《VRMMO: Nerf The Archer!》 Chapter 1: Unknown Weight ¡°Have you heard about the new game?¡± A fast-talking kid with a freckled face made question to his instructor as he aimed at a nearby archery target. ¡°New game? There are a lot of new games. Fix your form.¡± ¡°No! It¡¯s THE game; It¡¯s called ¡®World of Heroes¡¯.¡± His eyes sparkled brightly, ¡°It¡¯s the new Virtek game! You know, the one with the pod. It comes out tomorrow!¡± ¡°Oh, you mean the full-dive one. Yeah, I heard about it... The first Virtek game was quite fun, so the new title should be even better.¡± Woosh. An arrow flew past the target, completely missing it. ¡°You played ¡®Hero Chronicles¡¯?! How was it? Was it fun? Did you beat it?¡± The excited kid barraged him with questions. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s super fun. I played as an archer.¡± The instructor gazed at the missed arrow in the distance with a slightly sullen expression. ¡°That¡¯s where I learnt most of my skills, actually.¡± ¡°?? Archer? You mean you played with a bow? Why? According to the forums, bows were trash in the previous game; they were slow, hard to aim, and did low damage. Do you mean you shot the enemies up a bit before entering melee?¡± The instructor raised an eyebrow, a little surprised to learn this; he never looked at the forums, so this was an unexpected revelation. ¡°Trash? ...No, I thought the bows were pretty good. I only had to switch to melee for a few bosses.¡± ¡°A few bosses? Wait, did you actually clear it??¡± The kid gasped as he forgot about his lesson. ¡°Are you one of the clearers?!¡± ¡°Clearers?¡± The instructor looked at him with uncertainty. He was still in his early twenties, but he rarely used social media, so he did not know any new slang words created by kids or internet-dwellers. Fortunately, his garrulous student would never pass up the opportunity to explain them to him. ¡°Clearers are people who managed to beat the game by taking down the final boss, the Demon King. According to Virtek¡¯s statistics on their website, only one in every thousand players were able to do it.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± The instructor nodded in comprehension but raised his eyebrows at the statistic. ¡°So few? Then it wasn¡¯t just me who struggled...¡± The instructor trailed off in thought, forgetting that his student was still waiting for an answer. ¡°Then?!¡± ¡°Ah, well I killed the Demon King, but it took me three-and-a-half years of playing.¡± ¡°Woahh.¡± The kid looked at him with shining eyes. ¡°That¡¯s really cool. I never met anyone who cleared it before...¡± ¡°Why are you so interested in those games anyways? You¡¯re not 18 yet; you can¡¯t even play them.¡± ¡°Hmph!¡± The kid¡¯s eyes refocused as he felt the cold touch of reality. ¡°Even if I can¡¯t play them, I can watch them! The new game has a streaming function so I can just watch other people play it.¡± ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure that¡¯s not legal either, Timothy...¡± ¡°Stupid age restrictions!!¡± Timothy kicked a small rock with his foot, ¡°Don¡¯t government know people can already see anything on the internet? They should just give in and stop being dictators. Isn¡¯t information suppression what Nazi Germany did? I learned that in history class.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think the Australian government are comparable to nazis for not letting you watch violence and porn though...¡± ¡°There¡¯s porn in the game?!¡± ¡°No, I just meant in general.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ...Timothy looked down and reached for another arrow. ¡®Wait. Why does he look disappointed about that?¡¯ The instructor eyed his student with concern. ¡°Hey, if you used a bow through all of the prequel game...¡± Timothy suddenly piped up, ¡°you should have pretty good aim by now IRL too, right?¡± ¡°Well yeah, why do you think I¡¯m your coach? I have some skill at least.¡± ¡°Wait, but aren¡¯t you just the assistant coach?¡± The instructor made an awkward expression, as if to say: ¡®Was it really necessary to point that out?¡¯ ¡°Nevermind, nevermind, so how far can you shoot? Can you shoot that target?¡± Timothy pointed to the farthest target in the range. ¡°40m? Even a rookie could shoot that far.¡± The instructor took a second bow from the side and fired an arrow, which sunk into the bullseye with a distant thunk. ¡°The game only uses longbows and recurve bows though, so compound is not really... Why are you looking at me like that?¡± Timothy was blankly staring at the instructor with his mouth slightly agape. ¡°Y-you hit the bullseye.¡± ¡°?... I¡¯m not a rookie you know, or were you being sarcastic?¡± ¡°No but you took like a second to aim. That can¡¯t be normal.¡± ¡°Well, I wasn¡¯t in any rush.¡± The instructor narrowed his eyes in displeasure, ¡°You should at least hit the bullseye at 20 metres before you insult your assistant coach.¡± ¡®I-insult? Timothy widened his eyes slightly. No... A second should be quite fast, right? Am I just ignorant?¡¯ ¡°Anyways, you should be able to do that in a few months too if you train properly. Let¡¯s get back to the lesson.¡± ¡°Uh, sure... alright.¡± ... ... An expressionless young man with a red cap and thick vermillion jacket leant his head against a train window, not caring about the rough vibrations from the train¡¯s locomotion as he glanced out at the passing scenery. ¡®So I¡¯m really giving it up... huh.¡¯ He sighed. This young man¡¯s name was Max, a 21-year-old archery instructor with a penchant for video games, a hobby he was now trying to abandon for financial reasons.Stolen story; please report. ¡®It¡¯s for the best. Otherwise, I¡¯ll never pay that massive amount off. I can help out Lina this way, too.¡¯ Lina was Max¡¯s biological sister, whom he lived with along with his uncle Raymond. The three of them shared a suburban home in a nice area with great living conditions. Everything was good and well, except for just one small problem... The mortgage! Max and Raymond had been working together to make compulsory repayments on the house. With Max working part-time, and Raymond working a warehouse job, everything was smooth-sailing as Lina finished high school ¨C this was until Raymond developed back problems, and was forced to retire from warehouse work, unfortunately becoming unemployed. ¡®I could probably work the night-fill at a supermarket if I sleep during the mornings...¡¯ Max intended on getting a second job so he could support the family expenses. This meant abandoning his unproductive full-dive VR gaming hobby, which he¡¯d spent a more-than-exorbitant amount of time on over the past four years. ¡®I¡¯m turning 22 tomorrow; it¡¯s time I grew up anyways... Gaming was just an escape for me, after all.¡¯ Max resolved himself. As the train came to a slow halt, he stood up and left through the doors, straightening his cap as he went to fetch his car. ... ¡®Hm? The driveway is blocked?¡¯ Max drove home, only to find an unfamiliar van blocking his driveway. Reversing, he moved his car back to park on the street, surveying the scene as he turned off the ignition. A group of servicepeople were moving back and forth between the van and the front door, carrying assorted parts and small electronic components with them. Lina and Raymond were also there, though Lina was staring at Max¡¯s car while wearing a clear pout. ¡®Did we have some sort of electrical failure?¡¯ Max looked on confusedly as he closed the car door and approached. ¡°See! I told you they wouldn¡¯t finish in time, now it won¡¯t be a surprise!¡± A girly voice sounded from the front porch. ¡°I think it¡¯s plenty surprising, just look at his face.¡± An older man pointed to Max as he grinned widely. Max¡¯s mouth forgot to stay closed; he was indeed surprised. The reason for his surprise was the company name etched into the side of the service van. ¡®Virtek Industries¡¯. ¡®Then this... that...!¡¯ Max turned to look at them in shock. ¡°You bought me a capsule?!¡± ¡°Happy birthday, Max!¡± Lina laughed and rammed into him for a hug. ¡°Your old one was too outdated, so we saved up!¡± ¡®Capsules¡¯ or ¡®Pods¡¯ were large devices used to house players while they played full-dive VR games. The model Max already owned was the notoriously bad and cheap ¡®copper¡¯ capsule, with poor performance and inferior graphics. The next model up from that was the ¡®silver¡¯ capsule, which cost nearly ten thousand dollars; they would have really spent a lot for this. Max took a moment to come to terms before an insuppressible smile spread out all across his face and he returned the hug. ¡°I don¡¯t even know what to say.¡± ¡°Just a thanks will suffice,¡± Lina chirped from his chest. ¡°You were going to stop playing, weren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°You even know that much... You¡¯re right, I was.¡± ¡°Of course I know that much! Who do you think I am?¡± She jabbed his cheek with her finger. ¡°Even I noticed, and I¡¯m half-crippled,¡± Raymond joked from the side. Max turned to face him. ¡°I know what you¡¯re thinking, and you don¡¯t need to worry about the money. I¡¯ve been saving for a long while now to afford that thing. This young lass also contributed.¡± He smiled reassuringly. ¡°That¡¯s right! You kept giving me allowance money and I didn¡¯t need it, so I saved it up to give back to you!¡± Lina nuzzled up against Max with a self-satisfied expression. ¡°Now, praise me!¡± ¡°Haha, you did well! Good job, good job.¡± He gave her a patronising head pat as a joke, but she only smiled more widely. ¡°No, seriously though. Thank you. Both of you.¡± Max felt his eyes becoming teary and blinked to stop them. Without him knowing, a hobby he regarded as just a trivial leisure activity had become an irreplaceable part of his life. The fact that his family realised this before he did just showed how much they care about him. ¡°Hah, this reminds me of old times.¡± ¡°Well of course, we have to preserve the family tradition!¡± Raymond laughed. ¡°By the way, I got a job interview at a call centre recently. Even if my back goes, I won¡¯t leave the workforce until I¡¯m half dead!¡± He nodded fervently. Max looked at him with some concern and some amusement. Knowing him, he probably wouldn¡¯t leave even if he were half-dead. Out of nowhere, a car came screeching around the corner, coming to an abrupt stop behind Max¡¯s. The driver hastily jumped out and started running over. ¡°Oh no, no, no, am I too late?!¡± he yelled. ¡°You¡¯re too late Rone!¡± Lina yelled back mercilessly. ¡°Noooo!!¡± The man named Rone sunk to the ground dramatically and clutched the grass in exaggerated regret. ¡°Damn! I nearly copped a speeding ticket for this!¡± This was Rone, Max¡¯s best friend from high school and one of the few friends he¡¯d stayed in contact with after graduation. Rone would often invite Max over to his place to play fighting games on his console, before raging and smashing the controllers when he lost. After the ninth was destroyed, the controllers began to regard him with fear. ¡°You were in on this too?¡± Max questioned him as he approached. ¡°Of course! The new game is multiplayer; who else would you play it with?¡± He passed over a laptop-sized game disk case. ¡°Here; I got it on sale from a friend of a friend¡¯s cousin¡¯s friend.¡± ¡°Huh?? How can you get the game on sale when it hasn¡¯t even released yet?¡± ¡°Black magic. Anyways, that¡¯s not all; I also got you something else!¡± He took off back to his car and started hauling something out of the trunk while Max checked the large game disc in his arms. ¡®This would have cost at least half a grand, but he still has more for me?!¡¯ Max knew that full-dive games were extremely expensive. It might make sense for Rone to buy this for him if was some wealthy mogul¡¯s son, but he was just a regular guy who worked on small gigs as a freelance video editor; he shouldn¡¯t have so much money for gifts. ¡°Here- *hah*, here¡¯s the *ah* can you hold this?¡± Max ran up to help him carry an overly large box. Fortunately, Max was fairly strong, so he was able to take the box from his friend¡¯s grip before that guy collapsed. ¡°What¡¯s in here?¡± ¡°Haha who knows?¡± Rone showed no sign of his previously faked exertion as he ran in front of Max and clapped his hands, ¡°It could be a new fridge, a cabinet, an inflatable pink jumping castle...¡± ¡°It¡¯s recording equipment, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°What the f*ck how did you guess it immediately.¡± Rone complained. For Max it was obvious. Whenever this guy had seen Max¡¯s old capsule in the past, he¡¯d made a big fuss about not being able to see what Max was doing while he was inside of it, wanting to connect the visuals to the TV and watch him play. Unfortunately, that required expensive, capsule-specific equipment, which was sold separately from the capsule as an optional add-on. ¡°Do you know how it works?¡± Max asked him as he checked for an image on the box, flipping it around. ¡°Don¡¯t drop it, it¡¯ll break. But yeah, I know how it works. The capsule uses EM-wave technology rather than a digital screen, so it¡¯s missing some components you¡¯d have in conventional computers for recording. The unit connects to the main system and uses an advanced graphic-¡± ¡°He meant how to use it.¡± Lina interrupted, rolling her eyes. ¡°Oh, well you plug it in, and then the rest is on the interface in-game.¡± ¡°That simple?¡± Max was amused. Such a large, complex-looking device and you just had to plug it in. ¡°Yep. Now stop flipping it, you¡¯re giving me anxiety. Set it down somewhere so I can fill you in on the pre-release details.¡± ¡°Pre-release details?¡± ¡°Yeah, you need to know about the game world to get a head-start, obviously. Have you never played an MMO?¡± ¡°Massively Multiplayer Online? I haven¡¯t, actually.¡± ¡°...Oh boy, we have a lot of ground to cover then. Hurry up birthday boy, get inside.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t order me into my own house! And my birthday¡¯s tomorrow.¡± ¡°Tomato, tomorrow, whatever. Just pick up the pace; time¡¯s a-wasting!¡± Max looked back at the smiling Lina and Raymond. He paused for a moment before grinning and following his friend through the door. ¡®I guess I can keep playing after all.¡¯ Max felt an unknown weight lift from his heart. Chapter 2: Should’ve Pressed Snooze BRRRRR. BRRRRRR. Max was rudely awakened when his phone alarm suddenly went off in the morning. ¡°W-wha?¡± He groggily rubbed his eyes. ¡®Right, the game comes out today, but... I didn¡¯t set any alarm for it?¡¯ Reaching for his phone to suppress the alarm, he realised he was closer to the edge of his bed than he thought and nearly fell out. ¡°Gh.¡± He hadn¡¯t fallen, but the brief panic of nearly falling had fully woken him. ¡°Dammit. What the heck.¡± Sitting up, he grabbed his phone and searched for the alarm under his clock app. It was currently three o¡¯clock in the morning, so he scrolled to the top of his alarms and found one named ¡®Phone Rone¡¯. ¡®That bastard. No wonder he told me to get an early night.¡¯ He went to call Rone while making a memo to change his password later. As if waiting for it, Rone picked up after one ring. ¡°Hey, you. You¡¯re finally awake.¡± ¡°I hate you so much. Why did you set an alarm in my- no, how did you even know my password?¡± ¡°Lina¡¯s birthday is way too easy dude; you were basically begging for it. Anyways, are you ready?¡± ¡°Ready? Why would I be ready, it¡¯s like 3am in the morning.¡± ¡°It¡¯s 3:01 actually, and character creation just opened a minute ago. The world opens at 4:00 since that¡¯s midday in the US.¡± Max groaned loudly into the microphone. ¡°Hey, hey. Character creation includes usernames you know? Do you really want everyone else to snatch up the good names before you?¡± ¡°...¡± Max didn¡¯t really care, but now that he was already up, he might as well pick out a good name. ¡°Fine, fine, what will your username be, so I can block you when I get in?¡± ¡°It will be ¡®Cyclone_Rone¡¯! And if that one¡¯s taken, it will be ¡®Blown_By_Rone¡¯! And if that one¡¯s taken, I¡¯ll use ¡®Flown_By_Courtesy_Of_Rone¡¯!¡± ¡°...I take it you¡¯re going with the wind magician class, then?¡± Max decided not to call out how obviously terrible the names were. ¡°Wow how did you know? You¡¯re so perceptive... Alright, I¡¯m logging on before the names are taken, add me in-game and we¡¯ll vc!¡± ¡°Wai- nope, he hung up.¡± Max wanted to tell him not to use that second name, but Rone had already ended the call. ¡°Alright, I should probably hurry too, I guess.¡± Max made his way to the living room where his new capsule was installed. His old one was still there too, but he had little use for it now. Climbing inside the pod and closing the door behind him, he booted up the graphical interface while feeling glad he was not a claustrophobic person. Ding! ¡°Character creation is now open. Please customise your avatar.¡± An artificial voice entered his ears as he synchronised with the capsule and appeared in a flat, white expanse. To Max¡¯s surprise, the first thing he saw was himself. ¡®Huh? A clone?¡¯ Max raised his hand to test, and the other Max raised its hand in tandem. ¡®No, it¡¯s a mirror! But it¡¯s 3D?¡¯ Max looked at his mirror self with some fascination; this hadn¡¯t been in the previous Virtek game. A panel of customisation options opened up to the side. Various options like hair style, face shape, build, and a whole array of other appearance features presented in front of him. ¡®Woah.¡¯ Max was impressed. He tested changing the hair style to bald and saw his clone self instantly lose all his hair. ¡®Oh no! Reverse! Reverse!¡¯ He looked much better with hair. After a brief battle with his inner indecisiveness, he ended up only changing his eye and hair colour to his favourite colour; red, before clicking off the appearance section and moving onto other settings. There were a lot of options to go through, and they might mess with his hitbox, so he would just figure it out later. Anyways, making a username was more important since it would be first-come, first-served. After quickly flitting through various other settings like pain, sensory strength, gore, and subtitles, he eventually reached the username section. ¡®Let¡¯s see if just ¡®Max¡¯ is taken...¡¯Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. [ THAT USERNAME IS NOT AVAILABLE, PLEASE ENTER A DIFFERENT USERNAME ] ¡®Oh well, expected. What about ¡®Maxx¡¯?¡¯ [ THAT USERNAME IS NOT AVAILABLE, PLEASE ENTER A DIFFERENT USERNAME ] ¡®Damn, Rone said there were ten available instances of each username; these people must be seriously quick...¡¯ Max wanted to see what the prompt would say if the name was available, so he arbitrarily decided to test a random name. ¡®How about ¡®Gun¡¯?¡¯ The loading system appeared as it ran the name through its system. Max immediately slapped his forehead. ¡®No, that would obviously be taken, I need try something that¡¯s really random...¡¯ [ THE USERNAME IS AVAILABLE, CONGRATULATIONS ON REGISTERING, ¡®GUN¡¯! ] ¡®Oh, it was actually available? That¡¯s surprising. Now, what if I try something l-?¡¯ After a bright visual effect where ¡®Gun¡¯ appeared in green text around some sparkles and fireworks, Max was taken to another screen. [ THANK YOU FOR REGISTERING. SERVER WILL OPEN IN: (55) MINUTES ] ¡°Huh? No, I didn¡¯t want to lock it in, how do I go back?¡± Max looked around for a return button but found nothing. Confused, he tried the audio interface too. ¡°Hey, uh, return? Back? Previous? Undo? Escape?¡± ¡°Escape. Would you like to exit the game?¡± A machine voice responded. ¡°No, I want to change my username.¡± ...No response. ¡°Damn.¡± Max realised that he was locked in once he registered the username. ¡°Return to character creation.¡± He tried to issue another command but still got no response. ¡°...¡± Eventually, after trying some other things without any success, he had no choice but to just give up and exit the pod for now. ¡®Welp. I guess I¡¯ll have a shower and some food and come back...¡¯ There wasn¡¯t really any point in waiting in the capsule if he would just be stuck on a countdown screen. ... Drying his hair after showering, Max was deciding what to eat for early breakfast when his phone started ringing. ¡°Max! Were you also locked out after registering your username?¡± ¡°Yes. I couldn¡¯t even customise my character. I even made a bad username by mistake.¡± ¡°Pff-hahaha, what is it, what¡¯s your username?¡± Rone laughed evilly at Max¡¯s misfortune. ¡°It¡¯s ¡®Gun¡¯.¡± ¡°...Gun what? What¡¯s the rest?¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s just the word ¡®gun¡¯. I entered it randomly and it was locked in.¡± ¡°...¡± Max heard some forcibly suppressed laughter on Rone¡¯s side and stared at his phone in annoyance. ¡°I¡¯m so going to shoot you when we load in.¡± ¡°Shoot?!¡± Rone couldn¡¯t hold himself anymore and broke out laughing. Max realised the irony and narrowed his eyes before coming to a sudden realisation, ¡°Wait, that¡¯s actually not too bad.¡± ¡°What is?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be choosing the archer class so I really will be shooting people, that username fits somewhat well.¡± ¡°Oh no, you¡¯re onto the fifth stage of grief already?¡± Rone shook his head in pity. Max ignored him. ¡°What about you? Did you get all the options you wanted?¡± ¡°Yep, my character looks like a nobleman. I also gave him some fancy purple hair. You¡¯re talking to the ¡®Cyclone_Rone¡¯ right now. Be honoured.¡± Hearing Rone¡¯s username, Max suddenly felt less bad about his own. ¡°Anyways, you picked Novus Town to start in, like we discussed, right?¡± Rone continued. ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°Alright, cool. Add me when you get in. And don¡¯t forget to record!¡± Rone hung up. ¡°This guy...¡± Max grumbled as he grabbed some cereal. ¡°He really just says what he wants and leaves.¡± Max shook the corn flakes container roughly, but nothing came out. ¡®Hm?¡¯ The cereal container was quite heavy, so it shouldn¡¯t be empty. ¡°Ah.¡± Max found a small card fitted inside the container, with some cute drawings and ¡®MAX¡¯ in big-lettered text. He smiled and stared at the card with some amusement. ¡®How did she know I would eat cornflakes?¡¯ Inside the card was a set of Lina¡¯s signature neat handwriting, which Max could read even though it was in cursive. ¡°Dear Max, you¡¯re probably wondering how I knew you would eat corn flakes, and the answer is because it¡¯s Friday.¡± Max made a self-deprecating face. Was he really that predictable? ¡°I wanted to write a card because I probably won¡¯t wake up in time, just know there is cake in the fridge if you want it, and you should eat something before you go to work later. I hope your game is fun, make sure to tell me all about it later! P.S. it makes me happy that you use my birthday as a password, but it¡¯s too insecure; change it!¡± ¡°Ha.¡± Max re-folded the card and tucked it away in his pocket. ¡°Always thoughtful.¡± He smiled. What good things did he do in his past life to deserve a sister like Lina? He really wanted to know. ¡®How did she know about the password thing though?¡¯ Pulling out his phone, he changed the password to his uncle¡¯s birthday and then went to his browser to check if there was any solution to the game registration issue. Unfortunately not. There was only an announcement from Virtek that they were working on it and would have a solution post-launch. ¡°Mm?¡± A notification popped up from another app, so Max switched over to check it. Someone had sent a recently-taken picture of him, but with an AK-47 poorly photoshopped over his face. Needless to say, the sender was Rone. Max smiled serenely as he tapped his phone screen to reply, ¡°Watch out for arrows today, there might be a bug where archers accidentally kill their teammates.¡± Rone responded with a keyboard smiley emoji. ...After looking at memes for a while, it was nearly time, so Max laid his phone down and went back in the capsule. Watching the timer count down, Max mentally sorted through all the information Rone had provided him. Apparently, he had to pass some sort of test in order to become eligible for the archer class. ¡®Hopefully I can pass that test, or it might be embarrassing...¡¯ [ 00:03... 00:02... 00:01... 00:00 ] Chapter 3: Hero of Liberation Max¡¯s view turned to black, before fading in to the inside of a lavish throne room, where two individuals appeared to be engaged in fierce battle. The sound of swords clashing reverberated between the walls and filled the room with a solemn intensity. This was probably an introductory cutscene, common at the start of MMOs to introduce new players to the game¡¯s lore. ¡®Wait!¡¯ Max blinked in surprise. ¡®I know this place! This is the Demon King¡¯s Castle!¡¯ The final battle in Virtek¡¯s first ever capsule game ¡®Hero of Liberation¡¯ was against the game¡¯s main antagonist, The Demon King, who was considered the root of all evil after sending legions of his followers to subjugate human cities and spread terror across the land. This was until the humans used an ancient holy relic to summon a hero from another world. This hero was the playable character Valerius, whose objective is lead the People¡¯s Army, gaining strength from his unique levelling system to liberate the humans from the enemy¡¯s tyrannical rule. ¡°Argh!¡± A well-placed slash from the hero inflicted a deep wound on the Demon King, returning Max¡¯s focus. ¡°You... *huff* You still don¡¯t understand, do you hero? Do you understand?! Even if you defeat me here, your actions here will affect nothing! They are FUTILE!¡± The Demon King withdrew and took a glass vial from his waist, crushing the glass in his fingers and dripping the contents onto his lacerated arm. ¡°No, not only futile; they will exacerbate your plight! For if it is not me, it will be another, and that other will be much crueller and more vicious than I; they will have no honour in the way that they-¡± ¡°Do not speak to me of honour! The hero roared in anger. ¡°You do not know what that word means. I have watched as your underlings raped and tormented innocent women and children. I have seen them burn homes to the ground. I have seen them feed on the blood and flesh of my comrades as their eyes filled with mirth and ecstasy. YOU MONSTERS KNOW NO HONOUR!¡± The hero swung with greater force, causing the king to be knocked back into his throne. ¡°Do your words not exactly demonstrate my mercy?! Those humans went through hardships, yes, but those who did not resist me were permitted to live! They were allowed life under my reign! I am a leader of MERCY. My death will not bring about an era of peace as you have so deluded yourself into believing; it will only invoke more death! Is that what it is? Do you desire more death, hero?! An implacable sense of loathing entered Valerius¡¯s eyes as he stared at the demon across from him. ¡°As expected, you know not of mercy either.¡± He activated a rune on his sword¡¯s pommel, causing it to blaze with heat. ¡°There is no mercy in perpetual suffering.¡± He spat. ¡°Be glad that I shall spare you of that realisation.¡± The Demon King was unable to react as Valerius instantly gained speed and stabbed the sword into his side. Shocked, his eyes widened, and his own sword clattered to the floor. A blue light reflected in his eyes as he caught notice of an agility rune carved in the other side of the hero¡¯s pommel. Valerius adjusted his sword to the Demon King¡¯s heart and pierced it without hesitation. ¡°Hell is not warm enough for you bastards.¡± He retracted his sword with a spray of blood, and moved past the corpse to the inner castle, purple blood dripping down the tip of his blade as he walked. ¡®Too cool.¡¯ Max thought to himself. He¡¯d never seen Valerius from a third-person perspective before, but that looked really awesome; it was like a movie. Unexpectedly, a ripple occurred in the floor before the throne as the ground became transparent. The Demon King¡¯s corpse was sucked underneath and caught by another demon, who was dressed like a butler. ¡®Eh? Th-That¡¯s what happened?!¡¯ In the original game, The Demon King¡¯s corpse would disappear when the player left the room, and there was never an explanation as to why. There wasn¡¯t any underground floor in the castle either, at least not one the player could access. Overtaken by curiosity, he jumped into the ripple to investigate. To his astonishment, there was a massive space under the castle, packed with demons in all directions. He appeared to be invisible to them, so he investigated with interest. These were likely the remnants of the Demon King¡¯s Army, composed of a diverse range of species. From undead liches, lesser and demi-demons, to subordinate species such as vampires, werewolves and even demonic beasts. It seemed as though there were a few of everything gathered here. They all seemed to be moving in one uniform direction, so Max followed with his eyes to find the destination. ¡®Ah.¡¯ Of course, It was a portal. The demons were moving in droves toward a swirling purple rift in the air, as they were ushered through hurriedly by their comrades. This was an evacuation.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°FATHER!¡± A child-sized demon ran into Max, passing straight through him as she reached the butler who was holding the Demon King¡¯s body. ¡°Don¡¯t look, child. Your father wouldn¡¯t want you to see him in this state.¡± ¡°What state?!¡± The little girl was in tears. ¡°He¡¯s okay, right? He¡¯ll be fine?¡± ¡°...Yes, princess. Your father will be fine. He just needs some time to heal is all. Now be silent. If the hero hears us down here it will be our demise.¡± The girl looked like she was about to cry, but nonetheless nodded and became quiet. After some time, the pair went through the portal and disappeared from view. Not having anything else to do, Max followed them through. The scene changed to a clear glass platform in the sky, positioned above a vast gathering of demons. Rather than coming out of the portal exit, he seemed to be looking down upon it. ¡°Hello, person from another world.¡± A soothing voice entered his ears. Max looked up to see a beautiful and elegantly dressed woman standing across from him. ¡°The scene you just saw is the story of how demons invaded our planet.¡± She sat down on the platform and cradled her knees as she gazed down at the ground with a melancholic expression. ¡°After the hero Valorius defeated the Demon King in another world, his followers came here. Though few in number, they were strong and managed to easily overpower the weak humans living in this world, firmly establishing footholds for themselves.¡± The surroundings changed, as time seemed to accelerate and flicker through numerous fierce battlefields. ¡°It was a massacre. Humans were slaughtered by the hundreds of millions over the span of several centuries. I was able to give them a fighting chance, but it was barely enough for them to survive, much less retake their homelands... They came at the worst possible time.¡± The lady then turned to look at Max. ¡°I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Lucia, or as the people of this world call me, the ¡®Goddess of Life¡¯.¡± She smiled, but the smile didn¡¯t reach her eyes. ¡°Now that you know that, the next part should be a bit easier to understand.¡± Max didn¡¯t say anything and just listened along quietly. He loved lore in games. ¡°When the demons invaded, it was during a time that the gods of this world were embroiled in a civil war. Well, rather than a civil war, it was more like one of our own turned traitor and wished to seize power for himself.¡± She swished her hand to change the surroundings again. This time the location appeared to be a sort of underground paradise, with beautiful wildlife, magnificent architecture, and warm light coming from an unknown source. Max could actually feel a force in the air which exuded a tangible soothing sensation on his skin. ¡°That traitor was the God of Death, Obitus. To put it simply, he was delusional. He believed that if he absorbed the abilities of all the other gods, he would set foot into a realm of further transcendence, beyond the dominion of deities.¡± Lucia shook her head. ¡°And so he started attacking the other gods one by one, corrupting their nervous systems with his magic and absorbing their abilities. To be clear, gods are a form of spirit life, so absorbing their abilities is tantamount to killing them.¡± Max nodded to indicate that he understood. Not sure what he would do with this information, but now he knew. ¡°Noticing the plight of the humans on the planet surface, I used a unique application of soul magic to strengthen their souls, allowing them to grow strength beyond biological limitations through absorbing soul fragments from the enemy army.¡± Max raised his eyebrows. Was she saying the NPCs could also level up? If so, that would be pretty awesome. ¡°Unfortunately, that spell took a lot out of me, and I was forced to sequester away in a safe location while my comrades fought against Obitus. In the end, they lost, and he killed all of them, absorbing all their abilities.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± Max finally spoke to offer his sympathies. ¡°Don¡¯t be. They lived long and good lives.¡± Her face brightened a bit. Max was a bit surprised at how responsive she was to his comment. Was the AI a bit smarter in this game, compared to the previous one? ¡°Anyways, Obitus found me eventually, and was presumably drunk on his newfound powers because he took me lightly. My powers are mostly focused on healing and purification magic, and I¡¯d only recently learnt soul magic, so he didn¡¯t even put me in his eyes as a threat.¡± ¡°I managed to take him down, but he wounded me in the process, and it was a heavy blow. Having used nearly all of my magic power at the time, I was forced to use the remaining amount to stay alive and was left in a weakened state for about two-hundred years. For the following century, I pieced together enough mana to perform a summoning spell, bringing you here, among others.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve copied a small part of your soul in order to bring you here and create an astral duplicate of your body, and I also imbued it with the same soul magic which should allow you to absorb the essence of any enemies you defeat in battle. I hope you can aid me to purge the demons from our world and restore peace, as a hero of the people.¡± Lucia smiled brightly. Max smiled in response, while internally wondering if she was actually happy due to his arrival, or happy from the fact that she¡¯d finally finished that massive monologue. ¡°I understand that was a lot to take in all at once. Do you have any questions, hero?¡± ¡®Questions...¡¯ Max thought for a moment. ¡°Are you okay?¡± ¡°Eh? Am I okay?¡± Lucia appeared completely taken aback by the question. ¡°I mean, all of your friends are gone, you¡¯re alone and you had to go through all of this hardship by yourself... It would be normal to feel overwhelmed by all of that, right?¡± ¡°...Ah, you¡¯re right. I just didn¡¯t expect that sort of question.¡± Lucia took a moment to gather her thoughts, before flashing a radiant smile. ¡°I¡¯m okay. I can speak with the humans on the planet surface through prayer, so I haven¡¯t been completely alone.¡± She looked at Max with an unknown emotion in her eyes. ¡°Thank you for thinking about me though. You seem like a kind person, Gun. I wish you good luck on your adventures.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡®Aaaand my immersion is ruined. Terrible game. Uninstalling.¡¯ With that horrible ending to the game¡¯s introduction, Max was transported to the surface and the game¡¯s live service began. Chapter 4: Hope I Can Pass the Test... The moment he spawned in, Max was immediately divorced from his previous thoughts and shocked into silence. ¡®Wh-Why... It looks so good?!¡¯ Max had materialised into a town square that looked just like any other town square you would see in real life. The shocking part was that it looked just like any other town square you would see in real life! ¡®WTF?! It¡¯s so realistic!¡¯ Max looked around at the people, the trees, the finely detailed stone structures with faint imperfections and varied contours. Was this his new silver game capsule, or was the game just this good-looking? It looked almost indistinguishable from real life! The opening cutscene must have been made in the old graphics as an intentional prank by the developers. Crouching down, he felt the stone ground with his hands and, as expected, a layer of dusty dirt covered his fingers, with small, tangible grains. ¡®HOLY SH*T!!¡¯ Max was freaking out. Many other people had also spawned in nearby and were making a fuss, albeit for varied reasons. ¡°Wow! Everything is so pretty!¡± ¡°Why does this feel more real than real life. I¡¯m scared.¡± ¡°Real, my arse! You can¡¯t even strip!¡± Multiple heads turned at the last comment, including Max¡¯s, to where a man was using an excessive amount of force in an attempt to remove his pants. He was unsuccessful. It looked quite funny because it was as if he was trying to displace cement from his body. ¡°Pervert!¡± ¡°Scum!¡± Several female players were also nearby, causing the man to give up and run away in fear of being lynched. ¡®Alright, I should probably get g- oh wait, I have to turn my recording function on.¡¯ Rone had told him to start recording as soon as he loaded in, which he¡¯d nearly forgotten in his excitement. ¡°Record.¡± "Recording started." A system voice sounded in his ear. ¡®Oh, well that was unexpectedly easy.¡¯ Actually, Rone also asked him to speak his thoughts out loud so it would be more entertaining. ¡°Oh, well that was unexpectedly easy.¡± Wait, why was he doing everything that Rone told him to, anyways? Was he Rone¡¯s Golden Retriever or something? Max scolded himself for his accidental obedience, before searching around for someone to harass for directions. He spotted a kid. ¡°T-¡± Actually, he shouldn¡¯t say that out loud or it would sound weird. ¡®Target acquired!¡¯ ¡°Hey kid, do you mind directing me to the archery range?¡± Max put on his least threatening face as he asked the random child. ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± The kid blankly stared at him and seemed to freeze up. ¡°Uh... You alright, kid?¡± ¡°H-Hero. A hero is talking to me ¨C ah! I¡¯m sorry! The archery is that way! No, I mean that way!¡± He fumbled with his hands and pointed one way before twisting his hand and pointing the opposite direction. At first, Max was a bit confused by the kid¡¯s reaction, but then realised that he might be distracted, as having several hundred or thousand people suddenly materialise out of the air in front of you could be a tad surprising for someone who¡¯d never seen it before. ¡°Haha, thanks kid. What¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°I-It¡¯s Arden.¡± ¡°Arden. It¡¯s a good name. I¡¯ll remember that name.¡± ¡®No I won¡¯t.¡¯ ¡°You don¡¯t seem so scared; did you know we would arrive here today?¡± ¡°Yes, the church told of your arrival. They said the Life Goddess brought you here and you¡¯re here to protect us from the Demon Army.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right kiddo, we are, but there¡¯s one thing you need to know.¡± ¡°There is?¡± ¡°Yes. Most of us are nice, but not all of us heroes are sure to be good guys. For example, do you remember that man from earlier trying to take off his pants? He¡¯s definitely a bad person.¡± ¡°H-He is?¡± ¡°Absolutely. A virtuous man only removes his pants when the situation absolutely warrants it. You¡¯d do well to remember that.¡± ¡°Okay... I will.¡± Max nodded and started leaving in the direction of that archery range, satisfied at having taught this young¡¯un a valuable life lesson. He almost tripped as he walked. Not because the walking was too different from real life but because it was too similar to real life. In the other Virtek Game, Hero of Liberation, with his copper capsule there was about a 200ms delay between willing his body to move and it actually moving. In fact, he¡¯d nearly cut that kid off before he finished talking because his vocal cords moved too quickly. This was a really weird problem to have. ¡®Oh! I should add Rone as a friend so I can harass him later.¡¯ Another way that this game was different to Hero of Liberation was that it had a magic system. According to Rone, the magic system was actually controlled by your thoughts, and you needed to focus quite hard to be able to cast your spells.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it If this was true, then Max would be able to perfectly time a voice call to Rone while that unsuspecting guy tries to conjure one of his wind spells, therefore destroying his focus and causing him to regret all five years of their friendship. [ Friend request sent to Cyclone_Rone ] ¡°Good. Good.¡± Max was about to rub his hands together like a villain but then remembered that there was a remote possibility of someone actually watching his recorded footage in the future and decided not to do that. ¡°Is this the place?¡± Max had already wandered quite far from the town centre and had stumbled across a structure that looked like part of a farm. Normally, he wouldn¡¯t suspect a place like this to be an archery range, but turning his head slightly allowed him to see eight scarecrow-like mannequins strapped with large straw masses of concentric circles, which were kind of a dead giveaway. ¡°Howdy there partner! Be ye one of the heroes?¡± An incredibly clich¨¦ rancher with a cattleman-style cowboy hat and even a piece of straw in his mouth walked out to greet him. Max instantly forgot about the archery test. ¡°I sure am! Say, that¡¯s a really nice hat you have there. Do you have any extras for sale?¡± ¡°Heh, thanks. None for sale unfortunately, but if ya can hit all the targets, I¡¯ll getchya one for free as a trophy.¡± The playful look in Max¡¯s eyes immediately changed to one of single-minded purpose. ¡°Deal.¡± ¡°Eh?¡± The ranchman was taken aback by Max¡¯s sudden change in atmosphere. Was his hat that appealing? Max flipped back to his previous self as if nothing had happened, ¡°Aha, I¡¯ll try my best then. Well, I don¡¯t want to take up too much of your time, so where should I shoot from?¡± ¡°Right ova here!¡± The ranchman guessed it was just his imagination. Leading him through a small cabin, the NPC handed Max a bow and a quiver with some arrows, as Max looked over the range to gauge the difficulty. ¡®Oh? It¡¯s actually quite difficult?¡¯ Max expected the archery test to be a simple test ¨C maybe shooting a target twenty or thirty metres away, to be beginner-friendly. However, this was not the case at all. There were actually 8 targets; one every 5m to the 25m mark, then one every 25m until the farthest target, which was attached to a laughing mannequin with a dumb straw moustache at a distance of about 101.3 metres. Max faltered and started sweating a little. Assuming he needed to hit the bullseye for each target, and since his limit to reliably landing a headshot was about 90m in Hero of Liberation, he could probably only reliably hit the small bullseye up to the 75m target. The final target was definitely pushing his luck. Max felt a bit distressed at this and knew Rone would make fun of him if he failed the class test. Though this line of thought did not last long, as he knew that stressing would cause his hands to shake. Emptying his mind, he decided to just do his best and took aim at the first target. Noticing the troubled expression on Max¡¯s face, the rancher realised that Max probably felt demoralised and decided to offer some moral support. ¡°Don¡¯t fret it, partner. Even I haven¡¯t managed to hit all¡¯o¡¯them darn targets in a row and I¡¯ve been at this for over nine years!¡± He laughed and fiddled with his hat. Max let the arrow loose and it hit the bullseye of the first target. ¡°Hoh! That¡¯s a nice shot right there, hit the middle of the-¡± Two seconds later, Max loosed another arrow, which hit the centre of the second target. ¡°Uh, that-¡± Then a third. And a fourth. After that was a fifth and lastly, the sixth, which flew twice as far as the previous shot. Only then did he stop. He hit six of the eight targets over a span of 14 seconds. By this point, the ranchman was no longer laughing, instead staring in shocked awe while unconsciously gripping his hat tightly, as though the hat were a hypergamous lover that threatened to leave him for a superior and more manly alternative. ¡°Whoa, I wasn¡¯t sure of it before, but that¡¯s awesome!¡± Max paid the pitiful NPC no regard, since he¡¯d just made a huge discovery! Quickly opening up the system interface for the first time and dismissing some bothersome alerts and welcome messages, Max navigated to the game¡¯s in-built web browser and did a search: [ World of Heroes aim stability ] He tapped on the first result and flicked to scroll through down the page. ¡°I knew it! Hahahaha! This is awesome! The best!¡± ¡°Uhm, may I ask what is going on?¡± The ranchman was no longer reeling from shock and observed Max with confusion. ¡°The goddess! The goddess has blessed me with superior aim! Praise the goddess!¡± ¡°Oh!¡± The man nodded in feigned understanding. It seemed a bit strange that it was possible for the Goddess of Life to help people aim bows better, but the abilities of the gods were far beyond his comprehension, so he would just accept this as truth. Additionally... praise the goddess! [ With the upcoming launch of World of Heroes, many bow-lovers are concerned that the bow may be underpowered in the new game, as the tricky weapon had been considered difficult to utilise in the game¡¯s predecessor, Hero of Liberation. In response to these concerns, archers will be thrilled to hear that Virtek have announced a new ¡®shake reduction¡¯ feature! Shake reduction is designed to reduce involuntary muscle movements in the player¡¯s arms to deliver improved aiming stability! Additionally, rumours suggest that the effect is boosted in proportion to your ¡®Dexterity¡¯ stat! Could this be a complete game-changer for archery in World of Heroes? ] Max¡¯s eyes sparkled as he read through the article. It was true! He could feel the difference from his very first shot! It was like an invisible force was helping to hold his arms steady. Excited, and wanting to test out his new range, Max moved the bow again to aim at the next target. He¡¯d already found that there was a slight crosswind moving to the right, and he also needed to compensate for gravity at this distance. Having seen the launch speed of the previous arrows and feeling that the arrows were about 25g each in weight, Max aimed his shot diagonally left above the 75m target and let his aim hover over the sweet-spot. Sure enough, his aim wavered much less than normal, as he gently let go of the arrow, sending it catapulting into the distance in a curved arc... Exactly two seconds later, the arrow sunk into the target with a barely audible thunk. ¡°...¡± Realising that his eyesight was too poor to see the arrow out that far, the ranchman pulled out a collapsible spyglass from one of his pockets, extended it, and held it up to his eye. ¡°Pfuh, well I¡¯ll be damned. You really hit the bullseye again.¡± He lowered the viewing instrument, only to raise it again, doing a double-take. ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever seen shootin¡¯ like this my entire life. You¡¯re really somethin¡¯ special, you know that?¡± ¡°Haha, no need for flattery, sir. Though, if I manage to hit the last target, would you be willing to give me the archer class?¡± ¡°Eh?¡± ¡°The archer class, sir. I hope this doesn¡¯t come across as rude, but my main goal in coming here was to earn the qualifications to become an archer.¡± ¡°? Didn¡¯t I already... No, wait...¡± Max didn¡¯t realise this, but the ranchman was supposed to tell him he¡¯d earned the qualifications to become an archer after hitting the target at 25m. The problem was that Max shot the targets so fast that there was no time to inform him of this, causing him to actually break the NPC¡¯s dialogue tree. Now the AI needed to come up with a new type of response, outside the list of pre-scripted answers. ¡°...All right, yeah, if you manage to hit that last target, I¡¯ll officially endorse you as an archer.¡± ¡°And the hat?¡± ¡°?¡± The ranchman waited for Max to elaborate, but he did not. ¡°Hat?¡± ¡°You said that if I hit all the targets, I can have a cool hat like yours.¡± ¡°Oh! Yes. Of course, that deal still stands.¡± ¡°Thank you, sir.¡± ¡®Muahahaha! The hat is mine!¡¯ Feeling his determination reach peak levels, Max tilted his back and shot an arrow up into the air. The projectile carved a smooth arc as it flew toward the 100m target. After a moment of hesitation, the NPC realised it wasn¡¯t a practice shot, and hurriedly brought out his spyglass to find the arrow. Sure enough, it was there, just five centimetres out from the bullseye. Not able to process this, he sunk to his knees in disbelief. Ding! Meanwhile, a notification interface appeared in front of Max. [ Player has obtained the qualifications for the ¡®Deadshot¡¯ class. Accept? Y/N ] ¡®Eh? Is this the archer class?¡¯ He¡¯d assumed the class would just blandly be called ¡®Archer¡¯. ¡°Hm...¡± Oh well, since he¡¯d successfully passed the test, this should be a naming choice by the game company, probably for originality purposes. ¡°Yes!¡± Max pressed yes and a bright flash of ephemeral green light was emitted from his body. Chapter 5: Dungeon Race Max left the archery range with a spring in his step and a dumb grin plastered across his face ¨C he got the hat! The ranchman NPC gave him a jet-black cattleman hat, complete with stylish curved edges and a small red band under the crown. Not only that; it even came with stat boost! ¨C ¡®Charm +1¡¯. Max had no idea what that was supposed to do, but he certainly felt more charming while wearing that hat, so the effect was definitely working. ¡®Actually, let¡¯s see what my stats look like!¡¯
STATUS
Name: Gun Class: Deadshot
Level: 0 EXP: 0%
Health: 200/200 Mana: 200/200
Abnormal State: None Condition: Healthy
ATTRIBUTES
Vitality: 20 Strength: 20
Dexterity: 20 Agility: 20
Intelligence: 20 Wisdom: 20
Charm: 0 (+1) Luck: 0
DETAILS
Subclasses: None Titles: None
Active Skills: None Passive Skills: None
Level-based RPGs (Role-Playing Games) would always have a special system to digitally represent the player¡¯s abilities with numerical digits. Max had spent an excessive amount of time looking for ways to even minorly increase these amounts in Hero of Liberation. This time, however, the game was not one that was designed to be beaten, since the format was an MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) game rather than a single player campaign. As such, Max wasn¡¯t prepared to try as hard this time around; he would just mess around and have some fun. Unfortunately, Max only felt annoyance rather than fun when he looked at his information screen. ¡®Charm is so low?!¡¯ He had a single paltry point in charm, a far cry from the values of his other stats. If it weren¡¯t for his cool hat, the value would be zero. ¡®Unforgivable!¡¯ In fact, the players inside the game were forced to create an avatar with the same body structure as they had in real life, because the game used the player¡¯s existing sensory receptors to be able to see, touch, taste and smell things. Even Virtek¡¯s technology wasn¡¯t advanced enough to allow people to feel or control body tissue they didn¡¯t have. At best, they could give a few minor vanity options for facial structure and change the outward appearance of a player to look stronger than they actually were. In Max¡¯s case, he mostly missed out on customising his avatar because he got locked out of those options after registering his username. Fortunately, Max worked out most mornings in real life before leaving for work, so he already had a muscular and well-toned body, capable of appearing on the front cover of a gym magazine without looking suspicious. Even with this, his charm without the new hat would be zero. This was unacceptable to Max. Before he could look up how to increase his charm, a melodic tune started playing in the air. [ Notice: Player ¡®Cyclone_Rone¡¯ has accepted your friendship request ] [ Notice: Player ¡®Cyclone_Rone¡¯ is calling. Accept? Y/N ] Max accepted and was immediately welcomed to the sound of yelling. ¡°Maxie-boyyyy!!!¡± How did you go, did you pass the test?¡± ¡°Ahh!! Don¡¯t talk! Don¡¯t talk!¡± Max searched for the audio settings like his life depended on it and turned his call volume down. ¡°Hm? Why, did you fail?¡± ¡°No, I passed, I passed. Your voice was just more loud and annoying than usual for some reason.¡± ¡°Rude. Well I passed my test too, so do you wanna meet up to do a dungeon nearby?¡± ¡°Sure. Do you know where one is, though?¡± ¡°Yeah, there¡¯s a starter dungeon nearby. Well, I say nearby, but it has an entrance at literally every starter town in the game, so it¡¯s basically just omnipresent.¡± ¡°Gotcha. How do I get there?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll add you to my party and set a waypoint on your map for you to travel towards.¡± ¡°Okay. By the way, if you send me to a random swamp or something, I¡¯ll unfriend you.¡± Rone cursed silently on the other end of the call.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ... ... Max arrived at the dungeon entrance and stared at the man across from him. The man had refined facial features and neatly styled purple hair, vastly different than the version of the man that Max was familiar with. ¡°...Why do you look strange.¡± ¡°Good sir, have you ever encountered the term ¡®looksmaxxing¡¯, perchance?¡± ¡°You¡¯re trying to cosplay as a nobleman, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Perchance. Anyways you¡¯re no better, you suddenly became a red-haired cowboy today?¡± Max smiled remembering his glamorous new hat and grabbed the brim by reflex. ¡°I sure did, partner.¡± ¡°Stop.¡± ¡°So how do we get in? Do we just walk up to it?¡± Max looked around and saw there were already a few dozen players nearby. ¡°Are there people inside, too?¡± ¡°Yes to the first question, no to the second. The dungeons teleport you to a separate, isolated server so that everyone can challenge them at the same time without hindering each other. There is one problem with this dungeon though, which I didn¡¯t realise before. Just a very slight problem.¡± ¡°Which is?¡± ¡°It¡¯s actually a 1-person dungeon, so we can¡¯t go in together.¡± ¡°Phew.¡± Max made a show of sighing exaggeratedly and wiping away his non-existent sweat. Rone narrowed his eyes. ¡°Hoho, I think I just came up with the perfect idea.¡± ¡°Go on.¡± ¡°We both enter the dungeon at the same time, and whoever clears it first wins.¡± ¡°Interesting, but that won¡¯t be any fun, will it?¡± ¡°Huh? Why not?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve played Dive games for four years, whereas you only just started today. Have you even fought anything yet?¡± ¡°Er, well no... Alright, I see your logic.¡± ¡°Right? It¡¯s like a grown adult competing with a toddler in a triathlon.¡± ¡°Okay I wouldn¡¯t go that far.¡± ¡°How about this, if I can¡¯t beat your time by more than half, you win.¡± ¡°...So you mean, If I take less than twice as long as you, I¡¯ll win?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°You¡¯re quite confident, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Anyone would be confident against a toddler, though?¡± ¡°Could you drop that analogy already?¡± ¡°Nah, don¡¯t wanna.¡± ... ... While the two grown men bickered like toddlers in front of the dungeon entrance, another pair of players looked on from nearby. ¡°Yo, George. How do I get a hat like that?¡± ¡°Sorry? Where?¡± ¡°Over there, the two idiots near the entrance.¡± ¡°Oh, I see. My apologies young master, but I do not believe there was any such apparel at the marketplace, so it is likely a mission reward. Would you like me to approach and ask them?¡± ¡°No need, just have our contacts tell us the necessary-¡± ¡°NO! You can¡¯t wear it!¡± Making a loud disturbance, the man with the cattleman hat took off his hat and held it above him, as the slightly shorter purple-haired man attempted to jump and grab it. ¡°This is a unique, one-of-a-kind mission reward, I¡¯ll have you know! It even increases my charm stat; as if I¡¯d let someone else touch it!¡± ¡°...¡± George suddenly had a bad premonition. ¡°...George.¡± ¡°Y-yes, young master Tristan? ¡°Get me the hat.¡± ... ... ¡°Phew, that crazy bastard. Didn¡¯t expect that, did he?¡± Rone had unfortunately fallen victim to the hidden effect of the cattleman hat, which was an AoE (Area of Effect) compulsion spell. Anyone who saw his cool hat would instantly become enamoured with it and want it for themselves. This being the case, Max couldn¡¯t really blame him for his actions. Luckily, they happened to be right next to a dungeon entrance, so Max simply backstepped into the dungeon entrance to be teleported away and escaped. ¡°Hehehe wait- I should be hurrying right now, shouldn¡¯t I?¡± Realising he agreed to a speed competition, Max broke into a run and equipped the bow he¡¯d been given after passing the archer test. Outside the dungeon, there had been a large wall mural with paintings of a certain small, ugly creatures. As such, Max knew exactly what sort of enemy to expect here. Pew. An arrow shot through a goblin¡¯s head. The goblin was facing the other way and died instantly, not knowing what killed it. Pew. Pew. Another two arrows tore through some goblins who were sitting at a lit campfire. One of the goblins was pushed back by the force of the arrow and fell into the campfire. Max applauded his own charitability for offering free cremation services. Pew. Pew. Pew. Pew. Max shot while running as he tore through the dungeon. Let alone put up a fight, most of the goblins weren¡¯t even able to see him before they had their heads invaded by arrows. Entering an intersection, Max didn¡¯t know which way to go, so he just proceeded straight. As he ran, a goblin leapt off of a boulder towards him and was met with an arrow through the cranium. ¡°Eh? Isn¡¯t this pretty easy? Is it because it¡¯s the first dungeon?¡± For Max, it felt trivially straightforward to defeat the enemies. This was in stark contrast to his experience from Hero of Liberation, where fighting was difficult from the get-go. It felt like there wasn¡¯t even any danger here; there weren¡¯t any traps, either. ¡°They must be making it easy for beginner players this time.¡± Since they wanted the game to be popular and attract as many new players as possible, it made sense to go easy at the beginning so people wouldn¡¯t be turned away. ¡°But... It¡¯s so boring.¡± Max didn¡¯t enjoy this type of gameplay. For normal players, a massacre like this would make someone feel at least a small sense of superiority and dominance, but to Max, this was like congratulating yourself for defeating a snail, or some other insect; it did not provide even a minute sense of fulfilment. He would much prefer a tough challenge instead. ¡®I wonder why they made the archer test so hard, when the combat is so easy?¡¯ Pew. ¡°Woah, haha.¡± One of the arrows went straight through a goblin¡¯s brain and into another¡¯s, scoring Max a bizarre double-kill. Eventually, after shooting a hundred or so goblins, Max arrived at a large open room with a tall ceiling. His gamer instincts called out to him. ¡®Boss room!¡¯ Dungeon bosses were almost always put in large, spacious rooms, so the player would have enough ground to manoeuvre and dodge attacks when necessary. It was practically an unwritten rule in game design at this point. Looking across the room, a taller, more muscular goblin was standing there confidently, wielding a metal sword. It sneered at Max as some saliva dripped from its face. Max had quite good eyesight so he could see the saliva hit the floor from where he was standing. It was a bit gross, but he¡¯d seen much worse when watching Rone. That made him remember: According to Rone¡¯s long-winded lecture last night, dungeon bosses were the guardians of dungeons; strong monsters, who would try to prevent a special crystal called the ¡®dungeon core¡¯ from being destroyed by the players. Wanting to probe how fast the boss was, Max let off two shots at its head. If it used its weapon to block rather than dodge, Max would be able to use this to force the boss on the defensive, keeping it from attacking. On the other hand, if- ¡°Eh?¡± The two shots found comfortable homes on either side of the boss¡¯s forehead as the large goblin slowly staggered backward, before crumpling over and falling to the ground, devoid of life. [ Level Up! ] ¡°...¡± After a few seconds, the boss¡¯s body disintegrated into red particles and left nothing behind except a small jewel, which emitted a faint lustre on the stone floor. Slightly angry at having gotten worked up for nothing, and not caring about the value of the jewel, Max fired a shot at it, causing it to split into small fragments, which skidded along the floor with a brief, high-pitched noise, reminiscent of shattered glass. [ Congratulations! You have cleared the dungeon ] ¡°What?¡± [ You have set a speed record for this dungeon. Would you like this achievement to be made public? Y/N ] ¡°...¡± Max felt a profound sense of dissatisfaction. He also pressed ¡®no¡¯ to making the achievement public. Who would care about Max¡¯s personal high-score in a mere starter dungeon? People would only laugh at his narcissism. Why would they even have an option for beating your speed record when you hadn¡¯t beaten the dungeon previously? What a dumb system! Max grumbled for a little longer... before realising he was actually being a bit petty. Why get upset over such a small and insignificant matter? Just ignore it and move on. Regaining his clarity, he set off to collect all of his arrows and find some dungeon loot. [ You have cleared this dungeon. You will be evicted in 10s ] ¡°...¡± Max changed his mind and decided to continue sulking. Chapter 6: We Do A Little Trolling... In the dim torchlight of an underground dungeon, a small, translucent blade of wind tore through the air. ¡°Kree?!¡± Shik. The blade cut deeply into an ugly goblin¡¯s neck, spurting a fountain of blood into the surroundings as the goblin sunk to the ground. A second wind blade hit the same wound and fully severed the head from its body. ¡°Nice!¡± That was a really nice shot, Rone didn¡¯t think he could do it again even if he tried. Magic-casting as a mage required a large amount of focus and visualisation. In Hero of Liberation, casting using a simple, spoken incantation and gave a linear, reproducible result which was very simple to use, though a bit lacklustre. Contrarily, in the four years leading up to the launch of World of Heroes, Virtek had advanced their technology and were now capable of reading signals from the brain¡¯s visual cortex. This breakthrough led to the creation of the new magic system, whereby the player only need imagine the spell to bring it into reality. Rone found another goblin and prepared his next spell. The spell selection and damage calculation for mages in this game was calculated using a metric called ¡®thought pulse¡¯. The clearer and more vivid the visualisation created by the player in their mind, the higher this value would become and the more devastating the spell¡¯s effects. This meant that more advanced spells later on in the game would definitely be more difficult to control, but for now, Rone only had to control his small starter spell, [Wind Blade], which summoned a sharp blade of compressed air to launch at high speed. Even though it was a starter spell, it was still fairly hard to visualise, because the blade was partially transparent and also not a solid object. Approaching the goblin, Rone condensed his spell and prepared to fire. Ring Ring! ¡°Fu-¡± The spell collapsed and veered off-course, scraping the ground and dissipating into the floor. Rone kicked the goblin away with his foot and fired an inaccurate second wind blade, gouging a hole in its leg before retreating for distance. Picking up the call, Rone spoke into the air with undisguised annoyance, ¡°You did that on purpose, didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about. Did something happen?¡± A voice with a discreet hint of glee came through from the other end. ¡°No, nothing. How far through the dungeon are you?¡± Max tutted in slight dissatisfaction. ¡°I¡¯m done. I was teleported out before I could even pick up my arrows. You could have warned me about that, you know.¡± ¡°Eh? You¡¯re done?¡± ¡°Yeah, the boss didn¡¯t even put up a fight. He just fell over, like a schoolgirl seeing a spider in the kitchen sink. Are you nearly done? Because if not, I might as well go in again.¡± Rone thought for a moment. ¡®It¡¯s been like 4 minutes?! I¡¯ve only killed 10 goblins, how is he clearing the entire thing in that time??¡¯ ¡°Rone?¡± ¡°Uh, yeah. I think I¡¯ll be a while, so go do whatever. This class is a bit weak at the start.¡± ¡°Kay!¡± Max abruptly hung up the call. ¡°...¡± Ignoring the injured goblin, which was slowly crawling toward him, Rone stared into the long dungeon passage ahead with a vacant expression. ¡®Is that guy actually a monster?¡¯ ... ... Max ended the call and took a moment to stretch, flexing his arms and legs. It was peculiar that stretching felt good at all in the game, given that his body was motionless in real life. ¡°Excuse me, sir?¡± Someone walked up to him and called out to him. Max turned around and saw a pair of men, one seemingly in their 20s and the other in their 40s. Somehow, they both seemed to be fitted with good equipment already, despite the game having only just launched. The older man had addressed him, so Max stopped staring and responded, ¡°Hi, can I help you?¡± ¡°Yes, we were just wondering where we could find a hat like yours, it looks rather impressive.¡± Max smiled widely. The black cattleman hat was an extension of his body now, so a compliment to his hat was like a compliment to himself. ¡°It was given to me by the NPC at the archery range. He should have a few more like this, but this is the only black one.¡± ¡°Alright, thank you very much.¡± The man whispered into his friend¡¯s ear, like a butler informing their superior of important details prior to entering business negotiations. ¡°How much?¡± The other man spoke up. ¡°Huh? For the hat?¡± ¡°Yes. I want that hat.¡± ¡°Sorry, but it¡¯s not for sale.¡± Max smiled. ¡°I¡¯ve grown too attached to it already.¡± ¡°What about 200 gold?¡± ¡°? No, I¡¯m not interested in selling. Thank you for the offer, though.¡±Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡°...¡± The atmosphere suddenly turned chilly as the two men reached an impasse. ¡°...George.¡± The younger man spoke again. ¡°Just take it off him.¡± The older man sprung towards Max and reached for the hat. Max swiftly sidestepped and watched as George sailed past, grabbing air. ¡°Hey now, did you think you could just steal it since you couldn¡¯t buy it?¡± Max¡¯s tune was still playful as he took off his hat and held it behind him, dashing backward to avoid George¡¯s following tackle. ¡°No-no-no, I¡¯m afraid it doesn¡¯t work like that, fellas. If you want to get a hat like this, you have to earn it fair and square. Tristan and George watched as Max held the hat out in front of him, before it spontaneously disappeared into the air. Max dusted his hands theatrically and made eye contact with Tristan. ¡°What?! What did you just do?¡± ¡°What else? I put the hat in my inventory.¡± Tristan took a moment to register before he cursed and turned to George. ¡°Hey, we can still get it if it¡¯s in his inventory, right?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry young master, I¡¯m not sure. It might be only equipped items that-¡± ¡°Wh- *cough* Hahaha, did you just say young master? What is this, a Wuxia novel? Who are you calling young master in the 21st century?¡± Max laughed and pointed at Tristan mockingly. ¡°Maybe I should be scared, you have a big family behind you, right?¡± He taunted. Tristan narrowed his eyes. ¡°As a matter-of-fact, I do. My name is Tristan Avaricius, cousin of Damien Avaricius, heir to the Avaricius Corporation. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve heard of us, no?¡± Tristan smiled, wondering how subservient this arrogant guy would become now that he heard his real identity. ¡°Nope.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Never heard of them. Either way, do you think being a relative of a relative of some big-name company gives you the right to steal from people? If so, that¡¯s pretty lame, bro; what would your cousin think?¡± Max grinned and threw out a blatant provocation. ¡°...¡± Tristan stared at Max, who stared back impassively. ¡°...George.¡± ¡°Yes, young master.¡± ¡°Kill him.¡± As if waiting for permission, George took an iron sword out of his inventory and lunged toward Max. ¡°Woah! So quick to violence!¡± Max adroitly evaded the blow, ¡°It seems this is the true face of the Vicius family! Tsk tsk.¡± Max skilfully dodged and weaved through George¡¯s attacks, adding insult to injury by sticking out his foot, over which George cartoonishly tripped, nearly falling as he stumbled. ¡°George! Take this seriously!¡± ¡°Y-Yes, sorry young master. Do not worry, I¡¯ve managed to successfully corner him now.¡± Tristan took a glance at the surroundings. Indeed! George had applied pressure to push Max toward the dungeon wall. There would be little room for him to dodge now. ¡°Good, now finish him off.¡± ¡°You guys aren¡¯t very smart, are you...¡± Max commented. Taking a step backward, he took his hat out from his inventory and placed it back on his head just as his body faded and he was teleported into the dungeon. ... ... ¡°Pfft~ oh my god haha, the look on his face.¡± Max appeared in the dungeon space and couldn¡¯t help but burst out laughing. At the moment of teleportation, Tristan¡¯s face contorted into a look of shock and unwillingness as he realised Max¡¯s plan. Max felt as if that guy might actually die from disappointment. ¡°Oh, man.¡± Max composed himself, only to instantly remember Tristan¡¯s face again and lose it completely. ¡°P-hahahaha!¡± Max grabbed his stomach and knelt on the ground. He really wanted to make that face his new phone wallpaper. ...After laughing for a bit too long, Max forcibly stopped himself. He¡¯d been too noisy and attracted a goblin, which attempted to sneak up on him from behind. Without even turning around, he fired an arrow, and it dropped to the floor. ¡°Haah, right, dungeon.¡± Max got up and yanked his arrow out from the goblin. The green monster disintegrated into bright red particles, which scattered about before gradually fading into the air. ¡°Oh, so the common mobs don¡¯t stay as corpses either.¡± Max recalled the goblin boss, which disappeared in the same way during his first dungeon clear. It seemed like that happened for all monsters, not just bosses. Hopping back into grind-mode, Max went through the dungeon again, killing all the goblins. He paced himself this time, as now he needed to collect his arrows after each shot; he was already down to less than 100 of the 200 arrows he started with, which had been generously given to him by his favourite rancher. There were no treasures or special loot in the dungeon, which was quite disappointing. He did loot one small dagger from a goblin, but that was about it. After defeating the boss again, Max claimed its weapon and sucked it into his inventory, planning to sell it somewhere and earn money to buy more arrows. There didn¡¯t seem to be any secret room or anything, so Max unceremoniously stomped on the dungeon core crystal with his foot to end the dungeon run. ¡°...As expected.¡± When Max returned outside the dungeon, his two attackers were still standing there waiting. Tristan pointed and yelled at Max, who didn¡¯t feel like dealing with that and stepped back into the teleportation radius again, peacefully culling more goblins and pretending nothing had happened. ... After some time, he approached the boss room again before receiving a call from Rone. ¡°Max! Are you still in the dungeon; there are some crazy weirdos chasing me, claiming that I¡¯m your accomplice!¡± ¡®Oh, right. He existed.¡¯ ¡°Max! are you there? My agility stat is higher after levelling up, so they can¡¯t catch me, but I can¡¯t cast a spell since being chased by people who want to murder you is too distracting!¡± Max was forced to nod in agreement. People trying to stab and kill you was indeed distracting. ¡°Max!¡± ¡°Alright, I¡¯m coming, I¡¯m coming. Circle back to the dungeon entrance.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Max made swift work of the boss and went back to the surface. Upon seeing the unfolding chase, which looked pretty funny, Max was tempted to watch for a little longer but opted not to because Rone might get angry. He drew his bow and issued a warning, ¡°Get away from him or taste arrow! You have five seconds!¡± ¡°Max, shoot them!¡± Rone called out in panic, ¡°They¡¯re heavily geared, we can¡¯t defeat them easily! Since they¡¯re both melee, we need to-¡± Pew. Pew. An arrow impaled the skull of the large, speedy man known as George, while a second disappeared behind Tristan¡¯s hairline a few paces behind. Unexpectedly, both players turned into particles. ¡°Uh?¡± ¡°Wha?¡± All four people were shocked. ¡®D-dead in one shot??!¡¯ Rone stopped running and turned around as the blue particles dispersed in the air. ¡°M-Max? Did you use a skill or something?¡± Receiving no answer, Rone turned back around. ¡°Max?¡± Unexpectedly, Max had an expression full of grief as he stared at the interface in front of him. Chapter 7: For Science! Max¡¯s eyes darted back and forth between the two messages that appeared upon killing the players. It was too horrible! He felt his eyes burn just from looking at the text. [ You have killed player: ¡®GGeorge¡¯, Charm has been reduced by 1 ] [ You have killed player: ¡®Tristan Avaricius¡¯, Charm has been reduced by 1 ] *Sob* ¡°Max? We won, so why is your face in the wrong shape?¡± Rone was utterly confused by his reaction, ¡°Wait, don¡¯t tell me we broke the law by killing people and we¡¯re actually fugitives now?!¡± ¡°Worse.¡± ¡°Huhh? What¡¯s worse than being fugitives?¡± Rone walked up to Max and looked at the notification in front of him, ¡°...Dude.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t patronise me!¡± Max whined pre-emptively, ¡°This is all your fault.¡± ¡°My fault? It¡¯s your hat they wanted; should I have just let them stab me and died?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ...Rone watched as Max removed his hat self-consciously and placed it back in his inventory. ¡°You know there¡¯s a 24-hour death ban, right?¡± ¡°Huh? A death ban?¡± There was no such thing in Hero of Liberation. Aside from a brief, overly dramatic ¡®YOU DIED¡¯ message, any death in that game would result in an instant respawn. ¡°Y-you mean those players are locked out of the game for an entire day?¡± ¡°Yup. In fact, they¡¯re probably seething right now.¡± Max flinched slightly. Hopefully they weren¡¯t the type to hold grudges... ¡°Anyways, it¡¯s excessive to have the death penalty that long.¡± Rone continued, ¡°They¡¯ll probably change it in the next update. More importantly...¡± Rone suddenly yanked Max¡¯s bow out of his arms and analysed it while flipping it around. ¡°What the hell is that damage? You killed those guys in a single shot.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure actually, but bows seem really good in this game.¡± Max shrugged and opened his stat panel. Rone should be able to see it too, since they were in a party and Max had configured his settings that way.
