《The Legend of JaWal by WarWalker》 The Legend of JaWal - Prologue ¡°So, who knows when the second world war started?¡±, asked Mr. Humble, the history teacher. ¡°Anyone?¡± Silence. Like always. No one did anything for school since this new game was published. Everyone except me played this game. Everyone! I don¡¯t know why they do it or how they can afford it but... Arghh. It¡¯s so frustrating. My goddamn parents! Did they have to split up? I was a baby. Just a baby. And he left me. He forsook me. He left me behind with this hag. She doesn¡¯t have a job, broke up school when she was 14 and, and - Ahhh. For gods sake, why me? WHY. We live in a small flat at the end of the district. Financial we are ruined. She gets social money while I work all day to earn some money for myself. Well, at the moment I save it for this new game. Hopefully my mother doesn¡¯t find the money. She¡¯s over 40. She never answered me or gave me a shrug when I asked her. Who cares. My dad is somewhere around that age as well. Never heard a word from him and mom never talks about him either. What a splendid situation I am in. But I heard from my teachers that my dad went to the same school as me and they say he is some important person which is why they can¡¯t tell me who exactly he is. He paid them. Sounds important but he doesn¡¯t give a piss about me. He never send money, nothing. ¡°Jason?¡± Huh? Mr. Humble stared at me. ¡°You don¡¯t even play Royal Road and you are still daydreaming. What¡¯s so important for you that you don¡¯t concentrate on the lesson? Everyone else has a reason but you - well, you don¡¯t. So, do you know when the second world war started?¡± He irritated me. Since when did he mock me as well? Most did but for me Mr. Humble was one of the few persons at school who was okay. As far as getting not on my nerves and mocking went. ¡°1954?¡± I guessed. Where was the point to not say anything when he would say it anyways if I answered wrong. ¡°Wrong. Try harder. This way you will end up just like your mother. That b- Well like I said, try again.¡± He truly went on my nerves. ¡°1938? Wait I remember it was 1939.¡± ¡°Splendid. Looks like you won¡¯t end like her. But don¡¯t get your hopes up too high. What I mean is, that you shouldn¡¯t rest on your laurels. Work hard. Play harder. Ohh, sorry. I forgot you don¡¯t play.¡± Everyone laughed. Mr. Humble still amused whispered something in my ear.. ¡°Well, you get what I want to say. It¡¯s advice. Take it to your heart.¡± What a weird situation. First he mocks me, then he makes me to a running gag and now? Dingdong. School was over. ¡°People, look at page 237 till next time. Ahh, well forget it. You don¡¯t have time for that. And Jason.¡± He stared at me. ¡°What is it, Mr. Humble?¡± ¡°Never mind.¡± The situation grew weirder from second to second. I packed my bag. It was from Deuter. Stored 40l and was fashion just before the game came out. He Worked hard for it but now none gives a fuck. Everyone talks about this game. Levels there, items here and mysterious things over there. I wish I could talk with them. even the teachers played. Good point about that is that we don¡¯t get any homeworks. Great! Apparently I am the only one at school who doesn¡¯t play Royal road. Royal road. Yeah, that¡¯s what I am working so hard for. It was winter, therefore it was already dark outside. Wonderful... After going out of the school, on my way home, I thought about what happened in school. What kind of advice should that be? I know that I have to work hard to accomplish something. He doesn¡¯t have to tell me that. I heard a shout out of an allee. A woman. I strapped my bag tightly around my chest. I ran around the corner, stone in hand. Covered by the big buildings the allee was pitch black. I were not on the main street. Actually it was a side street, near my home. So there weren¡¯t any people around who could help except me that is. I slowly approached the corner with my back against the wall. Slowly, slowly. Crunch What the hell? The sound came from where I just were. I looked around suspiciously. Nothing. Weird. Maybe a rat? Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.I spied around the corner. Again nothing. Fucking strange. ¡°Anyone there? I heard a shout.¡± Right after he said it, he felt stupid. Did I have to shout? Dumbwit. ¡°A shout?¡± The deep voice came from around the corner. He just noticed that there was a door, let in into the site. ¡°I heard nothing¡± It was a man. That¡¯s what I thought. But then a high pitched cry came from inside. ¡°Damn. Didn¡¯t I say that you have to shut up.¡± I realized that I were not welcome. The man was attracted and this was my chance to run. Or should I run? What if the woman is chained inside and screams to get attraction by a bystander like me? What shall I do? Unconsciously I ran forward, rammed the stone in a upside-down swing against his head. Or that¡¯s what I wanted to achieve. He stopped my move in mid-swing by hitting a nerve somewhere along my arm which opened my fingers. The stone dropped to the ground. ¡°A brave little boy you are. But what do you want to do now? Thought about that?¡± I barely noticed before that the man was in the 60s. ¡°Ehmm, well...¡± ¡°Did I do anything wrong?¡± ¡°Well, you see I heard that voice - shout and yeah... I thought that woman was in danger. So...so..¡± ¡°So?¡± The old man laughed. I didn¡¯t know how I had to answer. ¡°A woman? If you mean that this sound came from a woman then you are clearly mistaken. Weird. I thought everyone knows this sound nowadays.¡± Apparently should I know what sound it was but I couldn¡¯t categorize it. ¡°Wasn¡¯t that a woman? I mean I heard her voice.¡± The mysterious man laughed again even louder than before. ¡°That - he pointed inside - isn¡¯t a woman. It¡¯s the capsule for Royal Road. You know that game don¡¯t you? You have to!¡± That was it. The missing link. I felt like a fool. ¡°Aehm. I am sorry. I didn¡¯t know that. Well I do know about Royal Road but...¡± ¡°But what? You are clearly a weird person. You didn¡¯t know that this sound came from a capsule? Wait.¡± The man made a strange face. ¡° You never played Royal Road before? Oh my. And I thought everybody played and gives everything to play. You-¡± ¡°Yeah, but everything I have is not enough. I can¡¯t afford it. At the moment that it. I am working hard to earn the money.¡± The man was shocked. You could see at his creasings that he was thinking something up. ¡°I will help you. How much do you have?¡± I was sceptical. Why would a complete stranger help me? There has to be a hitch. ¡°Around 200€ at the moment. But, you know can you afford to help me. I mean-¡± The man laughed so loud that I feared my ears burst. ¡°Kid. I play Royal Road everyday. I am famous inside. And you say I couldn¡¯t afford to give you some pocket money? He wiped some tears from his face. ¡°It¡¯s a magnificent game. You know that, I know that, everyone knows that. Everyone played it except you. So I will give you the opportunity to merge into a new world, full of wonders, amazing quests, great people and beautiful landscapes. What you do inside is your own choice. Here take it.¡± He fished some big cash from his pocket and counted to the amount of money I would need. I was so amazed that this old man just got out, I don¡¯t know, how much money from his pocket. At least 2000€. Just stored inside his pocket. I stared at the man and switched to the money. I gasped. ¡°Do you take it or not? I don¡¯t want anything from you. So I would take it if I were you.¡± I took the money. ¡°Thanks. I don¡¯t know how I should pay it back. But thanks. I am truly in your favor.¡± ¡°No need to pay anything back. I got enough money and to give someone such an opportunity is thanks enough for such an old man like myself.¡± He laughed again. You could see that he laughed often. ¡°If you get strong enough come and visit me again inside the game. You will recognise me.¡± With that he vanished inside. I was speechless. The Legend of JaWal - Chapter 1 When I came home I went straight to my room. Not that I have any other choice in a flat with 2 rooms but you get the idea. I put down my bag. ¡°Hey Jason. Back home? How was school?¡± My mom stood between the door frame. ¡°Ah, I totally forgot about you. Yeah, I am back. School was fine. Mr. Humble saved my day again. It was so boring until the history lesson but as soon as the subject began it lightened up.¡± On first meetings everyone thinks that my mom is really friendly but in reality it¡¯s just her surface. If you scratch it away you will make contact with a ferocious woman on level ¡°Angry pirate killer¡±. Nah, just a joke. That¡¯s why I told her that lie. If i would tell her that everyone mocks me at school she would panic and do something that wouldn¡¯t be good for either of us. ¡°Ah, that¡¯s great honey. Is school really that boring? I thought you liked it more than me. Well, doesn¡¯t matter. I go out at 7. You know where the food is. I didn¡¯t have time to make it.¡± It¡¯s more like she doesn¡¯t care for me and watches TV all day instead of making food for me. ¡°Yeah, I know where it is. I will make something later. Ain¡¯t hungry at the moment.¡± ¡°Okay, feel free to do everything you want.¡± With that she left the room and probably went to her coach again inside her living, sleep or ¡°whatever else she does in there¡± room. Great. I got the money. I could buy the capsule and the game at this moment but what I didn¡¯t think about is where I should place it. For real, how could I forget such a simple thing. Ahhh. It¡¯s driving me crazy. Calm down. Calm down. I should analyse my situation. I can¡¯t place the capsule at home. Should I ask the old man again for help? Nah, that would just ruin our relationship between us or better said his wish to me. How should I find him in an entire new world for me? So, nothing much left. School won¡¯t work either. Maybe we got a basement? ¡°Mom, do we have a basement? ¡°No, why do you ask?¡± ¡°No reason at all. Just wondering.¡± Basement. Check. School. Check. Old man. Check. Home. Check. Hmm, where could I play? I thought about that for some time. Hours maybe. When my mom went out of the house I knew it were 7. So... Ahh. I went outside to get some fresh air. Why is there no place where I could play? Why. I got no relatives either. For fucks sake. My entire life sucks because of my family. I wish I could change something. That¡¯s the reason why I want to play Royal Road. people all over the world - our world - talked about it day and night. Day after day. It must be awesome. So please, please anybody give me a hint. I went around the residential block. If you could call it that. We lived in a apartment house. 10 floors, 19 neighbours. Around it there were some shacks but nothing worth to mention. Nothing was close. City was an hour away and not to mention the infrastructure. Our house was the only minimal technology sign in the entire district. But everybody plays Royal Road. How is that possible I ask. After roaming around for some hours still with no conclusion I went home again. I met no soul outside here. No wonder. But as surprisingly as it seems I met our floor neighbour Mark, a worker on temporary employment around 25, at the entrance. ¡°Hey there. Long time no see.¡± ¡°Jason, what a surprise. Aren¡¯t you supposed to play Royal Road?¡± ¡°Me? We don¡¯t even have a capsule at home. I think my mother doesn¡¯t even know about Royal Road.¡± ¡°What a pity. I knew that your mom isn¡¯t all that mentally good but... Well if I can help you in any way then just ask me.¡± ¡°Everyone knows that except herself... This may sound a bit weird but could we arrange it so that I could play inside your flat? I mean I got the money and everything but I couldn¡¯t play at home with her around.¡± I asked hopefully. Mark is a cool guy and maybe he understands me. Mark shrugged. ¡°Yeah, well I know that your mother ain¡¯t right but with help I meant... Well, you know not that kind of help. Sorry.¡± I almost began to cry. The next day I went to school like everyday. First lessons structured themselves as usual. But then I had history again. I had completely forgotten about yesterday''s speech with all that has happened. I was thinking about where I could play when Mr. Humble came in. ¡°Good day pupils.¡± ¡°Good day Mr. Humble.¡± ¡°Everyone of you can go home. I have to do some work which needs me elsewhere.¡± Screams of satisfaction all over the class. All except me. You could think that I would be happy as well but... But the way Mr. Humble stared at me made me wince. ¡°I see that everyone of you is high spirited today. Well Mr. Walker would you come with em to my office.¡± What did I just hear? Mr. walker would be me but I didn¡¯t do anything wrong. It seems like bad luck follows me almost everywhere. the first situation which was good in my life was the money spending yesterday. I followed reluctantly. ¡°Mr. Humble if I remember correctly I didn¡¯t do anything wrong. So why should I follow you to your office.¡± He looked at me seriously. ¡°Huh? You really have the wrong idea. I want to help you.¡± Help me? Me? ¡°In which way do you want to help me? I mean I don¡¯t deserve any help.¡± ¡°Oh, you do. You just don¡¯t know about it.¡± ¡°So what kind of help do you want to give me?¡± ¡°I heard that you were looking for a place where you could install your capsule and I got the perfect place for you. In my office there is a second room which I could give you for the time being. You could play there whenever you want. There¡¯s even food and a toilet so you don¡¯t have to worry about nonsensical stuff.¡± I was suspicious. I mean yesterday he mocked me and now he wants to help me? And what do I not know about? Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.¡°For real? I mean that¡¯s great. I truly appreciate it. So I can call Unicorn right away.¡± ¡°What? Why do you want to call the enterprise? Everything is already installed. You just have to pay for it. And I know that you got the money with you so you could start right away.¡± It sounded too good to be true. Somehow everything went well since yesterday. How come? Well who cares if life gives you opportunities you should seize them with both hands. ¡°So I can play right away? Isn¡¯t the capsule programmed for a special person?¡± ¡°Well, that capsule in there was not used till now. So theres no problem with you playing there. I presume you know how.¡± ¡°Ehmm... About that I don¡¯t know how. i never even came close to getting one so I didn¡¯t think about it beforehand.¡± ¡°Well, there should be no problem. You are a good student. You will find out how things work.¡± He turned around and went the stairway down. No other word. But before that he gave me the keys. I went to his office. It was at the end of the floor behind some big lockers. I tried the keys. Still wondering about what was going on. All this luck piled up. There has to be a misunderstanding. Well at least I can play now. Or better said emerge into a completely new world. Make a new existent. I went inside the room. Saw the door which leads to the second room which Humble talked about. But before I went to my new world I looked around me carefully. Posters, data maps, stats and screenshots decorated the walls. Amazing what a collection he has. I picked up some food, sent my mother a message and went into what? Complete darkness. There was no light inside and I could barely see anything. The lamps in the first room illuminated almost nothing in here. But what I could see was amazing. Inside was a huge, white machine. It looked like you could enter at the top and close it after that. Just like in the movies when they enter their hyper powered mech suits. Freakin¡¯ awesome. There was a small desk in one corner on which Humble had put some manuals. They looked like manuels that is to say. I went around the capsule which radiated white. Not much but so that you could see it. My eyes adjusted to the dim light and I noticed that there was nothing else in here. So it seemed at least. A giant fluffy red and black coloured carpet covered the ground. Cool feeling I have to say. I could feel at home here. I took one of the chairs. It was one of this gaming bags. SK was written on it. I don¡¯t know what that had to say but well who cares. It had such a comfort, you wouldn¡¯t believe me even if I were to describe it. I put my mobile phone on the table and took the first magazine from the table. Even if I couldn¡¯T bear to resist not to play I didn¡¯t know where to start so... The first book ¡°How to begin¡± stated that I have to wait 4 weeks inside the game after I first logged in to get outside of town. Bullshit. I even have to wait longer. Then he read that times went 4 times faster inside RR than in reality. At least something positive. Well it seems like this wasn''t the right book to begin with. He skipped through the accumulation. ¡°Skills and Stats¡±, ¡°NPC¡±, ¡°The World of RoyalRoad¡±, ¡­after skipping through what felt like a hundred books he found the book he was looking for:¡°Getting started, Login and Creation¡±. The book was really interesting. He found out some things about the classes and starting cities. How you could change or alternate your avatar. And so on. It was finally time for me to get started. After taking one last bite I climbed into the capsule closed the airlock and emerged into a new world. ¡°The scan on your iris and vein has determined that you are an unregistered user. Do you want to create a new account?¡± When I were connected to Royal Road, the first sound that reached my ears was a feminine voice. ¡°Yeah, I want to create a new account.¡± ¡°Select your avatar¡± Hmm, what shall I call myself? Jason Walker. How can you change that name to a fitting name inside a game? Mysterious and powerful all at once. Sonker? Walker? JW? Nah. I already knew it. It will be Jawal. ¡°Jawal¡± ¡°Select your gender from male to fem-¡± ¡°Male¡± ¡°Royal Road has 49 races. You may select your race from the primary 29 races and 20 sub races. Do you need a summary?¡± ¡°No, but I got a question. Can you be a halfling?¡± ¡°A halfling? What do you mean?¡± ¡°Well, a mix between races.¡± Silence. After some minutes he thought the game had a bug but then... ¡°You, you are the first to ask such a question!¡± The voice was clearly different from the feminine voice. It was old and powerful. ¡°Therefore we grant your wish¡± ¡°I want to be half human-half elf.¡± ¡°Your wish has been granted¡± With that the feminine voice popped up again. ¡°You may alter your appearance.¡± My appearance? I didn¡¯t think about that when I wanted to be a halfling. Like before, I want to look mysterious but still powerful. ¡°Let my appearance the way it is. Just alter my ears. A bit sharper. Make my body more like that off an elf.¡± ¡°So you want to be 1,75cm high, have spiky brown hairs with a bright skin? Additional to that your own body state? On top of that blue eyes?