybe 5 wolf pelts, and those quests they did in a group. What this means however, is that usually the only players wearing beginner outfits are those that haven''t completed the quest involving rabbits. After that, they might buy some nicer, but still cheap clothes. And after they''ve finished with the foxes they usually have enough money to buy some kind of armor. Even if warriors might not afford an iron breastplate after so few quests, they usually bought a hardened leather armor or something like it. So they wouldn''t be completely defenseless. That''s why half the crowd was wearing beginner clothes, the other half was wearing mixed armors or wizard robes. So to find a player wearing beginner clothes and fighting wolves was almost unheard of. "So I went into the forest yesterday, and after fighting wolves for a couple of hours I managed to find the wolf-den. I attacked it and managed to kill a couple of wolves before the pack-leader came out. I then slew it as well, but just before dying it let out a howl summoning all the other wolves close to it''s aid." They were all listening intently, but more than one looked very skeptical. "When I heard it, I quickly finished it off and ran for the cave. Just when I arrived a huge number of wolves came out of the forest. I equipped my spear and shield and fought them in the passage leading down inside the cave where they couldn''t attack more then two at the same time." I told them seriously. "I honestly don''t know how long I fought, but by some luck and skill I managed to kill them all." Now almost all of them looked at me like I was a liar. "When I finished I was so exhausted I barely managed to loot them all before collapsing on the ground to sleep. I woke up the next day, explored the cavern and started walking towards the city again. But I didn''t remember the way, and the forest is pretty thick. So I was out of water, and had to walk for a couple of hours before I finally came out here." I finished in an exhausted voice. All of them stared at me. Some of them looked shocked that I could do those things, but most of the crowd looked like they wanted to call me a liar. My temper started to flare. It feels like people always think I''m a liar... "Now, before any of you call me a liar. Because I can see some of you want to. Take a look at this." I said, and emptied my inventory of all the wolf pelts. Including a giant white one. There had to be over 80 wolf pelts, and the white one that was more than twice as big as a normal wolf. Everyone stared at the huge pile of pelts. Serves them right. I thought with a hidden smirk. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. "And so my appearance probably came from all of the blood and attacks from the wolves, combined with walking through a tight forest." I told them with a smile. A lot of them had recovered now, so I started putting all the pelts in my inventory again. I got up, and some of them followed while the others stayed on the ground. "Well, thank you for the water my lady." I said with a gracious bow. She smiled shyly and I smiled back at her. "Have a nice day, my lords and ladies." I said giving another gracious bow towards the crowd and then started walking towards the city. After walking for just a few seconds I heard someone running behind me, I turned to look over my shoulder and saw Eiden running towards me. I wonder what he wants? "What is it?" I asked Eiden when he was beside me panting from the run. Mages must have really bad stamina. I thought with compassion. "I-im going to the city anyways, and I''ve already finished with the rabbits and foxes long ago. So can I please walk with you?" he asked me in a meek voice. Looks like he''s a very shy kid, but then why does he want to go with me? I puzzled. "Sure, two are always better than one right?" I said with a smile. He blushed a little, and nodded. I started walking towards the city again and Eiden followed at my side. Now that I took a good look at him, he was short. Probably 1,67m(5''4) had short black hair and blue eyes. And his face was cute. That was the only way to describe it, it was pretty feminine and the best word for it was ''cute''. His age though... that was a mystery. He could be anywhere between 14-25, he had a kind of ageless appearance. When he noticed me looking at him, he blushed again. This guy... I feel bad for him, he must be extremely shy blushing at everything like that. We finally arrived at the northern gate of the city, and my appearance immediately caused quite a scene. The gate was open, with one guard on either side of the entrance. And there was a short line of people waiting to enter, as each time the guard had to ask them their purpose in the city and so on, and in the case of someone having a wagon they inspected it looking for forbidden goods or the like. When we placed ourselves in line, people started staring at us. Eiden as expected immediately blushed from all the attention. That''s got to be creating some interesting misunderstandings, an attractive half-naked guy standing next to a cute boy/guy. I thought almost laughing, the only reason I contained myself was that it would only make Eiden more uncomfortable. One of the guards clearly couldn''t wait for our turn, so he started walking briskly from his post towards us. Eiden shifted nervously on his feet while I simply stood there unconcerned. "Why are you dressed like that? Have you no shame boy?" The guard asked angrily when he arrived. "My clothes were badly torn fighting wolves, and why should I be ashamed by this magnificent body?" I said with a charming smile. The guard flushed angrily when he heard some people around us laughing, but before he could say something I continued: "Also, the man who gave me the mission to hunt wolves was Sergeant Radcliffe." That stopped the guard cold. His face went from angry red, to paper-white faster than I could have believed. Is Sarge some sort big-shot? With that reaction this guy seems scared of him at least. "Alright, you two come with me. I''ll get you something to wear." He said grumpily and started walking back towards the gate. We followed him inside, drawing some more stares before we reached our destination which was a small guard-house just to the right after entering the gate. He told us to wait in a sort of off-duty room for the guards, with several of them looking at me interestingly. The guard returned with some whole beginner clothes, and threw them at me. After I caught them I started immediately undressing, much to the alarm of the rest of the room. Eiden, surprisingly in such a shy guy spoke up first and loudest. "Y-you can''t change here! Go somewhere private to change your clothes!" he shouted at me, his face beet-red. "Why? We''re all guys here, aren''t we?" I asked with an innocent smile, while enjoying their chagrin immensely. "Just do it, please." He pleaded so sincerely I felt sorry for the guy. So I walked to the room the other guard had gone to get the clothes and changed. When I went back to the previous room everyone much more comfortable, especially Eiden. I turned towards the guard that had brought me the clothes. "Thank you, it''s nice to see that the guards of this magnificent city are always ready to help it''s citizens." I said with a gracious bow and smile towards the whole guard room. *TING
Charisma has increased by 1
They all smiled and nodded back at me, seemingly grateful for being appreciated. I walked out of the building with Eiden in tow. After we had walked for a short period of time, I asked him: "So Eiden, where are you going? Or are you coming with me for now?" He blushed again, but this time it seemed like it was because he''d been caught. I have no idea what he wants or why he''s following me, but I don''t think it''s for a bad reason. He looked up hesitantly and asked: "Can I stay with you for a while?" he looked so innocent I felt like I wanted to dedicate my life to protecting him. "Sure, no problem." I said and we continued towards the square, I was hoping Sarge was there. Otherwise I''d have to ask some guards. After we arrived at the square, I recognized Sarge and walked towards him. He saw me and greeted me friendly: "Ah, back already Aurelius?" "Yes, I finished the quest. Though it was hard, I nearly died when the pack-leader summoned what felt like all the wolves in the southern hemisphere. It resulted in near death, and a broken shield." I told him with a wry smile. "But you survived and got stronger, didn''t you? ''What doesn''t kill you simply makes you stronger'' right?" He said with a smile while quoting me quoting someone.
You have completed the quest: The Wolf Menace
You have leveled up
You have leveled up
"And here''s your gold piece, and since you killed so many more wolves than the quest specified I''m going to let you take two items from our old storage." he told me seriously. "Thank you." I told him with a grateful smile. This is great! Probably some sort of hidden bonus objective. "Now, follow me to the old storage." He said walking briskly away, me and Eiden followed him through the streets to a small guard house with a big warehouse next to it. Sergeant Radcliffe explained as we arrived: "This is the old headquarters, when the city was much smaller than what it is today. We use that warehouse to store all sorts confiscated goods and old things we don''t know what to do with." Isn''t that great? Confiscated goods? Who knows what I might find in there, and I can choose two things! I thought excitedly. He told us to wait outside the warehouse, then he went into the old headquarters and returned with another guard. "This is Eric, he''ll come with you to make sure you don''t take anything you aren''t allowed to take while I return to my post." He told us with a serious face, then waved us off as he left. "Come with me please." Eric said, I nodded and we followed him to the warehouse. He unlocked a door, and when we entered we saw that just inside the door two more guards stood. He nodded at them and they nodded back then he motioned us to follow him. We walked through seemingly endless shelves of stuff. It really was stuff, all manner of things. It seemed like the city-guard were hoarders. Anything and everything could be seen, for example we passed a shelf that had two cases of wine and next to them was a shovel. It looked completely random, but somehow I doubted it. Suddenly Eric stopped, he took a left and we were in front of another locked door. He unlocked it and allowed us to enter without him. He told me to choose two items I wanted and then when I left the room he would inspect me to make sure I hadn''t taken anything more than allowed. Me and Eiden entered the room and what we found stunned us. There was absolutely no organization, armor lay everywhere and so did weapons. In piles sometimes, and sometimes in proper stands. It was chaos. "Eiden, can you help me look for something for a knight? I already have a good sword, so what I want the most is some good piece of armor or a shield." I asked him seriously. Eiden looked up at me and gave me a shy smile and a nod. After that we started digging through armor and weapons for what felt like eternity but was certainly no more than maybe an hour or two. "A-aurelius!" Eiden exclaimed with an excited voice. I looked up and saw him looking at me from across the room with a boyish grin on his face while holding a pair of dusty boots. I walked fast towards him and asked: "What is it? Have you found something good?" Eiden just gave me a shy smile and handed over the boots in his hands. I looked at them and got the information.
[p=center]Anan''s Boots[/p] Durability: 30/30 Defense: 5 The knight called Anan had these boots crafted for him, they''re made of a combination of hard leather with embedded iron plates. Restrictions: Strength 75, Vitality 50.
Wow, these are pretty good. I thought happily "Thank you, I''m definitely taking them." I said with a smile at him which he returned with another of his shy smiles. Since this isn''t the official armory, the weapons here really aren''t very good. But there''s some hidden armors here, buried beneath all the scrap. After half an hour I managed to find something interesting.
[p=center]Heavy Chainmail[/p] Durability: 45/45 Defense: 10 Chainmail made to wear under normal armor, but it''s too heavy for most knights to use, requires high strength but gives good protection. Restrictions: Strength 95, Vitality 60.
This looks very good, it''s heavy as hell but me being used to that iron armor makes this a lot easier. I equipped the chainmail over my shirt and the boots and then turned to Eiden. "Thanks for all your help, I''m done now so we can finally leave." I said with a smile, Eiden looked very relieved to be able to leave this dusty place. We exited the room and found Eric the guard standing just outside the door, I showed him what I''d chosen and he searched us to make sure we hadn''t stolen anything. After that he led us out and we tasted freedom. "Ah, fresh air." I said taking a deep breath. It''s kind of funny that I think it''s fresh air in a game. Eiden''s robe was all dusty and he was trying to get it off. It looked pretty cute, and I had to hold back my laughter. I finally decided to invest my stat points, I''d seen earlier that I''d become level 15 with the completion of the quest. I still can''t really believe it, level 15! Still, I really did kill a lot of wolves. I decided to invest 5 of my 30 points in Agility, 10 in Vitality, 5 in Charisma and 10 in Strength.
[quart=Character name,Alignment]Aurelius,Neutral[/quart][quart=Level,Profession]15,Swan Knight[/quart]
Status Window
TitleWolfsbane
Fame50
[quart=Health,Mana]1480,100[/quart]
[quart=Strength,Agility]100+25,60+5[/quart]
[quart=Vitality,Charisma]65+25,48+30[/quart]
[quart=Endurance,Fighting Spirit]115+15,100[/quart]
[quart=Wisdom,Intellect]10,10[/quart]
[quart=Luck,Leadership]5,0[/quart]
Attack23
Defense15
Magic ResistanceNone
[p=left]+30 Charisma +25 Strength +25 Vitality +15 Endurance +5 Agility + The Swan Knight class focuses on Charisma instead of Honor, this makes it much easier to raise the Charisma stat but makes it impossible for the Honor stat to be generated. + The Swan Knight regenerates a little stamina every time he makes a graceful move/dodge/attack. + Being a Knight class, all your weapon mastery skills level up faster. + Riding is easier and faster to master as a Knight. + Enables you to equip certain items specialized for the class.[/p]
My fighting spirit and endurance went up after my desperate last stand, not that surprising but still very nice. I thought satisfied. And what''s that title? Wolfsbane? I thought curiously. "Title info: Wolfsbane" I tried saying.