STATUS
Name: Gun Class: Deadshot
Level: 2 EXP: 63%
Health: 220/220 Mana: 220/220
Abnormal State: None Condition: Healthy
ATTRIBUTES
Vitality: 22 Strength: 23
Dexterity: 24 Agility: 23
Intelligence: 22 Wisdom: 22
Charm: -2 Luck: 0
DETAILS
Subclasses: Rapid Fire, Kinematics Mastery, Marksmanship, Sharpshooting Titles: None
Active Skills: None Passive Skills: None
¡°It¡¯s in the negatives!¡± Max cried out in despair. ¡°Why is my charm NEGATIVE?! That shouldn¡¯t even be possible! Does this mean I¡¯ll repel people now?!¡±You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Rone didn¡¯t respond, because his eyes were focused on another part of the status screen. ¡®WTF??? How does he have three subclasses already?? And why is his class called Deadshot??¡¯ ¡°This is BS! I am charming! Look at me; charm oozes out of my pores! This is a bug of some kind!¡± ¡°You¡¯re not funny. Also what is all this stuff? How did you get subclasses?¡± ¡°Eh? Subclasses?¡± Max looked back over the panel properly. ¡°Uh, dunno!¡± ¡°What do you mean ¡®dunno¡¯?¡± Rone responded angrily. ¡°Subclasses don¡¯t just fall out of the sky. And why haven¡¯t you even equipped your titles? Do it now!¡± ¡°Sheesh, fine. Nagging much¡± Max treated Rone like an overbearing parent as he opened his titles screen.
Equipped Titles: None Available Titles:
  • Unique ¨C Acquire a unique class, Effects: +100 Charm
  • Dropper ¨C Kill an enemy while they are midair, Effects: +5% damage against enemies who are midair. Only applies to enemies who are not capable of flight
  • Bulletin Board ¨C Pin an enemy to another object, Effects: +2% penetration power
  • Cruel: Inflict lethal damage 100 times, Effects: +10% lethal and weak-point damage
  • Collateral ¨C kill two enemies with one hit, Effect: +10% damage on arrows which pierce multiple enemies
  • Headshot Harry ¨C Hit 100 headshots, Effects: +10% headshot damage
  • One Shot One Kill ¨C kill an enemy with a single ranged attack 100 times, Effects: +10% first ranged attack damage
  • I Am The Boss ¨C Defeat a boss monster, Effects: +1 STR, +1 VIT
  • Sneaky - Kill 100 enemies without being detected, Effects: +10% surprise attack damage
  • Aye That Hurt ¨C Hit enemies in the eye 100 times, Effects: +50% eye damage
  • Player Killer ¨C Kill another player, Effects: +5% damage against players
*cough*, *cough*. Max choked on air as he stared at the unexpectedly long list of titles. Rone¡¯s eyes looked as though they would explode out of his head as he read through the list. He himself only had three of these. ¡®How the f*ck did he hit 100 shots in the eyes?¡¯ ¡°This-I heard the pings while I was fighting, but I didn¡¯t know there would be this much.¡± Max tried to explain himself. ¡°I didn¡¯t think they would give these out so easily, titles were pretty rare in Hero of Li- Whu? A hundred charm?!¡± Max quickly equipped all of his titles, worried they might disappear if he took too long. ¡®I have 98 Charm!!!¡¯ Max screamed and rejoiced in his head. He didn¡¯t dare celebrate out loud, because Rone was wearing an ugly face like he¡¯d just eaten a can of spoiled tuna. Rone appeared to think for a short while, before he finally spoke, ¡°Bring up your class description.¡± Max swallowed dryly and complied. A holographic window appeared in front of them.
Class: Deadshot Grade: Unique Effects: When using a bow, all final base damage is increased by 100%. Additionally, all final weak-point and lethal damage is increased by a further 50%. Description: ¡®Masterful¡¯ is not sufficient to describe the owner of this class. To the player incapable of missing: Your actions will be watched closely by the powers of this world. Good luck.
Now it was Max¡¯s turn for his eyeballs to explode. ¡®WHAAAATTTTTTT????!!!! Holy sh*t! I¡¯m OP!!¡¯ ¡°Max.¡± Rone spoke calmly with a serenity that made Max¡¯s bones chill. ¡°Ah, I didn¡¯t know! I thought it was just the name they had for the archer class! All I did was shoot the targets and I got the class!¡± ¡°All of the targets?¡± ¡°Well yeah.¡± ¡°...¡± After a moment of silence, Max suddenly had a strong premonition of violence and dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding Rone¡¯s pounce. ¡°I-I¡¯m sorry!¡± ¡°I DON¡¯T CARE; DIE!!!!¡± ... ... After a protracted chase, of which Max triumphed due to his 2-agility advantage, the grown men eventually regained civility and resumed their discourse. ¡°Just how much damage do you do, anyways?¡± Rone was curious ¡°I have no idea. It should be quite high though.¡± ¡°Well what about a bodyshot? How much damage do you do when you hit the legs or torso?¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t tried that yet.¡± ¡°What do you mean you haven¡¯t tried it yet. Then, have you only hit headshots so far?¡± ¡°...¡± Max stayed quiet in order to not aggravate this irritable man. ¡°...How about a test. First, turn on your damage indicators.¡± ¡°How do I do that?¡± ¡°There¡¯s an option in settings for it under ¡®video¡¯. Turn tags and accolade notifications on as well if you haven¡¯t already.¡± Max flicked the holographic switches on his interface and turned around to look at Rone again, ¡°Oh!¡± [ Player: ¡®Cyclone_Rone¡¯, Level: 1 ] ¡°That¡¯s cool, I can see your details now.¡± The information floated above Rone¡¯s head in a blue box with low opacity. ¡°Alright, now let¡¯s test your output. Shoot me in the leg, and we¡¯ll see how much damage it does.¡± ¡°...That feels like a really terrible idea, actually.¡± Max refused it outright. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it won¡¯t be enough to kill me instantly. Let me explain.¡± Rone cleared his throat, ¡°I forgot to tell you this yesterday, but there are three categories of damage in the game: normal or base damage, weak-point damage and lethal damage. Hitting an enemy somewhere non-vital, like in the leg or an arm, or just somewhere else that causes a flesh wound, will do normal damage, whereas hitting them somewhere more serious like a non-vital organ will do weak-point damage. Finally, landing a hit on a vital organ like the head or the heart will do lethal damage, which is the most harmful type.¡± ¡°The damage indicators give you a numerical value of the damage you inflict and are colour-coded to indicate the damage type. White is normal damage, yellow is weak-point damage, orange is lethal damage and black is mixed in if it causes death.¡± ¡°That actually sounds really handy. Does the damage increase by a set amount for weak-point and lethal damage or does it vary?¡± ¡°There¡¯s a flat 50% damage increase for weak-point damage, 100% for lethal damage. So the damage calculation works out your base damage and then applies a multiplier to that to get your final damage.¡± ¡°Alright. Is there damage reduction for party members and allies?¡± ¡°Nope. Not that I know of.¡± ¡°...Then I probably shouldn¡¯t shoot you, right?¡± ¡°Dude, your class is good but I¡¯m not going to die from a shot in the foot. You¡¯re not THAT overpowered.¡± ¡°All right, all right, fine.¡± Max took aim at the innocent foot. ¡°Do you have a health potion?¡± ¡°Just shoot it!¡± Pew! [ 920 ] A dark red number sprung out as the arrow nicked the side of Rone¡¯s ankle. ¡®Red? That wasn¡¯t any of the colours he mentioned though?¡¯ Max was confused. ¡°Sh*t.¡± Rone swore. ¡°What do you mean sh*-UH?¡± Rone exploded into blue particles. ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± After some time passed, Max received a call request through the system. He pressed accept. ¡°So, I may have forgotten a damage type.¡± Chapter 8: Unguided Max swore and cussed as he berated Rone over the audio call. ¡°Ok, stop, stop, let me explain!¡± Rone attempted to pacify him. ¡°Yeah explain, ¡®cause clearly you¡¯re a bloody expert, aren¡¯t you?¡± Max replied derisively. ¡°...I¡¯ll ignore that comment on account of the fact that your charm went down again. The reason I-¡± ¡°Why would you remind me of that?!¡± Max was devastated. ¡°You know I did 920 damage? Your health is f*cking 220! How are you planning to survive that, go on, explain it to me.¡± ¡°...So there is a fourth damage type.¡± ¡°Uh-huh.¡± ¡°It¡¯s called critical damage. Every attack has a 1% base chance of triggering a critical hit, which will multiply the damage dealt by either 2x, 5x or 10x, with 2x having the highest probability. You said the damage indicator was red; that¡¯s the critical hit colour.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°If you did that much damage, you probably hit a 5x multiplier, which has a 0.09% chance of occurring on any given attack.¡± ¡®Okay, that seems quite unlucky then...¡¯ ¡°Even if it were 2x, you¡¯d still have died.¡± ¡°Okay, fine, fine, so I made a mistake. I admit it. It¡¯s me who¡¯s most affected anyways; I can¡¯t log in for a full day now.¡± That was true... Max felt a bit bad for him. ¡°Well, you can watch me play. I¡¯ll stream and you can give me directions.¡± ¡°...Actually, I think I¡¯m gonna go have breakfast. I¡¯ll watch you a bit later though.¡± ¡°?¡± ¡®Uh oh, this wasn¡¯t supposed to happen.¡¯ Max felt like a tourist who¡¯d just lost his tour guide. His entire travel plan consisted of following the guide around, who¡¯d studied up on everything prior to coming here. ¡°Okay, well, any suggestions for me before you leave?¡± ¡°Yeah, go finish your starter mission and do any follow-up mission you get. That or you can go to solo-grind monsters in the woods or join a party with some randoms. I¡¯d recommend against joining other players actually, because you might get PK¡¯ed. ¡°What¡¯s PK?¡± ¡°Player-killing.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°Clearly PK is enabled, considering that you¡¯ve already eradicated 3 people from existence. Anyways, you have that OP class, and your skill with the bow is good, so you¡¯ll be fine. Probably.¡± ¡°Your confidence is truly inspiring.¡± ¡°All right, I¡¯m hungry so I¡¯m leaving now. Good luck!¡± Rone hung up the call. ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± Max sighed. As he did so, a cloud of vapour formed in the air in front of him, catching his attention. ¡®I hadn¡¯t noticed before, but it¡¯s really cold here.¡¯ It was amazing that he could even feel an in-game temperature. The sensory experience here was leaps and bounds ahead of the previous game. Additionally, since he didn¡¯t feel cold earlier, there was probably a mechanic that warmed you up when you moved around quickly. With nothing else to do, Max trekked back to the archery range rancher. It was true that he¡¯d accepted a mission from that guy, he¡¯d just forgotten about it completely.
Mission: Battle-Tested Difficulty: Easy Description: Every hero needs to prove themself in battle. You are no different. Defeat 100 enemies and report back to Coby when you¡¯re finished. Milestone 1: Defeat enemies: 100/100 (Complete) Milestone 2: Return to Coby (Pending) Reward: 1,000 gold
¡®Right, his name was Coby.¡¯ Max recalled the ranchman NPC. That guy also said that he would have another mission for him and that he should come back later. Having already grown bored of what felt like a walking simulator, Max broke into full sprint as he ran back to the archery range. ¡®Zzooommm.¡¯ The player¡¯s muscular strength in the game was determined by their STR and AGI stats, with the starting strength being at the level of an average athlete in real life. For most people, this was surreal, because it would cause them to feel stronger than they¡¯d ever felt before. For Max, it felt comfortable and familiar since his game avatar felt almost the same as his real body. Nearing the range, he slowed down when he spotted a gathering of players around the facility. Not knowing what they were doing, he listened in to their discussions as he passed by. ¡°Dude, why is it so hard? What kind of evil game designer makes something like this?¡± ¡°I really wanna be an archer but I failed the test. What now? Do I have to choose another class?¡± ¡°Everyone spam the devs on the forums! With enough of us, they¡¯ll be forced to fix the test!¡± ¡®Ah, so that¡¯s it.¡¯ Max pitied them. If it weren¡¯t for the new feature reducing shaking while aiming, he probably would have failed the test too. That last target was diff-wait. It was at this moment Max realised that he had common sense, which he had not been using for quite some time. In the previous dive game, Hero of Liberation, it was necessary to hit bullseyes on all targets up to 60m to obtain the ¡®Archer¡¯ title. This was what had influenced his thinking. During the class test earlier, Max assumed he simply needed to hit all of the straw targets to obtain the archer class, but upon thinking about it for more than 2 seconds, which he had not done, anyone would realise this was complete absurdity. Many of the players starting this game would have never touched a bow in their lives. As an archery instructor himself, Max knew that such beginners would have trouble hitting a target at 10m, let alone the furthest target which was a whole 100m away. This being the case, the minimum range for passing would most likely be somewhere from 10-20 metres.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. On the other side of things, this test should be a cinch for experienced archers. Loads of NPCs were capable of shooting 100m in Hero of Liberation, so Max concluded that players who were veteran archers in real life would ace the test without much difficulty. Though, this did raise one question... Why did he get something so grand as a ¡®unique¡¯ class just for completing the test? After all, ¡®unique¡¯ meant only one person should acquire it... Maybe he was the first to do it, since he was quick? ¡°Ah, Gun! Yer¡¯ back!¡± Max felt like he was missing something but was nevertheless torn away from his thoughts when someone called out to him. To everyone¡¯s surprise, Max included, it was Coby, who abruptly dropped everything he was doing and ran over to greet him. ¡°Did ya complete my mission?¡± Max instantly felt the glares of numerous players. ¡°Y-yeah, I killed a hundred. Now that I¡¯ve shown my ability, can I be of help in any way?¡± A useful trick Max had learnt from Hero of Liberation was how to bait out new missions from NPCs. Offering one¡¯s services was a surefire way of extracting new dialogue. ¡°As¡¯matter of fact, there is! It¡¯s tough, but the town guard are in a bit of a jam and could use yer¡¯ help. Talk t¡¯the guard captain for the details. He¡¯ll be expectin¡¯ ya.¡± ¡°Okay. Where can I find him?¡± ¡°He¡¯ll be at the front gate¡¯o¡¯the north wall, just over yonder,¡± Coby pointed in the general direction. ¡°If you¡¯re going, make sure t¡¯go quick, since it¡¯s urgent.¡± Max nodded and set a waypoint in his map. ¡°I understand. I¡¯ll head there immediately.¡± ¡°Heh, that¡¯s what I like ta hear. Best ya get goin¡¯ now!¡± Without needing to be told twice, Max fled the area before the nearby players could ask questions, speeding back into town toward his next destination. Unlike the rest of the players who cursed with frustration and envy, a player with dishevelled blonde hair watched Max¡¯s receding back with stars in his eyes. ¡®So cool!¡¯ ... ... Max arrived at the north gate of the town and was impressed by the strong fortifications. Asking around for the guard captain, some soldiers directed him up a ladder to the top of the wall, where a peculiar sight presented itself. An elderly man garbed in dark-red military attire sat by a makeshift desk while scanning through documents. One soldier approached to inform him of Max¡¯s presence, causing the man to unconsciously smile and put down his paper. ¡°Hello! You must be-¡± The man frowned as the paper immediately blew off the desk and over the parapets. A moment of silence was held as the paper glided through the air toward the forest north of them. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± Max felt compelled to apologise ¡°Don¡¯t be, I should have used a paperweight.¡± The man gave a wry smile, but his eyes were dead. That paper was probably important. *Ahem* ¡°You must be Max, correct?¡± ¡°That¡¯s correct, sir.¡± ¡°Sir? Haha, no need for formalities, since you¡¯re not my subordinate you can just call me Ken.¡± After ensuring the rest of his papers were secured, Ken turned his chair around to face Max and rested his hands in his lap. ¡°As you probably surmised, I¡¯m the captain of the guard division for this town. The reason I¡¯ve called you here is because Coby spoke highly of you, and I have a serious problem which needs solving. Firstly, I¡¯d like your word that you will keep the contents of our conversation private. Is that acceptable to you?¡± ¡°Of course. I can do that.¡± Max agreed easily. ¡°Great, then let me explain the full situation.¡± Ken¡¯s expression changed and a sense of solemnity pervaded the surroundings. The NPC seemed like he was about to say something important, so Max decided to properly pay attention. ¡°A few weeks ago, we began seeing an influx in the number of missing persons reports we were receiving in relation to the woodland north of us, Novus Forest. This is obviously unacceptable, so following standard procedure, we sent a scouting group from the town Adventurer¡¯s Guild to secretly investigate the issue.¡± Ken wore a bitter expression, ¡°However, none of the adventurers returned. Despite being a full party of four, all with levels in the late twenties, it is our belief that they were wiped out in their entirety.¡± ¡®...So something strong took out the scouts, presumably.¡¯ Max furrowed his eyebrows. It also didn¡¯t go unnoticed by him that the captain mentioned their level, confirming his suspicion that NPCs levelled up just like players. ¡°With such a high level of danger, we were forced to restrict access to the forest.¡± Ken continued, ¡°However, this is only a stopgap measure, as the town relies heavily on exports; most of our people¡¯s livelihoods depend entirely on logging and foraging operations. As such, we need to solve the problem at its root.¡± Max nodded, ¡°How can I be of assistance?¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t done explaining yet.¡± Ken spoke sharply, but there was no sign of aggression or irritation in his voice. He crossed his arms. ¡°We privately sent out more requests to the stronger members of the Adventurer¡¯s Guild, but no one accepted, likely out of fear from noticing the absence of the previous team. We also sent a request to the army for reinforcements, but they refused to send anyone on the grounds that we had no evidence of enemy presence.¡± Max remembered the game¡¯s backstory, that the human nations were embroiled in war with the Demon Army. This was probably the enemy the captain alluded to. ¡°And so, we became stuck; nobody wanting to assist and nary a soul willing to scout. All the while, the people are quickly dipping below the poverty line, and with no chance of any monetary aid from our bastard mayor.¡± Ken spat with acidity in his tone, before forming a small cloud of fog as he exhaled deeply to calm himself. It was apparent that he had been under a great amount of stress due to this issue. ¡°My vice-captain offered to investigate with a group of volunteers, but I ordered them to stand down while I sent an appeal to the military tribunal, since the reduced manpower caused by their absence would leave the town vulnerable to attack.¡± ¡°They did not comply. Three days ago at dawn, a detachment of 20 of my men, along with my vice-captain, Parker, left to investigate the source of the disappearances without my go-ahead. We haven¡¯t heard from them since.¡± Max briefly spotted a tinge of unease in the captain¡¯s face, before he realigned his emotions and looked Max in the eye, ¡°That¡¯s where you come in. Since you¡¯re supposedly immortal, being a summoned hero and all that, I want you to go in and bring my people back, or at the very least, get me an update on their status. I am prepared to provide you the appropriate compensation if you succeed.¡± Max was completely dumbfounded. The complexity of the NPCs and the world dynamics seemed to be extremely profound. This completely surpassed all of Max¡¯s expectations; it was incomparable to the one-dimensional NPCs and linear storyline of Hero of Liberation. Not leaving the captain in suspense, Max bobbed his head in acknowledgement, having gotten the gist of the situation. ¡°I have a few questions.¡± ¡°Shoot.¡± ¡°You could send a large number of heroes for this, yet you¡¯re only asking me. Why?¡± ¡°I couldn¡¯t pay that many people, our budget is already stretched thinly. Additionally, we¡¯ve told the public that we closed the forest due to a powerful mage performing an experiment. This is a flimsy excuse, but if the real truth were to be exposed, it might trigger a mass exodus from the town, as well of all sorts of other chaos. For this reason, I am only planning to confide in a limited number of heroes, prioritising those with skills. You¡¯re the first I¡¯ve told. I¡¯m having faith in your integrity that you won¡¯t go screaming about this from the rooftops as soon as we¡¯re done here.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t.¡± ¡°Good. What else did you want to ask?¡± Max looked over the battlements into the forest. It was densely lined with trees, extending all the way into the distance and over a mountain. ¡°It¡¯s a large forest. Do you have any leads or indication of where they might have gone?¡± ¡°Their tracks head straight north. I don¡¯t expect them to have diverged from that direction unless they found something. I am also aware that this is like finding a needle in a haystack, which is why I intend to send more of you separately to cover more ground. Now, was that all for questions?¡± ¡°Yes, that should be enough to go on.¡± ¡°Very good. Then I take it you accept the mission?¡± [ Received mission offer: The Lost Patrol. Accept? Y/N ]
Mission: The Lost Patrol Difficulty: Unknown Description: Crisis looms over the town of Novus, where numerous members of the local guard have gone radio-silent after a string of unexplained disappearances in the adjacent forest. Captain Ken has personally asked you to find his subordinates and either bring them back or return with information on their status. Milestone 1: Find the patrol (Pending) Milestone 2: Either bring back the patrol or report your findings to Ken (Pending) Optional Milestone 1: Return with evidence related to the Patrol (Pending) Optional Milestone 2: Investigate the source of the disappearances (Pending) Optional Milestone 3: Obtain evidence of the source of the disappearances (Pending) Reward: 15,000 gold, subject to changes based on mission performance
¡®Woah, that¡¯s a lot of milestones.¡¯ Max felt that he had nearly no chance of actually finding the patrol, but it couldn¡¯t hurt to try. Thinking this, he acc- ¡°...¡± The game crashed. Chapter 9: Happy Birthday! (You’re Fired) Max¡¯s senses were jolted back to those of his real body as he was forcibly disconnected from the game server. ¡°Huh? What? Why?¡± Max exited the game capsule and looked around. To his knowledge, the only possible explanations for disconnection would be either a medical emergency, or someone hitting the emergency stop button on the capsule¡¯s exterior. ¡®???¡¯ Nobody was there. There was also no alarm from the game capsule, so it wasn¡¯t a health emergency. Max was perplexed as he was left without an explanation. Finding his phone, he decided to call Rone. Surprisingly, Rone¡¯s name appeared on the homescreen before he could even open his phone app. Max accepted the call. ¡°Hey Max, were you just logged out?¡± ¡°Yeah, I was kicked out of the game randomly. How did you know?¡± ¡°All the livestreams are down and people are already starting to complain on the forums. It¡¯s not just you, it looks like everyone was disconnected. Maybe the entire server crashed or something.¡± ¡°Oh, man.¡± Max had thought it was just him. For everyone to lose connection on launch day; it didn¡¯t bode well for the game company at all. After all, millions of people had logged in to play the game at launch. ¡°Have Virtek put up an announcement?¡± ¡°No, not yet. It¡¯s really strange.¡± ¡°Huh... Well, that¡¯s disappointing, but it¡¯s not terrible timing for me, actually.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°I have to go to work soon.¡± ¡°Wha-? You mean you didn¡¯t cancel for the game launch?¡± ¡°Dude, have you forgotten that you gave me the game last night? As if I could have cancelled. The other instructor can¡¯t even do Fridays.¡± An exaggerated groan came through the phone speaker. ¡°Couldn¡¯t you be less diligent for once? Seriously, who works on their birthday. You suck.¡± Rone complained in a fake whine. ¡°Haha. Hopefully the server is back up when I get back so we can play some more.¡± ¡°Are you forgetting I¡¯m dead?¡± ¡°...Oh.¡± ¡°Nevermind, send me your game recordings so I can watch them while you¡¯re gone. Since nobody is streaming, I¡¯ve got nothing better to do.¡± ¡°Alright, how do I do that?¡± Rone fed Max the instructions as Max held the phone up to his ear using his shoulder. Fortunately, Max was a quick learner, so he managed to download the recordings and send them over without much difficulty. The pair chatted for a bit longer before Max eventually had to leave for work. ¡°I¡¯ll text you when the game server comes back online.¡± ¡°Yep. Alright, see ya.¡± ¡°Bye.¡± Max hung up the call. Halfway through the door, he remembered that Lina had baked a cake for him, so he did a 180 and packed some in a small container. She was a really good cook, so there was no way he would leave without it. He also left a thank-you note on the kitchen counter, so she would see it whenever she woke up. ¡°Alright, time to go.¡± Donning his signature red cap and jacket, Max¡¯s keys jangled as he shut the door behind him. ... ... Max arrived at the clubhouse to the sound of complete silence. Unexpectedly, there was nobody here. ¡®That¡¯s strange. There should be a group session in the morning.¡¯ Max checked the time on his phone. ¡®Yeah, it¡¯s about the right time, where is everyone?¡¯ ¡°Hey, Mason?¡± Max called out for his boss. The clubhouse had been unlocked, so he should be around here somewhere. ¡°Max? Ah right, I forgot to message you.¡± A buff elderly man emerged from the back room with a melancholic expression. ¡°I have some bad news unfortunately. Very bad.¡± The man named Mason awkwardly leant on the doorway, as if he was trying to find a good way to broach a difficult topic. ¡°What is it, old man? Spit it out. Where are all the students?¡± ¡°About that... They¡¯re... The school is shutting us down.¡± ¡°Wh-What?!¡± Max was taken aback. ¡°So suddenly? What happened?¡± The archery business where Max worked was run in partnership with a local high school. Following the school¡¯s endorsement, students would come to the club to receive training from Max or another instructor, while Mason allowed the school to borrow the club¡¯s facilities in return.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ¡°Well, you know that kid named Zach?¡± ¡°Darron¡¯s student? Did he do something?¡± ¡°He was complaining about his classmates earlier this week and joked to Darron that¡¯d he¡¯d take his bow into school one morning and teach them a lesson. Naturally, Darron, being Darron, laughed along and agreed.¡± ¡°No, don¡¯t tell me...¡± ¡°Yeah, he wasn¡¯t joking. He took his own bow from home and started taking pot-shots at his classmates, chasing them around the school grounds. He didn¡¯t hit anyone, but they definitely would have been traumatised. Immediately after that happened, the principal implemented a school-wide ban on all use of bows near the school grounds and in school uniform.¡± ¡°Oh sh*t.¡± Max was astonished. That basically sounded like a school shooting. ¡°Over half of our members have already either cancelled their upcoming lessons or called to request refunds.¡± Mason sighed. ¡°Basically, we¡¯re screwed.¡± ¡°...¡± Max wasn¡¯t even sure what to say. Students from the school made up over 90% of the club¡¯s paid lessons, so he couldn¡¯t refute; they really were screwed. Mason moved into the club¡¯s kitchen for a glass of water, ¡°It¡¯s not so bad, I had a good run, and I¡¯ve saved up just enough to retire. The main problem lies with yourself.¡± ¡°Me?¡± ¡°Even if I¡¯m an old fart, I still have my memories; I know how much this club means to you.¡± Mason showed a sombre face, ¡°Or did you think I wouldn¡¯t notice?¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°We¡¯re closer than that.¡± ¡°...We¡¯re also close enough for me to know your financial situation.¡± Max grimly looked away. ¡°Since we¡¯re closing down, this is your three weeks¡¯ notice. Not that you have to do any work in those three weeks, because our clientele¡¯s collapsed.¡± He chuckled weakly. ¡°I highly recommend that you find a new job in the meantime. I¡¯m more than happy to act as your referee.¡± ¡°I understand... Thanks for your support.¡± Max needed a moment to process; this was extremely bad news. Just yesterday he¡¯d been planning to look for a second job, now he didn¡¯t have even one. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose you know any other clubs hiring instructors, do you?¡± ¡°Sorry kid, no chance... I have one idea for you though.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°You could try to going pro.¡± ¡°Sorry?¡± Max was unsure if he heard correctly. ¡°I know, I know. I told you that all those tournaments and competitions were just pissing contests for rich people... but things are different now. You¡¯re the evidence. You have that weird game that you can practice in, and I¡¯ve seen your skills improve tremendously because of it. You¡¯ve even surpassed me now.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not-¡± ¡°It¡¯s true, so don¡¯t try to deny it.¡± Mason smiled, ¡°Too much humility is a demerit, you know.¡± ¡°...Alright, I¡¯ll look into it then.¡± Max decided to trust his teacher¡¯s judgement. ¡°You should still get a job on the side, just in case it doesn¡¯t work out. I have no idea what the bar is to shoot professionally, but only a few people at the top of the country can do it.¡± Max knew that Mason had once participated in an archery competition many years ago. During that competition, the scores were manipulated to favour another player, essentially stealing Mason¡¯s victory. From then on, he¡¯d paid no attention to any archery competitions or tournaments, not even the Olympics. He also discouraged others from watching them. ¡°Anyways, just help me with some paperwork and then you can go home. You¡¯ve always been better than me at that mathsy stuff.¡± ¡°Haha, sure. You know my classmates used to call me the human calculator, right?¡± ¡°I¡¯d believe it.¡± ... ... Max helped Mason to finish all his paperwork and then went outside to eat the cake he¡¯d packed. ¡°Mm.¡± As expected, Lina¡¯s cooking was always the best. He walked around the range while he ate, taking in the sights since he probably wouldn¡¯t come back here. Mason planned to sell this land to buy himself a cushy house by the beach when he retired. After wandering around aimlessly for a bit, Max ran out of cake and found himself under the large oak tree which stood at the end of the range. He remembered once climbing to the very top of the tree before his dad yelled at him, demanding he come down. Max smiled widely at the memory as he imagined his panicked dad at the base of the tree. Lowering his vision, he scanned the thick bark, following its deep vertical fissures until he found it; a small dent. One so minor and insignificant that anyone would have missed it if they weren¡¯t specifically looking for it. Its significance was anything but minor to Max, as he stared at it thoughtfully. ... ¡°Go on kiddo, take the shot.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the point of taking the shot if I¡¯ll just miss anyways?¡± ¡°Who says you¡¯ll miss? You might hit it.¡± A young Max with a frail body and a pimpled face wore an unconvinced expression as he adopted his best shooting stance. After drawing an arrow and aiming for a few seconds, an arrow was released which missed the target completely, flying well over it and into a distant oak tree. ¡°Ha- Hahahahaha!¡± Max was extremely dissatisfied and pouted as he watched his dad laughing in schadenfreude. ¡°See! I couldn¡¯t do it.¡± His dad stopped laughing and looked at Max. ¡°Ah~ But that¡¯s incorrect!¡± ¡°How is that possibly incorrect? You have eyes, I clearly missed the target by miles.¡± ¡°Yes, but that¡¯s not what you said. You said you couldn¡¯t do it, which is wrong. Just because you missed once doesn¡¯t mean you¡¯re incapable of doing something. You know what all the top masters of every sport and skill in the world all have in common?¡± ¡°Talent?¡± ¡°Hard work. They practiced for thousands, if not tens of thousands of hours to be as skilled as they are in their fields. No one is ever born an expert at something. You could become even better than them if you put in enough effort.¡± ¡°¡­Is that really true though?¡± ¡°Of course it is! There is nothing in the world that cannot be overcome with hard work. From now on, whenever you find something difficult, I want you to throw yourself at it to take it down!¡± ¡°Why would jumping at it help?¡± ¡°No, I don¡¯t mean literally throw yourself at it. I mean try your hardest. Every time you fail at something hard, there is something to learn, something better you can do next time. Take your shot just now as an example.¡± ¡°My shot? Did I do something wrong?¡± ¡°Well duh, if you hadn¡¯t done anything wrong you would have hit the target. Right at the last millisecond you pulled the bowstring back further, which threw off your aim. Try again without doing that.¡± Max blinked at him with some doubt but still did as he was told and took aim again. Following the advice, he gently let go of the arrow at release and made sure not to tug back on it. The arrow sailed into the target and hit a red ring, only two rings from the bullseye. ¡°Hey, nice shot! See, you improved, right?¡± Max looked at the arrow in the target with some shock as he contemplated what his father had just told him. ¡®Can I really be the best?¡¯ ¡­ Max stopped looking at the tree and turned around to go home. He had more work to do. Chapter 10: Maybe Eight or Nine Rone laid down on his couch with some popcorn and pressed play on Max¡¯s recording, which he¡¯d hooked up to his TV from his laptop. He laughed as Max instantly began to spout nonsense at some child before nearly tripping and falling over randomly. ¡®This is sure to be entertaining¡¯, Rone thought as he tossed popcorn into his mouth. Maxed reach the archery range and met up with some cowboy, but Rone wasn¡¯t interested in that. What he really wanted to know was how this stupid guy managed to get a unique class. Those shouldn¡¯t be so easy to acquire. His eyes bore into the TV as Max took his first shot. Then his second shot. Rone¡¯s eyes were already opened wide before he¡¯d taken his third. ¡®S-so fast?¡¯ Max¡¯s firing speed was insane. He only took two seconds to draw, aim, and fire. Rone watched as the 5m, 10m, 15m, 20m and 25m shots were all bullseyes, before spilling his popcorn when Max did the exact same thing with the 50m target like it was child¡¯s play. ¡°Hey, what the f*ck??¡± Rone moved closer to the TV and could barely see the arrow in the centre of the bullseye. ¡°A perfect shot? At that distance?!¡± He knew it. That bastard was secretly a monster! A monster pretending to be normal! Max took a short break to read an online article, before whipping his bow out and sending another arrow flying toward the 75m target. Before Rone could even register what happened, a small thunk came out of his soundbar. ¡®Did he hit the bullseye?!¡¯ Rone sprung up and held the TV with both hands, pressing his face up against the screen as he scanned the pixels. He thought he could vaguely see the arrow in the bullseye. ¡°Ahh!! What the actual f*ck Max! You never told me you were this good!¡± Rone jumped around his living room, before he proceeded to lose his sh*t shortly after when Max humbly asked the cowboy to give him the archer class. It was like watching Einstein ask a fellow scientist for an apprenticeship position. Before he could regain his composure, Max picked up the bow again. ¡°No. There¡¯s no way. There¡¯s actually no f*cking way.¡± The last target looked absolutely tiny from where Max was standing. Rone could put his thumb over it on the TV and it would be completely obscured. Pew. Max took slightly longer this time, 3 seconds, up from 2 seconds, as he fired his last arrow. ¡®...Did it hit?!¡¯ Rone had no idea if it landed; he didn¡¯t hear anything, and he couldn¡¯t see it either. He ran over to his laptop and toggled the recording perspective. Unlike the one available four years ago which only recorded first-person footage, Virtek¡¯s new recording module was also capable of various different recording perspectives, such as third-person, bird¡¯s eye and free-roam. The free-roam footage took the vast majority of the module¡¯s computational power because it recorded all the space around the player in what was essentially a 3D scan. Rone changed to this perspective as he dragged the camera to where the target was. Upon reaching the maximum recording range of 100 metres, Rone stopped and gaped at the screen. ¡®Holy sh*t!!¡¯ No wonder he got a unique class; this guy was a freak! A freak among freaks, even! Was he always this good? ...No, surely those had to be flukes, right? Rone felt a compulsion to call Max, but that guy would be driving his car right now and wouldn¡¯t pick up. ¡®Okay, calm down. Calm down.¡¯ He decided to watch the rest of the footage. If it was a fluke, that would be made apparent later on. ... ¡®IT WAS NOT A FLUKE.¡¯ By this point, Rone had dragged his entire couch closer to the TV so he could see the arrows better. Goblins were dropping left, right and centre like flies. No, actually, flies would have had at least a chance at dodging; this was just a straight-up massacre. The goblins didn¡¯t even have a chance to scream as they instantly died. Not only that, but he was simultaneously sprinting through the facility like a possessed person. Was it because they were racing? Rone felt depressed watching the footage, he really was like a toddler in comparison... How tf was Max hitting all those shots while running?! Rone cursed as he heard Max comment about low difficulty. ¡®It¡¯s not easy, you¡¯re just irregular!¡¯ At the same time, He also felt some anticipation. He wanted to know how Max would deal with the dungeon boss. When Rone fought the boss in the dungeon, he barely won. That fearsome goblin warrior had tossed him around like a ragdoll during the fight, making it impossible to concentrate on spellcasting. He prevailed in the end through accumulating damage, but his health had already been reduced and he was nearly crushed to death in the process. The Max on the TV entered the boss room and fired two shots, before breaking into a three-second run and then stopping. ¡°Huh? Why¡¯d he stop run-¡± The goblin fell flat like a domino. ¡°...¡± Rone wasn¡¯t even surprised at this point. He¡¯d subconsciously been expecting it and just didn¡¯t want to believe it would happen. Looking to the side, Rone observed his empty bucket of popcorn and felt an affinity with it. It accurately resembled his emotional state, as all ability to feel had been emptied out of him. Nothing he saw from now on could even... ¡®Speed record? I don¡¯t remember anything like that.¡¯ ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± Over a million players would have challenged the starter dungeon during launch day. There was just no way. It simply wasn¡¯t possible. Rone went to his laptop and opened up the game forums. Using the search function, he looked up speedruns for the dungeon.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. After looking through a few hundred entries, the fastest time was 5 minutes and 2 seconds. He took his phone from his pocket to use as a stopwatch and replayed Max¡¯s dungeon raid from beginning to end. ¡°...¡± 2 Minutes and 47 seconds. ... ... Max pressed his head against the train¡¯s window. He quite liked doing this, as the train¡¯s movement would give a sort of vibratory massage which he found therapeutic in nature. Unfortunately, it was unlikely that he¡¯d continue to commute by train, so he wouldn¡¯t feel this sensation again for some time. As he gazed out the window, his phone started ringing. Without bothering to look, he pulled the phone out of his pocket and held it up to his ear, answering like a robot. ¡°Hello?¡± ¡°Max...¡± Rone¡¯s voice came from the other end, ¡°Is there anything you¡¯d like to say to me?¡± ¡°To say to you?¡± Max thought for a moment. ¡°I don¡¯t think so... Is something wrong?¡± ¡°Okay, I see, I see.¡± Rone took a loud breath which was audible through the phone, ¡°How would you rate your archery skills from a scale of 1 to 10?¡± ¡°From 1 to 10... Probably an 8? Or a 9? I¡¯ve invested a lot of time into archery, so I¡¯d like to think I¡¯m near the upper echelons. Oh, right, I¡¯m actually planning to try to get into prof-¡± ¡°YOU¡¯RE NOT A F*CKING EIGHT YOU F*CKING M*R*N.¡± Max nearly dropped his phone as Rone suddenly started yelling into the microphone. ¡°DO YOU KNOW A SINGLE PERSON ON THE F*CKING PLANET WHO CAN SHOOT A BULLSEYE AT ONE HUNDRED METRES?! IT¡¯S ZERO! NOBODY CAN F*CKING DO IT!¡± Max hurriedly turned his call volume down as people started glancing at him on the train. ¡°Hey, what gives?! Don¡¯t suddenly destroy my eardrums!¡± ¡°AAHHH!!! Do your boss and coworkers actually hate you or something??¡± ¡°No they don- Actually, I was fired so I don¡¯t have any.¡± ¡°What? You were fired?¡± ¡°Yes. Are you calm yet?¡± Rone hesitated before responding. ¡°...Okay ...Okay I¡¯m calm. Tell me what happened.¡± ¡°One of the students went into school with a bow and took shots at his classmates. Nobody was hurt, but the club was held responsible and all the students pulled out of our programs.¡± ¡°Woah! That¡¯s crazy. What kind of unhinged psycho just pulls up and starts shooting their peers?¡± ¡°Yeah, and what sort of unhinged psycho just calls up and starts screaming into their friend¡¯s ears? You still haven¡¯t told me what that was all about, you know.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but it¡¯s not my fault you¡¯re a freak.¡± ¡°A freak? Since when am I a freak?¡± ¡°You tell me. How long have you been hiding your skill at archery?¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t been hiding anything. Is that what this is about? You think I¡¯m some sort of secret archery genius?¡± ¡°You are though. You can literally hit a bullseye at 100 metres.¡± ¡°That¡¯s nothing. Hero of Liberation has dozens, if not hundreds of archers who can do that.¡± ¡°...So just to be clear, you¡¯re using NPC archers, in a video game, as your point of reference.¡± ¡°Well, when you put it that way... yes. But I don¡¯t see how it would be any different from real life.¡± ¡°How about the fact that the NPCs are based in an intense war setting that would force them to train as hard as they could every day for years, since their lives depended on it? And that their aiming ability is set by programmers?¡± Max faltered for a moment, ¡°W-well yeah, but modern archers today probably train close to that amount. Archers today also have longer lifespans, so they can train more...¡± ¡°Do you know what range competitive archers shoot at?¡± ¡°Probably somewhere from 90 to 120 metres. Maybe a hundred.¡± Max guessed. ¡°It¡¯s 70.¡± ¡°...¡± Max blinked, ¡°Are you sure?¡± ¡°Dude, I¡¯m positive. Check the forums, look at how the other players did on that archery test. Try to find one other person who did as well as you.¡± ¡°Hmm...¡± Max didn¡¯t really believe it. After all, how could he? Others had trained their whole lives at archery, some even training for multiple decades, whereas he himself had only trained properly for a bit over 4 years. It was unthinkable that he could already contend with the best. Max opened the forums and entered ¡®archery test¡¯ into the search prompt. He expected that most people would have trouble shooting out to 25m, but experienced archers should have no trouble hitting the 50m target, which would probably be around ~3-4% of the test-takers as a conservative guess. He read through the first entries. ¡ª Just took the archery test and I want to die, did anyone actually pass it who can shoot me? ¡ª Why the f*ck is the stupid archery test so hard?? ¡ª Theory: Someone assassinated one of the dev¡¯s firstborns with a bow, making them hate archery and want nobody to have the class ¡ª Does anyone know if you can retake the test? I really want to play as archer, but I failed ¡ª Fix the test or I¡¯m refunding! ¡°Wow, these posts are really visceral.¡± Max flicked through the thread. He was already expecting this, so it didn¡¯t really shock him. He kept scrolling to find the successful people. ¡ª The pass rates for all the other tests seem quite high, why is it just us who have to suffer? And why is there only one attempt per target? ¡ª The bow is hard to pull back?? It felt like my arms were going to fall off while aiming that thing ¡ª Guys, Virtek are holding a post-launch press conference tomorrow morning! Keep posting so they can¡¯t ignore us! Max furrowed his eyebrows. He¡¯d been scrolling for a few minutes and hadn¡¯t seen any successful players yet. He changed the prompt to look for people who actually passed the test. The number of results dropped to the low thousands. ¡ª People using this tag: Although I am unworthy, please make me your disciple ¡ª I passed! I hit the edge of the target on 25m and nearly cried ¡ª I also passed. I do archery but I could not hit the 50m target. The bow is heavy and does not have stabilisers. ¡ª I passed by the skin of my teeth. For people wondering how close that is, teeth don¡¯t have skin ¡ª Guys, I missed the first target and tried to shoot the NPC instead, but I missed again, and he killed me. Technically I still passed because I passed into the afterlife, right? After scrolling for some time, Max did find people who hit the 50m target. Some had attached images, showing that they hit nowhere close to the bullseye. Max couldn¡¯t find anyone who hit the 75m target either. ¡°Are you convinced yet?¡± Rone was still on the line. ¡°...Just because I can¡¯t find sharks when I swim in the ocean doesn¡¯t mean they don¡¯t exist.¡± ¡°Tch, being stubborn, I see. Go check the streaming website then.¡± ¡°The streaming website?¡± ¡°DiveLive. It¡¯s where Virtek games are live-streamed. Check it out and compare the number of streamers in the archer category to the other categories.¡± Max found the website and checked the streamer counts for each of the game¡¯s main classes. [ Warrior: 23,607 Thief: 16,063 Archer: 1,167 Mage: 36,789 Healer: 9,524 ] ¡°...¡± ¡°Well? You saw it, right?¡± ¡°I get it, not a whole lot of people passed the test. But that¡¯s only because the average person hasn¡¯t used a bow before.¡± ¡°I know. I had another reason for showing you that. Basically, you know how you don¡¯t have a job anymore?¡± ¡°I am very aware of that actually, yes.¡± ¡°There¡¯s your solution.¡± ¡°My solution?¡± ¡°Become a streamer!¡± Chapter 11: Suspicious Egg *Huff* ¡°Ah! Damn!¡± A man dodged just as a goblin stabbed at his waist with a dagger, narrowly avoiding the strike. ¡°Ah, not like this! This is why I didn¡¯t want to go off on my own, guys! It¡¯s too dangerous out here!¡± ¡ª I¡¯m actually rolling rn this is too funny haha ¡ª Goblins, the most fearsome enemy ¡ª Have you considered attacking it? ¡ª It¡¯s more afraid of you than you are of it (false) The goblin chased after the man, while he ran away clumsily. He was faster than the goblin and would have escaped, if not for the fact that he immediately ran into three more. ¡°AAAH!!!!¡± ¡ª Yes, scream, that won¡¯t attract any more lmao ¡ª Okay but he might actually die here tho ¡ª Poor guy lol As he attempted to run through the goblins, they slashed out at him with sharp weapons, causing his health bar to plummet. Barely breaking through, he quickly changed direction and ran for a while longer before vaulting over an upturned tree. Catching his breath, he hid behind the tree and uncorked a health potion. However, he stopped his action when his eyes caught notice of five more ugly monsters leering at him a short distance ahead, completely stopping what they were doing as they stood around a small pond. ¡°...Darn.¡± ¡ª Okay now that¡¯s just unlucky The man decided not to waste his health potion, given his imminent death and sat against the tree with a rueful expression. Thud. Thu-Thud. He heard sounds behind him. Knowing his luck, it was probably more goblins falling from the trees. Not that he particularly cared, when he was already about to be shanked by the ones in front of him. The way they looked at him was the way an average person would look at McDonald''s food after being stranded for a year on a remote pacific island. They were even drooling! ¡°Oh well guys, we can try again tomorrow.¡± The man consoled his chat. ¡ª F to pay respects ¡ª rip ¡ª Nooooo!!! ¡ª L Whoosh! An arrow suddenly flew over his head and exploded the eye of the closest goblin. More followed in quick succession and took down the other four, causing them to splash back into the pond, spraying water in every direction. ¡°Hmm, let¡¯s see. They were after... an egg?¡± The man heard a voice from over the fallen tree behind him. ¡°Should I shoot it?¡± At this moment, the man remembered he was bald and quickly stood up from where he was sitting, ¡°Wait, don¡¯t shoot! I¡¯m a human!¡± A few metres away, a surprisingly handsome archer with dark hair and red eyes was standing with a bow trained. ¡°Eh? Not an egg? Why is your head so shiny?¡± ¡ª HAHAHAHA EGG ¡ª SAVED! ¡ª lmao he¡¯s an egg now ¡ª WE¡¯RE SAVED!!! ¡ª Taken down so quickly??? ¡°Thanks for killing the goblins, you saved me!¡± ¡°Oh. You¡¯re welcome¡­ Lemonade? Is that your username? Why do you have a red dot next to your name?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a streaming symbol, it shows I¡¯m live-streaming my gameplay.¡± Lemonade looked at Max to see his info. ¡°You have one too-You¡¯re streaming?¡± [ ? Player: ¡®Gun¡¯, Level: 3 ] ¡°I am! According to my friend, it will guarantee me endless reserves of money and hot chicks. I am not entirely convinced that¡¯s true, but I have no reason not to try it and find out.¡± ¡ªLol, I wish this man many moneys and hot chick ¡ªSo handsome! ¡ªWhy is his name ¡®Gun¡¯ lol, is it because he¡¯s an archer? It was at this moment Lemonade realised it: This guy¡­ was great content! ¡°Indeed! How many viewers do you have?¡± Max proudly pumped his chest, ¡°I already have six!¡± *cough* Lemonade used his entire strength of willpower to avoid laughing; he didn¡¯t want to get PK¡¯ed. ¡ªLololol ¡ªSo many viewers. Maybe one day I can be popular like him ¡ªWhy does he look so proud haha ¡°Th-that¡¯s certainly a start. Then it¡¯s your first time streaming today?¡±This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°That¡¯s right! How many viewers do you have?¡± Max asked back. Lemonade froze. ¡®Um... Should I really tell him? He won¡¯t shoot me, right?¡¯ Sensing his reluctance, Max followed up ¡°You don¡¯t have to tell me if you don¡¯t want to. I heard that most people flock to the big streamers and celebrities anyway, so there¡¯s not-¡± ¡°24,857.¡± ¡°...¡± Max looked at him expressionlessly. ¡ªHahahaha oh my god his face I can¡¯t ¡ªThis is the best. Someone clip it XD ¡ªHe looks so lost lmaoo ¡°I-uh, I stream games on other platforms, so I already have a lot of people who watch me...¡± ¡°Right. Of course, that makes sense...¡± Max paused for a moment, ¡°Can I have them?¡± ¡°Uh, hmm, since they¡¯re living people with egos and personalities, I¡¯m not sure that¡¯s within my control. Slavery was already abolished, too...¡± ¡°That¡¯s unfortunate...¡± ¡ªWait, unfortunate that he can¡¯t have the viewers, or that slavery was abolished? ¡°I can add you as a friend though,¡± Lemonade offered, ¡°I¡¯m planning to make a guild of streamers in the future, so you¡¯d probably-¡± Thwak! Max suddenly shot a goblin to the side, reminding Lemonade of where they were. ¡°That sounds great! I¡¯ll try to get more viewers so we can stream collaboratively.¡± ¡°Y-yeah.¡± Lemonade agreed. It would be nice to have a skilled archer in the guild; he¡¯d heard that there weren¡¯t many players with the archer class, so running into this guy was quite good luck. Lemonade sent him a friend request. ¡°Do you want to stream together?¡± Max proposed, ¡°I¡¯m actually doing a mission right now; you¡¯re free to join in if you want.¡± ¡°Oh, a mission! Is it nearby?¡± ¡°I have no idea! I¡¯m just meant to keep going that way until I find something.¡± He pointed north. ¡°That way? Are you sure?¡± ¡°Yep, I¡¯m positive. Why? Do you know what¡¯s over there?¡± ¡°Kind of, actually. I saw some huge monster in a clearing, so I did a 180 and went the opposite way. The map shows that area as level 20+, so I¡¯m pretty sure we¡¯re not meant to go there yet.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Max appeared to think for a few seconds, ¡°Wanna go there anyways?¡± Lemonade was about to say yes, but then considered it and shook his head, ¡°Sorry but I think I¡¯d just be a liability. I nearly died to level four goblins, after all.¡± ¡°That¡¯s too bad.¡± ¡°Yeah. By the way, I saw a bunch of blood and tattered clothing around that clearing as well, if that¡¯s what you were looking for.¡± ¡°Nah, that¡¯s not what I¡¯m looking for. I¡¯m looking for a group of people who-¡± Max stopped talking. ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± Lemonade felt some pity for him. ¡°Anyways, I think I¡¯m in a bit of a hurry, so I should get going. It was nice meeting you.¡± Max quickly ended the conversation as he moved to retrieve his arrows. ¡°Likewise. Just a heads-up, before you go: There¡¯s a big PK group wandering around nearby. I think they¡¯re only looking for someone specific, but just thought I¡¯d let you know.¡± ¡°Got it. Thanks for the warning.¡± ¡°No problem.¡± Lemonade watched him vanish into the undergrowth, before speaking to his viewers, ¡°He seems interesting. Some of you guys should find his stream and keep tabs on him for me.¡± ¡ªWould you like fries with that? ¡ªYou got it, boss! ¡ªThat guy¡¯s about to get obliterated by orcs lolol ... ... Max thought about his mission as he looked for the clearing. The game servers were already open when Max returned from work, so he was able to load back in and accept the mission from the guard captain. It felt quite strange to relog mid-conversation. Apparently, Virtek would announce the reason for that shutdown at their press conference tomorrow morning. Max was very curious to know what happened. For now though, Max brought up his mission description to make sure he hadn¡¯t forgotten anything.