¡± ¡°Almost. Change my eyes to a sparkling green-purple.¡± ¡°Select a city and kingdom you want to start at¡± ¡°The citadel of Serabourg, Rosenheim Kingdom.¡± His new life began. ------------------------------------------------------------------- ¡°He¡¯s indeed something special. You had definitely a right intuitive there, Phantom.¡± ¡°I guess always right.¡± ¡°Do you expect him to change the fate of Royal Road?¡± ¡°Everyone could change it¡± The Legend of JaWal - Chapter 2 I didn¡¯t enter the real game right after the account activation. I played through the tutorial got into the virtual reality feeling and felt great. Everything felt real. Even the graphics were like reality. Now I know why everyone plays RoyalRoad. It¡¯s astronomical good. I learned to move in my virtual body. I could feel the changes which were made to my body but I couldn¡¯t see them personally because there was no mirror at hand inside the tutorial state. After completing the tutorial state I got whizzed into the citadel of Serabourg. Wow. I could see hundreds of players. Some equipped with monstrous battle-axes longer than myself. Others just like me had the beginner equipment which I had seen inside the tutorial state.. It was unspectacular. I saw mages, knights, beginners, rangers and somehow every sort of people. The tutorial and the magazines Mr. Humble gave me teached me much but I realized that I almost know nothing about the actual game. What kind of character do I want to make? What do I want to do? What are my aims? My first priority should be to get strong shouldn¡¯t it? Maybe if I use my time here to learn strategies or get informations about the game I could get strong fast. At the moment I just have a canteen of water and 10 barley breeds. I need a weapon. ¡°Hey you. Do you know where a beginner can get a weapon?¡± I asked a strong looking person. He grunted. ¡°Go to the training hall.¡± Now I knew where I could get a weapon but where it actually was I didn¡¯t know. I walked down the street and saw different kinds of shops. Player shops and NPC shops. Hard to distinguish. I knew from NPC¡¯s through the tutorial. Artificial Intelligence. Crazy shit. I went to the fountain and filled my canteen of water. From here I had a good view over the plaza. I could see the warrior guild and the mage guild here. Both really well decorated. Runes adored the mage guild whereas pictures of fights against giant and ferocious monsters were painted on the warrior guild. And some shabby house I couldn¡¯t identify stood right next to them. On the other site of the plaza was the training hall. I could hear people scream out their agony over their as they smashed their weapons against the scarecrows. After entering the training hall I could see quite a mob. They circled around 2 players. One looked really powerful with a gigantic sword swinging from left to right. The other one, well looked ordinary. But both had a fierce expression on their face. I talked to the trainer. ¡°Are you the trainer here?¡± ¡°That I am son.¡± His entire figure reminded me of hulk. He was big and loaded with tons of muscle mass. ¡°I heard I could get a starter weapon here. Do you know something about that?¡± ¡°Ah, that¡¯s why you are speaking to me.¡± His mood changed. I was just another of those guys who came to him for the wooden sword. I had to change the course of the dialogue. ¡°Not entirely. I also want to learn about different kinds of weapons. I don¡¯t know which I should learn. I am a newbie in every area.¡± He grinned. It looked weird to see such a tremendous looking guy grinning. ¡°Oh. Well take this for now.¡± He gave me a wooden sword. ¡°And about the other thing you asked me I can¡¯t help you. But I heard a famous blacksmith arrived this morning. He stationed himself in the warrior guild. You know where that is?¡± I didn¡¯t know where a blacksmith could help me in my current situation but I nodded. ¡°It¡¯s this huge building covered with paintings of great warriors. One of them caught my eye. He wielded a fragile looking long sword. Sound stupid but the amazing thing about that was that he looked ordinary but fought against a 3-headed dragon. A 3-headed dragon. I mean 3-heads. That¡¯s just abnormal.¡± The trainer examined me all over again. It seems like he got a new impression of me. ¡°So it was that japanese who caught your eye. Strange. Every normal person would look at the huge man with the greatsword who fights against the mysterious black wolf. Haha. It¡¯s just a story but rumors say that that blackwolf is above level 400. Few have seen it and fewer got away. No one has defeated it. And you got the wrong idea. That 3-headed dragon ain¡¯t that strong. Normally they are around level 300. Strong yes, but not undefeatable.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t like that painting. It gave off an evil aura.¡± ¡°Hmm. Maybe I can help you. But therefore you have visit the blacksmith first.¡± ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quest: Blacksmith Arug Description: Blacksmith Arug is in town. An old friend from the trainer. He wants you to speak with him. Arug can give much advice but that depends on you. Arug is a dwarf who seldom leaves his domain under the earth. He only makes short visits to towns to give quests for materials. Otherwise he looks for new ideas for weapon. Difficulty: E Time limit: Only today ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A quest? Sounds easy. Maybe I can receive good advice from him. ¡°I accept gladly. I have nothing to do so a quest fits perfectly into my schedule.¡± ¡°Great. Remember that he¡¯s only today in town.¡± ¡°I will meet him. Don¡¯t worry.¡± The ordinary scarecrow smasher came over and asked the trainer if they could make a break together. He gladly accepted and took out his lunch box. Being a man of speed, I went over to the warriors guild. On the way there I picked some rumors up. I heard that a new library ghost roams around. That some high guy is looking for people for his quest and some orcs were seen near the main road to the british empire. ¡°Looking for a party¡± ¡°Mage level 44 needs a tank¡± ¡°Looking for an apprentice¡± Many guys shouted out offers or needs. Most were normal looking guys with some leather armor or chain mail. The level 44 mage had an extraordinary looking hat but I really didn¡¯t care at that moment. ¡°Hey you, interested in a little game? You could win some special prices.¡± A strange looking gnome asked. He was behind a table on which some kind of setup was placed. I walked past him. ¡°It seems like you aren¡¯t interested. Maybe I could offer you something different?¡± Annoying little brat. ¡°I am on a quest. Maybe later.¡± The entrance to the warrior guild was like before still extremely crowded. old and young. Strong and weak. People of different cultures and races. A place where you could meet almost everything and everyone. I tried to shove my way through but ran into another person. We both fell to the ground. It was a girl. Around my age. An elf. Light green skin and blonde long hair falling down on her shoulders. Her eyes were gold. Beautiful. ¡°Sorry. I was pushed by the crowd.¡± I said, trying not to blush. ¡°No problem. Happens all the time here.¡± She checked her equipment and mustered me from head to toe. ¡°Looks like you are a beginner. Do you look for something special? Or do you want to sign in? I may not look like it but I am a veteran.¡± ¡°Well... you see... I am looking for a dwarf. His name is Arun.¡± ¡°That will be difficult in your outfit. He only gives quests to responsible looking people. And on top of that are you an elf. Dwarves hate elves. At least the NPC ones. What do you want from him?¡± I felt stupid. I forgot that I am a half elf and didn¡¯t realize the fact that dwarves hate elves. I blushed even more. ¡°You don¡¯t have to be embarrassed. You still didn¡¯t answer my question.¡± She giggled. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.¡°I don¡¯t want a quest from him. Not exactly. I already have a quest. And that¡¯s why I have to talk to him.¡± I stuttered. She looked at me again just like the trainer. ¡°Maybe I have the wrong idea of you. Come follow me. I lead you to him.¡± She shoved past the crowd with ease. I wondered how she could do that with her figure. ¡°By the way, what is your name?¡± ¡°I am called Jaso- ehm... Jawal.¡± She laughed. ¡°Still not entirely into the virtual reality? You will adjust to it. My name is Failari¨¦l. It¡¯s elvish.¡± Whoa. I didn¡¯t even think about changing my name into another language. ¡°I really like that name. Ehm... This building is really big. Enormous wouldn¡¯t even describe it.¡± ¡°What did you except with that facade? You know nothing Jawal. You truly are a beginner. The warrior guild is the biggest guild apart from the mage guild. There are hundreds of different guilds but you won¡¯t find something like this again in the entire kingdom. How come you wanted to start here? I mean as an elf.¡± ¡°Why shouldn¡¯t I start here? And I am half elf.¡± ¡°A peredhel? Cool. I didn¡¯t know that you could mix races.¡± I wanted to say something but after a short break she added: ¡±Rosenheim kingdom is a newly discovered kingdom and hasn¡¯t much influence in the world. On top of that are their many difficult hunting grounds around here which is why many stronger adventurers come here. The beginning will be difficult here.¡± ¡°What¡¯s a peredhel? Rosenheim kingdom sounded interesting. I didn¡¯t really give much thought to my starting point. Really.¡± ¡°You are a half elf and you don¡¯t know that they are called peredhel?¡± She made a statement with that. ¡°The name really has a sweet tone to it. One point why I came over here. The other point is that most elves are really egoistic. You wouldn¡¯t think so but rumors are true.¡± They came around a corner. I didn¡¯t realize that we were inside a big blacksmith until I heard a high sound. It must have been a hammer forming a weapon. Clang, Clang, Clang The person hammered fast but precise. You could already see the form of the object. The heated metal shined bright. It was an axehead. ¡°Here he is. That is Arug. He¡¯s really renown. I wonder why no one is here.¡± ¡°I kicked them out. Personally. And like insects new ones swarm in.¡± I didn¡¯t look at the person before but now I could see that it was a dwarf. He said it with a dark voice. You could see sweat running down his neck. He didn¡¯t look at us and fully concentrated on the axe. Amazing how someone can have such a high concentration while speaking and working. ¡°So, what do you want? Or are you guys just like everyone else? If you want to have a weapon buy them at my shops. And no I make no special orders at the moment. Regardless the price.¡± ¡°My friend here wants to talk with you.¡±, said Failari¨¦l. ¡°Can¡¯t he speak for himself?¡± He quenched the axe inside the water tube. He put down his tools on the huge oak table beside him and looked up at us. The situation got worse. ¡°Elves?!?¡± He roared. ¡°I am an elf but he¡¯s a peredhel.¡± He calmed down a bit and analyzed the situation. You could see that he didn¡¯t like elves. ¡°Yeah, I am a half-elf. Ni --¡± ¡°Do you think I am dumb? I know what a peredhel is. So, what do you want?¡± ¡°The trainer from the training center sent me here. He said you would know what kind of fighting style would fit to me. Or at least give me some help with it.¡± As soon as I mentioned the trainer his face lightened up. Just who is the trainer to him? ¡°That brute sent you? Ha, I still remember him as a small child. When was that? Some decades have it been at least. A fine man he is. He always passed the hard work over to me.¡± Grumbled the dwarf inside his beard. ¡°Come here so that I can estimate your stats.¡± I looked over to Failari¨¦l but she just shrugged with her shoulders and gave me thumbs up. Really encouraging. I walked over to the dwarf. He looked at me and began to look at me. His eyes were that of a scholar. That of a master in his art. You could see it. He didn¡¯t let out one point and after some time he was finished. During the process he mumbled sometimes. He was in thoughts. ¡°Show me your stats.¡± ¡°Open stat window¡± ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avatar: Jawal Type: Neutral Level: 1 Class: None Title: None Fame: 0 Life: 100 Mana:100 Str: 9 Dex: 12 Vit: 9 Wis:11 Int: 11 Leadership: 0 Luck: 0 Offense: 2 Defense: 0 Resistance to magic: None ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- He fumbled something out of his vest. It was a book. Not entirely a book, more like a private notebook. He skipped through it and stopped at some point. He glanced over the page and looked at me and over the page again. ¡°I think i know what fits you best. A katana. You know what that is or?¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s a long sword out of japan. I saw it on one of the illustrations outside. Some guy fought with it against a 3-headed dragon.¡± ¡°Japan? Where¡¯s that? Never mind. That picture would show ¡°The silencer¡±. I knew him personally. He was an magnificent man but he went missing sometime ago. I dunno what happened to him. Maybe some monster ate him or he went on a journey. But what I know is that he wielded a special sword or better said katana. It was the first katana made by my hand.Soulbearer. It had incredible features.¡± Arug¡¯s voice was sad. That swordsman was definitely a friend for him. ¡°I am sorry. I didn¡¯t know that he meant so much for you.¡± The dwarf zoomed out of his vision. ¡°No problem child. Well, like I said a katana would fit you good. You remind me of him. And you young lady keep a good eye on him. Ah, before I forget it take this. With that you can enter the my realm. Most dwarves follow my words. And the other one are my accumulated information about the silencer.¡± ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Obtained: Arug¡¯s recommendation Description: A piece of paper from Arug. With this you can pass the dwarven guards at Mountain Vahil. The dwarven realm where Arug lives. Most dwarves respect him. On use: Quest: Arug¡¯s Word Obtained: Notes about the Silencer Description: A sheet of paper containing information about the Silencer. Where he went missing. When he went missing. Details about his character. On use: Quest: Find the Silencer ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On the notes about the silencer stood that he went missing over 200 years ago. Just how old is this guy? ¡°I have to go back to work. See ya younglings.¡± He waved us out and went to work again. Failari¨¦l went outside with me. ¡°Wow. That really was interesting. Arug really likes you.¡± She said with astonishment. ¡°I didn¡¯t think that you could get this kind of quest in your first week. When did you begin to play?¡± I didn¡¯t know how to react to that. A veteran was speechless because of me? ¡°Hmm, I began to play some hours ago.¡± ¡°Truly amazing.¡± ¡°Hey Failari¨¦l, do you want to be my friend?¡± ¡°Yeah, why not?¡± She answered amused. The Legend of JaWal - Chapter 3 Failari¨¨l stood right next to me. I couldn¡¯t believe it. I never had a friend in my entire life before. I never had a friend before. It was a shock for me to realize that I never had any friend before. And now on my first day in this second reality I made my first friend. Fucking good for a start.Just look at her. ¡°Hey Jawal, what did you get for the quest? I mean it was definitely not a high grade quest but it was still a quest where you had to interact with a high level and famous person out of RoyalRoad. And I am a little interested what you get for such a quest.¡± Failari¨¨l looked into my eyes and saw pure irritation. In my happiness I didn¡¯t realize that I the quest wasn¡¯t completed. ¡°Uhm, I didn¡¯t get a quest reward yet. Weird. Maybe we forgot something.¡± Failari¨¦l looked at me. She was just as irritated as me. ¡°Then let¡¯s go in again.¡± They found Arug in the same position as he was when they left him. No one else was there. ¡°Arug, somehow I didn¡¯t complete the request the trainer gave me.¡± Arug didn¡¯t turn around. I went over to him. Somehow this entire situation was extremely weird. The quest wasn¡¯t completed. Arug saying nothing and now this silence. With shock I realized that Arug didn¡¯t swung his hammer. As I turned him around I almost screamed. I could hear Failari¨¦l¡¯s scream from behind. A high shriek which went through blood and bone. A long black sword was stuck in his chest. Long rails of blood ran down his body and all signs of wisdom had left his eyes. They were hollow. People came around to see where the commotion came from. I heard more screams and gasps. Who would do something like this? Arug was a friendly person. He was a blacksmith who could do no harm to anyone. I saw that Arug hold something. It was a crumpled up sheet of paper. I took it. It was my weapon recommendation. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Obtained: Arug¡¯s evaluation ¡°Jawal, a peredhel, who is slim and has basic musculature is a katana-style type. He reminds me of ¡°The Silencer¡±. Hopefully he won¡¯t end like him.¡± Bring this to the trainer of the trainingscenter. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Completed quest: Blacksmith Arug You got your weapon-recommendation. Arug was found dead inside his temporary blacksmith. Reward: Experience, Quest, unidentified Dagger ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Level up Level up The system windows popped up one after another. It was too much information at once. 2 levels? Is that much? And what dagger? Which quest? More and more people entered. One of them was the leader of the guild which I recognized through Failari¨¦l¡¯s clapping on my shoulder. He was broad shouldered and sturdy. Plate mail covered his body. Black steel. Hard grip on his sword hilt which hung from his jewelled belt. ¡°What¡¯s this commotion?¡± He said at first but then he saw Arug. ¡°What the hell. Arug!¡± He ran to him and checked his pulse. He couldn¡¯t believe it. ¡°Who did this? Who! Tell me.¡± The people crowded. Nervosity grew. ¡°The 2 elves over there were here first.¡± Said one of them to break the silence. The leader looked at us. It seemed like he recognized Failari¨¦l. ¡°Failari¨¦l? What happened here?¡± ¡°Master. We were on a quest and wanted to speak with Master Arug about it but we found him dead. Jawal - she pointed at me - got the quest from the instructor of the trainingscenter.¡± His mood lightened up a bit as he realized that we weren¡¯t the culprits. ¡°Which quest? And who are you?¡± I was under pressure. That guy was strong. He had a great aura. ¡°I am a new player. I just began to play. And it was a difficulty E quest. I had to get a weapon evaluation from Arug.¡± He was a bit shocked as I said the fact that I am a new player. Just like Failari¨¦l was before. ¡°So you are a new player? That¡¯s definitely weird. Failari¨¦l. Where did you find this guy?