Title: Wolfsbane
[p=left]After killing more than a hundred wolves in less than a day, you have become the Bane of Wolves. Title effects when equipped: +15% Damage against wolves. +10 Strength +5 Agility[/p]
That''s seriously cool! And I should probably check my skills as well. I thought before saying "Skill info: All"
The Flowing Water Style: Intermediate Level 2 (67%)
[p=left]A combat style heavily focused on an ever-changing pattern of attack and defense. Making it very hard for the enemy to know what will happen next. After reaching intermediate stage can now also be used while on horseback.[/p]
Sword Mastery: Intermediate Level 2 (7%)
[p=left]Increases Attack Power with a sword by 110%.(+110% ATK). Increases Attack Speed with a sword by 33%. (+33% ATK SPD)[/p]
Spear Mastery: Intermediate Level 1 (47%)
[p=left]Increases Attack Power with a spear by 100%.(+100% ATK). Increases Armor Penetration with a spear by 30%. (+30% ARM PEN)[/p]
Swan Song: Beginner Level 3 (45%)
[p=left]You gather all your strength and determination for the last attacks before death. When below 10% health, Damage and Stamina Regeneration is increased by 30% and Speed is increased by 15%.[/p]
Horse Mastery: Beginner Level 7 (2%)
[p=left]Makes it easier to ride and tame horses. The higher the skill the less tired you become from riding.[/p]
The skills look very nice. And I guess I forgot to check horse mastery before this. Beginner level 7 huh? Still, it''ll probably be a long time before I can put the skill to good use. I thought dejectedly. It seemed like Eiden had finally managed to get all the dust off himself. "Are you ready?" I asked him and he nodded. I was a little surprised he didn''t blush. Maybe he''s gotten used to me. "I want to go to the square and sell some stuff, then after that I thought I''d go around looking for a new shield and maybe some armor if I can afford anything decent. Also, I got to remember to repair my equipment, so you want to come along?" I asked with a kind smile. Eiden simply nodded again, and we started walking towards the square. When we arrived, it was still as packed as ever. Merchants everywhere selling from stalls, and cooks as well. I walked up to a merchant with medium length blond hair, blue eyes and a kind face, he was around 1,75m(5''7) tall and I asked him with a gracious smile: "Excuse me, are you interested in buying 100 wolf pelts? And if so, how much will you pay?" The merchant looked shocked, and stared at me. I saw some other merchants from stalls nearby turn and stare at me as well. When he finally recovered he reacted very unusually. "Please don''t lie, just go somewhere else if you want to joke around." He told me with a dejected smile, like he was depressed for believing me for even one second. I really need to get some armor so people will start to believe what I''m saying. I thought a little depressed. Instead of answering him, I simply opened my inventory and threw out 106 wolf pelts including the white one on the table in front of him. Now people from all around us were staring, I would too if I saw someone dump that many pelts. "So?" I asked with an amused smile. "How much are you willing to pay?" If the merchant was shocked the first time, it was small time compared to now. He finally managed to recover after around 10 seconds of staring at the mountain of pelts. "30 silver for each pelt, and four gold for the white one. Call it 40 gold rounded out." He told me with sparkling eyes. I was shocked at the amount of money. 40 gold?! That combined with the 1 gold I got from the quest, I should be able to buy some pretty decent armor. I didn''t even think of saving for a horse, armor came first. Also I''d kind of gotten stuck on the idea of taming my own horse. After thinking for a few seconds I turned to the other merchants and asked: "Anyone have a better offer?" None did, it was fair price with a small margin of profit for the merchant. But what none of them knew, was that the merchant actually had tailoring at a pretty high level, so he could use the pelts to make armor and cloaks. The merchant tried to make the offer better, even though his offer really was fair. "I''ll give you 40 gold and make the white pelt into a cloak for you." he said, excited of being able to raise his tailoring with this many pelts. "Instead of making the great white pelt into a cloak for me, can you make me one made out of silk, or something like it?" He looked a little surprised I didn''t want the cloak made out of the wolf skin, since that would most likely give good defense bonuses. "I do have enough spider-silk to make one cloak, it''s more expensive than the white wolf pelt, but the wolf pelt is enough to make a cloak, boots, gloves and maybe even chest armor with since it''s so big." "That would be great! And, could you dye the cloak into a deep purple color, and use embroidery to make a fierce white swan on it''s back?" I asked him excitedly. (http://static3.paizo.com/image/product/ ... SP09BE.jpg) He looked very thoughtful after hearing that. "I can do it, but it will take time. It should be ready at 11.00 real world time tomorrow, if you want I can write you a contract..." "No need." I interrupted before he could finish, he looked a little startled but I merely gave him a smile. "I''ll trust you, no need to waste paper on a contract. Meet you here tomorrow then?" He smiled at me and nodded. "I''m Tervi by the way." the merchant introduced himself. I felt more than a little chagrin at forgetting to introduce myself. "Oh, I''m sorry. That was terribly rude of me." I gave him a gracious bow. "I''m Aurelius, nice to meet you Tervi." I said with a charming smile. He smiled at me and gave me the bag of money with the 40 gold. After that we said our goodbyes and waved each other off as me and Eiden left for a smithy I''d seen earlier. [p=center]***[/p] We walked into the smithy and was immediately hit by the warmth. Even though the hearth wasn''t in this room, you could still feel the heat from here. I looked around and saw weapons hanging on the walls, I quickly ignored them and looked around for some armor. After browsing for a while I heard the door from the inner room open, and out stepped the first female dwarf I ever saw. She was very short and looked pretty young, but it was hard to tell with a dwarf. She had close-cropped dark brown hair, her eyes were also a deep dark brown, and her face was pretty cute but looked like it had a permanent scowl attached to it, which only made it perversely cuter. She was also incredibly muscular. I thought Dr. Matt had been built more for width than height, but the female dwarf truly was. She was almost as wide as she was tall, and all of it was rippling muscles. The sheer surprise of seeing a female dwarf had stunned me for a few seconds, and she asked me tartly: "What? Never seen a real woman before?" I quickly recovered and answered with: "I thought I had, but I realize now I was sadly mistaken." using my most charming smile. *TING
Charisma has increased by 1
She smiled at my response and walked over to the counter before asking: "So, what are you interested in?" In a remarkably nicer tone. I walked over to the counter, so I stood on the other side of it. "Well, how good and how much plate armor can I buy for 40 gold? I need gauntlets, chest-plate, leg-armor, helmet and if I have any money left, a shield." I asked her with a smile. She looked thoughtful after hearing me out. "Hmm... I could probably get you everything in decent quality for that amount of money. It won''t be the best pieces, but not the worst either. They''ll probably be pretty mediocre." she looked a bit upset at the prospect of having to sell me mediocre armor. "That''s fine with me," I said relieved that I could get everything. "since right now I don''t have any armor for those pieces, so I''ll take whatever you''ll give me. But, can you throw in a free repair for my sword and spear?" I asked with a gracious smile. She nodded with a small smile, and I handed over the money, my spear and my treasured sword. When she saw the sword, she stared at it shocked, then looked up at me with an intense stare. I was a bit taken aback but managed to ask her: "What is it?" "This is the Swan Sword my father made for Katherina, and if you''re using it that means she finally gave out the class didn''t she?" she asked me still looking at me intensely. "Yes she did, I completed the training two days ago. And when I did she gave me the class." I said with a happy smile. "This sword, has an armor to go with it." she told me simply. This shocked me greatly. An armor to go with the sword? How good will it be? And how will it look? I thought excitedly. "We''ve been saving it for when she finally gave out the class. You have to pay for it, but with 40 gold I''ll let you have the legs and gauntlets, and since I''m so nice today I''ll throw in a decent shield." she told me with a smile. "Deal!" I almost screamed at her. She looked surprised, but then started laughing and I joined her with Eiden looking back and forth between us. "And I''ll tell you what, I''ll sell you the chest, head and boots for 60 gold. And, since we''ve been waiting for someone to come and pick up that armor for so long, I''ll throw in a lifetime of free repairs." she told me with a smile. I was so happy at this moment I couldn''t contain myself, I rushed around the counter and gave her a big hug. "Thank you, thank you so much!" I told her while hugging her crushingly. She hugged me back for a couple of seconds, then tapped my shoulder indicating that she wanted to be let go. I let her go and backed off, she was looking at me with a slight blush. "I''m sorry I was just so happy I had to find an outlet." I told her apologizing for my outburst. "It''s fine, it''s fine... I... just weren''t prepared. That''s all." she told me with a shy smile. "And I''m sorry, I''ve been terribly rude. Please allow me to introduce myself, my name is Aurelius." I told her with a big smile. "I''m Annyra, nice to meet you, and let me go back and get you the armor and shield, then I can repair the weapons while you look at the armor and shield." she told me with a smile and went to the inner room again. She came out a couple of minutes later carrying the leg armor and gauntlets together with a pretty big round shield. She put them down on the counter, took the weapons and went back into the smithy while I inspected the armor. I took the leggings and inspected them:
[p=center]The Swan''s Leggings[/p] Durability: 75/75 Defense: 20 Beautiful high quality steel leggings, made for a specific class and part of a set. They have engraved swans on the front side of the thighs. Class: Swan Knight. Restrictions: Strength 105, Vitality 70. Equip: Raises Strength by 20, Raises Charisma by 15.
I stood there staring at them for a while. Amazing! It''s stats are great, but it''s also incredibly beautiful. I thought sliding my hand over the beautiful armor. Let''s check the gauntlets as well! I thought excitedly picking them up.
[p=center]The Swan''s Gauntlets[/p] Durability: 55/55 Defense: 10 Beautiful high quality steel gauntlets, made for a specific class and part of a set. They have engraved swans on the upper side of the armor covering the forearms. Class: Swan Knight. Restrictions: Strength 105, Vitality 70. Equip: Raises Strength by 10, Raises Charisma by 5.
They''re also incredible, this is simply too much. My brain is overloading on all of this. I thought dazedly. I decided to check the mediocre shield so I could calm down some.
[p=center]Common Round Shield[/p] Durability: 45/45 Defense: 15 A common round shield of decent quality and workmanship, but nothing special. Restrictions: Strength 75, Vitality 55.
Finally a dose of reality, nothing outrageous here. It''s decent, and that''s perfectly fine. I thought with a smile. I equipped everything but the shield, which I put in my inventory. I was beginning to look pretty good. With the boots, leggings, gauntlets and chain-mail I''m starting look knightly. I have to make some money now, I want that entire set. Badly. I thought longingly. While I was checking out the shield, Annyra had returned with my weapons. She put them on the counter and asked me with a small smile: "So, are you satisfied with the armor?" "It''s great. It''s stats are amazing and it looks so beautiful, I''m still kind of in shock about how good it really is." I told her with a smile. She returned it and handed over my spear and sword. "They''re as good as new now, though what you did with the spear to make it that worn is beyond me." she said with a questioning expression. "Well," I said a little embarrassed. "I kind of, well I fought the most desperate battle I''ve ever fought and my shield splintered, so I had to use the spear to both parry and attack. And after a couple of hours of that my spear really wasn''t in top condition." I finished with an awkward smile. She started laughing and answered me after she''d calmed down some: "That spear looked like it''d seen a hundred battles in a row or something. And the spear has gained a permanent red look to it, the blood of your foes has completely soaked it." "Well, maybe it''s color will scare some of my enemies." I said with a small smile. "And thank you for everything Annyra. I''ll be back when I''ve got more money to get the rest of the armor." I told her seriously. She waved the thanks away and answered with a small smile: "I''ll be looking forward to it, so don''t keep my waiting too long." "I promise I''ll be back as soon as I''ve got the 60 gold." I swore solemnly. She nodded and waved us off as we left. "Till we meet again!" I said before exiting the door. After we left the smithy I was just starting to think about what to do now when Eiden spoke up. "Aurelius, the reason I followed you was because I wanted to see what kind of person you are. I also had a strong suspicion on who you are." he told me seriously. I was a little shocked over his serious and forceful attitude. That was surprising. And who I am? Eiden continued: "Please, Aurelius. I need your help with a quest, can you help me?" He looked incredibly serious, but I thought I could see something suspiciously watery-like in his eyes. Looks like he can''t be this forceful for long. He doesn''t seem to be able to handle it. I thought compassionately. "Sure, I''ll help you." I told him a serious expression. When I answered him he seemed to deflate, as if he was on the edge and couldn''t handle the pressure. It made me smile. But what does he mean he had a suspicion of who I am? Well, whatever. I''ll ask him tomorrow, I have to log out now anyway. "Eiden, what are friends for? You might have attached yourself to me because you wanted help. But you''ve already helped me, so the least I can do is return the favor." I told him with a kind smile. When he saw it he responded with a relieved smile. "But I really have to log out now Eiden, so let''s add each other to the friends list. And I promise I''ll help you tomorrow in real world time, if that''s okay with you?" He nodded with a small smile. We added each other to the friends list and then I logged out.
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Volume 1 - Chapter 3.5 - Introductions [p=center]The Winged Knight[/p] [p=center]Volume 1 - Chapter 3.5 - Introductions[/p] I once again found myself in the Palace, standing in front of the giant sofa in my living-room. I was about to turn towards the wall-screen but before I could even do that, I heard a voice coming from it''s direction. "I can''t believe you made friends with Aiden that fast!" I turned towards the screen and saw a woman standing there with a lab coat looking at me happily. She was around 1,75m(5''7) tall, had medium length black hair and blue eyes that went with a cute face. When I saw her up close like this, it felt like D¨¦j¨¤ vu. I know she was in the room when I met the whole group, but I didn''t really get a good look at all of them. So why do I have such a strong feeling of recognition? I thought puzzled. "I''m sorry, I was overly excited. I''m Dr. Diane Tarell. Nice to meet you." she continued in a calmer voice that could barely restrain her excitement. "Nice to meet you Diane." I said with a gracious smile, she smiled back at me. "And what did you mean? Did you mean Eiden?" I asked her. "No no no, I meant Aiden. Eiden and Aiden are the same person, he wasn''t really all that imaginative choosing his name in RR was he? Anyway, Eiden/Aiden is my little brother." she said with a smile filled with sisterly affection. Eiden is her little brother?! What are the odds of that? I thought very surprised, and more than a little suspicious. "Really? Is this just an incredible coincidence that I met him then? Or..." I looked at her suspiciously. She started fidgeting and looked away as she answered: "I knew he started in Dale by accident, and I''ve talked to him about you. What happened to you and about some of your training in Royal Road, he''s also seen your photo on the news so he knows what you look like." she finished nervously. Aha, so she''s spoken about me with other people huh. Well, I don''t really mind. I don''t know if we have doctor-patient confidentiality but I''m okay with her speaking about me. I thought unfazed. While I was thinking, Allie had begun walking towards Diane with a thunderous expression on her face. "Dr. Diane! You know you''re not supposed to talk about a patient without permission..." she trailed off ominously. Diane had gone very pale as Allie spoke. Looks like she''s in trouble, it''s time for me to help out. "Allie," she looked away from Diane and at me questioningly "it''s fine with me, I don''t really care. Any of you can speak about me as much as you want, after all what possible bad thing could you say about the noble and dignified personage that is me?" I said with a smug smile. "You mean so dignified you couldn''t even mount a horse?" she countered with just a hint of a grin. I knew I''ll never be allowed to forget it. "Touch¨¦." I said and we all started laughing, especially Diane who seemed to keep that episode in a special place in her heart. "Alright, I guess if Marcus says that it''s no problem it would be silly of me to berate you. Just make sure not to talk about a patient again without his/her permission." she told Diane seriously. Diane nodded, she looked very relieved. "As I was saying, I knew he needed help with a quest, but he started out in Dale by accident. And I''m currently over in The Britten Alliance, so I don''t even know how long it would take for me to get to him. That''s why I''m very grateful that you''ve decided to help him." she told me sincerely. It made me a little uncomfortable like praise or thanks always does. "It''s no problem, but he''s very shy isn''t he?" "Yes, that''s why I was very surprised he opened up to you enough to ask for your help. He''s sixteen by the way, but since he''s so shy it makes it tough for him to make friends." she said a bit sadly. "I understand." I told her seriously, and I did. My little sister used to be the same when she was younger, always hiding behind me when people tried to speak with her. She was really shy back then. I thought a bit wistfully. "Anyway, where''s the rest of the team? I thought they''d be here now since it''s only a little after 12:00?" I asked Allie questioningly. "They''re on lunch, they''ll be back any second now and then I''ll finally introduce you to everyone else. And for your information, everyone has watched all of your time in Royal Road." Allie answered me with a smile that let me know they hadn''t missed the horse episode. "How does that work? Isn''t Royal Road 4X faster?" I asked trying to move on from that embarrassing subject. "Yes, but there''s a lot of time where you''re either sleeping or running or things like that. So we can just forward past those things." I wish I could''ve fast-forwarded during my running at Kat''s place. I thought a little jealous. "Okay, I get it." Just as I a finished answering her she turned her head towards where I presume the door to the lab is, and I heard sounds off-screen as people were talking. "Great you''re all here now, Marcus just logged out so it''s time to finally introduce everyone." Allie said waving everyone closer to the camera to stand in a line so I could see them properly. They all lined up and Allie placed herself to the furthest left of the line and started it off. "As you know, I''m Dr. Allison Harrington leader over this team, I prefer to be called Allie and I''m happily married." she told me with a smile. The older woman next to her continued: "I''m Dr. Erica Tamberlaine, nice to meet you." she said with a smile. She was around 1,70m(5''5) tall, had light blue eyes, a kind face and long light brown hair. "Hi Erica a pleasure to meet you. And you have a daughter right? What''s her name?" I asked her with a smile. "Her name''s Lisa, she''s 7 years old and very mischievous." she said with a glow about her that made it clear how much she loved her daughter. I gave her a smile as the next person continued. "As you know, I''m Dr Matthew Johnson, but you can keep calling me Matt, and the only thing I love more than medical research is martial arts." he told me with a grin. I responded with a smile and nod, not really that surprised at the notion that he does martial arts as the next person continued. "I''m Dr. Robert Galeman, nice to finally talk with you. It feels like I know you after watching you play for so many hours." he said with a kind smile. He looked like a calm and collected person, was 1,80m(5''9) tall, had light green eyes, and short dark brown hair. His face was average, but he looked like a confident person. "Nice to meet you Robb, if I can call you that?" I asked, and he nodded calmly. I flashed him a smile as the next person started. "Like I just introduced myself 5 minutes ago, I''m Dr. Diane Tarell, I love my family more than anything in the world, and I''ll never take down my screensaver of you failing to mount the horse." she said with a blinding smile. Matt laughed a little until he received my glare and fell silent. "I''ll be sure to find some way to retaliate in the future Diane." I told her with an anticipatory smile. And finally we came upon the last person. She was surely the youngest person in the group, in fact she didn''t look all that much older than me. She was short, around 1,65m(5''4), had platinum blonde hair, deep blue eyes and was very beautiful. "Nice to finally meet you Marcus, I''m Dr. Helen Angelopoulos." she said with a smile that could put the stars to shame. I managed to recover before I was quiet too long. "A pleasure to meet you Helen." I told her with my most charming smile. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. "And now you''ve met the team Marcus, we''re the ones who''ll be monitoring both your condition and when you play Royal Road." Allie told me with a smile, stopping me from looking at Helen too long. I can''t believe I didn''t notice her before, she''s the type of person that attracts attention like a supernova. I thought a bit shaken. Everyone went back to their various duties, leaving me watching them for a while. Just trying to remember all their names, and watching them was kind of soothing. They all went around confidence and what looked like efficiency. I decided to leave them to it, and that it was time to test out the pool. I walked up to the master bedroom, undressed and put on some bathing shorts. I walked down into the living room again, but this time I walked to the end of the room to the glass doors. I opened them and saw the gigantic pool close up for the first time. It was gigantic, just like everything in this Palace. It was almost guaranteed bigger than two basket courts. I feel like they went completely overboard with this place. Everything is gigantic, though I suppose when you build something in virtual reality costs aren''t that high on the priority list. I thought amused by this Palace. I decided just to dive straight in, and so I did. The water was kind of cool, which I liked. It was cooler than the temperature in the air anyway, not that I knew how warm it was here. I assumed I could change it if I wanted to, but found it comfortable enough. I used the spawning menu to spawn a floating mattress and a cool drink as I decided to lay floating on it in the pool. This feels great. But I wish I had some company to enjoy it with. I thought a bit lonely. "Hey Allie, you can see and hear me here as well right?" I asked the sky. "Yes we can, what is it Marcus?" "Can I have some company?" I asked her longingly. "Like who? Your parents or sister? You should decide a time and day for that, I doubt they have the time right now. They''re probably at work." she told me sounding a bit concerned. "I knew that, but how about someone else?" I kept pressing her. "Who?" she simply asked. "Well... how about you or anyone else from the team? Couldn''t this be called ''research into the subject''s natural habitat'' or something?" I asked with a slightly bitter smile. She was silent for a time, then finally responded. "I guess it can be done, I hadn''t really thought about it before. We''ll have to bring down some capsules here and modify them, but we can do it. And one person can enter while the other work... yes we can do it." she said in an excited tone that made me smile. She seems to want to try the pool, or maybe the spawning menu for some delicious food? "How long will it take? And will you do it now or later, so someone can join the next time I log out?" "We can start with one capsule, I''ve already sent Dr. Matthew and Dr. Robert to fetch one and it shouldn''t take more than maybe half an hour to reprogram it, or what do you think Dr. Erica?" I heard a voice I presume belonged to Dr. Erica Tamberlaine say something in the background. "Yes she agrees, half an hour or so. I''ll stay here and monitor it, and we need Dr. Erica to watch so the programming is working perfectly. Hmm... I''ll let Dr. Matthew join you once we''ve finished." That''s good, I think I''ll feel comfortable with him. I thought satisfied with her choice. Forty minutes later Matt joined me. We swam some, ate a ridiculous amount of different desserts and watched some normal and Royal Road TV on the "screen-wall". He stayed for a couple of hours, then logged off. After that I had an idea, if I can spawn almost anything using the Palace Menu, why don''t I just spawn a steel armor, sword, spear and shield to train with? And so I did. I spawned a big steel armor that weighed around 30kg(66lbs), a steel sword and spear and a large wooden shield. It was very heavy without all the bonuses to strength I receive in Royal Road. But I managed to equip it all. I started with the sword and shield, I tried imagining I was fighting Kat again. You would probably call it "shadow-fighting", I imagined what she was doing, I dodged and slashed when I thought she showed an opening. Jumped back when she came charging at me in my mind. After almost an hour of that I tried changing the opponent to the white wolf instead, it was very different fighting a huge beast compared to a human. Half an hour later I stopped shadow-fighting the wolf, and put down the sword and picked up the steel spear instead. I repeated the previous training against Kat and the white wolf but this time with spear and shield instead. After doing that for another hour I was completely and utterly exhausted. I quickly took off all the armor, put on my bathing shorts and dived into the pool to cool down. While I lay floating in the pool on by back, I thought about spawning a horse to ride with but quickly decided against it. I could almost certainly do it, but it just wouldn''t feel right. Since I wouldn''t be able to bring it with me to Royal Road, I would still have to get another horse there. And in a strange way to me that would be almost be like cheating on a spouse, I couldn''t have two horses. I needed one, a partner and friend that deserved all of my dedication and respect. Not just to be replaced with another horse as soon as I left Royal Road. No, I won''t spawn a horse here. I will only have a horse in Royal Road, and she/he will be my only one. I thought determined. After the swim I decided to spawn some mushroom risotto for dinner. After I finished the delicious meal, I trained some with the armor again, took a shower and then watched TV until 22.00 when I decided it was time for bed. I really wanted the next day to come so I could continue playing Royal Road. [p=center]***[/p] "This is good right?" Dr. Matthew asked Dr. Allison. "Yes, he managed to stay logged out for more than half a day. And I''m encouraged that he wanted someone to stay with him, it shows that he at least deals with it when he feels lonely instead of just shutting himself away." she said seriously watching the screen showing Marcus sleeping in his bed. "Yeah, that''s what I thought as well. I''m a little worried about his desire to play Royal Road, but at least he can hold himself back. And let''s be honest, Royal Road is a pretty addicting game and even more so for him. But he isn''t showing any signs of running away from reality thus far." Dr. Matthew replied equally serious watching Marcus sleeping. "Yes, let''s just hope everything keeps going as good as this." she told him. [p=center]***[/p] When Marcus woke up, he spawned some pancakes with syrup for breakfast. After that he took a morning swim in the pool, then logged onto Royal Road again.
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And now I''ve posted everything I had written, so from now on I will have to write new content. So don''t expect as fast updates at it has been ^^. And thanks for the continued interest. ~borgen92 Volume 1 - Chapter 4 - Journey with a Friend Hi guys, this is the first chapter I wrote since posting all my other chapters. I wrote it over a period of about 8-9 hours yesterday, and proofread it today. Just please don''t expect me to publish a Chapter a day, I think I''ll probably start trying for 1-2 Chapters a Week from now on. Anyway, thank you everyone that read and rated my FF. As always all criticism is welcome and appreciated. ~borgen92 [p=center]The Winged Knight[/p] [p=center]Volume 1 - Chapter 4 - Journey with a Friend[/p] After logging back into Royal Road, I once again found myself at the square. I checked my friends list and Eiden wasn''t online so I decided to check if Tervi the Merchant was done with the cloak. I walked to the place he was yesterday, and found him there selling goods. "Hi Tervi, finished with the cloak?" I asked with a smile. He looked up at the sound of my voice, it seems like he''d been inventorying. He smiled when he recognized me, I took that as a good sign. "Hello, and yes It''s done." He said with a satisfied smile, bending down behind the stall he brought up a beautiful cloak. It was long, almost as long as I am and almost glowed dark purple, and best of all on the back of it was a white fierce swan. (http://static3.paizo.com/image/product/ ... SP09BE.jpg) Tervi handed over the cloak with a big smile while I simply stared at it dumbfounded. It''s one of the most beautiful things I''ve ever seen, and the Swan looks exactly as I imagined it. I thought wonderingly as I caressed the cloak lovingly. I raised my head from the cloak to look at Tervi who had a very smug smile on his face. "It''s beautiful." I simply told him with quiet sincerity. After I took a closer look the item window popped up:
[p=center]Cloak of the Raging Swan[/p] Durability: 35/35 Defense: 2 Beautiful cloak made out of Spider-Silk. The tailor''s high skill allowed him to dye the silk purple and embroidered it with a Raging white Swan, and due to the great care and skill the tailor showed making this cloak it''s durability is very high. The high quality Spider-Silk will keep you warm in everything but the direst of weather. Restrictions: Strength 10. Equip: Raises Charisma by 5.
I wasn''t even expecting it to have any defense. And increases Charisma by 5? Perfect. "Thank you so much." I told him while looking him straight in the eyes. "It''s all right, but can I add you to my friends list? You can sell me all your stuff in the future if you want." He said with a smile. I was grateful for his offer, this way I wouldn''t have to walk around looking for some honest merchant to sell my stuff to every time I''m back. "That sounds like a good Idea." I told him with a smile. We added each other to the friends list, and after that I equipped my beautiful cloak and started walking towards Kat to visit for some delicious porridge while I wait for Eiden to come online. [p=center]***[/p] I was once again outside the decrepit old knight''s guild. I walked to the front door, entered and immediately filled my lungs with air for a deafening shout. "Honey, I''m home!" I screamed so loud the walls seemed to shake a little. After a few moments of silence I heard some footsteps coming from upstairs, and a second after that the red headed beauty that is my teacher came down the stairs smiling hugely. I stepped forward and gave her a big hug, even though it had barely been a week game time I stilled missed her. "Welcome back Aurelius." she told me with a warm smile after we broke the hug. "Thanks, it''s nice to see you again Kat." I replied with an equally warm smile. "I see you''ve grown stronger." she said trying to change the subject. She''s still as uncomfortable with all the mushy stuff as usual. I thought with a fond smile. "A little, but I''m in grave need of some practice and porridge. What do you say?" I asked her with a grin she answered with a smile, and started walking towards the backyard. We sparred for an hour, after that we sat down for some of her wonderful porridge. After the bowl was set down in front of me I gorged myself on it while Kat watched me with a small smile. I finished and leaned back with a sigh. "Even better than I remember it Kat, and that''s really saying something." she smiled with pleasure at the compliment. "You should have seen what I''ve been eating," I told her shaking my head sadly. "stale barley bread and even some raw wolf meat." I grimaced remembering the taste of that. "Why don''t you just learn cooking?" she asked me while trying to hold back her laughter at the image of me eating raw meat. I shook my head sadly. "It''s impossible for me to cook, every time I''ve ever tried it''s turned out coal black with a truly awful taste." I said disgustingly in remembrance. She laughed at that, I didn''t really blame her since my level of cooking was beyond awful. "Well, I suppose you''ll have to learn to buy food before you leave then. And if it runs out, you''ll have to live on berries or other things you can find in nature." she told me with an amused smile. "But what were you doing after you left?" she asked me curiously. So I told her everything that had happened. "Ah, so Arazud made an armor to go with the sword did he, oh I see you''re looking confused. Arazud is Anyrra''s father, and the one who taught her everything she knows." she explained seeing my confusion. "Is he still here? I didn''t see him at the smithy." "No, he left Anyrra in charge of it and left on a journey. He said, and I quote: ''I need to go and find some masters to teach me their secrets, otherwise I''ll never be able to advance beyond my current skill''. He''s always been like that, going out on random journeys to find a rumored metal or the like." she smiled a bit at some memory. It seems she really likes him, that''s rare. "And I must say, you''ve really embraced the Swan haven''t you?" she said gesturing at my cloak and armor. "Yes, while the armor engraving was made by Arazud, the cloak I had made all on my own. I''ve become really enamored with swans." I said with a small smile. The class really was right for him, huh. And he certainly looks handsome with that cloak and the parts Arazud made. Katherina thought smiling at Aurelius fondly as he admired the cloak. -"Aurelius, are you there?" a voice came out of nowhere that made me jump in my chair surprising Katherina as well. "Hah, thought I was going to have a heart attack. One of my friends used magic to whisper me." I explained to Kat that had also got up when I did. "Excuse me for a second, I''m going to answer him." I told her with a small smile walking out of the dining room. -"I''m here, it''s Eiden isn''t it?" I asked the mysterious voice. -"Yes, sorry. I forgot to introduce myself." He told me in a flustered voice. He needs to relax, I''m not going to bite his head off for such a small thing. -"It''s alright, so are you ready now to tell me about the quest?" -"Yes, where should we meet?" -"A second please," I walked back into the dining room and saw that Kat had cleared the table and was nowhere to be seen, so I walked into the kitchen and found her there washing the dishes. "Kat, can I bring a friend over? We''re going on a quest together soon and we need someplace to discuss the details, and I would value any advice you have for us." I asked her with a small smile. She just looked over her shoulder at me and gave a nod. -"Eiden, I''m at the knight''s guild. Kat has told me we can discuss it here, so just make your way here." -"A-at the knight''s guild?!" He almost screamed in a panicked voice. What has his sister told him about Kat? I thought almost laughing. -"Yes Eiden, just come. It''ll be alright." I said in my most soothing voice trying to calm him down. -"A-alright. I''ll be there soon." [p=center]***[/p] Five minutes later Eiden arrived, I greeted him at the door and he seemed very nervous to be here. "Let''s go to the dining room, that''s the best place for this." I told him calmly, trying to lower his anxiety. He responded with a small nod. Arriving in the dining room Eiden met Katherina for the first time. He seemed to freeze up when he saw her, and when she turned her head to look at him he almost started shaking. How does this guy fight if just meeting her almost makes him shake? I was beginning to be concerned about this quest. "Eiden, meet Katherina the Beautiful. My teacher, my benefactor and hopefully someday my lover." I told him with a wink and barely managed to dodge the pot of flowers Kat had apparently taken from the table and thrown at me. *TING
Charisma has increased by 1
I just continued speaking like Kat hadn''t thrown anything at all while Eiden stared at us with big eyes. "Katherina, meet Eiden the Water-Mage. He''s my friend and needs help with a quest of some kind." I told her pushing Eiden towards her. He looked like he wanted to turn and run, but swallowed his saliva and soldiered on. After walking up to her determined he offered his hand. She just looked at it for a few moments, a tiny blush still remaining on her cheeks until she took it and shook it with her customary strength. "N-nice to meet you." Eiden said awkwardly. Katherina''s eyes seemed to bore into him until she finally released his hand with a brisk nod. Eiden sighed, he looked like he''d just survived a meeting with death itself. What horror stories have Diane told him about Katherina? He looks like he thought she''d kill or beat him on the spot. "Well then, let''s all sit down and Eiden this is your show." I told them as I walked over to the table and sat down opposite Kat while Eiden sat down in a chair to the left between me and Kat. He didn''t look too happy being forced into that seat. And so he started to tell us from the start, first in a slightly shaky voice but as his story progressed so did the steadiness of his voice. Eiden had wound up in Dale by a mistake, so when he arrived here and realized this wasn''t where his sister had started he''d decided to do something he enjoyed in real life. So he''d gone to the library to read. He''d found the large library filled with books, and he was in heaven. He started with reading history books about the Kingdom of Dale, then started with Magic and there he found his true passion. He devoured all the books concerning magic, he read all day from 07.00-19.00 when the library closed. And one time he almost died because his satiety was so low. An old man who was the head librarian had found him, half starved and almost dead. Quickly he''d brought him into a private room and fed Eiden until he woke up. The kind librarian had given him a very stern lecture upon the need eat and drink, at this time Eiden had stuttered that he didn''t have any more food and all his money was gone. The librarian took pity on Eiden and got him a job at a local inn as a busboy/waiter/chef. (At this point I could barely restrain myself from yelling ''Jackpot!'' when I found out he could cook.) So for the rest of the starting month Eiden alternated between the library and the inn. He''d read countless of magic books and had found himself especially fascinated with Water and Ice Magic. (Ice Magic is a subset of Water Magic, they share the same affinity; Water Magic.) And so he searched everywhere in the library for anything and everything regarding Water or Ice. At one point he''d even found himself reading a book about the best way to water plants, that''s how complete his study of water was. But then he''d found something very unexpected, an old diary that''d been in a part of the library where the books were still unsorted, but because of his friendship with the head librarian he was allowed in. The diary was of a Master Water Mage named Otrix, that had actually lived in what is now The Norton Kingdom, right next to Dale. His diary especially spoke of a cave in the Ulta Mountains right at the border between Norton and Dale. There he used to research spells, and the diary said that he''d casted some sort of master-spell that took months to prepare on the cave. The spell was only ever called ''The Affinity'' so Eiden wasn''t sure what it was or what it did, but he had a nasty suspicion that ''The Affinity'' could be a spell increasing Affinity with Water. To me that sounded good for him, but Eiden quickly explained that if the spell increased the affinity to water over the whole cave, it most likely meant that the cave had just become paradise to various Ice/Water elementals. Which meant that Eiden''s spells were basically useless against them. Since they had something like 99% Water Resistance. At the end of the diary Otrix had been speaking about a new spell he was so close to perfecting, and just as Eiden finished the book and closed it, a quest had popped up. The quest was ranked D and on the information it only said ''Find out about the secret cave of Master Otrix'' but the rewards section said something very interesting. The reward was: ''The Legacy of Otrix''. Eiden thought it could mean many things, but he was pretty sure it was the spell Otrix had spent his last days perfecting. After the month passed Eiden got the Mage class and chose to go the Water Affinity direction. Because he''d spent so much time reading his first month, his Intellect and Wisdom were leagues ahead of normal players. So he could easily solo Rabbits, Foxes and even lone Wolves. His Frost Bolt slowed them enough that before they could reach him, they''d already taken enough damage and died. He couldn''t handle more than one though, if he did the second wolf managed to reach him just at the same time as killing the first one. And it''s claws cut through his robes like butter. Once he tried alternating between two wolves with Frost Bolt, but quickly realized that when he shoots them at one target they stack and the target becomes even slower. But when you just hit the wolves with one they still manage to catch him. After leveling up by killing wolves for two weeks, he was now level 17. And he''d come out of the forest on the road instead of where I came out, so he didn''t attract as much attention. And when he was walking past the beginners he''d seen the commotion that was my arrival from the forest. "And then I walked over to see what the crowd was doing, and almost immediately when I arrived you asked if anyone could use water magic on you." he finished his story with a smile. If he used to hunt wolves alone, he''s a lot stronger than I originally thought. I thought chiding myself for judging him too shallowly. "So these Ulta Mountains, how far away are they and Kat do you know anything about the area where the cave is supposed to be?" I asked her politely while turning to look at her. "The place you want to go to, the border between Norton and Dale near the Ulta mountains is at least a couple of weeks on foot. And that area really isn''t that populated. From what I can remember about it, it''s mostly forest and a couple of very small villages there. But you should be careful, I''ve heard from some friends of mine that a large group of goblins have settled in the area." She said grimacing in remembrance. "Norton seems to think that the goblins are on our side, and therefore our responsibility. And as you can guess, Dale considers them on Norton''s side and wants them to deal with it. Which, of course, results in the goblins running amok in the forests and on some of the small villages in the borderlands." She said in a tone which almost screamed her opinion of both of the kingdoms folly. "So the villagers out there on both sides are pretty much on their own?" I asked her in a disgusted tone. "Yes, their cries for help has so far gone unheard. While the villagers are dying or being kidnapped, the kingdoms are blaming each other. Sort of like ''Look you can''t keep the goblins in your territory from killing our commoners'' while doing absolutely nothing to help them. They just send diplomatic notes back and forth arguing about this, I''m sure someone will see sense at some point, but by then it might be too late for most of the villagers." She said in a sad tone. "Then we have another goal for our journey don''t we Eiden? If we''re going there anyways, we should do everything we can to help them." I said in a determined voice. Eiden responded with a surprisingly strong nod. Kat seemed pleased by my response and nodded in agreement. "Are we ready to leave right now Eiden? You''re the official cook of our party, so do you have spices and stuff?" He nodded with a small smile. "Then I suppose we should get going, shouldn''t we?" I said while getting up, the rest followed me up but Kat stopped me before we could leave. "Wait here Aurelius, I have something you can borrow." She said before walking out of the room. Eiden looked at me curiously, I just shrugged in response. "Oh, I should invite you to a party. Invite to party: Eiden."