Mission: The Lost Patrol Difficulty: Unknown Description: Crisis looms over the town of Novus, where numerous members of the local guard have gone radio-silent after a string of unexplained disappearances in the adjacent forest. Captain Ken has personally asked you to find his subordinates and either bring them back or return with information on their status. Milestone 1: Find the patrol (Pending) Milestone 2: Either bring back the patrol or report your findings to Ken (Pending) Optional Milestone 1: Return with evidence related to the Patrol (Pending) Optional Milestone 2: Investigate the source of the disappearances (Pending) Optional Milestone 3: Obtain evidence of the source of the disappearances (Pending) Reward: 15,000 gold, subject to changes based on mission performance
¡®Hmm...¡¯ Max pondered. ¡®If that streamer¡¯s words are true, there¡¯s a good chance the monster he saw is the culprit for the disappearances.¡¯ He checked his inventory. [Arrow x 100] He had 100 arrows. Adding the 20 already in his quiver gave a total of 120 arrows. He¡¯d lost a lot of arrows at the goblin dungeon, and, to his horror, they were really expensive. ¡°Twenty gold per arrow is robbery.¡± Max played with an arrow in his fingers. He¡¯d started with 200 gold and received 1000 gold from Coby for completing the starter mission. He also received 1 gold for each goblin he killed, which summed to 320 gold, and sold all the weapons he¡¯d scavenged except a small dagger which he kept for himself, for an extra 180 gold. This brought him to a total of 1700 gold, which was only enough to buy 85 arrows if he spent it all. For a money-miser like Max, this was a nightmare. He ended up buying 75 arrows and keeping the rest of his gold for emergencies. He also had 50 arrows leftover from his dungeon trip, but he¡¯d already lost 5 just in the short time he¡¯d been in this forest, since they could only take a few hits before breaking. Max checked his stream to see if anyone would console him. [ Current Viewers: 521 ] ¡°What?! So many people joined the stream?¡± ¡ªHello! We¡¯re the slaves Lemonade keeps in his basement! ¡ªWaiting to see this guy get dunked on by lvl.20 orcs ¡ªLol he finally looked ¡ªHello Gun-san!! ¡°Welcome! Welcome!¡± Max was pleasantly surprised. He didn¡¯t expect this many people to migrate from Lemonade¡¯s stream. ¡°Since you guys just joined, I¡¯ll give you a rundown of what I¡¯m doing.¡± ¡°A group of guards entered this forest against orders from their captain, so I have to track them down and convey the captain¡¯s order to return to the village... And, after hearing from Lemonade just now, I¡¯m hoping nothing bad¡¯s happened to them.¡± Max gave a very condensed explanation, which was fortunate because he happened to find a large clearing right at that time. Traces of a battle were apparent, with large patches of grass having been stained red and some broken weapons scattered around. There were no enemies here, so Max entered the clearing to get a better look. It was a bit disconcerting that there were no bodies. One of his chatters claimed that orcs were the culprits here and Max did not pin them as the type to hold burials. After searching around for a short while, he finally saw the tattered clothing Lemonade mentioned. It was a patch of red uniform bearing the guard insignia, clear evidence that the patrol team was ambushed here. ¡°Well. This is definitely for my mission. Unfortunately.¡± Max followed the colour red and found several clear strings of blood trailing uphill, heading further north. Gripping his bow tightly, he took the uniform patch in his inventory. ¡°Let¡¯s see how tough orcs are.¡± Chapter 12: Rotisserie Rescue Max followed the blood trail directly. As it extended further from the location of the battle, it thinned out, becoming limited to a series of sparse and intermittent crimson blotches on the forest floor. Fortunately, Max was an experienced tracker from his time in Hero of Liberation and could have followed the trail even if there had been no blood. Although the hillside dirt was tough and did not easily sink underfoot, orcs were heavy creatures so Max could still clearly see their tracks. It was apparent that over a dozen orcs had passed through here, so he proceeded quietly to avoid being discovered. Some kilometres later, Max knew he had found his destination when he spotted pillars of smoke billowing into the sky ahead. Picking a direction with high tree coverage, he advanced toward the smoke and surveyed the area. As expected, a large orc encampment protruded out from the hillside. There were no walls or palisades surrounding it, indicating that the orcs were probably highly confident, or not expecting any sort of attack. Either way, this was fortunate for Max, as it afforded him a clear view of the camp¡¯s interior. Large, primitive tents made from sticks and animal hides scattered the area, along with a few lit campfires which were being used to cook meat on long skewers. By Max¡¯s estimation there were about forty orcs, plus any more in the tents and however many were not currently inside the camp. ¡°Hm... Troublesome, very troublesome...¡± This presented a huge problem. There was absolutely no chance he could take on this many orcs in a frontal assault. Even if he could, the patrol squad guards might already be dead by this point, which would render his efforts pointless. Right as Max was deciding to just bring back some evidence of the orc¡¯s presence, he spotted a human man by the edge of the camp, flailing in panic as he was pinned down by a muscular orc. ¡°HELP!! SOMEONE! ANYONE! W-¡± The screaming guard was swiftly punched and knocked out. Some other orcs glanced over momentarily, but quickly lost interest when they realised nothing of interesting was happening. ¡°Sh*t. What are they doing?¡± Max squinted his eyes to see what the orc was doing with the man. The orc laid the guard on top of a spear and wrapped a rope around him. It looked as though it was attempting to tie a knot, but was struggling to do so, as the rope was too small to manipulate with its large fingers. ¡°Oh. Oh sh*t.¡± Max quickly got up and flanked around to the side where the man was being strung, grabbing some small stones along the way. He knew exactly what that orc was doing; it intended to use the spear as a makeshift cooking implement. Advancing in cover, Max came as close to the camp perimeter as he could manage, before taking a stone from his pocket and throwing it at a nearby tree. ¡°What? What was that?¡± The orc stood and spoke gruffly. Upon scanning the area, only some trees and bushes could be seen, which swayed naturally in the wind. Appearing to think for a moment, the orc lowered its rope before slowly moving to investigate the source of the noise. Thik! Suddenly, an arrow shot out from one of the bushes and pierced the orc¡¯s Adam¡¯s apple. The orc choked and widened its eyes in shock, before a second shot swiftly followed and struck its eye. The orc died and disintegrated into particles. ¡®That whole disintegration thing is really convenient, huh.¡¯ Max didn¡¯t think he could drag a body of that size, so it was good that he didn¡¯t need to hide the corpse. ¡ª?? ¡ªUm what ¡ª??? ¡ª2 SHOTS?!?! ¡ªWasn¡¯t this a lvl.20 area? Max didn¡¯t have time to look at the chat right now. After briefly waiting for an opportune moment, he took another stone from his pocket and hurled it high into the air, aiming for the opposite edge of the camp. Confirming some orcs were now looking away, he darted for the unconscious guard, quickly disentangling him and dragging him back to a bush by his armpits. Thankfully, it didn¡¯t seem like he¡¯d been spotted while doing so. The man still hadn¡¯t woken up, so Max gave him a few good slaps until he came to. ¡°Ugh? What? Where am I; am I alive?¡±This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Shh. You¡¯re alive but be quiet; we¡¯re still in enemy territory.¡± Max twisted his head so he could see the orc camp. ¡°You narrowly avoided becoming rotisserie food.¡± ¡°Oh, thank-¡± ¡°Be thankful later, we haven¡¯t escaped yet.¡± Max firmly controlled the conversation since he wasn¡¯t sure whether the orcs would soon notice their friend was missing. ¡°I have some questions to ask you: First, are you injured?¡± ¡°Me? No, I¡¯m fine. But the others...¡± ¡°Are there more survivors?¡± ¡°Yes! They¡¯re all in there.¡± The man pointed to one of the tents. ¡°There were two sentries inside, but one of them took me away. If you killed that one, then there¡¯s probably only one inside now. We can save them, right?!¡± The man looked at Max with a tinge of hope and desperation. ¡°Yes, we can try. How many alive? What are their injuries like?¡± Max was familiar with this sort of rescue mission from his early days in Hero of Liberation. When it came to rescuing people from a large number of enemies, the most important thing was mobility. If the prisoners could not outrun their captors, they would not be able to escape far. This situation here was already grim, since these orcs were presumably stronger, faster and greater in number than the human patrol members. Some seriously good strategy would be needed to make it out alive. ¡°There are 9 of us, including me. 5 are relatively uninjured, 3 won¡¯t be able to run and 1 had his arms broken.¡± Max grimaced. From what the guard captain, Ken, had told him, he knew that 21 guards had gone out on the expedition. ¡°We spotted an orc stronghold to the north and attempted to withdraw so we could inform our captain at Novus Village, but we were caught by the orcs further south and brought here. I¡¯m Esmond by the way. Did the captain send you?¡± ¡°Yes, he did. I¡¯m M... Gun, a summoned hero tasked with bringing you back.¡± ¡°The hero summoning worked? That¡¯s great news!¡± Esmond was ecstatic. ¡°We might finally have a chance against the Demon Army!¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. But I just arrived here today, so I¡¯m in the dark. I need you to tell me everything you can about orcs; their weaknesses, strengths, et cetera; the essentials.¡± ¡°Of course! Orcs are a strong race with tough skin and high vitality, but low intelligence. They have no aptitude for magic but have a strong sense of smell which they use to track down their prey. They are also very agile. There are a few common strategies for dealing with them...¡± Esmond spoke quickly as he described the various characteristics of orcs, making sure to stay quiet as he did so since the enemies were still nearby. ¡ªLol when did this become a soft-spoken ASMR video ¡ª10v50 ez ¡ªIf they actually manage to escape then the earth is flat Max formulated a plan while Esmond was speaking. According to Esmond, orcs typically had extremely well-developed tracking abilities, but the ones in this camp were new recruits in their early level 20s and were still in training. They also had a strong veteran leader who was above level 30; Max made a note to watch out for that one. The enemies¡¯ strong sense of smell and tracking abilities limited their escape options significantly. A few different ideas entered Max¡¯s head: He could do something like attack the orcs or start a fire to create a diversion while the patrol team tried to retreat with Edmond, or he could go along with them as a bodyguard and hope the orcs were slow to realise their escape. He could also try to just kill all the orcs by attacking the camp with hit-and-run tactics, but the first two options seemed much more reliable since the orcs had hostages. Also, taking on 40+ orcs was probably not feasible with his current strength. The first option depended upon Edmond not being discovered when leaving the tent with the prisoners. Unfortunately, there wasn¡¯t even time to set traps, as the NPCs might be killed during that time. Max cursed at his poor and limited options as he belatedly processed Esmond¡¯s words, making sure he didn¡¯t miss anything important as the guy was still talking. ¡°That¡¯s about it. Was there anything else?¡± ¡°One last thing. How quickly can you start a fire?¡± ¡°Huh? A fire?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s midday, and hasn¡¯t rained in a while, so probably 5 minutes, or less. Why?¡± ¡®Quick!¡¯ Max was very satisfied. ¡°I need you to make a signal fire as a diversion before we attempt the rescue. If what you said was true about orcs being dumb, it should take their attention away from the prisoners, and they might even send a squad to check it out.¡± ¡°Y-yeah, that¡¯s a good idea. B-but what about me?¡± Esmond seemed slightly concerned. Max checked his map. ¡°A few kilometres east of here, there¡¯s a river that runs all the way down south. Set a fire to the northeast of here and then book it to that river. You can wash off your scent in the water, follow it for a little while and then hide your tracks when you leave it.¡± ¡°Right! Faul River! That¡¯s a good idea.¡± Edmond nodded and approved of the plan. ¡°Then, I¡¯ll go now.¡± ¡°Wait.¡± Max motioned for him to stop. ¡°Take this with you for protection.¡± He offered him the spear from the orc. Edmond looked at it awkwardly. ¡°N-no thanks. I¡¯m not really interested in using the weapon I was nearly roasted over a fire with.¡± ¡°Oh. Well, it wouldn¡¯t have worked anyways. That rope would have burnt and broke instantly if it was held over a fire. He probably would¡¯ve just killed you the normal way after that.¡± ¡°...Right.¡± ¡ªLOL Edmond ¡ªPoor guy ¡°I¡¯ll still pass.¡± Edmond shook his head. ¡°The vice-captain is far more proficient than I am with a spear; it¡¯ll be of much better use in the right hands.¡± ¡°Alright, noted.¡± Max put the spear back in his inventory. ¡°Get going then. I¡¯ll start the operation when the smoke is visible. See you back at the village hopefully.¡± ¡°Yes, Sir Gun!¡± Edmond gave him a salute, before taking off into the forest. Chapter 13: No Rest For The Wicked Inside a tall, spacious tent, two large monsters were pushing strenuously against something on the other side of a small wooden table. Despite using their full strength, their biceps bulged as they grunted and groaned in pain. All the while, the source of their exertion taunted them with a twisted grin on its face. ¡°Is that all you¡¯ve got, worms? Two on one not enough for you?¡± A giant orc wearing a set of spiked black metal pauldrons rested one hand on its chin in apparent amusement as it arm-wrestled the two orcs simultaneously. After holding its wrestling hand in place for some time, it savoured the despairing looks on their faces, before eventually deciding to grant them mercy by smashing their hands down into the table. The table smashed upon impact and crumbled into a pile of debris. ¡°Pathetic. Bring a third next time.¡± The defeated orcs stared at the broken table momentarily, with mixed looks of reverence, frustration and envy, before quickly stepping back. ¡°Yes, Drillmaster. We still too weak.¡± ¡°We become stronger before next time.¡± The drillmaster waved them out and moved to lie down, not particularly caring about the splintered wood in the surroundings. However, before he could do much else, another orc came running into the tent. ¡°Drillmaster!¡± ¡°What is it now?¡± The orc leader growled with irritation, ¡°I was just about to rest.¡± ¡°I am sorry Azrog, but we spot fire mist in distance! We need your orders.¡± ¡°Fire mist?¡± Azrog stood up and slapped the tent flap aside as he went to check for himself. Indeed, a large plume of ¡®fire mist¡¯ was surging out from the forest canopy about half a click north-east. Rather than feel exhilaration at the prospect of another hunt, Azrog groaned with annoyance. He was tired, and he already had enough prisoners. His original orders were to take some warriors he was training to go hunt down and execute the human trespassers who dared spy on their construction to the north, then hold this position afterwards to kill any further intruders. The weak humans were outnumbered, so he easily defeated them and brought half their number back to his camp. Why did he take them as prisoners? Well, that was obvious; they made for great entertainment. The only thing more satisfying than watching a disciplined subordinate follow his orders, was, rather, to watch a disciplined enemy do so. The beautiful myriads of emotions which ran through their faces as they acted in direct contravention to their own values and wishes. Ah, what a glorious sight that was. Especially that one girl in the group. The look of absolute vitriol in her eyes when he ordered her to chop her friend¡¯s leg off; priceless! Azrog couldn¡¯t help but chuckle a little remembering the scene. As for his men, he just told them that the humans would make good food reserves since they could be kept fed with plants. Those same subordinates were actually looking his way right now, so Azrog quickly returned his attention to the issue at hand. Hmm... Sure, there were more intruders, but he was tired and didn¡¯t really feel like going over to them. Upon thinking for a moment, he had a brilliant idea. Why not just send his men to catch the intruders, while using the prisoners as an excuse to stay here himself?! Perfect! He was so smart! Inwardly patting himself on the back, he addressed his men. ¡°Okay, I decided. Here are the orders:¡± Actually, on second thought, he had 50 men. He wouldn¡¯t need all of them to capture what should just be some more puny humans. The rest could stay at camp to guard the prisoners. Yes, that plan made more sense. ¡°Squads Togra, Jukha, Golag, Urbul and Krok, go to the fire and kill any humans. None should escape. I will not be going with you this time because you need practice doing it on your own. The rest of you will stay here.¡±Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ¡°Yes, Drillmaster!¡± His subordinates accepted the orders and went to collect their weapons. Shortly after, they assembled into an armed group of 25 and bounded toward the fire in long strides. Azrog did not wait to see them off. Instead, he retreated to his tent and kicked aside the remnants of crushed table, before removing his pauldrons and lying down. A minute passed, and Azrog exhaled in satisfaction. Finally, he would be able to- ¡°Agh!¡± A muffled scream could be heard nearby. It was one of the humans. ¡°Dammit!¡± Azrog bellowed in fury. He¡¯d nearly fallen asleep. So close! ... ... Max waited until the orcs all had their attention on the smoke before quietly dashing to the tent, brandishing his dagger. After throwing a small rock to the far-side roof of the tent, he flung the flap open. Sure enough, the rock ploy worked as it always did. Inside the tent, an orc was facing the other way while staring at the roof like an idiot, not even noticing the widened eyes of the human prisoners. Max crept up and slashed its neck from behind, making sure to slash several times for assurance. A darkened damage indicator showed that the stealth kill was a success, so Max wasted no time and cast his eyes over the tent. Matching Esmond¡¯s information, there were 8 survivors. Each of them was fully awake, staring back at him with surprise. They were fully bound, except for the ones missing limbs, so Max quickly cut their bindings with his dagger. ¡°Stay quiet.¡± He freed the first person with little difficulty, ¡°Which one of you is vice-captain Parker?¡± ¡°That¡¯s me.¡± A uniformed woman with long, blood-soaked hair called back. [ Human: ¡®Alyssa Parker¡¯, Level: 29 ] ¡®Eh? The vice-captain was a girl?¡¯ Max suppressed his surprise as he cut her wrists free. He hadn¡¯t heard any mention of this from Ken or Edmond. She was higher level than the others, too. ¡°Use this.¡± He tossed her a spear. ¡°Let me explain. Ken sent me here after you, Edmond made a diversion and is now escaping, while I¡¯m here alone to break you out.¡± ¡°I understand.¡± The young officer nodded and used the spear to free a guard next to her. ¡°Do you have a plan?¡± ¡°Not a good one, unfortunately. You have two options: You can either try to sneak out of here with me now or stay here and wait for reinforcements. Edmond was nearly eaten a short while ago, so I recommend the first option.¡± ¡°First option it is. All right, Rod, Lambert, Donovan, you guys carry those three. We need to move. Now!¡± Max appreciated that she was quick on the uptake. Two of the men looked to have broken legs, while a third was missing legs altogether. Those three were not in any condition to move on their own. Just as Parker moved to open the tent flap, Max pulled her back. A flurry of footsteps passed nearby, which was probably a group of orcs leaving to check out Edmond¡¯s fire. Briefly waiting until the sounds receded, Max did a head-check for enemies. ¡°Clear. Let¡¯s go! Now!¡± Max whispered urgently as he held the flap open and ushered them through. Just as the last guard came through carrying his comrade, he accidently bumped their broken leg against the wooden tent frame. ¡°Agh!¡± The injured man couldn¡¯t help but cry out in pain, as he quickly covered his mouth. However, it was already too late, as an orc yelled loudly from another tent nearby. ¡°Sh*t.¡± Max cursed quietly. ¡°Go, go, go!¡± The group ran into the forest at full tilt. An orc spotted them along the way, so Max quickly acted, scoring two perfect shots to the forehead to silence it before disappearing behind the treeline. ... ... Azrog stormed out of the tent, incensed at having been robbed of his sleep again. He¡¯d given the men strict orders not to torture the prisoners, as it would be too loud and impede his sleep, and yet, a loud noise had awoken him mere moments before he could drift off. Ready to give the offender a piece of his mind, he smacked the tent flap aside and cracked his knuckles loudly. ¡°...?¡± The tent was... empty? Where were the guards? Where were- THE PRISONERS! ¡°ROAR!!¡± Azrog howled, ¡°MEN AT ARMS! THE PRISONERS HAVE ESCAPED!¡± As he waited for his men to assemble, he spotted two pairs of mangled arrows on the ground nearby. Picking them up, he gnashed his teeth in rage. None of his men used bows. Sniffing the air, he could sense nearly a half-dozen distinct scents, all still strong. They must have escaped only a minute ago or less. Just 23 of 25 men responded to his summon. As he suspected, 2 had been assassinated. ¡°Qog and Dromar, take your squads and bring back the prisoners. They are weak and injured, so I expect you to be done in five minutes or less.¡± ¡°Yes, Drillmaster!¡± The two squad leaders thumped their chests in acknowledgement and ran to enter the forest without delay. ¡°F*cking insects.¡± Azrog cursed the humans and grumbled angrily. He didn¡¯t really care that they tried to escape; any animal with a shred of intelligence would try to escape in that situation. He didn¡¯t really care about the two dead subordinates either. If they died so easily, it only meant they were useless in the first place. What he was really mad about was the fact that his sleep was disturbed AGAIN! Could he not get a shred of f*cking peace in this sh*tty forest? He went to grab a broken spear to heat in the fireplace, a hot poker which he would use to take his frustrations out on the prisoners when they returned. And then... then he would SLEEP. He would have his f*cking sleep!! Chapter 14: Max Vs Orcs Max and the guards sprinted into the forest. Parker led at the forefront, impaling a goblin with the end of her spear as she raced past. ¡°We don¡¯t have a lot of time!¡± Her voice quivered as she spoke, ¡°If you have a plan, tell us now!¡± She called out to Max. Max wore a pessimistic face; this was the worst-case scenario. He had no idea if he¡¯d be able to take on the number of orcs that would be chasing after them. ¡°We won¡¯t be able to outrun them, so we need to change direction. They¡¯ll be following our scent, so the plan is to reach Faul River and wash ourselves off. It¡¯s a few kilometres east of here.¡± Parker looked at him grimly. There was no way they¡¯d be able to make it all the way to the river with orcs chasing them. ¡°What about a more immediate plan?¡± ¡°...¡± Max was silent for a few seconds, and an orc roar was heard in the distance. ¡°We¡¯ll split up. I¡¯m slower than you guys on account of my low agility stat, so I¡¯ll hang back and fight. You stay with the others and protect them.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± The look in her eyes changed as she realised Max was willing to sacrifice himself for them. What a noble soul! ¡°Is there anything else we can do?¡± ¡°Yes. I need three of your shirts. The smelliest, if possible.¡± ¡°????¡± ¡ªPfft hahahaha ¡ªDude at least ask for her number first ¡ªLife or death situation and he suddenly wants them to strip lmaoo ¡ªThe smelliest ones?!?! D: The stream chat, which had been somewhat quiet during Max¡¯s infiltration, erupted with comments after Max¡¯s absurd request. What could he possibly want three shirts for? ¡°That, uh.¡± ¡°Quickly! The orcs are following our scent trail, and I need to confuse them. Any three will do!¡± ¡°Oh!¡± Parker nodded. So that¡¯s what he was talking about! ¡°I¡¯ll do it!¡± ¡°Me too.¡± ¡°Take mine.¡± Three squad members immediately volunteered to give Max their shirts in order to preserve their vice-captain¡¯s dignity. Max didn¡¯t notice their thoughts and quickly tied the shirts around one of his arrows. He didn¡¯t know if this trick would work, but it was worth a shot. ¡°Quickly, start heading east! I¡¯ll catch up with you later.¡± ¡°Yes! Thank you... uh, benefactor. You never gave us your name.¡± ¡°It¡¯s Gun. Now go! Hurry!¡± Max fired the shirt arrow in the direction they¡¯d been travelling, aiming for maximal distance. Due to the added weight, it didn¡¯t travel far and landed only about a hundred metres away. Changing direction, he followed the others east for a short distance and took cover next to a thick tree to make his preparations. Taking arrows from his quiver, he stabbed them shallowly into the ground in front of him, forming a row. ¡ªWhat is he doing lol ¡ªI think he officially went insane After planting six arrows, Max abruptly ducked behind the tree. Right at that moment, a group of orcs could be heard arriving at the south-to-east intersection. ¡°Wait.¡± The frontmost orc warrior stopped and sniffed the air, snorting loudly as it did so. ¡°I smell them two different directions. How possible?¡± Another warrior caught up and sniffed as well. ¡°I don¡¯t know, so we just split up. We waste too much time already! Your squad go that way, and mine the other. One has to be correct.¡± The orc started running in the direction of the arrow. ¡°Okay.¡± The first warrior shrugged and turned in Max¡¯s direction. Max exhaled slowly and took four more arrows between his fingers. ¡®Alright. Here goes nothing.¡¯ He drew his bow and did a short countdown in his head, before leaning out from the tree. An orc instantly spotted him. ¡°Hum-¡± Shik! An arrow carved into its eye, followed by a second which accurately struck the other eye. As it fell to the ground, the other orcs realised they were under attack and roared in rage. However, Max had already launched another shot. His fingers moved adroitly as he slipped another arrow into the bowstring and fired with no change in expression. A second orc fell, while the others charged toward him with incredible speed. Max briefly glanced at them. They numbered three, two with spears and one with a short battle axe. Max was now shooting from the pile of arrows he¡¯d stabbed into the ground. Positioning them this way allowed Max to slot the nocks of the arrows into the bowstring with maximum efficiency, causing his firing speed to increase significantly.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! ¡°Kugh!¡± ¡°Urgh!¡± Glimpsing a fast blur in his peripheral vision, Max snatched up the last two arrows in his palm and rolled to the side. Instantly after, a spinning battle axe shredded through the earth where he¡¯d been, leaving a small trench in its wake. Rolling to the other side of the tree while drawing an arrow, he came out of the roll in a shooting position. ¡°Raghhh!!¡± This time, Max aimed for a leg joint, causing the orc, which had almost reached him, to topple over and land squarely at his feet. Max sent his last arrow into its skull, which landed as a critical hit and killed it. Ignoring various system notifications, he yanked his arrows out of its corpse and quickly broke into a run. ¡®The other orcs definitely heard that. I gotta move.¡¯ ¡ª?????????????????? ¡ªNANI? ¡ª???!!?!!??!?! ¡ªWHAT DID I JUST WITNESS There were some stream comments, but he didn¡¯t have luxury to read through them. There was a second group of orcs a short distance away and they definitely would have heard the screams just now. He took some arrows out from his inventory to refill his quiver while he ran. It took two seconds to take any item out of the player inventory, so this was a very slow process. It was unknown how many orcs were in the second group, but if he was lucky, there wouldn¡¯t be too many. Checking the arrows he recovered from the orc with his other hand, Max frowned. These arrowheads were made from iron, yet they had clearly become mangled, probably because they struck bone. A single glance at the twisted arrows was enough to tell that they wouldn¡¯t fly straight, so he tossed them aside with annoyance. ¡®They cost so much, and yet they can¡¯t even be reused on beginner enemies. What a scam!¡¯ If the other players had been able to hear Max¡¯s thoughts, they might vomit blood. Most of them had been unable to clear the goblin dungeon; yet some guy was killing monsters twenty levels higher and complaining about the cost of the arrows. Already, Max heard the sound of rapid footsteps approaching, so he quickly took cover behind a tree and took a stone from his pocket. One fortunate nuance of rock-throwing as a diversion was that it was particularly effective against stupid enemies. After throwing the rock, Max saw that every orc turned to investigate the noise; another group of five. Taking advantage of the situation, Max shot the rearmost one in the neck. The other orcs turned to the sound of their squad member choking and frantically searched for the enemy. They barely searched for more than a second when a second arrow found its home inside another orc¡¯s ear. The injured orc screamed and clutched its bleeding ear in agony. A chorus of arrows struck in succession and finished off the injured monsters, before Max was surprised to find the remaining three were running away. ¡®What?! That¡¯s not what orcs usually do!¡¯ Max hurriedly let off more shots but was only able to take two of them down; the last managed to escape among the dense trees. ¡°Damn!¡± Max cursed. That surviving one would definitely come back with reinforcements. He was about to turn and keep running east but noticed a spherical red crystal in the hands of one of the dead orcs. He quickly grabbed it before continuing since it might be valuable. He couldn¡¯t move it to his inventory for some reason, so he just threw it in his pocket. Max ran as fast as he could to catch up with the others. Virtek games were designed so that the player recovers stamina extremely quickly, to prevent the player from feeling sore or uncomfortable while playing. Basically, what this meant was that Max could run forever without getting tired or having muscle-aches; he was indefatigable. Conversely, the NPCs could only maintain full sprint for short periods of time; especially in this instance, where the group of fleeing guards were exhausted and needed to carry their injured comrades. This meant that Max had a good chance of catching up to them, despite his inferior agility. He also remembered he had been rewarded ¡®free attribute points¡¯ each time he levelled up, which could be used to permanently increase any one of his six core attributes. Max had 4 of these points, so he decisively added them to his ¡®agility¡¯ stat to increase his leg strength. A slight burst of speed followed, proving it had some effect. While thinking of what to do next, an orc voice boomed right on top of him, making him flinch involuntarily. ¡°Dromar, have you caught the humans yet? You¡¯re taking too long.¡± ¡®?!¡¯ Realising the voice was coming from him, he looked down and saw that a red light was emitting from his pocket. ¡®The crystal was a communication device!¡¯ ¡°Dromar, respond or I¡¯ll use you for tetherball again. You have five seconds.¡± ¡®What should I do?¡¯ Max was stumped. Just as he was debating whether to do his best orc impression... ¡°Huh? You... I forgot your name. Why did you come back alone?¡± ¡®Goddamn, that orc was quick!¡¯ ¡°Drillmaster! My name is Bazur. I have report: Squads Dromar and Qog were ambushed by archer and defeated. I am only survivor.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Sir, I repeat. Squads Dromar and Qog were-¡± ¡°I heard you the first time you imbecile!¡± The transmission was silent for a moment, as if the orc was thinking. ¡°ARGH!¡± Max heard the sound of something smashing in the background. ¡°How many archers were there?¡± ¡°Just one, Drillmaster!¡± ¡°No, you dullard. I said how many archers, not squadrons!¡± ¡°Yes, I understand. It was just one, Drillmaster!¡± After a short pause, a loud choking sound could be heard through the crystal. ¡°You expect me to believe that a single archer bested ten of you and killed nine? Do you take me for a fool?!¡± ¡°AH! HOT! P-PLEASE SIR, IT IS TRUTH! THERE WAS ONLY ONE!¡± ¡°SHUT UP!¡± The orc roared, ¡°I could be sleeping like a princess right now, but nooo, you had to go and lose to ONE F*CKING HUMAN.¡± Another series of smashes resounded, as though something was thrown and bowled through several objects. ¡°USELESS!¡± After some angry breathing, the transmission went silent again. ... ¡°You¡¯re listening in, aren¡¯t you human?¡± The voice said softly. Max frowned slightly. ¡°This is a two-way message bead; I can hear you running.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter.¡± ¡°You¡¯d better run faster, because I¡¯m coming for you.¡± The crystal stopped shining and changed to a dull red hue. Chapter 15: Massively-Multiplayer Online ¡°How the hell did all of you go to the wrong starter town? Is this a prank? Did you think it would be funny?¡± In the midst of hunting goblins, a bald streamer was berating his friends via voice call. ¡°It¡¯s a misunderstanding! I swear! We just heard you wrong!¡± A girl with a dulcet voice answered hurriedly, ¡°I thought that everyone would start at the same place; I didn¡¯t know it would split us all up!¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t doubting you Ruby, but... was it you, or was it Jasmine who picked your starting area?¡± ¡°Huh? Well it was Jasmine, but-¡± ¡°Baldie, you really think I would split up the team just for fun?¡± Another girl pitched in with a sassy tone. ¡°Yes.¡± Lemonade responded matter-of-factly, ¡°That is undoubtedly something you would do, actually.¡± ¡°Okay, well, that may be true, but I actually didn¡¯t this time!¡± She protested, ¡°Why else do you think the others all went off separately too? Even Derek didn¡¯t join you; do you really think that guy would fend for himself willingly?¡± ¡°I can hear you; you know.¡± A monotonic male voice spoke up to complain. ¡°That¡¯s a good point actually.¡± Lemonade ignored the man and kept talking with Jasmine, ¡°Then why did you not come to the right place? I clearly said ¡®Novus¡¯ Town.¡± ¡°Yeah, you said to ¡®go to the Novus town¡¯, so we thought you were just being illiterate like usual and meant to say ¡®novice¡¯ town. Because of that, we took it to mean all the players started in the same place.¡± ¡°...You¡¯re kidding me, right?¡± ¡°Why would I kid? Ruby and I are struggling right now since we don¡¯t have any melee ability. The others are probably having a hard time too.¡± ¡°I¡¯m having a great time actually.¡± Another man with a Spanish accent interjected, ¡°I¡¯ve killed so many goblins, I¡¯m starting to feel like the main character.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not the main character, Rafael.¡± Jasmine shot him down immediately. ¡°Anyways, we need to meet up somehow.¡± Lemonade tried to keep them on-topic, ¡°Does anyone know how the fast-travel system works?¡± ¡°Yeh.¡± Rafael responded, ¡°I saw it on the forums. Every town and city has some big rectangular stone which sprouts out from the ground. You need to go to one and touch it to unlock fast travel.¡± ¡°Then, could I come to your town?¡± ¡°Oh, no. You can only teleport to ones you¡¯ve already unlocked.¡± Multiple groans were heard. Lemonade spoke again, ¡°All right, then here¡¯s the plan. Since we¡¯re split up all over the place, let¡¯s just grind until we all hit level 5 and then meet up at the capital city; that¡¯s the centre of the kingdom on the map.¡± ¡°Are there any mobs to kill there though?¡± Rafael asked concernedly. ¡°Yeah, apparently there are a bunch of dungeons and missions. I heard when you hit level 10 you can also do some sort of ¡®class trial¡¯ mission which is only available there, so we can do a bunch of dungeons and then try that... What do you guys think?¡± ¡°Sounds good to me.¡± Jasmine agreed. ¡°Are you capable of hitting level 5 on your own though, old man?¡± She teased, ¡°You might die of old age first.¡± ¡°I¡¯m literally thirty.¡± ¡°My condolences.¡± ¡°Alright, I¡¯m hanging up now!¡± Lemonade left the call and looked for more goblins to vent on. ...There were none, so he decided to read his chat instead. He hadn¡¯t read any messages while he was on call, but they were streaming in rather quickly. ¡ªIs Gun hacking or something? ¡ªLol thirty is oldThis book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡ªThat archer¡¯s stream is insane. I¡¯m not even kidding. ¡ªIt¡¯s okay Lemonade, you won¡¯t get grey hair because you¡¯re bald ¡®Mm? What¡¯s this?¡¯ His chat was split into two halves; one half was bullying him like usual, while the other half seemed to be talking about the archer he¡¯d met earlier. ¡°Guys, are you talking about the archer? What did he do?¡± ¡ªSee for yourself! ¡ªOh not much, he just defeats orcs like breathing and never misses ¡ªWatch his stream and you¡¯ll understand ¡ªCan someone send a link to his stream? ¡®Orcs?¡¯ Lemonade remembered a massive creature he¡¯d seen earlier. It was around 7ft tall and looked bigger, stronger and tougher than MMA fighters. ¡®Th-There¡¯s no way they¡¯re talking about those, right?¡¯ Lemonade found a link in chat and decided to check out the stream for himself. ¡®Holy sh*t.¡¯ Lemonade booted up Max¡¯s stream to find two orcs writhing on the ground below him, while a third was running away into the forest. ¡®The orc is running away from him? Not the other way around?!¡¯ Lemonade was completely dumbfounded as he watched Max curse rather than celebrate his victory, before sprinting in a different direction. Not knowing what was happening, he asked the viewers, ¡°What¡¯s going on? Why¡¯s he running?¡± ¡ªHe rescued a bunch of people from the orcs; they got angry and chased after him ¡°Oh.¡± Lemonade nodded. So he was doing his mission, presumably. After watching for a while, a sudden orc voice boomed loudly, making him jump. ¡ªHoly sh*t he broke into their internal comms ¡ªThey even talk when there are no players around? That¡¯s so cool ¡ªWhat¡¯s tetherball? ¡®Wow... he really pissed that thing off.¡¯ Lemonade kept watching for a while and wondered if there was any way he could help with Max¡¯s mission... Probably not. After all, he had the combat skills of a normal human, unlike this guy who looked as though he had been transported directly from a medieval barracks. As if on cue, a message suddenly popped up in Lemonade¡¯s inbox. [ Lemonade, my good friend! I know you said you didn¡¯t want to join my mission, but if you have any more of those healing potions I would greatly appreciate if you took them to the half-dead NPCs who will be running down Faul River very shortly. The rewards would probably be great for it, too! ] ¡°Good friend my arse, we met twenty minutes ago.¡± Lemonade chuckled while reading the message. So there actually was a way he could assist! This archer must have seen him drinking a HP (Health-Point) potion earlier and guessed he had more. He sent a message back while smiling and addressed his chat. ¡°Ok guys! We have an errand to run for the archer. Let¡¯s hope he doesn¡¯t die and waste our time!¡± ¡ªIn all likelihood you will die before he does ¡ªWhat¡¯s the errand? ¡ªLemonade running errands for a small-time streamer, this must be love at first sight ¡ªNoooo you can¡¯t fight an orc! ¡°Guys chill, I¡¯m not fighting an orc. I just need to meet up with some NPCs.¡± He checked his map to find the river. Doing a small favour like this was nothing to him, though he did hope he would be reimbursed for the potions later; they were pretty expensive... If he was lucky, that archer streamer might even feel indebted to him; it would be great to have a skilled player like that as an ally. Thinking this, Lemonade left for the river with light steps. ... ... At the same time, a well-dressed man sat behind a lavish desk, equipped with expensive computer hardware which radiated light in every colour of the rainbow. He glowered at the screen in front of him while holding a phone tightly to his ear. Ring. Ring. ¡°Hello? Tristan, what is it? I¡¯m busy right now.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, Damien. Maybe it¡¯s the fact that you agreed to delete the account of that bastard who killed me, and yet, not only is he still playing, but he¡¯s actually live-streaming right now.¡± ¡°What? Live-streaming? Does he have a death wish?¡± ¡°Death wish? You say that like you¡¯re actually looking for him.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be like that. I am looking for him. I sent all our guys in that town to go search around, but they couldn¡¯t find him. Send me a link to his stream.¡± ¡°Fine. But why didn¡¯t you just delete his account like you said you would? I distinctly remember hearing you say we have ¡®world-class¡¯ hackers.¡± ¡°Virtek also has world-class cybersecurity by the looks of things. They have an agreement with the government to share their dive technology in exchange for the best protection. I didn¡¯t think that level of security would extend to the user-data, but it seems I was wrong. They even detected our presence and shut down the game server.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t really matter; we can just find him in the game and kill him repeatedly until he quits. It will be a miracle if he even reaches level 10, in my opinion.¡± ¡°Right.¡± Tristan smiled, ¡°I¡¯m sorry for doubting you, cousin.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be. It¡¯s shameful that you managed to find him before I did. I¡¯ll send the link to my guys now. Keep watching that stream; he won¡¯t live for long.¡± Chapter 16: Logging Camp Max ran until he entered an open area filled with tree stumps. A large cabin could be seen in the distance, along with several large stacks of wood logs. The place appeared to be abandoned, which was likely due to the presence of man-eating orcs and goblins in close proximity. He was moving slightly uphill, so he didn¡¯t notice it instantly, but there was a wide stream of water passing behind the cabin. ¡®The river!¡¯ A group of people were hurriedly washing themselves in the water, undoubtedly the rescued guards. Max could make out the looks of surprise on their faces. He¡¯d been slower than them earlier, so they probably didn¡¯t expect him to actually survive, much less catch up to them. ¡°Gun! You¡¯re alive!¡± The vice-captain greeted him warmly. ¡°Sure am! But there are more coming, so you need to head south quickly!¡± ¡°More? Did you encounter one?¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll tell you about it later. For now, you need to move ASAP. I think I pissed off their leader.¡± ¡°How did you- no, never mind, aren¡¯t you coming with us?¡± Parker was concerned. ¡°I forgot to tell you before, but I¡¯m actually one of the summoned heroes. Basically, even if I die, I¡¯ll resurrect, so you don¡¯t need to worry about me. I¡¯ll stay back and guard your retreat.¡± ¡°H-hero?¡± Parker stammered, ¡°The hero summoning really worked?!¡± Max started to feel impatient. It was a strange impatience, because it was the NPCs¡¯ lives that were in imminent danger, not his. They should be the ones in a hurry to escape. ¡°Yes, your captain should tell you all about it back at town. For now, please hurry and follow the river. I will stall for time when the orcs arrive.¡± ¡°Uh, I think they already arrived.¡± Another guard spoke up. Max spun around but didn¡¯t see any orcs. ¡°What do you mean ¡®arrived¡¯, where are they?¡± ¡°That red glow from your pants.¡± He pointed the pocket holding Max¡¯s message bead, ¡°That¡¯s from one of the orcs, isn¡¯t it? I don¡¯t think you had one earlier.¡± Max noticed the red bead was now emitting light in short bursts. ¡°Yes, I acquired it from one. Why?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a communication bead. It blinks like that when its owner is nearby. They should be within half a kilometre now.¡± ¡°O-okay!¡± Parker now felt the urgency of the situation, ¡°We¡¯ll run back to the captain now!¡± ¡°Great! Don¡¯t slow down!¡± Max had already started running back toward the cabin. She called after him. ¡°We won¡¯t! Thank you, Sir Gun!¡± He didn¡¯t respond as he was already looking for a way to climb to the roof of the cabin. Orcs moved at speeds of over 10m/s, so they would be here in less than a minute. Max planned to use the gable roof of this wooden cabin as cover; its slope would protect him from projectiles if the enemies threw anything at him, and it was tall enough that they could not scale it with one jump. There was a conveniently-placed wood pile behind the cabin, so Max used that as a springboard to climb up. The cabin was built almost right on top of the river. Max had read once that floating logs down rivers was the most common method of transporting the wood from felled trees back in medieval times. A strong current would push the heavy logs along the river, so they didn¡¯t need to be carried or carted by labourers. The logs would then subsequently be caught downstream for further processing. It was quite smart, really. Surveying the area from the roof, Max graciously thanked the developer or AI program that decided to put a logging camp in this exact spot. All the nearby trees had been chopped down, so he had an unobstructed line of fire in a 130m radius from his position, aside from a few large wood piles and a small nearby outhouse which probably housed a latrine. Unfortunately, his sightseeing was cut short when an orc abruptly burst out from the treeline. Without delay, Max took an arrow from his quiver, aimed and fired. It was a fair distance, so he opted to go for a bodyshot. If he got greedy and aimed for a headshot, he might miss. Plus, his main objective was to slow the orcs down. For that purpose, kill-shots weren¡¯t strictly necessary. The arrow sailed over the tree stumps and struck the orc squarely in the centre of its chest. The orc, which had not yet seen Max, was caught off-guard and fell over, rolling several times and losing its momentum, before hurriedly picking itself up and running back to the trees in panic. During this period, two more orcs were hit in similar ways. ¡°A-archer! On building roof!¡± One of the warriors spotted Max in the distance. Immediately after calling out, an arrow whizzed past the spotter with a loud aerial vibration. The orc warrior felt relieved at having seemingly dodged the arrow, before clutching its neck and feeling the texture of a warm liquid seeping through its fingers. ¡®Okay, they¡¯re within headshot range now, just barely.¡¯ Max switched up his aiming strategy to inflict more damage. Over a dozen orcs had now emerged from the treeline, but he kept shooting arrows, unperturbed. To him, it didn¡¯t matter how many orcs there were, so long as he could slow them down. Luck was on his side, because the sun was in the eastern sky. The orc force could not easily see the incoming projectiles due to glare and were struggling to dodge because of it. Max took another set from his quiver and let off a rapid barrage at the frontmost orcs. The reason he aimed at the front orcs was not just because they would reach him first, but because it worked quite well as a fear tactic. The idea was that enemies would see their comrades falling in front of them and would instinctively feel the urge to run away. In fact, a few had already retreated back the way they came, blocking their comrades and disrupting the charge in the process.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Max was too busy to notice, but the speed of messages scrolling past in his stream chat increased ninefold during this time. ¡°Coward!¡± The rearmost orc, bigger and more menacing than the others, grabbed the neck of an orc that tried to run past him, ¡°You would flee from a single human?! Turn around before I kill you myself!¡± Instantly, the orcs that had been fleeing turned their feet back around to the cabin and gave a strange-sounding battle cry. ¡°Damn.¡± Max regretted not being able to halt their advance. The enemy leader had boosted his side¡¯s morale right at the pivotal moment. That, or the orcs were just terrified of their own leader, he wasn¡¯t really sure. Making sure not to ease any pressure, he took three arrows at once and shot them in quick succession, once again targeting the frontrunners. Three orc warriors were struck in different parts of their faces. Two of them let out a pained cry, while the third faceplanted and briefly slid along the ground, scraping the dirt with its body until its head hit a tree stump and cracked loudly. Max¡¯s intimidation efforts affected the orcs¡¯ actions. Fifty metres out, they unconsciously slowed down so as not to be at the front of the group, while also redirecting their charge away from the cabin, instead opting for the nearby wood piles, which offered enough cover to shield them from arrows. Max smiled broadly when he saw this. It was practically impossible for Max to take down this many orcs if they all ran toward him at once, but if they were frightened into taking cover rather than approaching, he could pick them off one by one. This was the best outcome for him! After a few seconds, all of the orcs were obscured behind wood piles, with the exception of the leader, who was seemingly confused by the actions of his subordinates. Apparently, he didn¡¯t know what fear was. Max shot an arrow at the leader¡¯s head to test that theory. The orc, which had been looking at its subordinates, tilted its head, causing the arrow to fly narrowly past its ear. It turned to look at Max without any change in expression. Max felt chills. ¡®Creepy!¡¯ Before he could spare a thought on how to deal with the leader, he was forced to duck as a log came hurtling toward his head. Max coughed in surprise as the log shot past and plunged into the river behind the cabin. ¡®S-so fast?¡¯ Max had expected the orcs to throw logs at him from the log piles. What he had not expected was for those big and heavy logs to be thrown at nearly the same velocity as his arrows! ¡®They¡¯re that strong?!¡¯ Max had not yet fought the orcs in a proper frontal combat, so he did not know the extent of their strength. Now he knew; their strength was immense! Max cursed as he sidestepped to dodge again amidst returning fire. The orcs needed to expose themselves to hurl the logs with any accuracy, each throw granting Max a small opening to take them down. As long as they didn¡¯t coordinate their throws, which he doubted they had the intelligence for, he should be able to dodge the logs... probably! Max lowered his head again as another log flew past above him, quietly thanking whichever ancient civilisation popularised the use of sloped roofs, as they were truly architectural heroes. In the orc¡¯s eyes, he vanished from sight for a moment before reappearing on another part of the roof and releasing an arrow. He was changing positions to avoid being suppressed under the constant fire of log-javelins, using the roof incline as cover. It worked quite well, as the remaining orcs quickly became flustered and looked to their leader for direction. ¡®Actually, that¡¯s right, where did their leader go?¡¯ Max realised that the leader hadn¡¯t joined them at the log bundles. However, even if he¡¯d been distracted, he still would have noticed if an enemy was moving straight toward him. That meant... ¡®I¡¯m being flanked?¡¯ He hadn¡¯t expected an orc to be smart enough to flank him from the side. If all the orcs had done that at the start, then he would have been in serious trouble. Max¡¯s eyes scanned the area as he searched for the enemy leader, quickly finding his target. The leader had moved to a small outhouse off to one side, diagonal from where Max had been shooting. This confused Max, as the outhouse was not even close to where he was. Had the leader decided to give up and hide? This thought was dispelled when the orc leader walked up and brutishly tore off the door of the outhouse using its bare hands. Holding the door in front of its body, it turned around and began sprinting toward Max. This thought was dispelled when the orc leader walked up and brutishly tore off the door of the outhouse using its bare hands. Holding the door in front of its body, it seemed to smirk for a moment before it turned to face Max and broke into a run. ¡°Sh*t!¡± Max quickly fired an arrow at it, which lodged itself in the door without breaking through. He fired another arrow at the orc¡¯s fingers, which were curled around the improvised shield. One of its fingers was nearly shot cleanly off, but the orc did not even falter and continued to approach in large strides. Helpless, Max turned his attention back to the other remaining orcs. There were only a few still uninjured, since he¡¯d spent the last half-minute knocking them down. The orcs didn¡¯t stay idle during this time. One log hit a small chimney which Max hadn¡¯t even noticed existed, smashing it into smithereens. Broken pieces of stone rolled down the roof and over the eaves. An orc poked its head out from one of the wood piles wielding a log over its shoulder in a throwing stance. Instantly, a sharp arrow entered the orc¡¯s eye, and the log dropped to the ground. Another orc tried to approach using a log as a shield, similar to its leader, but the log was not nearly wide enough to cover its large body, so Max shot the side of its face, causing it to spin and fall. Just as Max was firing his last shot at the orc warriors, he saw that the leader, who was now only a short distance away, had retracted the door and was pulling it back horizontally. Feeling a strong premonition of danger, Max twisted his body back as the entire door soared past his face. The handle knocked his hair as it flew up into the sky. Max let out a string of expletives as he stood back and equipped a dagger. There was no time to take more arrows out of his inventory. The orc did a running jump, leaping up and grabbing onto the edge of the roof. Without a moment¡¯s hesitation, Max threw his dagger at the orc¡¯s hand, hoping to disable that hand and make the orc fall. The orc did not fall. Instead, it proceeded to lift itself up with the injured hand, blood oozing out from the wound. Then, to Max¡¯s utter astonishment, it ripped the dagger out using its teeth and threw it behind him before flashing Max a toothy grin. The dagger made a slight clang as it hit the orc¡¯s black metal pauldron on the way down to the ground. ¡°You¡¯re not bad for an archer.¡± The orc leader spoke as it hoisted itself up, ¡°I¡¯ve never bothered to try taxidermy on a human before, but... I¡¯m willing to make an exception for you.¡± ¡°...¡± Max held a hand behind his back as he secretly took arrows from his inventory. The orc leader stood up on the roof, allowing Max to see its full size. It was twice his width and nearly twice his height, carrying a two-headed battleaxe which extended over a metre long. [ High Orc: ¡®Azrog¡¯, Level: ?? (Quasi-BOSS) ] ¡°Provided you stay in one piece, that is.¡± ¡°...¡± Just as Max prepared to act, a large object smashed against him and sent him flying off the roof. ...Splash! Chapter 17: Faul River Max madly treaded water as he was whisked away by a strong river current. The violent current churned chaotically, flinging him around without any mercy. Suddenly, he was pulled underwater. Kicking and clawing his way back to the surface, his head broke free, only to be instantly smashed in the face by a white, foaming wave. Max had paid little attention to the river earlier, because he had no plans to enter it. He certainly had no plans to be knocked into it via means of flying log either. As such, he was completely caught off-guard when he became submerged. Between gasps of air, Max could observe a few things about this river.