¡± He was wary. ¡°As a guide of the warrior guild I found him at the entrance. I offered him my help for the quest because he made a good impression on me. He told me everything while we were on the quest.¡± He accepted the answer but still looked skeptical. He searched through the body of Arug. He noticed that every possession was stripped from him. Even the notebook. Only a dagger and the sword in his chest remained. He drove it out of him and Arug vanished to thousand of little blue particles. Data remains. He analyzed the sword. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.¡°Weird. It¡¯s the sword which Arug wanted to make for me.¡± He put it into his inventory. After that he looked at the dagger. He analyzed it as well and gave it a lingering look. ¡°Here, take it. It is your quest reward isn¡¯t it? I can still see your windows. Too bad that I can¡¯t have it. It¡¯s definitely worth something because I can¡¯t identify it.¡± ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Obtained: Arug¡¯s rune engraved dagger Damage: 10-22 Durability: 30/30 Level requirement: 15 Extras:??? Description: ??? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I couldn¡¯t believe it. That dagger had more than four times more damage than the wooden sword I possessed. And on top of that are their extras which aren¡¯t identified yet. ¡°Thank you. I really appreciate it that you gave it to me.¡± Something was still on his mind. ¡°We still haven¡¯t found the culprit. I give up a quest for everyone in the guild who wants to find the culprit.¡± He went out and the crowd slowly ebbed away. This will be great rumors. A starter quest¡¯s follow up kills the famous dwarf Arug. Wonderful. ¡°Hey Jawal. I have to go. It¡¯s late already. You know the friends list? You can contact me via it. And Jawal.¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± My heart began to beat even louder than before. ¡°Today was really something. I feel great to have met another elf here in town. And on top of that someone like you.¡± ¡°Same goes for me. Let¡¯s meet again sometime. And you know I leveled up 2 times. By the way do you know where I could identify this dagger?¡± Failari¨¦l thought about it some moments. She really looked beautiful. ¡°Not really. If Garen couldn¡¯t identify it then it will be difficult to find someone else. Maybe someone from the mage guild. You see Garen is above level 200.¡± ¡°Hmm. Thanks anyways. Well, see you around.¡± On one hand I wanted to get this situation passed as fast as possible but on the other hand did I really like her and I feared that I won¡¯t see her again. My first friend. ¡°Yeah. See ya.¡± Something changed in her tone over the day that I couldn¡¯t categorize. Did she like me as well? She vanished in thin air. So, that¡¯s a logout. Ahhh. I totally forgot about time. I logged out as well. Zhim, zhim, zhim I was inside the capsule again. My body was stiff. I opened up the airlock. Shuuu I looked around. I was perplex. So late already? It seems like I really forgot about time. Now I know why no one wants to go to school anymore. I took out my mobile phone. It was already past ten. No missed calls? Weird. Looks like my mother is really not thinking about me. Behind me the machine went quiet. Silence. I inhaled deeply. Wushhh, ahhhh, wushhh, ahhhh, wushhh, ahhhh So still here. No disturbing noises nothing. Just me. Perfect time to think. But I didn¡¯t use the time to think. I wanted to get home fast so I packed my bag, stuffed it with some magazines and went out. I looked the door and ran down the corridors. Really amazing what you could do when you are alone in school. Breaking rules ain¡¯t that bad. It feels great to be so free. It seems like not everything has changed. The bus just drove away when I arrived at the station. Great. My bad luck again. I took a deep breath again and began to jog home. I needed sleep as much as I wanted to play further. But tomorrow will be a long day. School is over for the next few days. We had winter holidays. Funny that the teachers didn¡¯t even mention it. I didn¡¯t go the same way as normal. I went through the small alley and stopped by the door. I pinned a sheet of paper against it. I wanted to thank the old man who laughed all the time and who changed my life completely but I couldn¡¯t do it personally. He said that he didn¡¯t want to see me before I am strong enough and only then inside the game but he didn¡¯t mention that I couldn¡¯t give him my thanks on paper. The block I lived in was dark. All lights were out. Seems like everyone went to bed already. I sneaked up the stairway and opened the door carefully. I heard a loud snoring noise from the living room but went straight to my room. I stripped my clothes off and went to sleep. I dreamed of RoyalRoad and Failari¨¦l. I didn¡¯t see the message my mother had laid down on the table. The Legend of JaWal - Chapter 4 ¡°Huahhh!¡± I woke up shouting a battle scream. Huh? It seemed my mind played a trick on me again. I was a high level player in RoyalRoad and just fought against tons of enemies with my glittering blade. I had some kind of weird armor on and didn¡¯t look like myself anymore. I was something different. That would have been too good. Me playing RoyalRoad. Hah. What a joke. But slowly it came to my mind. I am playing RoyalRoad. I have the game! I turned around. I wanted to be that same guy again. But on instinct I looked on my clock and panicked. It was already midday. I jumped up in a hurry and got dizzy all over again. I hovered from left to right and tried to get on my feet again. I fall over my backpack and hit the ground hard. Well, actually I didn¡¯t hit the ground I hit everything that was on it. Trousers, trash, magazines, books, clothes, leftovers... Ihh, leftovers. I really have to clean up from time to time. My shirt was all gooey. I threw it into the corner and were in a hurry. I had to get to school fast. But then it hit me like birdshit would hit me when I would run after a gorgeous girl. I. Had. Holidays! I roared out a shout full of happiness. Not to the world but all to myself. The apartment was empty. My mom was nowhere to be seen. I looked around and found a sheet of paper pinned at my door. Was it there all the time? Strange. ¡°Dear Jason, ¡®that would be me¡¯, yesterday I received a message from your father. I really love you child, you may not think so but I do. I am going to search for him. Money is on the table if you need to buy food or something else you need. I still love your father. Don¡¯t hate him. Don¡¯t hate me. Everyone makes faults in life. Do your best. In love Mom Only then I realized there still was this snoring noise. Scenes went into another. Everything went blurry. It was an audio backup which repeated itself over and over again. I cried. Not just once but.. but.. I don¡¯t know how often I cried. I was furious. Angry. Frustrated. She still loves me? Where did she get that from? From her small little peanut brain? From some Tv-show? Or was it an article inside her fucking magazines? I hated everything at that moment and could steer my rage at anything. I hit the wall with all my might. Once. Twice. My world fell into darkness. When I woke up again I felt terrible. My right hand hurt like hell, trash all around me and my head felt like it was going to burst to million pieces just like Arug did. Too bad I wasn¡¯t ingame. I calmed down, cooled my hand, washed myself and put some clothes on which somehow got torn away from my body. They were shredded on the floor. I examined the flat. The wall was smeared with blood. Exactly at the point where I hammered my fist against it. After all this I couldn¡¯t believe it but I felt great. I was free, had enough money for the time being and time to do anything that I wanted to do. I made some pancakes. Any angriness I ever felt was gone. This outbreak was brilliant. I could do anything. And anything - anything I wanted was RoyalRoad. Finally the political and social lessons at school came in handy. The bank accepted the money without a word and opened up a new account for me. I deposited all of the money. The account filled from scratch to 5000€. I don¡¯t know where my mother had all that money from but what would it bring to think about it? Nothing. I called Mr. Humble and told him everything. Weird thing was that he wasn¡¯t surprised. He he held a speech about ancient times of heroes and made examples of some unknown people who have done the same and I interpreted it as my mom won''t let my dad go. He offered me help and I accepted it gratefully after I gave it some thoughts. Work hard, play harder. That were his last words. I searched for a part-time job for the holidays and found one near school. It was a delivery service. Therefore I had to get my old bike out of the cellar. I felt great. Unbeatable. Limitless. I drove my first delivery on which more and more followed. Somehow I liked it. Later on I met up with Mr. Humble he showed me the way inside school on holiday times and questioned me out. What I did on the first day, where I went, which people I became acquainted with and so on. It may sound boring but I told him most. Left some parts about Failari¨¦l out. He sounded interested. He knew Arug as well. It was strange to see that so many people knew him. And somebody like me who started playing a day ago was witness of his dead. What fate has in handy for some guys is really unbelieveable. He wished me good luck after we went through the big school. The corridors had appeared as they would never end. But I stood before my own capsule again. My own. Happiness and joy streamed through my body. I locked the door. I began to play right after that. The carpet felt great as it always did. As always, hah. Black particles rushed with great speed beside me. The login process was really amazing. Wonderful if not beautiful. The town was still in uproar when I arrived at my location. The fountain¡¯s statue, a huge mermaid covered by starfishes, opened up a hole for water which streamed out of almost every pore of her body. She sparkled in the sunlight. Butterflies flew around her and the bitter frost wasn¡¯t as cold as it was the day before. Or maybe everything just seemed so because I was finally inside my real world. The world where I could become anything. ¡°Did you hear about what happened to Arug?¡± Some strange guy asked me as he handed me a newspaper? He didn¡¯t look healthy. ¡°Yeah. But thanks for the newspaper.¡± I put it into my inventory which was made up of some instant use pockets and my main inventory which was just cloud storage. System storage. The first page didn¡¯t give off the ¡®hey read me I am interesting¡¯ feeling. It was more the other way round. Unstructured without any idea of graphic design or how it was called here. Failari¨¦l was not on which I noticed sadly. Maybe she will login later on. Hopefully. People around the fountain had their time of their lives but they didn¡¯t even realize it. I went past them. Not just them but past hundreds of users or NPC¡¯s which I couldn¡¯t distinguish sometimes. The trainer didn¡¯t see me at first. I poked him to see how he would react. Well, if he did notice it he didn¡¯t show any sign of reaction. He didn¡¯t turn or something like that, his eyes were fixed on the player who still smashed the scarecrow. What a weird guy. ¡°Hey trainer. Today is really a great day if there wasn¡¯t that one fact. Weather ain¡¯t as cold as before. But Arug isn¡¯t among us anymore...¡± ¡°Oh. Yeah, I heard the news. Really something. I have known him since I was young. He was like a grandfather for me. He didn¡¯t change in all this years.¡± Now he looked at me. His eyes didn¡¯t show sadness but happiness wasn¡¯t inside them either. His stare was quiet and peaceful. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.¡°You finished the quest I gave you?¡± He broke out of his ¡®being-away¡¯ stare and turned the dialogue around. ¡°Yeah I did finish the quest just before Arug was killed... actually right after it. Here.¡± I gave him the note. He slightly nodded and asked if he could keep it. ¡°You don¡¯t mind if I keep this note or? It really means something for me. You see I don¡¯t have much belongings of him.¡± ¡°No problem. Keep it. I still have this dagger.¡± I showed it to him. He was taken aback. ¡°That dagger... it was Arug¡¯s favourite weapon. It was the only weapon he couldn¡¯t identify in all of his life. It was a secret for him as it was for everyone else. Keepsake it well. Oh and about this katana style.¡± His face went to that of an earnest trainer again. ¡°I could teach you the skill.¡± Now I was astonished. ¡°That would be really great.¡± ¡°For a man, or better said for an elf, who gets acknowledged by Arug this is nothing. My last favor for him if you could say it so.¡± ---------- Quest: Learning from the professionals Description: The trainer asked you if you would accept his training. It will be hard and cruel. Training is everything for that man so be prepared or die painfully! Beware. Difficulty: ? Objections: Finish his training successfully. Possible rewards: Skill, weapon? --------------- ¡°Do you still want to accept it? It will be hard. And if I mean hard then it will be harder then everything you ever did until now!¡± His tone made me back away few steps. ¡°The harder the better. I accept your challenge.¡± I was determined to finish the training successfully not just good but well. ¡°I will turn around every stone on my path, I will slay every monster stronger than I am and I will graduate! I will become the best!¡± ¡°That¡¯s determination I see there. But if you can keep up to it then it¡¯s something different. Let¡¯s go to my house to begin the training. Just say when you are ready and we will be going.¡± His eyes were fierce. Full of hope but there was something in them that made me fear him. The way was long. We ended up climbing a hill. The magnitude of the landscape didn¡¯t escape my grasp. Fields full with blossomed flowers. Purple, blue, gold and every rainbow colour there was. The flowers shinned beautiful in the sunlight. Some sparkled some absorbed the light and emitted pure darkness. You honour art in its natural form Art doesn¡¯t just consist of manmade pieces It can just as well be a nature formed rock foundation Or a blossoming field New stat: Art Art + 1 Cool. Already a new stat. What does it bring? Well, I will still have time later on. On the top of the hill was a little house. Little compared to the hill but still big enough to fit an entire army. It just seemed little. We were too far away. We didn¡¯t speak another word on the way. I was determined and what he was I really didn¡¯t know or could have guessed it. Something around monk peace or so. We were at the last hundred meters. ¡°From now we will begin the training. I know that you have 24 days left in town before the government nullifies your restriction. Therefore we will split the training into 3 parts. The first training period consists of physical exercise. Every part last 8 days. We will make breaks when I think it¡¯s the right time for it.¡± I was confused. Didn¡¯t he say we would go to his house first? ¡°So, what is my first exercise?¡± He took out some weights from his inventory. A system window popped up ------------------ Item obtained: Wearable weight vest (20 pounds) Defense: 5 Durability: 60/60 Description: A vest with integrated weights. It will help with training. Offers great defense for the beginning as well. Can be upgraded by adding weight to it. --------------------- Only now I did realize that the weights were actually a vest. ¡°This will help you with your training. 8 days ain¡¯t much for physical exercise but under my lead it will be more than enough to get you ready.¡± He said. He grinned at the part with leadership. I equipped the vest. It was heavy. Really heavy. But I endured it for my goal. ¡°Okay, I am ready for the training.¡± ¡°Then start by running the hill up and down. Go, go, go. I will run with you!¡± It was the beginning of hell. I ran and ran. My legs hurt already after some time and all my muscles ached. He hunted me up and down. Always a few steps behind me. If I slipped he wouldn¡¯t catch me, but hit me instead. ¡°Concentrate!¡± I felt as if I were running for hours, darkness swept over us and the moon enlightened our way. Ages went by. Hour after hour. At some point I thought that I couldn¡¯t endure it anymore but I took one step after another always watched by him. It looked like he had red eyes in the dark which were fixated on me. Just another step! Just another one. Anoth- ¡°Okay, time for a break. My wife made food and I am hungry as a bear. I could eat an entire flock of cows!¡± I didn¡¯t deny it. Maybe not an entire herd but a cow at least. ¡°Thanks god. A break.¡± ¡°You tired? That was just warm up training. You are lucky that my wife made food so early.¡± He laughed. ¡°Let¡¯s go to my house.¡± I couldn¡¯t believe it. My legs shook after every step. I could feel the power in my legs fading slowly. There wasn¡¯t much energy left. System alert We detected that you run your game via a modified capsule which isn¡¯t patched at the moment Initialising update... Installing upgrades... Installing upgrades... Upgrades installed From now on you don¡¯t just train your virtual body inside the MMORPG but your real body as well Additional information were sent to your capsule What does that mean? I train my body in reality as well? A modification? Slowly pieces fitted together The abnormally big capsule, the way Mr. Humble spoke and the message just now Isn¡¯t that awesome? Vitality+1 Vitality+1 Strength+1 Dexterity+1 Suddenly I received some status upgrades. Some stats evolved. I don¡¯t know if the upgrades changed much but then I realized that I still had the 10 remaining points from my level ups. I improved my strength and vitality stat 3 times and put the last 4 remaining points on dexterity. I figured out it would improve me so that I could finish the quest without problems. But well the instructor is always open for surprises... The Legend of JaWal - Chapter 5 Without any power left I sat down at the table on a big old oak wood chair. It was beautifully designed. A dragon head shaped it¡¯s back and the fiery breath were the arm-rests. The house wasn¡¯t any different. Did I say house? The mansion! High Class decoration, pompous statues, magnificent artworks. Everything an art loving freak would love. You saw ¡°The wonders of Navenheil¡± Art +1 You witnessed ¡°The five Royal Knights¡± Art +1 My art stat grew and even grew further. I think it upgraded 10 times just by looking at breath-stealing artworks. We waited on the food which his wife, a big barbarian, was making. He bragged about her food the entire time. How amazing it tastes, how unbelievably good it looks and so on. I asked for permission to go to the kitchen. He waved with his hand and let me go. A lingering look in his eyes and saliva running down his mouth. At first I didn¡¯t find the way but after going around in circles for sometime I found the kitchen. It was just as big as every other room in this house. Beautifully designed with modern equipment. His wife just hacked a fish in two and sliced small portions off. ¡°Do you need anything?