Eiden has joined your party.
Just as I finished we heard a sound and turned towards the door, entering was Katherina with something that looked like a green bag on her shoulder. "What''s that?" I asked curiously. "It''s a small tent big enough for two, I''ve used it in the past. I''ll let you borrow it." She said with a kind smile. Seeing her smile like that and comparing it to the one she gave me when we first met really makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. "Thank you Kat, that''ll help enormously." I said with a smile as she handed over the green bag, and I put it into my inventory. "It''s time for us to leave, Kat." I told her with a small smile and gave her a big hug. As always, she stiffened a little then hugged me back. "I won''t be back for a visit for at least a month. Maybe two, depending on what I do after we''ve been to the cave." I told her while still hugging her. "Take care of yourself Aurelius." She said in a worried voice as we broke the hug. I nodded seriously and she led us to the door and waved us off. Before leaving I decided to visit Marengo in the stables, it was nice to see her again but kind of bittersweet since I had to leave right away. We exited the stables and started walking down the road towards the western exit of the city. "Do you have all the tools you''ll need for cooking in the wild? Also, please tell me how much the spices are so I can reimburse you." Though I have only 1 gold and 30 silver right now. Eiden looked up at me and answered with: "I have all the things needed to cook on the road. It''s fine, you don''t have to pay. Spices are cheap and the meat we can get ourselves by killing wolves or animals in the forest. And since you''re helping me with my quest, and the one who got us the tent it would be kind of petty of me to demand reimbursement." He told me seriously. I gave him a smile of gratitude. And so we started our long journey towards the border area near the Ulta Mountains. [p=center]***[/p] It''s been two and a half weeks since we started traveling now. We both log out around 22.00 real world time, because of the tent were basically safe leaving our bodies laying there. The tent apparently hides us from low level animals, and because of it''s good camouflage it''s still pretty hard to see, and we always camped in the forest just far enough from the road that nobody could see us from it. The journey had been mostly uneventful, at least in the physical sense. I got to taste Eiden''s cooking every night which was the highlight of my day. Eiden had Cooking Beginner Level 8, so we hunted some animals nearby and then he just threw them all into a pot of water and some spices and his cooking skill made it taste pretty good. Compared to barley bread it was heavenly. Eiden also had the First Aid skill, he said it was self-taught. Apparently all I had to do was wrap a wound with some cloth and I''d get it. So he helped me by giving me a couple of bandages he''d created, and the next time we went hunting for food I let the fox bite me in the arm so I could bandage it after. That created the First Aid skill, and ever since I let myself get hit by any animal before we killed it. Because of that I managed to level my First Aid skill to Beginner Level 4 and my Endurance increased by 5. The most exciting event so was a merchant that was being attacked by a pack of wolves, we easily dispatched the wolves and sent him on his way with a smile. Hunting things every night combined with killing that small pack had leveled me up to 16, I decided to put my 5 points in Vitality. The biggest change of the journey was Eiden. He''d completely come out of his shell now, and no longer only answered with nods and actively sought out conversation instead of just responding. He opened up a lot to me and talked about how he''d always been the quiet loner. Not because he didn''t want friends, it''s just that every time someone tried speaking to him he froze up. When he joined a new class in a new school or grade, it was always the same thing. Someone tried to talk to him, he froze up and looked down trying to hide the fact that he was blushing, and so they thought he was ignoring them and called him an ''asshole'' or ''jerk'' and then never tried to speak with him again. It was surprising how much he let out, I don''t think he was prepared for it either. It all just came flooding out. He was clearly a very nice and sensitive guy, it''s just that he''s ashamed of his own social weakness. He told me he started playing Royal Road on his sisters advice, she thought he might learn how to talk to people here where his ''real'' body wasn''t. And, she was right. Normally he would never have volunteered for anything, especially in front of a group. But that''s exactly what he did when I asked if there was a water mage in the group that time after I came out of the forest. After he finished speaking, he thanked me for being his first real friend. That broke me. I started crying and charged him for a bear hug while I screamed: "You''re my friend too Eiden!". Just thinking about it made me a little embarrassed, but I stood by what I said. While my earlier words outside the smithy when I called him a friend weren''t shallow, they were not completely true either. Now they were, now we were ''real'' friends. And now we were sitting around a campfire while a stew boiled hanging above the fire. Eiden gave me a bowl filled to the brim with stew and I thanked him with a smile. "So how long do you think it''s to that village?" I asked Eiden while I took another spoonful of delicious fox stew. "The merchant said the last village on this road is called Nantgarth, and it''s supposed to be the largest one in the area. He said it''s 2 weeks walk there from where we met him, so I would guess it''s only a couple of days away." He said with relief. It wasn''t that we were all that uncomfortable, since the tent was pretty nice. It''s that our supplies had been running out faster than expected, and it was incredibly boring to walk all day everyday. "That''s good, I feel like I''ve been walking on this dirt road through an endless forest for most of my life now." I told him with a grimace. He laughed, and it made me smile that he could do that easily now. "Yes, I know what you mean." He said after he''d recovered enough from laughing. "And the only animals we ever see are foxes and rabbits, maybe an odd wolf here and there. I''m sure there''s a lot stronger monsters inside the forests, but this close to the road there just isn''t a lot of them." I said irritated. One of the things that had surprised me was how much I was itching for a fight. That didn''t mean I was bloodthirsty and wanted to fight anybody and anything, but before this trip I practiced with Kat every day. And after that I battled wolves for hours. So now having to fight only bunnies and foxes drove me mad, since a single cut with my sword killed them. There was no challenge, only routine. "Agreed." he said with a smile. Even Eiden wanted to fight something. I''d realized pretty quickly that he''s completely different in combat, like another person. He goes all focused and intense, nothing like his previous awkward self. We finished eating, he used water magic to wash out the pot and we went to sleep in the tent since we didn''t really feel like walking after having already done that for 8 hours. [p=center]***[/p] Three days later we finally saw the village in the distance. It was a respectable settlement, with a wooden palisade circling it as far as we could see. It looked like it was a lot bigger than we thought, there were dozens of roofs that could be seen from the distance. We kept walking and when we came close enough we could clearly see that the gate was closed. Not a good sign when the gate''s closed during the day. I thought a bit grimly. There was a person standing watch on top of the wall that quickly disappeared once he saw us, and before we were at the gates they swung open. What was behind them shocked me. A man was walking towards us with a couple of other men beside him that looked like bodyguards, but that wasn''t shocking. The shocking things were the houses behind them. This must have been an even bigger village then what we heard. I thought numbly, looking at the burned houses. It looked like a third of the houses in the village had burned down while some of the remaining ones still standing could barely be called houses anymore. While I was staring the man had arrived in front of us. "Who are you? What''s your business here?" The man asked us in a very suspicious and angry voice. He was middle-aged, probably around 45 years old. His face was lined and strained, and he looked exhausted. I took a step forward. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. "Hello good sir, my name''s Aurelius." I said with gracious bow. "And this here is my good friend Eiden, and we''re here for two reasons. To find a mage''s lost cave somewhere in these mountains and to help you against the goblins." I told him in a strong voice while looking him straight in the eye. The man just stared at us and then tears started gliding silently down his cheeks. He quickly brought up his forearm and wiped the tears away, then held out his hand and introduced himself. "I''m the village elder. And I''m very happy to see someone coming to help us, even if they''re only two!" He said so fervently I flinched. I shook his hand firmly. "Please help us stop the goblins, they almost managed to burn down the village in the last raid. Who knows what will happen next time!" He cried out desperately. *TING
Nantgarth and the Goblins
[p=left]Nantgarth is in dire need of help, the village elder has begged for your aid against the vicious goblins. The Goblins have been raiding in the area for months now, but with no response coming from either kingdom they''ve grown progressively bolder now even attacking the village outright instead of just lone wanderers. Difficulty: D Quest requirement: The goblins must be defeated or chased away.[/p]
"Of course we''ll help." I told him seriously. While Eiden nodded gravely at my right side.
You have accepted the quest.
Your party has accepted the quest.
"Thank you! Oh, thank you!" The village elder said holding my hands while tears started to form in his eyes again. "It''s alright, please get us the most accurate map you have of the forests around here and where you think the goblins are." I told the elder. He nodded and sent one of the men standing next to him away to get the map. "And do you have any spices? Only if you can spare any." I asked him apologetically. "I''ll see to it." The elder said waving at another man who ran away to presumably fetch some spices. "The goblins are to the west of here, you''ll have to walk through the forest since there''s no road straight that way. It''s almost as if they know where to be, their camp is exactly on the border between the kingdoms." The elder told us while the men were returning with the map and spices. The man with the map gave it to me, while the other gave the spices to Eiden. "Thank you, and I swear to you Elder, that I''ll do everything I can to stop them." I told him with steely determination before we left.