  1. It was deep
  2. It was wide
  3. It was extremely fast
Max felt a rock smash against his leg underwater and winced. He had pain set to the maximum allowable value, so that really hurt. Wanting to escape, he started swimming perpendicular to the river flow. The river itself was actually only about 12 metres wide, but there were side currents which sought to push him back to the centre. He fought fiercely against them to reach the bank. Glimpsing a large rock, he drove his arm forward. His fingers slid against it; the smooth, wet stone offering no grip as he started helplessly sliding back into the river¡¯s pull. At the last moment, he spotted a plant appendage of some sort, and his hand shot out, just barely grabbing it in time. As his legs were carried downstream, his grip acted as a fulcrum, swinging him out of the river and brutally slamming his body into the riverbank. Gritting his teeth, Max checked that the plant could hold his weight, before pulling himself up and out of the water, making sure not to slip as he did so. This really hadn¡¯t gone the way he wanted. His plan was to drop off the roof of that cabin and leap inside through one of the windows. That orc wouldn¡¯t have been able to follow inside immediately due to its large size and he could¡¯ve peppered it with arrows. ¡°Ptah!¡± Max spat out water and inspected his surrounding, making sure it was monster-free. It was not. He spotted the orc about 150m upstream, and to his dismay, it seemed like the orc also spotted him, as it started sauntering in his direction. He still couldn¡¯t believe he¡¯d already run into a ¡®quasi-boss¡¯ on his first day playing. During his second mission, no less. Shaking his hair dry, Max took out his bow as he checked his health and notifications. [ Health: 120/260 (46%) ] [ Notice: User¡¯s equipped item ¡®Beginner Longbow¡¯ has become wet. No protective coating detected; bowstring elasticity is impaired. Power will be temporarily reduced by 20% ] [ Notice: User¡¯s equipped item ¡®Iron Dagger¡¯ exceeded maximum range of use (100m) and has been returned to the user¡¯s inventory ] ¡°Damn! Power reduced by twenty percent?!¡± Max had still been carrying his bow when he was hit by the log, and it plunged into the water along with him. He had returned it to his inventory immediately, but it still suffered a debuff. It seemed like Virtek were trying to take a more realistic approach to this game¡¯s dynamics. This wasn¡¯t the time to throw a pity party, however. Max started refilling his quiver while checking the terrain. He needed to find a defensible position to fight that orc, which he could see was still walking toward him slowly as though it was out on a leisurely morning stroll. Although it moved like that now, he knew there was no chance of him outrunning that thing; it was super-fast. He could try wandering into the woods to shake it off, but there was no guarantee that such a strategy would work, as this orc seemed quite experienced and would likely be a good tracker. ¡®Though it would buy time...¡¯ Max looked to the river and saw there was a bridge crossing over it. Looking more closely, it was actually a rope bridge. It hung a few meters above the water¡¯s surface and consisted of a series of half-rotted wooden planks suspended by worn rope cables.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. He didn¡¯t really want to stand on it; it didn¡¯t look reliable at all. ¡®...Wait, could that thing even hold the orc¡¯s weight?¡¯ It occurred to Max that the orc was now on the opposite side of the river from him. It would need to cross over somehow and would most likely attempt to use that bridge. ¡®Actually, I don¡¯t even need to gamble on whether it can hold its weight; I can just cut the cables!¡¯ The cables which held the bridge up were anchored to small abutments at each end. If Max just cut the rope at that connection point, the bridge would fall into the river and become unusable. He grinned as he equipped a dagger. ¡°Alright guys...¡± Remembering he was streaming, Max spoke to his chat, ¡°Here¡¯s the plan: the ugly guy upstream is a quasi-boss whom I don¡¯t particularly feel like fighting right now, so I have a very advanced and sophisticated plan.¡± He waited a moment so the viewers would feel some anticipation, before pointing at the crossing. ¡°I¡¯ll destroy that bridge, and then run away.¡± Having finished detailing his sophisticated plan, Max strode up to the bridge. Holding the rope steady with his free hand, he prepared to cut it with the dagger, looking up at the orc as a final check. ¡°Huh?¡± Max watched on in disbelief as the orc gracefully bent its knees and leapt into the river. ¡®????????¡¯ Instantly, the orc was taken by the current, speedily being moved toward Max. It was somehow able to remain standing while this was happening and was tall enough that its spiky pauldrons could be seen poking out of the water. ¡°...Well, that changes things.¡± Max quickly switched back to his bow and ran onto the middle of the bridge to get a clear shot. The orc was still 110 metres upstream, so it would take about 20 seconds to reach him. However, if it would willingly expose itself like this, Max did not intend to allow it to survive for that long. Drawing his bow, he shot an arrow which fell short and dropped underwater. ¡®Oh, right. The debuff.¡¯ Max aimed a bit higher and shot again. This time, the arrow sailed over the water and hit the side of the orc¡¯s head, sliding off harmlessly. ¡°Is that guy¡¯s head actually smoother than Lemonade¡¯s?¡± Undismayed, Max made a bald joke to his viewers, ¡°It just bounced right off.¡± ¡®God, I¡¯m so funny.¡¯ Max wasn¡¯t particularly concerned despite his failed shot. He¡¯d warded off an entire group of orcs before they could approach him; now just one orc thought it could take him on? Sure, it was a ¡®high¡¯ orc or whatever, but that shouldn¡¯t make it invincible. The previous arrow only slid off because it landed at an angle, and that thing¡¯s face was already wet; it wouldn¡¯t continue to be so lucky. Max let off another arrow. This time, the orc raised its axe up to protect its face, causing the arrow to bounce off, neutralised. Max frowned and started shooting more quickly, aiming at its unprotected neck and upper chest. Finally, he saw some results at the arrows embedded themselves in its skin. Although, upon squinting, he could see that the arrows did not fully pierce; half of the length of each arrowhead was still exposed to the air. Max started to become anxious and fired faster again. This orc clearly had thicker skin than its counterparts. Combined with Max¡¯s current power debuff, it would require a lot of shots to take it down. That being the case, he did not hold back. After ten seconds, the orc became like a porcupine, with arrows sticking out of it in every area of its upper thorax. Max realised this was taking too long, so he started planning contingencies. The orc would have to climb back out of the river once it got close to him. To do so, it would pick either the left or right side of the bridge. When that happened, he would run and cut the bridge rope at the opposite end, preventing it from reaching him. Then, the orc would become stuck at the wrong side of the river and he could continue shooting it. Max furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at the orc, which had soaked up nearly a dozen arrows. If his bow had not been wet, this dumb guy would have already become a floating corpse. ¡®What¡¯s even the point of having pauldron spikes? Is it planning to shoulder-ram someone?¡¯ Max complained in his mind, annoyed that he couldn¡¯t inflict significant damage. Even though it had reached a distance of 20 metres from him, the orc made no effort to climb out of the river, still flowing straight down the middle. Max was thoroughly confused. Was it going to just keep going down the river? Surely it wasn¡¯t stupid enough to overshoot, right? Max briefly considered that it was going after the guard patrol, but dismissed this idea as it would be shot to death before it could leave his range. This was the orc that used a shield against him earlier. He knew it had some intelligence at least, but if it wasn¡¯t climbing to land, and wasn¡¯t continuing downstream, what was it doing? ¡®...¡¯ When the orc was only 5 metres away, Max¡¯s eyes widened in realisation as he dashed and threw himself to the side. Surpriiiise!!!¡± Chapter 18: Faul River (2) ¡°Surpriiiise!!!¡± As the orc came up under the bridge, it pushed off the ground with both feet and swung its axe in a wide arc, cleaving the entire bridge in half. ¡°Sh*t!¡± Max clung to the planks as the bridge fell into the water and was immediately snatched up by the current. ¡°Did you miss me? I can tell you did, since you even waited for me! Am I that irresistible?¡± The bridge cables did not come loose, so Max started quickly climbing up the planks to reach land. ¡°Those arrows really hurt; you know? Well, not much, but they still hurt a little.¡± The orc mocked him as it waded to reach the riverbank, ¡°You¡¯ll need more than a little peashooter like that to take me down.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you stand still and let me shoot you for another minute; we¡¯ll see if that¡¯s true!¡± Max retorted. ¡°What? You can understand me?¡± The orc appeared shocked for a moment. ¡°Aha- Ahahaha, brilliant! That¡¯s even better! I¡¯ve been craving a good conversational partner for a while now. You can give me advice on my aim!¡± ¡®Aim?¡¯ Max turned to see that the orc had already escaped the river and was now ripping an arrow out of its torso. ¡®Oh, oh crap.¡¯ As if on cue, the orc threw an arrow aimed right at Max¡¯s head. With quick reflexes, Max dropped down two planks to evade it. ¡°Allow me to introduce myself. I am Azrog; drill instructor and captain under the honourable Viscount Torga.¡± ¡°Wait... you guys have nobility over there?¡± Max was surprised. ¡°Well of course we do, did you think we were just savages?¡± Azrog threw another arrow, which Max avoided by kicking against the bank. ¡°Well yeah, actually. Why else would you attack and imprison people just for looking around nearby? I¡¯m pretty sure you eat us, too.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not my fault you¡¯re tasty.¡± Azrog defended his actions, ¡°And it¡¯s perfectly normal to kill trespassers on your own land.¡± ¡°Your land? Since when was this your land?¡± Max dodged another projectile. ¡°Since about a week ago when Lord Torga claimed it.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°Anyways, you know too much now. Sorry, but I changed my mind; we¡¯ll have to end our little chat here.¡± Azrog took a pile of arrows in his hand all at once. Looking at the arrows, Max unhesitatingly released his hands from the bridge and dropped back into the river. ¡°Haha, you think the water will save you? It will only bring you straight to me! As long as you¡¯re within my sight, you¡¯re not safe!¡± Azrog winded up his throw. Just as he was about to pelt the arrows at him, Max ducked under the water. Azrog waited for him to pop out again, ready to impale his head when he did so. ¡°...¡± He didn¡¯t come back up. ¡°...Damn humaans!!!¡± Azrog roared in annoyance, ¡°I just want to sleep! Why do you need to make everything so difficult!¡± He ran along the bank following the river, but there was still no sign of him. Not knowing how fast Max was moving in the current, he decided to just jump back into the river himself. Splash!! Water spewed out in all directions as he landed in the water and started pursuing the annoying human. ... Max held his breath under the water and watched as his health gauge slowly went down. It was clear that holding his breath too long caused him to accumulate damage, but at the same time, going up for air too soon would allow that quasi-boss to see him and turn him into a piece of modern art. Max perceived a slight change in the darkness of the murky water ahead of him and hurriedly kicked to propel himself to one side. A sharp rock swept past his nose, narrowly missing him.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ...After judging that enough time had passed, Max finally rose back to the surface and took in a long breath of air. Holding his breath for that long felt really uncomfortable. Quickly scanning the riverside, there was no sign of the orc. Max let out a sigh of relief. ¡°Aha! There you are!¡± He flinched as a voice came from behind him. Swivelling around, the orc was only 30 metres away in the river-water ¡®It jumped in after me?!¡¯ Max was dumbfounded, ¡®This guy is tenacious!¡¯ Feeling a sense of crisis, Max¡¯s thoughts went into overdrive. The situation was really bad! It was impossible to shoot a longbow while being swept along a river, meaning he had no way to fight the orc, whereas the orc would be able to slice him open with its axe if it reached him; and he was pretty sure it was getting closer! ¡°Damn!¡± Just as he planned to escape, he was wrenched underwater by a strong downcurrent. Before he could rise back to the surface, the surface dropped to him, and he slammed into the water with a big splash. ¡®What?!¡¯ During this time, he noticed that the river had become much louder. If before it was a low roar, now it was more like a cacophony of unending static hisses. Max turned back to check the river ahead, causing his expression to immediately worsen. He was entering a section of rapids. ¡°Nooo! Why now?!¡± This was an extremely unfavourable situation for Max. The orc had tough skin and would be fine even if it was tossed around. Max, on the other hand, was just a frail human. With the speed of the river increasing several magnitudes, hitting his head on even a single piece of debris might cause his skull to crack open. In video-game terms, he¡¯d entered what was essentially a ¡®bullet hell¡¯. One of the logs from earlier was caught on a rock in front of him. Max ducked to move under it. Right after that, there was a series of large rocks, which he moved hurriedly to dodge. Unfortunately, not every obstruction was above water and visible, as his already-bruised leg was lacerated by something under the surface. While kicking off another obstacle to avoid a jagged stick, Max saw a flat-topped rock ahead of him and noticed it was fairly close to the riverbank. ¡®Jackpot!¡¯ He immediately set about positioning himself to collide with the rock, waiting until it came close enough before gripping it tightly. Climbing up on it, he prepared to leap to the bank. Bending his legs, his eyes went wide as he suddenly saw a wet log flying toward him. Jumping up to avoid it, he tucked his knees into his chest and the log whizzed by under his feet. Landing unsteadily back on the rock, his feet slipped, and he plunged back into the surging river. ¡°Haha! Nice try, human!¡± A voice bellowed up the river. ¡®F*ck! He used the log from earlier!¡¯ Max inhaled water as he belatedly realised what happened. While he¡¯d been fighting for survival, the orc had closed half the distance between them. Using the shaft of its axe to propel itself forward off the rocks, it wore a sadistic grin as it chased after him. Max looked around for another spot to jump from, but there were none. The riverbanks had gradually risen higher from the water as time progressed; even if he managed to somehow kill his momentum by stabbing into them, the quasi-boss would reach him and bisect his torso before he could climb up. Max¡¯s eyes darted around; there had to be something! Checking every characteristic of the riverscape in front of him, his eyes flicked between each and every object and terrain feature until momentarily resting on a break in the riverbank. ¡®There!¡¯ It was on the other side of the river from where he was, but there was a low spot in the bank where he¡¯d be able to climb up. Without much time, he threw his arms and legs into motion and began swimming toward it. ...It only occurred to him now, but when he was looking around, the river looked as though it ended shortly ahead. Only, that couldn¡¯t be true. Especially not after a section of rapids, rivers don¡¯t just cut off into air suddenly and call it a day. But then, why couldn¡¯t he see the section of river beyond it? Confused, he thought about it while he swam. ¡®...Ah!¡¯ In an instant, his strokes became faster as he hurriedly kicked toward the riverbank. ¡°Did you know, human? I haven¡¯t slept for nearly four days. And yet, yet... just when I finally find time, when I am finally about to embark on my most imperative slumber... you RUIN IT!¡± The orc bellowed angrily as it edged closer to Max. ¡°Are you the same? Is that what this is? Are you a selfish insomniac, who feels that if he cannot obtain sleep, he must also deprive others?¡± Although the orc was angrily spouting nonsense, it was watching Max¡¯s actions closely and keenly noticed he was moving off to one side. Its eyes moved to see where he was going. ¡°No matter the reason, you have robbed me of my precious minutes, and for that, I will ensure that you sleep eternally!¡± As Max reached the bank, he caught sight of the orc drawing its hands behind its head, gripping its battleaxe with both hands. ¡°NO!¡± It hurled the axe with overwhelming force at Max¡¯s escape path. Max arched back to avoid it and was forced to miss his opening, letting go of the ledge and falling back into the river¡¯s cold embrace. The riverbank blurred in his vision as it raced past. Instantly, Max took out his dagger and stabbed it into the bank. The river was pulling him strongly, so this carved a long gash in the earth as he scraped along. Azrog smirked evilly as he saw that Max was slowing down. He was only a few metres away now and would be able to grab Max right at the moment he ran out of riverbank. Huh? Out of riverbank? Max hugged the bank closely as he was washed over a ledge. Taking his dagger out and grasping tightly, he thrust behind him with all of his strength, embedding the blade deeply into the earth. Holding on for dear life while his legs dangled in the air, he watched as the look in the orc¡¯s baggy eyes turned to one of shock, and it plummeted forty metres into the depths below. [ Level Up! ] [ Level Up! ] Chapter 19: Soured Relations Hanging next to a raging waterfall, Max refrained from making any sudden movements, worried that his dagger would come loose and he would plunge to an untimely death. The edges of his vision pulsated red, indicating he was low on health. Looking at the cliff face, he thought about using an arrow as a makeshift piton to climb up but doubted one could hold his weight. ¡®Maybe two then?¡¯ Just as Max was about to gamble his life on his poor-quality arrows, a voice called out to him from above, ¡°Gun! Are you okay?! Hang on!¡± Surprised, Max looked up and saw a familiar face poking over the edge; it was Edmond! ¡°Hey there! Come to hang out with me?¡± Max replied chirpily. A large number of viewers groaned resentfully. ¡°I¡¯m going to drop a rope down to you!¡± Edmond yelled, ¡°You can climb up, right?¡± ¡®Hm? Since when did this guy have rope?¡¯ Max decided he needed to stop playing carelessly and pay attention to his surroundings more, otherwise he might fall into more rivers and such. ¡°Yep, I can climb.¡± A rope was flung down to him. Max grabbed hold of it and ascended it quickly, exhaling once he reached dry ground again. ¡°Haha! Thanks, buddy!¡± he put his arm around Edmond happily and gave him a noogie on impulse. ¡°Ow, hey!¡± ¡°Sorry, sorry. What are you doing here, are the others with you?¡± ¡°The others? No, I was just following the river from the treeline and saw you get sucked over a waterfall. Wait, does that mean the others got out?!¡± Edmond looked at Max with sparkling eyes. ...Max had to stop himself from making an unforgivably bad joke and answered honestly, ¡°Yes, they should be downstream. Everyone made it out fine. Oh, they¡¯re behind you, actually.¡± Edmond spun around and found the others were standing right there. Parker, the vice-captain, was at the fore. ¡°Edmond!¡± The guard was enveloped in a warm hug. The hug was awkward because she hadn¡¯t noticed Edmond was wearing a bag on his back and so she couldn¡¯t wrap her arms around him. ¡®So that¡¯s where the rope was!¡¯ Max hadn¡¯t noticed it either. ¡°Gun! Thank you!¡± Parker also gave him a hug, which he hadn¡¯t expected. Caught off-guard, he blushed a little, as without blood and dirt caked all over her face, she was actually pretty. ¡ª Gun is the worst player ¡ªIt should have been me ¡ªIs this how handsome people are treated? ¡ªThat¡¯s it. I¡¯m buying the game The hug wasn¡¯t as great as the viewers imagined, because Parker was wearing a tough leather tunic over her chest. At least she wasn¡¯t wearing chainmail, though. ...They probably didn¡¯t have enough budget for chainmail. Parker stepped back and peppered Max with questions, which he answered one by one. Meanwhile, Edmond spoke with his colleagues. ¡°Hey, why are three of you shirtless? What happened to your uniforms?¡± ¡°Uh...¡± ¡°It¡¯s complicated.¡± ? Edmond wanted to inquire further after this suspicious response, but Max spoke up before he could. ¡°We need to keep moving. There might be more orcs coming from the north, since there were still a few chasing Edmond.¡± ¡°Oh, actually, they went the other way.¡± Edmond dismissed the concern. ¡°Hm? The other way?¡± ¡°I hid at the river and watched them go north. They won¡¯t be here anytime soon.¡± ¡°Oh. Well, we should be fine then. Let¡¯s start walking anyways.¡± Thankfully, orcs were stupid. ¡°By the way, who healed your injuries? Did Gun have healing potions?¡± Edmond raised a question. Now that he looked properly, Edmond was right; their injuries had all healed up! Even the dude with missing limbs had recovered, with his legs having grown back all the way down to the toes. Lemonade must have brought them some healing potions. But then... Where was Lemonade? ¡°Yes, we found them by just sitting by the riverside; a miracle of luck, perhaps?¡± Parker was unsure, ¡°I wonder who left them there?¡± ¡°That would be my friend, whom I asked for help,¡± Max clarified. ¡°You¡¯re sure you didn¡¯t see anyone there? I thought he would come in person.¡± ¡°No, we didn¡¯t see anyone...¡± Parker raised her eyebrows, clearly surprised by this revelation. ¡°Alright, give me a moment.¡± Max walked ahead and opened his stream chat. ¡°Guys, where is he?¡± ¡ªR.I.P Lemonade ¡ªHe lived a good life ¡ªKilled by bandits ¡ªThis is why altruistic people don¡¯t exist ¡ªHe got PK¡¯ed ¡ªDoesn¡¯t even know it¡¯s his fault lol ¡°He died?¡± Max had a hard time reading the chat, as it was streaming past too quickly. Why were there so many people commenting? He looked to check his viewer count. [Current Viewers: 20,463] ¡°What?! So many of you?!¡± Max was stunned. ¡°Did he send all of you here after dying? Why was he PK¡¯ed; was it random? Are they culprits nearby?¡± Max let off a string of questions he wanted answered. ¡ªThey were looking for you ¡ªThey¡¯re still nearby ¡ªHe died like a minute ago ¡ªHe¡¯s probably watching your stream now Max was still prying answers from the chat when he noticed a group of people ahead.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Parker, do you have a spare potion?¡± Max asked the vice-captain. ¡°Ah, Yes! There was one left.¡± She handed it over to him, ¡°Sorry, I forgot you were injured.¡± ¡°No worries but be careful... these might be enemies up ahead.¡± ¡°Enemies?¡± Parker finally noticed the encroaching group, while Max focused on making himself combat-ready.
STATUS
Name: Gun Class: Deadshot
Level: 8 EXP: 11%
Health: 290/290 Mana: 280/280
Abnormal State: None Condition: Broken ribs, chest contusion, leg trauma, leg laceration, inhaled water
ATTRIBUTES
Vitality: 28 (+1) Strength: 32 (+1)
Dexterity: 36 Agility: 36
Intelligence: 28 Wisdom: 28
Charm: -3 (+100) Luck: 0
DETAILS
Subclasses: Ultra-Rapid Fire, Rapid Fire, Sniping, Kinematics Mastery, Marksmanship, Sharpshooting Titles: Unique, Cruel, Headshot Harry, One Shot One Kill, Player Killer...
Active Skills: None Passive Skills: None
Max skulled the healing potion and was surprised to find that it tasted like cola. The ability to sense taste had not been a feature in Hero of Liberation, so this was quite shocking to Max. ¡°Halt! Who goes there?¡± Parker addressed the approaching group. ¡°Ah, we¡¯re heroes! Pleasure to meet you madam. We have business with the otherworlder in your company.¡± One of the men responded, confirming they were players. Max sized them up. There were seven players, all men with unknown levels. Judging by their equipment, three were magic users, while the other four practiced melee. ¡°What business do you have with me?¡± Max asked them suspiciously. ¡°Are you the ones who killed my friend?¡± ¡°Your username is ¡®Gun¡¯, right?¡± A man who seemed like the leader stood out while crossing his arms, ¡°You stole property from the Avaricius family. We killed your ¡®Lemon¡¯ friend because he was attempting to aid you, our enemy. We obviously wouldn¡¯t let that happen.¡± ¡°Enemy? Stole?¡± Max was genuinely confused. That name sounded familiar though... ¡°Yes, you stole an item of clothing. A hat, I believe.¡± ¡®...Oh! It must be about that guy.¡± Max recalled a certain entitled ¡®young master¡¯. ¡°I think I know what you¡¯re talking about.¡± Max turned to face his NPC companions, ¡°You guys can go ahead, I¡¯ll meet you back at the village.¡± ¡°Huh? Are you sure?¡± Parker was surprised. ¡ªUm what, he¡¯s sending his allies away? ¡ªKilling himself?? ¡ªNoooo I wanted revenge! ¡ªThe ppl in chat clearly haven¡¯t been here long LOL ¡°I¡¯m sure. This is a feud between heroes; you shouldn¡¯t get involved.¡± ¡°Well, okay then. Men, with me!¡± Parker moved on ahead to Novus Village. The players made no move to attack them, knowing the NPCs were higher level and would undoubtedly wipe the floor with them. Their orders were only to kill this ¡®Gun¡¯ guy, anyways. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s talk.¡± ... ... Lemonade watched Gun¡¯s stream while lamenting his own luck. Who would have thought he would be killed as collateral damage on his first day of playing? At least this guy¡¯s stream was entertaining. He even nearly fell off a waterfall. ¡°All right, let¡¯s talk.¡± Lemonade couldn¡¯t help but shake his head when he saw Gun sending his NPCs followers away. This guy would probably die as well. Which was a shame really, because he¡¯d sent all his viewers over there hoping to give this guy some exposure. Gun took a stylish black cowboy hat out of his inventory and spoke again, ¡°Is this the hat you¡¯re talking about?¡± ¡°Yes, that¡¯s it. Are you going to give it back?¡± ¡°Right, Tristan, mm.¡± Gun mumbled to himself. ¡°So, let me get this straight: you hunted me for several hours on launch day and killed my new friend over a feud for a hat which I didn¡¯t even steal? Does that sound about right?¡± ¡°No. The first two are right, but not the last. We¡¯ve received official word from Tristan Avaricius that you stole the hat from him. You¡¯re a thief and a liar.¡± ¡°Alright, got it. Wait here a moment.¡± Gun put the hat on his head and started walking backward slowly, while counting his steps. ¡°One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven...¡± ¡°What are you doing?¡± The player leader interrupted. ¡°One moment.¡± Gun put his hand up and ignored him. ¡°Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one.¡± ¡°Cut it out, we don¡¯t have all day.¡± ¡°Alright, alright. This should be enough.¡± He drew some arrows from his quiver. ¡°Enough? For what?¡± ¡°For me to kill all of you, obviously. Did you forget that I¡¯m an archer?¡± Gun pulled his bowstring back and shot an arrow at the leader¡¯s head. ¡°Uh?!¡± Lemonade involuntarily made a noise. He was attacking them?? One-on-seven?! The shot struck the centre of the leader¡¯s forehead and killed him instantly. He faded away into a blue particle effect. ¡ªOH SH*T ¡ª1-shot?! ¡ªEasier than orcs lol ¡ªWTF IS THAT DAMAGE The scene exploded into action as Gun fired two more arrows at the enemy players. Both of them landed as headshots and the players died without being able to resist. His fourth shot flew at an enemy mage, who was forced to leap sideways to dodge, cancelling his spell in the process. Another mage wasn¡¯t so lucky and took an arrow to the nose, resulting in instant death. Lemonade watched his screen in shock. Was this guy fighting a 1v7... and winning?! The last standing melee player managed to reach Gun and extend his sword, only to be hit in the face with a bow. ¡®Hold on, he got hit by the bow itself??? Is it because it¡¯s a longbow, it¡¯s longer than the sword?!¡¯ Lemonade was completely stupefied. Wielding his longbow like a bat, Gun smacked the swordsman in the face and sent him flying into a nearby tree. The crack of a bone breaking could be heard through the stream audio. ¡®Th-this, this guy is awesome!¡¯ Gun tilted sideways to avoid a conjured rock, before shooting the mage responsible, whose face dropped into a pile of leaves on the forest floor. Nocking his last arrow, but not drawing it, he looked to the last man standing, whom had stood idly at the back of the group throughout the ordeal and not made any attempt to attack. The man stared back at him. ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°You¡¯re a healer, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± Pew. Gun put the guy out of his misery. Walking over to the guy with the broken bones, who was still alive, he picked up his head by the hair and pressed it against a tree. He didn¡¯t know what injuries this dude had, but they were probably severe, because he didn¡¯t resist at all. ¡°Do me a favour. Tell your cute Tristan that if he wants to spread lies and attack me, he should at least do it in person like a man.¡± Smash! The head disappeared in his hand and turned into blue energy. With all the enemies defeated, Gun took the hat off and walked around to collect his arrows. ¡°Avenged,¡± he muttered under his breath. Lemonade realised his jaw was still down and fixed it back it to its natural position. What a scary guy! Were people just trolling when they said the archer class was bad? It seemed actually OP in this person¡¯s hands! He scrolled down and hit the ¡®follow¡¯ button on Gun¡¯s channel. This was definitely a good friend to have made! ¡ªIs he hacking? ¡ªThat¡¯s terrifying ¡ªI got a headache just from watching that ¡ªBoss, I¡¯ll follow you, so spare me! The other viewers were of a similar opinion, and Gun¡¯s follower count rose rapidly. However, the man in question had his attention elsewhere. Rather than celebrating, he stared down at his interface unhappily, like he¡¯d just swallowed a slug. [ Charm: -10 ] Chapter 20: The Armoury After collecting some items from the forest, Max returned to Novus Village and climbed up the northern wall to look for the guard leader, Ken. However, all he found was an empty desk, with a newly pitched tarp in front of it. ...It was probably a last line of defence for Ken¡¯s documents. ¡°Are you looking for the captain?¡± A guard approached him, ¡°He should be in the rec room; I can take you there if you need.¡± ¡°That would be a great help, thank you.¡± Max gratefully accepted the offer. He had no interest in wandering around cluelessly searching for Ken while 20,000 people were watching him. Though, that number had already gone down by a lot since he wasn¡¯t fighting anything now. ¡°Of course, then follow me.¡± The guard lead him down the wall to a break room nearby. ¡°Gun, good to see you back in one piece.¡± Ken greeted him as he entered, ¡°You¡¯ve done amazing work out there, great job!¡± The rescued guards stood to his side and nodded vigorously in agreement. ¡°Thank you, Gun!¡± ¡°You have our gratitude, hero.¡± ¡°You saved our lives!¡± Parker was the most enthusiastic, ¡°Please let us know if you need anything, we owe you a great debt.¡± ¡°Haha, no need, it was my pleasure.¡± Max flashed a smile before turning to face the captain. ¡°I assume you already know the situation, so what comes next?¡± ¡°Yes, quite. Orcs...¡± The captain sipped from a mug he¡¯d been holding. ¡°Building a stronghold in the mountains, no less... By any chance, do you have evidence with you? Something like a body part or a weapon we can show the army; these guys forgot to bring any back.¡± Ken blatantly criticised his subordinates as they stood to the side with some embarrassment. ¡°I do, actually.¡± Max casually pulled a mutilated orc finger out of his pocket. ¡°I took this off their leader, a high orc captain named Azrog.¡± After taking care of the players who killed Lemonade, Max had checked under the base of the waterfall for any loot from the high orc. To his surprise, the orc captain¡¯s corpse was there, impaled on a sharp underwater rock, and hadn¡¯t yet disappeared. He guessed this was because of the mission, so he sawed off one of the orc¡¯s fingers to take with him. ¡°High- you killed a high orc?¡± Ken was stunned. ¡°How do you know its name? Can you understand their language?¡± ¡°Yes, I can actually. I think it¡¯s a hero thing. The orc told me that they had claimed land in the north forest under the orders of a ¡®Viscount Torga¡¯. That¡¯s about all I know.¡± ¡°Damn, a noble!¡± Ken swore. That meant the situation was quite serious. ¡°I also retrieved this, if it¡¯s of any interest to you.¡± Max took a set of black metal pauldrons out of his inventory. A number of sharp spikes jutted out from it, though some had broken off, likely due to its recent swimming session in the local river. ¡°Darksteel?! How did you get your hands on- is this from the high orc?¡± ¡°Yes, it was from that guy. I also obtained the communication beads he used.¡± Max jangled the red jewels in his hand, quite satisfied with his haul. ¡°This is a premium metal.¡± Ken turned the armour piece around in his hands while trying not to injure himself. It was like watching someone try to analyse a pufferfish. He handed it back to Max. ¡°You should keep this for yourself. It¡¯s too big for a human to use, but the metal can be smelted down so it¡¯s quite valuable.¡± ¡°I see...¡± Max now regretted not going back up the waterfall for the axe. That blade of that thing had also been black metal. ¡°Anyways, you asked what¡¯s next. Parker here claims she can organise a meeting with the crown prince to get this sorted.¡± He turned to look at her. ¡°I doubt that¡¯s true, but considering that the alternative is waiting here patiently while the army twiddles their thumbs, I¡¯m open to giving her a shot.¡± Ken nodded at his vice-captain, who smiled in return, before involuntarily squealing when Ken suddenly threw an orc finger at her. ¡®C-crown prince?¡¯ ...This suddenly turned into a large ordeal. ¡®Surely there¡¯s no way I just-¡¯ Parker glowered at Ken before addressing Max. ¡°Gun, you should join us in the capital!¡± she said enthusiastically, ¡°I¡¯m sure the prince would love to meet you; he¡¯s always looking for new talents.¡± ¡®...¡¯ ¡°S-sure. I¡¯d be honoured.¡± ¡°Great! Then meet us in the royal barracks, two days from now. We¡¯ll probably hold a meeting there.¡± ¡°Uh, okay.¡± Max was unsure how, but he¡¯d apparently just scored a meeting with the kingdom¡¯s royalty during his first day of playtime. Ba-Ding! ¡°Max! Come out of the coffin and celebrate with us already; we¡¯re waiting for you!¡± Max suddenly heard his sister¡¯s voice in his head. She was talking to him through the capsule¡¯s voice transmission function. ¡°Ah.¡± Max turned to Ken and the others, ¡°Apologies, I have some things to attend to. It was nice meeting you all.¡± ¡°Sure, just remember to come back later to collect your reward.¡± ¡°Bye Gun!¡± Max walked out of the rec room and addressed his viewers, ¡°Thanks for watching the stream everyone; I have some things to do in real life, so I¡¯ll be logging off now.¡± ¡ªWait! At least show us how to install the hacks before you go! ¡ªComes, annihilates everyone, leaves ¡ªNooooooo!! ... ... Max ended the stream and climbed out of the capsule; Lina was waiting for him. ¡°Happy birthdayyyy~!¡± Lina greeted him. ¡°Did you like the cake? It was good, right?¡± ¡°It was great.¡± Max smiled. ¡°Why don¡¯t you just make me one every day, instead?¡± ¡°No way, you¡¯d become fat and diabetic.¡± She ruthlessly refused. ¡°Rone! Come out, your boyfriend¡¯s here.¡± ¡°Eh, Rone¡¯s here?¡± ¡°Yes, he¡¯s hiding behind the couch.¡± A hand appeared on top of the living room couch as Rone came out from behind it. ¡°Snitch.¡± Lina ignored him and shook Max¡¯s arm. ¡°Hurry, what pizza do you want? I¡¯m starving!¡± Max checked his phone. Oops, it was already dinnertime. He¡¯d lost track of the time while playing. ¡°Pizzaaaaaghhhh!!¡± Max decided to quickly choose a pizza before his sister turned into a pizza goblin. ¡°I¡¯ll have an Aussie.¡± He decided to go with his favourite. (A/N: Aussie pizza is a type which is only sold in Australia, because the other countries all suck, apparently)If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. ¡°Kay!¡± Lina spun around. ¡°What about the couch monster?¡± ¡°...Pepperoni.¡± Rone replied. Lina pressed some buttons on her phone and left to order the pizza. ¡°Hey Max, come check this out.¡± Rone ushered him over to the TV. The smart TV was showing a channel on VidTube, the popular video-sharing platform. The channel name read ¡®The Armoury¡¯. ¡°What¡¯s this, then?¡± Max was curious. The channel had only two videos, both uploaded within the past hour. ¡°Ta-da~! Rone made an exaggerated hand gesture. ¡°I made you a channel! Do you like it?¡± ¡®What? It¡¯s me?!¡± Max checked the video titles. [ Deadshot | Archer Class Test Full Completion ] [ Gun¡¯s Starter Dungeon Speedrun - 2:47 (Current World Record) ] ¡°Get it? I called it the armoury, cuz, you know, an armoury is where you keep guns n stuff.¡± The channel picture was an image of Max suavely tipping his hat. ¡°Haha, I love it!¡± Max responded excitedly. ¡°This is awesome; did you do all of this just now?¡± ¡°Yeah, more or less. The first video¡¯s hidden right now, so people will only see the second one. I thought you might want to keep your class secret for now.¡± ¡°Thanks. But why is the second title so clickbait-y? ...I¡¯m not a world record holder.¡± Rone turned to face him. ¡°It¡¯s not clickbait, though.¡± ¡°...?¡± ¡°Check this out.¡± Rone tapped a button on the remote, switching to another screen he¡¯d pre-prepared. ¡°This is the forum tag for starter dungeon speedruns.¡± Rone scrolled down through the posts, showing times of 5+ minutes. Max tried to remember how long he took when he cleared the dungeon himself. ¡®It was only a few minutes from what I recall... 2:47 should be right.¡¯ The screen stopped moving as Rone hovered over a post. [ Starter Dungeon World Record in 4m 43s ] ¡°Th-that¡¯s also clickbait.¡± ¡°Oh so everything is clickbait, huh? How mightily convenient!¡± Rone scoffed. ¡°Dude, there¡¯s no way I got the world record from just running in there and shooting normally. I didn¡¯t even try that hard.¡± ¡°Sure, whatever you wanna tell yourself, man. Just know that you¡¯ll be proven wrong later.¡± ¡°Sure, sure.¡± Rone switched the tab. Now he was showing a social media profile. ¡°You made me an account on here too?!¡± It was a social media platform known as InstaPic, famously used by every influencer and most regular people too. Rone had uploaded a picture of Max pulling a bow at full draw. ¡°Heh, sure did. Oh, right, I forgot to set descriptions.¡± Rone used the TV remote to set a description for both accounts. Typing with a remote control was arduously slow, so he decided to be lazy and just put ¡®Howdy.¡¯ ¡°Well, we can change it later.¡± Rone gave an excuse as he refreshed the pages. ¡°Uh?¡± ¡°Hm? What?¡± ¡°Either this is bugged, or you just gained 1,462 subscribers on VidTube in the past few minutes.¡± ¡°Oh, nice!¡± ¡°What do you mean nice, it¡¯s obviously a mistake, dude.¡± ¡°Did you connect it to my DiveLive account?¡± ¡°Yes, a few minutes ago.¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s why then.¡± Rone stared at Max blankly. It was apparent that he¡¯d been busy making profiles and hadn¡¯t looked at Max¡¯s stream. ¡°Have you ever watched the streamer ¡®Lemonade¡¯?¡± Max asked him. ¡°Hm? Yeah, I watch him all the time.¡± Rone still didn¡¯t understand. ¡°I ran into that guy while playing.¡± A light seemed to slowly flicker in Rone¡¯s eyes, before fully igniting. ¡°You met Lemonade?!¡± He shook Max¡¯s shoulders roughly. ¡°Woahh!! Was he bald?!¡± ¡°Th-that¡¯s your first question?¡± ¡°This is awesome- So you shared some of his viewers, then? That¡¯s really lucky!¡± ¡°No, actually he died, and I got all of his viewers.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°DID YOU KILL LEMONADE?!¡± Rone took a pillow from the couch and started beating Max in the face with it. ¡°N-no!¡± Max raised his arms to protect himself. ¡°We made friends! I avenged him! Avenged!¡± ¡°Oh, okay.¡± Rone ceased his attack. ¡°But you got all his viewers, right? That means he raided you.¡± ¡°Raided?¡± Oh no, that sounded pretty bad. ¡°It¡¯s what streamers do to send their viewers to a particular channel when they end their stream. Otherwise, the viewers just disperse and look for different streams to watch on their own. Basically, he gave you the attention of everyone who¡¯d been watching him.¡± ¡°Oh. Well that sounds actually really nice of him...¡± ...Max was basically the reason that guy died, so he felt even worse now. Come to think of it... he never even thanked him for the viewers. ¡°Anyways, give me the rundown, I want to hear what happened.¡± Rone pestered him for the full story, so Max obliged. After Max had given him the full version of events, there was a knock at the door. Zoom! Lina bounded past them and opened the door, cash in hand. ¡°Thank you, have a good night!¡± Zoom! ¡°Pizza¡¯s here!¡± she announced. After slightly lifting the lids of each pizza box for inspection, she closed them and started throwing them at people like frisbees. ¡°There¡¯s yours... and yours....¡± ¡°Hey, hey, hey! Gentle with the pizzas!¡± Rone caught his box anxiously and cradled it to his chest like a precious treasure. Max, on the other hand, dexterously caught his with one hand. ¡°Uncle!¡± ¡°I¡¯m here.¡± Raymond walked through the doorway of the hall with his hands held open, and a pizza box instantly appeared within them. ¡°What are we watching?¡± ¡°Dunno.¡± Lina responded. ¡°Max, what¡¯re we watching?¡± Max¡¯s family generally liked to eat meals while watching TV. It had become somewhat of a tradition by this point. ¡°We could watch Max¡¯s game stream?¡± Rone suggested. ¡°He recorded his footage from playing today.¡± ¡°Nah, that feels too narcissistic.¡± Max responded as he scrolled through his VidTube subscriptions. He didn¡¯t follow many channels, so he was quick to notice a new video from one of his favourites. ¡°Ah! Ares uploaded!!¡± ¡°Ares? Who¡¯s that?¡± The others exchanged looks. ¡°My favourite channel! Ares is a Hero of Liberation player; I used to watch his battle footage all the time! His swordsmanship tutorials are also really good.¡± ¡°Huh? But you¡¯re an archer, you don¡¯t use a sword.¡± ¡°Says who?¡± Max smiled while giving Rone a sidelong glance. ¡°Some bosses in that game weren¡¯t beatable with only bow and arrow; I still needed to learn basic swordsmanship.¡± He returned his eyes to the screen. ¡°Anyways, this guy is really good, just watch.¡± ¡®I guess that makes sense.¡¯ Rone thought to himself, casting his attention back to the screen. ¡®Though, the name does sound familiar... Have I watched this guy before?¡¯ Max pressed play, and the video opened with a man standing alone in a forest. It was recorded in first-person perspective and showed the man carrying a sword in one hand, while holding a peculiar horn in the other. Lifting the horn up to his face, he blew into it, and a loud sound emanated out into the surroundings. The forest turned pin-drop silent, as even the birds stopped chirping. A few seconds later, a goblin came running out of a bush screeching. It was not alone, as more started bursting out from trees and shrubs in every direction, quickly homing in on the swordsman¡¯s position. Moments before the first goblin reached him, the swordsman put his horn away and span the sword in his fingers, before gripping tightly and slicing outward with a smooth horizontal sweep. The goblin¡¯s head was cut cleanly off and sent flying out of frame. ¡°Woah.¡± Raymond exclaimed. ¡°That was cool.¡± ¡°Keep watching.¡± Max said simply. After decapitating one goblin, the player¡¯s sword did not stop moving as it rapidly flitted between enemies. Thin spurts of blood followed its path, as every goblin that came into contact with it became exanimated, exploding into fine red particles shortly thereafter. It was quite bizarre, as the scene appeared less like a fight for survival, and more like a theatrical performance. Each movement seemed as though it were carefully planned to conserve the sword¡¯s momentum, with the result coming out in the form of a perennial dance, where every strike led into the next in the shape of a delicately flowing wave. As the swordsman¡¯s motions grew in speed, his vision moved around with increasing rapidity and the footage quickly became a blurry haze in the eyes of onlookers. It was as though the player was caught in a tornado dyed with a sporadic reddish hue. Max marvelled at the footage, ¡°Woah! Did you see that? He just got three with the same swing! Hahaha!¡± Raymond and Lina felt dizzy and looked at him with confusion. Was he actually able to make out what was happening here? Rone, however, kept watching the screen. ¡®Aha! I do know this guy!¡¯ He remembered that he had once come across a video from this channel, but it was too fast and disorderly to watch without getting a headache, so he didn¡¯t watch any further. It was already amazing that Max could actually watch this kind of content, as it was almost completely unintelligible in his eyes. ¡®Well, as long as he¡¯s happy.¡¯ Rone looked across at Max, who was thoroughly enjoying his birthday pizza while watching the video with sparkling eyes. ¡®I should work on my editing skills so I can make something even better than this...¡¯ Rone decided to try his best from now on. Chapter 21: Balance *Click* *Cli-Click* Flash! Armed with an assortment of notepads, tablets and flashing cameras, rows of journalists sat attentively in their seats, arranged in a curve to face a semicircular podium in a small auditorium. Atop the podium stood a group of well-dressed individuals, headed by a main speaker who clutched a small lectern while addressing the audience with professionalism. Pinned to her jacket lapel was a large badge which read ¡®Jessica - PR Team Lead¡¯. ¡°Now I¡¯ll get to the issue you¡¯ve all been waiting for. Yesterday afternoon, Virtek issued a server-wide shutdown order, which persisted for nearly an hour. The cause of this shutdown was a sophisticated cyber-attack of unknown origin.¡± Soft gasps and a series of low murmurs were heard, as an atmosphere of subdued shock filled the room. ¡°We believe that a number of cyber-criminals attempted a digital intrusion on our systems, with the goal of obtaining private user data. Fortunately, Virtek boasts some of the strongest cybersecurity technology in the modern world, so we were able to easily repel the attempt. While our personnel made the decision to shut down the game servers as a precaution, this was later deemed unnecessary. In other words, Virtek has the situation entirely in hand.¡± The speaker took a moment to allow the words to sink in before continuing, ¡°Unfortunately, as we are still conducting our investigation, I am unable to take questions today regarding the incident. Please note that we will provide further information in later communications.¡± Waiting a moment, the speaker was surprised when no interjections or complaints were made by the reporters. She decided to quickly move on to the next topic before her good luck ran out. ¡°The other main topic for today¡¯s press conference concerns the premature lockout experienced by many of our users during registration.¡± Immediately, hands shot up from various journalists. ¡°I intend to answer questions shortly, but I will give an explanation first: Firstly, we at Virtek sincerely apologise to any and all users who were affected by the registration lockout. This was an inexcusable error on our part, and we strive to do much better than that.¡± ¡°The lockout error was fixed shortly after the game¡¯s launch, though we have determined that over 700,000 accounts were created prior to that time. To rectify this issue, we will be offering free account name change tokens and avatar change tokens to all of those accounts, which will remain valid until one week from today, as well as a small EXP boost. Once again, we at Virtek sincerely apologise for this blunder.¡± The speaker looked up. ¡°I will take a few questions.¡± Immediately, one hand shot up much faster than the others. The speaker pointed to them. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Hi, how much will the experience boost be and for how long?¡± ¡°The EXP boost will be immediately applied to the accounts and will last for one week. Its extent will be 10%.¡± Not waiting for a response, she pointed to another journalist. ¡°Hello. Will Virtek be opening extra name slots for those who became unable to choose their preferred username due to the lockout? Currently there are only 10 accounts allowed for each unique name.¡± ¡°Unfortunately, that is impossible at this stage due to database constraints. We will make an announcement if the situation changes. For now, we recommend that users add a numbered tag to the end of their preferred username instead.¡± The speaker started to feel pressure as the questions became more difficult. Thankfully, most hands had gone down after the previous question. ¡°Yes, over there.¡± ¡°Hi, Aisha here from GameWatch. We conducted a player survey yesterday and found that less than 2% of the playerbase have obtained the ¡®Archer¡¯ class as their specialisation. This is an extremely low proportion when compared to the other classes; especially the ¡®Mage¡¯ class, which constitutes nearly half of all players. Does Virtek plan to take actions to either increase incentive for choosing the class, or lower the bar for entry?¡± ¡°T-that...¡± the speaker was flustered for a moment. Unexpectedly, someone had asked a completely unrelated question; one which she had not been briefed on. ¡°I will have to defer to my colleague for the answer on that particular issue, since I believe this falls under the domain of our game balance division.¡± Stepping back from the lectern, she looked to one of her co-workers for assistance. A rotund, middle-aged man at the back of the podium froze for a moment, before reluctantly stepping forward with a slightly pale complexion. The cameras turned to focus on him. He wore an unbuttoned black suit with a white shirt and purple tie, as well as a badge which read ¡®Derrick ¨C Balance Team Lead¡¯. Trading places with the previous speaker, bright lights reflected off his partially bald head as he approached the lectern. ¡°Good morning.¡± The man forgot to smile as he addressed the crowd. ¡°My name is Derrick from the balance division. My team has been assigned the task of maintaining balance among the playable classes in World of Heroes, to ensure a smooth and fair player experience.¡± ¡°...Unfortunately, this is not a balance that can be guaranteed immediately after launch, as player choices are often unpredictable, and our foremost priority is to ensure player freedom.¡± The reporter who asked the question waited for the man to continue, but unexpectedly, he did not, so she quickly asked a follow-up question. ¡°Yes, but many players who wish to choose the archer class are unable to due to the high requirements! In another survey we did, we found that over 90% of players who attempted the archer class test had failed. Conversely, 85% of healer class attempts ended with success. Does Virtek not see this as an unfair imbalance in difficulty?¡±If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The man made an awkward expression as he scrambled to respond. ¡°W-well, yes, we are certainly aware that many classes may be more difficult to use and employ a higher skill ceiling. In terms of the statistics you stated, we can assure you that Virtek will conduct its own investigation and make changes to the class tests if necessary.¡± Before the reporter could speak again, the man quickly followed up on his words, ¡°Unfortunately, that is all we can guarantee at this time. As for further questions, I will hand the spotlight back to our PR team leader.¡± The man quickly turned around and moved back to the rear of the podium, forcing the previous speaker to return to the microphone with hurried steps. ¡°Were there any other questions?¡± she asked cautiously. More hands rose than had before the previous question. Frowning internally, the speaker secretly likened the gallery to a bunch of piranhas who caught the scent of blood. ¡°I should clarify; I meant questions not related to the balance between the classes. As my colleague stated before, we need to conduct our own investigation before we can announce any changes.¡± The number of hands lowered significantly, and the speaker went on to swiftly answer the remaining questions, which covered a variety of topics. ... ... BANG. ¡°Damn!¡± Derrick smashed a desk with anger as he returned to his office. Hearing the loud sound, his co-workers swivelled around in their chairs to face him. Despite it being morning, the office was dimly lit with no windows. It was a spacious room, reminiscent of the control room from a doomsday movie, with split rows of desks facing a set of three large wall-mounted screens on one end. Derrick¡¯s desk stood on a slightly elevated section of flooring by the entrance, separated from the rest of the employees by a black steel handrail. Derrick pressed his hands onto the railing, leaning into it as he looked down over his subordinates. ¡°Why the hell did none of you tell me only 2% of players were archers?!¡± Derrick¡¯s voice bellowed across the room. ¡°Did none of you even think to check?¡± ¡°Sir, we received numerous emails from the support team regarding the issue; we assumed you had seen them.¡± One junior employee spoke up. ¡°And you only tell me this now?! Useless!¡± Derrick raged as he tore off his suit and threw it roughly at his desk. ¡°You were all watching the press conference, right? What are your solutions? We need to take action immediately!¡± ¡°Team leader, I already sent you an email with proposed solutions last night¡± An employee with ginger hair spoke up, his expression unimpressed. ¡°Would you like me to give a brief outline now?¡± ¡°Good. Go ahead, Clyde.¡± Derrick nodded. ¡°But the next time something urgent like this arises, I expect that you call me immediately.¡± ¡°Right.¡± Clyde responded simply. ¡°Firstly, there are many people claiming that the archer class is too weak. As a response to this, and arguably as a form of damage control, I suggest that we post a commendation on Virtek¡¯s socials for the current speedrun world record holder of the starter dungeon, who just so happens to be an archer player.¡± ¡°Speedrun record... it¡¯s held by an archer?¡± Derrick scratched his chin. ¡°Good, very good! Haha! Send a link of it to the PR team immediately!¡± ¡°Sure thing.¡± ¡°What about the archer class test? Why is everyone failing it?¡± ¡°Unfortunately, the failure rate is just as bad as that reporter stated, and it¡¯s our fault too.¡± ¡°Our fault? What do you mean?¡± ¡°The archery test being experienced by the players is the same as the one previously trialled in our closed beta.¡± Clyde made a regretful face. ¡°The beta found that the archery test was too difficult for average people, so the development team reduced the distances by 20%, with the minimum target distance to pass being reduced from 25 metres to 20, and the furthest target reduced from 100 metres to 80. Most crucially, the number of attempts permitted to hit each target was increased from 1 to 3.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Derrick raised an eyebrow. ¡°So... why did we use the old version for launch?¡± ¡°The development team forgot to change it over.¡± ¡°...What?¡± ¡°They forgot to switch to the new model before launch.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°They sent an email last night, informing us that they had made the mistake, but decided not to switch it over and fix it immediately, because then the players would find out that we blundered. They want it to look like a balancing patch instead.¡± ¡°Ugh.¡± Derrick facepalmed. ¡°What a bunch of f*cking idiots.¡± ¡°Regardless, now it falls to us to decide how to compensate existing archers when we switch it over.¡± ¡°Compensate? Why would we need to compensate them?¡± Derrick didn¡¯t follow. ¡°The existing archers were required to complete a harder test to obtain their classes, which isn¡¯t really fair and might have restricted their class bracket,¡± Clyde explained. ¡°The four main class brackets are [Novice Archer], [Archer], [Expert Archer] and [Master Archer], which give boosts of 25%, 50%, 75% or 100% extra bow damage, respectively. As things stand, only a few dozen people have reached the 2nd bracket, [Archer], and there are no expert or master players yet. There is one player who-¡± ¡°Alright, I get it, I get it,¡± Derrick interrupted. ¡°Then how should we compensate them?¡± Clyde frowned at being cut off, but continued nonetheless, ¡°I propose we give them a 40% bonus to their class effect until their next class bracket promotion. So then, a [Novice Archer] with a 25% damage bonus would have that percentage increased to 35%, and the [Archer] bonus would be increased from 50% to 70%. There is one issue with-¡± ¡°Great! That¡¯s a perfect idea.¡± Derrick clapped. ¡°But that alone won¡¯t bring the proportion of archers up by much will it?¡± Clyde felt annoyed. ¡°No, it likely still won¡¯t exceed even 10% of players, which is half of the class average.¡± ¡°Then, I have a solution for that. You said that even the best scorers on the archery test are only getting a 50% boost, right? Why don¡¯t we just double those boosts entirely? That way we can increase incentive to choose the archer class, as well as snuff out those assholes complaining archers are too weak!¡± ¡°No, wait, that¡¯s too much. The class boosts were carefully considered by the development team to not give too much-¡± ¡°You mean the development team that just screwed up?¡± Derrick chortled. ¡°They can get stuffed; our job is to balance the classes, so that¡¯s just what we¡¯ll do.¡± ¡°But Derrick, that¡¯s a really big change to make. Plus, I¡¯m pretty sure the scope of our work here is to balance the power between the classes, not the number of players. We should at least consult the directors before implementing something like that.¡± ¡°It¡¯s nearly the weekend already; over a million more people will create accounts before then. We don¡¯t have time to waste with unnecessary-¡± ¡°We can¡¯t rush something like this!¡± Clyde protested. ¡°There could be huge ramific-¡± ¡°Don¡¯t interrupt me!¡± Derrick yelled with irritation. ¡°I¡¯m your superior and I have been given the authority to make the final calls when it comes to game balance. Do you have a problem with that?¡± Clyde shot Derrick a reproving glance before replying, ¡°...Alright, your call.¡± ¡°Good. Does anyone else have any objections or input?¡± Derrick looked over the rest of the staff, who had remained quiet throughout the discussion. None of them made any attempt to speak up. ¡°Alright then. Implement the changes we discussed; I want the patch to be out by evening. I¡¯m leaving to grab a coffee now, but I¡¯ll come back to check on your progress later.¡± The employees watched as Derrick exited through the doorway. ¡®...Oh well, it¡¯s not me who¡¯ll catch the flak for it.¡¯ Clyde shrugged and went back to work. Chapter 22: The Fill-in Max walked around Novus while scrolling through a holographic display with interest. The game developers had released an update while he was sleeping, changing all sorts of things.