¡± She looked at me. ¡°Or are you an open man for help just like the other guests nowadays?¡± I didn¡¯t know what she meant but I obviously offered her my help. Even in my condition I could prepare some food. And if I learnt cooking here I could cook for myself at home. With my mother gone it was really pragmatic. ¡°If it doesn¡¯t bother you, then I gratefully offer my help.¡± ¡°Take that knife over there and make a salat. Fast.¡± I did as she wanted. I took the knife, looked at it and thought about what it could do. Exactly at that moment I got an alert. You learned the skill ¡°Identify¡± By speculating about specific properties of the knife you entered the world of characteristics Awesome. Really awesome. I used the skill on the knife and got a message. Identified: Handmade kitchen knife Damage: 7 Durability 40/40 Description: A well made knife. It¡¯s usage for the kitchen but could be used for different things as well. I snapped the bad salad leaves from the head and began to prepare the salad. I followed her instructions and slowly understood the basics. I cut cucumbers in small pieces and threw them into the salad. Tomatoes, cheese, and other vegetables which I didn¡¯t know at first but I get to knew after analyzing them followed one by one. Identify leveled up. Beginner level 2 0% A great bowl of different vegetables was the final product. You learned the skill ¡°cooking¡± By helping the cook in this house and following her instructions you learnt everything about the basics of cooking She thanked me. And I was happy to obtain this skill. Slowly I got into this stuff of virtual reality. To learn things you have to do them first.To do them you either have to them yourself by thinking about what you have to do or ask another person if he could teach you. By doing them you hone them afterwards. There were different levels and categories. The levels varied from 1 to 10 and fit into following categories Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Master and Grandmaster. If you leveled your skill up to level 10 it evolved to the next stage. ¡°No problem. This was nothing.¡± She gave me a potion. ¡°Drink that potion if you feel down. I know how my man can be sometimes. You will need it.¡± I analyzed it. But I got no result. Maybe too complicated for my skill level. I thanked her again and brought the dishes to the eating room where I put them on the table. There was much and more on the table for just 3 persons. I gulped. The smell was... was.. was. I don¡¯t know what it was but it was captivating. ¡°Let the fight begin!¡± He roared and pieced a big piece of pig with his mighty fork. I didn¡¯t know what was going on. Small pieces of meat and drops of grease shot around my head. The scene was vicious. 2 big humans screamed at another and fought for each slice of meat vigorously. After some time a third person entered the battlefield. A small elf with nothing left but hunger! A new power awoke inside him. You participated in ¡°The monster¡¯s feast¡± Basic stats + 1 Fame + 10 You acquired the stat ¡°Endurance¡± It allows you to maintain a specific action for a longer time The meal was great. Everything tasted abnormally good and we didn¡¯t let one piece of meat on the table. Even the salad got ripped apart by us. The wife was cleaning up right now and we were departing for his training room to continue the training. We went into the cellar. It was huge. And if I say huge then I mean huge. Compared to the house the cellar was at least 5 times bigger. And that was what I thought after seeing the first floor. ¡°I bet you didn¡¯t think this cellar would be this big.¡± He laughed as he saw my confused state. ¡°You really know nothing about this world. This is just the first floor of my own private training cellar. 3 visitors had the floor in all this years and you are the first one this year and the first elf on top of that.¡± I didn¡¯t know what to say. This was just... just phenomenal. ¡°No words? Well, take your time... well actually not because we have to train but one thing I still have to say. Some mages enhanced this training floor. Your training speed will process 20% faster on the first floor and every next floor the rate will grow by 20%. But it consumes more energy, the energy which you would use for the amount the percents give. This way you can train much faster if you have the power to endure it.¡± The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.¡°That sounds great.¡± After eating such a monstrous meal I had enough power to do anything, that¡¯s what I thought at least. ¡°So... What did you plan for my training?¡± The room had enough space to do anything down here. In every corner were machines for training or stuff to build a up a hindrance run with obstacles. So much things were just lying around that I didn¡¯t know where to start. ¡°Well, you see all this equipment here. I planned that we make up a cycle which we do again and again. Therefore we build up an obstacle course from corner to corner.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± After some time we finished preparations. The room seemed half as big as it was before. There were 4 different courses but everyone hard on it¡¯s own. ¡°Okay, time to start! The week of horror began. ¡°Faster! Run faster!¡± I did the cycle for felt 3 hours already but I only were at the second point. It was really hardcore especially with this kind of trainer. I still wore my vest and he packed 5 pound more to it and said that still wasn¡¯t enough. ¡°I want to see 20 repeats for that machine! Do it faster!¡± ¡°You have to jump over the hindrances!¡± ¡°Another 10 repeats! Come on you aren¡¯t a small child anymore¡± ¡°Go, go, go!¡± ¡°Do you want to mock me? My grandmother can do this faster than you!¡± Something was strange. My stats didn¡¯t raise at all. At first I didn¡¯t notice it but after sometime it was definitely weird. ¡°What are you standing around for? You still have to run around 2 times to make a break! Come on this time I run with you.¡± The second round was just as horrible as the first. If it was not for him then I would have collapsed. Or stopped halfway. Sometimes trainers can be cruel but they do it to get you to your limits. About the third round I didn¡¯t even want to talk anymore. It was hell. Real hell. Flames spread through my muscles, streams of sweat ran down my skin. The warm up from before was nothing compared to this. ¡°Okay, that¡¯s enough for today. Tomorrow I want to see more from you. Didn¡¯t you say that you want to do it with ease and stand out in every category?¡± I nodded with my head. I couldn¡¯t say any word, powerless as I was. I logged out. I had to eat something after all this time. -------- I opened my eyes. I wasn¡¯t hungry was my first thought. But then came the pain. I never felt so much pain before. If I could I would have screamed out so loud that glass would explode. I logged in again and didn¡¯t think about what could happen to me. I just wanted this pain to vanish and inside the game it was easier to endure it. I materialized right in front of the instructor. ¡°You here again?¡± ¡°I need to get some rest here.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. You can take a rest upstairs.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± I held my stomach and slendered upstairs. I threw myself down on the bed and cursed right after it. Pain spread out all over again. Then the potion came to my mind. I thought of drinking it but I didn¡¯t. I wanted to endure this on my own. All on my own. I couldn¡¯t sleep at all. The pain was too much. I stood up and walked over to the bookshelf. Only then did I look at the room I was in. It was a small room compared to the rest of the house. One door, the one I came in, was on the one side of the room, the spartanic bed was in the middle of the room, some pictures decorated the walls, a mirror hang on the third wall and the fourth wall was an entire bookshelf. I couldn¡¯t even read most of the titles. Not because I was goddamn tired but because they were in another language. Weird thing about that was that normally the game would translate them for you. I thought it was strange. I found three books which were in my language. They weren¡¯t that big but I thought better than nothing at all. After reading the titles I knew why I couldn¡¯t read the books from before. They were in another game language, made so that you have to learn the language here. The first book I could read was ¡°Language of the Ancients¡±. The other ones weren¡¯t that interesting at the moment. The book had approximately 200 pages. You learned the ancient language From now on you can read and understand it Texts will be translated to your language but will be marked as ancient Ancient marked writing will be italic Wisdom + 3 Intelligence + 3 I decided to read the other two books first I picked up. The first of them read ¡°Soundless Hunting¡± by an unknown author. Maybe it has interesting content.The first few pages weren¡¯t really interesting but I read on and found a cool quote: ¡°Prey on the weak and you will survive, prey on the strong and you will live.¡± I will definitely remember that one. I decided to read the book till the end, it wasn¡¯t that long and I had already begun to read it. In the middle of the book stood something about a sneaking technique to approach enemies silently. I wrote it down into my notebook the system offered. The rest of the book was rather boring. Different kinds of animals were explained, hunting methods and so on. I laid down and went to sleep. The pain I had left could be tolerated. The Legend of JaWal - Chapter 6 I dreamt again. But this time it wasn¡¯t a nightmare. It was a dream that everyone has at some point of his live. I dreamt of Failari¨¨l. Of the most beautiful existence there is in all RoyalRoad. We were on horse and galloped over a vast green field with countless flowers - small little insects flew around us. The powder from the flowers whirled all around. It was magnificent. Our black stallions were driven by an incentive to get faster and faster. Speed alone was enough for them. The world around us vanished into a blur and we rode side by side into the eternity of time. I was content. Not really content, more than that. Happy? But then it took a turn to the worst. I. Woke. Up. A message appeared before me. You are well rested. Temporary buff activated Health/Mana regeneration + 1/sec You can learn things faster or have a higher possibility to achieve something Luck + 3 I was still inside the game. My body didn¡¯t hurt anymore and I was grateful about that. The sun was already at it¡¯s zenith. High above beyond the ceiling it would be. I remembered that I hadn¡¯t written to Failari¨¨l since I came here so I wrote her right away. My body wasn¡¯t stiff like it was last time. The airlock opened up easily and my feet found their way to the kitchen. I made myself a healthy meal and ate happily. Weird thing was that I wasn¡¯t even that hungry after playing for so long. The plate before me emptied nonetheless fast enough to call it a new world record. I stretched. I called off work. I actually quit. I needed the time for the game. I went home and packed all the things which I would need. Nothing happened on the way. Went through telephone numbers to get the one for our landlord. I called him and said that we are moving out. He was surprised that it was so short termed. But he agreed afterwards. I persuaded him by saying that my mother was moving away and that we would need the money. After packing my seven things, which were clothes and some magazines, I stuffed the other things into boxes and searched for a purchase store in the net. I found one which was right around the corner. I called the number and waited for an answer. A feminine voice answered after some time. ¡°Purchase store Emptio. How may we help you?¡± ¡°Hello. Here¡¯s Jason Walker. I wanted to ask if you make house visits? I wanted to sell all the stuff inside my apartment.¡± ¡°Yeah, we make house visits. When do you have time?¡± ¡°As fast as possible.¡± ¡°Which street was it again?¡± ¡°Frettring 7. The big house. Walker.¡± ¡°Okay. I am on the way.¡± Now I was surprised. She accepted so fast? Maybe she doesn¡¯t have to do much over there. I waited patiently. After 10 minutes the bell rang. It was a blonde woman around 19. ¡°You from the purchase shop?¡± I asked warily. ¡°Yeah.¡± The voice fit perfectly to the woman at the phone. ¡°So, you want to sell all this stuff here?¡± She pointed out into the apartment. ¡°Yeah, that would be great. I need money and this stuff belongs to my mother which passed away some weeks ago. I quit the apartment some hours ago and I want to get this stuff out of here as fast as possible with as much profit as possible. As possible in such a short time.¡± She nodded. ¡°May I come in?¡± She asked shyly. ¡°Oh. Sorry I forgot to invite you in. Just come in. You can even wear your shoes inside. No need to dise- ehm I mean to take them off. No one cares anyways anymore.¡± She laughed. ¡°It seems like you play too much video games. Well, nowadays everyone plays this games. You play RoyalRoad as well?¡± I eyed her suspiciously. She looked okay to talk with. ¡°Just started some days ago. In my opinion it is amazing how the game is made. Like a second reality.¡± ¡°Your right. Truly fascinating.¡± We went in. She looked around and stared at some things for a small time. She checked the quality of some things and asked me some questions in between on which I couldn¡¯t really answer. ¡°So, what do you want to get for all this things?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t think about that beforehand.¡± I scratched my back head. Tick-tock the clock made. ¡°Hmm... it¡¯s much and there is some stuff with a high quality so what about 1.500 €?¡± ¡°1000.¡± ¡°1400.¡± We negotiated. At the end she gave me 1300, with the agreement that I help her carry all this things to her truck which stood outside. We small talked a bit. Well, we questioned each other out. I began to like her. ¡°Well to be honest with you I wanted to give you more than 2000. For all that but you began with such a small price so.¡± She giggled. ¡°No problem. I am happy that I don¡¯t have to worry about that stuff anymore.¡± As the truck was fully loaded I asked her where she played in RoyalRoad. ¡°I am actually playing at the Citadel of Serabourg. It¡¯s a big cit-¡± ¡°Really? I am playing there as well.¡± I was astonished. ¡°For real? We could meet up sometime.¡± ¡°Yeah, that would be great.¡± We exchanged our mobile numbers. ¡°Well, I have to go. Work and stuff you know. Nice to make acquaintance with you.¡± She bowed. I laughed. She got red. She drove away after giving me best wishes. My bag still lay in the apartment. I got it and went to school. Somehow I could carry the boxes with much more ease than I thought. The boxes weren¡¯t as heavy as they normally would be. It just came to my mind and I didn¡¯t know why. Maybe it has to do something with the capsule? Who knows. If time comes up I have to talk with Mr. Humble about that. The bag hang over my shoulders. The way seemed long because I was full of expectations. I wanted to play again. The secret entrance to the school was easy to find and after some time I could lay down into the capsule again. I made sure to lock the door behind me and turned the light off. I logged in. The instructor was already waiting for me. ¡°Toilet time?¡± he laughed as if he had made an oscar worthy joke. ¡°Yeah. I really had to shit hardcore style. Ah, well you know what I mean.¡± He laughed again. A humourful man. ¡°No wonder. You ate so much yesterday that I wouldn¡¯t have thought otherwise. It may taste like a dream but the aftereffects should not be overlooked.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s start training right away.¡± His steps were huge and I had to jog to even hold the speed. The hall was just as big as I remembered. So it wasn¡¯t a dream. Somehow I could endure the weight of the vest better today and the difficulty of the course seemed to me easier as well. ¡°What happened over the night? He asked me. ¡°You exercise like another person. in just one day you can¡¯t make such a progress normally.¡± ¡°It must be the food from your wife. It has an amazing effect.¡± ¡°Hmm. Yeah, I think you are right. My wife really cooks well.¡± ------------ Failari¨¦l walked down the mainstreet of the CItadel as she received the message from Jawal. Hey Failari¨¦l, sry that I didnt write ;) I got a new quest in town and am busy so could you close your eyes this time? :P I know that I said we do something but not now >.> Jawal She was disappointed. The meeting was something she really enjoyed and she wanted to feel that feeling right away again but it seems like she has to wait. She herself had a quest which she laid aside for the time being when she met Jawal but now that he¡¯s busy she could do it. It was a D-rank quest where she had to go out of city to annihilate some bandits not far from town. She went over to some new food shop which was run by a player. She knew she could buy food for her journey for less than a silver. And she needed money just as much as every other player. ¡°Hey, cook. Could you make something for me? Like a chicken or something? And put some provisions to it as well, I am going on a long journey.¡± The cook had broad shoulders. He looked like a asian. ¡°No problem Miss. I even give you some extras for such a beauty as you.¡± He twinkled. ¡°Thanks. I really appreciate it. How much is it?¡± ¡°90 coppers.¡± ¡°80.¡± ¡°I already gave you a disc-Ah, well who cares. 80.¡± They shaked hands. ¡°Have a good trip.¡± She went out of the shop and couldn¡¯t believe it. ¡®What a nut. 80 coppers for all this stuff? A bigger nut than the idiot which sold me everything from his apartment. Well, not entirely. Hot he was, that I have to admit. And he even plays RoyalRoad. ¡® Failari¨¦l hurried out of town. Nothing held her here if Jawal wasn¡¯t here so she decided to ran as fast as she could and feel the wind on her skin, the impact of her muscles and her overall awesomeness. While she ran she took out her bow, fiddled some arrows out of her quiver and spanned the bow wide. Her arrows hit her targets. And the targets fell to the ground like a chinese rice sack would when nothing happens. The only remains of an attack were arrows stuck inside heads, out of eye sockets or other vital organs. She didn¡¯t bother to gather all the things she would have obtained. Looting stuff like this did she leave for the beginners. ¡®So, if I run with this speed straight for 3 hours I should reach my destination¡¯ Her evaluated time didn¡¯t disappoint her. On the way she encountered a player killer group of 4 players. They wanted to rob her of all possessions. And more! Failari¨¦l couldn¡¯t stand them so she draw her big warhammer which is really not fitting for such a cute girl and smashed their faces in. The cracks of their heads could be heard some hundred meter wide. Her battle roar skill decided the fight within seconds before it had even begun. The enemies were so intimidated that she only had to take careful measure with her swing radius to get a clean hit. She even looted them. ¡°What do we have here? Wow!