Charisma has been increased by 1
As soon as we were a couple of meters away the gates started closing again. "Eiden, please take the map. I''m horrible at reading them." I told him with a grimace as I handed him the map. "Sure, I''ll read it." he told me as I handed it to him and he started looking at it. "From what I can understand of the map, the goblins camp is about 4 days west of here. But that''s through forest so it''ll probably take longer. Also, since that''s where their camp is they''re bound to have scouts around." He told me after he checked the map Thank god for him, I''m pretty sure if I was alone I''d wander the forest for weeks before finding them completely starved and half dead even before the fight! My map reading skills had never been anything to write home about. "I''ll follow your lead Eiden, so let''s go." I told him waving before me. He nodded and so we started our miserable trek through that tight forest. [p=center]***[/p] After three days of walking through the thick forest, we finally found some goblins. "Stop." Eiden whispered at me. I instantly stopped and started looking around carefully until I saw what had prompted him to stop. Around fifteen meters ahead of us, barely visible were two goblins walking together in our direction. I tapped Eiden on his right shoulder and pointed towards a large tree to the right of us. We walked there as stealthily as we could. When we were behind the large tree, I leaned out and looked at the goblins quickly. They were ugly. That''s the best way to describe them, they were short green-gray things with huge noses, beady eyes and teeth that stuck out from a nasty underbite. Their muscles were large, but the legs seemed almost too short for the bodies. I quickly brought my head back in and leaned closer to Eiden so I could whisper. "Two scouts, they don''t seem to have any bows or anything ranged. All I can see are those clubs they''ve got strapped to their waists." "So how do you wanna attack?" He whispered back. "Goblins aren''t famous for their intellect are they? Since your Frost Bolts are too noticeable, I think we should try to throw a rock at them and let them get closer. When they''re almost upon us, I''ll charge out with my shield raised while you support me from behind, okay?" "Let''s do it." He told me with a firm nod. We waited until they were around ten meters away, then we both leaned out on either side of the tree and threw our rocks. We quickly hid behind the tree, but we didn''t need to look to know what happened. One rock at least clearly hit its target as one of the goblins started swearing in a guttural voice that almost made me laugh. He sounds extremely pissed. I thought very amused as we heard them walking closer in this direction. When it sounded like they were almost upon us, I brought up my shield, drew my sword in one fluid motion and charged out from behind the tree. What greeted me was a goblin only a meter in front of me, I instantly slashed the surprised goblin from his shoulder all the way to his thigh, blood exploded from his wound but I continued grimly on. The goblin was falling backwards when I passed him, when I was right next to him in my dash I delivered a slash that took of the arm he was trying to shield his face with. After passing him I charged at the other goblin who had just managed to pull out his club. He swung it horizontally at me, but it was too easy. I smashed away his weapon with my shield and brought down a graceful slash that seemed to shimmer as it went through the air and finally entering his exposed stomach almost cutting him in half. I pulled out my sword and before he could even try to recover thrust my sword straight through his neck killing him instantly and making him shatter into thousands of tiny pieces of light. I turned around quickly to see what happened to the other goblin, but he was already dead. The goblin was laying on the ground with a large mass of ice/snow where his head used to be, and Eiden stood above him with a hand pointing downward making it obvious where the spell had come from even if I hadn''t know he could use it. *TING
You have leveled up
"Good work, and did you also level up?" I asked Eiden as we both looted the corpses closest to us. "Yup, but I didn''t really get to do anything. Next time we''ll have me attack from the side instead so I can help a little." He said with a small smile. "Yeah, it was pretty stupid of me not to realize that I''d be shielding the goblins from your spells with my own body." I said a little embarrassed. "Don''t worry about it Aurelius, I mean this is the first time we''re both teaming up in real combat isn''t it? Most of our other battles was simply against singletons or that pack that went after the merchant." He told me seriously. "I guess so, anyway what level were these guys anyway?" I asked curiously. "Around 30-35 I''d guess. But the scouts are probably not the strongest ones, so the other goblins are probably stronger." He said with a grim smile. It looks like I''m not the only one who enjoys combat. I thought a bit amused by Eiden. [p=center]***[/p] We continued to roam around the camp instead of heading directly towards it. This made us encounter plenty of patrols and we got quite good at killing them. While we hunted patrols over the period of three days we both leveled up 7 times, my First Aid increased to beginner level 7, Flowing Water Style increased to Intermediate Level 3 and so did Sword Mastery. Of my level up points, I put 10 points in Charisma, 10 points in Strength and 15 points in Vitality. And now it was finally time for us to visit their base. We had advanced carefully towards it, checking for scouts everywhere. Once a pair of scouts got cute and hid in the trees, after that ambush we never made the same mistake again. The camp was positioned in a clearing, it had no walls and the only things inside the camp were small shacks built from tree branches and other stuff like it. But there were goblins, many many goblins. It looked like a permanent patrol of 10 had been assigned to walk around the camp, but there were at least 40 more goblins inside the camp. "Eiden, I have an idea. I''m not sure it''ll work but hear me out..." I explained the idea to him, he agreed and we waited until dusk for our attack. [p=center]***[/p] When dusk arrived, the patrol was glad. They had been patrolling for almost 6 hours soon and they wanted to rest, they were going to be replaced in just a short while. And then from somewhere in the forest a Frost Bolt shot outwards hitting the patrolling goblin closest to the forest. They all looked turned to look where it came from, and there they saw the back of a human as he began running back into the forest. Anger overwhelmed them as they saw the coward flee, and screamed out their rage as they charged after him. When they entered the forest they could still see the cowardly human and followed him. After they''d been running after him for almost 50 meters they started to get tired, but still they kept running after the human until suddenly the goblin at the front fell down. And so did the rest of them as they reached the mud and came tumbling down into a heap of bodies. They tried desperately to get up, but they couldn''t. The ground was all mud, deep and heavy mud. And as they were trying to get themselves up a human in armor stepped out from their left with a shield on his back and a spear gleaming wickedly in the fading light. It was a nightmare, they struggled to get up but while they were trying Frost Bolts started crashing into the ones closest to the front. And if that wasn''t bad enough, the warrior wielded his spear with vicious efficiency. He''d moved behind them now, where the ground was only a little soft and he could stand safely. His spear flashed as it thrust straight into the back of a screaming goblin, and then he pulled the spear back, and thrust again, and again, and again. In a matter of minutes the entire patrol was dead, and when reinforcements arrived all they found was a large spot of mud, with half of it trampled and the other half frozen. And blood. Bloodstains was on all the trees surrounding it. They were more than a little frightened, and quickly turned back returning to the safety of their camp. [p=center]***[/p] "Wow, that worked a lot better than I thought it would." I told Eiden with a savage grin. As we walked away from the place we had killed the goblins. "When you told me to soften up the ground enough that it became mud with water magic, I wasn''t all that sure this would really work." He responded with a smile. "But it did right? The question is what do we do now? Do we go after the reinforcements or do we try this tactic again in the morning?" "We can''t go after them right now, you might be good to go but I need mana before I''m ready again." He said with a small smile at my aggressiveness. "Well, let''s just try it again tomorrow. If you send a Frost Bolt at them they have to follow you inside the forest. They might wait for reinforcements, or they might go slower and more carefully. But I think, that if they wait for the reinforcements we should circle around them and once they enter the forest we charge the camp instead. Once they hear the cries from the camp they''ll come charging out of the forest, but by then we''ll hopefully have killed the goblins. And even if we haven''t we run towards the forest on the opposite side of the reinforcements so we''ll be as far away from them as possible." "And if they split up to try to hunt us, that''ll only make it easier for us." I finished with a grin. "Okay, that sounds like a decent plan. Let''s back away now to make camp for the night and we''ll try it out tomorrow." Eiden told me in an excited tone. We walked even further away from the camp, pitched the tent and went to sleep. [p=center]***[/p] After we woke up, we decided to try my tactic out. Just as I thought the goblins waited until about half of the ones in the camp came out then ran into the forest trying to find us. As they were gathering we continued to circle as much as we could and waited 30 seconds after the group had entered the forest to charge out of our place. The goblins in the camp were shocked, it looked like these were the guys who''d had night patrol so they had just gone to sleep. This time me and my sword was upon the first goblin before he even knew what happened. My cut took his head clean off, and I kept charging past him as he exploded into fragments. The next was just getting up from where he''d been sleeping when I fell upon him with a thrust aimed straight at his neck. It went through it like butter, and I pulled it out with a kick in his stomach that together with the thrust killed him. I turned around to see what was happening, and saw Eiden shooting Frost Bolts like a madman. His mana couldn''t last for more than 30 seconds max, but that was all that we needed. I charged a goblin that was coming out of a shack behind Eiden, he brought his mace down towards me, I smoothly dodged to the left and turned the dodge into a spin using the momentum to deliver a horizontal cut that separated his body into two halfs before exploding into light. By now the goblins in the camp were howling like death itself was after them, and I knew we had to hurry. There were only a few goblins left, so I sped up and decided to try something new. I used the momentum of my charge together with a shield blow for devastating effect. The goblin I smashed my shield into was thrown into the air by the sheer power of the blow, smashing down on another goblin. And just as they were about to get up my sword made a gracious arc in the air as I slashed twice horizontally, and they scattered into light. Now I heard the large group of goblins come running out of the forest, I quickly shouted: "Eiden! To me!" his head whipped around towards me, and his eyes were frenzied. It made me smile as I waved him towards the forest on the other side of the camp. We ran as fast as we could into the forest, and kept going as we turned lightly towards the left trying to circle back. We ran for ten minutes before we threw ourselves down on the ground panting. "That was fun!" I told him, still more than a little pumped up on adrenaline. "Yeah..." He just answered with a grin. After that we rested for a while, then when everything was back at full we moved towards the camp again. They had abandoned their patrol now, so we decided to wait until nightfall for some more fun. [p=center]***[/p] When evening arrived we ate some stew and started planning our next move. "Eiden, do you think you could put out their torches?" The goblins had torches all around their camp. He looked thoughtful before responding. "I can. But it would probably take a lot of my mana, and we wouldn''t be able to see without them either." Good point. "How about if you put out all the torches close to us, and we charge into their camp using the confusion and the light from the other torches to blitz the goblins that were near the torches that you put out? We can just put out the torches, charge in kill a few and then retreat into the forest. You can prepare a mud-field nearby so we can run there if we have to." I told him in a serious voice. "It could work. No it will probably work, so what you''re saying is that we put out the torches close to goblins and then charge them, kill a few, retreat and then repeat when I have enough mana?" He told me with mounting enthusiasm. "Exactly! I''m not sure how well it''ll work, but I don''t think all of them will charge after us into the forest, if only because of all the confusion. And if a few follows us, that''s only better for us. We''ll finish them off fast and then wait for mana and do it all again." I told him with a savage grin. [p=center]***[/p] It worked perfectly. After Eiden put out the torches, we charged in. Eiden managed to kill two and I four before we retreated. When we ran back towards the forest a group of six followed us, and as soon as we entered the forest we quickly turned right to avoid the mud-field while the goblins ran straight into it, I equipped my spear and set out to work again. After we killed them we waited for Eiden''s mana to return, when he was ready we did the same thing again. Only this time we didn''t have to retreat, when we charged into the darkness left by the disappearance of the torches I encountered a stronger than average goblin that turned out to be their chief. He was still pretty easy to kill, most likely because of my stats and high skills. When he died the rest broke, there weren''t all that many left by then, but with their back towards us we quickly finished the rest of the goblins off. And so the quest was finished. [p=center]***[/p] After walking for another couple of days we finally made it back to Nantgarth. "I''m so glad to see civilization again." I said with a huge sigh. "Me too, I''m seriously hoping they have an inn here we can sleep in instead of the tent. No offense to Katherina, but that tent''s got nothing on a real bed." Eiden said with a dreamy smile. I smiled at him and we kept walking towards the town, the gates were still closed but just like last time a man disappeared quickly when he saw us and the gates opened. The village elder came out to greet us with an anxious look, like he wasn''t sure that us coming back was good news. Well, he can be forgiven for doubting. They''ve been through enough to last them a lifetime. "You can rest easy now, we killed all of the goblins." I said with a smile towards the village elder. At first he didn''t seem to understand the words, but then his face almost split in a huge smile as he started crying again and hugged the man closest to him.
You have completed the quest: Nantgarth and the Goblins
You have leveled up
You have leveled up
You have leveled up
Fame has increased by 50.
Reputation with the Village of Nantgarth has been increased by 250.
"We didn''t really believe that you two alone could do it." The elder said apologetically. "It''s fine elder, I don''t know if I could believe in two strangers when my family''s life was at stake." I told him with a kind smile that seemed to make him relieved. *TING
Charisma has been increased by 1
"Thank you for that. Also, I''m sorry to say but we don''t have anything to give you. We''ll offer you free room and board here in the village anytime you visit, and you can resupply here for free as well." He told me with a smile. "But we do have something you will most likely be interested in, we have this old legend about a mage that used to live in a cave north of here. And the legend says that he lives near a mountain called Taylak, we can give you a map that shows the way towards it. I will warn you though, that mountain is notorious for it''s monsters." He said obviously concerned for our safety. "Thank you elder, we''ll gladly take the map." I told him with a gracious bow and smile. After that me and Eiden decided to take a break for a day in real life before continuing, I waved him goodbye as he logged out. I decided to stay and look at my stats now that I''d leveled up so much and spent all my points; "Status window."
[quart=Character name,Alignment]Aurelius,Neutral[/quart][quart=Level,Profession]37,Swan Knight[/quart]
Status Window
TitleWolfsbane
Fame100
[quart=Health,Mana]1930,100[/quart]
[quart=Strength,Agility]135+25,80+5[/quart]
[quart=Vitality,Charisma]105+25,71+30[/quart]
[quart=Endurance,Fighting Spirit]140+15,160[/quart]
[quart=Wisdom,Intellect]10,10[/quart]
[quart=Luck,Leadership]5,0[/quart]
Attack34
Defense17
Magic ResistanceNone
[p=left]+30 Charisma +25 Strength +25 Vitality +15 Endurance +5 Agility + The Swan Knight class focuses on Charisma instead of Honor, this makes it much easier to raise the Charisma stat but makes it impossible for the Honor stat to be generated. + The Swan Knight regenerates a little stamina every time he makes a graceful move/dodge/attack. + Being a Knight class, all your weapon mastery skills level up faster. + Riding is easier and faster to master as a Knight. + Enables you to equip certain items specialized for the class.[/p]
I''m so satisfied, I''ve leveled up like crazy from killing all the goblins, and especially the Fighting Spirit has leveled up a lot from fighting higher leveled goblins. I thought happily. Well, time to take a break. And it''s time to ask Matt what kind of Martial Arts he does, and if he can teach me. I was very excited as I logged out from Royal Road.