Patch Notes:
  • Player death penalty is reduced from 24hrs to 12hrs and is no longer incurred by players under level 10. Ongoing penalties have been revoked for all players meeting this criterion.
  • Fast travel to the capital city is now unlocked by default for all players in their home kingdom.
  • ¡®Threat Level¡¯ has been added to description tags.
  • Burning players and NPCs by holding a fireball near them is now considered a hostile action.
  • High-fives and fist-bumps are no longer considered a hostile action.
  • Barricading doorways will now lower your standing with affected NPCs and all NPCs will now be more proficient at removing the barricades.
  • Attempting to remove pants from yourself or others will now render a weak electric shock.
  • NPCs will no longer mistake people of short stature for dwarves.
  • NPCs will no longer accuse identical twins of dark sorcery.
  • ...
  • ...
Other: An additional patch will be released later today with further changes. We thank you for your patience and ask that you treat our support team with kindness and respect.
Max smirked while reading through the dot-points; some of the fixes were quite amusing. It was good that the death penalty was phased out for beginner players. Checking his friend list, he found that Lemonade had already come back online. Rone on the other hand, stayed up late after going back to his house and was still asleep. Though, it would be strange if he was awake, because it was currently only 5am in the morning. *Yawn* As for Max, there were two possible explanations for why he woke up this early: the first was that his sleep schedule could have already been ruined from waking at 3am yesterday, and the second was that his own anxiety woke him up, as he had been worried that oversleeping might cause him to miss out on the meeting that Parker would supposedly arrange with the crown prince today. He suspected the latter, as he believed he¡¯d done that sort of thing previously... the accidentally waking himself up part, not the crown prince part; he hadn¡¯t met any princes previously. Rone shared a concerning piece of information with him last night, which was that time passed faster in the game world than in the real world. A full day cycle here was only 12 hours long, so when Parker had told him to meet her at the royal barracks in 2 days¡¯ time, she really meant in 24 hours¡¯ time. This meant that he would only have around 12hrs to reach the kingdom¡¯s capital after he woke up in the morning and would need to rush to arrive in time, as the kingdom¡¯s size was extremely vast. However, fast travel to the capital city had recently been unlocked for everyone, as per the new patch notes... In other words, he could now literally just teleport there. This was why Max was currently wandering around the streets like a lost tourist. According to Rone, there should be a tall stone somewhere around here called a ¡®monolith¡¯, which effectively functioned as a fast travel point. Fast travel would only be possible when touching the stone. ¡®Hm... Still no sign of it.¡¯ Despite not yet finding his magic rock, Max admired a tall ivory clock tower to the side of the throughfare. It looked unnaturally elegant compared to the other buildings in the area, which might explain why a large body of players were gathered near it. ¡®Actually, they look like they¡¯re here for the park.¡¯ ¡®...Mm? But why would they be here for just a park?¡¯ Max did a double take. The adjacent parkland was occupied by an inordinate number of players. ...After thinking for a moment, Max concluded there was no way it was just a regular public park. Grass and gazebos were nice, but not enough to warrant this level of attention. Approaching from the street, Max pulled himself up a tree branch to see over the crowds. Following the dense areas of the crowd, his eyes rested on a tall stone prism a short distance away. One player happened to touch the stone right at that moment, and abruptly vanished into air without any special effects. ¡®Monolith! Luckyy~¡¯ Max dropped down from the tree and made his way over, nimbly weaving through the bystanders. A few seconds later, he was already there and prodded the monolith with his finger, not caring about the intricate engravings carved into the stone¡¯s surface. [ Please select your fast travel location: ] A map popped up in front of Max, which was quite fortunate for him because he actually didn¡¯t know the name of the capital city. He selected the only available option. [ Location confirmed. After confirming, fast travel will be locked for (8) hours. Confirm? Y/N ] ¡®Dang, there¡¯s a cooldown. Oh well, whatever. At least it looks like it¡¯s free.¡¯You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Since Max had already sorted out everything he needed to do in Novus, he pressed ¡®yes¡¯. With a flash of light, he immediately found himself transported to a gigantic plaza. ¡®Woah.¡¯ Or at least, he thought it was a plaza. It was a bit hard to tell when you couldn¡¯t see the ground. Tens of thousands of players filled the area, rendering seeing or hearing anything extremely difficult. Not wasting any time, Max opened his map and looked for a market. Before meeting with the prince, he needed to do some shopping. There were a few things he needed, such as arrows, potions and some formal clothes to wear to the meeting. Finding the direction, he did a spin and started traversing the masses. After completing that mission yesterday, Max received a whopping 50,000 gold as a reward from the guard captain, Ken. With such a massive amount, it was time to splurge! Well... Max was too miserly to actually ¡®splurge¡¯ money per se, but he was still going to buy a lot of things. He also planned to buy a better bow since he was still using his beginner one. His strength had increase by a decent amount after levelling up a few times, so he would now be able to use something with a bit more of a kick to it. [ Received a message from ¡®Lemonade¡¯ ] ¡®Hm?¡¯ A message from Lemonade? ¡®Oh, right.¡¯ He probably wanted the reward money from helping him out yesterday. Max opened the message and read through it. [ Gun! Do you want to do a dungeon with me and some other streamers in the capital? We¡¯re down a person and could use the help of an expert ] ¡®Expert? Aw, he¡¯s so nice.¡¯ Caught off-guard by the unexpected yearly compliment, Max quickly replied: [ I¡¯d love to! Where should I meet you? ] ¡®Wait.¡¯ Max froze after sending the response. ¡®I¡¯ve already received help from him at the mission, and then again when he raided my stream... now he¡¯s inviting me to a streaming collaboration?!¡¯ This was unacceptable! Max would end up way too far in his debt. [ ¡®Lemonade¡¯ has invited you to their party. Accept? Y/N ] ¡®Ahhhhh!! Dammit!¡¯ Max pressed accept and started sprinting to the merchant. He would need more arrows for this. ... ... Max arrived at the dungeon and found Lemonade standing with two people he hadn¡¯t met before. ¡°The weapon of mass destruction has arrived!¡± Lemonade called out cheerily. ¡°Dunno about that; maybe a weapon of minor destruction. Who are these guys?¡± Max replied with interest. The two strangers stared back, sharing the same curiosity. Both of them looked to be of similar age to Max, in their early-to-mid-twenties. The first was a petite girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, while the second was a confident-looking dude with blue hair and orange eyes. ¡°These are my viewer-magnets! On your left is Jasmine, a romance game streamer who acts as our healer. On your right is-¡± ¡°Hey, I don¡¯t play romance games, I play ¡®Otome¡¯ games. There¡¯s a difference,¡± Jasmine corrected him. ¡°Also, you can¡¯t just replace Ruby with another model. He¡¯s not even the right gender.¡± ¡°... Jasmine, for f*ck¡¯s sake can you not wait 5 seconds before flirting with the newcomer; I haven¡¯t even introduced him yet.¡± Lemonade rebuked her before resuming, ¡°On your right is Rafael, a renowned Esports streamer who plays FPS and fighting games. He chose the rogue class and is very proficient with it.¡± ¡°How come you say renowned when you introduce him, but not with me?¡± Jasmine complained. ¡°Because you¡¯re not as renowned.¡± Lemonade responded simply, ¡°He has double your subscribers.¡± Jasmine stared at him open-mouthed in feigned offence. ¡°Who¡¯s he, then?¡± Rafael asked. ¡°This is Gun, an archer-class streamer I met yesterday. He¡¯s extremely-¡± ¡°Archer?¡± Rafael grimaced. ¡°...Welp, we¡¯re screwed.¡± ¡°Okay, is there some reason you guys feel compelled to keep interrupting me? Seriously.¡± Lemonade took a breath before continuing, ¡°As I was saying, Gun is extremely good with the bow. He took out an entire platoon of orcs yesterday, so I can personally attest to his skill.¡± ¡°Orcs? Are those strong?¡± Rafael hadn¡¯t encountered any of those. ¡°Far stronger than goblins; they¡¯re level 20 monsters. And what¡¯s your problem with archers? We have 2 melee users and a healer, so bringing a ranged DPS should be common sense.¡± ¡°Dude, archers are weak, haven¡¯t you seen the forums? They need to be within 10 metres to hit anything, and even if they do, they don¡¯t insta-kill unless it¡¯s a headshot.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not true at all. In fact, Gun could probably take on 5 of you at the same time.¡± ¡°What?¡± ... Max inadvertently tuned out from the conversation while starting his stream. He was debating whether to set his default camera perspective to first-person or third-person. Remembering Lina¡¯s complaint about the video he watched with her last night, he decided to choose third-person. That way, the viewers wouldn¡¯t become as dizzy if he ended up moving around a lot. ¡°...Alright, you¡¯re on. I¡¯m going to order the most expensive steak there, so cry while you can still afford tissues.¡± Rafael smirked. ¡°When I win, I¡¯m going to just have my regular order because your ignorance is too pitiful to take advantage of.¡± Lemonade retorted. ¡°You¡¯ll be embarrassed enough by that point already.¡± ¡°Hoho, alright. You hear that, archer? This guy¡¯s going bankrupt because of-¡± ¡°Hm, what? Sorry, I wasn¡¯t listening.¡± ¡°...¡± Rafael stared at him. ¡°Pfft, hahaha.¡± Jasmine burst out laughing. ¡°My bad.¡± Max smiled amiably. ¡°I was setting up my stream. Are you guys ready to go?¡± ¡°...Archer,¡± Rafael walked up and pressed a finger against Max¡¯s chest, ¡°Let¡¯s have a duel in this dungeon; whoever kills the most enemies wins.¡± ¡°Uh, I¡¯m not sure that¡¯s-¡± ¡°Or are you too chicken?¡± Rafael grinned provocatively. ...After a moment of silence, Max¡¯s lips curved up slightly. ¡°If that¡¯s what you want. Fine, I guess I can indulge you.¡± ¡°Good. Then let¡¯s go.¡± Rafael forcibly held back a laugh. ¡®Oh, this poor guy.¡¯ At the same time, Rafael felt a bit bad for him. ¡®He has no idea that I¡¯m a clearer. Lil bro¡¯s boutta get steamrolled.¡¯ Chapter 23: The Fill-in (2) ¡°By the way, what sort of dungeon is this?¡± Max decided to ask after they teleported. ¡°You¡¯re just asking that now?¡± Rafael shook his head with disapproval. A cobbled stone hallway extended into the distance, dimly illuminated by torches in sconces. ¡°This is a 4-person hobgoblin dungeon, for levels 5-15,¡± Lemonade answered. ¡°It¡¯s supposed to be the easiest one in the capital, so we might actually stand a chance this time.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Max remembered hobgoblins; they were stronger than regular goblins, but still weaker than orcs. They shouldn¡¯t be too difficult to defeat. ¡°Wait, this time?¡± ¡°We tried to do a dungeon before this and failed miserably,¡± Jasmine shared context. ¡°Unfortunately, our warrior-class player is really bad at the game.¡± ¡°Ah, is that the ¡®Ruby¡¯ player you mentioned earlier?¡± ¡°No, that¡¯s Lemonade.¡± ¡°...Oh.¡± ¡°Hey, come on, I¡¯m not that bad.¡± Lemonade protested. ¡°I had to heal you like 50 times. You know I levelled up twice from that?¡± ¡°See! I¡¯m helping you level!¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Haha, that sounds rough.¡± Max spotted a goblin in the distance and took it down. ¡°Was it too many enemies, or were they just too strong?¡± ¡°It was- huh?¡± Jasmine and Rafael simultaneously stopped to look at the hobgoblin, which was now turning into particles, before turning around to face Max. Lemonade put a hand in front of his face to hide his expression. ¡°Hey, did you just shoot that goblin?¡± Jasmine pointed to the now-empty area in the distance. ¡°Hm? Yeah.¡± ¡°That was like forty metres away.¡± ¡°It was 36.¡± Max tilted his head, ¡°Is something wrong?¡± ¡°...?¡± Jasmine stared at him wordlessly. Moving over to Lemonade, she tugged his sleeve and pointed at Max while whispering, ¡°What is he?! Explain!¡± ¡°I told you, he¡¯s good with the bow.¡± Lemonade smiled knowingly. ¡°No, but like, he didn¡¯t even stop walking. Aren¡¯t you meant to stay still when you try to shoot something with a bow?¡± ¡°Uh... I dunno.¡± ¡°Why are you guys making a big deal over this? He just shot something that was slightly far away.¡± Rafael looked annoyed. ¡°Not being as bad as you guys doesn¡¯t mean he¡¯s suddenly hot sh*t and all, you know?¡± ¡°Says the person losing.¡± Lemonade shrugged. ¡°Huh? Losing?¡± ¡°Yeah, he has more kills than you right now.¡± ¡°...¡± Max didn¡¯t expect his offhand shot to elicit this much attention, but it seemed like Rafael was acting combative towards him to entertain his viewers, so he would play along. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t think a 1-kill lead will faze him much.¡± ¡°Oh yeah? Look at his face.¡± Max looked just in time to see Rafael¡¯s expression actually twitch slightly. ¡°Rafael hates losing. Whenever he encounters someone better than him at something, it¡¯s like an itch he can¡¯t scratch, and he gets really irritated. One time when he was playing a ranked game, he got so frustrated that he brought out a chainsaw and-¡± ¡°That was years ago.¡± Rafael interrupted. ¡°I¡¯m more mature than that now.¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Well, that remains to be seen.¡± Lemonade said puckishly. ¡°I think that- Mm?¡± Max unexpectedly started drawing his bow, prompting Lemonade to pause. Woosh! An arrow flew down the corridor in a long arc, narrowly avoiding the ceiling before striking a goblin far away. The goblin fell over flat on the ground and disappeared. ¡°...¡± Lemonade, Jasmine and Rafael stopped walking and stared at Max wordlessly. Max also stopped, ¡°...What? Is something on my face?¡± ¡°Yes, a very handso-¡± ¡°What the f*ck was that?¡± Rafael asked interrogatively. ¡°That was a skill, right?¡± Rafael¡¯s eyes bore into him. ¡°No?¡± Max responded with rising inflection. ¡°I don¡¯t have any of those yet... Why do you ask?¡± Lemonade barely controlled his expression but roared with laughter on the inside. Not only did Gun vastly overshadow Rafael with his ability; but he also acted like he knew nothing about it, forcing Rafael to spell out exactly how great he was. ¡°There¡¯s no way that¡¯s possible without a skill... no, is that a homing bow or something? How did you do it?¡± ¡°This is just the starter bow... Why are you freaking out over this? I just shot normally.¡± Lemonade made a noise and hunched over his knees, shaking slightly. ¡°Normally?!¡± Rafael was incredulous. ¡°Don¡¯t mess with me! ...Show me your stat panel, I want to see proof!¡± Max shrugged and brought up his stats for Rafael to see. ¡°...That¡¯s- You¡¯re really not using any skills... Wait, what the hell is a Deadshot?¡± ¡®Oh, oops.¡¯ Max realised Rafael could see everything. ¡®Well, it¡¯s not like I was really trying to hide it.¡¯ ¡°Hm?¡± Jasmine and Lemonade approached. ¡°You have a special class?¡± ¡°Wait, I¡¯ve heard of that word before...¡± Rafael clicked his fingers impatiently, like he was trying to retrieve an old memory. ¡°Deadshot... Deadshot...¡± He raised his hand, ¡°Aha! That¡¯s it! Deadshot Daiquiri!¡± ¡°Daiquiri?¡± Jessica interjected. ¡°Like the cocktail?¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s a perk machine in Call of Duty; the one that gives aim-assist!¡± Rafael thrust his finger at Max, ¡°That¡¯s it, isn¡¯t it! Your class is giving you aim-assistance!¡± ¡°Eh?¡± Max was taken aback at the sudden accusation. He¡¯d never played Call of Duty. ¡®Aim assist...¡¯ Lemonade massaged his chin and thought, ¡®That would explain a lot, actually.¡¯ ¡°No... I don¡¯t use aim assist; I practice archery in real life. The Deadshot class just gives a damage boost.¡± ¡°Prove it!¡± Rafael challenged. ¡°Sure,¡± Max easily agreed. ¡°...Uh, how though?¡± ¡°Show the class description.¡± ¡°Oh right, there was that.¡± Max brought it up.
Class: Deadshot Grade: Unique Effects: When using a bow, all final base damage is increased by 100%. Additionally, all final weak-point and lethal damage is increased by a further 50%. Description: ¡®Masterful¡¯ is not sufficient to describe the owner of this class. To the player incapable of missing: Your actions will be watched closely by the powers of this world. Good luck.
¡°WHAT?!¡± Jasmine¡¯s eyes bulged. ¡°WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?! UNIQUE???¡± Rafael and Lemonade read through the text with shock. ¡°Is that good?¡± Max scratched his neck innocently. ¡°Good?!¡± She stared at Max with horror. ¡°It doesn¡¯t even exist! We thought there were only rare classes!¡± ¡°Oh... nice!¡± Max did a fist pump. ¡°It must be fairly good then.¡± ¡°Jasmine, does your chat know about any other unique classes?¡± Lemonade broke out of his stupor. ¡°I can¡¯t read mine.¡± Jasmine made some swiping movements with her finger. ¡°No, I can¡¯t read either. The chat have lost their minds.¡± ¡ª??????? ¡ª*Holding infinity gauntlet* - ¡°Is it good?¡± ¡ªHUH ¡ªWhat in the potatoes is a ¡®unique¡¯ class? ¡ªHow?! Ask him how he got it! ¡ªI was here! ¡ªDamn that¡¯s a huge damage bonus ¡ªMom, can I also have unique class for Christmas? The stream chat was scrolling past at a speed so fast that the messages were completely illegible to the streamers. Jasmine tried for a while before she got dizzy and decided to just look it up later. ¡®Hm, well now people are just going to think I was humblebragging.¡¯ Max regretted not being more conceited. Even if people didn¡¯t think he was pretending to know nothing, they would think he was an ignorant fool who lived under a rock. ¡®Well, they wouldn¡¯t be wrong thinking that, but like...¡¯ Interrupting Max¡¯s thoughts, Rafael walked in front of him and did a 45-degree bow. ¡°Gun, right? I baselessly accused you of lying and even forced you to reveal your class. Though it might not mean much now, I sincerely apologise...¡± ¡°Ah, it¡¯s fine, you can relax.¡± Max¡¯s eyes widened at the sudden attitude change, and he waved his hands. ¡°I showed the class because I wanted to, so you don¡¯t need to worry.¡± Revealing his class hadn¡¯t been a thoughtless decision. In his mind, displaying the special class in front of three popular streamers would be a surefire way to give himself exposure. If anything, it could be said that he was shamelessly stealing the limelight from them. ¡°Haha!¡± Lemonade walked between them and patted their shoulders. ¡°Then are you convinced now, Rafael? Archers aren¡¯t so weak, are they!¡± Lemonade puffed out his chest, as though the skilled bowmanship had been his own doing. ¡°As for that meal you so generously offered to shout, I¡¯m craving seafood and fries, so I think we¡¯ll go to the-¡± ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Rafael interrupted. ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Why would I do that?¡± He glanced at Lemonade with disdain. ¡°I only lose the bet if Gun finishes the dungeon with more kills than me.¡± ¡°You mean...¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Rafael cracked his neck and took a long spear from his inventory. ¡°All we¡¯ve established so far is that Gun has the qualifications to challenge me. As for the rest...¡± He theatrically span the spear in his hands. ¡°We¡¯re only just getting started.¡± Chapter 24: Two Shoulders; One Head Max smiled while looking at Rafael, who was now all fired up. Despite Rafael being highly competitive and a bit arrogant, Max felt a sense of kinship with him. As for why... the reason was rather simple. He also hated to lose ¡°Haha, I¡¯m glad to know I¡¯m qualified.¡± Max¡¯s eyes sparkled as he watched Rafael flourish his spear. ¡°So, you¡¯re a spearman, then?¡± ¡°Sure am. Cleared the entirety of HoL using one of these babies.¡± ¡°HoL?¡± ¡°Hero of Liberation.¡± ¡°Ah!¡± The look in Max¡¯s eyes changed. ¡°You¡¯re a clearer?¡± ¡°Mm-hm~!¡± ¡°Clearer?¡± Jasmine looked on in confusion. ¡°What¡¯s a clearer?¡± Lemonade explained, ¡°Clearers are people who beat the first dive game, Hero of Liberation, from start to finish. Only around one in every thousand players managed to do it, so it¡¯s used as top-tier bragging material.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Jasmine nodded and observed the shamelessly-showboating spearman. Despite having only met Rafael a few times in the past, she knew a fair amount about him. This was because Rafael was an extremely well-known figure in the gaming community. Three years ago, a famous team from a professional esports organisation known as ¡®Blue Furnace¡¯ livestreamed one of their gameplay sessions in the hit FPS game ¡®Counter-Strike¡¯. However, they unexpectedly decided to play public matches using smurf accounts, which were alternate game accounts kept in lower competitive ranking brackets for the purpose of being pitted against weaker and less experienced players. There were a few possible explanations as to why they did this. It might have been a publicity stunt to highlight the skill difference between them and regular players, or it might have just been for fun. Either way, they bulldozed through their matches without suspense, obliterating the helpless casual players. Against a team of five well-coordinated athletes with absurd reaction speeds and world-class talent, all these weak players could do was lament and type poetic, mother-centric tirades in the game chat while being handily massacred. Half of the matches ended in outright surrender, with most teams unable to net even a single point against the Esports powerhouse. This continued until the team¡¯s ninth game. During this match, Blue Furnace started out with a 3-0 lead against the opposing team, which appeared to be filled with noobs. Then, to their surprise, they lost the subsequent three rounds despite an economic advantage. One player from the opposite team managed to achieve two double kills and a triple-kill against them, bringing the score to 3-3. Attributing this performance to luck, the pros were not particularly concerned and showed a cavalier attitude. However, it proved not to be luck at all, as they began haemorrhaging points on the scoreboard. Witnessing this, the athletes were alarmed, and the viewers watching the broadcast were thrilled. Wanting to know the identity of the opposing team¡¯s star player, they looked him up online and found that he was also streaming! The player¡¯s username was ¡®Delt0id¡¯, and it was found that he was also using a smurf account while playing with his friends. He did not want his friends to be unfairly matched against seasoned experts from his rank, so he used a spare account with a much lower competitive ranking and planned to just mess around while having fun. This plan changed when Delt0id encountered some extremely skilled players who clearly did not belong in the bracket. Vexed, he took control of the game, barking instructions to his friends and exercising his full ability, utilising his knowledge of the game map, grenades and callouts to turn the tables on the enemy. Feeling a sense of crisis, Blue Furnace began reverting to pro-league tactics, however, Delt0id expected this and was able to accurately predict these plays, even managing to kill one of the athletes with a knife, which only served to rub salt in the wound. With his friends also performing above their abilities, Delt0id¡¯s team managed to hold a wide lead against the pros, though this lead gradually narrowed as the distressed pro team exerted their full strength. During this time, Delt0id showed a flawless performance, managing to maintain an astonishing kill/death ratio of over 3; taking down three pinnacle-level players for every one of his own lives. The match continued neck-and-neck until on the final round, Delt0id¡¯s friends were slaughtered right at the start without being able to resist. Approaching from the other side of the map, Delt0id pressed on without giving up. He fought tooth and nail, eliminating the athletes one by one, until with only a single health point remaining, he just barely defeated the final enemy, acing the enemy team and clutching victory at a final score of 16-14. This outcome was unfathomable to viewers, and clips of the battle spread like wildfire across the internet. Amidst the chaos, the esports organisation made an announcement that they had officially recruited Delt0id into Blue Furnace. From there, his popularity exploded, and he diversified into various other games, with competitors being overwhelmed by his inhuman reaction speed, as well as his unwavering dedication to advancing his skills. Needless to say, this user¡¯s name was Rafael. ... Jasmine had these thoughts in her mind as she watched Rafael. Although he held a high opinion of himself, he absolutely had the skills to back it up. The fact that he could beat a game completed by just 0.1% of people whilst simultaneously juggling a successful esports and streaming career was more than proof of that. Finishing his display, Rafael threw his spinning spear up into the air, looking away to face the others while catching the spear with a swipe in his peripheral vision. ¡°Are we ready to keep going yet?¡± ¡°You tell me,¡± Lemonade responded, ¡°You¡¯re the one who stopped here to have a meltdown over Gun¡¯s archery.¡±A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°Meltdown? The only thing melted down is your brain; I just asked him questions.¡± ¡°Right, right. Well, you were loud enough to bring over a whole bunch of hobgoblins, so why don¡¯t you help us take them out?¡± Rafael looked behind him to find an empty dungeon corridor, before turning back to Lemonade. ¡°Dude, are you schizophrenic? It¡¯s as empty as your scalp here.¡± ¡°What?¡± Lemonade checked again. ¡°No, I¡¯m sure there were enemies.¡± He squinted his eyes and caught notice of some small items scattered across the ground, including arrows. A faint clatter nearby drew their attention to where Max was cramming an arrow into his quiver. Max stopped and looked up at them awkwardly. ¡°...Uh, well you were busy talking.¡± Lemonade blinked and responded a beat late, ¡°...Never mind, let¡¯s just keep moving.¡± ¡ªLOL not even questioning things anymore ¡ª*Pretend nothing happened* ¡ªI heard him shoot the goblins; it was really quiet lol ¡ª¡®My bad, I defeated our enemies already¡¯ The group moved further into the dungeon in search of more hobgoblins. ¡°Hey Gun...¡± Jasmine addressed Max, ¡°why haven¡¯t you learned any class skills yet? I saw that you have a whole bunch of subclasses, so you should be able to get some by now.¡± Max smiled. ¡°My friend told me to hold off on learning skills, since the skill points used to learn them are limited. Something about waiting for a ¡®meta¡¯ to come out.¡± ¡°Ah, sounds like a smart friend.¡± Lemonade nodded his head in agreement. Skill points were used to acquire skills in the class skill trees. Since levelling up was the only known method of obtaining these skill points, they were quite valuable. For this reason, and since the points could not be refunded after being spent, many of the more prudent players opted to wait until more information had circulated. That way, they would know what all the best options were when allocating their points. ¡°You can at least see what¡¯s available, right?¡± Jasmine was still curious. ¡°What skills could you learn right now if you wanted to?¡± Max was also curious about this and opened up his interface to check. There were two skills available:
Skill Name: Successive Speed Subclass: Sharpshooting Type: Passive Mana Cost: None Description: For every consecutive shot striking an enemy, gain 5% arrow velocity on your next shot. This effect repeats and stacks until the user misses a shot by failing to hit any living target. The increased arrow speed will not affect damage, nor penetration chance. Prerequisites: Lvl.5, DEX>35
Skill Name: Arrow Retrieval Subclass: Rapid Fire Type: Active Mana Cost: 5 MP Description: When activated, all intact arrows shot by the user in the last 5 minutes will be returned to the user¡¯s inventory. Effect fails if the user¡¯s inventory is already full. Prerequisites: None
Max¡¯s eyes sparkled and he instantly purchased both skills, surprising Jasmine, who had barely finished reading the descriptions. ¡°Uh? Weren¡¯t you going to hold off on getting skills?¡± Max¡¯s eyes twinkled as he answered her, ¡°I was, but these skills are too great to pass up. I¡¯m surprised they were even put into the game, they¡¯re that good.¡± Jasmine frowned. ¡°Great? One of them makes arrows move a bit faster and the other picks them up, how is that good?¡± She was not convinced in the slightest. ¡°That [Arrow Retrieval] skill will save me a ton of time, but not only that, it prevents me from running out of arrows! Unless the arrows break, I can just get them back and keep shooting.¡± ¡°Okay...¡± she still thought it was bad. ¡°What about the other one?¡± Max made a low chuckle. ¡°The other one I¡¯ll show you later. As for now...¡± Max pointed his outstretched hand down the corridor, doing his best Jedi impression. To his immense satisfaction, the arrows he shot earlier slowly rose from the ground, before rushing toward him in a synchronous flurry. Turning partially transparent, they flew through the air until they reached Max and disappeared upon touching him. He turned to Jasmine with a face that said: ¡®Impressed?¡¯ Jasmine tried to pretend it was lame but was betrayed by a smile tugging at her lips. ¡®Damn right.¡¯ Max replied with a smug expression. ¡°What are you guys doing?¡± They turned to see Rafael staring at them with a raised eyebrow. ¡°There¡¯s a horde up ahead, so get ready.¡± Max nodded and without waiting, took some arrows from his quiver and started loosing them. Rafael and Lemonade took positions on either side of the corridor and readied their weapons while waiting for the goblins to arrive. Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. Bodies impaled by arrows fell over like dominoes along the stone floor, while over a dozen more hobgoblins advanced toward the group with violence in their eyes. Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. Max kept shooting without missing a shot. Although the horde was clearly moving in large strides, they seemed to be locked in one place for perpetuity, as Max killed them off faster than they could collectively close any distance. Rafael¡¯s eyes grew wider with each passing arrow. At this stage, he wouldn¡¯t even need to do anything. In addition... were the arrows getting faster? Every time an arrow passed, it seemed to move faster than the last, crossing the full distance to the goblins in less than a second. Rafael had to be honest with himself and admit that this class looked anything but weak. Those forums posts were completely wrong! Noticing their ilk rapidly collapsing around them, the hobgoblins increased their pace and transitioned into a sprint toward the players, jumping over the fallen who blocked their way. Despite this, they were now too few and too far, powerless sitting ducks in the tight corridor as Max peppered them with arrows. Only the last couple of goblins managed to close the distance, choosing to move in on Rafael. Rafael held up his spear and prepared to fight the two hobgoblins. Right as he was about to strike, two diverging arrows flew in and pierced the foreheads of both goblins in tandem. They fell to the ground at his feet and disappeared into red particles. For a moment, other than the noise of the goblins¡¯ weapons clattering to the ground, no other sound could be heard. ¡°...¡± In that moment, Rafael instinctively realised an uncomfortable truth. If things continued like this, he would never be able to amass more kills than Gun. It was fundamentally impossible. Almost reflexively, he turned around to face Gun, who stood in the centre of the passage donning a faint smile. Max locked eyes with Rafael and flicked his hand. ¡°I have a confession to make,¡± he spoke as a sea of translucent arrows passed into his body. ¡°Actually, I¡¯m also a clearer.¡±
Chapter 25: Two Shoulders; One Head (2) ¡®Something is very, very wrong.¡¯ Lemonade thought this as he watched Rafael, who walked a short distance ahead of the group. ¡®He¡¯s not even twirling his spear anymore.¡¯ A short while ago, Gun had taken out an entire horde of hobgoblins on his own, massacring them like their bodies were made of tofu. After the event, Rafael simply congratulated him with a series of platitudes, before urging the group to keep moving. Even when Max had announced he was actually one of the rare ¡®clearers¡¯, Rafael¡¯s response was simply: ¡°Oh, that¡¯s cool. No wonder you¡¯re so good with the bow.¡± ...Hearing this line come out of Rafael¡¯s mouth shocked Lemonade more than any of the archery he¡¯d witnessed today. Rafael and Lemonade had known each other for a fairly long time, as they lived in the same city and gamed together frequently, occasionally even meeting up in person to hang out. By now, they were close friends, so Lemonade had a very good grasp of his personality. Rafael wasn¡¯t just a bit competitive, like normal people, who would merely feel a little upset if they lost a game or competition; no, he was extremely competitive. Sometime last year, a top esports player had mocked Rafael for performing poorly in a shooter game he rarely played, calling him ¡®trash¡¯. Sparking controversy, the public insult caught traction and circulated throughout social media. A few weeks later, Lemonade happened to open up Rafael¡¯s friend profile on a whim: [Delt0id] [Playing A Game: Valorant; for 19 days] Some days after that, he saw a news article of that same pro having been utterly thrashed by Rafael during a 1v1 duel; broadcast live with the title ¡®Mouthy idiot discovers trash can be recycled¡¯. This was the essence of the player known as Delt0id. ¡®So why...¡¯ Rafael plodded along down the corridor, dragging his feet slightly. His usual confident demeanour was nowhere to be seen, and he even looked down at his feet occasionally. ¡®Why is he acting like this?!¡¯ Lemonade was baffled. He wasn¡¯t even sure how to handle the situation, as he¡¯d never seen Rafael act like this before. Gun seemed to pick up on the strange atmosphere, as he occasionally glanced over at Rafael, looking slightly troubled. Just as the archer was about to say something, Jasmine asked him another question, as she had been doing for the past while. ¡°What about the double arrow thing you did before; when you shot two at once?¡± ¡°Hm? Oh, multi-shot. Yeah, that only works at close range.¡± ¡°How do you do it?¡± ¡°...With this bow it¡¯s a bit easier. This is a traditional longbow with no arrow shelf cut out, so you can actually shoot from either side; left or right.¡± Max took two arrows out of his quiver to demonstrate. ¡°What I like to do sometimes on thin bows like this, is to actually nock two arrows, and shoot from both sides of the bow at once.¡± Max placed arrows on either side of the bow. ¡°It¡¯s very consistent because the two arrows will fly at a fixed separation angle after leaving the bow.¡± ¡°Oh!¡± Jasmine pretended she understood. ¡°Then, have you thought about making a tutorial for this?¡± ¡°I have, actually.¡± Max smiled. ¡°That¡¯s what I plan to do with my channel; I¡¯m going to make videos for players who are trying to learn archery.¡± Max had formulated a career plan last night; his goal was to attract attention to himself before the game¡¯s top archers stole the spotlight and create tutorial videos on his VidTube account. Newbie archers could watch his videos to train their technique, while he could monetise the videos to make an income. If things went well, he might even be able to give paid archery lessons inside of the game. ¡°Woah, that sounds awesome!¡± Jasmine grinned as she imagined Gun as an instructor. ¡°Wait, won¡¯t it interfere with your levelling though?¡± ¡°Ah, well it would, but the levelling isn¡¯t as important.¡± ¡°I see. But then, how will you become the strongest player?¡± ¡°The strongest player hahaha~¡± Max laughed. ¡°...¡± ¡°...Wait, you weren¡¯t joking?¡± ¡°No...¡± Max shook his head, ¡°I would need to be among the most skilled players in the world to become the strongest. Since there are a few million people playing the game, I¡¯m not even thinking about that right now.¡± Jasmine narrowed her eyes and scrutinised him. ¡®...Does this guy have an inferiority complex or something?¡¯ Just as she was about to follow up, Rafael called out from an upcoming bend in the corridor. ¡°Big room ahead. Probably the boss room.¡± ¡®Eh? Already?¡¯ Max was surprised. They had only fought about 50 or 60 enemies to get here. He hadn¡¯t even started funnelling kills to the others, so they didn¡¯t get any EXP (Experience Points) yet. He also realised that this meant he¡¯d won the bet from earlier, and subtly glanced at Rafael. Only a short while ago, this guy had been gung-ho about challenging him and seemed quite sure of himself. Only, after Max revealed himself as a clearer, the guy suddenly became reticent and forgot about the challenge. ¡®Did I misjudge him before?¡¯ Max wasn¡¯t really sure what to make of this, so he decided to just wait until someone else brought it up. The boss room was slightly larger than the one in the starter dungeon. A large hobgoblin with a cleaver-like weapon stood in the middle of the room, snarling at them. ¡°It makes sense for the archer to lure it over.¡± Lemonade suggested and nudged Max. ¡°Alright. Do you guys mind if I test something?¡± ¡°Nope.¡± ¡°Sure, you can do that.¡± ¡°Go ahead.¡± Max went into his settings and turned his damage indicators on. Grabbing four arrows from his quiver, he nocked all four of them into his bowstring before approaching the boss. [ Hobgoblin: ¡®Skabruk¡¯, Level: 15 (Dungeon BOSS) ] As the boss noticed him and charged, he drew his bow... and released. [ 184 ] [ 202 ] [ 386 ]This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. [ 386 ] Upon receiving the arrows, the boss wobbled and pathetically fell over, collapsing into the cold stone floor. A faint sound of cracking glass could before the boss faded into red pa- ¡°WHAT THE F*CK!!¡± Rafael couldn¡¯t take it anymore and yelled suddenly. ¡®??¡¯ The others turned to him. ¡°How are you doing that?! It doesn¡¯t make any sense???¡± Rafael held his head in sheer disbelief. ¡°You¡¯re 1-shotting the F*CKING BOSS MONSTER?!¡± [ Congratulations! You have cleared the dungeon ] ¡°Oh piss off interface!¡± Rafael smacked the notification hologram away with his hand. ¡°You!¡± He pointed his index finger at Max. ¡°I don¡¯t know what hacks you¡¯re using, but it doesn¡¯t matter, because hacks or not, I¡¯m going to figure out how to counter archers, and after that, no amount of cheating will save you! Got it?!¡± [ You have cleared this dungeon. You will be evicted in 10s ] ¡°F*CK OFF SYSTEM¡± Rafael grabbed the notification box with his hands and smashed it into his knee, somehow snapping it into two pieces, which dissolved to white particles in the air. ¡°Urghh!!! I¡¯ll be back!¡± Rafael logged out, causing his body to vanish. ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Um,¡± Max decided to break the awkward silence, ¡°he¡¯s actually not wrong in some sense.¡± ¡°What, you¡¯re hacking?¡± Lemonade was shocked. ¡°No, no, of course not. But I¡¯m pretty sure I exploited a bug.¡± Max fiddled with an arrow fletching. ¡°In real life, when you pull the bowstring back to shoot an arrow, the full force of the draw goes into that arrow, so it¡¯s shot at full power.¡± Seeing the other two were listening attentively, he continued, ¡°However, if you shoot multiple arrows at once, the force is divvied up between the arrows, and they leave the bow with less power. In the game, that should translate to less speed and less damage per extra arrow.¡± ¡°But it didn¡¯t do that?¡± Lemonade asked. ¡°No, it didn¡¯t. These physics worked properly in Hero of Liberation, but they must¡¯ve somehow stuffed it up in this game. I was suspicious when I managed to instakill two hobgoblins earlier and I just confirmed it now; no matter how many arrows I shoot at once, they fly out at full power.¡± Jasmine pointed at the bow. ¡°So effectively... your bow can work as a shotgun right now?¡± ¡°Yeah exactly; it¡¯s a bit like a shotgun blast... or a burst-fire rifle.¡± ¡ªSo then¡­ he¡¯s using exploits on top of the cheats ¡ªLol shotGun confirmed ¡ªThat¡¯s f*cking terrifying ¡ªReported ¡ªArchers are so OP wth ¡ªBREAKING: Delt0id is weeping and crying in his bedroom rn ¡°Is your friend angry at me?¡± Max scratched his head. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to piss him off or anything.¡± ¡°No, he just does that.¡± Jasmine answered blithely. ¡°Anyways,¡± she changed the subject, ¡°I¡¯m meeting up with Ruby for lunch soon, so I don¡¯t have time for another run.¡± ¡°Oh, okay. I¡¯m sorry for stealing all the kills¡­¡± Max said guiltily. ¡°Pfft, don¡¯t be. It was fun to watch.¡± Jasmine smirked. ¡°I sent you a friend request; let¡¯s do this again sometime.¡± ¡°Alright, sounds good.¡± Max smiled. As Jasmine logged out and disappeared, he turned to face Lemonade. ¡°So uh¡­ you wanna go shopping?¡± ¡­ ¡­ ¡°F*CK!¡± Rafael came out of his capsule swearing and flung a chair onto its side. ¡°F**CCCKKKKKK.¡± It was a modern, multi-bedroom apartment, extremely messily organised with items strewn across the floor. Rafael kicked one of these items with his foot and it became airborne, flying through the nearby kitchen and narrowly avoiding a light fixture. ¡°GHHhhHhHhhhh!!¡± Rafael gritted his teeth and grabbed a tablet computer from the kitchen counter. Quickly swiping his finger, he navigated the tablet while walking to his bedroom. He was angry. Very angry. Was it because he lost the duel for most kills? No. Was it because Gun seemed way too powerful? Not exactly. What truly pissed off Rafael, more so than anything else, was his own helplessness. ¡®How the f*ck am I meant to compete with that?¡¯ Having played countless PvP games, Rafael had a tremendous amount of battle experience. Just from watching Gun¡¯s archery just now, he could tell that if they fought... he had almost no chance of victory. When Gun used a skill, his arrows flew faster than cars on a freeway; there was no chance of dodging that, and blocking arrows with only a thin spear was basically impossible. Rafael jumped onto his bed and did a search on his VidTube app. [ Showing results for: ¡®World of Heroes Archer Class Counters¡¯ ] He doubted there would be any good strategy videos when it had only been a day since the game¡¯s release, but he might as well look. Videos: [ Why the Archer Class is so Bad | World of Heroes ] [ Should I Reset My Account?! World of Heroes Archer Class Gameplay Pt.1 ] [ Archer Class Test Fail Compilation (Funny) ] [ Why The Archer Class Will Probably Be Buffed! ] [ Virtek Executive Responds to Statistic That Only 2% of WoH Players are Archers ] Rafael subconsciously scowled while looking through the results. These people clearly had no idea what they were talking about. Eventually, he found a video title he liked, from a channel called ¡®The Armoury¡¯. [ Sniper Archer vs Orcs ] The video opened to a wide forest clearing filled with large tree stumps. Without any commentary, the camera scanned around the area, giving a panoramic view from the treeline of what appeared to be an abandoned logging facility. Rafael didn¡¯t have time to admire the nice scenery, as a group of creatures suddenly burst out of the trees from behind the camera. He instantly recognised them as orcs. ¡®They¡¯re the same as in Hero of Liberation...¡¯ The orcs were just as huge and tanky-looking as they were in the prequel game. He remembered having immense trouble with these guys when they came all at once. Suddenly, there was a perspective change, and Rafael found that the camera was now moving incredibly quickly, bordered by green arms swinging on either side. ¡®...Huh? The orc¡¯s POV?¡¯ Rafael never expected the video to be from the perspective of an orc, but now he was even more intrigued and decided to give the video his full attention. When the orc broke into the clearing, it instantly saw one of its brethren rolling along the ground, screaming. The rolling orc quickly picked itself up and ran back to the treeline, nearly hitting the camera as it fled. At the same time, Rafael heard abrupt cries of pain from nearby. His orc turned its head to find a warrior clutching at its trachea with wide eyes. Half an arrow poked out of its throat, accompanied by spurts of blood. ¡®Woah!¡¯ Rafael was amazed. The archer was already shooting at them, but where from? As if in response, his orc raised a hand over its eyes to block out the sun glare and looked further into the camp. The camera zoomed in slightly, to where a small silhouette could be seen perched on a distant rooftop. ¡°No way; you¡¯re kidding.¡± Rafael squinted at his tablet screen. ¡°That¡¯s over a hundred yards though?¡± ¡°A-archer!¡± The orc shouted. ¡°On building roof-¡± WOOSH. An arrow came into vision just as the orc was finishing its sentence and it quickly jerked its head to the side. The arrow shot past with a terrifying whistling sound. ¡®Wow... that¡¯s hard to dodge.¡¯ Due to sun glare, by the time the arrow was visible it was only a short distance away. The orc heaved a sigh of relief, but Rafael knew that the arrow had made its mark. Sure enough, the orc massaged its neck, before bringing a palm in front of the camera; bloodied and dripping with bright red liquid. The orc sunk to ground and the camera turned dark momentarily. ¡®This is brutal,¡¯ Rafael thought. Having an archer like that hunting you would be terrifying! This guy seemed to be even more skilled than Gun was. The camera flew through the air until it locked onto a much larger orc at the rear of the troop, wearing black pauldrons. An orc tried to run past it but was seized by the neck. ¡°Coward!¡± The orc was dangled in front of the camera. ¡°You would flee from a single human?! Turn around before I kill you myself!¡± The orc was thrown further into the clearing, flailing its limbs in the air. Rafael watched the ensuing charge with astonishment. The orcs tried to run toward the archer¡¯s building but fell helplessly like ants. He watched as one orc in particular fell face-first into the ground but kept its momentum, skimming headlong into a tree stump with a resounding *crack*. Rafael¡¯s orc stood observing all of this until an arrow came flying at it. Immediately, the video went into slow motion. The orc smoothly tilted its head, narrowly avoiding the arrow, which sailed past harmlessly. The scene returned to normal speed and the orc turned to inspect the building roof, close enough now for the archer to be seen more clearly. It was a handsome man in his 20s with red hair. A player, still wearing his beginner gear. ¡®.....¡¯ Rafael paused the video and glanced at his fragile bedroom window. Chapter 26: Bizarre Event A man with red hair and a man with no hair strolled down a wide cobblestone road, bordered on both sides by vibrant market stalls. The scene buzzed with activity; an effervescent orchestra of footsteps, chatter and laughter, while merchants yelled passionately over the din to advertise their wares to the passing crowds. The two men spoke loudly in order to hear each other over the tumult. ¡°I wasn¡¯t invited though. I know since I was watching your stream; that ¡®Parker¡¯ girl only invited you to meet the prince, not me. What if I try to enter and they behead me or something?¡± ¡°Do you think they¡¯re barbarians? They¡¯re not going to behead you for trying to enter a building. Anyways, I got a huge gold bonus from that mission you helped me with, which is why we¡¯re at the market.¡± ¡°Bazaar.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a bazaar, not a market. It says right there.¡± Lemonade pointed to a nearby sign. ¡°...Never mind, I¡¯ll just spend the gold on myself.¡± ¡°Wait, wait!¡± Lemonade hurriedly chased up to him. ¡°What are we buying, anyways?¡± ¡°A lot of things actually.¡± Max counted with his hands. ¡°Most importantly, we need nice clothes before meeting the crown prince. We also need supplies and new equipment; I¡¯m still using the starter gear, so I need a better bow and some armour, or at the very least some bracers and gloves. Shooting without gloves is really uncomfortable.¡± ¡°I see...¡± ¡°We can also just get a bunch of stuff that grabs your eye. I think gold coins are of similar value to U.S. dollars, so that would mean I have around $50,000 on me right now.¡± Lemonade choked. ¡®Th-that much?¡¯ ¡ªThis is where the sugar in Lemonade comes from ¡ªFULL PLATE LEMON! FULL PLATE LEMON! ¡ªThis makes no sense. Gold is supposed to be a rare and valuable metal. If you have this much of it circulating around, it¡¯s just devalued completely; why didn¡¯t the devs use copper, nickel or silver for low value coinage? Not to mention, gold is way too heavy to carry around in bulk. Realistically, nobody would be able to walk while holding that much of it. ¡ªThe previous commenter is a nerd Max stopped at a booth with an orange awning, drawing Lemonade¡¯s attention away from his chat. ¡°Hm? Did you find something good?¡± ¡°Hehehe.¡± Max did not elaborate and just showed him an item description.