¡± Failari¨¨l was really astonished by what she just found. It was an expensive gem. Maybe it¡¯s not such a bad day at all. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.------- Huahh Huahh Huahh I couldn¡¯t take it anymore. It was the last day of physical training. The capsule wasn¡¯t opened at all overall this days and I used the well rested boost effectively. But I couldn¡¯t bear this weight anymore. It was already at horrendous 100 pounds. That¡¯s just hilarious if you think about it. This much was where I was going to stop. I couldn#t even read over the last few days. The instructor was sweating all over either. That had to mean something. ¡°Ahh. I didn¡¯t feel this feeling for years. This extreme adrenalin-rush through your body. The pumping of your heart. How someone can feel everything and nothing at all. I love it. I totally forgot about it.¡± As he said that, it came to me as well, this indescribable feeling. It felt like I could start off like a rocket right away. Into the universe and beyond. ¡°I am finished.¡± ¡°You truly are amazing!¡± He said as he looked at me. ¡°You finished the first part of the training! Congratulations. I personally didn¡¯t think that you would accomplish it. Now the real training can begin.¡± --------------- You finished the first exercise of the secret training Strength + 10 Dexterity + 10 Sustenance + 5 Vitality +10 New skill: Adrenaline Rush MP: 20+5/s If activated you will enter the ¡°Adrenaline Mode¡± Adrenaline Mode gives you a boost in honing your skills and evolving your stats 5% Learning Speed Your five senses get enhanced and you are tolerant to pain 5% Damage Reduction ----------- Sneaking was her speciality, just as killing her enemies with the bow. Failari¨¨l mastered every weapon she ever possessed so far and was a skilled in sneaking just as well. The bandits didn¡¯t see her coming out of the shadows of the tree. No sound was made as she balanced her toes over the open space between the trees. She held her hand in front of the first bandit who sat lonely around a table as she slit through his throat. He gurgled shortly but no one noticed it. It was night. Darkness had already spread through the forest and most bandits were either sleeping or drunk on alcohol. It was too easy for her to kill her prey and finish the quest. Bandits fall one by one in her hands and nobody would have thought that such a thing was possible for one person. But Failari¨¦l knew why she accepted the quest. It was inside the forest where elves have a bonus to their stats. That¡¯s not everything. They achieve unbelievable achievements in forests because their skills get boosted as well. She looted the stuff and picked up the head of the bandit leader. Or that¡¯s what she thought. All at once pandemonium broke out. Arrows flew through the air, bandits jumped out from behind the trees, knifes and swords were brandished which made a clunking sound and a huge guy stepped out to confront her. She defended herself against the arrows, either avoided them or parried them with her sword. Some bandits who were too fast on her were hit by deflected arrows. They made high-pitched screams. ¡°So, you were the one who killed our brothers.¡± The huge guy, brown hair falling down his shoulders, huge masculine hands, indications of big muscles under the armor were seen, said it. She only now realized that they were not normal enemies, it were players, all of them. She was in great danger. At first she thought it were mere low level enemies but now the situation had changed. The quadruplet from before were their allies? ¡°What do you want from me? Which brothers? And who the hell are you? You are hindering me at fulfilling my quest.¡± Failari¨¦l didn¡¯t notice that the difficulty grade of the quest just rose by once to difficulty C. Unknowingly she had accepted a quest to eliminate players and their leader, but in the description was only explained that she had to hunt bandits. She wouldn¡¯t have dreamed that with bandits real players were meant. They laughed. A deep steady sound. It grew louder and louder. ¡°We are a hindrance for your quest? Do you think this is a joke? After we are done with you the sole thought of doing quests will make you shiver in fear. We are a player killing guild and you killed our players, so we are going to torture you!¡± Now she laughed while saying,¡±Torture me? You don¡¯t realize who I am. I am a veteran of the warrior guild.¡± A load boing went through the lines. ¡°So? A veteran? We all are veterans of war. We have killed countless times so far and you!- you won¡¯t make a difference to the numbers. We only want to keep our name. How shameful would it be to lose good members of our guild on a 4 on 1 fight against a woman. A woman!¡± So that was what it all was about. Failari¨¦l was angry. Always this guys and their pride. A woman has a pride as well. She hated it to be discriminated by men. All of them are the same. Weak, little, arrogant bastards who only think of honor and fame. Not one of them had to go through something like her. ¡°All about man and their pride.¡± She mumbled into her black mouth cover. ¡°You guys never learn anything. You are men! Be happy about that, but don¡¯t force woman to kneel under you. We can be strong as well. We can fight for ourselves! You always have to run around in groups to feel strong and mighty. I alone can take on all of you! Come and get me, filthy bastards! You don¡¯T deserve any more words from me.¡± Another time the crowd laughed. Some were angry as well, the mere thought of a woman beating them all up made them so. ¡°Boss, give us the order and allow us-¡± The man was hacked in half by the big waraxe the leader was carrying. ¡°I am no finished with talking. So, shut the fuck up! I give the commands. Not. You.¡± As he said that he pointed into the crowd. ¡°You are full of yourself aren¡¯t you little miss? A small girl talking so high and mighty makes me feel ashamed of our race. Man are born to rule and woman are born to kneel! Come on, do it. Kneel in front of me and beg me for forgiveness. This is your last chance. I don¡¯t know what will happen to otherwise. My guys didn¡¯t have a woman in a long time and logging out won¡¯t be a option for you. This area is specially made for that. Either you kneel or you will be the main actor today in our program.¡± As if he had said a command, two bandits, one with a big scar across his face, brought forth two naked woman. They were hung up on a big branch. They looked miserable. Bruises all over the body, blood soaking out of some wounds. This is what happens to woman like you.¡± ¡°As if I care. Guys like you are always the same, big mouth and nothing behind it. You are only bunch of idiots.¡± She looked to all of them. One after another. She looked into all of their eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t you see what¡¯s happening? You are being controlled by this ugly, brainless nothing good who is still living at home in the real world. ¡° Some looked around and got nervous. ¡°Do you believe her? I am the boss around here. Terox! That is my name.¡± ¡°Terox! Terox! Terox!¡± The group shouted out at the same time. The morale was high now and Failari¨¦l didn¡¯t had a chance to split their group. Her plan failed. ¡°I won¡¯t kneel no matter what! If you want come and force me to but I swear I will kill every single one of you!¡± ¡°it¡¯s time to finish this. Useless talk goes on my nerves a lot if it¡¯s said by someone like you. Come on guys, get her. Do what you want with her! I don¡¯t care anymore. Your time ran out, little girl!¡± The bandits screamed in unison and came at her. For a little moment she crumbled into a little corner inside herself but that moment wasn¡¯t even longer than a slash of an eyelid. She took the initiative of their common charge and jumped into the fray. She sliced high, she sliced low. Blood flew all around her. Her sword draw blood behind it and bandits fell all around her. ¡°That bitch is fast! Don¡¯t fall back. She can¡¯t keep this on for long.¡± But she kept on. One after another was forced to kneel. Actually to kiss her feet but what does that matter in such a huge escalation. She threw small, pointed knives while swirling around. One hand threw them the other slew bandits on the other side of her body. She leveled up and was happy about it. Finally some experience showing through. I haven¡¯t reached a level in ages. And this begins to make fun. She was full of herself. She didn¡¯t think of defeat at a time like this. This were only lowbobs following some strange guy. The moonlight let the blood flash up in red and the spectacle was amazing. Unfortunately no one of the here present people could admire the beauty of it. Blood rained down and sparkled like red rubies which filled the forest with new beauty. The old branches shone bright, the boring treebark All of the weak folk were dead or either dying on the ground. ¡°So you defeated all of them. I am proud of you. But will you come past me? These were only weak guys summoned by me! The guy turned black and mist spread out under him. It seemed to encloak him. ¡°I am your the nightmare you didn¡¯t even dare to dream about. Imagine something like this and you are beyond the level of a genius. I am an Artificial Intelligence. I will change the course of the world. And you will be important for it.¡± ¡°Like I would fall to someone like you.¡± Her sound wasn¡¯t as she wanted it to be. She didn¡¯t know what was happening and trembled all over the body. The words came out brokenly. She draw her sword high above her body and got ready to strike. But before she could react the shadow was behind her, the mist covered her vision and she lost her conscious. Everything went black. But she didn¡¯t got a message like game over or anything. She didn¡¯t die and neither logged out. The Legend of JaWal - Chapter 7 Failari¨¦l stood up. Everything was still a mess inside her head. She was surrounded by weird looking shadows, which embraced the heaven. A bright light full of warmth and brightness. Her head hurt badly. She didn¡¯t know here she were or what she was doing around here. At first she didn¡¯t even know who she was but after solving the puzzle inside her head she knew her name at least. But still not where she was. Wherever she was, she knew something bad happened. One hand held her head and the other pushed the ground so that she could stand up. The first try didn¡¯t work out as she thought and she fell. She hit her head against a shadow and everything went black again. The next time she woke up it was already dark. The bright light wasn¡¯t there behind the shadows anymore. The ground had to be soft or at least the thing on which she was laying. She turned on her back and tried to think. She had a big bruise at her forehead. She ran her hand over it. Slowly the shadows began to form to big black trees and she saw that the ground was covered with moss. She wanted to check which time it was but saw that she had dozen mails. Where I knocked out that long? Only then did she saw that days had passed. Days? At least one week. She panicked. She wanted to log out instantly but to her surprise the button wasn¡¯t where it was. She tried it by voice but nothing happened. What¡¯s wrong? She didn¡¯t know the answer. She didn¡¯t remember the names from the people who sent her the mails. She deleted them and stamped them as trash. She stood up or at least that was what she attempted to do. His legs trembled under her weight. She hadn¡¯t eaten for days, neither had she drunk anything. Her status bars were inside the red zone. She didn¡¯t know how she had survived until now but if she wanted to live she had to eat something fast. She grabbed inside her backpack but her hand found nothing. Where was my backpack? She looked around. Where is my backpack! She began to panic. She screamed out for help. After no one aided to her help she slowly lowered her voice. She focused. But nothing came to her mind. The panic attack consumed almost the last bits of her energy and she didn¡¯t had much power left. No food was around and she didn¡¯t find any water. She began to walk down the forest slowly. --------- The sword sliced the air from left to right. You could hear the katana penetrating the air. THe scarecrow cracked loudly after each hit. The owner of the katana made critical hits with each slash. ¡°That is the way you do it.¡± The fully concentrated instructor said to him. He whirled around wildly at first glance but if you watched carefully you could see that he had an exact order of movement. I saw the rhythm even though I didn¡¯t watch my master. My thoughts were elsewhere. Failari¨¨l hadn¡¯t answered on my calls for the last week, albeit she was online. ¡°Do you understand Jawal? You have to concentrate on your attacks and watch the movements of your enemies to anticipate his next attack. If you see the attack coming you can counter it, and counters give additional damage and a critical hit. It¡¯s exaggerating but you people from the other continent seem to be bad at this calculations which is why most of you die against stronger enemies or unknown foes.¡± He stopped his attacks and spoke with me. ¡°Are you even listening?¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah I am. But why repeat everything you want to teach me so often? you know that i can do it. You even saw me do it.¡± My thoughts wandered to the present again. ¡°Should I show it to you?¡± He wasn¡¯t going on my nerves but my tone could have hinted that I had other things to take care of right now. He grunted. ¡°If you are so strong as you think why don¡¯t we go deeper? My training cellar is big. Even monsters roam at lower levels. Strong monsters!¡± That was my chance to prove that I am ready to go to the next stage. We trained already for almost one week. The second stage was almost completed but the instructor didn¡¯t saw me fit to proceed to the next stage at my current level. I went through many ordeals to get here but he just doesn¡¯t understand that I am ready. Well, I don¡¯t know what awaits me in the third stage but still. I want to pass. ¡°Then why don¡¯t go down? I want to train against real monsters. I was caged inside this huge town all the time and all I wanted was to explore the vast world, encounter exotic animals and make an adventure for my own.¡± he looked suspicious at first and spied me carefully. He looked into my eyes deeply. Maybe he saw something different. He asked me this questions for a felt hundred times but he always said that it was not time to go deeper. Maybe the sparkle in my eyes changed his expression. Maybe it was the quest which allowed him to go down at the 7th day. Maybe it was something else. But one of these maybes changed my life entirely. ¡°Excellent. Follow me.¡± As he said something weird flashed through my mind. where was the staircase. We still trained inside the huge hall. But I have never seen another staircase which lead down. Still I followed him. ¡°By the way where are we going down. I never saw another way down.¡± He turned his head around but kept his pace. ¡°Ah, you finally noticed that as well. You will see soon. The place where we are going is secret. You will be the first outsider to enter it.¡± ¡°Outsider?¡± I was suspicious. Outsider of what? Of a certain guild? A faction? A group of monster killing huge barbarians who stay the entire day in a training center, do nothing and are still so powerful? ---------------- ¡°Hey, you still alive?¡± She heard a man speak with a soft voice. He poked her. ¡°If you are make a sound.¡± ¡°Ahuuh.¡± The man stood up. ¡°Guys come over here. You have to see this. I found a survivor. And it seems she¡¯s a player. At least her equipment looks that way.¡± She heard footsteps. Her vision was still only a small line. She didn¡¯t know where she were. She had walked down the forest but from some point on her memories are missing. From the earlier conversation she put together that she had been caught in an attack? There must have been other people as well. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.¡°Over here.¡± He said to his friends. And while he said that he held over a water bottle. ¡°Here, drink something.¡± He heaved her up and lay her down against a tree. ¡°You okay?¡± She tried to lift my finger to point at the bottle. But she couldn¡¯t move, let alone make a sound. But somehow he understood her gesture and filled her mouth with water. Gulping was hard but she tried at least. Water ran down her chin and soaked her clothes. ¡°Yeah, drink as much as you like. Just get up fast.¡± She let her some time for herself to gather her thoughts again. The bottle emptied quickly. The man spoke during that time with his friends. ¡°So, what are we going to do with her?¡± One of them questioned the others.. ¡°Markus, you have to decide. You found her, you have to care for her.¡± The third man said. But the fourth man knew the answer for the moment at least. ¡°Let¡¯s speak with her first.¡± They came over to her. ¡°Better?¡± She could look better than before and saw that he had black hair. His armor was blue and heavy plate mail. It shone like a sapphire. He looked strong. He held his helmet with his left hand and held out his right hand to her. She grabbed it and let herself be pulled up by him. Her legs shaked terribly but somehow she managed to stand. ¡°So, I am Markus.¡± ¡°Failari¨¦l. Thanks for helping me.¡± She really was grateful. ¡°Ah, about that. You don¡¯t have to thank me. It¡¯s standard for the Sapphire brigade to help people in need. Do you know what happened here?¡± He spoke slow and loudly as if she was still not hearing right. But she liked the tone of his voice so she didn¡¯t say anything about it. ¡°Sorry, but I don¡¯t know anything.¡± She looked around for the first time. The scene was cruel. Body parts lay around and blood was everywhere. Entrails hang from branches and the once beautiful carriage was demolished, which add to the carnage just perfectly. Shock flashed in my eyes. The two horses which had pulled the carriage lay in front of it. Stomachs blown up and contains spilled. Or were they blown up? It looked more like they were eaten. She gasped. She trembled. What had happened here? She threw up. The accumulated stress and this scene were just too much for her. The man patted her on the back. ¡°It seems you really don¡¯t know anything. Well, to keep you on the newest level, we are bounty hunters and are hunting the group which has done this. We don¡¯t have any information regarding them, even though we are hunting them for a long time already. The track lead us through the entire continent.