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Volume 1 - Chapter 4.5 - Master Matt Hi again everyone. I ended up writing most of the day again lol, I promise to try not to burn myself out. Chapter 5 will likely take at least a couple of days to write, since it will almost certainly be the last chapter of this volume, that''s excluding the Epilogue. I already have an idea for Volume 2, and a possible one for Volume 3 if I can keep going. Thanks for reading and rating, and all criticism is welcome. ~borgen92 [p=center]The Winged Knight[/p] [p=center]Volume 1 - Chapter 4.5 - Master Matt[/p] When I returned to the Palace, I saw that the time was only 10.00 before I was greeted with a "Welcome back." from the research team. I turned towards the screen-wall and saw that almost all of them were there, the only one that seemed to be missing was Helen. That''s a shame. I thought a bit regretfully. "Hello everyone, thank you for always welcoming me back." I told them with a warm smile. They all smiled and went back to whatever it was that they were doing. I walked closer to the screen and asked Allie: "Allie, do you think you could allow Matt to join me for a couple of hours? And don''t worry, I''m not playing favorites it''s just that I was thinking if maybe he could teach me whatever Martial Arts he does." I told her sincerely. She smiled back at me. "Don''t worry, I think we could survive a little favoritism even if that''s what it was. And that depends on Dr. Matthew." She said turning towards Matt. "Do you want to teach him some martial arts Dr. Matthew?" He nodded with a grin and walked over to one of the capsules in the room that connected to the Palace. Allie turned back towards me. "He''ll be there shortly, so maybe you should change into something better suited for training." She said with a small smile pointing at my jeans that had become my standard wear here. "Maybe I should." I told her with a wry smile and made my way up to the master bedroom to change. [p=center]***[/p] When I came down wearing some shorts and a black t-shirt, Matt was waiting for me. "Let''s create a gym." He told me with a grin, at first I was dumbfounded but quickly realized what he was talking about. So I brought up the spawning menu and created a gym outside the Palace. We made our way outside and now a new building stood next to the pool, it looked completely natural as if it had always been there. Sometimes the godly powers of the spawning menu makes me a little uncomfortable. We walked inside it and found ourselves in a completely equipped gym. Everything from weights to training machines and even a fighting ring in the middle of the room. "Okay, let''s enter the ring." Matt said walking towards it and I followed him. After we entered the ring Matt told me to take a seat, and we both sat down inside it. "From now on, whenever we''re training you will call me ''Master'' or ''Master Matt''. If you refuse, I won''t teach you." He said with a smug smile. Asshole, I''ll pay him back for this somehow. I thought highly irritated. "Alright, I guess I have to agree Master Matt." I managed barely to restrain myself when he grinned hugely at my acceptance. "Okay, I''ve practiced Martial Arts since I was 7, that means I''ve done Martial Arts for 22 years. My main focus is hand-to-hand combat, but our style teaches all kinds of weapons so I''ve got more than the basics in everything. But hand-to-hand is my passion." His change was so sudden I almost flinched, he was so serious and focused like I''d never seen him before. 22 years of training, huh. This guy is a lot tougher than I thought. My plans for revenge was put on hold for the moment. "So I presume you want to learn sword, spear and hand-to-hand right?" He asked me still in that serious tone, and I nodded. "That''s what I thought, this will help you a lot in Royal Road you know. Since actions can create skills there, for example I''ve got all sorts of techniques and many of them has been created in Royal Road as well." I was a bit surprised by that, I''d heard actions could create skills and stats, but I didn''t know that included Martial Art techniques. "Anyway, let''s do this. We''ll go with 1 hour Sword, 1 hour Spear and 1 hour Hand-to-Hand. After that we''ll take a break for an hour, and go to the pool and get something to eat. And just so you know, if you want me to continue teaching you this is the minimum we''ll do every day. As long as it doesn''t interfere with my work I''ll train you around 5 hours a day." He told me seriously. I was more than a little touched that he was willing to spend this much time on me, and my irritation at having to call him ''Master Matt'' had shrunk immensely. After that we got up, and I spawned two bokkens for us to practice with. And since this was virtual reality, we only felt around 10% of normal pain, and our health here in the Palace was infinite. So that meant that we didn''t have to worry about injuries, and could fight without holding anything back. We got into our positions at the opposite sides of the ring, then our first spar started. I decided to remain at my position and try to find out how good he was, and if I could find an opening I''d take it immediately. Matt advanced on me slowly, almost leisurely. I stood my ground, he tried me out with a slash towards my left ribs. I barely managed to deflect the blow, and once I''d recovered his bokken came crashing down on my shoulder and I found myself on the mat groaning in pain. 10% was still something when he hit you with enough force to shatter bones. "Well, that was pretty bad." He told me in a mocking tone that made my temper flare and I instantly got back up, ready for more. "Good, that''s the spirit. Now let''s start for real shall we?" He said with a vicious smile that sent shivers down my spine. Is he a male Katherina? I thought a bit apprehensively. [p=center]***[/p] Three hours later I was exhausted, not just physically but mentally as well. Just because I have infinite health here, didn''t mean I have infinite stamina apparently. And while I don''t develop any bruises, the sheer amount of strikes I received during our training was enough to mentally drain me. We finished our training and walked to the pool where I promptly collapsed into a floating mattress and started to glide inside the pool. Our training had proved his words. He almost never showed an opening, and when he did it was almost always bait that made me lunge for it while he dodged the attack easily, and proceeded to give me a hard whack. He was incredibly skilled. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. I don''t mind calling him Master anymore. I thought I was pretty decent since I''ve been sparring with Kat, but I don''t think I realized just how much the game helps me out by subtly moving my strikes to better places using The Flowing Water Style. And another thing I realized was just how much unnecessary movement I had. Sometimes I used excessively large movements that drained a lot more stamina than was necessary, and Matt had explained that one of the hardest thing to do for any Martial Artist is to eliminate all excess movement. To distill every movement until it used no more stamina than what was necessary. I had by no means achieved this yet, but I was beginning to eliminate the unnecessary things I used to do while fighting. I rolled off the mattress into the cool water of the pool and swam a little before climbing out of it. "So, are you still willing to be taught by me?" Asked Matt when he saw me coming out of the pool, he was currently resting in a comfortable chair next to the pool. "Sure, this is nothing compared to Katherina''s training." A millisecond after I finished the sentence I realized the grave mistake I just made. When Matt heard that his eyes flashed and he started smiling fiercely. "Well, then I suppose we''ll just have to step up our game won''t we my dear student?" he said as the fierce smile transformed into an even fiercer grin. Me and my stupid mouth, that was probably the worst thing I could have said! I''m an Idiot! I thought regretfully. After my idiocy we spawned some lunch, he slipped back into teacher mode and reviewed what I did wrong, what I didn''t do that I should and what I did right. Finishing the lunch we went back inside the gym for another 2 hours of sparring. [p=center]***[/p] After the training finished, Matt logged out as it was time for him to get off work. I was very tired from all the training, but I still wanted some company. I walked over to the wall-screen and saw that most of them had gone home, the only ones left were the ones supposed to take the night shift. Dr. Erica Tamberlaine sat at a desk doing what looked like paperwork while Dr. Robert Galeman was glued to a computer and looked to be concentrating intensely. "Erica, I''m not sure if I should bother you guys all the time, but do you think you have the time for a short visit to the Palace?" I tried to sound nonchalant but it came out almost a little desperately. I was lonelier than I even thought I was. She looked up from her paperwork and gazed at my face for a few seconds before responding with: "I''ll be there shortly." I almost sighed in relief. I''m kind of pathetic, but I want to know someone is physically close... instead of this small empty world that I''m in. I walked over to the kitchen table and seated myself there waiting for Erica to arrive. With a bright flash she entered the Palace, looking around she saw me and started walking here. After arriving she seated herself in the opposite chair. "So how''s Lisa?" I asked her trying to get a conversation going. She smiled and answered: "She''s good, and recently started first grade." "Wow, can she read yet or is it still too early?" I asked with a kind smile. Erica can seem kind of cold, until you mention her daughter and then she lights up like a Christmas tree. "A little. She knows most of the alphabet, but trying to put all the letters together can sometimes end up with... amusing results." she smiled at some memory. "Like?" I asked her interested in what provoked the smile. "We were at McDonalds a few weeks ago, and she insisted that she was going to order by herself and read what was included in the meal. I agreed, and we waited in line until it was our turn. It seemed my daughter wanted to ask a question about her meal, so she asked the man at the counter with an innocent smile ''What''s with the harpy deal?''" I laughed and she smiled at my reaction. "The look on the man''s face was priceless, especially with my daughter standing there beaming at him. She was quite proud she''d managed to read the name of the meal, of course she knew what a Happy Meal was, it''s her favorite but she was very interested in this thing called a ''Harpy Deal'' that looked exactly like a Happy Meal on the picture." she told me with a small laugh. "There''s been other things such as that, but no other as amusing." I smiled at her. "Marcus, do you play chess?" Erica asked me seemingly out of nowhere. "I''ve only played it a few times, and I recall I''m not very good at it." I told her with a wry smile. "Maybe we should try to change that." She said in a serious tone as she gazed at me. "... Alright, I''ll create a chessboard just hold on a second." I said a little uncomfortable at the intensity of her look. I created a chessboard and we started playing while she taught me for the rest of the evening, before I headed up to sleep and she logged out. [p=center]***[/p] I woke up around 07.30, and as soon as I came down the stairs dressed in my training clothes Matt logged in for our daily training. Around 6 hours later after I''d finished the training and gotten some rest, I logged back onto Royal Road. [p=center]***[/p] "So what are your thoughts on Marcus?" Dr. Allison asked Dr. Erica when they were alone in the lab. "Like Dr. Matthews said, he''s lonely but I believe he''s doing better than most people would. Though I do think he keeps too much of his worries and grief locked tight inside. He needs to open up to someone and let it all out." Dr. Erica told Dr. Allison in a serious but slightly sad tone. "I agree, let''s just hope he finds someone he feels comfortable talking about this with. Otherwise we might have to bring in his parents to help him." Dr. Allison said in a slightly worried tone. "Don''t worry Allie," Dr. Erica said in an uncharacteristically soft voice, "I have a... feeling that he is about to find that someone."
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Volume 1 - Chapter 5 - One Journey Ends, Another Begins [p=center]The Winged Knight[/p] [p=center]Volume 1 - Chapter 5 - One Journey Ends, Another Begins[/p] I once again found myself inside the slightly burned down town of Nantgarth. The first thing I did was open my friends list and see if Eiden was online, he was. -"Eiden, it''s me Aurelius. Are you ready to head for the cave?" -"Jesus that scared the crap out of me." He said in a flustered voice that made me smile. -"Haha, now you know how I felt when you suddenly whispered me out of nowhere. Feels a bit freaky to have someones voice just enter your head doesn''t it?" I said with considerable amusement. -"So true. I was inside the inn waiting for you and when you whispered me I yelped and jumped up from the chair making everyone in the inn turn and stare at me. Very embarrassing." I laughed out loud in the middle of the village, making people stare at me. Turning myself into exactly the kind of spectacle Eiden did. Karma''s a bitch, huh. I thought a little embarrassed. I saw Eiden coming out of a larger building I assume was the inn. I walked over to him. We were still in a party, so I didn''t need to invite him again. "Do you have everything we need for our trip to the cave?" "Yes, the villagers were all very kind and let us have some spices and vegetables. And the elder gave me the map he had, so we at least know what mountain to search. Otherwise we''d be here for months, the Ulta Mountains are ridiculously large." "Well then, let''s be off." I told him with a smile and we walked northwards through the village. Before we left, we decided to have the local blacksmith repair all of our armor and weapons. He was more than willing to do it for free since it was for their saviors. As we finally exited the village we realized that just like last time, there was no road. I groaned and asked Eiden: "Are we really going to walk through thick forests for weeks?" He looked at me and grimaced. "According to this map, our walk should take about two weeks since the forest is even thicker here." I sighed as we started walking into the forest. [p=center]***[/p] This forest was different from the previous one. In the other forest with the goblins, there were almost no animals since they''d been scared away. This forest however, was populated by tons of wild animals who thrived with the absence of man. We''d only been walking for a day when we encountered our first one. "Stop." Eiden whispered sharply as we were walking together. I stopped and we both crouched down, to better hide our bodies from whatever it was that he''d seen. Both of us stayed completely silent, and I was just about to ask Eiden why we stopped when a bear walked out of the shrubbery. It was gigantic. Easily over 2,5m(8''2) tall, and had to weigh at least 400kg(881lbs). When it saw us it stopped for a second, then let out a huge roar and charged at me. I barely had time pull my shield over my shoulders while I drew my sword. Eiden backed away, trying to position himself so he could fire Frost Bolts at it. When the bear arrived I hadn''t had the time to make an attack, so I dodged and his jaws clamped shut on the position I was in just 2 seconds ago. I brought up my shield, and loosed a vertical slash onto his body. He roared in pain and tried to hit me with his huge paw, my back was against a tree and I didn''t have the time to dodge. So I brought up my shield to stop its paw, it held. Barely. The shield cried out in protest and I staggered from the weight behind the blow, but somehow managed to divert the paw onto the ground while I took a step to the right and aimed a thrust straight for it''s neck. My thrust dug deep just as a Frost Bolt crashed into his back. And he staggered from the combined attacks. I pulled out my sword and did two fast slashes on the side of his body as he cried out in pain just as another Frost Bolt arrived and the bear scattered into light.
You have leveled up
"He was pretty tough. Eiden did you also level up? He has to have been pretty high level..." I said as I picked up the black bear pelt he dropped, while leaving the meat for Eiden. "Yeah he was, I also gained a level but I have no idea what level he was." He told me walking over and picking up the left behind bear meat. "If this is the first animal we encountered after only a day, how dangerous will the mountain be?" I asked Eiden with an excited tone. I want to fight even stronger monsters. I was becoming quite the battle-maniac since my time with Kat & Matt. "I don''t know, but it''ll surely be fun." He answered me with a grin. I guess I''m not the only one. I thought with a hidden smile. I decided to put my 5 points in Strength before we continued deeper into the forest. [p=center]***[/p] Two weeks later we hadn''t even come half way. The forest was even thicker than we thought, and bears and dire wolves kept attacking us all of the time. And now our tent was too low leveled to keep us hidden from the animals, so one of us had to keep night watch. We leveled up a lot, I managed to reach level 48. While we were very happy about the levels and amount of pelts gained, the forest was beginning to wear us down. Walking and fighting for 10 hours a day, and then having to keep night watch was incredibly tiring. We were currently walking through the dense forest. "Eiden, do you think maybe we should try sleeping in a tree or something? I really don''t want to continue doing what we''ve been doing..." I told him a bit desperately. He looked thoughtful before answering. "We could try. Let''s find a large tree for tonight, climb it and have one of us stand night watch as normal. Someone needs to keep watch at least until we have an animal come close to the tree, to see if it will try to climb it or somehow shake us down." He said seriously. Thank you Eiden! And I''m not looking forward trying to sleep in a tree, but nothing can be worse than having to stand watch the entire night. I thought with no small amount of relief. "Sounds like a plan." I told him. And so for the rest of the way towards the mountain we slept in trees. It was very uncomfortable, but the animals left us alone up there so we could sleep or log out safely. And after doing it for over two weeks we''d gotten used to it. [p=center]***[/p] After over four weeks of walking through the forest, we''d finally arrived at Mount Taylak where the local legend said Otrix''s cave was. The last two weeks of walking had yielded even higher leveled animals, and I''d now reached level 54. And since fighting higher leveled opponents and taking several very heavy blows from bears, my Endurance and Fighting Spirit had both increased by 20. I''d been alternating between using spear and sword, and since then my Spear Mastery had reached Intermediate Level 4, my Sword Mastery had reached Intermediate Level 5 and so had my Flowing Water Style. We exited the forest abruptly, we weren''t really prepared for it. What greeted us was a huge, looming mountain. It had some sizable patches of forest on it, but it was mostly bare. Its tip was covered with snow and ice, and the whole mountain looked very forbidding. "This feels like an appropriately menacing place to find a hidden cave of a master mage, right?" "Yes, it feels very... ominous." Eiden''s serious tone was cancelled out by the savage grin on his face. Haha, we''re both looking forward to this adventure. "What''s that?" I said pointing towards something moving towards us from the distance. It was growing bigger and bigger as it came closer, my wariness was beginning to rise quickly so I decided to equip my spear. Eiden also made himself ready for combat. It kept growing larger and larger, and I suddenly realized what it was. It''s a goddamned giant! Though it''s not as large as I thought they were... I thought a bit puzzled through the sheer excitement at the prospect of fighting a giant. Little did I know I was about to experience one of the most exhausting things of my life. As the giant came closer I saw it was about 3m(9''8) tall, had grayish skin, just a few gray hairs on its head and it had giant hands and feet. It carried a huge tree trunk as a weapon, I took my stance and readied myself for the upcoming battle. The giant charged me and brought down the trunk in a vertical smash, I dodged to the right and was about to thrust my spear at his thigh, when I staggered from the sheer force of the trunk hitting the ground. Crap! My shield can at most stand one or two of those hits! I thought as I recovered my balance and tried to move around the giant while he brought back the trunk from the ground. Where I noticed it had left a considerable mark. I aimed my spear at the backside of his leg and released a thrust, he groaned in response but otherwise seemed relatively unperturbed. A Frost Bolt crashed into his side which distracted him for a moment, I decided to use the chance and ran behind him where I thrust the spear straight through his Achilles tendon. This time the giant reacted. He screamed out his pain and anger as he went down on his left knee, trying to avoid putting pressure on the now severed tendon. I circled him towards his back and used all the strength I could muster and drove the spear straight through its back so it protruded from his chest. And just as my spear pierced him, Eiden''s Frost Bolt crashed into his face. The giant scattered into thousands of pieces of light. I turned towards Eiden and grinned at him, he started to smile but then it just died out. I frowned and noticed he was staring behind me, I turned to look at what he was staring at. What I saw, was another giant running towards us. We fought it, and managed to kill it. And then another giant came. And before the next one was even dead, another one had already arrived. But instead of attacking us, it simply watched. And when the other giant died, then it attacked. And when it died, another giant was waiting to take its place. And another one after that. And another one. [p=center]***[/p] We''d been fighting giants for hours now. The only reason I could still fight, was because of my class trait. The Swan Knight regenerates stamina after every graceful move/dodge/attack. This focused me like never before, I started trying to move gracefully whenever I had to re position myself. My body''s inherent grace, combined with high Charisma stat and intense focus made my every move/dodge/attack graceful. This resulted in my stamina almost never dropping, since I regenerated more all the time. The problem was that even if my stamina kept being refilled, my mind was still extremely exhausted. And so was Eiden. He''d run out of mana a long time ago, and had to sit behind me while I protected him so he could use a skill called ''Meditation'' to boost his mana regen. But the giants didn''t seem interested in him, they mostly ignored him as long as he wasn''t fighting. So now, he only joined the battle around every third of fourth giant. That meant I was fighting one on one most of the time. A huge group of giants had gathered around us now. I had no idea how many they were, but at least in the dozens if not hundreds. They were standing in a half circle facing us, sometimes cheering and other times just watching silently. I was too occupied with fighting so I couldn''t really take a good look at them, but I''d noticed one thing immediately. Most of them were bigger than the ones I fought. By that I don''t mean the difference in height all races have between individuals, no this was more like the difference between adult and child. After killing another giant, I finally exploded at the gathered group. "Why aren''t you all attacking?!" I shouted at them in frustration. The giant that was about to attack me stopped and turned around to look at a huge giant I hadn''t noticed before. This was one of the stupidest things I''ve ever done. If I''d just kept my mouth shut they''d keep coming one by one, now I don''t know what''ll happen... I took this opportunity to quickly invest all the points I''d gotten from leveling up in strength, charm and vitality. The giant had gray long hair and looked much older. He was also at least 4,5m(14''7) tall and his arms and legs were as thick as tree trunks. He stepped forward and answered me in a booming voice. "We are sending forth our young so that they can prove themselves!" I was dumbfounded by the giant''s answer. They''re using me to cull out the weak ones. I realized numbly. "You must realize by now, that none of them are a match for me?" I asked him curiously, almost conversationally. As if I''d just asked what he thought about the weather lately. The old giant looked at me with hard eyes, and for a moment I thought he was about to attack me. But then he started laughing. And when he did, so did the rest of the gathered giants. Their laugh was so loud I had to block my ears, but I swore I felt the earth tremble from their combined voices. "Haha, human you are funny!" He said with an infectious grin that almost made me forget that they''d been trying to kill us for hours now. "How about this, bring forth your strongest warrior. And if I can defeat him, you will allow us free passage to the mountain." I told him with a fierce smile. "And if you lose? You will only die, and we would gain nothing we wouldn''t have gained by ignoring your request." This one seems a lot smarter than the giants I''ve heard about... are they a special sub-race? I thought a bit irritated that he''d easily seen through my proposal. "Are you saying that your mightiest warrior is afraid to face me?" I asked him with a fearless grin. I don''t really like to provoke them but we can''t continue fighting like this until they''re all dead, I''ll collapse of mental exhaustion long before that. The giants all became quiet and stared at me with murder in their eyes. Don''t all charge me at once, please? "I am the strongest warrior in our tribe, the ones you have fought were mere babies. Do you think you can defeat me?" The old giant said with a scornful laugh that made my temper flare. "I will win." I said in a firm tone as I put back my spear and drew my sword instead. The old giant''s attitude changed immediately, like he couldn''t believe I would dare challenge him. He turned towards the crowd and roared: "Get me my club!" "Eiden, don''t interfere. If you do they''ll all probably attack." I told him without taking my eyes away from the giant. Now one of the giants walked through the crowd with a huge tree trunk that had a giant stone tied with rope on the top. The old giant took it easily from the other giant who was struggling with it. One hit with that and I''m most likely dead, or at least under 50% health... "Are you ready to meet your death, human?" "Yes, but if I kill you will your tribe keep your promise?" I asked nonchalantly. Better to have him angry than calm and collected. His eyes flashed angrily and he gritted his teeth before answering. "They will keep it, should I fall." The other giants didn''t look happy about what he said, but it seemed his words were law in the tribe. I readied myself as the death match began. I charged him immediately, his club flashed downwards at an incredible speed. I managed to dodge it by a few centimeters and let loose a slash at his leg. My sword dug deep, but I was forced to pull it back out quickly as he released one of his arms that were gripping the club and tried to smash me. My shield came up instantly and his fist crashed into it, sending me flying a couple of meters from the force of his blow.