Item: AP Arrow Grade: Common Weight: 50g (~770 grains) Effects: +100% Penetration, +15% range, -50% damage, -50% bleed chance, Description: A standard-issue armour-piercing arrow, fitted with a bodkin point arrowhead.
¡°Ooooo.¡± Lemonade was intrigued. ¡°Are you going to use these against orcs?¡± ¡°For sure. If I had these when fighting that quasi-boss, he would¡¯ve become Swiss cheese.¡± ¡°Nice. Are there more arrows for you to look through? Because if so, I might take a quick bathroom break.¡± ¡°Yeah, go for it.¡± Max replied nonchalantly. Lemonade was about to log out but hesitated for a moment. ¡°Don¡¯t wander too far while I¡¯m gone, or it will be hard for me to find you... and don¡¯t start any wars, either.¡± He eyed Max suspiciously. Max looked at him blankly. ¡°How am I going to start wars in a market?¡± ¡°Bazaar.¡± ¡°...Just leave.¡± Lemonade disappeared on the spot, causing a little boy who was watching to inadvertently tilt his ice cream in shock. Tragically, the top vanilla globule fell to the ground. Feeling somehow responsible, Max approached to reimburse the damages, only for his attention to be jolted away by a piercing scream. Alarmed, Max looked up to find the crowd quickly parting to either side of the bazaar. The street¡¯s centre was quickly cleared out, giving him a clear view of the situation. ¡°HELP! PLEASE-SOMEBODY!!¡± A small girl with pointy ears was running along the cobblestone while screaming hysterically. Two hooded figures chased her from behind with daggers, quickly closing the distance. Attempting to stop them, one person with neon green hair, clearly a player, leapt in front of the pursuers while brandishing a sword. ¡°Halt! Stop right there!¡±The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Ignoring his words, the robed figures ran either side of the player with their daggers. One deftly parried his sword, while the other sliced his neck open with a single clean strike. Defeated in an instant, the player exploded into particles. ¡®!!!¡¯ [ Proximity Mission: Save th- Max quickly moved to act while ignoring his system interface, pulling out a vendor¡¯s table and climbing atop to give himself a clear shot. Squinting, he took aim at the assassins. Since they were about to run past him, their flank was exposed; he could try to disarm them. Fwoosh! An arrow accurately struck one of the daggers, knocking it out of the assassin¡¯s grip and sending it flying off to one side. The blade span and slashed the adjacent wrist as it flew. ¡°EUH!¡± The assassin dropped his other dagger as he let out a high-pitched noise and stopped chasing the child, clutching his injured wrist in pain. Witnessing this, the fleeing child noticed Max and quickly ran over to him for protection. Max nocked another arrow and switched his attention to the second assassin, who, upon seeing Max, immediately pulled a bystander into their embrace and charged at him, using the civilian as a human shield. Despite the added weight, they moved with incredible agility, likely to reach him in only a matter of seconds. Gritting his teeth, Max also noticed the first assassin was now holding a strange flask. ¡®It might be an explosive...¡¯ Quickly weighing his options, Max decisively shifted his aim and shot the flask, making its contents splash out onto the street. Just as he reached for another arrow, the charging assassin grabbed their shield with both hands. Eyes widening, Max threw himself to the side, while the human projectile shot past him into a stall¡¯s awning. Sliding along the ground, Max loosed an arrow at the assassin¡¯s head. They instantly raised a metal vambrace on their arm to block it, undeterred as they continued sprinting his direction. ¡®F-fast!¡¯ Max was shocked at the sheer speed of the opponent. As the assassin closed the distance, Max prepared to block their daggers but was vastly outpaced and met with a boot instead. Taking the full force of a heavy kick, he was launched into a wall on a diagonal, slamming against it and leaving a dent in the stone, before tumbling down and landing ungracefully on his side. ¡®Ugh, f*ck that hurt. High level...¡¯ [ Human: ¡®????¡¯, Level: 56 ] Max managed to hold onto his bow during the impact. Drawing an arrow, he saw that the assassin was not coming to finish him off. ¡®??¡¯ Hearing a childlike scream, he quickly turned and aimed the other direction. Fwoosh! An arrow shot out to where the assassin was stabbing down at the child only a few metres away. ¡°AHH?!¡± The arrow shredded into the assassin¡¯s forearm, causing her to let out a pained female shriek, while the arrow¡¯s momentum also threw off her aim, causing her dagger to sail past the child¡¯s head harmlessly. The child took the opportunity to quickly run back to Max. ¡°FUCK!¡± The assassin turned and glared at Max murderously. Not giving him time to shoot again, she dashed over and brought her heel down at his head. Barely blocking with his bow, Max twisted his head away as the assassin¡¯s boot snapped the bow in half and smashed into the stone underneath, forming a small depression. Wielding halves of a broken bow in each hand, Max dropped one and instead used the arm as a springboard. Pushing off the ground, he clobbered the assassin in the face, sending her reeling away to the side. Picking himself up and taking a sword from his inventory, Max pulled the kid behind him and took a guard stance, ignoring his injuries. ¡°...¡± The assassin saw the sword and her eyes flitted to Max with a livid expression. ¡°Oy, everyone make way! The guard is here!¡± ¡°!!¡± Snapping back to focus, the assassin¡¯s eyes cleared at the mention of guards, and she hurriedly distanced herself from Max, looking for an escape route. ¡°Over here!¡± Max called out. Grabbing a spear from his inventory, he threw it at the fleeing assassin¡¯s back. Only piercing lightly, the spear did little to stop her as she ducked into an alley. ¡®Armour? Damn...¡¯ Max exhaled. That was a tough fight. The enemy had been several times faster and stronger than him due to her level. She was also highly skilled. Casting his head back to the road, Max found that the other assassin was still there, lying on the ground motionlessly. ¡®...Dead?!¡¯ Rone had told him that NPCs did not turn to particles after death, so he had no way of knowing if the assassin was alive. ¡®Did another player kill him?¡¯ Max had only disarmed the guy, which meant that another player likely stepped in to finish the fight. Though, they didn¡¯t seem to be there anymore, as the street was basically empty. Hearing the sound of clattering metal, he turned to find a group of guards approaching, fully equipped with plate armour and polearms. First noticing the body, then spotting Max, the guards quickly approached and pointed their blades toward him. ¡°Drop the weapon!¡± The frontmost guard shouted. ¡°Oh.¡± Max realised he was still holding a sword and dropped it. ¡°Put your hands above your head!¡± The lead guard yelled. ¡°Fighting in a civilian area is strictly prohibited. You will be taken in for questioning; do not resist.¡± Max raised his hands while pointing. ¡°Sir, the criminal is getting away! They ran down there.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll deal with that later. For now...¡± the guard leader looked around, ¡°did you kill that man?¡± He pointed to the fallen assassin, where a teal-coloured liquid was flowing along the ground. ¡°No, sir. I only disarmed him.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± The guard grunted with uncertainty. ¡°Regardless, we¡¯ll find out later.¡± He signalled to one of his subordinates. ¡°Cuff him.¡± Watching the guard take a chained item out of his pocket, Max spoke with dismay, ¡°Sir, with all due respect, there is an assassin running loose in the streets. Surely that¡¯s a more pressing concern than questioning me?¡± ¡°Shut it!¡± He snapped hoarsely. ¡°You accursed ¡®heroes¡¯ have caused me enough trouble today. You¡¯re coming with me back to the station. Jerome, Quinn, you two bring the body. The rest of you, stay here and cordon off the area. I¡¯ll be back soon.¡± Sighing, Max looked around but found no sign of the little girl; she¡¯d apparently run away. ¡°...Well this is annoying.¡± Max complained as he was led off the scene in shackles. ... ... A minute later... ¡°Du du-du doo~¡± Lemonade mumbled some random song tune from his childhood as he logged back into the game, resuming his livestream. ¡®What should I wear to the meeting? A dress shirt? A tunic?¡¯ He pondered. ¡®No, that¡¯s too bland... I should wear a medieval jacket like a doublet or something. Ah, but I can¡¯t take it too far or they might think I¡¯m mocking their fashion sense...¡¯ He loaded in. ¡°Well, I¡¯ll just decide once I¡¯m... there...¡± The bazaar was empty. The hundreds of people who¡¯d filled the area had all disappeared, instead replaced by a lone tumbleweed, which skittered slowly down the street in the whistling breeze. ¡°Eh, what...?¡± Chapter 27: Benefactor/Malefactor A rusted iron door screeched open in front of Max, causing his ears to cry in protest. As if in response to this, the guard grabbed his ear and dragged him through the doorway while chuckling. ¡°Heh. You know, even the drunkards at the tavern have more believable stories. A level 8 fighting off two trained level 50 assassins from the Thieves Guild... to save an elf girl? Hahahaha.¡± Without warning, Max was pushed from behind, sending him stumbling into a dark room. A metallic clang resounded behind him. *Cough* Max coughed as a plume of dust rose from the floor. ¡°Sir, there had to be over a hundred witnesses; I¡¯m really telling the truth here.¡± ¡°And I¡¯m also a dragonslayer.¡± The guard didn¡¯t believe him. ¡°Here, come over to the bars.¡± ...Although his eyes hadn¡¯t adjusted to the low light yet, Max decided to just do as he was told and followed the voice. When he reached what felt like metal bars, a hand tightly gripped his arm, followed by a tinny clicking sound. Shortly after, his wrists came loose as the guard unshackled him. ¡°You¡¯ll be staying here until you feel like telling the truth. Don¡¯t worry, we have plenty of spare cells here, so you won¡¯t need to worry about giving up your room.¡± ¡°Wonderful...¡± Max responded. After a jangling sound, the guard retraced his steps back to the iron door, dragging it closed after him with another painful screech. ¡°...¡± Max felt incredibly wronged at this moment. Ring! Ring! He didn¡¯t even look at the caller and just pressed ¡®accept¡¯. ¡°Gun! What happened? I came back and you¨C no, everyone was gone! My chat says you got arrested??¡± ¡°I was arrested for fighting some assassins.¡± ¡°Huh? Assassins? Dude, I left for like 2 minutes.¡± ¡°They were very fast assassins.¡± ¡°...Right. Well, what should I do now? There were a bunch of city guards in the bazaar, so I snuck away. You didn¡¯t commit any crimes, right? Have you been released?¡± ¡°No, no crimes but I¡¯m in a cell anyways.¡± The interface lit the room up enough for him to see a patch of mould growing along the side wall. ¡°A very smelly cell at that. Musty...¡± ¡°Why weren¡¯t you released?¡± ¡°The guy thinks I¡¯m lying.¡± Max looked at the other wall and found that the mould was even more pronounced, reaching the ceiling. ¡°He¡¯ll probably release me after he questions more people...¡± ¡°But you could miss the meeting by then! Is there anything I can do?¡± ¡°To get me out?¡± Max thought for a moment. ¡°...Actually, there is. Parker should be at the royal barracks. If you tell her I¡¯m here, she might have a way... connections or whatnot.¡± ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll try to find her. Hang tight!¡± Beep. Lemonade ended the call. ¡®Hm? He hung up?¡¯ Max expected to be badgered for details, but he terminated the call suddenly. ¡®Mm... reminds me a lot of-¡¯ Ring! Ring! The caller was Rone. ¡®Think of the devil.¡¯ Max picked up the call and instantly heard suppressed sniggering on the other end. ¡°S-so uh...¡± Rone¡¯s voice transmitted through, ¡°how¡¯s it going? I thought you would be grinding levels, but it seems like you¡¯re taking a-rest now?¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Why aren¡¯t you saying anything? You can always confide in-mates.¡± ¡°Stop.¡± ¡°Why? Are you in a bad mood? You succeeded in that mission, so it should be time to cell-ebrate.¡± That was true actually. Horrible jail puns aside, he received a mission to save that elf girl, and he¡¯d at least succeeded in doing that. He brought up the description to take a look:
Proximity Mission: Save the Girl Difficulty: Very Hard Description: An elven child is running away from murderous assassins nearby. Protect her! Milestone 1: Keep the girl alive until she leaves combat state (Complete) Reward (Contribution-Split): 2000 gold. Greatly increases favour with NPC ¡®Velia¡¯. Mission has been fully completed. Claim rewards? Y/N
Max pressed ¡®yes¡¯ and claimed the rewards. Was the little girl¡¯s name ¡®Velia¡¯? He had no idea, but it was unlikely that he would ever meet her again, so it didn¡¯t really matter much. This was his first ever ¡®proximity¡¯ mission. There were two mission types in the game: ¡®assigned¡¯ and ¡®proximity¡¯. While an assigned mission would be given to players by an NPC or other in-game character, ¡®proximity¡¯ missions were given by the game¡¯s AI, usually to respond to emergency events nearby. According to game lore, proximity missions were assigned by the Goddess of Life herself, Lucia, who watched over her subjects from an unknown place and set incentives for players to aid them through the interface. ¡°-x? Maaaxxxx? Are you ignoring me? Well, that¡¯s rude.¡± ¡°Hm, how strange. I could¡¯ve sworn I heard a voice just now.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t ghost your editor!¡± Rone harrumphed. ¡°You should be thanking me, since I¡¯m the reason you¡¯ve-...¡± he trailed off. ¡°I¡¯ve what?¡± ¡°...Nothing; you can find out for yourself. You should at least finish your own sentence first.¡± ¡°Huh? I wasn¡¯t talking though?¡± ¡°Not that kind of sentence.¡± ¡°What? ...Oh.¡± ¡°Hahaha!!¡± Beep. Rone hung up. ¡°...¡± Max struck the cell gate with his fist, making it shake and rattle. ¡°I hate him so much.¡± Ding! [Cyclone_Rone: btw, I enabled donations on the stream, so you can shamelessly beg viewers for money now] Max¡¯s eyebrows raised at the message. He¡¯d only given Rone administrative permissions to his DiveLive stream this morning, but he¡¯d already set up a donation account. ¡®Diligent!¡¯ Rone¡¯s account went offline, indicating that he wasn¡¯t planning on doing any gaming. Max was left without much to do, so he decided to just read his stream chat. ¡ªThat cell has nearly as much mould as my rentalTaken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡ªThey couldn¡¯t even give him a window? Poor Gun ¡ªI feel claustrophobic ¡ªESCAPE! ESCAPE! ESCAPE! ¡ªThose puns made me break-out laughing... ¡ªDo not fret Gun, the Lemon will save you <3 ¡ªThis is some thrilling gameplay ¡ªPrison stream lets goooo It was all just a bunch of nonsense. However, what was surprising... [Current Viewers: 837] Eight hundred and thirty-seven people were watching him languish in a dark cell and hadn¡¯t left the stream yet. He needed to entertain them somehow... ¡°Let¡¯s look at the forums.¡± Max decided to finally check out the game forums. He¡¯d looked at them once previously to see how people went on the archery class test, but he hadn¡¯t yet looked at any of the trending topics. It was about time he did, as he needed to stop always relying on Rone for information. Trending: 1. Virtek holds press conference; apologizes and announces compensation for the registration lockout bug... 2. Not sure what class to choose? We ranked them from best to worst: 3. Guide to skills and subclasses ¨C Don¡¯t see yours? Add it below! 4. Congratulations to this archer player for the fastest starter dungeon speedrun! 5. List of titles, their effects and how to acquire them: 6. Which mage element is the strongest? In-depth breakdown: 7. Virtek Executive flustered upon learning only 2% of players are archers (Funny lol) 8. Anyone else notice the NPCs are way too realistic? It¡¯s kinda scary... 9. Here¡¯s why you can¡¯t change your body shape/size in character customisation: 10. Plea to devs: Fix the archer class test!! Max scanned through the forum posts with wide eyes ¨C there was a lot of good information here! He was interested in nearly all of these topics. One post in particular stuck out to Max: ¡®Only 2% of players are archers? Crazy!¡¯ There were only 5 classes in the game, so each class would average 20% of the playerbase. 2% was a whopping ten times below that average. ¡®I knew that people struggled, but to think it was this badly...¡¯ Max attributed this to the difficulty of the class test, which was unfriendly to people who had never practiced archery before. His theory was supported by the plea three posts down, which petitioned devs to make the test more manageable. The other main post to catch his interest was a congratulatory post uploaded by Virtek themselves, praising an archer player for achieving the fastest speedrun of the starter dungeon. Max had very little knowledge of who the top archer players were, both in the real world, and in dive, so he was very curious to see who his competition was. He opened the post. ¡°...IT¡¯S ME?!?!¡± Max¡¯s pupils quaked. The post contained a link to the video Rone had made: [ Gun¡¯s Starter Dungeon Speedrun - 2:47 (Current World Record) ] Opening the video, Max¡¯s eyes nearly rolled back into his head. [ Views: 2.1M ] ¡°Wh-what the f-f*ck???¡± *cough* *cough* Max inhaled too much dust and entered a coughing fit. ¡°No, that... really...¡± *cough* He couldn¡¯t believe it. Although Rone told him directly that he held the record, Max never believed him and had forgotten about the issue until now. ¡°The fastest? No, I wasn¡¯t even...¡± It was unfathomable. Max had never even been aiming for the record; he didn¡¯t think he stood any chance of obtaining it. After all, millions of players would¡¯ve entered the starter dungeon. Max recalled his first dungeon run, where he just ran in a straight line while shooting goblins down different hallways. He even dawdled at the start and did nothing for the first few seconds. That was the fastest?? He glanced at chat. ¡ªLMAO ¡ªHE DIDN¡¯T KNOW?!?! ¡ªso fake ¡ªLOL no way ¡ªBro just set the world record by accident apparently Checking the video more closely, Max noticed something strange. [ Likes: 43K, Dislikes: 29K ] There were a lot of dislikes for some reason. He checked the comments. ¡ªThis is fake ¡ªWow that aim is incredible! ¡ªIs this a time traveller? ¡ªLooks like Virtek propaganda ¡ªDid they stick a camera to an NPC to do this? ¡ªWow!! ¡ªIs he hacking? ¡ªThere¡¯s no way this is real. It¡¯s just Virtek trying to cover up how bad the class is LOL ¡ªTo those saying this is fake: skill issue The comments were torn in half. One half of the commenters were full of praise, while the other seemed to think he was cheating. ¡®They think I¡¯m a hacker?¡¯ Maxed had played video games for a long time, so he knew... Being called a hacker was the greatest commendation a player could receive! He grinned broadly. ¡ªWhy are people saying the archer class is terrible? It sure doesn¡¯t look that way... ©¸ Only because a bot with aim hacks is being shown ©¸ Try using a bow and then come back ©¸ It is terrible. I¡¯m an archer and got PK¡¯ed today. A rogue just ran up to me in a strafe and I couldn¡¯t do anything ¡ªDid they stick a camera to an NPC to do this? ©¸ Obviously ©¸ No, this player is real; he does livestreams ©¸ He does livestreams, but the videos are probably fake ¡ªMathematical proof he is cheating: Base damage for bows is equivalent to draw weight. Since he is using the beginner bow of 80lbs, he does 80dmg per shot plus a 25% or 50% class bonus. We will say it is 50% so he does 120 base dmg. Then this is doubled for lethal damage so 240dmg per headshot. The dungeon boss has 600 health and yet he dies from just 2 headshots. There is a slight particle effect upon critical hits, which is absent here, so this is obvious cheating. ©¸ Yeah but he could¡¯ve just had good titles giving him extra damage ©¸ If he needed a third shot it only would¡¯ve cut like 2 seconds from his time... ©¸ He has a class which gives him a 100% class bonus! He showed it on stream. ©¸ It¡¯s not possible to hack dive games. ¡°What the heck. The comments are like a warzone...¡± Max was astonished. Full-blown debates were being held in each comment thread. ¡°Guys, how do I prove to them that I¡¯m not cheating?¡± ¡ªWe already know you¡¯re not cheating ¡ªStfu you¡¯re using aim hacks ¡ªPeople will realise after enough clips circulate ¡ªEh? You¡¯re not cheating? ¡®Even my own chat thinks I¡¯m cheating...¡¯ Max pondered with conflicted feelings. ¡®...I¡¯ll need to figure something out.¡¯ He decided to postpone the issue for later. Screeeeech. Max¡¯s head whipped around at the sound of the lockup door opening. ¡°Sir Gun, are you in here?¡± A woman¡¯s voice called out. ¡°Parker?¡± ¡°Gun!¡± A black-haired beauty with a high ponytail ran over. Max¡¯s eyes also saw wings and a halo. ¡°Uh, where are you?¡± She looked around confusedly. ¡°I can¡¯t see; it¡¯s too dark in here.¡± Max opened his interface. ¡°Gun! Ah, what? Why is there mould in here?!¡± She turned to a guard by the door, whom Max recognised as his jailer. ¡°Don¡¯t you know mould releases spores? This stuff could kill people!¡± ¡°This-I¡¯m sorry Lady Parker! We will remove the mould immediately!¡± ¡°You¡¯d better, or I¡¯ll contact your superior officer. How dare you treat my benefactor so disgracefully?¡± ¡°I am very sorry about this. It will not happen again.¡± ¡°It had better not,¡± Parker huffed. ¡°Now unlock the cell.¡± The guard hurriedly approached, fumbling his keychain. ¡®Woah, subservient!¡¯ Max was surprised. Parker must be from an influential family or something. The gate rattled open. ¡°Gun, come, your friend is waiting outside. We need to hurry to the meeting!¡± ¡°Mm? Hurry?¡± Max tilted his head. ¡°Isn¡¯t there still a half-day before the meeting?¡± ¡°The prince came early, so the meeting is starting ahead of time. Quick, let¡¯s go!¡± She grabbed his hand. ¡°Uh? Okay...¡± Max was led through the guard facility. ¡°This- I don¡¯t have any formal clothes to wear to the meeting, won¡¯t that be a breach of etiquette?¡± ¡°Ah, you don¡¯t need to worry about that sort of thing. The prince is, how should I say this... he¡¯s a bit of an eccentric...¡± Chapter 28: Princes Principles Arriving at the royal barracks with Max and Lemonade in tow, Parker strolled past various rooms with a hurried, yet refined gait. Nodding to some soldiers who were garbed in red gambeson, she made her way upstairs and headed directly for an ornately decorated door, approaching and violently tearing it open before ushering the two players inside. ¡°Aha!¡± The moment Max stepped inside, a figure rose up from their chair and whizzed toward him with dizzying speed. Max followed with his eyes. ¡°Oho indeed, you have a quick eye, very impressive. Dahlia was right about you.¡± ¡®Woah.¡¯ Max was surprised by the man¡¯s speed. Just from that movement alone, he could tell that this person¡¯s physical attributes exceeded level 70; they were even faster than the assassin he¡¯d fought earlier. ¡°Greetings hero, you must be Gun!¡± The man collected Max¡¯s hand and gave it a firm shake. ¡°I must admit, I¡¯ve been looking forward to meeting you.¡± ¡®Ow.¡¯ Max winced in pain as his hand was crushed. Ignoring the pain, he quickly looked the man up and down, gauging how to respond. ¡°I-it¡¯s an honour. Then, would you be the prince?¡± ¡°Oh, where are my manners?¡± The well-dressed man cleared his throat. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s correct. My name is Virtus Antonius Eleutheria, second-born and crown prince of the Kingdom of Eleutheria, where you currently stand.¡± Max got to one knee and bowed slightly, ¡°It¡¯s an honour to meet the prince.¡± ¡°Ah, you don¡¯t need to do that.¡± The prince pulled him back to his feet. ¡°You¡¯re not one of my subjects, so there¡¯s no need for you to bow to me. If anything, I should be the one bowing after you rescued my cute cousin.¡± Max was surprised. ¡®Wow, I was expecting the prince to be quite arrog- Wait, cousin?¡¯ He paused. ¡°...Ah, then I presume Lady Parker is your cousin?¡± ¡°That¡¯s correct. She didn¡¯t tell you?¡± The prince glanced at Parker, who avoided eye contact in the doorway, before grinning. ¡°Dahlia Parker ¨C is my cousin on my mother¡¯s side. A prodigious spearwoman, gifted both with tremendous talent and supreme beauty. Well-known for having once managed to-¡± ¡°S-stop!¡± Parker waved her hands, blushing. ¡°Y-you don¡¯t need to aggrandise! Just my name is enough!¡± An exaggerated sigh emerged from the prince¡¯s lips as his gushing was cut short. ¡°Oh well, I guess it can¡¯t be helped. My cousin is too humble to even-¡± ¡°Stop!!¡± ...Max took advantage of this moment of wholesome bullying to survey the room he¡¯d entered. To his side, an elliptical meeting table covered most of the room, bordered by a dozen uniformed officials who watched the ongoing interaction with amusement. Aside from that, there was also a girl, seemingly in her late teens, who leant against one of the side walls. She wore an embroidered silk dress, and it did not escape Max¡¯s notice that she shared an identical light-blonde hair colour with the prince. ¡°All right, I¡¯ll stop, I¡¯ll stop. I still need to reward my cousin¡¯s saviour, after all.¡± ¡®Reward?¡¯ Max¡¯s attention snapped back. A reward from the prince of a kingdom was unlikely to be anything pedestrian. ¡°Your Highness, that¡¯s really not necessary; I¡¯ve already received compensation from the-¡± ¡°From the Novus town guard. Yes, I¡¯m aware. Still, I¡¯d like to give a little something extra to show my gratitude. You won¡¯t turn me down, will you?¡± He smiled with a hidden pressure. ¡°Ah, no, then I will gratefully accept, Your Highness.¡± ¡°Call me Virtus; I dislike all that formal stuff,¡± Virtus spoke as he started fishing around in one of his pockets. After a few seconds, he took out a small ring. ¡°Ah, here it is.¡± ¡®A ring?¡¯ Max was intrigued. ¡®Is the prince giving me an accessory item?¡¯ The ring gave a bright flash, and an item emerged out from it. Max¡¯s eyes widened. ¡®A storage ring?! That¡¯s certainly new. There wasn¡¯t anything like that in- Uh? Bow?¡¯ Max¡¯s thoughts malfunctioned as Virtus passed him a large bow, which Max accepted with both hands as though he were receiving a precious artefact. ¡°It¡¯s... beautiful.¡± Max¡¯s eyes sparkled. Entranced by the smooth texture of the wood on his fingers, he took a moment to admire the bow¡¯s craftsmanship. Despite having the great length of a longbow, its limbs formed a delicate curvature at both ends in the decisive shape of a recurve. In terms of appearance, the wood was a pale red, striking the perfect balance between pleasing to the eye and not overly gaudy. Dark patches presented themselves in the grains, coursing across its length in unpredictable ¨C yet soothing undulations. But that wasn¡¯t all. There was something else... ¡°Gun?¡± Virtus shook his shoulder. ¡°Ah?¡± Max broke out of his reverie. ¡°Ah! Sorry, I got carried away. This bow ¨C just what is it?¡± ¡°Ha, I¡¯m glad you like it.¡± Virtus smiled. ¡°This bow is directly from the palace treasury. Its power is lacking compared to our standard armament, but its durability and craftsmanship are excellent. I speculated it would be best in the hands of a talented, low-level archer such as yourself.¡± ¡°I¡¯m honoured...¡± Max was about to continue speaking but saw movement from the light-haired girl he¡¯d noticed earlier. ¡°Halt. Give me that.¡± The girl walked up to Max and took the bow, turning it around in her hands to inspect it. Max didn¡¯t object, as he suspected this was probably Virtus¡¯s sibling. Now that he observed her properly, she definitely had the appearance of a princess. She had smooth, fair skin without any flaws, and a small blue jewel as a stud earring which matched her eyes. Her silvery-gold hair was woven into two sleek braids which crossed the sides of her head symmetrically and coalesced into a wide ponytail at the back. She was extremely pretty, and Max already guessed that she would be idolised by the male players... ¡®Probably the female players too, actually.¡¯ Unfortunately, Max¡¯s intuition told him that she would have a prickly attitude to go with it. ¡°This... I recognise this bow. Isn¡¯t this from the treasury¡¯s upper level?¡± She stared at Virtus. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s correct.¡± Virtus showed an unconcerned expression. ¡°Is there some sort of problem?¡± ¡°Wha-? Problem?¡± The girl was slightly flustered. ¡°Of course there¡¯s a problem! You can¡¯t just give top-level items away as you please; they¡¯re practically national treasures!¡± ¡°I¡¯m fully aware of that. The reason I-¡±Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. ¡°Are you truly?¡± She spoke incredulously. ¡°Yes.¡± Virtus¡¯s voice became firm. ¡°Are you going to let me explain?¡± ¡°...¡± The girl crossed her arms and relented, despite showing a slight frown. ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯re aware of the mana explosion which occurred in the treasury a few weeks ago. Due to an artefact malfunction, a mana surge caused part of the upper level¡¯s roof to cave in, leading to widespread flood damage.¡± ¡°And exactly what part of this makes it okay to give away national treasures?¡± ¡°I was getting to that.¡± Virtus narrowed his eyes. ¡°Do you think you could let me speak for more than two sentences without interrupting?¡± ¡°That depends, can you give a direct answer instead of a long, droning monologue?¡± *Sigh* Virtus rubbed his forehead. ¡°The identification records for this bow became destroyed due to water damage. As things stand, we have no indication of what the significance of this bow was, not historically, nor in a utilitarian sense. The palace appraisers can¡¯t even get a read on it and nearly all of the experts are in consensus that its power was either weakened by water damage, faded over time, or never existed in the first places, as the bow might have only been kept for commemorative purposes. Either way, there¡¯s not much reason to hang onto it now.¡± Virtus took a breath. ¡°Satisfied?¡± ¡°As if! You think I don¡¯t know where the explosion was? Keepsake items are kept on the opposite side of the building. You¡¯re basically handing him a national artefact on a silver platter!¡± ¡°Tsk.¡± Virtus clicked his tongue. ¡®...??¡¯ Max watched them argue with silent awe. The complexity of this world and its NPCs was so extensive that it didn¡¯t even feel like a game anymore. These two royals... seemed more intelligent than actual players? How were they so real?! ¡°Did you just ¡®tsk¡¯ me?!!¡± The girl looked appalled. ¡°Look, even if the bow does have special features, our incognisance of them renders it basically useless to us; Rodrick studied the thing for an entire week and came up empty. Besides, I¡¯ve already given it out ¨C you¡¯re not seriously suggesting I humiliate myself by taking it back, are you?¡± ¡°Grr.¡± The girl gave Virtus a final condemnatory glare before turning to Max. ¡°...¡± Feeling her eyes piercing into him, Max returned his best amicable gaze and quickly switched into sweet-talking mode. ¡°Your Highness,¡± Max put a hand to his chest, ¡°I promise that I would do my utmost to uncover the bow¡¯s potential.¡± ¡°...¡± She continued staring for a few more seconds, making Max feel slightly uncomfortable. ¡°It should be ¡®Your Royal Highness¡¯ on the first address, then ma¡¯am in subsequence.¡± ¡°My apologies, I will make sure to remember that.¡± Max confirmed she was indeed a princess. ¡°Good. Now then...¡± She came closer and flicked a hair out of his face, still unsmiling. ¡°I¡¯ve heard that you subjugated twenty orcs by yourself. Is that true?¡± Max noticed an expensive perfume but ignored it to focus on his response. Taking a guess at this girl¡¯s personality, he decided not to speak more words than necessary. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s true.¡± ¡°Good, then at least you¡¯re not completely useless...¡± Her lips pursed slightly, as she appeared to consider. ¡°Fine, you can have the bow. You did save my cousin after all.¡± She returned the red bow to Max¡¯s hands. ¡°I expect that you¡¯ll use it well.¡± ¡°So rude.¡± Virtus joked. ¡°You didn¡¯t even introduce yourself.¡± ¡°Must I do so every time I meet someone?¡± The girl retorted with exasperation. ¡°Though he is quite promising for a mere level eight.¡± She met Max¡¯s eyes. ¡°My name is Sophia Minerva Eleutheria, third princess of the kingdom and also strategic advisor to the king. I¡¯ve spent the past few days listening to reports of ¡®heroes¡¯ rampantly committing crimes across my country so it¡¯s rather refreshing to meet someone who isn¡¯t a complete piece of... well, scat, excuse my language.¡± Before Max could respond, Sophia continued, ¡°Since we¡¯re on the topic of introductions, who is this bald man cowering behind you?¡± Max turned to find a frightened Lemonade who looked like he wanted to run away. Of course, Max would never let him do that. ¡°This is Lemonade, a good friend of mine who supplied health potions to aid Lady Parker¡¯s retreat when she and her subordinates were in dire need. He is a renowned figure among the heroes and is widely listened to among our people.¡± Virtus perked up. ¡°Oh? A hero ambassador? Interesting.¡± He massaged his chin. ¡°Very interesting.¡± Lemonade nearly choked on air at being unexpectedly thrown in the deep end. Sophia stepped back and reached for her pocket. ¡°It seems like you also helped my cousin. Take this as a token of our gratitude.¡± She tossed him a small ring. ¡®Now!¡¯ Max thought. ¡®Ingratiate! Ingratiate yourself with the princess! This is your chance!¡¯ ¡°Th-thank you, Your Royal, uh, Greatness.¡± ¡®Nope, fumbled it.¡¯ Max shook his head tragically. ¡°Close enough.¡± Virtus laughed. ¡°More importantly, if it¡¯s really true that you have sway with the heroes then we could use your help.¡± ¡®?...!!¡¯ Sophia suddenly looked alarmed. ¡°No, absolutely not!¡± ¡°What was it she said before Dahlia returned?¡± Virtus ignored her and instead turned to the military men who had been waiting at the meeting table. ¡°Not enough men to spare? Ha! A trifling quandary when we can just summon five thousand immortals to the battlefield!¡± ¡°You do realise the heroes all under level ten still, right?¡± Sophia¡¯s voice came from behind him. ¡°They¡¯re also untrained; they would be useless even by cannon fodder standards.¡± ¡°Ignore her,¡± Virtus continued, ¡°you¡¯ve heard of Sir Gun¡¯s feats; they¡¯re not all useless. The orc compound is still small, so this is the best time to attack. A force of five thousand men plus the heroes should be enough.¡± ¡°...¡± Virtus seemed to be fishing for volunteers, but the table was silent, so he picked on someone. ¡°Lloyd, I hear your castellan has been quite bored lately.¡± The grey-haired man known as ¡®Lloyd¡¯ showed a greatly unenthused expression. ¡°Novus happens to be closest to your territory, sooo...¡± ¡°Gah, fine, fine! I¡¯ll send Stewart over. But you¡¯d better not take any casualties now that you have the heroes there.¡± ¡°Thank you, Lloyd. I can assure you that your men are my top priority.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve got to be joking,¡± Sophia remarked derisively. Virtus turned his full body to face her with evident irritation. ¡°I never joke about people¡¯s lives, Sophia. Novus is in an economic crisis; people are losing their livelihoods and some their very lives. I won¡¯t stand-¡± ¡°And how many more would lose their lives if this started another war?¡± ¡°...Then what? We should let our enemies push us around without resisting? Ignore our people in need and allow the enemy to expand into our territory unchecked?¡± He gave a sharp glare. ¡°I didn¡¯t say that.¡± ¡°You certainly implied it.¡± ¡°I just think that we cannot be exposing the heroes¡¯ existence too early. If the Demon Army were to discover the heroes right now, do you think they would stand idly by and watch them get stronger? No, they would surely attempt to annihilate our kingdom while they still have the chance.¡± ¡°So, you would ignore them.¡± Virtus discarded the rest of her words. ¡°If you honestly believe that abandoning our people is the best option, you can just leave the room right now.¡± ¡°They can just move to another town!¡± ¡°Okay, leave.¡± Virtus pointed to the door. ¡°...Ugh, dense as always.¡± Sophia brushed past Max as she headed for the door. ¡°Father will hear of this.¡± ¡°I do not care.¡± She closed the door delicately behind her. Virtus turned back to the lords at the table. ¡°Apologies you all had to witness that. Sir Lloyd, I believe this is a matter of great urgence, so I would arrange for my retinue to meet Castellan Stewart at Novus in about a half-day from now. Does that sound acceptable to you? I understand it is short notice.¡± ¡°Ha, I see. Before the old man can stop you; very cheeky.¡± The lord thought for a moment. ¡°That should be fine, Stewart would be ready even if I summoned him in his sleep. Though I hadn¡¯t thought you would accompany them; do you plan to lead the attack?¡± ¡°Yes, that is my intention. I¡¯d like to gauge the ability of the heroes with my own eyes.¡± ¡°I see. Well, I¡¯ll make the arrangements then.¡± ¡°Splendid! Thank you, Lloyd.¡± Virtus turned around. ¡°Of course, my cousin¡¯s crush and the hero beacon will obviously accompany me.¡± ¡°Th-cr-what?! N-no!¡± Dahlia was caught horrifically off-guard. ¡°I am merely grateful to Sir Gun for saving me, don¡¯t say outrageous things!¡± Virtus grinned. ¡°Then why do you keep calling him ¡®Sir¡¯ even though he¡¯s a commoner?¡± Dahlia¡¯s face turned tomato-red. ¡°Haha. I kid of course, I kid. I¡¯m sure you were just being polite.¡± Virtus looked between Max and Lemonade. ¡°On a more useful note... do you two know how to ride a horse?¡± Chapter 29: Prince’s Principles (2) Clip-clop. Clip-clop. Beneath a starry sky of picturesque nightscape, a symphony of hooves pounded along a gravel path as Virtus¡¯s retinue made their way to Novus. Taking the scene in, a red-haired archer hung to the back of the procession, bow and reins in hand. ¡®The visibility is really good at night...¡¯ There were two moons in the sky, so despite the sun having set, the brightness was still quite high; Max could make out the shapes of trees more than a hundred metres away. In front, Virtus¡¯s retinue numbered close to forty people, most of them armoured knights. They were quite fearsome-looking and averaged a high strength in the level 50s. Virtus was easily identifiable in the centre of the formation, clad in extravagant white-and-gold plate armour. This style also extended to the horse he was riding on, which was similarly armoured. Max actually expected Virtus to ride in a carriage, but it was becoming apparent that he was more of a military man who disliked those sorts of formal things. Regardless, he rode quite well. As for himself, Max was blessed with a great amount of horseback experience due to his time in Hero of Liberation, but most players would have none at all. Remembering this, he looked to the side, where Lemonade was currently sharing a horse with Dahlia... Maybe that guy was blessed in another way, because Max had never seen a man happier to lack horsemanship ability. ¡ªThat victorious smile lololol ¡ªLucky b*stard ¡ªSo, this was the true purpose of health potions... ¡ªI know how to ride a horse, but from now on I don¡¯t Of course, the stream chat were still being themselves. Though, there were at least some viewers with sense, the majority of them sharing a common topic: ¡ªPRINCE ¡ªBro is just casually accompanying the crown prince of a nation ¡ª??? Is it this easy to befriend royals? Ask him for money or something lol ¡ªWhy aren¡¯t you talking to the prince? Go talk to him! Benefits!! Capitalize!!! ¡ªGun, this is a royal decree: you shall change your stream title forthwith Having a whole bunch of people providing information and suggestions was really helpful; it was like having a bunch of extra brains working for him. Max took one chatter¡¯s suggestion (order) and decided to change the title of his stream to attract more viewers. [ Accompanying the Eleutherian Prince to Battle ] ...He didn¡¯t have much experience with making titles, so that would have to do for now. [ Current Viewers: 8,995 ] His and Lemonade¡¯s viewerships were currently climbing rapidly after Lemonade had amateurishly photoshopped a lemon onto an antiquated U.S. Army recruitment notice and uploaded the result to his social media accounts. The post captions gave minimal explanation, only briefly mentioning the prince and inviting players to a large-scale battle which would supposedly soon commence inside Novus Forest. Nonetheless, they would likely attract a large amount of attention, since Lemonade had a large following which numbered in the millions. ¡°Gun! Where are you?¡± A familiar voice called from ahead. ¡®The prince?¡¯ Max realised Virtus was calling for him. ¡®Ah damn, I still haven¡¯t thought of anything.¡¯ Max had been trying to think of ways to build a closer relationship with the prince, which would help him secure more missions in the future, but his nature was that of a wholly unsocial person who only left the house for necessities, so he didn¡¯t really know how to do that. ¡®Well, I¡¯ll just try to make myself useful.¡¯ ¡°Hup.¡± He spurred his horse to move forward. ¡°I¡¯m over here!¡± ¡°Why are you hiding back there? Stay near me from now on.¡± Virtus ordered as Max pulled up, ¡°For some reason, you¡¯re strangely hard to locate.¡± Max looked around at the sea of brunette knights. ¡®I literally have red hair.¡¯ ¡°You should wear a hat in the future to make yourself more prominent,¡± Virtus continued, unaware of Max¡¯s thoughts. ¡®Red hair, no armour, and the only one holding a bow.¡¯ Max looked behind him to glance at Lemonade, who appeared to be listening in. Lemonade¡¯s eyes widened and he vigorously shook his head, as if telling Max not to do something. Only then did Max fully register what the prince had just said, and a smile slowly spread across his face. ¡°I do have a hat, but it¡¯s not entirely proper. Is that still alright?¡± ¡°Yes, whatever works; it¡¯s just so you stand out a bit more.¡± Max took the hat out of his inventory and slowly placed it on top of his head. ¡°...Well, it certainly stands out.¡± The prince gave a wry smile. ¡ªLMAOO ¡ªCowboy Gun?!?!A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡ªThe way he moved it so slowly to his head, knowing he¡¯s in the wrong lmao ¡ªWhat am I watching rn lol ¡°Apologies, it¡¯s all I have for now.¡± Max carefully concealed his delight. ¡°That aside, did you have something to ask me?¡± ¡°Yes, I have a few questions. First, how¡¯s the bow? Is it to your liking?¡± ¡°It¡¯s fantastic!¡± Max smiled. ¡°It¡¯s much more powerful than my previous one. While it¡¯s a bit difficult for me to handle at my current strength, it should suit me well after I gain a few levels. In the meantime, I¡¯ll work to uncover any secrets it might have.¡± He recalled the bow¡¯s suspiciously uninformative description:
Item: ???? Grade: ???? Draw Weight / Damage: 200 Durability: ????/???? Description: A faded-red bow of unknown origin.
¡°Secrets indeed.¡± Virtus scrutinised the bow. ¡°Well, I¡¯m glad you like it. You needn¡¯t worry about using its full power yet, since I doubt that would be possible prior to reaching level 20.¡± Max looked at him. ¡®...Come to think of it, just how strong is the prince?¡¯ He decided to take a peek at Virtus¡¯s details. [ Human: ¡®????¡¯, Level: ????, Threat Level: ???? ] ¡®...Well that was unhelpful.¡¯ Max frowned. ¡°Hm? Did you try to appraise me just now?¡± Virtus raised an eyebrow. ¡®Wha-? He can tell?!¡¯ Max fumbled for a response, ¡°Ah, I¡¯m sorry. That¡¯s not considered offensive in this world, is it?¡± ¡°No, not particularly, but many people elect to keep that information private.¡± Virtus smirked and lifted a necklace from his collar. ¡°I am one of those people; I wear a high-grade anti-appraisal artefact wherever I go, so my information can¡¯t be seen by anyone ¨C not even cowboys such as yourself.¡± ¡°I see. That¡¯s rather shrewd of you.¡± Max sighed in relief, thanking his lucky stars that the prince wasn¡¯t an easily irritable person. ¡°...¡± A short silence enveloped the two, as neither person spoke. ¡®...Or maybe he is?! Urk. Topic change... Topic change... Blank... Guh. Damn it, why is talking so hard sometimes when with Rone it always feels so effortless?¡¯ Max lamented his lack of social skills. ¡®No, wait, didn¡¯t he say he has questions for me?¡¯ Beeeep! ¡®Oh good, he got a phone call.¡¯ Max exhaled. ¡®...Wait, medieval people don¡¯t have phones though?¡¯ Max watched on in confusion as Virtus took a crystal bead out of his pocket which shined a vivid red light in all directions. ¡®Oh, right. I forgot about those.¡¯ ¡°Drat...¡± Without any further explanation, Virtus tapped the bead with his finger and held it out in front of him. ¡°Father! Wonderful that you called. How are you doing this fine evening?¡± ¡°Come back, now.¡± A sonorous voice rang through the bead, loud enough for Max to hear clearly even from his position several metres away. ¡°Ahaha. Father, you needn¡¯t be like that. I¡¯m sure Sophia has filled you in on the details; it¡¯s just a few weak orcs. Plus, I¡¯ve already secured a great amount of-¡± ¡°Virtus.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°I know exactly what you¡¯re doing, and I¡¯m also aware of the reason you forwent my signature. You understand perfectly well that I would never have signed off on this.¡± Virtus¡¯s expression hardened. ¡°That doesn¡¯t reason that you would be right to do so.¡± A loud sigh came from the other end. ¡°It¡¯s too far from the monoliths, Virtus. There¡¯s nothing I can do if things go awry.¡± ¡°Then come lead the attack! You could annihilate these orcs if you chose to; I don¡¯t understand why you don¡¯t just-¡± ¡°Because I have an entire kingdom to worry about. Should the strongest combatant abandon his post, it leaves every border town exposed to danger. Son, there are times when neglecting the few is necessary to safeguard the many ¨C As my successor, you ought to recognise this.¡± Max shifted awkwardly. ¡®Am I supposed to be listening to this right now, or should I like... leave?¡¯ It felt like he had accidentally tuned in to a TV political drama. ¡°Spare me the sophistry! You could come here by fast horse while saving the monolith for emergencies, but you don¡¯t. You don¡¯t because you¡¯re just a selfish coward who cares nothing for his subjects. You care only for your personal interests.¡± ¡°Is that... really how you see me?¡± ¡°Am I mistaken?¡± Virtus spoke coldly. ¡°Tell me right now that you would prioritise the lives of ten thousand innocents over my lone.¡± ¡°.....¡± ¡®Okay, I¡¯m definitely not meant to be hearing this.¡¯ Max pulled away from Virtus. Not so far as to be out of hearing range, since his chat would absolutely flame him, but just enough to be polite. Rather than eavesdrop on the royal family, he planned to read more of the forums but was distracted by an unfamiliar chime... Ching! [Oh, I didn¡¯t realise you enabled these. Hello Mr. Gun. A pleasure to make your acquaintance. Also, check your damn titles.] An AI-generated voice spoke directly into Max¡¯s head, like he was wearing some super high-quality headphones. ¡°Eh? A mechanical voice? Oh!¡± Max realised what it probably was and brought up his streaming interface. [MightSmite has donated $5] A donation! He completely forgot that Rone set those up. ¡°MightSmite, thank you for the donation. Titles, you say?¡± ...Come to think of it, he hadn¡¯t checked those for a while. Maybe he had some new ones? In his mind, he hadn¡¯t done anything noteworthy enough to warrant earning any new titles, but this was also the thought he had last time before unveiling about ten of them, so his judgement in this respect was entirely unreliable. He brought up the tab:
Available Titles:
  • 10/10 Talent: Win a solo fight against 10 enemies who are all at least 10 levels higher than you. Effects: +10% all stats
  • Could You Like... Die? ¨C Inflict damage ten times on a single enemy. Effects: +5% damage
  • Oops, What A Shame: Cause an enemy to fall to their death. Effects: -10% fall damage
  • Punching Up (Solo) (3): While alone, kill an enemy 30 levels higher than you. Effects: +30% damage against enemies more than ten levels higher than you.
  • I Am The Boss (Solo) --> I Am The Boss (4) (Solo) (First): While alone, kill a BOSS monster 30 levels higher than you. Effects: All stats +30% (60%)
  • No It¡¯s Not: Complete an ¡®impossible¡¯ ranked mission. Effects: +100 charm
  • Disarmer ¨C Knock a weapon out of an enemy¡¯s grasp, Effects: +20% item durability damage
  • Antidon¡¯t (First): Prevent an enemy from drinking an antidote potion. Effects: +20% (40%) poison resistance, +20% (40%) poison damage
¡°...¡± Chapter 30: Capricious Clemency
Available Titles:
  • 10/10 Talent: Win a solo fight against 10 enemies who are all at least 10 levels higher than you. Effects: +10% all stats
  • Could You Like... Die? ¨C Inflict damage ten times on a single enemy. Effects: +5% damage
  • Oops, What A Shame: Cause an enemy to fall to their death. Effects: -10% fall damage
  • Punching Up (Solo) (3): While alone, kill an enemy 30 levels higher than you. Effects: +30% damage against enemies more than ten levels higher than you.