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have many memories left. I only know that I woke up inside some strange forest where I couldn¡¯t send any mails or logout. Additionally I haven¡¯t eaten for days, neither did I log out.¡± As she said that she remembered that she had to log out fast. She opened her options screen and scrolled down. But to her surprise the button was still missing. The guys wondered what she was doing. Markus spoke up. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°The button is still not there.¡± She checked again. But to her misery the field where the button had to be was still blank. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s an error? ¡° Markus said skeptically. ¡°Can we help you in some way?¡± One of the other men said. It was the second man from before. She saw that all of them wore the same kind of armor as Markus. The only difference were their faces, their weapons and their races. Markus was a human who wielded a greatsword. The second man who just spoke was an orc with two shining tuskars, a battlehammer on his back and the other ones were elves. Twins. Both of them wore two honed short swords and one big oakheart bow. Feathers could be seen over the light blue armor. most likely from their arrows. ¡°Markus, we don¡¯t have time for this. We found a fresh hint here and we have to track it.¡± One of the twins mentioned. But the other twin didn¡¯t agree. ¡°Have you seen any tracks leading away from here? I haven¡¯t. It¡¯s just like all the times before. the only clue we have is that woman over there.¡± It was the same man who spoke intelligent as before. ¡°Your right. I haven¡¯t seen any footprints leading away, neither are branches cracked or anything.¡± Markus agreed with him. Now all eyes were fixed on her. ¡°So, what do we do with her.¡± ¡°We move on and take her with us for now. She can¡¯t look out and she has lost her memories, I think it¡¯s the best choice we have. For her as well.¡± Markus said. ¡°Ah, and before we forget. The twins are Gloerdel and Gloardel. The orc is named Karthos, but we mostly call him ¡°The Bull¡± or just bull.¡± It seemed they followed their leaders order without complain. Failari¨¦l didn¡¯t have anything against it so she accepted the offer. ¡°Nice to make an acquaintance with you.¡± ¡°Same here.¡± The group moved on. A new member in their ranks. ------------ As I reached the lower level, I absolved the second stage and earned the rewards for it. By absolving the second stage you showed courage and proved your power of endurance. Endurance and Stamina + 5 Agility + 10 New skill mastery: Sword Mastery Sword mastery affects your ability to use swords efficiently. The higher the skill level, the easier it will become to perform powerful and elaborate techniques. Level 1: Attack Power +5% New skill mastery: Long Sword Mastery Long Sword Mastery affects your ability to wield longer swords than usual. The higher the skill level, the easier it will become to wield them freely and to use stronger attacks. Level 1: Attack Speed +5% Attack Power +5% I was eager to improve my skills even more and started to hasten up. I couldn¡¯t await what was beyond the huge door in front of me. Behind the stairs was nothing but darkness. To the left and to the right were the dusty but mighty stone walls and a huge metal door blocked the way to the training room. ¡°Are you ready to embrace the darkness? From now on you can¡¯t back out!¡± The master was excited as much as I was. You could the fire in his eyes burning. ¡°Yeah, I am ready. I waited for this moment the entire time!¡± The Legend of JaWal - Chapter 8 The group left the forest without further trouble. As it seemed the culprit vanished in thin air. The small and almost invisible path led them out of the labyrinth of trees and shadows. The treetops gave away for strays of the sun and the silent walking switched over to noisy chatter. Mouths stayed shut inside the forest but now everyone seemed delighted. ¡°Why do you guys follow one group all over the continent? You see, you haven¡¯t found any clues until now.¡± You could see the interest. The question was not a casual one. She wanted to find out more about the group she was following. Markus took the initiative. ¡°We think, the people, who are behind this group, attacked our home town. They murdered everyone in the same gruesome - Well, you saw it yourself, no need to explain it. It was not just our hometown at that time. It was our guild¡¯s headquarters as well. And as destiny took its course, it burned down as well. The entire town burned down to crisps. We couldn¡¯t do anything about it. We were on a mission and the few people who were at the guild got slaughtered. None of us expected something like this to happen, so we didn¡¯t had any insurance - although it is a game, you could sign insurances to be on the safe side with a guild. We lost all our things that day. Our guild, our home, our friendships with the NPCs and many members. Who would want to be in a guild that consists of rubble and trash? Additionally we couldn¡¯t raise any taxes because all people died.¡± ¡°That¡¯s really sad to hear.¡± After a short break to honor the dead, she continued. ¡°But who on earth would attack an entire town by themselves, if they don¡¯t want to occupy it? I never heard of town raids.¡± ¡°We neither, which is why we didn¡¯t fill out a contract.¡± One of the elves spoke. Failari¨¦l couldn¡¯t keep them apart. ¡°They wouldn¡¯t have had a chance if we would have been there. We were top-notch at that time. One of the highest-ranking guilds, with strong members and good equipment. Our guild was well-developed - chiik.¡± It was the first time the Bull spoke up. He had a deep voice, it sounded intimidating. Wrinkles on her head, and a weird expression was beginning to form on her face. Tap A hand clapped on Failari¨¦l`s shoulder, it was Markus. He had a grin on his face. His polished armor reflected the light into her face. She was barely able to see anything except the outer appearance of him. ¡°First time hearing his voice, eh? He will speak more often from now on, so try to adjust yourself to the sound.¡± ¡°What does that mean - chiik? Do you want to say my voice sounds terrible - chiik?¡± ¡°Take it easy. We don¡¯t want to drive her out by using nasty methods.¡± Everyone laughed except Karthos. Perplexed, he didn¡¯t get the joke and looked like an idiot. ----------- ¡°Honorable Instructor, you normally speak truth but ¡­ well... you see, there is no challenge here. We are walking down this corridor for... I don¡¯t know how long. We haven¡¯t encountered any enemy yet.¡± That¡¯s exactly what happened after we went through the gate. We had been walking down this long, dusty corridor. Words were rare. Somehow, the instructor stopped his talking for once. I tried different ways to approach him but he only ¡°hmphed¡± all the time. ¡°Be patient. It¡¯s one of the golden rules you have yet to learn.¡± Another weird answer. Finally, the chance was there to fight but what have I been doing for the last 30 minutes? My hand was itchy from waiting to kill my first monster and my anticipation of the coming robbed me of every calm thought. As the game showed me that I had to eat and afte rI finally fumbled out a barley bread out of my inventory he surprised me. He turned around. And as he turned my bread fell out of my hand because of my clumsiness. I was at the end of my nerves. ¡°We are here. Time for you to get ready.¡± All at once, I forgot about the bread, which was laying on the floor - even if 3 seconds hadn¡¯t passed since the bread fell to the floor -, I was full of concentration. I could feel the end of my fingertips overflowing with excitement. I didn¡¯t think that something was wrong. We were still standing on the corridor. There were no side exits. ¡°So, what am I going to do?¡± For a split second, his expression changed to something cruel, something I have never seen before, but it changed so quickly that I was not sure if it really happened. He looked just the same as always. As always. Not exactly as always. There was something else in his eyes. Hope? Pain? I couldn¡¯t identify it. ¡°Like I said before, we will look if you are ready to face enemies head on. You said you never were in a real fight before and this will be your evaluation. Real fighting is different from textbook learning. We will see if you are fit to be a warrior.¡± ¡°Okay. That¡¯s what I knew already.¡± Anticipation forced me to look around. I still had no real idea of the last stage. He said there would be enemies to face. And fights to overcome. But the only thing I saw at that moment was the long, endless stretching corridor. ¡°So -¡± Somehow I knew that something was amiss. I stopped talking. The heavy breathing sound of the instructor was not there anymore. And just as I realized that he vanished in thin air, everything went black. What the hell? A trapdoor opened up under me and I fell down. Suddenly the peaceful situation changed to a life and death situation. Noises, mainly footsteps filled the air. Enemies! I knew it were enemies because there weren¡¯t just footsteps, I could hear that swords were drawn out of their sheets. In addition, there was the sound of armor rattling and cracking. It must be rusty. I may be inexperienced but to know that you have to change your position when you are caught in a trap is natural. But, my problem was that I still couldn¡¯t see anything. My time grew shorter by every passing second and I had to do something. I unsheathed my katana silently. Well, I didn¡¯t drew it fully, I just pulled it a bit out of the sheet to be able to perform a quick-draw if necessary. Ting. I knew what I had to do. It must have been my intuition. Adrenaline Rush! Mana points were still low because I hadn¡¯t done any real training to increase it. As the skill stated, my five senses were enhanced, and I were able to see in the dark. There were skeletons all around me. Some had clubs in their bony hands, other swords. Most of them had small pieces of armor, which covered their old bones occasionally. One of them wore a big iron armor. The helmet throned with big ivory horns, and ornated with old verved letters. I couldn¡¯t determine what they said at this distance. His eyes flashed red underneath the helmet and his entity radiated in a dark gloomy mist. He must have been a great warrior in life. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.They stood in one by one in a distance of at least fifteen feet. That was where the first skeleton stood. Only then did I look around, still aware of the danger but I had to know where I was, and save the surroundings inside my head to make use of them. My mana went low pretty fast. The entire calculation took less than four seconds, so I had 60 mana points remaining, which should last for another twelve seconds. I stood in a huge hall, columns lining the side, which hold the weight of the entire edifice above with ease like Atlas would. Exits were at both ends of the hall. The army of skeletons, which consisted of at least ten, walked slowly but steadily, which is why they came nearer as more seconds passed. I took the initiative, and rushed forward. The first skeleton came into my range. The quick-draw faster than normal through the skill was not visible for the normal eye. Katanas being extraordinarily sharp, did it slice through the right arm, which would have crashed down on my head with the club in its hand. Critical Hit! My steps amplified through the adrenaline, brought me past the first skeletons. My aim was to kill the leader of the pack to lower the morale of the other skeletons. Fast cuts missed just as well as swings and my target came nearer every step. The aura-hulled leader wore a big claymore in both hands and got ready to strike. Through his movements, I could see that he got ready to bring up the sword from the side and do a slash. I jumped over the tip of the sword, and brought the sword down on him as I came to the ground again. The cut was barely visible, but it penetrated the armor nonetheless. Beneath it was a still intact looking leather armor. His HP bar barely dropped. The claymore hit me with the dull edge and threw me over. As I lay on the floor, I could see that he struck from above, so I rolled to the side and could hear the impact on the stone. Gravel hit me. While I stood up, I sliced across his chest once again. It had the same effect as before and I realized that this would not help me win the fight. Frankly said, it did nothing. My manapoints were below 20 already. I made another two fast cuts, dodged the sword, and cut off one of his arms. To my disappointment, the arm reattached itself with the help of the aura. It picked the arm up and manifested itself around the cut. Being astonished, I didn¡¯t see the other skeletons advancing. One of them, an old looking skeleton with worn boots and gloves, drove it¡¯s sword into my back. And I could feel the pain flashing up. I turned around and kicked him into his rib cage, hauling him off the ground. He bowled over the other skeletons and I had some seconds to concentrate on my fight with the leader again. I still had plenty of HP left. The skeleton knight still had plenty of HP but I could see that he took some damage from my attacks. The claymore came down on me once again, and barely after I escaped it, my manapoints hit zero. My skill deactivated itself and I was left alone with my own powers. In a panic I rushed forward, driving my shoulder into his stomach area, well truthfully against his armor, and with that throwing him to the ground. Dust whirled up. I picked up the claymore he lost during the fall and slammed it through the small gap, my attacks had made, and pinning him to the ground with the claymore. It fit perfectly through the gap, as if it was made for it. The HP dropped rapidly. The skeleton, pinned to the floor, could not change his fate anymore. He was doomed. Mankind calls it ¡®Final Rest¡¯. Maybe undeads have another opinion of dead or better said their own definition for it. As the skeleton lay there, dying, something switched in me. I couldn¡¯t - I still can¡¯t determine what it was. Was it the knowledge that I, could decide about life and death? Or was it the knowing of similarity? That everything ends at some point, even earth itself - and me? My thoughts switched around. My first kill. First kill. Am I a murderer now? Nah, what a stupid thought. It¡¯s a game! Even if it feels real. I didn¡¯t bother with the loot at that moment and spinned around. The pack of skeletons didn¡¯t seem to be less motivated to feast on my entrails - or whatever they want to do with me. They were even more eager than before. The first rushed at me, arm raised - club clutched between the fingers - and ready to strike. I tried to do a step to the side but slipped over something. The club hit he me straight on the head. My nerve ends were ringing loudly and I fell to the ground, numb from the damage done to me, but I encouraged myself, that this was not the day for me to die. Rolling, I came away from the entity of bones and jumped up. This fight was not over yet. I kicked the skeleton another time, like I did before, but this time it was prepared and blocked it. It held both it¡¯s arms in front of it¡¯s rib cage. The arms made a weird noise but they withstood the strong kick despite the circumstances. The skeleton was pushed away two feet and looked at me with fierce eyes. With my katana still lying on the ground, I didn¡¯t have an any weapon. My wooden sword was either inside the training hall above or my room. Actually was that, not something I should think about right now. I dodged an attack from another skeleton, it came from my left side. It had a rusty sword and crackled as he striked. While jumping over to the katana, I saw, that even more skeletons came into the room. This will be a long day. My HP bar had hit it¡¯s half through the attack on my head. My Mp weren¡¯t recovering very fast and I only had my katana left to defend myself. The situation looked grim. But nonetheless was forfeiting not an option. I would fight till my last breath would leave my body. Or I won¡¯t. I sprinted away from the evil crowd to the horned skeleton, which was still lying on the ground and looted it. Somehow I knew how to do it. I didn¡¯t look at the items and only clicked on ¡®Take everything¡¯. I would have enough time later on to examine what exactly I obtained. The only exit that wasn¡¯t filling the room with skeletons was the one right next to me. Only one enemy stood in my way. A moss covered skeleton who had clearly seen better days. It didn¡¯t even had a weapon. I tucked my katana away and picked up a stone on the way. As I approached I jumped high and let the stone drop stonehard on it¡¯s head. There was a loud crack. The skeleton¡¯s knees gave away, it hit the ground brutally and was dead once again. The last steps to another shady room, weren¡¯t very difficult and I reached it in no time. What I thought at that moment was, how I could see in this darkness without my adrenaline rush? The Legend Of JaWal - Chapter 9 Chapter 9 ¡°Existence has to be life but life does not have to be existence. If life would only consist of existing then what would you call the comparison of existence?