You have lost 400 Health
I got up groggily, my head ringing from the shield being pushed into my face. When my head had cleared enough to know what I was doing, he was almost upon me again. His leg was bleeding, but that didn''t seem to impede him in any way. His club came crashing down at me, and I managed to deflect it slightly. My shield cracked a little, but held as I was diverting the blow, not stopping it. I slashed him with everything I had at the same place my previous cut had landed. This time he yelled out in pain, and I dodged to the right as his fist barely missed me. I was standing at his right side, next to the left leg I''d slashed twice before. I used three quick and strong attacks all aimed at the same wound. The giant yelled out in agony as the last attack severed his leg. He was about to fall down, and I quickly exulted at my victory. But I was too naive. The old giant wasn''t the leader of his tribe for nothing. He used his club to temporarily support his severed leg, and tried to turn towards me so he could throw himself on me. I saw what he was trying to do, but he was simply too big for me to dodge him. As he threw himself towards me, I stood calmly watching as the giant was almost upon me. When he was nearly on top of me, I took a quick step backwards so I was right under his thick neck and threw my shield to the side as I gripped the sword two-handed and pushed all the strength my body could manage into a vicious cut that decapitated the old giant. Before his body could crush me, he shattered into light.
You have leveled up
I saw some loot appearing and quickly took it almost before it could even be seen, in case the giants were about to charge me. I turned towards them wildly, ready for anything. But they all simply stared in shock. I decided to use the moment instead of letting them just react to their leaders death. "Well? Are you going to defile your leaders memory and break his promise? Or will you keep it, and we can fight on our way back." I said in a grim tone. He only ever promised us free passage to the mountain, and if I don''t give them something they''ll simply overwhelm and kill us now. A few of them flinched at my words, and a giant stepped forward. "We will keep the promise made by leader, but on your way back we will hunt you down and tear your limbs apart, slowly." The giant said in a malicious growl that sounded like an oath, and turned to leave. As he left all the others followed him, but some looked like they were on the edge of exploding. So I just stood there calmly, trying not to make any threatening move. When they were too far out to hear us I finally started to laugh relieved, Eiden joined me. "That was too close." Eiden said when we''d calmed down some. "No kidding, and I don''t think our trip home will be fun either." I said seriously looking at the backs of the giants. "And what did the boss drop? I saw you snatch something up when you thought we might get killed." He said with a wry smile. He''s right! I thought excitedly and opened my inventory, I saw something that looked like a shield and took it out.
[p=center]Aernhardt''s Great Coffin Shield[/p] Durability: 97/105 Defense: 45 Aernhardt was a knight famous for his great coffin shield and the way he fought with it. He had the shield specifically made for high durability so he could smash things with it, his fighting style was to use the shield as aggressively as possible. Restrictions: Level 65, Strength 180, Vitality 110. Equip: Raises Strength by 25, Raises Vitality 15.
Jackpot! Just 5 levels more and I can use it. I thought happily. "A new shield Eiden! A very good one, and just 5 levels more until I can use it." I told him excited, which he responded to with a smile. I decided to put my five points from leveling into Strength. "Now then, let''s start searching for the cave shall we?" Eiden asked me with a smile. I responded with a firm nod and so we started to search the mountain. [p=center]***[/p] After two days of looking around the mountain and killing bears and wolves, we finally found the entrance to the cave. *TING
[p=center]DUNGEON: You are the first players to discover Master Otrix''s Hidden Cave.[/p] [p=left]Reward: Fame +100. Every day for one week, double EXP and double item drops. The rarest items will drop from killing the first monster of each type. Subsequent kills will drop common items.[/p]
"Great, now we know we found the right place." I sighed in relief as I didn''t feel like running around the mountain anymore. "Yes, this is definitely the place. Aurelius, before we start I bought two Health Potions for this, so you take one." He said with a smile as he handed me the Health Potion. It was a pretty potent one, it would heal 1500 Health over 30 Seconds. This has to have been expensive... "Are you sure about giving one to me? They look very expensive." I told him with an unsure expression, but he simply smiled and nodded firmly. "Alright, thank you Eiden." I told him with a smile and we started walking into the cave. "And Aurelius, if I''m right about this cave the enemies will most likely be ice elementals or some water wlemental, though I''m not sure how likely that is since they love water... anyway what I''m trying to say is, that I''ll be pretty much useless as damage here. But, I have something that can really help you. I have the Frost Ward spell which guards against Water Magic, so I''ll use it on you so you''ll take a lot less damage." He said in a relieved voice, obviously glad he isn''t completely useless here. I gave him a nod and smile as we started moving into the cave. We came upon the first enemy just a few minutes later. It was exactly as Eiden had predicted, an Ice Elemental in humanoid form was walking around. He looked exactly like a human, except his face had no features and he was completely made out of ice. Eiden cast Frost Ward on me as I drew my sword and charged. When the elemental heard the sound, he turned towards me and fired an Ice Lance straight at me. I wasn''t prepared for the speed of the spell, and it hit me squarely in the chest.
You have lost 500 Health
I grunted in pain and kept running towards him, before he had time to send another spell I slashed off the arm he had out pointing at me. He didn''t seem like he could feel pain, since instantly after loosing his left arm without even a second he made his right into a fist and sent it towards my face. I dodged to the left using a spinning move and used the momentum to deliver a horizontal slash that cut straight through his chest severing him in half before exploding into light.
Due to continuous actions you have created a new Skill
Swan Whirl: Beginner Level 1 (0%)
[p=left]A graceful whirl that ends in a powerful slash, and somehow reminds people who sees it of a swan. It uses the momentum of a spin to build force for a cut, can be used both as a normal attack and as a way to dodge an enemy before cutting them.[/p]
Sweet! I was beginning to wonder why The Swan Knight didn''t get any skills to start with. I didn''t really think about it in the beginning, but based on what I''ve heard from Eiden when you get your class you also get at least one skill. Is The Swan Knight supposed to create them by himself? And if so, isn''t that kind of unreasonable? Though I have created two skills now... Swan Song and Swan Whirl. I thought intensely. I looted the Ice Elemental, it dropped some kind of ice crystal that looked expensive. I handed it over to Eiden, since he''s the one that uses ice it''s better to just let him have it. He looked at me with huge eyes. "Are you sure about this? I mean I think I could use it for a class quest or something later on, but this is really expensive..." He said in an uncomfortable tone. "Yeah, take it. It''s only money. I value friendship a lot more." I told him in a serious voice. He seemed to tear up at my words but managed to nod and wipe his eyes with the sleeves of his robe. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. "By the way, do you think it''s possible to cast Frost Ward on only my shield?" I asked him trying to change the subject while I started bandaging my wounds. "I... think so. Usually I just aim it on your body and the whole body gets protected, but if I use it on the shield instead... yes it might work and I see where you''re going with this. It would probably concentrate the spell more as it covers a lesser surface. But still, if you get hit by an Ice Lance without the Frost Ward it''ll probably do twice the damage it did last time. But on the other hand, if you can block it with the shield it should negate most of the spell''s damage, and the shield wouldn''t take a lot of durability loss either." "Let''s try it out." I said and raised my shield for him to cast Frost Ward on, he did and we continued deeper into the cave. [p=center]***[/p] Two hours later we''d gone a lot deeper into the cave. I had reached level 65 now and could finally equip Aernhardt''s Great Coffin Shield. The first tests with a Frost Warded shield had been a bit shaky. But after several trials and errors, I finally managed to ''see'' the Ice Lance fast enough to move the shield to the right spot and block in time. From there I only got better at it, and I could now smash the Ice Lance aside instead of just taking its momentum head on. We''d just killed another ice elemental, and I noticed that the cave was starting to become wider. "Do you think we''re almost there Eiden? It''s starting to become wider and we''ve encountered more ice elementals in the last hour than we had before..." I told him a bit excited that we might finally reach the end. "Probably, but the elementals have been getting stronger and stronger, and there should be some kind of boss. It won''t be easy." He told me seriously. He''s right, there should be at least one boss in this cave. We started walking again, a bit more warily now. No ice elementals were in sight, but the cave kept getting wider and wider until finally we entered a huge room, and everything was covered in ice. The walls were gleaming with ice and the roof had several huge ice-taps hanging from the ceiling. Eiden gasped and I turned to look at him with a questioning expression. "I just received a buff when we entered the cave. It''s called ''The Affinity'' and increases Water Affinity by 30% indefinitely inside this room, or 6 hours outside of it. Be careful, that means the boss here is most likely very strong." He told me in a worried voice. "Then this time use Frost Ward on my body instead, since we don''t know whether the boss will be a melee or caster. If the spell is on my body it provides the best all-round protection." I told him seriously. He nodded and prepared the spell. We started slowly walking into the room, fortunately the floor wasn''t completely covered in ice so we could still walk decently. After walking 50m inside the room we heard a sound. At first it sounded innocent, like a small crack. Then it started growing at an alarming rate, and we looked up towards the sound. What we saw shocked us, five huge ice-taps were moving towards each other and starting to combine. I realized quickly that this has to be the boss, so I drew my sword and move out from under the ice-taps. After 30 seconds of combining themselves, the now clump of ice fell from the ceiling. Just as it was about to hit the floor, it grew legs and used them to dampen the fall. It kept growing limbs and reshaping itself, until finally a 7m(22''2) tall ice golem stood in front of us. This is bad... Eiden cast Frost Ward on me before I ran towards the golem. Better to take the initiative... The golem turned its ice eyes to look at me running towards it and I felt a chill down my spine. It used its fist to try to smash me, I managed to dodge but it was ridiculously fast. I ran up to its leg and used all the power I had and let loose a vicious cut. The sword dug in a tiny bit into the ice, barely making any damage at all. Shit. I pulled out my sword and started to run away from it. It quickly started chasing me and I could barely stay ahead. The sword could barely make a dent on it, the only idea I have is to try using the spear to thrust at the same place repeatedly... I thought as I ran for my life. I put the sword back in my scabbard, strapped the shield onto my back and pulled out the spear from my inventory. While I was doing all of that, I had to concentrate and hadn''t noticed that the golem was almost upon me. I heard a shout of warning and just when I looked over my shoulder a massive fist of ice crashed into my back.
You have lost 900 Health
I flew through the air and crashed straight into a wall.
You have lost 300 Health
I tried to stand up after my landing, but failed. I tried again slower, and barely managed. Why hasn''t it finished me off yet? I thought puzzled as I tried to look for the golem. And then I saw why. Eiden was currently running while firing Frost Bolts wildly. They barely did any damage, but what they did do was irritate the golem immensely. It was now chasing him and I knew that Eiden would be caught any second now, so I had to help him. I started to half limp half run towards them while holding my spear with both of my hands. The golem had just cornered Eiden when I came up behind it. I knew the only way I could pierce its hard ice, I needed to thrust at the exact same point multiple times. So I focused like never before in my life, and started thrusting. One, my spear dug a bit into the backside of its right knee. Two, my acquaintance the spear managed to pierce deeper into its knee. Three, my friend the spear pierced violently even deeper into the damaged knee. Four, my trusted spear was now over halfway through the knee, and the golem was trying to turn around so it could face me. Five, my beloved spear pierced straight through the knee, and as the leg shattered, so did my spear.
Due to durability reaching 0 Basic Hard Iron Spear has broken.
Due to continuous actions you have created a new Skill
Piercing Swan: Beginner Level 1 (0%)
[p=left]You thrust gracefully aiming for a single point, after successfully hitting the enemy you will release 4 more thrusts at the exact same place.[/p]
This time I didn''t celebrate prematurely. The golem was in the motion of turning when its leg shattered, it crashed down onto the floor harming it further. But the golem couldn''t feel pain, and started crawling towards me. I started to run towards it, and as it reached out its arm trying to grab me I swiftly dodged under it and drew my sword as I ran under its armpit and jumped onto its back and shouted: "Piercing Swan!" I had aimed the trust at the neck of the golem, I managed to land four of the five thrusts before it used the arms and threw itself onto its back. I didn''t manage to get completely out. My leg was crushed by its massive neck.
You have lost 600 Health
I was now perilously close to death, and decided it was all or nothing as I unleashed another Piercing Swan aimed at the neck that my leg was currently being crushed by. And then I used Piercing Swan again, and again, and again, and again. Until finally the neck shattered and the head rolled away from the body before it scattered into light.