  • I Am The Boss (Solo) --> I Am The Boss (4) (Solo) (First): While alone, kill a BOSS monster 30 levels higher than you. Effects: All stats +30% (60%)
  • No It¡¯s Not: Complete an ¡®impossible¡¯ ranked mission. Effects: +100 charm
  • Disarmer ¨C Knock a weapon out of an enemy¡¯s grasp, Effects: +20% item durability damage
  • Antidon¡¯t (First): Prevent an enemy from drinking an antidote potion. Effects: +20% (40%) poison resistance, +20% (40%) poison damage
"..." Even after reading through all of the titles, Max kept staring at his interface, checking to make sure he didn¡¯t misread... Unconvinced, he then checked a third time. ¡ª???????????????????????????????????? ¡ªHE GOT TWO FIRSTS?!!! ¡ªDude ¡ªWHAT THE F*CK IS A 60% STAT INCREASE??????? ¡ªASDSKLDMASLKMDLAASFKDLASF ¡ªCEO¡¯s son. I¡¯m calling it right now, he¡¯s the CEO¡¯s son ¡ªWTF The titles were so shocking that they even tore viewers away from their new political drama. ¡°G-guys, I¡¯m not crazy, right? Wouldn¡¯t ¡®stats¡¯ mean all of my main attributes?¡± Max equipped the titles and tried drawing his bow. To his astonishment, the bowstring extended all the way to his cheek, the full draw indicating that his strength had increased dramatically. ¡°Wh-what?¡± Max looked at his bowstring in stupefaction. ¡°S-surely this is a bug, right? There¡¯s no way they would let players have a 60% stat boost; that¡¯s too game-breaking!¡± ¡ªGive this man an Oscar ¡ªAin¡¯t no WAY ¡ªBalanced game lmao ¡ªTitle effects are doubled for the first person to get them; normally it would be 30%! ¡°It would normally be thirty percent? That¡¯s still way too much.¡± ¡°What¡¯s too much?¡± Virtus approached, having apparently finished his call. ¡°Wait, you¡¯re talking into one of those ¡®living stream¡¯ things, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Huh? Uh, yeah... you know about those?¡± ¡°I do. Sophia told me not to spill any national secrets whenever someone I appraise has a large red circle next to their name, since it would be broadcast in full to all the people of your world.¡± ¡°Yes, that¡¯s true.¡± Max realised he¡¯d neglected to warn the prince about this earlier. ¡°Though, information comes in from our world as well. For example, the stream tells me that a large number of heroes are waiting for us at Novus, ready to assist in the battle.¡± ¡°Oh, I see. That is useful... Is that what you were referring to as ¡®way too much¡¯?¡± ¡°No, that was something else. Come to think of it, do the people of this world use ¡®titles¡¯?¡± ¡°I did hear about those. I¡¯m aware you¡¯re not referring to our peerage system, so my answer would be no. Our people lack many commonalities with heroes, such as your ¡®titles¡¯, ¡®skills¡¯ and ¡®classes¡¯. We can use monoliths with a timed reusage penalty proportional to our level, but we don¡¯t have your fast recovery speed, pain reduction, or above all, your im-¡± Woosh-Ting! Suddenly, Virtus raised his gauntlet and a metallic sound rang out next to his head. Max reacted instantly and fired a return shot at the source of the projectile, causing the bow of an attacking archer to immediately disappear from his grip, flying off into the distance. The perpetrator, a player, was quickly surrounded by knights. ¡°Ho, we have our first daredevil, it seems.¡± Virtus brought his horse to a stop, seeming to have anticipated an attack. ¡°Hm? Wait...¡± With an almost audible creak, Virtus turned his neck back to Max. ¡°Gun, did you shoot an arrow just now?¡± ¡°Yes, I disarmed him. I apologise on behalf of the heroes; we have a large number of troublemakers among us.¡± ¡°No, I expected that. Rather, why didn¡¯t I see your arrow pass in the air? Did you use an enchantment?¡± Some of the knights exchanged confused glances, not having seen anything either. ...Actually, even Max didn¡¯t see his own arrow. However, he at least knew why.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°That would be due to one of my skills, [Successive Speed]. The skill temporarily increases my arrow velocity with each consecutive shot until I suffer a miss.¡± Due to the skill effect not having a duration limit, and given the fact that he hadn¡¯t actually missed any shots since obtaining the skill, his arrows remained incredibly fast. Combined with the increased power of his new bow, it was now practically impossible to dodge one of his attacks. Max felt slightly bad for whichever game developers were responsible, because they would undoubtedly face some harsh condemnation in the near future. It was keenly apparent that, for all this game¡¯s exceptional graphics and AI intelligence, a lot of the game design was really bad. ¡°S-speed? You mean to say the arrow was so fast that it became imperceptible by sight? Just how fast was it moving?¡± ...Max did some quick maths. The projectile physics were mostly in accord with Hero of Liberation, so his 200lbs bow would ordinarily shoot one of his 50g arrows at close to 67m/s when fully drawn. Since he had killed around 60 enemies since obtaining the skill, the speed boost amounted to about 5% x 60 = 300%. ¡°It should be around two hundred and seventy metres per second, Your Highness ¨C roughly the muzzle velocity of a low-grade handgun.¡± ???? Virtus blankly gaped at Max in mystification. ¡®...Are they just shocked or do they need imperial- Ah! They don¡¯t have handguns here!¡¯ ¡°That- It¡¯s four times the regular speed, Your Highness.¡± The fog slowly cleared from Virtus¡¯s eyes. ¡°O-oh. I see. Indeed, that is... quite a powerful skill to have at your disposal... I um, I hope we can discuss this later in more detail.¡± ¡ªEXCUSE ME WHATTT ¡ªCLIP IT!! CLIP IT!! ¡ªThis is more broken than my wall clock ¡ªGun has a gun. Gun has a gun. Gun has a gun. Gun has a gun. ¡ªWTFFFFF ¡ªUh, yes, Virtek, I¡¯d like to report a bug ¡ªThis is more broken than my phone screen ¡ªWhy so precise lmaoo ¡ªHandGun? ¡ªI don¡¯t know how, but the cowboy hat makes this infinitely better ¡ªThis is more broken than my ex-girlfriend¡¯s mental state ¡ª$500 game btw The comments erupted. Virtus cleared his throat. *Ahem* ¡°Before that, I suppose there¡¯s a more pressing matter to resolve.¡± He turned to the detained player, whose arms were firmly secured by armoured knights on each side. ¡°I see that you are one of the heroes. Tell me young man, why did you decide to attack me just now? My life was never in danger, but I would like to understand your motive.¡± ¡®Young man?¡¯ Max looked at Virtus. He had short, light-blonde hair with blue eyes, and a healthy complexion which indicated early-to-mid 20s. He was nowhere near old enough to be calling someone ¡®young man¡¯... Maybe he just said it to sound imposing. The archer spoke, ¡°I¡¯unno, I just had that vibe y¡¯know? Like, you get what I¡¯m sayin¡¯ cuzz?¡± ...Max facepalmed. Virtus froze and needed a few seconds to comprehend. ¡°I¡¯m afraid I do not ¡®get¡¯ what you are saying, ¡®cuzz¡¯. Would you mind elucidating your reasoning?¡± ¡°Uh, well I was gonna join you for that whole battle mission shebang or whatever, but then I was like, ¡®what would happen if I just turned and shot the prince right now¡¯, and the intrusive thought just sorta... won over... ¡®n stuff.¡± ¡°...¡± Virtus stared at him. ¡°Uh, Your Highness, if I might offer some counsel?¡± Lemonade approached with Dahlia. ¡°Please do. And call me Virtus.¡± ¡°Of course. Virtus. So the players ¨C I mean heroes, are, as I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve surmised, very free-spirited individuals. Many of us tend to act on impulse and do whatever we feel like in the moment, with very little thought to the consequences.¡± ¡°I certainly noticed that... Go on.¡± ¡°So, convention in this sort of circumstance would suggest punishing all wrongdoers to deter crimes and set an example. Only, this sort of action might cause disciplined heroes to feel resentful and be unwilling to aid you in the future, so, rather than that, I propose an alternate solution.¡± ¡°You would forgo punishment?¡± Virtus was intrigued. ¡°Not exactly. First, do you know what heroes value the most in a person?¡± ¡°Strength? No, it should be principles.¡± Lemonade shook his head. ¡°Those are both near the top of the list, but not quite.¡± ¡°...Looks?¡± ¡°Also at the top of the list, but no. Above all, our people value humour.¡± ¡°Humour? You mean, as in comedy?¡± ¡°Yes. Our people love to be entertained, which is why I have a suggestion: Why not propose a task for the hero to complete. If he fails, punish him, but if he succeeds, let him be pardoned for his crimes.¡± ¡°Interesting. Humour above all, you say? Very well.¡± Virtus placed his attention back on the archer. ¡°Hero, I still don¡¯t particularly understand why you chose to attack me, but I see that your name is ¡®DarkArcher69¡¯. Listen here, DarkArcher69. Although you seem to have shot an arrow at my head for no discernible reason, I am feeling merciful today, so I will grant you one chance at clemency.¡± DarkArcher69 nodded. ¡°Thanks, prince. What task do I need to complete, then?¡± ¡°A dance.¡± ¡°...Dance?¡± ¡°Yes, dance. Show me your best performance, and if I am impressed then I will spare your life.¡± ¡°That¡¯s all I need to do?¡± The archer smirked as his arms were released. ¡°Aight bet, I can do that.¡± Without wasting any time, he burst into motion, bouncing up and down on the spot with his wrists crossed in front of him. ¡®Oh no.¡¯ Max instantly realised he was doing. This man was attempting to do the ¡®Gangnam Style¡¯. Except... ¡®He¡¯s really bad!¡¯ The man was a terrible dancer. His arms flailed limply in front of him and his legs kicked out in uneven, jerky bursts, sometimes too much and sometimes too little, as if he was trying to put out an invisible fire at the soles of his feet rather than follow any semblance of rhythm. He started whirling an arm around in front of his face, poorly imitating a lassoing motion. Expressions of secondhand embarrassment spread through the crowd as nearby players watched on in horror. ¡°Dear God, make it stop,¡± someone muttered. Not hearing that onlooker, and despite his utter lack of coordination, the player continued to ¡®dance¡¯, all the while radiating confidence. Entirely caught up in his own world, he placed his hands on his hips and started strutting sideways with his chest puffed out, moving back and forth in front of Virtus¡¯s horse. ¡°Ayy, sexy lady.¡± He murmured slightly out of tune. ¡°Op, op-op-op, oppa Gangnam Style!¡± After repeating the main motion again for a little while, he clapped and came to a stop in front of the prince. ¡°How was it? Pretty good, right?¡± Virtus frowned. ¡°Was that supposed to resemble a horse-riding motion?¡± ¡°Yes! Did you like it?¡± With a blindingly quick flash of movement, Virtus unsheathed a sword from his hip and sliced the man¡¯s head from his shoulders. ¡°That might be the worst thing I¡¯ve ever seen.¡± Chapter 31: Dawn of Firearms [Short: Player Executed by Eleutherian Prince after Horrendous Gangnam Style Dance] ¡ªLMAOOO ¡ªMost warranted execution I¡¯ve ever seen ¡ªHow is it even possible to do it that badly lol ©¸ Nvm I understand now ¡ªWhat a terrible day to have eyes ¡ªAttempting to assassinate prince = okay, dancing poorly = death ©¸ Lol pretty much ©¸ Sounds about right XD ©¸ Prince is based ¡ªNOTICE: King Lemonade is recruiting players to fight with the prince at Novus Town (top left of Eleutheria Kingdom) ©¸ omw omw omw omw ©¸ NOOO MY TP IS ON COOLDOWN ©¸ To the previous commenter: L ©¸ I¡¯m coming, my king! ¡ªOkay but why is nobody talking about the 270m/s arrow? Isn¡¯t that pretty terrifying?? ©¸ Doesn¡¯t affect damage, so it¡¯s actually pretty useless imo ©¸ He loses it as soon as he misses lol ©¸ YOU GUYS HAVEN¡¯T SEEN GUN¡¯S STREAM ¨C YOU DON¡¯T KNOW WHAT HE¡¯S CAPABLE OF ©¸ Lol that guy has stans already ©¸ Since he¡¯s an archer he¡¯ll be ¡®capable of¡¯ hiding behind the prince for protection ©¸ Fr lol, archer class is so trash ... Max logged back in after having gone for lunch with Lina and Raymond. Even on horseback it had taken several hours of travel to reach Novus ¨C so long that it was now almost midday in real life. This passage of time was especially pronounced in the game world, where nearly an entire night cycle had passed. Connecting to the game server, he appeared in a large military camp, packed full of players and NPC soldiers. This temporary camp had been erected far north of where he¡¯d fought in Novus Forest previously and was about a kilometre out from the orc compound they¡¯d come to attack. It had been necessary to climb an entire mountain to reach this place, and although there wasn¡¯t a particularly steep incline here at the top, the terrain was that of a barren tundra, devoid of trees and with little-to-no natural cover. ...Max observed the enemy compound in the distance. It had a large wood-walled perimeter, lined with small dots across its length which he knew were orcish archers. Orcs made surprisingly good bowmen on account of their great strength and muscular endurance, and were capable of wielding huge, powerful bows which almost looked like ballistae. Their only drawback was their dexterity ¨C since they had quite large, indelicate hands, their accuracy with bows was quite terrible. Although inferior accuracy might sound like a fatal flaw for an archer to have, Max had personally lead armies against orcs in Hero of Liberation and knew that this was not the case. In large-scale warfare, archers would typically shoot arrows into enemy lines hundreds of metres away, so precise aim was unneeded. These long-range arrow barrages were extremely brutal and had the capability to inflict catastrophic damage to soldiers in dense formations. Max frowned. There were plenty of ways to counter orcish archers; he wasn¡¯t too worried about that. What truly concerned him was the fact that they built a wall. Orcs didn¡¯t usually build walls. They didn¡¯t usually take the high ground either ¨C they were too stupid to have that level of foresight. The fact that they had done so anyway indicated that they were being led by a more intelligent lifeform, such as a high orc or a demon. Max hoped it was a high orc. Although he had never encountered a high orc prior to this game, his encounter with Azrog indicated that they were weaker and less intelligent than the demons in the prequel game. ¡®Okay, enough daydreaming.¡¯ Max resumed his livestream and went to find Lemonade for clout. ¡®There really are a lot of players here now...¡¯ Several thousand players filled the area, chatting amongst each other and reading the forums while waiting for the battle to begin. Max was once again reminded of how popular Lemonade was, having been able to assemble this many people with just a few social media posts. Looking around, he saw a large tent in the centre of the camp, where several NPC soldiers stood guard to keep players from entering. ¡®Command tent. Virtus and Stewart will probably be in there, but maybe Lemonade too.¡¯ Stewart, an NPC whom Max had met prior to logging off, was a castellan from a neighbouring fiefdom. He¡¯d brought a large number of trained soldiers ¨C approximately ~4,600, from his castle town to defeat the orcs and dismantle their compound. Approaching the tent, one of the soldiers recognised Max and waved him in. Max entered to find Virtus, Stewart, and a few other officers engaged in a military discussion. Meanwhile, Lemonade sat in a fold-up chair by the entrance, staring intently at a small ring. ¡°Lemon!¡± Max greeted Lemonade, causing him to jump in fright. ¡°Whatcha doin¡¯?¡± ¡°Hey, don¡¯t scare me like that!¡± Lemonade complained. ¡°I nearly dropped my ring. Do you have any idea how much gold is in this?¡± Max recalled he got the ring from Virtus¡¯s sister, Sophia. ¡°No, how much?¡± ¡°A hundred thousand.¡± Max¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Woah. You could buy a whole suit of plate armour with that!¡± ¡°Eh, armour is that expensive?¡± Lemonade took a gold coin from the ring and juggled it in his hand. ¡°I thought it would be way cheaper.¡± ¡°Nope. Back in medieval times, full plate cost more than a year¡¯s wages for most people.¡± Max watched the coin. ¡°An average person couldn¡¯t- Wait, you just took that coin out from the ring, didn¡¯t you?¡±Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°Hm? Yeah.¡± ¡°How long to take it out? Is it faster than the inventory?¡± ¡°It¡¯s instant, actually.¡± ¡°Instant?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Is there a cooldown?¡± Lemonade took two more coins from the ring in quick succession. ¡°Nope.¡± ¡°No way... Hey, do you mind trying something for me?¡± Max took two arrows from his quiver. ¡°The thing you did just then, can you try it with these arrows?¡± ¡°Uh, sure.¡± Lemonade wasn¡¯t sure what the significance of this was, but he took the arrows and threw them into the storage ring before taking them back out a half-second apart. ¡®Wait.¡¯ Lemonade realised what Max was thinking. ¡®Oh no.¡¯ ¡°Lemonade, my good- my great friend. You won¡¯t be needing that ring during the battle, will you?¡± Max tapped his index fingers together and made a slight pleading face. ¡°If not... maybe I can possibly, perhaps, borrow it?¡± Lemonade gave him a friendly glare before seeking outside consultation. ¡°What do you think chat, can he borrow the ring?¡± ¡ªOh, I see, because there¡¯s a 2-sec delay on inventory transfers but not with the ring ¡ªWait, isn¡¯t this like having an infinite quiver? ¡ªABSOLUTELY NOT ¡ªYES YES 100% YES ¡ªyessssss ¡ªNO ¡ªWhy is this guy just a walking bug collector ¡ªEven when he begs he¡¯s so hot omg omg Lemonade squinted into his chat panel. ¡°Hmm, it¡¯s nearly an even split, but the tie was broken by a rare appearance of woman-simps. Congratulations, Gun. Seems like you¡¯re popular with the ladies.¡± ¡ªNOOOO WHYY ¡ªThis is why we don¡¯t let them have voting rights Lemonade sent a one-way trade offer, transferring ownership of the ring so Max could use it. ¡°Thanks, I appreciate it.¡± Max accepted. ¡°What¡¯s a woman-simp, though?¡± ¡°Uh-¡± ¡°No siege weapons?!¡± Virtus suddenly yelled loudly across the tent. ¡°Not a single one?!¡± Max and Lemonade¡¯s attention shifted at the sudden yell to a man with his hands raised, who was attempting to placate the prince. ¡°N-no, we have two battering rams, Your Highness. What I meant to say is that we have no ranged siege weapons.¡± ¡°No ranged siege, why?¡± ¡°Ease up on him, it was my decision,¡± a middle-aged man interjected. Max recognised him as the castellan, Stewart. ¡°The reports you sent us didn¡¯t give any mention of battlements above the palisades. We believed the rams would be enough for that sort of scenario.¡± ¡°Well, yes, but why would you not elect to simply bring everything? Now we stand at a disadvantage.¡± ¡°You wanted us here quickly and heavy weapons like those take time to move. We don¡¯t have an entire jewellery shop of storage rings at our disposal like the royal family does,¡± Stewart answered bluntly. ¡°Tch. Sorry, it wasn¡¯t my intention to lay blame, I¡¯m just frustrated... Could we have some trebuchets brought from the Novus monolith?¡± ¡°We could, but it would take some time. I¡¯m not sure how many heroes will disperse by then.¡± ¡°Never mind then, it shouldn¡¯t be necessary. I¡¯m fairly certain the heroes gathered here already double or triple outnumber the enemy.¡± [Final Notice: An update will commence in 1 minute. Estimated downtime is 2 minutes] ¡®Oh? An update?¡¯ A system notice piqued Max¡¯s curiosity. He hadn¡¯t been online the last time there was an update, but he¡¯d read on the forums that nearly everything in the game world would freeze while an update was being applied, with only a few minor exceptions. ¡°Indeed, we have a great number of heroes with us,¡± Stewart continued talking. ¡°My men have procured a large number of siege ladders, so the heroes can use those to launch a frontal assault.¡± ¡°Yes, I concur, that would be the best way to minimise army casualties.¡± Virtus nodded. ¡°In addition, let us entrust one battering ram to the heroes, in order to gauge their capability.¡± Stewart made a sceptical face. ¡°...I doubt they would succeed in ramming the gate, given that very few of them have shields. However, if that is your request, we can afford an attempt. Since we are doing that, I will arrange my men at the rear. Should the heroes start to lose control, I¡¯ll give the order to move in with the second ram.¡± ¡°That sounds like a good plan. As expected of the castellan.¡± ¡°Ha. Your praise is unnecessary ¨C a strategy like this is extremely basic.¡± ¡°No doubt, you would say that. Well, I believe we¡¯ve discussed everything, so I will go now to rally the heroes. Instruct your men to hand out those siege ladders.¡± ¡°Of course, it will be done.¡± Virtus rose from his chair and moved to leave the tent, addressing Max and Lemonade, ¡°You two, with me.¡± Leading them outside, he went to an elevated part of the camp where he could be seen more easily. ¡°Alright, I¡¯m going to make a brief speech. Come stand either side of me.¡± With a glow from one of his rings, he took out a strange item. It looked similar to an ice-cream cone, but with a strange lattice sphere hovering mystically above it in the air. Without warning, he started speaking loudly into it: ¡°Attention, heroes. I thank you all for gathering here today in defence of our glorious-¡± [Update will now commence. Estimated downtime is 2 minutes. We thank you for your patience] ¡®Oh. Well, that¡¯s some poor timing.¡¯ Max felt a bit bad for Virtus, who was cut off mid-sentence. Although he was about to warn him to wait a moment, the guy had already started talking... Wasn¡¯t it normal to pause for a moment and think about what you¡¯re going to say before speaking to a crowd of thousands? ¡®Well anyways, where the heck is this?¡¯ Standing on a polished marble floor, Max checked his surroundings. He was in a spacious room with a large, wall-mounted TV and electric fireplace, as well as some couches and an expensive-looking pool table. Instead of walls, two towering windows stretched from floor to ceiling on opposite sides, one of which opened up to a glistening swimming pool. ¡®Is this a luxury villa?¡¯ Max was impressed. Looking further into the building, there were some other rooms, as well as a set of walled signs. ¡°Bowling alley... home cinema... wow.¡± With this sort of setup, the players might actually ask for the updates to take longer. Noticing an interface with patch notes, Max wavered for a moment before deciding to spend his two minutes reading through them.
Patch Notes (Section #1): We sincerely apologise to the 700,000 players affected by registration lockout at the game¡¯s launch, in which users could not change their avatar, settings or username after registering. To remedy this, affected users will be granted the following:
  • A choice between [Avatar Change Token] or [5% EXP Booster (1 week)]
  • A choice between [Username Change Token] or [5% EXP Booster (1 week)]
  • [10% EXP Booster (1 week)]
This selection will be available in the user¡¯s mail inbox, with chosen items being sent to inventory upon completing the choice form. Once more, we at Virtek apologise for any inconvenience caused by the error. Patch Notes (Section #2): In response to an extremely large volume of support requests regarding the archer class test, our personnel have conducted a review and deemed it necessary to implement a significant difficulty reduction. Additionally, we are aware that most players consider the class¡¯s strength to be lacking, thus we have decided to boost its effects. The following changes will be made:
  • Archer class test thresholds will be reduced by 20% (Passing distance is now 20m)
  • Archer class test attempts per target will be increased from 1 to 3 attempts
  • Existing archers will be granted a temporary 40% increase (e.g. 50% -> 70%) to their class bonuses due to completing a more difficult archer class test. This increase will persist until the user¡¯s subsequent class promotion
  • Archer class bonuses have been permanently doubled for all brackets
Other: An additional patch will be released tomorrow morning with further changes. We thank you for your patience and ask that you treat our support staff with kindness and respect.
"...!!!!!" Chapter 32: Dawn of Firearms (2)
Class: Deadshot Grade: Unique Effects: When using a bow, all final base damage is increased by 280%. Additionally, all final weak-point and lethal damage is increased by a further 140%. Description: ¡®Masterful¡¯ is not sufficient to describe the owner of this class. To the player incapable of missing: Your actions will be watched closely by the powers of this world. Good luck.
Max stared wordlessly at his class tab. ¡°For hundreds of years, the Demon Army has plundered our fields, destroyed our cities and slaughtered our people! Their malevolence and greed know no bounds ¨C even today, they brazenly expand further into our territory, hell-bent on invading our lands and stealing our resources.¡± Surely this couldn¡¯t be real. Had the devs made a mistake? For the class to be boosted this much... Even before the update, he¡¯d been able to take down other players with only a single headshot. ¡°But no more! Much like the golden sunrise you descry before you, the arrival of heroes heralds a new era! With your help, we will purge all facets of evil from this world, overthrowing the monsters and reclaiming our rightful territory! No... even if it wasn¡¯t a mistake, it shouldn¡¯t make any difference. With his damage being boosted to such a large degree, his class was now obscenely strong. The developers would likely realise this during the upcoming battle and scramble to roll back the changes, if not for all archers, then at least for him. ¡°The goddess smiles upon those who protect the weak; for the orcs who terrorise Novus Forest, killing our people and destroying livelihoods, we shall grant them no quarter! Raise your weapons! For today is the day of humanity¡¯s renascence!¡± Regardless, this was a great opportunity. Since his damage was boosted, he would be able to show a better performance in battle. If he fought well enough, he might even be able to make a name for himself among the players. Currently, he was only known as ¡®Lemonade¡¯s archer friend¡¯ ¨C hardly an illustrious title. In order to gain recognition, he would need to act quickly at the start of battle; it would be a missed opportunity if the orcs were killed off by other players before he could showcase his abilities. Virtus unsheathed his sword and raised it in the air. ¡°All heroes, charge!!! ¡®Wha-?!¡¯ Max was taken off-guard. Although he had been half-listening to Virtus¡¯s speech, he didn¡¯t expect a sudden order to charge at the enemy compound. ¡®Ah, then the battle is already starting!¡¯
Proximity Mission: Conquer the Orc Compound Difficulty: Hard Description: An orcish military compound has been discovered atop a mountain near human territory, being used as a staging ground for violent acts in Novus Forest. In order to aid the residents of Novus, Crown Prince Virtus of Eleutheria has requested the heroes¡¯ assistance in conquering the compound and expelling all hostiles. Milestone 1: Break through the enemy defensive perimeter Milestone 2: Defeat all enemy leadership within the compound Milestone 3: Clear the compound of enemy combatants Milestone 4: Prevent any substantial harm from befalling Prince Virtus Optional Milestone 1: Open or destroy the enemy gate Optional Milestone 2: Protect the lives of all Eleutherian soldiers Reward (Contribution-Split): 200 gold per kill, plus bonuses for individual contribution. Additionally, there is a chance of greatly increasing favour with NPC ¡®Virtus¡¯.
A sea of players began rushing eagerly toward the compound, but Max opted to make some preparations before joining them. Opening his mail tab, he collected the EXP boosters he¡¯d received as compensation from the registration lockout bug. Although there was an option to claim username and avatar change tokens, he didn¡¯t really care much for those ¨C they were only vanity items and he would much rather the boosters, which gave him tangible benefits by allowing him to level up faster. Also... the ¡®Gun¡¯ username had actually grown on him now, despite its accidental inception. After immediately activating the boosters, Max proceeded onto his second preparation ¨C the main dish! Unequipping Lemonade¡¯s storage ring, he tossed it into inventory and rubbed his hands together. ¡®Now if this works as expected...¡¯ Max tried moving all of his arrows into the ring through the inventory interface. To his satisfaction, the hundreds of arrows disappeared from his inventory, indicating that the transfer was successful. Placing the ring back on his finger, he tried taking two arrows out to confirm. The arrows instantly appeared in his hand, causing his lips to curve up. ¡°Virtus,¡± Lemonade addressed the prince, ¡°should we charge in with them, or stay with you?¡± ¡°For now, I suggest waiting here with me. In siege warfare, the first stage is always the deadliest, since soldiers need to assault a well-defended structure while under a relentless bombardment of ranged attacks. Personally, I plan to enter only after the palisade is breached.¡± ¡°You¡¯re going to join the battle?¡± Lemonade was surprised. ¡°Of course. A leader who orders his subordinates to lay down their lives while refusing to risk his own is naught but a coward. Such is not my style.¡± ¡°I see... Then I will stay here for now.¡± ¡°I will join the assault.¡± Max suddenly declared, prompting both Virtus and Lemonade to regard him with surprise. ¡°Siege warfare is an area of confidence for me. With your permission, I will take down the enemy archers.¡± ¡°Hoh? You seem quite assured of yourself.¡± Virtus smiled. ¡°Alright then, show me what you¡¯re capable of, Gun. I will observe your bow skills from here.¡± Max tipped his hat in respect, before taking off at full sprint to join the other players. Zzzooooomm. ¡®?!¡¯ Virtus¡¯s lips parted in surprise. ¡®W-what?!¡¯ Lemonade watched Max¡¯s departure with shock. ¡®Why¡¯s he so fast?! Isn¡¯t he level 9?¡¯ ... Thanks to his titles, which, when combined, gave a 70% boost to core stats such as agility, Max easily caught up to the other players. Although he could overtake them if he wanted to, he refrained from doing so, instead electing to hang slightly behind the leading players and sharply monitor the orc compound while running. ¡ªDamn he¡¯s fast ¡ªPOV: her parents aren¡¯t home The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡ªI like how as soon as the prince emphasizes how dangerous it is, he charges in lol ¡ª¡®Of course it will be deadly ¨C I¡¯m here, after all¡¯ ¡ªWhy isn¡¯t he overtaking ppl if he can run this fast? When the players came within a half kilometre of the compound, Max¡¯s eyes flashed and he pulled back, putting distance between himself and the front line of players. Tearing his gaze from the compound, he looked up into the clouds, which had been tinged a pleasant gold by the rising sun. ¡ªSeriously what is he doing lol ¡ªBro literally has his head in the clouds A few seconds later, a broad section of sky became speckled with black dots, which rapidly transformed into lines as a dense storm of arrows rained down on the players. Shik-shik-shik-shik-shik. ¡°Ahhh! Arrows!!¡± ¡°Whh?!!¡± ¡°An arrow barrage! We¡¯re under attack!¡± ¡°F-from that far away??¡± ¡°Ah, no, I¡¯m too young to die! I still need to marry Princess Sophia!¡± A few dozen players were impaled and became particle dust. ¡°OH F*CK IT¡¯S A 1-SHOT!!!¡± ¡°WTFF??¡± Although several dozen players had died, about half of the arrows had fallen harmlessly in front of the vanguard. This was because orcs typically aimed their attacks at the closest enemies. Of course, the other players were not aware of this, and Max had no intention of divulging, since nobody would be willing to lead the charge after knowing. Instead, he gave alternate advice: ¡°Everybody spread out! Move to the flanks!¡± ¡°RAHHH!!¡± ¡°Onwards, men! Let the enemy taste our violence!¡± Although some players had perished, there were still thousands more, so the momentum of the rush was not curtailed. Shik-shik-shik-shik-shik-shik-shik. Announcing itself with a loud chorus of whistles, a second barrage came five seconds after the first and shredded another wave of players. ¡ªWoah, this is brutal ¡ªDid the devs buff enemy archers as well? Max did a quick calculation. By the orc¡¯s current rate of fire and the movement speed of the players, there would be about five more arrow barrages before the players reached the palisade. With this casualty rate, about 15% of players would be struck down in that time. Another torrent of arrows rained down on the players, this time killing over a hundred. ¡®...Huh? That¡¯s strange.¡¯ Something struck Max as odd. Although the players were now fully aware that the arrows were coming, even more died this time. ¡®They¡¯re not trying to dodge?¡¯ If it were only a case of some people having poor reaction speed, he would be able to understand, but that wasn¡¯t the case. Almost nobody was evading the arrows, despite being able to see them falling right down at them. ¡®Is it because it¡¯s a game, they can¡¯t even be bothered?¡¯ Max briefly considered this possibility. ¡®...No, that¡¯s ridiculous, they wouldn¡¯t just let themselves be killed for no reason.¡¯ A thin dot entered Max¡¯s vision. Immediately, he twisted his shoulder, causing the stray arrow to land in the grass behind him. Thunk. ¡®Then are they just really slow?¡¯ Max continued pondering. ¡®But this is so basic; you couldn¡¯t even make it into HoL¡¯s mid-game without being able to do this much.¡¯ Not understanding, he decided to shelf this question for later; the middle of battle was not a good time for contemplation. ¡ªHow did he dodge that?! :O ¡ªNeo? Is that you? Neo? Is that you? ¡ªTHAT WAS AWESOME!!! After gauging the distance to the palisade with a quick glance, Max scanned the clouds through one more arrow barrage before kicking to a halt and raising his bow. ¡°Alright, this should be close enough.¡± ¡ª??? ¡ªClose enough? For what? ¡ªLOL he¡¯s too scared to go any closer In one smooth motion, Max summoned an arrow from his ring, nocked, drew, aimed and released, with all these processes adding up to no more than a second. Due to the overwhelming effects of his [Successive Speed] skill, the arrow seemed to disappear into the air upon leaving his bow. Almost at the same time, an orc archer that had been preparing to shoot suddenly staggered back and dropped out of view. ¡ªWoah, he shot so fast ¡ªHaha an orc fell off the wall Max shot another arrow with an identical motion, and a second orc fell from the battlements. ¡ªWait... And a third. ¡ªWhy isn¡¯t he losing his speed boost...? It wasn¡¯t until the fourth instance, where an orc was killed while leaning over the palisade, that the viewers started to catch on. ¡ª???? ¡ªNo way ¡ªAll hits?? Max stood in one place and continued to shoot the enemy archers, only moving to avoid players who rushed by. Due to the fact that orcs prioritised attacking the closest enemies, he was practically invisible to them at this distance. ¡ªThis is insane ¡ªIs... Is this real? He¡¯s like a hundred yards away ¡ªHe¡¯s not actually killing the orcs with one shot, right? ¡ªMom, I¡¯m scared The players began to reach the foot of the palisade, but it was several metres high and did not offer any solid gripholds, so they were unable to climb it. Almost unanimously, they decided to pull back and assist the players who were carrying siege ladders. Max noticed a wagon roll past to his side, carrying a large wooden log suspended by rope. ¡°Good, they¡¯ll ram the gate soon.¡± Shifting his aim, Max started picking off the archers close to the compound¡¯s front gate to alleviate the pressure on the ramming team. The viewers, however, did not choose this as their focus. ¡ªWTF ¡ªOne shot, one second, one kill... he¡¯s actually a Gun? ¡ªWHY HASNT HE MISSED ONCE ¡ªHE¡¯S LIKE A F*CKING SENTRY TURRET?? ¡ª??????????? Noticing an orc target a player who was climbing a siege ladder, Max flicked his aim over and swiftly eliminated it. The player reached the top of the ladder, only to have his head cleaved off by a war axe. ¡°Seems like they have melee troops on the wall, too.¡± Max watched the severed head as it dropped into the crowd of players below. ¡°Regardless, this is really painful to watch.¡± Players were fighting each other over who got to climb the ladders first, knocking each other off and even going so far as PK. Virtus would definitely be grimacing from wherever he was watching. ¡°Well, there¡¯s still hope.¡± Max directed his gaze to the battering ram, which was nearing the compound¡¯s main entrance. ¡°Even if we can¡¯t take the wall, we can just pour in through the-¡± Suddenly, the main gate flew open, and a horde of orc warriors rushed out, brandishing long swords, axes and spears. A player scoffed. ¡°Ha! The idiots came out! Everyone, let¡¯s get eu- AAHHH!¡± The vocal player had his arm chopped off by an axe. The waraxe then returned to strike under his chin, dividing his head into two vertical halves. Players with gore settings enabled flinched at the gruesome sight. Like a natural disaster, the orc warriors blitzed through the weak players. It was clear to anyone watching that there was not only a huge level difference, but also an incredible skill disparity between the two forces. ¡°What the heck... those players are getting steamrolled.¡± Max watched the ongoing carnage with amazement. While he didn¡¯t expect that the average player would be capable of beating an orc in single combat, losing in this sort of group situation was inexcusable. The orcs here were surrounded and outnumbered; there were less than a hundred orcs and more than a thousand players; defeating them here should be a cinch. ¡°Damn, I can¡¯t get a clear shot!¡± Too many players were blocking Max¡¯s line of sight, preventing him from offering support. Every time a small gap presented itself, he would have no time to aim, only managing to witness brief snippets of player slaughter. He pushed through the crowd to get closer while grasping the situation. The orcs seemed to be moving with purpose, following a tall leader with a black metal mask. Their objective... ¡°Sh*t.¡± Max swore. ¡°Everyone! DEFEND THE BATTERING RAM!!¡± Although he called out, Max knew it was too late ¨C the cart carrying the ram was too close to the gate to have any chance of salvation. These fears were confirmed moments later as orcs swarmed around it, slashing the ropes that kept the ram suspended. Receiving a powerful kick from their leader, the cart was sent hurtling back down the mountain slope. ¡°Good work boys! Now, back to the gate!¡± Having accomplished their goal, the orc warriors immediately began withdrawing, cutting down the players in their path. Racing back into the compound, they hurled the gate shut behind them. Slam! Chapter 33: Dawn of Firearms (3) A wooden cart careened down a mountainside tundra, rattling loudly and picking up speed as it went. Players, not wanting to be flattened, hurriedly split to the sides to allow it passage; one player who was late to take notice of it let out a girlish yelp before diving out of its path. The cart continued, barrelling faster and faster down the slope, until it abruptly flared with light and disappeared. The emptied space revealed a fair-haired man with intricate white-and-gold armour, who gave off a solemn, regal air as he passed a ring to one of his subordinates. ¡°Well, this is assuredly not what I anticipated.¡± Virtus watched the ongoing battle with a deep frown. While it was one thing for the heroes to fail, the manner in which they failed was also significant. As things seemed, not only were they completely thwarted in all attempts to breach the compound, but they even actively infought and sabotaged each other. ¡°Indeed. It¡¯s rather... unsightly, isn¡¯t it?¡± The castellan, Stewart, commented beside him. ¡°Even the common peasantry fights better than this.¡± Virtus sighed. ¡°They just need training is all... they also needed more siege ladders than the amount you provided ¨C this scene is comparable to livestock lining up for culling.¡± ¡°...You¡¯re right, I apologise for that oversight.¡± ¡°No matter. There is a silver lining, which is that a large proportion of the heroes seem to have magical affinity. Although they won¡¯t be very powerful now, they should be quite fearsome after becoming fully-fledged mages, especially in those sorts of numbers.¡± ¡°That is true. Though, in contrast, there seem to be very few archers on the field; I see scarcely any arrows flying from our side.¡± ¡°Yes, I did notice that. However, the arrows from our principal archer are actually not visible to the naked eye.¡± ¡°...Pardon? Not visible, you say? There was someone like that?¡± ¡°Ah, right, I didn¡¯t introduce you. I¡¯m referring to the grassy-haired man who was speaking to our good friend Lemonade a few minutes ago. Er, rather, the one wearing a ¡®western hat¡¯ might serve as a better descriptor.¡± Virtus gestured to Lemonade, who was listening from the side. ¡®Grassy-haired?¡¯ Lemonade recalled Max¡¯s short, somewhat-neat hair. ¡®What does grassy hair even mean: is it soft, or is it spiky?¡¯ One sharp viewer took notice of Lemonade¡¯s confused expression. ¡ªDoes Lemon not know what grassy hair is because he¡¯s bald? ¡°Interesting... Then I shall look forward to witnessing this archery.¡± Stewart rubbed the air under his beard in thought. ¡®What is he doing?¡¯ Lemonade watched this peculiar action of Stewart¡¯s, and his confused expression intensified. ¡®Actually, come to think of it...¡¯ ¡°Uh, pardon me for interrupting...¡± Lemonade addressed the two men formally. ¡°Both of you gentlemen plan to partake in the battle, yes? If so, do you have helmets to go with your armour? It¡¯s just that I worry for your safety.¡± Neither Virtus nor Stewart wore helmets. While this would be an understandable decision for comfort outside of combat, the NPCs looked as though they would march on the compound at any moment. ¡°Oh, well you see... we are wearing helmets.¡± Virtus tapped in front of his face. Clink. A metal sound rang out. ¡°Eh?¡± For the third time in a ten second interval, Lemonade¡¯s face was laced with question marks. Virtus explained, ¡°High-ranking officers typically wear helmets with ¡®invisibility¡¯ enchantments. That way we can command more effectively by maintaining visibility, identifiability, and capability to foil assassination attempts like you witnessed earlier. This is somewhat of a secret among the military though, so I would ask that you don¡¯t go yelling it over the hilltops.¡± ¡°I see...!¡± Lemonade quickly pulled up his stream tab and ran a 30-second ad, inwardly praising his decision to use a slight stream delay. [Current Viewers: 47,876] ¡ªAh no! Noo!! ¡ªFather, I¡¯m blind ¡ªWhyyyy ¡ªNonconsensual ad; am pressing charges ¡®Phew.¡¯ Lemonade was relieved. There was no reason to lose the prince¡¯s trust the same day they met. Looking away from his chat, he went back to watching the assault on the orcs. From the looks of things, the melee players were completely useless, being skewered by long polearms whenever they tried to climb over the compound¡¯s defensive palisade. While the mage and archer players were more useful, lobbing spells and arrows up at the defenders, they were also unable to inflict substantial damage. This being the case, although the number of defenders on the wall seemed to be steadily decreasing, the players were dropping much faster. ¡°Hm...¡± Stewart observed the battlefield. ¡°The morale of the heroes is quickly falling. We should move in immediately.¡± ¡°I agree. Go and give the command; I will stay with the battering ram as we discussed.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ... Pew! Pew! Pew! On the distant wall, orc archers were being blown away every time they revealed themselves. ¡°Oh!¡± Max realised something. ¡°Did you guys notice the bowstring has been phasing through my hat this whole time? Haha, that¡¯s a really funny bug.¡± ¡ªTHE HAT IS NOT WHATS IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW ¡ªCRAZY CRAZY CRAZY CRAZY ¡ªThis is hacks, right? ¡ªNo, but why does it feel like the knockback is increasing with each shot? ¡ªI think he¡¯s killed over a hundred now?? ¡ªASSAULT RIFLE MODE ACTIVATED ¡ªI think this is aim hacks... ¡ªDude stop, the devs are gonna cry ¡°The devs are not going to cry, they¡¯re grown adults. And no, I¡¯m not hacking, this is just a really strong class now.¡± ¡ªH¨Che¡¯s reading chat?! If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡ªHES STILL READING THE COMMENTS WHILE FIGHTING ¡ªWTF ¡°Hm?¡± Hearing a faint chorus of clattering metal, Max glanced over his shoulder and saw that the NPC army was moving in. ¡°Gh, damn. So much for the ¡®no NPC deaths¡¯ milestone.¡± A large number of melee players were retreating from the battlefield. Max attempted to call out to a passing group, ¡°Hey! Use the log there as a ram!¡± He gestured to the displaced battering ram, which sat unused in the grass after its wagon had been destroyed. ¡°You can carry it and ram the gate!¡± No one stopped. One swordsman, drinking a HP potion, shot him a glance but kept moving. Another shifted course in an attempt to steal his hat, only to be sent flying by a well-placed fist. ¡°Unbelievable,¡± Max shook his wrist and muttered, ¡°these players are hopeless.¡± With a resigned sigh, he turned back to the wall, drawing his bowstring as another head peeked over the battlements. If the players weren¡¯t going to break through, he¡¯d just pick off the defenders to lessen the load on the NPCs. Quickly running out of arrows, he used his [Arrow Retrieval] skill, and a storm of translucent arrows came streaming toward him in a wide cone, directly entering his inventory. ¡°Only a hundred back... the rest must¡¯ve broken, damn.¡± Max transferred the arrows into his ring and waited a few seconds, watching the palisade cautiously. ¡°...Nope. As expected, even a hundred converging arrows can¡¯t draw their attention.¡± Orcs were really stupid. ¡®...¡¯ Max heard an armoured person approaching him from behind. Players wouldn¡¯t be able to afford heavy armour at this stage in the game, so he addressed them without turning around, ¡°Howdy. Still planning to storm the gate?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Virtus responded. ¡°We¡¯re moving the second ram now. I must say, I¡¯ve been watching your archery and while I¡¯m not well-informed on the subject, I can tell you¡¯re a highly skilled expert; that bow is surely not wasted on you.¡± Max¡¯s eyebrows raised as he turned and smiled. ¡°Thank you, sir, that really means a lot to me.¡± ¡°Stop addressing me formally, I dislike honorifics.¡± ¡°Ah, sorry. I wasn¡¯t trying to be formal, it just felt right to address you as my commanding officer.¡± ¡°Oh. Well, I suppose I am your commanding officer currently... Anyways, we¡¯re approaching the gate so provide us with suppressive fire if you¡¯re able.¡± ¡°Certainly.¡± Max followed Virtus and cast his eyes over the NPC army. At a glance, it was obvious they were well-equipped and well-organised. The vast majority of them wore partial plate with red gambeson poking out from underneath, while lines of pikemen at the vanguard also carried rectangular, semi-cylindrical shields which offered substantial protection from arrow fire. Max was very impressed. The soldiers looked intimidating enough that the retreating players didn¡¯t dare to pass through them, instead fanning out to the sides to pass them at the flanks. Continuing the assault, a second battering ram was being pushed up to the fortress, heavily guarded by infantry and a bald man who trailed behind it. ¡°Gun!¡± Lemonade called to Max. ¡°How many orcs have you killed; over a dozen?¡± ¡°One hundred, eighty-seven.¡± Max succinctly replied. ¡°Haha, it wouldn¡¯t be surprising from you.¡± ¡°...?¡± Max felt like something had been misunderstood, but Virtus asked some questions before he could clarify, ¡°Gun, by your estimation, how many archers do they have left? Also, how accurate are they and have you seen their leadership?¡± ¡°It¡¯s hard to say, but about ninety archers remain on the wall. Half their shots are accurate at twenty metres and ninety percent at the foot of the palisade. I¡¯ve seen a tall leader with a black mask who is likely a high orc, but there might be more leaders who have yet to make an appearance.¡± Lemonade¡¯s eyes widened at the unexpectedly detailed response. ¡°Good. Thanks for the intel.¡± Max paused to shoot an orc before responding, ¡°My pleasure. Though, I assume you saw what happened to the first battering ram earlier. Do you have a plan for if they come barging out again?¡± ¡°Yes, we have an earth mage on standby to block their retreat if they do so. The soldiers with us now are elites who should have little problem facing the orc warriors, the only problem is the-¡± ¡°The what, sir?¡± Max loosed another arrow. ¡°You said there were ninety archers, correct? Yet, we have advanced quite close to the wall without receiving any ranged attacks. This is rather peculiar.¡± Max also found this odd. The orcs were practically hiding themselves behind the palisade and were only shooting players who climbed up the siege ladders. It was as though they didn¡¯t even perceive the battering ram as a threat. That, or they were afraid of something. ¡®I don¡¯t see anything they would be afraid of, so it¡¯s probably a trap.¡¯ A head peeked over the palisade and was immediately blown apart by an arrow. Max really enjoyed this [Successive Speed] skill he¡¯d acquired; it was immensely fun. His arrows were now in the same speed range as assault rifle rounds, so he could play a game of high-stakes whack-a-mole with the orc defenders. ¡°It is strange.¡± Max tapped his fingers on the limbs of his bow. ¡°Would you like me to go up and scout? It could be a trap.¡± Virtus thought for a moment. ¡°I suppose that would be prudent, yes. Go and check. I will compensate you if you happen to die.¡± ¡®That¡¯s a really strange thing to say.¡¯ Max nodded and approached the palisade. ¡®Now let¡¯s see... If I just blatantly peek over the stakes, they¡¯ll spot me. I might need to use my ultimate.¡¯ Max grabbed an abandoned siege ladder. There were only a few hundred players still attacking the palisade, which was quite shocking because they¡¯d started the battle with four or five thousand. Several metres along the wall from the gate, Max quietly propped the ladder against the palisade and began climbing up with his hands free ¨C that way he could still shoot if an orc spotted him. As he neared the top of the ladder, a loud voice bellowed out. ¡°Idiots, why did you stop firing? Shoot the shieldless ones!¡± ¡°Captain! Our men be afraid, we think the humans use high-power magic weapon!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care! I didn¡¯t train a bunch of pansies, so don¡¯t fight like pansies!¡± Max peeked through the gaps in the spiked top of the palisade, surveying the scene behind. The battlements were made of wood and looked to be quite flimsy ¨C probably built as a rushed job. Numerous orcs were crouched in wait, ready to slice and dice any players who tried to climb over the wall. There were also a number of lit braziers, presumably used to provide lighting for the night which had just passed. ¡®Wait, why are they using fire braziers for lighting on a wooden wall, are they stu- oh.¡¯ Yes. Yes they were stupid. Regardless, he decided to keep listening in for information. ¡°Pathetic. Anyways, are the humans within range yet?¡± ¡°Nearly, captain. But how many should we throw?¡± ¡°Ha! Good, do four. Four sticks bombs should be enough to destroy their poking toy, and them along with it.¡± ¡®Stick bombs?¡¯ That sounded important, so Max decided to unleash his ultimate ability here. Swish! A rock went flying over the battlements, captivating the eyes of all orcs that saw the incredible display. Max quickly raised his head and peeked over the palisade. Above the gate, a group of orcs surrounded the leader who wore a black metal mask, each of them carrying a device in the shape of a long red cylinder with a cord on one end. ¡®Dynamite? They have dynamite here?!¡¯ Max¡¯s thoughts were abruptly cut short upon realising the masked orc had detected him. ¡®...Uh-oh.¡¯ ¡°Y-you! IT¡¯S YOU!!¡± Swiftly drawing an arrow, Max loosed a shot at the orc¡¯s eye. Unfortunately, the orc moved its body just enough for the arrow to miss the eye slit in its mask, instead striking above and leaving a wide crack where the eyebrow would be. Briefly sent sliding, the orc recovered and broke into a sprint, full of rage. Max became alarmed as the orc reached him unexpectedly fast. ¡°YOU BASTARD!! I¡¯LL GET MY R¨C URGH!¡± With a flash from his ring, Max took four more arrows between his fingers and, somehow managing to nock all of them, fired a vertical burst at the orc. Struck by the entire quartet, the orc¡¯s mask broke off as he was knocked off his feet and sent falling over the edge of the battlements. ¡°Q-quick! The captain is down! Light the stick bombs!¡± Max wanted to finish off the leader but was forced to turn his attention to the subordinates, who planned to throw dynamite at the battering ram. Despite him quickly shooting a few, one managed to light a stick of dynamite using a nearby brazier. ¡°Oh boy.¡± ... BOOM!!! Virtus watched as the compound¡¯s gate, along with a large section of wall, was blown open by a large explosion. Soldiers raised their shields to block the debris which flew dozens of metres away. ¡°Wow, it really was a trap... That archer is truly useful to have around.¡± Abandoning the battering ram, Virtus ignored the smoke and flames as he treaded over the splintered wood to enter the compound, cracking his knuckles as he went. ¡°Well, now it¡¯s my turn to have some fun.¡± Chapter 34: Gone Ballistic ¡°...Did Gorza just lose to an archer?¡± ¡°Commander, I think we have a more important issue, the wall¨C¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah, the wall exploded. It was about time; I was starting to get bored.¡± ¡°Sir?¡± At the head of an orc warband, two demonic figures stood with their gazes fixed on the settling dust of a large explosion. One was a small, winged creature with a barbed tail; the other a tall, slender figure with unnaturally long arms hanging at its sides. Both bore curved horns sprouting from their foreheads and smooth, violet skin that seemed to absorb the dawn twilight. Had Max been able to see them, he would have instantly recognised them ¨C beings of the ¡®imp¡¯ and ¡®demon¡¯ races, unmistakable in their sinister appearance. The demon rubbed its horns and spoke again, ¡°I just can¡¯t believe he couldn¡¯t even take on one f*cking archer. Seriously, how useless can you be?... Does it run in the family genes or something?¡± ¡°Sir, the men¨C¡± The imp tried to speak. ¡°How did such a fat f*ck get knocked off the wall with only a few arrows anyways? That¡¯s the more important question. Even if archers pose no threat to me, it¡¯s very strange.¡± ¡°The men¨C¡± ¡°Yes, yes, order the men, I know, I know. Can¡¯t I just take a moment to enjoy the scenery? The humans will all die either way, Metus. You don¡¯t need to nag me.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Hopefully there¡¯s a¨C Hm? Who¡¯s that?¡± A human wearing white armour emerged from the dust at the exploded gate, casting his eyes around the compound until they met with the demon. ¡°Commander, sir, according to our intel, that is the crown prince of the Eleutherian Kingdom. He has received advanced palace training, and our estimates place him at level 70 strength. He is a renowned nuisance in the region, so Viscount Torga has placed a bounty on his head of five million taes.¡± ¡°Ha... Hahaha! Look at that prince, strolling in, full of confidence; that is how a real man acts! You know what? In honour of his bravery, I will keep his body intact and eat only half of his organs.¡± The demon drew swords holstered on both sides of its body and began strolling toward the conspicuous prince. ¡°Sir!¡± The imp flew behind him to catch up. ¡°Please, your commands first!¡± ¡°Oh, right. All forces, attack the enemy!¡± Metus felt concerned. Was this commander not a bit too cavalier? Hopefully there was no outstanding talent on the enemy side... ... Tak! Somewhere nearby, an arrow burst out the back of an orc¡¯s head, with the dispersing particles revealing a red-headed archer. The archer shot an arrow every second, blasting orcs off the wall in various directions with knockback-empowered attacks. Tak! Tak! Tak! A long line of orcs ran toward the archer but found themselves falling like dominoes under the onslaught of arrows. Although... ¡®They¡¯re getting closer.¡¯ Max grimaced as he glanced behind him. The section of wall near the gate had been blown to smithereens, leaving behind a wide chasm. Unfortunately, the ladder he¡¯d used to climb up here had been knocked over in the blast, so he now had no path of retreat without breaking his legs. Also, he¡¯d lost some health from that explosion just now and he really didn¡¯t want to test how much HP he had remaining. ¡®Ugh? Yech!¡¯ An orc reached close enough for Max to smell its foul odour. Holding his breath, Max shot an arrow into its stomach, killing it instantly. He then reached into the particles to catch its spear, which he quickly spun around in his hand and launched to create a triple orc skewer. ¡®Come to think of it, my stats should be stronger than level 30 right now... What if I try some melee combat?¡¯ Max stepped back as an orc swung a heavy axe at his head. Having thrown its full weight into the attack, it stumbled past Max and cleaved through the tops of the palisade stakes. Max swiftly drove an arrow into its neck before moving to dodge again. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. A spearhead sailed past Max¡¯s torso. Max shifted his weight onto his back foot and pivoted into a spin, turning and whipping his right leg around in a powerful arc. Crack! The kick connected with an orc¡¯s jaw, sending it toppling over the side of the battlements. ¡ªAim hacks don¡¯t do that... ¡ªHuh, so now we¡¯re in Mortal Kombat ¡ªWTF HE KNOWS MARTIAL ARTS TOO? ¡ªThis is insane ¡ªNo wonder mom calls me a failure... Max grabbed the spear of the falling orc and jabbed it out at the remaining enemies in a half-thrust, causing them to instinctively recoil. Smiling at his successful feint, Max dropped the spear and replaced it with a pair of arrows, resuming his shooting session. Ta-tak! Because his level kept increasing throughout the battle, his strength attribute had also gone up, meaning he could pull the bowstring back faster than before. Ta-tak! Max particularly enjoyed shooting double-shots, as he could kill two orcs with a single draw. Three arrows would be too many though, since the accuracy was reduced, and he would risk losing his speed bonus if he missed. Ta-tak! Nocking two arrows at strange angles, Max released a diverging shot to strike down two of the last three orcs, instantly killing both, which had been running abreast of each other. ¡°Grahh!