¡± Warwalker Moonlight enlightened the groove in which the group had finally found shelter after a troublesome day. They had walked since sunrise, only to find out that they had just passed by a city where an event similar to the forest happened. Someone broke through the defense line and murdered almost every guard at the barrack. The few witnesses that were found were so shocked that they couldn¡¯t tell one thing apart from the other. They were just frightened. So frightened that they couldn¡¯t even talk anymore. As if dead would grasp them if they talked. But the problem on hand was, that they had walked too far to easily walk back to the city. They were on a high level ground, a very high level ground, and through the night bonus, the entire area was suicidal dangerous. For now they had found this free spot between the huge trees, spruces to be correct. Sleepiness lay itself upon consciousness of the members, and Markus declared that he would take the first watch. A campfire spread warmth and everyone was rather quickly asleep. The moment was just right for Markus who had waited for this the entire time. The thought that something was wrong with Failari¨¦l was just too overwhelming inside his head. He could not believe it himself but there was something about her, something weird. There was definitely something wrong. And he was responsible for the safety of his friends. Nobody knew of his plan to keep an eye on the beautiful elf. Something was quite suspicious. She didn¡¯t know what happened. The forest did not wake any memories and she herself had none. On top of that she couldn¡¯t log out. The Bull and the twins had already bets running, that she was a NPC, sent to us for a quest. But I just couldn¡¯t believe it. Instead of watching the area, he held an eye on Failari¨¦l, who, at the moment, slept. The shadows that enveloped the camp, were neither noticed by Markus nor by any other member of the group. Formed steelheads fall on their heads without a warning, the first still unnoticed, but as the second wave came the group was, as you could say, already ready for war. Everyone heaved their heavy blue coloured armors up in no time, and held their shields, or whatever they found at the moment to deflect the arrows in the direction of the arrows. You could hear steel hammering on steel. Bushes rustled and enemies swept forward. Bandits to be exact. Iron, steel and bronze shone in the bluish light of the moon. Shouts, roars and cries of pain filled the night. Birds crossed above their heads out of the trees, woken up by the tremendous noise. ¡°Back to back guys. Hold the position, we may be terribly outnumbered but we are still the legendary sapphire brigade! We, the blue jewels, won¡¯t be stopped by a mere group of bandits. Even in death we may be triumphant!¡± They formed a circle. Back to back they stood, slashing and cutting, shooting arrows to hear another cry of pain, for just another moin of death. This endless span of death was, frankly said, normal for mankind. Since the beginning of man humans fought battles for the possession of others. At the beginning it were thoughts like: Why can¡¯t I have a cave so big and warm? later they changed to more trivial things. People fought for land they didn¡¯t need just to shine more brightly afterward, or if it went wrong, to have no shine anymore. The bandit group, having lost a huge amount of thieves and robbers, tried to retreat into the protection of the night and the shadows of the trees. ¡°After them¡±, Markus shouted to the group.¡±No more shall these people terrorize other travelers.¡± They ran after them, unaware of the danger lurking behind the trees. Maybe it was fate, maybe it was coincidence, nonetheless it happened. With blue armor and raised arms still in the heat the battle, they didn¡¯t notice, that the cries of the bandits had long ended. Despite they followed. ¡°Where are they?¡±, Markus hissed to the group with an icy cloud coming out. ¡°They can¡¯t be so fast!¡±, answered the Bull on that. ¡°They must be hiding somewhere.¡± One of the twins stepped forward. ¡°I can see something,¡± he pointed inside the forest. The other twin agreed with bis brother. ¡°Then what are we waiting around here?¡±, whispered Markus silently to the group, like a breath it reached the ears. The breath let Failari¨¦¡¯s blood run cold. Was it the sound of his voice, or is something wrong here, she thought. Steadily they went deeper into the forest. One of them always seeing another thing to lead them deeper and deeper into the darkness. The further they got, the darker it became. The forest was silence. Too silent for the perception of Markus. But he didn¡¯t say anything. With hushed steps they came onto a clearing. To the shock of everyone, they found another massacre. The bandits they had chased, lay around, torn apart by brute force. Ponds of blood formed and somehow were connected to each other by small lines of blood. None of them noticed that the blood looked like a circle for a ritual. Even if someone of them would have seen it now, it was too late for them. the once so beautiful clearing was suddenly shining in the crimson red of blood. It was even more beautiful than before but on the other hand it was horrible. All this blood, all this guts, entrails still dripping blood was something that was not compatible with Failari¨¨l¡¯s stomach. She throw up in front of the group but no one could take it bad on her. This scene was just cruel. But they still didn¡¯t know why everything was enlightened just now. The Bull stepped forward into the circle, unaware of the danger. ¡°It¡¯s alright guys, nothing is here anymore.¡± He searched the ground for a trail but to his misfortune he didn¡¯t find anything. Slowly everyone of the group except of Failari¨¦l, who still recovered from her shock, walked onto the clearing. A?? at once mayhem broke out. The earth began to shake, trees snapped somewhere in the distance, storm clouds gathered above their heads and the symbol began to shine bright red. -------------------- I looked around unhealthy fast. My worry were the skeletons which chased me through the entire complex. I slipped past many corners and didn¡¯t know where I were at the moment. As I looked out for any approaching enemies and noticed that there were none, I sighed. The corridor was long and covered with moss one the right side. There were no visible entrances or windows on the sides. The air had an old smell to it. Dust whirled everywhere. A light breeze could be felt. My breathing was heavy and I needed time to recover the stamina that I had lost on the run. Actually I had to overcome the shock of nearly getting killed as well. That was definitely not my plan! As I stood there I thought about what happened. I had gained so stat points while I were running and avoiding monsters. Was there something else? Mmh, I had nearly forgotten the loot of the head skeleton. ¡°Open Inventory¡± I scrambled through the options, saw what I possessed at the moment, which was actually not much. The dagger from Orin. My body vest. The beginner clothes. And the katana. And the new items, marked up, were as far as I could say at the moment, leather leg armor, the helmet he wore, boots and gloves. I was surprised that one enemy dropped that much of equipment. But then I knew why I obtained so many items. It was the first-visit buff from before, which gave the rarest drop for the first kill. All items were still unidentified. Identification! It only made the stats visible for the gloves at the moment. Seems like I have to work on that skill in the future. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ------- Hard Leather Gloves of the Immortal Wanderer Defense: 8 Stats: Agility + 5 Stamina + 5 Vitality + 5 Magic Resistance +5% Description: Once this were gloves of great virtue. Now after they are long forgotten you have the honor to gain fame with them, so that they can shine bright again! Special Effect: Raises stats according to your quests and fame. Stops at some point. --------- Wow. That were some great gloves. And it seems they will get even greater over time! If all the items I got are this awesome I have nothing to fear. Come at me! You undead scum. The gloves were black leather and protected the underarm as well. They offered warmth through fur and gave advanced protection through engraved ruins. They looked nice and were very comfortable to wear. Almost three hours were gone since I fall through the ceiling. I thought it was a trap-door but, when I was on the upper floor there was no sign of any trap door or anything like that. Maybe I just fell through the ceiling or magic warped me down. That reminds me of magic. I was in RoyalRoad and I still haven¡¯t seen any real magic. Like fireballs or blizzards. Maybe I should stop at the library or buy me some magic tomes for traveling. After all this time I had spent here, did the dark atmosphere not give me the creeps anymore. Actually it felt really nice to know that you could see just as bad as others down here. Obviously I didn¡¯t know at that time that I could pierce the darkness better than most other people. My health was still not recovered to the fullest as a black figure appeared on one end of the corridor. I still didn¡¯t feel that well but I thought why not give it a try. It would be boring if I just keep on running through this old and dusty corridors. With my katana at one side and well nothing on my other side except maybe my wits I confronted the enemy. Or whatever it was. it made a slurfing sound and as it came nearer I saw that it was a fully covered skeleton with bandages. A mummy! With no notice of my presence I waited inside a crack to let it pass to sneak up on it from behind. As it went past my hiding place, I came out and followed slowly. To our both surprise did I accidentally step on one of the bandages. The mummy fall to the hard ground and lost most of the bandages as it roll down the corridor. As I heard a loud crash, I couldn¡¯t see it anymore, I kept track of the bandages which I picked up on the way and found a broken skeleton at the end of the corridor. I swept over the loot, it wasn¡¯t much, just some bone dust and eight copper coins. I examined the bandages. ------- Item: Dusty bandages Used to cover wounds and to stop bleedings. It may infect the user as it is now covered with dust. --- Well if it¡¯s dusty than I can make it clean. I tried to clean the bandages but came to no success. The air was already too dusty or I don¡¯T know why but the dust didn¡¯t want to come of. What a pity! Many skeletons blocked my way but no strong enemy popped up. As I eliminated this low-bobs I reached some levels. Starter levels can be gained fast just as in every other game. One corridor was actually very tricky. I almost died there. the corridor stretched over many hundreds of meters and it looked like it had no end. I heard a click beneath my right foot. ¡°Oh crap!¡± A trap! The words came out of my mouth and suddenly dust whirled down from the ceiling alongside small stones. I could hear something smashing down the corridor behind me and I grabbed all of my belongings and runned down,faster than I normally could have, the corridor. Just as I reached the end of the corridor and a big boulder was close behind me I tripped. I crashed headfirst into the wall but it gave way. I rolled out of instinct fast to the side. Just then did the boulder come after me. It nearly got me! That were not more than one or two inches actually. While I stood up and tapped down the dust from my clothes, I looked around. It was a huge dome. From above I could see rays of light entering - changing the atmosphere completely. It looked like a fantasy movie or a great spectacular picture. You could hear the clagging of my shoes echoing of the walls. As I got a better look of the entire circular room I could see four pillars holding the ceiling. They were formed like ancient titans. Strong and powerful they did their job for a long time. You could see it. Click. I intuitively jumped to the side and rolled over the floor to catch some of the impact of. ¡°You ain¡¯t as bad as I thought. From your looks you seem to be someone who has just arrived on this continent.¡± Lying I could see who spoke in such a harsh tone. It was some sort of guardian. He wear studded leather and had claws attached to his hands. ¡°How I hate guys like you. Scum like you doesn¡¯t deserve to live another day,¡± he jumped forward and proppeled like a tornado towards me. I could swear that I could hear the wind being sliced apart. I raised my sword and blocked his attack at the last second by deflecting his tornado strike to the top and spinning to the side. But my sword didn¡¯t stop at that moment, it came down right after I blocked the attack. Critical Hit! After I hit I slashed again but he was already away. ¡°Who are you?¡± That had to sound stupid but nothing else came to my mind. ¡°Why are you attacking me out of nowhere?¡± At least I could get some answers. ¡°For you to ask such questions, tztz. You broke into this holy sanctuary! Not me, you!¡± His left arm was bleeding but that didn¡¯t stop him from channeling power. A red orb formed in front of his hands. Before I could react he shoot it toward me. A bright red light blended my eyes. Pain numbed my senses and I was pushed back against the wall in a wide arc. Something warm ran down my stomach. I touched it with my blood and realized that it was blood. My HP were at a critical point and without fast treatment I would die. The weird thing was that he vanished in thin air. He wasn¡¯t there anymore. I took out the old bandages and treated myself with them. It stopped the bleeding temporarily. I definitely had to use it again to change the bandage later on. After the bleeding stopped my HP went slowly up again. I took out something to eat from my backpack to recover some stamina and reduce my fatigue. There had to be something here if there are guardians so powerful. I went on and stepped into the middle again. The room seemed different than before. After some time I knew why. The sun had set and left behind a dark room. I examined the floor and the walls but didn¡¯t find any clues about the place or who he was. After spending some time doing that my wound began to bleed again. The bandages were soaked wet with blood and it hurt like hell to take them off. I had still some left from before and put them on. ----- You got infected with Vampirism. The first stage will give you bonuses on night vision and agility. +25% Nightvision Agility +5 You may suck blood to replenish health. The longer you stay a vampire, the more do the effects do. Beware! ----- What the bloody hell? I just put some bandages on. Ohhh- The mummy must have been a vampire before and by applying the bandages on my wound I got the infected cells into my body. Chapter 10 - On Hells Edge Chapter 10 - On Hell¡¯s edge I woke up with a dizzy head. Playing straight for days is certainly not healthy. I hadn¡¯t finished the quest and logged out after the system message popped up. My muscles were all rusty. At least my back didn¡¯t hurt from all the lying. The capsule lock opened with a loud thump and after having some trouble with my movement I finally managed to get out. Holidays were to my advantage not over and the atmosphere of the room has not changed over all this days. I made myself something to eat and went to the toilet after I ate a gorgeous bacon sandwich. The shower was refreshing and the water helped to sort out the stiffness. All healthy and refreshed I grabbed my bag and took out the notice from the blonde girl. The shop was near my old home so I had to spend some time to get there. To my surprise the hundreds of meters merged into mere minutes. The sun was already up and it was very hot for a winter. It was so hot that my skin began to be red as I got to my old home. The shop was not far from here, just around some corners. I realized that I should have called but I was already here, so why not go there without calling and surprise her. After another short jog the shop came into my sight. To my disappointment were the windows closed and the door locked. I couldn¡¯t see anyone inside and there was no sign of anything living in there. The opening hours clearly stated that it should be open by now. It was noon. After waiting for some time I realised that waiting wouldn¡¯t help me with this matter. I got an idea. If I learned something in RoyalRoad then it is how to interrogate with other people. Another disappointment was that there were none around here. I went next door and used the doorbell. Sometime later I sat inside with an old lady watching my every step. ¡°Do you want a cookie or something? If I had known that such a young and cute looking boy would be coming today, then I would have prepared something. I normally don¡¯t get any visits...¡± The old lady really seemed lonely. ¡°Ahh, I have to say that I only wanted to ask you something. Sorry for the disappointment.¡± ¡°Kids nowadays,¡± she sighed but continued,¡±anyways, what is it that you wanted to ask of me?¡± ¡®Oldies nowadays. First inviting me in without asking what I want and then wondering why I wouldn¡¯t stay for long.¡¯ ¡°Well you see, the shop right next door, do you by any circumstances know why it is closed at the moment?¡± ¡®It really was weird¡¯ She turned her head around as she looked up from the oven. ¡°You mean the young ladies shop?¡± ¡°Yeah exactly that one. I wanted to visit her.¡± She seemed to think about something. ¡°I sold her some of my belongings and wanted to check in if she still has them.¡± Her face got happier all at once. ¡°Well if it¡¯s that, then I could help you as well. The girl is my granddaughter, and the shop once belonged to me.¡± ¡®What a surprise!¡¯ ¡°It¡¯s really not that important-¡± ¡°It has to be important if you ask random people around the corner for it. So come on child, I do you no harm.¡± ¡®What a weird lady¡¯ As she went downstairs, I followed because I definitely had no other choice. ¡°So, when did you sell your stuff to my granddaughter? She¡¯s a beautiful lady isn¡¯t she?¡± ¡°You still haven¡¯t answered my first question?¡± I lend the old lady a hand on the way down, but she just snipped it away. ¡°What do you think of me! Definitely I am not too old to walk alone. And the answer for your question is: that I don¡¯t know where she is. She just... she just vanished over one night last week.¡± ¡°She just vanished? What do you mean with that¡±. I was speechless. ¡°Well, like I said, she just vanished. Don¡¯t you read newspapers? It stood all over them. Maybe not on the front but still.¡± ¡®Well, reading newspapers in real life is hard if you are playing straight RoyalRoad.¡¯ ¡°Nah, somehow I haven¡¯t found any time for that lately.¡± ¡°How¡¯s that?¡± She stood there questioningly. ¡°Well, how can i put it... I played a certain virtual reality game. You haven¡¯t heard of RoyalRoad or?¡± I could have slapped me for that question. ¡®Everyone has heard of RoyalRoad!¡¯ ¡°What do you think of me... Like every other person I have heard of RoyalRoad but to some extent I am wary of these things. Which is why I haven¡¯t played RoyalRoad yet. But as you can imagine my granddaughter played RoyalRoad. Hmm, what was her name again inside the game...?¡± ¡°Because of that I am here. She said at the door that she plays RoyalRoad as well, the funny thing is that we started in the same area or were at the same area last week.¡± ¡°Really? Ah my memories aren¡¯t the best the last days. Unfortunately I can¡¯t remember her name.¡± There was a small break - we stood inside the doorway that lead out. ¡°You just said that you came here because of that? So, you don¡¯t want your things back or?¡± She chuckled as she saw my face get red. ¡°Ehmm, ¡­ well...¡± She laughed out loud. ¡°You don¡¯t have to feel ashamed. My granddaughter really is beautiful and there were many guys here that I didn¡¯t like as much as you.¡± ¡°Okay then -¡± ¡°Ah, wait. Could you help me with the trash upstairs?