You have leveled up
I was still dying though. My crushed leg was bleeding profusely, and my eyesight was growing progressively darker as the health bar drained. "Aurelius!" I heard a desperate cry that brought me a little out of my hazed mind. And then I felt something warm lift my head carefully, almost tenderly as a warm liquid started pouring down my throat before I blacked out. [p=center]***[/p] I woke up comfortably in some kind of make-shift bed out of pelts. What the... didn''t I die? Shouldn''t I be in the Palace? I thought confusedly as I started to sit up. "Good morning." I heard a familiar voice say to my left, I looked towards it and saw Eiden sitting in an ice chair at an ice table. "I... survived?" I said stupidly, still a bit out of it after just waking up. "Yes, it was very close but I managed to pour my Health Potion down your throat." He said in a relieved voice. "Oh... thank you Eiden. And I''ll take out my Potion immediately so you can have it as a replacement." I said starting to bring up the inventory. "No! The only reason you almost died is that you decided to help me with a quest that I could never have completed alone. So keep it, don''t even try to give it to me I''ll only refuse." He told me in a stern voice that took me aback. He''s very forceful... I thought a bit amused, remembering the shy guy he used to be. "What happened with your quest?" "It''s completed." He told me with a smile before continuing. "After the golem died, the quest completed by itself and a door opened at the end of the room. It led here, into this ice study that used to be Master Otrix''s. The reward for the quest was a spellbook that taught me ''Blizzard'' which was the spell Otrix had been trying to perfect." "Blizzard summons a huge snowstorm that hurts and slows down enemies, and if they''re trapped too long inside it become frozen as well. But Otrix wasn''t satisfied with that, he wanted the spell to only affect enemies. And that was what he was trying to perfect, and he succeeded. According to his last diary the blizzard is only cold for your enemies, everyone else will feel nothing from it. It will still be almost completely impossible for them to see inside it, but they won''t be harmed." He told me with a huge smile. "I also received a necklace that used to be Otrix''s that increases Water Affinity by 15%! But sadly, I''m too low level to use it. By the way, after the golem died an information message popped up that told me the dungeon would never respawn again. Something about ice elementals has now learned to stay away from here." He said with a grin. "That''s great, I''m really happy for you." I said with a warm smile "So, when are we leaving?" I asked him. He looked a bit uncomfortable before responding. "I''m sorry, but I''m going to stay here. This Water Affinity buff lasts for 6 hours after leaving the cave, that means I can hunt monsters around the mountain with 30% extra Water Affinity. That''ll level my skills a lot faster, and my spells will be a lot stronger so I can level faster as well." He told me with a regretful voice. Oh... well I need to go back to Jinari now. I have a massive amount of loot to sell, and I want to get the rest of my armor. I should also do a little something to repay Kat for all she''s done for me. "That''s alright, I''m going to head back for the capital. And we can still message each other, so we''ll meet up again some other day for some more fun." I told him with a smile as I went over to the chair and gave him a goodbye hug. "Take care of yourself Eiden, and talk with your sister about modifying your capsule so you can visit me in my Palace." I told him a little huskily while still hugging him. "I w-will." He said in a wavering voice. "Goodbye." I told him, broke the hug and started the long walk out of the cave. [p=center]***[/p] After walking and jogging for an hour I had arrived at the exit of the cave. I also spent the 5 points I got from leveling up in Strength. Now I just have to leave this mountain... easier said than done. Those giants are most likely waiting eagerly for me to leave. I thought a bit grimly. I started walking down from the mountain, but instead of walking the same way we came I tried to go south-east instead of just south. It worked... for a while. One giant finally saw me, and then he used a big war-horn he carried with himself to send out a signal. I ran madly, but was constantly attacked by new giants reaching me. I killed one, then ran 200m before another one caught up and so the cycle continued. I became very good at killing giants. These attacks combined with my previous experience had practically made me an expert, the easiest way was to either go for the Achilles tendon or cut the entire leg off. There were other ways, but none as fast or easy. [p=center]***[/p] After running and fighting for over a day and a half, I''d finally reached the thick forest that surrounds Taylak Mountain. Why did it take so long? Simply put, there were a lot of giants. I leveled up twice more from killing all the giants, but I was by no means unharmed. I was now inside the forest, and it was so dense that it was doubtful whether the giants could keep up inside. I decided to walk another half a day before resting. When I was finally relatively sure I was safe, I decided to check my stats. "Status Window."
[quart=Character name,Alignment]Aurelius,Neutral[/quart][quart=Level,Profession]68,Swan Knight[/quart]
Status Window
TitleWolfsbane
Fame200
[quart=Health,Mana]2220,100[/quart]
[quart=Strength,Agility]210+25,95+5[/quart]
[quart=Vitality,Charisma]120+25,111+30[/quart]
[quart=Endurance,Fighting Spirit]180+15,145[/quart]
[quart=Wisdom,Intellect]10,10[/quart]
[quart=Luck,Leadership]5,0[/quart]
Attack47
Defense77
Magic ResistanceNone
[p=left]+30 Charisma +25 Strength +25 Vitality +15 Endurance +5 Agility + The Swan Knight class focuses on Charisma instead of Honor, this makes it much easier to raise the Charisma stat but makes it impossible for the Honor stat to be generated. + The Swan Knight regenerates a little stamina every time he makes a graceful move/dodge/attack. + Being a Knight class, all your weapon mastery skills level up faster. + Riding is easier and faster to master as a Knight. + Enables you to equip certain items specialized for the class.[/p]
I''ve really grown a lot since I left, huh... I thought a bit proud of my progress. I was just about to lie down next to a little stream I''d found when I noticed something strange. There were wisps of red in the water. Blood? I thought confused as I started walking following the river east. The red was becoming more and more pronounced as I kept walking, and soon it was an alarming amount of it. [p=center]***[/p] After following the stream for half an hour, I finally found the source. Laying half inside the water was a horse. Nay, to call it just a "horse" was too tame... too small. After I met Marengo, I''d checked up on horses some. This one looked like a Shire horse, it was big. Very big. She was big I realized now. She had to be around 200cm(6''5) high, and probably weighs around 1100kg(2425lbs). She was completely white except for around her neck where she had something that looked almost like a rope of black. But what struck me most about her, was the sheer dignity and nobility she exuded. I felt like I wanted to kneel in front of her and swear her my service. Which was ridiculous, since she was a horse. Excluding that, the thing that stood out most about her was all the wounds she had. She was bleeding an incredible amount. My god! I thought shaken. What happened to her?! Rage was starting to burn away my shock as I fantasized what I would do if I ever met whoever did this to her. I''d been standing there staring enough. I walked towards her and went down on my knees next to her, when I was close enough I saw that she was looking at me with unreadable eyes. I leaned down closely to her and whispered as softly and as soothingly I could: "I''m here to help you, I don''t know who did this to you, girl. But I swear on everything that I hold sacred that I will never harm you." She just looked me in the eyes, refusing to look away. I didn''t know what that meant, but I quickly took out the healing potion Eiden gave me and tried to make her drink it. When I started moving towards her face she tried to bite me. I managed to pull my arm back, but I had no idea how I was going to make her drink it. I guess I''ll just have do this... I thought as I quickly pushed my right arm forward so she bit deep into it. I felt the dulled pain but ignored it, and forced her head upwards as I poured the contents of the potion between her teeth and my arm, downwards into her throat. She tried to break free, to move her head away. But I refused to let her, and used my whole body to hold her head in position. As she was forced to swallow, she gradually calmed down. It seemed the potion had some effect. When the potion was empty, I pulled back my arm and dislodged my arm that was still being bitten. At first she didn''t want to let go, but gradually released her bite. After that I took out my bandages, and started bandaging the remaining wounds. The health potion should have brought her back to full health, but it looked like she had many bleeding wounds. Wolves? Or bears? There''s definitely bite marks all over her body. And one of the wounds is definitely an arrow wound... Did she escape the wolves? Or are they on their way here right now? She might have managed to harm the one who bit her, but it could be back with more any second now. She''s been laying here for at least half an hour so, we should probably move before whatever it is that''s hunting her catches up. She was looking a lot better now, not fully healed but pretty close. Though she still looked completely exhausted. I moved closer to her head, as she was still laying on the ground. "Girl? We need to move away from here... I don''t know who or what did that to you, but they can''t be that far behind since your wounds had to have slowed you down a lot." I told her in a soothing voice. She looked me in the eyes, they still showed a lot of anger... but there was gratefulness somewhere in there. "Please?" I asked her in a soft tone. She snorted and tried to stand up, after almost succeeding she couldn''t take it and fell down again, and this time it seemed like she was planning on staying. It looks like she''s completely exhausted... but we have to move. I''m sorry for this, girl. I thought a bit regretfully as I prepared to threaten or cajole her into getting up. Whatever it took to save her life. "You will get up. Now." I told her in a hard, commanding tone I''ve never used before. Her eyes whipped towards mine and looked disbelieving just as I received a message.
[p=center]You have managed to temporarily tame Faustina.[/p] [p=left]Due to your high Charisma and Horse Mastery you have managed to temporarily tame Faustina, be warned however. The taming is not permanent, and can be broken either by her growing in power or you either loosing power or getting wounded. Since the taming is only temporary, it is not complete. She will heed your commands, but not willingly.[/p]
I was stunned as I watched her getting up, this time succeeding before I had another message appear.
A new title has been created and forcefully equipped. The title ''the Destined'' cannot be unequipped.
Title: the Destined
You have been guided by destiny to this first monumental point in your journey. [p=left]Title effects when equipped: + Unknown and Locked + Unknown and Locked + Unknown and Locked[/p]
What the hell is going on here? I have no idea what''s happening anymore... I manage to temporarily tame her, and then I receive a title that can''t be removed called ''the Destined''? And what''s with the taming saying that it can be broken ''by her growing in power''? She was now standing up, looking at me with murderous eyes. I''m sorry Faustina, I didn''t mean to tame you... I just wanted to help you. I thought sorrowfully. "You have a beautiful name Faustina, please follow me and let''s head for Nantgarth together." I told her with a sad smile as I led the way deeper into the forest.
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Volume 1 - Epilogue [p=center]The Winged Knight[/p] [p=center]Volume 1 - Epilogue[/p] I had been laying there in agony half unconscious when I heard the sound that I thought was going to end my life. But I was wrong. A human in armor was walking towards me when I looked at the direction of the sound. But it wasn''t one of the humans who attacked and sealed me. I would have remembered this one. He had clearly been fighting something, his arms were covered in bandages and there were bloodstains all over his armor. But I would still have remembered him without all of that. Even wounded as he was, he walked gracefully as his purple cloak swayed in the wind. He had light brown hair, golden eyes and a face that was most likely extremely handsome by human standards. I had never seen a human as majestic as him, for that matter I didn''t think I''d ever seen anything as grand and noble as him. And then he spoke. "I''m here to help you, I don''t know who did this to you, girl. But I swear on everything that I hold sacred that I will never harm you." He was speaking gently, trying to comfort me but that only served to enrage me. Why must I be this weak in front of this human?! I thought furiously, my mind becoming angrier and angrier as I remembered what had brought me here. [p=center]***[/p] It was late night when I received the report. -"Vice-Commander, those humans have been spotted again." One of my head scouts reported in an angry tone. -"Prepare a squad to intercept, I will lead." I answered him. -"But Vice-Commander you know what the Commander thinks of you going..." The scout retorted uncomfortably. -"Silence! I will lead this patrol." I told him in a determined voice as I started walking past him. He saluted and ran away to gather the rest of the patrol. Fifteen minutes later we were soaring through the skies, moving quickly towards the spot the humans were at. What do these lowly humans think they''re doing? I thought angered, and more than a little anxious. This was the sixth time they''d been spotted at the same place in so many days. And I had finally had enough, and decided to force them away. Before we arrived however, I had decided to be cautious. -"All of you, when we arrive stay hidden in the back. And only come out if I call for you. We do not know what these humans are, or what they have planned so stay back. If anything happens to me, I will make my own way from here to the territories." -"But Vice-Commander! You can''t really believe these weak humans can do anything against you?" One in the squad asked more perplexed than anything else. -"No." I answered a little amused. "But the Commander has made me promise to be more careful, so this time I will." I told them seriously. -"But remember my orders, whatever happens." I told them and they all answered with "Yes, Vice-Commander." Five minutes later we arrived. The squad was staying back in the distance while I moved forward. There were three humans standing in the open spot in the normally thick wood. One looked to be a mage of some kind, with a staff and robe. Another was a warrior in leather and two swords one on either side. And the last one was a ranger, bow and arrow on his back. I landed in the forest where they could not see me, and then walked out into the open in front of them. -"Humans! You have been warned repeatedly, if you do not leave now I will use force." I told them, giving them a final chance. The humans all looked at each other with big smiles that infuriated me, and I was just about to show them the error of their ways when I felt some strong and strange magic activating. The mage started laughing. "Haha, we finally have one! Finally we can bring the Duke a Pegasus! Think of all the money we''ll receive." He shouted happily as the other two also started laughing greedily. I could feel my strength being drained by magic. Ancient, and powerful magic. What is this?! I thought angrily. The group was watching me with big smiles as they talked about what they would do with their share of the money. How dare these humans humiliate me like this?! I should tear them to pieces, but I''ve promised the Commander to be more careful... and my strength is still being drained. I have to get out of here. I thought bitterly, swearing vengeance on them. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. I turned quickly and ran. The magic that was draining my strength still continued, but it only drained my strength. It didn''t restrict any of my movements. Before I ran out of my powers I quickly ordered the squad to retreat and report everything that happened here to the commander. Who knows if the humans could use the sealing magic on the rest of the group as well. Better for them to retreat. The ranger realized their foolish mistake in only using the magic to seal my powers, and quickly shot an arrow that managed to graze my leg as I ran into the forest. I ran far, but I could feel myself growing weaker. The arrow had been dipped in something that was making me extremely tired. After running for a couple of hours, I collapsed. I awoke to pain. Lots and lots of pain. When I opened my eyes I saw that a wolf was close and had just taken a small bite out of my leg. He dares?! Normally I would have crushed him, but with my powers sealed I was truly weak. I managed to kick him away, he whined in pain but then howled towards the moon and I shivered as I realized that he had just called his pack. Several hours of running and fighting off wolves, I had more wounds than I ever had in my life. But I''d finally managed to shake them off, and now collapsed at a small stream. [p=center]***[/p] The human was now moving towards me to do something, he was most likely like the others and I tried to bite him to show that I would never give up. He pulled back, but then brought his arm forward again. I bit down hard on his arm, and I tasted blood. But the human ignored the pain and forced my head up as he poured something down my throat. What has he done now?! Poison to finish me off? Coward! I thought furiously. But then something strange started happening. I felt my pain ease, and the wounds started closing by themselves. What? It was a healing potion? Why did he give it to me? I thought extremely suspicious of what the human was doing. He tried to retrieve his arm from my jaws, I let him. I couldn''t kill him like that anyway. I thought a little amused. And then the human bent down over my body, first I was about to kick him away. But I saw some bandages in his hands, and decided to let him proceed. Even though I realized what he was about to do, I was still surprised he did it. Why is this human helping me? I was becoming more and more confused. He then moved around in front of me again and moved closer. "Girl? We need to move away from here... I don''t know who or what did that to you, but they can''t be that far behind since your wounds had to have slowed you down a lot." He said in a soft, calming voice but his words woke rage in me. This human presumes to call me ''girl''?! But we do need to move away from here... I thought a bit begrudgingly. "Please?" He asked me again in that soft tone. I snorted and tried to stand up. I almost succeeded. Almost. I felt incredibly ashamed as I failed to even stand. This is pathetic... I thought derisively and was just about to try again when the human''s voice changed. "You will get up. Now." He commanded me. And I looked at him disbelievingly as I felt a power bind myself to his will. And this time my body moved by itself, pushing itself upwards until I was standing. This human... he dares... he dares to tame me?! He dares to tame Faustina the Vice-Commander of the Pegasi clan of Lightning?! I thought as my rage was starting to reach an earth-shattering level.
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Hey everyone, this is the end of Volume 1 and I hope you all enjoyed it. I think I''m going to take a little break now for at least a couple of days before I start writing on the new Volume. I might start sooner, but don''t count on it. And thanks everyone for reading and rating. ~borgen92