¡± The final orc roared in anger and prepared to throw a hatchet, but Max already expected this and kicked the pre-positioned spear at his feet, sending it flying into its stomach. ¡°Kurgh!¡± An arrow swiftly followed to finish it off. Not wasting any time, Max then used his [Arrow Retrieval] skill to collect his arrows back and looked over the battlements for loot. ¡°Wow, the loot drops are really terrible in this g-¡± Whistle! Hearing a sound from behind, Max jerked to the side as an arrow shot past his leg. ¡°Sonofa- Could you not?¡± Max swivelled around and took aim. Across the rubble from the destroyed gate, an orc archer snarled at him before taking an arrow to the forehead. ¡°...Should probably check the battle situation before I try looting, shouldn¡¯t I?¡± Max surveyed his surroundings. The battle was now in full swing, with the Eleutherian army having poured into the compound through the breached gate and begun battling the orc warriors. The orc force was more numerous than expected, totalling more than a thousand, and they were fighting on fairly even terms with the human soldiers. With the occasional sighting of fluorescent hair, it was apparent that players had also started rejoining the battle. Max¡¯s eyes caught sight of some dazzling white armour not far away. ¡®My prince!¡¯ Virtus was fighting a violet-skinned monster with red eyes and lanky arms, which Max immediately recognised as a demon. It used two swords and emitted a purple, flamelike essence from its body, which Max could discern even from the wall. ¡°An enemy with aura? That¡¯s problematic...¡± In HoL, ¡®aura¡¯ was a type of physical enhancement magic used by higher-levelled enemies. It worked similar to an active skill and gave the demon one or multiple special abilities in exchange for continuous mana consumption. ¡°A troublesome enemy for Virtus... Should I try to help?¡± Max shot some random orcs while he contemplated. Drawing the ire of a strong enemy like a demon at his current strength could spell instant death if he didn¡¯t approach it carefully. Right as he thought this, he noticed a shiny-headed swordsman approaching the demon from behind, clear in his intent. ¡°L-Lemon, no!!¡± Max cried. ¡°Don¡¯t do it, Lemon friend!!¡± ¡ªLol has no confidence in him ¡ªR.I.P. Lemonade ¡ªQuick! Render the Lemon-aid! Max nocked an arrow and positioned the bow for an intercepting shot, hovering his aim between Lemonade and the demon. Noticing a single twitch of suspicious movement from the demon, he loosed the arrow. The demon turned to Lemonade with a malicious grin, apparently having been aware of his presence the whole time. Without hesitation, it lashed out, its unnaturally long arm whipping forward in a blur of steel. Just as Lemonade¡¯s death seemed certain, the sword arm abruptly pulled back, splitting the air in front of Lemonade¡¯s nose with a burst of wind. At the same time, an arrow shot past the demon¡¯s face with a thundering noise, only barely avoiding its pupils, which constricted in alarm. Jerking its head toward the battlements, it locked eyes with Max, now keenly aware of his presence. The playful grin vanished, replaced by a wary expression as it closely scrutinised Max, checking for further projectiles. ¡°What?! It dodged?!¡± Max gaped in disbelief. ¡®That arrow was aimed at the middle of its head, travelling three times the speed of sound; It should be impossible to dodge it!¡¯ Expecting Lemonade to be attacked again, Max lined up a second shot, but the demon continued to observe him without any intention of doing so. In fact, it stared at Max right up until Virtus came swinging at it from behind. ¡®Did it see me aiming? I don¡¯t think so... Unless the vision cones are different to the previous game... then, was it the aura ability?¡¯ Max mused over the issue. ¡°...!¡± Shattering his thoughts, a long and sharp object entered Max¡¯s peripheral vision. Reflexively jumping back to evade, the spear tore the fabric of his starter tunic as it hurtled past. ¡®Ahh! No zoning out!¡¯ Searching the battlements for the thrower, he found a tall orc standing a short distance away. The orc had a light bleed above its eyebrow and several red-stained arrow holes in its clothing. [High Orc: ¡®Gorza¡¯, Level: 52, Threat Level: Perilous (BOSS)] It also looked extremely angry. ¡°Oh sh*t.¡± Chapter 35: Gone Ballistic (2) Max¡¯s ring shone as he took three arrows in his hand. At the same time, his opponent took a round shield and began charging at him, a red essence bursting out from its body. ¡®Aura too?!¡¯ Max was dismayed. ¡®Ngh, to think I let a powerful high orc get this close to me!¡¯ Inwardly kicking himself for being inattentive, Max shot an arrow as his thoughts kicked into gear. The orc, tilting its shield up, easily deflected the headshot attempt. ¡®This is actually pretty bad.¡¯ After missing his shot on the demon before, Max lost the boost from [Successive Speed], so his arrows had returned to normal velocity. Now, he only had his own abilities to fall back on. ¡°You! The blood-haired archer! You killed my brother!! Prepare to die!!¡± Max loosed two more arrows, targeting the orc¡¯s outer extremities, but with swift and precise shield movements, it managed to deflect both. As the gap between them closed, it realised there would no longer be time for this sort of reactive blocking and smartly tucked its face behind the shield. ¡°Blood-haired? My hair is pink!¡± Max raised his aim. Shik! Right on cue, the orc lowered its shield to peek at Max and took an arrow directly to the eye. ¡°GUAAAH!!!¡± The orc clutched its face and screamed in pain. Reaching Max¡¯s location, it swung out blindly with the shield. Rolling under the attack, Max traded places with the orc. No longer cornered by the broken wall, he wasted no time bolting the other direction along the battlements, not missing an opportunity to shoot at the orc¡¯s exposed nape as he ran. Tk! ¡®W-what?¡¯ To Max¡¯s shock, the arrow only penetrated a thumb¡¯s width deep. ¡®Oh, no, no, no, the aura is endurance-type?!¡¯ As if the super-tough skin of a high orc wasn¡¯t enough of a challenge to get through, this guy was also a BOSS monster with an aura ability increasing physical damage resistance! It really was too much. The high orc spun around and Max saw that it was actually foaming at the mouth in rage. ¡°You... YOU SLIMY BASTAARD!! I HOPE YOU CHOKE ON YOUR OWN DISHONOUR!!!¡± ¡°Well that¡¯s a new one.¡± Max took double arrows and tried a multi-shot, aimed at its head and feet simultaneously. Thck! The orc blocked the headshot but had a toe shot cleanly off. ¡®As expected, it¡¯s not smart enough to block and dodge at the same time.¡¯ ¡°GRAGGHHHH!!!¡± Although Max had accumulated some damage, the situation was still dire. The orc came back to its senses and charged at him with renewed fury. Firing off more shots, Max tried tipping over a lit brazier to spread fire between them, but, as the fire had no time to build, the orc simply ran through it unfazed. ¡®Guh, these shots are barely piercing at all... If it weren¡¯t for that damn assassin earlier; I was less than a minute away from buying armour-piercing arrows.¡¯ Max mentally complained between shots. An arrow ripped through the orc¡¯s ankle, making it stumble. ¡°I will rip your eyes out and shove them down your throat, and then cut your stomach open and feed them to you again.¡± ¡°Well that¡¯s just unnecessary.¡± Despite his playful words and sangfroid expression, Max¡¯s mind was spinning in overdrive. ¡®Gaining on me¡­ Seven, no, six seconds. I don¡¯t think I can finish it off in time; not when it has such a strong aura ability. Then, what if I¡­¡¯ After the stunt Max had just pulled, the orc committed to protecting its face and was extremely reluctant to peek out from behind its shield. Noting this, Max quietly switched direction, instead running toward the orc. ¡°It¡¯s absolutely necessary for scum like y¨C Uh?¡± The orc peered out from behind its shield to find empty battlements. Before it could realise why, Max manoeuvred around its destroyed eye and delivered a heavy kick to the ribs, sending it reeling into the palisade. ¡°Argh! YOU F*CKING SWINE!!¡± Losing its shield, the orc tumbled over the side, barely managing to grab hold of a stake to avoid falling. Max appeared over the stake and fired an arrow into its remaining eye. ¡°Die already!¡± SHIK. Aura dissipating, the orc limply let go and dropped to the ground, but not before throwing a parting gift with its spare arm. Dink. A lone stick of dynamite arced over the palisade and landed directly into a fire brazier. ¡°NO!¡± Max lunged at the brazier and threw it over the side, but the fuse had already been lit. BOOOMMMM!!!! With a deafening crack, the dynamite detonated on the side of the wall. Max¡¯s feet were violently ripped from the battlements as a shockwave slammed him skyward. Fwack! Narrowly managing to shield his face in time, Max was buffeted by splintered wood, with the largest piece striking him in the chest and sending him spinning. His ears rang as debris zipped past, the battlefield blurring beneath him. Expecting a painful crash to the ground, he braced for impact but instead found himself landing on top of a thatched roof. Unfortunately, the roof was steeply inclined and quickly betrayed him. Using a large portion of his impact energy, Max was sent rolling down the roof and smashing against the side of an adjacent building, accompanied by an unhealthy-sounding bodily crack. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°...Ow.¡± ¡°Wait, I¡¯m alive?¡± Max¡¯s screen pulsed red, indicating he was close to death. Attempting bring up his status, he realised his arm was broken, so he used the other arm to do it. [Abnormal Status: Minor internal bleeding (chest), major hearing loss, tinnitus] [Condition: Fractured ribs (7, 8, 9, 10), bruising (chest, left shoulder, left arm, left leg), broken arm (left), dislocated shoulder (left), muscle damage (left leg), tremors (left leg)] ¡°Hm, no wonder I¡¯m in excruciating pain.¡± Max sat up and tested how well his limbs could move. ¡°Should I turn the pain setting down? ...No, I deserve this. I didn¡¯t even bring a health potion, after all.¡± Looking around, he had a surprisingly good view of the battlefield from here, positioned slightly uphill from most of the fighting. Unfortunately, it seemed like he¡¯d landed behind enemy lines; it was unlikely that he would be able to reach a healer from here before bleeding out. Max observed the wall in the distance, where a new hole had appeared near the top. ¡°Wow, I flew really far.¡± Searching for possible survival options, his gaze drifted onto white and violet colours. ¡°Eh, they¡¯re still fighting?¡± Max was amazed. In most cases, swordfights were anticlimactic events which only lasted a few seconds, but Virtus had been fighting this demon for well over a minute ¨C this indicated that both combatants were highly skilled. Although small injuries could be seen on both of them, it seemed like Virtus was winning. ¡°I wonder...¡± Max took out his bow, which he¡¯d stowed away in his inventory amidst the explosion. Thankfully, it seemed undamaged. Before he was ambushed by the high orc, he developed a theory about this demon which he really wanted to test out ¨C preferably before bleeding to death. With a majestic flash of his ring, an arrow appeared in his broken hand. ¡°...¡± After moving the ring to his other hand, Max took the arrow and nocked it. Then, taking the bow and placing it under his shoe, he pushed away with his foot to draw the bowstring. ¡°Hahaha, I haven¡¯t done this in a while.¡± Adjusting his footing slightly, Max grinned as he observed the demon in the distance. ¡°Alright, now to test my theory...¡± Aiming the bow with his foot, he pointed toward the demon in the distance. Almost immediately, the demon turned and inspected him. ¡°Oh yeah, that¡¯s a bingo; perception-type aura for sure.¡± Max¡¯s eyes twinkled. Although there were a few different types of aura in HoL, none of them were perception-related, which meant only one thing... ¡®New content!¡¯ ¡°Given how it sensed Lemonade approaching earlier, it probably has proximity detection, too.¡± An enemy like this would be fearsome in group combat, being able to sense attacks in all directions. If Virtus wasn¡¯t here, the army losses would be unimaginable. The thing was a force of nature. ¡°Hm? It keeps looking over here though... am I that scary?¡± Even while fighting Virtus, the demon¡¯s eyes flicked to Max every other second, as if he was particularly wary of the moribund cripple. ¡°Ehh? Oh!¡± Max realised what was going on. ¡°He thinks I still have the missile arrows!¡± The demon believed a supersonic, nearly impossible-to-dodge arrow would come flying at him at any moment and was completely on-edge as a result. Of course, no such arrow would come since he¡¯d lost the bonus... but the demon had no way of knowing that. ¡°Kekeke, oh noo~ better pay attention, I could shoot at any moment!¡± Max dangled his foot around in loops, manipulating his aim to zone in and out of the demon¡¯s threat detection. Just as the Demon turned to glare at him with an angry expression, its eyes widened in alarm. Dodging a fraction of a second too late, it let out a pained roar as a violet hand went soaring into the air. ¡°Woah... that worked?!¡± In Max¡¯s mind, he was just uselessly trolling. He didn¡¯t expect the demon to actually lose focus from something so stupid. This felt like he¡¯d just bullied a kid with ADHD or something. Virtus closed in on the offensive, applying pressure to the maimed demon. After losing its composure, the demon began to devolve into panic, retreating a step with every exchange and using its long arm length to maintain distance. This only lasted a few seconds before Virtus shifted his sword grip, wrapping his gauntlet around the midsection of his blade in a half-swording stance. Moving aggressively, he lunged forward and shoved the demon¡¯s sword aside, not giving the demon any time to react as he closed the gap and hammered his boot into its chestplate. Bang! The demon was sent hurtling some distance. The impact of metal-on-metal was probably really loud. This was what Max believed. In actuality, he had no idea, because he was completely deaf after that explosion from before. The demon fell over backward and desperately crawled away from Virtus, who approached in large strides. It seemed like this demon had never experienced fear before. ¡®...Hm?¡¯ Max noticed a flying creature racing toward the two. ¡®Imp!¡¯ Not bothering to ask questions, Max shifted his aim and released an arrow. Although rare, imps were one of the most hated enemies in HoL; they were capable of fast air manoeuvres which emboldened them to scout, harass, and attack enemies as they pleased, whilst flying around the battlefield acting as though they were invincible. Of course, it was this exact arrogance that made them Max¡¯s favourite species to fight. Also, because they flew away quite fast, shooting them on sight had become almost a knee-jerk reaction for him. Woosh! The arrow sailed past the imp, barely missing its wing. ¡°What? I missed again?!¡± Max was aghast. He¡¯d practiced this type of shot thousands of times ¨C using one arm and one leg to aim. He should be able to easily hit a shot at thirty metres, even with shoes on like he had now. ¡®Knee jerk... no, my knees actually jerked in reaction?¡¯ Putting his thoughts aside temporarily, he hastily prepared another arrow. The imp was already retreating in fear, abandoning its ally. ¡°Noo, get back here!¡± Max loosed the shot, but this one was even more inaccurate, pathing off-course by several metres. ¡°Nooooo!¡± Immensely disappointed, Max brought back his system panel: [Abnormal Status: Minor internal bleeding (chest), major hearing loss, tinnitus, hemorrhagic shock] ¡°Haemorrhagic shock? What kind of dumb status effect is that? As if all the other injuries weren¡¯t enough, now I have haemorrhoids which give me internal bodily earthquake?¡± Max grumbled. ¡°Seriously, could you not have waited five more seconds before doing that?¡± Greatly disappointed, Max could only take consolation in watching Virtus successfully decapitate the demon, finishing it off. After doing so, Virtus¡¯s eyes searched the area before locking onto Max. Seeing the poor state he was in, Virtus came running over and called out to him, ¡°¡ó?????????¡± ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m currently deaf in both ears.¡± Max smiled wryly. ¡°¡óh.¡± Virtus nodded in understanding. Taking off his gauntlet, he tapped a concealed ring to summon a red potion into his hand, tossing it over to Max. ¡®Oh? He was also a walking dispensary!¡¯ Max gratefully accepted and downed the potion. ¡°Ah, thank you, you saved me.¡± ¡°Of course. But how did you get over here, weren¡¯t you up on the wall?¡± Virtus questioned him. ¡°My hearing came back quick... Yes, I was on the wall, but I was blown away by the enemy, so I ended up here.¡± Virtus narrowed his eyes. ¡°Blown away? Then, you were busy admiring the enemy rather than fighting?¡± ¡°¡­?¡± Max felt confused by Virtus¡¯s sudden change in demeanor. ¡°Oh, blown¨C no, I mean I was actually blown away, like, by an explosion.¡± Virtus showed visible confusion. ¡°That''s why I was deaf; I landed up there.¡± Max pointed to a sunken area of thatch rooftop. ¡°Oh... Well, regardless... Erm, now that you¡¯ve recovered, assist me with clearing out the rest of the orcs.¡± ¡°Yes sir!¡± Chapter 36: Reported Scattered across a dim office space, a group of employees sipped cold beverages as their faces were illuminated by flickering artificial light, originating from three large, wall-mounted screens. Aside from the usual low hum of electronics, the room was quiet, with only some occasional sounds of clicking, typing, and scribblings of pen on paper. Beside a desk near the centre of the room, a ginger-haired employee slouched deep into his chair, his legs kicked up on another chair as he balanced a notepad on his lap and rested a pen against his lip. Contrary to his relaxed posture, his eyes locked onto the centre screen with laser focus, never straying away for a moment. Moving his arm, he shifted slightly, dipping a hand into a crinkling bag of nuts resting beside him. After a quick toss and crunch, the room reverted to silence. Bam! Suddenly, the entrance door slammed open and in scrambled an overweight man wearing an undersized suit, moving with hurried steps. ¡°Everyone! I just got a call from Jessica and¨C¡± ...The man stopped at a handrail and paused to look around the room. ¡°What the hell are you guys doing? I told you to call me if there¡¯s an emergency, and now that there is one, you¡¯re all slacking off watching videos and drinking Pepsi?! Clyde, what¡¯s going on here?¡± ¡°...¡± Giving a smile which wasn¡¯t really a smile, the ginger-haired staffer put his items to the side and reached into his pocket before turning to respond. Click. ¡°Team Leader Derrick... is it not okay to have drinks? We thought it would be fine since you¡¯ve been out drinking coffee all day.¡± ¡°?!¡± Derrick¡¯s eyes went wide, taken off-guard by Clyde¡¯s acerbic response. ¡°Anyways, what emergency are you referring to? If you¡¯re talking about the results of the archer class patch, nothing¡¯s happened so far that I didn¡¯t already outline in my pre-patch report. Since you gave the order to proceed with implementation after I sent you that report, I presume you read through it all first?¡± ¡°Wh-?¡± Derrick¡¯s face flushed. ¡°N-no, it¡¯s not about the archer patch, it¡¯s about a player who¨C¡± ¡°An archer player, right?¡± ¡°Yes; Jessica says we¡¯ve received over a thousand complaints regarding a livestreamer suspected of using cheats... Did you already know about this?¡± ¡°Of course. I explicitly detailed him in my report, after all.¡± Clyde rustled the bag next to him and brought out a handful of almonds. ¡°I presume you remember the segment about the player named ¡®Gun¡¯?¡± ¡°Gun? ...No, I¡¯m afraid I don¡¯t. Refresh my memory.¡± ...Crunch. In place of responding, Clyde flicked almonds into his mouth and stared blankly at Derrick, offering nothing but the sound of loud, deliberate munching as a loaded silence ensued. ¡°...¡± Derrick¡¯s face twitched, but he waited for Clyde¡¯s response nonetheless. Swallowing the almonds, Clyde still did not answer and instead reached for a plastic cup on the desk to his side, bringing it up to his face. Sluuuuuurp. Veins appeared on Derrick¡¯s forehead as Clyde sipped nonchalantly from his drink, effectively ignoring him. Looking to the other employees, Derrick found them avoiding eye contact, not willing to inform him either. Bang. Clyde slammed his cup down on the table. ¡°Gun... is an archer player who managed to fully clear the archery class test. That is, he managed to meet the requirements for the final mastery bracket by clearing all of the assessment hurdles on his first attempt, eclipsing the results of other test-takers. Normally, this would have resulted in him obtaining the final-bracket class title, ¡®Master Archer¡¯, with a 100% final archery damage bonus.¡± Derrick¡¯s eyebrows creased. ¡°Normally?¡± ¡°In actuality, he received a unique class allocation named ¡®Deadshot¡¯, one of only three unique classes given out so far in the game service, granting an additional 50% archery damage on weak-point and lethal damage variations.¡± Anticipating Derrick¡¯s follow-up, he continued, ¡°I scoured back through Maestro¡¯s decision logs to find out how he got the class. According to the AI, he not only hit every target in the practice range, but also hit the bullseye each time ¨C even for the final target, which stood a hundred metres out from his location.¡± ¡°Hm, sketchy...¡± Derrick scratched his chin in thought. ¡°Wait, is this class what everybody was complaining about? As long as the bonus damage doesn¡¯t climb higher than that, it should be fine, right?¡± *Cough* An employee near the back of the room made an involuntary noise and held his chest. Clyde¡¯s face darkened. ¡°Derrick, I¡¯m not sure if it slipped your memory, but we recently released a balance patch boosting archer damage.¡± ¡°...Oh.¡± Derrick paled. ¡°After the patch, Gun¡¯s 100% and 50% damage boosts were increased to 200% and 100%. Furthermore, the test Gun completed was the original, high-difficulty one, so, as an existing archer, his bonuses were increased a further forty percent to 280% and 140% ¨C an absurdly high amount.¡± ¡°...Wh-why didn¡¯t you tell me about him?¡± ¡°It was in my report.¡± Clyde returned a steely gaze. ¡°You might remember, I texted you about my recommendations earlier today and your exact words were: ¡®Stick to what we discussed earlier, make no other changes, release it with the compensation patch when you¡¯re done.¡¯¡± Derrick¡¯s face turned from pale to tomato-red. ¡°I... must have overlooked it at the time. Regardless, what is he doing to receive so many complaints so fast? Have you looked into it?¡± Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°What do you think we¡¯re doing?¡± Clyde pointed to the triple screens at the end of the room. ¡°Before you came in and accosted us for it, we were watching his livestream to gather information.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Ignoring Clyde¡¯s overt irritation, Derrick directed his attention toward the video footage being shown at the other end of the room, where three large displays shone brightly, each displaying different things. While one held static data, another showed gameplay while the last presented a fast-scrolling chat display. Focusing on the gameplay, Derrick watched the archer on the screen. He took down orcs with incredible speed and accuracy, killing each with a single arrow shot. ¡°Bloody hell, that¡¯s a lot more going on than just high damage. How the f*ck is he doing that?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the golden question. As you can see, he¡¯s performing at a level far above the realm of an average player, to the point where even his own viewers suspect him of using cheats. He doesn¡¯t seem to have any stream moderators either, so the chat is a bit... spicy.¡± Derrick looked over at the chat section. ¡ªIs he hacking client-side or server-side? Either way he¡¯s a twat ¡ªHow does it feel to have zero self-respect? ¡ªReported ¡ªMy guy, at least try to hide the cheats lolol ¡ªBruh, his hacks have hacks ¡ªSomeone check his pod for military-grade hardware lol ¡ªGovernment is putting bro on a watchlist ¡ªChat, do we report, or do we build him a temple? ¡ªHe better have a firearms license at least ¡°...¡± Derrick facepalmed. Despite the meme comments, it seemed there was almost unanimous consensus that the archer was hacking. ¡ªF*ck, I think I¡¯d rather fight god himself ¡ªBro is the main character ¡ªSOMEONE UNPLUG HIM FROM THE MATRIX!! ¡ªHow is he even doing this? I thought the capsules couldn¡¯t be hacked? ¡ªMaybe he¡¯s responsible for that cyber-attack from yesterday? ¡ªHehe, massacre go brrrrr ¡ªI will adopt a small child if he is not hacking ¡ªSomewhere, a dev is nervously taking notes on how to nerf this lol ¡ªPls upload the hack tutorial after! xoxo Clyde drank some more of his Pepsi while watching sweat beads gather on Derrick¡¯s forehead. ¡°Anyways, it¡¯s not like we¡¯re completely clueless. We have some idea of how he¡¯s playing like that.¡± ¡°You do? Then it¡¯s not just hacks?¡± ¡°Not sure, but a lot of it isn¡¯t at least. Here, catch.¡± Clyde threw a notepad up to Derrick, which Derrick caught with a slight fumble. ¡°These are the five main things we¡¯ve identified. Take a look through.¡± Derrick happily obliged.
Gun ¨C Why is he OP? ¨C A Multivariate Analysis
  • Reason 1: Player obtained the unique ¡®Deadshot¡¯ class, providing superior damage output and additional damage when attacking vitals. Additionally, the archer class patch boosted these bonuses by 140%.
  • Reason 2: Player secured multiple powerful titles boosting attributes and damage output. Notably, one title grants a 60% attribute bonus, double its standard value due to a first-player completion bonus. The strength attribute bonus also enabled the player to use a more powerful bow.
  • Reason 3: Current bow physics allow multiple arrows to be shot simultaneously with no apparent power dampening, causing the bow to be deadly at close range ¨C need to consult with the development team or handball to the QA team to see if this is intentional. Likely related to the ¡®Multishot¡¯ subclass.
  • Reason 4: Arrows can seemingly be withdrawn using a storage ring, allowing for fast arrow acquisition which bypasses inventory transfer cooldown of 2s and quiver capacity limits of approximately 20-30 arrows.
  • Reason 5: There is a passive skill called [Successive Speed] under the ¡®Rapid Fire¡¯ subclass which gives an indeterminate number of stackable increases to arrow velocity for accurate shots. While damage, momentum and penetration are not affected by the skill, arrows travelling at supersonic speeds cannot be reasonably dodged by an ordinary player or mob, and the skill is also easily exploitable.
¡°What?!¡± Derrick bellowed, ¡°How the hell did he get a 60% attribute bonus? That¡¯s ludicrous!¡± ¡°He was the first player in the game to solo kill a BOSS monster 30 levels higher than him. We¡¯re also not sure how he did it, but we saw him kill a level 52 field BOSS a few minutes ago without any external help, so we think it¡¯s most likely legitimate.¡± ¡°Level 52?!¡± Derrick¡¯s voice cracked. ¡°How can you talk so calmly about that?! It should take an entire party of level 50 players to beat a BOSS like that ¨C not just some random greenhorn on the second day after release!¡± ¡°...¡± Clyde shrugged. ¡°Hah... Alright, then do you at least have proof that he¡¯s cheating?¡± ¡°Marcus?¡± Clyde prompted a thin bespectacled man seated across the desk aisle. Nudging his glasses up, the man spoke, ¡°Actually, we were able to do an investigation by cross-referencing his data with our installation providers. Records show a single registered capsule linked to his account, which was installed less than three days ago. Since he¡¯s been using the capsule for much of that time, it¡¯s very unlikely he found time to modify it. Additionally, he¡¯s only using a silver capsule, which has a very limited digital integration and has not been broken into since its release several years ago. Unless he is more capable of reverse-engineering technologies than the best R&D specialists and engineers from foreign nations, the odds are extremely unlikely that he would be able to do anything to give himself an advantage on the client side.¡± ¡°Client side? Then what about the... the other side, whatever it¡¯s called?¡± ¡°The server side? We don¡¯t know. The security status of the game server is above our security clearance, so we would need to consult the higher-ups to obtain that information.¡± ¡°Ugh, well then that was useless.¡± Derrick scoffed. ¡°Whatever. Striking bullseyes a hundred metres away isn¡¯t just a thing that people can do, so it¡¯s obvious to anyone with a brain that he¡¯s hacking. Keep looking and let me know when you find the proof.¡± ¡°Derrick.¡± Clyde smiled fakely. ¡°I¡¯ll be frank, nobody has ever hacked a Virtek game before. There¡¯s no precedent for it; we don¡¯t even know what to look for. You might as well ask us to prove bigfoot exists, or that time travel is now possible. ¡°Well then what are your solutions?¡± Derrick yelled with vexation. ¡°Something needs to be done about this! We can¡¯t just leave things as they are.¡± ¡°Solutions...?¡± Clyde looked down to check his watch. ¡°Hmm... well, my 12-hour shift just ended; I believe my solution is a good, long bout of sleep.¡± ¡°?!!¡± Derrick¡¯s expression changed as Clyde stood up and collected his belongings. ¡°Naturally, the final decision for our course of action rests with you ¨C our senior. At the very least, all that caffeine from drinking coffee the whole day should keep you awake long enough to figure it out.¡± Clyde smiled. ¡°Well then, I¡¯ll be leaving now. Good night, team leader!¡± Clyde strolled past Derrick, loudly sipping his drink as he departed for the company parking lot. Chapter 37: Rising Status Within a cold tundra field, an injured orc lay panting in ragged gasps, each exhale joining to form a faint mist in the air. Both of its legs were gone, reduced to bloodied stumps which trailed dark streaks across the short grass. Reaching out for this grass with a trembling arm, it gripped a tuft, desperately pulling itself forward. Except, before it could move more than a metre, the light before it was engulfed by a sudden darkness. Puzzled as to why, it glanced upward. Shik! ...Slump. ¡°Well, that¡¯s the last one I can see... is that all of them?¡± Max scratched his head as he surveyed the area. The sounds of battle were subsiding with the deaths of the last few orcs, and Eleutheria¡¯s troops had already begun tending to their wounded. With discerning eyes, he noticed a deceased soldier being carried back to the staging camp. ¡®Hm? The corpses of NPCs don¡¯t disappear?¡¯ The dead remains of monsters and players would always disperse as fine particles upon death, so he assumed the same would hold true for human NPCs. ¡®Strange...¡¯ Maybe it had something to do with the lore? Well, either way, he would find out eventually. At the very least, it would be insensitive to ask Virtus about it, given the circumstances. Even if it somehow weren¡¯t, Virtus was currently preoccupied with¨C ¡®¡­? Wait, never mind ¨C he¡¯s coming straight here!¡¯ Breaking out of his thoughts, Max hastily greeted the prince, ¡°Sir, congratulations on the victory!¡± Virtus smiled. ¡°You speak as though you didn¡¯t dispatch hundreds yourself.¡± ¡°You humble me, sir.¡± ¡®You killed about the same number too though¡­¡¯ ¡°Cease calling me ¡®sir¡¯. As I already stated, I dislike honorifics from those who are neither my subjects nor subordinates.¡± ¡°That...¡± Max felt reluctant to do so. He didn¡¯t know the exact number, but judging by the size of the capital city, this prince presided over hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of subjects. Addressing such a prominent figure like they were an ordinary person felt absurdly inappropriate, even by modern standards. Despite feeling that way... ¡°Alright, I will stop.¡± There was no way he could just refuse the prince¡¯s direct request. ¡°Thank you. As for the battle results, it is as you say ¨C a complete victory for us. We lost fourteen great men, but it would have been many more without yours and the heroes¡¯ assistance. For that, you have my gratitude.¡± An interface appeared in front of Max.
Proximity Mission: Conquer the Orc Compound Difficulty: Hard Description: An orcish military compound has been discovered atop a mountain near human territory, being used as a staging ground for violent acts in Novus Forest. In order to aid the residents of Novus, Crown Prince Virtus of Eleutheria has requested the heroes¡¯ assistance in conquering the compound and expelling all hostiles. Milestone 1: Break through the enemy defensive perimeter (Complete) Milestone 2: Defeat all enemy leadership within the compound (Complete) Milestone 3: Clear the compound of enemy combatants (Complete) Milestone 4: Prevent any substantial harm from befalling Prince Virtus (Complete) Optional Milestone 1: Open or destroy the enemy gate (Complete) Optional Milestone 2: Protect the lives of all Eleutherian soldiers (Failed) Reward (Contribution-Split): 200 gold per kill, plus bonuses for individual contribution. Additionally, there is a chance of greatly increasing favour with NPC ¡®Virtus¡¯. This mission meets the criteria for completion. Claim rewards? Y/N
Max pressed to claim the rewards. [Received: 84,000 gold, 30 charm, greatly increased favour with NPC ¡®Virtus¡¯] ¡®Woah, 84,000 gold?! That¡¯s like 4,200 arrows!¡¯ ¡°Hm? Is everything okay?¡± Virtus looked at Max¡¯s bulging eyes with confusion. ¡®Mm? Oh, right. It was a proximity mission¡­ meaning it wasn¡¯t given by him.¡¯ Max fixed his facial expression. ¡®Then, it seems like those types of missions are assigned by the game system.¡¯ *Ahem* ¡°It was my pleasure. Is there anything else I can do to help¡­ Virtus?¡± Virtus¡¯s lip curved up. ¡°Actually, I do have one request, if you¡¯ll humour me.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± Max listened with anticipation. ¡°Become my knight.¡± ¡°¡­Eh?¡± ¡°I¡¯d like you to become one of my personal knights. In this battle, you single-handedly demolished the front gate and defeated hundreds of enemies, including a high orc with an aura ability, making as large a contribution as I despite being of substantially lower level. Those are achievements I simply cannot ignore. ¡°I¨C¡± ¡°Do not be hasty to reject my offer. Becoming my knight would bring you several privileges. For one, it is an eminently respected position which can grant you an audience with many high-status personages. It also exempts you from several taxes such as entrance tolls when entering towns and cities. Most importantly, it places you in a better position to be awarded land grants and peerage for your future military service.¡± ¡®He¡¯s serious about this.¡¯ ¡°¡­What responsibilities would I have?¡± ¡°Not many. As my personal knight, your core duty would be to serve as an escort, primarily for me, but also occasionally for my family members. Knights are typically obligated to provide military service for 40 days each year, but this can be made pliant forasmuch as you require time to increase your level. ¡°I see¡­¡± Max considered briefly. The conditions didn¡¯t sound stringent ¨C in fact, they seemed extremely favourable for him ¨C but serving as a bodyguard might be boring... What he really wanted to do was venture into enemy territory and pierce skulls on the front lines. As though sensing his hesitation, Virtus continued, ¡°I am also aware of the advantages a man of your skillset would bring, so I might occasionally send you on missions that are a bit more, say¡­ confidential in nature.¡± Max¡¯s eyes flashed. ¡®Is he saying what I think he¡¯s saying?¡¯ ¡°¡­I understand. Then, if you¡¯ll have me, I¡¯d be honoured to serve as your knight.¡± ¡°Fantastic!¡± Virtus grinned. ¡°Here, take this.¡± A small badge, engraved with a dark red emblem, entered Max¡¯s hands. ¡°This is?¡± ¡°My family¡¯s crest; proof that you are one of my retainers. Normally, I would also lend you a communication bead so that we may speak over long distances, but, as I don¡¯t currently have any spares with me, that will have to be deferred for the time being.¡± ¡°Oh, I think I have some of those, actually.¡± Max reached into his pocket. ¡°What? How could you possibly hav¨C¡± Virtus¡¯s jaw slackened as two red crystals appeared in Max¡¯s palm. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. ¡°I acquired these from that high orc I defeated yest¨C a few days ago.¡± Max corrected himself on account of game time. ¡°Will these do?¡± ¡°Y-yes, those should do.¡± Taking his gauntlet off, Virtus awkwardly accepted the beads, pinching one between his fingers. After a few seconds of gently applied pressure, it began to blink rapidly, emitting bright bursts of red light. He repeated this process for the second bead, and soon both pulses synchronised, appearing to stabilise before slowing to a steady glow. He handed a bead back to Max. ¡°You can use this to contact me by applying pressure for five seconds. Though, I carry a lot of these around, so I ask everyone to do so only in exigent circumstances. For other matters, come find me at the palace instead. ¡± ¡°Understood. Thanks, Virtus.¡± ¡°Virtus? I am your superior, so you should be calling me ¡®sir¡¯.¡± Max: -_- ¡°Hahaha~!¡± Virtus burst out laughing. ¡°Alright, I should also thank the other heroes before they disperse. Let us talk more later.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± Virtus walked away, leaving Max alone with his thoughts. Except¡­ [Current Viewers: 37,000] ¡®That is a lot of viewers.¡¯ ¡°¡­Hey guys, do you think I¡¯m the first royal knight?¡± ¡ªFirst royal ars*hole for sure ¡ªTurn off the aimbot, loser ¡®Oh, right, a lot of them were thinking I was cheating.¡¯ Max had completely forgotten. ¡°How can I convince you guys I¡¯m not using cheats, by the way?¡± ¡ªYou can¡¯t, because I¡¯m an atheist ¡ªStfu u already turned them off ¡ªStart by deleting your account :) ¡°Like, how would the cheats even work? Would they make my arms move on their own to point the bow directly at my enemies? Would I be able to curve the arrows to hit their target using telekinesis? Did I allow an NPC to take over my body via spiritual possession to serve as my body double?¡± The chat lulled slightly. ¡ªThe NPC thing sounds pretty spot on, not gonna lie ¡°Whatever.¡± Max shook his head. ¡°Actually, I heard a bunch of donation sounds while I was fighting; let¡¯s check those out.¡± He opened up the donation display. [JasonCapsaicin has donated $5] [Yooo, big fan, send the hack deets here: [email protected]] ¡°Thank you Jason for the five dollars but your inbox will be empty ¨C there are no hacks here!¡± [Waifu_With_Knaifu has donated $20] [KYAAA!! You are so handsome! Take my money xxx] ¡°Handsome? That¡¯s very kind of you; thank you Waifu. Though, they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, which is you.¡± For unknown reasons, the level of vitriol in the chat intensified further. ¡ªThat is NOT what the saying means! ¡ªDIEE [Timmy_of_Ignominy has donated $5] [Coach? It¡¯s Timothy from the club! Make me a stream moderator!] Max froze for a moment. ¡®¡­WHAT? TIMOTHY?!¡¯ This was that Timothy! The kid he spent his last lesson with before the club closed down! He was here on the stream?!¡± ¡­After considering for a moment, he opened Timothy¡¯s profile and ticked the box for ¡®moderator permissions¡¯, which would allow him to manage the other chatters. Why? In Max¡¯s mind, it would be nice to have another connection with someone he knew from real life; he typically sat inside all day outside of work, so he didn¡¯t have many friends. That, and the kid might doxx him if he refused. ¡°Thanks Timmy, you¡¯re an exception. Alright, last donation¡­¡± [MightSmite has donated $10] [Wow, you¡¯re really skilled! That¡¯s insane¡­ Be more insane if you checked your stat panel even once tho] ¡°Ah¡­ Alright Smite, you win. I¡¯ll show the stat panel. But first...¡±
Available Titles:
  • Blitz (4) ¨C Defeat 100 higher-levelled enemies in less than 2 minutes, Effects: +20% HP regeneration speed, +20% MP regeneration speed
  • Tremendous Damage (First) ¨C deal 2,000 damage with a single attack, Effects: +20% (40%) penetration power, +5 (10) luck
  • Visionary ¨C Destroy both eyes of a BOSS monster, Effects: +50% eye damage
  • Who¡¯s In Peril? (First) (Solo) ¨C Defeat (solo) a monster bearing a ¡®Perilous¡¯ threat rating, Effects: +20% (40%) max HP
  • War Hero (First) ¨C Made a large contribution to the outcome of a military battle, Effects: +100 (200) charm, +5% (10%) max HP
  • Knighted ¨C Become appointed as a knight, Effects: +50 Charm, Certain NPCs will treat you with additional respect
¡°Whoa! Lots more really good titles this time¡­ It¡¯s nothing like plus sixty percent attributes, but forty percent more health is really strong. As for charm, I still don¡¯t know what it does¡­¡± The forty percent health bonus came from defeating an enemy with a ¡®Perilous¡¯ threat rating, which must have been the high orc from earlier. Since the title said it was done ¡®solo¡¯, Max¡¯s last arrow to the eye must have finished it off. Actually, Max suspected that shot might have landed as a critical hit, since there was a slight particle effect on impact ¨C similar to the critical hit indicator which existed in HoL. ¡®I wonder what threat levels are above perilous...¡¯ Equipping the titles, Max put that thought aside and moved on to MightSmite¡¯s request.
STATUS
Name: Gun Class: Deadshot
Level: 21 EXP: 17%
Health: 1050/1050 Mana: 700/700
Abnormal State: None Condition: Fine
ATTRIBUTES
Vitality: 41 (+29) Strength: 52 (+36)
Dexterity: 62 (+43) Agility: 56 (+39)
Intelligence: 41 (+29) Wisdom: 41 (+29)
Charm: 20 (+450) Luck: 0 (+10)
DETAILS
Subclasses: Ultra-Rapid Fire, Rapid Fire, Sniping, Kinematics Mastery, Multi-Shot, Armor-Piercing, Marksmanship, Sharpshooting Titles: Unique, Cruel, Headshot Harry, One Shot One Kill, Player Killer...
Active Skills: None Passive Skills: Arrow Retrieval, Successive Speed
¡°Woah.¡± Max looked over his stat screen. ¡°It¡¯s starting to look impressive. Wait, level 21? Then I gained 13 levels from that battle?! That¡¯s so much! Wow, the EXP gain must be really high in this game ¨C I only expected to go up five or six levels!¡± ¡ªOnly 13 levels? He killed like 300 level 30+ orcs though?! ¡ªWhat sort of dumbassery is he spouting? ¡ªDid he mean low? ¡ªCharm is so high ¨C Is he playing a dating sim?? ¡ªEXCUSE ME: IS NOBODY SEEING THAT HE HAS OVER A THOUSAND HEALTH??? ¡°Not bad... Not bad at all.¡± Max inspected a bit longer until noticing Lemonade approach from behind the panel. ¡°Lemon! You lived!¡± ¡°Hahaha, they need more orcs than that to take me down! I even managed to kill one!¡± Max responded a tick late, ¡°¡­Wow!¡± Two people accompanied Lemonade, who Max recognised as the streamers he¡¯d met earlier. ¡°Jasmine, Rafael, you guys were also here? When did you arrive?¡± Jasmine was first to reply, ¡°Right now! ¡­We only just got here. Our monolith teleports were on cooldown, so it seems like we just barely missed the battle!¡± She smiled and made a peace sign with her fingers, most likely hiding her inner suffering. ¡°Dammit, stupid f*cking cooldown.¡± Rafael cursed. ¡®Come to think of it, is Rafael still angry with me?¡¯ Max remembered this guy getting heated and even rage-quitting during their dungeon raid earlier. ¡®Well, I¡¯d rather get along with Lemonade¡¯s friends, so I¡¯ll try to be a bit more diplomatic.¡¯ ¡°Too bad, it would have been a lot easier with you guys around.¡± Max consoled them. ¡°Ah, that reminds me, Lemon, here¡¯s your ring back.¡± Max took the storage ring off his finger and transferred it back to Lemonade. ¡°Ah, you can¨C¡± ¡°You should hang onto it, it seems valuable.¡± Max cut him off. ¡°Also, that thing I did ¨C taking the arrows out quickly ¨C will probably be fixed in a morning patch tomorrow anyways.¡± Lemonade smiled. ¡°I see. Well, now we know you¡¯re a man of integrity! Maybe the viewers will be less inclined to think you¡¯re-¡± Poof. Suddenly, the scenery around Max vanished. In its place, the game¡¯s title screen appeared, partially obscured by a graphical notification. ¡®Wha¨C?! I was disconnected from the game server just like yesterday¡­ Was Virtek hacked again?¡¯ Max read the notification message: [Your account has been suspended on suspicion of cheating, pending investigation. Please remain patient while we assess your case (Est. wait time ~48h)] ¡°Oh you¡¯ve gotta be f*cking kidding me.¡± Chapter 38: Perspective With a huff, Max exited the game pod. Boom! Boom! Boom! ...Only to be assailed by a wall of sound. ¡®Wh¨C?¡¯ Thunderous drums, aggressive guitar, and a loud guttural roar that sounded more like it came from a demonic beast than any human being. Max grimaced and covered his ears to avoid hearing damage. Looking around, he spotted the culprit lying blithely on the couch nearby with his laptop. ¡®What in the actual¨C Why is Rone blasting death metal in my living room?! No, why is he here in the first place? When did he arrive?¡¯ ¡°Rone!¡± Max called out. Max¡¯s voice was drowned out by the loud music. ¡°Rone!¡± Rone bopped his head to the beat of the song. ¡°...¡± Max walked over behind him and shook his shoulders roughly. ¡°AUEGHH!!¡± Rone let out an unmanly scream and jumped, nearly losing his laptop. ¡°Gah, Max!¡± He quickly paused the music. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you call out to me?¡± ¡°I did call out! You couldn¡¯t hear me over the sound of your demon music. What sort of bloody voice is that anyways? It sounds like that guy went through puberty five times.¡± ¡°Maybe he did. Anyways, why are you out of the pod? Weren¡¯t you fighting a big battle just now? I saw a whole bunch of orcs on the stream.¡± ¡°I got banned.¡± ¡°...What?¡± ¡°I got¨C Actually technically my account was only suspended; I¡¯m supposed to wait for them to investigate me now. I was kicked off the game.¡± ¡°Huhh? Investigate you? For what? What did you do?¡± ¡°Nothing! They just suddenly booted me off saying I might be cheating.¡± ¡°...??¡± Rone switched to his browser and opened the stream tab. [This account has been temporarily suspended on suspicion of cheating. Please check back later (Error 208)] ¡°Whaaaat?! You were banned for cheating?!¡± Rone¡¯s jaw fell open. ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m telling you! And it¡¯s totally ridiculous too ¨C I didn¡¯t even do anything! I was just playing the game normally... I was right in the middle of talking to other streamers, as well¨C Ughh, how embarrassing.¡± Max facepalmed. ¡°Other streamers? You mean Lemonade-Delt0id-Jasmine?¡± Rone showed an excited face and started attacking his laptop keys. ¡°If ¡®Delt0id¡¯ is the guy named Rafael, then yes... Oy, why do you look happy about this? I could really get perma-banned, you know? ¡­Hey, stop typing!¡± ¡°You don¡¯t understand, Virtek games can¡¯t be hacked. DIVE equipment is designed to be impervious to reverse-engineering so the U.S. can prevent foreign countries from stealing the technology. Throughout all the company¡¯s history, no program or capsule has ever been broken into successfully.¡± ¡°Eh? None? Wait, but if they think I somehow did, then wouldn¡¯t that mean...?¡± ¡°Yep. To safeguard the technology, they¡¯ll probably launch a SWAT raid on your house. I should leave while I still can, actually.¡± Max paled. ¡°H-hey, don¡¯t joke around, what if they actually do that?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, there¡¯s only about an eighty percent chance of it happening... Anyways, this will do wonders for your popularity!¡± Rone slapped his shoulder. ¡°All sorts of wonders. Get it? You¡¯re World of Heroes¡¯ very first hacker now! Congrats!¡± ¡°Right...¡± Max wasn¡¯t sure how to feel about this development. Slam! Interrupting the conversation, and before Max could settle his thoughts, the sound of a door being violently flung open was heard from the hallway, accompanied by loud, crashing footsteps. ¡®SWAT got here this f¨C? Ah, never mind. It¡¯s an inner door, so it won¡¯t be a raid. Although¡­ the danger level will still be high, just not for me.¡¯ ¡°Oi! Who the hell was playing that infernal music?! I was on the phone with an old lady, and she hung up in fear! Don¡¯t you idiots know I¡¯m working right now?!¡± *Gasp* ¡°You work on weekends?!¡± Rone¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Sorry Ray-Ray, I had no idea!¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± Max glanced at Rone and shook his head. ¡®To die such a pitiful and needless death ¨C truly a tragedy.¡¯ ¡°WHO ARE YOU CALLING RAY-RAY??!!¡± Raymond leapt over and hoisted the small man into the air. Twirling him around, he approached the side wall. ¡°I¡¯LL SHOW YOU RAYS!!¡± ¡°Aaah! Wait! I¡¯m sorry! M-mercy!¡± Max watched on as his uncle skilfully transferred Rone to one arm and started winding a window open with the other. ¡°Uhh, what¡¯s going on here?¡± Lina appeared from the hallway, watching the situation unfold with curious eyes. ¡°Dispensation of justice.¡± Max replied simply, ignoring the backdrop of cries and pleas. A small yelp was heard across the house, followed by the sharp crack of branches breaking outside. ¡°Oh... Well anyways, wanna go for a drive? ¡°A drive? So suddenly?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± Lina pressed her hands together. ¡°I want to check out the university campus before classes start for the semester. Plus, you said you would take me, remember?¡± ¡°I did? When?¡± ¡°At dinner 16 days ago.¡± ¡°...¡± If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡®Girls¡¯ memories are scary...¡¯ ¡°So is it a yes?¡± ¡°...Okay, we can do that. But I¡¯ll need to settle a few things before we go. Give me twenty minutes.¡± ¡°Yay~! Thanks Onii-chan!¡± ¡°Never call me that again.¡± Looking over to Rone¡¯s laptop, Max found that Rone had already sent a short donation message to Lemonade¡¯s stream, informing them of his suspension. And, by the looks of things, the chat had already seen it. ¡ªR.I.P. Gun. You will be missed ¡ªHe left us so suddenly... ¡ªNo longer in this world¡­ ¡ªSo young... and yet so cruelly taken from us! ¡ªOne of the best :¡¯( ¡ªWe will not forget him ¡ªTruly a shot to the heart... ¡ªI¡¯m sure he¡¯s watching over us from another dimension. Lemonade also appeared to have seen it. ¡°No, no I refuse to accept this! We will have justice for Gun!! Bring him back, whatever it takes!!!¡± Max¡¯s eye twitched. ¡°...I¡¯m not dead!¡± ... ¡­ Meanwhile, the cameraman of a small news studio was counting down with his fingers. After a few seconds, the count reached zero, and his hand clutched into a fist. ¡°Hey folks, welcome back to another episode of GameWatch! I¡¯m your host, Aisha, and today, we¡¯re joined by a special guest ¨C a record-breaker! The first-ever player to reach World of Heroes¡¯ ¡®Expert¡¯ archer class bracket, in Houston¡¯s own backyard no less ¨C Julius! Julius, thanks for coming on the show, tell us a bit about yourself!¡± ¡°Haha, thanks Aisha. My name¡¯s Julius Suluji and I¡¯m a competitive barebow archer here in the States. Last year, I competed in the USA Archery Target Nationals and U.S. Open, so it¡¯s fair to say I¡¯ve seen the best barebow talents in the country with my own eyes. My practice¨C¡± ¡°Barebow¨C? Sorry to interrupt, it¡¯s just that many of our viewers might not know what ¡®barebow¡¯ means. Would you mind explaining?¡± ¡°Sure. ¡®Barebow¡¯ is an archery discipline which prohibits the use of mechanical attachments. So sights, stabilisers, clickers and other fancy doohickies are all out. Instead, raw, unadulterated skill and technique take their place. It¡¯s like removing a calculator from someone doing maths in order to showcase their true mental acuity.¡± Noticing the clear bias in his definition, Aisha couldn¡¯t help but follow-up, ¡°Huh, that¡¯s strange¡­ As far as I¡¯m aware, barebow archery isn¡¯t in the Olympics or the World Cup. Wouldn¡¯t that imply that barebow is somehow inferior to the other categories?¡± ¡°Ha! Inferior, as if that could be true. Why do you think none of those famous ¡®recurve¡¯ and ¡®compound¡¯ archers got the ¡®Expert¡¯ class before I did? Without all their gadgets, they¡¯re like stormtroopers ¨C can¡¯t shoot for sh*t. I bet they tried the class test and had their arrows land in neighbouring countries. That is, if they even managed to¨C¡± ¡°Ah, so the bows in the class test had no attachments?¡± Aisha quickly cut him off and tried to swing him back on-topic, ¡°Actually, now that you bring it up, I have to ask, just what is making this test so difficult that even experienced archers are having trouble with it?¡± ¡°¡­Well, there are a few things. The main issue for most archers is the lack of attachments, but there¡¯s also the transition in draw weight. The bows used in the test are warbows pulling eighty pounds, while the ones in target archery and hunting usually only pull around fifty to sixty pounds. Lots of people struggle to adjust to that change or get the shakes from bad technique, throwing off their aim. Other than that, shooting in the game is similar to real life ¨C remarkably similar to real life, actually.¡± Julius sipped from a cup of water before continuing, ¡°The targets in the test are quite small, about thirty-one inches in diameter ¨C smaller than standard recurve and barebow targets of forty-eight inches. Hitting a target that size is no easy task, much less the one I shot, which was over sixty yards away. it¡¯s hardly a wonder nobody has managed to hit the one at nearly ninety yards. Even with the help of the archer patch and levelling up, I still haven¡¯t been able to do it.¡± ¡°Oh! That¡¯s right, the target you hit to become ¡®Expert¡¯ was at sixty-five yards, but there was one more after that, wasn¡¯t there? The final target ¨C Is there anyone you know who could hit it?¡± ¡°Well, I could, if given enough time.¡± Julius paused to think for a moment. ¡°The top fifty in the country could probably hit that sixty-five-yard target with only a few attempts. As for the last target, it¡¯s hard to say. They train for fifty-five-yard shots with sixty-pound bows¡­ but I think they could pull it off fairly quickly. Of course, none of them will try because of the health risks.¡± ¡°Wait, you mean the rumour about capsule use causing neurological damage? That¡¯s what¡¯s preventing them from playing?¡± Julius frowned, visibly discontent over this issue. ¡°Yes. Even if unproven, the risk to fine motor skills is a huge risk for professional archers. Only a few of the guys I know even dared to touch World of Heroes¡¯ prequel game.¡± ¡°I see¡­ Well, when do you think someone will manage to hit that final target then? How long will it take?¡± ¡°It¡­ will probably happen within the week. The difficulty of the test has been greatly reduced since the class patch ¨C the target distance has been decreased, three attempts are allowed per target, and a test can be taken once per day, per town. So if you fail the test once, you can just move to another town and try again until you succeed. There¡¯s a good chance someone will hit that final target by fluke soon, but if not, I should manage to hit it myself within the week. Aisha¡¯s lip curved. ¡°Then, could we take that to mean you¡¯re the most skilled archer playing the game right now?¡± ¡°Haha, you could say that.¡± Julius grinned. ¡°I happen to¨C?¡± Interrupting the program, an aide ran up to Aisha, whispering a message in her ear. Aisha responded in a low voice. ¡°Huh? Really? Well if you¡¯re sure, stick it on.¡± *Ahem* ¡°Sorry about that. A new viral archer clip just surfaced; do you mind if we get your opinion on it?¡± ¡°Hm? Sure, so long as it¡¯s interesting.¡± ¡°If what my co-worker tells me is correct, it should show a player with skill rivalling yours.¡± Aisha gave a signal and the clip appeared on the video wall behind the panel, buffering. ¡°Oh? Is that so?¡± Julius leaned back in his seat with a dubious smile and reached for his water. Another so-called ¡®prodigy¡¯ making waves online? Ha. He¡¯d seen enough overhyped clips by now to know that most were just clever editing, lucky shots or hoaxes, so he wasn¡¯t particularly expectant. Then the footage started. The archer on screen ¨C some nameless figure in beginner gear ¨C took an arrow in a single fluid motion, nocked, fired, and split an orc¡¯s head open while running. Julius¡¯s posture stiffened. It was a quick draw combined with a critical hit. Impressive, sure, but hardly impossible. Then came the second shot. Before the corpse of the previous orc could even hit the ground, the archer had loosed another arrow, striking a distant orc¡¯s forehead dead centre and obliterating it into dust. Julius choked on his water. ¡°What.¡± The archer didn¡¯t stop. He spun, snatching more arrows seemingly out of thin air, and turned to face more orcs behind him. Moving at abnormally fast speeds, two orcs flanked him ¨C one to his left, and one to his right, while a third leapt down at him from a rooftop. Most would freeze. Most would be dead before they could even react. This archer didn¡¯t hesitate. His arrow was in flight before the orc¡¯s feet above could fully leave the rooftop. Red particles rained down like glitter. The orc on his right had just enough time to register what happened before an arrow punched clean through its throat. Hit while running, a choked gargle escaped its lips as it collapsed mid-sprint, skidding by harmlessly. The final orc let out a furious roar, closing the distance instantly. Its blade swung toward the archer¡¯s chest¨C Step. Without even turning around, the archer moved a small distance forward. Almost cartoonishly, the orc missed its sword strike and, unable to halt its momentum, ploughed into a nearby building, embedding itself in the wall. An arrow swiftly followed into its back to spare it the embarrassment. Julius¡¯s mouth hung open. He ran a hand through his hair, then pointed at the screen as though accusing it. ¡°No. That¡¯s not real. That¡¯s CGI. That¡¯s anime nonsense. That¡¯s¨C¡± He watched as the archer inexplicably repeated similar movements. ¡°"That¡¯s¡­ H-how? That¡¯s real?" ¡°D-does it look real to you?¡± Aisha was also flustered. ¡°This person was livestreaming recently until their account was suspended for suspected cheating. What about an experienced eye ¨C do you think he¡¯s cheating?¡± ¡°S-so fast.¡± ¡°Pardon?¡± ¡°Ah! I mean¡­ well there¡¯s a chance that he¡­ no, um¡­¡± Julius couldn¡¯t comprehend it. The movements looked genuine, but at that speed? It shouldn¡¯t be possible! His technique was also very strange. It looked crude but¡­ was somehow highly efficient? Was this really archery? The footage ended. Although the clip only lasted thirty seconds, it felt like his entire worldview had just been ground into fine dust. He slumped back, staring at the screen in silent horror. Then, finally, with a mix of reverence and existential despair, he answered: ¡°I have no idea.¡±