¡± ¡®I definitely don¡¯t have time for that¡¯ ¡°Yes, sure. I can at least offer you some help in exchange for the information. Could you call me if informations about your granddaughter comes up?¡± I handed her my phone number and we went upstairs again. We entered the flat and I heard rustling sounds as she went into the kitchen. ¡®That must be a lot of trash!¡¯ ¡°Come here and help me!¡± ¡°On my way.¡± The kitchen was formally overboosting with cans, full plastic bags and other trash. At least everything was held in place in a huge box. Some things were lying beside it but the rest was entirely inside the box. ¡°Ehmm, what¡¯s with this? You said taking out your trash but not taking out trash from an entire army!¡± ¡°Well, you see since we buy all the stuff from all the people around here, and I can¡¯t deny anything, trash slowly started to pile up here and since my granddaughter left me here alone, I couldn¡¯t do it. And then such a young and healthy man with such defined muscles as you showed up and I thought that just maybe he would be the one who helps this old lady in such a dire situation.¡± She looked with gleaming eyes at me as if that could change something about her flattery. She could truly convince someone to do something. ¡®What a PERSUADING old lady she is. Really persuading.¡¯ ¡°Well if it¡¯s just this then I could do it.¡± ¡°Just this? Ah, yeah I didn¡¯t show you the garage downstairs.¡± She covered her face with her hands. ¡°Hmph.¡± The work I had to do wasn¡¯t easy. But somehow the pilled up trash wasn¡¯t as heavy as I thought it would be. Surprisingly it was quite easy even though I hadn¡¯t done any workouts. It still took some time to throw out the accumulated trash. The grandma thanked me one last time, and gave me some cookies. Very grateful. As I still had no real clue as where to look, I went back to my current home. Well, as far as you could call your school home. I logged back in. And got confronted with the vampire popup. I had totally forgotten about it. Let¡¯s see ... I get an agility boost and a night vision skill? Or is it permanent? On top of that I can replenish my health. ----- You got infected with Vampirism. The first stage will give you bonuses on night vision and agility. +25% Nightvision This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Agility +5 You may suck blood to replenish health. The longer you stay a vampire, the more do the effects do. Beware! ----- What an awesome skill. Wait. It said beware. Beware what? If it only gets better than it shouldn¡¯t be that bad. But normally vampires can¡¯t walk through sunlight or get weakened by it. But on the contrary they get stronger during the night but at night monsters are strengthened as well. So complicated. Either way I couldn¡¯t change anything about it so I wouldn¡¯t think about it. A philosophy that really helps in life. Now that my condition was stable again and my health replenished I moved forward. The former darkness around me became through my new night vision new dimensions and I could clearly see. The walls were covered with moss at the other side of the hall which meant that somewhere around here is water. My canteen was empty. I had to refill it otherwise I would die not through sharp claws or grotesque traps but due to a dehydration. What a shame would that be! Time went by as I wandered down the seemingly endless floors and corridors. Some skeletons came upon my way and were bitterly defeated. Did I say bitterly? I meant the way you defeat someone when you don¡¯t want to talk about it afterwards because it would shame the enemy further even in death. Slowly I got the hang with the weapon. Clearly not a master but the beginner time is coming to an end and history. The shining blade coupled with the hilt are an extension of my arm. A mysterious blue light engulfed the walls at the end of the corridor. It was inviting. It seemed to whisper something nice in your ear, something you wanted to hear for a very long time. I couldn¡¯t identify what it was but... As I thought about it my body began to move on it¡¯s own. Step after step without my notice. The weird thing was that I laggardly came to the conclusion that the blue light became bigger over the time but didn¡¯t know why. My mind was in a state of - of what? I couldn¡¯t remember. It seemed like the light was hypnotizing me. My mind wandered everywhere but here and as I stood inside the light I couldn¡¯t react in time. A video appeared before my eyes. Not exactly a video but a sequenz inside the game where I could see myself like I am actually inside the movie but couldn¡¯t do anything. Like the grumpy old man who was visited by the three ghosts. The light begun to cover my entire body. It swept through all my pores and used me as a resonance body. My skin shone bright in a blue tone. My eyes had an even brighter color and were shining too brightly to watch. As if that was not enough did my body began to let out weird steam. ----------------------- As I came to my mind, I felt light. Too light exactly and I couldn¡¯t see a thing. Everything was black and white. Tones of gray flickered through my sight but I couldn¡¯t do a thing. Slowly an idea formed inside my head or better said my mind. That¡¯s was my conclusion to this situation. I couldn¡¯t move my head nor could I see my body. ---------------------- New Profession: Holy Swordsman Description: From this holy place of ancient times many strong warriors emerged. They were holy warriors and fought for the old god Hebereus. But over the flow of time Hebereus was forgotten. The glory of the past vanished and now only this ruin remains Do you want to take up the challenge to spread the word of Hebereus? ------------- ¡®Splendid. I am a vampire and on top of that a holy swordsman if I accept. That would be hilarious!¡¯ ¡°Accept! I want to take up the challenge .¡± ¡®You can¡¯t accept this offer due your status of undead¡¯ ¡°I said accept! Come on!¡± ¡®You can¡¯t accept this offer due to your status of undead¡± ¡®Goddamnit! ¡®Normally this is a place of holiness. But you have disturbed the peace of this catacombs. As an undead you won¡¯t get the chance to up the profession of a holy swordsman. Instead the old god Hebereus curses you!¡¯ ----------------- Undeniable profession: Unholy Swordsman Description: As an undead you couldn¡¯t become a holy swordsman and got cursed. As an undead knight you can cast curses on other beings and use your dark might to fight the holiness. --------------- ¡®What the -¡¯ ------------ Acquired profession: Unholy Swordsman Functions: All stats + 5, strength + 10, Fame is resetted, Infamy + 50, your unholy aura disturbs the peace of living beings. New stat: Fearsome As an undead being with an unholy aura, you inflict fear on living beings. The higher the stat, the higher the effect of Fearsome. Cannot put extra stat points on this stat. New skill: Curse (Beginner 1) Enemies being cursed have lowered morale(-10%, -1% per level) and luck(-10%). The reduction of luck won¡¯t raise as you level up. The curse may be lifted by a priest. Incorrect treatment may harm the victim. If left untouched, will dafe after one hour ( +5 Minutes per level) -------------- Chapter 11 Blessing of Xenogoth Being the archfiend of Hebereus, Xenogoth blesses you. He dislikes him deep to his core and offers you a hand of help. This blessing grants you immunity to holy attacks, the speciality of Herbereus''s henchlings. ''Child, it may be unknown, whether there are still followers of Herbereus but I give you this gift so that you can fight against them and other orders of light. I have heard that the goddess of Freya has a huge rise lately and I won''t ignore that. Hence go forth and fight this holy weaklings! Don''t be afraid of the light but stay close to the darkness. Embrace it so that you can become one.'' New stat: Storage of darkness (Beginner 1) Description: When you linger around in dark or desecrated places you store unholy power. The power of darkness may be used to strengthen your attacks or to defend yourself. This is not all but you have to discover the secrets of this skill yourself. You cannot add points to this stat. Storage capacity 100(+5 per stat). ''Unholy, and immune to holy attacks? That''s friggin awesome. '' I rejoiced. I rejoiced so happily - well as happily as you can if you are corporal or whatever I was. Still I was happy about what I just received. A man suddenly manifested in a forest. The sun shone fiercelly on his face which was pale white. He had long pointy ears and a statue of an athlete.Trees staggered high all around hin and made a huge roof out of leaves. It would have looked really beautiful if you didn''t were in pain. The man was lying on the ground covering his face with his palms. He roared out in pain. ''What''s wrong with me? My skin is burning.'' I didn''t know what to do at first. My HP bar dropped to the half in mere seconds. I began to panic. The man who obviously did not know what was happening continued to roll over the ground. Maybe out of luck or maybe because fate had it''s hand in the game he rolled into a shadow of a tree. The pain suddenly stopped. I breathed steadily now. The shock was still there and I tried to find out what happened. Only then did I notice that the sun was blocked by a big old oak tree. I wanted to try sonething out. Taking the glove off my right hand, I held it out inside the sun. The man was getting weirder and weirder. His pale face from before was now fire-red. He looked like a tomato head, and it wasn''t even Halloween. He stripped off his right hand glove - topping everything else, he holds out his hand and burns it miserably. He shook his hand through the air and pulled it back into the shadows, slowly grasping what was happening to him. ''Unholy mother of hell - Is this the effect of my vampirism?'' "Open skill window!" And to no surprise the vampirism was on a new stage. --------------- Evolved Vampirism You get burned when you walk through the sun. Without any protection you might turn into ash in seconds. Additionally you get a boost of 35% to all your stats at night or in darkness. ''Hmm. Goddamn it so early already?!? That''s just stupid. But I still got the passive to protect myself from the sun so there''s one other positive thing about this.'' The surroundings didn''t look familiar at all. On top of that did it seem that I was outside of town. But there were no monsters or anything around. After rummaging through my bags and checking out what I had left which ran out to be my equipment and some breads, an empty canteen, japtem and things I couldn''t equip I went into the direction most comfortable for me. The man walked deeper and deeper into the forest without knowing what was awaiting him. Rumors of this forest had spread out like a wildfire after a caravan was slaughtered, massacred to say the truth. It was like a horror nightmare. Everyone was killed. And the finished picture was extraordinary ugly. This was art in the cruelest form possible. ----------- F¨¢ilariel could not believe her eyes, as she stood there in shock between the leftovers of her former comrades. Everything happened so fast that - that... She still couldn''t believe it - if she would not have witnessed this she would never have believed anyone who might have told her in the future. Not that anyone was still alive except her - the bandits slain by the once so bluish sapphire brigade which itself fell most likely into the same trap as the bandits they had pursuited. And now everyone was dead except F¨¢ilariel who had survived out of sheer luck and the demon which was starring at her with bull eyes. The demon was a massive nine feet high red monster that still looked agile even with his overlayered muscles. He had long fingernails that looked like they could slice through stone. The eyes were pitch black through which the demon emitted an even shaddier aura than it already had. "Finally." The demon said it with a satisfactory yet at the same gluttonous voice. "Finally someone summoned me after all this time. It has been too long that a drop of blood ran down my throat. This taste, how I have craved for it, is almost hilarious. I had sat in my realm - on my big throne - waiting for a mortal to challenge me but no human dares to come into my realm since "that" time." You could see in her face that she didn''t understand one word. Still being under shock, she couldn''t make up one clear thought. The only thing she could hear inside her head were the screams of her now fallen, new conrades. Even though she did not know them for a long time she still grew attached to them. And now they were dead and she was the only one still alive. Again. ¡°So, it seems my old master had abandoned me. And you, a mere elf took up his position of being my master? That¡¯s somewhat weird. But it seems you have made this sacrifice for me.¡± The demon said it so naturally that you wouldn¡¯t have thought that this was totally weird if you looked at the situation. An elf in a state of well whatever because of her thought that she¡¯s going to get killed and a demon who says master to her. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!¡®Me, his master? What is this? A sunday morning comedy show or what?¡¯ ¡°Are you the one who made this sacrifice or not? I won¡¯t ask again.¡± The demon prepared to attack and raised his hands to the sides to show off his long sharp claws. A deep roar could be heard from his throat. F¨¢ilariel didn¡¯t know what to do. So she followed the flow. ¡°Of course I am your master. I lead all the humans here so that I could summon you, a loyal companion and servant.¡± Hopefully the demon didn¡¯t see the drop of sweat running down her forehead. "So be it then. For now I will follow your lead but if you do anything stupid I will haunt you for the rest of my life. And I have already lived for many centuries and don''t want to die in the near future. And by the way I am the demon Azrad, the fierce. People fear my name throughout Versailles and in the future they will fear it all around the world!" With that, the demon made a contract with F¨¤ilariel. Her first contract with a demon. -------------- I wandered around aimlessly. The forest blocked most of the sunlight and I could cherish the moments I had. It was so peaceful out here. The rustling of the leaves, the singing of the birds, the flow of a river somewhere, somewhat cracking on the ground - cracking on the ground? I looked to my feet and gasped. I was so fixed on the treetops and everything that I didn¡¯t realise that I was walking through the leftovers of a big battle. The cracking came from an arrowhead beneath my feet. Suddenly a urge that I couldn¡¯t resist formed, and my body moved behind a tree. Behind the tree lay a person on the ground, or what was left of it which was the upper part. It looked like a soldier, he still had his helmet on and in his right hand was a rusty sword. But to me only the blood was visible at that moment. I couldn¡¯t resist the urge to bite into this dead person¡¯s neck. So I bit into his flesh vigorously and salvaged what was left of his blood. -------------- You drank the blood of a dead person. + 5 Infamy ------------- You drank blood. Stat boost of 10% for the next three hours. Now that you got introduced to blood you can control the urge. -------- The vampire took up the helmet of the guard and made a face cover with the cloth of the soldiers armor. Eventually he stood up refreshed and went around searching for more japtem. He took his time and didn¡¯t notice the newcomers at the other end of the clearing. ¡°Hey, you!¡± A weird dressed guy said.¡±What are you doing in our territory? This is our japtem!¡± As the vampire turned around, his mouth still bloody, he looked at the four guys without a hint of fear. You could see that he had been through a lot already. ¡°Your territory,¡± he said,¡±I would say it¡¯s mine.¡± He turned around completely and faced the four guys face to face. One of the four guys whispered to another. ¡°Hey bro, I don¡¯t think this was a good idea. Don¡¯t you see the blood around his mouth?¡± The other man hit him with his elbow into his stomach. ¡°You idiot, we all see it. But we have to keep up a straight face and don¡¯t show fear so that we look stronger than we are.¡± The whispering went. To their disappointment the vampire could hear it all through his enhanced ears. ¡°You know that I can hear everything you say?¡± He had a smug look on his face. They gulped. ¡®Oh man, it¡¯s over with us.¡¯ They thought in union. Still they took out their weapons. They wouldn¡¯t give up so easily. Two of them took out shields and positioned themselves in front of the other two. Another equipped a bow and the fourth guy just stood there. ------------- ''Fuck it. They are getting ready to attack. Maybe it is time to test out my new strength.'' I unsheathed my katana that hung around my waist in it''s sheath way too long. They circled me. Wary. The archer took an arrow to his bow and pulled the string. And let loose. The arrow went with a hiss beside my head. With that the battle begun. I stormed at the two enemies waiting in front of me with their shields raised. Using the momentum to my advantage, I ducked low and cut both of their legs. One of them dodged the attack, the other one got hit straight and received a huge amount of damage. At least it looked like it. The archer shot arrow after arrow, some of them cut my arms but did no major damage. The one I hit earlier stumbled back and you could see a gash. ¡®Seems like he deceived a bleeding dot¡¯ The attack was followed by another strike. I began to continue swinging my sword against his shield and forgot about my surroundings. Sparks flew, and if you would have the time it would have looked really beautiful. His shield-arm got heavy and as his shield lowered a bit I sliced his hit and did a critical hit. Just then I collapsed to the ground. My health dropped enormously. It seemed that the fourth guy backstabbed me. As I looked around I didn¡¯t see him but I still knew that he was there. ¡°Finally, what took you so long?¡± One of the shield guys said. I heard a demonic chuckle. I couldn¡¯t locate it. The guys regrouped but he fourth guy was still missing. A bush rustled behind me and I turned around immediately. But to my disappointment no one was there and on top of that did a arrow struck my helmet. If I hadn¡¯t equipped that thing back then I would have regretted it now. Furthermore did the helm make a weird sound and I could sense that something happened to it. As I breathed in deeply I could feel the other two guys who already got damage behind me. I could hear their blood pulsing through their veins and especially through their wounds. It was really tempting but I couldn¡¯t avert my eyes and my thoughts from the battle. ''Wait, if I get the chance to drain their blood then I could replenish my Hp.'' Another thought went through my mind. ''I totally forgot about my skills. I am such a fool.''